Show IN 1 ALT LAKE CHURLHE Doctor Utter Preaches an Eloquent Elo-quent Sermon on Liberty WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST REV L B RIDGEIiYS DISCOURSE AT ST PAULS v Salt Lake Stake Conference at the Tabernacle Yc terda > Three Services Ser-vices Were Held Slorninpr Afternoon I After-noon and Evening Rev R G 3Ic JVlece at the First Presbyterian 0 Church I j There was a good attendance at the Salt Lake churches yesterday and the j discourses were generally interesting and instructive I After a long vacation the Unitarians have resumed their services at the theatre The stage was gaily decorated with sun flowers perhaps the most effective wild flower that can be used for such a purpose unless i be the queenly columbine Mr Utters subject was Liberty and thetext was the quotation that Jesus made from the Prophet Isaiah in his first sermon at Nazareth To set at liberty them are bruised We In this country do not appreciate the blessing of liberty I is our birthright and has become like the air we breathe or the sunshine or the beauty of our landscape of mountains or valley something too common to attract our thought or move our feeling In our grandfathers time much more was said of this precious heritage which their fathers had fought for and won No people in the world are so free as we no nation before us ever dared to be so free The American travelling in Epgland or Europe finds himself restricted in a hundred ways in a few days Policemen and guards everywhere check the inquisitive spirit that would roam everywhere investi i gate and see everything Over there too one sees strange reminders of a severer bondage that befel many man older time A the sight seer approaches ap-proaches Warwick castle he is thrilled with the picturesque beauty of the rugged gray battlements towering above the verdure but on entering the relics that are shown make him think that his ancestors were half bar baric after all And when he goes down below the tower into the lowest dungeon dun-geon of all and feels the staple fast in the stone and finds the fnds outer part was worn by a chain that held some poor prisoner there he will feel a love of Iberty that he never felt before Isaiah wrote the eloquent sentences that Jesus read at the time when some thousands of the people of Israel were about returning from their long cap tivity in Babylon and 5 they overflow with the joy of new found liberty Jesus applied the prophets words to himself and to his own mission We should suppose that he expected to expecte free his people from the Roman yoke He knew too much for that and this may be a reason for a changed word in his reading To set at liberty them that are bruised he read not oound as it is in Isaiah But to all he gave a i spiritual interpretation I was not i that he would deliver those individuals who then In Palestine happened to be in prison or free those who were slaves but that he would so enfranchise enfran-chise the souls of men that no bondage could come to them ever again All arnest souls must feel this as they stand at the open door of youths great opportunities ready to step forth to engage in the work of life Gods spirit I is upon them and their word and work is to be mighty to deliver men from all kinds of bondage and sorrow In a true sense i is the work of each of us to deliver men from some sort of bondage bond-age But it is well to remember that being delivered we shall yet be bound Absolute Abso-lute liberty is an idea only There is a I jbondage that we should seek and choose and love When truth and love i shall set you free you are bound to j their service not by the iron chain of I oppression but by the stronger silken cords of choice The first great work of deliverance that we naturally undertake is to deliver i de-liver from ignorance This is the meaning mean-ing of all our schools and educational i work Children beautiful as they are are ignorant and no price that can beset be-set for their deliverance can be too great No nation has done so much for the children as we are doing In olden times knowledge was feared it was something in which there was I danger and each authority erected i thus far and no farther setting limits to the dissipation of ignorance Today we fear no knowledge fear it for no class or sort of our people I Is only ignorance that w ° fear and delusion the child of ignorance that imagines itself knowledge Another enfranchisement we should earnestly desire for ourselves and others that deliverance from fear that we reach through self surrender to God and good We thus reach a state of peace in trust and in love of the world that is not otherwise reached So long as one fights selfishly for his own way considers chiefly his own wishes and desires he will have a hard time When I the right the true the good are made I the keynote all drifts into exquisite harmony and life is filled with the I peace of God that passeth under 1nd1 ing St PanVs Episcopal I The Rev L B Ridgley preached in I the evening en the question that Will not Down taking for his text the I words from St Matthews gospel xxii 42 What think ye of Christ I The reverend gentlemans discourse lin substance was as follows A question is Worth more than an assertion in influencing men An assertion as-sertion rouses us to opposition We will not be forced fo accept It A question like a cinder In the eye irritates I irri-tates us till we settle It or like a seed I I i grows I will not be silenced till answered And when we answer i I for ourselves the answer becomes part of our life Wisely enough Je us met the Pharisees Phari-sees with this question What think ye of the Christ Today the same question comes Inevitably t In-evitably to you and me For the i I I Christ is still a living factor in the worlds history I What think ye of the Christ I Some men answer I dont bother my head about the matter In fact most people are too lazy to think But is i wise to ignore the question Jesus Christ is moulding the