Our Day Part 29

"Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water."

Matt. 3:16.

"They went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him." Acts 8:38.

"Buried with Him by baptism.... For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." Rom. 6:4, 5.

While the outward form of a religious service, without the spirit and the experience which the form professes, must ever be unacceptable to G.o.d, yet when the Lord prescribes a form, it is imperative that His instruction should be followed. The form of the ordinance as commanded by G.o.d emphasizes the divine meaning of the service.

Scriptural baptism is a burial "in the likeness" of Christ's burial, as the lifting up of the believer from the watery grave is a likeness of the resurrection of Christ. Of the meaning of the word "baptism," Luther wrote:

"Baptism is a Greek word; in Latin it can be translated immersion, as when we plunge something into water that it may be completely covered with water."--_Opera Lutheri, De Sac.

Bap. 1, p. 319 (Baptist Encyclopedia, art. "Baptism")._

Calvin, after arguing that the form is an indifferent matter, says:

"The very word 'baptize,' however, signifies to immerse; and it is certain that immersion was observed by the ancient church."--_"Inst.i.tutes," lib. 4, cap. 15 (Baptist Encyclopedia, art. "Baptism")._

Of the practice in primitive times, Neander, the church historian, says:

"In respect to the manner of baptizing, in conformity with the original inst.i.tution and the original import of the symbol, it was generally administered by immersion."--_"History of the Christian Church," Torrey's translation (London edition), Vol.

I, p. 429._

The perversion of the ordinance into sprinkling, and that in infancy, takes away the divinely ordained object-lesson; and in the case of the infant must of necessity subst.i.tute mere ceremonialism for experience, for the child of unaccountable years can have had no experience of believing and repenting, which are the necessary conditions to fulfil the meaning of baptism. The change in the ordinance, like most of the changes that came about in the days of the "falling away" from the primitive faith and practice, was by gradual process.

Dean Stanley, in his "Christian Inst.i.tutions," page 24, says that it is not till the third century that "we find one case of the baptism of infants." Of the change from immersion to sprinkling, he says:

"What is the justification of this almost universal departure from the primitive usage? There may have been many reasons, some bad, some good. One, no doubt, was the superst.i.tious feeling already mentioned which regarded baptism as a charm, indispensable to salvation, and which insisted on imparting it to every human being who could be touched with water, however unconscious."

The common practice as late as the twelfth century is thus described by a Roman Catholic cardinal of that time, named Pullus:

"Whilst the candidate for baptism in water is immersed, the death of Christ is suggested; whilst immersed and covered with water, the burial of Christ is shown forth; whilst he is raised from the waters, the resurrection of Christ is proclaimed."--_Patrol. Lat., Vol. Cx.x.x, p. 315 (Baptist Encyclopedia, art. "Baptism")._

Dean Stanley, of Westminster, one of the first scholars of the Church of England, wrote:

"For the first thirteen centuries the almost universal practice of baptism was that of which we read in the New Testament, and which is the very meaning of the word 'baptize,'--that those who were baptized were plunged, submerged, immersed into the water. That practice is still, as we have seen, continued in Eastern churches. In the Western church it still lingers among Roman Catholics in the solitary instance of the Cathedral of Milan; among Protestants in the numerous sects of the Baptists.

It lasted long into the Middle Ages.... But since the beginning of the seventeenth century, the practice has become exceedingly rare. With the few exceptions just mentioned, the whole of the Western churches have now subst.i.tuted for the ancient bath the ceremony of letting fall a few drops of water on the face. The reason of the change is obvious. The practice of immersion, though peculiarly suitable to the Southern and Eastern countries for which it was designed, was not found seasonable in the countries of the North and West. Not by any decree of council or parliament, but by the general sentiment of Christian liberty, this remarkable change was effected.

Beginning in the thirteenth century, it has gradually driven the ancient catholic usage out of the whole of Europe."--_"Christian Inst.i.tutions," pp. 21, 22._

The facts are undeniable, and emphasize the importance of reformation and return in practice to the plain instructions of the Word of G.o.d. As the record shows, it was not the spirit of the New Testament church that made this change in the divine ordinance; rather it is the spirit of the church of the "falling away," against which the Lord warns all believers, "because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant."

The Path He Trod

Our Saviour bowed beneath the wave, And meekly sought a watery grave; Come, see the sacred path He trod-- A path well pleasing to our G.o.d.

His voice we hear, His footsteps trace.

And hither come to seek His face, To do His will, to feel His love, And join our songs with those above.

--_Adoniram Judson._

[Ill.u.s.tration: SYMBOLS OF MEDO-PERSIA AND GRECIA

"The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia." Dan. 8:20, 21.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: COINS OF THE MEDO-PERSIAN AND GRECIAN EMPIRES

The ram, symbol of Persia; and the goat, symbol of Grecia.]

THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 8

A HISTORIC OUTLINE AND A VITAL QUESTION

Another view of the history of empires and kingdoms was brought before the prophet Daniel in the vision of the eighth chapter. In this vision a great prophetic period is given, the end of which reaches to the latter days, touching events of our own times that are of direct interest and importance to every one today.

The vision was given in the third year of Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon. Again, as in moving panorama, there pa.s.sed before the prophet's vision the scenes of history. Earthly kingdoms were represented under the symbols of beasts.

We shall find the prophecy and the history corresponding in every detail, revealing the overruling hand of G.o.d, who knows the end from the beginning, and whose living Word of truth bears its witness through all the ages.

"Truth never dies. The ages come and go; The mountains wear away; the seas retire; Destruction lays earth's mighty cities low, And empires, states, and dynasties expire; But caught and handed onward by the wise, Truth never dies."

The opening scene of this vision, given by the river Ulai, in Persia, is thus described:

_Prophecy._--"Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pus.h.i.+ng westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beast might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great."

Verses 3, 4.

In the angel's interpretation of the vision Daniel was told: "The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia."

Verse 20. "The higher came up last."

The two horns represented the dual character of the empire: first the Medes in ascendancy, then the Persians rising to yet greater power. "So that no beast might stand before him," says the prophecy.

_History._--Xenophon says of Cyrus the Persian:

"He was able to extend the fear of himself over so great a part of the world that he astonished all, and no one attempted anything against him."--_"The Cyropaedia," book 1, chap. 1._

The line of Medo-Persian conquest was "westward, and northward, and southward," just as the prophet saw the ram pus.h.i.+ng its way. As one pen wrote in the days of Persia's supremacy:

"He [Darius] showed the world arms glory-crowned."

"Towns untold before him fell."

"Burgs over sea ... heard from his lips their fate."

--_"The Persians," by aeschylus._

But the ram pus.h.i.+ng westward stirred up an antagonist that was eventually to overcome him. The prophet continues:

_Prophecy._--"As I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns,... and ran unto him in the fury of his power.... And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand." Verses 5-7.