The Gospel: An Exposition of its First Principles: Revised and Enlarged EditionRoberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
The Gospel: An Exposition of its First Principles: Revised and Enlarged Edition
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches
There is no one single thing, however great, that man can do and then
be under no further obligations to continue to observe the laws of
righteousness. The reply of Jesus to the young man who came running
to him saying, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may
have eternal life?" was--"If you will enter into life, keep the
commandments." The young man asked, "which;" that is, which of the
commandments must he keep. And here I will say that by reading a little
between the lines it is not difficult to see that the young man had an
idea that there was some great thing he could do, and by that one act
secure eternal life. But the answer of Jesus dispelled that illusion,
for he said:--"Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness; honor thy
father and thy mother; and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The
young man sayeth, all these things have I kept from my youth up; what
lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell
all thou hast and give it to the poor, * * * and come and follow me."[S]
[Footnote S: Matt. xix: 16-22.]
It will be observed from the foregoing that it was not enough that the
young man keep the commandments in the law of Moses, not enough that he
sell all that he had and give it to the poor, but he must then come and
follow his Master. How much that means! But I shall not particularize,
I shall sum up the matter by saying' that this case, together with the
observations in the preceding chapters, plainly proves that if man
would be perfect, if he would obtain the full benefits of Messiah's
atonement, complete absolution from his personal violation of holy,
righteous laws, as well as deliverance from the grave, his obedience to
the laws of Christ--the Gospel, must be implicit, absolute.
CHAPTER VI.
PRINCIPLES AND ORDINANCES.
In this chapter I shall deal briefly and collectively with those
principles that must be accepted, the ordinances that must be observed,
the precepts that must be followed and the kind of a life that must be
led in order to secure a forgiveness of individual sins, and obtain and
grow in the favor of heaven--in short, what laws and ordinances man is
required to obey in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I shall enter into no analysis of the respective principles spoken
of, but shall merely point them out, and enter into a more particular
consideration of them further on in the work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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