[HG247] Evening, February 27, 1908.

(Chairman, STANLEY E. BOWDLE, Attorney, Cincinnati, Ohio.)

The Scriptures clearly teach that immersion in water, "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," of a believing penitent is for, in order to, the remission of sins.

L. S. White, affirmative.

C. T. Russell, negative.

With some of my opponent's presentations just set forth I can heartily concur. I agree that baptism is a divine institution; that it was taught by our Lord and his apostles, and practiced by the early church. I agree that nothing in the Bible indicates that either sprinkling or pouring constitute baptism. I agree that the Greek word baptizo has in it the thought of submergence, burial. I agree, further, that this ordinance was never intended nor commanded for impenitent sinners, but only for those professedly lovers of God and of his righteousness. But otherwise I can not concur with Brother White and the large and intelligent body of people his utterances represent, styled "Christians" and "Disciples" renames which I very much admire and claim also for myself and for all true followers of our Lord. And here let me remark that while Elder White is said to belong to the "radical wing" of his denomination, as distinguished from the "progressive wing," the difference between these wings is not along doctrinal lines, but chiefly in respect to the use of musical instruments in divine worship. I am sure that Elder White's position on the topic of this evening is the one held by both the "wings" and considered the fundamental tenet of their church since the days of its separate establishment by Elder Alexander Campbell, a half century ago.

I take this opportunity to assure my opponent and his coadjutors of both "wings" that what I am about to say in the negative must not be understood to signify personal antagonism. On the contrary, many of them I number among my warm personal friends, and as a [HG252] denomination I specially appreciate the evident endeavor to stick closely to the Bible and their repudiation of traditions and titles of men. I ask them to remember that I concede them to be honest and conscientious in their view of baptism; that I concede that many of the views of Christendom respecting baptism and other doctrines were in a horrible condition of disorder during the "dark ages," and that reformation along these lines could only be expected to come gradually, and that their practice of water immersion was one of the advance steps away from the error of infant sprinkling. But we have approached a half century nearer to the "perfect day," and more of the shadows and clouds of ignorance are passing, and the true light upon God's word, the proper understanding of the Bible, should be more apparent to us'especially as we are living in the very dawning of the millennial morning, when all of the Lord's true people are awakening. That which is perfect has not yet come, but to the wise virgins who have been wakened by the Master's knock and the message, "Behold the bridegroom," and who are trimming their lamps, examining the word of God carefully, and who have oil in their vessels, the Holy Spirit in their hearts, now is the time to obtain clearer views on baptism, as well as on other Bible subjects.

Raised a Presbyterian, sprinkled in infancy and with all my early prejudices in its favor and its arguments in my mind, I had my own. experiences, too, along the lines of getting free from the errors of the past. I therefore know how to sympathize with others who have more or less error to unlearn and truth to appreciate more clearly. I forewarn, however, that the tests that come upon us to prove our loyalty to the Lord and to the truth frequently come upon lines upon which we had supposed ourselves to be most thoroughly fixed. Nevertheless, this is the character of the tests which the Lord permits to come to those who are his.

If we love sect or party, theory or creed, more than we love the Lord and the truth, we are unworthy, and can not continue to be counted as his disciples, but as the disciples of error. I shall never forget the look and tone of a Baptist minister who had read but the first volume of "Millennial Dawn," which only indirectly refers to baptism. He remarked: "Well, Brother Russell, I see that you agree with us on baptism, and I am glad of it." I answered, "Partly, brother." With a look of consternation and distressed voice he said: "What! Are we not right in that, either?" I realized at once that his hardest test in respect to faithfulness to the Lord would be along the lines of the strongest peculiarity of his creed'baptism. And similarly I realize that the truth of God's word respecting baptism will be a special trial or test to Elder White and the Christian denomination which he represents; for his name, I understand, is published in the printed lists of ministers of both wings of the Christian or Disciple Church. But, notwithstanding my sympathy for them and my desire not to hurt their feelings, it is my duty to God, to the truth, to my opponent and the denomination which he represents in both wings, to my auditors this evening, and to whomsoever the Lord may send my message, to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth on this subject, whose importance is recognized by all Christendom, and very particularly by my opponent and his church fellowship.

Elder White has already set forth something respecting the history of baptism and general views on the subject. I call your attention to some points that he has not covered. He did not bring to your attention the fact that he and his denomination are in accord with the great mass of Christians in respect to the object and necessity of baptism. Catholics also believe in baptism for the remission of sins, and history tells us that in the third century they practiced immersion, and this accounts for the fact that the ruins of the great churches at that time show large baptisteries connected with them The doctrine gained such emphasis under the teaching of one of the so-called "fathers" that it led to infant baptism for the remission of sins. With greater consistency than our Disciple or "Christian" brethren, Catholics acknowledge "original sin," that we are all "born in sin, shapen in iniquity," hence they say "our infants need to he baptized for the remission of sins." As a matter of fact, history tells us that it became very popular to immerse infants. Subsequently the Roman Catholic Church decided that it had the authority from God to change the institution from immersion to sprinkling, which has since been their vogue. However, the same thought suggests that children, because of "original sin," need baptism for its remission and for the introduction into the household of faith, because, as the Scriptures declare, we are all "born in sin and shapen in iniquity, in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psa. 51:5).

