Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 2 of 2)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 2 of 2)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches
In our consideration of their review we will suppose the
representatives of these churches present, sitting right here
[indicating a place close by the stand] in a body. And I wish they were
so present, because there is nothing like talking it out face to face
with these gentlemen; and I doubt not but their presence in a body
would be quite an inspiration to one in discussing the document they
have submitted to us. Having, then, before us the circumstances out of
which this occasion arises, let us proceed to our task.
The first charge or criticism of the address of the Church made by
these gentlemen is to the effect that the doctrines of the Church are
not as fully proclaimed elsewhere as in Utah; all through the review,
in fact, runs the innuendo that the Church deceitfully teaches one
doctrine at home and another abroad, and that the address obscures much
that is necessary to an intelligent judgment of "Mormonism." Hence
these gentlemen propose to help the world to a fuller presentation of
"Mormon" doctrine and practice, as set forth in their review of our
address.
Right here, I wish to propose this question to these gentlemen: The
document they have issued quotes very copiously from our published
Church works. I want to ask them, on what books and utterances do they
rely for this larger, fuller proclamation of "Mormonism?" I find quoted
the _Millennial Star,_ the _Journal of Discourses,_ the _Seer_ (by
Orson Pratt), the _Improvement Era,_ the _Manuals_ of the Young Men's
Mutual Improvement Associations, _Orson Spencer's Letters,_ Epistles
of the First Presidency of the Church, Talmage's _Articles of Faith,_
and last, and of course least, some of my own works. Now where is the
_Millennial Star_ published? In Liverpool, England. Where were the
_Journals of Discourses_ published? In Liverpool, England. Where was
the _Seer_ published? In Washington, D.C. Does it not occur to you,
gentlemen, since these are the works on which you chiefly rely for
your larger view of "Mormon" doctrine, that we have published them
elsewhere quite as fully as we have in Utah. The _Improvement Era,_
of course, is published in Salt Lake City; but two thousand copies of
it are sent free to our missionaries abroad to use as tracts and to
scatter everywhere in the world. So with _Orson Spencer's Letters:_
so with all our publications quoted by you, except the Seer, of which
more presently. They are all sent broadcast, and our elders use them
very freely, and you will find them in the hands of our friends abroad,
and from them they learn the doctrines of "Mormonism." So that your
practical charge that we preach one set of doctrines and principles in
Utah, and quite another in the world, and that we are trying to play
the double game of having one doctrine for home consumption and another
for proclamation abroad, is as shallow as it is untrue.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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