What Must I Do to Be Saved? continued

God requires the one hope, the one faith, and one baptism, as the only acceptable offering which a poor son of Adam can present under the Christian dispensation; and to offer Him, instead, a mere sentimental piety of our own devising, is to offer "strange fire," which assuredly will bring death upon the offerer. God has required all believers of His truth to be immersed, as a means of transferring them from the dominion of the old mortal Adam to a life-giving connection with the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, who is made a quickening spirit; and though it may be very humiliating to submit to an act in which the eye of sense can perceive no reason, yet in that very submission, obedience is more thoroughly tested and more God-honouringly exemplified than in the performance of that which necessity or a natural sense of fitness would dictate.

The change wrought in our position by baptism is "through the faith of THE OPERATION OF GOD" (Col. 2v 12). If there be no such faith, of course there is no efficacy in the act; so that the view we take of baptism really depends on our condition of mind in relation to God. Childlike faith in His word and implicit obedience to His will (without which it is impossible to please Him), will at once lead us to regard it as an essential act, under the Christian dispensation, on the part of every one desiring to attain to the great salvation; for had it been unessential, it would never have been enjoined as a Christian dispensation and never attended to by the Lord Jesus, the apostles, and the early Christians.

Yet the character of the act depends upon the condition of the person attending to it; for as has been already observed, in itself it is nothing. An unenlightened person is not a fit subject for its observance, however sincere he may be in his desire to do the will of God. It is only prescribed for those who believe the Gospel; and in early times it never was administered to any other. Men were never exhorted to be baptised until they had arrived at a knowledge of "the word of salvation". For without such a knowledge, the act would have been a mere bodily ablution, as profitless, in relation to eternal life, as those performed under the law. In every New Testament instance, the Gospel was understood and believed before baptism was administered. It requires the "one faith" to constitute the "one baptism". It was only a "washing of water BY THE WORD" (Eph. v. 26).

But when the word was absent from the mind, the cleansing element was wanting, and the subject of the rite was still unwashed. This is the condition of vast multitudes in our own day, who have been immersed as a religious ordinance, but who are in total ignorance of the gospel preached by Jesus and his apostles. Their immersion in ignorance is worthless, if repeated a thousand times; and if ever they come to a true knowledge of the word, baptism will be just as necessary as if they had never gone into the water at all. For a scriptural case of reimmersion, see Acts 19v 15, where twelve disciples, who had been baptised by John the Baptist, were reimmersed on having their faith rectified on a certain point by Paul.

As for those who give countenance to the sprinkling of babies as Christian baptism, the whole tendency of the foregoing argument is to shew that they are guilty of religious foolishness, of a type so palpable and selfevident, as to require no formal refutation; and their case must be dismissed with the remark that the doctrine of infant baptismal regeneration, like all the other absurdities of the apostasy, is indebted for its existence and support, to the one great central delusion which is the very life of orthodoxy - the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.

To sum up the whole matter, a person instructed in "the word of the kingdom," enquiring what must he do to be saved, has only one scriptural answer to receive: " Repent and be baptised into the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins" (Acts 2v 38). When he has yielded this "obedience of faith" he is "born of water" through the inceptive influence of the truth; and having entered "The Name," his sins are "covered"; his transgressions "hid" ; his whole past life is cancelled, and he has commenced a term of probation in which he is a lawful candidate for that "birth of the spirit" from the grave, which will finally constitute him a "son of God, being of the children of the resurrection" (Luke 20v 36), "waiting for the ADOPTION, to wit, the redemption of the body" (Rom. 8v 23).

But his ultimate acceptance will depend upon the character he develops in this new relation. If he brings forth the fruits of the Spirit, viz., moral results proceeding from the spirit-words (John 6v 63), which have obtained a lodgement in his mind, as the motive power, he will be approved by the Lord when he returns "to take account of his servants," as of those who "bring forth fruit, some thirty, and some sixty, and some a hundredfold." But if he continue to perform "the works of the flesh," or actions, whether "respectable" or otherwise, which are dictated by the mere fleshly instincts, apart from the enlightenment of the Word, of which his mind has been the subject - he will be adjudged of those "who, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection."

"HE THAT SOWETH TO HIS FLESH, shall of the flesh reap corruption, BUT HE THAT SOWETH TO THE SPIRIT, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting" (Gal. 6v 8). The two classes are differently dealt with by the Father. "Every branch IN ME," says Jesus, "that beareth not fruit, He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." The names of the former are "blotted out of the Lamb's book of life" (Rev. 3v 5), in which they had been inscribed at their immersion; while the other become the special objects of divine training, by means of the circumstances around them providentially arranged - "all things working together for good, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8v 28).

"Teach them to observe all things WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED" (Matt, 28v 20). This was Christ's parting instruction to his apostles. On another occasion he said, "Ye are my friends, if ye do WHATSOEVER I command you" (John 15v 14). Now there is a certain ordinance of which he has said "THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME" (Luke 22v 19); and this being one of "all things whatsoever he has commanded," it is demanded as a sign of our friendship, that we attend to it. The reference is to the "breaking of bread," or "the Lord's supper," in which we are informed the first Christians "continued steadfastly" (Acts 2v 42). It was originally instituted when Christ and his disciples were met together for the last time to observe the Jewish Passover. We read that on the occasion:--

"He (Jesus) took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22v 19, 20).