The Reformation of the fifteenth century brought with it the custom of infant sprinkling which had prevailed for centuries among their forefathers. They had become so accustomed to it that it did not occur to them to look to the Scriptures on the subject. They had been taught that baptism in this age corresponds to circumcision practiced upon children during the Jewish age; a gross mistake which should be readily detected by the fact that only the males were circumcised under the law, and their age at the time for the circumcision was clearly stated; whereas Christian baptism, on the contrary, is never referred to in the [HG253] Scriptures as for infants, but always for believers. Nor is this fact entirely overlooked either by Catholics or by Protestants, for it is the custom with Lutherans and Episcopalians, as well as with the Catholics, to have "godfathers" and "godmothers" to undertake for the unbelieving infants and to guarantee to God and man that they shall he believers when they grow up, and thus to apparently harmonize the incorrect practice of infant baptism with the direction of the Word'" believe and be baptized." As an evidence of how strict are Catholics on this subject, we note that although that denomination carefully holds every authority and prerogative in the hands of the clergy, it makes an exception in the baptism of infants if there is danger of death of the infant before the priest arrives.

In such an event anybody, good or bad, is permitted to sprinkle a few drops of water in the name of the Trinity to preserve the infant from hell. Some Protestants, indeed, do not carry this thought so far; their intelligence rebels.

Nevertheless, there is a lurking fear if the child be ill and in danger of death without baptism. More than this, the Catholics have a special arrangement by which if a doctor finds at the time of the birth of a child that it can not be delivered alive, a special baptism in utero is provided.

Such ignorance of God and his gracious arrangements for his creatures is pitiable, indeed. Nevertheless, through the gross superstitions we are glad to note the sympathy which would endeavor to shield the little infant from the supposedly malevolent God and his pernicious arrangements for its torture.

I was shocked on Tuesday evening, when my opponent, introducing Proposition 3, declared that he had pleasure in affirming that the Scriptures teach that the "punishment of the wicked will consist of conscious, painful suffering eternal in duration." Apparently he has pleasure this evening in insisting that immersion in water is necessary for the remission of sins, although the gentleman's argument shows that this will mean eternal torment for 999 out of every 1,000 of God's creatures. I looked into his face to see whether or not it looked so hard as that, and it seemed to me that it did not; that the gentleman was allowing his theory to dominate his tongue, giving his heart an anesthetic. And yet reflect that such has been the power of false doctrine all through the past. When, centuries ago, our forefathers burned one another at the stake, or plucked out each other's tongues by the root, they said: "The Lord be glorified. According to our theory, God is going to roast and fry and torture these people who have different opinions from ours, throughout all eternity, and we will copy our conception of God and have some of his pleasure in tormenting them now."

Undoubtedly, dear friends, false doctrines have made men a great deal worse than they would be without them naturally. Things have been done in the name of religion that the perpetrators would otherwise have shunned and even rebelled against. So I take it that Brother White and many others today would have far more of the love of God shed abroad in their hearts if they could get rid entirely of some of their errors of doctrine, their misunderstanding of the divine word and character. It is since the doctrines of the dark ages have ceased to be promulgated, since people have come to be ashamed of them, that we find a larger measure of benevolence and courtesy among civilized peoples. But, dear friends, if the mere abandonment of these false doctrines has worked a blessing, what would not the promulgation of the true doctrine of Christ's work among men in the way of uplift of heart and head and character?

Let not my point be misunderstood. It is this: The doctrine of the Christian denomination, as voiced through its religious press and books, and as represented this evening by my opponent, tells us practically (though he does not have the courage to use the words) that all heathendom is condemned to eternal torture, and that nearly all of Christendom is in a similar condition; that Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, are all, or nearly all, bound to go to hell, to eternal torment. Why? How? Because they have not been immersed in water, and because our brother tells us, in harmony with his affirmation of this evening's topic, that baptism is for the remission of sins'which means, beyond a question, that sins can not be remitted without baptism. If, therefore, Episcopalians, for instance, have not been immersed, according to my opinion, they are yet in their sins, and the penalty of their sin is yet against them.

And he has told us repeatedly during these debates that his conception of the penalty for sin is eternal torture. And so all others not immersed for the remission of their sins. This is hard to swallow, and we shall show it is unscriptural.

Practically the same is the view of our Baptist friends, for, although they agree with us that baptism is not "for the remission of sins," they claim that water baptism is the door into the church, and they claim that the church alone will be saved and go to heaven, and they claim, further, that all who do not come into the.

church through the door are unsaved; and they claim, further, that the penalty of God against all the unsaved is eternal torment.

