Show D 1 S 0 0 bump S M DELIVERED BY BT pilak knab lnig W n jn in ibe fhe ac assembly hali bail salt sait lake city sunday i i november 4 18 81 ad 1 reported BY sog JOUX mau m i il I 1 i A privilege priTi lege to meet to worship god everything in tiia church ordained of god all otha other churches and societies thep theo work of man nan human of 94 every kind und wili wiil iasa pass awa yOnly that which god pod sets up will endure the ancient christian church the che apostate church ot of rome tho the various man made creed sLack of divine authority the true church te restored religion in ih politics goas gods tig right ht to control la in all things the agency of man and the thet authority of God Abiding in the lords covenant even unto death no compromise with the wicked the parit of abel and that of caan the bles bies isings eings that come 31 through obedience and fidelity tue THE testimony es which has been borne to us this af alte moon by bro abraham 21 cannon estrue is true and faithful I 1 presume there is not an elder in israel no matter how much experience he may have haye had kad in public speaking aho OhO who does not feel in his heart to s shrin r rink k when called upon t to 0 stand before the people and speak to them upon the things atthe ot the king kingdom doin doln of god for if he lle can properly realize his position he feels leele his inability his weakness he hc feels that of himself he Is unable to instruct the saints he knows that they arefa areta are millar familiar witti with the general principles 0 of o the gospel and with almost eve overy every truth which has been made manifest by the power of god in these last days many of them also familiar with the teachings of the servants of god in former times which they have been able to gather from the scriptures of divine struth tor to stand up before a con congregation Te gation of people acquainted with E the gos gospel el its principles its ordinances din ances ans and its spirit ald ard and aid Is indeed a task ta and it Is only in the strength of the lord it Is only because of faith in his premises and of experience in receiving a fulfillment fulfilment thereof that i the elders are emboldened bold ened to stand up before bedfor the peo pleto pieto pleto address them truit trusting ing lag to the in n of the moment trusting that cel cei god will pour out his 1114 spirit lapon upon them and upon the congregation whom they address adol feao fesa I 1 feel this afternoon that it Is a very great privilege to be numbered among amone the he latter day saints to be permitted to meet in this house and worship god our heavenly father in the way that he has appointed to partake of the emblems of the body and blood of jesus christ our redeemer alid ardd to spend a little time together reflecting uren uran those things that pertain to our eternal welfare in this 1 I 1 feel that we are blessed of the lord and my heart is full of gratitude for this great lege iese for when we meet to worship we do not assemble to offer up our prayers and to attend to ordinances orto or to perform any ceremony that we have invented but we meet together to attend to things lings which have been pointed gut but to us by the finger of divine providence every principle we have received has come from god every ordinance which we administer or of which we receive the administration has come to us by divine revelation idour own lay day the manner of administering the sacrament of the lords supper which we partake of every sabbath when we wd meet together had hab been pointed out to us by the lord we have not learned this merely by reading the scriptures written by holy men of of god in ancient times but the lord has pointed out in what way it shall be administered and has given us the words Word sto to he be used in the blessing of the bread and of the water the emblems of the body and blood of jesus christ and so with everything we have in the ct church it is pointed out by the lord the church itself was not organized by man nor by the wisdom of oilman iman but according to a divine pattern revealed directly from the heavens hea and in this respect our church our religion the ordinances which we receive and all things pertaining to the work in which weare we are engaged are different to anything else upon the face of the earth elarth for all the churches and societies and institutions lons and governments which exist upon the face of the earth outside of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints are the work of manit itis Is true that in each of them some divine principles are incorporated there Is nome gome truth in every reil rell religion glon in every sect creed in every society and in in every political form of government but those institutions civil political and ecclesiastical have been set het up by man they have been founded on the knowledge and wisdom of manthey have not been established by authority from our heavenly father eather but men have set them up according to circumstances and uc cording according to their desires and their designs and their notions yet at the same time overall above all sits our heavenly vather rather watching the affairs of men and nations shaping and controlling cont roling and overruling over ruling all things to bring about eventually ills his own