The repentant believer, thus baptized, obtains the remission of sins through the shedding of Christ s blood. He who knew no sin died that sinners might be saved by obedience to His commandments. He did that for them which they could not do themselves; what they are able to do is required of them, in order that they may receive the benefits of His atonement.
Thus cleansed from sin, the new-born disciple is prepared to receive the Holy Ghost. The fourth principle is the bestowal of that gift by the laying on of hands of men called and ordained of God to thus officiate in His name.
Born of the water and of the spirit, the regenerated soul becomes a member of Christ's Church, and is entitled to such spiritual gifts as he or she may deserve and obtain by the exercise of faith. Some of these are wisdom, knowledge, prophecy, visions, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, discerning of spirits, healing the sick, etc., etc. All the manifestations of the power of God enjoyed in former times may be and are enjoyed in His Church in latter times.
The gift of the Holy Ghost opens the avenue to all intelligence. That Spirit leads into all truth and shows things to come. It is the Comforter and the Revealer. It bears witness of the Father and the Son, and brings mortals into communion with them and into union with one another. It is the true light given to every one in coming into the world, but is bestowed and manifested in a higher and fuller degree when conferred as a gift to the baptized, repentant believer.
No person has the right to baptize or lay on hands or administer any ordinance of the Church, unless he is called of God and ordained to act in the name of Deity. The commission given to the Apostles of old does not confer any authority upon men in this age. It was for them alone upon whom it was bestowed, and those whom they were inspired and directed to ordain unto the same power. Without divine communication now, there can be no divine authority today.
THE APOSTASY.
When the Apostles of Christ were killed and their immediate successors appointed, the disciples were tortured and slain, and gradually darkness came over the world and pagan institutions were mingled with the rites and order of the Church, until the apostolic authority and the true Christian spirit and doctrine were entirely subverted. Reforms that were subsequently introduced merely lopped off some evils and made some improvements; but did not and could not restore the authority and power of the primitive Christian Church and Priesthood.
THE RESTORATION.
In these latter days the Father and the Son have appeared and revealed anew the Gospel. Angels have ministered to man. John the Baptist brought to earth the authority of the Lesser or Aaronic Priesthood which he held when in mortality. Peter, James and John have conferred their keys of Apostleship received under the hands of Jesus of Nazareth, and the power and authority of the higher or Melchisedek Priesthood. Elijah the Prophet and others of the ancients have bestowed the keys they held, and they are all in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Under that authority the Church has been built up after the original pattern and with the same spirit, ordinances, gifts and blessings.
Joseph Smith, after accomplishing the work entrusted to him by the Lord, sealed his testimony with his blood, being cruelly slain with his brother Hyrum, at Carthage, Illinois, by a mob disguised, on June 27, 1844.