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Baptism is requisite to the
cleaning of sin before a person may enter the
1 WHAT
IS IT DESIGNED FOR? I propose
in this little essay on baptism to
show: First, that baptism, as a gospel ordinance, is designed
"for the remission of sins." Second, that it is administered
only by IMMERSION. Third,
that it is a SAVING ordinance. Fourth, that it
is a COMMANDMENT of God, alike
binding upon all. That
it is designed for the remission
of sins is very clear from the following testimonies: "John
did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission
of sins"
(Mark 1:4) "And
he (John) came into all the country about "Then
Peter said unto them: Repent,
and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of your sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: for
the promise is unto you and to your children,
and to them who are afar off even as
many as the Lord our God shall
call." (Acts "For
thou (Paul) shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen
and heard. And now why tarriest
thou? Arise and be
baptized, and
wash away thy
sins." Baptism
for the remission of sins
was reckoned a burial of the former sinful
life, and the being raised out of that baptism
was reckoned a resurrection or
raising to a new life: that is the new
life enjoined by the gospel. So it is
written: Know ye not, that as many of
us as were baptized into Jesus Christ
were baptized (or buried) into
his death? "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism, into
death;" that is, the death of our former sinful life. That like as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life. Repentance,
or turning away from sin by the requirement of the gospel, is a death to all our
former sinful life, and baptism for the remission of sins
is a burial or putting off of the old man with his deeds, and the
being drawn forth out of this baptism, or burial, is arising again to the new
life, or the putting on of the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of Him who created him." (Col. 3:10) For
if we have been planted, "buried," or "baptized"
together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection, knowing this that our old man (our former sinful life) is
crucified (slain) with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin; for he that is dead is freed from sin. "Now
if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing
that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more
dominion over him; for in that he died, he died unto sin once but in that
he liveth, he lives unto Cod. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ." ( To
the ordinary reader it is a little difficult to understand these sayings of
Paul; nevertheless repentance, or turning from our former sinful life, is [Page
2] deemed by Paul a crucifixion of the old man, and being baptized for the
remission of all past sins, is a burial to the former evil life, and the being
drawn forth out of the water of baptism a resurrection to the new gospel life.
And all these things are a very interesting likeness of the crucifixion, death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without
doubt then Baptism, as an ordinance, was for the remission of all past sins, let
the objector say what he may about it. There is no other object or purpose
intended for it throughout the scriptures. We are not told of any other object
intended for it by any writer of the New Testament, and none is hinted at in
the least. HOW
IS IT ADMINISTERED?
Having
established this fact, I will now see if immersion only is baptism. And to begin
with, let me say that there is not a single passage in all the New Testament to
give color to, or prove that either sprinkling or pouring was used in apostolic
times for baptism. And
there is no case of baptism mentioned in that book but what all lend to the
conclusion that immersion only was
practiced in those times. First of all the word baptism itself in its present
and ancient meaning never did mean anything else than dip
or immersion. And this is so well
known by all men learned in Greek, that it is surprising any one should question
it. But let the scriptures themselves speak. "John
did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of And
it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was
baptized of John IN Jordan. And straightway coming
UP OUT OF the water, He
saw the heavens opened, and the spirit like a dove descending upon him.
(Mark 1:4, 5, 9, 10) Now
the question arises, if pouring or sprinkling was used here, what is there in
the above account that even hints at such a thing? What
would be the use of going down all the way to the River Jordan, and getting
right into it, in order to be sprinkled, or poured? "And
Jesus when he was baptized went up straightway out of the water,"
etc. (Matt. "And
straightway coming up out of the water he saw the heavens opened, and the
spirit like a dove descending upon him," etc. "John
was baptizing in Enon, near to Salim, because
there was much water there." (John 3:23) "And
he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into
the water, both Phillip and the Eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they
were come up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip
that the Eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing." (Acts "Therefore
we are buried
with him (Christ) by baptism into death that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so
we also should walk in newness of life." (Rom. 8:4) "For
if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." (Rom.
6:5) Now
the words "buried'' and ''planted'' in those two texts imply
the being immersed or covered with the
water of baptism; for we can neither be "buried" nor
"planted" without being "covered." And as Jesus says:
“Verily, verily, I say onto you, except a man be born of the water,
and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the [Page 3] But
I will here add the testimony of a few distinguished Greek scholars. Mosheim
says: ''Immersion only was used in the first and second centuries." (See
his Ecclesiastical History, pages 129 and 211) Martin
Luther says: “The term baptism is a Greek word; it may be rendered by dipping
as when we dip anything in water, that it may be entirely covered with water. I
could wish, he says, that such as are to be baptized should be completely
immersed into the water, according to the meaning of the word, and the
signification of the ordinance... As also without doubt it was instituted by
Christ.” John
Calvin says: "The word baptize signifies to immerse, and the right of
immersion was observed by the ancient church." John
Wesley says: "Buried with him in baptism,'' (Rom. 6:4), alludes to the ancient
manner of baptizing by immersion. Jeremy
Taylor, the learned bishop, writes: ''The custom of the ancient churches was not
sprinkling, but immersion, in pursuance of the sense of the word in the
commandment, and in the example of our blessed Saviour." Robinson,
the great philologist and learned Biblical scholar, says: “The native Greeks
must understand their own language better than foreigners and they have always
understood the word baptism to signify dipping, and therefore from their first
embracing of Christianity, to this day they have always baptized, and do yet by
immersion.'' A
good many other distinguished authors inform us that baptism was changed from
immersion to sprinkling by the Catholic Church. And this is undoubtedly true.
For the Catholic Church themselves do not deny, but confess this fact. The
next question in order:
IS
BAPTISM A SAVING ORDINANCE?
''He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not
shall be dammed.” (Mark16:16) "Go
ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo! I am with you always (on these
conditions) unto the end of the world." (Matt. 15:19, 20) Now
if Jesus is to be with his people up to the end of the world on the condition
that they keep all things whatsoever he commands them, then we conclude that all
these things together are saving, baptism with all the rest, simply because it
is a commandment, as all things else are commandments. If
that ordinance instituted by the Saviour of Mankind, for the remission of sins that are past, is not essential to salvation, or is not a
saving ordinance, we do not know what ordinance or principle is saving. The
only reason it is not saving too many is because for some unaccountable reason,
or cause, men do not confide in or regard it as they ought. They might its well
say there is no merit in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or in observing the
Sabbath day, or in visiting the sick, the poor and needy. Peter,
in speaking of Noah and his family being saved by water, says: "'The like
figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us." (1 Peter
3:18-21) "For
if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his (Christ's) death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection." ( "Men
and brethren, what shall we do?" that is, to be saved. "Repent and be
baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of
your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," etc. (Acts Has
the putting away of sin by the ordinance of baptism, nothing to do with men's
salvation? If
Jesus, by language that has all the force and effect of an oath, has said that
no man can get into the kingdom of heaven without baptism of water, as well as
of the Spirit, has [Page 4] baptism then nothing to do with man's salvation? (John 3:5) "And
all the people that heard him (Jesus) justified God, being baptized with the
baptism of John; but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of
God against themselves, not being baptized of him." (Luke 7:29, 30) Very
well, then, did those who rejected this counsel of God against
themselves, obtain salvation to their souls? I tell you no,
most decidedly. They did not, and none ever can, who will reject that counsel. Having
said so much in regard to baptism; its object; how it was and must be
administered; and its necessity to salvation, it would seem scarcely necessary
to show further that-- For
all things written of it shows it to be the work of God and clearly necessary to
salvation, and must therefore have been commanded of God. But I will proceed
however to show that God has most earnestly commanded it. John,
the Baptist, was sent by the direct word of God to make the ways of the
Lord straight, which corrupt Pharisees and Scribes had made crooked, or
contradictory, and so he says: "He that sent me
to baptize, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit
descending and remaining on him, the same is he who baptiseth with the Holy
Ghost." (John 1:33) John
was therefore commanded to baptize for the remission of sins, (Luke 3:2,
3, 4) But, said Jesus to caviling Pharisees: "The
baptism of John—whence was it, from heaven or of man? Answer me." Of
course every reasonable man must answer that the baptism of John must have been
by direct command from God and not an invention of man, when he looks at the
fact that John was "a mighty prophet" and that "God sent him
directly to preach the gospel and to baptize for the remission of sins."