worlds life He will mould it and reign over it whether you are pleased and ready or not You can only fit comfortably In the regenerated re-generated world and have pdrt in his kingdom as you understand him Are you wise or foolish if you let his king f dom come without bothering your head to think about i beforehand Tariff laws will go into effect in due time whether you bother your he dover d-over them or not Are you wise oh business man if you do not bother your head to frame your business be forehand so as to work under the new laws Iew But even the people who think In J j these days do not think of the Christ One asks me What do you think of this or that new novel I I answer Why give all your time I to thinking of such tales of what might or might not have happened WhY not think of the realest of alL realities What think you of God and I of man and of the Godman of the Christ I Then I ask What do you think of Or i I J c c I Buddhism of theosophy of spiritual j ism of Christian science of modern science scence I answer one What do you think I of the Christ who in India itself is displacing dis-placing Buddha and satisfying mens hearts when Buddhism left them lef I empty Why waste time over theosophy theos-ophy which leaves each man to mike his own God and his own truth And it he has a sound mind leaves him a rational God and a rational truth but I i he goes insane leaves him lost in mad visions with an insane God and I crazy truth Where Is the authority In theosophy to tell whether your notions no-tions or mine of God be the truth I What think you of the Chist who says I am the truth I Snlritualism I it be spiritual I ask What think you of the Christ who did not dare to speak of the next life as your mediums do in sordid outworn out-worn terms of this unsatisfactory life and who revealed more of it than any Isnirit has ever whispered Christian Science I is always tell inc me in theories of God and life and showing me how I can twist the words of scripture to fit them I say What think you of Christ What did he teach Modify your theories to fit his plain and simple and spiritual I words I Modern Science Your office is to study all phenomena and deduce law The Christ is the greatest phenomena in history What think you of him You at least dare not brush him aside i But there Is another answer I I One says I think the Christ is a i myth Or at least his history is so I colored by legend that we cannot be sure about him Historic minds today realize that he I can no more be a myth for first he claims to be sinless No other goodman I good-man ever claimed that and second he claims power to right eyery wronir in the world Come unto meal me-al ve that labor and are heavy laden I will give you rest and third his preaching is superhuman Mark the sermon on the mount fitting all races and acres supplementing and supplant inn all religions Yet he was born of narrow race in narrowest age and died without culture and braver than Julius Caesar Critical scholarship admits ad-mits todav that the four gospels stood at the end of the first century in substance sub-stance as thev now stand They cannot can-not be mere legend Other men answer I think he was a good man I only that still he is the master for those who want to be good men But here the old dilema risesEither he was mQre than a good man or else he was an Imposter or a selfdeceived fanatic At last some men answer He is the Son of God But how often that is dead intellectual faith He is not satisfied till we answer My Lord Mv God Even so some hold him at I a distance We only realize what he II Is when we can say He is my life Mv glory al Christ in me the hope of At the Tabernacle Yesterday was stake conference and as a result the tabernacle was crowded crowd-ed At the morning session the services ser-vices were opened by the choir and congregation singing Now Let Us Rejoice Re-joice in the Day of Salvation after which prayer w offered by Elder William L Bateman The statistical and financial reports of the various stake organizations and of the stake itself were read Elder Joseph E Taylor Tay-lor referred to the paucity of fast offerings offer-ings These should be the main source of support for the poor and the necessity neces-sity of the needy being assisted to means of selfspport was emphasized The idea that Salt Lake city consti tutes Zion was discouraged unoccupied unoccu-pied lands in all parts of the territory may be made component tarts of Zion Elder C W Penrose then addressed the congregation saying in substance that to be a Saint in truth requires constant exertion both In doing and in hearing the word of God Neglect in attending meetings would not be so frequent i the teachers would do their duty properly Their visitings from house to house and their exhortations of the people are not attended to with sufficient system and faithfulness Even the highest officers of the church should be instructed in-structed regarding their duties as members mem-bers The best proof of love for neighbors ds shown in administering to their wants The people should learn thrift looking to the future and providing font The regulation established by the authorities of the church appointing the first Thursday of the month as a fast day also includes the donation of a sufficient amount for the benefit of the poor Greater diligence in this matter mat-ter would relieve the general tithing fund of this responsibility of supporting support-ing the poor By attention to this matter the people will place themselves them-selves In touch with God and bring his blessings upon themselves and their posterity Elder Angus 11 Cannon regretted the absence of some officers of the stake from the conference These men have received their offices for the glory of God not for their own glory They are servants of God and should do their service well Their dishonor of Gods work will cause him to dishonor them Proper control of the appetite and the relief of the poor were advised The