| Show THE CHURCHES OF THE WORLD Is either of them the church of christin a previous article entitled the Chure aes toeur decline and fall I 1 have shown that the word ot of god predicts with no uncertain jor or ambiguous language the disappearance of the primitive churches from the earth shortly after the eath beath of the apostles I 1 have aiso shown that the testimony of ecclesiastical history amply proves that the churches declined more and more mere until they were removed and their light no more seen and yet we are coat confronted with the tact fact that there are in the world at the present time as there always ha have e beep been nam numerous erous religious bodies all all claiming to be the church of christor at least fragments of tuat that church they tell us that we are mistaken when we believe the word of ef gods prophets who predicted that the saints of the most high should be overcome and that tile the church should be aid in the wilderness they want us to believe contrary to the word of G gad ed tat the church has always not only 0 existed on earth but taken a prominent part in the actions of the nations right here in utah uta we have quite a collection of religious bodies all claiming I 1 presume to be the church we have ave roman catholics baptists methodists lutherans Luth erans and presbyterians rians and perhaps others on what then do these various rei legious boles bodies rest their claims can any of them or all taken together tose possibly be the church of christ the roman ionian catholic church is the largest of ill all christian denominations she claims to be the primitive church in her developed and perfected state guided and directed by the holy spirit the roman pontiff claims to be the successor of the apostle peter the rock of the church from whom the keys of supreme authority have been handed down without interruption ter ever since the days of the apostles I 1 will tor for th the sake of the argument admit the roman church has existed since the days of peter and that this apostle really was in rome and left the keys there with the bishop to be handed down to future popes but when we have admitted all this we must ask does the roman church charch hold and teach the doctrines of christ if not she is not christs church the apostle john informs us 2 john 9 that everyone every one who I 1 steps over and loes does not remain in the teaching of christ illias has not dot god ile he who remains or abides in the teaching of christ has both the fa ther and the son and further it if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine receive him not into your house neither bid him god speed for he that birdeth him god speed is partaker of his evil deeds from this passar passage g ge we see gee clearly that something more than apostolic succession is required for a denomination to te be the church of christ the teaching of our lord must go 90 ath the succession as the spirit muga must tb be e with the body to constitute a living man in this respect the catholic d church comes very short of the mark some of their doctrines are biot nothing h i I 1 ig but abuse of scripture statements n t s the blessedness of the dead who die in the lard is made the pretext of salat worship contrary to other passages of the scriptures on christs presence in the sacrament the adoration of the bread Is foun founded dea the salutation of the augel angel is said to justify the deification of the virgin mary some ox of their doctrines are perversions of scripture texts he that leateth me even he shall live by me john 6 W they refer to the sacrament although this ordinance was not instituted when our lord these words od the expression he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire 1 cor 3 15 the popish doctrine of purgatory is foun founded deo but bat the leading doctrines of the roman catholics do not reach as tar far back as the apostolic aze age the title of a universal bishop at rome a pope does not go farther back than to A D the canonical authority of the corrupted bible translation known as ab vulgate lr aud also of the ical books of the bible was settled at the council of trentin the sixteenth century at the same time traditions were raised to the dignity of ef articles of faith the latin tongue was introduced in the worship and the vernacular excluded in the seventh century transubstantiation was first taught in the beigh eighth t h century censul T in the eleventh century t ofle ae lords lord a Sup supper was instituted by d distributing is bread only instead of bres bread d an and dwine wine in the twelfth century we ft first rat hear of the doctrine of seven sacraments of the doctrines of the meritorious virtue of penance of purgatory prayers for the dead we hear nothing before the seventh century the power of granting the popes did not discover till the twelfth century auricular confession was first enjoined by the fourth council in the thirteenth century the celibacy of the clergy as universal and compulsory was ordained at the end of the fourth and was confirmed by gregory VII at the end of the lith century and the invention of sprinkling infants was never formally sanctioned before the year 1311 at the council of ravenna thus we see that popery is nothing but a novelty as compared to the primitive church its doctrines are either apparent perversions ious of toe tae doctrines of christ or innovations inno vatious altogether unknown in the apostolic churches the unavoidable conclusion established by these facts and by