[355] Acts ii, 36-37; see also I Peter iii, 21.
=9.= _Book of Mormon prophets_ gave the same testimony to the western fold of Christ. To this effect were the words of Nephi, the son of Lehi, addressed to his brethren:--"For the gate by which ye should enter, is repentance, and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire, and by the Holy Ghost."[356] So did Alma teach the people of Gideon, as already quoted.[357] Nephi, the grandson of Helaman, immediately preceding Christ's advent upon earth, went forth amongst his people, baptizing unto repentance, from which followed "a great remission of sins."[358] Nephi ordained assistants in the ministry, "that all such as should come unto them, should be baptized with water, and this as a witness and a testimony before God, and unto the people, that they had repented and received a remission of their sins."[359] Mormon adds his own testimony, as commissioned of Christ, exhorting the people to forsake their sins and be baptized for remission thereof.[360]
=10.= _Modern Revelation_, concerning baptism and its object, shows that the same importance is ascribed by the Lord to the ordinance today as in earlier times. That there may be no question as to the application of this doctrine to the Church in the present dispensation, the principle has been re-stated, the law has been re-enacted for our guidance. The elders of the Church are commissioned to preach the remission of sins as obtainable through the means of authorized baptism.[361]
[361] Doc. and Cov. xix, 31; lv, 2; lxviii, 27; lxxvi, 51, 52; lxxxiv, 27, 74.
=11. Fit Candidates for Baptism.=--The prime object of baptism being admission to the Church, with remission of sins, and this coming only through the exercise of faith in God and true repentance before Him, it naturally follows that baptism can in justice be required of those only who are capable of exercising faith and of working repentance.[362] In a revelation on Church government given through Joseph the Prophet, April, 1830, the Lord specifically states the conditions under which persons may be received into the Church through baptism: these are His words:--"All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the Church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his Church."[363]