to die for the sins of the people, as Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said to the chief priests and Pharisees in council, "Ye know nothing at all, nor consider, that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not; and this spake he, not himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together the children of God that were scattered abroad."

Jesus himself said, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this commandment have I received of my Father." And although on the night he was betrayed, he began to be very sorrowful and went out and prayed fervently three times, saying, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done,”— yet it was the Father's command and will that he should die for the sins of the people and so learn obedience by the things which he suffered, and by which he brought in everlasting righteousness; so that as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

If Jesus had not obeyed this definite command to lay down his life as a sacrifice for sin, if he had failed in this one act of obedience, he would have failed like the first Adam, and all his other good works would have counted for nothing. Sin entered the world by one act of disobedience, and sin is taken away again by one act of obedience on the part of the Lord Jesus. And it is also by one act of obedience on our part that we are permitted to avail ourselves of the benefits that have been purchased for us by the death of Christ. When we understand and believe the mystery of the gospel, then the command of the everlasting God is to be baptized into the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified, through the faith that is in him.

The Lord's name is placed in the ordinance of baptism, and therefore when a man obeys God, his name is called upon him in that act of obedience, and there is no other way under heaven for a man to avail himself of that name, and the benefits accruing therefrom, than through the divinely appointed ordinance of baptism, for we are baptized into the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins by God's express command. Therefore all who attempt to obtain remission of sins by any other means, or in any other way, will utterly fail to obtain what they seek for.

The Mode of Baptism

There is but one scriptural mode of baptism, and that is by immersion. The original word in the Greek employed to express this ordinance was not translated, but Anglicized and called baptism, instead of being correctly translated immersion. It was by immersion that John baptized. This required a sufficient quantity of water into which the body of the person might be conveniently buried, and so it is said, "John also was baptizing in Ænon, near to Salim, because there was much water there; and they came and were baptized" (John 3:23). The reason, therefore, why John was baptizing in this

place was because there was much water there, and they did not carry this water to the people to baptize them with it, but the people came to the water and were baptized. Again, John baptized in the river Jordan, for there was much water there also, and the people came and were baptized, and so it is recorded, “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." That the person was buried in the water, and then came up out of the water, is manifest, for it is said by Matthew (3:16), "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water." Again it is said of Philip and the eunuch (Acts 8:38), "And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the spirit caught away Philip."

If anything further is required to satisfy the mind of an honest inquirer after the right ways of the Lord, it may be seen in what the ordinance itself is a figure of. It, when correctly understood, represents death, burial, and the resurrection of the dead, as Paul says to the Romans (6: 3-5), “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 his 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." Wherefore he says also to the Colossians (2:12), 'Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead.”

Therefore, as when a person dies to sin and is buried in water, and rises from the water free from sin, having buried the body of the sins of the flesh, -so also when the righteous die, they are buried in the grave, and when they are raised from the dead, they come forth immortal, free from sin, having left the body of the sins of the flesh behind. When a man who believes the Gospel performs the figure and shadow of the true, by being baptized into Christ, he is then freed from the sins that are past, through the mercy and forbearance of God. But while his sins are thus forgiven, the law of sin and death is not extinguished in his mortal body; but when the righteous die and are buried in the earth, and are raised again from the dead at the last day, they will then come forth free from the law of sin and death which in the days of their flesh existed in their members, bringing forth fruit unto. death.

A person who was infatuated with this modern system of sprinkling which they falsely call baptism once said to me boastingly, "When you baptize a person, do you apply the man to the water, or the water to the man, to baptize him?" I replied, "First answer me this, When a man dies, do you apply the man to the grave, or the grave to the man, to bury him?" He said no

more.

Some years since, while Archbishop Hughes of New York yet lived, there was a discussion between himself and Mr. Brooks, editor of the New York Evening Express, touching the issues existing between the Catholic and Protestant churches, which was published in the columns of that Journal. Among the questions raised was that of baptism; the Archbishop admitted

that baptism by immersion was the method by which the ordinance was administered in the days of Christ and his apostles, but claimed that by virtue of the power conferred upon the Bishops of Rome, as successors of Peter, they had the right to change the ordinance, which they did, to sprinkling, instead of immersion; and he charged that the Protestants had stolen this ordinance of sprinkling from them. And we may add, that if the charge be true, they got nothing of value when they stole it, for it is only a base counterfeit of the genuine.

But the true form of baptism by immersion is of no value to any one unless it is preceded by a belief of the mystery of the Gospel as Paul preached it, which was made known to all nations by the command of the everlasting God for the obedience of faith. Jesus said, "Preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved." And therefore, if a man believe another gospel, baptism would be of no value to him. He might indeed be passed through the water, but he would not be scripturally baptized. To conscientiously believe a lie, and be baptized, will not benefit any one. To be regenerated, a person must conscientiously believe the truth and obey it by being baptized into Christ.

But some will say, How much must a man believe before he is baptized? To say the least, he must believe the Gospel, as Jesus said, "Preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Paul, who was sent to the Gentiles, preached the mystery of the Gospel to all nations for the obedience of faith; therefore a man must believe and understand the mystery of the Gospel before he can be scripturally baptized into the name of the Lord. We have just proved that this consists in the doctrine of immortality manifested in a material body of flesh and bones at the resurrection of the dead, either by translation, or resurrection. We must believe and entertain the hope set before us, which is salvation by resurrection; we must believe the things that Philip preached to the Samaritans, of whom it is said, Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ to them," and the manner in which he preached Christ unto them is seen by what followed, for it is said, “But when they believed Philip preaching the things of the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women."

