David Whitmer

“ If you will not grant a possibility of the Book of Mormon being true, and sit in judgment and hastily condemn it after reading what I have written, you can surely see for yourself that your heart is full of prejudice, Remember that prejudice is not of God. ”

“ And if any man doubt should he not carefully and honestly read and understand the same, before presuming to sit in judgment and condemning the light, which shineth in darkness, and showeth the way of eternal life as out by the unerring hand of God. ”

“ The religion of Jesus Christ is embodied in one word, and that word is LOVE; it is the first and great commandment, for on it hangs the law and the prophets. Charity is the great lack of religious professors. As we love and judge others, so we will be judged at the last day. The principal idea in religion is the fatherhood of God, and brotherhood of man. Christ taught us to pray, Our Father who art in heaven. Our motive in serving God must be love and not fear. Those who have never had the gift of the Holy Ghost, cannot understand how a person could actually love and do good to any enemy ”

“ As I have stated, all who take it and the Bible alone as the guide to their faith, agree on the doctrine of Christ.
I know that reproach has been brought upon the Book of Mormon. Because some of those who believe it have drifted into wickedness, the world has rejected the book and turned it aside as a thing of naught; but if such persons will stop and think, they will see that they refuse to read this book, which claims to be a message from God, simply because some have transgressed who believe in the book ! Such persons are not very earnestly seeking for truth. ”

“ On account of God giving to Joseph Smith the gift to translate the plates on which was engraven the Nephite scriptures, the people of the church put too much trust in him — in the man — and believed his words as if they were from God's own mouth. They have trusted in an arm of flesh. (Jeremiah xvii : 5) "Thus saith the Lord : Cursed be the man that trusted in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." They looked to Joseph Smith as lawgiver; we look to Christ alone, and believe only in the religion of Jesus Christ and not in the religion of any man. ”

“ As we know, Christ and the apostle have taught that man must worship God in His appointed way; that is, that they must be right as to the true points of Christ’s doctrin: But because a man is right on the doctrine of Christ, having been rightly adopted into the Church of Christ, this alone will not entitle him to the highest glory hereafter. We are taught that we must endure faithful unto the end, and bring forth fruit. ”

“ And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens. ”

“ Dear Reader:—I want to ask you this question, if you are an unbeliever in the Book of Mormon, and I hope you will study over it prayer-fully. The testimony of seven men, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter and Jude, comes down to us eighteen hundred years old; you accept their testimony as true. To-day we have the testimony of eleven witnesses who have lived in our generation, one of which (myself) is still living—these eleven men having lived honorable and upright lives-but you reject their testimony and accept the testimony of the seven men who have been dead eighteen hundred years. ”

“ Any one without prejudice, who is honestly seeking for truth, can see the finger of God in that book. It makes plain the doctrines which are so obscure in the New Testament, and over which the religious world is divided. For instance, the mode of baptism; the "signs" or spiritual gifts which Christ said in plain words should follow them that believe in him. All who are not blinded to the understanding of the New Testament scriptures, will admit that the spiritual gifts should be with the believers in Christ to-day ”

“ But the meek and lowly in heart will understand it. "The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." And those who are spiritually blind and deaf shall "hear the words of the Book," and "see out of obscurity, and out of darkness." "They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine;" ”

“ Coming into the fold of Christ is simply the birth into the church; we are then babes, and from a babe we must grow in charity, grace, and knowledge, on toward the full stature of the perfect man in Christ; and to grow, we must walk in the Spirit, having the fruits of the Spirit, which is "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. ”

“ We believe in faith in Christ, repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. We believe in the laying on of hands as it was practiced in the days of the Apostles. We believe in the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. ”

“ He does his work in a way that all men may stumble and not understand, unless their whole heart and desire is upon God, and not upon the things of this world. "Love not the world, neither the things, that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Fother is not in him." ”

“ An abridgement taken from the Book of Ether: also, which is a record of the people of Jared; who were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, when they were building a tower to get to heaven: which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever; and also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations. ”

“ 'He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear;' it was no delusion! What is written is written, and he that readeth let him understand. ”

“ We do not indorse the teachings of any of the so-called Mormons or Latter Day Saints, which are in conflict with the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as taught in the New Testament and the Book of Mormon. ”

“ The Indians are the remnant of that people, who drifted into unbelief and darkness about 350 years after Christ appeared to them and established his church among them, after finishing his mission at Jerusalem. ”

“ Neither Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris or myself ever met Sydney Rigdon until after the Book of Mormon was in print. I know this of my own personal knowledge, being with Joseph Smith, in Seneca County , N. Y., in the winter of 1830, when Sydney Rigdon and Edward Partridge came from Kirtland, Ohio, to see Joseph Smith, and where Rigdon and Partridge saw Joseph Smith for the first time in their lives.
The Spaulding manuscript story is a myth; there being no direct testimony on record in regard to Rigdon's connection with the manuscript of Solomon Spaulding. ”

“ He who cannot forgive an enemy and actually love him and do good to him, has not yet been born again, and has not the Spirit of Christ.
"Now if any man have ot the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. ”

“ Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. ”