Lastly, in closing up his abridgment of the writings of the third Nephi, Mormon says: "Hear the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God: * * * Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways, and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel."[S] [Footnote S: III. Nephi xxx.] Turning now to the revelations which the Lord has given on this subject, in the dispensation of the Gospel committed to men in our day, we find the Lord saying to Martin Harris: "And of tenets thou shalt not talk, but thou shalt declare repentance and faith on the Savior, and the remission of sins by baptism and by fire, yea, even the Holy Ghost."[T] [Footnote T: Doc. and Cov., sec. xix: 31.] In a revelation to W. W. Phelps we hear the Lord saying: "And thou shalt be ordained by the hand of my servant Joseph Smith, jun., to be an Elder unto this Church, to preach repentance and remission of sins by way of baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God."[U] [Footnote U: Doc. and Cov., sec. lv: 21.] The Lord, subsequently, gave the following as a standing law unto the inhabitants of Zion and her organized stakes: "Their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins, when eight years old, and receive the laying on of hands."[V] [Footnote V: Doc. and Cov. sec. lxviii: 26, 27.] Clearly, the object of baptism is the remission of sins. In a revelation given to the Church in September, 1832, in which a number of Elders are directed to go out into the world and preach the Gospel, it is written: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, they who believe not on your words, and are not baptized in water in my name, for the remission of their sins that they may receive the Holy Ghost, shall be damned, and shall not come into my Father's kingdom."[W] [Footnote W: Doc. and Cov., sec. lxxxiv: 74.] The teachings of Joseph Smith on this subject may be learned from this one homely but expressive sentence: "You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost." Here, as far as this branch of the subject is concerned, I pause; and surely I may hope that the treatise on the object of baptism has been sufficiently exhaustive, both as considered in the Jewish scriptures and as understood by the early Christians, as well as in the Book of Mormon and the revelations of the Lord in this dispensation. From all these sources of information, we learn that baptism is an ordinance through which it is ordained that man shall receive a remission of sins. CHAPTER XXIII.