B. H. Roberts Collected Discourses 1886-1898
B. H. Roberts, July 24, 1886
GOD MUST AND WILL BE GLORIFIED
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ADDRESS
Delivered by Elder B.H. Roberts,
at the Pioneer Day Celebration,
July 24, 1886.
Collected Discourses, Vol.1, B. H. Roberts, July 24, 1886
My Brethren and Sisters: We have met on this occasion to bear witness to the world that we hold in sacred remembrance the entrance of the Pioneers into this region.
Collected Discourses, Vol.1, B. H. Roberts, July 24, 1886
The story of that very remarkable journey of the pioneers across those dreary plains between the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi river, together with the arrival of the Pioneers in these mountains and the results growing out of their labors has already been related by a son of one of that noble few who took part in laying the foundation of this commonwealth in this valley, a thousand miles and more from the frontier of the United States. That story was briefly but eloquently told.
Collected Discourses, Vol.1, B. H. Roberts, July 24, 1886
It has been my fortune to travel considerably through a number of the United States, and invariably have I noticed that the old settlers, the Pioneers, were held in very high esteem by communities that grew up around the district of country where they first settled. It is eminently proper that the pioneer of any land should be held in honor, for I know of no labor that is more noble in its character than that which is performed by those brave men who go out into the wilderness, erect their rude cabins, break up the virgin soil, and who say to the elements by which they are surrounded, "Yield up a livelihood; under God I am king here!" Their self-denial in leaving the luxuries of civilization for the toils and hardships of pioneer life should knit them to our hearts in bands of steel. If the doctrine that Socrates enunciated is true, that "he who causes two spears of grass to grow where only one grew before," is a benefactor of mankind, how much more are these pioneers benefactors of mankind, who laid the foundation of States and empires, and made it possible for the crowded communities of the East to find homes in God's sunshine, where health and plenty and peace crown the labors of their hands.
Collected Discourses, Vol.1, B. H. Roberts, July 24, 1886
Humble their lot; yet theirs the race
When Liberty sent forth her cry,
Who thronged in conflict's deadliest place,
To fight--to bleed--to die!
Who cumbered Bunker's heights of red,
By hope through weary years were led,
And witnessed Yorktown's sun
Blaze on a nation's banner's spread--A Nation's freedom won.
Collected Discourses, Vol.1, B. H. Roberts, July 24, 1886
My friends, they were pioneers as well as patriots.
Collected Discourses, Vol.1, B. H. Roberts, July 24, 1886
Utah in the past has not been found wanting in paying honor to her pioneers. As the great wheel of time has brought to us the anniversary of the entrance of our Pioneers into this valley, we have welcomed it with praise and thanksgiving to the Giver of all good; with the roar of cannon, with songs of joy, and every demonstration of gladness. The exercises of to-day, however, are of a different character from those that have been customary in the past. The music is solemn, the drum is muffled, and in the decorations of this hall are the emblems of mourning. Why is that? Because, forsooth, in this land whose prosperity was founded by the toil and labors of the Pioneers, we find the silver-haired men that used to crown those platforms are not with us. They are driven from the homes that they builded by their own toil, they are absent from the families that they love. What for? The crimes that they have committed? No; but you read why it is in the motto that is printed upon that arch: "Exiled for conscience' sake." It is written elsewhere too (indicating other mottoes on the stand): "Those not here are in jeopardy, in prison and in foreign lands, because they prefer to obey God rather than man." "Those who are absent choose to be wanderers in their own land in preference to being the victims of those who have selected them for ruin." These mottoes all tell us the reason why the Pioneers are absent from us; and under these circumstances, would it be fitting for us to celebrate Pioneer Day as we usually do, with the Pioneers absent--in exile? Nay, we would rather have around us the emblems of mourning, because of the injustice that has been heaped upon their devoted heads. We prefer to place ourselves in harmony with the divine injunction, "Weep with those who have cause to weep, and rejoice with those who have cause to rejoice;" and, when the clouds have been swept away, as they will be, when our silvery-haired pioneers shall be able to take their place in our midst, for one I feel like saying that then, and not till then, shall the voice of rejoicing be heard on Pioneer Day.
Collected Discourses, Vol.1, B. H. Roberts, July 24, 1886
Let us pause for a few moments just to enquire what our enemies are trying to accomplish. These Pioneers in years past married our mothers; and, under God's law, in the holy bonds of matrimony, they begat the children that now throng this vast hall. Our enemies demand that the wives that they then took shall be banished from the households of these men. They demand that they shall be degraded from the honored station of wifehood; that a brand of infamy shall be placed upon their offspring, and they nobly refuse to accept such terms of accomodation as these. They say to those who desire them to yield, that this is a part of their religion. The answer comes from our enemies that it is not religion--it is a crime. We ask, who gives them authority to step between this people and their God, and dictate to them what shall be their religion? If it is not theirs, it is ours; nevertheless we propose to be true to our fathers and our mothers.
Collected Discourses, Vol.1, B. H. Roberts, July 24, 1886
Let our enemies look over the history of the past. Surely they have read history to little profit if by force they hope to crush out the religious sentiments and convictions of the human heart. Why, during the reign of Mary, Queen of England, the daughter of Henry the Eighth by his wife Catherine, you remember a persecution was waged against the Protestants in her kingdom, and during the five years of her reign 277 were tied to the stake and burned to death. Fifty-five of these were women; 4 of them were children. But did this awful persecution crush out the convictions of religion in the hearts of those people? No. In spite of the faggot and the flame, their faith rose triumphant over all the persecutions, and they established their religious system of worship which led to the granting of religious liberty to all English subjects, and we in America have inherited the fruits of their achievement. With this lesson of history before them, can our enemies hope to crush the conviction of our hearts? With a united voice we tell them no; they can not; it will not be done.
Collected Discourses, Vol.1, B. H. Roberts, July 24, 1886
Here will we hold. We love the institutions of this great Republic, and hold them dear; we believe it to be our destiny yet to rescue that sacred instrument, the Constitution, from the hands of those who would destroy it. We will remain true to those principles that have been bequeathed to us by the fathers of the Republic. But we will not surrender the convictions of our hearts, or be untrue to our parents, or untrue to our God--we refuse to make that sacrifice; and as that motto reads "Under the Everlasting Covenant God must and will be glorified."
B. H. Roberts, October 4, 1890
REMARKS
Delivered by Elder B.H. Roberts,
at the General Conference Session held
Saturday Morning, October 4, 1890.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, October 4, 1890
I have always accounted myself blessed to be associated with the work of God in this dispensation, and have greatly rejoiced that I have been brought in contact with the Gospel called by the world, "Mormonism." I can understand the feelings of gratitude that pervade the hearts of the Saints regarding this work; but it is no wonder that the world regard it with astonishment. The initial announcements connected with it were calculated to startle the religious world. In the first vision of Joseph Smith, the prophet was informed by Christ that there were none of the sects right, but all had gone out of the way. So bold a declaration by the youthful prophet was calculated to astonish the world. But this does not argue that there are not thousands of people in the world whom God loves. What Joseph declared is predicted in the scriptures, in which the Christians profess to believe. John, while on the Isle of Patmos, predicted the restoration of the Gospel in its fulness in the latter-days, through the medium of an angel. This was to occur in "the hour of God's judgment." Had the inhabitants of the earth been in possession of the Gospel as it is in Christ, this predicted restoration would have been superogatory. Connected with this prophecy of John it is clearly stated that the inhabitants of the earth should be called upon to worship the true God, indicating that their worship at that time would not be directed towards that Great Being. A portion of the fulfilment of that prediction was the bringing forth of the record called the Book of Mormon, adding for Christ, the testimony of the prophets who existed on this continent, they being thus united with that of those on the eastern hemisphere. Gradually the rich treasures of heaven have been developed, and the work of God has progressed, preparing the way for the coming of Christ, who shall establish a reign of righteousness and peace. Before another General Conference shall be reached we shall have entered upon the year 1891. The speaker here read from Sec. 130 of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which relates to the coming of the Son of Man, and referred to some remarks made by the prophet, February 14th, 1835, at a meeting wherein certain Elders were told that they were called to go forth and prune the vineyard for the time, before the coming of Christ, even 56 years should wind up the scene. Continuing, Elder Roberts said, that these circumstances have called the Saints to believe that some great epoch will open at that time--the year following the present. My faith in the matter is that whatever the Lord has in mind to accomplish in that year will be performed. It may be something, however, that would scarcely create a ripple. The organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of the greatest events of the history of the world. It was organized with six members, and but little was known concerning it even in the neighborhood where it occurred, at the time. Yet behold to what proportions the work then begun has grown. It may be that the greatness of what shall occur in 1891 will not be comprehended until succeeding years.
B. H. Roberts, July 26, 1891
THE NEED FOR A PECULIAR PEOPLE
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DISCOURSE
Delivered by B. H. Roberts,
at the Box Elder Stake Conference,
Sunday Morning, July 26, 1891.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, July 26, 1891
The circumstances by which we are surrounded require that we should consider the foundation principles of our faith. I am well aware of the fact that many regard them as simple, but they are the things that will effect our prosperity both spiritually and temporally. The Lord operates through simple means and so accomplishes his great designs. Religion has need to be simple as it concerns the simple as well as the wise; the small and the great, and the unlearned as well as the learned. In conversation with one whom we might term, a "progressive" young man, he remarked that "we should do something to get rid of the idea that the Mormons are a peculiar people." This led me to reflect on the things that make us a peculiar people: In the first place, there is our absolute faith in God. All Christians profess a belief in God, but our faith is different; to them He is an abstraction, to us God is a grand reality. We live in an age when there are living witnesses to Him and His attributes; we do not have to depend on the statements of musty volumes made venerable by age. This knowledge makes our faith broader and deeper. Above all things let us not lose this peculiarity. We believe that God takes an active interest in the welfare of his children, and presides over their destinies today, as he did thousands of years ago. We believe in spiritual gifts and revelations at the present time. Repentance with us does not consist merely of sorrow for sin, but includes forsaking of sin to which we attach more importance. The world pays little attention to baptism; they have changed its form and its object. The laying on of hands is another peculiarity. The sobriety of our communities is another item. We have been remarkably free from intemperance. It is also the case in the use of tobacco. We do not want to get rid of these peculiarities, do we? The deep regard for virtue shown by this people is another peculiarity. It may sound egotistical but I say truly here in these mountains among this people a deeper regard for virtue of both men and women is to be found, than anywhere else under the sunlight of heaven. We are to a remarkable extent free from social sins. These simple principles will make us "a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
PRIESTHOOD AND THE RIGHT OF SUCCESSION
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DISCOURSE
Delivered by Elder B.H. Roberts,
at the Young Men's Improvement Association of
the Salt Lake Stake, in the Assembly Hall,
February 23, 1892.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
There is only one thing I regret connected with the appointment of this evening, that is, a great many, and perhaps all, of the Mutual Improvement Associations in this city have discontinued their regular meetings for the purpose of being present at this meeting; but I trust the importance of the subject to be considered will, in part at least, reward us for that rather extraordinary proceeding.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
The subject I propose dealing with this evening is "The Priesthood and the Right of Succession." To stand before an audience of this proportion is of itself sufficient to make one's heart quake. To undertake, before such an audience, to deal with a subject so weighty in its importance certainly is calculated to add to the perplexity of a speaker, and I do not know that at any time in my life I have felt more in need of the assistance of our Father in heaven and His good Spirit than I do now.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
I have learned, and that by a rather sad experience, the truth of what Paul a long time ago declared, that is, that no man knoweth the things of God but by the Spirit of God. Under the influence of that Spirit we may learn, in part, something pertaining to the things of God. Without it, we may despair to arrive at any considerable knowledge in relation to those things. Therefore, I earnestly ask you to remember the petition that was offered by Brother Geddes in behalf of us all, that the Lord would deign to meet with us upon this occasion, and by the outpouring of His Holy Spirit enable us to learn something pertaining to this great subject.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
With these remarks we now turn our attention to the subject under consideration. In the statement of the subject we are first confronted with the question: "What is Priesthood?" The greater portion of this congregation are familiar with the definition the Latter-day Saints have learned to give that word. It is "Power which God delegates to man, by which man is made the agent of God; by which he may by and in the name of God act for Him." That is Priesthood, as we understand it.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
For the benefit of the younger brethren and sisters who may not grasp the full import of these words without illustration, I offer the following: There is such a thing known among men as power of attorney. It is this: A man possesses property in this city, perhaps real estate, perhaps a merchandising establishment--bonds, stocks of various kinds; but he does not reside here--his home is at a distance, and he is not able to give his personal attention to his business interests in this location; he therefore selects some man in whom he has confidence, in whose business integrity he places great reliance, and he says to him: I wish you to become my agent, to act for me, to take possession of this property, to manipulate it with a view to increasing my wealth. And in order that the proceedings may be lawful, and that the people may have confidence in your transactions, we will go to a notary public and draw up an instrument stating that I give to you this authority, that you shall act for me; and it shall be signed, and the seal of the court shall be placed upon it. That is done, and the agent, equipped with this power of attorney, goes into business circles; he buys, he sells, he makes contracts, signs them, disposes of property, and purchases other property; he does whatever his judgment dictates as being wise and profitable; and by whatsoever he does, so long as he continues within the lines marked out in this power of attorney, the principal is bound. He is compelled in law to respect the acts of his agent; and whatsoever he shall do, when acting under the law, is just as good and valid as if the owner of the property himself were performing the transactions. We call that power of attorney.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Priesthood is something like that. It is power which God gives to men by which they are made His agents; and when operating in the same way that this agent we have been speaking of does, they do whatever they are appointed to do by the Lord Almighty; and so long as they act in accordance with the law of the Gospel, so long as they act in harmony with the prescribed powers of the Priesthood, whatsoever they shall do is just as binding and valid as if the Lord Almighty, from whom they receive or derive their authority, had performed the act Himself.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
If a man clothed upon with the Holy Priesthood goes among the nations of the earth and preaches the Gospel and induces men to repent of their sins, and then takes them down into the waters of baptism and buries them in the likeness of Christ's birth, and brings them up in the likeness of Christ's resurrection--thus baptizing them for the remission of their sins--that is just as well as if the Lord Jesus Christ Himself administered the ordinance. Or, if in a further pursuance of their duty, they shall lay their hands upon the heads of those they have baptized, and confirm them members of the Church of Christ, and say, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," that is just as valid as if the Lord Himself had performed that ordinance.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Hence it comes that we have it written in the Scripture that: "Whoso receiveth you"--Messiah, speaking of the servants of God--"receiveth me, and he that rejecteth you rejecteth me and Him that sent me." Furthermore, we have it recorded in modern revelation, that "Whether by mine own voice, or the voice of my servants, it is the same." From this you will see how great the power of the Priesthood is; the power from God to act in His name for the salvation of the children of men--such is Priesthood. I scarcely need to dwell upon the greatness of this power, upon its importance, upon its value. Value! Can you value it? Can you measure its worth by anything known to the children of men?
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
It is sometimes amusing to see how self-important a little authority, even worldly authority, will make men. Take those for instance who are noticed by the kings and queens and emperors of the world--those who are made ministers and representatives of foreign nations. What airs they assume! How important they esteem their position! Why, it causes them to don special apparel, that they may be distinguished from the rest of their fellows; and if this were wanting, you can pick them out by the extraordinary strut in their walk. They attach very great importance to being the representatives of kings and potentates; and sometimes clothed with this little brief authority, as one of our chief poets has said: "They play such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make the angels weep." I have wondered sometimes if they do not laugh. Compare this brief worldly authority with the Priesthood, what is it? Nay, don't look upon the agents or ministers of kings, but go to the principal, go to the king or emperor himself, and what is his authority? A thing which to-day is and to-morrow is not. The privilege of waving a scepter for a few brief years over a portion of God's footstool--and a very small portion at that--and after a few troubled years of unsatisfied ambition the scepter falls from his hand, and the king, like the peasant, passes away. His reign is over, his glory at an end.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Not so with those who receive the authority of which I am speaking--Priesthood. The man who receives that, receives an everlasting inheritance, an everlasting power, if he will but be true to it; if he will but be faithful and continue in righteousness--a thing which will not be stripped from him when life shall have run its course. No, the Priesthood is no such power as that. But it has been conferred upon men that they may be agents of God here in time and agents of God in eternity. The Priesthood that man receives is not laid aside even at death, but follows him into the world of spirits, where he may continue to minister to those who sit in darkness--to those who have lived upon the earth when the truth was obscured in the rubbish of human traditions, and when people were deceived by the cunning and craft of men. There they have the privilege of enlightening the minds of their fellows and leading them to the truth, as they did here. And when their spirits shall again be reunited with their bodies, their Priesthood does not end there, either; but so long as time shall last or immortality itself endure, just so long shall this power continue with those who are faithful unto it, and they shall have the everlasting privilege of doing good and being the representatives for God and help Him in the work of redeeming the children of men. I come to this conclusion from one of the revelations to the Church through the Prophet Joseph Smith, which says: "That they of the celestial glory," speaking of the time after the resurrection, "shall minister to those of the terrestrial glory, and they of the terrestrial glory shall minister to those of the telestial glory." And what is the object of this ministration? Why, it must be for the purpose of leading the children of men to the truth, of taking them by the hand and going higher and still higher in the scale of intelligence and of progression, until every son and every daughter of God shall receive all the honor, all the glory, all the power and happiness that it is possible for their natures to encompass.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Such, then, is the Priesthood we are considering. This Priesthood is divided into two great divisions--better not say divided, rather say its powers are grouped under two great heads: one called the Melchisedek and the other the Aaronic. "The power and authority of the lesser or Aaronic Priesthood is to hold the keys of the ministering of angels, and to administer outward ordinances, the letter of the Gospel, the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, agreeable to the covenants and commandments." The officers in this Priesthood are priests, teachers and deacons; and the bishopric is the presidency of that Priesthood.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
"The power and authority of the higher or Melchisedec Priesthood is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the Church, to have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant." The officers of this Priesthood are Apostles, Patriarchs, Seventies, High Priests and Elders.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
In the section of the Doctrine and Covenants from which I have been reading (section 107), concerning the powers of the Priesthoods, I find it said that "Of necessity there are presidents, or presiding officers, growing out of, or appointed of, or from among those who are ordained to the several offices in these two Priesthoods." I wish to here make a distinction between the Priesthood and the rights of presidency over these quorums. Presidency is a thing quite distinct from Priesthood itself. It is simply an appointment. For instance, a High Priest may be appointed a President of a Stake and after a time some circumstance or other may arise that makes his resignation necessary. His Priesthood, however, is not taken from him by any means, but his appointment has been discontinued.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
In the Church there are three great presiding quorums equal in authority. I read from the Doctrine and Covenants in support of this statement:
Of the Melchisedec Priesthood, three Presiding High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith and prayer of the Church, form a quorum of the Presidency of the Church. The twelve traveling counselors are called to be the Twelve Apostles, or special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world; thus differing from other officers in the Church in the duties of their calling. And they form a quorum, equal in authority and power to the three Presidents previously mentioned. The Seventies are also called to preach the Gospel, and to be especial witnesses unto the Gentiles and in all the world, thus differing from other officers of the Church in the duties of their calling; and they form a quorum equal in authority to that of the Twelve special witnesses or Apostles just named (Doctrine and Covenants, section 107).
However, it is stated in a subsequent paragraph that the Twelve Apostles act under the direction of the First Presidency; and the Seventies are directed in their labors by the quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
It is not necessary for me to dwell at any length--indeed I have not time to do so--upon the duties and various responsibilities of the different quorums of the Priesthood; it is not necessary that I should do so in treating the question under consideration. It is enough for my purpose on this occasion to call your attention to these three general councils in the Church, which, when unanimous in their decision, are equal in authority.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
One would think no argument was necessary to establish the fact that if, for any cause whatsoever, the first of these councils--the First Presidency--should be destroyed or removed from the Church, that the next quorum in power would have the right to preside over the Church and regulate the affairs thereof, pending the reorganization of the First Presidency. And yet in the experience of the Saints, away back in 1844, when the Prophet Joseph, who was at the time the President of the Church, and his brother Hyrum, who was his counselor, were laid low by the hands of assassins, the Church for a brief period was at a loss to know upon whom or upon what quorum the responsibility of the Presidency of the Church would fall.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Ambitious men arose in the Church, and for a time distracted the minds of the Saints. At that time the Twelve Apostles were scattered through the eastern States upon various missions. The only members at Nauvoo were Willard Richards and John Taylor. John Taylor, being severely wounded at the massacre of the Prophets, was not able to be very active in asserting the rights of the Twelve Apostles to take charge of the affairs of the Church and direct them.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
In the midst of these difficulties the remaining counselor in the First Presidency--Sidney Rigdon--returned from Pennsylvania, and began laying claim to the right of succession to the Prophet Joseph. He did not make this claim directly--perhaps he was fearful that if he did so he would be rejected by the Church; for I am sorry to have it to say that this man, who was so gifted by nature, whose tongue was sufficiently eloquent to hold spell-bound congregations while he expounded in great clearness the principles of eternal life--this man for a few years previous to the death of the Prophet was unfaithful in his calling. It was notorious throughout the Church that Joseph the Prophet had made an effort to get rid of him a year or two before his death. In the presence of the congregation of the Saints assembled in Nauvoo he declared that he would carry him no longer. And yet his brother Hyrum, who, perhaps more than any other man in this dispensation, was the personification of mercy, arose before that conference and pleaded for Sidney Rigdon, and asked that he might have one more chance to regain the confidence of the Saints and of the Prophet. He related the sufferings of this man from the commencement of the work. He depicted the scenes through which he had passed in Missouri, his sufferings for the truth. All these things appealed to the sympathies of the Latter-day Saints, and, notwithstanding all the efforts of Joseph to be rid of this unfaithful counselor, the Church fastened him upon the Prophet. Yet after all this was done for his encouragement, after his friend Hyrum Smith had stood by him and pleaded his cause with success, he forsook his post of duty. Instead of remaining in Nauvoo, which he was requested to do both by the solicitation of friends and the voice of God Himself, he went to Pittsburgh. After the death of the two Prophets he came back to Nauvoo, and knowing the Saints were acquainted with his unfaithfulness, he feared to come out boldly and advocate his direct claim to the Presidency, but he tried to come in at a side door, and asked to be appointed guardian over the Church, to build it up to the Prophet Joseph. He avoided the two Apostles who were there--Elders Richards and Taylor--and called secret meetings and endeavored to lay plans that would lead to the gratification of his own vain ambition.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
In the midst of this plotting, however, the quorum of the Twelve began to return; and it may be well on this occasion to call attention to a few manifestations of the Spirit of God that indicated very clearly the right of the second General Quorum or Council of the Church to take the responsibility of Presidency over the Church after the first quorum was destroyed.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
As Parley P. Pratt was making his way on foot over the prairies of Illinois towards Nauvoo, sad, sick at heart and bowed down in sorrow in consequence of the great calamity which had befallen the Saints in the death of their leaders, and pondering in his mind upon whom now devolved the responsibility of presiding over the Church, he testifies that the following was given to him by inspiration:
Lift up your head and rejoice, for behold! It is well with my servants Joseph and Hyrum. My servant Joseph still holds the keys of my kingdom in this dispensation, and he shall stand in due time on the earth, in the flesh, and fulfil that to which he is appointed. Go and say unto my people in Nauvoo that they shall continue to pursue their daily duties and take care of themselves, and make no movement in Church government to reorganize or alter anything until the return of the remainder of the quorum of the Twelve; but exhort them that they continue to build up the House of the Lord, which I have commanded them to build in Nauvoo (Autobiography of P.P. Pratt, page 371).
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
In order that he might not be mistaken in that inspiration, he asked that a repetition of it might be given him, and his prayer was answered. Parley Pratt followed these instructions, and when he arrived at Nauvoo he found his fellow Apostles--Elders Richards and Taylor--moving in the lines which had been indicated by the voice of the Spirit to him.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
President Young, at the time the Prophet was killed, was in the State of New Hampshire, in company with Orson Pratt. They received the news of the Prophet's death at Peterborough. "The first thing I thought of," says President Young, "was whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him from the earth. Brother Orson Pratt sat on my left; we were leaning back in our chairs. Bringing my hand down on my knee, I said, `The keys of the kingdom are right here with the Church'" (Tullidge's Life of B. Young).
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
To the same great truth we have a living witness present, one whose word is held in high esteem by the Latter-day Saints--and justly so, for he has been in our midst for over half a century, a faithful witness for God, and we know that his word is true and may be relied upon--I refer to President Wilford Woodruff.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
President Brigham Young, writing to Orson Spencer, who had charge of the British Mission, in giving him an account of the organization of the First Presidency at Winter Quarters, in 1848, said:
About a year before Joseph's death he told the Twelve: "There is not one key or power to be bestowed upon this Church to lead the people into the Celestial Gate, but I have given you, showed you, and talked it over with you; the kingdom is set up, and you have the perfect pattern, and you can go and build up the kingdom, and go in at the Celestial Gate, taking your train with you" (MILLENNIAL STAR, volume 10, page 115).
