A sermon before the conference by br JOHN TAYLOR april 8 1853 it rejoices my heart to lo hear the principles that have been advanced this day by our president because they have their foundation in truth are based upon the principles of equity and are calculated to promote the happi happiness neso well being exalta exaltation tinn and 1 glory of man in in time and throughout all eter t Y they lead us sack back into eterna eternity i ty they existed with us ua there aud and in all the various stages of mans existence they are calculated to elevate and ennoble hirn him and place him in a proper position before god angels and men me they will put him in possession of his legitimate right save him from the grasp 0 of f t the he adversary ver sary from every subtle stratagem of the powers of darkness and place him in his proper station in time and in eternity I 1 have been much pleased with and edified by the remarks that tha have been made upon this stand during the conference wisdom has been displayed in them from them the intelligence of heaven has beamed forth the mysteries of eternity have been spread before our minds and we have had a view of heavenly things that has filled our hearts with joy and our mouths with praise it has made us feel as though we were upon the threshold of eternity as though we were eternal beings and had to do with eternal things lings ti as though the things of this world were short fleeting and evanescent i not worthy of a thought when compared with those things that are calculated to exalt and ennoble us in time and in eternity the principles of justice righteousness and truth which have an endless endle s s duration can alone satisfy the capacious desi desires r es of E the immortal soul we may amuse ourselves like children do at play piny or engage in the frivolities of the dance we may take our little enjoyments enjoy ments in our social assemblies but when the man comes to reflect when the saint of god considers and the visions of eternity are open to his view and the unalterable purposes of god are developed to his mind when he contemplates his true position before god angels and wyid men then lie he soars above the things of time tim and sense and bursts the cords that bind him to earthly eart lily objects ile he contemplates god and his own destiny in the economy of heaven and rejoices in a blooming hope of an immortal glory such have been some of our feelings while our minds have been carried away from the things of earth to contemplate the things with wilh which eternal beings are associated and the glories that await us in the everlasting mansions of the gods goda the principles that we have to do with the then are eternal and not cot simply to play a game upon the checker board of mortality on an which people cari carf binand win and lo sefor f or the time being but we have to do with that which shall continue e while life and thought ji and d being lasts or immortality endures we seek not to build our hopes upon things that are evanescent fleeting and transitory transit ry it is not he who can play the best beat game at checkers that can take the most moat advantage of his neighbor that can grasp the most earthly good or can put pat himself in possession of anything his heart desires pertaining to time that is the most happy but it is he who does that which A will last lived live and continue to abide with him while immortality endures and still be on the increase worlds without end if we can possess principles of this kind then we are safe every thing else amounts to an illusion or delusion which cannot satisfy the te desires of the mind but as the pi orbet says it is like a thirsty man who dreams dreama he is drinking but when he awakes he is faint and his soul is thirsty he dreams that he is eating and when lie awakes his soul is empty this is the true situation of all men who are without god in the world and nothing but a knowledge of eternal principles of eternal laws of eternal governments of eternal justice and equity and of eternal truth can put us right and satiate the appetite of the immortal soul if we make not a just ajust estimate of th these ese things I 1 it is in vain van that we attempt to say 11 1 lord lord because we do not the things which he says every thing associated w with ith the gospel of salvation is eternal eterna lv for it existed before the morning stars stare sang to together grether for joy or this thia world rolled into existence exi shenee it existed then just as it now exists with us and it will exist the same when time with wih us is no more it is an eternal principle and every thing associated with itis it is ia everlasting it is like the priesthood of the son of 4 god without beginning of days or end of years yeara it lives and abides for ever if there is any principle that is not eternal it is not a principle of the gospel of life and salvation there are many changes and shifting scenes that may influence the position of lof mankind under different circumstances in this state of mortality but they cannot influence or change the gospel of the son of god or the eternal truths of of heaven they remail unchangeable as it is said very properly by the church of england in 0 one e of their ho milies as it WAS in the beginning is now and ever shall be worlds