Dr. Dowling Leaves the Baptists
By Editor
The pastor of one of the leading Baptist Churches in Cleveland, Doctor Dowling, has recently renounced close communion, and has given a general invitation for all who wish to join in celebrating the Lord's Supper. The Michigan Christian Advocate comments on this action as follows:— "Now that the brother has broken away from one species of bigotry, let us hope that we may yet go a step further and concede that dipping, like close communion, is not necessarily a condition of thoroughly devout Christianity." We see no reason why he should not, and indeed he must do so if he is consistent in his course. And then when he has decided that baptism is not necessarily a condition of Christianity, he may well conclude that repentance and conversion are likewise unnecessary. And when those old-fashioned things no longer stand in the way, what wonderful advancement (in numbers) the church may be expected to make. A later dispatch brings the news that Doctor Dowling has withdrawn from his church and from the Baptist denomination. The probability is that, as he is a very popular man, the church will refuse to accept his resignation, and will follow him out of the denomination.