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
Now, my friends, bear, I pray you, for a moment, with the seeming
harshness of the reply that was made to that great inquiry. The
personage whom he addressed said to him in reply, that all the churches
were wrong; that he must join none of them; that their creeds were an
abomination in His sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that
they drew near to him with their lips but their hearts were far from
him; that they taught for doctrine the commandments of men, "having
a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof." He was again
expressly commanded to go not after them, at the same time receiving a
promise that the fulness of the gospel should at some future time be
made known unto him.
That was a tremendous message to deliver to a world that supposed
itself to be living in the full blaze of Christian glory! It was enough
to appall the stoutest heart to be called upon to deliver it! But, my
friends, Mormonism would have no right to existence unless such was
the condition of the world. Of churches and creeds there were already
enough; and unless there was some great, fundamental reason why a new
message should be sent to the world, then Mormonism has no right to
exist at all.
The vision closed, and the boy went with it to his friends, and out of
it has grown what the world calls Mormonism. Now, let us talk about the
substance of this vision a little while and see if we can not soften
the seeming harshness with which this message of Mormonism begins: "The
churches are wrong." But, my friends, the people then living were not
responsible for those conditions. They had inherited them. Generations
ago men had transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken
the everlasting covenant of the gospel, and formulated creeds which
failed to grasp or record truly the central truths of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the nature of God, the relationship of man to Deity, or
the purpose of man's earth existence. The false notions and doctrines
that obtained respecting these matters our generation inherited from
preceding generations. It was a case of the fathers "eating sour
grapes, and the children's teeth being set on edge."
"CREEDS ARE AN ABOMINATION."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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