CHAPTER XVIII: Death, and the Intermediate State.

Ordinances of the Gospel.

1. Christian Baptism.--This is the immersion of believers in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in which are represented the burial and resurrection of Christ, the death of Christians to the world, the washing of their souls from the pollution of sin, their rising to newness of life, their engagement to serve God, and their resurrection at the last day.

2. The Lord's Supper.--This is a commemoration of the death of Christ for our sins, in the use of bread, which he made the emblem of his broken body, and the cup, the emblem of his shed blood; and by it the believer expresses his love for Christ, his faith and hope in him, and pledges to him perpetual fidelity.

It is the privilege and duty of all who have spiritual union with Christ thus to commemorate his death; and no man has a right to forbid these tokens to the least of his disciples. [2159]

Death, and the Intermediate State.

1. Death.--As a result of sin, all mankind are subject to the death of the body.

2. The Intermediate State.--The soul does not die with the body; but immediately after death enters into a conscious state of happiness or misery, according to the moral character here possessed.