Matthias F. Cowley

“ When He had foretold the overthrow of the temple, His apostles asked Him: "When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" The appearance of false prophets; the deception of man; the martyrdom of the apostles; the betrayal of the Saints; the love of many waxing cold; the overwhelming prevalence of iniquity; the universal discord and contentions of the nations, all were prominent events to transpire before the advent of the Savior to reign in power and glory upon the earth. ”

“ Man will live on forever. He dies as to the body, lives in the spirit world, and will again take up his body, a resurrected, glorified being, prepared on certain conditions to dwell with God throughout the countless ages of eternity, to become like unto Him. Possessing all things, even as Jesus, being in the image of His Father, "thought it not robbery to be made equal with him." "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the Son of Man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. ”

“ The same cause will ever produce the same effect; a tree is known by its fruits, and to be convinced that we need such gifts today it is only necessary to look at the spectacle of jarring "Christianity" with its many creeds. Where is the Spirit that guides into all truth, which does not contradict itself, but teaches the "common salvation" of "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all?" ”

“ Human nature is not such as to maintain known errors with such unwavering integrity and consistency against the bitter opposition of the world from boyhood to the grave. Yet with all his increasing trials and persecutions, which rolled upon him all his life like the angry waves of the ocean, driven by the winds against the peaceful shore, he never faltered. His testimony never wavered. He testified that he saw God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and received of the ministrations of John the Baptist, Peter, James and John, Elijah and other prophets who lived in bygone ages. ”

“ The Melchisedek or higher priesthood holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven. It has the power to seal on earth, and what is done is sealed in heaven; to loose on earth and it is loosed in heaven; to receive the revelations of God; to guide the Church in all things, and to understand the mysteries of godliness as far as they are revealed to men in the flesh. In ancient times these keys and fullness of authority were given to Peter when the Savior said to him: "And I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." ”

“ Obedience is essential to salvation, essential to success in every avenue of human enterprise. Whether rendered to the laws of God direct, in their moral and spiritual phases, or to His authority vested in man, obedience must be implicit. The haughty man boasts of independence. He scorns the humble followers of the Lord, but while he prates of freedom, he is himself slavishly obedient to his own whims and mistaken ideas or to the spirit of evil, to popular sentiment or to some other influence always dangerous to the welfare of mankind. ”

“ And yet many, very many, look upon hell as a place where all suffer alike, and heaven an ethereal, uncertain abode, where all enjoy like blessings. Our salvation from death depends entirely upon Christ, but our exaltation is upon our acts of obedience, and our condemnation upon our sins and transgressions. How plain and simple are the words of the apostle Paul, "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor." ”

“ Is the resurrection any more unaccountable from a natural and scientific view than the organization of the human body before its birth into the world? Many things are admitted in nature to be a fact, but why they are such, the most learned and scientific have been unable to explain. The elements in any substance do not become annihilated; they change from one form of organization to another. ”

“ It is not the attractive qualities of the individual, however great, that renders submission to his administration valid, but the authority of God which he fears. The acts of Philip, Stephen, Paul or James were just as valid and binding as those of the Messiah Himself, when performed by His authority and in His name. To reject the personal teachings and offices of the Savior could bring no greater condemnation than to reject the teachings of any man sent of God bearing authority and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to speak and act in the name of the Lord. ”

“ So that as all men and women who embrace the Gospel are entitled to an individual testimony of the truth, the same spirit guides into all truth reveals the things of the Father and imparts the inspiration essential to preserve mankind from a blind obedience to erroneous principles and false guides.
The statement of the Savior, recorded in St. John vii:17, covers the ground in the broadest light: "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself." ”

“ Then began those periods of the world's history when the fullness of the Gospel was not to be had among the children of men, periods when the spirit of darkness engrossed the human family and left mankind, in a great degree, as a blind man groping for the wall. The first of these periods continued from Moses until the Savior came and restored the higher priesthood, established His church upon the earth, and sent his apostles to preach the Gospel in all the world. ”

