Show how to study the doctrines of th the church A nm I 1 sa 0 rr TT TZ ja by fain ELDER JOHN MM tino Do delivered livered at te general conference of the young mens mutual improvement association salt at lake city sunday afternoon june 3 1888 REPORTED BY F K X BARKER the that has heen been given to your humble bumble servant to treat upon afternoon is entitled how to S S d ly the doctrines oct rines of the b church hurch ter r having baving listened to the eloquent I 1 tures ires and discourses which have been delivered in this house bouse since the commencement of this great conference I 1 have felt some regret that I 1 haye not more amply prepared myself tor for the th discharge of this duty chow I 1 however dismiss this feeling as it is not altogether dissociated from selfishness which I 1 desire under all circumstances to discard I 1 simply wish to offer nor a tew lew suggestions that I 1 hope will be of use in the matteal improvement associations in a practical s sense ense haye have long recognized the need of some gome simple process or system that would enable the young of the community to eursue pursue a course of ef study that would make them in the shortest time possible conversant with the principles of the gospel of the redeemer I 1 assert it to be the duty of every youth within the pale of the church to place himself in a position that will enable him whenever occasion shall ishall demand it to give an intelligent reason for the hope that is in him in connection wath with this question there is an important reason that has been touched upon by those who have preceded me and has been ea specially mentioned in the address of the te perin tendency that has just been read the magnitude of the work that devolves upon this community of saints the burden or of which must necessarily and naturally devolve upon the younger element of the people it is no less a labor than the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom in all the world as a witness that in passing judgment upon the nations the lord may be justified there should be a preparation for the discharge of this duty commensurate with its vastness it is the greatest work ever imposed upon any people eople there are now fourteen hundred gred millions of gods creatures on t the he face of the earth entitled to bear the proclamation that has been revealed from heaven in this day this of itself gives a commensurate idea of the scope of the obligation involved haying having spent a number of years in the ministry I 1 have suffered personally from ignorance especially when at the outset I 1 undertook at the call of the servants of god the performance of this great duty I 1 have seen bands of young elders who have left their homes in the mountains arrive at the port of liverpool and have been present when they attended their first meeting abroad and perhaps for the first time endeavored to address a public audience and explain the nature ot of their med message sage many kany of the scenes have been of a humiliating character because of the inability of some of them to perform the task that they bad undertaken I 1 remember one scene that comes up before my mind vividly now when perhaps a dozen elders came into a meeting the first of their mission the bench on which they sit rattled on the floor because of their trembling so great was their anxiety as they awaited their turn to be called on oil to speak there was one who appeared to have more confidence than ta the rest he arose with greater us as su aurance sura rance ace when he undertook to ad dress the small audience that had gathered in a small room everything that he be had thought of vanished from his mind aud and he had not probably thought of much either he told me afterwards that although the room was but a few feet in length it seemed to him to be at least three miles i mies long he stood with his bis mind a perfect blank but bot he recollected having heard the elders in the old tabernacle say when they arose to speak 4 brethren brethren and sisters I 1 hope I 1 will edify you I 1 I 1 and after a brilliant pause he said 1 I guess I 1 wont say any more for the reason that he any more io 10 say it is needless to 0 state that the cox congregation agre in that instance were lation toot inot e edified tied by by him to any appreciable extent in my opinion in pursuing the study of the doctrines of the church there should be a method that will cultivate that class of ability that will enable who pursue thi the study to explain to others the information they ac acquire quite public speaking should be cultivated largely in this community because it Is by that medium that we reach the people aple when we do not reach them fe through hough r the printing press now what at a are re the main essentials tor for a pr preacher b acher of the gospel he sho should in n the first his mind stored w with it h a knowledge of odthe the doctrines he Is deliver it Is 18 said in the scriptures how shall th they hear bear without a preacher any and how shall they preace preach h except they be sent I 1 wa will I 1 add a little more and say how ow shall shall they preach except they know w what at to preach about therefore a prerequisite to the success of the pre preacher sucher isthan he be should ife be possessed ot of the