"Every day we should be a little wiser than the day before, seeing our own faults more clearly, and so how to correct them; realizing our capabilities, and so know how to direct them wisely."-COLLYER.

No. 6, Vol. LXX.

Thursday, February 6, 1908.

Price One Penny.

HOW WE MAY BECOME ONE WITH THE FATHER.

LOVE and unity are characteristic of all well-regulated families. Where these exist there are order and peace; where they do not exist there are discord and confusion. The father and mother stand at the head of the family. They are to set their children examples in everything that is good, to "train them up in the way they should go, so that when they grow old they may not depart from it." To this end they must be united, of one heart and mind; the one must not be in opposition to the other. If they desire to see the members of their family live in love and unity and peace with each other they must set them an example in this respect. Now, we are all the children of the Eternal Father, He being the Father of our immortal spirits. He stands at the head of the great human family, and associated with Him are His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. The most perfect love and unity exist between the members of the Holy Trinity. While they are three distinct personages, they are one in attributes, powers and purposes; they are of one heart and one mind, and see eye to eye in all things. This is what Jesus meant when He said, "I and my Father are one." He did not mean, as some people are foolish enough to believe, that He and His Father were one and the same individual; for on another occasion He said, "My Father is greater

than I.' Again He said, "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." (Mark 13: 32.) Here Jesus positively states that neither men nor angels, no, nor even Himself, knew the hour of

His second coming, but His Father only.

Immediately before His betrayal Christ prayed for His disciples, the Twelve, and other couverts, as follows: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." (John 17: 20, 21.) It is absurd to think that Christ desired His followers to lose their individuality and become one person, even if such a thing were possible. He desired that all should be united in heart, in spirit and purpose, even as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are united. This was one of the objects for which He placed inspired apostles and prophets in the Church-that "we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." (Eph. 4: 13, 14.) This was the burden of the apostles' teaching. Remembering the prayer of the Master, and also the mission which had been placed upon them, they labored diligently to preserve the believers in the unity of the faith. On hearing of divisions which had taken place among the members of the Church at Corinth, Paul immediately wrote to them, reproving them for their disunion, and thanking God that he had not baptized any of them, except Crispus and Gaius, and the household of Stephanas. In his epistle he said: "Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." (I. Cor. 1:10.) If the Apostle Paul were to reappear to-day what a scathing rebuke he would administer to the several hundred so-called Christian churches, which, instead of bringing the people to a unity of the faith, have, by their disputations and contentions, turned the people's ears away from the truth and turned them unto fables, divided them, and caused bitterness and strife to reign in hearts in which God intended peace and love should dwell.

From what has been written this is the sum-that the Lord desired His followers to be one, even as He and His Father were one; and it is now my purpose to show how we may all become one with these holy Beings-by doing the will of the Father which is in heaven. By way of illustration:

In one of the country districts of England there lives a very happy family, consisting of the father, mother, four sons and two

daughters. Farmer Brown is held in the highest esteem by all who know him. He is honest, sober, truthful, industrious, and attends strictly to his own business. His good wife is not one whit behind him. Her home is neat as wax; she has a place for everything, and everything in its place. The children reflect great credit upon their parents; they honor their father and mother; the daughters take delight in helping their mother take care of the home, and the sons labor faithfully with their father on the farm. Here is an ideal home, an anteroom of heaven. What has made it such? Obedience, love, and unity. The wife loves and honors her husband, the husband loves his wife even as himself; the parents love their children, and they in turn love, honor and obey their parents. Monday morning Mrs. Brown says to one of her daughters, "Mary, I have a bundle of soiled linen I would like you to wash for me to-day." "I shall be pleased to do it, mother," is Mary's prompt answer. To Jane the mother says, "Jane, you will help me dress some fowl for the dinner?' "With pleasure, mother," answers the loving and obedient daughter." It is the same with the sons. To one of them Farmer Brown says, "George, I desire you to take a load of potatoes to the city to-day." "All right, father," is the ready answer. "And I would like you, James, to repair some of the fences." "I will do so," is the reply. To his sons Frank and Robert the father says, "My sons, I would like you to plow that piece of meadow land to-day;" and in half an hour the faithful boys are turning the sods. Here we find the secret of this family's happiness: it is because of the love and unity and obedience of the members. They are all of one heart and of one mind: the will of the husband is the will of the wife; the will of the parents is also the will of their sons and daughters.

Now, what would be the condition of this home if the inmates were not united? If when her mother had asked her to wash the linen, Mary had said, "I am not going to do it; I promised Laura Woods that I would go with her to the city to-day;" and Jane had also refused to help dress the fowl because she wanted to work on a new dress for herself; and George objected to going to the city with potatoes because he had promised a friend that he would go fishing with him; and the other two sons had likewise refused to do their father's bidding? The result would have been a quarrelsome and contentious family, a divided household, a habitation, but not a home in the true sense of the word.

