And now what remains to be done under circumstan[c]es
like these, I will proce[e]d to tell you what the Lord requires of all people
high and Low, rich and poor, male and female, ministers & people professors
of religeon, and nonproffessors in order that they may enjoy the holy spirit of
God to a fulness, and escape the Judgments of God which are almost ready to
burst upon the nations of the earth— Repent of all your sins and be baptized in
water for the remission of them, in the name of the father, and of the son, and
of the Holy Ghost, and receive the ordinance of the laying on of the hands of
him who is ordained and sealed unto this power, that ye may receive the holy
spirit of God, and this according to the holy scriptures, and of the Book of
Mormon; and the only way that man can enter into the Celestial kingdom. These
are the requesitions of the new Covenant or first principles of of the Gospel
of Christ; then add to you[r] faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to
knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience, brotherly
kindness and to brotherly kindness charity (or Love) and if these things be in
you and abound, they make you to be neither baran nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (Joseph
Smith, Letter to Noah C. Saxton, January 4, 1833, pp. 16-17; notice also
how plural marriage is not a prerequisite to be an heir to the Celestial
Kingdom)
How could Abel offer a sacrifice and look forward with faith
on the Son of God for a remission of his sins, and not understand the gospel?
There mere shedding the blood of beasts or offering any thing else in
sacrifice, could not procure a remission of sins, except it were performed in
faith of something to come, if it could, Cain’s offering must have been as good
as Abel’s. (Joseph Smith, “The
Elders in Kirtland To Their Brethren Abroad,” The Evening and Morning
Star 2, no. 18 [March 1834]: 143)
"Then Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized
every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and
to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call." Acts 2:38, 39.
By this we learn, that the promise of the Holy Ghost, is
unto as many as the doctrine of repentance was to be preached, which was unto
all nations. And we discover also, that the promise was to extend by lineage:
for Peter says, "not only unto you, but unto your children, and unto all
that are afar off." From this we infer that it was to continue unto their
children's children, and even unto as many generations as should come after,
even as many as the Lord their God should call. -- We discover here that we are
blending two principles together, in these quotations. The first is the
principle of repentance, and the second is the principle of remission of sins.
And we learn from Peter, that remission of sins is obtained by baptism in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ; and the gift of the Holy Ghost follows
inevitably: for, says Peter, "you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost." Therefore we believe in preaching the doctrine of repentance in
all the world, both to old and young, rich and poor, bond and free, as we shall
endeavor to show hereafter -- how and in what manner, and how far it is binding
upon the consciences of mankind, making proper distinctions between old and
young men, women and children, and servants.
But we discover, in order to be benefitted by the
doctrine of repentance, we must believe in obtaining the remission of sins. And
in order to obtain the remission of sins, we must believe in the doctrine of
baptism, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we believe in baptism for
the remission of sins, we may expect a fulfillment of the promise of the Holy
Ghost: for the promise extends to all whom the Lord our God shall call. And
hath he not surely said, as you will find in the last chapter of Revelations:
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him
that heareth, say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17.
Again the Savior says:
"Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I
am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light." Matt. 11:28, 29, 30.
Again Isaiah says:
"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word
is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me
every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all
that are incensed against him shall be ashamed." -- Isaiah 45:22, 23, 24. (Joseph
Smith, letter to John Whitmer, repr. The Latter-day Saints’ Messenger
and Advocate 1, no. 12 [September 1835]: 181)
What if we should attempt to get the Holy Ghost through
any other means except the sign or way which God hath appointed, should we
obtain it certainly not all other means would fail. The Lord says do so &
so & I will bless so & so their is certain key words & signs
belonging to the priesthood which must be observed in order to obtaine the
Blessings The sign of Peter was, to repent & be baptized for the
remission of sins, inowith the promise tof the gift of the Holy Ghost
& in no other way is the gift of the Holy Ghost obtained. Their is a
difference between the Holy Ghost & the gift of the Holy Ghost. Cornelius
received the Holy Ghost before he was Baptized which was the convincing power
of God unto him of the truth of the gospel, but he could not receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost untill after he was Baptized, & had he not taken this
sign [or] ordinances upon him the Holy Ghost which convinced him of the truth
of God would have left him, untill he obeyed these ordinances & received
the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands according to the order of
God he could not have healed the sick or command an evil spirit to come out of
a man & it obey him for the spirit might say to him as he did to the sons
of Scavey Peter I know & Christ I know but who are ye
It matereth not whether we live long or short after we
come to a knowlede of these principles & obey them. I know that all men
will be damedned if they do not come in the way which God has appointed.
(Wilford
Woodruff, Journal, March 20, 1842)
We will now examine the witnesses. As it will be
recollected, they were to wait at Jerusalem till they were endowed with power
from on high and then go and teach all nations whatsoever the Lord had
commanded them. As Peter held the keys of the kingdom, we will examine him
first.