The Baptist minister to whom I referred a few moments ago as saying, 'What f Are we not right on baptism, either?" objected when I brought this matter [HG254] to his attention, that Baptist doctrine condemned all not immersed in water as being outside of the pale of the church of Christ, and, therefore, outside the pale of salvation and inside the limits of damnation and eternal torment, according to general Baptist doctrine. He said: "Oh, Brother Russell, we do not preach that." I said: "No, my brother, you do not preach it, because you know that it would bring down upon you the wrath of the other denominations like a thousand of brick. But it is your theory. You, can not deny that." He attempted to dodge the question by saying: "Well, what are you going to do with the Scripture that says, 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned'?" I have every reason to believe that Elder White and the school of thought he represents would answer me similarly, and my reply to this is what it was to that Baptist minister, namely: "I am examining what you believe now, and attempting to show up its weaknesses and faults. After I have done that, I will produce to you what the Scriptures say on the subject of baptism, and you will find it reasonable, logical and satisfactory, to both heart and head."

I fear I shall greatly shock my Disciple friends and my opponents when I now declare that the baptism which they teach and practice is not only not so exclusive as they had supposed, so that all others who do not practice it will go to eternal torment, but, on the other hand, that they are not practicing the baptism which the Lord enjoined. My present effort is to show my opponent and others that baptism for the remission of sins was John's baptism, and not Christ's baptism. In a word, those clear friends, while seeking to hold fast to the Scriptures and to be guided by their expression, have unconsciously fallen into a serious error through not discerning the dispensational changes that came when the favor to the Jewish nation ended at the death of Christ, and when a new dispensation, a new age under new conditions, was then ushered in.

The baptism of John, the baptism to which our dear friends so frequently refer, was never meant for the Christian age. John, as our Lord declares, was the last of the prophets, and was sent to the Jewish people and preached to them alone, and his message would not have been appropriate to any others.

Let us review the situation. The Jews did not practice baptism. The whole nation was recognized as baptized into Moses in the sea and in the cloud. John's mission in the end of their age was to prepare for Messiah, to, arouse the people to thought on the subject, to Icad them to a renouncement of their sins against the law, and to a reformation of life. He did not go to sinners, in the ordinary sense of that term, those outside the pale of divine influence, but he appealed to the sinner class, the renegade class, of the Jews, "publicans and sinners," who, although baptized unto Moses in the sea and in the cloud, and children of the promises, and related to God through that law covenant, had been living carelessly.

John's announcement was, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand; believe the good news and repent," and get ready for it; for if you do not get ready you can have no share as a member of that kingdom for which our whole nation has been waiting for centuries. Those of you who acknowledge that you have been living in neglect of the law of Moses should now repent of the same and come back into harmony with that law, and should show your repentance and reformation by a washing away of your sins'a cleansing of yourselves.

Numbers of the Jews were influenced by John's preaching, and were baptized'not the "Israelites indeed," but those who conceded that they had been living in open sin. Thus we have no record that John himself was ever baptized, nor that his disciples were baptized. When Jesus went to him for baptism John at first declined, declaring that he had no sins, and that if either of the two needed to confess sin and to profess a washing away of sin, it would be John himself rather than the Master. It was after Jesus had assured him that His baptism meant something different that he would not then explain, that John performed the service for him.

This baptism of John was not appropriate to any but Jews. Gentiles could not repent or come back again into harmony with Moses' law, because Gentiles were never under the law of Moses, but were counted as aliens, strangers and foreigners, without hope and without God in the world. (Eph. 2:12.) We remember that the first Gentile convert was Cornelius, and that his baptism was three years after our Lord's death, and his baptism was not John's baptism, but of a different kind, as we shall show presently.

As illustrating what I have just said, namely, that the baptism practiced by the Christian denomination is John's baptism and not Christ's baptism, and that there is quite a distinction between the two, which our dear friends have not recognized, I call your attention to the record of Acts 19:1-7, where we are informed that a certain Jew, named Apollos, had made converts amongst the Ephesians, twelve in number, and that when St. Paul was passing through Ephesus he became acquainted with these, but noted that they were deficient as respects the evidences of their discipleship. The evidence of discipleship at that time consisted in miraculous "gifts" of the Spirit, as, later and since, the evidence of discipleship has been the possession and manifestation of the "fruits of the Spirit"'love, joy, [HG255] peace, etc.

The apostle inquired respecting their deficiency and said, "Unto what, then, were ye baptized?" And they said, 'Unto John's baptism." Then said Paul, "John verily baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe upon him which should come after him; that is, Christ Jesus. When they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." I quote this as evidencing the fact that there is a decided difference between John's baptism of repentance and Christ's baptism.

