Show DIVINE SERVICE At the Tabernacle on Sunday Afternoon last CONGREGATIONAL SINGING Elders Elias Morris and George C Lambert Exhort the Saints and Refer Re-fer to the Field for Labor at Home The exercises at the Tabernacle on Sunday afternoon last were begun by the singing by the choir and congregation congrega-tion of the hymn Great God attend while Zion sings The spectacle of the rising of the vast mass of humanityevery individual of the immense assembly standing at the requestof the presiding officer was one which will not soon be forgotten by those present and the singingjoined in by the majority was a sound that will ring long in the ears of the multitude which participated Prayer by Elder H G Bywater Singing by the choir of the hymn Softly beams the sacred dawning Of the great Millennial morn ELDER ELIAS MORRIS realized that it was a trying ordeal for him to stand before so large a congregation and attempt to address them jet he was pleased with the knowledge he possessed of the principles of the gospel He desired to aid by his words the Saints to progress in the work of salvation He briefly alluded to his early training and to the time when he embraced the gospel gos-pel saying he always had reverence for religion was taught to honor his parents and his God and when the elders of Israel visited the home of his childhood he listened to their teachings and investigated the doctrines they promulgated pro-mulgated The first sermon he heard touched his heart and he was straightway straight-way converted and immediately bap tized As soon as he was confirmed a member of the church his nearest rela tives and dearestfriends atonce became his bitterest enemies he was shunned and ostracised as being unworthy to associate with them This conduct appeared strange to him and on his inquiring the reason he was informed that it was because he hadjoined the Mormon Church Be was convinced afterward that it was because he had received the truth To those who affirmed that he had embraced delusion delu-sion he extended an invitation to show him whereof the delusion consisted From then until now he had never been shown that he had accepted error and falsehood in place of the principles of the gospel of the Son of God Elder Morris thought it strange that among the thousands and tens of thousands there was none able to convince the Latterday Saints that they were wrong He bore a powerful testimony to the truth of the work in which he was engaged While young he taught the principles he had received to his parents who were subsequently baptized and obtained a testimony for themselves so with Ins brothers He declared that the work was onward and that no power was able to stay its prog ress and the Saints would come outright out-right in the end but they must live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God be more upright and faithful The outlook was probably dark and gloomy but the Lord was f moving for the good of his chosen children child-ren He saw a wide field of labor for the elders among the people of the Territory Ter-ritory as much so as there was in a mission to foreign lands He regretted to say that many were straying from the fold who should be labored with He thought that home missionaries had I an extensive labor before them in re forming the Saints at home The priesthood and organization of the church were perfect and to the close observer ob-server were beautiful sublime He il lustrated the plan of government adopted and in working order throughout through-out every community in Utah and hOW the wards were presided over and officered for the benefit and advancement advance-ment of those living in those divisions of the community The duties of the teachers priests and elders were ro ferred to and those holding the lesser priesthood strongly exhorted to per form them their responsibilities were great Elder Morris said and if they attended to their duties tnere would be a different condition or affairs among the people today He referred to the conduct of many who were termed I hoodlums whose actions had become such that they were regarded with I dread They had degenerated through neglect and carlessness oa the part of I those who should have seen to their welfare and instructed them in the ways of life and the principles of righteousness righteous-ness He made ferrent referenceto the field now open at home for the elders of Israel and impressivelyreferred to the young men who were ready and willing to engage in the work of the Lord for the salvation of mankind at home and abroad The counsels of God and the requirements of the gospel were sufficient suffi-cient to thwart the designs of the peoples peo-ples enemies if the Saints would observe ob-serve them and live accordingly When he landed in America in 52 his heart leaped with joy he believed he had ehtered the land of the greatest government on the earth a land of freedom free-dom which had a welcome for all He thought it would ever be the same and 1 that all would be alloved to worship Godaccording to the dictates of conscience con-science but ha mourned at the change which had peen wrought in the nation since that time He claimed to be a Christian that the gospel taught by the I Latterday Saints was perfect in its every details What were the Saints if I they were not Christians They believed be-lieved in Christ that he died for the sins of the world and in every principle He taught How much more could any other people claim Yet because they differed on one point and one pOInt only they were being persecuted There were hundreds of thousands claiming to be servants of the Most High crying that the Saints were deluded de-luded Here in Utah there was a vast field for them to minister in Why I dont they come he asked and compare com-pare principles and doctrines andean and-ean ehze the Territory Why dont they come anl try to save the Latter day saints They dare not He had not heard of one who could successfully I do this He had inquired ot several it I they had the gospel and were humble i followers of Jesus why they did not I j convince the Mormons of their errors I and was invariably told they could not The people he was informed Were enough but the 1aders were called good crafty and unapproachable yet the speaker declared in a spirited man that he was intimately acquainted ner the leaders and knew that they neither wished nor did any individual wrong or harm that they were laboring for the salvation of the human race He had seen them and knew them and knew that they had undergone hardships for the welfare and good of the people of the world and the people gathered by their agency were better off in Utah than they eEJr would have been in the lands where they were born and reared He fervently prayed for the improvement improve-ment of the Saints and exhorted them to unity and faithfulness ELDER GEORGE 0 LAMBERT though he would not have had the inde pandence and manhood spoken of I y Elder Morris had he been born in tI foreign land The followers of the Savior were given to understand that their invariable lot would be to be persecuted per-secuted If the Saints were not being persecuted where were we to look for a people who n er Elder Lambert was consoled with the thought that it was for righteousness sake that they were being harrassed The opposition arrayed against them is due to the fact that they are doing the will of God To say that it was bu one principle of the Saints religion the world was opposed I to was false it was the power acquired by the church which alarmed the outside out-side the same as that exhibited by Jesus alarmed the people of His day The same feeling inspired the enern es of the people of the eastern States in the infancy of the church Was it for polygamy then No That principle was not publicly promulgated then The objection urged vs that the Saints claimed to receive revelations but the real stumblingblock WAS that the world was afraid of the Saints power in the union they maintained they were a peaceable people and minded their own business The same spirit had always existed in every locality where the Saints had settled The people peo-ple of Utah were eing looked upon by the world and it behooved the Saints to so govern themselves as to be examples ex-amples They had everything to encourage en-courage them What would it profit them it they turned aside now and forfeited L mt c t ff eternal isle < The Saints urn bettor yu than the majority of communities in the world they owned their own homes and lands What could the world offer them to renounce their religion re-ligion and recant for They had nothing He felt that though those now living did not expect to see the redemption re-demption of Zion they should so instruct in-struct and impress upon their children the magnitude of the work of God He believed the gospel of the Latter day Saints was the power of God untO salvation sal-vation He did not pretend to see the end of the present crusade of persectv tion now going on against the Saints butit could be shortened by the Saints themselves who should look forward to the reward in the Hereafter promised the faithful Their enemieacould not prevent the Saints gaining exaltation in the life to come In conclusion Elder Lambert exhorted the Saints to trust in God disregard the popular feeling of the wicked look to themselves search the heart God was not asleep but would hear and answer the prayers of the faithful turn to God with wholeheartedness whole-heartedness everything was to be gained by being faithful and true to the covenants they had made Singing of an anthem < Benediction by Elder Ford |