I have a few remarks to make to those who do not understand the
doctrine of the Latter-day Saints. Forty-three years have passed away
since this Church was organized in Fayette, Seneca County, in the
State of New York; and for over forty years, according to the
ability which God has given me, I have traveled and preached enough to
extend this Gospel to the door of every hamlet on this continent if
the people had been willing to receive it; yea more—I have taught the
Gospel of life and salvation to the human family sufficiently, if all
had been honest to receive it and willing to carry it to their
neighbors, to evangelize the whole earth, and there need not have
been, today, one person, heathen or Christian, ignorant of its
principles. But now, I learn from day to day, from week to week and
from time to time, that very many people in our own land do not
understand our doctrines, and I am frequently asked the question,
while conversing with people, "Do you believe the Bible?" "Do you
receive the Bible as the word of the Lord?" "Then, you acknowledge the
Bible?" &c. This astonishes me, and the cause of such questions being
asked I leave every person to judge for himself, just as I do with
regard to the course of the children of men in other matters, such as
truth, error, religion, politics, &c. If we were to inquire of
strangers, who have lived twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or sixty years
on the continent of America, and even in the United States, how it is
that they do not know better than to suppose that the Latter-day
Saints reject and do not believe in the Bible, they would reply, "We
do not know, only we have heard so." If you go to the professed
infidel, of any class, and ask him, "Do the 'Mormons' believe in the
Bible?" —"Why yes, I have heard them preach, and they believe the Bible
more than the whole Christian world do." Well, where and through whom
does this influence come, which leads people to believe to the
contrary? I will not spend time to answer this, but I will say, that
the Latter-day Saints believe more of the Bible than any other people
that live on the face of the earth that we have any knowledge of.
What does the Bible teach us with regard to the Christian religion,
faith in God, and in his Son Jesus Christ, who was sent in the
meridian of time to redeem the earth, and all things pertaining to it?
I will not take up the negative side of the question, or tell what
others believe; but let me tell what we believe. In the first place, I
will take up the sayings of Jesus to his disciples on a certain
occasion. Said he, "Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; he that believeth not shall be damned." I shall not attempt to
go into the meaning of this saying in every particular—time will not
permit—but suffice it to say that he that believeth and is baptized
will be saved, and he that believeth not will be cast off. What
promise did Jesus give to his disciples when he sent them out, two by
two, to preach? What inducement was there, when the Savior was upon
the earth, to believe in him and his doctrine? We can all read; it
would take too much time to tell. His disciples went out and preached
without purse and scrip, and when they returned, they testified to
Jesus that they had lacked for nothing. Jesus promised to those who
believed, powers and advantages which unbelievers could not enjoy. We
read of certain men and women in Samaria, who had been taught the
Gospel under the authority of John the Baptist, but they had not
received the Holy Ghost; and we are told that certain Apostles went
down from Jerusalem to lay their hands on these Samaritan believers.
There was a man called Simon, a sorcerer, who had bewitched the
people, and seeing that the power which the Apostles bestowed upon
them, by the laying on of hands, was far above his power—although he
could deceive, betray and frighten the people, and do many things just
as the magicians of Pharaoh's court did when Moses went to deliver the
children of Israel; said he, "I will give you money if you will bestow
that power on me." The Apostles said to him, "You and your money
perish together." The Apostles laid their hands upon those persons who
had been baptized to John's baptism, and they received the Holy Ghost.
Believers in those days had the power which Jesus promised.
They might take up serpents, and they would not bite them; if they
drank any deadly thing it would not hurt them; if they laid hands on
the sick, the sick would recover. They spake with tongues, they
prophesied, they had the discernment of spirits, and all the various
gifts of the Gospel of Christ; and all of these were beyond the reach
of the sorcerer, yet he was far in advance of the common people in
powers of deception. But Jesus promised his disciples more than any
man could possess by the spirit of divination. When we consider this
and realize, if we can realize, that, through the restoration of the
Gospel in our day, all these gifts can be again enjoyed, it is worthy
the attention of every person on the face of the earth who is capable
of receiving truth for truth, light for light, and intelligence upon
intelligence.