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Only a few days ago, in conversation with Brother Woodruff upon this subject, he made practically the same statement to me, and it occurs to me now. I do not know how Brother Woodruff feels about it, but it occurs to me that with so many of the youth of Israel before us here to-night, if he should so choose it would be an excellent opportunity to bear that testimony in the presence of us all.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
PRESIDENT WOODRUFF.--I will, at the close of your remarks.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
ELDER ROBERTS.--When the Twelve all arrived, a conference of the Saints at Nauvoo was called, and Sidney Rigdon was given full opportunity to lay his claims before the Church. There was no limit set to the time that he should occupy. He was there for the purpose of laying his claims before the people, he had full opportunity, and his reputation for eloquence and logic would lead us to believe that he presented his case in the strongest possible light. But it fell lifeless upon the assembled multitude.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
This was in the forenoon, as I remember it. In the afternoon, the meeting was continued, and President Brigham Young addressed the congregation. In the course of his remarks he gave the Saints to understand that if they wanted Sidney Rigdon to be their leader, they could have him. I read to you from his speech: "The first position I take in behalf of the Twelve and the people is to ask a few questions. I ask the Latter-day Saints, do you, as individuals, at this time, want to choose a Prophet or a guardian? Inasmuch as our Prophet and Patriarch are taken from our midst, do you want some one to guard, to guide and lead you through this world into the kingdom of God, or not? All who want some person to be a guardian, or a Prophet, a spokesman, or something else, signify it by raising the right hand."
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Not one hand was raised. Further on in his remarks he said: "If the people want Brother Rigdon to lead them, they may have him; but, I say unto you, the Twelve have the keys of the kingdom of God in all the world. * * * They stand next to Joseph, and are as the First Presidency of the Church."
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
In making that statement to the Church, President Young was in strict harmony with the revelations to which I have alluded here, wherein it is stated that the quorum of the Twelve Apostles constitute a quorum equal in authority and in power to the First Presidency of the Church; and as further stated in the testimony of Brigham Young when Joseph Smith had, about a year before his death, conferred upon them all the keys, all the authority, all the powers that he himself possessed, and they had full right and power to lead the Church and take their train with them into the celestial kingdom.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Furthermore, the Spirit of God bore record to the Church on that occasion that the mantle of the Prophet Joseph--the power and authority that he was possessed of--were resting upon Brigham Young. The deceased Prophet's spirit was clearly reflected upon his utterances. A remarkable circumstance occurred on that occasion. Brigham Young was transfigured before the people, not only in voice but in appearance. President George Q. Cannon, who was present on that occasion, says:
If Joseph had risen from the dead and again spoken in their hearing, the effect could not have been more startling than it was to many present at that meeting; it was the voice of Joseph himself; and not only was it the voice of Joseph which was heard, but it seemed in the eyes of the people as if it were the very person of Joseph which stood before them. A more wonderful and miraculous event than was wrought that day in the presence of that congregation we never heard of (Tullidge's Life of Brigham Young, page 115).
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
From the journal of a man who wrote it down at the time I read the following:
Brigham Young said: "I will tell you who your leaders or guardians will be: The Twelve, I at their head." This was with a voice like the voice of the Prophet Joseph. I thought is was his, and so did thousands who heard it. This was very satisfactory to the people, and a vote was taken to sustain the Twelve in their office, which, with a few dissenting voices, was passed (Journal of William C. Staines).
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Sidney Rigdon's claims to the Presidency were disposed of then, by the Church rejecting him; and here let me call your attention to a statement of the things necessary to constitute a man a President of the Church. It is not sufficient for him to be nominated for that office; no, not even though the voice of God should indicate who the man is to be. Although that were done, something else is necessary in order to make that man the President of the Church. It is stated here (Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 107, verse 21) "that three Presiding High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith and prayer of the Church, form a quorum of the Presidency of the Church." Now, suppose a man comes before the Church and insists that he has the right to preside over it, and also claims to be appointed of God to that position, even then something more is wanting. The people have a right in this matter to say whether they will receive him or not, and in order to make this Presidency valid, he must be supported by the voice of the people, for in ecclesiastical government, no less than in civil, the principle is true that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. The consent of the people, then, is a necessary element to make a man President of the Church. This, too, has the sanction of the law of the Lord; for it is written as a fundamental principle in the law of God that all things in the Church are to be done by the common consent of the Church. (Doctrine and Covenants, section 26, paragraph 2.)
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
President Brigham Young says:
Joseph presided over the Church by the voice of the people. * * * Does a man's being a Prophet in this Church prove that he shall be the President of it? I answer, No. A man may be a Prophet, Seer and Revelator, and it may have nothing to do with his being President of the Church. Suffice it to say that Joseph was the President of the Church as long as he lived. The people chose to have it so. He always filled that responsible station by the voice of the people. * * * The keys of the Priesthood were committed to Joseph to build up the kingdom of God on the earth, and were not to be taken from him in time or in eternity; but when he was called to preside over the Church it was by the voice of the people, though he held the keys of the Priesthood independent of their voice.--Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, page 133.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
But he did not hold the power to preside over them contrary to their voice. President John Taylor also left something upon record in regard to this subject:
It is by the voice of God and the voice of the people that our present President (Brigham Young) obtained his authority. * * * He obtained his authority first from God, and secondly from the people; and if a man possesses five grains of common sense, when he has the privilege of voting for or against a man, he will not vote for a man that oppresses the people; he will vote according to the dictates of his conscience; for this is the right and duty of this people in the choice of their President and other leading officers of the kingdom of God.--Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, page 229.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Now this is the oppressive Priesthood of which we hear so much. You will pardon me if, for a few moments, I call the attention of our young brethren to this charge of oppression. There is a multitude of voices throughout our country to-day declaring that the "Mormon" Priesthood is oppressive. It is said to be a tyrannical power, exercising unrighteous dominion over the minds of the children of men. This is not true. The Priesthood has none of the elements of oppression in it. Tyranny and oppression are altogether foreign to its genius.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
In the days of Messiah, the mother of Zebedee's children came leading her two sons to Him, saying: "Grant that these, my sons, may sit the one on Thy right hand, and the other upon Thy left, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." He wanted to know if these men could endure the baptism that He would have to endure, and the trials that he would have to pass through. They said they were able, and He replied: "Ye shall be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with; but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father."
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
This aroused the jealousy of the Apostles, and they commented harshly upon the conduct of this woman and her sons. Jesus, observing it, called them to Him and said: "Ye know the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
In strict harmony with this is also the exhortation of the chief Apostle, Peter, unto the Priesthood. Said he: "Feed the flock of Christ which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock." Such is the spirit of the Priesthood.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Perhaps some of our Christian friends would take offense if I were to quote a little modern scripture and say that it stood parallel to that I have read to you from the Bible. But even at the risk of giving offense, we will place a passage side by side with those just read, and challenge comparison. They are words, however, that are inspired by the same Spirit as those I have read from the New Testament. I read from the Doctrine and Covenants:
Behold there are many called, but few are chosen; and why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson--that the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven can not be controlled nor handled only upon the principle of righteousness. That they may be conferred upon us it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control, or dominion, or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, amen to the Priesthood or the authority of that man.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Here I pause, and ask you to measure Sidney Rigdon by this principle. He was great in the Church of Christ. The Saints loved to listen to him. He had the ability to move the powers of heaven in teaching the truth. But what became of him when he sought to gratify his own vain ambition and to exercise control and dominion over the minds of men in unrighteousness? Did you ever hear of his having success after he made that vain attempt? No, you have not. Why? Because aforetime the "amen" had been pronounced upon his power and authority, as it is pronounced upon the authority and power of any man who undertakes to exercise unrighteous dominion over the minds of his fellow men to gratify his own ambition. I continue to quote the revelation:
We learn by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority--as they suppose--they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Hence, many are called, but few are chosen. No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by the virtue of the Priesthood, only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness, and meekness, and by love unfeigned--by kindness and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile. Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; that he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Young men, when the enemies of righteousness undertake to tell you that the Priesthood of God is oppressive, read that passage to them, and in it let them read the evidence of their own falsehood. Be not deceived by these men who cry oppression; for while they promise you liberty, they themselves are in the bondage of sin and the bonds of iniquity. Be not deceived in them.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
The Priesthood has no armies standing behind it; it has no temporal scourge in its right hand to inflict punishment upon those who rebel against it. And yet there is a force in it; but that power comes from the same Source that the power did that was in Paul, and that made Felix tremble as the Apostle reasoned upon righteousness and judgment to come.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
In connection with President Young's remarks on the occasion of Sidney Rigdon claiming the right to the Presidency, there is a prophecy he uttered which I cannot pass without notice:
When I came to this stand I had peculiar feelings and impressions. The faces of this people seem to say we want a shepherd to guide and lead us through this world. All who want to draw away a party from the Church after them, let them do it if they can, but they will not prosper. If any man thinks he has the influence among this people to lead away a party, let him try it, and he will find out that there is power with the Apostles which will carry them off victorious through all the world, and build up and defend the Church and kingdom of God.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
At that time there were a number of men, you understand, who undertook to be the leaders of the people. I have already spoken of Sidney Rigdon and his failure. President Young predicted it before it came to pass. What of James Strang, who led a few people to Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan? His attempt at leadership ended in shame; it ended in disgrace--in his own violent death and in the disbandment of his followers. I had the privilege of baptizing some of them, upon my first mission, in Iowa. What of James Emmett, who led a small company of people from Nauvoo to the West? He soon discovered he was without power, returned to Nauvoo in humility, confessed his error, and begged that some one be appointed by the Apostles to go and bring back his followers. What of Lyman Wight and his followers, who went to Texas? He, too, failed, and his career ended in oblivion. You hear nothing of the success of those who left the body of the Church, as presided over by the Twelve Apostles. In marked contrast to these failures, behold the success of those who followed the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ; who, in the absence of the First Presidency are that quorum upon whom devolves the authority to preside over the Church; and who, moreover, possess the right, by virtue of the power given to them--being equal in authority to the First Presidency--to regulate the affairs of the Church in all the world, and in the exercise of that right to regulate all the affairs of the Church. Is it not evident that they have the power to take the steps necessary to organize the First Presidency of the Church, as they have done, not only once, but repeatedly?
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
In the year 1860--sixteen years after the death of the Prophet--there was a claim made in behalf of the eldest son of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He claimed the right to succeed to the Presidency held by his father. He based him claims upon the right of lineage, claiming that he had the right by reason of his being the eldest son of the Prophet Joseph to succeed to the Presidency of the Church. A number of people are said to have been aware that his father called, ordained and anointed him to this position previous to his martyrdom. In evidence of this Lyman Wight is quoted. William Clayton is represented as having told Charles Derry, a traveling companion of his in England, that he knew it was little Joseph's right to lead the Church. Is it not strange that William Clayton, after such a statement as he is reported to have made, gave up to the time of his death a faithful allegiance to the Church of Jesus Christ as led by the Twelve Apostles? If he knew that Joseph was the successor to his father, is it not marvelous that he, being a man of character, did not come out and boldly advocate his claims?
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Lucy Smith, mother of the Prophet, is reported to have said--by the advocates of the Josephite faction--that young Joseph would yet lead the Church. So far as Lucy Smith is concerned, I believe that she has been misrepresented--absolutely misrepresented--for only yesterday I was going through one of the journals of the late President John Taylor, in which are recorded several communications from Sister Lucy Smith in which she urges the right of William B. Smith, the only remaining brother of the Prophet, to the Presidency. Her pleadings and her efforts, after the death of her sons Joseph and Hyrum, were all made in support of the claims of William. He, too, laid claim to the right of the Presidency of the Church; and when I visited him but a few years ago, and had a conversation with him upon the subject, I discovered that he thought himself harshly dealt with by the Apostles at Nauvoo, and by President Young in particular. He based his claim to the Presidency by his being the brother to the Prophet Joseph; and would you believe it, he, too, had Scripture to quote in support of his claim? He called attention to that passage in the Acts of the Apostles where, upon some question arising through the teaching of Paul at Antioch, the Elders and the Apostles were called together at Jerusalem to consider the matter. After Peter had given his testimony, after Paul and Barnabas had spoken, then James, the brother of the Lord, arose and said: "My sentence is that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God," etc. From this William concluded that James gave the decision of the council, and if he gave the decision of the council, then he must have been the president of the council, and if the president of the council, then the President of the Church. If James, the brother of the Lord, succeeded the Lord, then William claims that he should have succeeded his brother. This whole theory of the brother of the Lord succeeding to the Presidency is made in the face of the plain declaration of the Son of God to the Apostle Peter: "I give unto you the keys of the kingdom, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven."
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Sidney Rigdon wanted to be appointed guardian of the Church, though nothing of the appointment of young Joseph was ever mooted. It is passing strange that something about the appointment and the anointing from his father had not been learned at that time. It would have been a most excellent opportunity for Sidney Rigdon to claim the right to be appointed guardian of the Church during the minority of young Joseph; but he wanted to build it up to the deceased Prophet, not his son. It appears that the rights of young Joseph to the succession of the Presidency of the Church were not talked of at that time.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
There is an order of Priesthood--I may say two orders of Priesthood--in which lineage is recognized. This is in the office of Patriarch to the Church. I read from the Doctrine and Covenants, section 107:
It is the duty of the Twelve, in all large branches of the Church, to ordain evangelical ministers [Patriarchs] as they shall be designated unto them by revelation. The order of this Priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were made. This order was instituted in the days of Adam, and came down by lineage in the following manner.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
The revelation then traces the lineage from Adam to Seth, Enos, etc. (Doctrine and Covenants, section 107.) This is one of the passages quoted by the Josephite faction to demonstrate the idea that young Joseph had a claim by right of lineage to the Presidency of the Church. Yet you see it does not have any allusion whatever to the Presidency of the Church, but to the office of Patriarch.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
The second case where lineage is recognized in the Priesthood is in the Bishopric. The literal descendants of Aaron--among the first-born of his sons--have a right by virtue of their lineage to that position, if at any time they can prove their lineage, or ascertain it by revelation from the Lord. But even in that case they must be designated by the Presidency of the Melchisedec Priesthood, and found worthy, and must be ordained either by them or by their direction; otherwise they are not legally authorized to officiate in that calling. (Doctrine and Covenants, section 68.)
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
There is another passage by the Josephite faction in support of young Joseph's claim, but it is not applied correctly. I first read the passage as quoted from a pamphlet the Josephites published on "The Successor:" "Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you [Joseph the martyr] with whom the Priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers, for ye are lawful heirs according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God; therefore, your life and the Priesthood hath remained, and must needs remain, through you and your lineage, until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy Prophets since the world began."
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
You will observe that this quotation, the way they give it, is made to apply to the Prophet Joseph only; but the revelation is addressed not only to Joseph Smith, but to several of the servants of God. I read the first verse: "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servants, concerning the parable of the wheat and the tares." Then we come to the passage they quote: "Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the Priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers. For ye are lawful heirs according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God; therefore your life and the Priesthood hath remained through you and your lineage, until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy Prophets since the world began."
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
That applies to the Elders of Israel to whom the revelation is addressed, and there is not so much as a crevice left through which the descendants of Joseph Smith may crawl to claim any special right above the other Elders who were addressed on that occasion. It would be all nonsense; that would prove too much for those who so construe it; for if it is to be construed their way--if the right of Presidency over the Church is by lineage, and goes to the eldest son by the right of succession--how comes it that the same law did not operate the other side of Joseph Smith as well as this side of him? That is, taking it for granted (for argument's sake) that the Priesthood had continued through the lineage of the Smith family, and they were lawful heirs according to the flesh; and further granting--for the sake of the argument--that the right of presiding over the Church came to the eldest son of the royal line--if such were the law--then Patriarch Joseph Smith, father of the Prophet, not one of his younger sons, should have been President of the Church, and after him his eldest living son Hyrum, thence to his descendants, so that Joseph the Prophet would have missed the presidency of the Church altogether. Hence I say this argument of the Josephites proves too much. Its full application would ruin their claims in behalf of him for whom they plead.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
My attention has been called to the following, from the history of the Prophet Joseph, which must forever settle the question of there being any right of succession to the Melchisedec Priesthood by virtue of lineage. Sunday, August 27, 1843, the Prophet said (see MILLENNIAL STAR, vol. 22, page 55, first column): "The Melchisedec Priesthood holds the right from the Eternal God, and not by descent from father and mother, and that Priesthood is as eternal as God Himself, having neither beginning of days nor ending of life."--Deseret News, February 11, 1857.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Moreover, the claims of the Josephites are contradicted by the order of the Priesthood, as given in the revelations. Nowhere in all the revelations that point to the glorious day in which we live can you find predicted any gap of sixteen years in the progress of the work of God. The Church was not disorganized at the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
It is contradicted, I say, by the order of the Priesthood, as found in the revelations of God. It is contradicted not only by that, but it is contradicted by the great success that has attended those who followed the leadership of the Twelve Apostles and the Presidencies they have organized under the direction of the Lord. Where since the Prophet's death has there been any lagging in this work? It has been one unbroken march of progress. Since the death of the Prophet the Gospel has been introduced into Germany and Switzerland, into Italy, Norway, Sweden, France; it has been sent to the islands of the Pacific Ocean, to the house of Joseph inhabiting them. It has gathered tens of thousands from these nations, and brought them to the house of the Lord in the tops of the mountains, just as the ancient Prophets decreed it would do--taking one of a city and two of a family, and bringing them to Zion, where they have been given pastors after the Lord's own heart, who have fed them with knowledge and understanding.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Nor has the success of the Church led to the tops of the mountains by the Apostles been confined in its successes to preaching the Gospel. It has been more successful in the work that reaches behind the veil. Three splendid temples have been erected in these mountain valleys, and another, in the shadow of which we are standing to-night, is nearing completion, and in it a still greater work shall be accomplished than in the others. Go to these temples, look at the records, and be astonished at the work done for the dead. It exceeds the work done for the living.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Now, tell me if any of the factions that have wandered away from the Church have anything to point to like this in justification of their claims of being the true Church? Nor does the victory of the Church led from Nauvoo by the Apostles end here. It has redeemed the wilderness and filled the valleys of the mountains for an extent of several hundred miles with prosperous villages, towns and cities. It has made a commonwealth, and given the desert to civilization. This is the work it has accomplished, and there seems to be no end to its progress.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
There was a time when the boundary lines of Utah circumscribed the "Mormon" problem. But it is not so to-day. We have spread abroad into the surrounding States and Territories, where we have established prosperous branches of the Church and powerful Stakes of Zion, and the cry from all the settlements of the Saints is, "Give us room that we may dwell."
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
This success of the Church in preaching the Gospel, in building temples and in administering in them for the dead; in building up settlements, redeeming deserts and founding commonwealths, gives the lie to those who say the Church has gone astray under the leadership of the Twelve Apostles who led it from Nauvoo, and those who have succeeded them in the Presidency.
Collected Discourses, Vol.2, B. H. Roberts, February 23, 1892
Here I shall leave the subject, conscious, however, that I have fallen far short of presenting it in its full force. I ask God to bless this effort to your good, to the strengthening of your faith. I ask the youth of Israel to give respectful and full allegiance to the Priesthood; and inasmuch as you do so, I tell you in the name of God you shall not be wanting in those graces and manly qualities which ennoble the minds of men.
B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
COMPREHENSIVENESS OF THE GOSPEL
_______________
LECTURE
Delivered by Elder B.H. Roberts,
at the General Conference of the Y.M.M.I.A.,
held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
June 5, 1892.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
If there were anything lacking to make one humble in spirit, it seems to me that this presence would be sufficient to accomplish that work. My heart goes out in most fervent prayer that the Lord will assist by the presence of His Spirit in the efforts to be made in speaking upon the subject that has been announced--"The Comprehensiveness of the Gospel." By that term we mean the Gospel as embracing all religious truth. It could be claimed, and that with perfect propriety, that the Gospel--which is the science of theology, nothing more and certainly nothing less than that--embraces more than what may be strictly regarded as religious truth; that it embraces all truth, whether in heaven or in earth; and that limiting the subject to what is usually recognized as religious truth, narrows down the sphere which properly belongs to this great science, to limits exceedingly narrow and inconvenient. Yet having paused long enough to recognize the fact that a broader interpretation could be given to the term, and that in its broadest sense it might be considered as embracing all truth; yet in this more restricted sense, as a system embracing all religious truth, we shall find sufficient ground to offer the reflections which we have to present on this occasion.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
When we say the Gospel embraces all religous truth, we mean that it comprehends all principles relating to man's salvation. It includes all facts in relation to God, relative to His nature, His attributes, His character, and man's relationship to Deity--all this is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All principles, the knowledge of which and acceptance of which is essential to man's salvation, are found within the Gospel. All ordinances necessary to forgiveness of sin, or to the obtaining of power to overcome weaknesses, and develop fully the moral and spiritual excellence contemplated in the Gospel of Jesus Christ--all this is to be found in the Gospel. All gifts and graces, including the spiritual gifts of the Gospel, the gift of knowledge, of wisdom, of faith, of discernment of spirits, of revelation, of speaking in tongues, or interpreting tongues, all these and if there be any other good thing--all things that are virtuous, all things that are of good report, all things that are praiseworthy, or that are honest, or true, or lovely, all--all is included in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
From the Gospel comes the Church of Christ. The Church is the means by which the Gospel is promulgated in the earth, by which it is made known to the children of men. It is also that system of ecclesiastical government which controls those who embrace the Gospel, in religious concerns.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
The Church not only spreads abroad the gospel and the knowledge of it, but unto the Church also is entrusted the execution of the divine law, including the infliction of penalties upon those who violate it--at least so far as relates to their membership and standing in the Church. As to the rest of the penalties that shall be inflicted upon those who transgress the divine law, the Master has reserved it in His own hands,; and in His own time and in His own way He will minister that punishment that shall be due for the violation of that law, having due respect unto the relative claims of justice and mercy.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
The Church of Christ will teach the Gospel of Christ, and it will teach that Gospel in its fulness. Those who are entrusted with its ministry, since they are clothed with divine power, will possess the greatest gifts, the hightest spiritual powers, an abundance of God's grace, to qualify them for the great work to which the Church is called. Consequently, within the lines of the Church we may look for the hightest manifestations of spiritual power, and the excellence that shall far exceed anything that will be hoped for beyond the pale of the Church.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Having laid down this proposition, I ask you now to pause here, and keep these points in mind while we consider a few other facts essential to the thought we wish to develop. Mormonism is a strange thing to the world, and we need not wonder at it. It is a marvelous thing to the world; is it not a marvel likewise to us? May not the world demand with some consistency to know why Mormonism exists? I think they may; and we should be ready to give an answer to that question. Why has it come into being? What necessity is there for it? In order to get that answer before the minds of those making such inquiries, they would need have patience with us while we tell them that Mormonism is the Gospel of Jesus Christ restored again to the earth. It is not new. It has not led up to the worship of any new God. It does not require the children of men to acknowledge and bow down to any new Redeemer. It has no new Gospel to preach to the world; on the contrary, it is the old Gospel. As we sometimes sing in one of our hymns:
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
What was witnessed in the heavens?
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Why, an angel, earthward bound;
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Had he something with him bringing?
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Yes--the Gospel--joyful sound!
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
It was to be preached in power
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On the earth, the angel said;
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To all men, all tongues and nations,
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
That upon its face are spread.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Had we not before the Gospel?
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Yes, had several taught by men,
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Then what is this latter Gospel?
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
T'is the first one come again.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
What then? Was the Gospel of Jesus Christ, after it was introduced by His personal ministry,--after a knowledge of it was brought to mankind, at so great a cost,--is it possible that it was again taken from the earth, that there must needs be a restoration of it in these days? That is the statement that we have to make to the world. And while this is a theme sufficient of itself for more time than we have to devote to this entire subject, I shall at least trespass so far upon your attention as to call your minds to one or two remarkable prophecies relating to these events.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
It is generally supposed that the early Apostles of Jesus Christ were much mistaken about the early return of the Messiah in glory to the earth; but Paul in writing to the Thessolonians, dispels, at least to some extent, this idea, for he says:
Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him.
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there be a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth {hindereth} will let, {hinder} until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. (2 Thes. ii I-8.)
