| Show T DISCUSSED HI jut introductory note it is mutually SUf feeO d to exclude all personalities from discussion its only purpose is to present clearly the facts upon v y blitch the respective views vie ws axe are based both edth cannot be right and the only hon r est eat attitude of any soul is that of sin rowe desire to know the truth that he 7 follow it in all aal that the writer jaa Ss sald said op on this subject the motive has JW n simply to advance the cause of arist and to r save ave men he trusts may always be true in that the same the future if anything in his part of atis discussion shall seem otherwise to that he will remember ALIW aay one it is hoped these words and judge accordingly nast sincerely for the cause of the truth an and d of the lord christ JOHN D NUTTING plymouth congregational church salt lake city since 1892 the opening Arguna argument ent Y 51 mormonism appeals to the worle world I 1 as compared with current a 4 hew religion alefs As such it must logically take axa SA burden of proving itself true be arl sere the world but for this discussion take the burden of proof 1 I 1 c ber fully wae abe opposite statement as desired 0 O tl baand will latempt attempt to show that mormon ot true starting at the begin Is n not aing of at the system then my iny first uon is this that MO mormonism l because its basic to untrue 6 to is simply pimply a question ot at historic afta either the boy joseph smith or did not receive a revelation in woods in 1820 according to his bis his arf wt the beginning of mormonism je he truly toad bad such it was either m god or from satan and he has reserved rv ed either a true or an arrone i Hat account t of it let us exam examine ine and which of these la Is the truth ee is given in the pearl of f waja a castory bat price pages 83 it contains 1 accounts of josephs being ledl leAt 1 the different sects near his home lu the bible ov 1 ia concluding bibat was azoo account runt in such case caa and of his 1 jbf to the woods to seek ll lumina opi hem two personages perso nageB of oc great ars yrs avear one on e of whom points to and says this to la my beed son hear bear him see luke dg aw if true that both god the ar r and god the son had come from heaven to enlighten him ohp sects the goes on axed 89 89 d the personages which of all oats was right and which I 1 should 3 I 1 was answered that I 1 must join i anthem ot them for they were all wrong we hie perm nage who addressed me that an all their creeds were an abom W j ills might bight that those probes kere ere all corrupt they draw near with thedr lips but their hearts from me taw teach for doce abe commandments of men hava at but they deny ver er t of 1 r 0 this JW a roused rc aed revelation of ae the father or the son deals deais with rz ot of historic record eel I 1 is easy e or dila prove it makes very Aate abatements ments about the entire n chu church oit at date 1820 and very charges against it at and its fetn it this thip revelation agrees with aown n faitte of church history it oo 00 aw true it if ft does not it is not flyod with wah it must go the whole pon which it Is based the abl al statements are 1 that all creeds of all the n in 1820 were an in god gode 2 that hes were au 1 hypocrites rites and e t the 0 kofl men this misquoted from matt 15 8 9 1 As to the creeds of christendom these from the beginning are a matter of record in history what does the record show essential unity and essential of creed in all branches of ithe evangelical church and in all ages ag eafrom from s down this is beyond historical question there have been variations of course no two men or ages think just alike on finance politics or any other subject whatever the element of individuality was intended by god to color all we do but these variations have been upon minor points of bible teaching or in the explanation of greater doctrines points divinely left without unquestionable state m menTin ien tin the Word perhaps for this very purpose of stimulating thought faith and appreciation that this discussion had sometimes taken unwise direction durec tion and engendered undue feeling was only human and was no ground whatever for adv wholesale denunciation of creed and character such as the revelation indulges ln in ba sensible well informed gentl gentleman emai could be ashamed to do what god is I 1 thus represented as doing M more 0 re than this there is not a fundamental point of doctrine in the bible which was not in the creeds thus denounced nor S uch such point in the creeds which was not in the bible aible and had not been taught by the church of the apostles and by christ himself gods word and the creeds of the church of christ of all denominations have always been practically harmonious on all ail such points truth does not change in theology any more than in mathematics our comprehension and statement of it ought to grow though dealing always with the same great essentials 8 so 83 3 it has been with the church and nothing beyond this can be said hence to say that the creeds of christendom were all an abomination in gods sight is to say MY a thing which is palpably untrue they are the truth of god in all their essentials and are honest teachings reach ings out after the truth in all other particulars 2 As to the character of christian people in 1820 