Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate/Volume 1/Number 10/Remarks of Mr. Bradley's discourse

Not long since the people of Kirtland were favored with a discourse from a Mr. Bradley, a preacher of the Universal doctrine. I was not present during the entire lecture, therefore cannot speak upon the merits or demerits of the whole. It may be said, that it is unjust to judge any matter without hearing the whole of it; but as that part which I did hear seemed to be a detached, or an entire subject (though short) of itself, I shall take the liberty to say a few words.

The speaker labored very hard to make his audience believe that they received no punishment after death; but that in common with all men would enjoy eternal life and bliss, whatever were their conduct here. To prove this position he quoted the following, Proverbs, 11:31. "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner."

On this item from Solomon I only remark, that to give it the interpretation the gentleman would have us receive, concerning the wicked and the sinner, we may say that the righteous have no joy after death, with as much propriety as we can that the wicked and sinner have no affliction or misery, because if they are to be recompensed in the earth, or in this life, as Mr. Bradley carried the idea, the righteous receive their reward, also, and thus end their hopes and expectations.

While speaking of the gospel, (for he professed a great love and veneration for it,) he said that the Lord sent forth his apostles to preach the gospel of peace, good will, glad tidings, &c. to every creature; to bind up the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of prisons to those who were bound.

I do not say that the gospel is not glad tidings: I know it is, and of great joy, but this leap from the commission (not half told) given to the apostles, to Isaiah, is worthy of notice. Isaiah says, 61:1,2,3: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified."

This short quotation is of some importance, as it talks of a day of vengeance as well as a proclamation of liberty to the captive. But, that this will refer to the just, and not the unjust, is evident from the fact, that these good tidings were to be preached to the meek, and the comfort to be administered to those in Zion. Now, if the sinner and the wicked are the meek, they may claim this language, but if not, they cannot in justice.

Luke, in the 4th chapt. of his testimony, has given a relation of the Savior's saying that that scripture was fulfilled in the ears of the Jews—that is, he was the person referred to, by the prophet, who was to proclaim this good news: that fact is not controverted, but in the commission of the apostles, there is an item worth our attention, as it is as positively the condition on which all men may get into the kingdom of God, (and if men can be saved out of it I have yet to learn the fact,) as there is such a kingdom or men, whose condition required it for their salvation.—It reads thus: Mark, 16:15,16: "And he [Christ] said unto them, GO YE [you apostles] INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. HE THAT BELIEVETH AND IS BAPTIZED, SHALL BE SAVED; BUT HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT, SHALL BE DAMNED." Has Mr. Bradley a diploma like this?

It may be said by some, that the word "damned," in this place only means condemnation or reproof, and that no principle like this exists in the law of the Lord. Mark 3:29 says: "But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." Now, if there were no possibility of blaspheming against the Holy Ghost, the Lord of glory never would have warned us against doing this act; and if no such principle exists as damnation, and that eternal, to be inflicted upon such as do blaspheme, he certainly has spoken nonsense and folly.

On the subject of the wicked's being rewarded as well as the righteous, in this life, I give a few words from John, and leave this part of the lecture. John 5:28, 29: "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his [Christ's] 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!"

Another item I wish to notice. Mr. Bradley instructed his audience, that it was unnecessary for the followers of Christ to receive persecution. As this puts at defiance the actual experience of the world from the earliest period to the present, I add only a few remarks. Was Abel a saint, a righteous man? and was he, or was he not slain by the hand of his brother? and for what?—Says John, 1st epistle, 3:12: "Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous."—What course could Abel have pursued in order to escape persecution? The answer may be, to have done as Cain wished. Query, then, would he have been a saint, since we learn that Cain was of the devil?

Paul said to Timothy, 2 ep. 3:10, 11, 12: "But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. You, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Were James, Peter, Paul and thousands of the righteous, slain for the testimony of Christ, or were they not? and if so, why did they not pursue a course in life differently, so as to avoid those painful afflictions, miseries and death? But to decide this matter I add the word of the Lord himself, and let Mr. Bradley, and his followers reconcile it with their creed: John 15:18,19,20: also 16:2:

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you: if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. They shall put you out of the synagogues, yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God service."

I do not say that those who persecute the saints are justified—far from this; but I do say, that the man that preaches that the saints could live, in past ages, and keep the commandments and ordinances of the Lord Jesus, without suffering persecutions, afflictions, and death, says at once, that the religion of heaven is a farce, and the word of Christ a lie. And that if a people can live, in obedience to the gospel, amid a corrupt and sinful generation, without receiving scoffs and reproaches, is sporting with the common sense and experience of every man of God. The disgraceful scenes of the Missouri mob are too fresh in my mind to be imposed upon by Mr. Bradley, or any other man who thus perverts the word of life, and insults the good feelings of those who have been dispossessed of their homes and houses by lawless marauders, for their religion's sake! Yes, the groans of the dying, the cry of innocent mothers and virgins, the shrieks of helpless infants, have ascended up into the ears of Jehovah, as a testimony of the truth of the religion of the Lord Jesus, and will ever stand as a memorial, on the records of heaven, against those who afflicted them without cause, and slew without law. And it may be understood, that no man can offer a higher insult to the feelings and dignity of the people in this place, than to say that he that lives godly, in an ungodly generation, will not be persecuted, saying nothing of the perversion of the word of truth, and the attempt to prove that "he that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbeth up some other way is not a thief and a robber!" C.