Notable Quotes:
"It is impossible to preach salvation by grace, and at the same time preach that the sinner has any claim on the Lord for that grace; or, as many in this age say, an offer of grace. If the sinner is saved by grace, it must be that he might have been justly lost without grace. If he could not have been justly lost without grace, then he could have been justly saved without it." Elder Lemuel Potter
BURIED WITH CHRIST BY BAPTISM
According to the apostle Paul those who are truly baptized are baptized into the death of Christ. In submitting to baptism, true believers make an open profession of their faith in His death, and testify that they are dead to sin, and not only bind themselves under an obligation to follow Christ by precept and example, but declare their sincere desire to rise (from the liquid grave) to walk in newness of life.
"Therefore," says the apostle, "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" (Romans 6:4). Baptism is here shown clearly to be by immersion, for it is spoken of as a burial. If a dead person were taken to a cemetery, stretched out on the ground, and a little dirt sprinkled on his head, no one would argue that the person had been buried. Yet, some clergymen will take a little water on their fingers and sprinkle it on the head of a proselyte, or in many cases, an infant, and call it baptism. When a person is immersed in water they participate in a procedure which truly represents a burial, for they are buried in water. But when one merely has a little water sprinkled on his head there is nothing in that act that is in any way similar to, or representative of, a burial.
Baptism represents the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord. The candidate for baptism professes his hope and assurance that the death of Christ has cleansed him from his sins, and he affirms that he has been killed to the love of sin. He also declares his conviction that all the saints died with Christ, representatively, when He died upon the cross; that they were buried with Him in the same sense when He was laid in Joseph's new tomb, and that they arose with Him representatively when He came forth from that tomb on the third day after His burial. All of this is beautifully depicted and illustrated in the ordinance of baptism or immersion, and perfectly corresponds thereunto, but there is no resemblance between these things and the man-made ritual called sprinkling.
---Elder Ralph Harris
Editors note: We have several hundred copies of writings by Elder Ralph Harris that we are in the process of adding to the website, hopefully these wonderful writings will be available for your reading soon.
