Essentials in Church History: A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away" — John Shaqi
Essentials in Church History: A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"Smith, Joseph Fielding
History
Essentials in Church History: A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"
Smith, Joseph Fielding
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- History
No wonder Joseph Smith rejoiced, he now possessed greater knowledge
than all the professors and divines in all the world! Naturally he
desired that others should share his joy and partake of his wonderful
information. He would proclaim it to them with gladness, surely
they would be pleased to receive it and would rejoice with him! But
great disappointment awaited him, for with one accord his message
was rejected. Only the members of his household would believe. He
was treated with scorn by great men of learning, although he was but
a boy. He was mocked and shamed. Instead of the spirit of love and
gratefulness following him for revealing this glorious message of
truth, it was the spirit of contempt and hatred with which he had to
contend. In sorrow he learned to hold his peace and wait--wait for
further light and inspiration which he had been promised. Though all
the world should mock and former friends deride, he knew he had beheld
the Vision. There was one Friend to whom he now could go and pour out
his soul in humble hope of encouragement and succor. What did it matter
though the whole world should laugh, if the Son of God would hearken to
his humble pleadings?
Not Strange that the Message Should be Rejected
Yet, when we stop to reflect, it is not strange that this message of
light and truth should be rejected by the world, for the Lord had said
long years before, "Men love darkness rather than light, because their
deeds are evil." As for the priests, was not their craft in danger?
The message left with the youthful seer by the God of heaven was
most drastic. It had been declared in language that could be clearly
understood, that the creeds of men were not in accord with his Gospel.
This was not a message to please the religious teachers of the day.
Moreover, the Vision had shattered the traditions of the times. The
doctrines taught in the churches were emphatically contradicted and
disproved. The world was teaching and believing that the canon of
scripture was full; that there was not to be and could not be, more
revelation; that the visitation of angels had ceased with the early
Christian fathers, and such things as these had passed away forever.
Again, the doctrine was taught that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost were
incomprehensible, without body, parts and passions. A revelation of
the Father and the Son as separate persons, each with a body tangible
and in the form of the body of man, was destructive of this doctrine,
as revelation was of the doctrine of the closed heavens. The world had
held that perfection in religion and the organization of the Church of
Christ was not to be expected, but that men were led by their own human
reason to interpret the word of the Lord as set forth in the scriptures.
A Bold Denunciation of False Doctrine
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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