[14.] The Reorganite "defender" at this point carefully avoids the evidence and argument presented here, and argues at great length attempting to prove that the Church was rejected because the Lord said He was "about to restore many things to the earth pertaining to the Priesthood." The Lord said: "I deign to reveal unto My Church, things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulnesss of times." The "defender" says these things were not revealed, nor restored to the Church; that no revelations that were kept hid from before the foundation of the world, pertaining to the Priesthood in the dispensation of the fulnesss of times, have been revealed from heaven; therefore the Church was rejected with its dead. He says their Doctrine and Covenants contains no such revelations; that no such revelations are to be found in our edition of the Doctrine and Covenants; and, therefore, he concludes, no such revelations have been given to us, or the Church; so the Church must have been rejected.
He asks me to answer the following questions: "Now let us ask, Mr. Smith: Have any such revelations been received? Name them. Where are they and what are they?"
I have taken this matter up under the head of "Temple Building and Ceremonial Endowments Therein." All that is necessary to say here is this: If the Lord kept things hid from the world since before the foundation thereof was laid and now has revealed them to His people, they are not intended for the world and necessarily will not be found in the written word. Such revelations have been revealed unto the Church in the Temples of the Lord; but I shall not name them. If the Lord saw fit to keep them from the world, yes, and from the dispensations past, He does not intend to reveal them to the world now; neither to the scoffer and the unbeliever in His works. Let our friend read Matthew 7:10-12, as it is given in the Holy Scriptures: "And the mysteries of the kingdom ye shall keep within yourselves; for it is not meet to give that which is holy unto the dogs; neither cast ye your pearls unto swine, lest they trample them under their feet. For the world cannot receive that which ye, yourselves, are not able to bear; wherefore ye shall not give your pearls unto them, lest they turn again and rend you."
Succession in the Presidency of the Church.
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An Address Delivered in the Weber Stake Tabernacle, Ogden, Sunday, April 28, 1907, by Elder Joseph F. Smith, Jr.
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A short time ago I was invited to address the Saints from this stand on the subject of "The Origin of the Reorganized Church." It has been thought by some that it would be wise to continue the subject and therefore I have been invited to address you this afternoon on the question of Succession in the Presidency of the Church. In doing so, I desire it to be understood that I have no feeling of animosity towards those of a different faith; but so much has been said on the other side of this question, and so little in our defense, that I feel it important to deal with this subject.
The testimony on which members of the so-called "Reorganized" Church base their contention that Joseph, son of the Prophet Joseph Smith, should have succeeded his father in the Presidency of the Church is as follows:
1. That it is his right by the law of lineage—that the office of president of the High Priesthood descends from father to the first born son.