Let me hasten along, and refer to the organization of the ancient
Church. According to the testimony of the Apostle, God set in the
Church, firstly Apostles, secondly Prophets, thirdly Teachers, then
Pastors, and so forth. You strangers may ask your divines, when you
return home, what they believe about God setting in the Church
Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers, helps, gifts, divers kinds of
tongues, and so on, for the perfecting of the Saints, and for the
edifying of the body of Christ, until all come to a unity of faith and
knowledge in Christ Jesus our Lord; and let them answer the question,
then you can judge who it is that throws dust into the eyes of the
people, and is continually telling them that "the Latter-day Saints
deny the Bible;" "the Latter-day Saints are a bad people;" "the
Latter-day Saints are aliens to the government;" "the Latter-day
Saints are rebellious." Ask the divines, "Do you believe in
prophesying, do you believe in Apostles, in baptism by immersion for
the remission of sins, and in the laying on of hands for the reception
of the Holy Ghost? Do you believe in breaking bread continually, as
Jesus commanded his disciples at the last supper, when he brake the
bread and blessed it, and blessed the wine and gave it to all to eat
and drink, saying, 'Do this until I come again, for I will drink no
more of the fruit of the vine until I drink it anew with you in my
Father's kingdom?'" What do the world—Christian, Jew and Pagan—believe
about these things? Inquire for yourselves. We Latter-day Saints
believe in Apostles and Prophets. We believe in the Melchizedek
Priesthood and in the Aaronic Priesthood, which God bestowed upon his
servants long ago. Moses had all these doctrines and both these
Priesthoods in his possession, and also the organization of the
Church; and with all his power he strove to bring the children of
Israel to a knowledge of the Gospel, but they would not have Christ.
I pause here. I was brought up a Christian, very strictly, and was
taught to read the Bible, consequently it is natural for me to believe
it—it is according to my traditions, and also from the spirit of
revelation from God unto myself. In all my teachings, I have taught
the Gospel from the Old and New Testaments. I found therein every
doctrine, and the proof of every doctrine, the Latter-day Saints
believe in, as far as I know, therefore I do not refer to the Book of
Mormon as often as I otherwise should. There may be some doctrines
about which little is said in the Bible, but they are all couched
therein, and I believe the doctrines because they are true, and I have
taught them because they are calculated to save the children of men.
It is said by the Christian world, by governments, philosophers,
statesmen, politicians and ministers, that there is no harm in
believing anything if we do not practice it. But let me ask how can we
believe in Jesus Christ—taking his own words for it—unless we do the
works that he did? Go and read his words for yourselves—"He that
believeth in me will do the works that I do." Did he not say this? How
then can we believe in him without doing his works? Did he inspire his
Apostles? Did be inspire him whom we call St. Paul? Did he inspire
John upon the Isle of Patmos? The Christian world will not deny that
he did. While John was upon Patmos, he had many visions and
revelations. He compiled these after he returned from the island, and
left them in the possession of his friends; and the Council which
compiled this book—the Bible—brought his revelations into the
catalogue of sacred books. If you will read the Book of Revelation,
you will find that John predicts many things regarding these latter
days. He saw the conduct and doings of the seven angels; and then he
says, "I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth,
Saying, 'Fear God, and give glory to him; who made the heavens, the
earth, the seas and the fountains of waters.'"
By reading the Bible we find that the Gospel is contained not only in
the New Testament, but also in the Old. Moses and the Prophets saw and
predicted the apostasy of the Church. They saw that the Lord would
strive with the children of men from time to time, that he would
deliver to them the truth and the Priesthood; they also saw that
through the wickedness of the people they would change his ordinances,
break the covenants, and transgress his laws, until the Priesthood
would be taken from the earth, and its inhabitants be left in apostasy
and darkness.