(Luke 3:2, 3; John 1:33; Mark But
Jesus is very emphatic on the necessity of baptism on the part of all men: for
said he:--“Verily, verily I say unto you, or, in other words,
I swear, I swear unto you that except a man be born of the water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. The being born again
of the water has been before explained." Cornelius
was a man of righteous and godly life--"a devout man," that is one
devoted to God and godliness; one that "feared God with all his
house," and therefore, must have been a man that taught his family to fear
God, and keep his commandments; "gave much alms to the poor," and
prayed to God constantly. An angel of God because of his prayers was sent to him
to show him that something further was necessary in order that he and his house
might, be saved (Acts 11:14). And he was therefore required to send for Peter
some 60 miles off, who should show him the lacking knowledge and duties. Now
when Peter was came and heard his story, he commanded
them to be baptized "in the name of the Lord," and why? If Paul, and
even Jesus himself, must needs be baptized, why should Cornelius and his family
be excused? Yes, Peter "commanded them in the name (authority) of
God, to be baptized as all others, for the remission of all their former
sins." Now
why this uniformity of requiring all to be baptized, both by John and Jesus
and Peter and Phillip among the Samaritans and commanding all to come to it,
if it were not a command of God? Has
God respect of persons? And if he excuses any one from conforming to this
command, where is the excuse found? You point perhaps to the thief on the cross,
and say "surely here was an exception, for this thief had no time to be
baptized." And thus you try to make the decree of Jesus, a mere halter of
sand, instead of being as it really is, a decree so [Page
5] universal that none can escape it, except little children—who know
not good or evil, and are therefore under no moral responsibility. Now
the words of this thief show very clearly that he must have obeyed the
requirements of the gospel and must therefore have been a baptized man. Those
who rejected John the Baptist's teachings never knew the Saviour in his true
character, but not so this thief. He did know him quite as well, and much
better than many others who had a name to be his followers. Otherwise, how could
he say to his brother thief, "this man hath
done nothing amiss." And
then again, "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."
What did he know or what could he know of the character of Jesus
any more than any other unbeliever, who rejected the counsel of God against
himself? What
could he know of either the innocence of Jesus' character, or of his kingdom, or
whether Jesus was ever going to obtain a kingdom such as Jesus laid claim to, if
he had not received the gospel of the Kingdom as it was preached in his day, and
rendered obedience to it? For
John said in order, "That he should be made known, or manifest to But
supposing that this be regarded as unsound, does it follow that this thief went
into heaven the same day that Jesus expired on the cross? Not
at all, for Jesus on the day of his resurrection said: "Touch me not, for I
am not yet ascended to my Father." (John 20:16, 17) So when Jesus
said to the thief, "this day shalt thou be with me in paradise," it
must not be regarded as a promise that he was on that day going to be with Jesus
in the kingdom of heaven for all who have spoken of the time between the death
and resurrection of Christ, tell us that Jesus was during this time ministering
to the spirits of the departed dead. "For
Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit, by
which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, which sometime were
disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah,
while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by
water." (1 Peter 3:17-20) Paul,
speaking of this time, says: "Now that he ascended," or went up
to God, "what is it but that he also descended first into the lower
parts of the earth." Now the "lower parts"
of the earth are not on the surface of the earth, where the sepulcher was.
This would require no descent. But
Jesus himself says: "Marvel not for the hour is coming when all who are in
their graves shall hear the voice of the son of God; and they that hear or
believe shall live, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the
resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of
damnation." This is of course what Paul and Peter had reference to when
they spoke of Christ's descent to the lower parts of the earth, and the spirits
in prison; and said further: "For this cause," (that all may
have an equal chance to be saved, and to give an account to the Judge of quick
and dead) "was the gospel preached to them that are dead, that they
might be judged according to (or the same as, man in the flesh, but live according
to God in the Spirit." (1 Pet. 4:6) So
whether or not the thief on the cross was or was not a baptized man, there is no
evidence that he went into heaven on the day of the crucifixion, or that he will
be excused from obeying the ordinance of baptism if he had not already obeyed
it. Now I will say further here that the plan of salvation, its ordinances,
promises and requirements, [Page 6]
are all the same today, and all its promises are just as fixed and sum as they
ever were at any time during the ministry of Christ and his apostles. The same
faith is required today as then; the same repentance, or turning away from all
evil, and the same commandments are required to be kept. The same ordinance of
baptism by water for the remission of all past sins, and the same ordinance of
laying on of hands by the elders of the church for the gift of the Holy Spirit
of God have not changed one iota. Anyone who will dwell a moment on the
following passages must see the force of the above sayings; or in other words,
that the gospel of Jesus Christ has never changed a particle from the time of
Christ and his apostles until this day, and must remain the same as long as a
man remains on earth to be saved. "Therefore
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened
unto a foolish man that built his house on the sand, and the rains descended and
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great
was the fall of it." (Matt. 7:24-27) "He
that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him. The word
that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day."
(John 12:48) "Now
I beseech you, brethren, mark them
which cause divisions and
offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have
learned, and avoid them;
for they that are such, serve not our
Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, and by good words and fair
speeches deceive the hearts of the simple," that is, the uninformed. (Rom. "But
though we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." (Gal. l:6-9) "Now
we command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw
yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not according to the tradition which he received from us." (2 Thess.
3:6) "Those
things which ye have both learned and received, and heard and seen in me, do,
and the God of Peace shall be with you." (Philip 4:9) "And
the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to
faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." (2 Tim. 2:2) "Therefore
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest
at any time"--now or
hereafter--"we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by
angels was steadfast" (fixed and certain) "and every transgression
and disobedience (to them) received a just recompense of reward, how shall we
escape, if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to
be spoken by our Lord, and was confirmed unto us by those that heard him, God
also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders," etc.
(Heb. 2:1-4) Peter,
addressing himself to those who had obtained "like precious faith with
him and his followers," says: "Moreover I will endeavor that ye
may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For
we have not followed cunningly devised fables," etc. (2 Pet. "Let
that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If
that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall
continue in the Father and in the son." And
this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things
have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you." (1 John 2:24-26) "Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God; he that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son. If there
come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your houses,
neither bid him God speed; for he that biddeth him God speed is [Page
7] partaker of his evil deeds." (2 John 8-11) "Behold
I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy
crown." (Rev. 3:11) Well,
having added these very strong and earnest testimonies against either altering,
changing, abolishing or disregarding any one part, or principle, or
promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it will be well to introduce a few more
points to show that the Gospel was not a new order of things introduced in the
days of John and Jesus, but an order of things at least as old as Adam, and that
men in no age of the world could be saved without obedience to its
requirements. "Moreover,
brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were
under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses
in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and
did all drink the same spiritual
drink; for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that
rock was Christ." (1 Cor.10:1-4) "Spiritual meat and spiritual
drink" is undoubtedly the gospel of Jesus Christ. Speaking
of Moses, Paul says: "He esteemed the reproach of Christ as greater
riches than the treasures of Melchisedec
was a priest of the most high God, and administered the sacrament of bread and
wine to Abraham. (Gen. 14:18) Stephen,
in his defense of Jesus, says that Moses was "with the church" in
the wilderness. (Acts Paul
says: "For unto us was the gospel preached, as
well as unto them," (that is, Noah
was a preacher of righteousness and so was John the Baptist. (2 Pet. 2:5; Matt.
3:15) Abraham
obeyed the gospel and it was by the spirit given to those who faithfully obey
that gospel that he was enabled to see the day and ministry of Jesus Christ.
(John 8:56) "And
the scripture foreseeing, or foreshadowing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee
shall all nations be blessed." (Gal. 3:8) Now,
to those who obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, and truly turn from
their sins, God has promised the precious gifts of the gospel as they are
mentioned in the 12th, 13th and 14th chapters of Paul's 1st Epistle to the
Corinthians; Mark 16:15-20; Acts 2:38-39; Acts 10:44-46; and Acts 5:32. I
entreat the reader to examine these promises, and ask himself if God could be
just, and without respect of persons, not to give these gifts to those who serve
him in these days, as well as to those who served him in days gone by. "Is
any among you afflicted," says James, "Let him pray." Oh yes, to
be sure, let him pray; that is all right "Is any merry, let him sing
Psalms;" that is right also, says the sectarian, modern priest. But
"Is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of thy church, and let
them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer
of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him
up, and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him." (James
5:13-15) "O
no," says the sectarian priest, "I would always prefer sending for the
doctor, because nobody ought to send for elders nowadays; that is all a Mormon
delusion, because all such things are done away in this enlightened age."
Thus the people are taught to trust in an arm of flesh, much in preference to
the power of God. (Jer.17:5-8) "Covet to prophesy" says Paul; but that
is done away also, says the modern sectary. "Covet earnestly the best gifts,"
says the Scriptures, but man, blind and foolish man, says: "They [Page
8] are all done away and no longer needed." (See 1 Cor. 12:31; Chap.
14:39) "Follow
after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy
...for he that prophesieth edifieth the church." (1 Cor. 14:1-4) "Now
concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant,"
says Paul, (1 Cor. 12:1), but these are just what modern divines would have
the people ignorant of; they would have them ignorant of the grand
fact that the gifts of God's holy Spirit are as freely and universally
promised today to the truly honest believer in Jesus Christ, as that
salvation is freely and universally offered. If God takes away the gifts which
his son Jesus Christ has so freely offered to his servants, there is just as
good reasons for believing that salvation is withdrawn also. "The
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
with all." (1 Cor. 12:7-11) "For to one is given by the Spirit the
word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another
faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
to another the working of miracles; to another different kinds of tongues; to
another the interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and
the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."
For as the [human] body with its "many members, is but one body, so also is
[the body or church of] Christ." "For the [human] body is not one
member, but many." If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?
