Show AT THE TABERNACLEr Continued front Fourth Pane Ja T ere things are being fulfilled today There is not in the wurld today a civilization civi-lization in which the voice of a Latter Lat-ter day Saint has not been heard Nations are talking about it The question of our religious faith forms hi theme of Congressional statesmen tJe President in his Uabim t ihambi r ttkd the kings and aueens of the earth Their eyes tarn 10 this people hidden here in the recesses of these mountains moun-tains and they are endeavoring to discover the secret of our strength The strength of the Latterd y Saints is not an open question with them today to-day They see it by their actions S8 mnch a by their words If there were not sonio great influence at work amongst this people would the Senators Sena-tors and Representatives of this grEat land spend their time upon as would members of Parliament in Ureat Britain stand up before august bodies and talk on this question which they call Moi mojism 1 The secret of Samsons strength lay I in his hair It was said of him that his hair should not be cut and no razor should com upon his head He was to have the strength of nis Maker with him that he might believe Israel and accomplish much In dealing with the people of od And Sampson greW in strength untij eventually he was a mighty man On one occasion while 5 travel gfrom j place to place he met a hun m his path Remembering the prophesies that had been uttered concerning con-cerning him and knowing that the strength of God was with him if he exercised ex-ercised faith he sezed the savage beast and with no other weapon than his hands strengthened by that divine influence in-fluence tore it to pieces and went on his way rejoicing Eventually besought be-sought a cause of quarrel with the Philistines so that by that means he might bring on a combat and establish the independency of Israel Guided by his own wisdom he took oae of the Philistine women as his wife contrary to > the command that the children of Israel should not mingle with their enemies The Philistines looked upon this woman as a fit instrument through whom they could bring him under their control They tried in many ways to get him into their power One night they watched him go into a house and they thought they could secure him as the gates of the oity were closed But during the night Samson arose and lifted tnose ponderous doors from their hinges and so made his escape They remembered that and they did not wish to meet him in battle for he had slain thousands on previous cessions They asked his wife saying Do but ask your husband wherein lies his great strength and promised her gifts and that her name should be as one who has done much for her people Thea Delilah asked of her husband what was the cause of his strength Samson told her a falsehood There is a charm upon me he said bat if they will bind me with seven green withs which have not been dried then shall I be weak as another man And after he was bound with the withs she said unto him The Philistines be upon thee Samson But he sprang up in the strength of his supernatural power and freed himself from the withs for the power of God had not yet left him Delilah seeing this commenced to weep holding that he was no true husband to lie to her Again she besought him to reveal unto her the secret of his strength and he again called a falsehood to his aid Said he If they can take seven new cords that have never been used for anything else and bind me with them then I shall hare no more power than any other man Once again she sent for the officers of her people While he slept they passed those ropes over his body and bound them fast and to test his strength Delilah told him that the Philistines were there Again he sprang forth as before and made himself free She again besought him to reveal the secret Qf his strength and he adopted this time a wondeful method Why said he the charm of my strength is in my hair 11 He made her to under stand that if the seven locks of his head I were woven then he woud be deprived of the marvelous strength he possessed And while he slept she caused his hair to be woven into a matted fabric She awakened him but again he demon strated that his power had not forsaken saken him Delilah renewed her importunities weeping sadly that he told her a falsehood Being pressed with her entreaties he addressed her saying There hath not come a razor upon mine head for I have been a Nazerite unto God from my mothers womb if I shaven then my strength will go from me and I shall become weak and be like any other man Delilah again told the Philistenes but they were not Willing to come as he deceived them on previous occasions But she said Do but come this time for I know by his manner that he has made known to me the secret of his power While he slept his hair was shorn from his head And she awakened him telling him that the Philistine were there He felt strangely and went out and shook himself The Philistines came forward and he tried to free himself as before He was indeed in-deed as another man and he was taken into their power and put to most cruel torture He was made to work in the prison like a slave and was brought out for the amusement of the Philistines Philis-tines and as the subject of their contempt con-tempt The history of that man has affected men strangely I see in it a parallel with the Latterday Saints today They have been told that the stiength of their Almighty Father should be with them if they would be true to the vows and to the covenants that they have made And what have the enemies of this people been doing From the time of the establishment of the church until today have they not been seeking to discover the secret of our strength The growth of the Church of God upon the earth has been a subject of wonder and speculation in the minds of many people In day gone by the enemies of this people thought they discovered the secret of our strength and that was that the people put implicit im-plicit trust in their leaders Said they If we can but put them ontof the way this latterday work will be overcome then the Latterdav Saints will have no power They seizd the prophets of God and murdered them in cold