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Notwithstanding this passage the disciples of Jesus looked forward with fond hope to the day when the Son of God would return in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. We understand very clearly from what Paul says, however, that before that day could come,--that glorious, blessed day--there would be a long night of Apostacy spreading its sable mantle over the world. But the darkness was partially dispelled by a few fragments of truth, that lingered in the traditions of men. As the darkness of night is relieved by the stars in heaven, so has this great night of apostacy been relieved to some extent by these few fragments of truth that have remained with men.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Paul clearly predicts this apostacy.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
I shall call your attention to another passage, bearing also upon the same subject. When John was confined upon the Isle of Patmos, a prisoner for Christ's sake, among the many glorious visions given to him relating to the future, he beheld a mighty angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth. I had better read the passage:
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.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Our esteemed Christian friends may take that passage and analyze it how they will, and they can but get this one solemn fact out of it, that in the hour of God's judgment, the earth would be without the Gosepl, because an angel was to come from heaven to earth, restoring it; and according to this prophecy, is to be preached to every nations, every kindred, every tongue, and every people; this being proof positive to those who accept divine prophecy as history reversed, that in the hour of God's judgment the earth would be without the Gospel. In fulfilment of that great prediction Mormonism has come into existence. That angel whose coming is predicted by the visions of John visited the boy prophet, Joseph Smith, and through him has restored the Gospel to the earth in all its fulness, and the power and authority to administer it among all nations. It is being preached as a witness to all the world before the end shall come.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
This great event, ushered in the dispensation of the fulness of times. By the dispensation of the fullness of times, we mean the dispensation that will include all other dispensations. If there have been truths peculiar to any dispensation preceding this, it will find its way into this dispensation. Even as the rivers and the brooks of the earth eventually find their way into the ocean, so, likewise, shall all former dispensations find their way into this dispensation and be included by the circle that bounds it. If what we said in relation to the comprehensiveness of the Gospel is generally true, it is expecially true of the Dispensation of the fullness of times. Within it shall be found all that is true, all that is virtuous, all that is of good report.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
There are other principles that claim our attention, in developing our thought upon this subject. These I may arrange under what may be called the Positiveness of the Gospel. We mean by that that there is nothing else that can take the place of the Gospel. In that system of philosophy introduced by Confucious, we see much that is true and good. We see there at least a system of morality, if not of religion that has swayed the lives of millions of our Father's children. But much as we may admire it,--and many of its precepts are indeed glorious,--that system of philosophy cannot take the place of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We look upon the teachings of Mahomet, a mixture of good and of evil, but with more good in them, perhaps, than men are generally inclined to admit. The faith of Mahomet has done much toward redeeming a portion of our Father's children from darkness. Still Mohometanism cannot take the place of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Christian world we see much that is good there, men of advanced thought, men who were heroes, and perhaps prophets in their day, devoted themselves to the cause of truth. We see some of the fragments of truth that were left after the great apostacy in their hands. From these, men concocted schemes of salvation, and creeds and churches sprang into existence. Among these was much of good. But these fragments of truth, each standing alone or in the aggregate, cannot take the place of the great system of perfect truth that we have in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Men, distrusting the power of apostate Christianity to work permanent good, and to bring the world out of tis darkness, its ignorance and its crime up to a better condition, have undertaken to make refined education, painting statuary, beautiful architecture, splendid surroundings to take the place of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; but it is all in vain. The Gospel is positive. We have it recorded in Holy Writ that there is no other name given among men, whereby we may be saved but the name of Jesus Christ. When the great Master was sending forth His disciples to preach the Gospel to the world, He said, "Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth, and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Many may think that this is narrow, contracted, that it is not consistent with the breadth of thought that is characteristic of the age, and that toleration in the world, which is ready to recognize good wherever it shall be found. To say that there is but one true system of religion, that there is but one plan of life and salvation, seems indeed to smack somewhat of bigotry, and there are those who would be willing to reject this proposition upon that ground. But that appearance of bigotry, that appearnace of narrowness and of contracted view, disappears when another great fact is known, and that is, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ endureth forever, and that it is as everlasting as the love of God. Those who fail either to hear it in this life, or to sufficiently comprehend it that they become wedded to it, and accept of its joys here, when they shall find themselves in another state of existance, they will find beside them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the hand of God stretched out to grasp their hand, so soon as they shall reach out in His direction. Men always will have the glorious privilege of repenting; and in the economy of God, will always be found means of reaching men with the ordinances of the Gospel. Man may drive compassion from his heart; but God never does; man may think that the few brief years between the cradle and the grave, fix eternally and irrevocably the conditon of man. But the Gospel is not bounded by lines so narrow as these; on the contrary the Scriptures give us to understand that the Gosepl is proclaimed in the spirit world, in all its purity and power. And if these things are comprehended they take away the appearance of narrowness, and bigotry which a mistaken notion concerning the Gospel of Christ had engendered in the minds of men.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
The great prophet Joseph Smith, laid down this principle that there is a law irrevocably decreed in the heavens, before the foundations of this earth were laid, to the effect that all privileges and all blessings are predicated upon conditions, and those who attain to these blessings, do so by complying with those conditons or laws; otherwise they cannot claim them. Thus, through faith and through repentance, men come to baptism for the remission of sins, and thence to the principle of laying on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. This is the law, and it has been decreed in heaven, that those who attain to these blessings--the forgiveness of sins and the possession of the Holy Ghost--must comply with the conditions upon which they are based. And there is no escaping this conclusion. But we have the glorious assurance that these means of salvation shall be within the reach of all the sons and daughters of God.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Would you confine the efforts of Mutual Improvement Associations within the lines of the church? Would you encourage no leaping over those boundaries to search after truth? What is the need of it since those boundaries surround all truth? But are there not passages of Scriptures that seem contrary to that? Perhaps some of you will remember the circumstance of a number of the apostles coming to Jesus and saying: "We saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and he follows not us. And we forbade him. And Jesus said. Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us." The man possessed some power. He seemed to be doing good, and it would be foolishness in the extreme to prohibit his well doing. But how foolish, how absurd indeed, would it be, for the apostles, because they found this man exercising one, just one, of the gifts of the Gospel, to run after him--to forsake the whole for a part! How absurd that would have been, when Jesus had conferred upon them the power to do like works, and mightier works than these. It seems to be the disposition of men to be so enchanted with a single principle of truth, that when they have found it, they seek not for the whole of it, but content themselves with one poor fragment thereof.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
In the year eighteen hundred and forty-eight, in New York, where the Gospel took rise in these last days, lived a family by the name of Fox. The members of this family discovered mysterious rappings in their house, and after a time, they succeeded in establishing an understanding between the knocking and themselves. After trying to solve the mystery for some length of time, one of the elder daughters said to the rapping, "do as I do," and she observed for every knock that she gave, she received a response. Then, going through the motion of snapping her fingers, to her surprise the knocking responded to that, so that the cause of the rapping could see as well as rap. In answer to the question of how old she was, she received a reply by so many knocks. The question of how many children were in the family, was answered in the same way, the answer being correct in all instances. These means of communication started in that way, and thus modern spiritualism sprang into existence.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Men then, outside of the church, have discovered that there are spiritual agencies, and that they have the power of communicating with them. I do not call this in question. I grant you there is much fraud, much deception, connected with spiritualism, as there is much fraud and deception thrown around all facts of this character. But I believe there is a force in it, for I believe that men have the power of cummunication with the unseen world through that channel, and they perhaps receive replies to messages sent there. But shall the Latter-day Saints run after those who dabble in those things? If they do, would they not be reproved by the word of one of the ancient prophets, who said: "And when they say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter, should not a people seek unto their God for the living to hear from the dead?"
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
In the Holy Priesthood God has established a channel of communication between the heavens and the earth. I know this is true. Through the Gospel has been opened a communication, whereby we receive intelligence from God, and through no such uncertain means as tappings and mutterings, but by direct revelation, and by the ministration of angels. How unworthy appears this other means of communication when it is held up in contrast with that beautiful system and order of communication between God and His church unto the earth! How absurd would it be for men who have these wide channels of communication open to them, to run after these other mysteries, for the purpose of getting information from the other world!
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Men blessed with peculiar powers, heal the sick; and the "Christian Science Healing" makes its appearance. Occasionally some man comes into our midst, and heals the sick, and to some this appears such a marvel and wonder, that they are ready to run after such a one, and account him a wonderful man. Why should the Saints run after such? Is there any need of it? Hath not the Savior said unto His servants, "Ye shall lay hands on the sick in my name, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick." What need is there of going after those who possess this one gift, when in the church we have the gifts of healing, and numerous others, among them the gift of revelation--communication from the other world?
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
There are men coming into our midst with some of these fragments of truth to which I have alluded as having been left after the Church of Christ was taken from the earth. They come into our midst, and they take these fragments of truth, combine them, polish, embellish and present them in a pleasing manner, by the gifts of oratory, that man-made learning teaches. They beautify these principles, and present them with smoothness of speech, with attractive delivery, and some are disposed to run after them. Why should they do it? Everything good that the eloquent orator can say, everything that is lovely, and virtuos, everything that can be held up for the admiration of the world is with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Go, speak with any of those who thus minister to mankind, and tell me what they can do for you. Is there one of them that can baptize you for the remission of your sins? No, they have not authority to do that. Can they lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost? No, that is beyond their power. Can they seal a wife unto you for time and for all eternity, by which act your union with your companion shall be sanctified forever--Can they do that? No; here they are powerless, for they have not the authority and the Priesthood of God. Then, shall men leave the whole and run after these fragments of truth?
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
How absurd it would be, after the sun goes down, and we see it gilding the tips of these glorious mountains of ours, here and there kissing a black cloud into gold and purple--how absurd, how foolish it would be to say that that cloud, so beautiful is the sun itself! That would be folly in the extreme, but the other thing to which I have referred would be equally foolish.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Imagine, if you will, an experienced man, who has made a success of life, and dwells in a palace, surrounded with all the comforts of life. Imagine the matron who has walked by his side through life, tasting with him of its joys and ills and who now dwells with him in a beautiful home, surrounded with children and servants, and everything necessary to the perfect enjoyment of life. Imagine them leaving this mansion, and with a few broken dishes seeking the sand-hills for the purpose of playing at keeping house! Imagine a staid and intelligent man who has reaped every field of human knowledge, which he has converted into wisdom by experience, crawling into the cradle of his infancy, pleased again with his bib and rattle, and asking for a repetition of the fairy tales which pleased his child-hood fancy!
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Imagine anything that is absurd and ridiculous; and I match it with those who would leave the fair fields of God in a vain attempt to fatten upon the dreary moors of sectarian creeds, strewn with the dry husks of a dead theology! Nothing can be more absurd than this.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
Those who would leave the whole for the part, I call back to the boundaries of the Church of Christ. I promise you that in its atmosphere there is room for every intellectual wing, there is space for every ambition worthy of righteousness. If you desire to bless mankind, work with the Church of Christ, for it is engaged, with God, to bring to pass the eternal life and happiness of man. I can conceive of no labor greater than this. Is it not worthy the hightest intelligence among men? It is worthy the intelligence and love of God, to say nothing of man!
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, June 5, 1892
What a field of labor is here! Broad as the earth, deep as eternity, lasting as the love of God Himself. What more do you want than such a field of labor as this? Charity, humility, reverence for God, will qualify you for the work. And as Professor Talmage so beautifully said this afternoon, whether you have one talent or ten, here is the field where you may develop them. And I promise you that you will never reach the boundary lines of so great a work. God bless you. Amen.
B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM AND IDEALS
_______________
ADDRESS
Delivered by B. H. Roberts,
at the Democratic Convention,
held in Provo,
October 5, 1892.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
I appreciate the honor you have conferred upon me by inviting me to address this convention. Yet I shrink from the task you have assigned me, perhaps for the reason that I do not account myself a politician and am little experienced in actual political work. But however limited my experience may be in practical politics, I have devoted some attention to the study of civil government, especially to the principles upon which our own government is bottomed; and after such reflection upon and analysis of the subject as my humble abilities will admit of, I arise from the self imposed task with the deepest conviction that I am a Democrat. And though my position in the Democratic party will ever be a humble one--standing only in the ranks of those of like political faith--yet I shall ever derive great pleasure in the reflection that I am associated with that party which stands pledged to the maintenance of human liberty and the rights of man. Therefore, though I may have some misgivings as to my ability to do justice to those great political doctrines of which you expect me to speak, you will understand how it is that I appreciate the privilege of being with you today and of taking part in your proceedings.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
There is another reason why I am pleased with this opportunity of speaking to you--I trust the fact of my doing so will be an evidence to you and all who may hear of it, that Democratic Mormons no less than their Republican brethren are free to affiliate with the political party of their choice, and give full and free expression to their honest convictions. The peculiar circumstances existing in this territory must both excuse and justify this remark. It has been charged that in this territory there has been a union of church and state--that the dominant church has dictated in political affairs. There has been some seeming upon which to base the charge, perhaps; arising from the fact that since the dominant church here in Utah was attacked by a local political party, there was nothing left for the members of that church to do but to band together for self-protection, and defend themselves as best they could. But it is only fair to say that the church charged with dictating in political affairs has stoutly denied the charge; and almost from the beginning of its existence has declared that it was not "just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered, and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members as citizens, denied" (Doctrine and Covenants, Section 134). In December, 1889, the charge that the Mormon church claimed the right to dictate its members in their political affiliations and actions being renewed, the first presidency of the church and the twelve apostles over their signatures said:
This church, while offering advice for the welfare of its members in all conditions of life, does not claim or exercise the right to interfere with citizens in the free exercise of social or political rights and privileges.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
Further on in the same manifesto they say:
Church government and civil government are distinct and separate in our theory and practice, and we regard it as our destiny to aid in the maintenance and perpetuity of the institutions of our country.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
Language cannot be more explicit than this. But since the breaking up of local political parties and the affiliation of the people of this territory with one or the other of the great national parties, it has been again repeatedly asserted that the dominant church is still dictating its members in political affairs and that the first presidency there is counseling the Mormon people--without regard to their political convictions to be equally divided between the two national parties with a view to obtaining favors and concessions from both. From the fact that certain gentlemen prominent in the Mormon church councils and Republicans in politics have been very active in working for the interests of their party: and from the fact that prominent churchmen who were Democratic were for a time less active in politics--it has been asserted that this indicated that the presidency of the Mormon church was urging on Republicans while they were suppressing or altogether silencing Democrats. Thus interfering as ecclesiastical authorities, and shading to suit their own likings the political complexion of this territory. These suppositions and charges, however, are swept away by the declarations of the church officials themselves. Shortly after the Logan city election in March last, when it was charged that the presidency of the Mormon church had used their ecclesiastical authority in such manner as to influence citizens to vote the Republican ticket, President Woodruff and his second counselor, Joseph F. Smith, said over their own signatures: [The reason George Q. Cannon did not join them in the declaration was because he was out of the territory.]
We emphatically deny that we, or either of us, authorized Mr. George F. Gibbs 1 or any other person or persons to use our names so as to influence citizens to vote the Republican ticket at Logan or elsewhere. If our names have been used in any such way, it has been entirely without permission from us, and we hereby condemn it as wrong and reprehensible. If we have any desire in this matter it is that the people of this territory shall study well the principles of both the great national parties, and then choose which they will join, freely, voluntarily and honestly, from personal conviction and then stand by it in all honor and sincerity. Each party should have the same rights, privileges and opportunities as the other. If any man claims that it is the wish of the first presidency that a Democrat shall vote the Republican ticket, or a Republican the Democratic ticket, let all people know that he is endeavoring to deceive the public and has no authority of that kind from us. We have no disposition to direct in these matters, but proclaim that, as far as we are concerned, the members of this church are entirely and perfectly free in all political affairs.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
If these declarations do not make clear the fact that members of the Mormon church are free to follow whatever course in politics their reason teaches them is best, then I despair of ever seeing language that will express it.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
But aside from anything which the church leaders may have said, if they be given credit for just common, ordinary sense--to say nothing of that intelligence which we may expect them to possess as the leaders of a great people, and which we know they do possess--we know that they could take no other course than that indicated in their public utterances from which I have quoted. When the founders of our republic were raising this temple of our liberties--this government for the United States--they wisely discovered that such was the condition of the people in respect to religion--being divided into a variety of sects and parties--that they could create no religious establishment, or favor one sect above another without being guilty of rank injustice to all the rest. In order therefore to do justice to men of all religions they declared the policy of non-interference on the part of the state with religious concerns, by providing in the constitution that no religious test should ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. And further provided that Congress should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibit the free exercise thereof." These provisions built a partition wall between the church and the state, and the religious peace and toleration, and the religious liberty enjoyed by the people for more than a century vindicates the wisdom which dictated this policy in the beginning. What changes may come to this earth when, as we hope, the Son of God shall come in person in the glory of His father to judge men and establish His Kingdom in answer to the common prayer of all Christianity, we may not know; but this we say, that so long as conditions exist as they are, men even of ordinary intelligence will see that it would be the act of madmen to attempt to mingle ecclesiastical influence and authority with political concerns in the United States and especially in this territory. We all are anxious to have our fellow citizens throughout the country understand us aright on this subject, and nothing could be so disastrous to the welfare of our territory or retard more the progress we have been making toward our political emancipation of late than to have it go abroad that the people of Utah are not free to follow their political convictions; that they are subject in their political actions to the dictations of ecclesiastical authority. The people of the United States are convinced of the wisdom of their policy of non-interference on the part of the state with religion on the one hand, and with the separation of the state from the influence of the church on the other, and they will tolerate no alteration of this arrangement under existing conditions.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
Mr. Chairman, I am persuaded in my own mind that no class of men in our community are more thoroughly aware of facts than are the Mormon leaders; nor are there any other men that can be more anxious to have the people walk in harmony with these public utterances which I have quoted to you. They must know what mischief would result from a vacillating course in politics. Now it would justly create a suspicion amounting to distrust both in them and their people, and combine against them all parties. The true policy in politics for the people of Utah is indicated in some of these very passages quoted, viz: "To study well the principles of both the great national parties and then choose which they will join, freely, voluntarily and honestly, from personal conviction, and then stand by it in all honor and sincerity." No Gentile in the world could give better political advice to the people of Utah than that. But now enough, and perhaps more than enough, of this. Only let me say to our Democratic friends who are not Mormons that you need have no fear, that Mormon Democrats will prove untrue to their convictions and party affiliations. When they faced you in local party politics as opponents you found them steady, consistent foemen; let that be an earnest that as allies you will find them equally firm, reliable and consistent.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
And now let us turn from these themes to those more worthy the consideration of this convention, pausing only to glance back and say that we hope the time is near at hand when reference to the things we have just considered will not be necessary--when the people of Utah shall be as well understood, and shall so well understand themselves, that their position will need no explanation.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
The people of the United States are divided into two great political parties, each of which asks to be put in control of the general government. It is conceded that the one issue between them which rises above all others is the great question of tariff. This is not a new issue. It is older than this generation. Older than our government--older than our civilization. For the time of its birth you must go back to that time when man first loved power and exercised it; and to that time equally distant in the past when man loved liberty and longed for it. It is an issue which covers the whole battlefield of liberty, crossed and recrossed by the forces of oppression on the one hand and the forces of liberty on the other.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
The chief use of arbitrary power, it seems to me, has ever been to enable those who possessed it to live in ease and luxury at the expense of other people. Every conqueror who has subdued a people or nation has never been satisfied with his conquest until he placed those whom he had subjugated under perpetual tribute to himself and his favorites. Write the history of man's struggle for freedom and you will at the same time write the history of his efforts to free himself from the taxation imposed upon him by those possessed of arbitrary power. For illustration of this statement I need go no further back in the history of man than the time of King John of England. Early in the thirteenth century the barons of England assembled in the pleasant meadows of Runnymede and with arms in their hands presented to King John the Magna Charta and demanded that he sign it. The usurping king hesitated a moment, but looking into the determined faces of the stern men that surrounded him he saw that they looked into each other's eyes, had read each other's purposes, and at once concluded that they would not be trifled with and he signed the charter. The very first sentence in that great palladium of English liberties, in substance reads: You shall not tax us without our consent. When that declaration was signed by the King, English liberty took a mighty stride forward. The Tudor line of English kings for a time nullified some of the effects of the great charter by the invention of a new system of taxation in the form of enforced benevolences, gifts and loans to the crown. The Stuart line of kings enlarged that system and pushed it to further extremes than the Tudors dared. At last the people protested against this system of taxation, and drew up their protest in the famous petition of right. Charles I of England refused to sign the petition and there was a revolution, the folly of the king cost him his head, and a Cromwell arose from the ranks of the common people as if to prove to his own and succeeding generations that one of the common people was more fit to govern than any of the rich or well born of his day.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
The kings of the House of Brunswick, while conceding to the people of England the rightfulness of the doctrine of no taxation without representation, sought to impose taxation upon the colonies without representation. This was resisted by the American revolution which gave birth to the United States government, and fixed the principle in this country as well as in England, that taxation and representation must go together.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
The issue between the two great political parties of America today is the same question as this fought out between the common people of England and her monarchs, only it appears under slightly changed conditions, but it is an old thing with a new name. In the past we have seen that the question stood in this form: You shall not tax us without our consent. In the next place it appeared in this form: you shall not force gifts, benevolences or loans from us without our consent, expressed by our representative in parliament; and then in the case of the American revolution, it was again the principle of no taxation without representation. Today the question turns upon the purposes of taxation. The Democratic party is writing a new magna charter and in it they say emphatically to those who would favor taxation for private interests and the promotion of private gain, you shall tax us only for the purposes of government, economically administered. It is unconstitutional for you to exercise the sovereign taxing power of the government to build up private fortunes or for any purpose except that of raising revenue for the government. This is the Democratic position in relation to taxation. This scheme leaves government in the sphere which properly belongs to it. It can give real protection to society, securing to men the right to be free, the right to possess in peace their property, the right to persue happiness in their own way so long as they interfere not with the rights of others, recognizing the great truth that one man's liberty ends where another's begins. It bids government take its hand from the private affairs of the people, and leaves them at liberty to work out their destiny in their own way.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
Opposed to the Democratic party and its noble policy stands the Republican party and its policy of protection. [Hisses.] Oh, it is protection--such protection as vultures give to lambs, covering, while devouring them. Under a plea of creating a diversity of industries, fostering those already established and securing to labor larger pay for its effort, the Republican party would employ the sovereign taxing power of the government to build up private fortunes and promoting private gain--a thing which belongs not at all to the sphere of government. To accomplish this they would levy a tariff upon the commodities imported into our country, the like of which is produced here. In doing so they tax those goods which enter into the daily consumption of the people--upon the necessities of life--a system which compels the poor to pay as much of the tax as the rich and the burden of sustaining the government falls heaviest on those least able to bear it. The raw material, also which the manufacturer needs is taxed in like manner, so that the amount of his productions are less than they otherwise would be, and his market is restricted. To counteract these evils we are told by our Republican friends that under our high tariff walls American manufacturers will compete with each other and so reduce prices by reason of that competition as to secure fair prices to consumers and more work and better pay to American labor. But this is something which never happens. The moment that manufacturers are developed to that point where competition is reducing prices, trusts and combines are formed, production is controlled and the price on said productions is fixed by the conscience of corporations which proverbially have no souls. This is not a theory, it is a fact. The trusts are here, not in prospective but they are here now, four hundred and fifty of them, and they are systematically robbing the American people. It is useless to say let us do evil that good may come, the good never comes, and the evil remains.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
Now a word as to the effect of this system upon the wages of the laborer. Republicans would lead us to believe that it is the especial mission of their tariff system to bless the laboring man. In the first place, let us consider those who are favored by this protective system. If you grant all that Republicans claim that it directly protects the number so benefited in round numbers are 1,500,000, while those who must labor without protection in round numbers are 16,000,000. Let us take another view of it and I think I can show you that the manufacturer has spoken once for his workmen, and that in very low tones while he has spoken thrice for himself and that in thunder tones. For illustration, I take the manufacture of steel rails. The difference in the cost of producing steel rails in England and the United States if $3.78 per ton. The tariff duty on steel rails per ton is $13.44. Now, if as Republicans claim, the purpose of the tariff is simply to enable our manufacturers to pay the difference in wages between his workman and the pauper labor of Europe, then I say that the tariff on steel rails should be just the difference in the cost of producing steels here and in England, $3.78, instead of $13.44. This tariff would enable the manufacturer to pay the difference in the cost of production and then leave him $9.66 to put into his own pocket. At present, however, they are not taking full advantage of this high tariff, the difference in the price of steel rails in this country and England is about $10, which enables the manufacturer to pay the difference in the cost of production, $3.78, and leaves him $6.22 on every ton he produces for his own pocket. There is another view I wish to present on this subject, that is the great productiveness of American labor. Charles Hill, statistician for the state department, stated before a congressional committee that in 1882, 5,250,000 hands in America produced $8,000,000 worth of goods, while in England, 5,140,000 hands produced but $3,000,000 worth of goods, just half which about the same number of hands produced in America, showing that American labor is capable of producing nearly twice the results that foreign labor produces. When this increased productiveness of American labor is considered, I ask what right have American manufacturers to demand that the taxing power of the government be employed in their interests to protect them from the competition of foreign cheap labor!
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
I am reminded, gentlemen, that the committee on permanent organization is now ready to report. In conclusion, let me say, Let this convention be wise in its deliberations, let it embody in its platform the principles of the platform adopted by the national Democratic in Chicago, let it place upon such a platform a man clean in his life [applause], let him be a stalwart Democrat, loyal to his principles, brave of heart, frank with his opponents, generous to his enemies, and be he Mormon or Gentile, I promise you that we will elect him, with a larger majority than Democrats polled at the last election. [Loud applause]
1. In a private letter to John F. Wright, the Bishop of the Hyrum Ward, Cache Stake, and a Democrat, George F. Gibbs, secretary to the First Presidency, wrote that it was advisable that the members in the various wards divide themselves equally along national party lines. In addition, it was suggested that a large class of members remain uncommited to either party, in order that the Saints might obtain a swing vote in an election. It was suggested by Bro. Gibbs that Bishop Wright make his Ward a Republican stronghold.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, October 5, 1892
When a number of leading Democrats heard of this letter, they went to President Woodruff, and presented to him the Gibbs letter. In response to this letter, the First Presidency issued a notice published in the Deseret News Weekly on 25 March 1892, and quoted here by Elder Roberts. (See Messages of the First Presidency, 3:232-233; also Reed Smoot Hearings, 1:825.)
B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
THE TESTIMONY OF WRATH
_______________
DISCOURSE
Delivered by Elder B.H. Roberts,
at the Weber Stake Conference,
held in the Ogden Tabernacle,
July 16, 1893.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
The remarks of Brother Orson Smith are of great interest to the people and are timely in their character. With him, I believe that the time is ripe for the accomplishment of the purposes of the Lord, and during his remarks a few paragraphs in one of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants came to my mind, which I will read. When sending some of the first Elders out to preach the Gospel, the Lord said to them:
Behold, I send you out to reprove the world of all their unrighteous deeds, and to teach them of a judgment which is to come.
