ifor I 1 for fon the deveret deseret news LINES wai I 1 4 1 ae the parents oti sretta A R allus seUa sema aged jed I 1 land 1 elizabeth II 11 woodbury aged 13 years who were mere instantaneously killed MUM by fhe the falling of a horsepower norse horse power machine mgt met chine for ginning cotton w n gret Grei graton alor flon J mane kane ane co cb on the isih offee of feb last the dearly beloyd ones nod no longer onzer dwell in the homes of the mountain dell Neath the lofty peaks that in grandeur rise and with to wring summits embrace the skies ta in youths sweet innocence bright and gay ade th ey passa like two beautiful sunbeams away buta but a sudden departure deep sorrow leaves iii in the hearts in the homes that death ber bereaves baves i I 1 I 1 far better for them thus to dash away than endure the sad p process of slow decay where the hand of sickness with anguish rife to a fearful point draw draws s the thread of life what Is death ris mis a passage through which we WO goir go I 1 I 1 Wh where ereth eneth e trea ms oillie of ilfe life more mp re abundant abundant flow where affliction lives and loves holy tie Is transfers trans ferd feild from time to the world on high portals wide open flow and the loving young maiden 4 went clie cile erly through I 1 without sense ofrain without inthout dread or fear wilh with no farewell nigh and no parting tear had their friends tie the tho would woula they call th emback to encounter the perils af lifes rough track no they ve gonei gonel in innocence chaste and pure and to them the tiie rich blessings of heaven are sure t E R S G S L CI city ty may I 1 1866 SM layla remarks S I 1 1 r V elder george Q cannon in the y 8 L 0 ay map may ath REPORTED BY liy 0 D W WATT TT it is very gratifying to me me as it must be to all the saints to hear the testimonies of the elders who return from their missions accompanied by the spirit of god there is no position posit ion ioa that I 1 know of where a man is more likely to der derive IV e a kno knowledge cledge a fixed and reliable knowledge 1 for himself respecting the work of god than to be called to go to the nat nations ioris of the earth without purse and scrip to travel among the people to proclaim unto them the restoration of the everlasting gospel in its fullness again ag gai gal 1 I to the earth it is not that there is more power manifested abroad than there is in zion but the position in which the elders are placed is of sueh such a nature that they are compelled of necessity ces sity to seek unto god goa to obtain all the power possible for them to receive through faithfulness and diligence men are compelled if they have any desire whatever tp t magnify magnia y their calli calling ng tp live so sa near hear unto the lord that his spirit and power will be with them all the time for without these blessings every man who harshad any experience whatever well knows it is impossible for foi man to edify and buildup the people theford Th the eLord lord since the establishment of his church upon the earth in these latter days has performed a great many marvelous works when our minds are aro arel arol enlightened by the spirit of god and we take a review of the work from the beginning to the present the only reflection that we can have is one of wonder that in the midst of the many evidences of divinity which have been exhibited to the inhabitants of the earth since the foundation of this work men still justify themselves in the re of these principles and the denouncement no of those who advocate them it would be impossible in the brief time allotted for our meeting to enumerate all the evidences of the divinity of this work which are patent to the observer but look wherever we will in contemplating this work in the various changes through which it has passed from its first origin to the pre sent we see the hand of god manifested and his power exhibited and these things have been no more shown forth in the past than they are being shown forth at the present the present circumstances cum stances which surround us are of such a nature that every man who can divest himself sufficiently of prejudice and view this work calmly must be convinced that there is a power greater than that of maji man connected with it this mis morning br george A smith in his narrative of the trials through which the church passed in its early days alluded to the great number of persons who have apostatized from this church there is a peculiar feature attending those who apostatize of which the parallel cannot be found among any other people except we go back to the primitive primi tiye tive christians the immediate disciples of jesus I 1 men nien may belong to any of the so called christian sects sect of the he day and they may renounce their f if k efti 1 jha ind rax hav belief or daf ioime t their beir con connection n wi with th tha the the religious bodies of th they ey zuie are members and anavo c do not see gee see hee that biru lence that spirit and di disposition I 1 ohi to seek for the blood of those with whom they were formerly connected manifested on their part which are manifested by those who have been members rs of the church of jesus christ of latte rd saints and ancl have apostatized in consequence of this the inhabitants of bf the earth are frequently