PROSELYTING by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 27, 1890

PROSELYTING.

By Editor

OUR neighbor over the bay, the Herald of Truth, in its issue of August 28, 1889, had this, and much more, to say of Seventh-day Adventists: "They are zealots who compass sea and land to persuade one man to pronounce their seventh day Shibboleth." Of himself the editor says: "We believe that to-day there is something paramount to proselytism, something nobler than narrow dogmatizing about a day, and something more Christ-like than stealing the Lord's sheep from another's fold in order to fill one's own." It is a rather hard implication, isn't it? And now, neighbor, we sympathize with you, seeing that you are in the same category. The following from the Interior is on a par with the foregoing from the Herald:—

"Some years ago I lived on the West Side. During my absence from home, a zealous member of a Baptist Church near by made repeated calls at my house with the view of persuading my wife to leave her own church and join his. He was told by her, in a firm, kindly manner, that such a thing could not be considered, and he ceased coming. Later on I moved to another part of the city. My family, by this time, had grown up somewhat. While here, although there were several churches nearer me, another Baptist Church sent cards to my children, giving reasons why they should attend a first-class church like theirs, etc., implying that our own church was of no account. This proselytizing spirit is still at work, manifesting itself in various ways."

The above, and we might give more testimony, is wonderfully like your own statements, neighbor. We do not quote it, however, as a charge against Baptists; if they really believed what Baptists profess to believe, they ought to endeavor to win others to the truth of the Lord as regards baptism. Denominational lines are nothing compared with the truth of God. If Baptists have no reason to proselyte (we use the word in its better meaning), they have no reason for existence as a separate denomination. Isn't it so, neighbor? What is not worth teaching to others, in matters of religion and religious truth, is not worth holding ourselves.