without end if nothing else they say is true that is and I 1 can sav amen to it with all my heart every true principle is right and if properly understood and appreciated by the human family to them they are a fountain of eternal good the principle ef cf 11 which president Y young 0 ung preached about to day is a principle that is founded upon eternal justice equity and truth it is a principle that emanated from god As was said by some of our brethren this morning there may be circumstances arise in this thia world to pervert for a season the order of god to change the designs of the most high apparently for the time being yet they will ultimately roll back into their proper place justice will have its place and so will mercy and every man and woman will yet stand in their true position before god if we understand ourselves correctly we must look upon ourselves as eter nal beings and upon god as our father for we have been taught when we pray to say our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name we have fathers in the atesh and we do them reverence how much more shall we ive be in in subjection to the father of spirits and live I 1 need not enter into any proof in relation to this for it is well understood by the saints that god is the father of our spirits and that when we go back into his hia presence we shall know him as we have known our earthly parents we are taught to approach him as we would an earthly parent to ask ot him such blessings as aa we need and he has said 11 if a son ask bread of his father shall he give him a stone or if he ask for tib fib ti b a scoy scorpion pion if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more will your heavenly father give his holy spirit to them that ask him we have a father then who is in heaven he has placed us on this earth for ome purpose we found ourselves ours elpes in possession of bodies 4 mental faculties and reasoning powers in a word we found ourselves intelligent beings with minds capable of recalling the past and launching into the unborn future with lightning 11 speed peed and were it not for this earthly tabernacle this tenement of clay they would soar aloft and contemplate the unveiled purposes of jehovah in the mansions of the redeemed we found ourselves here with minds capable of all this and more god who has ordained all things from before the foundation of the world is our Fat father ler he placed us here to fual fulfil his wise and unerring councils that we might magnify our calling honor our god obtain an an exaltation and be placed in a more glorious exalted and dignified position than it would have been possible for us to enjoy if we had never taken upon us bodies this is my aith braith it is the faith of this people I 1 have no complaints to make about our father adam eating the forbidden fruit as some have for I 1 do not know but any of us would have done the same I 1 find myself here bere in the midst of the creations 0 of f god and it is for me to make use age of the intelligence god has given me and not condescend to anything that is low mean grovelling gro velling and degrading to anything which is calculated to debase the immortal mind of man but to follow after things that are in their nature calculated to exalt ennoble and dignify that I 1 may stand in my true position before god angela and men inen and rise to take my seat among th the gods of eternity we will now come to the principle of legitimacy which was the text given out this morning to our rights eriv privileges i leges priest hoods authorities powers dominions ae ac and as some of us are script and all profess to believe the bible I 1 feet feel inclined to quote a text I 1 from it paul when speaking of jesus christ gives us to wider understand stand that hs he is the first born of every creature for by him were all things made that were made and to him pertains all things he is the head of all things he created all things whether visible or invisible wh whether aber they be principalities powers thrones or dominions 1 all things were created by him and for him aud and without him was not anything mr mede de that was made if all things were created by him and for him this world on which we stand must have been created by him and for him if so he is its leg legitimate i dimate Us its rightful owner and proprietor its lawful sovereign and ruler we will begin with him then in the first place in treating on the subject of legitimacy but has he had the dominion over all nations kindreds peoples and tongues 1 have they bowed to his sceptre tre and acknowledged his sway have all people rendered obedience to his laws and submitted to his guidance echo answers so i 0 has there ever been a kingdom a government a nation a power or dominion in this world that has yielded obedience to him in all things thing can you point out one we read of the jews who were a nation that submitted only in part to his authority i for they rebelled against his laws and were placed pla ced under a schoolmaster until the messiah should come we read also in the book of mormon of some Nep hites that dwelt upon this land who kept the commandments of god and perhaps were more pure than any other nation that history gives any aDeo account of but with these exceptions the nations nation 3 kingdoms powers and