Charles W. Penrose

“ He that keeps the commandments of God, carries with him an imperishable treasure that is better than gold or than fine rubies—the testimony of the Holy Spirit, the peace of God that passeth all understanding, the light and the life of God—a spirit by which he can penetrate the heavens, and gaze upon the glories of God, and comprehend somewhat of his Maker and His designs, and peer into the future and comprehend something of his own eternal destiny. ”

“ It is true that in each of them some divine principles are incorporated; there is some truth in every religion, in every sect, in every creed, in every society, and in every political form of government. But those institutions, civil, political and ecclesiastical, have been set up by man. They have been founded on the knowledge and wisdom of man; they have not been established by authority from our heavenly Father but men have set them up according to circumstances, and according to their desires and their designs and their notions. ”

“ For, when we meet to worship, we do not assemble to offer up our prayers and to attend to the ordinances or to perform any ceremony that we have invented, but we meet together to attend to things which have been pointed out to us by the finger of divine providence. Every principle we have received has come from God. Every ordinance which we administer, or of which we receive the administration, has come to us by divine revelation in our own day. ”

“ We must live by every word that proceedeth from the Lord, I feel that God lives, that this is His work, and that every principle and ordinance and institution within the pale of this Church is from on high. This Church has been established by the power of God, and God is able to sustain it; if He cannot, it is a mighty poor thing. But I know the Lord will sustain us if we will do our part, and live and proclaim our religion. I do not think it is our duty to dilate upon it on every occasion, or to try and cram down men's throats what we believe ”

“ The Church itself was not organized by man, nor by the wisdom of man, but according to a divine pattern revealed directly from the heavens; and in this respect our Church, our religion, the ordinances which we receive, and all things pertaining to the work in which we are engaged, are different to anything else upon the face of the earth. For all the churches and societies and institutions and governments which exist upon the face of the earth, outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are the work of man. ”

“ It is not the Church of Christ, it is not God's Church, it is the church of Wesley, and I believe he was a very good man and accomplished a great deal of good. All the good that men and women do in every sect, in every nation and among every race, will be accounted for good when they stand before the Great Judge to be judged for the deeds done in the body. But these churches are the churches of men. ”

“ I have heard of people being weary of life and trying to die, but they could not do it, To live and endure in the covenant of the Gospel is where the trial comes in. That is what the Lord calls upon us to do, and if necessary to lay down our lives for the Gospel's sake. Now, will we keep sacred our covenants, and not deny them to please the world? I rather think we will. That is the disposition of the Latter-day Saints. There is a disposition about a few to compromise a little, to give the world a little lee-way, and to seem to be yielding. ”

“ Every baptism of the Catholic Church, and of the Episcopal Church, and of the Baptist Church, or any other church, if God Almighty did not ordain and authorize the man who performed the ordinance even though he performed it in the right way and used the right words, is null and void and as though it had never been performed, with the exception that God will judge him who in administering it without authority took His holy name in vain. ”

“ To stand up before a congregation of people acquainted with the Gospel, its principles, its ordinances, and its spirit and power, is indeed a task, and it is only in the strength of the Lord, it is only because of faith in His promises and of experience in receiving a fulfillment thereof, that the Elders are emboldened to stand up before the people to address them, trusting to the inspiration of the moment, trusting that God will pour out His Spirit upon them and upon the congregation whom they address. ”

“ Other sects which have dissented from the Church of England are all in the same condition, so far as their authority is concerned, and although each one has some truth, and each one has tried to correct some error, yet so far as their organization is concerned, they are entirely destitute of divine authority. God never told them to set up their churches. Jesus Christ never spoke to them. No angel has descended from the courts of glory with a message from the Father and the Son to tell them to do thus and so. ”

“ Anyone who will take up the New Testament and read the account given there of the acts of the Apostles, of the doctrines taught in the epistles, of the ordinances, of the spirit and power in the Church of Christ, and then compare that Church with the church called the Church of Rome, will see that they are two entirely distinct and separate organizations, having nothing whatever in common with each other, except perhaps that in a few particulars they have some resemblance. ”

“ He can speak and they will be destroyed. In a moment He could withdraw the breath of life from among them, and they would perish: and when people imagine that by putting their heads together and concocting some scheme for the destruction of the Lord's people, the Lord's anointed, they can overthrow them, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh and shall have them in derision." ”

“ This Church that God has established takes hold of us just as we are, as men and women, as members of society, as members of any political form of government we may exist under, and teaches us our duties in every phase of life, in every position we occupy as members of the Church, as fathers and mothers, as neighbors, as friends, as members of the same body politic, as members of the same county or territory or state or government. ”

“ We will go along the road that God has marked out for us; we will not go our own way unless it is the way of the Lord. If we will make the will of the Lord our will, then it is right for us to have our will ”

“ Its organization, its ordinances, its teachings, its doctrines are at variance with the organization, teachings and doctrines of the Church of Christ. Instead of Apostles over the church, there are Pope and Cardinals. Instead of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, the sprinkling of infants that know no sin. Instead of the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, darkness. Instead of charity which covereth a multitude of sins, persecution and a desire to coerce man into certain forms of religion. ”

“ Now, then, what we should study is the word of the Lord. Never mind about the word of man. Never mind about the abuse of man. Never mind about the threats of man. Never mind about the governments of man, and what they will do. ”

“ Now, the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith, has declared that whatsoever things are not by Him shall at some time be cast down and destroyed, and this includes not only the churches that I have referred to this afternoon which have been built up by men, whether among Christian or pagan nations, but it refers to other things which men have set up. ”

“ As Brother Abraham Cannon has told us this afternoon, the hand of God is in all these things. It must not be understood, however, that God is inciting men to work against this people. No, He leaves them to their own agency. ”

“ Therefore be not afraid of your enemies, for I have decreed in my heart, saith the Lord, that I will prove you in all things, whether you will abide in my covenant, even unto death, that you may be found worthy ”

“ And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me, or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God ”

“ In fact they all claim that the day of revelation is gone by, that "the awful voice of prophecy is closed forever," that there will be no more revelation from God to the sons of men. This being the case they are and can only be, the institutions of men. ”

“ If we do not—well, I have nothing to say about it; that is in the hands of the Lord. The Lord says that some may be called to lay down their lives for the truth's sake. It is very easy to die when our time comes, but it is mighty hard to die when it has not. ”

“ The ancients used to look to the Lord for instruction in everything, even when they went out to battle against their enemies. In all their movements they looked to the Lord for counsel, and when they did thus they were blessed and prospered, and when they turned away from the Lord they went into darkness. ”

“ That which is ordained of God will stand, and that which is not ordained of Him will be destroyed. Ordinances administered by men unauthorized of God—whether it be the sacrament, or pertaining to marriage—will have an end when men are dead; they will not pass beyond the grave. ”

“ The testimony which has been borne to us this afternoon by Brother Abraham H. Cannon is true and faithful. I presume there is not an Elder in Israel, no matter how much experience he may have had in public speaking, who does not feel in his heart to shrink when called upon to stand before the people and speak to them upon the things of the kingdom of God; for if he can properly realize his position he feels his inability, his weakness ”

“ It was established with Apostles and Prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, with helps and governments, with gifts, powers, and privileges and blessings and ordinances, that the people who believed in Jesus Christ might not be left in a scattered condition, but that they might assemble together and be organized after the pattern of heaven, that the beginning of the heavenly kingdom and heavenly government might be in their midst. ”