But how are we to understand this angel referred to by John, when he
comes along? This is an important question. How, in the language of
Scripture, are we to know the voice of the Good Shepherd from the
voice of a stranger? Can any person answer this question? I can, it is
very easy. To every philosopher upon the earth, I say, "Your eye can
be deceived, so can mine; your ear can be deceived, so can mine; the
touch of your hand can be deceived, so can mine; but the Spirit of God
filling the creature with revelation and the light of eternity, cannot
be mistaken—the revelation which comes from God is never mistaken. It
is the spirit of truth, and it testifies of Jesus, of his Father, of
the things which God has done for the children of men, and that which
he is now doing. No man upon the earth can be mistaken when he sees by
the eye of revelation, when Jesus shines upon his understanding by the
light of his Spirit. Now, then, how are we going to know the voice of
the Good Shepherd from the voice of a stranger? Take the words of
Jesus. He says, "My sheep hear my voice and they follow me, a stranger
they will not follow." Why? Because they know not the voice of a
stranger. When an individual, filled with the Spirit of God, declares
the truth of heaven, the sheep hear that, the Spirit of the Lord
pierces their inmost souls and sinks deep into their hearts; by the
testimony of the Holy Ghost light springs up within them, and they see
and understand for them selves. This is the way the Gospel
should be preached by every Elder in Israel, and by this power every
hearer should hear; and if we would know the voice of the Good
Shepherd, we must live so that the Spirit of the Lord can find its way
to our hearts. I have said to the Latter-day Saints, many and many a
time, and I say to them now, live your religion, that the Spirit of
God may be within you like a well of water springing up to everlasting
life. Suppose I were to give way to the spirit of the enemy and leave
the spirit of the Gospel, then, if you were not prepared to judge
between the voice of the Good Shepherd and the voice of the stranger,
I could lead you to ruin. Be prepared that you may know the voice when
it comes through the servants of God, then you can declare for
yourselves. "This is the word of the Lord." My caution and counsel to
the Latter-day Saints, and to all the inhabitants of the earth
is—"Live so that you will know truth from error."
But do all the Latter-day Saints live so? Oh no, they do not. Many
fall into error and finally leave the Church. They are led away far
from the truth. They become subject to the ten thousand spirits that
have gone forth into the world, and they are deceived in this, that
and the other thing, and like the rest of the world, they do not know
how to govern themselves. They are deceived in their own organization
and with regard to themselves; and there is no man that can know
himself unless be knows God, and he cannot know God unless he knows
himself. The children of men give heed to the deceiving spirits that
are abroad, and that is the cause of the ten thousand errors, wrongs,
sins and divisions which are in the world, and for this reason the
multitude are unable to distinguish between the voice of the Good
Shepherd and the voice of the stranger. But I will say that if the
Lord has not sent that angel of which John speaks, he will send him as
surely as we live.
Let me refer to another saying of John: After telling about the angel
flying through the midst of heaven with the everlasting Gospel to be
restored to the children of men, he tells us in his eighteenth chapter
and 4th verse—"And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out
of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues.'" This was a proclamation to God's people.
Israel is dispersed among all the nations of the earth; the blood of
Ephraim is mixed with the blood of all the earth. Abraham's seed is
mingled with the rebellious seed through the whole world of mankind,
and John saw that a command would go forth warning the righteous to
flee from Babylon, and that command was, "Come out of her, my people,
that ye be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not other
plagues, for her sins have reached to heaven," and so forth. This is a
stumbling block to the religious world of Christendom. They cannot see
the necessity of the gathering, they claim that believers in Jesus can
live their religion and serve the Lord as well scattered as gathered,
and that, in time, by the preaching of the various sects, the world
will be evangelized. The Latter-day Saints believe that all their
efforts in this direction, in the future, will be as they have been in
the past—useless; and that the so-called Christian religion is a
failure, so far as evangelizing the world is concerned. Let the world
of mankind look at Jerusalem for an illustration of its effects. In
that city various Christian sects have their places of worship,
and many make yearly pilgrimages to the places made sacred by the
life, death and burial of the Redeemer. Do these Christians in
Jerusalem manifest that love, meekness and forbearance toward each
other which always characterize the true servants and followers of the
Lord Jesus? No, for if it were not for the Turkish soldiers they would
massacre each other every day. That is the effect the principles which
they profess have upon them. And everywhere, throughout the Christian
world, it amounts to little more. Its leaders and professors cry,
"Come to Jesus, Come to the Lord," and do this and do that, but where
do we find such things taught in the New Testament? They are not
there. Who among the writers of the Scriptures declares that God has
taken Apostles and Prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers
governments and helps from his Church? Not one. Is there any
declaration or revelation in modern times to the effect that God has
taken the gifts out of his Church? No. Men have left them, they have
wandered from and forsaken the fold of Christ, they have transgressed
the laws and they have changed the ordinances of his kingdom for the
laws and ordinances of men; and they have broken the everlasting
covenant which God, in early ages, made with his creatures.
