Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-06-15

| An clsc Is commentary, and Of Sec
| ondcry character as To its authority,
| containing much that is good mu h
| That Illustrates uuch that eliminates
| tsc doctrines Of the Church aud yet
! label to have error in them for which
| the Church does not stand
PROPER DISTINCTION.
Well" says one, edo you propo sc
| to repudiat" the works Of men holding
Nour priesthood. ana who are supposed
To speak and act under the inspiration
| OF the Holy Spirit? DO YOU not de-
slroS the effectiveness of your Churcn
ministry when you take this attitu1e2'
| Not al all. We merely make what a
a proper distinction. II would be Il
glorious thing for a man to so live that
/ his life would touch the very life and
Spirit Of God, so that his spirit would
blend with Gods Spirit under which
circumstances there would be no err
ror In his lie OF uttcrances at all That
is Il splendid thing to contemplate. But
I when you take into account human
weakness impertection prejudice, pas
sion, bias; 1t is too much to hope for
human nature that man win constantly
thus walk linked with God. And 80
we make this distinction between man
speaking sometimes under the iu
iluencc Of nreludice and prc-conceved
notions, and the utterances of man
who, in behalf of the Church of God.
and having The requisite authority aud
holding the requisite position, may.upon
occasion, lay aside all prejudice all
pre-cono option. and stand ready and
anxious 10 receive the divine Impress
sion of Gods Spirit. that shall plead
Father Thy win and Thy word be
made known now to Thy people
through The channel Thou HIS appoint
cd There is wide difference be-
tween men coming with the word OF
God thus obtained, and their ordinary
speech every day and all kinds of oc-
casions
FOLLOWING EXAMPLE.
In thus insisting that only the worl
Of God spoken by inspiration shall live
and be binding upon the Church We
are but following the illusrious exam
pie Of the ancient Church of Christ
You do not have today all the Chris
tian documents of the first Christian
centuries These books that you have
bound up. and that you call the word
of God. Holy Bible, were sifted out by
consensus OF opinion in the churches
running through several hundred years
They endured the test OF time But the
great bulk Of that which was uttered
prominent servants of God in the prinl-
tive Christian Church, the Church re-
jected; and out of the mass of chat
preserved these Scriptures the
New Testament, The Christian
world up 10 this time Is
not quite decided as to all
that should be accepted. and all
that should be rejected. You Protest.
ant gentlemen repudiate several
books called the Apochrypha which
the Catholic church accepts as of
equal authority with the rest NJ the
books of the New Testament And so
| say In this procedure of ours in re-
fusing to accept only that which time
ana the inspiration of God shall DEM
onstrnte to be absolutely true, We are
but following the example OF the am
Client Church of Christ.
We move forward now In our In
Vcstigatlon to this charge of yours,
You say of us that Adding no spirit
unl truth to the aggregate of things al
ready revealed; contributing moth
ing TO reverence for God or to justice
and mercy towards men. Mormon
ism claims to be the only authorized
church of Christ on earth. and sets
up n wholly unbibiical test OF saliva
tcn'
NOT uNBIBLICAI.
Gentlemen, you may not believe, OF
course. the claims of The Mormon
Church, but you cannot in truth say
that We apply an "unbiblical test of
salvation" ] pray you think of 1t
for Joseph smith? That he was Il
prophet sent of God with a divine
message, with dlspensation of the
gospel OF Jesus Christ. Now. Just for
a moment iust FOR the sake OF the
argument suppose that claim to be
true. Is the test We apply, at all, much
less wholly unbiblical? May one re-
domned before God? AsSuredly not.
What was the example Jesus set?
This He that bolieveth and Is hap
tized shall he saved. and he that be-
licVeth not shall be damned. He
was but proclaiming the message that
God had given To Him and He laid
down this principle as connected with
the authority and commission He had
bestowed upon the apostles when send
ing them into the world He that re-
ceivoth YOU recciyeth me, and he that
rccciVeth me receiveth Him that sent
ne" What do we do. when we
proclaim the divine message with
which the Prophet Joseph Smith was
commissioned to the world but just
apply this same principle? Nothing
more than this. and OF course we
could do nothing less As l remarked
Il moment ago. YOU may refuse, ~ You
DO. to believe this message and tcsu-
mony, but you canOt say IN truth that
there Is anything unblbllcal in the
principles on which We proceed 20
make this declaration to the world:
and. by the way, dant you claim the
same thing for your message2 II you
don't. what does your message amount
to2 Are YOU not ministers Of Jesus
Christi Have YOU not come with the
gospel OF Jesus Christi Can mon re-
feet YOU and Your doctrine and your
message aud stlll be secure IN the
favor of God? Gentlemen, II YOU take
that position, ] brand vou as false
teachers, untru" setyants-not repre-
aDulatiVcs of the Master. You are
weaker than water spilled upon the
ground which ono may not gather
again, II you come with message one
may reject with impunity You are
talking an infinite deal NJ nonsense
When you undertake criticism Of this
Kind,
JUGGLING WITH WORDS,
Now we are told that because OF the
claims uf M0rmOnsm II prorOkcs
searching Investigation Tor the reason
that eft Involves eternal Reproduction
of those who finally reject IT, Gentle
men, have you not iuggied here lit
tie with words And is IL not just
possible that u wrong Impression may
70 out from Your view of our Address
rather than from the Address itself2
H. There such "a thing In M0rfnonsm as
eternal repr0bation as generally un-
drretuUd iu the theological terminpl-
ogF ~ the WOrld2 with the single cN-
ceptiou of those who come To know
thc truth ana then 80 far sin against
N that thcy have no power Of repent
SONS Of perdltion, which an our works
teach will be cumparatiYely few I'm