• DEATH AND BURIAL, 
OR 
SCRIPTURAL CONVERSION. 
"For I was alive without the law once, but when 
the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." 
Rom. vii, 9. 
THE word alive in the text does not refer to 
natural life, neither does the word died refer to 
the cessation of natural life ; but the words are 
here used to represent opposite states of mind 
and feelings. 
The Apostle in this chapter is giving his 
own experience, hence those who seek for 
apostolic religion, should, mark well the means 
employed in his case, of which he here speaks. 
Verse 7. " What shall we say then ? Is the 
law sin ? God forbid. Nay I had not known 
sin, but by the law ; for I had not known lust 
except the law had said, Thou shalt not cov-
et." It is evident that Paul means the moral 
code of ten commandments, when he speaks 
of the law, from the followingfacts : 
He quotes from the tenth commandment 
—" Thou shalt not covet." 
The epistle to the Romans was written 
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hand-writing of ordinances" was nailed to the 
cross. And even Paul's conversion was sev-
eral years after the abolition of the Jewish 
system of worship; therefore the law, which 
was an important agent in his conversion, 
must refer to the moral code of which Christ 
says, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or 
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law." 
Matt. v, 18. 
" I had not known sin, but by the law." 
What the apostle here affirms of himself, is 
most certainly true in the case of every sinner. 
"By the law is the knowledge of sin." Chap. 
iii, 20. Here we see that one use of the law of 
God, in the Christian dispensation, is to show 
sinners the nature and extent of their sins. 
Verse 8. "But sin taking occasion by the 
commandment, wrought in me all manner of 
concupiscence. For without the law sin was 
dead." The moral law is God's great mirror, 
into which the sinner may look and see the im-
perfections of his moral character. Without 
it, sin is dead, or undiscovered. The apostle 
James illustrates the use of the royal law by a 
looking-glass. " But be ye doers of the word, 
and not hearers only, deceiving your own 
selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, 
and not a doer, he is like unto a man behold-
ing his natural face in a glass ; for he behold-
eth himself, am* goeth his way, and straight-
way forgetteth what manner of man he was. 
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of lib-
erty, and continueth therein, he being not a 
forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this 
OR SCRIPTURAL CONVERSION. 3 
man shall be blessed in his deed." Chap. ii, 
22-25. The first great work, then, of the gos-
pel minister, as he labors for the genuine con-
version of sinners, is to raise before them 
God's great mirror, that they may see what 
sin is and know its exceeding sinfulness. 
Verse 9. "For I was alive without the law 
once; but when the commandment came, sin 
revived, and I died." By the word alive, the 
Apostle designs to express his condition be-
fore he discovered his sinful state by the light 
of God's law. " The commandment came." 
He saw by the help of God's great looking-
glass his true condition. " Sin revived," and 
he adds, " I died." The word died denotes 
the change wrought by intelligent conviction. 
The law of God is the instrument to convict 
the sinner. As he looks into it, he sees him-
self condemned in the sight of Heaven. Thus 
the law slays him. The gospel then points 
him to Christ as the only remedy for sin. 
The reason why many who profess religion 
were never converted, is because they were 
never convicted, and the reason why they 
never had genuine conviction, is because they 
have never seen themselves in God's mirror, 
the ten commandments. A popular gospel 
keeps that more or less out of sight, and 
moves upon the sinner's sympathies and fears, 
producing a conviction more nervous than 
intelligent. Such conviction does not result 
in a change of life, as required in the sacred 
Scriptures ; while intelligent conviction pro-
duced by the claims of God's law, changes 
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4 DEATH AND BURIAL, 
the mind, the heart, and the life. This 
change is illustrated in the text by the change 
from life to death. A man walks to-day in 
the strength of manhood, to-morrow he is a 
corpse. What a change ! Yet inspiration 
has chosen it to illustrate the first great work 
in true conversion. 
Verses 10-12. " And the commandment 
which was ordained unto life, I found to be 
unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the 
commandment, deceived me, and by it slew 
me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the com- 
mandment holy, and just, and good." This 
was the character of the divine law. A. D. 60, 
which is the same in 1864. The great Apos-
tle extols it to the very heavens, and shows its 
work in conversion twenty-nine years after 
the change from the Jewish to the Christian 
dispensation. This is the strongest proof of 
its perpetuity. 
