The Sin Unpardonable.—It is possible, however, to sin so far and so deeply that repentance is impossible. Shakespeare puts into the mouth of one of his characters—the guilty King Claudius—this speech:
"Try what repentance can: what can it not? Yet what can it when one cannot repent?"[[7]]
Those who cannot repent are sons of perdition. Their sin is unpardonable, involving utter recreancy to divine light and power previously possessed.
The Washing of Regeneration.—Sin must not only be repented of; it must be blotted out. The soul must be cleansed of it. Baptism is the soul-cleansing process, the divinely instituted means whereby sins are remitted—that is, forgiven and washed away. Immersion in water, symbolizing birth, or burial and resurrection, is the true form of the baptismal ordinance. Baptism is the third principle of the Gospel.
Divine Illumination.—The soul cleansed from sin is in a condition to enjoy the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, which "dwelleth not in unclean tabernacles." Through this precious gift comes the divine light that "leads into all truth," making manifest the things of God, past, present, and to come. There is a light that illumines, in greater or less degree, every soul that cometh into the world; but the Gift of the Holy Ghost, imparted by the laying on of hands of one divinely authorized to bestow it, is a special endowment, and only those having membership in the Church of Christ can possess it. Each is thus given a direct personal testimony of the Truth, and is founded upon the Rock of Revelation, against which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail.
Gospel Principles Eternal.—The Everlasting Gospel is not an empty phrase. It means just what it says. The principles underlying it are eternal. "Intelligence or the light of truth was not created or made, neither indeed can be."[[8]] The same is true of faith and repentance. God did not make them. They are self-existent. Such ordinances as baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift (giving) of the Holy Ghost, might indeed be created, and doubtless were; but not the fundamental facts upon which they are based. It did not require a divine edict to make washing (baptism) a prerequisite to cleanliness; nor light (the Holy Spirit) the means of illumination.
A code or system of laws and ordinances can readily be conceived of as a creation. Not so the principles embodied therein. The Gospel, like all other creations, was organized out of materials already in existence—eternal principles adapted to the needs of man and the purposes of Deity. The Supreme Intelligence, recognizing these principles as ennobling and exalting in their tendency, created a plan embodying them as the most effectual means for man's uplift and promotion. That plan, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is the divinely appointed doorway into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Footnotes
[1]. Acts 2:38.
[2]. Phil. 2:12.