The various Scriptures which my opponent has quoted as proving the necessity for repentance and washing away of sins, etc., we agree with fully, but we call to his attention the fact that all these persons who thus "washed away their sins," and practiced baptism for the "remission of sins," were Jews who were already baptized into Moses "in the sea and in the cloud," who were already children of God and heirs of the covenants and promises, and their washing away of their sins meant their coming near again to God, and into closer touch with all the promises and the blessings thereof.

Never is it said of any Gentile that he was baptized unto repentance and remission of sins, that he got back into Moses and in accord with the law. On the contrary, the apostle shows that we and all spiritual Israelites coming from among the Gentiles, come into Christ in a different way from that in which the Jews became related to him. I call your attention to the apostle's argument in Rom. 11:17-24, where he uses an olive-tree as a symbol or picture. He tells us that that olive-tree was primarily the Jewish nation; that its root was the Abrahamic promise; its branches were the individual Jews. It was to those branches that John preached the baptism of repentance. Many of them were defiled, living in sin, and he urged them to repent and be washed, cleansed; that otherwise they would be broken off.

And so it was when Messiah was manifest; the prepared ones, Israelites indeed, in whom was no guile, were ready for him, received him and he received them, and they continued to be branches of that olive, tree.

But the great mass of the branches, as the apostle goes on to explain, were broken off because they did not receive our Lord, because they were not in the right condition of heart, not "Israelites indeed, without guile."

In the harvest time of the Jewish age that tree, that nation, was transferred from Moses to Christ, and those branches which were permitted to remain were thenceforth branches or members of Christ, and did not need to be baptized into Christ. Or, according to this figure, they did not need to be engrafted into the tree, for they were in it already, and merely the new name came to them, the name of Christ as instead of Moses'Christ, the antitypical Moses. And the other branches were all broken off from relationship with this antitypical Moses, Christ, whom the tree now represented.

It is into that tree that you and I and all Christians of this gospel age are invited to be baptized, or, in this figure, engrafted. The apostle explains this, and says that by nature we were wild olives, and had no part or lot in this tree, but that God in great mercy has permitted us to be endrafted, to be united to our Lord, and with him, and with those faithful Israelites of the Jewish nation, we are permitted now to have the blessing that comes from the root of this tree, the Abrahamic promise.

In other words, we are the children of Abraham, or, as in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we belong to the Lazarus class, the little flock, who have come to be inheritors of the blessing of God, provided through him as the father of the faithful.

I trust, dear friends, that this, the apostle's illustration, helps us to grasp the fact that a great change of dispensation occurred at the time of our Lord's first advent.

But all of the Jews were not broken off at once, and hence, wherever the apostles went preaching the gospel throughout Galatia, etc., they went to the Jews first, saying, "That is was necessary that the gospel should be first preached to you, but seeing ye cast it from you, lo, we turn to the Gentiles."

I feel confident that Brother White will not claim that we are Jews or descendants of Jews; but even if we were, having been once broken off from that olive-tree, as all Jews were with the ending of their harvest time in A. D. 70, it follows that there would be no way for us, even if we were Jews, to now enter into relationship with Christ except by being re-engrafted, or, according to the other expression, "baptized into Christ."

My dear brother remarked in connection with his discourse on this subject, that it is as easy to be right as it is to be wrong. Under some circumstances, dear friends, that might be true, but not under all circumstances. Does it not seem to be more easy to be wrong than to be right? Look out over the sixteen hundred millions of the world today; are they more right than wrong? How about the heathen with their various classes of error? When we come down to Christendom how is it? We have our Greek Catholics and Roman Catholics, large denominations; then amongst Protestants we have large denominations also. I tell you, dear friends, it does not seem to be as easy to be right as it is to be wrong. The wrong seems to have something or other pushing it all the time, [HG256] does it not? The wrong has been getting along splendidly all the way down, has it not? It is a fact and what is the reason? The Scriptures tell Us why. The apostle tells us that we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with wicked spirits in high positions. What does he mean? tie means to say that your adversary, the devil, and my adversary, the devil, is busy continually trying to get us confused, to bring in false doctrines; and, as I said before during these debates, he is the author of that first great lie, which has been the foundation of all the after disaster, theological, that has come upon the world. When our God said "Ye shall surely die" is the penalty of sin, Satan promptly answered, "Ye shall not surely die." And he has succeeded, you see, dear friends, in making all the heathen believe his way. Some of these heathen will say, "Yes, we believe when we die we go over the river Styx." But they do not know where the river Styx is. But they go over that. There is somehow or other a transmigration of souls, they say; "we do not know whether we will be an ant, or a toad, or an elephant in the next life," and therefore they are afraid to walk on the ground for fear they may tramp on some poor ant, which might be a relative of theirs, not that they have so much sympathy for the ants, but they are afraid some day, through transmigration of souls, they might become ants and somebody might ruthlessly trample on them.

