=21.= Plain as seems the spirit of these instructions and promises, there are nevertheless many who, while professing to teach the doctrine of the Redeemer, evade the meaning of His precepts, and declare that because He said "he that believeth not shall be d.a.m.ned,"
instead of "he that is not baptized shall be d.a.m.ned," baptism is after all not an essential, but a mere convenience or simple propriety, in the plan of salvation. It is a mockery of faith to profess belief in Christ while refusing to abide by His commandments. To believe the word of G.o.d and do it not, is to increase our culpability; such a course but adds hypocrisy to other sin. Surely the full penalty provided for wilful unbelief will fall to the lot of the professed believer who refuses to yield obedience to the very principles in which he boasts of having faith. And what can be said of the sincerity of one who refuses to obey the Divine commands except there be specific penalties provided for disobedience? Can such a one"s repentance be sincere, when he now is submissive only through fear of punishment? However, in stating this principle for the government of the Saints in the present dispensation, the Lord"s words are more particular and specific, "And he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not, and is not baptized, shall be d.a.m.ned."[379]
[379] Doc. and Cov. cxii, 29.
=22.= The same doctrine concerning the necessity of baptism was preached by the disciples of Christ, particularly those who were immediately a.s.sociated with Him in the ministry. John the Baptist testifies that he had been appointed to baptize with water,[380] and, concerning those who accepted John"s teachings, the Savior declared that they, even though they were publicans, justified G.o.d, while the Pharisees and lawyers who refused to be baptized, "rejected the counsels of G.o.d against themselves,"[381] thereby, most a.s.suredly forfeiting their claim to salvation. As already pointed out, Peter, the chief of the apostles, had but one answer to give to the eager mult.i.tude seeking to know the essentials of salvation, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you."[382]
[380] John i, 33.
[381] Luke vii, 30.
[382] Acts ii, 38; see also I Peter iii, 21.
=23.= Christ"s humble compliance with the will of His Father, by submitting to baptism even though He stood sinless, surely declares to the world in language more forceful than words that none are exempt from this condition, that baptism indeed is a requisite for salvation.
So, no evidence of Divine favor, no bestowal of heavenly gifts, excuses man from obedience to this and other requirements of the gospel. Some ill.u.s.trations of this fact have been given in connection with the purpose of baptism. Saul of Tarsus, though permitted to hear the voice of His Redeemer, could only enter the Church of Christ through the portals of baptism by water and by the Holy Ghost.[383]
Afterward he preached baptism, declaring that by that ordinance may "we put on Christ," becoming the children of G.o.d. Cornelius, the centurion, was acknowledged of G.o.d through prayers and alms, and an angel came to him, and instructed him to send for Peter, who would tell him what to do. The apostle, having been specially prepared by the Lord for this mission, entered the house of the penitent Gentile, though to do such, was to violate the customs of the Jews; and taught him and his family of Christ Jesus. Even while Peter was speaking, the Holy Ghost fell upon his hearers, so that they testified by the gift of tongues, and greatly glorified G.o.d.[384] Yet the bestowal of such great gifts in no degree exempted them from compliance with the law of baptism; and Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.
[383] Acts ix, 1-18; xxii, 1-16.
[384] Acts x, 30-48.
=24.= Christ"s ministers on the western continent were not less energetic in promulgating the doctrine of baptism. Lehi[385] and his son Nephi,[386] each testified of the baptism of the Savior, and of the absolute necessity of baptism by water and by the Holy Ghost on the part of all seekers after salvation. Nephi beautifully compares repentance and baptism by water and the Spirit to the gate leading into the fold of Christ.[387] Alma the first preached baptism as indispensable to salvation, calling upon the people to witness unto the Lord by their observance of this principle, that they covenanted to keep His commandments. The second Alma, son of the former, proclaimed baptism as a means of salvation, and consecrated ministers to baptize.[388]
[385] I Nephi x, 7-10.
[386] II Nephi x.x.xi, 4-14.
[387] II Nephi x.x.xi, 17.
[388] Mos. xviii, 8-17; Alma v, 61, 62; ix, 27.
=25.= During the last century preceding the birth of Christ, the work of G.o.d among the Lamanites was begun, by the preaching of faith, repentance, and baptism; Ammon declared this doctrine to King Lamoni and his people.[389] Helaman preached baptism;[390] and in the time of his ministry, less than half a century before Christ"s advent on earth, we read that tens of thousands united themselves with the Church, by baptism. So also preached Helaman"s sons,[391] and his grandson Nephi.[392] These baptisms were performed in the name of the Messiah who was to come; but when He came to His western flock, He directed that they should be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and bestowed upon twelve chosen servants the authority to officiate in the ordinance,[393] promising the riches of Heaven unto all who would comply with His law, and unto such only.