Here is an emblematic breaking of bread instituted by Christ for the observance of his disciples during his absence. It was to be attended to "in remembrance of him," till he should return again as is evident from Paul's remark in 1 Cor. 11v 26, "As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death TILL HE COME." The observance is a very appropriate one. The bread, according to the Master's direction, represents his broken body, and the wine his shed blood; and thus the scene which human nature is most liable to forget - the exhibition of Christ's personal love and the condemnation of sin in the flesh - memorialised before the disciples in partaking of those symbols. The observance furnishes a common centre, around which the brethren of Christ may rally in that capacity, and be spiritually refreshed by the contemplation of the great sacrifice to which he lovingly submitted on their account, while it affords a tangible mode of expressing their love for him who, though absent, has promised to come again. Though simple in its nature, it is profoundly adapted to their spiritual exigencies, necessitating assembly which might rarely take place, and calling forth exhortation and counsel, which might never be uttered; thus creating circumstances preeminently conducive to their building up in the glorious faith and hope which they possess, and counteracting the secularising and spirituallycorrosive effect of the business life which they have to live in the world.

Having been commanded, its observance is a binding duty which no really enlightened Christian will underrate in importance, or seek to evade. The Quaker runs to one extreme in the matter, discarding the use of all Christian institutions whatever and the Roman Catholic runs to the other - exalting them into de facto vehicles of spiritual virtue. But those who are intelligent in the Word will be preserved from both extremes.

As to the time at which the ordinance is to be attended to, or the frequency with which it must be waited upon, there is no command, but the practice of the first Christians may be taken as a certain guide, considering that they were under the immediate supervision of the apostles. We read in Acts 20v 7, "Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to BREAK BREAD, Paul preached unto them ", and again in 1 Cor. 16v 2, "Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him." The first day of the week was the Jewish Monday, and therefore our Sunday. It was the day upon which Christ rose from the dead, and, therefore, an appropriate occasion for the celebration of an event of which his resurrection was the glorious consummation.

It will be noted that there is no warrant in the facts and testimonies produced on this subject, for the stringent doctrine on the Sabbath as enforced in Christendom of the present day. The Sabbath was a Jewish institution. It was part of the yoke "which," says Peter, "neither we nor our forefathers were able to bear." It was no part of the Christian system. It was abolished with "the handwriting of ordinances that was against us", and the fact of its incorporation with Christianity may be best explained by the fact, that in the days of the apostles, there were some who rose up and said "Ye must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses." But this doctrine was not a true one then, any more than it is now: for at a council of the apostles which was held to consider the matter, the following letter was adopted:--

"The apostles, and elders, and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia. Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law, TO WHOM WE GAVE NO SUCH COMMANDMENT; it seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you . . . to tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well" (Acts 15v 23, 29).

Thus the apostles distinctly prohibited the imposition of any of the Mosaic enactments, except such as they specifically mention, upon the practice of the Christians of the olden times, and, therefore, the Sabbath amongst the rest, for, if it had been an exception, it would have been mentioned among the exceptions. But this authoritative prohibition did not extinguish the Judaising spirit which had crept in. Hence, we find Paul writing in the following strain to the Galatians:-

" Ye observe DAYS, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain" (chap. 4v 10, 11).

Again,

"Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in, respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath" (Col. 2v 16).

His teaching on the subject of the Sabbath is, "One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind" (Rom. 14v 5); as much as to say, it is a matter of so little importance, that every one must be regulated by private conviction. Popular views on this subject, then, as illustrated in pulpit inculcation, are obviously mistaken. It is the privilege of Christ's brethren to rest from labour on the first day of the week, and to engage more especially in spiritual meditation than is possible on a weekday, but they are under no bondage. They are free to engage as expediency may determine, without the risk of infringing any law of God. Whatever is right to be done by him on a week-day, is not wrong to be done on Sunday, although it may not be expedient. He does not advocate the abolition of Sunday as a day of rest from secular labour, and attendance upon religion. He is only too thankful for the opportunity it confers upon him. He only protests against an error which binds a grievious burden on the backs of those who are its subjects, remembering that his Master hath said, "It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day," even if that well doing be the pulling of ears of corn in the field to gratify hunger, or the rescue of an unfortunate sheep which may have fallen into the pit on the Sabbath day.

In conclusion, let a man become acquainted with the truth expressed in the New Testament phrase, "the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ"; let him then be baptised into the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, the great covering name provided in the Lord Jesus; let him thenceforward wait with those "of like precious faith" upon the weekly memorial institution appointed by the absent master; and let him continue in the daily practice of ALL THINGS commanded by Christ, and in the daily cultivation of that exalted character which was exemplified in Christ himself, waiting and anxiously desiring the return of the Lord from heaven. If he put himself into this position, and faithfully occupy it to the end, he will certainly be approved when the Lord comes, and be invited as a "good and faithful servant," to enter into the refuge provided for the Lord's people against the day of storm, and to inherit his glorious kingdom.