Charles W. Penrose

“ If things continue in the present way, how long will it take till all the inhabitants of the earth are brought to a knowledge of the truth? how long will it take to bring them all to the unity of the faith, and to the knowledge of the Son of God? We are told in the Scriptures, that one of the objects of the preaching of the Gospel was that people might be brought to "the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." ”

“ There being but one road to eternal life, he that walks not in that road is on another, but there is but one road to take him into the presence of God to receive the glory of His Father's kingdom. Now, this may sound in some people's ears very uncharitable. People say the Latter-day Saints are uncharitable, because they aver that there is only one way to heaven. You never hear a man called uncharitable when he says there is only one way in mathematics. ”

“ If mankind were actuated by the same spirit in their worship of God, they would worship in one way, they would walk in the path of truth, and would not be tossed to and fro and carried about by different winds of doctrine. The fact that people are divided in their belief in regard to religious principles, is proof that the same spirit does not rest upon them ”

“ If the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead? From this it would seem that in the early Christian church, the living were baptized for the dead. From this we can understand what Paul meant when, in writing to the Hebrews concerning their departed ancestors, he said, "God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." That is the condition of a great many of our forefathers, they cannot be made perfect without us. There is no redemption for the living or the dead except by the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. ”

“ It is the power of the Spirit of Almighty God which rests upon the Latter-day Saints. It is that which has drawn them here, to leave their homes and friends and come up here to these mountains, where they can learn more of the ways of God, and walk more closely in His paths, where they learn further of this Gospel and of those glorious ordinances which pertain to the salvation of mankind. ”

“ Turn away from your corruptions where with you have defiled yourselves and the earth on which you dwell, or woe unto you, for I the Lord God will cleanse the earth as with the besom of destruction. Repent, before judgment shall overtake you. Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and you shall be cleansed from sin, and a new heart shall be put into you. ”

“ In the olden times the Apostles of Jesus Christ did not feel that they had any right to go out and preach their views about doctrine, their ideas about salvation, but they went out as ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ having authority from Him to preach the Gospel which He delivered to them and no other, and the Apostle Paul went so far as to say, "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." ”

“ There are a great many people assembled to-day in different parts of the world to worship God according to the various forms which prevail in what is called Christendom. All those people who profess to be Christians, believe that there is a God, and that Jesus of Nazareth who died on Calvary, was the Son of God. ”

“ This, in a few plain words, is the condition of the Christian world to day. Notwithstanding this, however, there are a great many people among those various sects and religions who are sincere in their worship. Their desires are good, and a great many of them think they are walking in the way of life. But as the wise man Solomon says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is death." There is and can be but one way, one true way into the presence of God. ”

“ If Peter went out and preached in one part of the world, say to the Jews, and Paul, "the Apostle of the Gentiles," went out among the Gentile nations and preached to them, the converts made by Peter, and the converts made by Paul, believed exactly alike, no matter where they were born, no matter what creed they had previously professed; and when James went out, or any of the rest of the Apostles, and made converts, all came to the same belief as the converts of Peter and the converts of Paul. ”

“ That is why we are Latter-day Saints; that is why we are willing to be cast out and despised of men: that is why we cleave to our faith: and I tell you this work will roll on, no matter what may happen or what opposition is set up against it, for this is God's work. The kings of the earth and the legislature of nations may counsel together, they may lay their plans and fulminate their decrees, but they cannot stop this work in which we are engaged. ”

“ That is not exactly the case; the world have gone away from God; "they have heaped to themselves teachers having itching ears; and they have turned away their ears from the truth and have turned unto fables," as the ancient Apostles said they would. ”

“ No, it was one baptism, being buried in water after the likeness of Christ's death, and being raised up out of the water in the likeness of His resurrection; brought forth from the womb of the water into the element of air in the likeness of the natural birth, all done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by men holding divine authority. No man had a right to administer these ordinances as he pleased or according to some fancy within his own mind. ”

“ At the present time people who profess to believe in God have a great many different ideas concerning Him. They have a great many different opinions in regard to the being who is called His Son, they have a great many different ideas of the Gospel as taught by His Son, and these contentions do not decrease, on the contrary they increase. New sects are springing up, churches are increasing in the earth, but the children of men are becoming more and more varied in their opinions in regard to religion. ”

“ May the Lord help us to be obedient, to labor in His cause as we are called to work, that we may find our way back to the presence of our Father, and receive the crown and reward of the faithful, even so. ”

“ If five times five are twenty-five, any one who differs from that is acknowledged to be wrong, but when we talk about religious affairs there seems to be an idea in the world that people can believe what they please about religion, and it is all right. ”

“ Those who receive the Gospel come in here "as the doves to their windows." From the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, God is gathering His elect from the four quarters of the earth. ”

“ In one great vision it was revealed to him that there are three degrees of glory, the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial: that those who enter into the celestial kingdom are they who obeyed the laws of the celestial kingdom; that those who enter into the terrestrial kingdom are they who did not obey the celestial law but obeyed a lesser degree of law and therefore were only prepared to receive a lesser degree of glory ”

“ On the contrary, they introduce division. For instance, a number of missionaries go among the Mahomedans, and if they convert a portion of them to the different faiths which those missionaries teach, they are turned away from the union, such as it is, of their old creed to the divisions of modern Christendom. If the Baptist missionary should convert a certain number of Mahomedans to his creed, the Baptist church would be established among them; and if the Methodists introduced their creed and obtained converts, there would be the Methodist faith and the Baptist faith among them ”

“ It appears from this that those who really believe in Jesus, those who are really his disciples, shall follow in His footsteps, do the works that he performed, follow in the same path which he trod, that by and by they may come up to the same glory. ”

“ It will roll on, not because we are so wise or so great—for God has called the weak things of the earth to confound the mighty—but because it is the work of God. No power can hinder this work in the least degree; every weapon that is raised against it will fall to the ground. ”