Done by order of the Presbytery of Utah, April 8, 1897.
Endorsed by the Congregational Association of Utah, October 14, 1897.
Endorsed by the Baptist Association of Utah, September 7, 1898.

The events lately transpiring among us appear to demand a clear, candid and unequivocal statement of reasons on the part of this, the Presbytery of Utah, why Christians cannot fellowship the Mormon Church. It is not that Christians entertain ill will toward Mormons as neighbors and citizens, nor are they averse to co-operating with them in the work of moral and social reform and in the promotion of temperance. On the contrary, Christians of every name most earnestly desire to unite with the Mormon people in all feasible plans that have as their end the social, political and moral advancement of our commonwealth.

There is, however, a line of demarkation that Christians cannot overlook, that they cannot disregard, that fidelity to truth and duty requires the Presbytery of Utah to emphasize at this time. The question is purely a religious question. It goes to the very root of Christian belief and duty. It concerns all men alike who profess the Christian religion, and desire to promote the glory and honor of the name of Christ.

Therefore the question is before us, and before the public—Why cannot Christians walk in fellowship with Mormons, in religion, as they do with each other?

TEN REASONS.

First

The Mormon church unchurches all Christians. It recognizes itself alone as the church. From its beginning to the present it has insisted, from press and platform, that all Christian churches, of whatever name, nation, or century, since apostolic times, are not only apostate from the truth, but propagators of error and false doctrine, without authority to teach, preach, or administer the sacraments; that salvation and exhaltation are found alone in the church organized by Joseph Smith.

PROOF.

1. [The Mormon church is] “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.”—Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 1:30.

2. “Behold, I” [the Lord] “say unto you, that all old covenants” [Christian churches] “have I caused to be done away in this thing, and this is a new and an everlasting covenant.”—Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 22:1.

3. “It” [Mormonism] “is entirely unlike all plans or systems ever invented by human authority; it has no alliance, connection or fellowship with any of them; it speaks with divine authority, and all nations without an exception are required to obey. He that receives the message and endures to the end will be saved; he that rejects it will be damned.”—Pratt’s Works, Paper 1.

4. “These claims in behalf of Mormonism presuppose the destruction of the primitive Christian Church, a complete apostasy from the Christian religion.”—New Witness for God, Preface, p. 1.

5. “I was answered that I must join none of them” [the Sects], “for they were all wrong.”—Pearl of Great Price, p. 47, Life of Joseph Smith.

Thus they unchurch and disfellowship all Christians, and demand that all yield to the Mormon priesthood or perish.

Second

The Mormon Church places the “Book of Mormon,” and the “Book of Doctrine and Covenants” on a par with the Bible, and requires subscription to the inspiration and authority of those books as a condition of acceptance with God and of fellowship with His people. Their so-called revelations of the present are put on the same level with the Bible.

PROOF.

1. “Has God given many revelations to men? Ans.—Yes; a great number. Where have we any account of his doing so? Ans.—In the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and other publications of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”—Catechism, Chapter III, Questions 1 and 2.

2. “Lectures on the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon.”

3. “And they” [the children of Zion] “shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them.”—Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 84:57.

4. “I spent the day in Council with the Twelve Apostles.” … “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book.”—History of Joseph Smith, Millennial Star, Vol. 18, p. 790.

5. “Wilford Woodruff is the prophet and seer of this church.” … “Joseph Smith was a prophet; Brigham Young was a prophet; Wilford Woodruff is a prophet, and I know that he has a great many prophets around him, and he can make Scriptures as good as those in the Bible.”—Apostle John W. Taylor, Conference, Salt Lake Tabernacle, April 5th, 1897.

Third

The Mormon Church makes belief in the person and mission of Joseph Smith as a prophet of God an essential article of faith, so essential that the person who rejects the claims of “the modern prophet” is a rank heretic.

PROOF.

1. “But, behold, verily, verily, I say unto thee, no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., for he receiveth them even as Moses.”—Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 28:2. “For I have given him the keys of the mysteries, and the revelations which are sealed, until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead.”—Same, Verse 7. “And I have sent forth the fullness of my gospel by the hand of my servant Joseph.”—Same, Sec. 35:17.

2. “Joseph Smith is the New Witness for God, a Prophet divinely authorized to teach the Gospel and re-establish the Church of Jesus Christ on earth.”—New Witness for God, Thesis IV, p. 161.

3. “Which is the greatest dispensation? Ans.—The Dispensation of the Fullness of Times, opened through Joseph Smith.”—Catechism, Chap. 18, Question 4.

4. “I will ask them” [faithful saints] “if Joseph lived and died a Prophet of God and what would they answer? All men and women know, by the power of the Holy Ghost, by the spirit they know it.”—Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, p. 81, Brigham Young speaking.

5. “Every spirit that confesses that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that he lived and died a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true, is of God, and every spirit that does not is of anti-Christ.”—Millennial Star, Vol. V, p. 118, Brigham Young speaking.

