The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-06-04

'1t tMormonism) is entirely unlike all
plans and systems ever invented by hu-
man authority. it has no likeness. CON
nection or fellowship with any of them;
! IL speaks with divine authority and all
nations, without an exception. are ro-
gured 10 obey He thar receives the
/ message and endures to the end will he
saved he thai rejects 1t will be damned"
-Pratts works, paper one.
These claims in behalf OF Mormonism
| presuppose the destruction OF the Drimi-
nyG as G4TS'lhn ro ian Ghprsha complete agos
! witness Tor God, preface, paper one.
The very religion of modern Chris
iianity s now about as great curse
can he inflicted upon It's possessors with
out doing violence 10 their power OF free
agency.
The modern Christians with the Bible
| In their hands are in as gross darkness
as the worshppers Of Baal The Cod
they Worship is no more like the person
OF Christ or the person Of man than
ties and church gifts and ordinances Of
| healing and amounting are probably about
as as remote from ~ the apostolic pattern as
Spencer's Letters, PIP. 1920.
The power to offciate In the ordi-
nances of God has not been upon the
earth since the great apostasy until the
present century. Something like seven
teen centuries have passed away since
hemisphere 10 administer in any OF the
ordinances OF God. During thai long
period marriages have been celebrated
according TO the customs OF human gov
ernments by unlnspired men. holding no
authority from God; consequently all their
marriages. like their baptsms. are IL
a husband and wife that God has ioined
together from the second century of the
Christian era until the nineteenth II any
can. Such a phenomenon cannot be found
among Z CHRISTIANS a dan
or pagans.-Orson Pratt. I'm The Seer,
Not Part of Church of Jesus Christ
The further significance Of this claim
Is seen when one considers that ii de.
MES that the Christian church has re-
presented Christ in the last seventeen
centuries. And this denial stands in
face of the testimony that Christian
people have borne To Him, the martyr
doms they have suffered TO carry His
message to benighted peoples, the chari
ties they have organized, the great re
forms they have fostered. the general
progress Of mankind which they-chief
ly-have promoted, and the sanity
lives nurtured under The teaching Of
the Christian church Surely the claim
to exclusive divine authorization must
rest upon proofs so clear and convinc.
ing that no sincere seekers after truth
would question their conclusiveness,
But no such proofs are presented Here
is the fundamental weakness of the
whole system for which this astonishing
claim is made-it presents no crcden.
tials that would make good claim to
even be numbered among the churches
which represent Christ; much less TO
be the only church of Christ III the
| earth.
Address a Suppression Of Faith.
II would naturally be expected that,
in a communication intended TO really
enIighten mankind concerning the Nor
mon faith as the only true religIon-the
statement of doctrine would be both
| full and luminous. But in the ''Ad.
dress s'' it is exceedingly bricf-so brief
| in fact that one is driven to the con
| cusion that, az a basis upon which a
candid Judgment might be framed, 1t
not only leaves much To be desired. but
| is positively misleading.
Revelations While You Wait.
As TO divine revelation. it declares:
''Thc theology of our church is the
theology taught by Jesus Christ and His
Apostles. the theology of scripture ana
| reason IT not only acknowledges the
sacredncss Of ancient Scripture, and the
binding force of divincly-inspircd acts
and uttcraDccs in ages past: but also
declares that God now speaks to man IN
this final gospel dispeusation; Under
| tins declaration hes tDc cillm OF IhS
Mormon church-constantly ly insisted
upon in its congregation here and IN
surrounding regions-that the - Book
OF Mormon, - The Doctrine and Cove,
uaTts' - the 'fPearl of Great Price,
together with the Living Oracles =
j. e., certain members of the priesthood
are diyincly inspired, and are, there
fore. of equal authority with the Bible.
This claim, knowledge Of which Is so
necessary TO even tolcrable under
standing of their system of belief ls
not plainly and explicitly set forth IN
the declaration of doctrine contained III
the Address, but 1T has repeated and
urgent emphasis in their teachings III
Mormon communities,
Tho commissioned officers of the
| Church form one part of It's motive
| force. The other IS the continual reNel-
| alton OF the Will of God ana HIS people
Without the FIRST. disorder and confusion
would prevail: without the second stag
nation and death.
Written revelation Is comprised In the
four books of Scripture accepted by the
Church in THIS disponsation-,he Bible:
the Book OF Mormon. the Doctrine ana
| Covenants and the Pearl OF Great Price.
AS far Us these revelations are
adapted To present conditions they are
Continued on Page Sevcn)