Cowley's Talks On Doctrine - free ebook by Matthias F. Cowley

COWLEY'S TALKS ON DOCTRINE

By Elder M. F. Cowley. One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. PUBLISHED BY BEN. E. RICH, CHATTANOOGA, TENN. 1902. TIMES PRINT, CHATTANOOGA, TENN...

13 minute read

Read Chapter

PREFACE.

Notwithstanding what has already been written upon the principles and doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Latter-Day Saints, I feel an assurance that this little work will be received with no little pleasure and a great degree of satisfaction by members of the true Church, as well as those who are seeking light upon religious topics. The style in which the articles comprised in this little volume are written, is pre-eminently plain, and peculiarly adapted to the reading publ

56 minute read

Read Chapter

APOSTASY.

The subject of Apostasy occupies the minds of people of modern times but very little. This, however, is not surprising when we consider their views regarding the Church of Christ; for they claim a continuation of divine authority and the plan of salvation from the apostolic age to the present time, the idea prevailing among them being, that the Bible alone is a sufficient guide without immediate and continued revelation. In this respect, the position of the Latter-day Saints differs widely from

26 minute read

Read Chapter

RESTORATION OF THE GOSPEL.

Having shown conclusively that the Church of Christ in its purity and entirety was taken from the earth, we find the world without divine authority, without ordinances of the Gospel, having a "form of godliness but denying the power thereof." "From such turn away." This would be truly a sad picture to gaze upon and contemplate, were it not that the Lord also revealed to the apostles and prophets anciently that in the last days there would be a restoration of all that had been enjoyed in previous

33 minute read

Read Chapter

THE CHURCH.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the organization through which the Lord is accomplishing the declaration of the Gospel in the last days, gathering Israel, administering the ordinances of salvation, and, in short, is accomplishing the work of redemption—that accomplishment which has been predicted by the mouths of all His holy prophets since the world began. The Church is called the Church of Jesus Christ because it is His. He directed how and when to organize it, pointing out

29 minute read

Read Chapter

CHURCH ORGANIZATION.

We have treated briefly upon the subject of Divine Authority, merely pointing out the absolute necessity of such authority in order to obtain complete salvation, and how it was bestowed and perpetuated whenever a Gospel dispensation existed upon the earth. It will not be amiss to deal briefly with the subject of Church Organization, as this specifies the distribution of divine authority to the various offices in the Church of Christ, each having specific duties to perform. In the beginning we wi

10 minute read

Read Chapter

DIVINE AUTHORITY.

A very remarkable feature in the religious sentiment of modern "Christianity" is the indifference which prevails as to the question of legitimate authority to speak and officiate in the name of the Lord. Should an unauthorized man operate in matters of human government, or an impostor pretend to be the agent of a mercantile institution and deceive the people by taking their orders for goods and receiving their money, no one with sound reason would expect the government or firm to make good the u

7 minute read

Read Chapter

PERSONALITY OF GOD.

The general idea of Deity accepted throughout the so-called Christian world is stated briefly in this way: "God is a being without body, parts or passions." The Latter-day Saints regard our Heavenly Father as possessing an actual tabernacle of flesh and bones (not blood), and that in His image man is created. Our views respecting this important subject are based upon the revelations of God to man in ancient and modern times, and regarding which there is no contradiction in the testimony of the p

21 minute read

Read Chapter

REVELATION.

For eighteen centuries the people of this world have been groping in spiritual darkness. They have had the Bible, it is true, but what have they learned from it? In letter, many things. In the true spirit of divine inspiration, they have learned little. "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (II Cor. iii:6.) They are "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (II Tim. iii:7.) These statements of Holy Writ are fully corroborated by human experience in religi

15 minute read

Read Chapter

FAITH.

In considering the principles of the gospel, it will not be difficult to see that faith occupies the first place in the catalogue of righteous principles which, as a whole, go to constitute the plan of salvation. It is the principle existing in the human soul which goes before all action and leads to good works. It pleases God that man should repent of all sin by ceasing therefrom, thus accomplishing a reformation of life without which remission of sins would not be granted; and as repentance an

9 minute read

Read Chapter

REPENTANCE.

Repentance follows faith as a natural sequence; for when the human mind has sufficient faith in God, based upon the perfection of His attributes, to desire His guidance and a final return to His presence, the thought is foremost that no unclean thing can enter his presence. Repentance from all sin, not merely an expression of sorrow but a discontinuance of sinful practices, amounting to a reformation of life, therefore suggests itself as a matter of course. This philosophical view of the subject

9 minute read

Read Chapter

BAPTISM.

