Show RELIGIOUS sunday services in the tabernacle july 21 1889 the opening hymn commencing with all my powers oi of heart and tongue was announced by president A M cannon and sung by the choir prayer was offered by elder geo G bywater the choir then sang the hymn the lord my shall prepare and feed me with a sh epards care 11 the bishopric ot of the twenty first warl wari officiated in thy the administration of the sacrament ELDER CHAS W PENROSE addressed the congregation As a foundation for his remarks he read the fifth and sixth verses of the fourth chapter first epistle of peter who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead for for this cause was the gospel 0 preached also to them that are dea dead 9 ave that t they might be judged cording according to men in the flesh but live according to god in the spirit he then said the information contained in the text was not generally accepted by the christian world ministers either passed the verses by or endeavored to explain them away in a spiritual sense the latter day saints accepted the doctrine contained herein as it is written by the apostle and bore witness of the same declaring to the world that the gospel of jesus christ has been and will be preached not only to the living but also to them who are called dead that all may give an account to god and that a righteous judgment may come unto all it was very evident that the apostle in thus speaking of the dead did not as many preachers explain signify those that were dead in trespasses and sins but dead in the common acceptation of the term those who did not hear or receive the gospel while living but who must in order that they might be judged according to men in the flesh hear the same gospel as was preached to men in the flesh and by obedience live unto god in the spirit this was further explained in the and verses of the previous cli chapter apter for christ aliso alao hath bath suffered buffered once for sins no the just for the unjust that he might bring us to god being put to derth death in the flesh but bat quickened by the spirit by which also he went and preached un to the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long longsuffering suffering of god waited in the days of noah while the ark w was a a a preparing wherein few that is eight beigh t souls souls were saved by water the common sense understanding of this scripture is that when the body of jesus was lying in the tomb his spirit went somewhere and the apostle clearly states that he went and preached to athe spirits in prison who had been disobedient in rejecting the message which was preached to them by noah while the ark was preparing in support of this doctrine the speaker referred to the words of isaiah the prophet which jesus read concerning himself in the synagogue on the sabbath day the spirit of the lord god is upon me because the lord hath bath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the 0 pening opening of the prison to them that are b bound 11 isaiah ld i 1 when jesus had filled his mission in the flesh after committing his spirit into the hands bands of his father he gave up the ghost went into the spirit world opened the prison doors to them blat that were bound and proclaimed liberty to the captives or as peter has expressed pr ss d it he ascended up on high an and d led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men the savior gave his disciples to understand that they must continue the mission given to him he said As my father hath bath sent me even so send I 1 you and he said further the works that I 1 do shall ye do also and greater works than these shall ye do because I 1 go to the father the mission he committed to them after his resurrection was to preach the gospel to every creature and the inference is that they also after fulfilling their earthly labors were in turn to preach the gospel also to them that were dead god the father had in our day made a anew new revelation of the old gospel which while it was new to us was nevertheless everlasting it had come unto us with all its gifts and graces powers privileges priesthood and authority and this gospel was the power of god to the salvation of the dead as well AS of the living and it was because of the revelation of god direct to us as a people pe 0 pie that we could testify that we know this scripture to be true and the doctrine contained therein to be part of the design and plan of human redemption demp tion the speaker then dwelt on the falling away the great apostasy apo stacy of the churches quoting the words of the early apostles on the subject who foresaw and foretold what should take place how that the institutions of heaven should bo be done away and rejected and the doctrines and notions of men substituted and how 3 that this state of things should should exist until all nations should become corrupted and drunken with the wine of the wrath of the forDi fornication catlon of babylon the great the mother of harlots 11 he quoted II 11 peter it 18 1 8 II if timothy lii 17 1 7 these them ii fl 18 13 1 8 3 rev and one of the ho milies of the epis 1 copal church or church of england edgland says clergy and laity men women and children ot of all ages sexes and degrees of 01 whole christendom a most moat horrible and dreadful thing to think have been at once buried in the most abominable idola idolatry and that tor for the space ot of SW years or more the reformers who proclaimed this universal apostasy apo stacy tried to reestablish A the ancient christian church and did the best they knew how bow but all the good they tried to accomplish was from their own owl human judgment and belief and was not directed or authorized by revelation from god and consequently their systems were all man made and contained many errors one of which is that when a person perrou dies he goes either up to heaven or down to hell and that the everlasting state of man is fixed at death until quite recently the belief was common among the sects that the suffering inflicted upon the unfortunate sinner was most intense and physical in its character a literal hell of fire and brimstone without a moments cessation or the shadow of a hope of its ending forever since the doctrines of the latter day saints on this subject had been widely preached the views of many of the ministers of the churches had bad undergone a 8 change with respect act to the opportunity that might possibly be afforded men after death to be saved from the tor torments merits of the damned but such ministers only venture to say what they hope will bethe case in the next world that there may some means by which the heathen who never beard the gospel in the flesh may be saved the latter day saints declare that they know about this through the revelations of god to them upon the subject this the speaker admitted sounded strange to some eliciting a smile oi derision they could not for a moment entertain the thought that any communication existed in our day between god and man but the question arose did god ever send angels from heaven to earth Dd he ever raise up prophets through whom he wrote and and communicated his will to the children of men if these things had taken wace place and we believed they h had a d w why h s should b d they not occur a again g a in r the hes speaker aj aker said he could id u understand aders t d ho how a person who did not believe in revelation at all could deny it but he be could not understand how pers who believed the bible could consistently deride the claim of the latter day saints to new revelation when that book co contains so many allusions to the latter days as the time when the spirit of revelation should be poured out ua U on oil all flesh and when