[389] Alma xix, 35.
[390] Alma lxii, 45.
[391] Hel. v, 14-19.
[392] III Nephi i, 23.
[393] III Nephi xi, 22-25; xii, 1-2.
=26.= Evidence is abundant that the Savior regarded the baptized state as an essential condition of membership in His Church; thus, when inst.i.tuting the sacrament among the Nephites, He instructed His disciples to administer it unto those only who had been properly baptized.[394] Further, we are informed that those who were baptized as Jesus had directed, were called the Church of Christ.[395] True to the Savior"s promise, the Holy Ghost came to those who were baptized by His ordained authority, thus adding to water-baptism the higher baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost;[396] and many of them received wonderful manifestations of the Divine approval, seeing and hearing unspeakable things, not lawful to be written. The faith of the people showed itself in good works,[397] in prayers and fasting,[398] in acknowledgment of which Christ reappeared, this time manifesting Himself to the Disciples whom He had called to the ministry; and unto them he reiterated the former promises regarding all who were baptized of Him; and to this He added, that, provided they endured to the end, they should be held guiltless in the day of judgment.[399] On that occasion, He repeated the commandment through obedience to which salvation is promised:--"Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day."[400]
[394] III Nephi xviii, 5, 11, 23-30.
[395] III Nephi xxvi, 21.
[396] III Nephi xxvi, 17-18; xxviii, 18; IV Nephi i, 1.
[397] III Nephi xxvi, 19-20.
[398] III Nephi xxvii, 1-2.
[399] III Nephi xxvii, 16.
[400] III Nephi xxvii, 20.
=27.= Nearly four centuries later, we hear the same proclamation from the lips of Mormon.[401] And Moroni, his son, the solitary representative of a once mighty people, while mourning the destruction of his kindred, leaves what at the time he supposed would be his farewell testimony to the truth of this doctrine;[402] then being spared contrary to his expectations, he reverts again to the sacred theme, realizing the incalculable worth of the doctrine unto any and all who would read his pages; and in what might be regarded as his last words, he testifies to baptism by water and the Spirit as the means of salvation.[403]
[401] Mormon vii, 8-10.
[402] Mormon ix, 22-23.
[403] Moroni vi, 1-4.
=28.= And this great principle, proclaimed of old, remains unaltered today; it is truth and changes not. The elders of the Church today have been commissioned in almost the same words as were used in authorizing the apostles of old:--"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 d.a.m.ned."[404] And again, hear the word of the Lord through Joseph the Prophet unto the elders of the Church:--"Therefore, as I said unto mine apostles I say unto you again, that every soul who believeth on your words, and is baptized by water for the remission of sins shall receive the Holy Ghost." But, "verily, verily I say unto you, they who believe not on your words, and are not baptized in water, in my name, for the remission of their sins, that they may receive the Holy Ghost, shall be d.a.m.ned, and shall not come into my Father"s kingdom where my Father and I am."[405] In obedience to these commands, the elders of this Church have continued to proclaim the gospel among the nations, preaching faith, repentance, and baptism by water and the Holy Ghost, as essential to salvation.
[404] Doc. and Cov. lxviii, 8-9.
[405] Doc. and Cov. lx.x.xiv, 64, 74; see also cxii, 28-29.
=29.= We have examined the doctrines concerning baptism current among the Jews, the Nephites, and the Church of Jesus Christ in this age, and have found the principles taught to be ever the same. Indeed, we have gone farther back, even to the earliest history of the human race, and have learned that baptism was announced as a saving principle by which Adam was promised forgiveness and salvation. No one has reason to hope for salvation except by complying with the law of G.o.d, of which baptism is an essential part.
NOTES.
