Letter from S. R. Smith, 2 July 1894
[end sideways text]
Bardstown, Ky.,
July 2nd, 1894.
Wilfred Woodruff, President of The Mormons,
Salt Lake City, Utah, U. S. A.
Hon. & Dear Sir:
I have not forgotten the favor you did me
in sending me the books containing the history of your
people, and while I did not complete the work I commen-
ced, my health not allowing me, I am nevertheless
grateful to you. I am still confined to my room and
bed, but I am still able to write a little now and then,
thank God, and knowing that I possess the True Religion,
that is, the Religion established by God Himself,
and wishing to do you a favor, I herewith take
the liberty to write you again, after a long interval
of silence: In the first place, allow me to remark, al-
though I presume you know it as well as I, that
God established His Church in order to enable
mankind to reach Heaven: "Thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee
the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and wh-
atsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven." Matthew, chapter XVI, verses 18 & 19. The first verse of
the above meant that the devil prevailed in the Gard-
en of Eden, but that he would not be able to prevail aga-
inst His Church, neither, said our Divine Redeemer—or
at least, such was His meaning—shall the Devil be able
to cause My Church to teach erroneous doctrines nor cr-
ush her out of existence. The second verse is as plain
as the first, which, as you have seen, gave St. Peter power
to bind and to loose in religious matters. He exerci-
sed this power at the council of Jerusalem when he
declared that circumcision was not to be imposed
upon Christians, or see the XVth chapter of the Acts. Allow
me to remark also ere passing on, that the above qu-
otation not only applied to St. Peter, but to his succ-
essors, since the Church was to stand till the end of
time, as God declared to the Prophet Daniel, chapter IInd,
verse 44—Book of Daniel. The future Church was also ca-
lled in said book and chapter, "a stone cut out without
hands," and this is why our Divine Redeemer called St. Peter