all meu men should know him from the least to the th greatest but man through his own lea jing learning ruing and wisdom could not find old w and know god but in his own Po culiar way we were told he would reveal himself to babes and suc klings and that through the weak things of the earth he would confound the wisdom of the wise t the 01 lord in his dealings with the fe tren of men suits suite himself to wl Otheir heir condition in heathendom w has from time to time raised up gen gaeu to reveal saving truths to the people ie as they have been prepared to receive ive truth the word of the gd lord had bad not been confined to the Ile brews 0 whenever ever and wherever truth tarn k ad bad come through 1111 sages h and anc poets PO it had emanated nn f arom ona bod there must come a time abell en every ery soul of adams race whether in the body or out of hr the 6 bod body will have the opportunity of either receiving or 0 rejecting meeting the true gospel and its saving ng truths will be presented resented too to them m in the way that god ed shall into cate man without regard to the will of edder penrose then narrated the rn allner ner in which the lord had 3 chosen to reveal cal himself to the boy ceph aseph sm smith th the very mention of whose joae name nam 0 elicited derision from the bore hi learned 0 of f the present day he ta daany Da ony ny to the remarkable tos that god had revealed through tho latter ter day prophet and referred ca 4 to that wonderful reven called the vision con taked the ts in section of doctrine irine and covenants which made aae clear the doctrine of human emption and revealed the true a subject that was now no te 1 I ng and puzzling the minis of the various christian deno the lations oat ions in that heavenly vision was w edition condition of man after death clearly set forth and the dwelt upon it at some length gh showing the different de grei oreen of glory that men would reve according to their works and the ry final al rescue of all the race of uon tion J except the sons of X joseph joaeph smith like jesus of tha a zareth had given to the world h k e means leans by which the divinity of s mission on might be tested he promised all who obeyed the principles he proclaimed that they should cave a testimony from on high by abich they should know for them selves 88 whether 11 these doctrines were of god wd 0 or orman man there was a cloud d of witnesses Fi nesses to the truth and divinity jn T of the mission of oseph ph smith dwelling in these valleys and they had lathered LM to this land having moved upon by the holy arit to do from various HIBA so mi gates teo of the union from england oland jotland wales ireland the islands of italy iti the S from rom france germany V russia and other parts of continental nen tal europe sand ach islands Jd ands from east india and bious parts of the earth all of whom to 00 testify before God angels and men en that through obedience to the irementa ire ments of the gospel as preached Vre preached ached by the elders of ef this odthe hurch the they received the witness of I 1 the to he spirit which bore testimony w them of the truth of this work and that this was the gospel of the kingdom which was to be preached to all nations before the end as a witness As evidence of their abiding faith in this testimony they had gathered here and now were ready at any time to drop their business pursuits to go forth without purse or scrip to declare the truths of the everlasting gospel to their fellow men the testimony the latter day saints had received was not that which throw people into convulsions and led men to perform spiritual gymnastics it was the spirit of light intelligence and truth which enabled men to discern truth from error when under its inspiration and to commune with the powers on high and draw near to their maker it was the spirit of the everlasting gospel enjoyed in all ages by the followers of god the father and jesus christ his son it was under the influence of that spirit that the latter day saints had gathered here as foretold by micah the prophet who declared that in the last days the house of the lord should be established in the mountains and people of many nations should say come and let us go up to the mountain of the lord and to the house of the god of jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths etc I 1 mi alcan zy JI ail 13 1 3 this prophecy was now being fulfilled in the gathering together of this people and every word of the lord contained in the bible will in time receive its fulfillment not a word would fall fail and we were living in the day when most of these things were taking place men everywhere were commanded to repent of their sins sina and turn unto tb the lord eLord the promise was now as it was anciently ask and ye shall receive seek and ye shall find knock and the door shall be opened unto you but men must seek and ask in faith in order that they may the speaker then dwelt on the first principles of the gospel affecting the salvation of man and showed how all can come into possession of the priceless gift of eternal life how that nations nati oits and communities as well as iii individuals divi duals would be judged of god rewarded or punished for the way in which they treated the servants of god who were sent to them bearing the message of life and salvation the speaker also showed how the gospel of salvation reached them whom we called I 1 dead how that the ordinances din ances essential to the salvation of the living might be vicariously performed in behalf of the dead on the principle that the savior had done forus what we in consequence of the spiritual death that had befallen our race could not do for ourselves and in this way would the dead be redeemed and be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to god in the spirit the speaker closed his remarks by bearing testimony to the truth of mormonism 19 and to the right of belief in its doctrines u under ader the constitution of the land which had been given through inspiration of almighty god glod as aa A american meric citizens we claimed and were entitled to protection in the practice of our belief so long as we infringe not upon the rights of our fellows if as a people under ander the guise of religious belief we trenched upon the rights of others it then became the duty of the civil power to step in and restrain the offenders for any injustice that might be inflicted upon us to th prevent the legitimate exercise of our religious belief the nation will be hold held accountable that judg ment we leave to the judge of the whole earth in whose hands bands are the destinies of all men and nations and it remained for the saints to be charitable patient and long suffering placing their faith and confidence in god who had bad thus far led and guided them and who would continue to care for and d sustain them until his purposes in them should be fulfilled his kingdom be established and his rule and government fill the whole earth the speaker bore testimony to the mission of the elders of this church which they would endeavor to fill until every nation had heard the gospel preached to them as a witness that the end was nigh and when they had finished their work on earth they would pass ass into a wider and mightier flad field of labor among the hosts odthe departed where they would preach the gospel also to them that are dead and would never cease their work of salvation until every knee should bow and every tongue confess that jesus is the christ to the glory of god the father the choir sang the anthem hear my prayer with misses lizzie thomas and bessie dean and george and moroni thomas forming the quartette benediction by patriarch john smith |