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Show Tabernacle meeting. A largo congregation convened in tho above place of worship on lust Sunday afternoon. Eldor Orson Pratt delivered a discourse dis-course replete with instruction and scriptural argument, on the nnture ol thegiftofprophecy. He commenced by reading the first verso of the fourteenth four-teenth chapter of St. Paul's first epistle lo the Corinthians: "Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy." This seemed to be an exhortation of the Apostle Paul to desire the beet gifts that existed in the church, and that the gift of prophecy was more precious aud to be desired than tho gilt of healing, of tongues, or seeing and conversing with angels. Matters were otteu made very plain to the people of God, by means of (his gift. All the prophets that the Indie knew anything about were those who fure-told fure-told future events, and he preferred to adopt the bible testimony concerning con-cerning it than that of some of the Christian ministers who strove to make others believe that prophesying meant simply exhortation, exhorta-tion, tujted the passngu where the apostle instructs the Baints how to act when the spirit of prophecy rested upoa them, and in which this gift was termed revelation. It must not always he taken for granted that a religion was true because its voUries were pious; the religious world to day was like the phansees of old, who were generally moral and pious, but denied the "power of Godliness," and the direct revelation from God necessary nec-essary for their salvation. There were honorable exceptions in those days, however, who believed in visions and revelations, and who bad the testimony thus imparted to them that Jesus was the son of God. There were less of that class at the present day, the traditions of this century being different. He would prove by the direct word ot Oou that when oeo-ple oeo-ple did not believe in revelation they were not spiritually-minded, neither were they living in obedience obedi-ence to the commands of God. This was what the saints believed er they were not liviug their religion. He sometimes though, some of them were so absorbed in worldly cares and arduous labors, that they forgot the things contained in the new testament. testa-ment. There were not nearly as many prophets in the church as there might be. Paul had said: "I would that ye all Bpake with tongues, but rather that ye prophecy." This, that the signs ot the times might be made known before they came to pass, so tnat the saints might be children of light, and not children of darkness. Every gift must be obtained by faitb, aud by liviug for that blessing. No church of God ever exists without spiritual gilts, prophets and revela tors. There would come a time when the great Elobeim would be seen in his glory, then the gifts would perhaps per-haps not be needed, because that perfection per-fection would have been reached, referred re-ferred to by St. Paul in his writings on charily, when the saints should no longer see "as through a glass darkly," dark-ly," but "then face to face." ihe gifts were as the scaffoldioe to the buildiug, in process of erection, which could Lot be dispensed with until the structure struc-ture was completed. When the mill-enium mill-enium was reached, perfection would be only partially attained, hence the gifta would be needed during that thousand years. There would bo, children of mortality born aud re-' main on earth in the millennium, and the gifts could not he done away, until God should come and dwell on the earth and all become immortal who dwelt with him. He quoted from the bock of Joel respecting prophesying when the Spirit of God should be poured out upon all flesh. Then all would be marie revelators and prophets. With what shame tha sectarian priest would hide his face who had always taught the people that the "canoo of scripture was full." Elder Pratt then quoted from Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning the great miracles to be wrought in the latter days, when the great gathering of the Israelites should take place, showing that those prophesies would have a literal and complete fulfilment, fulfil-ment, as much so as the delivery of the ancient people iron Egypt and Babylon. |