Show sunday services religious ier services vices were held in the tabernacle bernacle ra salt lake city sun lay september commencing at 2 p m Coun counselor seler charles W penrose presiding the choir sang glorious Ulo rions things of thee are spoken zion city of our bod prayer was offered by elder dvid divid F davis the choir sang jesus once of humble birth now in glory comes to earth the priesthood of the seven seventeenth ward officiated iu in the administration of the sa sacrament ELDERT ELDER J M X was then called to address the con gre gation he said it seems to have fallen to my lot this afternoon to occupy a portion of the time allotted to our service while at tempting to speak to you I 1 m sc isu earit earnestly estly desire mohave to have an interest in your faith and pr prayers ayere so that I 1 maybe may be able to say something that will be of interest and possibly benefit us I 1 realize that it is impossible to speak to advantage without the aki aid of the holy spirit I 1 have had the privilege not very long ago of visiting the H holy hily ily land palestine and the presiding brethren here have suggested that I 1 relate some gome of my experience and observations while there first of liall all I 1 desire to bear my testimony to the truth of the gospel revealed through joseph amith smith I 1 received great and additional dit ional testimony of this truth while traveling in that far off country most of you no doubt will remember that many years ago one of the apostles of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints was sent on a mission to the holy lan he went there to dedicate that land tor for the gathering of the jews that it might again become fruitful and be fit to receive the ancient people of god at that time 1840 when apostle orson hyde went on this mission to palestine there were not many divines in the christian world who even thought that palestine could be a gathering place for the jews if they read the sc scriptures ruptures rip tures about a gathering that was to take place in the last days they said it was to be understood of a spiritual gathering fathering so with the building of the temple it was to be a spiritual building no one ventured to look upon these events in any other light at such a time the apostle orson hyde was sent out to dedicate that land for the gathering of the jews and as I 1 walked about through the land from the north to the south I 1 had bad many opportunities port unities to notice the effect of this dedication the jews are now gathering to their land in great numbers hardly a ri rives ves I 1 in n jaffa that does not hot bring some jewish families who come to settle in the beloved land of their fathers the god glood of heaven has indeed heard the prayers of apostle orson hyde in regard to that land it is a standing witness and testimony to the nations that god himself has set his seal upon what vas done by his servant who went by the direction of his spirit brother hyde did not go there led by human wisdom the divines of the world gave him no clue to that work the learned men of the world never dreamed of dedicating the chosen land for the gathering of scattered israel or contemplated the magnitude and grandeur of the work that was shortly to take place it t required a revelation and command ma nd fro from in god to perform the work that was necessary for the return of despised people the of hosts directed what was to he done and he has now proved that apostle hyde went forth as an apostle of god by the fact that from that very time the gathering spoken of by ancient and modern prophets took place the rhe physical aspect of the country has also changed change since then formerly there was a noted doted scarcity of rain min much so that the country could sustain but few inhabitants this has now all been changed rhe phe early and late rains spoken of by the authors of tae the bible as one of the blessings of the laud now come regularly regu barly every year about the m idle i of september it commences to rain at fi first rat it is mild gentle showers but it increases gradually and in december and january and part of february it rains almost incessantly in april or the beginning ot of may the crops have been brought to perfection on the ground and are ready for bar harvesting the land is very fertile through the blessings of god where there is only a ha handful of soil between the rocks it yields abu abundantly nd antly I 1 have no do doubt although the country is very small in in size that through the blessings of the lord which are being made manifest to a large degree it would be able to sustain the same amount of population which it sustained at the time of david and salomon something like five million of people the prevailing religion at the present time is of af course the mo ba ha the turks and most of oath th e arabs believe in the doctrines taught hy by mohammed they are seemingly a very religiously inclined people they devote a large PO portion of their time to worship it is not an uncommon thing to see them lara praying ying in the streets five times of prayer every day is the rule for those who want to observe their religion they will spread their garments on the ground fall down on their knees wd and repeat the formulas prescribed by the koran they wash themselves regularly and are very par nicular icolar about their ablutions ablution a they have lave a very good code of morals as faras aras they go but chere is one peculiarity about it the koran tries ries to enumerate a specified set of morals instead of stating the principles that underlie morality if we for instance want to know what is right or wrong in any par nicular instance where one man has to deal with another the bible may not dot have any passage meeting the requirements of that particular case but it gives a principle L ve thy neighbor as thyself covering in that one passage all possible cases the islam not so go in the koran we find the virtues and the vices specified injustice pride lying avarice etc are set down as sins and kindness justice honesty etc given as virtues but then there is also this about it that the edans do not consider themselves under any obligations to those that do not belong to their faith they themselves are the faithful ones while all outsiders are infidel sand dogs this gives a fair clue to the right understanding of many of the characteristics of the orientals Orient als the most prominent