1p gg UST before His ascension to
a ® WY heaven, our Lord gave to His
ZL Xi disciples the gospel commission,
“All power is given unto Me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to ob-
serve all things whatsoever I have com-
manded you: and, lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
Matthew 28: 18-20.
As men responded to the preaching of
the gospel, the book of Acts records the
promptness with which the new converts
were baptized into Christ in fulfillment of
His plain command.
Mark’s record of our Saviour’s words is
even more specific: “He that believeth
and 1s baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be damned.” Mark
16: 16.
The statement of the Master is unequivo-
cal. Saving faith in Christ is set down as
essential to salvation. And that faith will
manifest itself by obedience to the divine
command regarding baptism. The words
of Jesus apply here, “Ye are My friends,
if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
John 15:14. And again, “Why call ye
Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things
which I say?” Luke 6:46. “He that be-
lieveth not shall be damned.” Condemna-
tion in the judgment day will turn upon the
lack of saving faith. The thief on the cross
was assured of salvation, for he had no
opportunity for baptism.
Many who have sincerely believed on
Christ, have supposed that they were bap-
tized when they were only sprinkled or
poured upon, not knowing that by the
apostasy of the Dark Ages sprinkling and
pouring were substituted for scriptural
baptism by immersion. God judges men
according to their light. “If there be first
a willing mind, it is accepted according to
that a man hath, and not according to that
he hath not.” 2 Corinthians 8: 12.
Instructing Nicodemus in the way of
salvation, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God.” John 3:5. Our
Lord here declares that only those who are
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MN
[5 SPRINKLING BAPTISM?
By Walter C. Moffett
transformed in the new birth by the power
of the Holy Spirit can enter the kingdom
of God. The reference to baptism in the
expression ‘born of water’ indicates that
those who are truly born of the Spirit like
Saul of Tarsus will promptly be baptized
ito Christ when the scales fall from their
eyes. There will be no evasion nor quib-
bling nor questioning of the wisdom of the
divine command.
The Apostle Peter, in his first epistle,
emphasizes the importance and the sig-
nificance of baptism: “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 con-
science toward God,) by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 3:21. Light is
shed upon this text if we turn to Paul's
epistle to the Romans:
“Know ye not, that so many of us as
were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap-
tized 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 the Father. even so we
also should walk in newness of life. For if
we have been planted together in the like-
ness of His death, we shall be also in the
likeness of His resurrection: knowing this,
that our old man is crucifed with Him,
that the body of sin might be destroved,
that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
Romans 6: 3-6.
Baptism is the only divinely appointed
memorial of the burial and resurrection of
Christ. And it most fittingly commemo-
rates that event as the candidate is liter-
ally buried in the watery grave.
But baptism has also a deep spiritual
significance. The old man of sin has been
crucified with Christ. He is now buried
in the watery grave, and the new man
rises to walk in newness of life. “If any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Henceforth we say with Paul, “I am cruci-
fied with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2: 20.
Again we read, “Buried with Him in
baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
Him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised Him from the dead.”
Colossians 2:12. “Buried with Him in
baptism '—the only way that this can be
done 1s by burial in the watery grave.
Jesus has left us an example. “Because
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example, that ye should follow His steps:
who did no sin, neither was guile found in
His mouth.” 1 Peter 2:21, 22.
Where will the footsteps of Jesus the
only perfect example lead in the matter of
baptism? “Jesus, when He was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water: and,
lo, the heavens were opened unto Him,
and He saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and
lo a voice from heaven saying, This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:16, 17.
As the Spirit of God had witnessed to
the approval of Heaven as Jesus came up
out of the waters of the Jordan, so does
that same Spirit bear witness with our
spirits as we follow in His steps. This
marks the beginning of a new and blessed
experience. “If ye then be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth. For ye are
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God. When Christ, who is our life, shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with
Him in glory.” Colossians 3: 1-4.
were carved out of the territory of Western
Rome by the Barbarian invaders during
the fourth and fifth centuries.
The prophet next sees a strange develop-
ment among the horns: “I considered the
horns, and, behold, there came up among
them another little horn, before whom
there were three of the first horns plucked
up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn
were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a
mouth speaking great things.” Daniel 7: S.
Already greatly troubled over the fourth
beast, by this new development Daniel
became more anxious for an explanation.
(Daniel 7:19, 20.)
There is striking unanimity among
authorities as to the identity of this power
FEBRUARY, 1942
that rose after the breakup, and on the
ruins, of Western Rome. We give here an
excerpt from the American Catholic Quar-
terly Review of April, 1911: “Long ages
ago, when Rome through the neglect of
the Western emperors, was left to the
mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans
turned to one figure for aid and protection,
and asked him to rule them; and thus, in
this simple manner, the best title of all to
kingly right, commenced the temporal
sovereignty of the popes. And meekly
stepping to the throne of Cesar, the vicar
of Christ took up the scepter to which the
emperors and kings of Europe were to bow
In reverence through so many ages.”
In his comments on ‘““the little horn” of
Daniel Seven, Adam Clarke says: “To
none can this apply so well, and so fully,
as to the Popes of Rome.”
Daniel's attendant gave a further ex-
planation of this power in verse 25: “And
he shall speak great words against the
Most High, and shall wear out the saints
of the Most High, and think to change
times and laws: and they shall be given
into his hand until a time and times and
the dividing of time.”
Four separate predictions stand out
clearly in this verse. This power was to
“speak great words against the Most
High”; he was to “wear out the saints’’;
he was to “think to change times and
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