I have listened with a great deal of pleasure, my brethren and
sisters, to the remarks of Elders Stayner. There are a great many
arguments which might be adduced from the material universe to
establish the fact that a divine hand has formed the worlds; and I
think there are few people, even in this skeptical age, who altogether
repudiate the idea of a grand Creator of the universe. This is called
an age of infidelity. It is a fact that there is very little real
faith in God upon the earth. There is very little knowledge concerning
God in the world, and there are some people who altogether repudiate
the idea of the existence of a God; but I believe they are in number
very few indeed. But while there are few who entirely reject the
existence of Deity, there are a great number of people in the world
who have no definite idea concerning God, concerning his ways, his
dealings with mankind, or concerning the right manner of worshipping
him and of learning from him.
In the text which Elder Stayner has read this afternoon, and from
which he has made some very ex cellent remarks, the command is given
"to worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the
fountains of waters." In the explanation which has been given to us it
has been made clear that the words which have been read in our hearing
were to be uttered by an angel of God; they were to be spoken at a
period in the world's history, some time in the future of the day in
which the Apostle John saw the vision referred to. In the 4th chapter
of the same book (Revelation), and the first verse, you will find
that having seen a number of events portrayed before his mind, John
says: "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:
and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking
with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which
must be hereafter." All we read in that Book of Revelation, after the
first verse of the 4th chapter, describes events to transpire after
these things were seen. And if we take the trouble to read the whole
of that book, we will find that John was shown the dealings of God
with man, age after age, down until the time that this angel
should come to the earth. Says the Apostle: "And I saw another angel
fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred
and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give
glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him
that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
(Rev. xiv., 6, 7.) According to this prediction, just before the hour
of God's judgment—that time which all the prophets of God have
foreseen and prophesied of, just before the grand consummation, just
before the time when the Lord should come to judge the quick and the
dead—this angel was to come to the earth with the everlasting Gospel;
and that Gospel was to be preached to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue and people. Now, what does that presuppose? To every
reasonable mind, that the people of every nation, and kindred, and
tongue upon the face of the earth were destitute of that Gospel. For,
if the Gospel was already there, already preached by any nation,
kindred, or people, there would be no need for the angel to reveal it
anew to mankind. And further, if there were people living upon the
earth who did worship God aright that is, the true and living God, not
the God of the heathen, not the God of men's imagination, but the God
that made the heaven and the earth, the sea and the fountains of
waters—if people dwelling upon the earth were already worshipping that
God aright, there would be no need of a heavenly messenger to leave
the courts of glory to come to the earth to call upon them to do so.
Now this may be a rather startling declaration to make in the face of
all Christendom, in the face of the hundreds and thousands of
Christian ministers of the various Christian denominations, who spend
their time, their talents and ability in preaching what they call and
perhaps believe to be the everlasting Gospel; and in the face of the
millions of the earth who think they do worship God and give glory to
that Being who made the earth, and the seas, and the fountains of
waters. But here is the text, here is the language of Scripture
given by inspiration. We must believe the declaration to be divine, or
not believe it at all. The Apostle John saw in the vision that at a
certain time the angel was to come again to earth and reveal, or
restore anew the everlasting Gospel, the true Gospel, by which alone
man can receive a fulness of salvation in the presence of God the
Father.
There are millions of people living today upon the face of the earth
who believe that a divine hand formed this world, and that he is also
the Creator of the universe; but they know nothing certain about that
Being. Notwithstanding the boasted knowledge and intelligence of the
19th century, the world today knows nothing concerning this divine
Being. While most of them admit the fact of his existence, yet at the
same time he is to them as he was to the Ephesians to whom Paul
preached on a certain occasion—an "unknown God." If this is not the
case, who is there that can tell us anything about him? What he is
like? Where he dwells? What are his purposes with regard to the people
of the present age? Which is the right way to approach him that we may
learn to know him for ourselves?
