REPENTANCE.
Repentance we believe to be sorrow for and turning from sin, not moaning and groaning over the past and continuing the same way of living; but to quit lying, drinking, swearing, stealing, and to be honest, virtuous, charitable, forgiving, and to serve God in spirit and truth—this is repentance.
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke xiii., 3). "Repent ye, and believe the Gospel" (Mark i., 15). "Repent * * * * every one of you" (Acts ii., 38). God "commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts xvii., 30). "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbors * * * neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: * * * Let no corrupt communication proceed out Of your mouth, * * grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. * * * Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice" (Eph. iv., 25-31). "Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which * * they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal. v., 21).
BAPTISM.
The necessity for baptism was plainly taught by our Saviour and the Apostles. Comparatively speaking, it stood in the same light to the kingdom or church of God that the oath of allegiance does to any temporal government. Jesus stated to Nicodemus that a man could not enter the kingdom of God without having first obeyed this ordinance.
To become a citizen of an earthly government where a person is not born so, a man is required to subscribed to a certain prescribed oath. To become a citizen of the government of God requires that a person must be baptized in water, in obedience to the command of the Great Head of the government, and the laws of the kingdom as they are found in the Bible, the book of commandments for the Church of Christ.
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved:" (Mark xvi., 15, 16). "Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John, iii., 5). "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. xxviii., 19). "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you" (Acts ii., 38).
Its form should be by immersion. "Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through faith" (Col. ii., 12.) "Were all baptized of Him in the River of Jordan" (Matt. iii., 6; Mark i., 5-9). "Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water" (Matt. iii., 16; Mark i., 10). "John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there" (John iii., 23). "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water" (Acts viii., 36-39).
ITS OBJECT.-"John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" (Mark i., 4). "And he came into the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" (Luke iii., 3 ). "Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins" (Acts ii., 38). "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts xxii., 16).
RECEPTION OF THE HOLY GHOST BY THE LAYING ON OF HANDS.
The vital importance of this ordinance seems to be entirely overlooked by the majority of the Christian world, yet the most emphatic stress was placed upon it by the early teachers of Christianity. It is referred to frequently by every writer in the New Testament.
The nature of its workings and the manner of obtaining it were carefully dwelt upon by the various writers, and it does seem that only willful blindness could so far lead the people away from the primitive custom and practice of laying on of hands to acquire this gift.