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WM. COVERT

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Oct 25, 1906

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 43.

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WM. COVERT

By Wm. Covert

Baptism

WM. COVERT

When a multitude on the day of Pentecost wished to know what people convicted of sin should do, Peter’s answer was, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38. The apostle’s admonition was immediately heeded, and three thousand went forward in the ordinance of baptism before the day closed.
Those who administered the rite were controlled by the power of God’s Spirit, and were evidently doing the Lord’s will in this matter. Not only were all these baptized, but they were received into Christian connection, or church fellowship, the first day they believed in Christ as their Saviour.
All, both ministers and converts, were herein literally walking in the instruction given by Jesus when he said, “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 observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
The order of working is, first to teach the gospel, then baptize those who believe it, afterward teach the baptized believers all the practical things included in church fellowship and Christian living.
The believer becomes a child of God by faith, and upon confession is then buried with his Lord by baptism. From the grave of his baptism he rises to live a new life, and as a new-born babe is to grow up into Christ in all things. Paul and Silas at Philippi baptized the jailer and his household the same hour of the night in which they believed. It is scarcely possible that the officers and helpers of the prison had, previously to their baptism, enjoyed a Christian experience. Why did the Christian ministers working in connection with those interests, hasten the ordinance of the divine rite as they did? Were they proceeding in the appointed order of gospel work? Was it safe to baptize men and women on the day they were converted? If they were born again, and by faith in Christ became the children of God, could any one consistently object to their baptism? May we not hope to see the time come again, and that too in a short time, when gospel ministers can go speedily forward with their work? When such experiences are realized, will not the time be here when efforts short in duration, but great in righteous success will be the features of God’s work?
O for such a close union with the power from on high that we can fully realize all that our Father in heaven has promised us! We know that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights, and that with him there is not even a shadow of turning. God worked in a marvelous way with the gospel labor in the early days of the present dispensation. The Scriptures plainly teach that even a greater work is to be done through the power of God in the closing period of the dispensation than was done in the beginning. Let us earnestly pray that this time may soon come.
Chicago, Ill.