Cowley's Talks on DoctrineCowley, Matthias F. (Matthias Foss)
Religion
Cowley's Talks on Doctrine
Cowley, Matthias F. (Matthias Foss)
Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines
When difficulties arise between members of the Church and they fail to
settle by themselves and the assistance of one or two witnesses, as the
Savior directs, the Bishopric of the Ward form an ecclesiastical court,
to which the disputants can refer their difficulties. If the decision
is unsatisfactory to either party, there is a court of appeal in each
Stake, called the High Council, consisting of twelve High Priests
presided over by the Presidency of the Stake. From their decision an
appeal can be had to the Presidency of the Church, which is the end of
controversy. Trials by these courts are conducted free of charge. They
are to exercise the functions of their calling without partiality and
with the fear of God before their eyes, and to be guided by the Spirit
of the Lord in their conclusions.
In the selection of any and all officers in the Church, the Saints have
a voice. "No person is to be ordained to any office in this church,
where there is a regularly organized branch of the same, without
the vote of that church." (Doctrine and Covenants, section xx, 65.)
"And all things shall be done by common consent in the Church, by
much prayer and faith, for all things you shall receive by faith."
(Doctrine and Covenants, section xxvi, 2.) The Gospel is a perfect
law of liberty, and no people upon the earth have broader freedom and
a stronger voice in government, religious or otherwise, than do the
Latter-day Saints in the governmental and all other affairs of the
Church.
The reader is referred to the revelations of God, given in the last
days to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for a more perfect understanding of
the offices and duties thereof, pertaining to the Church of Christ.
They are to be found in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. These
revelations throw great light upon the fragmentary statements of the
New Testament, because in the latter no one can learn the relationship
of one quorum in the Church to another, nor the explicit duties of the
respective offices in the Holy Priesthood.
This Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, as far as could
be, with the limited membership of six men--Joseph Smith, Jr., Hyrum
Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Samuel H. Smith, Peter Whitmer, Jr., and David
Whitmer. It was truly "a grain of mustard seed, the smallest of all
seeds," in comparison with other organizations. A less number could
not have been organized under the laws of New York. The great founder,
under God, of this Church, had never belonged to any other. It was not
an off-shoot of Catholic or Protestant, but as "a little stone cut out
of the mountains without hands," it bore no relationship to any human
system; and as the stone should increase in velocity as it rolled on,
so has the Church grown in magnitude from the "mustard seed" to a great
tree. It is believed by the Saints that the Savior was born on the 6th
of April, and that the organization of this Church commemorates that
great event.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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