“ But this is an unscriptural delusion. "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble." "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? . . . For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (St James ii:17, 19, 20 and 26.)
We have shown from the Scriptures that baptism and confirmation are essential ordinances to salvation; and to these might be added other sacred rites, instituted by the Savior of the world for the redemption of man. ”

“ In an age of the world when independence is the proud boast of the nations, obedience is, by mistaken ideas of freedom, considered a mark of humiliation. To the reader I will say, in reality, true obedience to the Lord's commands is an indication of moral courage, union and power. It is not blind obedience that is referred to and maintained, but that type which characterized the ancient seers and saints, who, like the Messiah, were ready to say by word and deed, "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of my Father who sent me." ”

“ Certainly the hearts of the people are not being prepared for such testmonies by the influence and teachings of modern ministers. Come, dear readers, let us reason together; let us divest our minds of all prejudice. "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good," and ask the question, what constitutes complete evidence that a man is a prophet of God?
To be a reliable witness in a human court, an individual must be a person of veracity, whose honor cannot be impeached. Such a man was Joseph Smith, the Prophet. His parents were hard-working farmers. ”

“ Paul informs us that after the resurrection and eternal judgment, we are to go on unto perfection, and not until then, will the measure of our creation be filled.
Let all ponder the simple truth that God is just, holy and righteous, wondrously tender, loving, gentle and kind. Eternal rewards are the blessings we receive from God for our faithfulness and fealty to His laws. Eternal punishments are the inflictions which He imposes for our violation of His righteous commands. Our rewards we merit; our punishments we justly deserve. ”

“ Repentance follows faith as a natural sequence; for when the human mind has sufficient faith in God, based upon the perfection of His attributes, to desire His guidance and a final return to His presence, the thought is foremost that no unclean thing can enter his presence. Repentance from all sin, not merely an expression of sorrow but a discontinuance of sinful practices, amounting to a reformation of life, therefore suggests itself as a matter of course. ”

“ While Paul's argument is not upon the subject of baptism for the dead, why does he thus forcibly allude to this subject if no such an ordinance belongs to the Gospel? The theologians of sectarianism have exhausted their ingenuity in a fruitless effort to mystify or explain away the true meaning of this passage, for the evident reason that it strikes a deadly blow at their unjust dogmas respecting the eternal damnation of those who die without the truth. The plain meaning of the above statement of Paul is that a living person receives baptism in behalf of those who are dead. ”

“ The apostle Peter, upon the day of Pentecost, gave the multitude to understand that the Spirit which gave utterance to the apostles on that occasion was the same Spirit concerning which Joel the prophet said in the last days should be poured out, not upon the few only, but upon all flesh. The Spirit of God alone can bring perfect unity, destroy enmity, and fill the earth with the knowledge and glory of God. ”

“ We were agents to ourselves, and when propositions affecting man's eternal welfare were placed before us, we were left to choose for ourselves and be responsible for our own course. Thus Lucifer rebelled, and drew one-third part of the heavenly host away. They were cast out, and denied a body. So keenly have they felt this curse that they seek to possess the bodies of the human family. When Jesus cast the evil spirits from the men coming out of the tombs, so eager were they to possess some physical tabernacle, that they besought Him that they might enter the herd of swine. ”

“ This kind of sorrow does not work repentance to salvation. We find religious people sorrowing and sometimes confessing their sins, only to repeat sin. This is the sorrow of the world and needs to be repented of because it savors so much of hypocrisy, and consequently "worketh death." On the contrary, true repentance consists, not in the outward expression of grief, but in forsaking sin. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." ”

“ Should an unauthorized man operate in matters of human government, or an impostor pretend to be the agent of a mercantile institution and deceive the people by taking their orders for goods and receiving their money, no one with sound reason would expect the government or firm to make good the unauthorized contracts of such an impostor; but the deceiver would be arrested and thrust into prison for his fraudulent acts. Why should the consideration of sacred ordinances involving the salvation of mankind be treated with less concern? ”