In Maclaine's translation of Dr. Mosheim's Church History is a passage from _Letter Seventy third_, of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, in which that writer says (he wrote in the third century): "It is manifest where and by whom the _remission of sin conferred in baptism is administered_: They who are presented to the rulers of the church obtain by our prayers and imposition of hands, the Holy Ghost." The following quotation will show what importance is attached to baptism, as to its necessity and object, by the Roman Catholic Church: "Baptism is a sacrament absolutely necessary for all, without which no one can enter into the kingdom of God, for Jesus Christ has said, 'Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and of the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' Hence it was not enough for Saul of Tarsus, converted on the road to Damascus,[M] to believe; nor for the Chamberlain of Queen Candace, met on the road by Philip, the Deacon;[N] they had to be baptized in order to obtain remission of their sins, and thus be in the way of salvation; therefore in the Nicene Creed we say: 'I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.'"[O] [Footnote M: Acts ix: 18.] [Footnote N: Acts viii: 38.] [Footnote O: Catholic Belief (_Bruno_ pp. 56, 57.)] The Book of Mormon, which we have found so explicit in its treatment of other doctrines, is none the less so in respect to the one now under discussion--the object of baptism. In the teachings of Alma we have the following: "Now, I say unto you, that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith, if ye are not born again, ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins."[P] [Footnote P: Alma vii: 14.] It is written of the third Nephi, that just about the time of Messiah's birth, "he went among the people, and also many others, baptizing unto repentance, in the which there were a great remission of sins."[Q] [Footnote Q: III. Nephi i: 23.] This work he continued for more than thirty years after the sign in the heavens of the birth of Messiah had been given. Mormon says of Nephi, that in the thirty and third year after the birth of the Messiah, "he preached unto them repentance, and remission of sins. Now I would have you to remember, also," says Mormon, "that there were none brought unto repentance, who were not baptized with water; therefore there were ordained of Nephi, men unto this ministry, that all such as should come unto them, should be baptized with water, and this as a witness and testimony before God, and unto the people, that they had repented and received a remission of their sins."[R] [Footnote R: III. Nephi vii: 23-25.]