Exactly. And upon the same principle, if only one gift exists in the church of
God—that of preaching for instance—how much better off is she than the human
body that has been deprived of all its members except an eye, or an ear, or had
only one foot left? As such a human body would be, so is the church deprived of,
all these spiritual gifts. But the So
according to this, it is no wonder that the old Christian church is found today
divided and shorn of its once beautiful and glorious gifts, [Page
9] proportions and strength, and that men are groping in the dark like the
blind man for the walk, and nothing but confusion, doubt, darkness and
uncertainty reigns every where in the so-called modern Christian churches. And
now reader, the voice of God is to you, and to all men today the same as it ever
was to all the people of the past. Repent of all past sins and be baptized for
the remission of your sins according to the New Testament, and you will
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, according to the promise of God, by both
John and Jesus and all his apostles, "for the promise is unto you and to
your children, and to them that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call." And remember the command of Paul touching those who
have “a form of
Godliness but deny the gifts and power of God, who are ever learning, and
are never able to come to
the knowledge of the truth, FROM SUCH TURN AWAY." (2 Tim. 3:1-9) Some,
perhaps, in reading this little work over, will be inclined to say: "Why
you have said nothing about the saving blood of Christ, which is spoken of so
much in the scriptures." I
answer that the saving blood of Christ has no saving effect upon any one except
on the condition of obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And whatever any
of the Apostles have said in regard to the blood of Christ, being a sacrifice
for the sins of men, it is promised only to those who had obeyed the gospel of
Jesus Christ, and had entered into his church through its ordinances. The blood
of Christ affects no others except little children. "If
we walk in the light as he (Christ) is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth US from all sin."
(1 John 1:7) "And
you (Gentiles) that were sometime alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present
you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight; IF ye CONTINUE IN THE
FAITH, rooted and grounded, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel WHICH YE HAVE HEARD,
and which was PREACHED to every creature which is under heaven." (Col.
1:21-23) "And
being made perfect, he (Christ) became the author of eternal salvation unto all
them that OBEY HIM." (Heb. 5:9) "For
by one offering (of his own body) he hath perfected forever THEM THAT ARE
SANCTIFIED," that is, made clean and free from sin by obedience to
the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Heb. 10:14) But
another perhaps will say: "O well if we love God with all our hearts and
our neighbors as ourselves, I think it will be all right." But you must
remember that to love God is to keep his commandments, for, "this is the
love of God, that we keep his commandments," and his commandments are not
grievous. (1 John 5:3) "But
whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby we
know that we are in him.'' "He
that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me. And he that
loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest (make
known) myself unto him." (John 14:21) "He that loveth me not keepeth
not my sayings." “If
ye keep my commandments ye shall abide (continue) in my love, even as I have
kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." (John 15:10) According
to these sayings, it is a vain thing for any man to claim that he loves God, who
disregards his commandments; for the keeping of his commandments is what proves
that he loves him. We see then that there is absolutely no substitute for the
gospel of Jesus Christ. And all [Page 10]
the modern sectarian follies, "Come to the foot of the cross and wash away
your sins in the blood of Jesus," "Come and wash in the blood of
Jesus," "Come and apply the atoning blood of Jesus," "Come
and cast all your sins upon Jesus," "Come and get salvation,"
etc., etc., utterly disregarding the rules that Jesus himself has laid down for
the remission of sins, are all but the hollowest mockery of the true gospel of
Jesus Christ. And all such words are vain in the sight of God. And now kind
reader please read the next few page on authority to administer in the
ordinances of the gospel, as a minister of God. Having
as I trust by the help of God proved baptism so plainly to be an ordinance for
the remission of sins, a saving ordinance, and a direct commandment to all
men, few I think will be disposed to question it. But as baptism is one of those
ordinances or sacraments of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which must be
administered in the name or by the authority of the Father and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, I propose now to show what it is to act in the name, not
only of God, but in the names of men and kings and nations also. There
are just two ways in which anyone can act in the name of God, nations or
individuals. The one is when a man is legally called and qualified to so act in
those names; and the other is, when he assumes to act in any of those names
without being either called, authorized, or legally qualified so to act. If any
man, for instance, should undertake to act in the capacity of constable,
magistrate, supervisor, county clerk, or any other officer of the State of
Wisconsin, Michigan or any other state, without being legally and properly
authorized by the voice of the people according to the law of either of said
states, he would everywhere be deemed guilty of a gross crime, and at the first
opportunity would be punished either by fine or imprisonment or both in the
discretion of the court. The law of the state of "If
any person shall falsely assume or pretend to be a justice of the peace,
sheriff, deputy sheriff, coroner, or constable and shall take upon himself to
act as such, or to require any person to aid or assist him in any matter
pertaining to the duty of a justice of the peace, sheriff, deputy sheriff, coroner
or constable, or shall falsely take upon himself to act or officiate in any
office, or place of authority he shall be punished by imprisonment in
the county jail, not more than one year, or a fine not exceeding four hundred
dollars." The
object and importance of this law is apparent to all. To set it aside would be
to involve the state in ruin, reduce it to a mere mob and place the lives and
property of the people at the mercy of the lawless. There would be no safety or
protection to life or property; and like as in California, Oregon, Kansas and
Nebraska, and all other new territories more or less, before law and a body of
officers were chosen and qualified, to expound, enforce and execute the law,
every man in meeting his fellow would try to be first with his finger upon the
trigger, as his chief protection. A
very similar law to that above quoted, is found in every civilized state and
nation on earth. This law merely forbids men to act in the name of the people of
the different states—emperors, kings and monarchs, where they exist, when
not legally authorized and qualified so to do, according to the law under which
all persons are empowered to act in these different names, and punishes them
for its violation. All
organized bodies of men, from the school district to the most powerful monarchy,
must have officers to transact the business growing naturally out of the wants
of the people composing them; and to create those officers there are and must be
well defined laws, showing and making [Page
11] plain how those men must be appointed to act in those different offices,
and, when thus clothed with power, to enter upon the duties of those offices,
they act "in the name" of the body or state or individual which has
thus chosen them. The officers of the school district act in the name of the
school district. All state officers act in the name of the people of their
respective states. The officers of the This
is a rule to which there is no exception. And it is also a universal fact that
where the authority to legislate or to make laws exists, there also exists the
power to authorize men to expound, administer and execute those laws for the
common protection and defense of all the people. It
thus appears, and very plainly too, that to act in the name of any person or
people is TO ACT IN THEIR AUTHORITY, when it is legally and properly conferred;
and to so act without being; legally and properly called and chosen by the person
or persons in whose name one acts, is to become a transgressor, an impostor, a
usurper and a criminal. This
great principle, so universally necessary to the well-being of all people, was
first derived from the laws and government of God. For God first ruled the
nations, both before and after the flood, and it was in departing from that
government that brought untold calamities and destructions upon the nations; for
God is the sole author of all good and true government, and whatever is good as
a principle in government, ancient or modern, has all been derived from him. To
deter men from usurping power and authority in his church and kingdom, thereby
endangering the liberties, peace and everlasting life of man, God gave the
following commandment: "Thou
shalt not take the NAME of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold
him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." (Ex. 20:7) The
righteousness of this principle is everywhere acknowledged throughout the Bible.
Corah, Dathan and Abiram endeavored to disregard and set this law aside, and
miserably perished, they and all connected with them. (Num.16:1-49) Abimelech
did the same thing and also miserably perished. (Judges, chap. 9) Uzziah
was another usurper of authority, or guilty of taking of the name of God in
vain, and was therefore smitten with leprosy, and he had therefore to remain
alone all the balance of his life. (2 Chron. 26:16 to 21) Adonijah,
brother to Solomon, sought to usurp the authority of God, and miserably lost his
life by it (1 Kings, 1 and 2 chapters). Absolom, the son of David, was another
of this class, and came to a painful end. (2 Kings, chaps. 15, 16 and 17) We
have another case in the person of Uzzah, who thought he was doing a good act
when he put forth his hand to prevent the ark of the covenant from falling out
of a cart in which it was placed. The ark was placed in the keeping of the sons
of Levi, who were ordained and set apart to this and other duties, and all
others were forbidden to meddle with these matters and duties. So Uzzah fell
by the hand of God for his incautious temerity. Now, these are but a
few of the many things written on this point for our learning. And they are inserted
here to show that God is anything but pleased with those who usurp his
authority and take his name in vain. The scriptures everywhere teach us that God
is a Great King as well as our Chief Law Giver, and that his laws are to be
regarded as supreme above all laws. If, then, God is a Great King and a Great
Lawgiver, it follows that he must have forbidden men to usurp his authority and
to take his [Page 12] name in their
lips when not authorized. Usurping the authority of God and taking his name in
vain, are synonymous, or the same. But taking his name in vain, implies
that he will not regard any of their acts as lawful. When God calls a man to
hold office in the priesthood, all his lawful acts are recorded and written in
heaven. His preaching, his baptisms, his confirmations, his marriages, his
ordinations, his missions, his sealings, blessings and administrations, will all
be recorded and written in the archives of heaven, and all those who have
offered themselves for baptism, as members of the church and kingdom of God, by
obedience to the gospel laws, can rest assured that what they have done will be
justly recorded in heaven and acknowledged in their favor at the time of the
general judgment, when the books of heaven are to be opened, and the dead judged
"out of the things that are there written" for and against all men.
