Show philosophy of baptism from fro m the weeley enquirer the fourth article of our faith reads we believe that these ordinances are first faith in the lord je jeus jesus us christ second repentance third baptism by immersion for the remission of sins na fourth laying on of hands for the gifton gift of the holy ghost now kow the part that I 1 wish more especially to bring before my readers this morning is baptism we know that baptism is ne necessary ceary although it maybe may be from the mere statement of our savior to nicodemus who came to jesus by night to be taught in which jesus gave as an explanatory statement except a man be born off of the water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of god ged why should god put an obligation upon us Is it reasonable that he should require a ceremony remany ce to be performed or a token to be given let us bring the argument down to ourselves and say first in mans dealings with his fel does he be have to have a token to enter into a compact he inevitably does e g if you wish a man to work for you you form an agreement if vou wish to borrow some money you sign a note or give your word it may be written or oral it may le be simply a sanction by the nod of the head on your part but there must be a token which is understood and accepted by the other party yow now if this be the case in the dealing of gods children with each other can we not suppose that god deals with his children the same as they deal with each other true we may say he knows when we want t to 0 serve him certainly but we would not know when he sanctions it unless we know that by complying with some ordinance our sins are remitted and we are a member of the church a candidate for the kingdom of god now why be selected baptism as this token is the question which now confronts us christ used the expression born of the water let us see it if baptism can be likened unto a birth in order that we may see the analogy clearly we will refer to the infant previous to its birth and while in in its mothers womb when it lives in the element of water and is nourished by the generous tide of life which course through her veins at birth that life which as connected with the mother is severed the offspring comes forth from the womb from the element of water and breathes the air which then becomes essential to its existence it is born into this world the likeness in a general way between this natural birth and christian baptism is sufficiently obvious in both instances the ier sons are brought from one element into another from the water in which they existed into the atmosphere we may continue this illustration a little farther and we see how bow the love of the parents is ia manifested it at the advent of birth just so may we say god rejoices when one of his children is born bom into the kingdom there is id more joy over one sinner that is saved than over ninety nine just persons the next simile to which I 1 wish to call your attention is founded on the passage therefore we are buried with him unto death that like as christ was raised from the dead even so BO we also should walk in newness of life by the processor proc essof immersion our bodies adelaid are laid d down aw n under the water for I a moment which envelops us as a watery grave then we are brought forward to walk in a newness of life 1 in fact we have undergone a change which marks the distinction between the corrupt sinner and the pure in heart not net that our sins are washed away by the water any more than man is turned from mortality to immortality by the earth in which he be is is laid the next verse of the same chapter of romans brings us face to face with another analo analogy y which I 1 wish to speak of as I 1 believe it fits brur our purpose it reads as follows for we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall also be in the likeness of his bis resurrection can we not noc say we are planted in the water the seed is buried in the earth and the plant embryo after being nourished by the original seed springs forth as it were a new plant and breathes the breath of life just as man comes forth anew I 1 say now new because he is now new into the kingdom of god in conclusion eon elusion I 1 will ask what other element could god have chosen that would have satisfied and convinced his children especially the ma majority bority who are ignorant of the idea of purifying and becoming cleaner in his sight than that of water T la Is not water the cleansing element of the universe sef god uses it to purify his domain man wies uses it to purify parity himself and his bis domain and to free himself from the stains of toil in summing up our points we come to the conclusion that there had to be a token between man and god that this token might havo have been any one of an innumerable number berof of things that go god d chose the one which would best convey the idea of the object of baptism and its relation to man and god W 0 A |