Thus far we have followed the Apostle in 
his experience, and have learned from him 
the character and use of the law of God in 
the present dispensation. He saw its excel-
lence, its holiness, its justice and goodness, 
and felt its searching, slaying power, and 
says, " I died." But he does not leave us 
here. Burial follows death. Chap. vi, 3, 4. 
" Know ye not, that so many of us as 'were 
baptized into Mins Christ were baptized into 
his death ? Therefore we are buried with him 
by baptism into death ; that like as Christ 
was raised up from the dead by the glory of 
OR SCRIPTURAL CONVERSION. 5 
the Father, even so we also should walk in 
newness of life." 
We now see that the Apostle uses death 
and burial to illustrate the two great steps 
0,• connected with true conversion. Death well 
illustrates the preparatory work, and burial, 
baptism. Christian baptism is designed to 
show, first, that the candidate is dead ; and, 
second, that he believes in the death, burial, 
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Verse 5. 
" For if we have been planted together in the 
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the 
likeness of his resurrection." The words bur-
ied and planted, as used in this connection, 
can give no other idea of baptism than im- 
mersion. We have not only the word plant- 
ed, but are taught how the candidate should 
be planted. How ? " In the likeness of his 
death." Let us for a moment go away to Jo-
seph's new sepulchre, and see "how his body 
was laid." We there see Jesus laid out in 
1 • death, as we lay out our friends who die, up- 
on the back. How planted? Be sprinkled? 
poured? or be plunged into the water face 
down ? No. "Planted in the likeness of his 
death." The administrator leads the candi-
date down into the water to a suitable depth, 
then plunges the candidate backward down 
into the water until buried in a similar posi-
tion to that in which Christ Was laid out in 
death. 
The Apostle uses the important events of 
) • Christ's first advent to illustrate the steps con- 
nected with conversion. 
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OR SCRIPTURAL CONVERSION. 
L The crucifixion. " Knowing this that 
our old man is crucified with him, that the 
body of sin might be destroyed, that hence-
forth we should not serve sin." Chap. vi, 6. 
Jesus died upon a cross of wood ; but where 
is the cross upon which the sinner must die? 
We know of no other than that on which 
Paul died, as he declares in the text, " I was 
alive without the law once ; but when the 
commandment came, sin revived, and I died." 
In the unconverted man, I lives and reigns ; 
but let the divine law enter and slay I, then 
there is room for Christ. 
Christ's burial. " Therefore we are 
buried with him by baptism." Verse 4. 
His resurrection. "If ye then be risen 
with Christ, seek those things which are 
above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand 
of God. Set your affections on things above, 
not on things on the earth ; for ye are dead, 
and your life is bid with Christ in God." 
Col. iii, 1-3. See also chap. ii, 12. 
Here, then, at baptism, commences the new 
life. " Like as Christ was raised from the 
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we 
also should walk in newness of life." Rom. 
vi, 4. If the reader inquires for those who 
have died in hope without being immersed, 
we reply, that the Bible, and not the doctrines 
of even honest and pious men, should be our 
rule of faith. And instead of laboring to bring 
the Bible to long-cherished customs, we should 
bring our faith to the Bible. Men are ac-
countable fo'r all the light they have, and no 
more. Thank Heaven that it is possible, 
through the mediation of Jesus Christ, for 
men who are in error on some points, yet live 
up to all the light God sees fit to open before 
))• them, to live holy lives, and rest in hope of a 
glorious resurrection. But our only safety is 
in walking in the light which God in his 
opening providence brings before our minds. 
Therefore we should not be so anxious to in-
quire, What has-been the faith of our fathers? 
but, lThat saith the word of God? 
While some have removed baptism from its 
close relation to conversion, and regard it of 
little consequence, others may err on the oth-
er hand. We briefly notice the two extremes. 
