John Morgan

“ I do not care if the devil himself enunciated a principle of truth, it is truth all the same, and you cannot change or alter it. I do not care how wise the man is, how long the prayer he may make, or how reverend he may look, if he tells a lie, it is a lie, and you cannot change or alter it. ”

“ In other words, when we come to examine this matter, when we come to ascertain the truth in relation to it, we find that the spirit that inhabits this body, the spirits that inhabit the bodies of the human family, is the intelligent part of them—it is the part that receives light and knowledge; it is the part that was created before the foundations of the earth were laid, and which has come upon the earth to tabernacle in the flesh, and when we have done with this body of flesh and bone, the spirit, as far as light and knowledge is concerned, retains its identity and its knowledge. ”

“ Believe it or not, it still remains a fact, a principle of truth; and when man, vain man, stands up and tells what he believes; what difference does that make? None whatever, with all due respect to their belief whatever that may be; we as a people to-day know for ourselves that the authority to baptize for the remission of sins has been restored to the earth by the return of the proper personage, and the Latter-day Saints are well versed in regard to these matters. ”

“ As, for instance, it would be impossible for a man to restore back to me something I had never been in possession of. It would be impossible to return back to the earth something that the earth had never possessed. It would be impossible to restore back to the human family that which they had never possessed, Then, to make a restitution, it must be that there would be restored back to the earth certain things, certain principles, certain doctrines, certain ideas, that had once been extant on the face of the earth. ”

“ If John did really come, though every man and every woman, every soul that exists upon face of the whole earth, should refuse to believe save the one to whom it was sent, yet it is binding upon them so far as the proclamation reaches them. ”

“ The disciples referred to Jesus and asked, "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" If the result of the blindness was the sin of the man, certainly that sin must have been committed before the birth in the flesh. It is scarcely possible that a man would have to be punished in this way in the expectation of his committing a sin. That idea is reserved for men in the nineteenth century. We as a people know that men, in hundreds and thousands of cases are judged and condemned before they are proven guilty. ”

“ Take individuals, take the men who have contended against the kingdom of God in the last half century, and what has been the result? Take the plans, and the untold thousands of plots and projects that have been brought forth for the overthrow of the Church of Christ, and where are they to-day? ”

“ Would a lamp, in a dark room be of any benefit to a man if he had no means of lighting it, or any means whereby to touch the light to cause it to shine? None whatever, he would be just as well without the lamp. ”

“ We are often answered very peculiarly; we are often met with very peculiar arguments. I take it for granted, however, that it is no argument to disprove a principle to libel the character of believers in that principle. The after character of Judas did not prove that his evidence of Christ was incorrect. The denial of Peter did not prove that Jesus was not the Christ. The character of a man has nothing to do with the principle that may be advanced. I do not care where truth comes from ”

“ They had the promise given unto them from the lips of holy angels, that in like manner as he had ascended in a body of flesh and bone, in like manner should he return to the earth. Peter then informs us how long he is going to remain from the earth, informs us what length of time he is to abide in the heavens, "Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things."
It must be, then, that something would have to be taken from the earth to enable the bringing about of a restitution. ”

“ A congregation of that size elsewhere in the Christian world, to edify, to instruct them, would require considerable preparation upon the part of the minister. But it is not so with us as a people. Elders are called to the stand without a moment's warning, or time to prepare what they may have to say, or what they may be expected to say; and it looked strange to me when I first entered a congregation of the Saints and saw this manner of procedure. It doubtless looks strange to many to-day who visit us. ”

“ We also find that the so-called followers of the Lord Jesus Christ today, in talking on this subject, assert that the spirit has gone to a place of punishment, where it is punished, or that it has gone to a place of enjoyment, where it can enjoy. In other words that this spirit within us is something that is tangible, something that can reason, something that can sense and feel pain or enjoy pleasure. ”

“ But repentance here or repentance there must come before progress or exaltation will ever reach them, worlds without end. All the thoughts and the acts we indulge in here, the ideas that we obtain, the principles that we become partakers of, are eternal in their nature, and they will stay and abide with us throughout the eternities to come, for good or for evil. ”

“ Elders come into the congregation with no anticipation whatever of being called upon to address the people. During the week they have possibly been engaged in their various avocations as farmers, as artisans, as mechanics of various grades and kinds, as merchants, and in the dif-ferent walks of life, and they possibly come to the meeting and into the congregation with their minds filled with the business of the previous week, when they are called upon to stand before a congregation of one, two, three, five, or ten thousand people, and preach to them the words of eternal life. ”

“ I also find that this gift will show unto us things that are to come. Well, it is true we do find people talking about things that are to come. We had a man recently who published a little book in regard to great calamities that are coming. ”