=1. Preparation for Baptism.=--The doctrine that baptism, to be acceptable, must be preceded by efficient preparation, was generally taught and understood in the days of Christ, as also in the so-called apostolic period, and the time immediately following. But this belief gradually fell away, and baptism came to be regarded as an outward form, the application of which depended little, if at all, on the candidates" appreciation, or conception of its purpose; and, as stated in the test, the Lord deemed it wise to re-announce the doctrine in the present dispensation. Concerning the former belief a few evidences are here given:
"In the first ages of Christianity, men and women were baptized on a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."--_Canon Farrar._ "But as Christ enjoins them (Mark, xvi, 15-16) to teach before baptizing, and desires that none but believers shall be admitted to baptism, it would appear that baptism is not properly administered unless when it is preceded by faith."... In the apostolic age "no one is found to have been admitted to baptism without a previous profession of faith and repentance."--_Calvin._ "You are not first baptized, and then begin to receive the faith, and have a desire; but when you are to be baptized, you make known your will to the Teacher, and make a full confession of your faith with your own mouth."--_Arn.o.bius_--a rhetorician who wrote in the latter half of the third century.
"In the primitive church, instruction preceded baptism, agreeable to the order of Jesus Christ--"Go, teach all nations, baptizing them," etc."--_Saurin_ (a French protestant; 1677-1730.)
"In the first two centuries, no one was baptized, except, being instructed in the faith and acquainted with the doctrine of Christ, he was able to profess himself a believer; because of those words, "He that believeth and is baptized.""--_Salmasius_ (a French author; 1588-1653).
=2. Historical Notes on Infant Baptism.=--"The baptism of infants, in the first two centuries after Christ, was altogether unknown.... The custom of baptizing infants did not begin before the third age after Christ was born. In the former ages no trace of it appears; and it was introduced without the command of Christ."--_Curcellaeus._
"It is certain that Christ did not ordain infant baptism.... We cannot prove that the apostles ordained infant baptism. From those places where baptism of a whole family is mentioned (as in Acts xvi, 33; I Cor. i, 16) we can draw no such conclusion, because the inquiry is still to be made, whether there were any children in the families of such an age that they were not capable of any intelligent reception of Christianity; for this is the only point on which the case turns.... As baptism was closely united with a conscious entrance on Christian communion, faith and baptism were always connected with one another; and thus it is in the highest degree probable that baptism was performed only in instances where both could meet together, and that the practice of infant baptism was unknown at this (the apostolic) period.... That not till so late a period as (at least certainly not earlier than) Irenaeus, a trace of infant baptism appears; and that it first became recognized as an apostolic tradition in the course of the third century, is evidence rather against than for the admission of its apostolic origin."--_Johann Neander_ (a German theologian who flourished in the first half of the present century).
"Let them therefore come when they are grown up--when they can understand--when they are taught whither they are to come. Let them become Christians when they can know Christ."--_Tertullian_ (one of the Latin "Christian Fathers"; he lived from 150 to 220 A. D.) Tertullian"s almost violent opposition to the practice of pedobaptism is cited by Neander as "a proof that it was then not usually considered an apostolic ordinance; for in that case he would hardly have ventured to speak so strongly against it."
Martin Luther, writing in the early part of the sixteenth century, declared: "It cannot be proven by the sacred scriptures that infant baptism was inst.i.tuted by Christ, or begun by the first Christians after the apostles."
"By _tekna_ the Apostle understands, not infants, but posterity; in which signification the word occurs in many places of the New Testament (see among others John viii, 39); whence it appears that the argument which is very commonly taken from this pa.s.sage for the baptism of infants, is of no force, and good for nothing."--_Limborch_ (a native of Holland, and a theologian of repute; he lived 1633-1712).
=3. Baptism Necessary.=--"That Gospel baptism is necessary to salvation, is abundantly evidenced in the sacred writings.
Christ, the highest authority known to man, a.s.serted this most emphatically when He said to Nicodemus: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of G.o.d" (John iii, 5). So important did the Savior consider baptism, that when He went to John to be baptized, and John forbade Him, He replied to him: "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness"
(Matt. iii, 13-15). In this he taught John the doctrine that a fulness of righteousness, or salvation, could not be received without it. The prophet Nephi, who lived nearly six hundred years before the birth of our Savior, clearly understood the necessity of baptism. Said he: "And now, if the Lamb of G.o.d, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water?" (II Nephi x.x.xi, 5). The prophet Mormon, who lived nearly one thousand years after Nephi, also taught the necessity of following the example of our Savior in being baptized, first by water (Mormon vii, 10)."--_Compendium_, p. 32. See also: Doc. and Cov. v, 16; lxviii, 8; lxxvi, 51; cxii, 29; cxxviii, 12; Book of Mormon: II Nephi x.x.xi, 11, 17; Alma v, 62; ix, 27; III Nephi xviii, 5; xxviii, 18; Mormon ix, 29; Moroni vi, 1-4; viii, 4-22.