blood They have persecuted the elders who have gone sbrohd and what has been the result Though the blood of the prophets was shed were the Latterday Saints overcome I Verily no They I arose as did Sampson old with the power and strfo ath that God had given unto them In obedience to revelation rev-elation they came to this wild land and by the power and blessing I of God have made it a most desirable place Once againdid the ene I mies of ZIon rise against her Said they h rtieae Sliintssee differ rtte > e Lttterday see no ence whatever between a spiritual duty and a temporal one 1t Said they These Latterday Saints make their religion a part of their everyday lives If a Latter day Saint be made an officer of the law he is not a good officer of the law unless he performs his duty to the Church Church and State they claim is one with that people So they took away the officers that have been originally < set over us and appointed strange men to rule in their stead Some of them have beer noble and some of them have shown the bitterest and most vindictive vindic-tive feeling amongst this people And what has been the result 1 These people peo-ple rose once again They were no seeking earthly power but placed their I reliance upon the Almighty Once more the enemies of Zion are I saying hat i they know why this people are so strong It is owing to the fact that they will always vote as a man They consider that union is strength End that that is the secret of our power bay they If we will produce dissension dissen-sion among them we will succeed Let us try and lead the young Latter = day Saints into a belief in our practices Let us establish our own schools among them Let us strip these locks of strength from their heads and they will be verily like other men The stronghold of their strength will he assailed as-sailed The last attempt of the Phil JSUIIU3 UH DULUPSUU was 11 snaresfu one The attempt made upon the Latter Lat-ter day Saints is not going to be a successful suc-cessful one for the Lord hath said H ButHe has also said that the Latterday Saints have duties to perform that they should notsleep and that they should remember the vows and covenants they have made Sampson fell asleep in the lap of ease and was robbed of his strength So will every Latter day Saint who falls asleep in that way be robbed of his strength My brethren and sisters it is not a time for us to be asleep Set them the example of libtrahtv set them the example ex-ample of kindness if you will but remember re-member what things are holy and to be kept inviolate according to your covenants cov-enants Remember that we have covenanted to build up the king dom of God Oar talents and means should help to carry on this great work Though our enemies may indus ind-us with cords of steel instead of ropes we will still be powerful This is my testimony Dare we fall asleep T I Earnestly and siuserely pray that the i blessings of God may increase amongst this people The Lord has never said that 1 should be worthy of these blessings bless-ings He has never said that any man was sure of his exaltation He has said that He is able to raise up men to carry on his work May the immortal strength that has been given us increase with our years and grow stronger with the days as they pass by That is my prayer in the name of Jesus Amen ELDER ANDREW SENSOR Who also spoke said My brethren and sisters I am much pleased to meet with you again in thfs building I have listened with great interest to what has been said this afternoon and I only wish my words were strong enough that could make myself heard in this large building that I might add my testimony to what I know in regard to the work of God A few weeks ago I left my home to take a short trip to the States to visit those places that have been made sacred by the presence of the Latterday Saints in times pastplaces that have been trodden by Joseph the prophet and those associated with him in the work in which we are now engaged Inasmuch as I had never before that opportunity of visiting those places I may say that my visit to them made a very deep impression im-pression upon me My companion and I could imagine with tne spiritual eye that in those places the taints should again be there and songs of praise ascend as-cend to Jehovah We also saw Nauvoo and visited Kirtland where still stands the remnants of the first temple built in these the last days We saw no pillar pil-lar of fire resting upon it We saw its various departments and stood upon the pulpit upon which the Savior was seen by Joseph the prophet And we felt the presence of holy beings there although we could not see them We visited the hill Gamorah in the State of New York While we were there the testimony of Jeans came upon us and we felt the influence of it We had opportunities of visiting a great many aifferent people as we journeyed through the States We found a few old Missourians of those who once persecuted the Latterday Saints In questioning inhabitants we found that a great many of them met with a sad end While traveling through that part of the country we found quite a number who were friendly to us They told us that it was the greatest mistake for the people of Illinois to drive the Mormons from there One man who had served two or three sessions in the Legislature of Illinois took quite a part in defending defend-ing us On the other hand I found those who opposed the Latterday Saints and persecuted them found that there are different classes who believe that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet These people think that they are liberty to acceptlert tn revelations givento the Prophet Joseph and to reject others A great many of these factions have generally fallen to pieces and only a very few are in existence istence My brethren and sisters I am glad toe to-e back in my mountain home once more and although I am greatly interested about Independence and the city of Nauvro I have no desire at tI e present time to locate there But when the time shall come when the waste places of Zion shall rejoice exceedingly I shall rejoice to see these thing May the Lord bless us my brethrer and sisters May we not fall asleep uut may we awake and