Today I read some sermons in the Journal of Discourses. Here are some interesting passages that have some apologetic value:
The Nature of God the Father (cf. Rom
1:23)
When you are prepared
to see our Father, you will see a being with whom you have long been
acquainted, and He will receive you into His arms, and you will be ready to
fall into His embrace and kiss Him, as you would your fathers and friends that
have been dead for a score of years, you will be so glad and joyful. Would you
not rejoice? When you are qualified and purified, so that you can endure the
glory of eternity: so that you can see your Father, and your friends who have
gone behind the vail, you will fall upon their necks and kiss them, as we do an
earthly friend that has been long absent from us, and that we have been anxiously
desiring to see. This is the people that are and will be permitted to enjoy the
society of those happy and exalted beings. (Brigham Young, JOD 5:54-55| September
21, 1856)
The Holy Spirit Allowed the Apostles to
Remember Accurately Jesus’ Teachings When Teaching (and later, composing the
New Testament)
The office of the
Spirit, when given in ancient times, was to make manifest truth—to quicken the
memory of the man of God, that he might communicate clearly things which he had
once learned, but partially forgotten.
For instance, the
Apostles heard, during three years and a half, many sermons and a vast amount
of conversation and private teaching. The office of the Spirit of truth was to
bring to their remembrance the things that Jesus had formerly taught them. So
it is the office of the same Spirit in these days to bring to our remembrance
the words of the ancient Prophets and Apostles, and the words of Jesus,
inasmuch as we have faith and confidence in God. (Orson Pratt, JOD 6:349-50|
July 24, 1859)
The “New and Everlasting Covenant” is not
Plural Marriage (cf. D&C 22:1)
All Latter-day Saints
enter the new and everlasting covenant when they enter this Church. They
covenant to cease sustaining, upholding and cherishing the kingdom of the devil
and the kingdoms of this world. They enter into the new and everlasting
covenant to sustain the Kingdom of God and no other kingdom. They take a vow of
the most solemn kind, before the heavens and earth, and that, too, upon the
validity of their own salvation, that they will sustain truth and righteousness
instead of wickedness and falsehood, and build up the Kingdom of God, instead
of the kingdoms of this world. (Brigham Young, JOD 12:230| May 17, 1868)