deceived many honest people may have been deceived through this manifestation of hatred and animosity and blood thirst iness on the part of those who have been connected with us they do not trace these manifestations to their proper cause and they jump at the sion that the people who are so much hated and maligned and whose injury is so sa diligently sought by those who were once connected with them must of courso course be a very bad people or there could not be such feelings manifested against them men lien are misled on this point because they are not acquainted with the causes which operate on the minds of those who reject the work of god the work of god from its beginning on the earth until the present time is something that has not a parallel there being nothing like it that we can see else eise elsewhere where there are traits of character and manifestations of disposition exhibited by the lattof day saint saints which are not to be found elsewhere among men under the operations of the gospel upon the people who obey it new motives and new manifestation sare are brought into existence they may be called new because they have not been witnessed among men for many generations past and ana as there are new now and peculiar features of character developed and exhibited by the saints so also th there ere are traits manifested by those who oppose the saints which are diverse from I 1 any that the opponents of other systems exhibit this is particularly the case with those who have been connected with us and have apostatized and thereby dissolved that connection we who are latter day saints understand this some probably understand it better than others but still there is a general understanding among the saints of god respecting this work we know that it is as strict a law of heaven as any other that has been given that the man who enters into this church and practices impurity in arity will lose the spirit of god aa and sooner or later will be opposed to this work this ra a truth that has bas been proclaimed almost daily dally in our hearing from the time the church was waa organized until now there is no general truth that has been so frequently dwelt upon t and so powerfully fully enforced upon the mirds minus of this people as this truth to which I 1 now allude we who are connected with this church and retain our membership with this people must be pure ure in our thoughts in our words ann and in our actions we must take a course to retain the spirit irit of god in our hearts and if we do 0 not take a course of this kind the spirit of god will inevitably leave us and that light which has illumined our understandings that joy joy and peace which have filled filled our souls and caused us to rejoice exceedingly before the lord will depart from us and we shall be left in a worse condition than we were before we obeyed the gospel if we turn to the history of the apostles we find a striking instance of this in the ease case of judas one of the twelve apostles one of the chosen disciples of the lamb whom we may suppose was once onee possessed of the spirit of truth but he was a hypocrite he broke the commandments of god goa he did that which is evil how did this disposition manifest itself As soon as he chose to dissolve his connection with the people of god did he go and bury himself among the rest of the jews and from that time say nothing more about the work of god he had been connected with no but the first of his evil heart were to sell his lord and master alaster to be his betrayer and the destroyer of the inn innocent docent prostituting the knowledge which he be had received to a base purpose distorting and misrepresenting it in such a manner that it proved the means of condemning the man whom he had previously looked upon as his lord this is the spirit that will manifest itself the spirit that the ancient apostles had to contend with in the midst of those who were 0 op posed ased to them and who had bad former formerly y been reen geen connected with them false bre brethren ti i whenever a man loses the spirit of the gospel whenever the spirit of god is supplanted by the spirit of the evil one that ann man is a fit tool for the adversary to work with and to use to effect his accursed purposes in shedding the blood of innocence nee nce because hilvi 1 14 ip way atlle spirit spirl t of hi him who mho wa was a murd murderer berer and a theu and whose works have been abeen sevil evil from the crea trea creation fion flon until now in 6 our r day the thin two spirits are manifested only with more power with more strength than have been witnessed on the earth since the days odthe of the apostles for generations there has been an indifference manifested by the adversary adver adversary of truth to the systems of religion which sari sarK have prevailed among men when men partake of error when they are not accompanied compa compan nied led by the spirit of god when the power powen and authority which bod god imparts bower to fulfill his great purposes are not in exist existence euce among them then there is an indifference manifested by the adversary ver sary religious organizations and re legious movements are regarded by him with unconcern because the necessity does not exist under those circumstances for vigilant exertion on his p part