The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-01-02
But true to their principlss OF separation
OF church and state they declined It.
BAPTISM AND THE REMISSION OF


BAPTISM AND THE REMISSION OF
SINS.
With all deserence to Mr.. Brannan. his
most serirus difficulty lies in misunder-
standing OF tho phii9zlSly OK salvation.
and being fundamentally wrong. he
interprets the Scripture to suppors his
! theory. The most cu.9ry reader must
note the fact that the PASSAGES be auntss
! prove nothing FOR his theory. take Acts
| IL. 81: Repent aud be oaptissd. every
| one Of you Cor he remission of
s'ns.r Nov. study sha passage. The real
meaning OF these words Is brought to Hight
ia the Goth verse. Then they that gladly
4 rscetved the word were baD.ised- Ncw.
( Is Ii not perfectly tyiis..1t even to law
yer, that these people wh0 had eTucitied
! Christ could n5t nave sl1iiy received tue
| sord' without a orsyictas change ~ heart.
Had they not hesa changed they would
have rejected HIN asitn. This change was
I regeneration. This teSclerarto1 p-ecetied
baEtlsm and, therefore. could not be cpn-
| ditIcaed upon ttat at OF obedience. l
| wish to submit to Mr.. BrannaH two SELF
! evident propositions all truth IS u myth
! The Scripture OF liyln@ truth can not con-
| tradlct itself. Then the conmisslon- as
stafed ID Marx: "tis that beifessth ansf
side by side With tbs sans commission as
stated By Matthew: Go re. therefor. and
teach" The worI teach In the original
| means 'tdiseipler--'-all nations baptisins
them" Now according 10 Matthews state
| ment. discIpleship In the kingdDm OF Christ
| rrecedes baptism. and explains The iuli
significance OF Marks. He THAI belieyeth
ard Is haptised," etc In this ligh. every
passage to which Hr. i3rannan has eftferle
must be explained, Look ~ the apostolic
record in earring out this commission and
We have its Inspired Interpretation, In an
sser to the greatest question that ever
fouad its way into the human heart.
What must I do 10 be savedg' Paul. in
spire,i to answer that very question. said:
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved Now let us follow Mr..
Brennan to another passage Ananias to
Paul: Now why tarriest thou; arise ard
be haptissd and wash away thy sins. No
close and thoughtful student NJ the Scrip
lures could ever nut .dr. Braunan's con-
structlon ON this passage. II he Will take
the pains to read the whole account ne
will find that Paul gave cyidcaces ot
change OF heart and the Whole current q
his HE when he met his Gt.ine Lord. aud
IN the deep contritl0n OF lis rel ertant
soul exclaimed: Lord. %a.t Wit Thou
have me to do2" A NOM MT before there
war In his heart. but now a complete and
unconditional surrs nder u Christ. ami lis
baptism three days later was only ssin-
bolical OF that previous change IL Mr.
Bralnans Interpretation OF this pass2t3'
is correct then is II not q singular TACT
that this same Paul. the greatest thinker
q Ms age and the greatest philosopher Of
ali history. who found his salvation in the |
act OF baptism should never once in the |
frequent rehearsal Of his Christian expc-
rience refer IT, tile fact that baptism w1s |
part of bis salvation. ana is 1t no; stll |
further a singular fact that he should |
neither haptise nor pr aach baptism in his |
explanation Of the plan Of salvation to the |
hea, hen world Never In a single instance |
did be connect baptism with salvation. Hut !
we hear him saying u am sent not -
bsp,lge but to preach the gospel" The |
Romams If to show tia. salvation Is by /
might be by grace Romans xiv Is;
Being justified freely by His grace
through the REDEMPTION which is In Christ
Jesus. Romans ILL., "a; by grace are ye
saved through faith and that. not Of your
selves, Is the gift Of God. "-Ephesians II, s.
! refer to a single other passage--Tsornans
V. Therefore. being Justified by faith.
we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ II was this mighty doc-
trine that eepilvated the heart of Martin
Luther and by which we made Rome to
tremhle to its center and snapped the
chairs of superstition and priestcratt.
God could never fix an arbitrary condi-
tion OF salvation without making it the re-
ward OF merit Whereas Paul says.
Where is boasting then? Ii is excluded.
by what law. OF workI' Nay. but BY the
law OF faitn Therefore we conclude that
II man is ipstified by faith without tue
works OF the law"