We read in the Scriptures that in olden times men communed with this
divine Being, that he walked and talked with men in the flesh, and
revealed himself to them. But he is neither seen nor heard of men
today, and what is even worse, none seem to know how to approach him
to learn of him as his servants did in earlier times. But some will
say, "We have no need of such communications now, for we have the
writings of these men; they approached him, and they have written
books containing his words which have been handed down to us; we have
no need to approach God as they did." But who can tell us how to read
this Bible aright? These people who say they have no need of
revelation do not agree as to what those prophets meant when they
wrote these things. Take the minister of one Christian denomination,
for instance, and get him into conversation with a minister from
another Christian denomination, each of these men of course professing
to believe that the Bible is a divine record given to us for our
guidance in spiritual things; and in a very short time you will get
them into a quarrel. Take, half a dozen men from half a dozen
Christian denominations, each professing to be called of God to
explain his word, and you will find that all of them have different
views and ideas concerning that which the prophets wrote. Ask any one
of these Christian ministers to tell you anything about God, and after
exhausting his store of language in trying to do so he will wind up
thus: "God is incomprehensible." There is an attempt to describe God
in the Episcopalian prayer book. We are told in that book, which
contains the articles of the faith of that body of people, that God is
three and yet he is only one; that there are three distinct personages
in the Godhead, yet only one personage, and that this being is without
body, without parts and without passions. Here, then, we have an
imaginary being composed of three parts, who yet is only one without
any parts. We are told further that one of these bodiless, passionless
beings without parts had a body, and that he was a man in all points
as we are, possessing like passions, but that he sinned not. This is a
strange attempt at description of a divine Being. I do not wish to
take up the time in further reference to these absurdities, you can
read them in the Athanasian creed, and in the thirty-nine articles
which all Episcopal ministers must subscribe to before they can
receive "holy orders."
We read in the Bible: "For a man indeed ought not to cover his head
(when he prayeth), forasmuch as he is the image and the glory of God:
but the woman is the glory of the man." (1 Cor., xi, 7) According to
the Scriptures, when you see a perfect man, as far as man can be
perfect in this imperfect condition which we now occupy, we see a
being in the image of Deity. When Jesus Christ, who died that we might
live, appeared on the earth, we are told that he was "the image of the
invisible God," and "the express image of his (the Father's)
person."
So much indeed, was he like his Father, that when one of his disciples
asked him to show them the Father, he answered him saying, "He that
hath seen me hath seen the Father," giving us to understand that the
Son inherited the likeness of his Father. Some read it to signify that
he was the same person; but the Savior says again, "My Father is
greater than I." The words of Jesus to Mary in the garden are
significant on this point: "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I
ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God."
And at the baptism of the Savior we find that the Holy Ghost descended
upon him, and that the voice of the Father was heard out of heaven,
saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased;" showing
that there were three distinct substances—the Son coming up out of the
water, the Father speaking from heaven and the Holy Ghost descending.
In regard to this divine Being. The Son is the firstborn in the
spirit, the only begotten in the flesh, sent into the world to die for
the sins of the world. How can the people of the earth learn anything
concerning him? And which is the right way to worship him? Says the
Catholic minister, "Here is the way, the only way." "No," says
the
Episcopal minister, "here is the way." Says the Methodist, "No, you
are both wrong, we have the true way." Against these assertions the
Baptist minister curers his protest, saying, "All these are wrong, ours
is the way." And so with all the various sects and parties that exist
upon the earth. Let us bear in mind now that the angel spoken of by
John was to come from heaven and call upon every nation and tongue to
worship this Being, the true and living God. And not only call upon
them to do so, but to bring the everlasting Gospel, by which man can
learn of God and walk in his ways. And it is very evident what they
would do, from the predictions of other prophets. We read in the
writings of Isaiah, also in the writings of Micah, that in the last
days there should come a people from all the nations of the earth, who
should gather together in the tops of the mountains to learn of the
ways of God and to walk in his paths. It seems, then, that the angel
was not to bring his message for nought; there was to be a people
among all these nations who would receive the message and who would
respond to it; and in consequence of that response they would leave
their homes and would come from the East and from the West, and God
would "say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back:
bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth."
