| Show At the Tabernacle I Regular Sunday services were held In the tabernacle yesterday afternoon Elder Angus M Cannon president of the stake presiding The choir sang the hymn Come Thou desire of all Thy Saints Prayer was offered by Elder George B Wallace and the choir sang the hymn Though in the outward church below be-low President George Q Cannon addressed ad-dressed the congregation he being the only speaker He first read a portion of the thirtysecond chapter of the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon in which Alma In preaching to the Zoramites describes the reception of I the truths of the Gospel by the honest in heart and likens it unto a seed that is placed in good soil and commences to grow and if nourished with the proper care will eventually bring forth fruit It is thus with the word of God When it is planted in the hearts of the honest it begins to swell and to grow and if it is nourished it will by leading I lead-ing into paths of righteousness grow I and finally bring forth fruit The speaker referred to the belief of many in predestination and explained the fallacy of the belief God has given us our own free agency and though by His foreknowledge He may know what our lives will be yet it must be by our own acts that we will obtain salvation or damnation He is just and will condemn no man except by his I own acts The asking for signs by many people peo-ple of our Elders was referred to It has been shown by experience that those who join the Church because of 1 great miracles need a continuance of them to keep them in the Church though many have been led to obtain a knowledge for themselves from seeing see-ing signs But the best way to obtain a knowledge is in the natural way pointed out bjAlma by the reception of the seed in the heart and its nourishment nour-ishment by deeds of righteousness When that is done the person has a knowledge that the words are true and when they fall away and wonder why they have testified as they have it is because of their own acts and inlnr tn kn th nmmnnrlmpntc u v vvp v v u I I Prayer is the strong factor in the nourishment of the good bend it is like water on parched ground And i when it is not done it Is like the withdrawal I with-drawal of the water the seed dies Our father does not desert his children I child-ren in their most trying moments lIe i is near them and if they fall away it lIs because of their own failure to keep his commandments I President Cannon dwelt upon the necessity for prayer repentance and I urged all to repent of their sius for I we are all sinners and go in humble I ness before our father and beseech his forgiveness and he will forgive us and the spirit of God will rest upon us and strengthen us for the dutkK and life before us There is TJ other guarantee to any man to obtain salvation sal-vation only through repentance an l obedience to the commandments i Many of the saints would rather die than be unfaithful But it is better for us to live and set examples to our lve posterity that will enable them to live lives of righteousness The words of Alma wer written about ninety years before the birth of the savior but they are true today I and the Latterday Saints know they are true and the Book of Mormon is true because the words are vue today to-day tre and no man could write sue things unless he had had the experi thirgS which the Saints know they have had and they know it comes by the spirit of God I has always cocoaso from the days of Adam In conclusion President Cannon exhorted ex-horted all who had sinned to repent and humble themselves before their father and he would forgive them The Saints should pray for even their enemies They are engaged in a great work and if they prove themselves them-selves faithful they will obtain the reward re-ward promised them The millenium is near at hand when wickedness wil be swept from the earth for 1000 A years and Christ will reign Wil11 righteousness and i was his earnest prayer that all the Saints mig prove themselves worthy to partake itt irff the salvation and exaltation promised Ito I-to the faithful The choir sang the anthem Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain Benediction was pronounced by Elder John W Taylor |
