The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-11-06

ots "o' eN''N uH OF ceftNll TIMES Ol
Ignorance which God winkcd at or
disregarded. We believe that the Al
mighty graciously overlooked such I'm.
in the theories of some
of His children and charged them not
with the responsibility of so terribly
mallgning the Divine Character and
the Divine Word. But
now our God is opening the eyes of
our understanding and there IL no
longer excuse for any to believe such
monstrous theories. nor excuse to still
profess TO believe them after they have
been repudlated by the heart.
The true view Of Baptism is one
which cannot be controverted. IL is
consistent with itself and with every
Bible statement It recognizes every
consecrated child of God of every de.
nomination. or outside OF all denoml.
nations. II inducts the sanity Bap.
tist. sanity Disciple. suintly Catholic.
Episcopalinn. Lutheran. Congregation.
allst. Methodist. etc. into membership
in the "one Church OF the Living God.
whose names are written III heaven"
What Baptism can this he? We re
ply that II is the one mentioned by St
Paul, In text which we have all read
and quoted time and again: $50 many
of You as were baptized into Jesus
Christ were baptized into MS death"
Romans vi. 81 The mistake we have
all made I'm the past is in applying the
Apostles words to ,cuicr baptism. The
Apostle said not word about water
baptism. but mentioned specifically the
Baptism into Christ, Into "the Body of
Christ. which Is the Church"
The thought Is that God has ordain-
ed the gathering Of the elect Church
during the Gospel Age. The Head Of
this Church was received up into glory
eighteen centuries ago. and since Pen
tecost one and another of the true
footstep followers Of Jesus have been
accepted OF God through His merit and
counted as "members of the Body Of
Christ. which is the Church" First.
Jewish believers were transferred
from Moses into Christ.
Next the Message was extended TO
the Gentiles. But these could not pass
from Moses into Christ because they
were not in Moses, never having come
under the Law Covenant arrangement.
Hence, these could come into Christ
only by direct baptism. All baptized
into Jesus Christ occupy n specially
preferred relationship TO God and. If
faithful to the end, will be received
TO glory, honor and immortality on the
spirit or heavenly plane. But there is
not word of Scripture to say that
the world. which misses this glorious
eXaltation. will on this account suffer
eternal torture. They will lose the
great prize. however.
Water Baptism Not the Door Into tho
True Church
Our Baptist friends will agree to the
above statement. They will say, Yes,
that is what we mean, only. in order
to be in Christ, we Baptists claim,
waicr immersion Is necessary.
We are glad TO have their plain, can
did statement and to meet the issue
squarely. That is the Baptist mis-
take supposing that water baptism In
ducts anybody into membership In the
true Church. They may indeed make
water immersion the door into the
Baptist Church. but this does not
make 1t the door into the Church of
the Living God" st. Paul defines the
Baptism by which any Gentle may
come into membership in the Body of
Christ. Note his words again: $50
many Of you as We're baptized into
Jesus Christ were baptized into His
death" Our Baptist friends think of
this as though 1t read were baptized
in water" This is their mistake as
before stated.
But the question arises, Just what
is meant by these words. Baptized
into His death?" Was His death in any
way different from the death of others?
Most decidedly 1t was! Our race die
as sinners, children of wrath, under
Divine sentence of death. But Jesus
was not II sinner and hence was not
under Divine sentence of death. lie
was "holy, harmless. undealed and
separate from sinners and free from
Adamic death. His death was sac
rlfcial one--a surrender Of an unim-
paired life. Those, therefore, who
would become His footstep followers
and be baptized into His death, must
participate with Him in sacrifcidl
death. The Scriptures explain that
this would be impossible except as
those footstep followers should be
cleansed and made acceptable sacri-
fees through the merit of Jesus, be-
cause "by nature we were all children
of wrath, even as others
Death was the real meaning Of our
Lords baptism. John the Immcrser
knew that Jesus was not sinner,
knew that He had no sins TO wash
away, and at first he declined TO inn
merse Him. And he did so only after
Jesus had assured him that it was
right ana that the matter had deeper
Significance. Suffer it to be So"
Our Lords Baptism Finished at Cal
vary
Our Lord for three and half years
was carrying out the conservation vow
which in Jordan He symboli2ed-bap-
tism into death. Day by day lie be-