The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-12-24
CITY INTELLIGENCE.
For Additional Oity Intelligence see FyH. Page. ]
FOLLOWING CHRIST.

FOLLOWING CHRIST.
A Sermon Preached at the First Church
of Christ, Christian Chapel, Twelfth
Street, above Wallace, by q. A. Barr
r tholomew, Pastor, on Sunday, Decem-
ber 23, 1866.
"And he said TO. them all, If sny man will come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his
daily, and follow me."-Luke 0, %.
This expression of the Master has been selected as
Jesus Christ" It is our purpose 70 cal your atten.
tiOn to some things IN which we should all follow
Him who gave His ME that He might LEAD US INTO
joys in His Fathers house. But before doing tins,
we would have you to understand that we can only
follow Him SDRere He has gone.
We cannot follow HIM to tine theatre, the opera,
the ballroom, the billiard.saloon, or the race
Him in smoking cigars, chewingl tobacco, drinking
intoxicating liquors., da ncing, playing checkers,
foolish Conversation for IN these lie never INDUCED
Neither can we follow Him in many of the religious
dan pilgrlmages to Mecca, the Roman Catholic
penance, the infant sprinkling of the Pedobaptist
er's Dench," as means of getting religion" instead
OF that hearty obedience to the authority Of the
hing Of kings required by the Holy SPIRIT, Of the
tuOasauds who, on the eyer-memorable Pentecost,
cIiedOut in agony Of soul "Men aud brethren, what
shall wedOn IfpreacU ers of tue Gospel were con-
tent to follow the leadlnRs OF the spirit of Christ,
instead Of the invent ons OF men, the mnlttudes
that cont inually seeking the way of life would
hear the simple words OF Jesus, He that belieyeth
and is baptized shall be saved;" or of the inspired
in the name OF Jesus Christ Tor the remission of
sins, and you shall receive the GIFT OF the Holy
]. The first thing which we must follow Christ
islmplcit confidence inGod His Father. For with
" faith 1t Is impossible please Him" Heb III 9.
Several passages of Scripture were quoted to show
that Jesus had the most perfect confluence in every
word hs Father uttered as well as T eTerJ thing ne
loved Son, in whom am well pleased" Confidence
in Cod implies G faith thin in hs Is, SSn 5 indeed %
living God is both the beginning and the centre of
the Christian system. The confession OF this truth
secures or us the confession OF our names before the
Father and the anRes of heaven; while he that
believes 1t not shall be condemned.
q Jesus declared that IL was necessary to fulfil all
Righteousness; and, therefore, demanded that John,
the harbnger, should baptize Him.. rnis John did
beneath its waves and forth with raising Him out of
the water. 1t was then and here that Goo first
manner has COD promised to a. knowledge us as His
children, when having publicl confessed our iaith
in His Son, we demonstrate tnat faith by humbly
submitting to His authority. 1t is when we are bap
tized into Jesus Christ that we are brought into the
enjoyment of the benefits OF His death. Rom vi, g.
1t Is when with believing, pentent hearts, we are
baptized in the name, or by the authority OF Jesus
spIt IL s5e whch tSe world % cannot E tire Teceye
John xiv, II. That this act In winch 1t necessary
In water, is affirmed BY the Apostle Paul in the fol.
lowing language - Therefore we are buried with
bim by baptism INTO death" Rom ", Il Buried
sages refer to the "ancent manner of baptzlng BY
immersion can hardly be questioned, since john
w
confess it.
8. As soon as Christ had been immersed the Devil
began to tempt him. No sooner has the Christian
entered upon his new life than his great enemy
begins his efforts to reclaim him to his dark dominion,
out OF which he was cellvered when lie was trans
lated into the kingdom of Gods dear Son. But sus
successfully resisted every temptation. If we would
"come off more than eonquerors through Him that
has loved u.s." we must follow HIM IN the manner
in which He resisted temptation. When Satan
appealed to his appetite, lie sad 1t is written that
man shall NOT live by ad one, by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth OF God" When
HIS love OF riches aud dominion was appealed TO He
said, ut is written, thou shalt worship the Lord
, thy God and Him only shalt thou serve" Wnen
HIS vanity was appealed TO lie said, ''lt Is written,
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" Thus, by
His Sreat enemy Thus by It's use we successfully
repel his assaults But to be able to WELD this nsru
ment we must let the word or Christ dwell In us
richly in all wisdom" But Jesus also resorted to
prayer as a means of resisting temptation. When
tempted to resentment, as when He heard that john
was beheaded; or vanity, when all men sought Him i;
or disbursement, when he saw wealth and inhu.
ence and power arraYed against him, He would re-
tire TO some solitary place and pray. He sometimes
this, and you will surely triumph. We should fol-
low Him in His unseltish interest in Others 1t is
good" We have not space to follow the speaker in
his discussion of this part OF his theme. After the
sermon ended the speaker proceeded to hear the
confession Of candidates for baptism. He stated
that he did not feel at liberty to impose
any other conditions upon persons asking TO
be baptized than hat imposed by tue Holy
the ia TN OF the heart IN the Lord Jesus. He then
requested the candida es to stand up and make the
good confession" This each one did, in the hearing
of the entire audience, in these words:-"1 believe
with all my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son OF
GOd;" after which they were led into the beptistry
and gently buried into the waery grave and raised
to walk in newness of life. This was an occasion
well worth witnessing. The exercises OF the even
cheering songs of praise which the whole cOngre
cation en- gas ged. The services in this church are
always free, and strangers are made to feel at home