"He that believeth" (that is, he that hath faith) "and is _baptized_
shall be saved" (Mark 16:16), was the emphatic assertion of our Savior.
Again we find that man came under condemnation by refusing obedience
to this commandment; "But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the
counsel of God against themselves, being _not baptized_ of him." (Luke
7:30.) So the world of to-day will, in the end, find themselves under
condemnation for refusing to obey this principle of the gospel. "Except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he _can not_ enter into the
kingdom of God." (John 3:5.)
Paul, writing to the Hebrews, says: "Therefore, leaving out the
principles of the doctrines of Christ, let us go on unto perfection:
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of
faith toward God, of the _doctrine of baptisms_, and of laying on of
hands." (Heb. 6:1, 2.) Here are four principles all classed together,
all equally important, all equally necessary, and all required at our
hands by those fixed and eternal laws of truth and justice by which the
worlds are governed, and by which we may return back into the presence
of God, and dwell with the just, the true and the pure of all ages.
The fourth step necessary for man to take while in this state of
probation, is to receive