"Away with that raw theological fiction of a single, far-away, visible judgment." (Unitarians in Judgment Days, p. 1.)

"A future judgment day to judge and repay them again, is entirely useless." (Williamson, p. 115.)

See Ch. VIII., 2. See also John 5: 28-29, "The hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

Job. 19:26-27, "And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself; and mine eyes shall behold, and not another."

Rev. 14:11, "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day and night."

See Augsburg Confession, Art. XVII., "We also teach that our Lord Jesus Christ shall come at the last day for judgment, to raise all the dead, to give unto the believers and elect eternal life and everlasting joy, but to condemn the ungodly people and the devils into hell and everlasting punishment."

5. They protest against the Trinity; they do not want Christ nor the Holy Spirit to be God.

* *

"We protest in all seriousness against * the unreasonable and unscriptural doctrine of the Trinity." (W. E. Channing, p. 371.)

"We believe that there is One God in One person. (Williamson, p. 23.)

"The Father is the essential Deity, the Son is divine mankind, and the Holy Spirit is the Divine which emanates, or the working power, corresponding to the soul, the body, and the co-operation of both in man." (Swedenborgian Catechism, Quest. 6 and 7.)

Barclay, the Quaker, calls the doctrine of the three persons "a vain tradition." (Salvation of the Truth, p. 10.)

"Jesus is my Teacher, my Guide, my Saviour, but he is not my God." (Williamson, p. 33.) See Ch. IX., 2.

CHAPTER XIII.

Why should a Lutheran beware of the Mormons, or Latter Day Saints?

Introductory remarks. Joseph Smith, a man of evil repute, claims to have found prophetic documents concerning a Jewish tribe immigrated from Palestine to America at the time of Zedekiah, the king. These documents were supposed to be collected by Messrs. Mormon Senior and Junior, written in hieroglyphics on golden plates, as alleged, and buried in the ground for a future testimony for the "Latter Day Saints." The supposed documents were in reality a novel written by a Mr. Spaulding, for which Spaulding could not find any publisher. Since 1847 Mormons have been in Utah permanently. The "Revelations" in the "Book of Mormon” and in the "Book of Doctrine" contradict each other at various phases. Here is a ready mixture of Mohammedanism, of Persian Dualism, Buddhism, Polytheism, Materialism, Chiliasm, etc. There are "Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Bishops, Elders, Deacons, Teachers, a Twofold Priesthood" in Utah. Their missionary activity is enormous. The Reorganized Mormons object against Young's teachings.

Other would-be Jews are the Christian Israelites, and the Chosen Israelites. The former do not reject circumcision as a law, and are Sabbatharians. Their teachings are rather filthy. The latter claim to be descendents of the lost ten tribes of Israel. They expect to rule the world in 1916, with Jerusalem as their capital. (Lutheraner, 1905, p. 120.)

Lutherans should avoid the Mormons, because:

1. They are Unitarian in denying the doctrine of the Trinity, of everlasting torment, and of the sufficiency of the Scriptures.

"God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem His people; and because He

dwelleth in flesh, He shall be called the Son of God; and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son; the Father because He was conceived by the power of God; and the Son because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and the Son; and they are one God, yea, the very eternal Father of heaven and earth." (Book of Mormon, Ch. 15, 1-4, 1907.) See Ch. IX., 2.

The Book of Mormon, according to the preface of 1907, is "to shew unto the remnants of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever, and also to the convincing of Jew and Gentile, that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God *** And now if there are faults, they are the mistakes of men; wherefore condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ." See Ch. III., 1.

The "Book of Mormon" speaks of "never ending torments;" the "Book of Doctrine," however, says: "It is not written, that there is no end of this torment." (Section XLIV., 3.) See Ch. XII., 4.

2. They are Reformed in teaching a free will, in conversion, in good works, in the means of grace, in church government, and in regard to baptism by immersion.

"He fulfilled the law of God and remained without sin, and shewed thereby that it is in the power of man to also fulfill the law and remain without sin." (Book of Doctrine, Lect. V., 2.) See Ch. III., 5.

"And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sin." (Book of Mormon, p. 616, 11.) See Ch. III., 7.

*

In the prayer prescribed for Holy Communion, p. 610, it is said ** that they may eat in the remembrance of the body of the Son * ** that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son." See Ch. III., 8.

In the "Book of Doctrine" the general meeting of the quorums is called the authority of the Church. (Section 3, 11.) See Ch. III., 9.

"And then shall ye immerse them in the water" (Book of Mormon, p. 503, 26.) See Ch. V., 2.

3. SPECIALS: Polygamy and Chiliasm. On July 12, 1843, Jos. Smith, in order to conceal a bad record, claimed to have received new revelations, embodying polygamy, Brigham Young enjoined it. See Matth. 19: 5, and Gen. 2: 24, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh."

I. Cor. 7: 2, "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband."

Also the Large Catechism, 200. "This commandment is given first in respect to one's own person. Next in respect to the person most intimate with him, or that which after his own body is to him most intimate, his own spouse."

.66

"At my time will I come upon earth for judgment, and my people will be saved and reign with me on earth, for the great millenium will come." (Section 147, of the Book of Doctrine.) See Ch. VII., 2, to the contrary.

CHAPTER XIII.

Why should a Lutheran not join the Adventist Churches?

Introdutory remarks. Wm. Miller, a licensed Baptist minister, predicted the coming of Christ, April 14, 1844. Many periodicals became infatuated with the new "prophecy," others came into existence; when the day came, property was sold, family ties were severed, some put on ascension dresses. But there was no sound of the trumpet, nor any Christ appearing in the clouds, neither then nor on the days appointed by other "prophecies." Still, there are large numbers of Adventists. There are Evangelical Adventists confessing the doctrine of the Trinity, and of hell. There are Church of God Adventists, Church of God Adventists-Unattached Congregations, the Life and Adventist Union, the Churches of God in Christ Jesus. The largest in size is the Seventh Day Adventist denomination, holding their Sabbath from sunset on Friday till sunset on Saturday. These make the use of tobacco or intoxicants in any form a cause for exclusion from church fellowship. (See Ch. III., 11.) The service of washing one another's feet (see Ch. XI., 5) is observed at the quarterly meetings, and previous to the Lord's Supper. The next denomination in size is the Adventist Christian Church. All agree on immersion.

While they quote Luther profusely, and offer some refreshing testimony against papacy as the Antichrist, and against the higher critics, still a Lutheran should beware of Adventists, because,

1. They say in the tract entitled, "Our loss in Adam," that holiness was not in Eden. Adam did not lose it. He did not have it to lose." (p. 5.) See Ch. II., a, 2.

**

"Repentance would not be demanded of men, if they could not repent," according to "The Nature * * of Christian Baptism," p. 52. (Seventh Day Adventists.) See Ch. II., a, 9, b and c.