with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4, 17; 8:18; 10:46; 11:15, 16; 19:6; I Cor. 12:1-13).

Baptized into Power

The Revised Version and the literal translation of the Emphatic Diaglot translate this text "baptizing [or immersing] them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

The word "name" means "authority, power, or nature." Experience and observation prove that immersion in water does not and cannot immerse one into the authority, nor power, nor nature "of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." But baptism with the Holy Spirit is immersion into the power and authority of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and it is a partaking of the divine "nature," by unity with it, as is shown in the passages referred to above.

As to what "baptism" is referred to in this Great Commission, one may find in Luke and John additional facts which will assist in forming a logical conclusion.

According to Luke's account of the "commission" (Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:2-5), Jesus commanded the apostles to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power to execute the "commission."

These apostles had previously cured the sick (Matt. 10:1-8), and they had previously baptized with water (John 1:35, 37; 4:2), therefore it is evident they did not need to "tarry" for additional power in order to baptize with water, nor to effect cures.

Luke informs us also that these apostles were to tarry for the "baptism with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5), which began on the day of Pentecost. That baptism endued the apostles with a power never before possessed by them, that through the laying of the apostles' hands upon believers, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them, baptizing and filling them. This was one of the "greater works" than Jesus did, which he promised they should do (John 14:10-26). That they exercised this power is plainly stated in passages previously cited.

Partaking of the Divine Nature and Power

It is objected by some that this text (Matt. 28:18, 19) cannot intend to commission the apostles to baptize with the Holy Spirit, because man, they say, cannot baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Neither can man of himself cast out devils, cure the sick, the lame and the blind and raise the dead, but according to Matthew (ch. 10:1-8; 28:20) and Mark (ch. 16:17-20) Jesus commissioned his apostles to do all these things, and the record is that they performed them.

In John's record of this "commission" he states that when Jesus commanded the apostles to receive the Holy Spirit (not yet given in baptism but to be received on Pentecost [John 7:39]), he thereby endued them with power to "remit sins" also (John 20:21-23).

It is generally assumed in this day, as well as in Jesus' time, that man cannot remit sins. To such, Jesus said: "Which is easier, to say [with effect], Thy sins are forgiven, or Arise and walk?" (Em. Dia.). He then proved his invisible power to remit sins, by exercising his power to cure the palsy, which power they could see was manifested (Matt. 9:2-8). Evidently Jesus remitted sins and effected cures with equal ease, by the same power-the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:20).

But even Jesus said, "The Son can do nothing of himself" (John 5:19; 8:28); "the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10).

When commissioning the apostles Jesus said: “All power is given unto me-go ye therefore." He possessed the power to baptize with the Holy Spirit, at the appointed time, and told them to tarry until they were endued with the promised power, which was to enable them to perform the works Jesus had performed and even greater works. The baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit, through the laying of the apostles' hands upon believers, was their greatest work. The baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit is the "work" which fits and empowers one for the highest works, for in the Holy Spirit is the source of all power.

"Concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant," said Paul (I Cor. 12:1-31; ch. 13; 14:1; Eph. 4:8-13).

The "One Baptism" Essential

In the above study we find that it was the Holy Spirit which effected in the disciples that marvelous transformation called regeneration, thereby remitting or blotting out sins, "washing, sanctifying, and justifying"; that the Holy Spirit worked in the "name of the Lord Jesus," baptizing them into the Christ-body, filling them with the Divine Nature (wisdom, love and faith), and endowing them with the divine power to heal the sick, raise the dead, remit sins, and confer the Holy Spirit.

Thus we may see that it was the Spirit which baptized them in the name of Jesus Christ into the remission of sins, after which they were filled with it, and that it was the Spirit which baptized them into the name, or nature and power, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. When thus interpreted, the "Great Commission" (Matt. 28:19) and the "Great Promise" (Acts 2:38, 39) harmonize clearly.

"Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind."

We are coming to see that penalty is not external penalty inflicted by a governor for crime perpetrated. The law is in ourselves; the disease and disorder are in ourselves; and the penalty is in ourselves. We are coming to see that every sin comes back to plague the sinner. Every man flagellates himself. No God in heaven nor devil in hell is needed to kindle the fire that is not quenched or to breed the worm that dieth not. Every man kindles the fire and breeds the worm in his own soul. This is not new. The old Greek tragedians saw it, and wrought it into their tragedies. Dante saw it and reported it in the story of the Inferno. Shakespeare saw it and revealed it in "Macbeth" and "Othello." Browning and Tennyson have seen and interpreted it.-Dr. Lyman Abbot.

THE DELUSIONS OF IGNORANT THOUGHT

CHARLES FILLMORE

"The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead."

E live in a world of unknown forces, and the greatest and most potent of them all is the force of man's thought. Some of the simple laws of mind acting on matter are generally accepted, but there is no comprehension of the power of thought to produce organic changes in the body. The average doctor will not admit that thought can make disease. He will allow that it can simulate sickness, but that beyond this it has no power. Yet there are members of the medical profession who, through curiosity, or a desire to know, are finding that thought, under the names of mesmerism, hypnotism and suggestion, is responsible for physical conditions far beyond the limits which they had put upon it.

One eminent scientist says: "Perhaps the most marvelous case, which I am satisfied is true, is that of a half paralyzed woman in Austria, whose experience at the hands of unscrupulous students did more than anything else to cause the passage of the anti-hypnotism law in that country. It was found that the paralysis of one side of her body could be transferred by hypnotism to the opposite side. The students tried such experiments as these: They took a branding iron which bore the letter r, and, placing it against her shoulder, told her it was red-hot. A deeply burned scar, showing the impress of the letter r, appeared spontaneously on her opposite shoulder. A key, which they said was hot, was placed against her breast. A scar, being the impress of a key, appeared on the opposite breast. It was so severe that the skin contracted badly out of shape by it."

Remember, these are not, to you, the theoretical statements of one who has seen behind the illusion through spiritual discernment, and whose word you are asked to take unsupported by proof, but they are the demonstrated, visible exhibitions of this universal mortal thought at its work in the world of illusion.

These conditions which the hypnotizer so quickly produces are not temporary in their nature, as many suppose, but it is demonstrated by citation of abundant evidence, that among the physical effects of hypnotism are these: The production of either catalepsy or lethargy in part or the whole of the body; the paralyzation of individual or combined muscles; the extinction of faculty in one or both, at will, of paired organs; the control, perversion or deadening of each of the senses separately, or of all together; the causing of either insensibility to pain or increased sensibility; governing the respiratory and vascular systems, and producing astonishing effects on digestion, nutrition, temperature, secretions and local tissues. So far does this physical influence extend that the hypnotized person may be made, simply by suggestion, to experience from pure water all the effects of a deadly poison; and injuries, even severe burns, blisters and bleeding wounds, are actually created by mere suggestion during hypnosis.

The foregoing examples of what may be done with hypnotism or mesmerism, are but faint illustrations of its potency in deluding the human mind. The races of earth are today deep in this hypnotized condition. They are hypnotized by the impersonal thought that pervades and weighs down our mental atmosphere like dense clouds; hypnotized by thoughts inherited from ancestry, and are constantly hypnotizing one another because of their ignorance of the power of thought.

The only escape from this condition is through recognition of its nothingness, and denial of its power. As shown by the numerous examples above quoted, it is a mere condition of belief, a delusion in which all join hands and help to deepen. One remarkable instance is quoted where