And whoso receiveth you there will I be also, for I will go before your face: I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.
Whoso receiveth you receiveth me, and the same will feed you, and clothe you, and give you money.
And he who feeds you, or clothes you, or gives you money, shall in no wise lose his reward:
And he that doeth not these things is not my disciple; by this you may know my disciples.
He that receiveth you not, go away from him alone by yourselves, and cleanse your feet even with water, pure water, whether in heat or in cold, and bear testimony of it unto your Father which is in heaven, and return not again unto that man.
And in whatsoever village or city ye enter, do likewise.
Nevertheless, search diligently and spare not; and woe unto that house, or that village or city that rejecteth you, or your words, or your testimony concerning me:
Woe, I say again, unto that house or that village or city that rejecteth you, or your words, or your testimony of me;
For I, the Almighty, have laid my hands upon the nations, to scourge them for their wickedness:
And plagues shall go forth, and they shall not be taken from the earth until I have completed my work which shall be cut short in righteousness,
Until all shall know me, who remain, even from the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
And again it is written:
And the Bishop, Newel K. Whitney, also, should travel round about and among all the churches, searching after the poor to administer to their wants by humbling the rich and the proud;
He should also employ an agent to take charge and to do his secular business as he shall direct;
Nevertheless, let the Bishop go unto the city of New York, also to the city of Albany, and also to the city of Boston, and warn the people of those cities with the sound of the Gospel, with a loud voice, of the desolation and utter abolishment which await them if they do reject these things;
For if they do reject these things the hour of their judgment is nigh, and their house shall be left unto them desolate.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
On another occasion the Lord said to his servants:
Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.
Therefore, they are left without excuse, and their sins are upon their own heads.
He that seeketh me early shall find me, and shall not be forsaken.
Abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made free; entangle not yourselves in sin, but let your hands be clean, until the Lord come;
For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man, and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light, and the moon shall be bathed in blood, and the stars shall become exceeding angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig tree.
And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people;
For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground, and shall not be able to stand.
And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea, heaving themselves beyond their bounds.
And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all the people;
And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying, Prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come: behold, and lo! the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
It is well to remember, when reading these words, that we are not reading black letter in some ancient work about some ancient people; but we are reading the words of God as they have been revealed through the inspired Prophet, Joseph Smith, and they apply directly to the generation in which we live. It is the decree of the Lord that these judgments shall go through the earth. What for? To gratify and please the Latter-day Saints? No. To gratify any revengeful feeling that exists in the breast of God? No. Such a thing as that would be unworthy of the Father of the human race. It would not be worthy of, or like God. When a wise parent corrects a child with corporeal punishment, is it to gratify revengeful feelings in the breast of the parent? That would be a very brutish idea of parentage. I believe that punishment should never be inflicted by a parent except for the correction and the reclaiming of the child. And I have always looked upon the judgments decreed of God and that have been predicted, both by ancient and modern prophets, as events which shall prove corrective of the evils that exist and not to gratify revengeful feelings in the breasts of the Saints of God, who may have suffered at the hands of the wicked, much less to gratify any revengeful feelings in the heart of our Father in heaven. Suffering is the fruit of the transgression of law; and these predicted calamities which we call the judgments of God will be but the consequences of sin.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
In the works of infidel writers the flood is referred to as an exhibition of cruelty on the part of Deity; and their descriptions of it have been drawn out in such a manner as to cast reproach upon the justice and the mercy of God. And at the first glance it seems difficult to justify such a great calamity as we regard the flood to be, by which the whole race of men was well nigh swept out of existence. The people of that generation, however, had corrupted themselves almost past our comprehension. It is written that the thoughts of their hearts were evil continually, and they were cursing their posterity with that inclination to evil which they had contracted by their wickedness. They would have stamped all succeeding generations with their own weaknesses and proneness to wrong-doing; and those pure spirits that existed in the presence of God that had not yet tabernacled in the flesh would have had to come through that sin-cursed lineage and would have been placed at a great disadvantage in their probation, because parentage had a wonderful influence upon the formation of character. God knew this, and He knew that if that generation of men were permitted to continue propagating their species the result would be that a curse and not a blessing would be brought upon His children who lived with Him in heaven. In justice, then, to the untold millions of spirits that were to come to the earth, the Lord destroyed that generation of men that lived in the days of Noah. I see in that act an act of mercy rather than cruelty. The people in the days of Noah were cut off from the earth that their wickedness might not be perpetuated in their children, and a more righteous branch of the human family was preserved, that the spirits that had to tabernacle in the flesh might have a better parentage than the wicked antediluvians, and consequently a better prospect of successfully accomplishing their mission in this probation than they would by coming through a wicked parentage.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
So in this generation the Lord has His purposes to accomplish, and we shall find that though there be apparent harshness in the carrying out of these purposes, mercy and justice will be properly balanced in the accomplishment of God's designs.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
But here is what I would impress upon you: We have the decree of the Lord, that after the testimony of His servants to this generation the calamities depicted in these revelations shall stalk abroad in the earth, and there shall be the testimony of cyclones, of tempest, of the sea heaving itself beyond its bounds, and of earthquakes, the hearts of men failing them for fear of the things that are coming upon mankind. Look upon our present condition. There is a lack of confidence existing everywhere, especially in regard to financial matters, and the hearts of men are failing them, and everybody is wondering and speculating about how and when we shall get rid of our present financial troubles. Well, for my own part, I think perhaps we may from time to time bridge over little difficulties such as those that now confront us. But will they stay settled, and will the millennium of peace and prosperity come upon the inhabitants of the earth? I do not expect it until the judgments of God have accomplished their purpose. One of the ancient prophets said: "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants thereof will learn righteousness." And I do not expect to see the world cured of its evils until they do learn righteousness, and learn to honor and respect the laws of God. There is but one foundation upon which men or nations may build permanent prosperity, and that foundation is nothing less than the foundation of righteousness, and judgment, and truth. The world cannot get along without observing these things any more than we can, and they have that lesson to learn. And while financiers and statesmen may patch up these difficulties that now exist, heal these little sores, quiet these little fears, I venture the suggestion that it will only be temporary relief, and that the evil will make itself apparent somewhere else. For the evils that are abroad in this world are constitutional in their character. They have become chronic. It is a world that has gone wrong, and it will require a God to set it right. The wisdom of congresses and of parliaments will not be sufficient. The wisdom of man cannot cope with these evils, and men will yet learn that they must turn unto the Lord God of Israel for deliverance. So that, instead of expecting to see the troubles of the world grow less, I believe they will increase. We have got into that condition where we will get much worse before we become permanently well. We may expect to see calamities in the world multiply. The judgments of God are following the testimony of the Elders of Israel. The Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ have been going to and fro in the world for the last sixty years, warning the inhabitants of the earth of those things that were coming upon them, and have in season and out of season cried repentance to this generation. Last week we read of a fearful cyclone that passed up the Sioux River Valley, in the state of Iowa. I was especially interested in that matter, because that was my old field of labor, in fact, my first field of labor as a missionary. I read how that terrible tornado whipped out of the ground an iron pipe. There was only six feet of it above ground; yet, so terrible was the storm, that it took that pipe and twisted it out of the ground and carried it away. The same storm wrenched out of a threshing machine its steel cylinder and carried that off; and it swept out of existence an entire village. When I read of these terrible calamities that overtook the people of that locality, I could not help but remember the labors of myself and other Elders who traveled and warned them of these terrible storms and cyclones that were coming. In correcting some misstatements that were printed in one of the Sioux City papers, we took occasion to warn these people of the threatened judgments of God, and called upon them to repent. The editor published our communication, and in an editorial note said that he did not publish the letter because he had taken alarm at the Mormons' warning, but he had published it that the people might know that there was a good deal of ignorance and folly in this world, and that a great amount of it was connected with Mormonism. My letter afforded a theme of merriment to them. Well, I wondered, when reading of that cyclone, if they had forgotten the warning we had given. I suppose they had; but the disaster came nevertheless.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
We are told that after the testimonies of the servants of God cometh the testimony of wrath and indignation, of tempests and earthquakes, and these shall testify of God's power, until men are brought to repentance. I believe the Lord meant what He said in this. I believe that He is not to be mocked by this generation. I believe the things decreed will have their fulfillment, however painful they may be. Latter-day Saints, are you aware of what a splendid testimony we have been bearing to the nations of late years? The hand of the Lord is visible in it. It seems to me He has taken it in hand Himself to make the entire people bear witness to the great things that He has predicted through His servants. "Mormonism" has been having a pretty good hearing among men of late; and the last few years have been more fruitful of testimony bearing than any other period of time in the history of the Church. Some people have looked upon the last few years of our experience as unfruitful in accomplishing the purposes of God. Some have gone so far as to think that we have been actually in retreat, and that we have been losing ground. I think we are shortsighted, indeed, if we take such a view as that.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
To illustrate what I mean, let me call your attention to the experience of Paul. You know his history; you know how at one time he was a persecutor of the saints and sought to destroy the Church of Christ. You know that on his way to Damascus he was overtaken by a vision of the Lord, and the Lord put this very pointed question to him: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." When he learned that, he very humbly enquired of the Lord what He would have him do, and he was told to go into Damascus and it should there be told him what he should do. You know how he was visited by one of the servants of the Lord and the ordinance of baptism administered unto him; and how, afterwards, it was rumored about that this great persecutor, who had been casting the saints into prison, was now an advocate of those things he once sought to destroy. You know how he labored at Antioch; how he went up to Jerusalem to confer with the brethren there; how he traveled throughout Macedonia and Greece, establishing churches at Athens, in Corinth, in Thessalonica, and in other great cities; and, by and by, you know how the horizon about him became suddenly dark, and he was persecuted on every hand, until he himself explained that bonds and imprisonment seemed to threaten him in every city. Finally, in order to escape from the wrath of the rabble, he surrendered himself a prisoner to the Roman officials, and he had to languish for years in prison. While suffering these imprisonments, once in awhile there would be a Roman governor or king come along, and the governor holding him in ward would tell him of this man Paul who had been left in bonds by his predecessor, and would ask the visiting nobleman if he did not wish to hear him. So Paul on these occasions was brought out in his chains, and he had the privilege of standing in the presence of judges, of governors and of kings, and proclaiming the word of truth. By this means the word of the Lord was brought home to the great and high ones. They were not to be left without a testimony of the Gospel any more than the poor and the lowly; and this seems to be the method that the Lord had to bring His Gospel to these great ones of the earth. They would not listen to the poor fishermen of Galilee; but to Paul, in chains and a Roman prisoner, they would listen; and he preached the word very effectually. Before Governor Felix he reasoned so masterly on righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, that the haughty Roman turned pale and trembled. On the occasion when King Agrippa came into Judea, surrounded about by the members of his court, and Paul, at the invitation of Festus, related to them the vision he had received of the Lord Jesus Christ, and reasoned upon faith and the resurrection, Festus cried out, "Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad." To which Paul answered, "I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness." Turning to the king, he said, "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest." Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Paul said, "I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds." Thus was the power of God with him, and thus was the Gospel preached to governors and kings. Since Paul's persecutors continued to seek his life even while a prisoner, and seeing no prospect of obtaining his freedom from these petty kings and governors, he appealed to Caesar's judgment-seat.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
Not only these petty governors and kings, but the purple-robed emperor of Rome must hear the testimony of the great apostle of the Gentiles! The Lord brought Paul through all these scenes of trial, but in thus leading him through affliction he made him a witness to the great and high ones of the earth; and I know not how the Gospel would ever have been preached in the palace of the Caesars but by adopting some such method as this. Paul had a pretty hard time of it; but in walking along the path of fiery trial he was contributing much to the accomplishment of the purposes of God; and it was a consciousness of this fact which made him explain, "I glory in tribulation." So it has been with us. Traveling without purse and scrip in the earth, footsore and weary, without influence, how long would the Elders of Israel have been compelled to work by these methods before they could get the Congress of the United States to have listened to an explanation of Mormonism? A long, long time. How long before the Senate would have devoted days and days to hearing explanations of the Mormon faith? A good long time. How long before the Supreme Judges of the United States, clad in all the paraphernalia of their office, would have sat and listened patiently to explanations of Mormonism? A long time. How long before you could have got the President and his cabinet to have given any attention to the testimony of these humble Elders? A good long time. In fact, I know not how we ever could have reached them by preaching the Gospel without purse and scrip. But all these men composing the cabinet of the President, the President himself, the senators, members of the House of Representatives, and the supreme judges have been reached, and they have abundantly heard of the truth; and I believe, further, that they have not only heard of the truth, but the Spirit of God hath borne testimony to their spirits that this work called "Mormonism" is true, and therein will be their condemnation; not for fighting against us; not that they have passed laws and imprisoned a few of our brethren; not that they work inconvenience to the Latter-day Saints by driving hundreds of men, women and children into exile; but because they stifle in their own hearts the whisperings of God's Spirit. That is where the condemnation of this world will come in. Seeing the light they refuse to come to it. They love darkness rather than light, and that for the reason given by One of old, because their deeds are evil.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
Well, viewed, in this light, what of the sufferings of the Saints in the past few years? What if eleven hundred men and more have been imprisoned behind iron bars? Is there a man of them that would begrudge the little he has contributed in bearing this testimony to the great ones of the earth? No. Rather would one be sorry that he has contributed so little to the accomplishment of so great a work as that. Our sisters, too, have participated in it, and many rejoice in it; for they have given force and effect to the testimony that has been borne. In that, it seems to me, I can see the hand of the Lord; for the sisters as well as the brethren ought to be and are identified with this great testimony. By "Mormonism" becoming a national question in the United States, the attention of kings and princes and statesmen in foreign lands has been brought to the work, and they made its acquaintance. Everywhere these sufferings, if you call them such, to which we have submitted, have merely raised a standard for the work of God, and the attention of the world has been called to it. I do not believe it has been without a purpose. Again, we have been bearing testimony in another way. While the Elders have been traveling to and fro, preaching the Gospel, and thinking, perhaps, that they were the only ones who were bearing testimony to the work of God, the entire people of the Lord--men, women and children--have been silently building a testimony--preaching a sermon in granite; a sermon more far-reaching than all the testimony of all the Elders laboring abroad. It is erected in Salt Lake City, and the sermon in stone was dedicated to the Most High at our last April conference. I mean, of course, the Salt Lake Temple. What a wonderful effect that work has had! In the remarks of Brother Flygare this morning, I noticed that he attributes your increase of righteousness and unity in this stake of Zion to the completion and dedication of that holy house. Why, it has preached a better sermon among the people than the Apostles and Elders could preach. It has united the people together. It has brought them to repentance. It has had that effect right among the Saints of God in all the Stakes of Zion, and has reached the remotest wards where our people are organized. Then what think you of the testimony it is bearing to the world? Why, every tourist that comes to Salt Lake City takes an imprint of this sermon of ours back to his home. They stamp its image upon silver spoons, and they are being distributed everywhere. So with the pictures of it. And those who look upon it say: "Well, what did the Mormons build this Temple for, anyway?" "They built it for the administration of ordinances for the living and for the dead?" They administer baptism and other ordinances in it for those who died when a knowledge of the Gospel was not in the earth; and they not only believe that men can repent in the spirit world but that an acceptance of these Temple ordinances are necessary to their salvation. There goes with these engravings of the Temple an explanation of the doctrines and principles that that Temple represents; and by that means an explanation of the Gospel is made. Furthermore, something is learned about the Lord "suddenly coming to His Temple." "These Mormons out there anticipate the actual return of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are looking for it; they are preparing for it--preparing themselves to meet the kingdom of God when it shall come in power upon the earth; and they are preparing to meet their ancestors by performing ordinances in these temples for them, that there may be a complete welding together of all the families of the earth." These explanations carry the Gospel, and more or less of the Spirit of the Gospel, to the inhabitants of the earth. How widespread is that testimony which the Temple bears!
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
After your testimony comes the testimony of earthquakes, of cyclones, of the sea heaving itself beyond its bounds, saith the Lord; and the hearts of men shall fail them for fear of the things that shall come upon the inhabitants of the earth. We must look upon the testimony we have been bearing during the last few years not as consisting of the feeble few voices of the Elders preaching the Gospel here and there in the world, but as including the testimony which the entire people have been bearing of the truth, backed up by their suffering through exile and imprisonment. That has been a testimony which has reached the ears and hearts of the high and the great ones of our land. And now comes the testimony of this sermon of ours in stone; the testimony of the entire people represented in the Temple. Almost every man, woman and child in the Church has a voice in that sermon. Looking at it from these points of view, we have been accomplishing a great work during the past few years. And since we have been getting such a volume of testimony before the world, think ye not it all will hasten the accomplishment of the decrees of God? I believe it with all my heart. This is the work that the Lord intended His Church should accomplish, that is, warn the peoples of the earth of coming judgments, and call them to repentance. That is our mission, our chief business.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
Brethren and sisters, let us have no fears. The purposes of the Lord are ripening. His decrees will be accomplished; and, instead of retreating during the past few years, I believe we have been going forward with accelerated pace, with leaps and bounds. There is no such thing as retreat. The work of the Lord did not come here to retreat; it came here to accomplish the designs and purposes of Jehovah; and our enemies might just as well think of blowing out the sun with their breath as to destroy the work that the Lord has founded and has decreed shall stand. The world will not get rid of its difficulties, its perplexities and troubles; these will increase. The wisdom of Congress will not be sufficient to cope with the evils that exist in our land; and if they patch up a sore in one place, I tell you it will break out in another; for the whole body is sick and the head faint; our troubles are organic; the whole body must be cleansed of its corruption before health will return. The inhabitants of the earth must learn that prosperity, that peace, and those things which make for the good and happiness of mankind are bottomed on the principles of righteousness; and they must repent of their sins even though it be brought about by the judgments of God; for without that repentance there is no salvation, no end to their troubles. The Latter-day Saints, also, individually and collectively, are just as dependent upon the application of this principle as are other peoples in the earth.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
May the Lord bless us and help us to comprehend this great truth is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Collected Discourses, Vol.3, B. H. Roberts, July 16, 1893
B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
RELATIONSHIP OF MORMONISM TO CHRISTIANITY
_______________
DISCOURSE
Delivered by Elder B.H. Roberts,
in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Sunday, April 29, 1894.
Collected Discourses, Vol.4, B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
When requested by the brethren presiding in this meeting to address you, I expressed a dread of the task. It seems to me that I feel more at home in speaking to those who have no faith in the Gospel; because then I know that the principal thing to do is to incite faith in their minds. I happened to remember also that this congregation is privileged to hear the servants of God who are peculiarly blessed both with natural endowments and with the Spirit of the Lord, which enable them to instruct and encourage you in your duties. However, I am persuaded that anything which will increase the faith of the people is profitable to be considered; for not only is it the object of preaching, to create faith in the hearts of those who do not believe, but its purpose is also to strengthen the faith in the hearts of those who already believe.
Collected Discourses, Vol.4, B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
I think it profitable for Latter-day Saints to consider the relationship which "Mormonism" sustains to the rest of the religious world, as well as to try and comprehend the separate principles of which it is composed; and by becoming acquainted with that relationship, learn its importance and its grandeur; and by becoming acquainted with its importance and grandeur, learn to love it; and by learning to love it, learn to live in harmony with its requirements. For it seems to me that the only incentive needful to create devotion and love for the work of God is simply to know it; and that love, if pure and undefiled, will lead one to obey its requirements.
Collected Discourses, Vol.4, B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
The world, so far, has failed to read altogether the deep meaning of this religious phenomenon called "Mormonism;" but while it has not clearly understood its meaning, it has nevertheless struck at it. It has a wonderful message to bear to the world, this "Mormonism." It is a marvel and a wonder, just as one of the ancient prophets said it would be. It is a bold work, for it declares the whole modern Christian world in error and apostasy. To understand the relationship which this wonderful work sustains to modern Christianity it will be necessary to refer briefly to the views entertained of the Christian religion by the great divisions of Christendom.
Collected Discourses, Vol.4, B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
It is believed by the Roman Catholics that St. Peter, before the close of the first century, established the church at Rome; and from his seat of authority in that city governed the whole Church of Christ. They contend that to this Apostle (and in that they are right) there was a certain primacy accorded by his fellow Apostles; that unto him had been given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, with the power to bind on earth and have it bound in heaven, and to loose on earth and to have it loosed in heaven; and that the other Apostles were subject to his presidency. Hence, their theory is that the church which he founded, and over which he immediately presided, also had a certain primacy which should command the respect of all the other branches of the church and be recognized as the head of the Christian societies. Catholic tradition tells us that there succeeded to Peter one Linus, and after Linus, Anacletis, and after him, Clement of Rome; and so they will read you a list of the bishops who have succeeded to the presidency of the Church of Rome from Peter to Leo XIII, who now occupies the chair of St. Peter, succeeding to that primacy allowed to Peter by the Apostles. Thus they insist that there has been a continuous and unbroken line of authority from the days of Peter until now. Running parallel with that line of divine authority has come also a continuation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in all its essentials to salvation. And if there have been additions of rites and ceremonies, they have sprung from seeds sown in apostolic days--additions which contribute to a more successful worship of Deity, and an increase of spiritual life and morality in the church. This I understand to be the contention of the Catholic Church, and the claims which it makes that the Catholic Church of today is identical with, in fact, a continuation of the church founded by the labors of the divinely appointed Apostles of Jesus Christ. And though the church may not always have been healthy, it has at least continued to live.
Collected Discourses, Vol.4, B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
The position of Protestant Christendom is radically different to that of the Catholic Church. Protestants agree with Catholics that Jesus established His Church; that He brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel; that He divinely commissioned Apostles to preach the Gospel and evangelize the world. They believe these messengers of salvation visited many parts of the earth and carried the light of the Gospel with them wherever they went. But after a lapse of time abuses crept into the Church, corruption abounded, the simple form of Church government was transformed into a most splendid hierarchy, but one that was as corrupt as it was splendid. Idolatry crept into the Church; and image worship usurped the services of the true God. The laws of the Gospel were disobeyed; its ordinances were changed; and the Gospel was so far corrupted that the Master, when He came to look upon the Church He had founded, could not recognize it. Protestants insist that all sects, all parties, all divisions of Christendom were sunk in abominable idolatry--and that for more than eight hundred years. Such is the statement of the first great body of the Protestant sects--the Church of England. (See Homily on Perils of Idolatry, p.3)
Collected Discourses, Vol.4, B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
Another great reformer, explaining how it was that the Christians lost those spiritual gifts, so characteristic of the Saints of God in New Testament times, refuted the poor excuse that the reason why miraculous gifts ceased among Christians in the third and fourth centuries was because the whole world had become Christian and there was no further need of these extraordinary manifestations of the Holy Ghost. He calls attention, in his discourse upon this subject, to the fact that not one tenth part of the world had become Christian when these gifts and graces departed from the Church, and that those who were converted, in the main, were only nominally Christian. Said he, the reason why the gifts were no longer to be found in the Church was because the Christians had turned heathens again and only had a dead form left. This was John Wesley, one of the first of Protestant reformers. (Wesley's Works, sermon 89.) I do not mean first as to the time in which he began his work, but first as to the results which followed his labors. Protestants teach, then, that there has been a universal apostasy from the Gospel of Christ, and a destruction of the Church He founded; but Protestants would have us also believe that in the Reformation that occurred in the sixteenth century, under the leadership of Martin Luther and his associates, the errors of Rome were pushed aside; and that the Christian religion in all its simplicity and its beauty was restored to men; that the Gospel was rescued from absolute destruction and again proclaimed in power to the world; and that from that time, the sixteenth century, until now, the Gospel light then burning dim and low has been growing brighter and spreading until the whole earth is likely to be filled with its glory. That is their contention.
Collected Discourses, Vol.4, B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
What I wish now is to point out the relationship which Mormonism sustains to this great controversy. No one that is acquainted with the history of the Church of Christ, in the first centuries of its existence, can doubt for a moment that, as Protestants claim, abuses and corruptions crept into the church. Grievous wolves had entered into the fold, not sparing the flock. False teachers arose, by reason of whom the way of truth was evil spoken of. The people heaped to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they turned their ears away from the truth unto fables. There arose a power that became exalted above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. That power sat in the temple of God, showing to the world that it was God. It ruled the nations with a rod of iron; and instead of that mild government in the Church of Christ, which uses persuasion, knowledge, long suffering, kindness and love unfeigned as the sources of its power, it pushed aside these forces of government and usurped tyrannical powers, and placed its foot upon the necks of kings. The beautiful religion founded by Jesus Christ was replaced by the splendid forms of worship that were inaugurated to meet the demands of a pagan multitude of converts, until you could no longer recognize the simple Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The darkness which brooded over the world, the ignorance and superstition that abounded in the "Dark Ages," proclaim beyond all successful contradiction that the light of the Gospel had been withdrawn from the earth because of the corruptions of the people. That is the message which Mormonism bears to the world. It proclaims a universal apostasy from the true Christian religion. And to the various divisions of Protestant Christendom, Mormonism has this to say: that divine authority and the Gospel of Christ once having been taken from the earth, there is but one way by which that divine authority and the Gospel of Christ can be restored, viz.: by re-opening the heavens, and committing a new dispensation of the Gospel and the priesthood to men. That is what Mormonism claims to be, a new dispensation of the Gospel of Christ. It is not a new religion. It is the old religion brought again to the earth. It possesses all the simplicity of primitive Christianity; all its ordinances, all its gifts and graces, all its hopes and aspirations, and all its certainties and assurances concerning the reality of life, both here and in the life that is to come. That is what Mormonism is. That is the relationship it bears to the religious world, and to this great controversy between Protestants and Catholics.
