teachings of Alma we have the following: "Now, I say unto you, that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith, if ye are not born again, ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins."*

It is written of the third Nephi, that just about the time of Messiah's birth, "he went among the people, and also many others, baptizing unto repentance, in the which there were a great remission of sins."†

This work he continued for more than thirty years after the sign in the heavens of the birth of Messiah had been given. Mormon says of Nephi, that in the thirty and third year after the birth of the Messiah, "he preached unto them. repentance, and remission of sins. Now I would have you to remember, also," says Mormon, "that there were none brought unto repentance, who were not baptized with water; therefore there were ordained of Nephi, men unto this ministry, that all such as should come unto them, should be baptized with water, and this as a witness and testimony before God, and unto the people, that they had repented and received a remission of their sins. "

Lastly, in closing up his abridgment of the writings of the third Nephi, Mormon says: "Hear the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of the

* Alma vii: 14. III. Nephi, i: 23. III. Nephi, vii: 23-25.

* * *

living God: Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways, and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel."*

Turning now to the revelations which the Lord has given on this subject, in the dispensation of the Gospel committed to men in our day, we find the Lord saying to Martin Harris: "And of tenets thou shalt not talk, but thou shalt declare repentance and faith on the Savior, and the remission of sins by baptism and by fire, yea, even the Holy Ghost."†

In a revelation to W. W. Phelps we hear the Lord saying: "And thou shalt be ordained by the hand of my servant Joseph Smith, jun., to be an Elder unto this Church, to preach repentance and remission of sins by way of baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God."‡

The Lord, subsequently, gave the following as

* III. Nephi, xxx. † Doc. and Cov., sec. xix: 31. Doc. and Cov., sec. lv: 21.

a standing law unto the inhabitants of Zion and her organized stakes: "Their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins, when eight years old, and receive the laying on of hands. "*

Clearly, the object of baptism is the remission. of sins.

In a revelation given to the Church in September, 1832, in which a number of Elders are directed to go out into the world and preach the Gospel, it is written: "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 damned, and shall not come into my Father's kingdom."†

The teachings of Joseph Smith on this subject may be learned from this one homely but expressive sentence: "You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost."

Here, as far as this branch of the subject is concerned, I pause; and surely I may hope that the treatise on the object of baptism has been sufficiently exhaustive, both as considered in the Jewish scriptures and as understood by the early Christians, as well as in the Book of Mormon and the revelations of the Lord in this dispen

74.

Doc. and Cov. sec. lxviii: 26, 27. Doc. and Cov., sec. lxxxiv:

sation. From all these sources of information, we learn that baptism is an ordinance through which it is ordained that man shall receive a remission of sins.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE SUBJECTS FOR BAPTISM.

AVING shown from all worthy sources of information that baptism is for the remission of sins, and that necessarily repentance and faith precede it, and, moreover, are pre-requisites thereto; it follows as a logical sequence of these facts, that baptism can only be properly administered to those capable of exercising faith in God, and repentance of sin. Therefore the baptism of infants, or of children of such tender years that they are unable to comply with these conditions -is not in accordance with the requirements of the Gospel, and is solemn mockery before God.

The consideration of just two facts, it seems to me, is sufficient to destroy the doctrine of infant baptism; first, the fact that baptism is for the remission of sins; and, second, that infants are incapable of committing sin, cannot repent, and therefore have nothing to be baptized for.

To avoid the irresistible force and right conclusion of this logic, however, those who stand for infant baptism tell us that the baptism of the infant is not for the remission of any actual

sins committed by the child, but for original sin. The Roman Catholics teach: "In baptism all infants, without any disposition on their part being required, are cleansed from the stain of original sin, taken into God's favor, made members of Christ's mystical Body, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. They are thus regenerated, that is, in our Savior's own words, 'born again of water and the Holy Ghost.' As they have contracted the stain of original sin without their knowledge and personal co-operation, so they are freed from sin without their knowledge; and the disposition necessary for grown up persons is not required of them; for infants are incapable of any reasoning act."*

But this position does not help the matter any. The fact remains, that whatever "stain" "original sin" fixes upon the individual, it is done without the exercise of his agency; and, as said above, "without his knowledge." Then how, I ask, can he be held responsible for it, or any requirement, in justice, be made of him to remove the "stain" when it was fixed upon him without the exercise of his will, “without his knowledge," and was a thing which he was powerless to prevent? The system of theology which teaches that God would condemn the child that failed to receive baptism, because of this "stain" fixed upon him by "original sin"—is not

Catholic Belief [Bruno] p. 58.