A Convincing Testimony: The Church Organization

A CONVINCING TESTIMONY:— THE CHURCH ORGANIZA-TION.

BY CARL HJALMAR CARLQUIST.

[Carl Hjalmar Carlquist is the son of Carl Arvid and Hulda N. Oster- gren Carlquist, and is a native of Utah, having been born in Salt Lake City, August 24, 1878. His education was obtained in the common schools, supplemented by courses in the L. D. S. University night school. From July 11, 1900, to November 8, 1902, he labored as a missionary in Sweden. He is now occupied as salesman in the hardware department of Z. C. M. I.— Editors.]

The disputes and contentions of the religious bodies, their divided factions, and the continual organization of new, so-called churches, draw our attention to some convincing evidence attesting the divinity of Joseph Smith's mission. Were no other evidence at hand, the known fact that the da- spised Church, organized by that youthful seer, corresponds in the minutest detail, so far as we have Bibical light thereon, with the Church established by the Savior in the meridian of time, should impress upon every thinking mind the authenticity of Joseph's prophetic calling. Compare the perfect organization of the Church established by him, with the confusion and chaos existing among the religious denominations of the world, and one finds something worthy an honest and thorough investigation. View the work accomplished by this latter-day prophet.despised though he is by the bigoted and prejudiced, and compare it with the result of all the

discussions and conferences held by the world's theologians, and

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conviction must come to the truth-seeking mind. On one hand, we behDld a church organization perfect in all its details, an exact reproduction of the one organized by the divinely commissioned Son, when he called the humble fishermen from their nets on the Galilean shore, and ordained them apostles. On the other hand, we find a multitude of nondescript creations of men, none of which correspond with the pattern of the original Church. The first is

the fruit of a mere boy's labor, a boy unlearned in worldly knowl- edge, but inspired of God; the others, that of the scheming of the educated and ambitious, from the time of Constantine the Great, to John Alexander Dowie. The Holy Scriptures say : "Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone."— Eph. 2:19, 20. This authoritative declaration is made by Paul in his clear ex- planation to the Ephesian saints of their membership in the Church of God. Herein he defines the principle, that the Church recog- nized of God as his, must necessarily be built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets. Later, the Apostle tells the Ephesians that he [Christ] gave "some prophets; and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers; for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of

the Son of God unto a perfect man. unto the measure of the stat- ure of the fullness of Christ."— Eph. 4:11-13. The only Begotten Son, being commissioned to carry out the divine plan agreed upon in the council of heaven, organ^'zed his Church with its necessary callings, and Paul, in the quoted passages, refers to the form, its officers and their duties; indeed, he likens it to an edifice resting upon a foundation of inspired and author-

ized men. Upon such a foundation, it could withstand every wind of false doctrine, every storm of apostasy, and every hurricane of persecution, but tear even one stone from the foundation, and the building is imperiled; remove them all, and the structure falls in a shapeless mass of ruins. The annals of profane history contain no record more griev-

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ous than their account of the persecutions heaped upon the early- saints, in the midst of which, the apostles, proclaiming a gospel of salvation and brotherly love, resignedly met death. They en- deavored to keep their numbers unbroken, in witness of which remember their choosing a successor to Judas Iscariot, but one by one they were martyred, sacrificing their lives for their testimo- nies. With their passing away, the Church established by the Redeemer ceased as an organization on earth. Though remnants of the eternal truths, which are contained in its perfect laws, have since that time been incorporated into the creeds of men, no one, no matter how sincere, can truthfully maintain that the "House- hold of God," spoken of by Paul, has remained intact. In our day, men make pretentious claims in regard to the suc- cession to and reception of divine authority. Some claim that since the death of the apostles, the priesthood held by the twelve, has been conferred upon one man. Let the matter and manner of its confirmation rest, and consider, that one man is thus held to be the foundation of the Church of which Christ was but the corner- stone. To what other conclusion can we come, than that the advocates of this theory are mistaken, for it nullifies Paul's teach- ing? The same reply holds good in the case of those who claim to have founded their church upon Christ, for, though he is the cor- nei-stone, it requires the apostles and prophets to complete the foundation upon which the true church is built. Paul, in pointing out the absolute necessity of each office in the church likens it to that other type of perfect organism —the human body. He shows how the great Workman, in conceiving and consummating the plan of this earthly tabernacle of the immortal spirit sent here in probation, designed it as a piece of workman- ship answering every requirement. Have scientists suggested any needed or beneficial change in the body? Could we dispense with our sense of sight, and be able to perceive the grandeur and beauty of nature, or see the change of the seasons creep over the earth? Without our faculty of hearing, could we listen to the whisperings of the wind in the forest, the ripple of the waves on the sand, or the joyous notes of the birds? Without these hands of ours, could we perform a kind act for a needy brother? No! All are neces- sary. "The eye cannot say, I have no need of thee."