Collected Discourses, Vol.4, B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
Now, as I take it, the task imposed upon the Latter-day Saints is to bear testimony of this great fact to the world; to extend a knowledge of this gospel to all people; that all the children of men may rejoice in the truths we have learned by accepting the revelations of God in this New Dispensation. We cannot claim that this truth is ours in any selfish sense. We cannot hug it to ourselves as being peculiarly our own. That course is the way to lose it, or, at least, to lose the sweetest and best blessings that come from it. I do not know that my thought is clear to you, and perhaps I had better illustrate what I mean by repeating to you one of the legends common among the peasantry of Russia--a legend I had the good fortune to hear Prince Serge Wolkonsky, of Russia, relate last summer. It is said by this legend that a poor woman condemned to eternal torment once saw an angel flying through the midst of heaven, and she called to him. So bewailing and distressing was her voice that the angel stopped in his flight to hear her complaint. Said she to him, "When you get to the Throne of God, I wish you would tell Him that there is a poor mortal down here suffering more than she can endure, and ask him to give me relief." At that the angel continued his flight and when he came into the presence of God, he related how he had been arrested on his way by the wailing cry of a poor woman, who was suffering more than she could endure. "Well," said the Lord, "return to her and ask her if in her lifetime she can remember to have done one good deed." The angel returned and put the question to her. The poor woman was perplexed, for she had indeed led a wicked life. For a long time she struggled with recollection, until at last her face brightened. "Oh," said she, "I have it. I once gave a carrot to a hungry beggar." This was reported by the angel to the Lord, who commanded him to return and to take a carrot and let her take hold of one end of it, "And," said he, "if it is strong enough to pull her out of her torment she shall be delivered." The carrot accordingly was extended to the poor woman; she laid hold of it in good earnest and the angel commenced to pull. To her infinite delight she found that she began to rise out of hell. Some of her fellow sinners, standing around and seeing that she was likely to escape, laid hold of her garments, and they too began to be drawn out of torment. Others, seeing this, also laid hold, until the poor woman began to be alarmed lest the carrot should break. She began kicking and screaming and cried, "Let go! Let go!" but they clung the harder and seemed determined not to miss this chance of escape. The poor woman at last in her desperation cried out, "Let go! the carrot is mine!" And no sooner did she say "The carrot is mine," that it snapped, and they all sank back into hell.
Collected Discourses, Vol.4, B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
Behind this simple legend stands a great truth. It illustrates the thought I want to carry home to your hearts. This great truth, the fulness of which is contained in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is not ours in any selfish sense. We cannot cry, "It is mine;" for the moment we do it, selfishness creeps in, and selfishness is the death knell of salvation in the soul of man. No; the truth is God's just as the good deed of the poor woman's was God's. It is not for us alone, but for all the children of Deity. Our first duty is, having found the way of escape from the consequences of sin; and having had born within our breasts aspirations that reach up to God and His Throne--I hold it to be our first duty to proclaim these glad tidings to all the world, that our Father's children may lay hold of the truth, and by clinging to it be saved in the Kingdom of God. The truth will not break; it is strong enough to bring all the children of our Father in heaven into that degree of glory that their intelligence is capable of enjoying. Jesus read aright the truth when he said, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." The power of his atonement and of the Gospel growing out of it is sufficient for all mankind. And the favored few who are the first to put their feet upon the rounds of the ladder of truth, leading upward to God, should look around and induce as many to join them as possible in the grand procession.
Collected Discourses, Vol.4, B. H. Roberts, April 29, 1894
One of the grand things about this New Dispensation is that it is a work in which all may take part. I care not how humble their lives may be, there is not one but may join in the great work. It is not confined to the few gifted sons of Israel, clothed with the Priesthood, and called to travel in the world and cry repentance to the people, proclaiming the glad tidings that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. One of the chief thoughts that came to me in connection with completing the Temple that stands on this block was this: It is a sermon in stone, a sermon that will affect more people than the voice of any elder, however successful he might be in the ministry. It is a sermon preached by the whole people. Every man, woman and child that has contributed a mite towards the erection of that structure has a voice in the great sermon which it preaches. In like manner individual actions may contribute to the character of a people; and Mormonism will be better known hereafter from the character of the whole Church and the work which the Church performs than by any individual labor that will be done in the way of preaching the Gospel. May the Lord bless you, Amen.
B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
THE SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL
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DISCOURSE
Delivered by Elder B.H. Roberts,
at the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
April 26, 1896.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
I will read part of the Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, commencing with the second chapter of the second epistle:--
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition;
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [hindereth] will let [hinder,] until he be taken out of the way.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
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And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
That they might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
I have read this scripture for the reason that it bears upon a very important subject, and one with which the great latter-day work is intimately associated. It is a prophecy by the great Apostle of the Gentiles to the effect that before the coming of the day of the Lord Jesus when He should come in the glory of His Father to reward every man according to his works, the power of Lucifer should be manifested in the earth, and a power not of God should be exalted "above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God."
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
This is not the only prediction on the subject that the great Apostle left on record. It seemed to be almost constantly in his mind, and in almost every epistle which he wrote to the saints he says something about it. When returning from that great second mission of his, enroute to Jerusalem by way of Ephesus he sent word to all the elders to be gathered together that he might address them. When meeting with them he charged them about their duties in presiding over the flock of Christ--a position given to them by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; and he warned them to watch the flock of Christ, "for," said he, "I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." You all remember the great admonition that he sent to his beloved Timothy, when he told him to be instant in season and out of season, to preach and expound, to warn and reprove and rebuke, with all long-suffering and righteousness; "for," said he, "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts will they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
And so the messages and warnings of this Apostle are burdened with predictions of a turning away from the truth and of the rising of a power called anti-christ in the world.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Nor are such predictions confined to the writings of Paul alone; but through all the letters, through all the biographies that make up the New Testament you will find reference to the same great theme, until one is driven to the conclusion, either that the children of men unto whom was committed that dispensation of the Gospel would be untrue to it, transgress the laws, change its ordinances, and break the everlasting covenant, or else that the great volume of inspired predictions concerning it must fall unfulfilled.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
I make these remarks by way of an introduction to a subject I wish to discuss briefly, if I can obtain the liberty of the Spirit of the Lord; and I speak of this prophecy because there is underlying it a great fact with which the work of God in this dispensation has to deal.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
During the last week the announcement has been made through the public press of several reasons why the Latter-day Saints cannot be fellowshipped as Christians by other Christian denominations. I think ten reasons in all are published why we cannot be held in fellowship with at least one of the prominent Christian sects. It is not my purpose on this occasion to undertake to review all of these reasons that are set forth. I may be able only to consider one or two of them. But one of the reasons set forth why we cannot be accepted in fellowship with them as a Christian sect is because Mormonism, so-called, "unchurches" all Christian sects and denominations--by which I understand them to mean that we do not recognize them as possessed of the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the divine authority to administer its ordinances.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Our position with reference to this subject grows out of the fulfillment of these predictions of Holy Writ concerning the destruction of the Christian Church and of the universal apostasy from the Gospel; and, at least in a certain sense, I do not know but the position taken by the sect in question [the Presbyterian Church in Utah] upon this particular head is correct; for when the Prophet Joseph in secret prayer enquired of God which out of all the Christian churches He acknowledged as His Church, he was told that God acknowledged none of them--that the professors of religion drew near to Him with their lips, and with their mouths they honored Him, but their hearts were far from Him. So that we have, as I take it, no right to complain when our Christian friends say that we "unchurch" them--that is, if they mean by that that we consider them as not having the fulness of the Gospel and divine authority to administer its ordinances. There is no occasion for being timid on this subject. The very existence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presupposes that the world had gone wrong, that the world had corrupted the Gospel of Jesus Christ and hence there was a necessity for the restoration of the Gospel, and a restoration of the Priesthood of God to administer in its ordinances and proclaim it to the world. If this had not been the condition of mankind before Mormonism, so called, had its existence, then there would be no place for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Again, the Lord has been very emphatic about this matter. In the revelation given as a preface to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, after speaking of giving strength to the Prophet Joseph and his associates to bring forth the Book of Mormon and to translate it by the power of God, he says:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
And also that those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this Church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the Church collectively and not individually.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
There is no halfway ground here. The Lord clearly declares that this Church, which He had given His servants strength to organize, is the "only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth."
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Now, because we make this declaration our Christian friends take exceptions to our course, and look upon us as being exclusive, narrow, bigoted, and accuse us of "unchurching" them. Well, we will have to bear the accusation of being narrow, and contracted, and bigoted; but this is the truth. If it is not true, let me repeat, Mormonism is a deception and a fraud, and is not what it pretends to be. But is Mormonism a Christian religion? If to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as God manifested in the flesh--if to accept Jesus Christ as the means by and through which we shall obtain salvation, and whose atonement was necessary to bring redemption to the children of men--if hope in Jesus Christ as a means of the resurrection and the power thereof, and through whose atonement we are not only set free from the transgression of our first parents, but through whom also we receive forgiveness of our sins on condition of obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel--if to accept this thoroughly and altogether, constitutes a people Christian, then the Latter-day Saints have first right and claim to be considered Christians; for these doctrines concerning Christ we accept in their full height, and breadth, and depth, and we believe as fervently as any of them--aye, and more abundantly too--that there is no other name given among men whereby we can be saved, except the name of the Only Begotten Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
The position of the Catholic Church is that from the days of Jesus Christ and His Apostles until now there has been a continuation of divine authority in the line of succession to that authority which Christ conferred upon Peter, which gave him power to bind on earth and to have it bound in heaven, and to loose on earth and have it loosed in heaven; that while there may have been periods of great wickedness, and here and there a corrupt Pope, yet there has been a continuation of all necessary doctrines in the Church for the salvation of the people. They believe that these conditions have prevailed from the days of Jesus until now--from Peter to Pope Leo XIII.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Protestants, on the other hand, maintain that while the Church of Christ was established; that while Jesus organized His Church, and delivered to men His precepts and His commandments, and gave them hope of eternal life, yet during the dark ages men corrupted the Gospel, the Popes became very antichrist, sat in the temple of God, usurped powers and authority which were contrary to the will of God and His hand-dealings with the children of men, and corrupted the Gospel. So that if the Mormon people, to use the Utah Presbyterian phrase, unchurch them, the Protestants in turn unchurch their Catholic brethren; and if they had not found it necessary to so unchurch the followers of the Bishop of Rome, there would be no excuse whatever for the existence of the Protestant sects. Their position, however, is this: That while the Gospel was corrupted, and its divine precepts hidden under the rubbish of human tradition, and Catholic Bishops had become antichrist, or his agents, yet during the period of the reformation in the sixteenth century such men as Luther, Zwingle, Carolstadt, Calvin and Knox revived the simple religion of Jesus Christ. But their position is weak as water for the reason that if divine authority was lost, if the Gospel of Jesus Christ had become corrupted and taken from among men, then the only way under heaven by which there could be a restoration of these things was by the re-opening of the heavens, committing a new dispensation of the Gospel to the earth, and re-conferring divine authority upon some of the children of men by those who held the keys and powers thereof in former ages. This became an absolute necessity; and if they contend, as they do, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was corrupted and divine authority lost, they themselves must see how illogical is their position when they undertake to say that men by their own wisdom and learning restored that which they had not the power to restore.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
The position of the Latter-day Saints upon this question is this: They believe, as fervently as either Catholic or Protestant, that the religion of Jesus Christ was founded by Him; that to the Apostles He gave a commandment to go into all the world to preach the Gospel. But they believe, too, with the Protestants, that the time came when through a combination of circumstances--through the bitter and relentless persecutions which came upon the early Christians, both from the heathens and from the Jews, by which persecution, continuing through three long centuries, the servants of God were slain, and naught but weak and timorous men were left to maintain the truths which God had revealed, and that these men, when Christianity came into favor, as it did in the reign of Constantine, were easily induced to engraft upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ heathen notions of God, and accepted part of the heathen mythology and blended this with fragments of Christian truth still held by them, until the plain and simple Gospel, as delivered to the people by Jesus and the Apostles, lost all semblance of its former self. Thus a reign of prosperity and of luxury following upon the heels of their persecution swamped them in a mixture of truth and error; and through successive trials of this character and constantly increasing corruption, men who had received divine authority were withdrawn from the people, and the world was left in darkness. We believe that. But we believe that in this dispensation the God of heaven, in fulfillment of numerous predictions of Holy Writ, has restored both the Gospel in its fulness, and the power and authority to administer in its ordinances, and made men witnesses for God in the earth. This dispensation of the Gospel is the dispensation of the fulness of times, into which will be blended all the former dispensations, even as all streams find a unity in the ocean into which, directly or indirectly, they at last flow. This is the work committed unto us. This is the work that rests upon us to establish in the earth, and which shall grow and increase until it fills the whole earth.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Now I want to defend this work against the charge of its being narrow, and those who accept it as being bigots; for with these things are we charged, and they stand in the way of reaching the world, and even our friends that are about us. Is this Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have received a bigoted religion? For the life of me, I have never been able to regard it in that light. On the contrary, I have found more liberality, more hope, more humanity in it than in any of the sects or religions that it has been my fortune to examine. You take, for example, a statement in the Book of Mormon where the Prophet Alma, in one of those moments of ecstasy which came to him by reason of his success in the work of the ministry, when his heart was filled with a desire that he might with the tongue of an angel proclaim the Gospel to all peoples; and while in the very midst of his joy the Spirit of the Lord seemed to reprove him, for he says,
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Why should I desire that I was an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth?
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For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word; yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have, therefore, we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
I may challenge all that has ever been written by Christian priests, however broad and liberal, that will equal in its liberality this single passage in the Book of Mormon. I now understand why it was that among that great horde of God's children in Asia a Confucius was raised up to teach them, if not a religion, at least a philosophy that should stand in very good stead of a religion, containing nearly all the primary virtues of morality taught by religion. I can understand now why it was that among the people of India a Buddha was raised up to teach them divine precepts, which, if not embracing the fulness of the truth, at least contained enough to bring them from midnight darkness into twilight of truth. I can understand now why it was that among the Arabians, descendants of Abraham, a Mahomet was raised up to take the people from worshipping images of wood and stone and lead their minds to greater heights, to better conceptions of God and His attributes. And so among the nations of Europe I can understand why a Luther, a Wesley, a Calvin, and a Knox, and all the reformers who have struggled towards the light, were raised up. I can see that God has been dealing mercifully with all His children, leading them along and giving them that portion of the truth which they could receive, and which they would not reject. I say, here is breadth, here is liberality, here is disclosed the wisdom of God, and the fatherhood of God, is caring in a wise manner for all His children. Tell me, where is there anything narrow or contracted in this?
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Then again, I read in the revelations of God concerning the nations and generations of men who have lived on the earth when neither the Gospel nor the divine authority to administer it was here, and I am taught that where no law is given there the people will be judged without the law, according to the mercy and the grace of God. Our choir sometimes sings,
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Seek no crop where 'twas not planted,
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Nor a day where reigns the night.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
We look not for men to be judged by the Gospel of Jesus Christ in those generations that have lived not under its precepts and commandments. But broader grows the view as you approach the subject. If the religion of the Latter-day Saints is the narrow, contracted, and bigoted religion that it is believed to be, how is it that it teaches that the very heathen shall have part in the first resurrection? If it is a narrow and bigoted religion, supposed to consign those who do not accept its teachings now to endless misery and woe, what is the meaning of these temples erected to the name of the Most High God? What means this work in those sacred structures, not alone for the living, but for the dead? What means the binding together of all the generations of men in the family associations? Why, it means that there is a deeper understanding with the Saints of the term "the everlasting Gospel," than that entertained by the world. It means that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is as eternal as He Himself is; that the everlasting Gospel walks beside the race of God's children, that its precepts and ordinances by the wisdom of God will forever be made available unto His children, and that the actions of men in this finite state will not meet with infinite, never ending misery and woe; but when the sons and daughters of God, with humble spirit and repentant heart, shall stretch out their hand towards God the Father they shall find that His hand has always been outstretched to them, and that it was only waiting until the heart could be broken, until the spirit could become penitent, until obedience could be yielded to the everlasting Gospel, to grasp theirs and lead them from darkness to light. This is what Mormonism teaches; is there anything narrow and contracted in such a religion?
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
I observe in one of the declarations of the Presbytery held at Spanish Fork, that they set it forth--and I speak of it because they undertake to justify their assertion by reference to a publication of mine--that those who do not accept the person and the mission of Joseph Smith are heretics and are to become sons of perdition.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
It is scarcely necessary in this congregation for me to say that Mormonism does not teach any such doctrine as that. I am sure that I have never taught it. Indeed, I am rather of the opinion that men cannot be sons of perdition until they do receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ, until they themselves hold part of God's authority in the Holy Priesthood, and that having come to the light and to the possession of this power they then do violence to it by becoming traitors to God, and by denying the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by altogether turning away from the Gospel. I am of the opinion that no man can become subject to the same condemnation that rests upon Lucifer until he commits the same sin that Lucifer committed; then, and then only, can like condemnation fall upon him, and that cannot be until he has tasted the good word of God and partaken of His power. Therefore, our friends are mistaken when they say that we teach that those who do not accept the testimony of Joseph Smith and the work that he was the instrument of establishing, become sons of perdition.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
But I am not here to say smooth things, even to please our friends, and would tell them all frankly that by rejecting this message, by closing their hearts against it, they come under great condemnation, because, as in the days of the Savior, light has come into the world, and because men turn away from the light, therefore condemnation rests upon them. But our religion teaches us that in the great future men shall be raised from the dead, and judgment shall be passed upon them; that they shall be judged in that justice and mercy that is resident in the breast of God the Father; that to every son and to every daughter there shall be awarded that degree of glory and of exaltation to which their faith, and devotion, and worthiness entitle them, and which their intelligence can comprehend and enjoy; and that as the stars in heaven differ one from another in degree of brightness, so in the world to come shall differ in degree of exaltation and greatness, and development, and progress, the reward and blessing that shall be afforded to the children of men.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
If there is any taint or stain of bigotry, injustice, or narrowness connected with these doctrines, for the life of me I cannot comprehend where it comes in. But let me scan the theology, the teachings of Protestant and Catholic alike, and enquire of them, what becomes of those whom you have not converted to the Christian religion? After nineteen centuries of favorable opportunity to spread abroad in the world a knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you have not yet reached, even up to this year of grace 1896, more than about one-fourth of the inhabitants of the earth. What of those millions outside the pale of your churches? And what of those who have perished without the Gospel through all the centuries of the Christian era? What of all the untold millions of the inhabitants of America, who, like the leaves upon the trees in the forests, have fallen silently, unknown by you, unreached by your missionaries! Is there anything in your teaching, is there anything in your conception of the plan of salvation that reaches out to these untold millions of God's children the hand that has power to save? What is your answer? Come! on this question of narrowness and of being bigoted, where is your breadth! Nay, we may ask you, what is your teaching and your doctrine in respect to innocent infancy that passes away by the million without the sacrament of your baptism? Are you in any position to talk of bigotry and of narrowness when you speak of other religions?
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
I do not dwell upon these themes with any degree of anger or unpleasantness. But I would wish that our friends not of our faith could understand the glory, could understand the height, the depth, and the profoundness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I wish they could be led to comprehend what the future of man is as that Gospel teaches it. It seems to me that then the finger would be placed upon the lip that would characterize the doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ as believed in by the Latter-day Saints as a narrow, contracted religion.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
But, my brethren and sisters, let me say this: If our friends come to the conclusion that they cannot fellowship us as Christians; if we cannot say to them that they have the fulness of the Gospel and divine authority to proclaim it and administer its ordinances; if we must mutually "unchurch" each other in this way, let us do so at least in Christian charity on our part, and with no malice towards anyone; and if we cannot meet, as, perhaps, in strict logic we cannot--though, perchance, we would go farther than they would in making concessions in this--we acknowledge that they hold many precious truths within their creeds and their doctrines. When the Gospel was taken from the earth and divine authority removed from among men, God was gracious enough to leave behind in the world the written word, which, though fragmentary, yet contains precious gems of truth; and that so far as Christian sects embraced those truths--nay, and for that matter, so far as so called heathen religions embraced the same truths--so much is good that they have. You know after the sun sets there is still a twilight left in the heavens; and after the twilight passes away in a sea of glory, and the sable mantle of night overspreads the sky, God has permitted the stars to shine through, to break away absolute darkness, that in this light men may walk with some degree of safety. And so when the Gospel of Jesus Christ was taken from the earth, fragments of it were left to reflect some of its glow, some of its truth, and our Father, in His kindness and goodness, did not leave the inhabitants of the earth to total darkness. Some mighty spirits He has raised up also, in His providence, to seize these great fragments of Christian truth and hold them up as beacon lights unto the people, to keep them partly in the way until the sun in the fulness of the everlasting Gospel should again shed its golden light over all the earth. He did this for the children of men; and our Christian friends that have taken these truths and treasured them up in their hearts are to be congratulated, and for their fidelity to these fragments of truth how great is our admiration! But, as I was going to remark, if we cannot in strict logic, recognize our Christian friends as possessing the fulness of truth, let us never forget that there is something we can do: we can recognize in each other fellow citizens of the same commonwealth, children of the self-same God, all heirs to salvation, all entitled to the same political rights and liberties. We can be kind neighbors; we can all be good citizens. And if on doctrinal points we cannot altogether come to see eye to eye, we can become united in upholding a high standard of morality in the community, and can protect each other in the enjoyment of all our rights and liberties as citizens of the same commonwealth. Now that our Utah is clothed fully in the robes of her sovereignty, I hope, for one, to see her become a model commonwealth in the great American Union; acknowledging and preserving to all the people, irrespective of religious creeds and differences of opinion, the liberties and immunities that belong to American citizens. Here in this land I hope to see realized the dream of one of our early poets, who, in one of our hymns, has said:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Come, ye Christian sects, and pagan,
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Pope and Protestant and priest;
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Worshipers of God or Dagon,
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Come ye to fair Freedom's feast.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Come, ye sons of doubt and wonder,
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Indian, Moslem, Greek, or Jew;
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
All your shackles burst asunder;
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
Freedom's banner waves for you.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
I do hope, I say, to see that spirit pervade the hearts of the people of this commonwealth. I do hope to see all fear dismissed from the hearts of the Latter-day Saints first of all, that there will be any interference with their rights and their liberties as American citizens. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, beginning with bringing us liberty, is never intended to end in bondage; and the Latter-day Saints may now take it for granted, and they need never permit any doubt to enter their hearts, that their freedom is secure. God has intended that His people shall be free, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ comes breathing the spirit of freedom unto the people. It not only begets the spirit of freedom and the love of it in your own hearts, but it enlarges the mind, it exalts the understanding, it purifies the thought, and makes those who receive it willing that the rights they ask for themselves shall be granted with equal liberality to others. This is the spirit of the Gospel.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
My friends and brethren, these are the last times--we live in the dispensation of the fulness of times. When Paul sorrowfully went from branch to branch of the Church, exhorting the presidents of branches to be diligent, laboring in season and out of season, day and night, he was overshadowed by the great sorrow that all his work must end in confusion, that a black pall of darkness would settle over the world, and men would themselves arise to draw away disciples after them and corrupt the truth which he delivered unto the Church; yet he labored on in patience, and sometimes I have wondered how it was that he did not sink down under the appalling certainty that the Church of Christ would be destroyed and in the temples of God there would sit a power that would exalt itself above all that is called God and lord it over God's heritage. I have wondered, I say, that he did not sink down under that awful premonition that seemed to haunt him in all his labors. But we live in no such day. We live in the last times, when we have the sure word of God given to us, that the Aaronic Priesthood shall not again be taken from the earth till the sons of Levi offer an offering in righteousness to the Lord; when the Melchisedek Priesthood shall not be taken again from the earth as it was in the days of Moses. The Lord has chosen His servants. He knows their spirits and He knows their fidelity. And there is no time to allow these men to corrupt again the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or so far abuse the Holy Priesthood that is given to them that they will exercise unrighteous dominion over their fellow servants. That will not be done; neither will the Church be destroyed, nor will darkness again settle over the earth.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, April 26, 1896
I join my young brother in bearing testimony to this great work and to the spirit and power of it. This is a day of rejoicing among the Latter-day Saints, if only by faith they will drive away the mists of darkness that the Prince of the power of the air seeks to enshroud them in, and cling to the truth as God has revealed it. I tell you the sun of happiness and peace will arise in your hearts and you will know that God lives, and that this work that He has established in the earth is the truth. May the Lord bless you. Amen.
