Part 4 (2/2)
”Mormonism” affirms that all wisdom is of G.o.d, that the halo of his glory is intelligence, and that man has not yet learned all there is to learn of him and his ways. We hold that the doctrine of continuous revelation from G.o.d is not less philosophical and scientific than scriptural.
CHAPTER II
The Latter-day Saints affirm that the authority to act in the name of G.o.d--the Holy Priesthood--has been restored to earth in this dispensation and age, in accordance with the inspired predictions of earlier times. But, it may be asked, what necessity was there for a restoration if the Priesthood had been once established upon earth? None indeed, had it never been taken away. A general apostasy from the primitive Church is conceded in effect by some authorities in ecclesiastical history; though few admit the entire discontinuance of priestly power, or the full suspension of authority to operate in the ordinances of the Church. This great apostasy was foretold. Paul warned the Saints of Thessalonica against those who claimed that the second coming of Christ was then near at hand: ”For,” said he, ”that day shall not come except there come a falling away first.” (II Thess. 2:3.) ”Mormonism” contends that there has been a general falling away from the Church of Christ, dating from the time immediately following the apostolic period. We believe that the proper interpretation of history will confirm this view; and, moreover, that the inspired scriptures foretold just such a condition.[5]
[Footnote 5: See ”The Great Apostasy: Considered in the Light of Scriptural and Secular History,” by James E. Talmage. Published by the _Deseret News_, Salt Lake City, Utah; 176 pp.]
If the Priesthood had been once taken from the earth no human power could re-establish it; the restoration of this authority from heaven would be necessary. The Church claims that in the present age this restoration has been effected by the personal ministrations of those who exercised the authority in earlier dispensations. Thus, in 1829, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the Lesser or Aaronic Priesthood under the hands of John the Baptist, who visited them as a resurrected being--the same Baptist who by special and divine commission held the authority of that Priesthood in the dispensation of the ”Meridian of Time.”
Later, the Higher or Melchizedek Priesthood was conferred upon them through the personal ministrations of Peter, James, and John--the same three who const.i.tuted the presidency of the apostolic body in the primitive Church, after the departure of the Lord Jesus Christ by whom it was founded.
That the claim is a bold one is conceded without argument. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints professes to have the Priesthood of old restored in its fulness; and, moreover, while acknowledging the right of every individual as of every sect or other organization of individuals to believe and practise according to choice in matters religious, it affirms that it is the only Church on the face of the earth possessing this authority and Priesthood; and that therefore it is _The Church_ and the only Church of Christ upon the earth today. It holds as absolutely indispensable to proper Church organization, the presence of the living oracles of G.o.d who shall be directed from the heavens in their earthly ministry; and these, ”Mormonism”
a.s.serts, are to be found with the Church of Jesus Christ.
”Mormonism” emphasizes the doctrine that that which is Caesar's be given unto Caesar, while that which is G.o.d's be rendered unto him. Therefore, it teaches that all things pertaining unto earth, and unto man's earthly affairs, may with propriety be regulated by earthly authority, but that in the performance of any ordinance, rite, or ceremony, claimed to be of effect beyond, the grave, a power greater than that of man is requisite or the performance is void. Therefore, members.h.i.+p in the Church, which, if of any value and significance at all, is of more than temporal meaning, must be governed by laws which are prescribed by the powers of heaven. ”Mormonism” recognizes Jesus Christ as the head of the Church, as the literal Savior and Redeemer of mankind, as the King of kings and Lord of lords, as the One whose right it is to reign on earth, who shall yet subdue all worldly kingdoms under his feet, who shall present the earth in its final state of redemption to the Father. It is his right to prescribe the conditions under which mankind may be made partakers of his bounty and of the privileges of the victory won by him over death and the grave.
The Church claims that faith in G.o.d is essential to intelligent service of him; and that faith, trust, confidence in G.o.d as the Father of mankind, as the Supreme Being to whom all shall render account of their deeds and misdeeds, must lead to a desire to serve him and thus produce repentance. Faith in G.o.d and genuine repentance of sin, of necessity, therefore const.i.tute the fundamental principles of the gospel. It is reasonable to expect that after man has developed faith in G.o.d, and has repented of his sins, he will be eager to find a means of demonstrating his sincerity; and this means is found in the requirement concerning baptism as essential to entrance into the Church, and as a means whereby remission of sins may be obtained. As to the mode of baptism, the Church affirms that immersion alone is the one method sanctioned by scripture, and that this mode has been expressly prescribed by revelation in the present dispensation.
