"'But,' says one, 'what matters it whether we go this road that you point out or some other? You know if we can get to heaven one way, is not that as good as another? We will try to illustrate this idea. If a man wish to go to London, says the inquirer, may he not go the road that leads towards the south, or a road that leads towards the north, as the case may be; what matters it so that he gets to London? It would not matter in the least. He might go the road that led to the north or that which led to the south, and by making a shorter or longer journey, as the case might be, he might get to London. But you see there is no parallel between this figure and the facts in regard to religion because there are not two ways to get to heaven. That is the difference. There are two ways to get to London probably, perhaps more, but you see there is only one way to get to heaven, so that when we admit, as an illustration, a figure of this kind, we start with an error and it leads us astray.
"The Bible speaks of one way. It speaks of two ways. It speaks of a broad road that leads to destruction, and it speaks of a narrow way that leads to eternal life. So you see there is only one way that leads to heaven, and if any one persuades us that the wide road will lead us there, he deceives us, for there is only one way, and it is narrow. The Bible is very plain upon this, because the doctrines are steadfast and sure, and the words are plain that there is but one way that leads to life and glory. Now that is the way we want to find out.
"Jesus came, He said, to do His Father's will, not His own. He called Apostles and ordained them, and He said, "As I have been sent, so send I you. Go and preach the gospel to every creature." That was their business. But He said, 'Tarry ye first in Jerusalem, until ye are endowed with power from on high.' Jesus called the Apostles. He ordained them Himself. He instructed them personally, and He commissioned them to preach the gospel to every creature. But He wished them to tarry at Jerusalem until they received power from on high; a certain gift which God had promised that they might be qualified, in every sense, to discharge the important duty devolving upon them, of administering words of salvation to a fallen world. The Apostles did this. They gathered in Jerusalem. They were there on the day of Pentecost, and whilst there, in the upper room, the endowment of which Jesus spoke was given unto them. The Holy Ghost came upon them, in the upper room, as a mighty rushing wind, and it sat upon them as cloven tongues of fire. And, whilst under that influence, the Apostles who were sent to preach the gospel, stood up, at least Peter did, as the mouth-piece of the rest, at that time to preach the gospel that Christ sent them to declare. Now, what was it? Let us lay a good foundation as we proceed.
"Were they qualified to preach it? I do not think any Christian will doubt it. If they were not prepared to teach the gospel of the Son of God, then I would have no hope, my friends, of hearing it in this life. Never. Jesus Himself chose them. He ordained them; He instructed them, and after all this, as you will find in the 2nd chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, 1st, 2nd and 3rd verses, they assembled in Jerusalem, and had fulfilled unto them the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving the endowment of which I have been speaking.
"I think that all my friends here are certainly prepared to accept the words that Peter spoke, and acknowledge them to be true. What did Peter say? First, he preached Christ and Him crucified. You see the people, who had gathered together on the day of Pentecost, were people, who had no faith in Christ. They had rejected Him and His instructions. They had been of those who persecuted Christ and the Apostles. They were of those who had either personally or in their sympathies sustained the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, Peter, knowing this, stood up and preached to them, first Christ and Him crucified, and he was successful. Who can doubt it? Peter, a servant of God, ordained by the Son of God. Peter, upon whom the Spirit of God rested as tongues of fire, as the scriptures have it. This man stood up and argued the point, and explained about Jesus. And who can doubt the result? I am sure we would have been disappointed if we had been told in the Bible that Peter was not successful. He was successful. Many believed on him, and the result of their belief was that they said, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' (Acts ii: 37.) No wonder they asked that question. People who had either helped to crucify the Lord, or who had rejoiced when He was crucified, as many of them did, to be convinced that that same Jesus whom they had assisted to crucify was indeed the Lord, the Christ; and when they were convinced of this they cried out, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?'
"Peter was prepared to tell them. He had the very instructions that were needed, and the words of Peter are applicable today, my friends, to you and to me, so far as we have not obeyed them.