divine purposes oses in to the earth an and the inhabitants thereof but so far as these organizations are concerned these various institutions which have ha ve been seh neb up they are the works 0 men maen they have not been authorized by our heavenly father although they contain within themselves many things thing 8 that are right and true now will all ali these various institutions t ons endure canther can they stand the test of time will vim they pass away at some period arlod institutions like these have teen been setup set up in former times and af affet ter tek a while they have perished and passed away just like all things earthly just like all things with which men havo have had to do 1 they are all of a temporary character and they contain contala within themselves the elements of their own dissolution and final destruction now the lord has told us a little concerning this in a revelation ile he gave t through brough the prophet joseph I 1 will read a 3 portion 0 on thereof it will b be e found on the 42 th pare page ge of the book of doctrine and covenants behold I 1 mine house is a house of order saith the lord god and not a house of confusion will I 1 accept of an n offering saith balth the lord that is not made in in my name or will I 1 receive at your kando lando hands that which I 1 have not ot appo appointed anted and anvill will I 1 appoint point unto you saith the lord except it at be e by law even as I 1 and my eath fath eather father e r ordained ardaine d unto you before the world was I 1 am the lord thy god and I 1 give unto you this comman tomman commandment dment that no man shall come unto the father lut but but by me or by my word which is my law saith the lord and everything that is 18 in the world whether it be ordained of men by thrones or principalities or powers or things of name whatsoever they may be that are arp not by me or by my word saith eaith the lord shall be thrown down and khali khail not dot remain after men are dead neither in nor after the resurrection saith the lord your god fr for whatsoever things remain are by me and whatsoever things are not by by me shall bhail be shaken and destroyed there are a great many religions in the world and the people who compose these various religious societies meet to together ether in their chapels and chur churches chei and halls of worship to perform religious ceremonies to partake of religious ordinances but we find when we come to examine them that each one of them has been setup set up by man and they have not been authorized by lly the lord our god A little oyen oven 1500 years ago a church was established upon the earth by our heavenly father through jesus christ ills his son jesus christ not only came to set a pattern to mankind in ills liis earthly acts and to ulio dle for the sins of the world but also to establish ills his church on the face of the earth the church of god whom ile he represented i for the father was represented in him he being in the express image of thel the fathers person herece he received ivea the spirit of the father not by measure but in its falness ful ness ife lie he came here not only to represent the Lord lupon the 1 earth that man might understand the eat fat eather father h er and to show a pattern to them th that t t they might follow in ills his footsteps and to lay down his life for their sins and for the sake of tile the whole world but that he MI might lit tit establish h the church of god andee and he called certain disciples and ordained them holthe to 1 the same calling and author authority which ile he had received from the lather father lie he called twelve men and ordained them apostles ile he called seventy naon men and ordained them unto a position which was an appendage to that apostleship that i they might work in the same ministry and go where the twelve could not go in other words to be assistants to them he revealed to those twelve apostles apostle s sufficient to begin the establishment of his church and he also taught them line upon line precept upon precept and principle upon principle to qualify them after his luon eieg cleV departure arture to continue the work which he e had began and after he left them after he was by wicked hands taken and crucified and slain and had risen from the ded deak and had met with them and talked with them and explained explain bel bei further to them in relation tion to their duties and in relation to the church which was to be established upon the earth he poured 0 out upon them thein ills lils holy spirit the comforter that it might be in ills his stead that ills his word might be spoken to ilem elem them that the things of the father and oi of the tae S son oi 1 lul lui might night q rit hit be revealed to them that they might comprehend all things needful to establish the church that they might do the work of the ministry that they might edify the body of ch christ that they might lead the saints and the church to perfection andee and we know the church was fully established under this divine direction under tiie tile gift and power of the tho holy ghost and the personal teaching of our lord and savior jesus chrls chris it was established with apostles apostle and add prophets avan evangelists ge lists pastora pastors and teachers with helps elps and governments with