But you see, dear friends, that all of these errors of the heathen are traceable directly to this original lie of Satan. Now, then, it is not as easy to be right as to be wrong. It is very much easier to be wrong. Satan and all the demons are assisting, and the work of them all over the world is manifest. The apostles warned us, saying, "We are not ignorant of his devices. We know how he works. We see the operation of Satan all around." And now, dear friends, when I charge that Satan has had a great deal to do with all of our Christian religion, I am not saying a word unkind about any particular Christian.

The apostle says that Satan is the god of this world, who blinds the minds of all them that believe not. Some of us are more blinded and some of us are less blinded; some of us are getting our eyes opened. You remember, the apostle had that same thought, too, for in addressing the church on one occasion he says: "I pray God for you" (for the church) "that the eyes of your understanding opening" (that is, continuing to open), "that the eyes of your understanding continuing to open, ye may be able to comprehend with all saints the length and breadth, height and depth, and to know the love of God, which passeth all understanding." It is the love of God, dear friends, that Satan tries to keep hidden from our eyes. He would have us think of God as the greatest of all demons; he would try to make us misunderstand every teaching of the Divine Word, that we might think this was the record and we might 'be more thoroughly deluded. Now I am calling on you to wake up. It is time that we were examining the word of God to see that we have a God who is infinite in wisdom, love, justice and in power; that we come to an understanding of his truth. It is time that we begin to find out that in the early part of this Christian dispensation, when the apostles had fallen asleep, as Jesus said, there came in a great flood of error. You remember the parable of the wheat and the tares: He said that God sowed the good seed, and afterward Satan sowed the evil seed'that is, the seed of error'until the whole field changed practically to be a tare field. And he tells us that at the end of this age there will be a harvest time'a separating time'separating the wheat from the tares, the truth from the error; and it is for you and for me to see that we are trying to get in harmony with the truth. And he tells us that when the wheat shall be gathered it will be gathered to the heavenly kingdom. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." "He that hath an ear to hear let him hear" is what our Lord, says. Alas! we have not all got ears to hear; we have not all got eyes to see; but we should be praying and seeking to have our eyes opened and our ears opened, that we may understand the mystery of our God.

, At this point the Moderator called time, and Elder White immediately ceased speaking. At the same instant, Mr. Russell having handed the Chairman some different translations of the Bible which Elder White had given him, and which the Chairman appeared to be about to read, Elder White said: Mr. Chairman, I will be Chairman for a moment. I put that in my speech. It is to go in the record. If there is anything to be said in reply to it, Mr. Russell himself must read it, and count it on his time.

Chairman Bowdle: I was just finding out what it was.

Elder White: I heard him ask you to read it. He has those Bibles there that I handed him, and he can read them himself.

Pastor Russell: I was afraid that my opponent might think I was not reading it right. He seems to think that I read things wrong.

I will read it, but any of you who like can get your Bibles and read it at your leisure. These are the authorities for my statement that the passage in Mark 16:9 to the end of the chapter, is an interpolation. This is the Holy Bible, American standard version. It says: "The two oldest Greek manuscripts and some other authorities omit from verse 9 to the end."

The Emphatic Diaglott says: "From this verse (9), to the end of the chapter, is wanting in the Vatican manuscript and in many other ancient copies."

New Testament, Revised Version, says: "(verse 9 to the end) the two oldest Greek manuscripts and some other authorities omit from verse 9 to the end."

[Applause.] I might remark, dear friends, that our brother was surprised that I knew what he would say. I knew that he did not have anything else to say. [Laugther.] I knew what the doctrines of the Christian denominations are; have known for a long time. Now our brother had Volume V1 of "Millennial Dawn," but he does not know what is in it now, although he read it, he says, this afternoon, three hours ago.

Incidentally we remark, for the benefit of our Baptist friends, that he was not baptized into the church of Christ, either, for there was no church of Christ as yet.

The church of Christ, "which is his body," was not established until Pentecost.

Besides this, it was eminently proper that the head should precede the body, and that they, the members, should be gathered to him, the head.

Our Lord's baptism, therefore, should be considered the beginning of a new institution in every sense of the word. It represented in symbol the [HG262] consecration he made at that time, as he began his three and a half years of ministry. He consecrated his life'even unto death'yen the death of the cross, and his baptism into water, his burial, there symbolized this laying down, immersion, burial of "the man Christ Jesus, a ransom for all." His raising up from the water symbolized his resurrection from death on the third day after Calvary. In the dying he represented the sacrificed bullock of the Jewish Atonement Day. In the rising from the water he represented the antitypical High Priest, who thenceforth went into the holiest, there to appear in the presence of God for us.

(Heb. 9:24.) Hence, Paul refers to this transaction and quoted as applicable to Jesus the words of the prophet: "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me.) to do thy will, O my God." (Heb. 10:7-9.) Then said the apostle: "He taketh away the first that he may establish the second." At the time of his baptism, at the beginning of his ministry, began the setting aside'" the first," the typical atonement matters, and the establishment of the "second," the antitypical, himself representing the bullock of the atonement of Leviticus 16. So, then, our Lord's baptism in water was not his real baptism, but merely a symbol or picture of it. His real baptism was into death, and his real raising up was his resurrection.