Now on the day of Pentecost, when there was a marvellous
display of the gifts, according to the promise in Mark, many were pricked in
the heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the Apostles, men and
brethren what shall we do? Peter said unto them: Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, &c. Here one of the witnesses
says in so many words, repent and be baptised. And we are of the opinion
that Peter, having been taught by the Lord, and commissioned by the Lord, and
endowed by the Lord, would be about as correct a counsellor or ambassador as we
or they could enquire of to know the (right way) to enter into the kingdom.
Again, Luke in this record of the acts of the Apostles,
says: -- And it came to pass, that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having
passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus; and finding certain
disciples, he said unto them have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?
And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy
Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said,
unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John very baptised with the baptism of
repentance, saying unto the people, That they should believe on him which should
come after him, that is on Christ Jesus When they heard this, they were baptisied
in the name of the Lord Jesus.—And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the
Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
From the above witnesses we are informed that baptism
was the essential point on which they could receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
It seems from the reasoning above that some sectarian Jew had been
baptizing like John, but had forgotten to inform them that there was one
to follow by the name of Jesus Christ, to baptize with fire and the Holy Ghost:
which showed these converts that their first baptism was illegal, and
when they heard this they were gladly baptized, and after hands were laid on
them, they received the gifts, according to promise, and spake with (tongues
and prophecied). We do not calculate in this short dissertation, to bring in
the immense reasoning and quotations that might be adduced to show that the
ancients who were actually the fathers of the church in the different ages,
when the church flourished on the earth, according to the pattern of having
apostles and prophets, &c. for the work of the ministry and then initiated into the kingdom by baptism, for it
is self evident in the scripture -- God changes not. The Apostle says the
gospel is the power of God unto salvation unto them that believe; and also
informs us that life and immortality were brought to light through the gospel;
that the scripture, as Paul said to the Galatians, foreseeing that God would
justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto
Abraham: saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Now taking it for granted that the scriptures say what
they mean, and mean what they say, we have sufficient grounds to go on and
prove from the bible that the gospel has always been il its requirements, the
same; and the officers to officiate, the same; and the signs and fruits
resulting from the promises, the same: therefore, as Noah was a preacher
of righteousness he must have been baptized and ordained to the
priesthood by the laying on of hands, &c. For no man taketh this honor upon
himself except he be called of God as was Aaron, and Aaron was baptized in the
cloud and in the sea, together with all Israel, as is related by the Apostle in
Corinthians. This position or fact, is witnessed in this manner: the covenant
of circumcision made with Abraham, and practiced steadily up to the departing
of Israel out of Egypt, was abandoned in the wilderness, forty years -- and
renewed by Joshua after he passed over Jordan, and encamped at Gilgal, where he
made sharp knives and circumcised the whole male portion of the church.
Circumcision was merely a sign of the priesthood, given
to Abraham: according to the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou
art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter
the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. This strong and positive answer of Jesus, as to
water baptism, settles the question: If God is the same yesterday, to day and
forever; it is no wonder he is so positive in the great declaration: He that
believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believes not
shall damned! There was no other name given under heaven, nor no other
ordinance admitted, whereby men could be saved: No wonder the Apostle said,
being "buried with him in baptism,” ye shall rise from the
dead! No wonder Paul had to arise and be baptized and wash away his sins: No
wonder the angel told good old Cornelius that he must send for Peter to learn
how to be saved: Peter could baptize, and angels could not, so long as there
were legal officers in the flesh holding the keys of the kingdom, or the
authority of the priesthood. There is one evidence still further on this point,
and that is that Jesus himself when he appeared to Paul on his way to Damascus,
did not inform him how he could be saved. He had set in the church firstly
Apostles, and secondly prophets for the work of the ministry, perfecting of the
saints, &c.; and as the grand rule of heaven was that nothing should ever
be done on earth without revealing the secret to his servants the prophets,
agreeably to Amos 3: 7, so Paul could not learn so much from the Lord relative
to his duty in the common salvation of man, as he could from one of Christ's
ambassadors called with the same heavenly calling of the Lord, and endowed with
the same power from on high -- so that what they loosed on earth, should be
loosed in heaven; and what they bound on earth should be bound in heaven: He,
the Lord being a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedeck, and the
anointed son of God, from before the foundation of the world, and they the
begotten sons of Jesus through the gospel, to teach all nations with you always
to the end of the world) -- that is -- by the other comforter which the world
cannot receive -- for ye are the witnesses -- having the testimony of Jesus
which is the spirit of prophecy. (“Baptism,”
Times and Seasons 3, no. 21 [September 1, 1842]: 904-5)
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