The Second Baptism
1916-07-16
Isaiah 2:2-6
The Second Baptism
As we go forward in our development of the Christ Mind and its accompanying Christ Body we find it necessary to eliminate from consciousness the ideas and thoughts that are standing in the way of the perfect expression of the higher principles. These are in the New Testament designated as baptism- cleansing, by which the mind is purified. Now, one who enters this narrow way pointed out by Jesus Christ and demonstrated by him, must not be too sensitive, too squeamish in pointing out for himself especially his short-comings. You will find as you go on in the work of overcoming the limitations of the personal man that you will be up against what seems some of your very dear and near possessions- things that you have counted virtues. We find that even Jesus had to be tempted, in the exercise of certain personal qualities, certain personal faults and ideas, and in the lesson this morning we have three of them.
The first is ambition. The second acquisitiveness, the third- vanity. Now, you must be willing if you would overcome as he did, to banish these out of your consciousness. Baptise them with the Spirit and let them go. It may be that you are a little timid about admitting that you are acquisitive, or that you are vain, or that you are ambitious - that is personally ambitious - but you will have it to do if you take up this special line of overcoming.
Now, in our prayer - which is a baptism, or should be - we will admit that there is a mortal consciousness of acquisitiveness and vanity and ambition which really pervades the whole human family. If we want quick returns in our spiritual development we should deny these. And this baptism is not given to you at one time, but at all times. Every time that you want to make a great forward step, deny something; affirm the Truth. In our prayer this morning we will take the denial, or the baptism, of acquisitiveness, vanity and ambition; the affirmation of the Wisdom of Spirit. I am free from all personal acquisitiveness, vanity and ambition; I am wise with the Wisdom of Spirit." (Silence)
Metaphysicians are frequently asked, especially those of the Unity School, whether we believe in baptism or not. My answer is that we do. Then they say, What kind of baptism do you believe in. "Well" I say, "What kind have you?" "Well, do you believe in sprinkling, dipping or plunging?" I say: “A11 three. " We believe in all kinds of baptism. We know that there are various changes that go on in the mind in its cleansing, in its redemptions, in its transformations, and everyone of these is symbolized in some external form.
If you are rather dainty about how you get rid of your errors, if you want to get rid of them in small pieces, a little at a time, - like the man that cut off the dog's tail - you would be sprinkled. That is rather an aesthetic way of cleansing yourself; but if you are willing to go the whole length, you would be plunged; you would be covered with the Spirit. That is the way we look at it. Both of these processes are necessary to the perfect cleansing of the mind of its errors.
You have a conscious state of mind, and a sub-conscious and it may be that you should cleanse your conscious mind with a slight denial; a little sprinkling would take away the sins of your conscious mind but when yon come into the subconscious you need a good scrubbing, because there are plenty of sins down there that you know nothing about - stored away, covered up, and in order to cleanse them you must have plenty of water, and use it frequently, every day. Don't be baptized into the church once and let that suffice, but be baptized every time you need it.
When you find that you are not getting on in your spiritual development, it is very necessary that you be baptised again. Deny something. Search your mind and find out what mortal thought you are building that is interfering with the perfect expression of the Spirit. So in this question of baptism, just remember that we accept them all. We know that everyone of them are necessary.
Don't stand, then, on the particular brand of baptism; include just include them all in your ritual and your forms and ceremonies and you will not miss anything, don't you see. If it should ever happen that the Lord intended sprinkling to be the right way and you should accept sprinkling, and someone else believed in dipping or plunging, don't you know that you might miss out along some line, but if you include them all you will be well supplied.
Now, in the processes which we go through in the development of the higher Principle in man we must remember that it is a latent quality. The Christ Mind in you so far as you are personally concerned is just as negative to your consciousness as the latest electricity in this room. If the electrical force in this room could be set free all at once it would cool the atmosphere off and you would not have to fan. Well, exactly the same thing is true of the latent quality of what is called the Messiah mind, or the Real Man, the Ideal Man, the perfect man. That perfect man is here in everyone of us awaiting proper conditions, proper states of mind in the individual to be set free, and then the man will be raised up.
What we call the sense consciousness will be lifted up and transformed, educated, and it will become the avenue through which this higher Principle manifests itself. But the higher Principle must receive the baptism or the cleansing of the conscious mind. That seems rather paradoxical and inconsistent. It seems so to this John state of Mind. Now, John represents the intellectual man who has been illuminated with a certain Truth. He sees the Truth, and he baptizes his followers into this new Truth; when there comes to him an entirely new principle, one that-he never conceived before. He saw himself objectively; he saw himself as a man of flesh and blood - a man of certain moral qualities, of certain intellectual attainments.