He was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (1 Pet. 3:18). Keep this thought in mind while we examine what the Scriptures say respecting the church's baptism.

I call your attention to a passage of Scripture quoted by my opponent'the passage of all passages in the Bible relied upon by Baptists and Disciples as most distinctly setting forth the importance of wafter immersion (Rom. 6:3-5). I will quote it: "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For, if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."

From this passage my opponent, and Disciples and Baptists in general, gather the thought that water immersion is all-important, really necessary, to relationship with Christ.

I wish to call your attention, dear friends, to the fact that nothing in this Scripture passage says one word about water baptism. I will proceed to show you that this text, generally supposed by our friends to refer to water baptism, has no reference to it at all, but refers instead to the same kind of a baptism that our Lord had'a baptism into death. You will understand that we are not combating water baptism, for we believe that it is enjoined in the Scripture, as we have already stated, but we recognize it as merely a symbol'a picture of the real baptism'just as our Lord's baptism in the waters of Jordan was not his actual death and resurrection, but a symbol of his death and resurrection. That which he symbolized in water he had already done in his heart, as the prophet declares: "Lo, I come (in the volume it is written,) to do thy will, O my God." His full surrender had already taken place, and during the three and a half years of his earthly ministry he was laying down his life in his preaching, in his journeying and in his healing of the sick, when "virtue" or life went out from him to heal them. And his laying down of his life he completed at Calvary; then his baptism was finished. Note that this is our Lord's own explanation of the matter. Just before his crucifixion he said: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful'even unto death. I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished." It was accomplished the very next day, when, on the cross, our Master cried, "It is finished" (John 19:30). What was finished? His sacrifice was finished, his baptism into death was finished.

Now, my dear friends and brethren, you have before your minds what constituted the baptism of Christ, and see how the water symbol represented it, and I ask you to notice that this is exactly what the apostle says respecting the baptism of the church of Christ, "which is his body," "members in particular." The apostle urges that you and I, and all who would be members of the body of Christ in glory, all who would share with him in his death'must be baptized into his death. Now let me read this passage of Scripture with comments: "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" What is it to be baptized into Jesus Christ? Our Disciple friends and our Baptist friends view this as being a water baptism, but, my dear friends, one is baptized in the water every time he takes a bath, and many are baptized into water who are not baptized into Christ, and the text says nothing about water anyway. Surely every one can see that it is one thing to be baptized into water, and another matter entirely to be "baptized into Jesus Christ." The expression "into Jesus Christ" signifies "membership in the body of Christ," which is the church.

Keep before your minds the thought that our Lord Jesus is to be the appointed King of the world, who will shortly take his great power and reign, but meantime, according to the divine plan, a bride-class is to be selected for him from among those that have been redeemed by his precious blood. This same class is elsewhere spoken of as under-priests, brethren, and again as members in particular of the body of Christ. [HG263] Using the figure of "members," the apostle says, "The hand cannot say to the foot, I have no need of thee."

When the whole membership in this body of Christ shall have been gathered out of the world and glorified in the first resurrection, it will never be added to, therefore no further chance of gaining membership in it. Hence the apostle says, "Now is the acceptable time."

Now is the time when God is willing to accept some into membership into this body of Christ; and the terms or conditions upon which he will accept them is that they shall walk in his footsteps, be baptized with his baptism into death. Those who will so do will be accepted as the very elect. Those who fear so to do will fail to be of the very elect, fail to make their calling and election sure. (2 Pet. 1:10.) What we have just stated is what the apostle mentions in the very next sentence; namely, that baptism into Jesus Christ, into membership in the anointed body, is baptism into his death. All such make a consecration unto death, after the same manner that our Lord consecrated his life at the beginning of his ministry. This is urged by the apostle in so many words in this same epistle. Rom. 12:1:" I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

In a word, there are two priesthoods'the one a sacrificing priesthood, the other a glorious priesthood. Aaron and his sons, during the Jewish dispensation, typified the sacrificing priesthood, Christ in the flesh and all the under priesthood, Melchisedec typifying the glorified priest, head and body, "a priest were ordained to offer sacrifices, and whoever fails to offer sacrifices is not fulfilling this function of this priestly office. By nature they have nothing to present, being sinners, but our Lord's death being imputed to us, we are counted as justified by faith, and as such we have something to offer in sacrifice; namely, our justified selves. Therefore, says the apostle, I beseech you, brethren, present your bodies, holy and acceptable, your reasonable service. The priesthood of glory is not the Aaronic, but the Melchisedec priesthood, Melchisedec typifying the glorified priest, head and body, "a priest upon his throne." So the Scriptures tell us that our calling as the church, the body of Christ, is to membership in the royal priesthood, and our Lord assures us that those who are faithful in the priesthood of the present time, in their work of sacrifice, as members of his body, who will be accorded a place in the Melchisedec priesthood of glory, the privilege of sitting with him in his throne, they "shall reign with him a thousand years" (Rev. 20:6).