B. H. Roberts, June 21, 1896
MORMONISM: THE FORCE WHICH UNITES AND BLENDS ALL TRUTH
________________
DISCOURSE
Delivered by Elder B.H. Roberts,
in the Eighteenth Ward Chapel,
Salt Lake City,
Sunday Evening, June 21, 1896.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, June 21, 1896
My experience teaches me that the truths of the gospel are seen by us as the blind man of Bethsaida saw men when Jesus partly restored to him his sight. After anointing his eyes, Jesus asked him if he could see. His reply was, "I can see men as trees walking," and the Savior had to administer to him a second time before he could see clearly. There are great truths connected with the gospel that appear to me in this shadowy, undefined way, and I very frequently wish that I could see them more clearly than I do. There is one truth that I now thus see. It is this: Mormonism is the uniting force of all truth. It draws, so to speak, through all time a golden thread which links together every truth under the sun. It is the one great ocean into which all the streams of truth flow and unite. Eventually it will feed all the streams of truth in the world. I wish I were able to impress this great truth upon your minds as sometimes I feel it has been impressed upon my own. I remember the first time the thought ever occurred to me. I was visiting one of our mining camps, and went through the stamping mills, where ore in its rudest form is treated until the dross of dirt and rock and sand are taken out of it and the metal united together in a mass. I remember only in a general and ill-defined way the process through which the ore was put. But it was first thrown into a kiln, where it was thoroughly dried or roasted. It was then shifted from there into the stamping mill, where it was ground fine as flour. From there it was shot into a furnace, where it was converted into a molten stream, and while in that condition it was run into great iron receptacles, and there quicksilver was added to the mass. As soon as the quicksilver was dropped into that mass of ground up and liquified ore--rock, sand and metal--a peculiar transformation took place. The quicksilver had the remarkable property of attracting to itself all the metals, especially the silver, and the gold, and the copper, and then leaking away in tiny silvery streams, to be gathered up and used again for the same purpose. As I stood watching that process the thought came to me that the part taken by the quicksilver in this process really illustrated the place that what men call "Mormonism" occupies in relation to the great mass of truth that is to be found in all the world; that is, as quicksilver cast into these iron pots, from the whole mass of dross attracted together all the precious metals, so likewise Mormonism, cast into the confused truth of the world, draws it together in one body; unites and explains it, in fact, and shows it to be consistent from the beginning of time to the end of time. Now whether or not I can make that thought clear, explain it to your understanding, I do not know; but that is the task I have proposed to myself on this occasion.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, June 21, 1896
To begin with, I call your attention to the condition of mankind. I ask you to look at the races of men as you find them today in all the variety of circumstances and conditions in the midst of which they exist in the world. These conditions have been very puzzling to the philosophers, and great infidels have not been slow to argue from this variety of conditions, that it is impossible to conceive that a just God could permit these inequalities to exist, especially if, as the scriptures declare, He is no respecter of persons. For example take a benighted son of darkest Africa, born and living in a condition of absolute and degrading barbarism out of which it is impossible for him to rise. On the other hand, the extreme of that condition, you find other men born in the midst of enlightened nations, of favored parentage, surrounded by everything that can contribute to their enlightenment, to their progress in knowledge, intelligence and morality. Between these two extremes to which I have called your attention, all varieties of conditions may be found, in circumstances that contribute more or less to the morality, the progress, and advancement of the individual. You see one born in a palace, another in a hovel. You see one born of princes, another of paupers. Why all this difference? As I remarked, the infidel makes this a groundwork upon which to impeach the justice and the mercy of God, even among Christians themselves there is a mass of confused ideas relating to the variety of circumstances in the midst of which races and also individuals find themselves. Philosophy has exhausted itself in searching out a reason, and has failed to give a satisfactory explanation of the strange phenomena. But Mormonism comes, and into this seething cauldron it throws a few revelations from God, and the whole is explained. The Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored to the earth tells us that this is not the first estate in which man has lived, but that that part of him which is spirit had a previous probation, had a previous existence, and that in that existence there were various grades of intelligences, there were various degrees of faithfulness and devotion to the truth. We are informed through modern revelation that man, at least to some extent, and perhaps to a very great extent, is rewarded in this life for that degree of faithfulness that he exhibited in that pre-existent state; and that the variety of circumstances under which men and women live here is but the result, is but the station, for which they fitted themselves in that pre-existent state. That being true, that men and women receive in this life that which they merited, and that which their acquired degree of fidelity and enlightenment entitled them to, that sweeps away at once the groundwork that the infidel has established for impeaching the justice of God, and we find that these conditions existing here are but the outgrowth of causes that existed and operated in the sphere in which we lived before we came here. It is in this way, on this particular phase of the subject, that Mormonism draws the thread of consistency through all those facts that we see, and that is what I mean when I say that Mormonism is the uniting force of all truth and of all fact in the world.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, June 21, 1896
Let me try and illustrate this in another way. A few years ago, perhaps some of you will remember, I was called upon to represent the Church of Jesus Christ in the Parliament of Religions. Of course you all know, too, that they wouldn't have me in that Parliament, but my attempt to get into that Parliament was not altogether without good results, at least to me personally. It afforded me an opportunity to listen day after day to an exposition of the faith of nearly all religions in the world. I there had an opportunity of listening to an explanation of the religion of Brahma, of the Buddhist religion, of the Philosophy of Confucius and Zoroaster, and of the Mohammedan religion, and in short, of nearly all the religions, with the single exception of my own. In connection with other Christians, I was very much astonished at the amount of truth to be found in all these systems of religion. What seemed to particularly astonish the Christian representatives in the Parliament was to discover so many truths in what they have been pleased to call the heathen religions, that were facsimiles of the truths in Christianity. Some of our writers, especially infidel writers, both since that Parliament of religions and before it, have undertaken to prove that Christianity was not an original religion with Jesus Christ, that is, they insist that Jesus Christ copied his precepts, his ordinances, and the religious and fundamental truths of his religion from the religions of the orient. Only this afternoon in looking through a part of my library, I discovered a work by a Dr. Greaves, in which he discusses the existence of sixteen crucified redeemers of the world, chiefly among the Grecians, the Persians, and the Hindoos. His production is simply marvelous, for, in the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, in His healing the sick, the moral precepts which He taught, His crucifixion, resurrection, and promise to come again, Dr. Greaves parallels all these important truths out of the religions that have obtained in these ancient nations, until he definitely points to sixteen persons who well nigh parallel the life of Jesus Christ, and also the fundamental precepts of morality which He taught. Colonel Ingersoll, David Hume, Voltaire and others have followed the same line of reasoning, until they have come to the general conclusion that the religion of Jesus Christ is simply a reconstruction of the religious ideas that existed in the east. In the Parliament of Religions, very many of the truths of Christianity came out very prominently, and that circumstance puzzles beyond measure our Christian friends. But here again, if Mormonism is permitted to cast in the quicksilver of truth, you shall find a reasonable explanation of how it is that in these oriental religions, even previous to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, there existed so much of the Christian scheme of salvation in the various religions that they advocated. The revelations of God to the Prophet Joseph Smith develop the fact that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ did not have its origin with the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ in the earth, but it was preached "aforetime" unto the ancients. Jesus is called, if you remember, the "Lamb slain from before the foundations of the earth." The plan of salvation was formulated, the Savior was chosen, and the plan accepted by the sons and daughters of God as they sang together and shouted for joy long before the earth on which we live was created. Mormonism teaches that a short time after our first parents had been expelled from Eden they were commanded to offer sacrifice in burnt offerings, and this they did for some time without knowing the reason why. But presently an angel was sent from the presence of God, and he asked the question of Adam why he offered sacrifice. Adam's reply was, "I know not, save that the Lord commanded me." Then the heavenly messenger went on to explain that this thing that Adam had been commanded to do was a facsimile of the atonement, or rather a memento, a foreshadowing rather, of the atonement the Son of God would make for sinful man. And Adam was taught the principle of faith in this Redeemer, Christ; and he was taught repentance of sin, and baptism for the remission of sin, and was himself baptized, and the Holy Ghost was shed forth upon him, and gave him a knowledge that God lived, and that the Gospel was the power of God unto salvation. And this he taught to his children and to his children's children. Enoch being especially a minister of this Gospel to the people of his generation, and so far purified his people by his teaching and leading them in the way of life that at last they had reached that high state of perfection that privileged them to be translated, and the Scriptures say, "Enoch was not, for God had taken him unto Himself." Thus we see that the Gospel was known and was taught in its power and in its fulness in those ancient times, and men were instructed to look forward to the time that Jesus Christ would make His atonement, as we now--this side of that atonement--look back to it; and whether looking back to it or forward to it, it had the same power of bringing immortality to light through the Gospel of the Son of God and the atonement that He made for man. The Scriptures themselves teach this truth, and I am very much astonished sometimes to find that Christians believe that the religion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ began some 1900 years ago.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, June 21, 1896
In relation to this point, I am reminded of a little experience that I had once in the state of Tennessee, when a young man preaching the Gospel there. I was challenged to a discussion, and the subject to be discussed was the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. My opponent took the ground that if he could prove the Book of Mormon a fraud, then Mormonism would be a fraud also. I remember that he asked me if I would accept that issue, to which I replied in the affirmative, and that was his business to prove that the Book of Mormon was untrue. One of the things that he brought against the Book of Mormon was the fact that it taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ in great plainness before Jesus Christ was born into the world. It taught faith in Christ, repentance of sin and baptism, and the reception of the Holy Ghost, and the resurrection of the dead; and he claimed that this circumstance alone stamped the Book of Mormon as untrue and a fraud. Now, it seems to me that if my opponent had been familiar with his own scripture, with King James' translation of the Bible, he ought to have known that this truth was susceptible of ample scriptural proof, because it is written there in very great plainness. It is recorded in the Book of Galatians that "the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham," and then in a subsequent verse the Apostle asks this question: "Wherefore then serveth the law?" That is, if the Gospel was preached unto Abraham, how is it that we have the law of Moses--"Wherefore then serveth the law?" And the answer that the Apostle gives is, "It was added because of transgression until the seed should come." Hence the law, he continues to argue, "was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ; but now that Christ is come we are no longer under a schoolmaster." That is, the Gospel was taught to Abraham as it had been taught to the Patriarchs before his time; aye, even before the flood the Gospel was taught, but man could not live up to the high requirements of its moral precepts. Unto Israel the Gospel was preached, the writer of the Hebrews informs us in this language, saying: "Unto us" [meaning the people of his own generation], "unto us is the Gospel preached as well as unto them," [referring unto ancient Israel], "but the word preached profited not because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it." That was the difficulty, and he goes on to warn his people lest they, too, having the Gospel preached to them, should not mingle therewith that faith that would lay hold of it and make it unto them the power of God unto salvation. So that unto Abraham, unto ancient Israel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was taught. And Paul says again unto the Corinthians: "I would not have you ignorant that all our fathers were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and they did eat of that spiritual meat, and they did drink of that spiritual drink, for they drank of that rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ." So that the scriptures themselves here, in which our friends profess a belief, as well as the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price, teach the antiquity of the Gospel. And herein is the explanation of these fragments of Gospel truth held by the religions of the Orient, of India, Persia, Egypt and some portions of Japan and of China--these fragments of Christian truth and Gospel ordinances. These fragments were broken off from the Church of Christ, from the teachings of the Gospel in those very ancient days, and those races have long held to those truths, which they learned from the Patriarchs, and having built around them the rubbish of their tradition and their own vain philosophy, present them now to the world, and the Christian world is astonished, unable to account for their existence among those races. Infidels claim that Christianity was derived from these fragments, whereas, as a matter of fact, these fragments were broken from Christianity as taught by the ancient Patriarchs. Thus Mormonism again collects together these fragments of truth, and gives this explanation for their existence, and destroys the argument of the infidel. Why, bless your heart, as we sometimes would get up from the sittings of those parliaments and pass out with the great crowd, after hearing the speeches and the doctrines discussed, we could hear men say that the heathen had almost as good a religion as the Christians had, as indeed they had. And not infrequently it happened the heathen could reprove the Christian, and could exhibit the fact that he possessed more truth in some particulars than the Christians did themselves. The trouble simply was that the Christians, so-called, were no better off than the heathens, for those truths that the Christians had were but fragments of the gospel, not the gospel in its fulness; and as these old heathen nations had fragments of Christianity broke off from the teachings of the Patriarchs and Prophets in ancient days, so our Christian friends had but fragments of the truth that had been taught by Jesus and his Apostles, and it requires Mormonism to unite into one consistent whole the fragments of truth held by Christian sects and denominations, as well as to unite the fragments of truth possessed by the older heathen nations. Thus again I hope you see my thought, that as quicksilver draws together the precious metals, so Mormonism draws together these fragments of truth, both in the old heathen races and also among the Christian peoples.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, June 21, 1896
Now we might go on with this indefinitely, if time would permit. But there is one other circumstance to which I surely must call your attention, and that is this: Christians are considerably troubled to know what answer to make to those who ask them questions in relation to the condition of heathen nations, and of those who have lived and died on the earth without the gospel--for there have been long periods of time in which the gospel has not been on the earth, and then there are whole races and nations who have not heard the gospel when, according to the theory of Christians, the gospel has been upon the earth. From the fall of Adam to the coming of Christ, that immense gap, covering the greater period of man's existence upon the earth, the condition of them that then lived, and the degree and means of salvation to them are unknown and unexplainable by our Christian friends. They do not believe that there is any method or means by which the gospel of Jesus Christ can be made to apply to those races, to those people living in those generations, and they are in this predicament: either they must deny salvation to those races, and the people living in those ages, or else they are driven to the conclusion that man can be saved without the gospel of Jesus Christ. But here is another difficulty that confronts them: "There is no other name given among men," according to the Scriptures, "whereby men can be saved but the name of Jesus Christ." And now, after over nineteen centuries of existence in the earth, the gospel of Jesus Christ, according to their theory and teaching of it, has drawn within it but a little more than one-fourth of all the people inhabiting the earth. What becomes of the rest? what becomes of the untold millions of people who have never so much as heard the name of Jesus Christ, much less taking hold of the system of salvation established by His ministry and His atonement? They can give no satisfactory answer to these questions. But Mormonism comes, and teaches that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is everlasting, teaches that though men have lived on the earth when the Gospel was not here, and have lived on the earth when it was here, but never heard its glad tidings, that there is such a thing as the Gospel of Jesus Christ extending beyond the period of time that man lives here upon earth, and in the spirit world they may hear it proclaimed, and hearing it proclaimed there, and accepting its vital truths, and the ordinances thereof being performed here for them in appointed places of God, it extends the plan of life and salvation to every son and daughter of Adam that has ever been born upon the earth. Thus the revelation of Mormonism again united into a beautiful consistency the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and gives meaning and force to that description of it used when we speak of it as the "Everlasting Gospel." And it shall be preached until every soul shall hear, and it shall continue to work with those who are the offspring of God until every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess. Salvation, in some order of its many degrees, shall meet the soul of every man and every woman, bringing them unto that exaltation that their souls are capable of receiving, and saving them unto the uttermost--not all alike, any more than men are all alike here, no more than conditions are all alike here; but as the stars differ from each other in brightness or glory, so shall the rewards of men differ in the world which is to come, even "according to their works." But no man shall be left out of the mercy and the grace of God, except only those who do violence unto it, after having once received it; for the crime of high treason against God, and a repudiation of the plan of life and salvation after having received it, merits such punishment and such destruction as is known only to God. But the remainder of the children of God shall find rest in some one of the many divisions of glory that are to be found in the kingdom of God, and shall find peace and glory equal to the development that they have made or are capable of making with the grand opportunities that will be presented to them, until progress shall be made from glory to glory, until every soul shall contain all that it is possible for it to receive, even endless progression. For God has decreed that those of the celestial glory, that is after the resurrection, shall minister to those of the terrestrial glory, and those of the terrestrial glory shall minister to them of the telestial glory; and I can conceive no reason why there should be this continual ministration of the higher to the lower glory but for the purpose of exalting all to a higher plane of glory, in the direction of the eternal progression which God has opened to the children of men. This explanation Mormonism makes possible to these facts that we see before us, and which are otherwise inexplicable.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, June 21, 1896
Yet another illustration. When this American continent was discovered something like four hundred years ago, was it uninhabited? No; on the contrary, it was thickly populated. Millions of people inhabited it, and at least in the southern part of North America and in the northern part of South America, historians and archaeologists agree that the people were living in the midst of a decaying civilization. They were not coming up from barbarism towards civilization, but they were going from a high state of civilization down towards barbarism. The inhabitants of Peru and Yucatan, and of Mexico, were living in the midst of ruined cities and towns, and countries where there were evidences of a civilization that must have been just as highly developed as was the civilization of Tyre and Sidon, and Babylon and Assyria. There were cities that would rival Thebes and Ninevah, and Babylon in grandeur, pyramids that would equal those of the plains of the Nile. They lived in the midst of these evidences of a decayed and lost civilization. The historian Prescott, quoting the Roman Catholic Priest Las Cases, who was made a bishop in one of the provinces of Central America, declares that the explorers of this continent found in existence in the traditions of these races of America the sacred history of the world--first, the story of the Creation, the story of the Flood, the story of the coming of a Redeemer, the Messiah, the story of His crucifixion, of His resurrection from the dead, and the cardinal doctrines of His gospel, until Las Cases was of the opinion that the devil or some of his agents had imitated the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the ancient Bible record. In order that they might displace this so-called false Christianity with the truth, the priests found it necessary to destroy, as far as possible, the records of this people, and began teaching them anew from the Catholic doctrines of Christianity. Nearly every important fact in the history of man as we have it recorded here in the Bible was found among those people. How came they in possession of those truths? Can the world answer that question? They certainly cannot. It is an enigma to them. They do not know how to account for it, and when confronted with the plain facts that these people, too, must have been numbered, and are counted as among the children of God, for Paul has written it, that "God hath made of one blood all the nations of man, and hath decreed the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they might feel after Him and find Him, for He is not very far removed from any one of us," says the Apostle, "and as one of your own writers hath said, we also are his offspring." Accepting this philosophy of the great Apostle to the Gentiles, Christians are compelled to admit that the untold millions of people inhabiting this hemisphere were among the children of God and heirs of salvation, and evidently there had been someone teaching them the substantial truths of man's existence upon the earth and the plan of Christian redemption and salvation. Now what explanation can the world give of these conditions? None whatever; it is a puzzle to them. But Mormonism comes with an explanation concerning the people inhabiting this continent. It tells us whence they came, describes their travels, tells how they became acquainted with the way of Creation, the Flood, and the coming of the Messiah, for these immigrant people from eastern lands brought with them the Jewish scriptures, and they were taught to the people, and their truths were made known, and those truths were held in the tradition even of those wandering tribes drifting from a high state of civilization down, down towards barbarism. Again Mormonism flings in the quicksilver which unites together these truths, and makes them clear to the children of men, and gives an explanation, an exposition, of facts, of truths, which without Mormonism must forever remain an enigma to the world.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, June 21, 1896
Now if you could go on considering this line of thought, you could very readily discover why it is that this particular dispensation of the Gospel is called the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, for into it comes running all former dispensations. It was ushered in by one of the grandest displays of God's presence that is recorded in ancient or modern times, the Father and the Son both appearing to the Prophet Joseph Smith in his innocent boyhood, before he could possibly formulate any such scheme of religion as Mormonism has developed. The Lord has raised up in this age a witness for Himself, a man who could say that God lived, for he had looked upon His face and had heard His voice. Then followed the restoration of the priesthood, the power of God by which the ordinances of the Gospel could be renewed and administered to men, and every key and every authority held in every generation that has been on the earth from the days of Adam until now, have been brought and united in the hands of this man, uniting all former streams in the one grand ocean of truth, making in very deed of Mormonism the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which all truths are united, in which are all keys of authority and power together, a work designed to prepare for the coming of the Son of God, the glorification of the earth, the redemption of all the children of men. This is what Mormonism is to me. Full of weaknesses, full of failings as we may be, yet this is the grand and precious truth that we have received in these our earthen vessels. These are the truths of which we are to make promulgation when we leave your midst and go among the nations of the earth as missionaries of salvation--beautiful to you who believe them, but a hiss, and a by-word, and a scorn, to those who believe them not; and however beautiful, and consistent, and grand to you, like the teachings of Jesus Christ which were unto the Greeks a "stumbling block," so these precious truths to which I have called your attention in this imperfect way are a stumbling block, a snare, and a reproach among the children of men today. While Brother George D. Pyper and myself expect to leave you soon to go and make proclamation of these principles abroad, we are not going out with any expectation of turning the world over, or of bringing very many souls to a knowledge of those truths. If here and there we can find one--"One of a city, two of a family"--that is all we can hope to accomplish, because truth makes its way among men very gradually. The most we Elders can do is to do our duty and warn mankind where they will listen. We can make explanation of these splendid truths, and they will strike home to the hearts of a few, perhaps, and we may see some fruits of our labors. We can do the part that has been assigned to us, and, like the servants of God in ancient times, "Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, but God must give the increase," if there be any. So I pray you not to look upon us going out to the world to preach the Gospel with the belief that we are going to have a good time. I do not wish to discourage the Elders who may be going out into the world, but we are not going to have such a very good time. If we do, it will be a new experience. There will be times of sorrow, there will be times of distress to the Elder, when nothing but the consciousness that his friends at home are upholding him in their faith and in their prayers, and the Spirit of God is flowing into his heart to comfort and cheer him in the midst of affliction--nothing but a consciousness of these things will enable the Elder to carry this message to the world; to sustain the sorrows and the labors of it. But notwithstanding all this, I want to bear my testimony that when in the midst of sorrow and in the midst of affliction, there comes the sweet consolation that one is doing his duty, and by the spirit and strength and power which God gives, the burden is made light and the yoke is made easy.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, June 21, 1896
Now, my brethren and sisters, may the Lord bless you, and bless these few remarks to your good. I hope that some of our young people at least will be impressed with the truths, with the grandeur of the truths, that are in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and by thus knowing its grandeur, will come to the conclusion that it must be of divine origin, for it stands so far above, in its beauty, in its strength, in its grandeur and sublimity, any conception that the philosophers and ministers have ever had, that you can only refer to one source as its origin, and that is the wisdom and mercy of God. Amen.
B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH
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DISCOURSE
Delivered by Elder B.H. Roberts,
at Salt Lake City, Utah,
December 12, 1897.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
I think when strangers attend our meetings they must be struck with some astonishment at the request that is nearly always made by those who address the meeting that they may be sustained by the faith and by the prayers of the Saints, and that the Spirit of the Lord may prompt their utterances. I desire to call attention to the reason for this universal request on the part of those engaged in the work of ministry, that your minds may be refreshed with the reason why such a request is made. In a revelation given in 1831, in the month of November, the Lord said to the Prophet Joseph:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
My servant Orson Hyde was called by his ordinance to proclaim the everlasting Gospel, by the Spirit of the living God, from people to people, and from land to land, in the congregations of the wicked, in their synagogues, reasoning with, and expounding all scriptures unto them.
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And, behold, and lo, this is an ensample unto all those who were ordained unto this Priesthood, whose mission is appointed unto them to go forth;
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And this is the ensample unto them, that they shall speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost,
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And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost, shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation;
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Behold this is the promise of the Lord unto you, O ye my servants.
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I think after listening to that splendid passage of scripture the Latter-day Saints will not be astonished that every Elder almost on every occasion expresses an earnest desire that he might speak under the influence of the Holy Ghost; and if the people understood the matter aright they would be just as anxious and earnest that this should be the case as the Elder, because when we come together we desire to be taught by a teacher who can instruct, who can warn, who can admonish, who can, if necessary, reprove, and bring by this reproof the wayward unto repentance. And of all the teachers that can best do this--indeed, the only teacher who can do it well, is God; and it should be the earnest desire of the people to be instructed of the Lord, that they might hear the word of the Lord, that they might hear His will, that there might be more scripture added to the volumes of scripture already in existence, and new truths brought from the great storehouse of God's knowledge to enrich the knowledge of the Saints of God. I can conceive, therefore, of nothing more desirable than that our teachers should be moved upon by the Holy Spirit, when they stand up to teach the Saints.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
I offer this as an explanation to thoughtless Latter-day Saints who may think that the Elders have drifted into a mere formality of asking an interest in their faith and in their prayers. I would remind them that there is substance in this desire, and that it is of highest importance that the people be taught of God. And the means appointed by which they may be so taught is that those that labor in the ministry shall speak as moved upon by the Holy Ghost.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
The end of all preaching, of all instruction, as I understand it, is to beget faith in the hearts of the hearers, and the reason why it is of such great importance that faith be implanted in the hearts of the children of men is because faith is the incentive to all action, the foundation of all righteousness. Hence the labors of the servants of God in all ages of the world have been to implant faith in the hearts of the people. Faith is not the first principle of the Gospel merely on account of some conventional arrangement that has been made; it is the first principle of the Gospel because of the nature of the thing itself; from its nature it comes first, it being, as I have already stated, the incentive to all action, the driving force, the power which impels men to repentance and to every good word and work. In regard to this principle of faith I want to read a brief quotation from the third lecture on the subject of faith in the Doctrine and Covenants, delivered to a school of Elders in Kirtland in an early day of the Church, and I fear somewhat neglected by the Saints and perhaps by some of the Elders in these days. It is a very logical statement of the principles that enter into the subject of faith, and I want to address myself more especially to the youth who are present, upon this subject. The doctrine is stated as follows:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
Let us here observe that three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation.
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First, the idea that He actually exists.
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Second, a correct idea of His character, perfections and attributes.
