[Sidenote: The equivalent of baptism found in science.]
Students of science, who agree that faith and repentance have a place in science, frequently assert that the equivalent of baptism is not found in external nature. This claim may be proved false by examining the nature of law.
The chemist must frequently produce the gas hydrogen. To do it, an acid must be poured upon fragments of certain metals. In thus producing the gas, the chemist obeys law. The astronomer who studies the stars discovers that by using a piece of glass properly ground, his powers of vision appear to be strengthened. He therefore prepares such lenses for his telescopes, and thus obeys law. The surgeon uses antisceptics in the treatment of wounds because he has learned that such application will destroy germ life, and thus the surgeon obeys law. The electrician has found that by winding a wire in a certain manner around iron and rotating it near a magnet, electric currents are set up. He builds dynamos according to such principles, and thus shows his obedience to law.
It must be noted that the scientist does not know just why acid added to metal produces hydrogen, or why a certain curved lens brings the stars nearer; or why certain chemicals destroy low forms of life or why wire wound in a certain way when rotated in the magnetic field will produce electricity. Nature requires, without volunteering an explanation, that to produce hydrogen, see the stars, destroy germs and produce the electric current, certain invariable laws must be obeyed.
Baptism is essentially of the same nature. To enter the Kingdom of God, a person must be baptized. Just why baptism should be the ordinance that opens the door, no man knows. It undoubtedly has high symbolic value; but the symbolism might be expressed in many other ways. All that man can do is to obey.
[Sidenote: It is unreasonable to do only what is fully understood.]
Men say at times that they will do nothing which they do not fully understand, and therefore they will not be baptized. It would be as unreasonable for a man to say that because he does not fully understand why a certain winding of the wire is necessary to produce electricity he will not produce this wonderful natural force. All theology and all science contain laws that must be obeyed in order to obtain certain results, although the full reasons for the required combinations are not understood.
He who is baptized, enters the Kingdom of God. He who throws acid on metal enters the kingdom of hydrogen; he who grinds the lens right, enters the kingdom of the stars; he who uses antisceptics right, enters the kingdom of lower life, and he who winds the wire correctly, enters the kingdom of electricity. Yielding obedience to any of these various laws, is a form of baptism, which gives entrance to a kingdom.
[Sidenote: Baptism is obedience to law.]
The essential virtue of baptism is obedience to law. The prime value of any natural law is attained only after obedience has been yielded to it. Baptism is conformity to certain details in entering God's Kingdom. Scientific baptism is conformity to certain details in entering the kingdom of science. Only by baptism can a man attain salvation; only by using lenses of the right curvature can a man view the stars. Religious success does not rest in the degree to which every law is explained; but rather in the degree to which all known laws are obeyed. Scientific success does not rest upon the degree to which every law is explained; but rather in the degree to which every discovered law is obeyed and applied for man's advancement.