all corrupt hypocrites is the sweeping judgment of the revelation upon the whole christian world 1 only joseph seems to ne be exempt this condemnation includes the writers writer sown own who were then living as pious truly christian men and women as could easily be found whose children were largely missionaries aries of the cross among ong t the e barbarous heathen and whose grandchildren ande hildren rise up and call them ahem blessed it includes millions of bother peoples grand grandparents of similar pha all hypocrites it includes fall 11 the most noted saints of all earths Iii story men like edwards edward judson f whitefield the wesleye We the english and other martyrs luther huss pene fene I 1 ilon flon thornas a kempis bernard of clairvaux augustine and even the apostles themselves for all believed the same essential doctrines from the same bible lived the same godly lives 1 and were bemb mem fews of the ame aasne ch church universal which ats revelation nia ma aligns more than this chirst gracious graciously identifies himself with his faithful followers as to the treatment accorded them matt 1041 and references hence this revelation makes god to reject himself with these followers lowera tol and to call himself corrupt etc reader does god blaspheme himself does he traduce and vilify his own pious loving children of grace the best men and women of the earth does he slander his own church on earth which he died to create does he call his everlasting truth an abomination to tuk questions Is to answer them in thunder tones no what then logically follows since this revelation so called solemn solemnly lr that he did these things what must the revelation itself be here are am the possibilities of the case a it cannot possibly be true for it is made of historic falsehoods b it cannot possibly have come from god for god does not lie or even make mistakes mis takes c it may mary come from satan for heis heia a li liar arand and the father of it christ john 8 44 d it may have been an imagination of o f the boy joseph honestly held and acted upon he was young and imaginative e it may have been a hoax invented by joseph either men or later ana either with or without definite purpose further at the time personally the writer is undecided as to which of the last three is true possibly a combination of all but one tiring seems to him logically ana absolutely settled forever to fever that this so called revelation cannot possibly be true because its essential part is in made up of statements which we know absolutely u to be untrue the beakler liay VE say ay what becomes of the build building lut i chedi the found foundation akion is removed y my next articles will treat of some ot of the doctrinal teachings which compose this edifice based upon the revelation I which we have been considering above the first of these providence permitting will be the doctrine ot of god the reply in his opening argument tor for the proposition that mormonism to Is not true christianity christian by rev john D nutting arrives at the conclusion S I 1 on thai the ithe basic revelation of the religious system under discussion is untrue and that the superstructure consequently conse ac bently falls with it it will therefore be our first duty to examine the reasoning by which this con conclusion cluston Is sought to be established the gentleman it will be noticed relies entirely on internal evidence as regards the authenticity of the revelation he reviews a class of evidence which as applied to the bible teas bas already created a school of critics but little distant from the now almost de funch of germany but what is noticeable is that he places his hda own owa construction on the language an of the revelation and then demolishes mo lishes this construction construct im the revelation itself is in untouched and intact he says the two fundamental statements are these 1 that an tho creeds of all the christian churches toi ft 1820 were an abomination in god gods 1 I sight 2 that the members of these dm churches were all corrupt being bym crates and teaching for doctrines doctrin ea tho th commandments of men he be argues no sensible senal ble well informed gentleman would say and certainly not gol ergo the revelation representing wi hint as making these stake statements ments is ia wt mot true it is necessary here to can call to the fact th att the revelation does not represent all the members of the various churches as corrupt or as am hypo bribes cr ittes ibes it deals exclusively with ahoe and the whole context shows shown that certain reng religious ious teachers who teach the commandment command menta of men instead of the word of the lord gro are here held up to the light to say aay that this revelation reve latt an or any other by the latter iatter d day ay saints good and honest men man and women aa a corrupt or as hypocrites is in to represent the matter our lord himself tall all that ever came before me as aa thieves th leveo im and gottwirt rott Wirt but he had reference to just cibit abat claw ott ot people spoken of in theft quota tlonA om IMS pearl of gaw I 1 yat let us now examine the passage ft little latue closer it if says 1 all the sects are wrong that I 1 la there is not one that has preserved the entire truth without any error all are wrong in some