Show sunday services religious services were held in the tabernacle sunday august 11 1889 president angus M cannon presiding the choir and congregation sang we thank thee 0 god for a prophet to guide us in these latter days prayer by bishop alexander the choir sang 0 god th Eternal father who dwells amid the sky I 1 the priesthood of the second ward officiated in the administration of the sacrament BISHOP 0 P F WHITNEY addressed the congregation he read from section doctrine and covenants being the word of the lord delivered to joseph the prophet while in liberty jail clay county missouri in march 1839 these words said the speaker are tat just as applicable today to each latter atte rd day ay saint at least in most respects as they were at the time they were uttered to the captive prophet of godsho was conal confined ned in prison for the sake of the testimony of jesus christ and the message of peace and salvation of which he was made the bearer to mankind the gra grand d principle enunciated in the words I 1 eave have just read is this that au all the changes trials audes tudes all the ups and downs them the tribulations and afflictions through ugh which we are called to vass pass the children of god are ordained as to give us experience that shall be for our best good there is a spiritual way of lookin at things and an earthly way ta be spiritually minded is life and peace but to be carnally minded is death we live in a land of moun bains and valleys in the very land where the lord speaking through J the prophet Isai ahin abin ancient times said he would establish his people leonle in the last days come cocome ye says the prophet cc and let us ua go up to the m mountain ou of the L lord ord to the house of the god of jacob an ana he will teach us of his ways and we will walk it in his paths for out oat of zion shall go forth the law and the word of the lord frona from jerusalem we latter day sain sainte t be ba lieve that we are the people who were thus spoken of by the prophet isaiah v now if we hug the earth if we 1 are always grovelling gro velling in th the e mire of the things of this world if iffe we worship mammon and are lovers of pleasure more tha than n love lovers rs of god if t we make earth our throne instead of our footstool then we are down in the valley and if we gaze aze u upward w aad at all it will be at the mists in Is t s douds douda and smoke that overhang us and i which intercept and obscure the vi vision 8 ion which fain i W would ou I 1 d pe penetrate n 0 to things beyond but if we are spiritually minded tf J we take the higher view of thil thin keep our hearts pure and our s humble if we seek first brat the kanir I 1 dom of god and his righteousness then we will stand upon the mow tain top and not only see aft far away the things of thip earth more clearly than they who stand below but 0 will gaze upward and behold the great sun of heavens heaven because we shall be above the clouds and the storm and although the sunlight of hope of peace and salvation may be hidden from the view of those below it will be plainly visible 40 those who have in their hearts the 1 love of god and his king kingdom dow there was a ti time me when we all as members of the hu human family saw these things clear clearly jyl seeing as we are seen know ing as we are known and not I 1 as at present in the wo words adis of the 1 apostle paul gazing through a glass darkly seeing only in part 1 able only to prophecy in part speak ing in the childhood of our ign agnor ance not having yet put away i childish things and looking with 1 the eyes of manhood and woman hood in christ jesus at the things by which we are surrounded there them was a time when we stood in the 3 immediate presence of god when we were so near to I jim him that we could see him and rejoice in his society the religion of the latter day saints teaches this not only as to themselves but as to th the whole human race who are the childe child 11 6 of god the offspring of one covan parentage 47 I 1 V this doctrine of the pre ext is no new thing not so new nert nwe strange as it was sixty years 4 2 for although it has been taught R the prophets of the almighty in various dispensations and they have left on record their teachings in relation to this great principle it has been the tendency of mankind from the beginning to stray away from the revel revelations at tons of god and as their recollection or their know knowledge ed 9 grew 1 w dim in regard to the qa things W which he had bad spoken they have adopted instead of the revelations of god the traditions of their fathers and the teachings of uninspired men n consequently ab although agh t these things and many more have been taught in the holy scriptures tum I 1 in n vario various us ages the 10 sidrid world sixty years year sago ago had arrived ata condition when it denied them and there are many people who deny ny even today many of the things which god has spoken through his P prophets h to and left on record in the ja holy afy bible ible which christians profess to believe and accept as inspired we are taught that we were the morning stars stanl that sang together that we were the sons of bod who shouted for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid as ail recorded in the book of job that we then dwelt in the immediate presence of our father seeing him eye to eye and in the intelligence gence of our free and untrammeled spirit life recognizing and appreciating abing to a g greater reater extent than we now do some of the noble purposes of god in our creation this was at a time when the foundations of the earth were laid when al had been created in the spirit nothing had yet assumed a temporal form when all that lives moves and has a being I 1 as pertaining to this earth existed in we the spirit before it existed in the mortal body why did the cm morning orning stars sing fling and shout for joy because the foundations of the earth were laid bemuse because it was being made possible fw ft the tee children of god to leave that home of peace of happiness and joy and come down into this world of trouble tribulation pain and sorrow to take up mortal bodies