Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 2 of 2)

by B. H. Roberts

We hold that man is verily the child of God, formed in his image, endowed with divine attributes, and possessing power to rise from the gross desires of earth to the ennobling aspirations of heaven.

We believe in the pre-existence of man as a spirit, and in a future state of individual existence, in which every soul shall find its place, as determined by justice and mercy, with opportunities of endless progression, in the varied conditions of eternity.

We believe in the free agency of man, and therefore in his individual responsibility.

We believe that salvation is for no select few, but that all men may be saved through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

We affirm that to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel authority must be given of God; and that this authority is the power of the Holy Priesthood.

We affirm that through the ministration of immortal personages; the Holy Priesthood has been conferred upon men in the present age, and that under this divine authority the Church of Christ has been organized.

We proclaim the objects of this organization to be, the preaching of the Gospel in all the world, the gathering of scattered-Israel, and the preparation of a people for the coming of the Lord.

"Mormonism" seeks its converts among all classes and conditions of society, and those who accept it are among the best men and women of the nations from which they come—honest, industrious, virtuous, and reverent. In their community life they are peaceable, law-abiding and exemplary. Their instincts, traditions and training are opposed to vice and crime. The religion they have embraced, the Church of which they are members, condemns every form of evil, and their lives, with few exceptions, are exponents of righteousness. Many of the early proselytes to our faith were descendants of the Pilgrims and Puritans. Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and other leaders among the Latter-day Saints, traced their lineage to the founders and first defenders of the nation. Joseph Smith was a native of Vermont, and by vocation a farmer. All trades and professions were drawn upon for the membership of the Church. In England, its first foreign mission field, it was mainly the middle and working classes that responded to the Gospel message. All over the world it has been the same,—our converts have been men and women of character, intelligence, and integrity. There is nothing in "Mormonism" to attract the selfish or the vile.

The effort to differentiate the "Mormon" priesthood and the "Mormon" people, by allowing that the latter are a good, honest, though misguided folk, while alleging that their leaders are the personification of all that is bad, is a most futile one. The great majority of the male members of the Church hold the priesthood, and though constituting the official body of the Church, they are a portion of the people. Priesthood and people are inseparable, and, vindicated or condemned, stand together.

The charge that the Church relies upon duplicity in the propagation of her doctrines, and shuns enlightened investigation, is contrary to reason and fact. Deceit and fraud in the perpetuation of any religion must end in failure. A system of religion, ethics, or philosophy, to attract and hold the attention of men, must be sincere in doctrine and honest in propaganda. That the Church employs deceptive methods; that she has one doctrine for the priesthood and another for the people; that she teaches one set of principles to her members in Zion, and another to the world, is not true. Enlightened investigation is the very means through which the Church hopes to promote belief in her principles, and extend the beneficent influence of her institutions. From the beginning, enlightened investigation has been the one thing she has sought. To secure this she has sent her missionaries into all parts of the world, especially to the centres of civilization and enlightenment, where her literature has been freely distributed; yet too frequently her claims have been disallowed without investigation, and judgment has been pronounced without a hearing. At the Columbian Exposition, which celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, the religions of the world were represented in a great parliament, for the purpose of showing "in the most impressive way, what and how many important truths the various religions hold and teach in common; * * * to set forth by those most competent to speak, what are deemed the important distinctive truths held and taught by each religion; * * * to inquire what light each religion has afforded or may afford to the other religions of the world." To this gathering the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though the most distinctively American church, was not invited; nevertheless she sought opportunity to place side by side with the creeds of all the great historic faiths, a presentation of her principles, and to voice to mankind the truths she deemed most important and most helpful. This opportunity was denied the Church, except upon such terms as were humiliating and subversive of the end sought—a wider publication and a more just consideration of her faith. After such an experience, and others of like kind, though of varying degree, we submit that it ill becomes our accusers to charge us with shunning enlightened investigation.