Now, let us go back and speak of things spiritual. We have seen the love and unity that exist between the members of the Godhead; we have also seen that it was the desire of the Lord that we should all be one, even as He and His Father are one. Christ came to the earth as the representative of His Father, to teach mankind, both by precept and example, to conform their lives to the will of the Father. Only by doing so could they become one with Him and

His Father. He said, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John 7: 16, 17.) From this we learn that the doctrine which Christ taught was the doctrine of His Father; therefore when men accepted the teachings of Christ they accepted the teachings of His Father also; and when they rejected the teachings of the Son they rejected the counsel of the Father. "He that receiveth me," said the Savior, "receiveth my father also."

Let us see what the will of the Father was as revealed through Christ. In the first place it was and is the will of God that men believe in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and accept Him as their Savior and Redeemer. When certain people asked the Lord, "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" His answer was, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 28, 29.) This shows us the first step we have to take in order to become one with the Father-to believe in Christ whom He has sent, and in the great and infinite atonement which He has made for our sins.

Now, let us see in what other respects God has manifested His will to us. He has declared through His beloved Son, and also through His holy apostles and prophets, that it is His express desire that we repent of our sins, and that, too, in all sincerity, and turn unto Him, when He will have mercy on us and abundantly pardon our transgressions. It is not the will of God that any man should die in his sins, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live. The Father has given us abundant evidence of His love for us and of His desire to save and exalt us in His presence. All this is shown in the gift of His only begotten Son. But before we are permitted to enter His presence and associate with the righteous, the pure, and the sanctified, we must be cleansed from our sins, for no unclean thing can enter the kingdom of heaven.

This also, then, is the will of the Father-that we repent of all our sins and turn and serve Him with full purpose of heart. By doing so we become one with Him; by refusing to repent we place ourselves in opposition to His divine will, become a law unto ourselves, and forfeit our right to His fellowship and blessings.

It is the same with baptism. God ordained and established the ordinance of baptism, by immersion, through obedience to which men could obtain a remission of their sins. He specially raised up John the Baptist and commissioned him to go forth and preach repentance and baptism in water for the remission of sins. He manifested His approval of that ordinance when His beloved Son received it at the hands of His servant John. Christ thoroughly understood the importance of the baptism by water, and told Nicodemus that "except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." This plainly shows that

baptism is one of the laws of the kingdom of heaven; and it would he the height of presumption on the part of any man to claim citizenship in the kingdom of God who had refused to subscribe to the laws of that kingdom. A few months ago the writer, in company with a number of friends, paid a visit to Windsor Castle. On presenting ourselves at the entrance, an officer of the king politely informed us that an admission fee of one shilling was required of each visitor. We paid the fee and were shown through the royal apartments. But had we gone to Windsor, and, refusing to pay the entrance sum, had demanded admission to the castle, we would have been promptly ordered off the premises. As well might a citizen of the United Kingdom go to the United States and seek to become an American citizen without subscribing to the laws of adoption as for a man to try to get into the kingdom of heaven by refusing to obey the laws of that kingdom. We are told by Luke that those who refused to be baptized in his day rejected the counsel of God against themselves. (Luke 7: 30). Can a man who rejects the counsel of God be one with God? He can not. When the Savior introduced the ordinance of the washing of feet among His disciples, Peter refused to receive it, saying, "Lord, thou shalt not wash my feet." The Lord's answer shows the importance which He attached to all of His Father's ordinances. It was as follows: "Except I wash your feet, you have neither part nor lot with me." Therefore, if we desire to be one with our Father in heaven, and to dwell with Him in His kingdom, we must obey the commandments which He has given us. But not only has a man to receive the birth of the water before he can enter the kingdom of God, but he must also receive the birth of the Spirit. The one is just as essential as the other; He that ordained the one also ordained the other. Christ received the baptism of water and also the baptism of the Spirit. These we must likewise receive, for "the servant is not greater than the Master."

But the question may be asked, "How can we receive this higher baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit?" We can receive it in the same manner in which the early Christians received it-by prayer and the imposition of hands of the authorized servants of God. When some of the people of Samaria accepted the gospel through the preaching of Philip, and received the baptism of water, the apostles Peter and John went down from Jerusalem and conferred the Holy Ghost upon them by prayer and the laying on of hands. (See Acts 8: 14-20.) When Paul baptized believers at Ephesus, he laid his hands upon them and they received the Holy Ghost. (See Acts 19: 1-20.) Timothy received the precious gift in like manner. (II. Timothy 1: 6.) The Lord has not authorized anyone to change this ordinance, for His laws and ordinances are unchangeable. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews informs us that baptism and the laying on of hands were part of the doc