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Source: Church History Vol. 3 Chapter 34 Page: 661 (~1872)

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661 of eternal life to the recipients, then dissimilar measures would not be productive of good to man.

"The measures introduced by Christ were, as we have already considered under the head of the gospel, to become universal in their spread, operation, and effect; hence the entire reasonableness of the declaration, 'But seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God and to establish his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.'

"Our relation to these men and the measures instituted by or through them, is to be regarded in the light of our hope in those measures; and as that hope is enhanced in value or made more certain by each respective measure, so does such measure demand our sanction and support. Whatever individual measure is, in its tendency, calculated to lessen that hope in value, or certainty of realization, we must either reject as erroneous, or remain silent upon, if we do not care to pass judgment upon it.

"Whatever act or measure of these men, of the remote or immediate past, may be advocated or defended upon open, manly, upright grounds, we feel at liberty to defend and advocate; but neither in the columns of the Herald, as editor or a contributor; nor publicly or privately, as an elder, teacher, or lay member of the church, have we, or shall we advocate or defend any theory, single act or continued practice, public or private teaching, of any one of them which cannot so be defended and advocated.

"The careful treatises and decisions of James; the fervid, loving epistles of John; the weighty and argumentative letters of Paul, are so many guides to the measures of those men; and are indicative of the grounds upon which they rested their hopes.

"The Bible, New Testament (King James' or common version); the Book of Mormon; the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and the Holy Scriptures (New Translation), naming them in the order of their acceptance by the church, form the comprehensive field of research from which we gather what were the measures of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, with the others who were the pioneers in the work of the last days. We are authorized to believe that in these

(page 661)

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