dominions anions i of 1 the be world 1 have a ve not be been e n subject to the f law dominion rule or authority of god but as it is expressed by one of the ancients the prince and power of the air the god of this world has ruled in the hearts of the children of disobedience and led them captive at his own will where is the historian the man acquainted quain ted with ancient lore who can point we me out one government nation power or dominion that have been subject to ao the rule of god to the dominion doi dow of desus christ with the excel 1 tion of those jews and Nep hites which I 1 have referred to if there has been any such nation the history of them has escaped my notice I 1 have never been able to obtain such information what then has baa been the position of the world for generations passed they have been go verned by rulers not appointed of god if they were appointed by him it was merely as a scourge to the people for their wickedness or for temporary rulers in the absence of those whose right it was wan to govern they had not the legitimate rule priesthood and authority or of I 1 god on the earth to act as his representatives in regulating and presiding yet over the affairs of his hin kingdom perhaps it may be well at this stage gage of my remarks to give you a short explanation of my ideas on an government legitimacy or priesthood if you please the question what is priesthood has often been asked me I 1 answer it is the rule and government of god whether on earth or in hi the heavens and it is the onty only W legitimate power the only authority that is acknowledged by him to rile and regulate the affairs of his kingdom when every wron wrong thing shall be put pot right and all usurpers usurp ers shall he put down when he whose right it is to reign shall take the dominion then nothing but the priesthood will bear rule it alone will sway away the sceptre of authority in heaven and on earth for una this is the legitimacy of god in the absence of this what has been the position of the nations you tou who have made yowe yourselves elves acquainted with the political structure and the political intrigues of earthly kingdoms I 1 ask from whence did they obtain their power did they get it from god go to the history of europe if you please and examine how the rulers of those nations nation obtained their authority Do depending pending upon astory for our information we say my those nations have been founded by the sword if we trace the pages of history still further back to the first nation that existed still we find it was founded upon the fame principle then follow fellow the various revolutions and changes that took place amon among 9 subsequent nations and powers from the babylonians through the medo persians grecians Grec ians romans and from that power to all the other powers of europe asia and africa of which we have any knowledge and if we look to america from the first discoveries by columbus Colom bua to the present time where are now the original proprietors of the soil go to any power that has existed upon this earth and you will find that earthly government earthly rule and dominion has hall been obtained by the sword it was the sword of man that diat first put them in possession of this power they have walked up to t their thrones through rivers of blood through the clotted gore and groans of the dying and through the tears an and lamentations of bereaved widows and helpless orphans and hence the I 1 common saying is 61 thrones won by blood by blood must be maintained by the same principle that they have been put in possession of territory have they sought to sustain themselves the same violence the same fraud and the same opples oppression ion has been made use of to sustain their illegitimacy some of these powers dominions governments and rulers have had in their possession ii the laws of god and the admonitions admonitions of fi jesus e christ chraft and what have they done to his servants in different ages of the world when he has sent pent them unto them this question I 1 need not top stop to answer for you are already made too familiar with it this then is in the position of the world authority dominion rule government has been obtained by fraud and consequently i is not legitimate they say much about the adin ordination aaion of of kings and their being anointed by the grace of god aa what think you of a murderer slaying hundreds and thousands thousand 8 of his fellow creatures because he had the power and while his sword is yet reeking with human blood have a priest in sacerdotal robes anoint him to the kingship they have done it what think you of the cries of the widows widow the teare team of the orphans and the groans of the dying mingling with the prayers and blessingto bles singo of the priest upon the head of the murderer of their husbands and their fathers it is impossible 0 9 sible that there can be any legitimate r rule government vern ment power or authority ece under the face or of the heavens except that which is connected with the kingdom of god which is established by new revelation from heaven in a conversation with some of our modern reformers in france one of their leaders said 1 I think you will not succeed very well in disseminating semina ting the principles of your religion in in france I 1