the assertion of the apostle john that he that arideth not in the teaching of christ has not god is that the catholic church has not god that she can not be the tae church of christ even if she can prove her Ilist historical orical connection wita the primitive church but this connection is after all very problematic the facts seem to be that the primitive churches were dissolved into numerous factions known under names the euchides Euc Eu biles chiles and Euphe Eaphe mites the followers of the pauli cans the Manich sens the Donatis ts the Valden ses and and numerous others seem to be the fragments of the primitive churches while the roman church seems to be a power a sprung rang up out of the commotions eions of f the nations independent of the gospel altogether the connection of rome with the church chuoc h of christ resembles much mich the connection ot of the whites with the aborigines of america nobody can say that the present american nation has sprung from the indians indiana neither can anybody say that the roman church has sprung sprang from the church of christ certain it is that rome both I 1 christian and pagan has done all in her power to destroy those that professed christ and in this respect christian rome takes the lead it has been computed that christian rome BBS bas slain no less than of martyrs a host as large as the population of the united states how is it possible that a denomination so bloodthirsty so cruel so bigoted drunken with the blood of saints rev 17 6 can claim to be the perfected church of christ such a claim is nothing short of blasphemy it may be added that the apostle peter had nothing to do with the church of rome the tradition which makes peter the founder of the church at rome i is alto geter geter improbable unsupported as a it la is by any historical evidence neither is it probable that he suffered martyrdom at rome his last epistle was ft ritten probably from babylonia babelonia Baby lonia aa A D 64 or 65 in the same year in which he is supposed to have suffered martyrdom consequently cen not in rome but in babelonia babylonia Baby Boy lonia loula thus it will be seen that every claim of the roman church when tested falls to the ground and by disposing of the mother ch church urcla I 1 all her daughters are dis posed ottoo ot too chathas what has been said gaid ol of the great boman church applies with equal force to all the churches that owe their existence to a secession from her none can trace their origin to the primitive chu church refi none can prove their doctrines to be the teaching of christ the lutherans Luth erans jo go no farther back than to luther the diet of spires 1529 when the evangel evangelical leal princes presented their solemn protest against popery may fairly be considered the bopery birthday irta ay of that church the presbyterians rians may count the 3rd ard of december 1557 as their birthday the methodists are younger still dating not further back than 1739 none of these can be the church of christ for between their first appearance pe arance and the disappearance ce of the primitive churches there is a suit gulf of several hundred years and as they were founded not by christ not through revelation from him th eyare Lre clearly not his churches but merely human institutions some of the best writers of the baptists claim that their denomination has exi existed since the days of the apostles and that their churches are perfect patterns of the primitive churches an fn in order to establish this theory they trace the baptist principles through all ail the various sects of the early and of the ria middle iddle ages they claim that the Valden ses and the be beg hards bards and the pollards Lol lards the anabaptists anaba and mennonites and many others were really baptists baptista although not known by that name came suffice it to say to this that he baptists baptista can trace their history through all these sects and thus establish a connection with the primi etive church yet as they have not retained the teachings of christ in miny many important points they have boright no right to the title the church ol of christ to abide in the teaching of christ is is as we have already seen as important as the historical us a church that has existed since the days of the apostles and that has all the time retained the doctrine christ if there were such a church that would indeed be the church churchon of christ but a close examination of all the churches of the world discloses the fact that none 0 fo em possess these two essentials v hence the necessity of a new revelation confirmed by miracles when god again in this century founded founded a true church through joseph smith the prophet I 1 have denied that the existing churches of the world have a right to call themselves the abe church of christ let me say in conclusion that I 1 not by no means question the good work some of them have accomplished they have filled important parts in the economy of god ode mede and bishop newton hive have shown that during the long dark ages when the church was hidden in the wilderness god had bad some witnesses on the earth to bear testimony of his truth as once preached to the saints and this part of bearing testimony of the truth has been the work of good men through the ages the church having again been ea established their testimony is ended their aoa work is done the time of these witnesses is completed and the time of the church has again come preparatory to the coming of the son sen of god J M S |