As this man is revealed to him, all at once he sees still further; there is a break in the heavens of his mind, and he sees himself as an untrammeled, free, spiritual Being with capacity and power far beyond anything he had ever conceived of from the intellectual viewpoint. Now, this new man is the Christ, the spiritual man, and he comes to this intellectual man and gives himself to him; but the intellectual man as he perceives the majesty and power of the spiritual man says: "I cannot baptize you - I need your baptism." But the Christ mind in its latent quality, says: "Let the law be fulfilled. You baptize me.” That means that the consciousness must enter into everything. It makes no difference how great you may be in your mind, how mighty you may consider your possibilities, unless you wield them in conscious activity, unless you give them the baptism of your own individual life, they will never become a part of you.
Now, this is the lesson in this stage of our development - that we must baptize. We must through affirmation and denial of the-conscious mind into our spiritual life, into this high ideal which we have set up in ourselves. Then a new phase of consciousness is developed. We are told that when John baptised Jesus the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove, and a voice said: "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." This represents the breaking away of what we call the ideal realm, and the descending of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove as a new phase of life coming into your consciousness. A new kind of life.
You have in your animal consciousness had an animal phase of life. It has been mere physica1 life just like the balance of the animals; but now another phase of that same life is coming into expression. You have had aggressive life, a life that had to defend itself through various modes of defence. The natural man is apparently in a world where he is constantly being encroached upon by enemies and he sends out thoughts of defence; he defends himself. We see that in the various developments of the vegetable world, also the animal world. How does the tiger get his teeth and those tearing claws? Why, through a thought of defence. He must live and he must defend himself, and that thought creates these weapons of protection. We are told that the giraffe developed that long neck through reaching for the tender buds of the trees. Burbank discovered that there were species of cacti that did not have spines, and he said - "Why not develop a cactus that will be absolutely spineless, become edible and be said to benefit humanity. So he took an ordinary desert cactus and began a series of development to do away with those sharp spines. The first thing that came to him was that the plant needed a certain - what we would call treatment. That is, it came to him that these spines had been sent out as a kind of protection. That the little plant was the prey of the vegetable eating animals, and to protect itself it sent out those spines. So Burbank began to encourage the plant that he had in his garden; he told it that it had nothing to fear, that it should not be disturbed any longer in its growth. Every day he talked to it. Of course, that was not all of the development; he had other ways. He found that there were species of cacti that did not have as many spines as those that he grew in the desert, so he crossed with those, and kept up his encouragement of the little plant against the encroachment of enemies. You can see how he produced this spineless cactus. He says it will grow anywhere in the desert now and produce a luxuriant crop of edible vegetable food for all kinds of animals - man included. This has been brought about by an encouragement, by changing and adding parts, and it has demonstrated how man's thoughts can bring forth a change because we are part of the great Universal.
We develop ourselves just as any of the animals develop themselves through a desire and reaching out for the thing desired. Our hands, our feet, every member of the body has been brought forth in this way. There must have been a pattern, of course, and so there is a pattern of this Christ Mind, this perfect man; but it must be developed, it must be brought into expression a little here and a little there, and letting the law be fulfilled. That is what Jesus said. That he should receive the baptism of John, that he must be brought forth under the righteous law. And if you would read understandingly the Scripture, you will see that this bringing forth was under a law.
Jesus said he had to be tempted in all points as we are. He knew the law. In other words, there was a man who was put back into that state of consciousness which is allegorically brought put in the first chapter of Genesis. The man who was put into the Garden of Eden, and the Lord God, or this informing spiritual mind was with it, and he was told what he should ap- propriate and what he should not. There is no doubt that man is the constantly - - -
We are today in this state where a certain temptation of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is constantly before us. You are being tempted every moment of your life if you are growing. If you are at a standstill and not going forward you may have established yourself in a state of consciousness where there is no temptation; but trial is necessary to the development of character. Then, don't be afraid of trials. They are good for you if you know how to handle them. If you know this law of the power of the Spirit to guide you and direct you in every one of your over-comings, they will be easy; you will surmount them. They will become stepping stones to higher things.