These things may sound simple to some, but I tell you they are true, and
faithful, and in the time to come all men will know that they are true. (Ex.
32:32, 33; Rev. 20:12, 15; But
as for those who run without being called and sent according to that which is
written, their works will all be vain. Not only will they be vain but God has
said that he "will not hold them guiltless," because they assume to
act in the name of God, and his son Jesus Christ, without being either called or
sent by him. Jesus
says that in the day of righteous judgment, "many will say unto him,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils,
and in thy name done MANY wonderful works," and then will I profess unto
them, "Ye never knew me. Depart from me ye workers of iniquity."
(Matt. 7:22, 23) And
from the vast variety of claimants which have arisen in these days, all
professing to be God's ministers, with their vast variety of creeds, clashing
and contradicting one another on all sides, we may rest fully assured that, the
great mass of them will be rejected as workers of iniquity, usurpers of his
authority, and takers of his name in vain; for God, we are told, "is not
the author of confusion, but of peace as in all the churches of the
saints." (l Cor. 14-33) "In
all the churches of the saints," built up by Paul and the other apostles,
there was peace and harmony. They were in possession of but one Lord, one faith,
and one baptism; and all had the pure words and doctrine of Christ, and no
other. There were no Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, nor any
of the numerous names of the modern churches found in the churches of the
saints, and should any misguided man arise among them, endeavoring to corrupt or
change that doctrine, he was promptly brought under discipline and cast off if
he did not repent. As-- "Now
I beseech you brethren, in the name (authority) of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
you all speak the same thing, and that there be NO DIVISIONS among you,
but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment." (1 Cor. 1:10) And the Lord Jesus prayed earnestly for the church
in his ministry that they all might be one, "as we (the Father and Son) are
one." Neither pray I for these (my disciples) alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word, that they may be one, as
thou, Father, art in me as I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gravest me I
have given them that they may be one, even AS WE ARE ONE. (John 17:20-22) Now
there is perfect harmony and agreement and unity between the Father and the
Son. No clashing of creeds and opinions and doctrines there. And this is
precisely the kind of harmony and unity that the Father and Son require in his
church. And where that unity and [Page 13]
harmony in the faith and doctrine of Christ is not, there the Now,
to be brief, the scriptures speak of two orders of priesthood—the one called
the Aaronic Priesthood, and the other the Melchisedec Priesthood; and these
two priesthoods mean the two orders of officers which God placed in his kingdom
to be the leaders, rulers and instructors of his people. These priesthoods
were divided into a variety of offices, or classes of officers, each class
having duties and responsibilities assigned him to perform according to the
needs and circumstances of the people. The offices of these two priesthoods are
ever the same, though in different ages they have been called by different
names. The
word apostle, for instance, was formerly messenger, or ambassador. All three of
these terms mean the same thing, only apostle is the Greek for messenger or
ambassador. “And
the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up
betimes and sending, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling
place; but they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and
misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till
there was no remedy." (2 Chron. 36:15-l6) "I
am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretched forth the heavens above; that
spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; that frustrates the tokens of the liars
and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backwards, and maketh their
knowledge foolishness; that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the
counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be
inhabited," etc. (Is. 44:24-27) "Performeth
the counsel of his messengers," that is that brings to pass all the words
of his prophets or messengers or ambassadors. "Behold,
I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the
Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the
covenant whom ye delight in," etc. (Mal. 3:1) "Who
is blind, but my servant, and deaf as my MESSENGER that I sent." (Is.
42:19) Here is another translation of the same words in this last text:
"Hear ye deaf and look ye blind that ye may see. For I will send my
MESSENGER (apostle and ambassador) unto you that are blind, yea a messenger to
open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. And they shall be
made perfect, not withstanding their blindness, if they will hearken to the messenger,
the Lord's servant." The reader can choose either of these renderings.
I am, however, decidedly in favor of the latter rendering, for God's prophet
or messenger is neither blind nor deaf, physically nor spiritually, but always
well provided with both spiritual and temporal, or physical sight and hearing. "Then
spake Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message to the people,
saying, I am with you, saith the Lord." (Haggai 1:13) These texts show that
apostles and messengers or ambassadors are identically the same. Some
one may ask, how all this helps us to distinguish the true minister of God in
these days from the false or spurious pretender? In this way: First, that God
has no different order of things, or any different way of accomplishing the
salvation of man today than he ever had in the past. His government is the same,
his laws are the same, and the [Page 14]
manner of choosing his officers and conferring his authority upon them is the
same. If God should change in any of these matters, it would be impossible to
prevent our being deceived and led to destruction. If God has changed in any
of those matters, it would be first in order for him to have put it on record
that he has so changed, and tell us wherein he has changed, so that we may
follow the change. But we are forbidden to believe that he has changed in any
matter pertaining to the order of his church and kingdom and man's salvation. And
now, as the order of God in all ages whenever he had a people or a church on
earth, was to place in that church, "first apostles," or in
other words, first ambassadors or messengers, one of whom was chief, the latter
called by his own voice, and anointed under his own hands and voice, through
whom all other apostles or prophets, evangelists [high priests], bishops,
elders, pastors or teachers were called, and received ordination, so it is now. When
Moses was made "a ruler and a deliverer under the hand of the angel that
appeared to him in the bush," (Acts Moreover,
many others were chosen to be rulers and judges among the people, by the
ordination of Moses, as: "And
I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to hear you myself alone.
...Take your wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I
will make them rulers over you. And ye answered me and said, The thing which
thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise
men and known, and made (ordained) them heads over you. ...And I charged
your judges (the men chosen) at that time saying, Hear the causes between your
brethren, and judge, righteously between every man and his brother, and the
stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, but ye
shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of
man, for the judgment is God's. And the cause which is too hard for you, bring
it unto me and I will hear it." (Dent 1:9-17) Now
there were twelve men chosen at that time, and also seventy others, seemingly
as a parallel to the twelve, and the seventy elders chosen in the days of
Christ; and were it not for the rebellious of Israel in that day, these twelve
ambassadors, or if you please apostles, and these seventy elders would no doubt
have been sent to the nations at that time with the glad tidings of salvation,
and everlasting righteousness would have been brought in. For God promised All
the ministers of God in every age, greater and lesser, were ordained to be his
ministers, and all ordinations came from the greater to the lesser. The greater,
who were called apostles of different degrees or ranks, are all appointed by
direct revelation from God, and the lesser officers are called and appointed
by a law that points out their duties and the sort of men they should be, but
their ordinations always came from the greater placed above them. In
Moses' day they were required to be wise men, hating covetousness, fearing God,
lovers of truth, men of understanding and well known to the people. (Ex. 18:21,
22; Deut. 1:3) And the same law guided the apostles in the christian
dispensation in regard to the lesser officers in that church: "Wherefore,
brethren, look ye out among you seven men, of honest [Page
15] report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this
business, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of
the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude; and they chose Stephen,
a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and Phillip and Prochorus, and Nicanor
and Timon, and Parmenus and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set
before the apostles; and when they had prayed they laid their hands on
them," that is to ordain them to the work. (Acts 6:1-6) Now,
why could not these men be set to work in their office of deacon in the "For
this cause left I thee in Crete," says Paul to Titus, "that thou
shouldst set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every
city as I had appointed thee; if any be blameless, the husband of one wife,
having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be
blameless as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to
wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover
of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to
exhort and to convince the gainsayers." (Titus 1:5-9) Again
he says to Timothy: "This is a true saying: If a man desire the office of a
bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop, then, must be blameless, the husband
of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to
teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient,
not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his
children in subjection with all gravity; (for if a man know not how to rule his own
house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest
being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil." (1
Tim. 3:1-6) "And
when they (Paul and Barnabas) had ordained them elders in every church, and
had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they
believed," (Acts These
texts are offered here to prove, as before said, that the lesser officers in the
"Wherefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the APOSTLE; and High
Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus"—the anointed Jesus. (Heb.