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Thirdly, an actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to His will. For without an acquaintance with these three important facts, the faith of every rational being must be imperfect and unproductive.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
The first thing necessary to that faith that shall be sufficient to obtain life and salvation is the idea that God exists. It would not take long truly to demonstrate the truth of that doctrine. The force of it is very easily seen from the negative standpoint--by which I mean this: Why is it that men who claim to be atheists, men who do not believe in God--why is it that they do not repent of their sins? Why is it that they do not receive baptism for the remission of sins? Why is it that they are not found trying to walk in harmony with the requirements of God's laws? It is all easily answered by saying they do not believe in the existence of God, and consequently do not consider themselves under any obligations whatsoever to keep His commandments or obey His ordinances. So we who have essayed to keep the commandments of God, if the idea of His existence had not been in our minds, we would be just like they are, we would not have come unto Him, we would not now be seeking to keep His commandments, because having the idea that He did not exist, of course it would follow that we would not have believed that He had given any commandments to be obeyed; hence the Prophet Paul, who perfectly understood this subject, I think, says in relation to it that "without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is" that is, that He exists; and he added further (and it would be well for us to hold it in mind as we go on) this statement: that He is a rewarder of all those who diligently seek Him.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
Time will not permit me to undertake the pleasing yet the great task of pointing out to you the evidences that exist to establish faith in the hearts of men that God lives. I shall undertake merely to call your attention to the lines of evidence that may be followed to prove that fact. It is not difficult to understand how the idea of the existence of God first came into the world. You can easily trace it to its primary source; you can find it out by asking yourselves the question, How did the idea first occur to you? I undertake to say that the universal answer to that question would be that away back in the days of toddling childhood a mother drew you to her knee, and even while you could only lisp the words of our language, taught you to address words of praise and thanksgiving unto a being whom she told you was God. You seized upon the idea right there, and as you received that idea so too did your parents before you, and the generation before them, and the generation which preceded that; and so you might continue from generation to generation till you reach a time and a place when this knowledge of the existence of God sprang into the knowledge of our world by reason of being delivered by those who knew of God's existence, and who perpetuated that truth along the lines of tradition.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
A great many men of supposedly great intelligence are inclined to sneer at the evidence for the existence of God that comes along the line of tradition. They dismiss it with the scoffing remark, "Well, that is mere tradition." But I desire to call attention to the fact that this line of evidence is most trustworthy; that it is worthy of your esteem. I pray you, think for a moment what a strong hold it has taken upon humanity. It everywhere abounds. It matters not where you look, you shall find it. You may go to darkest Africa, to the lowest--to the most degraded of the children of men, and you shall find this universal tradition of our race. It counts for nothing that it exists under crude forms. It exerts a powerful influence in their lives. They have held to the general idea. From that extreme go to another. Go to the civilized races of men, where education has attained its greatest triumphs; and there you shall find the presence of this tradition in full force. The intelligence, the education of those who hold it has not made it dimmer, but brighter than where you find it among the savages. And between these two extremes, in every land and every clime, humanity has held to this grand old tradition. I pray you, do not hold even the heathen into too great contempt. I grant you that here and there you may find them worshipping at the shrines of stocks and stones. Images, rude and repulsive, carved by their own unskillful hands, seem to receive their homage; but, I pray you, accord even to the idolatrous heathen a better understanding than to believe that he thinks that the mere stock or stone before which he bows is indeed God. Not so; you shall find it but the representative of an idea standing back of the material object; you shall find it standing up before him merely that he may have an object to which he may immediately address himself, an object representative, perhaps, of some one or other of the many attributes which he at heart believes that the Supreme Power possesses. I think I see in this idol worship the proof of the existence of another doctrine that was once stamped upon the minds of man in ages gone by; and that is, the necessity for a medium through which man can approach God; in other words, a mediator to stand between man and God. Think you not that it came from the grand Christian doctrine known from the earliest ages, that God would provide a Mediator for mankind, one through whom they could approach the Eternal Father? A Mediator who should interpret God to them? However much this original idea may have been buried in the rubbish of heathen tradition, I nevertheless believe that this idolatry of the heathen holds in it the evidences that originally man understood that God the Father would have a Mediator between Him and the children of men, even Christ Jesus, the Lord. This line of evidence, founded on tradition, is not to be scoffed at. I know not how unbelievers in God can explain it away. I pray you, young Latter-day Saints, think upon it, respect it, hold to it as the beginning of your reasons for faith in God, and one of the lines of evidences down which testimony of a very positive nature comes to you of the existence of God.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
But mark you, the testimony of tradition is not all. It is simply one line of evidence, among others, to which I want to call your attention. But in these lectures on faith the testimony of tradition is exalted by the Prophet Joseph, and he lays it down as a doctrine that it is by means of the teachings of the fathers that men first come into possession of the idea that God exists; but once in possession of this idea, men are prepared to begin to exercise faith in God. The incentive to action, the motive for obedience to God and His laws, is planted in the heart by this tradition, according to the Prophet Joseph; and acting upon the probability created by this belief in God, men sought by obedience, by works of righteousness, to find God, and they found Him. The veil was not sufficient to shut them out from the presence of the Creator. Through it they burst until at last, a Moses stood in the presence of God and conversed with Him as a man converses with a friend, and learned the facts concerning the creation of this heaven and this earth; and his mind, illumined with this splendid knowledge of the grand reality of God's existence secured to him through faith, he came back to the children of men, with face shining with the inspiration that comes from contact with God, and bore testimony to the grand truth of God's existence. And Moses henceforth was able to describe the character and attributes of God for the instruction of the children of men. So were others who had obtained like privileges both before and since his day. The testimonies of these worthies in various ages of the world come down to us in the holy scriptures. The testimony of Enoch, of Abraham, of Joshua, of the prophets and kings of Israel; and at last the testimony of the Son of God Himself, of His Apostles, and the Elders who labored under His personal direction,--all these as well as Moses testify of God's existence; and their testimonies collected together and preserved by devout souls, come to us through the scriptures. Add those volumes of testimony to the evidence that you find in tradition and behold how the argument becomes strengthened for the existence of God!
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
The Latter-day Saints are particularly favored with more testimony of the men of God in past ages than any other people on the face of the earth. We sometimes boast a little perhaps of our good works; we boast of our faith; and yet we have no right to boast. We have no occasion for any particular self-congratulation only in the fact that we possess, through the grace of God, more of His word, more of His revelations than the rest of the world have received. In addition to the testimony of the Jewish prophets we have the testimony of the Nephite prophets. These scriptures after slumbering in the dust for ages, lo! the earth is opened, an angel from God reveals their existence--a new volume of scripture is brought forth in the Book of Mormon and we possess double the testimony that the world possesses. And since we possess twice the testimony, ought it not to follow as a logical sequence, that we ought to have more faith than the world, that we ought to have more righteousness than the world? You have increased the causes; shall not the effect be increased? So, Latter-day Saints, you have nothing to boast of. God hath doubly blessed you. You ought to repay Him by twice the faith, twice the devotion and double the good works that are to be found in the lives of other people. I would cry out, shame upon the Latter-day Saints, if they could not point to more achievements for God than the world can point to, seeing that they have double the amount of evidence on which to base their faith. And this does not begin to tell it all, either. You sing sometimes about the half of a thing not having been told. Why, bless your heart, we have scarcely pointed out a fraction of the thing we have in hand. We have the testimony of prophets peculiar to our own age. The stream of inspiration to us did not end at Patmos, no more than it began in Eden. The stream of revelation between the heavens and the earth is renewed in our day. We have prophets and apostles now, and inspired Priesthood, to bear record of the great fundamental truths of the religion of Jesus Christ--of the existence of God--the truth of the Gospel. Add their testimony of tradition, then, to the testimony of the Jewish scriptures, to the testimony of the Nephite scriptures, and do you not stand surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses that it would be a positive shame for unbelief or unfidelity to rear its head among the children of the Latter-day Saints? What excuse shall our young people offer if ever they wander from the path that God has marked out for their feet? And how great must be the condemnation that will rest upon them if ever they prove recreant to the things that God has revealed unto them! And yet there are those who in the face of all this would dare to deride God and to refuse obedience unto the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Latter-day Saints, parents in Israel, how anxious ought you to be if your children go away in unbelief and infidelity under all these favorable circumstances for the establishment of faith!
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
And yet another line of evidence, which unites with these already pointed out to you. David, in one of his glorious outbursts of inspiration said:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.
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Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.
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There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
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Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
The testimony of Moses, of Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah may be locked up for many generations in the Hebrew language, and may not for a long time become universal testimony for men; the testimony of the Nephite Prophets may be locked up in the mystery of the Reformed Egyptian language used by them; the testimony of Prophets today may for a season be limited to those nations who are visited by them and who can understand their speech; but God, all over the broad heavens, hath written the evidences of His existence; and, as Paul puts it: "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and God-head, so that they [unrighteous men who deny God's existence] are without excuse." And when you turn away from the dome of heaven inlaid with suns and planetary systems, and with the microscope search out the secrets locked up in the world of atoms, you again meet evidences of the existence of God; and also see proofs of His wisdom, power and glory.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
Now, my brethren and sisters, unite these three lines of evidence--twist them into a three-fold cord, and you shall find that it is not only not easily broken, but in my judgment, unbreakable. And when you take all these evidences into account is there not laid a foundation for faith in God? Is there not around you and about you that which hymns the great truth of God's existence to your souls? Our text says that the first thing necessary to the exercise of faith in God is the idea that he actually exists. Surely, the evidence of tradition, the testimony of those who have sought and found God, and the evidence of the works of nature lay a sufficient foundation for that idea.
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But, "secondly, a correct idea of His character and attributes," is essential to the exercise of faith in God.
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I take it for granted that the men and women under the sound of my voice this afternoon know what a struggle after righteousness means. I take it for granted that you know how hard a thing it is to subdue this mortal clay, and make it subservient to the will of God. You know how hard it is to curb a proud spirit and make it walk in proper humility before God. You know how difficult it is to put a check upon the appetites and to refuse to indulge in those things which the appetites suggest. I am speaking to men and women who know how hard a thing it is to control the lusts of the heart and the pride of life, and live in harmony with the Spirit and promptings thereof that come from God. Now, if you will remember how many times you fail; if you know how easy it is to be discouraged, you will be able to sense the truth of this doctrine laid down here, that in order to exercise faith in God you must know something of His character and of His attributes. For example, we must know that He is slow to anger, abundant in mercy and in goodness, willing--nay, anxious--to forgive the repentant. If we did not have these ideas of the character of God, we would fail, we would faint by the way, we would be unable to continue the struggle to arise to the full majesty of the stature of a man in Christ Jesus our Lord. But when the Lord repeats for our consolation, over and over and over again, this truth, that He is slow to anger, that He is merciful and longsuffering, gracious and kind beyond our comprehension--when we remember that, though we fall daily, yet will we arise, trusting in the grace and mercy of God.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
The beauty of this principle, I think, is very forcibly drawn out in a conversation that takes place between Jesus and the Apostles. Peter came to Him with some of his brethren, and he said: "Lord, how oft shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" I suppose that Peter thought that his proposition was a wonderfully merciful one, very gracious; that it would be a remarkable man who would forgive his brother seven times. He wanted to be magnanimous. Peter was one of the most generous of men, too, by nature. It seems to me, in the glimpses we get of this great Apostle's life, that you find in him a largeness of soul, a magnanimity of temper, a nobleness of bearing, which really exalts him among his brethren. He was a broad, liberal-minded, noble man. "Shall I," said he, "forgive my brother seven times?" Mark you the answer of Jesus. "I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven." That gives you an opportunity of comparison between the littleness of man, even at his best, with the noble magnanimity of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the reflex, as you know, of His Father--or, rather, through Him shone the attributes of God the Father. Then how noble and even above the petty conceptions of man is the mercy of God, and how we may rely upon it! Yet, do not think this attribute out of proportion with the other attributes of God; in Him all the attributes of His character are most beautifully blended and perfected. While the quality of mercy, perhaps greater than He dared reveal unto the children of men, is in Him; yet, balancing that quality--mercy--stands that of justice--a justice which preserves His mercy from becoming maudlin and unworthy of God. Justice and judgment are the habitations of His throne as well as mercy; are parts of His supreme, exalted character. Mercy, the quality of which is not strained, is His--mercy, blessing him that gives and him that takes, mightiest in the mightiest, becoming the throned monarch better than his crown, making earthly governments most like God's when mercy seasons justice--mercy, grand and great as it is, will not in the administration of God be allowed to rob justice. This All-merciful Being, compassionate as He is, will not look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. Sin He will condemn, for it is hateful to Him. But the sinner who repents and desires to turn away from transgression and thirsts after righteousness, blessed is he; for God's hand shall be extended to him, and He will help all those who seek after righteousness. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
I seems to me pretty clear that it is necessary for us to know something about the character of God, in order to exercise faith in Him. We must know something of His mercy; we must be able to trust His justice; we must have abiding faith in His judgment and power, or we cannot exercise faith unto life and salvation. And that we might have this knowledge so essential to our faith, He has sent Jesus Christ into the world, and He was God manifested in the flesh. If therefore you would know God; if you would become acquainted with the personage that sits enthroned in the heavens, and that by His power called worlds and systems of worlds into being, and who governs and controls in them according to His sovereign will; if you would know something of the might, the majesty and the power of this Supreme Mind that stands behind all the phenomena to be seen in the universe, look, I pray you, upon the great Peasant Teacher of Judea, and in Him shall you find all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; for He was in the image of God, and He was and is the Mediator between God and man, the true representative of the Father. When Philip, puzzled somewhat with the seeming mystic sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ about the Father, said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," He said--and there is a world of agony in the tone of it--"Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, show us the Father?" Oh! slow of heart and unready to believe the great mission of the Lord Jesus Christ to be the representative of the Godhead here upon the earth, to hold all power in heaven and in earth--to be God manifested in the flesh! I say to you, study God through the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will find in Him every mercy, every power, every principle of justice, of judgment and truth that are the habitation of the throne of God; for in Him, as saith the scripture, dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I know of no better recommendation to men who would become acquainted with God than to ask them to study Him through Jesus Christ.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
The third thing necessary to the exercise of faith in God unto life and salvation is an actual knowledge that the course of life one in pursuing is according to His will.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
I feel that this is not only the most difficult part of this subject to treat in speech, but also the most difficult thing for men to do, that is, to get into a habit of living so that you shall know continually that the course of life you are pursuing is in harmony with the will of God. Let me point out to you how unrighteousness affects faith; how failure to arrive at this knowledge that your course of life is in accordance with God's will destroys your ability to exercise faith. And let me say here, without entering into too nice distinctions, that there is a difference between having faith and exercising it, just as there is a difference between having strength and putting that strength to use. I take it that you have all seen a man of splendid physique, in whose joints and limbs, muscles and sinews there reside wonderful strength; and yet if that strength is put to no particular use, what good is it to him? So, to some extent and in a certain way, men may have ideas concerning these great truths of which I have spoken--that is, ideas of the existence of God, and some idea about His character; but they never exercise that faith, it does not become an incentive to action--it is dormant, and consequently it is like the strength in the man I have spoken of--it is of little service to them or to anybody else. But we will say that here is an Elder in Israel who believes in God's existence, knows something about His character and attributes, and he is called upon to exercise himself in the ministry, to exercise himself, say, in the healing of the sick; and it does seem to me that if there is one position in which a man can feel his weakness more than in another, it is when he is brought face to face with those who are sick and who desire to be healed through his ministration. Speaking for myself, I can say that at such moments every weakness, every imperfection of my own nature rises up like a mountain in front of me. The unrighteous acts, the blundering mistakes made by me in my life, all come trooping in to break down, if possible, the faith I would exercise. Suppose now a man is placed under those circumstances, and he suddenly remembers that only yesterday he gave way to a fit of anger and passion, and he blasphemed the name of God; can that man proceed with the ordinance of the house of God for the sick? I know not how he could proceed. The recollection that he had spoken blasphemy against the name of Jesus Christ ought to seal--and I believe, so far as strength and power is concerned, would seal--his lips; and while he may speak the words, the power cannot be there, until he gets forgiveness of his sins. He remembers perhaps that only last Sabbath he transgressed the law of God and unnecessarily violated the quiet of the Sabbath day by the noise of his labor. I know not how such a man can exercise faith even to heal the sick, to say naught of a faith that shall take hold on salvation. Or perhaps he remembers that he oppressed his brother in his wages; that he was cruel and unnecessarily harsh in his household; or that he had staggered as he walked through the streets under the influence of intoxicants; or perhaps he has walked after the lusts of the eyes and the heart. Loaded down with the recollection of sins and transgressions such as these I have enumerated, where is the possibility of exercising faith in God under such conditions? Call him to the pulpit; let him strive for the faith that lays hold of the powers of heaven and calls them down in inspired utterances to instruct and bless the Saints of God--let him stand there and attempt to exercise faith with all the recollections of these evils about him, and what must be the result? With bowed head, with fainting heart, it seems to me, he must quit the pulpit, and first seek repentance and forgiveness of God, relying upon His mercy, before he can wield the powers of heaven for the salvation of the children of men; for be it remembered, the powers of heaven can only be handled and controlled upon the principles of righteousness.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
Now, my brethren and sisters, I hope you see what I mean in dealing with this third principle essential to the exercise of faith unto salvation. Having looked at it from the obverse side first, let us look at the other side now just a moment--the positive side--and see what strength comes when there is resident in the soul of man the consciousness that, notwithstanding human weaknesses and imperfections, yet God approves of the course of life he leads. The pages of Scripture are luminous with instances of this kind! Look, I pray you, at the father of the faithful, Abraham. Tried every way; tested at every point; touched upon the tenderest chord of all his soul; required by the commandment of God to take the son of promise and to place him upon the altar, and let the smoke that should consume his flesh ascend up as incense unto God--tested to that very point, and yet he stood the test, believing in and trusting the justice and mercy of God. Though the general commandment was extant, "Thou shalt not kill," yet when the voice of God came to him commanding him to kill he stood not quibbling or questioning with God, he manifested his readiness to sacrifice even his son unto God's commandment; but when it was clear that Abraham would not even withhold his son from God--when the test was completed, the trial passed, the ram in the thicket was provided, dragged out, and bound in thankfulness upon the altar to take the place of Isaac. How sweet must have been the communion of Abraham with God after that! What confidence must have been his in the presence of God even after that! And how grand the words that came from the lips of Jehovah must have appeared to him, saying: "Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." Oh! my friends, God indeed calls, nay, demands, sacrifice; but God is able to reward men for their sacrifices, even to the uttermost. You need not doubt it. From that day on, what blessing is there in heaven that Abraham cannot command? What power in the old patriarch now and forever! Marvel you that it is written here in the Doctrine and Covenants that Abraham hath passed by the angels, and is no more an angel, nor a servant, but one of the Gods in the council of the Father? He had the strength and power of it in him, because he had made the sacrifice.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
Try Job; test him; find out how he got this spiritual strength and power. Why, when he saw his houses tumble about him; when he saw sons and daughters slain; when he saw herds of camels and asses and sheep run off by the enemy, he stood calmly in the midst of these ruins, and he said, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." And when his body was racked and afflicted with pain and suffering, his wife comes to him, you remember, and importunes him to curse God and die. Job, with that grand faith that makes him akin to Abraham, answers, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." Then the hand of the adversary was lifted. Tell me, what is there that Job cannot do after that? What strength must have been his--born of this consciousness that God approved of his course of life? I tell you, such men are able to move the heavens, to bring down blessings for the children of men.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
Regard the case of Hezekiah, king of Judah, a most illustrious example of this glorious principle. Isaiah was commanded of the Lord to say to him:
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Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
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When he told that to Hezekiah, the good king was stricken with sorrow. It is written that he turned his face to the wall and wept; and after Isaiah left he commenced pleading with the Lord, and said:
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Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight." And Hezekiah wept sore.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
Isaiah had not yet reached the middle court of the king's palace, before the word of the Lord came to him, saying:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
Turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy Father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: Behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up into the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
Tell me, what would an unrighteous king be able to do in such a crisis as this? Could he exercise faith to call down the blessings of God? No; but this man could marshal in support of his petition his righteous life, and the heavens could not withhold their blessing. There was strength, there was power born of righteousness.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
How beautifully all these principles blend together! How grand is the doctrine of faith as set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants by the Prophet Joseph.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, December 12, 1897
A few days ago a man who has lived for twenty years among our people and who knows that we hold these doctrines, and who has witnessed the labors of the Saints and their sacrifices for their religion, undertook to say that our religion is unspiritual and unscriptural! I challenge the gentleman to produce, in all the homilies that have been written upon religion by all the ministers of his faith, anything to match these doctrines, at once both spiritual and scriptural, and in all respects philosophical. God bless you. Amen.
B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
MORMONISM AND CHRISTIANITY
_______________
DISCOURSE
Delivered by Elder B.H. Roberts,
at Salt Lake City, Utah,
January 23rd, 1898.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
I will read to you a portion of the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians. After his salutation to the Church in Corinth, the Apostle said:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
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Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
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Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
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I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
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Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
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And I baptized also the household of Stephanas; besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
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For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
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For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
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Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
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For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
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For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
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But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
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But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
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Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
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For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called:
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But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
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And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
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That no flesh should glory in His presence.
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But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
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That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Unfortunately some clumsy hand has here closed this chapter. The opening verses of the second chapter properly belong to the words I have just read, hence I continue:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
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For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
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And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power;
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That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
It is not always that we preface our remarks by reading a chapter from the Scriptures; it is not always that we take a text which we desire to expound; but I thought it proper on this occasion to read this Scripture to you, and I think it proper now to call your attention to one or two verses that perhaps may be regarded as a text for that which I desire in my heart to say:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
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Is Christ divided?
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This was the great question which the Apostle of the Gentiles propounded to those Saints in Corinth, among whom divisions began to appear. These divisions, however, were incipient as compared with those that exist in Christendom today; and if those divisions existing in the primitive Church at Corinth called forth this stern reproof from the great Apostle of the Gentiles, I sometimes wonder what he would say to torn, distracted Christendom of today! Would he not with increased emphasis demand of this Babel that exists now in Christendom, an answer to the question, "Is Christ divided?"
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
The plain inference of this Scripture, of course, is that Christ is not to be divided; that men are under condemnation who say that they are of Paul, or of Cephas, or of Apollos. It plainly declares that the Church of Christ is to be one. Yet, as men look upon Christendom in its divided condition today, they very naturally find themselves somewhat perplexed with this confusion that exists concerning the Christian religion; and it looks exceeding like bigotry for anyone to stand up and condemn this section or that section of this so-called Christianity.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
I am reminded at this point of a circumstance that happened within my own experience. About a year ago, in company with a number of friends, I attended a service at the Catholic cathedral in New York, and listened to a minister of that faith preach a most excellent discourse. He was a man of fervent spirit, a man of complete confidence, I take it, in the rightfulness of the claims of his own great church; and his testimony concerning the truth of what he taught was so fervent that it created an impression upon the minds of our party. As we left the cathedral, one of the members of our party (a sister by the way) asked me the question, "Who is to say that that man is not right and his religion not true? Who can say that he is mistaken in regard to the claims of the great Catholic church? I should like to know what man can sit in judgment upon him and his faith." To which, she recently informed me, I made this answer:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
"No man ought to do it; no man is competent to do it. But God has the right to do it. He may say which is right and which is wrong; for He is competent to judge the matter. And He has done it. He revealed the great truth to Joseph Smith that all were wrong." And this is the message which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has to proclaim to the world; a message which God has given to us upon this particular subject.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
It is recorded by the Prophet Joseph Smith, in a sketch which he wrote of his own life, that when a youth he was much distressed over the confusion existing among religious sects, to which I have made reference, and he sought for light and direction on the subject at the Source of all knowledge and power--he sought wisdom of God. The admonition of James: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him"--was like the voice of God to him; and straightway he gave heed to the counsel, and prayed to know which of all the contending sects of religion was the true Church of Christ. In response to this inquiry on his part, the heavens were opened, God revealed Himself and the Lord Jesus Christ unto him; and in answer to the question, which of all these sects is Thy Church and which must I join? he informs us that he was commanded to join none of them, for they were all wrong:
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
And the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight; that those professors were all corrupt. They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrine the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
This was the condemnation which God--not man--pronounced upon the world; and such are the evidences to us of the truth of this revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith that there remains no question about it. With one splendid sweep of His majestic arm, God swept aside all the accumulations of error and folly of the ages, and made bare the rocks of truth, on which to found anew the Gospel of the Son of God and the Church of Christ. There is to me something splendid in this; a conception far above the daring of man; a thing which of itself smacks of heaven. Yet this message to mankind comes with no new Gospel. It comes merely proclaiming a restoration of the old faith, and ministering the old ordinances of salvation. It comes with the same Church organization, and with the same means of salvation for the children of men. It commands the worship of no new God; it presents no new Redeemer; for it is written, and truly is it said, that there is no name given among men whereby we may be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ. There is no other Gospel by which men may be saved. Paul said: "Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
No new Gospel then is to be proclaimed even by an angel from heaven. And if Joseph Smith had come teaching another Gospel, or a new Redeemer, his message would have been vain, for all men would have known it to be untrue. But men departed from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They strayed from its ordinances, and taught for doctrine the commandments of men; they lost the divine authority which gave them the right and power to speak and act in the name of God, and hence there was a necessity for these things to be restored to the children of men, and this first vision of Joseph Smith's was the commencement of the restoration of the Gospel. That is, it was the first step in that direction; it prepared the way.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
This revelation which I have just referred to was followed by a number of others, by which the authority to baptize men for the remission of sins was restored; by which the Holy Apostleship was conferred upon Joseph Smith and others through the personal ministry of Peter, James and John, the three who in the lifetime of the Son of God possessed a peculiar distinction from the rest of the Apostles, being more immediately the companions of the Lord Jesus Christ, and upon whom He conferred the keys of the kingdom, the power to act for Him and to teach His truth--they came, I say, and restored the Holy Apostleship. The restoration of that Apostleship empowered the men receiving it to teach the Gospel and to establish the Church of Christ in all the world. The Church received revelation upon revelation, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, according as the Saints were strong enough to receive it, and the result is, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints possesses all the ordinances of salvation; all the means of grace which God gives to men; all the means of sanctity; and possesses every mark and characteristic essential to the Church of Christ.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Does the Church of Christ require that it shall have the mark of Oneness? Behold it in this Church. One Church, one head! Though there are churches established in the islands of the sea, in Europe, in the various states of America, in Iceland, anywhere, yet are they not separate and distinct churches, but branches and parts of this one church. Twice each year, in this tabernacle, the hosts of Israel assemble, and with uplifted hands we witness to each other that we sustain before the heavens and the earth the Prophet, Seer, the Revelator, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all the world. And there is no branch of the Church so remote but what his authority is acknowledged there; and from all parts of the earth the eyes of the Saints are turned here for the word of God, and from time to time, as the circumstances of the Church have needed it, the word of God hath been given. All Israel accepts that word. When it comes, the end of controversy is reached--all questions are settled. If anywhere the waters have been troubled, at the word of the Lord through the Prophet, behold, the tumult subsides, and peace reigns. One! One in spirit. One in the fact that no part of it considers itself detached from the body of Christ, and no part considers itself beyond the reach of the influence and authority of the great Head of the Church which God hath established. For He has commanded His Church to receive the Word of His mouthpiece as His own word, and promises that this shall be the sheet-anchor of the Church's safety, and the means by and through which she shall arise superior to all difficulties and shall be established in the earth. Such is the Oneness of the Church of Christ.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Is Holiness demanded as a mark of the true Church of Christ? If so, find it in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the fact that she teaches a holy doctrine; in the fact that she holds the means by which holiness is imparted, through the ordinances of the Gospel, to the members of the Church. Such is her Holiness.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Is Universality a mark of the true Church of Christ? Yes, so we learn. Then behold it here in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a universal Church, extending the wide world over, and excluding all others to the claim of being the Church of Christ, everywhere extending, and her authority universal. So that she possesseth this characteristic of the Church of Christ, and in a larger degree than any other church--for this reason: The Gospel she teaches and the authority she claims not only pertains to the generation now living, but to the past and to the future generations of men. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands here in the dispensation of the fullness of times, in the which God has decreed that He would gather together all things in one, both in heaven and on earth, even in Him, Christ Jesus. Were there peculiar powers and keys of authority held in the days of the Patriarchs? Yes. The great personages that held those powers came to the Prophet who stands at the head of this dispensation, Joseph Smith, and bestowed those keys of authority and powers upon him. Did Moses possess the keys of the gathering of Israel and the restoration of the tribes of Israel to their lands? Yes; and he came to the Temple of God in Kirtland and yielded up his keys of power and authority, so that the great head of the Church today holds in his hands this power once possessed by that mighty servant of God, and we are working to accomplish the gathering of Israel, the restoration of Israel to the lands promised unto the fathers.
