Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 1 of 2)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 1 of 2)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches
Let us look at this work for a moment. If one could but draw it clearly
in outline, and present it in its originality and greatness, it would
be its own witness of its divinity, for in all things it transcends the
mere wit of man. Take the Church organization for illustration; and
look at it with reference to its being an assemblage of means to the
accomplishment of an end. As I understand the Church of Christ, its
mission is two-fold; first, it is to proclaim the truth; second, it is
to perfect those who receive the truth. I think these two things cover,
in a general way, the entire mission of the Church. Is its organization
competent to attain those two mighty ends? Let us see; and first as to
the proclamation of the truth--the work really of the foreign ministry.
What provision has God made for that? He has in his Church, first of
all Twelve Special Witnesses, the Twelve Apostles, who were chosen
in the first instance, by the Three Special Witnesses to the Book of
Mormon. I remark in passing that there is a peculiar fitness in the
Twelve Apostles--the Twelve Special Witnesses being chosen by those
who had been made Witnesses for God by the great vision and revelation
he had given them concerning the absolute truth and correctness of the
Book of Mormon. Upon these Twelve Apostles rests the responsibility
of being witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ in all the world. That
is their special, peculiar calling. You can see, however, if you take
into account the extent of their field of labor--for it encompasses
the whole round world--that twelve men would not be adequate to meet
all the requirements of the foreign ministry. God knew this, and hence
he called into existence other special witnesses, to labor under the
direction of these Twelve, they holding the keys to open the door of
the gospel to all the nations of the earth; for all must hear it, from
the greatest to the least. The Twelve, I say, hold the keys of this
foreign ministry; and hence whenever there has been an opening of
the door of the gospel to a foreign nation, one or more of these men
holding the keys have been sent to do it. It was for this reason that
Heber C. Kimball, one of the Twelve Apostles, was sent to Great Britain
in 1837, to open the door of the gospel in that land; why Elder John
Taylor was sent to France and Germany; why Elder Lorenzo Snow was sent
to Italy and Switzerland; why Erastus Snow was sent to the Scandinavian
countries; why Parley P. Pratt went to Chili and opened the door of the
gospel to the South American republics; why, more recently, Elder Heber
J. Grant was sent to Japan to open a mission. The Twelve, then, hold
the keys of this ministry, and upon them devolves this responsibility
of opening the door of salvation to the nations. But after them, other
witnesses are chosen. These are the seventy apostles, or special
witnesses, the assistants of the Twelve; under whose directions they
labor. At first, two quorums of Seventy only were organized; but
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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