Babel--Babylon!

Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · Oct 25, 1853

THE following is the closing paragraph of an article headed, "The Bible in our Common Schools." By C. Rollin Burdick, published in the Sabbath Recorder for September 8th.

"The whole Christian world is a babel of unknown tongues. The church of Christ, shattered into a thousand fragments, by jars, discords and heresies, is bleeding at every pore. The infidel world points the finger of scorn at our religion, because we quarrel so much over it. The Protestant knows the Roman Catholic to be false, because he is an idolater; while the Roman Catholic will swear that the Protestant is a heretic dog, because his clan is so much divided.—Some men hoist the flag for Mormonism, some for Shakerism, and some for Socialism. This man is a Methodist, that a Baptist, and the other a Presbyterian. One Christian says there is no Sabbath; another says there is, but it is Sunday; and a third says, 'The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.' This man will eat the Lord's Supper with all Christians; that one will eat with none who do not believe as he does. One says Christ is equal with the Father; another says he is not. Some know that the Bible teaches election and final perseverance; and others know to the contrary. One man says you must be plunged under water to obey God; another says sprinkling or pouring will do; while a third says you need not be baptized at all. All this strange congeries of beliefs, cliques and clans, professedly finds its warrant in the Bible. This is extremely humiliating, but not the worst feature in the present condition of the Christian world. The wranglings, heart-burnings, jealousies, and hate, engendered by such a state of things, are enough to make an angel weep, were it possible for a pure and happy spirit; and, surely, nothing can be more detrimental to the progress of the gospel. It all arises from a want of proper understanding of the Bible. Let its truths and doctrines be more universally disseminated, and their spirit more fully imbibed, and these erroneous notions concerning civil government, these foolish religious teachings, and sectarian hate and exclusiveness would find no place among Christians. I will venture my reputation, be it worth little or much, upon the assertion, that were the Bible placed in the hands of children, without note or comment, either oral or written, and its study more perseveringly enjoined, they would form more nearly correct notions of its teachings than are now held by the religious world, and the number of sects would be diminished ten fold."