required information and secondly that he be should gain the necessary LX ix per peri lence ence to enable him to cate it to others thirdly and principally ci he should possess the spirit s of god god for without it he is as dry as a hip chip only the chip has the advantage there are some people who have in my mj opinion a mistaken idea regard regarding in 9 the function of that spirit in reference eric e to ta the preaching of the gospel it ic is somewhat the same as the delusion that possessed the mind of oliver cowdery who desired of the lard that he should have a similar power to that which was entrusted to the prophet joseph smith the gift of translation the lord informed him that lie he did not exercise the gift because he be imagined he be could do so without the use of his bis mental powers he should have studied it out oat and it if it was correct tae spirit would have borne wit witness iness it if it was erroneous he be would have no such testimony some people think all that is necessary in order to preace the go gospel pel is ia that they should be called upon and go out and stand up and the lord will immediately pump them lull full of intelligence such do not comprehend the economy ot of god they do not understand der stand stana abat hat me he intends that men shall cultivate the gifts gift that they have inherited and received from him and nd that he be never has from the beginning and never will worlds without end place lace a premium upon laziness there Is no excellence without labor and the ope operations radons of the holy spirit suggest to the mind thoughts that are proper and bring to the memory when needful those things that are appropriate to be spoken as occasion may require it to is presumable that no person in this audience would have the stupidity to take ata ah empty bucket lower it into a deep well lift it out and expect it to be full fall of water when he drew it out the water would be conspicuous for its absence yet some people expect the spirit of goi to do all the work bringing the waters ot life out of a dry and e empty ty mind empty because indolent edme some people have announced them selves elves in favor of what are called debating clubs or societies it if I 1 am not mistaken some such institutions exist ex in the community now I 1 know that they have existed in the abe past it has been claimed that by this method we learn principles and also gain practice and facility in presenting them to the public I 1 am prepared to announce mye myself j as opposed to debating societies among the latter day saints as not in harmony with the genius of the gospel but I 1 do not believe in making statements without giving a reason for the propositions positions that are offered in debates deates gio it is the oe custom to select a subject and an affirmative and negative are formulated the subject as treated negatively vely and affirmatively on every topic then under such a system some person or persons must speak from false premises and resort to sophistry to error rr or one et t 1 feet of this is that it drives away the spirit of truth which recedes from froin conditions that hat t are antagonistic to its own nature young men may mav obtain a species of brilliancy by pursuing the tudy ot of a subject by the debating process but bat it is li keethe brilliancy of th abe t comet it is eccentric and unreliable I 1 aap not at all like that abat of one of the fixed stars it leads to sophistical reasoning and tends to infidelity you ask what system I 1 would suggest I 1 should say the one oae that comes the nearest to obtaining the beneficial i results of debate without any of its deleterious effects I 1 have formulated a method of that character and have practically ally demonstrated its beneficial results amon among the young youn g people having I personally personal 1 y taught a number of classes in accordance with it it is simply this the subject is selected suppose that we call the theme the first principles of the gospel I 1 formulate a number of propositions one set of which are opposite in character to the views that we desire to sustain and the other in harmony with them I 1 will give you an example of the the process by naming some of the propositions eions that are in one instance b based ased upon the views generally entertained ta tried by the religious religions world and the 0 ther other those that can be consistently sustained by the student I 1 will here repeat them in their order positions generally general kv sustained by sectarians sect arians positions to be sus notably protestants bained by the student to be reasoned away and overthrown by the student first that salva first that salvation cannot be at tion can be obtained bained by belief in by belief in christ christ and his atone and his bis atone atonement m ent ment without good independent of good works works second that ane second that lap bap only correct mode cism may be adminis 0 of baptism bapst is s in immer I 1 ly by sprinkling so sion that it t i is pouring or immer dively el essential tia to sion that it is not salvation letio and is for positively essential the remission of sins and not for the there re mission of sins third that the third that the holy ghost is ob holy ghost can be tamed bained after belief obtained by belief