Morning journal and courier., 1890-03-24
AT CALVARY BAPTIST CHURon.
m Eloquent and Powerful Discourse

AT CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH. | A n Eloquent and Powerful Discourse 1
 by Rev. Mr. Poteat.
 Al Calvary Baptist church yesterday fore noon Rev. MT. Potest preached one of his | able and eloquent discourses. It was from the text Romans vi, third and fourth verses: l
 "Know ye not that So many of us as were bap- tiEsd into Jesus Christ were baptized into his deaths into death; that like as Christ raised up from the dead the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in the newness Of life."
 In opening the pastor spoke of teaching by object lessons. Baptism was an object les son. The Lords supper proclaims the Lords death. Baptism sets forth the believers death and burial and resurrection. He spoke also of the fellowship of the believer in Christ's death. r
 Buried with him in baptism-strong, strange words. They mean (a) that we who have been baptized are in some ssnse dead. Baptism is our burial; and (b) that we are buried with Christ. Our death, therefore, is death which we share with him. Con- pare Galatians ii, 20, and v, 24. "I am cru ci6ed with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which now live in the aesh live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me-" "And they that are Christ's have crucided the flesh with the af- factions and lusts thereof"
 From this last text it is plain that the death we die with Christ is @ death of the flesh to lusts and passions-a dying out of ralation to the sphere in which these work and rule; as if 8 man should die out of New York and come to New Haven, considering xI- c. -rSa ~l &1A 1okf very good city.
 You know that in the east the notion is that souls transmigrate; they live now in beasts and now in man, and this is the req son that beasts are sacred in these countries. I suppose that may account for the large number of snakes in India. In that country there are some 30, 900 people killed by snake bites every year. They will not kill beast or snake, for if they do they think they will kill the soul that lives in them. They think that the soul is passing through these lower experiences toward higher state of existence, and SO this transmigrAtion goes on and on until the soul migrates into the hea- ven of Indian philosophy. Take that figure and apply here; it is as though this meaning of the apostle was that a soul that is now an angel remembers the time when 1t was doomed to live the life of beast or snake. The apostle says: "I died out of the toad; died out of the snake; I now live in new life." The figure could not be wrong, and you can see the force of it. A believer who has been baptized in the Christ dieth the death of the Christ, namely: That he is dead to sin, and is put down under the ground as regards his former life, and he is corpse he lived is fit only to be eaten of worms, and 50 the corpse of it is buried. Baptism there- l fore symbolizee in most striking manner | this death of the believer to sin; the death | of his old life of obedience to the impulses of
 the flesh; to the lower impulses of his being.
 It is not only that he does not respond to
 these impulses; he does not feel them; he is
 dead ss far as they are concerned.
 l The only way to check these old impulses
 is to bury them, and he has placed them
 under ground. The corpse of them moulders l in the grave, and is eaten of worms.
 l But baptism means more than death to | sin; it means not only the burial of the old ! life, it means also a resurrection to new
 life, for we read of Christ that he died and rose again. The death of Christ, you will
 observe, was not the ending of his life, but
 was only change in the form of it.
 The common caterpillar presents an ap' | illustration:
 | He has lived his life as a caterpillar, and
 is tired of it; at least he has reached his ma
 turity in that state. Now let us watch him
 as he spins the silken threads, enveloping
 himself in his silken covering: It is hil winding sheet. He winds himself and winds
 himself, and makes 1t more and more com
 pact. He is dying. As a caterpillar he will | be seen no more. He goes into the grave oi the chrysalis, and thsre the chrysalis lies, o1
 perhaps it hangs from leaf, and apparentl,
 no life is there. Bye and bye you will ses
 certain faint movements on the surface ol
 this chrysalis; and watchl have stooG
 watching as these movements became more
 distinct. more pronounced. By and bye thu chrysalis would break, and there would
 slowly emerge fragile, fairy-like wings. H' | is coming out. The latter part of that sam'
 day you will see him drinking the sweetness
 from all the flowers in the garden. He goel
 into the grave, but he comes out again; ant
 he comes out to drink the sweetness of dod'
 paradise.
 That is just the meaning of the text
 "Liks as Christ was raised up from the deat
 by the glory of the Father, even 30 we als'
 shall walk in the newness of life."
 The death and resurrection is but the be
 ginning of new life. The caterpillar doel
 not drink the nectar of the long cuppet
 honeysuckle, he does not fly on the wings o the wind, but the butterfly does Just q
 Jesus Christ changed the form of his life ii
 his death and burial, 80 has the catepilla
 changed the form of his life.
 The apostle says: "For if we have beer
 planted together in the likeness of his death
 we shall be also in the likeness of his resur
 rection." This Is the meaning: If we hav' grown together with him-that is, witt
 Christ-in the similitude of his death an(
 burial, we shall also grow together with hin
 in the similitude of his resurrection; ana that does not mean our bodily resurrection |, If we die with him we shall live with hin also. This new life which the apostle live in Christ is as the new life which the cater
 pillar lives as the butterfly. He says: .' died, but lived again; live a new life il the son of God" So also with his followers they are raised to a newness of life.
 Now let it be said that all this Is an inwar, . experience; it is simply a religious expert ence. You will hear people talk about tn
 "sacrament of baptism" that 1t is "one c
 the seven sacraments," etc. The Ne,
 Testament knows nothing of this. Bay tism is not sacrament, you cannot wash you l. heart by putting water on your body. A man stands on the street, and he re
 fleets that his life has not been what ought to be, and he remembers all the swee B restraints of the home out of which b , came, and he says, "I will start afresh an I will give myself to Christ" Right ther s he dies; standing on the street he dies. Ths l is, he dies to this matter of indulgence to th
 flesh. He not only dies, but he emerges 1T Q to new life. Baptism is a form that se' that forth with clearness, that is all. Bar , tism symbolixes all this. It does not reall s accomplish all this; he does nc f actually leave his sins in the wate v but it is as though, in the fgur he did it. Baptism, then, is Q form that se : forth in clear and impressive way an il 2 ward and spiritual experience. Every bal tism, therefore, is a funeral. It is like tt . funeral of a Christian, it is joyful occasion . It is not @ sad occasion, we do not weep an ' mourn. We gather about the grave-th y time watery grave-we sgather about vii g gladness. We are so sure that the burial of u T old self which we knew Is to be followed b a rew life which shall spring in @ new for 2 that we are glad to witness the burial. W E are glad to bury under the watery elemen + those who are raised again in a new life Christ Jesus.
 I wish to say to those people who ha, '. trusted in Christ and have not been baptize What are you doipga You are keeping u @ old corpse above ground. If were in yol ' place would get it out of sight ss quick Q I could. When people die they are place s under the ground. That is where they shou '' be.
 :. When a man has, in his inmost SO died to that old life of obedience to the flsl g to which he was formerly alive and has re ognized a new master, then he wants to tai T that old life and bury it.; put 1t somewhe out of his sight. Baptism puts 1t in ii ure down under the water. He then lives - new lifa