point or another 2 all their creeds are an abomination in gods sight note that it does not affirm that everything in every creed Is ail an abomination nor was it ever so understood der stood by exponents of mormonism nisan OB the contrary latter day saints are fully aware that there is much truth in every creed even in those of the despised pagans still the existence of numerous creeds at variance with one another is not the work of the lord whose spirit leads to unity the multiplicity ity of creeds therefore is an abomination in his sight 8 S that those professors are all corrupt this is qualified in the words that hat follow thus they draw near tome to me with their lips but their hearts are f tar ar from me they teach for doctrine the commandments of men have hav ing a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof now having stated what the so called basic revelation of mormonism contains we may confidently ask Is it true or false what is the testimony of the sacred scriptures and of the members of the christian churches themselves for the pathetic truth of the first proposition that all the sects are wrong direction or another we fearlessly appeal to the consciousness of wery every enlightened evangelical christian who is there among them that will say that his particular sect to is free fro from m doctrinal error do they not all admit that they have chosen their respective denominations not because they axe are in fallible on points of doctrine but because bause they can find nothing better Is it not a fact that thousands of honest christians Christian 4 believe that whatsoever amount of truth the christian world possesses is distributed among all the acts sects some having more and others less and what is that but to admit that all are wrong in some particular from mr nuttings cuttings Nut tings own reasoning this conclusion is in avoidable if the record shows that there is essential maty and essential 0 of creed in all branches of the evangelical church and no more it follows that in all that Is not essential there may be or actually is a deviation from the scriptures but to admit that the errors errora are only in non essentials is to avoid scylla only to perish in the whirlpool of unless indeed there la is some gome divine authority to point out what la Is essential and what to is not but there is igo no such authority in the i evangelical churches on the second proposition all their creeds 9 are an abomination in gods I 1 tight h the testimony of the scriptures j is in overwhelming we have already stated that we conceive this to be not A condemnation of every doctrine de fined in each particular creed it is for instance not a condemnation of the be 1 alef in the existence of a creator a savior or a sanctifying sanctify ing spirit nor 0 0 oa anything else that to is true in any creed d i lit it is an emphatic declaration of gods s disapproval of the existence of a multitude of creeds causing disunion among g his children this is in perfect accord a c with the word of god in the prayer of jesus before his departure le this petition to is one ever to be remembered holy father kee keep e through thine own name those whom m thou hast bast given me that they may be one no as we are john 1711 the vety very object of the organization of the church was ates unity of the faith eph 44 18 23 the divisions in the so called christian clu church cannot escape the censure beo bestowed towed by the apostle paul upon apan the corinthians when he says tor while one saith I 1 am of paul and another I 1 am of apollos axe are ye not carnal 1 cor 34 here the present disrupted condition of the christian world Is condemned in its incipiency ci as can carnal val but from rom 87 we learn that a carnal mind is enmity against god the marvelous information to the young prophet in his first vision Is therefore in perfect accord with the teachings of the bible had he been told on that memorable occasion that all the creeds axe are essentially scriptural and therefore pleasing in gods sight we on our part would not have been able to recognize in such a statement the word of god but the revelation carries with it the evidence of its authenticity it is in full harmony with the scriptures the handwriting can be recognized toy by all familiar with the word of god As he anciently declared through paul that the disposition to divide is an evidence of a carnal mind and enmity against god so in this age he declared axed that it is an abomination the christian world furnishes further evidence for the truth of the statement that the existence of so many creeds Is an abomination or at least an evil the work of the evangelical alliance which seems to have resulted in a widely felt desire among church people to forget so called minor differences and unite on some broad principles the existence of large religious bodies which adhere to no creeds and on that account gain numerous accessions are seals on 04 the revelation to the prophet joseph stamping it as truth we may howe however verv venture one step further and say that every creed that contains error is to that extent an abomination inasmuch as error itself is abominable and particularly if as in this case there is no excuse tor for it unless mans natural propensity to that which is wrong be an am excuse but |
