I have been much interested with the principles that have been laid before us by brother Daniel Tyler. He is a man with whom I have been acquainted for many years, and I know him to be a good man. I can say truly that I have heard the Gospel presented before us this morning, as it is recorded in the New Testament.
You know that it is generally understood, and perhaps by many of the strangers who are present to-day, that we do not believe the Bible. That is a great mistake: we do believe it. I can say, as one of the Apostles of old said, and it is my advice and instruction to you—prove all things, and try all things, and hold fast to that which is good. As he exhorted you to prove these things, to investigate them, and reflect upon them, and prove the truth of that which is called "Mormonism," let me tell you, gentlemen, the day will come, if you don't do it, you will be sorry. Why? Because there is a future day that will determine these things.
It will be but a few years, perhaps not to exceed fifty, that not a person here this day will then be upon the earth. You will go into the world of spirits, to try the realities of another state of existence. What we have to do we must do in this state of existence, while in our tabernacles of flesh; and if we make good use of our lives, and of our bodies, and of our talents, it will be well with us; but if we do not, we have to give an account of the deeds done in the body. These bodies are given to you by the same Being that gave to me my body, and they are committed to you as a stewardship by that God who placed us here; and you have got to give an account of your stewardship, and the course you take. If you permit that tabernacle to become polluted, and if your spirit suffers your body to be contaminated with sin and corruption, you will have to make an atonement for it before you can get your redemption worked out. Gentlemen, mark it, for it is even so.
This is the Gospel which has been taught to us to-day, in a plain and simple manner, and in that simplicity that it was taught by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, and by many others who were ordained by them. The people profess to believe the Bible; the whole Christian world profess to believe that book—to believe that it is the Bible, but do they believe what is in that Bible? If they do, they don't practise it. How many of you, my brethren and fellow travellers to eternity, how many times have you said in your day, and in your generation, and in your family circles, "If I could see one man practise that religion that was taught by Jesus and his Apostles, I would be a Saint." I said it many times before I ever heard of "Mormonism," and sought for these things, and wished for them, and prayed for them according to the knowledge I then had. But what did I know about God, or about the Gospel, by what I heard from the pulpits of the day?
I have been at the Methodists' meeting many a time, and have followed up their protracted meetings, and sought for religion; and when people were converted to the faith of Methodism, I have seen the priest go to the water because some wished to be baptized in the water, but not because it was at all necessary. One would say I want to be sprinkled; another, I want to have the water poured upon me; and another, I want to be plunged. All right, says the minister, either of these is just as necessary as the other, for none of them are essential to salvation; we only attend to them to satisfy the candidate. Suppose the laws of the United States were made upon this principle, just to suit everybody's fancy and notions, making laws for every one to do just as he pleased—what kind of laws would they be? What would you think of such a law-making department? Would you sustain it? Would you send to it a man, as a delegate, to represent your case, to make wholesome laws that would give every man his rights and privileges? I would not have such a law, but I would cast it out with those who made it.