A New Witness for God (Volume 1 of 3)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
A New Witness for God (Volume 1 of 3)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches
Of the conclusion here arrived at, it is only necessary to say that it
is founded upon an assumption. Look again at the passage upon which the
argument is based, in connection with its context. "Then the eleven
disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had
appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him; but some
doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying: All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations;
* * * and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
[4] It will be seen that the promise was to the eleven apostles, not
to the church. To say that this promise "regards the successors of
the apostles no less than the apostles themselves," is an assumption
unwarranted by the text; and it is upon that assumption that the Rev.
John Milner and other Catholic writers, base their conclusions that the
word of Jesus is pledged to an uninterrupted continuation of His church
in the earth.
The argument of Cardinal Gibbons is still worse than that of Dr.
Milner. He says the promise of Jesus to the apostles contains three
important declarations, the first of which is: "The presence of Christ
with His _church._" This is worse than assumption. The learned Cardinal
has written "church," where he should have written "apostles;" and
therefore the conclusion he reached, namely, the perpetual duration
of the church, is based upon a misstatement; and as the premises upon
which the argument is based are untrue, the conclusion is false.
The argument by Catholics is thought to be invulnerable, because the
promise of Jesus to be with the apostles to the end of the world is
impossible of fulfillment, unless it "regarded the successors of the
apostles no less than the apostles themselves." But to be with their
successors is not being with the apostles. Hence the device arranged
by Catholics for the fulfillment of this promise of the Lord, misses
its purpose altogether. Moreover, there is no need of such device to
explain how the promise of Jesus could be fulfilled. "In my Father's
house," said he, addressing these same men, "are many mansions: if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you,
* * * _that where I am there ye may be also;_" [5] And there they are
with Jesus in the place he prepared for them, and they will continue to
be with him even unto the end of the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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