If asked what the distinguishing characteristics of "Mormonism" are, I should answer: The acceptance of Jesus Christ as the full and complete revelation of God to man, in person and in attributes; that as Jesus was and is,--for to us he still lives, a resurrected, glorified man--so is God, the Father--a perfected man. This is only saying that as "the Son is, so also is the Father." The belief that the spirit of man is in very deed the child of God--his offspring; that men in reality are brothers to Jesus Christ, and to each other. A more pronounced faith than is possessed by other people in the imminence of God in the world and in men, through the medium of the divine spirit. A positive belief in present and continuous revelation. A broader conception of God's treatment of men in the matter of revealing himself and his purposes to them. Acknowledging an inspired priesthood, authorized to direct the affairs of, and instruct the Church. The possession of a living faith which lays hold of all the promises made in the gospel of Jesus Christ; personal communion with God through the Holy Spirit, and enjoyment of all the spiritual gifts and graces granted to the saints in any age of the world. If asked what special benefits "Mormonism" has conferred upon mankind, my answer would be: 1st. That it presents to the world the fullness of the gospel, with the authority to administer its ordinances; that through obedience to it men may attain unto all those gifts, graces and powers known to the ancient saints. It assures them that God in his relationship to men, is the same today as he was nineteen centuries ago, that the gospel is the same now as it ever was, and all spiritual graces and powers that man ever attained to he may possess today. 2nd. That in the testimony of modern prophets and saints the evidences of God's existence and the truth of the gospel are so enlarged that the unbelief which today distresses the religious world and limits the extension of Christianity would be swept away. 3rd. That in the Book of Mormon there is evidence of the authorship of the Jewish scripture of which Christendom in the face of modern criticism--commonly called the "Higher Criticism"--stands much in need. That criticism, as is well known, is not directed so much to textual errors which may have found their way into the great collection of sacred books, as it is to utterly destroy the authorship and all idea of the divine inspiration of them. This modern criticism has decided that Moses is not the author of the Pentateuch, and indeed, the authorship not only of the Pentateuch but of nearly all the prophets and even the books of the New Testament is unsettled in the minds of many. The Book of Mormon gives an account of a colony of Israelites that left Palestine six hundred years before Christ, which colony carried with it a copy of the law of Moses and the writings of the Prophets down to the days of Jeremiah.