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baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be made partakers of the fruit of the tree of life."*

The plain and fair inference from this last clause is, that those who refused to be baptized, would not have right to the tree of life.

Further on in his book, he says: "And not many days hence, the Son of God shall come in his glory; * * * And behold he cometh to redeem those who will be baptized unto repentance through faith on his name."†

Here, again, the fair inference is, that those who would reject baptism, could not be redeemed; hence the necessity of baptism.

Turning to the revelations which the Lord has given in this dispensation, in which he commissioned men to preach the Gospel, he said: “Go ye into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature, acting in the authority which I have given you, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned."‡

Still more emphatic, perhaps, because it leaves nothing to implication, is the passage which reads (and this, too, is in connection with sending out men to preach the Gospel): "He that believeth and is baptized shall be

*Alma ix: 26, 27. † Alma v: 61, 62. Doc. 'and Cov., sec. lxviii: 8-10.

saved, and he that believeth not, and is not baptized, shall be damned. '*

Thus in the present dispensation, as well as in the former ones, committed to the Jews and Nephites, the necessity of baptism is beyond all question.

CHAPTER XXII.

OBJECT OF BAPTISM.

IN speaking of the necessity of baptism I incidentally referred to the object of the ordinance also; which the reader will doubtless remember, is for the remission of sins. Such was the object for which John the Baptist administered baptism. Mark says: "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Luke also says: "And he [John] came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."

Here it may be a proper time to call attention to the fact that many seek to make nice distinctions between the baptism of John and what they call Christian baptism; that is, baptism in the name of Jesus after the death and resurrection of Messiah, by which members were admitted into the Kingdom of Christ. The controversy on

* Doc. and Cov., sec. cxii: 29. † Mark i: 4. Luke iii: 3.

this subject became particularly sharp in the sixteenth century. Zwingle and Calvin, on the one hand, maintained that the two baptisms were identical, and for the same purpose, only that John baptized in the name of the future Messiah, while the apostles baptized in the name of the Messiah already come; on the other hand, Luther, Melancthon and the Catholics maintained there was an essential difference. The latter adopted the views of Tertullian, who lived about the close of the second century and the beginning of the third. To the baptism of John, Tertullian ascribed the negative character of repentance, and to Christian baptism the positive impartation of a new life. This distinction, it is maintained, arises from the words of John himself; viz., "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. "* But this reason for any such distinction as that sought to be made is worthless when it is remembered that while Jesus did baptize with the Holy Ghost, and commissioned others to do so, still that baptism of the Spirit did not supplant water baptism for the remission of sins. It was simply an additional principle and ordinance to the doctrines taught by John; and Jesus continued to authorize water baptism before his crucifixion,* and com

* * *

*Matt. iii: 11; see also Luke iii: 16, and John i: 25.

missioned his apostles to continue it after he departed from them.* The New Testament is replete with instances of water baptism standing in connection with though, as a rule, preceding the baptism of, the Holy Spirit.† Whereas, to make the words of John quoted a valid reason for supposing a difference between the baptism of John and water baptism after Jesus was resurrected, it would be necessary to prove that the baptism of the Spirit took the place of water baptism as administered by John, which is contrary to the facts in the case, as already noted.

The ordinance of baptism, associated with the proclamation of the Gospel, in any age of the world, is always the same, whether taught by Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the Jaredite or Nephite prophets on the Western hemisphere, or by John the Baptist among the Jews. It was administered in the same manner, with the same object in view, and with the same powers and graces attending it before the crucifixion of Messiah as after that event. Only those who administered it before Jesus came in the flesh, performed the ordinance in the name of a future Messiah, while those who have officiated since the death of Jesus, have done so in the

*John iii: 22, and iv: 1-3. Matt. xxviii: 19, and Mark xvi: 15,16.

name of the Messiah already come; and that is a difference of little moment.*

One thing which has contributed largely towards creating the impression that a difference existed between the baptism of John and Christian baptism, is the account given in Acts of Paul's finding a number of disciples-twelve in all-at Ephesus, of whom he asked if they had received the Holy Ghost since they believed; to which they replied, they had not so much as heard of the Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, unto what then, were ye baptized? And they said, unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him who should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized 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. "+ The fact of Paul rebaptizing those people, who, according to their statement, had been baptized “unto

*These views are capable of the strongest proofs from the writings of Moses as revealed to Joseph Smith and now contained in the Pearl of Great Price; from the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and also from the Bible. But the reader will find a subsequent chapter on "The History of the Gospel" in which the subject is treated at some length, and to that chapter the reader is here referred if he now wishes to push further his investigation.

Acts xix: 1-6.

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