Religious Systems of the World; A Contribution to the Study of Comparative Religion - Tapa blanda

Reseña del editor

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ...Thus while there is a tendency in one community which is so anxious to secure by any means the utmost number of members, to use even force in proselytizing, and while in others the regeneration imparted in baptism is exaggerated so much as to make other sacraments unnecessary, and which per contra leads to another extremity of denying any regeneration at all, --our Church particularly insists thatibaptism should be looked upon as the most perfect triumph of human liberty, when the baptized declares his willingness to believe with all his heart, viz., submit himself to the action of the redeeming grace which opens to him the door into the New Testament Church. Therefore, directly after baptism another sacrament had always been and is performed, --that of imposition of hands, 'which, from time immemorial, was substituted for by Chrisma, consecrated by bishops only, and in which are imparted the gifts necessary to one of an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Pet. ii. 9), ---viz., a kind of first grade in the Church. Now, this has been turned into confirmation (with Protestants' unmeaning examination), and is performed years after baptism. Is it, then, a second baptism, the first being insufficient? In our Church a second baptism is provided in the sacrament of penance, and from her point of view it is not diflicult to understand the necessity for such a sacrament. Humility and self-condemnation are in the power of ' Like the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. every member, but the grace of absolution is in the Church, and is entrusted by her to the stewards of God's mysteries, who by that means reintroduce into the fold those who, in their contrite heart, think themselves unworthy of remaining as...