Mr. Durant of Salt Lake City, "That Mormon"Rich, Ben. E. (Benjamin Erastus)
Religion
Mr. Durant of Salt Lake City, "That Mormon"
Rich, Ben. E. (Benjamin Erastus)
Latter Day Saints -- Fiction; Salt Lake City (Utah) -- Fiction
priesthood unless he is called of God as was Aaron.
"Are the preachers--those who commonly preach in connection with the
churches of the present day called of God as was Aaron? Or, in other
words, are they called by revelation from God? This is the question.
We do not doubt the propriety of their being called in this way,
because the Bible says they ought to be. Do our Protestant ministers,
at the present time, profess to be sent of God as was Aaron? Is there
a minister connected with the Christian denominations of the present
day who professes to be sent of God by direct revelation? Not one. It
does not require any argument at all. They do not profess that they
have heard from God. They say that God has not spoken since the last
book of the New Testament was written. They say it is a sin, and they
find fault with the Latter-day Saints because we believe that God does
speak; that He has a right to speak; and it is necessary we should have
His approval and commission in order to qualify us to attend to the
business of His Church. So that our present Christian teachers do not
profess to be called of God as was Aaron. They deny all revelation at
present, or since the Bible was written.
"You know the ministers, among their other errors, receive pay for
preaching. That is an innovation also. The ancient apostles, and
seventies, and bishops, and so on, were not paid for preaching. But
our present ministers are. The preachers of this Church, with whom I
am connected, are not paid for preaching. They preach without money,
without purse, and without scrip. Now the preachers of the present
churches make a business of preaching. They learn to be preachers.
They are brought up to be preachers in consequence of their parents
or guides finding in this way a place where they may make a living.
Such ministers sometimes acknowledge one kind of revelation. Not
that God tells the people about His will, or that He manifests His
power, but they sometimes tell us they have received a call from
one congregation to another. But there is one peculiarity about it,
viz: the congregation that calls them is a congregation that almost
invariably offers them more money than the congregation to which they
have been attached. This is the only instance of any kind of revelation
being acknowledged by our Christian teachers. God has not spoken,
say they, by inspired men, since the days of the ancient apostles.
He has not spoken directly to the church. He has not authorized a
single man to preach, but sometimes a call is given from less money to
more. And though they are feeling full of love and affection for the
congregation with which they have labored for years, yet they are sorry
and regret so much that that call must be heeded, which takes them from
among their old friends to a new congregation. But, you see, the new
congregation offers the most money, and that cannot be disregarded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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