After preaching the above sermon, Brother Kline, in company with
Brother Kagey, visited a sick woman living on Forrer's land. He says:
"She seemed to be suffering a good deal in body; but more, I think, in
spirit. We told her that Christ Jesus was the only substantial hope we
had to set before her; that faith in him would bring salvation and
peace to her soul. I read to her from the Sermon on the Mount: 'Ask,
and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it
shall be opened unto you: for if ye know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give
good things unto them that ask him.' The best thing that our heavenly
Father can give us is a heart to love and obey him. God works in us
both to will and to do the things that please him; but we at the same
time must have a willing mind to do them. In this way we come to be
co-workers with God.
"'Baptism,'" I said to her, "is the first public act of obedience
required at our hands. Here our sins are _in figure_ washed away; for
baptism is called in the Word 'the washing of regeneration.' As a
newborn child is washed before it is clothed and set before the
family, so the newborn child of God must be washed and made pure
before he or she can come into the church as a full member. But the
baptism of the child of God denotes a spiritual cleansing; whilst the
washing or bathing of a newborn infant means only bodily cleansing.
Hence Peter says that 'baptism is not the putting away of the filth of
the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.' This means
that it fills the heart with a sense or feeling of 'righteousness,
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.'"
"After instructing her awhile in this way we ended our call with
prayer."