And they would go up to the mountain of the Lord to be taught in his
ways and to walk in his paths; that they might be prepared for the day
when the "law of God would go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem." And the work was to continue; for according to
another prophet, the time shall come when "they shall teach no more
everyman his neighbor, saying, Know ye the Lord: for they shall all
know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the
Lord." How shall this be brought about? "And they shall be all taught
of God." The Lord is to teach them; they are not to be taught by the
enticing words of man's wisdom, but as God spake to the people in
olden times, so he is to speak to them in the latter times. He said he
would raise up shepherds after his own heart, who should "feed them
with knowledge and understanding;" not with speculative ideas, notions
springing from their own minds, but with the truth from the true and
living God, sent down from on high. Jesus, when upon the earth, made a
remark very pertinent to this point; said he: "And no man knoweth the
Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, but the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." The inhabitants
of the earth will never come to a knowledge of the true God, they will
never know how to approach him, they will never know how to obtain
knowledge and intelligence from him, unless they walk in the way his
Son shall point out. He stands between us and the Father; he is the
Firstborn, the Mediator, chosen from the creation of the world. He
performed the work on the earth which he was sent to do. "Thou hast
loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." He
stands as a Mediator between God and man. When we approach God we must
do it through the Son. Who can tell us how? We hear the cry, "Come to
Jesus," in every camp meeting. We are told by the preachers of every
Christian denomination to "come to Jesus." But how are we to come? The
ways pointed out are different and various. I am reminded right here
of a saying of the Prophet Jeremiah "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in
the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way,
and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they
said, We will not walk therein." "The old path," what is that? The
everlasting Gospel which the angel was to bring. "Enter ye in at the
strait gate," says the Savior; "for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." There is but one
way into the sheepfold; he that climbs up any other way will be
accounted as "a thief and a robber." The angel was to bring the old
way; that those who walk therein might find rest for their souls; but
it appears the great bulk of the people would say, "We will not walk
therein."
I bear my testimony to this congregation, that in the times in which
we live, which are just preceding the coming of the Son of man in the
clouds of heaven, with power and great glory, to accomplish all things
spoken of, God, the Eternal Father, has spoken from the heavens by his
own voice, revealing his Son, and has sent holy angels committing the
everlasting Gospel to men who have been commissioned and ordained of
God to go to all the world to preach it as a witness before the end
comes. I bear my testimony that as soon as that Gospel reached my ears
in a distant land, I received it and obeyed it. That is, believing in
the truth thereof, I repented sincerely of my sins before God, and
went humbly and submitted to the ordinance of baptism for the
remission of sins, receiving that ordinance from men ordained of God
to preach this Gospel. That having been buried in the water in the
likeness of the death of Christ, and raised again in the likeness of
his resurrection, I received a witness from God that my sins were
remitted. I bear my testimony this afternoon before God and angels,
and before this congregation, that I received a remission of my sins,
through the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, in obedience to his
ordinances. The hands of the servants of God were laid upon my head,
and I received the Holy Ghost—that same Spirit which God gave to the
prophets, that same Spirit which rested upon John upon the Isle of
Patmos, that same Spirit by which holy men of old wrote and spoke as
they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and that Spirit is the same
yesterday, today and forever. It takes of the things of the
Father and makes them plain to the human mind; it makes things past
clear to the understanding of man, and it lifts up the curtain of
futurity and shows things to come. It is the Spirit of prophecy, the
testimony of Jesus; it is the light of God to the human soul. And as
natural light discloses to the vision of men the objects of the
material universe, without which none can discern them, so the Holy
Ghost is the light of God which reveals to the spirits of men the
things of eternal life, and without which men cannot understand the
things of God. It is because of the absence of this divine light that
the world lies in darkness in regard to their Father and God; this is
why men, notwithstanding their learning, their scientific discoveries
in the material universe, cannot comprehend the things of God. Man by
searching cannot find out God. He can reveal himself to mankind, but
must do it through the Son, and obedience to the Gospel of his Son is
the only way of salvation. There is no other, and no name given under
heaven whereby man can be saved but the name of Jesus Christ. A mere
form of worship avails nothing; we must obey the commandments. "Not
every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven."
This Gospel is restored to the earth, and everybody may know it for
themselves. We are not dependent upon the words of Joseph Smith; we
need not depend upon the Twelve Apostles who received their ordination
under his hand. Every man and every woman and every child who have
come to years of accountability can receive direct from the Lord,
direct from the fountain of their being, a testimony by which they may
know that he lives, that they are walking in his ways, and learn how
they can approach him acceptably.
Some people may think that it does not matter how people worship, that
God will accept of their worship, anyhow. But from what we read of His
dealings in the Bible, we find it a matter of the greatest importance.
