We come now to considering the necessity of the ordinance of baptism. When men have repented of their sins it is natural for them to desire a forgiveness of those sins. How shall this boon be obtained? That repentance alone does not blot out the sins of the past may be illustrated in part by a comparison between the temporal and the spiritual. A man acquires a debt by purchasing goods on credit, and finding it a ruinous policy, resolves, for the future, to pay as he goes. This changes his course and constitutes in his business life a reformation, but it does not pay the debt already incurred. He must liquidate the obligation, or be forgiven the debt by the creditor. Some may say that this is the difference between the earthly transaction of men and the dealings of God with His children. God forgives, it is true, but every blessing is predicated upon a condition, and the condition is laid down by the Lord; hence it is written in Mark i:4: "John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." From this scripture it is evident that baptism is to follow repentance, and that at least one object of baptism is the remission of sins.

Let us now examine some statements of Holy Writ which point out clearly the necessity of this ordinance. "Then cometh Jesus from Gallilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade Him, saying, 'I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? And Jesus, answering: said unto him, 'Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he suffered Him." (Matt. iii:13-15.) Every thoughtful, God-fearing person must be impressed with the feeling that if it was essential for the "Only Begotten of the Father," "who is full of grace and truth," to be baptized, none can be exempt who have arrived at the years of accountability. It appears also from the language used in the quotation that without being baptized he could not fulfill "all righteousness." After teaching His disciples for three years, being crucified and risen from the dead, He gave to them this commission: "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark xvi:15, 16. ) Also in Matthew xxviii:19: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"; and in Luke xxiv:45-47: "Then opened He their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." In the latter quotation the word baptism is not used, but the same writer says in Luke iii:3, regarding the mission of John: "And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins," thus enunciating the doctrine that remission of sins is obtained through baptism.

The same writer gives us the following (Luke vii:29, 30): "And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of Him." From this it is manifested that by receiving baptism they honored and obeyed God, and that the rejection of this simple yet divine institution amounted to rejecting the counsel of God, with all the terrible consequences attendant upon such disobedience.

We read in the eighth chapter of Acts that Philip baptized the Samaritans and the Ethiopian. In the same book is related the baptism of Saul, of Lydia, of the Philippian jailor, and of Cornelius. It is not necessary to multiply quotations to show that baptism was taught and practiced all through the apostolic dispensation, as being essential to salvation. As a direct statement of Jesus Himself, to close this part of the subject, we quote His words to Nicodemus, St. John iii:5: "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." The birth of the water can only be accomplished by baptism, and if an accountable being cannot enter into the kingdom of God without baptism, then that ordinance must be essential to salvation.

Let us next consider the object of this sacred rite. It is evident that inasmuch as a man cannot enter into the kingdom of God without the baptism of water, then his sins must necessarily be remitted through faith, repentance and baptism from the fact that "no unclean person * * * hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

In Mark i:4 and Luke iii:3 we read that "John did baptize in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." On the day of Pentecost, when the mighty power of God rested upon the apostles and the Spirit bore witness to the multitude that they were in sin, notwithstanding their devoutness, they cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" To this Peter answered, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." (Acts ii:38.)

Paul narrates before King Agrippa his conversion, in Acts xxii:16, and says that Ananias, to whom he had been commanded to apply, said: "And now, why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." The foregoing quotations will suffice to show that God instituted baptism for the remission of sins, but from other passages already quoted. Mark i:4, also xvi:15-16, and the account of Simon, the sorcerer, in the eighth chapter of Acts, it is very evident that the result—forgiveness—is not secured unless baptism is accompanied on the part of the candidate by faith and a genuine repentance in turning aside from sin. Otherwise there would be the solemn mockery of administering a sacred ordinance to a hypocrite. Hence the apostles said to Simon, "Thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money." (Acts viii:20.) Notwithstanding he had been baptized he was still in his sins, because his heart was not pure, and he had not repented. For this reason the apostles said to him, "Repent therefore of this wickedness. * * * For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." (Acts viii:22-23.) This should be a warning to those modern professors whose religion is in many instances a cloak, hidden beneath which is the depraved heart that garnishes the sepulchres of the dead prophets but is ready to slay the living ones.

We now come to that part of the subject which formerly caused so much dissension among the Christian sects, but which latterly is smoothed over with the assertion that it makes no difference which mode—sprinkling, pouring, or immersion—is used; "either will do," "let the candidate take his choice; it is immaterial." To these unwarranted assertions we reply: First, that if either mode will do, none will do, for still other forms may be added by the whims of men. Christ established but one true mode, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," and if one is right, the others are wrong. This is a plain proposition. Again, the dissension and conflict on this point is proof against the inspiration of the sectarian world, if they have any, for the reason that the Spirit of God will not lie nor contradict itself. If, therefore, the Spirit of the Lord teaches me that immersion is right, it will not teach another sprinkling, and yet another pouring. This division, then, is because men are guided by opinion and preference and not by the spirit of revelation from God, which guides into all truth and brings those who possess it to a unity of faith.

Now as concerning the baptism of Jesus, who is the pattern, we have Matt. iii:16, which says, "And Jesus when He was baptized went up straightway out of the water." It is not likely that John would be baptizing in Jordan and that Jesus would have gone down into the water if anything less than immersion would have fulfilled the law. This also agrees with the account of the Ethiopian's baptism by Philip (Acts viii:38): "And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him." As making still plainer this using a river of water and going "down into the water" to receive the sacred rite, we quote from St. John iii:23: "And John also was baptizing in Enon, near to Salim, because there was much water there." A statement so plain as the foregoing needs no comment. It speaks for itself. He was baptizing not only in Enon, but at a certain point in the stream "because there was much water there." Such a reason could not have been given if sprinkling or pouring had been a proper mode.

We refer further to the New Testament statements where not only the mode of baptism is indicated by the language, but the fact that baptism symbolizes the birth into the world, the death, and the resurrection of the body. To Nicodemus, 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." (St. John iii:5.) When man comes forth into the world, he is born or brought out from the watery element, being first buried in it, and this constitutes his birth. To be "born of water" as a sacred ordinance would be impossible if the rite of sprinkling or pouring be the mode employed. Only complete immersion will answer the ordinance indicated in the language of Jesus to Nicodemus.

Paul also said to the Romans, "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus 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 the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." (Rom. vi:3-5.) The foregoing shows that baptism is a likeness of burial. When the body is laid lifeless in the tomb it is covered completely; it is not left partly buried and partly uncovered; and as the body comes forth in the resurrection, immortal, and free from the conditions of mortality, thus walking in "newness of life," so by the remission of sins through faith, repentance and baptism, the obedient candidate comes forth free from sin, and walks in a new life, prepared for the birth of the spirit, thus symbolizing in beautiful similarity the death and resurrection of the body. This is still farther emphasized by the language, "For if we have been planted," etc., thus using a word which implies a complete burial as in planting seeds in the earth.

Again, we quote the words of Paul to the Colossians, ii:12: "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." This corresponds with the statement before quoted from Romans, and also the teachings of Christ to Nicodemus.

From the Scriptures already quoted on the necessity, object and mode of baptism, we may deduce the conclusion that the ordinance established to follow and go with faith and repentance, and which constitutes the third principle of the gospel, is baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.