The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-06

/ binical teaching he was submerged in 1t,
/ thoroughly and entirely, from head TO foot,
and in that way il was said his old faiths
/ and his old sins were washed away. This
baptism which the Jews had used as a
means OF entrance for pagans into the jew
/ ish church John the Baptist took as a
means of profession of a new life among
/ the Jews, and he said to those who came to
/ him. you need to be cleansed Just as much
/ as the pagans. your faiths are no better
/ than theirs: you need also repentance, and
| they were baptized a token of the thor
oughnesS of their repentance for their past
sins and of their thorough recognition Of q
new life. And when the Christian Church
started it started with this rite of baptism.
| 1t adopted it from John, as John had APP
| parently adopted it from the Jews before
hand. 1t was administered only TO adults,
and only to them on confession of their
faith. II was the way in which man con-
fessed his faith in Christ, a solemn, SYM
Dolical expression of his personal faith in
Christ. But as the church grew it became
dissatisfied with only allowing the man TO
come into the church. The man wished to
bring his children. His children were born
into Judaism. He wished his children to be
born into Christianity And thus the theory
or tradition or conception which had gath
cred about circumcision were passed over
into baptism, and the infant Christian was
baptized as the infant Jew had been cir
cumcised, and this baptism was made the
door of admission to the Christian Church,
as circumcision had been made the door
of entrance into the Jewish Church And
this was not only made door of
admission into the Christian Church.
be regarded as belonging to the new Israel
just as no who was not circumclsed
could be known as belonging to the old
Israel, but it was further regarded in the
middle ages, and is still regarded, not only
by the Roman Catholic Church, but by a
considerable party in the Episcopal Church.
as the means itself of transformation of
character. 1t is expressed by the doctrlnal
phrase. 'baptismal regeneration the DOC
trne that one is by that baptism changed
and altered in spirit and in heart; that one
thus becomes child of God as well as
member Of the visible church
CHARACTERISTICS OF JUDAISM.
"rhus the rite of circumcision has come
down in a changed form, just as the temple
rites and the temple priesthood has come
down in a changed form from old Mosaism
to the present day. The third characteristic
of Judaism was the setting apart of certain
days for special sacred observance. Some or
them, few, were fast days. More of them
were feast DAYS. There were certain seasons
set apart to festivities in thanksgiving to
God. Some of them were weeks of festivi-
ties not merely days, but the greatest day
and the most important of all was the SAP
bath day, the seventh gay 90 i az n Is.lse
was it regarded that it found It's place
among the Ten Commandments. AT nrsI |.
was simply a rest day, nothing else. You
must keep this day apart from all othe5
DAYS and you must not do any work and
Won must not compel anyone else to DO any
work, there must be one day Iree
element and worry. of human life;
But when this day existed. the if
priests made. very legitimately, use OF ~ II
for temple service, and the prophets maze,
very legitimately, use of 1T for religious IN
struction and the Levites, travelling from
place to place, made legltlnate Use rad T II,
there grew up additions 10 TINS simple . low
and celebrations to this simple law, SO tnat
when Christ was upon the earth. 1t nad De-
come a burdensome day instead of a free
dav A man could not carry puIueu On
that day. If he laid down upon ms oi Hills
mat which served as a bed, and was cured,
he could not rise and carry his PED OF niue
mat he must leave it where 1t was WnsLe
It laid to be carried OH anu 6e conld go
on. There was only a certain ulslaHce "llci
a man might walk on the Sabbath Gay.
There was a great variety OF regulations
and laws. some of them of the most abb
surd character. The Sabbath Gay nad t mus
become burdened with obligations tr ma
did not belong to it in the Ten ConlLnet l.+
ments certainly. And this seventh Gay
passed over with the rest OF Judaism INTO
the Christian Church: and the same .ia men men
a Christian altar and a Christian temple,
and the same men who said there Is a
Christian circqmf bha}h s ana at first
the two Sabbaths were kept-the sap
bath day because it was jewish, ana tne
first day of the week because II was I ,ne
day of Christ's resurrection, and the ms
ciples could not forget the celebration OF
that day on which Christ rose from the
"A
and the Jewish element less, the first day
OF the week gradually took the place or the
seventh day. The Jewish day fell out ana
the first day came in to take its place. the
notion got abroad in the church. and exists
to the present day, that this hrst Gay OF
the week transformed and changec from
the seventh day. is a perpetual obligation,
as a. Jewish law transferred to Christendom
reinforced by Christ as a Christian law
And part of the Christian Church-a very
small part. ii is true-more logically than
the rest say No, the Jewish law remains
still in force, and it is the seventh day that
remains sacred, and not the first, and we
shall never have a true Christianity. we
shall never have true Sabbath, never have
q true religion. until we get pack TO the
Sunday. is a, pagan day -, It's very name
shows it to be pagan. Thus, there nave
come into the Christian Church with trans
formations and changes these three charac-
teristics of the Jewish Church: the priest
hood and it's sacrifices; the circumcision as
means of entrance into the cnurcn, and
the Sabbath as a special day of observance.
REPUDIATED BY PAUL.
NOW, Paul, in the epistle to the Gala
tians repudiates this whole Jewish system.
He repudiates absolutely and totally. root
and branch every part of it. He repudiates
the idea that the Christian is a priest, that
the minister is priest, or that he has re-
ceived any ordination of any kind what
eyer, on any authority whatever. He re-
pudiates the idea that circumcision is Of
binding force or of spiritual value. And he
repudiates the idea that one day is sacred
above another day. He begins by repudlat-
ing very strongly the notion that he has re-
ceived any authority from the apostles and
these Judaizers in the early church criticlse
him and carp at him and would have set
him aside. They SAID, you are not an apos-
tie, you have not received ordination, you
are setting sadie the law, you are repudiat-
ing Mosaism, you are repudiating the laws
and you have no authority. You do not
pretend Zone must construct his argument,
it is true, from replies in the epistles), you
do hot pretend to have any divine authority,
you discard the temple and the service and
the priesthood; you do not pretend to have
any authority for setting aside the circum-
cision the ancient sacred rite that has come
down to us with many changes; you do not
pretend to have any authority for desire
garding the Sabbath, which is Incorporated
in the Ten Commandments, ana which the
prophets attach such force and weight TO-
And Paul will have no compromise; Paul
will meet them fairly and he does. And he
replies, practically, it is true.
I'm the first place. he says, did not re-
ceiVe any authority from the apostles, IN the
very opening sentence of his letter. Neither
my commission. L received 1t from the same
source from which Peter received 1t; re-
ceiVed it from the same source from which
James and the other brethren at Jerusalem
received it; L received it directly from Jesus
Christ; did not take it from any one else.
And he meets with equal force and vigor
all that is said about the circumcision.
Circumcision profiteth it nothing, he says;
and uncircumcision protteth nothing
everything depends on a new creature IN
Christ Jesus And he repudiates the OBJ
servance of days. l am ashamed OF you, he
SAYS, you who observe days.
WELCOMED BY GALATIANS.
.sITa had come TO Galatia preachiner the