art arl but the moment priesthood 0 of god is restored being the power and authority imparted by heaven to men which gives them capacity to go forth ardd arid administer in the things of god then all hell liell is moved all who are under the influence of the adversary are at once in commotion and they seek to destroy all those who have the temerity to stand up in the defence of the truth and righteousness in in the power 0 of the holy priesthood of the no son n of god this has been the case from the beginning until now from the shedding ef of the blood of righteous abel down to the time that the last apostle was slain there have been feelings manifested dispositions exhibited in connection with this work which have not been seen among men for a great length of time before there have been a faith and devotion a love and integrity manifested by the saints of god by those who have received the gospel of jesus christ that have not been seen for a long period of time on the tho other hand there nave have been intense 1 n tense beelin feeling gs of bitterness hatred and strife and murder and every thing that is evil manifested manifested in opposition thereunto As I 1 have said these manifestations are traceable to the fact that god has attempted to do a work again among men inen at the present time which is an uncommon thing to this generation if we converse with with the votaries vot aries of modern christianity Christ anity about the eions which the apostles and prophets endured and which all ali righteous men in every age have endured from frow the hands of the wicked I 1 they say that those were ages ages offal bari barl sin an and d darlan ess ca miliza j tio tion and aud de hag had kot not spread their benign influences over the inhabitants of the earth the printing press was not in existence and the benefits that flow were not known and enjoyed by man they were consequently dark uneducated and ignorant antl and therefore superstitious and cruel to such ignorance and darkness do many modern christians attribute the persecutions righteous men met within with in former days but in this day they say we live in the blaze of gospel light the bible is published in almost every language and extensive means have been taken to disseminate the truth and the exhibition of those cruel feelings which were common in ancient times are not to be seen now thus they delude themselves with the idea that they are better than were the fathers even as the jews did in the days of jesus when they exclaimed if we wid had been in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers par takers with them in the blood of the prophets I 1 I 1 and they built the tombs of the prophets and garnished the sepulchres chres of the righteous but jesus said unto them I 1 wherefore ye be witnesses unto yo yourselves u that ye yo are the children of them which which killed maled the prophets I 1 fill ye yo up then the measure of your fathers to reason with many men upon this subject and to have them reason in return they would impress you with the idea that the antagonism which formerly existed between satan and god has ceased and that there is a sort of amnesty existing between them and hence satan does not have that power over the hearts of men that he had formerly this is a very great delusion ano and a ve very common one it is a delusion whiz whis which has been common to every generation when the gospel has been preached among the inhabitants of the earth every generation has nattered flattered itself that it is a little better than the one that preceded it every generation has prided itself in its knowledge and great advancement in the arts and sciences and its superiority te i arity over preceding generations erat ions yet t the power of the adversary and his hatred of righteousness and nd t truth ru t are as gr great ea t to today day althey as they e ever ver w were ees ance nc e the creation creation df theearta the tha earth carth the moment a ina lua man 11 t undertake ii ta tonero p ro 1 claim true p principles ri ciple elpie t to declare the y 1 w gospel of jesus jesus ch christ ri st an and d exhort burt the people to cry unto god in faith he stirs up in the hearts of the people a feeling of opposition and strife which if he be not acquainted with the cause strikes him with wonder and astonishment how often it has been the case that our elders in going forth to preach have labored among people who were ignorant of the existence of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and of their principles or if they have heard anything it has been but little this could not be done now but there have been times in the past when it could be done but when elders could go to places where the people had heard but little or nothing about the Latte latter day saints as soon as they commenced declaring to the people that god had spoken from the heavens and exhorted the people to seek unto god and he would answer their prayers as anciently a spirit of op opposition position would be aroused ro U sed this has reen been so time and time again with our people showing that it is not the evils of the latter day saints nor because they are polygamists c that they are hated for they met with opposition before anything was thedoe the doctrine trine this feeling did not have