Show I DEFENDS MORMON CHURCH DOCTRINE Elder Brigham H Roberts De Dc Delivers F livers Sermon in the I Tabernacle DEPLORES BITTER STRIFE OPPONENTS TS IN PUBLIC PRINTS UNFAIR IN CRITICiSMS Will a send forth at the same time an and place sweet water and bitter can a fig tree yield figs and olives so can a fountain send forth salt water and fresh With thIs text Elder lder BrIgham IL H Rob Bob Roberts erts discussed at some length attempts of opponents of Mormonism to tc discredit teachings of the church He was sur surprised surprised ho he said stid at the bitterness mess that had been displayed in the prints of late over aes history of Mor Mormonism monism So much so lie he SaId that we might almost think it necessary to fight over again the battles or of the early The Th question Is Is the tho fountain from which the streams spring pure It would be bean bean an anomaly indeed if the streams are aro not like the tho fountain Quarterly Conference The occasion of Roberts address I Iwas I was we tue second meeting of th the quarterly I conference of Pioneer stake in the Tab Tabernacle I Sunday Sanday afternoon The meeting as opened by stake William In a brief address after which the choir sang the anthem GlorIous Things of Thee Are Arc Spoken Prayer was offered by Elder McKenzie and the choir then sang a hymn At Atthe Atthe the close of the services the choir ron ren rendered dered the anthem Awake My Soul the tho solo parts being rendered by Mrs Lizzie Thomas Edward soprano and John Sum tenor The benediction was de by High Counselor George G GSmith GSmith Smith Elder Roberts spoke for one hour and twenty minutes He told of the revelation revelation tion of the golden platES and of other which came to the prophet Joseph Smith and he explained that he be called calledo o to these things not so much to tell of them as to direct notice to the tact fact that the course of the prophet in his religious life Ufe was commendable and h ho asked the question If after It was known that his U e was so commend commendable able say y you of the fountaIn of tilt the church Is it good or corrupt Jf It you Jove Joe me keep my command commandments ments Seek not for riches These were quotations from the book boole or of the Doctrine and Covenants Elder Eider Roberts dwelt upon at some length Hp He stated that it had been given out at some length recently In an eastern maga zInc that the lust for gold was WIS the great motive of Mormonism Can this allega allegation tion be true truc he asked in the face of the quoted statements from the Doctrine and Covenants The elder alluded to the statements given en out many times In the I hooks books of some years ago and character characterIzed the statements as ridiculous in the face of testimony given by leaders of the church In their sermons and writ writings ings Churchs Source Pure I Elder Roberts Roberth spoke of the prophets brother Hyrum Smith and of how he had after godliness s The same holds good of other in the life Ufe of the church he said Elder Eider Roberts commented at some length on the life Ufe of the prophet himself to show that he must have been beena a man of earnestness and great strength in He quoted several selections selections from a diary ot of the prophet writ written written ten during his first missIon from his home borne in Kirtland O 0 OIn In support of the contention that there was among the he Mormon men the high highest highest est respect for womanhood and mother motherhood hood the elder Quoted at some length from a letter leHer written to hIs mother on the of her birthday in which he set forth the fact that a woman had been chosen for the highest honor con connected connected with the namely the I of the annunciation and the first sight ot t th A Saviour after his resurrection resurrection tion The value of the machinery of an any system the elder said should be judged by the results attained He did not claim for the Mormon church absolute virtue I but he did not think it fair for opponents of the church to seize upon some of the thed d fEts and hold them up to the gaze of everyone and that the whole lab fab fabri rii ri was false It was as If a person i should visit a beautiful orchard and Ig Ignoring ignoring noring all the perfect fruit which ad adI I bren produced there for many years ears to tale take up the small quantity of diseased and bad fruit which could be found and to SEt this forth as the production of ofHIe i the HIe orchard There are undoubtedly in ind 3 d in the church who have tail tailed i hI b said but it is not fair to judge the I whole structure of the organization by byi i these few I believe In the church the elder said the fountain whence It springs Is pure and can we not say that the streams issue are like Uke the foun fountain tam tain |