gilts gifts a and ad powers and privileges and blessings and ordinances that the people who wilo believed in jesus christ might not be left in it a scattered condition but that they might assemble together and be organized after the pattern of heava heave en that the beginning of the heavenly kingdom and heavenly government might be in th their air midst for the work that jesus came to establish was indeed the kingdom of heaven so far as he could establish it at that time and the word of the man who came to prepare the way before hirwas him was I 1 repent gant for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and I 1 the disciples of jesus christ allwoo ali ail who believed on him were organized in the various branches of that church hurch and all the branches were webe joined together in abne one with jesus for their living head with a representative upon the earth in the person of thea the apostle po peter reter who assi sted by his counselors ou ne lors james and john pie pye presided sided over the church and I 1 these men were looked upon as pillars of the church I 1 1 we ivie find by looking through the new testament the nat nature u re of the ia church the power within it and the blessings enjoyed and the promise romise that C christ made was that ay iy if ills his servants observed to do all things whatsoever ile he commanded the gates of hell should not prevail against them for a time the church of jesus christ as it was organized remained upon the earth the power of god was in the midst of the saints they were united together jews and gentiles some bondsmen and some freemen some belonging to one sect and some belonging to another randsome and some to no sect at all when they were baptized into that i church they were all baptized by one spirit into one body they became united they were organized after the pattern of heaven and the holy spirit ran through the whole body the same spirit was wils in the feet as in the head and iu in the hands every acry martof part of the body of the church was actuated by the same spirit and the same influence and that wa the power in their midst that made them one and diff different erent f from rom all other people on the face of the earth but after a t time ime errors crept in among them wick wickedness edness and corruption atso aiso we were re introduced they began to depart from the ways of the lord the persecution se that was heaped upon them mado made the hearts of some fall and after a time the church began to go into darkness and to lose the characteristics which it showed forth in the time when it was first established heresy after heresy crept in and after a while the things that tile the apostles predicted came to pass wicked and corrupt men arose in the midst of the people and made merchandize merchandise dize of the souls of men they turned away their ears from the truth and gave heed unto fa blas and after a few years had passe passed daway away the church went into darkness and Godi withdrew his holy spirit and the pov pon power ver and authority of lp the apostles were slain the lights that were placed in the church were put out by the hand of wickedness darkness covered the whole earth and gross darkness the minds of the people A church achurch arose different from the church which christ established lc it is today to day called the church of rome home or Roman Catholic church which professes to be the ancient christian church continued upon the earth down to the present time and the pope of rome kome who wh 0 presides over it claims to be a descendant in authority of st peter but when we cometo look into the claims kofl of this church to succession we find that they will not stand the test of investigation when we compare the church of rome roine with the church that christ established we find that it is altogether different its organization its ordinances its teachings its doctrines are at variance with wit hithe ithe organization teachings and doctrines of the church of christ instead of apostles over the church there are pope and cardinals instead ot of baptism by immersion for me te remission of sins the sprinkling ing of infants that know no sin instead of the gift and power of the holy ghost darkness instead of charity which coverett cov ereth a anu multitude latitude of sins persecution and a desire to coerce man into certain forms of religion instead of the ordinances instituted in the ancient chuch church chu ch in behalf of the dead prayers for the souls in purgatory I 1 might goon go on at great length and show the difference between that church and the church that christ established but that is not my purpose this afternoon anyone who will take up the new testament and read the account given there of the acts of the apostles of the doctrines taught in the epistles of the ord ordinances ordinance inanc es of the spirit and power in the church of christ and then compare that church with the church called the church of rome will see sec that they are arc two entirely distinct and separate organizations having nothing whatever in common with eacil cacil ot other otner her ner except perhaps that in a few particulars they have some resemblance now all the other forms of the christan Chri stfan religion which exist upon the face of the earth h have ave sprung f from ro in |