The following useful quotes are taken from Elden Watson, “Differing Thoughts--#10: Fundamentalist Falsehoods”:
Before leaving this topic I
wish to present one more pertinent item. Joseph Smith told the Saints in Nauvoo
how to always be able to distinguish the true church, and he gave it as a guide
to them that they could use ever afterwards. There was no stenographer present
so we do not have the full account of his discourse, but there were many
present who heard his comments, understood their importance, and recorded them.
I leave you the testimonies of five men who were there and left an enduring
witness:
Edward Stevenson
At the time of the martyrdom
of the Prophet Joseph, the Saints were being gathered and were building a
Temple, baptizing for the dead, etc., which work unceasingly has been kept up
by those who under the leadership of the Twelve came to the Rocky Mountains
notwithstanding the various factions which have separated themselves from the
true Gospel tree. The writer (Elder Stevenson) heard the prophet say on a stand
at the east end of the Nauvoo Temple, that the time was coming when there would
be many dissensions from the Church. "But," said he, "I now see
the time which I have long desired to see. Let me go where I may, the Gospel
tree is planted never more to be rooted up, for there are those present who are
prepared to carry on the Gospel, whatever may become of me." He also said:
"I will give you a key by which you may never be deceived, if you will
observe these facts: Where the true Church is, there will always be a majority
of the Saints, and the records and history of the Church also." (Infancy
of the Church p 5)
Lyman Littlefield
Once in Nauvoo I heard the
Prophet declare to the people how they might always know where to find the true
Church. He gave it as a guide for them ever afterwards, and said the day would
come when they would need it. He said: "Factions and parties will arise
out of this Church, and apostates will lead away many. But in the midst of all
this, keep with the majority, for the true leaders of God's people will always
be able to have a majority, and the records of the Church will be with them.
Keep with the majority, for where the carcass is, there will the eagles be
gathered together." (Lyman O. Littlefield, Millennial Star,
45:389)
Ezra T. Clark
I bear you this my
testimony:
Before I left Nauvoo, I
heard the Prophet Joseph say he would give the Saints a key whereby they would
never be led away or deceived, and that was: the Lord would never suffer the
majority of this people to be led away or deceived by imposters, nor would he
allow the records of this Church to fall into the hands of the enemy. I heard
Joseph say this, and I also heard him say that he would roll the burden of the
Apostleship upon the quorum of the twelve. I heard Joseph preach many times;
heard him, in the last sermon he ever delivered, bear testimony to the truth of
the work that God had called him to; also that the Lord had never suffered him
to be slain by his enemies, because his work had not been done, until a short
time ago. He had now laid the foundation of this work, and rolled the burden of
the priesthood upon the Twelve; and, having given them their washings and
anointings, they would now bear off this work triumphantly, and it would roll
on faster than ever before; and, if the Lord was willing to accept of him, he
was willing to go. (Ezra T. Clark, Improvement Era, 5:202,
written July 24, 1901.)
Orson Hyde #1
Now I look around this
congregation, and contemplate that there are, perhaps, some ten or twelve
thousand persons, and it may be more, I do not know, there is a very large
number; then when I think that numerous as we are here we are but the
representatives--not more than a tithing of those left behind, of the same
stripe, it reminds me of the words of Joseph the Prophet, when he said,
"Brethren, remember that the majority of this people will never go astray;
and as long as you keep with the majority you are sure to enter the celestial
kingdom." (Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses 13:367, May
5, 1870)
Orson Hyde #2
Elder O. Hyde said that God
had placed in the church first apostles, not first the Bible. The Word of the
Lord came through the channel of the Priesthood. He inspired His servants to
write the Scriptures. And His purpose is to establish His authority on the
earth, and He has the power to do it. I should not deviate from the truth were
I to say that the living Priesthood is greater than the written word. You are
favored with a visit from the President of the church and his co-laborers,
their purpose being a disposition to bless you. Some would confine us entirely
to the Scriptures; herein the Christian world have made shipwreck of faith;
they have no living oracles, and they live in darkness. We sometimes may form
our opinions regarding the doctrines contained in the Scriptures, but
uninspired men would do better to impeach their own understandings than the
written word. What is written is written and cannot well be altered, but
apostles and prophets carry with them the spirit which has dictated the Scriptures.
When God has a people on the earth He gives them living powers which are
greater than the written word. These powers do not render the written word
obsolete, but we want the living word, to give the mind and will of God
constantly to His people. The true church of Christ, with its apostles and
prophets and living priesthood is the “pillar and ground of the truth.” Joseph
Smith said, some know that this work is of God, and some may not know, but if
they believe the testimony of those who do know and follow on they will go into
the Celestial kingdom. He also said, always follow the majority of the church,
for they will never go wrong. It is not by reason and philosophy, which are
after the world, that will regulate His church, but God will regulate it by the
power of the Holy Ghost through His representative on the earth. If any people
on the earth have reason to be faithful to God in all things it is the people
of the Latter-day Saints, who have in their midst His living oracles. (Deseret
News Weekly 16:106)
William G. Nelson
I have heard the Prophet
speak in public on many occasions. In one meeting I heard him say:
"I will give you a key
that will never rust,—if you will stay with the majority of the Twelve
Apostles, and the records of the Church, you will never be led astray."
The history of the Church has proven this to be true. (Young Woman's Journal 17,
no. 12 (December 1906): 543.
Although some have argued
the point, the majority of the Saints are and always have been in the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and there never has been any question or
argument about where the records and history of the Church are located. The
Lord himself said:
"For thus shall my
church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints"
(D&C 115:4, first
published in August 1838 in the Elder's Journal, p58)
How could he have made it
any plainer?
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