religion in palestine next to the an is the catholic represented by the two divisions the roman and the greek church they occupy prominent places supposed to be sacred ground pilgrims by the hundreds and thousands principally from russia and other catholic countries gather to jerusalem at a certain time every year to offer their devotions to god and receive special favors from him tae the places they meet in are alleged to be the spot where jesus was crucified and buried but as to this no one knows for certain on their arrival they enter the gilted edifice erected the supposed sepulchre various sacred spots are here pointed out and devotionally revered by the masses that assemble for worship one of the most degrading practices attended with great bodily I 1 injury n and even death in many instances is annually witnessed in the church of the holy sepulchre an imitation of the outpouring of the holy ghost on the day of pentecost the pilgrims celebrate this occasion and so eager are they to get a portion of thefil the fire re an it desnos as they think from beavan that some of their number sometimes get crushed to deth iv IL the wild and mad panic that prevails it is a most shocking sight eight to witness the scenes that exists on these occasions the priest enters the little church and is soon followed by the multitude of enthusiastic people he enters the grave all by himself through four small holes in the walls the fire soon appears this is the signal for the pilgrims who are provided with torches to make a mad rush in order to get a light from the holy flame to carry to their friends as a token of their devotion turkish soldiers are set to watch and maintain order but are not always able to do so on accod account n t of the panic that exist by those attempting to get the spark of the fire the arab population of palestine are a progressive race but cautious to believe anything new or unheard of some of them had not even heard beard of america or knew that such a place existed and went so BO far as to ask where it was and whether it was a big country or not the kind of peo pie that lived there religion believed in etc on being told they simply cimpl y shrugged their shoulders and said that was too far away and therefore being sa far away they could not understand it they however are willing to learn and they keep most tenaciously what they once have embraced I 1 if f therefore some practical work could be c E among them which would ba an ocular demonstration to them of the existence of a people who love them and will do them good according to the will of god many would undoubtedly accept the truth should the church of jesus christ of latter day saints ever be led to take a firm hold of the work there in a practical way I 1 think I 1 am justified in stating thata great work would be done among the natives not only of palestine but in the whole orient remember that there is a population estimated at two hundred millious of souls all more or less connected together by a common com aion religion including those living ih persia egypt and aid the east coast of africa and to the whole of this vast population palestine is I 1 think ibbe key tile the jews I 1 have said are gal gathering bering and they are continually imploring their father to restore to them their land god I 1 think will soon hear these prayers and have mercy upon his people the king of glory will soon come may we b be prepared for his coming ELDER GEORGE W BYWATER sai said d his mind was carried back to the early history of the house of judah when tile the prophets prophet sand and patri archs aichs were the custodians of the revelation of god respecting the des tiny of the whole world it is very interesting to reflect upon the manifestations fe of the divine will made known unto them how could that highly favored people have fallen from the high estate they once held but we have it on record how it came about when the prophet says pays they failed to take cognizance of their heavenly Heay enly father being in this respect lower than the brute creation that surrounded them and they had fallen so low that they did not recognize their messiah when he came and their condition now their weeping and wailing is but a consummation of what they did at the time there is nothing now that can avail them except the regenerating influences of the holy ghost As lono long as the jewish nation were under that influence worshiping the god of heaven and earth they were strong aud and stood foremost among the nations but when they departee from him they fell yet they do not see it in this light christians look upon the jews as a marked people and up as a warning against apo apostasy stacy but when we compare the apostasy apo stacy of tills this people with the condition of the christian world we discover that the inconsistency sis slat tency eucy in points of comparison exists the jews became a divided people sects among them were numerous aku with tho the christians 11 christ established a church achurch having for its chief mark unit unity Y but as aa it is now tile the christian worlo word is just as much divided as the jewish nation ever was the apostle warned the churches against such divisions but gibout avail heresies Her esies spread and are still preva ilent until there is hardly a vestige left of the primitive purity the reformers were no doubt honest in their instructions but it was not their work to bring about a complete restoration this was left to a later generation I 1 want to bear my testimony to you that joseph smith was the prophet whom god had foreordained fore ordained to be the instrument of restoring the church of god and found it upon the rock of revelation which christ himself said should not be overcome by even the gatea of hell or to use a modern term the powers of darkness and to this time those powers have not prevailed altho although agh in this boasted land of liberty in this boasted era of liberty many attempts have been made to prevent the people from worshiping god according to the dictates of their own consciences I 1 wish that the true principles of liberty which paul taught and which john taught may sink into the hearts of all honest men until all the earth shall be prepared prepared for the ga gathering catherin therin of israel and the reception of alm him who shall comte in glory the choir sang an angel from on high the long long silence broke benediction by joseph E taylor |