fact that three times as much is given to the poor from the tithing fund as 1s received from fast offerings is most unfortunate Men as the heads of families I bishons etc as the heads of their organizations or-ganizations must be dilierent and faithful faith-ful as mouthpieces of God thereto in order to be worthy of their positions The choir sang the anthem Let the Mountains Shout for Joy after which the benediction was pronounced by Elder Orson F Whitney AFTERNOON SESSION The afternoon services were opened by the choir singing after which Dunbar nraver was offered by Elder William C The ereneral authorities of the church I and stake as represented at the last conference were unanimously sustained sus-tained Elder Bri ham S Young in the course of an address said that in the eyes of the Lord all were equal The black man provided he lives in ma lve accordance accor-dance with the laws of God is just as precious as the white man Condemnation Condem-nation will fall upon the most exalted of the Lord as well as on the poor if the violate the laws of God The Latterday Saints cannot Ignore the situation In which they are placed Much more is required of them besides the purity and honesty of their hearts They must pray dilligently and search for God That they will find him is promised and God will stand by this agreement The speaker then read from the book of Doctrine and Covenants a portion which shows precisely the situation of the Latterday Saints today and predicted I pre-dicted events of the future showing the necessity of living near to God in our hearts as well as in our deeds I I President Wilford Woodruff then snoke concerning the report of the oresidencv of the stake saying that in the six months past no less than 14000 had been received by the stake from the tithing office I has been the custom for several years past for the president of each stake to state to the bishopric of their stake how much should be reserved for the poor and over 50 per cent of the tithing received has been paid out to the various stakes I is a deplorable fact that the situation situ-ation demands that over half of the funds received from the tithing office be given to the poor The speaker Impresssed upon the congregation the necessity of fasting making fast offerings and explaining the law of tithing The law of tithing is a commandment command-ment of God I has been observed since the days of Israel by the people of God We are living in the most important dispensation that the Lord has ever given to man sfnce the days of his presence upon earth in the body and 0 < e i i I I we should therefore t our lives be an example to the world we should live I in the highest ideality of virtue honesty hon-esty and worth I After eulogizing the relief societies and other church organizations the speaker spoke of the privilege the Lat terday Saints have in saving the souls of the dead by baptism The choir then sang the anthem Lift Up Your Heads 0 Ye Saints after which Elder Abram H Cannon dismissed the assembly I I EVENING SESSION I The choir sang Another day has fled and gone after which prayer was offered by Elder H P Richards i Elder Evan Stephens made his report on the Tabernacle choir Seven hun dred members were enrolled during the past four years five hundred of whom were still members the attendance sti average tend ance at rehearsals being three hundred The speaker referred to the choirs trip to the Worlds Fair stating that the selecting of certain members to compete at the fair had not caused any jealousy but instead had increased the unity and good feeling which had always al-ways characterized the organization The ohoir will celebrate the first anniversary anni-versary of the great contest at Saltair on September 7 Elder Stephens Jn closing paid u high tribute to the abil ie abi ity and faithfulness of Professor Daynes the organist and closed by suggesting the training of new voices so that the choir may keep up its standard of excellence I Elder A H Cannon commended the work of the choir and hoped that what had been accomplished in the past would not be considered sufficient but that continued efforts to improve would be made i We are living in perilous times when I self love is sapping the foundation of social stability and the Saints must meet these circumstances manfully manfuly Disobedience to parents was on the increase and this brought a corresponding corre-sponding loss of respect for proper au thority Allegiance to God was first i but parents as representatives of God I I deserve proper respect from the chit dren as directed by the law of love I and kindness These principles are Inculcated I In-culcated in the Latterday Saints col lege which turns out obedient polite Godfearing children who as soldiers of the cross and watchmen on the towers tow-ers will not be sleeping when danger threatens The speaker also said that respect for the aged was not as prevalent as it ought to be among the young and Gods displeasure always followed ill treatment of his aged servants and handmaidens The choir sang the anthem Israels Sons with One Accord and the conference con-ference adjourned till the first Saturday Satur-day in March 1895 at 10 a m The net increase in the membership of the Salt Lake stake for the six months ending June 30 1894 was 274 the total membership at that date be ing 33509 First Presbyterian The Rev R G McNiece preached In the First Presbyterian church He said the Sabbath was the greatest gift of God to man and urged upon all professing profess-ing Christians the Importance of a proper pro-per observation of the day of rest To rest one day In seven Is good for both the bodily and spiritual welfare of man The speaker spoke of the evils of intemperance intem-perance and deprecated the habit of some professing Christians of going to saloons and drinking thus setting a bad example exam-ple and bringing thoir religion into contempt con-tempt There was a good attendance and the music was fine > I |