--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Nicholson, John collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 5 number: 6 published: 1902-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'John Nicholson, "Bestowal of the Holy Ghost Prior to the Days of Pentecost," *Improvement Era* 5, no. 6 (April 1902): 474.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0506unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0506unse start_page: 474 end_page: 474 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1902-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0506unse publication_year: 1902 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1902, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Bestowal of the Holy Ghost Prior to the Days of Pentecost Bestowal of the Holy Ghost prior to the Day of Pentecost. Have we any scripture, ancient or modern, to prove that the Holy Ghost was bestowed permanently, by the laying on of hands and confir- mation, performed before the Day of Pentecost? Answer by Elder John Nicholson: Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father, that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism: yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word; behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Is- rael! (Book of Mormon, II Nephi 31: 13.) In answer to this quotation, it might be said that the passage says nothing about the "laying on of hands" to impart the Holy Ghost. Neither did Peter, on the day of Pentecost; nor Jesus, in his remarks to Nicodemus. There are but few direct statements in the New Testament in relation to conferring the conditionally permanent gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands; yet it was and is an indispensable ordinance in the Church of Christ, which church existed 147 B. C, according to the following, in re- lation to the people baptized by Alma: Mosiah 18: 17: And they were called the church of God, or the church of Christ, from that time forward. And it came to pass that whosoever was baptized by the power and authority of God, was added to his church. Membership in the Church of Christ requires a full baptism, not half a one. In this connection, I quote the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, as they appear on page 279, of the Com- pendium: "Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half — and that is the baptism of the Holy Ghost."