Fourth

The Mormon Church makes faith in the Mormon Priesthood, and submission to the same, essential to man’s future blessedness, and unbelief in this priesthood a damning sin. It teaches that authority to officiate in the gospel is vested only in the said priesthood; that this priesthood is the infallible and the only medium between God and man; that it is invested with the very power of God himself; so that when it acts and speaks it is in the most real sense God who acts and speaks; and that all who refuse to submit to this priestly power are damned.

PROOF.

1. “Men who hold the priesthood possess divine authority thus to act for God, and by possessing part of God’s power they are in reality part of God.” … “Men who honor the priesthood in them honor God, and those who reject it reject God.”—New Witness for God, p. 187.

2. “He that rejects it will be damned.”—Pratt’s Works, Paper I.

3. “When he” [Joseph Smith] “spoke, he spoke by the power of an endless Priesthood, which was upon him; and that is the power by which Brigham speaks.” … “When a man of God speaks, let him speak what he pleases, and let all Israel say, Amen.”—Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, p. 348, President Jedediah M. Grant, the speaker.

Compare with that:

“Now, let all who may hear these doctrines” [the Adam-God doctrines] “pause before they make light of them or treat them with indifference, for they will prove their salvation or damnation.”—Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, p. 51, Brigham Young speaking.

President George Q. Cannon, in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 5, 1897, alluding to “the Thatcher episode,” and to doubts regarding the Priesthood, said:

4. “I would just as soon think of heaven entering into chaos and of the throne of God being shaken to its foundation as to think that the Priesthood of the Son of God had gone wrong in its authority, or that the Lord would permit such a thing.”

Fifth

The Mormon Church teaches a doctrine of God that is antagonistic to the Scriptures, dishonoring to the Divine Being and debasing to man. It teaches that God is an exalted man who was once as we are now, and who is forever changing, ever advancing, becoming more and more perfect, but never becoming absolute perfection.

PROOF.

1. “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret.”—Journal of Discourses, Vol. VI, p. 3, First Column, Sermon by Joseph Smith.

2. “It is the first principle of the gospel to know … that He was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did.”—Same, Second Column.

3. “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s.”—Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 130:22.

4. “In the beginning the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it. When we begin to learn in this way, we begin to learn the only true God and what kind of a being we have got to worship.”—Journal of Discourses, Vol. VI, p. 5, Sermon by Joseph Smith.

5. “And you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves … the same as all Gods have done before you,—namely, by going from one small degree to another and from a small capacity to a great one.”—Same Sermon, p. 4.

Sixth

The Mormon Church teaches that Adam is God, the Supreme God, the Creator of this world, our God, and the only God with whom we have to do; and that Jesus Christ is his son by natural generation.

PROOF.

1. “He, [Adam] is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do. … When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family.”—Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, p. 50, Sermon by Brigham Young.

2. ” … And also with Michael, or Adam, the Father of all, the Prince of all, the Ancient of Days.”—Pearl of Great Price, p. 60.

3. “Adam fell, but his fall became a matter of necessity after the woman had transgressed. … In the language of the Prophet Lehi, ‘Adam fell that men might be.’ … No wonder Father Adam fell, and accompanied the woman, sharing in all the miseries of the curse, that he might be the Father of an innumerable race of beings who would be capable of becoming Gods.”—Millennial Star, Vol. XV, p. 801.

Seventh

The Mormon Church is Polytheistic. It teaches a plurality of Gods; and that these became Gods, having been men. Being men, they became Gods by practicing plural or celestial marriage and the other Mormon principles.

PROOF.

1. “And they went down at the beginning, and they organized and formed (that is, the Gods) the heavens and the earth. And they (the Gods) said, Let there be light, and there was light.”—Pearl of Great Price, p. 32, Book of Abraham—account of creation.

2. “A General Assembly, Quorum, or Grand Council of the Gods, with their President at their head, constitute the designing and creating power.”—Key to Theology, p. 52.

3. “Gods, angels and men are all of one species, one race, one great family.”—Same, p. 41.

4. “By consent and authority of the Head any one of these Gods may create, organize, people, govern, control, exalt, glorify and enjoy worlds on worlds, and the inhabitants thereof.”—Same, p. 43.

5. “The head God called together the Gods, and sat in grand council to bring forth the world.”—Journal of Discourses, Vol. VI, p 5. “And you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves … the same as all Gods have done before you.”—Same, p. 4—Joseph Smith.

6. “They shall pass by the angels and the Gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things. … Then shall they be Gods.”—Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 132:19, 20.

He is here speaking of those who practiced plural or celestial marriage while on earth.

