Show MORMON STANDARDS WHEN discussing mormonism its opponents frequently invent pecullar peculiar notions and advance them as part of the mormon creed and occasionally quote disjointed and garbled extracts from the writings of men connected with the mormon church which are foisted upon the public as authorized expositions of its articles of faith this is very unfair and misleading there is in it more or less of a des desire re to deceive and to prejudice the public I 1 ic mind the proper way to oppose any principle or tenet alleged to be false is to state it fairly and fully as it is entertained by those who advance it and it is wrong to attribute to a society or organized body of any kind ideas entertained entert dined by some individual which agrenot are not endorsed by the association of which he may be a member in assailing mormonism elther either from the pulpit or the press it is seldom if ever that its authorized art articles ioles of faith or recognized standards are cited or if they are that they are given as they stand without interpolation and without mutilation what is pretended to be mormonism is not mormonism and that which is ridiculed or controvert ed or held up for detestation is simply something manufactured for the occasion or so great a burlesque or exaggeration or distortion of the truth as to be closely akin to wilful falsehood the published standards of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints are the bible the book of mormon the doctrine and covenants and the articles of faith they are accepted and recognized by the body revelations received by the head of the church on earth and accepted as such by the body may be classed in the same category but the opinions theories arguments illustrations and contentions of men connected with the church and not passed upon and endorsed by it are not to be cited as author izel particularly when out of harmony with its written standards there h ere Is no embargo placed upon the thoughts of men in this church nor upon the expression thereof many things have been published by men connected with the church which the body would not approve if they were presented for its action wide circulation has been given to theories and opinions of rhen men holding bolding prominent places in the church which have been publicly declared by its president to be no guide for the latter day saints yet these are frequently cited as mormon Ni ormon doctrine and applied in a manner not intended even by their authors when they are fairly quoted however while they are not to be hold held as expositions of the mormon creed blame cannot be justly cast upon those who cite them as such as it may when they are misquoted and garbled and misapplied there is nothing in the recognized creed of the latter day saints which infringes upon human liberty or is incompatible with a republican form of govern government mont it boef not attempt to suppress freedom of thought or of action providing the latter does not pass the line of the liberty of others it does not seek to subvert the force of constitutional law or the authority of any recognized human government it teaches that man should be obedient in all things to his maker but does not put any person in the place of deity to be worshipped wor shipped adored or submitted to as god when god ie reveals anything through the man appointed as his mouthpiece to the church the members may determine whether they will receive it as the word of the lord and they nave free agency to obey or disobey it and take the consequence of their own acts there Is ia no compulsion attending it and if they believe and how to it their faith and obedience are in and to god and not notto to man if moses or isaiah or peter or john wrote the word of the lord 11 those who are led by it are not worshippers wor shippers of either of those men but of god who by them so with any modern revelation the King kingdom doin of god Is to come and the will of god is to be done on earth as it is done aal elveia so the latter day Saints Sainto Weve in their hearts as many other people profess to believe with their lips when christ appears he will be the recognized head of that kingdom on the earth until he comes whose right it Js is to reign the saints are commanded by divine revelation to be subject to the powers that be that is to the goverd govern ments mente established wherever they reside that Js is mormonism so is this in the articles of faith we believe in being subject to kings presidents rulers and magistrates in honoring obeying and sustaining the law and so is this in the doctrine and covenants it is not right that man should be in bondage one to another any theory or hypothesis or cal disquisition opposed to these is not mormonism by whomsoever and is not to be cited as the mormon creed we believe that true religion will influence a true believer in all the affairs of life also that members of the church of christ should be mutually helpful in everything every thing that pertains to their well being in time and eternity also that they have the right under the constitution and laws of this cou country y to combine and unite for self defense and self preservation for good government and the prevention of bad government in a alf things spiritually and temporally so long as they do not dot violate law nor infringe upon the rights of other people our enemies may twist and distort and misstate these propositions as they please they may quote sentences culled fr from m the writings of inai individual vidual theorists and tack them together for the purpose of misrepresenting the mormon creed but the facts remain as we have stated them and the recognized standards of mormon doctrine stand as the authorized exponents of our faith and discipline they ney are our guide so far as books cin can be and th the spirit espirit of the living god which is the light and life of all things is within the reach of those who seek for it in the appointed way the revelations of heaven and not the opinions and of men are the standard of alth of the latter day saints |