3:1) Thus
it has been in all the prophetic ages. God first calls and anoints one to stand
between him and the whole people. With him he speaks "face to face as a man
with his friend, and not in dark visions." The less difficult questions
were consigned to be settled by the lesser officers or judges, but the most
difficult of all questions were brought to the prophets themselves, who were
God's chief ambassadors. Thus it has been from Adam to Moses, and from Moses to
Elijah, and from Elijah to Christ, and from Jesus to John the Revelator, and in
this generation it has been the same. All the great questions and decisions fell
to the lot of Joseph Smith and his lawful successor in the prophetic office,
showing clearly that the order of the everlasting priesthood and its office work
is ever the same. By
this order of things the church [Page 16]
of God should be known from all other churches, for as the leading men of God's
church in all ages were all called by direct revelation from God, all careful
bible readers should be able to find that church by this very mark, if that
church was on the earth at all. (There were times when the It
would be a vain thing for any honest man to try to find such a church anywhere
in what is called Modern Christendom, from the church of Rome herself to the
least and last "reformed church" that has arisen in the last decade;
for they every one deny that revelation has been necessary since the giving of
the revelations of St. John on the Isle of Patmos, and deny that any
revelation from God has been given since that time. We take them at their own
words; for most assuredly if God revealed anything to any of them they would
tell us all about it. The Bible is a book that from lid to lid teaches the
necessity of revelation from God, and never speaks against it. As
said above, God's chief ministers in all ages, from Adam to John the Revelator
were always called by the voice of God, and angels were sent to commune with and
ordain the chief apostle. Moreover, as God has always placed at the head of his
church, first, apostles or ambassadors, and as an ambassador is one
specially sent, and God has nowhere any different rule for sending his ministers
or ambassadors than by direct revelation from him, and as we are told in many
places that he changes not; that from age to age he is the same, (Mat. 3:6;
James 1:17; Num. 23:19; Rom. 11:29; Ps. 102:25-27), we must believe
either that he has changed, or that man has grossly changed and departed
from him, for we find nothing today that looks like his ancient order and way of
working among either Catholics or Protestants. But God forbid that we should
suppose him to change. It is easy to believe that man may and does change, but
God never. We must believe that the change is in man. Let
us look first at the Catholic Church, by far the oldest and the mother from whom
all the others sprang by departing from her. Her Popes claim to "occupy St.
Peter's chair;" that is, that they are the regular successors of St. Peter
in his apostolic and prophetic office. Now,
a successor to the president of the Now,
we have absolutely no ground for believing that the law and constitution of
God's kingdom, by and under which apostles and prophets were made, is either
altered or changed in the least. [18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all
be fulfilled.” (Matt. 5:17] And so upon the principle that whatever power
makes the predecessor in office must make the successor, the same power
therefore that made Peter the chief apostle or ambassador of Jesus Christ, MUST
OF NECESSITY MAKE HIS SUCCESSOR TODAY. Why not? Who has any sound argument to
offer against this? [Page
17] And now the question arises: Are the popes of For
instance, if a pope was to be chosen today to fill the present Pope's place, it
would be done by the vote of the cardinals. Some bishop of the Catholic Church
is thus selected out of several other candidates for the office, and he is
really not ordained or anointed at all. He is ordained a bishop, to be sure, but
when elected pope by the cardinals he receives no further ordination. In
order that the reader may understand how this is done, I will quote from
Goodrich's "Religious Ceremonies and Customs." "Policy
exerts all her arts, and sets every spring in motion, at the election of a pope;
nor do the electors always wait for the death of the present chief, or
head of the church, to begin those cabals and intrigues which are proper for
advancing him whom they esteem a fit person to
succeed to the pontifical throne; and, although the college (of
cardinals) invariably and unanimously invoke the assistance and aid of the Holy
Ghost to direct them in the choice of a Vicar of Jesus Christ, yet their
eminences use all the precaution imaginable to prevent him from being
in any way concerned in the election. The cardinals are obliged to enter
the conclave ten days after the death of the pope; but before that time they
hear the Mass of the Holy Ghost in the Gregorian Chapel, and some bishop makes a
Latin harangue, exhorting them to make choice of a person who is worthy
to fill the chair of the prince of the apostles. After this their eminences
march in procession to the conclave, two by two, according to their rank,
attended by the Swiss Guards and a vast crowd of people, the chorus all the
while singing the 'Veni Creator.' Being arrived at the conclave, they
take possession of their cells by lot, after which they all go to the Paulin
Chapel, where the bulls for the election of the pope are read, and the
dean of the sacred college exhorts the assembly to act in conformity to them.
When this is over, the cardinals are allowed to go home to dine, but must return
to the conclave before three at night, at which time the master of the
ceremonies acquaints them that they ought not to shut themselves up, unless
they are determined to continue there as long as the conclave shall last, consistently
with the order and direction of the bulls, in which it is regulated
that those who go out shall not be permitted to return. The governor and marshal
of the conclave now post their soldiers in such order and in such places as
they judge most requisite for the safety of the election. The ambassadors of
princes, and all those who have any interest in the election of a future
pope, are allowed to continue in the conclave for the first twenty-four hours.
When the clock strikes three the master of the ceremonies rings a bell, after
which all except the electors retire. The doors are then shut, the conclave is
walled up and guards are posted at all the avenues. The cardinal-dean and
cardinal-camerlengo now visit the conclave to see if it be well shut, and an act
thereof is drawn up by an apostolical notary." "None
but the cardinals and two conclavists for each (one an ecclesiastic and the
other a soldier), remain in the conclave. Those cardinals who are princes, or
who are old or infirm, are sometimes allowed three. The other persons appointed
for the service of the conclave are the sacristan, the under-sacristan, a
secretary, an under-secretary, a confessor, who is always a Jesuit, two
physicians, a surgeon, two barbers, an apothecary and their
apprentices, five masters of the ceremonies, a bricklayer,[Page
18] a carpenter and sixteen porters or valets for hard
labor. "Though
the office of a conclavist be incommodious and uneasy, yet on account of its
privileges it is much sought after; for a conclavist is sometimes the
secret agent of the ministers of crowned heads. Every officer, however, of
the conclave takes an oath not to reveal any of its secrets. "According
to the order of Innocent III, there are three several methods of electing a
pope, viz.: By scrutiny, compromise and inspiration. The election by
scrutiny, which is the only way that has been used for a long while,
contains all the formality that appears most essential for making the election
canonical. Still it is no more than a mere ceremony, as the several factions of
the cardinals have united beforehand in the choice of the person. This harmony
is brought about by the most refined and delicate strokes of policy, and for the
most part comes on after their eminencies have found out, by several scrutinies,
the disposition of the sacred college. Then, if the votes for any of the
candidates come near the number required, it is a very common practice for the
other factions to fall off and coalesce with the others, and thereby
contribute to the pope's election, fearing to draw on them his hatred by a
fruitless and unseasonable opposition." Does
the reader see any likeness here between the calling and inauguration of the
popes in office and the call and ordination of the apostle Peter under the hands
and voice of the Anointed Jesus? If he does, I confess that he has a faculty for
seeing that I never expect to attain to. We might about as well say there is
no difference between a crystal fountain and a mud-puddle. We might as well say
there is no difference between the light of a brilliant lamp and the thousand
sparks flying from a chimney in a dark night. But I will not argue this, for it
is to be presumed that no one can see any likeness between the two modes of
conferring authority. But upon the principle that "whatever power and
acts are necessary to create and install the predecessor in office are also
necessary to create and install the successor in office as long as the
constitution of the nation or church remains unchanged," what becomes of
the claims of the Catholic Church that its popes sit in the chair of St. Peter
and succeed him "in the functions of his office"? Is there any change
made in the constitution or the law and testimony of God's church? And if there
is any change made therein, who made it? Where is it recorded, and when was it
made? And who has anciently put it on record that such a change in the law and
constitution of God's church and kingdom would be made? All
men will agree, I believe, in the following axioms: That,
"The successor of an apostle is an apostle. The successor of
a prophet is a prophet. The
successor of a high priest is a high
priest. The successor of a king is
a king. The successor of a
bishop is a bishop. The successor of an evangelist
is an evangelist. The
successor of a deacon is a
deacon; and, in general, that the successor to him, who holds any
particular priesthood or office, holds the same priesthood or
office as the predecessor." That whatever pertained to
the predecessors in ANY priesthood or office, as
regards power or gifts, or privileges, keys or authority, or power to
unlock the mysteries of the present, the past or the future of the There
is no use today for any more than one president or supreme ruler to any people
or any nation, and never was. And the same rule holds good as regards the Peter
undoubtedly, when the Savior was taken, was the supreme presiding officer over
the whole Now
let us see: Peter was ordained by the highest authority that was ever bestowed
upon man; that is, by the voice and under the hands of the Lord Jesus himself,
and great gifts, inspiration and power was bestowed upon him in this ordination.
Peter had the privilege then, like all other prophets, of conversing with the
angels of God, and with God himself. He also saw the resurrected Savior,
conversed with him, received blessings and promises from him and witnessed his
ascension into heaven. If it be true that the powers and privileges of the
predecessor belong of right also to the successors in the same office, where are
these blessed privileges known to or possessed by any of his so-called
successors, the popes? Peter in virtue of his ordination was a seer, had the
gift of prophecy, and some of them point very forcibly to this generation, mind
are especially fulfilling in these days. But where are the pope's powers,
prophecies, miracles, inspiration, ministry of angels or revelations from God?
