A COMPENDIUM
OF THE
DOCTRINES OF THE GOSPEL
By
FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS,
One of the Twelve Apostles
of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
and
ELDER JAMES A. LITTLE,
Compilers and Publishers.
Salt Lake City, Utah:
1886
Table of Contents
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by JAMES A.
LITTLE and FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS In the office of the Librarian of
Congress at Washington, D.C.
[iii]
PREFACE
We consider the Bible, Book of Mormon, Book of Doctrine and Covenants,
Pearl of Great Price and sayings of Joseph, the Seer, our guides in faith and doctrine. The first four have been adopted as such by a vote of the Saints in General Conference. Reference to other writings are only for illustration of the subject.
We have sought to furnish the best available material for the use of the Elders. It is for them to seek for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to enable them to use it with discretion.
On most of the subjects treated, only a portion of the passages that refer to them have been cited, but we have endeavored to use the best. We designed to make the Compendium sufficiently elaborate to give it a wide range of usefulness, and, at the same time, not make it so large as to be burdensome to the Elders who travel and preach the Gospel. Practically, we have aimed to get up a book that would contain a great amount of information for its bulk.
The arguments on each subject are so plain and direct, that, we trust, they may be made available by the most inexperienced Elders. At the same time, the references and citations are considered sufficient for the more advanced student to acquire a thorough knowledge of the subjects treated on.
The references in small type are not designed to [iv] be verbatim, but only to embody, as near as may be, the leading idea of the passage referred to. They should be studied before being used. The passages included within the usual quotation marks, thus, " ", are designed to be correctly quoted, and may be used without referring to the original.
We are indebted to Elder George Reynolds for the carefully prepared Chronology of the Book of Mormon. It is evidently the result of much study and thought, and as such is entitled to credence.
While we have aimed at accuracy, we should be pleased to have our friends inform us of any material error they may discover.
We expect our labors will elicit some criticism, but we trust the thoughtful and experienced will allow much for the complicated character of the work.
THE COMPILERS.
[v] INDEX
Preface
Articles of Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Atonement, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Apostacy of the Primitive Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Angel of the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Angels, Ministering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Angels, Fallen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Apostles--The First Presidency and Twelve . . . . . . . . . 255
Apostles, The Twelve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Baptism, Necessity of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Baptism, Mode of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Baptism, Object of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Baptism for the Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Book of Mormon--Evidences of its Divine Authenticity . . . 95
Book of Mormon Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Christ's First Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Christ's Second Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Christ's Church, Name of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Consecration, Stewardship, United Order . . . . . . . . . . 263
Church Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
[vi]
Dispensation of the Fulness of Times . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Destruction of the Wicked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Evangelists, or Patriarchs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Fall of Adam, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Free Agency of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Faith in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost . . . 16
Faith in the Holy Priesthood, Necessity of . . . . . . . . 19
Faith in Continual Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Foreordination--Election . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Gathering of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Gods, Plurality of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
God a Personage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
God, The True and Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Gems from History of Joseph Smith . . . . . . . . . 266 and 305
Israel a chosen people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Joseph Smith, as a Fulfiller of Bible Prophecies . . . . . 101
Joseph Smith, as a Fulfiller of Book of Mormon Prophecies . 107
Joseph Smith, as a Fulfiller of His Own Prophecies . . . . 114
Jerusalem of the Eastern Hemisphere, The . . . . . . . . . 171
Jerusalem, New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Laying on of Hands for Ordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost . . . . . 50
[vii]
Laying on of Hands for Healing the Sick . . . . . . . . . . 51
Latter-day Saints' Emigration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Marriage--A Divine Institution, and designed to be Eternal. 118
Marriage--Plurality of Wives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Marriage--Concubines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Millennial Reign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Miracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Ordinances, Covenants, etc., Eternal . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Priesthood, The Holy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Priesthood, Aaronic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Priesthood, Patriarchal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Pre-existence of Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Passover, or Sacrament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Repentance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Remission of Sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Resurrection, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Resurrection at Christ's Resurrection . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Resurrection at the Second Coming of Christ . . . . . . . . 57
Resurrection at the End of the World . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Resurrection of the Body that is Laid Down . . . . . . . . 60
Records of the Jaredites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Records mentioned in the Bible and not in it . . . . . . . 217
Records of the Nephites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Scattering of Israel, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Spirit of God, or Holy Ghost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
[viii]
Spiritual Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Signs and Tokens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Sabbath Day, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Spirits in prison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Tithing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Temples and Sacred Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
The Book of Mormon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Visions and Dreams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
[1]
A COMPENDIUM
OF THE
DOCTRINES OF GOSPEL
ARTICLES OF FAITH.
1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
3. We believe that, through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4. We believe that these ordinances are: First, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by "prophecy, and by the Laying on of hands" by these who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
[2]
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, viz: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.
7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, etc.
8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the ten tribes. That Zion will be built upon this continent. That Christ will reign personally on the earth and that the earth
11. We claim the privilege of worshiping the almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law.
13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, "We believe all things, we hope all things;" we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.--JOSEPH SMITH
[3] THE FALL OF ADAM
"Honor thy Father and thy Mother." This was one of the ten special commandments given to Israel, during a grand display of God s power and glory on Mount Sinai.
In the past centuries of darkness it appears to have lost its significance with the Christian world. They do not appear to realize that honor is due to the first parents of the human race. They have been long taught that Adam and Eve were great transgressors, and have mourned over the fact that they partook of the forbidden fruit and brought death into the world.
There is no possibility that the fall of man was an accident or chance, any more than was his creation. If an accident, then why was Christ prepared from before the foundation of the world as a propitiation for sin, and to open up the way for man to immortality?
Christ's mediation was a sequence of the fall. "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins;" Acts 5.31. Without the fall there would have been no broken law, and therefore nothing to repent of; and there could be no forgiveness of sin without the atonement of Christ.
The Book of Mormon makes this subject very plain: "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed, he would not have fallen; but he would have remained in the Garden of Eden. And all things which were created, must have remained in the same state which they were, after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin;" 2 Nephi 2. 22, 23.
[4]
It is evident, not only from this passage, but from all that is recorded on this subject that, if Adam and Eve had not attained to a knowledge of evil, by partaking of the forbidden fruit, the human race could not have existed under present Conditions. It is also evident, that without a knowledge of both good and evil, man would be incapable of exercising a free agency, and therefore not capable of independent, self-reliant action--a necessary condition for development and progress.
We, the children of Adam, have no right to bring accusations against the Patriarch of the race. But rather, we should rejoice with them, that through, their fall and the atonement of Jesus Christ, the way of eternal life has been opened up to us. It was after an angel had administered to Adam, and made known to him the atonement through the Only Begotten Son of the Father, that he and Eve gave expression to their joy, in view of the glorious future of the race. "And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying, Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God. And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying, Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient;" Pearl of Great Price, page 10.
The principle of obedience could only be developed in man through the fall, and only through that can they realize the joys of redemption and eternal life. The woman fell first, and led Adam out of Eden and the presence of the Lord. "Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in transgression;" 1 Tim. 2. 14.
When the Lord asked Adam if he had eaten of the fruit of the tree of which he had commanded him that he should not eat, he replied, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, She gave me of the [5] tree, and I did eat;" Gen. iii, 12. Adam had been previously commanded to multiply and replenish the earth, and he could not do so unless he remained with Eve. She, being deceived, forced upon him the necessity of partaking of the forbidden fruit with her, or of remaining in a condition where it would have been impossible to fulfil the first great commandment of the Father.