So proclaims the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the world today. Faith in God, repentance of sin, baptism by water and of the Spirit, are required of every soul that comes to years of accountability and powers of comprehension; but without faith and repentance, of which only understanding minds are capable, baptism is but a perversion of the Gospel ordinance. The Scriptures relating to baptism in all ages and of all peoples are in harmony as to the conditions essential to the proper reception of the saving rite. In a revelation on Church government given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, in April, 1830, the Lord Jesus Christ thus defined the status of acceptable candidates for baptism: "All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into His Church." (D&C 20:37). These conditions exclude all who have not reached the age and capacity of discretion and understanding; and by specific commandment the Lord has forbidden the Church to administer baptism to others: "No one can be received into the Church of Christ, unless he has arrived unto the years of accountability before God, and is capable of repentance." (Verse 71). By revelation the Lord has designated eight years as the age at which children may be baptized into the Church. At an earlier age, however, children are to be brought to the elders of the Church, and be blessed by the laying on of hands in the name of Jesus Christ, after the pattern set by the Master in the course of His personal ministry. -- 24 -- THE WATERY GRAVE And the New Birth WHILE our Lord tarried at Jerusalem following the first Passover festival after the beginning of His public ministry, there came unto Him by night a certain ruler of the Jews. The visitor was of the Pharisees and a member of the great Sanhedrin, or supreme council of the nation. There is significance in the circumstance that Nicodemus sought Christ by night. Read John 3:1-21. We must credit the man with a genuine desire to learn of the doctrines taught by the newly recognized Prophet from Galilee, whose fame was already widely spread; but it appears that pride of station or fear of criticism led him to seek an interview under cover of darkness and privacy. Speaking for himself and probably for his official associates, Nicodemus thus addressed the Savior: "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."