The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-01-15

sell III action ana II Will uIS- bIdAG Il
demand and it will grow. Behold tn
| working of this principle within US
The love of sin tempts us to evil. w
deny it expression in deed Thereby WI
choke it and hasten its death. Like
wise a good impulse arises. Repressed
| it dies. Expressed, it strengthens anC
we speak of growing in grace.
In the light of the foregoing let ms
repeat that baptism properly expresses
a great heart emotion. Ones turning
| to God is the greatest step he ever
takes. Such step can not be worthily
taken without great emotion. What
! action at this point could better satisfy
| human nature s craving than one pat
| termed after the most solemn anC
| browning incident in Christ s earth life
and which was itself surcharged with
the spirit which is Christianity ideal
3. 1t is also always true that love
| seeks to express its sense of oneness
with the object loved and to deepen
that sense. Romeo and Juliet die to-
gether for no other purpose. Evange-
line sits by nameless grave thinking
that perchance her long-sought lover
rests beneath it's sod. Then a longing
seiZes her to slumber beside him. Why
For the same reason that Romeo and
ulIeJ uIo
Christ drew unto himself the world s
love by reason of that spirit which
shines out most resplendent in his
death, burial and resurrection. Who
ever loves him as he ought will never
fail to seek a deepening and an express
sion of His sense of oneness with Him.
How do it better than in symbolic
way-lie down in the grave with him
and rise with Him? All, How well
those of us who have been baptized re-
member the joy we had in the sense of
our oneness with our Savior in connec
ton with our baptism. How His sane
tity seemed to be shared by us, and
how we felt ourselves to be indeed new
creatures.
4. Baptism meets a volitional need
by serving as an act of dedication.
Faith and repentance are invisible do
ings within our psychic natures. Con-
fessiOn is the external act correspond |
ing to faith. Baptism is the external
act completing repentance. When the !
prodigal son said, 81 will arise and go
to my father he purposed dedication
as a hired servant. But, the act of ded |
IcatlOn was to come later. When a |
young man and young woman become ,
what we call engaged" they purpose |
% ueNlcdI6 themselves as nus
band and wife. But the dedication
loesn t take place until the time of the
Say what you will about the
ceremony being only form,
he truth remains that in this their re-
ations to each other, their lives and
heir habits are radically changed.
Reservations of the greatest import
lnce are removed and obligations of
he most far-reaching nature assumed.
Tell me that the marriage means moth
ng to those who have previously
pledged themselves to love till death
md | ii doubt whether you know man s
leart, his mind, his will So also Of
Baptism. Repentance is the engage
nent of the soul with God. Baptism is
he marriage, or appropriate act of ded-
cation.
But before closing, I must address
ayself to the question, "What is
aptism9''
L. In the light of the foregoing it
ertainly can not be limited to INNER
ion. It is not simply an outward act.
| man may fall into the water and be
But this is an accident and
oesn't constitute baptism. It lacks
he proper mind content. Or, an cpl
optic while in a fit might be immersed
y some companion, thinking to help
i'm. Yet for the same reason he could
OF be considered as baptized. And, as
: seems to me, this lack of mind con-
emit is also true of helpless babes
hey are void of the intellectual, affec-
lonal and volitional activity which
hould accompany obedience to the or !
nance. Nothing can be baptism in
ne New Testament sense that is not {
roaaHoH hu foifh
2. But must baptism include INNER
Ion9 answer, yes. Nothing offered
l lieu of it symbolizes burial and
Change the form and the
;rlptural symbolism is gone. Again, I I
nswer, yes. In some Scriptures it is
Explicitly stated that "they' went q
own into the water or came up out of
he water, they baptized in Jordan, in I
alter, etc, not with water, as the King t
ames' version would have it. Such
assages point to immersion. Even
lose passages said by some to forbid t
do not do so, as is seen when 2
ley are seriously considered. f
And once again [ say, yes. The e
reek meaning of baptism is plunge, s
P, lmmerse-never sprinkle or pour. h
his Is the testimony of the Standard a
reek Lexieons and of the scholarship L
the day, not only of those who i'm b
erse, but of those who sprinkle as c
ell. For years in the States there was is
standing offer Il am not certain but p
is still standing) of $1,000 to any one fl
no would produce a Greek lexicon tt
cognlzed as of standard scholarship V
the leading universities of the coun- lc
which would give sprinkle or pour il
a definition of baptism. 1t was never Ii
limed. In Greece where they GER te
MY ought to know what the Greek
cans, the Presbyterians have found it a
cessary to immense instead of using q