In the fourth place, it was not very long after the passing of the apostles, before the outward ordinances of the church became changed to suit the convenience of men. Baptism had been administered by immersion, as the word indicates.[F] The custom arose, however, merely to sprinkle the applicant for baptism; or, at most, to pour a little water on him. Furthermore, while the ordinance was meant only for adults, or for young people that had reached years of accountability, it was applied, after the time of Christ, to babes, who could neither know nor confess Him. The sacrament of the Lord's supper, too, was burdened with ceremony, and changed materially.[G] The ordinance of administration to the sick was dismissed as useless.[H] In fact, there remains in the churches today hardly an ordinance that has not been changed to suit the whims of men. [Footnote F: Matt. 3:13-17.] [Footnote G: Luke 22; Matt. 26; I Cor. 11:23-26.] [Footnote H: Jas. 5:14, 15.] In the fifth place, the church ritual became perverted under the administration of those who professed to follow after Jesus and His apostles. Nothing could be simpler or purer than the church service instituted by the Savior. After the third century, the simplicity was gone forever. To gain the good will and the favor of the pagans, many of their customs and ceremonies were adopted by the Christian church. So far was this done that the Christian worship of today is sometimes more nearly akin to the pagan worship of old, than it is to the simple worship of the Church of Christ. In the sixth place, the spiritual gifts--so common in the days of the apostles--became wholly lost to the later Christian church. Prophecy, healing, speaking in tongues, and other marvelous blessings, are enumerated by the Apostle Paul. He makes clear the fact that these gifts _will_ be manifest whenever the authorized church operates. Unfortunately, belief in the spiritual gifts is rare in the modern Christian church. Finally, the body of church doctrine became corrupted in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. To consider all the changes in church doctrine would require more space than can be allowed in this brief summary. Suffice it to say that besides the changes in doctrine already named, there was departure from the truth in many essential ways; as, for example, the introduction of the doctrine that infants if unsprinkled would be eternally damned; that condemnation for sin meant eternal condemnation, without hope of relief, worlds without end; that there may be two standards of morality in this life, and so forth. In short, though it may appear to be a bold and a very general statement, it seems to be true that only a few doctrines concerning the salvation of man, from the time of his advent into this world to the time of the great judgment, remain today as they were taught by Jesus.