march along with the priesthood of God until Zion shall be redeemed and Christ shall be with this people which may God grant is my prayer in the name of Jesus Amen The choir sang an anthem and the benediction pronounced by Patriarch John Smith brought the services to a close AT THE TABERNACLE Religious Services on Sunday Sun-day Afternoon ELDERS TALMAGE AND JENSON Deliver Interesting Discourses > > It is Hot a Time far Us to be rAt r Asleep r At the opening of the services in the Tabernacle last Sunday afternoon the choir and congregation sang 0 my Father Thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place Elder George G Bywater offered prayer The choir then sang Behold the great Redeemer die broken law to satisfy lie dies a sacrifice for sin That man might live and glory win The Sacrament was administered by priesthood of the Third Ward ELDER J E TALMA GE who arose to address the congregation said My brethren and sisters we have assembled once more in the capacity ca-pacity of a worshipping congregation to engage in devotional exercises and to render up worship at the throne of God In doing so we wish to follow the pattern that has been set for us through the months of the prophets of God by the word of revelation And 1 believe that we have every reason to think that our method of worship is acceptable before that being whom we seek to address and reverence The outward form of worship however avails comparatively little in His eyes for He does not see as man sets neither does He listen with human ears to words that are sung or spoken under the name of prayer If we have come together today with that spun which He has said snould rest upon those wio would seek to do His work with our minds so prepared that they are under the influence of inspiration I believe that chis gathering is pleasing in His eyes and He will give us our desires in righteousness before him Every religious re-ligious seat has its own mode of worship wor-ship and every sincere worshipper believes be-lieves that his method la the correct one Theee forms of worship are various vari-ous as they may be met in a journey over this world and even amongst those who worship uuder the collective name of Christians there is much diversity di-versity of form and precedure The method which we pursue as has been said is the one that has been given by revelation one which we believe the Lord has expressed Himself as pleased with providing we follow it in sincerity and truth In our mode of worship we differ from the rest of the Christian sects of the day We believe that they have a right to their methods and forms and wa believe also that we enjoy en-joy the same right We ask to worship wor-ship God according to the dictates of our consciences and we should say to all others So worship your God according ac-cording to the method which you think beat We send our missionaries abroadnot to tear down other religions bat to present the truths of the gospel oefore them Bigotry foreign to our profession und it should be also unknown un-known in our practice The Latterday Saints seek as a people to force no man into their belief or practices They see > to encourage liberty and religious thought guided by inspiration inspira-tion for religious truhs will not be mastered as other truths of knowledge are We cannot reason upon them as we can in dealing with a problem in mathematics or science We believe that nothing but the Spirit I > of God will enable men to understand the words of God correctly and that no degree of philosophy will ever prove the cause of a mans exaltation in the presence of His Father We believe that there will be exalted many men ignorant as Peter was who became the president of the apostles and of the church ufter the crucifixion of his Master We believe that the Lord will look at the heart and not at the outward appearance of a man Call to mind the instance of Samuel bang sent to choose a king for Israel He came to Jesse and told him his errand Jesse had many sons The elder sons gave him great joy and pleasure They wero most highly esteemed amongst their friends They were men el large stature and imposing ing form They were also men cf power holding positions of rank in the army And when Jesse was told tbe purpose of Samuels visit ho thought his eldest son was surely the man with whom the Lord would be welt pleased And so thought Samuel for this son was a man pleasing to look upon But the Lord told Samuel that this was not the chosen one for man looketh on the outwara appearance one me Lord look eth at the heart And Jesse feeling somewhat disappointed sent for his second son and the third and the fourtn and so on until the youngest was presented to the prophet Then the Lor told Samuel that this was the one whom He chose to be king of the hosts of Israel And Samuel poured the holy oil upon his head and set him apart to be future king of Israel It should be a principle of our belief that the Lord will look upon the heart and not upon the outward form The man who will use his five talents wall i > greater in the eyes of God thau the man who has his hundreds and buries them in the earth The Latter day Saints are called a peculiar people The Lord said He would have a peculiar people and according ac-cording to the verdict our opponents he has that people here They say wear we-ar peculiar We say we are peculiar Why do the Latterday Saints gather What constitutes this strangeness that characterizes the Latterday Saints It is because we profess to accept without with-out question the words of God and follow them It is because we say it is wrong that man should ever quioble with the words of the Almighty It is because man should have implicit faith in his Maker It is because what our Omnipotent Father says is true let the consequences be what they may This is the great and distinguishing peculiarity peculi-arity between the Latterday Saints and their fello Christians Tbere was a time when the Church of God consisted con-sisted of but a few numbers The Lord said that this work should be as a stone cut from the mountain without hands and should prow until finally its influences in-fluences would be felt in the world Continued on Second Page s a |