Abel, for instance, offered to the Lord that which God commanded; Cain
offered what he pleased to give. Abel's offering was accepted, Cain's
was rejected. Cain slew Abel in consequence, and the spirit manifested
by him has been perpetuated to this day. God has marked out the way by
which he may be worshipped. He has ordained certain ordinances through
which certain blessings are to come; and the blessings of God will not
come except by means of the ordinances. Those who obey these in the
way that God has ordained invariably receive the blessings; for
spiritual laws are as fixed and unchangeable as are the laws of the
material universe. No man expects to reap oats from sowing wheat. That
which a man soweth, that will he also reap. If he sow to the flesh, of
the flesh he may expect to reap corruption; if to the spirit, of the
spirit life everlasting. By walking in the way that God has ordained,
every man can know and receive for himself the testimony promised. And
this people who are here inhabiting these valleys of the mountains
knew for themselves before they left their homes in the old world,
that they had received and obeyed the Gospel brought from the heavens
by means of the angel described by the Apostle John, it was in
obedience to the requirements of that Gospel that they left their
homes to come here to learn more of his ways, to walk more
perfectly in his paths, and to prepare themselves for the great day of
the Lord that is nigh at hand. This Gospel is sent to prepare the way
before his coming, to be preached "as a witness" that all mankind may
know that God has sent it. How about the people who will not hearken
unto it? They feel as Cain did when he learned that his offering was
not acceptable—he desired to slay Abel; and this is the feeling that
has been manifested towards the Latter-day Saints from the beginning.
We have come out of the world, and the world hates us, and many seek
to destroy us. What harm are we doing to the people of the earth? We
have come away from them; we have sought the wilds of this once desert
country that we might worship God according to the dictates of
conscience, and we are here trying to serve him with all our hearts.
We have many imperfections, but we are trying to obey the Lord in his
appointed way; and because we have accepted this way, the way ordained
of God, those who will not walk therein are stirred up to anger
against us; they circulate all manner of evil reports concerning us
and like the ancient Saints we are "everywhere spoken against." They
endeavor to stir up strife in our midst, and failing to divide us they
gnash their teeth in anger, seeking to bring all kinds of evil upon
us. But God will rule and overrule for the good of His people, and
accomplish His ends and purposes.
In the midst of these trials we recognize the hand of God, as we see
it in relation to the material elements which have been referred to
this afternoon; just as much as we understand that there is a
controlling hand which guides the destinies of the earth, which formed
the planets, which put them in motion and arranged them in such
perfect order that one world should not rush against another, and
causing the whole universe in all its beautiful variety and adaptation
to move in perfect order and harmony; as we recognize the Divine hand
in these material things, the physical objects of the universe, so we
can recognize it in spiritual things. We acknowledge God in all
things; we know that he lives, that in him we move and have our being,
that he is the same yesterday, today and forever, that he changeth
not; that he communes with his children today as he did five or six
thousand years ago. The God of Abraham is the God of the Latter-day
Saints. As he guided and directed him and delivered him from his
enemies, so the Almighty's hand has been and is over us, and will
continue to guide and deliver us, inasmuch as we continue to carry on
his work.
Now I say that all people may receive these blessing if they will
walk in the narrow way. But they must believe in Christ, and repent of
their sins by putting them away; they must be baptized in a proper
way; they must receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands of men
ordained and authorized of God, which Spirit will bring them en
rapport with the Lord; and then if they will seek the interests of his
kingdom they have a claim upon his blessings, and in proportion to
their righteousness before God, so shall their communion be. But
although they are baptized and confirmed members of the body of
Christ, yet, unless they continue to walk before God, continue to be
taught of him, continue to obey the divine word, they will not enjoy
much communion with the Father. But if they strive to "live by every word that comes from the mouth of God," their minds will become
more enlightened, the Holy Ghost will increase within them and their
path will grow brighter and brighter, even to the perfect day. God
will speak by his Spirit direct to their hearts; and when he reveals
anything through his appointed servants, every word will find an echo
in the hearts of those who have received this Spirit, and the people
will see eye to eye, for they will become united as one, as a band of
brethren and sisters, to roll forth the purposes of God, to prepare
the way for the feet of the Lord Jesus.
I bear my testimony to what has been said by Brother Stayner and the
Gospel of Jesus Christ which the angel has brought, and pray God to
bless this congregation, that all who are here, may be able to learn
of him and walk in the good old way, that they may know how to worship
and obey the true and living God, even him who made the heaven, and
the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters, and finally come
into his presence and be crowned will a fulness of his glory. Amen.
- Charles W. Penrose