Trials are necessary to the on-going of the soul. We pray: "Lead us not into temptation. " Do you think then that God Almighty really tempts you? You like to see your children grow up strong and fearless and courageous with an understanding that would meet what we call the evi1 of the world and put it in its proper place, go about his business without contamination - without the sowing of wild oats - in other words being tempted in all points and yet without sin. That is the kind of man that God Almighty is trying to create; that is the kind of man that God designed everyone of us to be; a man that would consult the law and think before he jumps. This is the law of righteousness, that you shall be baptized, or receive the unction of this higher understanding; then the different, the new life that comes to you will not be an aggressive, fighting, protective state of consciousness You will no longer be an animal. You will no longer be in that state where you have to fight all the time to live, but the protecting power of the higher principle will come into your consciousness; this is typified by the dove. After you have cleaned and purified your mind of all aggressive, or fighting, or defensive states of mind, then a new life finds expression in you. This is the dove life. You will remember in the allegory of the flood, when the waters abated Noah sent out the dove. Here again we see the symbol of the cleansing life. The cleansing waters have taken away the sins of the world, and the new, innocent, pure, nonaggressive life was sent out, ·and that same life is sent into the consciousness of one who has been baptized of the Spirit.
We find that we do not have to fight for our existence; we do not have to defend ourselves by sending out defending thoughts, but trust everything to the one infinite Goodness. Say: "I am the Child of the Good God. I am the child of a Principle which defends me from all enmity; I cease to make enemies because I believe in the friendship, the love, the peace, the non-aggressive attitude that everybody can take. This is the going forth of the dove. But we are told that after the dove had descended upon Jesus the Spirit took him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. That is the translation in the King James version, but that version is not always careful in its use of words. I consult quite a number af translations and I find that they all differ a little. Now the Emphatic Diaglott, which gives a word for word translation, says that the Spirit took Jesus into a desert place to be tempted by the enemy. That is very different from the devil. It is not a personality but some enemy that has gotten into the man consciousness.
You say that it is the tendency to evil, to error, to ignorance. So it is. Then that enemy has formed in the human atmosphere or thought realms of the race, a state of consciousness, and that state of consciousness we call "mortal mind". It is the carnal mind in us which opposes the mind of the Spirit. Then it is not a personal devil, is it, that we have to meet. and we see at once that this is an allegory. This personal consciousness, or this enemy of the Truth, the wise the pure in you, it tempts you along various lines, and we see that that is just what this Scripture refers to. It is not historical. How could the devil take )esus off into a desert place, then up onto the pinnacle of a great temple, then up on a mountain where he might see all the kingdoms of the world. That would (be) impossible. Then it is allegorical.
Then what is the first temptation that you meet with after you realize that you are more than the average man? It is the temptation to increase the good things - the things that you like. You will find that the majority of people when they come into Truth ask for an increase of prosperity. If I should exhibit to you (which I do not do) the letters we receive in our Silent Unity Department you would find that probably seventy- five per cent. of them ask for an increase of temporal things right away. Most all of the people, especially those that are sick are in need of more money, they think; or better surroundings and conditions. They want the stones, the material things, turned into bread. That was the first temptation that came to Jesus. What did he do? Did he increase his temporal things? In other words, did he let acquisitiveness rule in his consciousness? No. He said,”Man doth not live by bread alone but by every word proceeding out of the mouth of God."
Then why do we teach prosperity? Why do we encourage our people in increasing their things? They may have just what God gives to all of his children - plenty - abundance; they may have all good, but how shall they have it? Aye, that is the point! If you look at the temporal things, look at the stones, and seek to increase from that standpoint, you miss the mark. That will develop acquisitiveness. It will develop that quality of mind which the adversary delights to bring to his followers, and that is not under the law. Remember that every material thing, all the money in the world, everything that exists, has a word back of it, and the wise metaphysician, the one who is following the Christ, seeks to increase that word; then the things will be increased. Do not begin with the idea that you can increase the symbol first. You must work according to the Law. Get at the Word of God, then you will know that man does not live on material things, but he lives upon words, he lives upon the Spirit side of everything. Get that well fixed in your consciousness, then you begin the multiplication of your Good, you will have something permanent.
The next thing the adverse mind did was to take Jesus up on to the pinnacle of the temple and tell him to cast himself down. Of course the devil always quotes Scripture, just as freely and friendly, and with the same authenticity of the Spirit. It said: "It is written that he shall give his angels charge concerning thee lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” In other words, God is so careful of you that he will not even allow you to stub your toe against a rock; there will be angels right with you all the time taking care of you. However, that advice did not go down with Jesus. He was wise with the Wisdom of Spirit. He said: "I am not going to exhibit myself or my powers for the applause of the multitude.” That is really what the adverse mind was suggesting and that is what that adverse mind suggests to most of us. We see the possibility and the power, and want to exercise that power.