Water baptism, then, becomes a basic principle and the first essential ordinance of the gospel. It is to be administered by one having authority; and that authority rests in the Priesthood given of G.o.d. Following baptism by water, comes the ordinance of the bestowal of the Holy Ghost by the authorized imposition of hands, which const.i.tutes the true baptism of the Spirit. These requirements, designated specifically the ”first principles and ordinances of the gospel,” ”Mormonism” claims to be absolutely essential to members.h.i.+p in the Church of Christ, and this without modification or qualification as to the time at which the individual lived in mortality.
Then with propriety it may be asked:--What shall become of those who lived and died while the Priesthood was not operative upon the earth?--those who have worked out their mortal probation during the ages of the great apostasy? Furthermore, what shall be the destiny of those who, though living in a time of spiritual light, perhaps had not the opportunity of learning and obeying the gospel requirements? Here again the inherent justice of ”Mormon” philosophy shows itself in the doctrine of salvation for the dead. No distinction is made between the living and the dead in the solemn declaration of the Savior to Nicodemus, which appears to have been given the widest possible application,--that except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of G.o.d. (John 3:1-5.)
”Mormonism” proclaims something more than a heaven and a h.e.l.l, to one or the other of which all spirits of men shall be a.s.signed, perhaps on the basis of a very narrow margin of merit or demerit.
As it affirms the existence of an infinite range of graded intelligences, so it claims the widest and fullest gradation of conditions of future existence. It holds that the honest, though, perchance, mistaken soul who lived or tried to live according to the light he had received, shall be counted among the honorable of the earth, and shall find opportunity, if not here then in the hereafter, for compliance with the requirements essential for salvation. It teaches that repentance with all its attendant blessings shall be possible beyond the grave; but that inasmuch as the change we call death does not transform the character of the soul, repentance there will be difficult for him who has ruthlessly and willfully rejected the manifold opportunities afforded him for repentance here. It a.s.serts that even the heathen devotee who may have bowed down to stocks and stones, if in so doing he was obeying the highest law of wors.h.i.+p which to his benighted soul had come, shall have part in the first resurrection, and shall be afforded the opportunity, which on earth he had not found, of doing that which is required of G.o.d's children for salvation. And for all the dead who have been without the privileges, perhaps indeed without the knowledge, of compliance with Christ's law, there shall be given opportunity in the hereafter.
Nevertheless, this life of ours is no trifle, no insignificant incident in the soul's eternal course, having but small and temporal importance, the omissions of which can be rectified with ease by the individual beyond the veil. If compliance with the divine law as exemplified by the requirements of faith, repentance, baptism, and the bestowal of the right to the ministrations of the Holy Ghost, are essential to the salvation of those few who just now are counted among the living, such is not less necessary for those who once were living but now are dead. Who are the living of today but those who shortly shall be added to the uncounted dead? Who are the dead but those who at some time have lived in mortality?
Christ has been ordained to be judge of both quick and dead; he is Lord of living and dead as man uses these terms, for all live unto him. How then shall the dead receive the blessings and ordinances denied to them or by them neglected while in the flesh? ”Mormonism” answers: By the vicarious work of the living in their behalf! It was this great and privileged labor to which the prophet Malachi referred in his solemn declaration, that before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, Elijah should be sent with the commission to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. Elijah's visitation to earth has been realized. On the 3rd of April, in the year 1836, there appeared unto Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, in the temple erected by the. Latter-day Saints at Kirtland, Ohio, Elijah the prophet, who announced that the time spoken of by Malachi had fully come; then and there he bestowed the authority, for this dispensation, to inaugurate and carry on this labor in behalf of the departed.
