"Mormon" Doctrine Plain and Simple; Or, Leaves from the Tree of Life

by Charles W. Penrose

This is an endowment from on high. It is the Comforter which fills the absent place of the personal Christ. It is a manifester of truth. It bears witness of the Father and the Son. It is the light of eternity. It reveals things present and past, and unfolds events that are to come. It is the true scripture-maker. By it the prophets wrote the word of the Lord. It proceeds from the presence of God. It is the communicating element between man and his Maker. It is the source from which flow the spiritual gifts of the gospel. Without it no one can say from knowledge that Jesus is the Lord. Without it, the things pertaining to immortal spheres cannot be comprehended by mortals. Without it, no one can see the way which leads to eternal life. Without it, none can enter the kingdom of God.

There is a set mode by which this great gift is conferred upon mankind. God's house is a house of order. His laws are set in the spiritual as in the physical universe, and there is no confusion in any of His works. The ways of men are not His ways, and He does not bend them to suit men's diversified notions. To obtain the gift of the Holy Ghost, the necessary conditions must be complied with. These we have already explained. The method by which it is conferred is, the laying on of hands by men who have themselves received it and have been called of God and ordained to administer it.

True faith, genuine repentance, correct baptism, properly administered, are as surely to be followed by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, through the laying on of hands, authoritatively administered, as the harvest is to come from seed sown in good soil and ripened by the rains and sunshine of heaven, or as the results of a chemical experiment are to be achieved when the needful elements are correctly compounded.

The effects of this gift upon the recipient are not generally of a startling character. They are not necessarily physical. The chief office of the Holy Ghost is to enlighten the internal man or woman. It administers to the spirit. It brings peace, comfort and joy to the soul. It gives assurance of divine acceptance; and it establishes inward strength to resist sin and evil and lay hold upon all that is good. But it does not convulse the system. It produces no contortions of the countenance. It will not throw people to the earth as if they were dead. Neither will it cause them to yell, shout, jump around in paroxysms or act in an unseemly manner.

Its internal fruits are faith, knowledge, wisdom, joy, peace, patience, temperance, long suffering, brotherly kindness and charity. Its external gifts are manifested in prophecies, visions, discernments, healings, miracles, power over evil spirits, speaking in various tongues, interpretation of tongues, etc.

These several gifts are distributed according to the will of God among the various recipients of the Holy Ghost. One person may receive several of them. Some may not obtain any of those gifts which are manifested outwardly. Neither are the latter always the most to be desired. "Prophecy" is better than "tongues" as a gift, though the latter is more showy, and wisdom and faith are better than either. Divine knowledge with divine wisdom in its use is a gift of priceless worth, bringing joy beyond expression to its possessor, and conferring untold blessings upon others.

These various gifts of the Spirit are obtainable through the prayer of faith. "Ask and it shall be given you" is the promise to the Saints. And they are called Saints who have obeyed the laws and ordinances we have explained, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. But their desires must be pure in order to obtain the blessings for which they ask. These are not given as signs to be consumed on any one's lust. Neither are they bestowed as wonders to create astonishment or feed the love of the marvelous. They are designed for the comfort and confirmation of the faith of the true and obedient believer, and as tokens of the love of an indulgent Father, and they must be used in wisdom, or they will be withdrawn and work injury instead of benefit.

The ceremony of the bestowal of the Holy Ghost is called confirmation. As baptism is the birth of water, so confirmation is the birth or baptism of the Spirit. Both are necessary to entrance into the kingdom of God, whether that is viewed in the light of the Church on earth or the glorious dominion of the Father in heaven. Only they who are led by this Spirit are truly the "sons of God."

As it is bestowed through obedience, so it may be withdrawn through disobedience. The condition of those who lose this gift after having enjoyed it is truly lamentable. The light that was within them becomes darkness, and their last state is worse than their first. Their spiritual tastes become dead or vitiated, light seems to them darkness, and that which was once their greatest delight becomes the object of their deepest aversion. They then become a prey to influences of evil; hatred and malice spring up in their hearts towards the children of light; and the culmination of their career, if persisted in and reclamation does not come, is the shedding of innocent blood, for which there is no forgiveness.

The possessor of the Holy Ghost is infinitely rich; those who receive it and lose it are of all men the poorest. But there are various degrees of its possession. Many who obtain it walk but measurably in its light. But there are a few who live by its whisperings, and approach by its mediumship into close communion with heavenly beings of the highest order. To them its light grows brighter every day. For them are joys, anticipations and glorious hopes that thrill no other bosoms, sweet experiences that earthly pleasures cannot bring, and a spiritual growth towards the stature of Christ Jesus that eternity only will fully unfold to general view.