1. It is the custom of some to wait several, 
months to see if the converts will remain firm, 
before baptizing them. To this we object, 
first, because the figures of death and burial, 
as used by the Apostle, give the idea that bap-
tism is closely connected with true conviction 
of sin ; and, second, this practice does not 
agree with apostolic example. Said Ananias 
to Saul, " And now why tarriest thou ? Arise, 
and be baptized." Acts xxii, 16. The jailer 
and his family were immediately baptized, 
even in the night. Chap. xvi, 25-36. Phil- 
); • ip did not have the eunuch wait six months 
to see if he would live a faithful Christian, be-
fore receiving baptism, but they immediately 
" went down into the water, both Philip and 
the eunuch, and he baptized him." Chap. 
viii, 26-40. 
Those who regard bapt. otf litt,ixt • unpor- 
ism 
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ANDPIEWS UNIVERSE', 
8 DEATH AND BURIAL, 
tance, sometimes cite 1 Pet. iii, 21, as sus-
taining their lax position. " The like figure, 
whereunto even baptism, doth also now save 
us (not the putting away of the filth of the 
flesh, but the answer of a good conscience to-
ward God), by the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ." "I was sprinkled," says one, " and 
that answered my conscience. " And my 
conscience was answered by being poured," 
 
says another. This may all be true ' • but are 
our friends, who differ with us on baptism, 
sure that they have a good conscience on this 
subject? Peter says, "But the answer of a 
good conscience." Pagans and Papists may 
be very conscientious, and their blinded con-
sciences not be good. Protestants may be in 
a like condition on some points. But it is a 
fact of much interest that the Apostle in the 
last clause of the passage—" by the resurrec-
tion of Jesus Christ from the dead"—raises a 
standard to which we may bring our conscien-
ces, and know that they are right. Baptism 
commemorates the burial and resurrection of 
Christ. Such expressions of Holy Scripture 
as " buried with him by baptism," and " plant-
ed together in the likeness of his death," con-
tain light for those consciences blinded by the 
Papal error of sprinkling infants or adults for 
baptism. 
2. On the other hand, some evidently over-
look the necessary work to be wrought upon 
the mind and hear tbefore baptism. They do 
not see the use of the divine law, that it must 
slay the sinner, that he be dead before he is 
OR SCRIPTURAL CONVERSION. 9 
buried, hence it is to be feared that some, at 
least, are buried alive ! Some teach that 
Christ is put on in the simple act of baptism, 
which teaching has a strong tendency to set 
1) • aside not only the work of the law of God in 
conversion, but that also of the Holy Spirit. 
But Gal. iii, 27, may be urged—" For as 
many of you as have been baptized into Jesus 
Christ have put on Christ." It should here be 
noticed that the text does not say that the Gal- 
atian brethren had put on Christ in the sole 
act of baptism. They had put on Christ by 
faith, baptism being the corresponding work, 
an act by which they manifested their faith in 
Christ. 
It is also asserted that baptism is for the re- 
mission of sins. Very true ; but there are also 
other means for the remission of sins. Christ's 
blood was shed for the remission of sins. 
Matt. xxvi, 28. Christ was to give knowledge 
of salvation unto the people for the remission 
. • of their sins. Luke i, 77. It became Christ 
to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third 
day, that repentance and remission of sins 
might be preached in his name. Chap. xxiv, 
46, 47. Repentance and baptism are for the 
remission of sins. Acts ii, 38. Faith is for 
the remission of sins. " Whosoever believeth 
in him shall receive remission of sins." Chap. 
x, 43 ; also, Rom. iii, 25. In the arrangement 
for the remission of sins, baptism holds its 
place in the divine whole. 
).* 
In the investigation of the subject of scrip-
tural conversion thus far, we see that it is by 
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10 DEATH AND BURIAL, 
the divine law that the sinner obtains a knowl-
edge of his sins. He cannot understandingly 
repent of his sins until he sees them ; there-
fore, the gospel minister, who labors to convert 
the sinner, is under the most solemn obligation 
to hold before him God's great mirror. His 
first work is to show the character, perpetuity 
and claims of the moral code. And in so do-
ing he follows the example of his divine Mas-
ter. In Christ's first recorded sermon he said, 
" Think not that I am come to destroy the 
law, or the prophets ; I am not come to de-
stroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, 
Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tit-
tle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all 
be fulfilled." Matt. v, 17, 18. 