Does he possess any of these in any degree any more than the cardinals, the
bishops and priests under and associated with him in his church? Where
is the gift of tongues, the gift of healing, the gift of prophecy, power to do
miracles, cast out devils, the ministry of angels, or the voice of God in the
Catholic Church any more than in her daughters, the Protestant churches? Is it
not as clear that the priesthood of the Catholic Church is as purely the work of
man as it is that the priesthood of the various Protestant churches is? How then
can any of these man-made institutions authorize men to act in the name of
God, and the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God, when it is as clear as any
one fact can be that they are all acting under a. usurped authority and
priesthood? How can any of these act lawfully in the name of the holy three when
there is no communication from them, and they claim none? We can easily see how
the officers in the armies of the I
merely use the picture to illustrate the position; and not by any means
because I regard Not
only is there an utter
want of resemblance between the manner of appointing and qualifying the officers
of God's church and kingdom in all ages to act in his name and that of
appointing the officers of the church of Rome, but she is justly [Page
20] charged also with altering and abolishing the laws of God, given by
him for the perpetual government of his people. The Prophet Isaiah says: "The
earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have
transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance and broken the everlasting
covenant. “Therefore
hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left." (Is.
24:5, 6) It hits the Church of Rome to a dead certainty; for no other church
has made so complete changes and substitutes from and for the word of God. The
Prophet Daniel also speaks of a mighty power that would arise in the future from
Christ that would "cast down the truth to the ground," (Dan. This
will refer to no other nation than old The
everlasting covenant spoken of above is undoubtedly the covenant made in the
Christian dispensation, and the Catholic Church, first of all, has grossly
transgressed and changed the ordinances of that gospel or covenant. The
everlasting covenant could be no other than that made to the apostles in sending
them to all nations, saying: "Go ye into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but
he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that
believe. In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new
tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it
shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover." (Mark 16:15-20) Not
one of these promises is realized in the Catholic Church, nor in any of her
Protestant daughters are they realized or possessed. We quote again: "And
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying: All power is given unto me, both in
heaven and in earth. Go ye,
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to OBSERVE ALL THINGS
WHATSOEVER I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always (on these
conditions) until the end of the world." (Mat. 28:18-20) Why
I say, "on these conditions"—on the condition that they teach "all
nations ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU"—is that it is
fully sustained by the scriptures throughout. For there is absolutely no promise
in scripture that God ever will be with any people who have made up their minds
that they will follow their own inventions, rules and regulations, instead of
his commandments. How was it when Men
live by God's law, they die out by its violation. As often as men vow or swear
that they will not marry, they not only swear that they will blot out their own
names, but compel a corresponding number of women to blot out theirs also, and
prevent them from fulfilling the end for which they were created. For the many
tens of thousands of Catholic clergy that exist today, and that have existed for
so many centuries, there must have all along been a corresponding number of females
driven either to be harlots or well preserved old maids, two things which God
has expressly forbidden; and from the commencement of this celibate life down to
this day, the number must have been very great. So
it is plain that this excessive piety upon the part of the Catholic
clergy has done an incalculable and wholesale amount of evil, while it has done
no good, but what could much better have been done by a married life. There is
truly such a thing as being too pious to keep the commandments of God! Fifth,
she has given us three kinds of baptism—sprinkling, pouring and
immersion—whereas God has never authorized but one, that is immersion; but
immersion is a mode she exceedingly seldom or never practices. Sprinkling is
really the mode with her, and it being entirely removed from the true form of
baptism, or immersion, they are justly accused here also of changing, altering
and substituting their own inventions for the law of God. Indeed the Catholic
Church accuses herself of having done this very thing, for her clergy confess
that sprinkling was chosen by them as a substitute for baptism, and justify it
on the ground that whatever is done by the authority of the Catholic Church is
all justified in the sight of God. "The church cannot do wrong," she
says, because Jesus has promised “to be with her always, even unto the
end." It matters not what she does. The promise to them is unconditional.
"Individuals may do wrong, but the church never," is one of their principles.
One cannot but feel astounded at the monstrosity of such doctrine. The
word of God by Jeremiah says: "At what instant I shall speak concerning a
nation and concerning a kingdom to build amid to plant it, IF IT DO EVIL in
my sight that it OBEY NOT MY voice,
then will I repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them." (Jer.
18:7-10) Why
was it that God rebuked [Page
23] Is not one people as dear to him as another? And if he can so easily approve
of the sins of the great Catholic Church, why could He not also as easily
approve the sins of his own peculiar people, Sixth,
there is nothing in the eyes of God that is any more pure and innocent than a
little child. "Of such," says Jesus, "is the Kingdom of heaven."
Yet the Catholic Church pronounces them lost in hell unless they are (not
baptized) but sprinkled to save them from the flames of hell. Thus God is made
to do what the basest ruffian on earth would shrink from in horror! Thus might
we go on examining the abuses, abolishments, changes and alterations which the
Church of Rome has deliberately made in the doctrine of Jesus Christ till it
would fill a good sized volume? On the principle that, "whosoever
transgresses and abides not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God," can we
suppose that the Almighty or his son Jesus Christ has left the holy priesthood
among that people for fifteen hundred years, to administer her heathen
ordinances in his name? That he acknowledges their works to be his works? And
those priests to be his ministers? Whosoever adds to or takes away from the
things of God, his part will be taken "out of the Book of Life, and out of
the holy city," and from the covenants and promises made to those who
serve him (Rev.22:18, 19). Verily no. None such
are nor over were his ministers. Therefore in doing any of these
things in the name of the holy three, they take God's name in vain, and they
will not be held guiltless. But,
says one, what about the Protestant churches? Where do they stand? Alas for the
Protestant churches! Church history shows only too plainly that all the older
sects as the Lutherans, the Baptists, the church of England, the Presbyterians
and others came out of the church of Rome in which their forefathers had lived
for many centuries, as many sects before them had done also; and the younger
sects, such as the Methodists, Campbelites, Quakers, Shakers and all the
Reformed Baptists, Reformed Methodists, Reformed Presbyterians, and others have
merely sprung from those older offshoots front the church of Rome. They are One
thing is clear and certain, and that is that there can be but one true
Church. If
the Church of Rome was the true church, as she herself claims, then the
Protestant reformers as they are called separated themselves from and rebelled
against the true church. And when they withdrew from it, they ceased to be
ministers of that church; and whatever authority they had
when in that church as its ministers, they forfeited when they left
it. For when men separate themselves from the That
which is now called Catholicism was the national religion of the The
leaders of the numerous sects of both kinds at his request assembled together
and the result of their deliberations was the Catholic faith as we now find it
among the nations, with a very few exceptions as observed before, added in more
recent times. John
Wesley, speaking of the loss of the spiritual gifts promised to the true
believers in the true gospel by the Lord Jesus Christ, says: "We seldom
hear of them after that fatal period; when the Emperor Constantine called
himself a christian, and from a vain imagination of promoting the christian
cause thereby, heaping riches and power and honor upon the christians in
general; but in particular upon the christian clergy. From this time they
almost totally ceased—a very few instances were found. The cause of this was
not (as has been vulgarly supposed) because there was no more occasion for
them, because all the world had become Christians. This is a miserable
mistake—not a twentieth part of it was then nominally Christians. The real
cause was ‘the love of many,’ almost of all Christians so-called, was
‘waxed cold.’ The Christians had no more of the spirit of Christ than the
other heathens. The Son of Man when he came to examine his church could hardly
‘find faith on the earth.’ This was the real cause why the extraordinary
gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian church;
because the Christians had turned heathens again, and had only a dead form
left." (See John Wesley's 94th Sermon, Par, 2) This
is a very sad picture given of the Christian religion in "The
practical result of all creeds, reformations and improvements, and the
expectations and longings of society warrant the conclusion that SOME NEW
REVELATION or some new developments of
the revelations of God must be made before the hopes and
expectations of all true Christians can be realized, or CHRISTIANITY CAN SAVE
and reform the nations of this
world. We WANT THE OLD GOSPEL BACK, and SUSTAINED BY THE ANCIENT ORDER OF
THINGS." (Christian System, p. 3, p. 274 and p. 234) "The
ancient order of things" which alone can "sustain" or support the
true gospel of Jesus Christ are apostles, prophets, evangelists [high priests],
pastors [elders] and teachers, called of God by revelation, with the gifts of
the Holy Ghost promised to all true believers. Take
away the officers of a nation and you take away the liberties, blessings and
privileges of that nation, whatever they may have been. The There
can be neither school district, town, county nor state, without their
officers. Give them back their officers and the blessings of [Page
25] liberty, whatsoever they are, will return. When I say their officers
I mean such officers as their constitution gives them. I don't mean a set of
usurpers who would ride into power in utter disregard of the constitution and
the laws. You would not be very likely to have your constitutional liberties
under a class of men of that stamp. You perceive then that the laws of any
country, be they ever so good, give no guarantee of safety to life or property
without their appropriate rulers. Just so, and upon the same principle, if we
have not the same kind of rulers that the law and constitution and testimony of
God calls for, we cannot expect to receive and enjoy the blessings of God's
kingdom. Give us the officers of the church and kingdom of God—apostles,
prophets, evangelists [high priests], pastors [elders] and teachers, called of
God by revelation, the chief of whom—is ordained under the hands of angels as
in days of old, who will bring us the gifts and blessings promised by the
Saviour of mankind; then we will enjoy the blessings, liberties,
privileges, hopes, rejoicings and eternal life of the citizens of God's kingdom,
and not till then. Just
a line now from Rodger Williams, the founder of the Baptist church in It
is a curious and interesting fact that many men may see the necessity of God's
working as in days of old, and will contend and earnestly pray for him to do so,
or "send by whom he would;" but when the Almighty in his own way,
and his usual manner, condescends to answer the prayers and desires of these
very men, they are very often found to be the first to reject it, and become its
greatest enemies. Caiaphas, the high priest, prophesied that Jesus would die for
that nation (the Jews) and also for the sins of the whole world, but we have no
evidence that he ever followed him or regarded his teachings. (John 11:47-52;
Matt. 26:57-68) Indeed he seems to have become a bitter enemy to Jesus. The
mother of Jesus was poor, and his being born in a manger, and his traveling
without purse or scrip to preach the gospel without a place to lay his head,
were all too much and too low for the great Caiaphas to condescend or stoop to.