We come now to considering the necessity of the ordinance of baptism. When men have repented of their sins it is natural for them to desire a forgiveness of those sins. How shall this boon be obtained? That repentance alone does not blot out the sins of the past may be illustrated in part by a comparison between the temporal and the spiritual. A man acquires a debt by purchasing goods on credit, and finding it a ruinous policy, resolves, for the future, to pay as he goes. This changes his course

9 minute read

Read Chapter

RECEPTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Having shown that faith, repentance and baptism are essential to the remission of sins, let us now consider the reception of the Holy Spirit. That this should follow, and not precede, the birth of the water must be evident to every thoughtful person. It is clear that a man is not prepared for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost unless he repents of his sins and becomes freed from them by obedience to the laws of God. Some people may contend that, because Jesus stated that man must be born again, in

9 minute read

Read Chapter

PRE-EXISTENCE.

As Latter-day Saints we believe that all creation existed spiritually before the physical organism was brought into existence; "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew." (Gen. ii:5.) "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing. And beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so." (Gen. i:24.) Therefore each kind, whether beast, bird or fish, as well as man, existed before it

7 minute read

Read Chapter

SALVATION FOR THE DEAD.

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth." We must not infer from this quotation that mere conviction of the mind to religious truths will secure salvation; for pure belief would lead men to actual works, thus constituting a living, active faith. The Apostle James declares that "faith without works is dead." The Savior taught in His sermon on the mount that "Not every one that saith unto me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into th

28 minute read

Read Chapter

THE GATHERING OF ISRAEL.

This subject is of great moment. It should interest all people, Jew and Gentile, especially those who profess Judaism and Christianity. It involves several features which affect the claims made by the Latter-day Saints that more revelation has been given and that the gospel has been restored in these, the last days. The solution of this question involves the fulfillment of many prophecies in the Old and New Testaments. The trend of the teachings of modern Christianity is such as to keep, from th

23 minute read

Read Chapter

TITHING.

Unlike other religious sects professing Christianity, the Latter-day Saints do not observe the law of tithing, the ordinances of baptism, confirmation or any other sacred rite merely because the Bible records that such observances were had among the ancient saints, but for the reason that in this age of the world, God has commanded us to receive these laws and ordinances. The law of tithing was given in the early history of God's dealings with the children of men. Abraham paid tithes to Melchise

12 minute read

Read Chapter

ETERNAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.

There is nothing more strikingly plain and explicit in all the Holy Scriptures than that God is just and His paths are "mercy and truth." Justice is an essential attribute of Deity; it is as necessary in government as love and mercy; it demands that man shall acquiesce in divine law, without which all were confusion, utterly devoid of order and method, and the learned essayist has informed us that "Heaven's first law is order." Justice should govern law, and when the law is violated or its statu

6 minute read

Read Chapter

OBEDIENCE.

"To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." (I. Samuel xv:22.) In an age of the world when independence is the proud boast of the nations, obedience is, by mistaken ideas of freedom, considered a mark of humiliation. To the reader I will say, in reality, true obedience to the Lord's commands is an indication of moral courage, union and power. It is not blind obedience that is referred to and maintained, but that type which characterized the ancient seers and saints,

9 minute read

Read Chapter

CHARITY.

What is charity? Does it consist solely in the giving of bread to the hungry, clothes to the naked or succor to the distressed? "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoi

7 minute read

Read Chapter

THE RESURRECTION.

The skeptical doubt the resurrection of the dead. Some scientific men have denied the possibility of the actual redemption of the body from the grave. One would think, as time goes on, with the wonderful developments of science which reveal things that were classed among the impossibilities of a century ago, that it is not reasonable to doubt the possibility of anything, however remarkable, which is within the scope of blessings to mankind. The date, in the past, is not remote when it would have

14 minute read

Read Chapter

THE BOOK OF MORMON.

It is not the purpose in this brief chapter to enter into a detailed argument on the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, but to state sufficiently what the sacred record purports to be. The Bible records some of the leading events in the dealings of the Almighty with His children upon the Eastern hemisphere, prefaced by the Mosaic history of the creation. The Book of Mormon is to the American continent what the Bible is to the Eastern. The Bible is more especially the stick of Judah, bein

17 minute read

Read Chapter

MARRIAGE.

No people hold more sacred the principle of marriage, nor esteem more highly the possession of chastity, than do the Latter-day Saints. Among no people, either Catholic or Protestant, is a lapse of virtue so rare as among this people. We consider sexual crime the most blighting curse that infests the earth today. Adultery is considered as next in the catalogue of crime to murder. Individuals guilty of fornication or adultery are promptly excommunicated from the church, unless the sin is followed

16 minute read

Read Chapter