The first principle of the Gospel as taught by this Church is faith.
This embraces faith in God the Father and in his son Jesus Christ and
in the Holy Ghost.
The Father is a glorified and perfect person, and Jesus Christ the Son
is in His express image and likeness. One is an individual as much as
the other. Each is a spirit clothed with a spiritual, yet tangible,
immortal body. Spirit is substance, not immateriality. It is eternal in
its essence, and so are the elements of that which is known as matter.
The Holy Spirit is not a personage of tabernacle, and His influence
permeates all things and extends throughout the vast domain of space,
which is boundless and occupied by limitless elements, and that Spirit,
proceeding from the presence of God, gives life and light to all things
animate, and is the power by which they are governed, and by which the
Father and the Son are everywhere present.
Man is a dual being, also in the image of God, who is the Father of his
spirit and the Creator of his body. Jesus was the First-born in the
spirit and the Only-begotten in the flesh. {30} All men and women are
the sons and daughters of God, and Jesus is their Elder Brother. By
obedience to His Gospel in all things, mankind, through the redemption
He has wrought, may be exalted with Him as joint-heirs to the eternal
inheritance of the Sons of God, and become like Him and reign with Him
in the Ineffable Presence forever.
Faith in God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost leads to the
second principle of the Gospel, which is repentance. That is,
conviction of sin, regret for its commission, and reformation by
turning away from it, by ceasing to do evil and beginning and
continuing to do well.
Repentance leads to remission of sins, which comes through baptism
administered by one having authority, in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Baptism is the third principle, and is immersion in water in the
likeness of a burial, succeeded by a birth. Becoming dead to sin by
repentance, the believer is buried in the liquid grave and brought
forth from the womb of waters, thus being born of water to a new life
in Christ Jesus.
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.
{31} 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.