For the Remission of Sins.--Baptism is the divinely instituted process by which sins, when truly repented of, are remitted; that is, forgiven and washed away. All men have sinned; and in order to bring them back into his pure presence, where nothing sinful can come, it is necessary that they first be cleansed from sin. Water baptism is the beginning of the cleansing process. Means and Accessories.--Water, of itself, cannot, of course, wash away sin. It was not water that cleansed Naaman of his leprosy. It was his obedience to the prophet who directed him to go and dip seven times in the Jordan. Had he dipped but once, or but six times, his leprosy would still have clung to him. But he did as he was told--dipped seven times, and his faith, shown by his obedience, worked the cure, bringing down the power of God for that purpose. The water was the medium through which the power operated. Likewise, when Christ anointed the eyes of the blind man, causing him to see, it was faith--the power of God--that wrought the miracle; but the clay used was an accessory, as consecrated oil was (James 5:14,15) and is still, in the healing ordinance of the Church. Water and Spirit.--Baptism cleanses and illumines the soul, and the water and the spirit are divinely appointed means by which the cleansing and the illumination come. And they are indispensable in the process. The sick may be healed without the use of oil, without even the laying on of hands; for it is faith that heals, not instrumentalities employed; but no sinner can be baptized, without the Water and the Spirit. By baptism we are as effectually freed from sin, and our moral status changed, as by death, burial and resurrection we are liberated from mortality and ushered into a new existence. Hence baptism is termed "the washing of regeneration." Regeneration means new birth. Two fold Nature of Baptism.--Baptism, as already explained, is twofold, corresponding to the soul of man. The body or fleshly part is represented by the water, and the spirit by the Holy Ghost. The water and the spirit are both essential in baptism, because, as previously stated, it is not the body alone, nor the spirit alone, that is baptized, but the soul, body and spirit in one. The body, I say, is represented by the water. Science tells us that most of the human body is water. Hamlet's plaintive wish that his "too, too, solid flesh would melt--thaw and resolve itself into a dew," was not so very extravagant, therefore, from a scientific viewpoint.