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Show II FORGOTTO MENTION I 0MM1IINT That One Was the Seventh, but Then Joseph P. Smith "Was Present. . IT WAS IN TABERNACLE I ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON I Speaker Was Elder Joseph E. Robinson, President of the I California Mission. I The services at the Tabernacle Sun- day afternoon wero attended by an audience which rested tho seating ca pacity of ' the lower portion of the building. Elaer Joseph E. Bobinson, president of the California mission, -was the first speaker. His subject was I confined principally to tho doctrino of baptism for tho dead. Ho said that baptism for tho dead was tho most sacred and glorious that Saints can engage in. The principles of tho Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he contended, were founded I -upon- tho gospel of the Lord Jesus ! Christ. It is by this gospel that all I questions can be mot, and ho dwelt upon what Christ said was tho greatest Hfj of tho commandments, that is, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all H thy soul, mind and strength, and thy k neighbor as thyself." Upon this hangs air the law and the prophets. In 6pealcing of what tho comniand-ments comniand-ments forbid, he enumerated thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not kill or covet, but omitted to Hi sa.y, as was undoubtedly expected of H him, that thou shalt. not commit adul- tery. Joseph F. Smith was sitting a short distance off and immediately be-hind be-hind the speaker. Tho juxtaposition of that important personage to the speaker may have prompted him to keep silent on that vicious vice. Ho did, however, say, in effect, that a man living in the gospel of Christ would be true to wife and family and there would bo no necessity to raise any question as to family relationship. Tho speaker quoted copiously from tho old and new scriptures to prove tho Mormon contention that baptism for the dead is a divino ordinance, provided for in tho economy of God for the redemption of the countless Hj millions who have died strangers to the gospel of Christ. Elder Ben Rich Appears. Lm The choir sang "Oh, My Father, Thou That Dwcllcst," and Elder Ben L E. Bich, president of the Southern States mission, was introduced as tho next speaker, who prefaced his re-marks re-marks by reading the lines of the 113-mn just sung. "Tho InTim," ho said, ' 'which was written by one of Joseph Smith's wives, teaches that wo lived H( , before coming hero and that when wc - ' die wo will go back to where wo camo from, carrying with us the knowledge wc have gained while Hying hero in . this probationary state, with tho proni-J. proni-J. iso that, wo will enjoy the fruits of t our earthlv knowledge with our friends bovond the veil. Tho Latter-day ' Saints are as little -understood aB an.y people on earth but nearly all the people of the nations of the earth have -j heard of them. The one claim that they have to make which differs from most peoples is that tho Latter-day Hj Saints aim to follow in the footsteps of Christ. God sent his own Son to put in operation one plan of salvation. That plan was revealed to Joseph Smith, the prophet of whom wo are followers. God,,J Mr. Bich said, "has had kingdoms upon tho earth overthrown. God, in tho latter daj-s, raised up a prophet. Wc claim that HBJ prophet was Joseph Smith; that he lived here upon the earth; that he ocu-pied ocu-pied an exalted position in the world." Tho speaker believed in tho Isle of Patmos storj as revealed by John;that ho saw the angel which was to establish tho everlasting gospel. "Belief in dead prophets," tho speaker said, "never did save any one; on the contrary, it has condemned many. James said, be-fore be-fore the coming of the Son of Man, a , living prophet would come upon the earth. Elders and seventies would be ( sent into the world to preach the gos- I pel. We believe that an angel from heaven brought the gospel and gave it ( to a living prophet. This is what tho , world calls Mormonism. It is what wo , call tho doctrine of the Latter-day Saints." The speaker closed by relating a Btory of a couple of men ho once heard on--a train discussing the contention held by Christian believers, that everj'-i everj'-i body in the final day would be judged J by every deed done and every idle word spoken, a condition which they didn't take kindly to, in fact, didn't believe. The speaker put in and tried to show them by illustration of not believing a thing simply because a person could not understand it, and wound up with the declaration that everyone would be judgetl by the deeds done in the body and that every act of a person on this earth is put in a book of record, which will bo opened on tho great judgment 1 day. One of tho men exclaimed: "My God! won't that be hell?" That, the speaker said, will depend on tho life j lived here on earth. President Smith Concludes Meeting, The choir sang an anthem, nnd the hour of worship was brought to a close by an invocation for heavenly guidance by President Joseph F. Smith. |
