Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
24
NESS (! ! !) because they are members of the Church,
which is Holy " (see Harold Browne’s " Exposition of the
Thirty-nine Articles," page 617.)
The Invisible Church is, indeed, Holy ! but of THAT
Church unregenerate men and women are NOT mem-
bers. There are no withered branches on the True
Vine : their fruitless condition proves conclusively that
they are not in spiritual union with Christ.
The Ceremony of Baptism, performed upon uncon-
scious infants, confers upon them the dubious benefit
of nominal immatriculation into one of the hundred
quarrelling sects into which official Christianity is split
up—that is all
There is hardly a criminal in Europe who has not
been baptized—unless, by chance, he be a Jew. The
very scum of Earth is admitted to nominal reception
of the Sacrament, which is stated to consist in " the
enlisting into the Army of Christ " !
One thing is certain : the Primitive Church ever
identified Baptism with Regeneration. Through this
Sacrament regenerating Grace was not merely pro-
mised, but actually bestowed.
Over-estimation of husk and shell is fatal to spiritual
life.
I heard a few years ago an anecdote, which clearly
illustrates to what strange mental aberrations IGNOR-
ANCE and FANATICISM can lead even good and well-
intentioned men.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