The sinner sees the holiness and justness of 
the divine law, that he is exposed to the wrath 
of God, and feels its slaying power. He yields 
to the requirements of all its precepts, and is 
dead. The gospel then points him to Jesus. 
He hears the story of the cross, the burial in 
Joseph's sepulchre, the glory of the resurrec-
tion, and the ascension of Jesus to the Fath-
er's right hand, where he ever lives to inter-
cede for poor sinners. He raises his head and 
ventures to believe that Jesus will pity and 
save him. And as he believes, let him imme-
diately show his faith in the burial and resur-
rection of Christ by being baptized. 
He has now put off the " old man," and has 
put on the " new man." The Christian warfare 
and race is begun. He now has the faith of 
the gospel, and the exhortation of Peter is es- 
OR SCRIPTURAL CONVERSION. 11 
pecially applicable. " Giving all diligence, 
add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowl-
edge ; and to knowledge, temperance ; and to 
temperance, patience ; and to patience, godli-
ness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and 
to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these 
things be in you and abound, they make you 
that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful 
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
2 Pet. i, 5-8. 
In chap. vii, the apostle first makes an im-
portant declaration ; second, gives an illustra-
tion ; and third, states his conclusion. These 
we will notice in their order. 
1. His declaration. " Know ye not, breth-
ren, (for I speak to them that know the law), 
how that the law hath dominion over a man as 
long as he liveth ?" Verse 1. The words, he 
liveth, do not refer to natural life. This is not 
the subject upon which the apostle is treating. 
In harmony with his discourse in these chap-
ters, the phrase must have reference to what 
he calls the old man, or the carnal mind. 
Then we understand Paul to declare that the 
law has dominion over a man as long as he 
lives in transgression of it. We will give an 
illustration. 
Passing a bridge in the State of New York, 
we met three men, each carrying a large leaden 
ball. Each man was chained to the ball he 
carried, and an officer followed them. These 
men had been breaking the law, and it had 
dominion over them, because they had not 
kept it. We walked with freedom where our 
12 DEATH AND BURIAL, 
business led us, for we had kept the law. Our 
feelings were in perfect harmony with every 
good law in the State. To say that those who 
keep the law of God are in bondage, under the 
dominion of the law, is a stupid blunder. 
They are not the men. 
2. His illustration. " For the woman which 
hath an husband is bound by the law to her 
husband so long as he liveth ; but if the hus-
band be dead, she is loosed from the law of 
her husband. So then, if, while her husband 
liveth, she be married to another man, she 
shall be called an adulteress ; but if her hus-
band be dead, she is free from that law, so that 
she is no adulteress, though she be married to 
another man." Verses 2, 3. 
In this illustration there are mentioned the 
woman, the law of marriage, the first husband, 
and her second husband. We now look for 
an application, consistent with the subject up-
on which the apostle is here treating. 
The woman represents candidates for ever-
lasting life, to whom the gospel call is given. 
The law of marriage represents the law of God. 
The first husband represents the old man, and 
the second husband represents the new man, 
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. We will here 
give a few direct texts which speak of the old 
and new man. " That ye put off concerning 
the former conversation the old man, which is 
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts ; and 
be renewed in the spirit of your mind ; and 
that ye put on the new man, which after God 
is created in righteousness and true holiness." 
411 
OR SCRIPTURAL CONVERSION. 13 
Eph. iv, 22-24. " Lie not one to another, see-
ing that ye have put off the old man with his 
deeds, and have put on the new man, which is 
renewed in knowledge after the image of him 
that created him." Col. iii, 9, 10. See, also, 
Gal. ii, 20 ; Rom. vi, 6. 
Now mark. Before the woman could be 
legally married to the second husband, her first 
husband must die. Did his death affect the 
law of marriage ? Certainly not. The same 
law that bound her to her first husband, bound 
her to the second. And before the sinner can 
be united to Christ, the new man, the old man 
must die. Does this death affect the divine 
law ? Not in the least. The same moral code 
that held the sinner in condemnation, is now 
his rule of obedience, and binds him to Christ. 
The Apostle's conclusion shows that we have 
correctly applied his illustration. 
3. His conclusion. " Wherefore, my breth-
ren, ye also are become dead to the law by the 
body of Christ; that ye should be married to 
another, even to him who is raised from the 
dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto 
God." Verse 4. 
