St. Paul daily globe., 1893-01-30

ing Tor Him TO come artef JOn0-a klnQ
OF continuation OF what John had be-
gun-would not have accepted Him
| without the sign of the water baptism.
1t was concession on His part to the
crude ideas of those He came to uplift,
just as putting clay upon the eyes of
the blind man was concession Of their
expectation of seeing
Some Outward Method
of healing. But we understand, of
course, that the healing was by spirit
ual means; that the clay contains no
healing balm for blindness, else the
blind might avail themselves of 1t and
see. Jesus said of His water baptism,
Suffer it to be so now," and immedi-
ately turned His back upon it and re-
ceived the baptism of the Spirit. We
should understand this lesson, knowing
that material water is no more neceS-
sary for repentance than material
dove is for regeneration.
And the Holy Ghost descended in
bodily shape like dove upon Him.
John, iii. %.
Baptists also find strong argument
in these words of Jesus: Except a
man be born of water and of the Spirit.
he cannot enter the kingdom of God"
| But the meaning of this passage is that
|
and the spiritual birth, he cannot enter
the kingdom. Seess Eph. ". % and 26:
"Christ also loved the church, and
gave Himself for 1t that He might
sanctify it and cleanse 1t with the
washing of water by the word" This
! cleansing water then means the word of
truth, even as He once said to His dis
ciples. Now we are clean through the
word | have spoken unto you" Paul
| soon came to realize the mockery of
| outward types, saying: "For Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel" He knew the water baD
| tism by its fruits, one of which is to
! divide men into contentious factions.
Every one of you sayeth lam OF Paul,
and | of ApolIos, and | Of Cephas, and
/ of Christi : 81 thank God that
L baptized none OF you but Crispus and
Gaius, lest any should Say that l had
| baptized in mine own name" And
/ finally read |. Pet, ii. 21: Baptism doth
also now save us (not the putting away
of the filth of the flesh, but the answer
| of a good conscience toward God by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ"
| Now let me ask you to take that last
| quotation, Qeaving out the pareptheSiS),
Baptism doth also now save us by
! the resurrection of Jesus Christ"
The whole of salvation is implied III
| these words, the new birth is to expert
| ence that resurrection OF Christ. Oh,
| Christian, struggling on with evil fight
ingS within and without, listen to the
! sweet words Of living truth, which is
declared in the world today as in the
/ days of Jesus aud the apostles! You
/ are all struggling to attain unto the
| divine image, you seem to see it fallen
| and Qefaced. and it is that
| Fallen and Defaced Image
that you are trying to exalt and per-
| feet: you are trying to breathe life into
| the nOstrils of death. You are trying
| to make evil good. But the divine in
man has never fallen. 1t could not. 1t
| is there, upright and spotless. Saliva
| ton is to reSurrect it. Find all the
| Scriptural passages about reSurrecting
| the Christ and see if you will not un-
| derstand that this baptism by the res
direction of Jesus Christi means that
| this Christ is within and must be
| brought out as your eternal spiritual
| identity? Iurn from that fallen image
! of flesh and carnal mind, for God is not
f! its father. Jesus said to it, God is not
your father; We are of your
father the devil'' (eviD. And that is
what you will finally understand, that
to evil sense alone. You will know
your divine being 10 be the spiritual
| and perfect likeness of God and thus
lose the present apprehension Of your
self, even as Jesus said, "Ye must be
born again" That which is born of
spirit is spirit.'
Orthodoxy is striving to reach holi-
ness, Is longing and waiting for the bap-
tism Of spirit, and will not believe that
divine science is the spirit of truth.
They wonder why evil 80 fetters them,
for they truly desire and earnestly pray.
with drops OF agony. for the baptism of
the Spirit and receive it not. The sad
truth is they are cherishing within their
own hearts that belief which is just the
opposite of the Spirit of good. Although
Jesus said TO material sinful man. ''God
is not your father" they insist that God
is the father of the sinner; that Is. of
sinful sense; and so cling to this sense,
imagining IT to be the soul fallen from
its high estate through sin. This sense
they hug closely. praying God to spirit
uaize it. But it Is the very veil that
hides the spiritual. the eternal and the
true man OF Gods creating from them.
This veil must be rent. And how plainly
Paul explains this, saying: ENTER into
the hOliest by the blood of Jesus, by
new and living way which he hath con-
secrated for Us through the veil, that is
to say, his flesh. h."-HebrewS X, 20.
1t is the spiritual diScernment which
looks through the flesh and through
evil and sees their nothingneSs, that
really destroys evil. Without that
discernuent evil cannot be destroyed to
man. He may long and pray and strive
for holiness, but as long as he imagineS
evil to be something, to him it will be
something, and the biggest something
he knows. Oh. ye who long for un-
mixed good, do not longer mix evil with
good and then Sigh over the fruits. Re-
member in the day that ye partake of
the knowledge Of both good and evil we
shall die; and ye are surely dead to soul
when awake to sinful sense. The knoWl-
edge of good only, that is, the knowl- |
edge that good is the only intelligence,
mind life, will destroy or blot out evil,
whether Of sin, sickness or death.
Orthodoxy Clings
to the human man as the man of Gods |
creating, when, in fact, there is nO like |
ness OF God in it. The body is itself |
wholly senSuouS, evil. Paul said there |
was no good thing in it, but that the |
law of spirit. The human mind also is
liOt JilG llldll oGIlNcS tIOIl
God, it is enmity against Him, and its
highest quality, wisdom, is foolishness
to God. Orthodoxy works aSsiduously
to draw to itself the on-profeSsors of
religion, but the efforts to get them into
the churches are less and less success
ful. And the lives of many they do
draw in are not at all satisfactory, They
are church members, and when that it
said, all is said. The truly sincere la
ment this fact.and long 10 remedy,it but
know not how.
On the other hand, Christian scien-
fists labor quietly and with perfect trust
in the All-Good TO lift men from death
unto life. They do not tell a man he is
the fallen image of God, but that the
image is ever unfallen, sinless, just as
perfect in him as I'D any child of God,
Just as pure; that the sensual body OF