"We are believers in Christ, I trust. We have fortunately made our appearance in this life, in the midst of a people who at least believe in the divinity of Christ, and we have received impressions favorable to this end; therefore the words of Peter, spoken to those who believed in the divinity of Christ, are applicable to us, and are the words of salvation to us, if that ancient gospel is not changed. What were the words? He says, '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 ii: 38.)
"Was that the gospel? Yes, unless the Apostles disobeyed the instruction of Christ, because they were sent to preach the gospel, and they were endowed that they might preach it perfectly and represent God, the Maker of heaven and earth, in the words and spirit by which they presented it unto the people.
"Now, my friends, faith in Christ was the first principle of the gospel; repentance of sins was the second principle; baptism for the remission of sins was the third principle, and then the reception of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands, as taught by Peter on that day in Jerusalem. Is there any objection to this? 'None at all,' says one, 'that is scriptural; we cannot object to it.' A Bible believer cannot object to it. But what is becoming of us if such doctrines are not taught? 'Well,' says one, are they not taught?' No. 'Faith in Christ is taught,' and 'repentance of sins is taught,' although by some people the latter is taught first, before faith in Christ. Some teach that we must repent of our sins before we can have faith in Christ. This is a mistake. We cannot possibly repent of sin committed, unless we are convinced that we have committed the sin. We cannot repent of laws broken, which Christ has taught through His Apostles unless we are first convinced that Jesus was divine, and had the authority to teach them; so that faith in Christ and His divine mission must be the foundation of our practice as Christians. And the first effect that faith in Christ produces, is repentance of the sins which we have committed. So repentance is the second principle of the gospel. But we differ a little more about the third principle. Just read your Bible, and you will find that Peter taught baptism for the remission of sins (Acts ii: 38). Again, John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Christ, baptized for the remission of sins (Mark i: 4). 'John was sent from God.' You will find this in the 1st chapter of the gospel according to St. John, 6th verse. John himself said, in the 33rd verse of the same chapter, 'He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me,' referring to the instruction he received from the Father regarding Christ. Both passages assert this, that John the Baptist was sent by God to baptize with water, and we are taught in the Bible that he did teach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. That is just what we might expect. John was God's servant. So was Peter. They both taught the same doctrine. John taught baptism, and Peter told the people to be baptized every one of them. You will remember the servant of God who was sent to speak to Paul, to instruct him just after his conversion. He went to him, and when the scales fell from the eyes of Paul, or Saul, this man of God said to him: 'Why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord' (Acts xxii: 16). Be baptized and wash away his sins? Yes. Now, that agrees exactly with the doctrine of Peter, and the doctrine of John the Baptist. They were all three servants of God, and they all taught the same doctrine, and those who heard and believed that doctrine possessed the selfsame faith; so that so far as baptism is concerned, the ancient Saints did teach and practice the selfsame doctrine—baptism for the remission of sins.
"I want to talk a little about this. One says, 'Well, I have always been taught that baptism was a doctrine of Christ anciently, but I have been under the impression that it was not necessary to salvation.' That may be, my friends, we have been taught a great many things, and good Christian people have believed a great many things that Christian people have rejected since. But that is no reason why we should change the Bible doctrine. The thing is right here. 'Well,' says one, 'I thought we were not able of ourselves to do anything to help to save ourselves.' This requires proper understanding. If baptism brings the remission of sins, and baptism is not attended to by us, we cannot obtain the blessing. Certainly not. God gives us bread to eat, but He does not present it to us. A man sows seed in the ground and he sees to it and he harvests it and it is threshed and prepared and placed before us in the shape of flour, but we have no disposition to deny that it is the gift of God. If it were not for God's goodness we should have no bread. If it were not for the gift of God we could not attend to the ordinance that brings remission of sins. We have not power, of ourselves, to bring within our reach a single saving principle belonging to the plan of eternal life. It is all God's free gift. It is all in consequence of His mercy, and His charity, and His goodness and love, and pleasure manifested to us that we have any privilege at all that will help to make us better, or that will bring us into His Church and kingdom and give us a right to say that we are really His children. The fact that He has laid down ordinances, through which a remission of sins is brought to us does not warrant us in saying that we do it of ourselves, and when people talk like this it is likely to deceive.