in repentance and bap the lord jesue christ cism by the ordin without attending to ance of laying on OH of any outward ardi the hands or of men nances bances having divine authority fourth that apos fourth that apostles prophets and ties ales prophets and ot other h sr inspired teach other inspired teachers and revelation are ers era and revelation as nee necessary essary to the were needed in the church now as ever primitive condition and cannot be dis of the church but with are done away because no longer needed the number of propositions may be increased to any extension desired according accordine aeilt may be necessary to divide and simplify the subject any theme cap can be treated la in this way religious legious or otherwise it Is 18 founded upon the demonstrated truth that there is an opposite in all things and baat ahat nothing stimulates mental activity in man to so intense a degree a as opposition hence the philosophy ol 01 of formulating and speaking to an opposite proposition as an objective point the method of instructing a class of young men in this routine is simply this suppose appose that the propositions are seven in number and the number of the class twelve I 1 assign to the head of the class no 1 to the 9 next number 2 and so on until no 7 is reached and then give the balance to the remainder of the class As teacher I 1 define to the class what a discourse on oa thy the first principles of the gospel is in order to give them a guide each member prepares himself with scripture and reason to annihilate the one proposition and sustain the other he addresses lits his fellow members of the class not longer than fifteen minutes as it if they were a lot of unbelieving sectarians sect arians in cloudy darkness and each member goes through ane whole of the seven propositions sit ions it if a student has only ordinary aptitude after he has bas treated eacil each division of the subject and co collat a edthe ed the evidence necessary to de demolish olis and sustain at the end of the exercises exercise or the course he possesses a fund ol of information combi combined tied with practice in public speaking surprising bag to himself and that will enable him when he be enters the evangelical field to go there as a missionary with a foundation at least for the labor confronting him you see the advantage of such a simple method as this it gives the student some conception of the erroneous views with which be has to contend in the world it gives him ao an understanding of the principles of the gospel that lie he has to proclaim and also enables him to explain his doctrines to others therefore it does not kill two birds only with one stone it kills three if twelve young men of moderate education and aad fair intelligence be selected acted and put through a catechisation catechization to show they can say little or nothing regarding the principles and doctrines of the gospel in twelve weeks or after going through this course if examined again it will be found that almost without exception they will be able to discourse intelligently upon the first principles to show the simplicity and aptitude of this system take for instance one of these propositions the second one in relation to baptism the sectarian as a rule holds that this ordinance may be administered by 11 sprinkling r i skiing pouring or immersion that it pi is s not positively dively essential to salvation tand and is not for the remission of sins it is for the student to show in opposition to that view that the proper mode is immersion that it to is indispensable and is for the remission of sins ile he speaks as if he addressed an audience of unbelievers un believers citing the words of jesus to nicodemus except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of god 1 I and the example of the 84 savior V bior when he was about to be baptized by john when he says thus it be cometh us to fulfill all righteousness 11 he thus clinches the essentiality of the ordinance by the unqualified word and unmistakable example of the redeemer he proves the mode to be immer immersion tion by quoting the words of paul in the sixth chapter of the romans wherein baptism is compared tor to being buried with christ no other mode is comparable to a burial any more wan than it would be proper to say day a body was burled buried by sprinkling a small quantity of dust upon it the student as easily proves the object of baptism by q quoting not ng the words ot peter in the see second 0 rid chapter of acts when addressing the multitude repent and be baptized every one of you yon lor for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost thus you yon will see how readily the student can master these subjects piece by piece until he becomes familiar with the the doctrines of the church line upon line precept upon precept and at the same time acquires the ability to explain them to others every department of the subject Is as easy of treatment as the one now cited as an example and there is scarcely any limit to the proofs and arguments that can be found to sustain them 1 bonsee FOB see how the student proceeds to acquire his information and and prepare himself to go out into the world as a minister of life explaining intelligently the message which he lass has to deliver in this method |