As to the fidelity with which the Latter-day Saints have sought to discharge the duties thus divinely required at their hands, let the temples erected in poverty as in relative prosperity--by the blood and tears of the people--testify. Two of these great edifices were constructed by the Latter-day Saints in the days of their tribulation, in times of their direst persecution,--one at Kirtland, Ohio, the other at Nauvoo, Illinois.The first is still standing, though no longer possessed by the people who built it; and no longer employed for the furtherance of the purposes of its erection; the second fell a prey to flames enkindled by mobocratic hate. Four others have been constructed in the vales of Utah, and are today in service, dedicated to the blessing of the living, and particularly to the vicarious labor of the living in behalf of the dead. In them the ordinances of baptism, and the laying on of hands for the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, are performed upon the living representatives of the dead.[6]
[Footnote 6: For a detailed treatment of Temples and Temple labor among the Latter-day Saints, including a study of the doctrine of vicarious labor for the dead, see ”The House of the Lord, a Study of Holy Sanctuaries Ancient and Modern,” including forty-six plates ill.u.s.trative of modern Temples; by James E. Talmage.
Published by the Church: Salt Lake City, Utah; 336 pp.]
But this labor for the dead is two-fold; it comprises the proper performance of the required ordinances on earth, and the preaching of the gospel to the departed. Shall we suppose that all of G.o.d's good gifts to his children are restricted to the narrow limits of mortal existence? We are told of the inauguration of this great missionary labor in the spirit world, as effected by the Christ himself. After his resurrection, and immediately following the period during which his body had lain in the tomb guarded by the soldiery, he declared to the sorrowing Magdalene that he had not at that time ascended to his Father; and, in the light of his dying promise to the penitent malefactor who suffered on a cross by his side, we learn that he had been in paradise. Peter also tells us of his labors--that he was preaching to the spirits in prison, to those who had been disobedient in the days of Noah when the long-suffering of G.o.d waited while the ark was preparing. If it was deemed necessary or just that the gospel be carried to spirits that were disobedient or neglectful in the days of Noah, are we justified in concluding that others who have rejected or neglected the word of G.o.d shall be left in a state of perpetual condemnation?
”Mormonism” claims that not only shall the gospel be carried to the living, and be preached to every creature, but that the great missionary labor, the burden of which has been placed on the Church, must of necessity be extended to the realm of the dead.
It declares unequivocally that without compliance with the requirements established by Jesus Christ, no soul can be saved from the fate of the condemned; but that opportunity shall be given to every one in the season of his fitness to receive it, be he heathen or civilized, living or dead.
The whole duty of man is to live and work according to the highest laws of right made known to him, to walk according to the best light that has been shed about his path; and while Justice shall deny to every soul that has not rendered obedience to the law, entrance into the kingdom of the blessed, Mercy shall claim opportunity for all who, have shown themselves willing to receive the truth and obey its behests.
It will be seen, then, that ”Mormonism” offers no modified or conditional claims as to the necessity of compliance with the laws and ordinances of the gospel by every responsible inhabitant of earth unto whom salvation shall come. It distinguishes not between enlightened and heathen nations, nor between men of high and low intelligence; nor even between the living and the dead.
No human being who has attained years of accountability in the flesh, may hope for salvation in the kingdom of G.o.d until he has rendered obedience to the requirements of Christ, the Redeemer of the world.
But while thus decisive, ”Mormonism” is not exclusive. It does not claim that all who have failed to accept and obey the gospel of eternal life shall be eternally and forever d.a.m.ned. While boldly a.s.serting that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the sole repository of the Holy Priesthood as now restored to earth, it teaches and demands the fullest toleration for all individuals, and organizations of individuals, professing righteousness; and holds that each shall be rewarded for the measure of good he has wrought, to be adjudged in accordance with the spiritual knowledge he has gained. For such high claims combined with such professions of tolerance, the Church has been accused of inconsistency. Let it not be forgotten, however, that toleration is not acceptance. I may believe with the utmost fulness of my soul's powers that I am right and my neighbor is wrong concerning any proposition or principle; but such conviction gives me no semblance of right for interfering with his exercise of freedom. The only bounds to the liberty of an individual are such as mark the liberty of another, or the rights of the community. G.o.d himself treats as sacred, and therefore as inviolable, the freedom of the human soul.
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