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Did the Prophet Elijah hold peculiar keys of power in his day? Yes; keys by which the hearts of the children are turned to the fathers, and the hearts of the fathers turned to the children. And the Lord promised before the great and terrible day of His judgment should come He would send the Prophet Elijah, and the object of his mission should be the turning of the hearts of the fathers to the children and of the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth should be smitten with a curse at the glorious coming of the Lord (Malachi iv:5-6). And those keys were bestowed upon Joseph Smith, and are now held by the great head of the Church, Wilford Woodruff, his legal successor. Behold the power restored which shall make the Gospel of the Son of God effective to all the generations of men as well to those who have lived when it was not on the earth, as to those living when divine authority was on the earth, and the mercy of God by this means shall be extended unto all men--that is, the opportunities of receiving the Gospel shall be extended unto all men, whether they have lived in former ages or now.
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This restored Gospel also looks into the future. It anticipates the coming of the Son of God in glory, and to the Church has been given the work of preparing the inhabitants of the earth for the glorious coming of Jesus Christ. As the ocean ultimately receives into its bosom all the streams of earth, so this dispensation of the fullness of times opened through the revelations of God to Joseph Smith, receives from all former dispensations, keys of power and authority by which all things shall be gathered together in this dispensation of the fullness of times. A universal Church, this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, most truly!
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Do the terms which describe the Church of Christ demand that she shall be Apostolic--that is, that she shall receive organization from Apostolic authority? If so, then behold the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the most Apostolic of all the churches that exist; for the reason that it was Peter, James and John who conferred the holy Apostleship upon the head of the Prophet Joseph, and he upon others; so that this power is here, and the keys thereof, and the authority to establish the Church of Christ by direct Apostolic authority is resident in the Prophet of God who was called to this work.
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Here then stands the Church of Christ, with these powers, with this commission to preach the Gospel in all the world. To me, my brethren and sisters, her claims are consistent, her strength resistless, her future glorious, and her triumph shall yet be splendid. There is no question in my mind as to where the Church of Christ is. I find her, the bride of the Lamb of God, here, and I find her strength bottomed in the declarations of God: that He, the Righteous Judge of the whole earth, hath declared Himself concerning the contending sects that exist in the world, that they are not His Church or Kingdom--that they teach for doctrine the commandments of men. But God has restored His Gospel, re-established His Church, and given to men divine authority to speak and administer in His name. And who shall prevail against the Church of God that He hath thus established and founded in the truth?
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But, notwithstanding our own assurance of the truth of these matters, we very naturally turn to such facts of history or prophecy that will aid us in presenting these truths to our fellow men; for to this end have they been given to us, that is to teach them to our fellow men. We stand, as a community, in the same position that the Apostle Paul stood in as an individual. He said, "Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel of Christ!" So with us; Woe be unto us if we preach not these glad tidings of the Gospel of the Son of God restored! The responsibility of bearing witness to the truth rests upon us; and we cannot wait until we become, as a community, learned in the philosophies of the world, or skilled orators. The affairs of God cry haste, and speed must answer them. And as in former times, as I read at the opening of my remarks, in the Scripture, God took the weak things of the earth with which to accomplish His purposes, so now He has chosen the weak things of the world; men whose preaching and whose words stand not in the wisdom that the knowledge of the world teaches, but stand in the power of God. He must uphold His word; He must sustain His servants, else they shall never be able to perform the task before them. Our reliance is not in the wisdom of man; it is not in the ability of man; it is not in his eloquence; but it is in the power of God, and there we must rest our case. Our words are weak; the Gospel we preach, "to the Greeks," may now as of old seem foolish, but it is the power of God, nevertheless, to those who are humble and believe. The power of God and not the power of man has drawn this people together, and holds them here in the splendid unity that is an object lesson to the world, testifying that here Christ is not divided! but is One; and His Church is one. I rejoice in this strength of the Church of Christ.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
I have lately listened much to a learned gentleman from the East, who, with a frankness that I admired, tells us that our cause is stronger than we put it. There is more in "Mormonism" than we are able to present. I am happy that he made that remark. Without a moment's hesitation, at the time of our conversation, I accepted it. Yes, infinitely stronger than we have wisdom or ability to put it. And I thank God that a learned man could see more in "Mormonism," so-called, than we are able to point out to him. It is one of the evidences to me that this work is of God, because men do not produce things higher than they are. The stream rises not higher than its fountain. If this work were of men, it is quite probable that it would be no higher than they were. But the fact that it is higher, the fact that there is more in it than we have yet been able to tell the world of, is one of the evidences that it did not come from man, but that it came from God, and hence is above us, and always will remain above us. Let us strive as hard as we may, let us develop all the wisdom and learning that we can, yet above us shall be the work of God, expanding and growing still greater as we go further into it. We shall find it something like the horizon--never quite able to overtake it; and yet sometimes when out upon the ocean the horizon seems so very near to us! It will only be a little while apparently until we shall reach the point where sky and ocean seem to meet; but behold, as on we speed, the horizon still flies on before us. So shall it be with the work of God--ever in advance, ever higher, ever above the wisdom and the learning of man. That is one of its glories. That is one of the things that I love it for. It foreshadows to me the fact that the spirit of man shall ever find room, shall ever find opportunity for advancement, for progress; for God will continue to lead the way to realms higher and to things that are better, and more glorious.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
But we go with this message to the world, and in our weakness we try to convince them of its truth. What means do we use to bring that about? We look through the New Testament scriptures, and we find in those scriptures certain forebodings expressed, certain warnings sounded, certain prophecies uttered, that the order of things then being established, that is, the Gospel of Christ, should be departed from by the children of men; that the Church of Christ should be destroyed; that false teachers should bring in abominable heresies, and that a great falling away should take place. For example, I read in the writings of the Acts of the Apostles, on the occasion of Paul coming to Ephesus and calling the Elders together, the following:
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Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.
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For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
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Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
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I read again Paul's admonition to his beloved Timothy, that companion of his soul:
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Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
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For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
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And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
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I read the warning prophecy of Peter when he referred to false prophets that arose in ancient Israel. He said:
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But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.
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I read again the prophecy of Paul unto the Saints at Thessalonica--to my mind one of the grandest prophecies to be found in the New Testament:
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Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him,
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That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
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Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
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Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
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Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
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And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
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For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
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And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:
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Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders,
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And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
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I pray you, pause a moment and think how earnest is this prediction of the great Apostle to the Gentiles, and how heartrending it must have been for him to contemplate it. Behold a people looking for the immediate coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, checked by this Prophet of God, who tells them that glorious day will not come until there be a falling away from the truth, from the Church of Christ; not until the power of Satan shall usurp a seat in the very temple of God, and sit there as if possessed with the authority of God, "showing himself that he is God;" and he shall continue in this usurped authority and power until he shall be consumed by the brightness of the Lord's coming. And, said Paul, "the mystery of iniquity doth already work" that shall accomplish this usurpation of divine authority; even while inspired Prophets are yet with the Church--behold the mystery of this iniquity doth already work! "Now you know what it is that withholdeth"--you know that the watchmen, the holy Apostles, are upon the towers, restraining and hindering the full development of this mysterious power that shall wreck the Church of Christ; but behold, presently they shall be removed, and then shall that "wicked one be revealed whom the Lord will destroy by the brightness of His coming." A marvelous prophecy is this! And, mark you, we have the assurance of God that not one jot or tittle of His word shall fail, but all of it shall be fulfilled.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Now, mark another prophecy. Behold John banished to the Isle of Patmos, where things past and things future are revealed to him; and among the things that were revealed unto him that were future, he said:
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And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
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Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.
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What can you make of that? Only this, that in the hour of God's judgment--let that come when it may--this heavenly messenger will be sent forth; not with a new Gospel, not preaching a new Christ, not advocating a new system of religion, but preaching the everlasting Gospel. To whom? To whom shall this message be sounded in the hour of God's judgment? To every nation, to every kindred, to every tongue, to every people. Proof conclusive, by the Word of God, that in the hour of God's judgment every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people would be without the Gospel; hence the necessity for its restoration to the children of men by a new revelation from God, sounding this warning that the hour of God's judgment is at hand. This is the message committed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and which she is carrying to all the nations of the earth. We call attention to these prophecies concerning the apostasy of the primitive Church and the restoration of the Gospel as evidence of the truth we teach. We have no need to do that particularly. We have better evidence. We may point to the Church herself; to her origin; to her achievements; to the power of God manifested within her; and, better yet, to the power of God which she imparts to those who will receive her message. For this is a part of our message to mankind: Hear this Gospel; seek to obtain a knowledge of it; accept the commandments of God and do them, and God will make known unto you that our message is true. The counsel contained in the words of St. James is for all other men as well as for Joseph Smith. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and He will give liberally and not upbraid him." This is a message to every son and daughter of God. God is no respecter of persons; and to you, stranger, if you seek for the truth, shall He make known that truth. This is the declaration we make, and therein is our strength. In the possession of that testimony and the outpouring of God's Spirit upon His people--there is their strength, and their witness that this work is of God. We refer to these other matters only in an incidental way, to assist us in presenting the great message that we have to deliver to the world.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
I have only referred to one line that we follow, however, in producing evidence to help sustain the position taken by the Church of Christ. Let us now refer to another. Suppose I take you for just a moment to that first occasion where the Apostles began to fill the divine commission that was given to them of the Son of God. After they had waited in Jerusalem, according to His instructions, until they were endowed with power from on high, and after receiving that endowment, they commenced their work. Your remember the discourse of Peter on that occasion--the day of Pentecost--when he preached to the people and converted three thousand souls by one single discourse. You know how he bore testimony of Christ, and belief seized upon the minds of the people, and they cried out to him and the rest of the Apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" The answer came from this great apostle, upon whom Jesus did bestow the Presidency of the Church in that dispensation. He, clothed now, too, with the Holy Ghost--a teacher competent to answer the question--said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Not an answer difficult to comprehend. The simplest-minded of them all could comprehend that. It has seemed to me that one of our poets was right when he said that religion was a very simple thing, for the reason that it must appeal to the simple and to the ignorant as well as to the learned and to the great. A beautiful simplicity this! Since we understand that so well, suppose we go to an occasion where we see these doctrines in operation, and find out how they were administered. Take, then, one of the teachers appointed by the Church--Philip--when he met the officer of the court of Queen Candace as he came from Egypt towards Jerusalem. He was reading the law in his chariot, and fortunately the place gave an excellent text to our brother Philip, who, being moved upon by the spirit, joined himself with the officer, and expounded the Scripture to him, and explained that it had reference to Jesus Christ. He taught the officer faith in that same Jesus, and doubtless taught him, too, the same doctrine of repentance that Peter taught. As they proceeded on their way, the Egyptian said: "See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest," was the answer. Then Philip took him down into the water and baptized him, and they came forth out of the water again, and each went on his way rejoicing. This same Philip had preached the Gospel at Samaria, and had taught repentance and baptism unto them; and that apparently being as far as he could carry them in the holy ordinances of salvation, behold two great Apostles are sent down from Jerusalem to confirm them members of the Church, and to impart the Holy Ghost unto them by the laying on of hands, which they did.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
I declare unto you that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Apostles. But, taking this doctrine as the simple faith of the true Christian, and these ordinances as the ordinances of life and salvation, where will you now on earth find these simple principles, pure, undefiled, unchanged, as they came from the Master Himself? I know not where to find them, except in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has been said recently in our midst [The speaker alluded to remarks of Dr. John M. Reiner delivered in the Tabernacle the previous Sunday] that there are but two organizations which may justly lay claim to being the Church of Christ--one here, the other with headquarters at Rome. Hath the church of Rome preserved these ordinances alluded to pure and undefiled? And here let me pause to say that in making reference to this great church, or any other church for matter of that, I do it in a spirit of kindness, and with no bitterness in my heart. But I propound this question to the church of Rome--Has she preserved these simple doctrines and ordinances as taught in the Scripture whole and undefiled? Let us take the ordinance or sacrament of baptism. The great church of Rome holds baptism to be essential to entrance into the Church of Christ, essential to forgiveness of sin, necessary therefore to salvation. Those who die without baptism are lost, unless they shall be saved by martyrdom, called the baptism of blood; or the baptism of desire, accompanied by contrition. So that baptism becomes a vital doctrine in the church of Rome. We, that is, the Church of Christ, also recognize it as an ordinance essential to salvation--so essential, in fact, that if men have died when the authority to administer this ordinance was not upon the earth, then a vicarious baptism must be performed for them. Now, what formula did Jesus give concerning this ordinance? That men be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. That signifies by the authority of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. "In His name" signifies "by His authority." It is an ordinance that must be administered in that way, that is, by that divine authority. But what saith this church of Rome? Why, that a layman, who holds not the Priesthood, may administer baptism! That a child may baptize! or that woman may baptize in case of necessity! But they tell us in their catechisms that if it chanced that one of the names of the Trinity be omitted, the baptism would be invalid! Infinitely more dangerous to the validity of the sacrament, in my judgment, would be its administration by a layman, a child, or a woman. To my mind it is clear that to act without authority would more nearly vitiate the sacrament than the omission of a name.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
But this defect is not the only one by any means that exists in the administration of this sacrament by the church of Rome. It is clear from the Scriptures--and I shall not enter into any extended argument about it, because I think you will take it for granted--that baptism in the early Christian church was so administered that it represented the death and the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ, and also His resurrection, His awakening to a newness of life. As He was buried and afterwards arose from the grave and walked in a splendid immortality, no more to be subject to death, but ever after the king of it, having subdued it by the power of the resurrection, so He instituted baptism to set forth this glorious thing unto men. But by degrees, yielding, as was supposed, to necessity, men depart from this manner of administering the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins, until water sprinkled or poured upon the candidate was held to be sufficient for baptism. Whenever they did that, wherever they did it, they departed from the order established by the Son of God, they changed an ordinance of the Gospel.
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Moreover, this sacrament or ordinance of the Gospel was administered to those only who had arrived at years of understanding. To those capable of exercising faith in God, and who could repent of their sins. But after a time the custom arose of administering this sacrament to children, to infants, who knew not that such a ceremony was being performed--absolutely incapable of believing, or of repenting--and, for the matter of that, without any necessity of repentance, for they had not and could not sin--they were incapable of sin. Where children do not come to years of accountability, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ applies directly to them, and, without sacraments of any kind, they are saved through the shedding of His blood by the power of His redemption. But men have taught that children dying in infancy, before they can know right from wrong, and missing this ordinance of the Gospel, are lost--a doctrine which to me (with all due respect to everybody's feelings), is abominable; aye, and abominable to God, for He has so declared it, and has denounced the idea that one child, before it could lisp a word or do a voluntary act, should be saved by baptism and another damned because it was not baptized! (Moroni 8.) God has denounced this in stronger terms than I can use. Yet nearly the whole Christian world has accepted this idea of the necessity of baptizing infants; and by this they manifest the fact that they have departed from the ordinances of the house of God; they have misapplied the sacrament of baptism, and it is of no effect with them--they are as if unbaptized.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Now, I care not when this change in the sacrament of baptism took place; it may have been when that "mysterious working" which was to bring to pass the entire apostasy of the Church; but whenever it began it marks the beginning of a departure from the doctrines of Jesus Christ, which was to end in complete apostasy.
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[As an evidence of the numerous mumeries that have been added to the simple rite of baptism as administered in the primitive church, I quote the following from the Catholic Douay catechism:
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Q. Why do we use so many ceremonies in baptism?
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A. To excite reverence for the sacrament and to signify its effects.
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Q. What means the priest's breathing on the child's face, according to the Ritual?
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A. It means that by baptism the evil spirit is cast out and the spirit of God is given him.
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Q. Why is the child signed on the breast and forehead with the sign of the cross?
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A. To signify that he is thereby made the servant of Christ crucified.
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Q. Why is salt put into the child's mouth?
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A. To signify that by baptism he receives grace and gifts to preserve his soul from corruption of sin, and to warn Christians that their actions and words ought to be seasoned with prudence and discretion, signified by salt.
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Q. Why does the priest lay spittle on the child's ears and nostrils?
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A. Because Christ by so doing healed one that was both deaf and dumb. It also signifies that by baptism his ears are opened to the word of faith and his nostrils to the good odor of all Christian virtues.
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Q. Why does the priest ask the child if he "renounce the devil and his pomps?"
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A. To signify that he who will be the child of God cannot be the child of the devil.
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Q. What mean the several anointings of the child?
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A. They signify the interior anointings or unction of divine grace given to the soul in baptism.
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Q. What mean they in particular?
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A. He is anointed on the head to signify "that by baptism he is made partaker of the kingly dignity of Christ;" on the shoulders to signify "he must bear his cross courageously;" on the breast to signify "that the heart is thereby strengthened with grace to fight against the devil."
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Q. What does the white garment given to the child signify?
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A. The purity and innocence which he there receives.
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Q. What does the lighted candle given to sponsors for the child signify?
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A. It signifies the light of faith and the fire of charity with which the soul is endowed by baptism, and that the child is bound to hold up through life the lamp of good works, always burning, always shining before men, that they may glorify our Father, who is in heaven.
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Want of space will not permit me here to show how to the "Lord's Supper" in like manner was added many rites and ceremonies foreign to the spirit of the Gospel, by which the simple memorial service instituted by our Lord was transformed into a splendid sacrificial ceremony breathing the very spirit of paganism rather than that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.]*
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I desire to call your attention to another thing--to the organization of the Church of Christ. In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, 12th chapter, you find a most admirable description of the Church of Christ. He likens it unto the body of a man and shows that it is to be so entire in its completeness that no part of it can be dispensed with:
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"The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you."
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All the members of the body are essential to a perfect man; and so, argues the Apostle, to the Church of Christ; all her officers, all her gifts, all her powers, are essential. I read in the New Testament that Jesus established His Church with Apostles, to whom He gave the power to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. I read in the tenth chapter of Luke that He called, in addition to these Twelve, the Seventy, to whom He gave similar powers to those given to the Twelve. He promised them the same power to heal the sick, to cast out devils, to open the eyes of the blind. Indeed, if you compare the commissions of these two bodies of men, you shall find them very much--almost completely, alike. These men, as they went about preaching the Gospel, wherever they found those who would believe their testimony, organized them into branches of the Church, and appointed a Bishop, and Elder, or a Priest, to take charge of the flock of Christ, whilst they went on with the mission of preaching the Gospel. Paul, in this 12th chapter of I Corinthians, winds up by saying:
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"And God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing," etc.
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In his writings to the Ephesians, the 4th chapter, Paul says:
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And he gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers;
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
He enumerates, then these several purposes of the organization, and maintains that this organization was necessary in order to perfect the Saints, essential to bring to pass their unity. These are the purposes for which this organization was given.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
But where do we find the church with its Apostles, with its Seventies, with its Bishops, with its Priests, and Teachers, and Deacons? I know that we are told, by those who contend for the episcopal order of church government, that Bishops succeeded to the authority of Apostles; but that is assumption. A Bishop is not an Apostle. The power and authority of the Apostle was universal; the authority and power of a Bishop is local. It is assumption, pure and simple, to say that bishops are successors to the same powers and to the same commission and office bestowed upon the Apostles. Where is that order of the Priesthood known as the Seventy, who were closely associated with the Apostles? It is an order of government lost sight of in the churches of the world. Indeed, the same organization as that established by Jesus nowhere exists among the children of men today, except among the Latter-day Saints; and it exists here because God has opened again the heavens and restored it by revelation.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
Now, my brethren and sisters, I have already spoken at too great length, and yet have only indicated what may be said upon this interesting subject--one in which, I know, you have a deep concern. But, as I have before said, these arguments and very many others we employ are but helps. We trust primarily in the work of God itself; in that which the Church is; in the doctrines which she teaches; in the triumphs she has won. Indeed, her triumphs are great. We have seen mob violence break upon the Church time after time, like the waves of the ocean beat upon a rock-bound shore. We have seen the great government of the United States, under a mistaken policy, and deceived by misrepresentation, use its great powers to break down this Church. The government confiscated the Church property. Her earthly leaders have been killed, and many driven into exile. Yet none of those things has for one moment affected the unity, or the power, of this Church organization. The Church goes out into the world with its grand message of peace on earth and goodwill to man. If here and there she has brought a sword, and not peace, the sword has been in the hands of her opponents, and not in ours. If there has been family peace disturbed, so that the father has been against the son and the son against the father, and the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law; and if a man's enemies have been they of his own household, not those who have accepted the Gospel have been the aggressors, nor the disturbers of the peace; but the others, who have not accepted it; and moved by a singular spirit of hatred, they have persecuted and cast out those who have received the truth.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
We are in a state of evolution as a community. Our methods of argument, the presentation of our mission may be crude, unscholarly, and all that; we are willing to confess it; but the truth of God is here! And as I contemplate this Church of Christ making the bold declaration in the face of a haughty, proud, pseudo-Christianity--proud of its past, proud of its learning, disdainful of the new arrival with her strange mission sounding in their ears--as I contemplate the Church of Christ going to the world with her message, I am reminded of the conflict--the unequal conflict, apparently--between the youthful, half-clad David and the great Goliath, skilled in the use of arms, clad from head to foot in complete armor, master of spear and of sword. And yet the ruddy cheeks of the boy smiled in confidence. Why? Because of his armor? Of that he had none. Because of his skill in the use of buckler or sword? These he knew not how to use. Because of his equal strength, with that proud antagonist walking towards him? He was a pigmy compared with the giant. No, his confidence was in none of these things; but it was resident in his sublime faith that God would vindicate Israel; that He would strengthen the arm of His servant, and give him the victory over his proud, boastful foe. So go out the Elders of the Church of Christ, not relying upon their own strength, nor in scholarship or worldly wisdom; but confident in the power of God, knowing by the experience of the past that He will walk by their side, that He will make their strength sufficient for the accomplishment of His purposes; and they, with their hands confidingly placed in His hand, walk on to the conflict, recognizing the fact that it is God's controversy with the world, and especially with the pseudo-Christian world; and that He will vindicate the great truth that He revealed to His Prophet, Joseph Smith--namely, that men have departed from the true Christian faith; that they have been and are teaching for doctrine the commandments of men; that they draw near to Him with their lips while their hearts are far removed from Him; that they have forms of godliness, but deny the power of God. And He will also manifest to them that other truth, namely, that God has again spoken from heaven and revealed anew the everlasting Gospel, and re-established His Church on the earth.
Collected Discourses, Vol.5, B. H. Roberts, January 23rd, 1898
The Lord bless you, Amen.
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