Editorial October 29, 1910 Issue

THE BAPTISM OF FIRE

Annie M. Knott

AMONG professing Christians there are many different opinions as to baptism,—its value, character, and significance,—and this is not so very surprising since we read that early in Christian history there was some uncertainty among believers concerning its true meaning and place. Paul evidently went straight to essentials in dealing with this question, for we are told in the 19th chapter of Acts that he asked some disciples whether they had received the Holy Ghost, and when they replied that they had not even heard of the Holy Ghost, he asked them, "Unto what then were ye baptized?" To this they responded, "Unto John's baptism." This naturally takes us back to the statements found in the 3rd chapter of Matthew, where we read that John called to repentance from sin all who would listen to him, and his preaching was accompanied by the simple rite of water baptism, which typified moral purification; but we are told that he pointed his followers away from his own teaching to something far higher, for he said, "He that cometh after me is mightier than I ... he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."

It would seem from the Gospels that Jesus' disciples, several of whom had been followers of John the Baptist, continued to employ water baptism in their ministry, and this was doubtless a necessary link between the new and the old. It certainly seemed to have much less of materiality in it than had the elaborate rites and sacrifices of the old order, concerning which Isaiah tells us that God declared, "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?... Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me ... it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting." What God required was this: "Cease to do evil; learn to do well," and through all the ages this is the unceasing demand of God, who is revealed in Christian Science as divine Principle, Truth and Love. In so far as any religious observance tends toward this end, it should at least have our respect, even though we may have found "a more excellent way."

In John's Gospel we read that, although Jesus evidently permitted his disciples to baptize with water, he himself never did so; and although he had received this rite from John, he yet said, at a later period: "I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled. But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" Mrs. Eddy thus defines baptism: "Purification by Spirit; submergence in Spirit" (Science and Health, p. 581); and like the Master, each follower of Truth may be said to be "straitened" until the spiritual baptism is accomplished. When it is realized, we become conscious that God governs all that we think and say and do, as Mrs. Eddy tells us in explaining the tremendous significance of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. (See Miscellaneous Writings, p. 204.)

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THE BAPTISM OF FIRE

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