In healing the sick and changing the conditions of people, or giving them a new viewpoint or broader understanding - there is a certain vanity that comes to one who has this power. And the people to whom he ministers urge him on. They say: "Now in our town there is a man who has been sick for a long time, and if you will heal him everybody will believe.” And if you are a little vain of your power you will make a specialty of that man; you are going to heal that man so that everybody will believe. Now, you are climbing up to the pinnacle of the temple, and you will fall down. . Everybody falls down who tries to climb up in that way because it is not the right way. Nobody will believe any quicker if you heal individuals that are objects of interest. It would not really make any difference to the unbelievers; they would say that the medicine the doctor gave him twenty years ago was just beginning to work, or that it is a natural recovery. Suppose Jesus had climbed up to that pinnacle and dropped down unhurt, do you suppose that he would have been accepted by the people then as the Messiah. They would have said he had rubber pads under his clothes, and that was how he did it. They would have had an explanation of some kind. So you can see that all of these so-called miraculous things that you are doing do not count with the people unless they get the understanding; unless they know that there is a Law of Spirit and get this Spiritual Mind. So Jesus said to that adverse thought: "Thou shalt not tempt the Law." Do not tempt the Law. Go right on about your work, but do not try to do marvelous things. Do not became a _______ . Do not seek to be ________ in any way
Then the tempter took Jesus up on the highest mountain of the world where he could see all the kingdoms of the earth, and said “Fall down and worship me and I will give you all of these." But Jesus said unto him: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve." “Satan, get thee behind me." Now, this last one is ambition; it is the ambition to rule; to be the leader. It is the personal man striving to be arrayed in the livery of God - and it is usually the livery of the devil. Then we should suppress our ambitions. We should not let this wonderful, Spiritual uplift which we get when the Christ Mind comes into consciousness lead us to think that it is our personal property. Do you know that there is a point in which everyone who is developing the Christ Mind should be informed. I was told the other day that there are over forty men and women in the United States today that believe themselves to be the Messiah. They all think that they are the only Christ. And they have their followers and satellites who believe that they are the Christ. Well, now, are these people -deluded? No. The Christ Mind has made its descent into their consciousness and they feel the mighty working of that Christ Principle, and not being broad and wise in their understanding they assume that they are the especially elected Christ.
Now, Jesus Christ said, yon will remember, as a test, "They shall say unto you - Lo here is Chriet, and lo there; but go not forth. Go not into the desert place but into the closets, for the Kingdom of God is within you and the Christ cometh as the lightning shining from the east even unto the west. Now, this is symbolical again. The desert places are those states of consciousness in the outer world where people are expecting the Christ to come as a personality. Do you know that thousands of followers of Jesus Christ in the outer are expecting him to come? They say that the time is ripe and that Jesus is liable to come at any moment; they are really looking forward to the advent of the man in the midst of us in a fleshly body. These are the people who are in the desert places expecting Christ to come in that way. Jesua said: "Go into the secret closets to find him. "
What are the secret closets? It is that system of Spiritual development which tells us that we can only find this Christ Mind through one process. Through a system which we might call a covered-up, secret society process? No. You can find it in neither of these. Where will you find it then? It comes from the east like the quick flash of lightning, even unto the west. The east represents the inner, and the west the outer. In other words, it. comes like a flash from the inner to the outer. Jesus is in the world today. He is manifesting in the minds of those who really believe in the universality of the Christ Mind, and we are today demonstrating the Christ principle just to the extent that we open our minds to it.
Now, if you are in personal acquisitiveness and are using this law for your temporal benefit, of course you are standing in your own light, you are standing the light of the Spirit. If you are vain of your possessions of this Spiritual power, you are standing in your light again. If you are ambitious for the aggrandizement of the Spirit, you are standing in your light again. Now, get out of your own light and you will get and you will get out of the Light of Spirit. ( into the Light of Spirit?) You will be able to say: "Get thee behind me, Satan - limited mind." That is what that is; all limitations of the one great Spiritual Mind are now in the of the mind of _____(man). That mind does not exist any longer for the one who understands the absolute quality of the Spiritual Mind. Now this Spiritual Mind, this mind of the I Am Man, is the beloved of God. This is "my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Isn't it grand to think that God has given to everyone of us that stamp of Love; that he loves every man, woman and child in the Spirit?
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