Let me say to my hearers, not that I wish to take up the subject of
Celestial Marriage, that if you will search the Scriptures, you will
find that the first curse which came upon the children of Israel, as
recorded in the writings of Moses, was for marrying out of their own
families; and then the Lord, after seeing the hardness of their hearts
in despising his law and his covenants, gave to them a law of carnal
commandments, and told them whom they might not marry. By reading the
Scriptures you will find that the Lord commanded the children of
Israel to live by themselves, and not to mix their seed with the
unholy, ungovernable and rebellious seed of the world. The Lord used
to give wives to the children of men, but the people say, "We do not
know about that now, we hardly think it will answer."
How are we going to build up the kingdom of God on the earth. Do you
think it is a manual labor? Do you think it will become a political
kingdom? Ask the kings on their thrones, ask potentates and statesmen
if they believe the Bible. If they do, they must believe that the day
will come in which God will revolutionize the earth, to that degree
that the "kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God
and his Christ." If they ever do, there must be a heavy labor to
perform, and that labor is upon the Saints of God, and they must enter
into it with heart and soul. It will be both a manual and a political
labor, for all will be brought into subjection to the law of Christ,
that he may come and reign on the earth, king of nations, as he does
king of Saints.
These subjects could be taken up one by one, and it could be shown
from the Scriptures, precisely the position that will be taken and
the course that must be pursued. I have labored faithfully over forty
years to convince the children of men that God rules in the heavens
and that he will rule upon the earth. Suppose that he ruled today,
would society be the worse for it? What think ye? Is there a heaven?
Is there a heaven of heavens? Is there a dwelling place for the Gods
and the angels? Do you think they have their political quarrels there? Do you think they get up different ones whom they will run for
their king, governor, or president? Do you think there is an
opposition ticket there? What do the political, financial and
Christian world think about these things? Do you think that a few
capitalists lock up all the means there and make hard times, so that
the people cannot get a dollar? Do you think there is any backbiting
and false swearing there? Do you think they have courts with unjust
judges and packed juries there? No, every person who believes in the
Old and New Testaments, will say that it is a place of perfection, a
place where all have their rights; a place where there is perfect
peace and happiness, and all join with one heart and voice in
ascribing honor, praise and glory to him who sits on the throne, and
the Lamb. This is the effect of God's rule and government. Would the
inhabitants of the world be in a worse condition than they are now if
the Lord were ruler of all the earth? Oh, no. All will join in wishing
for perfection, and in desiring a state of society in which there
would be no jars, no contentions, no poverty, no poor, but all
prepared to go into the highest and most refined society. This is the
belief and doctrine of the Latter-day Saints. Learn everything that
the children of men know, and be prepared for the most refined society
upon the face of the earth, then improve upon this until we are
prepared and permitted to enter the society of the blessed—the holy
angels that dwell in the presence of God, for our God, because of his
purity, is a consuming fire.
I have spoken longer than the time allotted to me. I can say God bless
you. I pray the people—Saints and sinners upon the face of the whole
earth—to hearken to the truth. Open your hearts to the conviction of
the Holy Spirit upon you. I pray that you who have received the truth
may live in it and abide by it, that you may enjoy the blessings of it
and be prepared for the fullness of the glory of God, that will yet be
revealed. I exhort those who do not believe, to listen to and receive,
little by little, the instructions which God will give, until all the
inhabitants of the earth are prepared for Jesus to come and reign in
their midst.
God bless you, Amen.