that are am subject to pain disease and death they foresaw this yet they shouted for joy and sang together M wedo we do not now shout for joy at such a prospect when the heavens gather e blackness when the billowing surge 1 rae of persecution rolls towards s us when it seems as though the very mouth of hell bell was gaping open to engolph the work which god has declared shall stand forever many knees are quaking many hands bands are trembling for fear the word of god will come to nought for fear that mormonism is doomed and the kingdom of god destined to destruction when we am aee before us the prospects of suffering physical pain or mental torture or or of being oppressed and afflicted in any way we do not feel in this life very often at least to rejoice and sing songs of joy but we can so feel when we take the spiritual view of things then we loose our grasp of emm earth and soar above its groveling and temptations and look at 4 aan things as we did in that former life not as they seem but as they realty are then we were brave and strong now we are weak and cowardly in our spiritual estate with this prospect before us of pain of tribulation and persecution we sang together and shouted for joy at the thought of plunging in the tide of sorrow and of trouble that we might gain that great and precious experience of which the lord to the prophet joseph like strong swimmers buffeting the fierce waves in order to become stronger by reaching the farther shore some people seem to think that all which brings them pain sorrow difficulty and trial is not from god because forsooth god is not delighted with the suffering of his children shallow philosophers they brand as false anything which calls upon man to humble himself to the flesh to conquer self and lust to rise up out of himself and to allow his spiritual nature to assert itself but anything that ministers to a base and carnal appetite that appeals to the earthly feelings to the mortal senses an and d gives pleasure to the flesh they claim Is from god because he is delighted with the happiness of his children shallow philosopher erel sl when christ came he came to deny self not to assert it to teach man how to crucify the flesh how to deny himself pleasure for principles principled sake and bear pain trials and sorrows patiently descending him self below all things in order that he might comprehend all things and rise and reign above all things but man teaches to gratify self to crucify and put to death the spiritual nature and how do we do 0 this by neglecting to cultivate it by transgressing gods laws by breaking the sabbath day and staying away from our meetings instead of COU coming here and partaking of the sacrament and refreshing the spiritual half of our natures when we love the things of this world more than the things of god and bow down and worship manimon mammon instead of jehovah we put to death our spiritual natures crucify the god within us and allow ourselves to wither away like trees in the garden bearing only leaves perchance but no fruit and so preparing ourselves for the curse that shall finally remove us christ also taught that we should not judge men and things by their outward appearance but to gaze into the heart of things and ana see them as they are even samuel the prophet when sent to anoint the future king of israel for the t h e moment was tempted to talethe take the carnal view and lose sight of the sons jesse fair and beautiful as they were to the natural eye we were re passed ed by of the spirit anti and david davi 9 the shepherd lad ad I 1 a man after gods own heart was chosen king instead the test of faith comes when we are required to believe in that which we have not seen and which Is ie not appreciated by means of the grosser senses in illustration of this the speaker instanced the view taken by the twelve apostles as to the death of the redeemer in the i meridian of time they had trusted as long as they could see him that he would redeem israel but when he was dead they went back to their nets thinking the work of god was at an end no wonder it should have been called a dark and be generation when even the apostles reasoned as they did among themselves after our lord was cru forgetting all he had taught them during the three years of ilia his mortal ministry but jesus had compassion on them none knowing better than he the circumstances by which they were surrounded the environment of weakness and temptation which hedged them about he had bad felt the weakness of mortality himself he bad gained his experience a and he felt and for them he therefore showed himself bothem to them convinced them that his death which seemed defeat was in reality a great victory and taught them the principle that it was more blessed to relieve believe and not see than to believe because they had bad seen latter day saints are we as a people as exemplary in these respects as we should be having been chosen out of the world as the salt of the earth whereby the V rest of the world might be saved having bees made the standard bearers of a great spiritual movement men t for the regeneration of the race are we today fulfilling our mission putting earthly things under our feet rising above the flesh making heaven our throne and earth our footstool it is only by putting under our feet the things of this world our own selfish feelings that becan we can make heaven the throne upon which we will sit we are expected to exemplify this and 4 1 teach other men to do likewise many of this people are perhaps preparing themselves by following after the world in its mad race for wealth and pleasure to go down with babylon when she crumbles and falls but I 1 know that there is a people in the hearts core of this N people that will arise in their majesty in a day that is near at hand band and push spiritual things to the front a people who will stand up for ac god fearing not man nor what man can do but believing as the prophet joseph says that all things we suffer are for our best good and that god will stand by us for ever and ever the choir sang the anthem the nations bow to satans gatans thrall benediction by elder charles W penrose |