Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1889-01-26
Rock Of ages cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.

III. OHe DdptlSn. ms Is not
water baptism. A man may be hap.
tised with water baptism and be lost.
You don't think so; then read
Mathew l6:l6, and you will see that
the Lord himself said so. A man
may he saved who has never been
baptised with water baptism-the
thief on the cross was. But friends
there is baptism that none are ever
lost who are baptiSed with it; none
are ever saved without it. That bap-
tism is the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, and that baptism belongs to
the Church universal. No denomi-
nation has right to claim as its own
exclusive privilege this baptism
whereby the Lord himself baptised
his own people. No denomination
on earth has the power to administer
this baptism, and none has the right
to forbid the Lord to give it unto
whom he pleases. This baptism is
the efficient cause of all experimental
religion on earth. Ify you could find
a church where there are no repent
ings of sin; no prayers for mercy /;
no praisings of God; no humility of
life; no tender love of the brethren;
no kind charities for the poor; no
honesties of living; and no rejoicing
in the Lord, then dear friends would
you find a church destitute of the
baptism of the Holy Ghost; but that
church is also dead church, and no
part Of the living body OF Christ.
Will any Of us dare claim that these
graceS Of the Spirit are TO be found
only in our denomination. and that
all outside our lines of the apparent
visible Kingdom of Christ, is barren
waste and fruitess hypocrisy. Then
dear friends, if we say it from the
heart, that only proves that we our
selves have never been baptised with
the Lords one baptism. Pride, eX-
elusive boastings, censoriOus Judge
ment of the brethren are fruits, not of
y Gods Spirit, but of that spirit that
now worketh in the children of dis
obedience. The fruits of Gods Spirit
are meeknesS, humility, gentleness,
brotherly kindness, charity, and these
are found among the members OF
every denomination. Where the
fruits are, there must the Spirit be al
so. So this one baptism is common
to all, believed in by all, prayed lOr
by all, hoped in by all. The glory OF
no one denomination, but the glory
and the living bond of unity Of the
one Lord. And by this baptism Gods
people every where are being actually
2 washed from the tilthiness of the
flesh, and being made clean against
, the day of the coming of the son
of man, that he may present
l them all before his Father with joy
: a perfected church being unblamablt
: and unreproachable in his sights
: glorious church, having neither spot
: nor wrinkle, nor blemish, nor any
such thing.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism
Now brethren, love, pray for, anc
; cherish your own denomination
Why? Because it is in the bosom O
that denomination, through hel
forms and her ministry, that the ont
y Lord has come to your heart, breath
ing into it the one faith of his people
and baptising that one faith with thu
y. one baptism of the Holy Ghost
;" Again it is through her forms and il
her lab0rs that you express YOU
i hearts love to, faith in, oand obedi
ence to the one King. Surely tina
which is the means through which
" my Lord comes to me, and tOuche
% me with his love, and enriches m,
y with his gifts and through which
. give back to him the tokens of m!
= love, faith, and obedience, ought to b.
" very holy in my eyes.
- But dear brethren, don't let us dis
h honor the Lord, nor grieve his bless
d ed Spirit by growing narrow in on
love, and bigOted in our opinions
y until we can see no beautiful fruits o
d Gods Spirit outside of our own dc
V nomination. Have you the on
o. Lord, the one faith, and the one bap
q tism? so have they. If the Lor,
,r himself is willing to come to them il
,r their forms, and bless them through
"a their ordinances, take care how yo
~ dispise what the Lord himself ha
d touched to bless.
Dear friends, you are not in tn
Kingdom at all. You stand Outsid
and despise all, saying you will hav
n none of any of these sectS. Dca