Note the next verse

(4) of Rom. 6:" Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death." What does the "therefore" refer to? Answer: To the statement of the preceding verse, that we would want to be immersed into Jesus Christ, into membership in the body of the anointed, not merely the body of humiliation, but specially the body of glory. This is our reason for desiring to be united to Christ by baptism into his death. And all such as will share with him by and by will give evidence in the present life of this great change by the sacrifices of the justified earthly nature in the interest of membership in the spiritual body of Christ. As the apostle proceeds to say: "Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." And this new-ness of life, if persisted in, will ultimately mean to us the resurrection change and its perfection of life, its crown of life, which the apostle said shall be granted at our Lord's second coming, not only to him, but to all who are in this proper attitude to love his appearing.

Coming to the next verse, which has seemed to so many to strongly emphasize their position respecting water baptism: "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection." How many "Baptists" and "Disciples" have considered this verse a very Gibraltar for their faith! They state that their baptism into water was their "planting" in the likeness of Christ's death, and then reason from this that surely they shall also be in his likeness in the resurrection. But, dear friends, that interpretation is all wrong. That verse has no reference whatever to water baptism, and any who have been deceiving themselves along that line should take it kindly that I awakened them from such delusive hopes.

Think for a moment what it would mean if we applied it to water baptism. It would imply that any one buried into water in the likeness of Christ's death would surely be in his resurrection. That would be a very cheap guarantee to a place in the kingdom and joint-heirship with our Lord'simply water baptism. Surely, dear friends, you know very many who perform the symbol, the water picture of Christ's death, who have never shown any particularly saintly qualities nor manifested as much of the development of the fruits and graces of the Spirit, nor that the love of God was shed abroad in their hearts, nor that they were in any sense of the word of the elect, who are declared to be, in heart at least, copies of God's dear Son. (Rom. 8:29.) Alas, my dear friends, those who hope to get a place in the kingdom, to sit with the Lord in his throne, merely through an immersion in water; those [HG264] who believe that baptism is the door into the church, which is the body of Christ, and the guarantee of a part with him in his millennial reign, will be sadly mistaken. I want to assist in awakening all the wise virgins from the lethargy which misunderstandings of God's word have induced. As the apostle says: "It is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed." It is getting nearer and nearer every day, whether, as claimed by Brother White, there is a thousand years' millennium in between us and that glorious event, or whether, as I believe and teach, our Lord's manifestation in glory is nigh, even at the door.

Permit me to show you that this verse is in full harmony with the preceding verses, and does not in the remotest degree refer to water immersion, but does, in its every particular, refer to immersion into Christ's death'to our fellowship with Christ in his sufferings of this present time, to the extent that we may also be glorified with him.

This expression, "planted together," is a mistranslation which has caused a considerable amount of the prevalent confusion. It should read thus: "For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death we shall be also (united with him) in his resurrection." Nor is this my own unsupported translation. You will find it thus rendered in the Revised Version, the translators of which held nothing in common with my interpretation of the passage.

This increased force, meaning, in respect to the thought of baptism, may be startling to some, and I trust that it will be sufficiently startling to lead you to a fresh examination of the whole subject, and to make sure you have the right baptism which the Lord will be pleased to reward with a share in his kingdom and glory and in the likeness of his Son.

I remind you that our Lord with his own lips gave this interpretation to baptism.

Two of his most zealous disciples, James and John, were brought by their mother to Jesus, with the request, "Grant that these, my two sons, may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" (Matt. 20:20-22). Let us note particularly that our Lord could not have referred here to water baptism, for these two disciples had been with John before our Lord's ministry began, and, again, as Jesus' representatives, they baptized multitudes (John 4:1-2). Oh, no, dear friends; unquestionably the Lord referred to their share in the baptism of death, just as we have already shown you he spoke of his own baptism into death as being not yet accomplished. The symbol was in the past; the actuality was nearly ended, but was not finished until Calvary. So with your baptism and mine into Christ's death, by which we became identified with him and counted as members of his body. It began at the time you made a full consecration of your life with no reservation. It will continue day by day, for, as the apostle says, we are to "die daily" (1 Cor. 15:31). It will finish when you have made a completion of your course with joy and the sacrifices wholly consumed upon the Lord's altar.

In a word, the road to heavenly royalty is through faithfulness to the Lord, to the truth; to the brethren, to the degree of suffering and death. "If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him; if we be dead with him we shall also live with him."

Let us not forget the conditions. It is because the Lord is seeking this little elect company, as the bride of Christ and joint-heir of his Son, that he has invited us, and the necessities of the case make the way a narrow one'so narrow that those who love the world, or father or mother or houses or lands or wife or children more than they love the Lord, will not be counted worthy of him, and those who are ashamed of him and his word of such would he be ashamed.