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The same omniscient intelligence that fashioned the body, planned also the organization of the Church. There was a calling for every requirement, and none could say, "I have no need of thee." From those callings, typifying the higher bodily faculties, receiving instruction from the Almighty and afterward imparting it more humble yet needful officers, typifying the limbs, to those each was absolutely necessary. The absence of one would mar the symmetry of the church organization, and leave it imperfect. Nature's laws have never been improved upon by man. Those laws whose action causes the waters to rise from the surface of the sea, to ride as fleecy clouds, and later to descend as rain to bless the husbandman's toil; those laws which cause the forms of vegetable life to draw from the atmosphere the elements harmful to animal life, and animal life to reciprocate, are true, eternal, divine. Puny man has never dared to interfere with them. Yet he has dared to substitute his ideas for those of Deity, in spiritual things, for which the temporal are created only to serve. Not satisfied with the callings ordained by God in his Church, man has sought to discard some, and to add others. The result has been, is, and can be a failure only, a failure miserable in its effects, visible in the jarring religious factions of mankind. With the first alteration made in the Church organization by the councils of the Christian fathers, after the death of the apostles, its perfect organization was marred; and, once begun, they knew not when and where to cease, uatil the so-called churches, so far as organization is concerned, no more resemble the primitive church than a jelly-fish, floating in the briny deep, resembles the human body. This was the apostate condition of professed Christendom in the early years of the nineteenth century — without a vestige of true authority, nay, without an outward semblance of the form given by Christ! Surely there was little proof upon which to base its claims of divine sanction and recognition. Without apostles, without prophets, without the other officers named by Paul, how could a student of the Scriptures be convinced that the true Church existed upon the earth? Where do we read, within that holy Record, of "popes," "cardinals," "archbishops," and "monks?" In the absence of any scriptural mention of these officers, and mere

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tradition is insufficient, we must conclude that they are unauthor- ized innovations created by man, not by God; created as substitutes for those essential callings man had dispensed with. Verily, the solemn, warning prophecies of Isaiah and Paul, picturing an era of spiritual darkness, had been fulfilled. Eighteen centuries, after the birth of the Child in Bethlehem, had passed away without the guidance of inspired leaders, but now no longer should mankind hopelesly and in vain seek for the gospel of Christ. The glories of former dispensations were to be equalled, aye, far surpassed, and already the dawn of another day of divine revelation casts its rays of spiritual light upon the be- nighted nations, dispelling the mists of false doctrine from the minds of men. The time for the re-establishment of t'.ie kingdom had come, and the instrument thereof was a youthful prophet. Schooled by the Father, the boy had from his fifteenth year grown in knowledge, wisdom, and humility. Little he dreamed, as he oflfered up his first, fervent prayer, that it would lead to such glorious results for the whole human family, as well as for himself. Prior to thus approaching the throne of grace, in searching the Scriptures, he had read the pure promise that God would answer the prayer of those who supplicate him aright. Filled with joy at this discovery, and encouraged by inborn faith, the lad, in the secluded woods surrounding his simple home, poured forth in prayer his soul's desire, and was answered in person by the Father and Son; answered in a manner that should dispel from the believ- ing mind the doubt and skepticism of centuries, overthrow the mysteries and tradi.ions of the past, and give to the sons and daughters of God a true conception of his personality and the plan of salvation. The existence today of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints is irrefutable evidence that Joseph Smith did receive divine revelation, and was truly an instrument in God's hands to re-establish the gospel on earth. No work of human origin could have endured the test of seventy-three long years of base slander, foul calumny, vile ridicule, bigoted scorn, deep-seated hatred, mobocratic persecution, the assassin's bullet, the prison cell, star- vation, merciless exile, and martyrs' death. Who can believe that the guileless youth, announcing to a cold and unbelieving world

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his unpopular but divine message, would choose such a method of satisfying a craving for fame and power? Do the actions of his unselfish life stamp him a deceiver? Trace them, from that beau- tiful morning in the Manchester woods, to that fearful day in

the prison at Carthage, and we fail to find a single deed actuated by a base motive. Dying a martyr for his teachings, as a lasting monument, he left a system of Church organization and govern- ment challenging the admiration of the world. The Catholic fathers, the Protestant reformers, and the more modern theolo- gians, had striven in vain to duplicate the organization of the Testament Church, but he, assailed by the combined forces of Chris- tendom, accomplished this, ere stricken down a martyr for the gospel of Christ, and a victim to the ignorance and spite of man- kind.

, Beholding the completeness of his work, let us remember there is no shadow without a light, no effect without a cause; per- fection Cometh only from on high. The vocal testimony of men may be hushed in death, the written word in time grows blurred and dim, but, while the generations come and go, the Church or- ganized by Joseph Smith, stands like the pyramids, a grand witness testifying to the nations, that he was truly commissioned and in- spired of God to re-establish the Church of Christ.

"The man is thought a knave or fool, or bigot plotting crime, Who, for advancement of his race, is wiser than his time. For him the Hemlock shall distil, for him the axe is bared. For him the gibbet shall be built, for him the stake prepared. Him shall the scorn and wrath of men pursue with deadly aim. And malice, envy, spite, and lies shall desecrate his name. But truth shall conquer at the last, for round and round we run, And ever the right comes uppermost, and ever is justice done." Mackay.