And when God passed by the learned Alexander Campbell, and a host of other great
ones, and condescended to take the young man Joseph Smith from his rural home in
the backwoods, and by the ministry of angels made him the instrument in his hand
to build up his church, with apostles and prophets, evangelists, etc., at its
head according to the "ancient order of things," with the pure
gospel and the gifts of the Holy Ghost following—just what the Alexander Campbell
desired, saw the need of, and prayed for; this was all too much for them! They
had forgotten that "God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in
faith," and heirs of the kingdom of God; "that he chooses the
"weak," and the "simple" and the "despised" and
the "base" things of the world to confound the wise, and to bring to
naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence," (James
2:5; 1 Cor. 1:26 to 29) and of course it was too low for them to stoop to! O,
yes. When
Rodger Williams said, "we are yet in She
is called "mystery" because there is no revelation from God, which
gives light and understanding unto all men, in that church. Fog, mist and
darkness surround all its members. They have nothing but the word and traditions
of its priests to build their faith or their hopes upon! There is not one man in
that church that KNOWS his faith is true. In the "Confusion
the great," because the more one undertakes to prove his faith and her
traditions to be true by the word of God, the more he is confused and
bewildered. "The
Mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth," because she has brought
forth, by her corrupt and abominable faith and teachings, many churches, a good
deal like herself, worshipping the same nonsensical nonentity of a god,
denying the necessity of revelation, denying the gifts of the gospel promised by
the Saviour of mankind to all believers; practicing the same sprinkling for
baptism, making the same false claim to the authority of the holy priesthood,
and holding on to their errors with the same cast iron unwillingness to yield
themselves to the truth. Indeed in one way and another, directly and indirectly,
the Church of Rome is held accountable before God for all the abominations
committed for many centuries upon the earth, or, at any rate throughout
Christendom. In
all ages of the world, the Having
shown the utter groundlessness of the claims of both Catholic and Protestant
churches to hold any genuine priesthood or authority from God, to administer the
ordinances of the gospel in his name, some will by this time, perhaps, be
enquiring, whence the claim to the priesthood by the Latter Day Saints? If
neither Catholic nor Protestant churches possess any authority from God to
administer the ordinances of his house or his gospel, from what source have the
Latter Day Saints that power and authority? The answer to this question is that
they have not received it from either a Catholic or Protestant source. If we
were ever so willing to make a claim of that kind we know that we could not
reasonably do it; for we have shown a hundred times by many abler pens than mine
that no such authority is to be found among them. The
claim made by the leader and founder of the church of the Latter Saints and his
witnesses is that, in answer to the prayer of faith, in the name of Jesus
Christ, God sent the angels of his presence to confer the Holy priesthood upon
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, his earliest associate in the bringing in of
the Latter day dispensation; and they (the angels) (did it according to the
order of God, by their voice and the laying on of their hands. There is no other
way of conferring priesthood or the authority of God to act in his name, only
under the hands and voice of those who lawfully possess it. These heavenly
personages claimed to be the ancient apostles or ambassadors, Peter, James and
John, who each in [Page 27] his time
possessed this highest order of the priesthood after the order of Melchisedec;
which order was after the order of the Son of God. But Joseph Smith alone held
this highest and most holy order of that priesthood, and Oliver Cowdery was
ordained to a lesser or subordinate order or office in said priesthood; and as
the church began to be organized by these men, according to the instruction of
the God of heaven, there were many others ordained under their hands to the
lesser offices in this church. Finally there were Twelve Apostles called and
ordained and a quorum of seventy elders also to assist and accompany those
Twelve in the preaching of the gospel to the nations. Herein is the claim of the
"The
spirit of the Lord God is upon me," said he, "because He hath anointed
me to preach glad tidings unto the meek; to bind up the broken
hearted; to preach liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to
them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
vengeance of our God," etc. (Luke 4:16-19) Oh,
yes. He (Jesus) notwithstanding that he never sinned, had to be called by the
voice of God, and anointed under his hand, before he dare undertake to act as
God's minister in any of these things. Had he done so, he never could have been
the Saviour of mankind. He would then have been found a transgressor and a taker
of God's name in vain. And then, alas, for the salvation of man. You perceive
that he had to be anointed and set apart to all these duties in order that he
might have authority and the inspiration of God to guide him in all these
matters. Well again, it is written: "Thou
(Jesus) hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; THEREFORE
thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness, and set thee above ALL THY
FELLOWS." (Heb. 1:8, 9) And
being set above all his fellows, that is all the angels and all the holy
prophets, and all his fellow men, that implies very strongly that it was, as the
scriptures say, done by the hand and voice of the God of Israel himself, for no
man, nor set of men, can anoint and ordain any one to an office or place in the
church and kingdom of God above themselves. So Peter says: "He
hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world by that man whom He
hath ordained; of which he hath given assurance unto all men, in that
he hath raised him from the dead." (Acts "For
of a truth, against thy holy child Jesus, whom THOU (God) HAST ANOINTED, both
Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of "Therefore
let all the house of Nothing
can be clearer from the New Testament teachings than the fact that Jesus, before
he entered upon his ministry, was anointed, consecrated and ordained to stand
between God and man, as a mighty prophet, high priest and king to all mankind.
And all the testimonies and teachings as to how it was done, [Page 28] and by whom it was done, agree that it was done by the HAND
and VOICE of the Almighty, and nowhere are we told that it was done by any other
person or means. As, "Him
hath God by his RIGHT hand exalted, to be A PRINCE, and, A SAVIOUR, for to give
repentance to Therefore,
being BY THE RIGHT HAND of God exalted, and having received of the Father the
promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this (outpouring of the Holy
Ghost) which ye now see and hear." (Acts To
those educated in the religious boobyism of the dark ages, that describes God as
having "neither BODY, PARTS nor passions," as now found in all the
orthodox creeds, I have no doubt that the idea that God anointed Jesus with
his own hands, will sound strange. But if they will lay by the blinding notions
of the Old Catholic faith, and look squarely at the simple and plain statements
of scripture concerning him, they will then only wonder at the heathen folly in
which they were brought up. God said to Jesus at the first, "Let us make
man in our own image." ''Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall
his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man." "The
tongue is an unruly member," “full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we
God, and therewith curse we men who are made after the similitude," or
likeness "of God." (Gen. 1:26, 9-6; James 3:9) It is said that God
wrote the Ten Commandments with his finger, and again that from his RIGHT HAND
went a fiery (a refining or purifying) law. (Ex. 31:18; Dent. 33:2) All
the prophets and apostles who have seen him, have testified to his being in form
like unto man; and they have never testified to his having any other than the
human form. Jesus we are told was the EXPRESS IMAGE of his (God's) person.
Stephen at being stoned to death, as a martyr, had the heavens opened to him and
he saw "Jesus standing at the RIGHT HAND of God." (Acts "The
Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thy foes
thy footstool." (Ps. 110:1; Matt. 22:44) "When
he had purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on
high." (Heb. 1:3) "But this man after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God." (Heb. 10:12) "Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right
hand of God." (1 Pet. 3:22; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1) Yes, God has a right
hand and a left hand, and is exactly in the image and likeness of his son
Jesus Christ, "who was made in all things like unto his
brethren," his fellow men. (Heb. 2:17) And hence there is nothing
mysterious nor unreasonable in his being anointed, consecrated and ordained,
literally under the hands and voice of his Heavenly Father, any more
than in Moses being made "a ruler and a deliverer to But
the next question is, when was Jesus so anointed? Peter says it was done
"when John had first preached before his coming the baptism of
repentance to all the people of Again
Peter says to Cornelius and his family and friends: "That word I say ye
know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from or at Galilee,
after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, who went about doing good, and healing all that
were oppressed of the devil ...And he commanded us to preach unto the [Page 29] people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of
God to be the judge of quick (the living) and the dead. Now
the greatest, grandest and most glorious point in the claims of Jesus of
Nazareth is, and was, that he was called by the voice of God, and anointed under
his hand. By careful reading we find that the fact of his being so called, and
anointed, formed the most powerful and important principle in the ministry of
the apostles and elders, who proclaimed the gospel of Jesus to the nations.
