Fletcher (_End of Religious Controversy_, p. 90) illustrates the vicious extreme to which this evil doctrine led, by accusing one of its adherents with having said, "Even adultery and murder do not hurt the pleasant children, but rather work for their good. God sees no sin in believers, whatever sin they may commit.... It is a most pernicious error of the schoolmen to distinguish sins according to the fact, and not according to the person. Though I blame those who say, let us sin that grace may abound, yet adultery, incest, and murder, shall upon the whole, make me holier on earth, and merrier in heaven." A summary of the mediæval controversy regarding the means of grace, including the doctrines of Luther and others, is presented in Roberts' _Outlines of Ecclesiastical History_, part iii, section ii, to which the student is referred. The quotations given above are incorporated therein. =3. Forgiveness not always Immediate.=--"On account of the magnitude of sins committed, repentance is not always followed by forgiveness and restoration. For instance, when Peter was preaching to the Jews, who had slain Jesus and taken His blood on themselves and their children, he did not say, repent and be baptized for the remission of sins; but, 'Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and [when] He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things' (Acts iii, 19-21). That is, repent now, and believe in Jesus Christ, that you may be forgiven when He whom you have slain shall come again in the days of the restitution of all things; and prescribe to you the terms on which you may be saved."--_Compendium_, p. 28. LECTURE VI. BAPTISM. =Article 4.=--We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are:--... (3) Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; ... =1. Nature of Baptism.=--Among the Latter-day Saints, water baptism ranks as the third principle, and the first essential ordinance, of the gospel. Baptism is the gateway leading into the fold of Christ, the portal to the Church, the established rite of naturalization in the kingdom of God. The candidate for admission into the Church and kingdom, having obtained and professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and having sincerely repented of his sins, is properly required to give evidence of this spiritual sanctification by some outward ordinance, prescribed by authority as the sign or symbol of the new profession. The initiatory ordinance is baptism by water, to be followed by the higher baptism of the Holy Spirit; and, as a result of this act of obedience, remission of sins is granted.