This conclusion of the Apostle shows that the 
first husband represents that which is said to 
become dead. Some say it is the law ; but 
Paul says, " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also 
are become dead." 
Verse 6. " But now we are delivered from 
the law, that being dead wherein we were 
held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, 
4 • 
and not in the oldness of the letter." 
14 DEATH AND BURIAL, 
Being delivered from the law must be un-
derstood in harmony with Paul's statement of 
its use and perpetuity. It is not by the death 
of the law, but, by that being dead wherein 
we were held by the law, which is the carnal 
mind, or " the old man ; " or with the margin-
al reading, "being dead to that wherein we 
were held." 
Says Paul, " The carnal mind is enmity 
against God, for it is not subject to the law of 
God, neither, indeed, can be." Rom. viii, 7. 
This carnal mind, which is represented by the 
first husband, must be slain before the person 
can be united to Christ ; then the enmity 
against God and his holy law is gone, and he 
is subject to the divine law, and keeps all its 
precepts with delight. But to set the ten com-
mandments aside, and teach that sinners may 
be married to Christ without being first slain 
by the moral law, is to teach spiritual adultery. 
Turn to Acts xx, 20, 21, dear reader•, and 
you will there learn that the gospel preached 
by Paul is in harmony with his own experience 
and his teachings in his epistle to the Romans. 
He says, " I kept back nothing that was profit-
able unto you, but have showed you, and have 
taught you publicly, and from house to house, 
testifying both to the Jews, and also to the 
Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith to-
ward our Lord Jesus Christ." Here are the 
two great foundation timbers of the gospel, as 
preached by Paul ; first, repentance toward 
God ; and, second, faith toward our Lord Je-
sus Christ. He taught that sinners must first 
OR SCRIPTURAL CONVERSION. 15 
manifest repentance toward God for the trans-
gression of his holy law, before believing in 
Jesus Christ. He kept back nothing that was 
profitable. He did not keep back the law ; for 
by it is the knowledge of sin. He first present- 
d the claims of the divine law, and showed 
he sinner that his first work was to exercise 
epentance toward its Author; then he taught 
the sinner that faith in Christ was the only 
remedy for sin. 
Therefore, in the present dispensation, God 
the Father is our Lawgiver, and Christ is our 
Advocate. And before sinners can be benefit-
ed by the mediation of Christ, they must man-
ifest repentance toward the Lawgiver for the 
transgression of his holy law. With this the 
words of the beloved disciple agree : " Sin is 
the transgression of the law." 1 John, iii, 4. 
" And if any man sin, we have an advocate 
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 
Chap. ii, 1. 
But if Christ is our Lawgiver, as some teach, 
who is our Advocate ? We have none. But 
as Jesus Christ is the sinner's Advocate with 
the Father in this dispensation, it follows that 
the Father's law of ten commandments is in 
full force. 
" Do we then make void the law through 
faith ? God forbid ? yea, we establish the 
law." Rom. iii, 31. Faith in Jesus Christ as 
a sacrifice for sin, and now an Advocate with 
the Father, for our sins—" transgression of the 
law "—is the strongest proof of the perpetuity 
of the law of ten commandments. 
16
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DEATH AND BURIAL. 
Hence, the closing testimony of the third 
angel: " Here is the patience of the saints ; 
here are they that keep the commandments of 
God and the faith of Jesus." Rev. xiv, 12. 
Also, the dragon is to make war with the rem-
nant, the Christians in the closing generations 
of time, " which keep the commandmentS' of 
God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." 
Chap. xii, 17. 
Dear reader, these are Christian command-
ment-keepers. Their observance of the Sab-
bath of the fourth commandment stirs the ire 
of the dragon host. 
But those who endure his wrath, and stand 
faithful in the closing conflict, will soon re-
ceive the great reward promised by Him who 
says, Rev. xxii, " Behold, I come quickly, 
and my reward is with me." " Blessed are 
they that do his commandments, that they may 
have right to the tree of life, and may enter in 
through the gates into the city." 
J. w. 
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Battle Creek. Mich. 
Prise, post-paid, *0,00 per 100. Address, Elder James White.