[30]. Subsequently when some persons desired to join the church without baptism at the hands of the elders, having been baptized by the ministers of other churches, the Lord said: "All old covenants have I caused to be done away in this thing, and this is a new and everlasting covenant, even that which was from the beginning. Wherefore, although a man should be baptized an hundred times, it availeth him nothing, for you cannot enter in at the straight gate by the law of Moses, neither by your dead works. For it is because of your dead works, that I have caused this last covenant and this church to be built up unto me even as in days of old. Wherefore enter ye in at the gate, as I have commanded, and seek not to counsel your God." Doc. and Cov. sec. xxii.
[31]. Eight years is fixed as the age of baptism for children. Doc. and Cov. sec. lxviii: 27.
[32]. These are the same words given to the Nephites, except that the opening clause in the Book of Mormon is: "Having authority given me of Jesus Christ" (III Nephi xi: 25), and that means the same as "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ," etc.
[33]. All officers in the church holding higher authority than those named would, of course, have authority to administer the sacrament.
[34]. A few months after the organization of the church, viz., early in the month of August, 1830, when the Prophet Joseph left his house in Harmony, Penn., for the purpose of procuring wine to administer the sacrament to a few saints visiting him at his home—he had gone but a short distance when he was met by a heavenly messenger and received the revelation contained in the Doc. and Cov. sec. xxvii, a portion of which is as follows: "Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, your Lord, your God and your Redeemer, whose word is quick and powerful. For behold I say unto you, that it mattereth not what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink when ye partake of the sacrament, if it so be that ye do it with an eye single to my glory, remembering unto the Father my body which was laid down for you, and my blood which was shed for the remission of your sins; wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall not purchase wine, neither strong drink of your enemies; wherefore you shall partake of none except it is made new among you; yea, in this my Father's kingdom, which shall be built up on the earth." This revelation is the authority the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has for using water instead of wine in the sacrament.
[35]. It must be remembered that this revelation was given before the church was organized; at that time there were a number who had been baptized, and who had children not old enough to be baptized, and had not yet been blessed of the elders. This commandment, therefore, was directed more especially to them, but applies, of course, to people placed in like circumstances. Subsequently, in November 1831, the Lord said: "Inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, who teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ, the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents; for this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes when organized; and their children shall be baptized for the remission of sins when eight years old and receive the laying on of hands, and they shall also teach their children to pray and walk uprightly before the Lord." (Doc. and Cov. sec. lxviii:25-28.)
[36]. The term "elder" is both a general and a specific title. That is, it may be applied to an apostle or a seventy; as, for instance, in the revelation under consideration (Doc. and Cov. sec. xx), it is said: "An apostle is an elder," etc. We shall see also further on that it is the name of a specific office in the church; that ninety-six elders constitute a quorum; that they constitute a standing ministry in the stakes of Zion; and that they have authority to do all that is enumerated in the text above.
[37]. The closing phrases of paragraph 37, sec. xx; Doc. and Cov., are what Oliver objected to—"And truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of sins."
[38]. Doc. and Cov. sec. xxviii
[39]. Doc. and Cov. xxviii, and sec. xliii:1-6