THE THINGS CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

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Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." Again he said, “Ye are from beneath, I am from above; ye are of this world, I am not of this world." His kingdom is from above, from whence he himself came. His kingdom is an invisible, angelic kingdom; therefore unless a man is himself born again. of the spirit (that is, himself made immortal), he can not see, neither can he enter the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God comes not like other kingdoms, which come by observation so that you may see their rise and progress; but the kingdom of God, when it comes in power, comes as quick as the lightning; neither will they have time to say "Lo here," or "Lo there," for "behold the kingdom of God is among you "; and when it comes, it will consist only of immortal persons, the least of whom, being immortal, will be greater than the greatest of the prophets while they are still in the flesh,

This immortalized body, consisting of the sons and daughters of the Almighty, with Jesus Christ as their Elder Brother, First-born, and Chief, will constitute a ruling power in the earth which will break all the kingdoms of the earth in pieces like a potter's vessel, and rule them with a rod of iron for a thousand years, during which time God's will will be done in the earth, as it is done in heaven.

To inherit and to enter into this kingdom of God when it comes, has been the hope of the truly righteous in all ages, although it was hid from the great body of mankind, both Jew and Gentile, during the past ages of the world, but was made known more generally in the times of Christ and his disciples and apostles. Even then Jesus spake to the masses in parables and dark sayings, and the apostles themselves did not make these things so clear as not to require a good deal of study and reflection to rightly comprehend and understand them. “The wise shall inherit glory, while shame shall be the promotion of fools." "The wise," says Daniel, "shall understand, but the wicked shall not understand." The righteous, therefore, should not murmur at the afflictions and revilings of the children of the flesh in the present time, seeing they have the immortality, the glory, and the honor of the kingdom of God awaiting them, to be entered upon when they awake from the dust at the coming of Christ, for Paul has said, "Our light afflictions which are but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, while the things which are not seen are eternal." The eternal and invisible things of God come not at death, but at the resurrection of the dead. We must sleep in the dust of the earth till then.

THE THINGS CONCERNING THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST

When Jesus first came into the world, he was made of the seed of Abraham and David, according to the flesh; that is, as this flesh was mortal and sinful flesh, so was his. This fact the apostles were very particular to enforce, as they knew that here the workers of iniquity would stumble; and so Paul said to Timothy, "Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David, was raised from the dead, according to my gospel." "Many deceivers," says John to the Elect Lady, "are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh; this is a deceiver and an antichrist." Now Jesus stood related to two kinds of flesh, first the flesh of Abraham and his brethren; second, the flesh of angels, or the flesh of immortal men, and Paul says most emphatically, "For verily, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham." It behoved him to be made in all things like unto his brethren; as his brethren were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same.

But when Christ came into the world the second time by resurrection from the dead, then it must be carefully noted that he came, not in the nature of Abraham's earthy body, but in the nature of angels, in the spiritual, the immortal nature. He was then quickened into life and born from the dead by the Spirit, as Paul says in the preface to his letter to the Romans, "He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness

by the resurrection from the dead, even as it is said also in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son; this day (the day of his resurrection) have I begotten thee." Again when the Father bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, the second time by resurrection, he saith of him at that time, "Let all the angels of God worship him."

Now in reply to the question, How was Christ raised up from the dead, and with what body did he come? there are some who greatly err, and say he was raised mortal and came with the earthy body. This we should have to designate as the second antichrist, for if, when Christ came first in the earthy and mortal nature like his brethren (that is, came in sinful flesh),—if to deny that and say that he came in holy or angelic nature was antichrist, then when he died and rose again with holy and angelic nature, to deny that and say that he came again from the dead mortal and in the earthy body, is simply the doctrine of antichrist in its second form, and is an error as bad as the first.

A person, therefore, to be scripturally baptized manifestly must not hold errors which like a canker would in the end neutralize the truth. God looks upon the heart; it requires a good and honest heart, enlightened in the truth, to be accepted of him. The theory of the immortality of the soul, as it is commonly believed in the sectarian world, is wholly incompatible with the true Scripture doctrine of immortality, and like gangrene, it eats out the truth and neutralizes and destroys the hope set before us, and must therefore be ignored, and disbelieved by all those who wish to render obedience to the faith, and secure the true immortality, which is offered as a reward for welldoing and is to be obtained at the resurrection of the dead.

Again the things concerning the name of Jesus Christ comprehend also what Peter said to the thousands present on the day of Pentecost, namely, "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." A man must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be baptized intelligently into that name for remission of sins. This doctrine we have treated of quite at length elsewhere in these pages.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE MYSTERY

The Apostle says to the Ephesians (3:8), "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." The fellowship here referred to, is the union of Jews and Gentiles in one body in Christ, in the one hope of the calling. Therefore Paul says to the Ephesian converts to Christianity, "Remember that ye, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometime were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ; for he is our peace who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even