MEANS
OF GRACE AND SALVATION.
Now a belief in this God, I say, is
essential to the attainment of a salvation. Jesus made this plain when He
established His Church upon the earth and revealed to mankind certain
ordinances of obedience and certain principles of faith which must be accepted
by those who receive Him. To every man who believes in God as his Heavenly
Father, as the immaculate and omnipotent One, it is a perfectly natural thing
for him to strive to reconcile himself to that omnipotent being and, feeling
his own sinfulness by the monitor of his consciousness he would try to appease
God whose purity he had offended. it is a natural thing for a man to repent as
soon as he is convinced that God lives and it concerned and interested in him.
This repentance would bring a man to a state of mind and spirit in which he
would abhor sin and detest every form of evil and earnestly desire to rid
himself of sin. This is genuine repentance but it is not genuine and sincere
until an earnest and successful effort, to some extent at least has been made
to forsake sin. To bemoan one's sinful state and continue in evildoing is not
repentance, but to turn away form sin and, by the grace of God, to sin no
more—that is repentance. If a man is given to temptation, and to the practise
of vices which are immoral and improper which injure himself, retard his own
progress, and deprive him of purity and cleanliness of mind and spirit that man
is persisting in wrong-doing, and he should cease sinful conduct and make
himself pure: but how shall he be reconciled to the Heavenly Father? Can be, by
his own power, life himself up to the presence of God? No, God has come down to
him to show him the way and lead him back again. In the ordinance of baptism
God has provided a means for man's purification. Nicodemus was told by the
Savior Himself that no man can enter the kingdom of God unless he be born
again—unless he be born of the water and of the Spirit. This second birth is
the ordinance of baptism as practised by the primitive Christians; for then,
upon the day of Pentecost, the thousands of souls were touched, and men,
repenting of their sins, felt the burden of wickedness rest upon them, as they
were convicted by the preaching of the Apostle Peter, they cried out: "Men
ad brethren, what shall we do?" Notice the admonition of the an who held
the keys of the kingdom, the chief of the apostles, Peter: "Repent, every
one of you, and be baptized for the remission of your sins, for the promise of
unto you and to your children, and to all them that are afar off, even as many
as the Lord our God shall call." This is the way that mankind were to be
enabled to rid themselves of the burden of sin, by having their sins washed
from them in the laver of regeneration. This baptism of water, however, was not
complete; it requires the baptism of the Spirit, that of which John spoke. He
told them that they were to be baptized of water, "but there cometh one
after me who is mightier than I, and He shall baptize you with fire and with
the Holy Ghost." This is the way the early Christians understood the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Even though, in certain instances, when they had been
baptized with water, yet the apostles did not believe that to be sufficient,
for they laid hands upon the converts for the Holy Ghost came upon them, and
manifested itself in a visible way and also in an auricular manner as the sound
of the rushing of might wind and cloven tongues of fire. In those times, at
least upon certain occasions, the Holy Ghost made itself manifest in this
remarkable way, so that it could both be seen and heard by the people as it
operated upon those who received it.
The Latter-day Saints hold to this
idea, believing that that Holy Ghost is essential today in the regeneration of
mankind, to their reconcilement to God. For that reason the elders of this
Church carry the gospel message to all the world. They preach faith in God, a
living God who is our Father, repentance form sin, baptism for a remission of
sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. We hope by a
strict obedience to these principles and ordinances, to attain unto salvation
by the grace of God. We believe this message to be sent to all the world—not to
a chosen few—for God's honor and glory consists in the salvation of His children.
We do not believe God to be a selfish and egotistical being wo created all
things for HIs own honor and for His own pleasure; but we are led to believe,
from revelations that have been given to us, that God's glory consists in
bringing about the salvation and exaltation of His children. This splendid
conception of God's glory inspires in us a love for Him, a desire to affiliate
with Hi in the great work of bringing salvation within reach of the entire
race. (Nephi L. Morris, "Infinite Possibilities of Man," A Discourse
Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, August 9, 1908, repr. Deseret Evening News [August
15, 1908]: 25)
