Chapter VIII: Part III: The Holy Ghost (3)

So, when a servant of God, who has the companionship of the Holy Ghost, is filled with that Spirit, and possesses authority to act in the name of Jesus Christ, lays his hands upon one who has prepared himself through faith, repentance, and baptism, the Holy Spirit is conferred by the one who administers to him upon whom he lays his hands, and he is baptized of it. These are the laws by which the Holy Ghost is received; these are the conditions that must exist, in order that man may walk within the circle of his influence, and in the full and free enjoyment of his companionship. The transmission of the influence of the Holy Ghost from one person to another by an observance of the principles and ordinances of the Gospel we have now considered, is as natural and philosophical in the spiritual things of the universe, as it is for electricity or steam to perform the wonders which these forces are now made to enact in the commercial and mechanical worlds, when the laws upon which the manipulation of them depend are complied with; but which they will not perform unless the conditions by which their power is made available are complied with.

As stated by Elder Parley P. Pratt--whose language, however I slightly modify--to impart a portion of the influence of the Holy Spirit by the touch or by the laying on of hands; or to impart a portion of the element of life from one animal body to another by an authorized agent who acts in the name of God, and who is filled therewith, is as much in accordance with the laws of nature as for water to seek its own level; air its equilibrium; or heat and electricity their own mediums of conveyance. . . . An agent possessed of this heavenly influence cannot impart of the same to another, unless that other is qualified, washed, cleansed from all his impurities of heart, affections, habits or practices by the blood of the atonement, which is generally applied in connection with the baptism of remission. A man who continues in his sins, and who has no living faith in the Son of God, cannot receive the gift of the Holy Spirit through the ministration of any agent, however holy he may be. The impure spirit of such a one will repulse the pure influence, upon the natural laws of sympathetic affinity, or of attraction and repulsion.[A]

[Footnote A: Key to Theology, pp. 96, 97, 98.]

In other words, the Spirit of God will not dwell in unholy temples, hence sincere repentance and baptism for the remission of sins go before the baptism of the Spirit, that men may be cleansed from their sins, justified before God, and their bodies, by these means, made fit dwelling places for the Holy Ghost--the living temples of God.