We read that no man can say that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost, and on the same principle no man can speak as to the true nature of the Scriptures, Book of Mormon, or any other sacred record, but on the same principle; we might therefore reason with persons until doomsday, who are not in the covenant, and yet fail to convince them.
We see then the absurdity of being led into a snare of this kind; it is neither more nor less than this, as it were laying aside our Priesthood and the duties of it, to endeavor by our own abilities to convince a man that we hold before him the light of truth, at the same time that he has no organs of vision to discern it.
But there is a ground on which the servant of the Lord can stand securely; he can speak of the alienated condition of mankind, he can teach the great law of adoption into the Kingdom of God, and he can bear a faithful testimony of the reality of Christianity and of the signs following the believer. He may enlarge on his knowledge of the Scripture by the reception of that spirit by which alone the truth can be known, and if he be successful in securing obedience to the first principles of truth, the work will be accomplished with regard to establishing the truth of the Book of Mormon, as well as every other portion of sacred writ.
We have not made these remarks because evidence cannot be adduced, but to show the irrationality of endeavoring to make a man see without eyes, or in other words, without the capability of discerning truth when placed before him.
Let, therefore, every servant of the Lord bear with him at all times a consciousness of his Priesthood and calling, and when he is so circumstanced as to find it of no avail, his labor in that quarter is finished; for if he be not successful in the discharge of his legitimate authority and duty, it will be utterly in vain to seek to effect conviction in any mind by falling back upon his own acquired resources.
If we know anything of our own assurance we would most assuredly say that the power by which success is accomplished is to be found in connection with a proclamation of the fullness of the Gospel. Christianity has been presented to mankind as a mere speculative theory, without the power of godliness accompanying it, and when on the contrary it is presented in all its glorious fullness and reality to the honest-hearted, it becomes an agency of power which will either prove effective, or it will be in vain to resort to other means.
Let individuals but conceive for once the glorious reality of truth, stripped of every mixture of error, and they will turn in disgust from the mere theoretical and heartless system with which beforetime they may have been associated.
We do not think it will be out of place here to give a word of caution, though we have frequently done it before, in relation to the exercise of wisdom in all the public labors of the servants of the Lord.
Let them watch narrowly that Satan deceives them not by causing them to lose sight of the object of their mission and calling in the proclamation of salvation, and leading them to enlarge and dilate upon the erroneous systems of the day. Perhaps there is no habit in which the servant of the Lord becomes so blinded as this when he has once indulged in it.
The absurdities in connection with modern creeds and systems are so numerous that they appear apparently endless in the contemplation, and if the devil can so far deceive a person as to lead him to forget the Gospel and turn his attention to them, he will take their attention, then he will take care that he lacks not for matter on the subject. There is nothing to be accomplished by such a mode of proceeding, save to exasperate the feelings of individuals, and prevent them from receiving at our hands the word of life which we have to offer.