“ Conflicting creeds and faiths fill the world with a war of words, until the hearts of honest men become sick, sick!—sick of the petty jealousies and miserable trickery of professing Christianity—sending the blood-guilty murderer, with his hands reeking with the blood of his victims, from the gallows to eternal glory and the presence of Deity; while an honest man, because he differs from them in belief, must be consigned to a never ending hell! ”

“ Yet unreasonable as it is, senseless as it is, monstrous as it is, still it is a favourite point, a bright specimen of the wise folly of our "gospel blaze," Christendom. Can we wonder at the rapid spread of deism, atheism, infidelity, or unbelief, when we consider the foolish, nonsensical doctrines which are gravely taught in our day, with all the sanctity, longfacedness, impudence, and insolence, imaginable? Can we wonder the world is sick of religion? Is it strange that intelligent Roman Catholics should consider sectarianism a wicked soul-destroying heresy? ”

“ There can, I consider, be no doubt whatever that the Book of Mormon is equally as much of divine origin as is the Bible, and I believe that all unprejudiced minds, after a careful study of it, will readily arrive at the same conclusion. Does any one suppose for a moment that an individual, not divinely inspired, could possibly sit down and write the Old and New Testaments exactly as they are, in full harmony with each other and dealing so minutely, as they do, with all matters necessary for the salvation, justification, and sanctification of mankind? ”

“ This needs no argument; it is so self-evident that many thinking people, beholding the contention and strife of ages over religious affairs, have formed the opinion that all religions are human, conceived in the minds of men and promulgated for selfish purposes. Yet, admitting that there is a Supreme Being, the Creator of all things, who is the embodiment of truth, justice, mercy, wisdom, and love, it seems unreasonable to think that He would leave His intelligent creatures without a guide on the road to the eternal future.
As there is but one Supreme God, there can be but one true religion. ”

“ By it mankind may be brought into union and communion with God. It guides into all truth. It recalls the past, manifests the present, and reveals the future. It is the testimony of Jesus and the spirit of prophecy. It is the light of Christ, and "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." It is the "inspiration of God which giveth the spirit of man understanding." To that degree it shines on every soul, but as the gift of the Holy Ghost it is a far greater and higher light. Then it is the abiding witness that bears record of the Father and the Son ”

“ Let us take the Mormon people as we find them today and try to discover in them a little good rather than wholesale evil. Let us commend them for the benefit, however small, that they have bestowed upon their day and generation, and cover with the mantle of charity, if enough of that priceless commodity be left in the world, the unintentional evil they may have done, and the mistakes they may have made. The wrong doing of individuals should not be visited upon the heads of the entire community, and narrow, personal prejudices should not be allowed to warp our good judgment. ”

“ At the sound of your approaching footsteps they flee as from an enemy, and tremble at your voice, and shrink from the gaze of your countenance, as though they expected some terrible punishment to be inflicted upon them. Be familiar with your children that they may delight themselves in your society, and look upon you as a kind and tender parent whom they delight to obey. Obedience inspired by love, and obedience inspired by fear, are entirely different in their nature. ”

“ Is there a more important blessing offered to mankind than the remission of sins? Have we any hope of enjoying the glory of God in our present sinful condition? Surely not, for nothing sinful or unholy can enter the courts of glory. Then if God has so put in his Church an ordinance for the purpose of enabling us, like Saul, to wash away our sins, why not be prepared to receive it with joy instead of cultivating or encouraging a disposition to ignore it?
Baptism for the remission of sins is the third principle of the Gospel of Christ. ”

“ When that spirit departed there was but a dead form left. Only by the restoration of divine communication with man could the Church of Christ be re-established on earth. Only by raising up a Prophet to commence the latter-day dispensation could our Heavenly Father maintain His invariable method from the beginning of the world. And instead of men, professing to be His servants, opposing and fighting against divine revelation, they ought to hail with gladness the re-opening of the heavens and shout for joy that the rays of the Millennial morning have burst upon the world. ”

“ But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. ”

“ The population of the United States consists, as is well known, of people from almost every nation under the sun, and England, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, all were represented in the armies of that war. All contributed to the death list in that long and fearful combat. How much misery, how much sorrow, how many tears did that war cause far beyond the borders of the great republic, when aged mothers and fathers, and sisters and brothers in the old countries received the intelligence that a son or a brother was wounded or dead? ”

“ The Bible speaks of one way. It speaks of two ways. It speaks of a broad road, that leads to destruction, and it speaks of a narrow way that leads to eternal life. So you see there is only one way that leads to heaven, and if any one persuades us that the wide road will lead us there, he deceives us, for there is only one way, and it is narrow. The Bible is very plain upon this, because the doctrines are steadfast and sure, and the words are plain that there is but one way that leads to life and glory. ”

“ It is this very principle of exclusiveness that creates the difference between truth and error, between angels and devils, between salvation and damnation. It is this very principle that determines, with unerring certainty, every gradation between virtue and vice, between honour and dishonour, between glory and shame. ”

“ It was to be by the coming of an angel from heaven. To whom might it be expected that this angel should appear? To the learned divines and contending sectaries of modern Christendom? Do they not all declare that revelation ceased when John received his vision, recorded in the Book of Revelation? Do they not teach that though angels once ministered to men, the day of their coming has long since passed? Have they any faith to call on God for a divine communication? And will the Almighty reveal anything except to those who call upon Him in faith? God's ways are not as man's ways. ”

“ Of course we have no disposition, as Latter-day Saints, even if we had the power, to constrain any person to believe our doctrines. We have not the power; we have not the disposition. It is not for the purpose of using an undue influence in any respect, or in any degree, in favor of our faith, that we preach to our friends. We simply wish to explain to them the nature of that religion of which we are ministers—laboring under a feeling of anxiety to deliver the message with which we have been sent, that our friends may have the privilege of receiving or rejecting it, just as they think proper. ”

“ If it were not for the gift of God, we could not attend to the ordinance that brings remission of sins. We have not power, of ourselves, to bring within our reach a single saving principle belonging to the plan of eternal life. It is all God's free gift. It is all in consequence of his mercy, and his charity, and his goodness and love, and pleasure manifested to us that we have any privilege at all that will help to make us better or that will bring us into his church and kingdom and give us a right to say that we are really his children. ”

“ I do not utter the language of prejudice, nor treat lightly or derisively the Mormon people or their faith. No matter how much I differ from them in belief, nor how widely they differ from the American people in matters of religion, yet {342} testing them and it by a standard which the world recognizes as just, that is, what they have practised and what they have accomplished, and they deserve higher consideration than ever has been accorded to them. Industry, frugality, temperance, honesty, and in every respect but one, obedience to the law, are with them the common practices of life. ”

“ Who is proud and vain, lazy and filthy? No one who has accepted the Gospel in reality—no Latter-day Saint. The Saints are, as such, temperate, industrious, humble, clean, loving, forbearing, long-suffering, rejoicing, fearing God; in short, bearing the fruits of righteousness. Such virtues the Gospel enjoins and such fruits always accompany its real acceptance.
Could we speak of all the cases where men who were in every respect worldly, walking in sin, accepted the Gospel and became changed in every respect, this evidence would, indeed, amount to demonstration. ”

“ It awakens and thrills the spiritual sense. It unfolds the things of eternity and the glories of immortality. It links earth and heaven. It fills the soul with joy unspeakable, and he who gains and keeps it has boundless wealth and everlasting life! ”