| Show T APOSTASY arco AND ITS CAUSES NEARLY forty years have pl passed assed away since the organization of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints but they have not passed without bestowing i rich and varied experience upon those who have been connected with ic it or who have carefully studied its history those who have been beeri its mem memi i bers berg have had a in which to study human nature under circumstance ii that have prominently brought tithe to the surface its best and worst features it 16 has been truthfully remarked on many occasions that a man did not know himself or know his hrs he or they embraced the gospel in its full fuli fullness nebi nesi and purity then whatever good or evil qualities or dispositions beor he or they might have haye would be br brought i coughl to the surface and their true characters would be known A man under the influence of the gospel either becomes a d very faithful true man or a avery very unfaithful bad badman man mau he cannot while professing to be bp a believer in the truth and connected with the church stand still he must inevitably progress or go backward and the signs of his progress or of his retrogression have been made madd so familiar to td the people by long experience that they have not the least difficulty in discerning his true condition there are certain tafil yules lules with which experience has made the people familiar that cannot be persistently persistent lk violated without retrogression ebion and apostasy following they are as cami familiar I 1 jar as household words to all the nl members of the church who have had bad any experience peri perl per lence ence experience e has proved that the indulgence in whoredom adultery and lust 48 is fatal to faith falth in the gospel thi practice is so antagonistic to th the espiri spirit of the kosp koso gospel il thit the two cannot coexist in the same individual experience has also proved that opposing or speaking against the priesthood or the authority which god has placed in his church to govern goverd it is 19 inevitably followed sooner or la a loss of or faith and by complete apostasy these are two rules orthey or they may be termed laws which during the experience of nearly forty years have never never been known to be violated without apostasy following unless in indeed deed the transgressor of them repented repents id bumb humbly ay and sincerely and succeeded in obtaining forgive forgiveness nea nek position knowledg knowledge I 1 or influence may be of 0 advantage to a man under some circumstances but they avail him nothing in averting the penalty which follows the transgression of either of these laws jt it falls alike upon all from the highest to the lowest from the richest to totne the poorest from the moat learned to the most moat illiterate and all are amenable to it besides these there are tire numerous other laws which must be observed our space will not permit us to mention them in in detail but they are welt well known to the members of the church who have exper experience ienco lenco when they are alo violated it is quickly discerned and fra fro luent ly when least suspected by the person who is guilty guily of the violation if a man is dishonest grasping greedy taking advantage af pf ochia his neighbor bleg neglectful of his duties a saint not living up to his profession delighting in tle the society of the he wicked aud and he persists in any or all ali allot of these things thing confidence in him beoo becomes mey mei weakened vez rez it is seen feen that he does doea not poises a good spirit and slid those who know him are prepared for what must inevitably fol foi io low low unless he repent viz a 65 oss s of faith and finally apostasy out of all who have lost their fellowship and standing in the church from the beginning beginning until the present we never knew new or bard heard of one who lost it when inthe in the abe full and active discharge of his duty many have lost their faith and been exp eap expelled elied from the church through their indulgence in the spirit of whoredom and lust many also through following the example of lucifer wh who opposed constituted authority and rebelled against it and like him have been cut off from the society of the virtuous and the righteous and many also for other sins but when or where in all the history of the church 0 of f jesus christ of latter day saints was one ever excommunicated who was wag humbly and faithfully discharging his duties as a servant ana saint of god there never was an instance of the kind we know that there scarcely ever was a prominent individual cut onn off from the church that did not make the assertion that he was expelled without a cause such sueh persons from the days of the notorious hurlburt down to the present time have always been if their statements were to be belie belle believed ved exceedingly righteous bus they were not wrong oh no it was joseph or it was wai somebody some pody else that had erred and was in the bark dark and had fallen frequently they have continued to assert that they were as us strong believers in the doctrines of the church as they ever were that they knew them to vitrue be true but the ibe authorities we vere re wrong the man who had held the keys had transgressed and was in the dark this was the case with the apostates in kirtland who threatened mens lives when they testified that joseph was a true prophet and had not fallen and it was the case from that time to the days of william law who judas like while sitting at the council board and on terms of intimate friendship with the prophet of god was secretly plotting with his enemies to destroy him so strongly did this base bacq man profess to believe in the doctrines of the church that after declaring joseph was a fallen he actually attempted attempt eo to organize li a church put himself at the head beau of it as a prophet close chose two other apostates to act with him as counselors and proceeded to select twelve moen toen to be his apostles this tyis movement of his and his contreres confreres con freres was wa the pub limity bf f impudence and hypocrisy but is is a noticeable face tha apostates as e a rule assume to be w wonderfully 0 i lider rider fully pious more beio self righteous men could not apparently exist than some of the early apo apostates stafe s when cut off from this churchin fact while true religion is esteemed hypocritical pre tence to piety is viewed with suspicion by the latter day saints it being understood der stood to bean be an evidence of apostasy another evidence is that when men drink into that spirit they immediate immediately become very popular among the wicked Y those who sought the overthrow of the church and the destruction of joseph in the neighborhood of kirtland yar west and nauvoo rejoiced when they heard of men apostatizing and proving false to him while they were faithful and true the wicked hated them as th they did him buano but no sooner did they commence to operate against him th anthey became the warm friends of this class and were welcomed to their society this is a result which has never failed in incises incases cases of apostasy apo stacy staey |
