Mormon Saints

“ Moreover, the Reverend gentleman should remember that "Mormons" include among their sacred books the Holy Bible, and all the doctrine of incarnation taught in that book is our doctrine. I think the main difference between the Latter-day Saints and "Christians" on the subject of incarnation, is that the Latter-day Saints believe that incarnation does not stop with the Lord Jesus Christ. ”

“ Yet so far as men may be furnished with the means of attaining to certainty concerning the class of things of which we are speaking, the Saints of God are supplied with that means. Their obedience to the gospel brings to them the possession of the Holy Ghost, and it is Mormon doctrine that "by the power of the Holy Ghost we may know the truth of all things." (Moroni.) This Spirit takes of the things of God and makes them known to men. By his testimony we may know that the Lord is God, that Jesus is the Christ, that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. ”

“ Of the religious denominations now in existence among men, none have attracted such attention from the others as the organization known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the members of which are popularly, though erroneously, called "Mormons," because of their belief in the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, a record of the ancient inhabitants of America. ”

“ Do not be deceived, for all first-class Latter-day Saints, both men and women, may be found minding their own business at their homes or where their business requires their presence. To know them and how they live is the only means by which you can form a true conception of the "Mormon" people. ”

“ As the devout Mohammedan* passes from earth to a heaven of material bliss, so the Mormons are taught that the Saints, the sole survivors of the day of judgment, will, with resurrected bodies, possess the purified earth. The lengths to which Mormon preachers have dared to go in illustrating this view find a good illustration in a sermon by arson Pratt, printed in the Deseret News, Salt Lake City, of August 21, 1852. ”

“ You Saints who have come here, if you have around you the garb of sectarianism, must calculate that the "Mormon" plow will turn that under; you must calculate that here we are a practical people; a people who believe in their religion, and are good Saints; who do their work, and attend to their prayers in the season thereof; and are not so much in a hurry in the morning, but that they can kneel down and consecrate their families, their effects, themselves, and all they have, to the Most High God. ”

“ False prophet seems to stick to them that cried it so vehemently, and the saints gain as the spring verdure after a goodly shower. The book of Mormon, is just what it was when it first came forth—a revelation from the Lord. The knowledge it contains is desirable; the doctrine it teaches is from the blessed Savior; its precepts are good; its principles righteous; its judgments just; its style simple, and its language plain: so that a way-faring man, though a fool, need not err therein. ”

“ Acquainted though I am with displays of Oriental fanaticism and Western revivalism, I set this Mormon enthusiasm on one side as being altogether of a different character, for it not only astonishes by its fervour, but commands respect by its sincere sobriety. The congregation of the Saints assembled in the Tabernacle, numbering, by my own careful computation, eleven thousand odd, and composed in almost exactly equal parts of the two sexes, reminded me of the Puritan gatherings of the past as I imagined them, and of my personal experiences of the Transvaal Boers as I know them. ”

“ Self and the outer world were alike forgotten, and an ecstasy of rapture seemed to possess the souls of all present. Then all kneeled down, and prayer was offered for the Prophet, the apostles, high-priests, “seventies,” elders, priests, teachers, and deacons; blessings were invoked upon the Saints, and power to convert the Gentiles; and as the earnest words of supplication left the speaker’s lips, the congregation shouted a loud “Amen.”
There was no prepared sermon. There never is at a Mormon meeting. The people are taught that the Holy Ghost is “mouth, matter, and wisdom.” ”

“ I command you to write down what I am saying, for if my people in Jerusalem (The Jews) do not ask the Father in my name, and receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost, and also a knowledge of the other tribes, then your record of me (the complete Book of Mormon) will come forth through the Gentiles (the Latter-day Saints) to their descendants, scattered all over the earth. ”

“ Now, if the book of Mormon contains the same gospel that the apostles preached, which it certainly does, and that its whole drift appears to be to make men righteous and happy; and if the men who attest to the truth of the book are men of piety, and men who have sacrificed their property, and even their good name for this cause, which certainly is the case, what does it argue? Does it not argue that this work is true; that the book of Mormon is the fulness of the gospel, sent forth to this generation, that a people may be prepared for the coming of the bridegroom? ”

“ The religious aspects of the question must ever have the pre-eminence in the Christian’s mind, because the eternal destinies of thousands of souls are involved in this great heresy, and because Mormonism will continue to have strength and vitality as a religious system, even though it be stripped of its objectionable political and social features. The rank and file of the people are devoted to their creed. They sincerely believe themselves [Pg 162] to be the real conservators of the faith once delivered to the Saints. ”

“ Meantime, the fact should be recognized by the Latter-day Saints that the Book of Mormon of necessity must submit to every test, to literary criticism, as well as to every other class of criticism; for our age is above all things critical, and especially critical of sacred literature, and we may not hope that the Book of Mormon will escape closest scrutiny; neither, indeed, is it desirable that it should escape. It is given to the world as a revelation from God. It is a volume of American scripture. ”

“ An unfulfilled prophecy—Had Brigham Young been still alive?—The hierarchy of Mormonism—The fighting Apostle and his colleagues—Plurality a revelation—Rajpoot infanticide: how it was stamped out—Would the Mormons submit to the same process?—Their fighting capabilities—Boer and Mormon: an analogy between the Drakensberg and the Wasatch ranges—The Puritan fanaticism of the Saints—Awaiting the fulness of time and of prophecy.
"I SAY, as the Lord lives, we are bound to become a sovereign State in the Union or an independent nation by ourselves. ”

