The Word of God Defamed.
By R. F. Cottrell
The confusion of sectarianism is defamation against the word of God. That word is not so dark as not to point out clearly the path of duty. The great apostasy came as foretold, and the word of God was hidden from the people; but the reformation has followed, and the word is in the hands of all who desire it. And now there is no excuse for remaining in ignorance and neglecting to do the duties so plainly enjoined in that word. But as light advances, men professing godliness prefer to follow their erroneous traditions instead of walking in the light. If any advance in the work of reforming their errors, they must leave others behind. These persuade themselves that their errors are equally good as the truth, if sincerely held, and they know that they came honestly by them; and they come to the conclusion, as some have expressed it, that if they are lost from preferring error to truth they will be honestly lost. The Christian world are divided into a great number of sects. All have some errors and some truth. Many have a sense that the Christian church should be united—that the disciples of Christ should be one. But seeing no good prospect that any will give up their errors for the sake of union, they propose to unite as they are, retaining all their errors, thus making no difference between error and truth. The idea of such a union being necessary, detracts from the word of God as a rule of faith and practice. As much as to say that the path of duty is so imperfectly defined in the Bible that a compromise of truth and error is necessary for the union of believers in it as a revelation from God. And it is esteemed a virtue for one to be so liberal as to receive and fellowship all denominations without regard to truth or error; making the revealed truth of God of less importance than the opinions of those who differ with that word. Professed Christians pride themselves on such liberality, forgetting that it degrades the word of God to accommodate the customs and traditions of men. We believe in being courteous to all of every sect. But we cannot degrade the word of the Most High to exalt the traditions and opinions of men. Let God be true, though all men are proved to be liars. Errorists seem to be conscious of the weakness of their position, and they will frequently admit the truth, only claiming that their deviations are harmless and just as good as the truth. For example, they will admit that immersion is true and valid baptism; but claim that sprinkling will answer the demand just as well. They are perfectly willing you should hold and obey the truth, if you will only admit that their error is just as good. Now there is a special effort being made to unite the different sects; and it is to be done upon free, democratic principles. Majorities rule; therefore the majority would have the control in such a union. But the Bible being true, the majority are in error; and so error will bear the sway and vote down the truth. The proposal for a compromising union is a proposal to degrade the word of God and exalt the doctrines and commandments of men that make void that word. R. F. COTTRELL.