| 585 representative of a people must not present as the doctrine of that people that which he knows is disapprobated by them. It is true that every man has the right to hold personal views and belief upon all subjects connected with time and eternity; but no man has a right, while essaying to represent the faith of a people, to present as their doctrine what he knows to be only his own private views and not held by that people.
"To hold that the scriptural relation of the immaculate conception of Jesus is untrue, is to accept him as less than Christ. We can have no confidence for our salvation in one simply mortal in his conception and life; for it is not given to man to 'redeem his fellow men, or to give a ransom for his brother.' The fact of his immaculate conception is necessary to the validity of his claim as the Son of God, and this claim is essential to the existence and truthfulness of the plan of salvation, the redemption of the body from the grave to honor and glory; destroy Christ's Sonship and the entire gospel fabric fades into the mists of infidelity.
"Our confidence in Christ is not dependent upon the antiquity of the doctrine of his Sonship alone; but the tenor of the scriptures both old and new, as well as the revelations of God of modern date, seem to bear out the declaration that Jesus was 'the Christ, the Son of God.' If he was the son of Joseph, begotten of the will of the flesh, then every claim to divinity and every argument based thereon for the salvation of the human family is futile, and we have no hope from anything revealed in the Bible.
"We believe in the immaculate conception of Christ, and we understand this to be the faith of the church; and we would hereby advise those who hold licenses to represent the church that they are not authorized to present a doctrine to the people as a part of the faith of the church that is not so recognized. No elder is at liberty to present his private views, held in antagonism to the body, (if any such there be,) as the faith of the church. The terms of the compact are, they shall teach the things which are given in the scriptures, according to the church covenants and commandments. The Spirit will not lead a man to disregard
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