“ Men who had for years studied how they might throw increased difficulties upon the Mormons were tumbling over each other in their eagerness to reach the Mormon leaders, to profess their profound esteem and to make known their willingness to aid the Latter Day Saints by accepting office at their hands. ”

“ Mormon, a prophet who ministered on the American continent in the latter part of the fourth century, solemnly declared that miracles will not cease in the Church so long as there shall be a man upon the earth to be saved: "For it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore if these things have ceased, wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." ”

“ The orthodox Mormon belief is that human beings are sent into the world to sow seed for heaven; that a woman who wittingly, and for stupid social Belgravian-mother motives, fails in so doing, neglects a vital duty, and that whoso gives not children to the republic has lived in vain—an opinion which the Saints are contented to share with Moses and Mohammed, Augustus Cæsar and Napoleon Bonaparte. “That the Mormons marry for eternity.” ”

“ This is a collection of all the multifarious revelations that Joseph Smith claimed to receive and which he promulgated, together with the only revelation put forth by Brigham Young—the one which he set forth at Council Bluffs in 1847 to inspire and guide the Saints in their projected western pilgrimage through the wilderness.
4. Living Oracles.—The fourth source of Mormon doctrine is what has well been called the “Living [Pg 167] Oracles,” the divine communications made continually to the priesthood. ”

“ And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.
1:8 And my prayer to God is concerning my brethren, that they may once again come to the knowledge of God, yea, the redemption of Christ; that they may once again be a delightsome people.
1:9 And now I, Mormon, proceed to finish out my record, which I take from the plates of Nephi; and I make it according to the knowledge and the understanding which God has given me. ”

“ It will also be remembered that Martin Harris, soon after his arrival in Utah, spoke to a large congregation of Saints and strangers in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, where he bore a faithful testimony to the truth of the Book of Mormon. ”

“ Now and then you see a fine modern house in Salt Lake City—but no house that is dirty, shabby, and dilapidated—because there are no absolutely poor people in Utah. Every Mormon has a nice garden—and every Mormon has a tidy dooryard.—Neatness is a great characteristic of the Mormons.
The Mormons profess to believe that they are the chosen people of God—they call themselves Latter-day Saints—and they call us people of the outer world Gentiles. They say that Mr. Brigham Young is a prophet—the legitimate successor of Joseph Smith—who founded the Mormon religion. ”

“ Without a particle of odious sanctimony these folk are, in their words and actions, as Christian as I had ever thought to see men and women. A perpetual spirit of charity seems to possess them, and if the prayers of simple, devout humanity are ever of any avail, it must surely be this wonderful Mormon earnestness in appeals to Heaven. ”

“ Is there anything in the Mormon doctrine that makes it necessary to believe that of men, even of high officials in the Church? No, there is not. We know that they do not always speak under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit; for some men high in authority, aye Apostles, have preached discourses for which they were finally excommunicated from the Church. ”

“ The second is the rapid growth of the New Faith, and the deep hold which it has taken upon Great Britain. Few Englishmen are aware that their metropolis contains seventeen places of Mormon worship, and their fatherland an army of 4000 volunteer missionaries. In the United States it is also the fashion to ignore the Mormons. ”

“ But however annoying it may be to Mormon traducers, the day is gone by when their fulminations can be accepted as sober truth. Mormonism is no longer isolated from the world. It is in daily contact with the great stream of travel which crosses the continent, in which stream is to be found some of the first and greatest characters of our own country and of the world ”

“ As the Christ thus stood before his disciples he was God manifested in the flesh. And as the Son is, so we are assured, is the Father—a glorious mighty intelligence of tangible reality, as much so as the Christ was there on the mount in all his resurrected glory—a being whose heart throbs in sympathy with his children. For his children! Yes, friends; this Mormon message bids us proclaim that the children of men are also the children of God, essence of his essence, and nature of his nature. Our message proclaims man divine, as also it proclaims God human—God and man of one and the same race! ”

“ Red ants and anti-Mormons—Ignorance of the Mormons among Gentiles in Salt Lake City—Mormon reverence for the Bible—Their struggle against drinking-saloons in the city—Conspicuous piety in the settlements—Their charity—Their sobriety (to my great inconvenience) —The literature of Mormonism utterly unreliable—Neglect of the press by the Saints—Explanation of the wide-spread misrepresentation of Mormonism. ”

“ Behold the formation of a church which is most abominable above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity. ”

“ For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.
9:20 O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it.
9:21 And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam. ”

“ On September 22, 1827, a 'heavenly messenger' appeared to Joseph Smith and unfolded to him the scheme of the Book of Mormon, and disclosed the where abouts of the 'Golden Plates.' This 'heavenly messenger' is called the Angel Moroni. According to Mormon theology, 'God may use any beings he has made or that he pleases, and call them his angels, or messengers.' 'Gods, angels, and men are all of one species, one race, one great family.' 'God is a man like unto yourselves ”

“ Believest thou that these things are true?
30:42 Behold, I know that thou believest, but thou art possessed with a lying spirit, and ye have put off the Spirit of God that it may have no place in you; but the devil has power over you, and he doth carry you about, working devices that he may destroy the children of God.
30:43 And now Korihor said unto Alma: If thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy words. ”