Indeed it is safe to say that if Jesus had not been so called and anointed, he
never would have obtained a resurrection from the dead, either for himself or
for any other man. It was by his spotless righteousness and faith that he
obtained the anointing, and by the anointing he attained to the resurrection,
and by attaining to the resurrection, he is put in possession of the knowledge
and power to raise up all others from the dead, who are worthy. Finally,
there is no one fact in scripture any clearer than that Jesus was literally
anointed under the hand and voice of God: therefore with the greatest propriety
he could say: "I am come in my Father's name (authority) and ye
receive me not. If another comes in his own name (authority) him ye will
receive." And
the same was true of the apostles and those ordained by them, for he has said to
them: "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. That is: As my Father
has called and anointed me to preach glad tidings unto men; even so are ye
called of God and anointed and ordained under my hands for that same purpose.
This will appear the more clear from the following: "And he ordained Twelve
that they might be with him (as assistants in his ministry) and that might
send them forth to preach and to heal sicknesses, and cast out devils."
(Mark The
Seventy who were called to be the assistants of the Twelve, were of course
ordained in the same way, for great manifestations of the power of God followed
their ministry also. (Luke 10:1, 9, 17) When
Judas fell, it became necessary that one be appointed and ordained to
fill his office. Two men who were already in the ministry and were worthy, were
presented, and because of being equally worthy to fill such office, it was
determined by lot which should fill the place. Now says Peter: "Wherefore
of those men which have companied with us, all
the time that Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism
of John unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained
to be a witness of his resurrection?" (Acts Why
could he not be a witness of Christ's resurrection without being ordained to it?
It was because the office work of one of the Twelve demanded greater gifts,
greater inspiration and greater authority than a less responsible office. Paul
says to Timothy: "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given
thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery," or
the priesthood. (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6) Now
in these things I have shown how men are called, and authorized to act in the
name of God and of the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Ghost as his ministers in the
ordinances of the gospel. The same is true of Old Testament ministers of God. Moses
was made the mighty "ruler and deliverer" that he was, by the hand
of the angel that appeared to him in the bush." (Acts Joshua
was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands [Page
30] upon him." (Dent. 34:9) Joshua and all the leading men under Moses
were called by revelation from God, and were anointed and consecrated under
Moses' hands. (Num. 27:12 to 23) "And take unto thee, Aaron, thy brother
and his sons with him from among the children of "And
thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may
minister unto me in the priest's office." (Ex. 30:30) [Joshua,
in point of office and authority, stood next to Moses in the Melchisedec
Priesthood. Aaron stood below Joshua as the head of the Levitical Priesthood;
and this office was handed down from father to son, from Moses to Christ and
was called the office of "Priest." Of the office of Joshua (an
Apostle), this] office Paul says, "No man taketh this honor
unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron." (Heb. 5:4) This
officer held the right to the ministry of angels and to enquire of God by Urum
and Thummum for the guidance of kings in going to battle and for many other
purposes. All this came in virtue of his ordination. (Num. 27:21; 1 Sam. 28:6;
Chap. 30:6) When Saul was anointed king, under the hands of Samuel, the prophet
and seer, it is said the spirit of God came upon him, and as he turned to go
from Samuel God gave him another heart, and signs and the gift of prophecy came
upon him that day. (1 Sam. 10:6 to 11) In like manner, when David was anointed
under the hands of the same Samuel, it is said the spirit of God came upon him
from that day and forward. (1 Sam. 16:13) All
these things show that when men receive office under the hands of those truly
called, ordained and sent of God to accomplish his work, and minister in his
name, receive a power and intelligence that leaves them no longer in doubt but
justly qualifies them for the work not only in one age but in all ages. Such
a person as Samuel and Moses and Elijah, and Peter, James and John were, such
was Joseph Smith, raised up in this generation, and just such power, and
authority to build up and organize the church of God anew on the earth did he
receive under the angel's hand. Consequently all those who have received the
different offices of the holy priesthood under his hands were justly
qualified to act in the name of that God who called, anointed and sent him. And
by these have the word of God been correctly taught among the
children of men, and the gifts of the gospel promised by the Saviour to all true
believers, have been poured out and enjoyed by them. To search these things and
to obey them is to enter in "at the straight gate," into the narrow
way that leads unto everlasting life, found, as the Saviour says, only by few.
And to follow and receive baptism at the hands of men not thus authorized to
preach the gospel, is to enter at the wide gate, upon the broad road that leads
to destruction; "and many there be who go in thereat." The
reader by this time must understand that, if it were possible for any man in
virtue of his moral goodness alone, to be accepted as a minister of God, it
surely was Jesus of Nazareth; for God, angels and men inspired of God, all
declare that he was sinless. But we see that that alone did not authorize him to
act as a minister of God. And this fact alone is an eternal warning and
instruction to all men that God will hold no man guiltless who undertakes to
act in his name as his minister who is not called and ordained under the hands
and voice of those who are authorized to confer the Holy Priesthood. Says Jesus: "Seek
ye first the "The
You
will find in that church or kingdom that both its officers and members believe
in direct revelation from God. They believe in living apostles and prophets; in
the gifts of prophecy, the gifts of healing, the gift of tongues, and their
interpretation, the power to cast out devils, in fact they believe in all things
as the saints in apostolic times did. For without such faith as they had
"it is impossible to please God." And
now you think all this strange simply because of the heathen traditions handed
down from heathen priests, who have taught us and our fathers to expect prophets
and gifts and blessings promised no more. [This is] proof positive that they do
not understand the scriptures. John
the Revelator tells us that two prophets or witnesses are to arise in These
prophets will have power to do mighty miracles, signs and wonders, such as
Moses and Elijah did in their day. Turn waters to blood, shut heaven that it
rain not, and smite the earth with plagues as often as they will, because of the
wickedness of its inhabitants. And the enlightened Christian nations, who are
educated to believe that "the age of prophets and miracles has passed
away," and that they "need no more," will have great rejoicing at
the slaying of these two mighty prophets. Read the text carefully. We are
assured by the word of God that these things are nigh at hand, to be fulfilled. Jacob,
in blessing his sons in respect to the last days, predicts the arising of two
other prophets—one from the lineage of Joseph, and another from the lineage of
Ezek.
20:33 to 38, gives us to understand that God by an oath has decreed to
redeem Israel in the last days by a mighty hand such as he brought Israel out of
Egypt by, and reader, that means by a mighty prophet such as Moses was—nothing
more and nothing less. Isaiah
tells us that God will in the last days "lift up his hand to the Gentiles
(and that means revealing anew the priesthood to some of them) and "set up
his standard (the holy gospel also revealed anew) and they—the Gentiles by
means of this Holy Priesthood and this Holy Gospel shall bring Israel's sons and
daughters to their own lands, and their kings shall be their nursing fathers and
their queens their nursing mothers, etc. (Is. 49:18 to 26) O
yes; all this and much more is to be accomplished in these last days. And when Isaiah
tells us also that God will purify Israel and restore their judges as at the
first, and their officers, as at the beginning; that is as in the
days of Moses; "afterward thou (Israel) shalt be called the city of
righteousness—the faithful city." (Is. 1:25, 26) The whole line of
prophecy from Genesis to Revelations all agree in this; that God in the latter
days is to commence a mighty work among the Gentiles that will ultimately gather
Israel from all the nations of [Page 32]
the earth; that he will reveal the holy priesthood, as in the days of Moses;
that he will set up his kingdom by calling and anointing men to act in his name,
as in days of old, and as in apostolic times; that whatever nation or people
or kingdom will not come into it will be destroyed by his judgments. In fact
that work is just such a work as Joseph Smith commenced and brought forth by
revelation and the ministry of angels. And though all Latter Day Saints are
not in all things as perfect as they should be and are men and women of like
passions, as other men and women, still God has aspired us that he will chastise
them until they overcome and are clean before him. And
now, reader, whoever you may be, we, the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, are well assured by many infallible proofs that God raised up
Joseph Smith and made him by the hands of angels a mighty prophet, and that the
Book of Mormon is the standard above referred to, in the Book of Isaiah and
other scriptures, for it contains the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, and errs
not therein; and that through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith, and others
whom God called and were ordained under the Prophet Joseph's hands, God has set
up anew that kingdom which, Jesus commanded all men first to seek, as the most
necessary thing of all, for there is the authorized priesthood and we are
assured by revelation and by many great truths that an authorized priesthood is
found nowhere else on the earth. Whoever seeks the truth will find it there to
his entire satisfaction. If you lived in the days of Jesus Christ, and paid no
attention to anything he taught, and hearkened only to the stories of his enemies,
you would never have been a believer in him. And it is just so with the
enemies of Joseph Smith. Hearken to them and you will never believe that God
raised him up as a prophet. WINGFIELD
WATSON, An Elder in the For More Information |