Eighth

The Mormon Church teaches an anti-Biblical doctrine of salvation. It requires faith in Joseph Smith, in the books he produced, or translated, in the priesthood, in continuous revelation, and in baptism by immersion, at the hands of a Mormon, together with faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (with the Mormon definition of the Trinitarian persons), as conditions of human salvation. It uses the atonement of Christ to cover original sin, the sin of Adam, and teaches its adherents to depend on good works as the basis of pardon for personal sins. It also teaches a doctrine of baptism for the dead that is antagonistic to the Bible doctrine of retribution, and that encourages people to remain impenitent.

PROOF.

1. See citations under Third and Fourth, preceding.

2. “But, behold, verily, verily, I say unto thee” [Oliver Cowdery] “no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., for he receiveth them even as Moses.”—Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 28:2.

3. “The president of the priests has a right to the Urim and Thummim, which gives all revelation. … Every priest then in the church has the right of receiving revelations. Every member has the right of receiving revelations for themselves, both male and female. It is the very life of the church of the living God in all ages of the world.”—Millennial Star, Vol. V, p. 117, Brigham Young the speaker.

4. “All the spirits who have not obeyed the gospel in the flesh must either obey it in the spirit or be damned. Solemn thought!—Dreadful thought! Is there nothing to be done? … God has made a provision that every spirit in the eternal world can be ferreted out and saved, unless he has committed that unpardonable sin. And every man who has a friend in the eternal world can save him, unless he has committed the unpardonable sin. And so you can see how far you can be a saviour.”—Journal of Discourses, Vol. VI, pp. 7, 8, Joseph Smith the speaker.

That is, by being baptized for such a one in a Temple.

Ninth

The Mormon Church believes in Polygamy. The doctrine is to them both sacred and fundamental. They believe and teach that Jesus Christ was a polygamist. The manifesto of September 24, 1890, was not a repudiation of the doctrine of plural or celestial marriage, and did not claim to be such. It was, as all honest Mormons freely confess, only a suspension of the practice for the time being. They hold the principle to be as eternal as God himself.

PROOF.

1. “If none but Gods will be permitted to multiply immortal children, it follows that each God must have one or more wives.” … “The Evangelists do not particularly speak of the marriage of Jesus.” … One thing is certain, that there were several holy women that greatly loved Jesus—such as Mary, and Martha, her sister, and Mary Magdalene; and Jesus greatly loved them, and associated with them much.” … “If all the acts of Jesus were written, we, no doubt, should learn that these beloved women were his wives.”—The Seer, Vol. I, pp. 158, 159.

2. “All those who have this law” [plural or celestial marriage] “revealed unto them must obey the same.” … “And if ye abide not in that covenant” [plural or celestial marriage], “then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.” … “As pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant” [plural or celestial marriage] “it was instituted for the fullness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fullness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God.”—Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 132:3, 4, 6.

3. “And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood: If any man … have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him.”—Same, Verses, 61, 26.

That this so-called principle has not been abrogated or annulled, witness the language of the manifesto by President of the Church Wilford Woodruff, September 24, 1890:

“My advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land.”

Tenth

The Mormon Church teaches that God is a polygamist; the natural father of all intelligent beings in heaven, earth, and hell; that angels, men, and devils are his offspring by procreation, or natural generation; and that Adam is the father of Christ’s human nature, as Brigham Young was father of his children.”

PROOF.

1. “Wisdom inspires the Gods to multiply their species.”—Key to Theology, p. 52. See also pp. 41 and 43, as quoted under Seventh, preceding.

2. “Each God, through his wife or wives, raises up a numerous family of sons and daughters; … for each father and mother will be in a condition to multiply forever and ever.”—The Seer, Vol. I, p. 37.

3. “When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve one of his wives, with him.”—Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, p. 50.

4. “I wish to be perfectly understood here. Let it be remembered that the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that man, that is, his spirit, is the offspring of Deity; not in any mythical sense, but actually.” … “Instead of the God-given power of procreation being one of the chief things that is to pass away, it is one of the chief means of man’s exaltation and glory in that great eternity, which, like an endless vista, stretches out before him!” … “Through that law, in connection with an observance of all the other laws of the gospel, man will yet attain unto the power of the Godhead, and like his Father—God—his chief glory will be to bring to pass the eternal life and happiness of his posterity.”—New Witness for God, p. 461.

“New Witness for God,” by B. H. Roberts, a work issued in 1895, was approved by a committee appointed by the First Presidency as “Orthodox and consistent with our teachings.”

The quotations from Mormon works are strictly taken, work for word, letter for letter, point for point.

NOTHING IN COMMON.

With such a so-called church and system of doctrine, Christians can have nothing in common but the need of the great salvation of the God Man, Christ Jesus.

No. 273—8. 1908.
Price, 50 cents per 100 copies.
The Wolfer Press, N. Y.

---

• Page scans
• Quoted in Woman’s Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church
• Quoted in The Deseret News – Jul 8, 1921
• Viewpoint on Mormonism podcast series on “10 Reasons We Cannot Fellowship with the LDS Church”: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10