Hence, as our Lord's faithfulness was tested by his being misunderstood, misrepresented, so it will be with his disciples, for the disciple is not above his Lord. And, again, as the apostle declares, "The world knoweth us not [understands us not, appreciates us not], even as it knew him not."

I remind you again, however, dear friends, that both by our Lord's example and the teachings of the apostles, it is both our privilege and duty to symbolize our consecration to death by a water baptism, in which the administrator represents the Lord. As the candidate gives himself into the hands of the administrator to be buried, and then to be raised, so in our consecration we realize our own insufficiency to either sacrifice ourselves or to bury ourselves in any sense of the word, and we give ourselves and our cause into the hands of our Redeemer, who promises us that he will see to our having the experiences necessary, so long as our hearts are in full consecration to him, and if we are thus faithful unto death he will raise us up at the last day, the millennial day. (John 6:40.) It was thus with the two disciples to whom the Lord spoke: He said: "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" Evidently meaning: "Are you willing to take of the cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said: "Yea, Lord, we are willing, we are able." And Jesus said unto them: "Ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with my baptism, but whether you shall sit on [HG265] the right hand or the left hand is not for me to give. That shall be given to the one who is tested and prepared by my Father." But let us see the point the Lord was guaranteeing: He promised these disciples their seat in the kingdom if they should prove faithful. They wanted to be near their Lord in the kingdom. He told them the conditions on which they could be in the kingdom. They could be in the kingdom by being baptized with his baptism'the baptism he was baptized with'not a baptism for a remission of sins, for, as we have already seen, Jesus had no sins to be washed away. No one, I think, would claim that he had sins to wash away. Therefore, if he referred to water baptism, it could not be thought Jesus should say that they should be baptized with him, because it was a baptism for the remission of sins.

I think it will give great encouragement to us, too, dear friends, when we feel the great importance of this matter; when we see how narrow the w ! y is; when we see how difficult it is; when we see that the Lord says that any one who will be his disciple must be prepared to take up his cross and follow him, or he can not be his disciple.

This would be impossible were it not that the Lord tells us his grace is sufficient for us. He tells us when we present ourselves for baptism we are thus putting ourselves in the Lord's hands. We are laying the matter in his hands. He undertakes to do for us as represented by the administrator in the symbolical water baptism; being buried with him, he buries us and he will raise us up by his own power in the resurrection. What a glorious thing it is, dear friends, that we can indeed put our little all into the hands of our glorious Master, and realize he is sufficient where we are insufficient. But he requires that we shall have the right spirit in the matter; that we shall be full of desire to be baptized in his death, and that those who are not so desiring can not have a share with him in his kingdom.

With this view of the Scriptural teaching on the subject of baptism, that membership in the body of Christ is gained through a full consecration unto death, you will perceive, dear friends, that there may have been, and may be now, some Christian people in or out of the various denominations who have had this, the real baptism into Christ's death, and, therefore, been acceptable to him as members of the church in glory'the Melchisedec priesthood.

You can readily see how there might be many Methodists or Lutherans who had never been immersed in water because of ignorance, through some misunderstanding, perhaps such as we have heard this evening, enough to turn people away from the Bible altogether and all thought of God and all thought of immersion. That is the difficulty with our friends, the Presbyterians and the Methodist denomination. They can not understand preaching of this kind'that if they are not immersed in water they can not get place in the resurrection. We can see how they may have the real baptism of consecration. Such we advise that their ignorance of the symbol has not worked a vitiation of their true baptism, but that so soon as their eyes open to see the proper symbol of death which the Lord has appointed in an immersion in water, the duty and responsibility of obedience will be upon them; and thereafter they shall not expect to make further progress in growth, in grace and knowledge and character-likeness of the Lord, or preparation for the kingdom, except as they shall yield obedience also to the outward form of water baptism. For, if their consecration unto death be genuine, nothing stands in the way of performing the symbol of this after they have realized the symbol to be the will of the Lord and the teaching of his word.

On the other hand, I suggest to all who find themselves deficient in the fruits of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, Christlikeness of character, that they make diligent inquiry within as to whether there is a possibility that theirs was merely the baptism of John and not the baptism into Christ's death. And if they shall so find, my advice would be that they lose no time, but present their bodies living sacrifices to God, holy and acceptable through Christ, and their reasonable service; and that subsequently they symbolize this great transaction and consider that any baptism previously was merely a misunderstood form, of no value whatever.

One Disciple minister said to me some years ago, after hearing my explanation of the Scriptures on this subject, "Brother Russell, I am going to tell you that I have baptized at least two thousand persons in the last twenty years, and I never understood baptism till ten minutes ago." I was glad for him, and I would hope it might be so with some others.

"Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you." Josh. 23:14

"In the smallest and in the greatest affairs of our lives, He has ever watched for our interests.

Every cloud had a golden lining! What, then, shall we render unto the Lord!" R5538 c1, last p c2 top. [HG266] [blank]