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
"'Well certainly,' says one--a Bible believer--'of course I wish to
have the religion of the Bible. I would like to have the religion
of Christ. I do not admit of any departure.' This is right. This is
consistent. Of course if there is a question as to whether God has
made any change in His primitive faith, revealed through Christ, we
shall consider it; for I am willing also to make a change if God has
authorized it. I am quite willing to accept any doctrine that God has
revealed from heaven for my salvation. I confess to you that I have no
disposition whatever to maintain private views or speculations which
may have been engendered on my own part through reflection. I wish the
doctrine of Christ, as Christ taught it, as the apostles taught it, and
I will not, with the light that I possess, depart one particle from the
letter and spirit of that ancient plan. And if there are any friends
here who have heard that the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints do not believe in the Bible, let them judge. There
are no practices pleasing to God, or likely to bring His blessings
upon the heads of the children of men, except those inculcated by Him,
through His servants by the power of revelation from heaven, so that
we will not depart from the book. We will not teach doctrines that are
opposed to this book, but we are prepared to show our friends, in the
spirit of kindness, that doctrines opposed to those contained in this
book are displeasing to God, and are not calculated to bring peace and
salvation to the children of men.
"'But,' says one, 'what matters it whether we go this road that you
point out or some other? You know if we can get to heaven one way,
is not that as good as another? We will try to illustrate this idea.
If a man wish to go to London, says the inquirer, may he not go the
road that leads towards the south, or a road that leads towards the
north, as the case may be; what matters it so that he gets to London?
It would not matter in the least. He might go the road that led to
the north or that which led to the south, and by making a shorter or
longer journey, as the case might be, he might get to London. But you
see there is no parallel between this figure and the facts in regard
to religion because there are not two ways to get to heaven. That is
the difference. There are two ways to get to London probably, perhaps
more, but you see there is only one way to get to heaven, so that when
we admit, as an illustration, a figure of this kind, we start with an
error and it leads us astray.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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