| Show ISRAELS redemption rile GLORIOUS VICTORY OF soul discourse last Suu ilay the usual sabbath services of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints wore held m the meetinghouse meeting house on sunday afternoon at 2 0 clock president A 0 smoot presided the choir sang praise ye the lord 1 my heart shall join in works so pleasant so divine prayer was offered by elder sari G maeser the choir sang ye children of our god ye saints of latter days the sacrament was administered by the bishopric of the fourth ward D 1 said I 1 can never help the feeling of great diffidence when called upon to address a congregation and although it has fallen to my lot to many times and to even larger audiences than this I 1 never have arisen that I 1 can remember without feeling my utter helplessness unassisted by a higher power to edify and instruct my listeners and this feeling is wite me today to day to an unusual degree As for what I 1 am going to say is concerned T am in ignorance of the subject or how I 1 shall speak of it I 1 beli evett will depend upon you to a great extent as to the subject upon which a speaker will say to riso with his mind free and untrammeled ready to utter those things that are suggested by the spirit of god for it is for your sake what words are spoken it is for your good and benefit it is not for the honor and glory of the speaker it is not that he may display himself before your eyes it is not for you to go away and say that that was an excellent sermon and his words wore musical that man should be exalted in your minds above any individual god is the giver of whatever is given to his people and he has sworn and decreed that no man shall build up his kingdom except ho do it by the power of the holy spirit man will never have it to boast that he built up tho kingdom of god in all groat issues we must show that it was god not man that performs the work I 1 have noticed at different times in the history of this people how earnestly the almighty is striving to show unto our understanding how prone we have been how prone we are still andI ook to man for our deliverance and lean upon the arm of flesh and suppose our deliverance is coming from an earthly source forgetting what god has reiterated from timo to time that he will have the honor and glory I 1 believe god raised up all men to perform certain missions and these missions and issues thereof all have one object in view the triumph of the work of god and the salvation of the human family we have seen this manifested and believe when we see a great man who is among the nations or in this nation particularly who takes hold of this mormon question we immediately look to him as though he were a great and mighty one who is to deliver israel now this is a false and deluded view it is a human view it is mans way but we are warned that gods ways are not as mans ways for as the heavens are above the earth so are the ways of god abobo the ways of man I 1 will venture the assertion that what ever god has in store for this people the long looked for deliver cinco that it will come as a surprise and astonishment to those who feel the most satisfied that they know just how the almighty is going to bring it about you may select m your minds ono way god will select another we are human beings and subject to failings of humanity and whatever comes is the will of god in this respect I 1 will venture to assert that it will surprise us more than anything that will happen in our history I 1 have no faith that salvation for this people is going to proceed from men or from carnal ways or weapons I 1 have no faith that it is the arm of flesh that is going to redeem zion and deliver israel I 1 do not believe in other words that salvation is coming from wo look to the east or to the west to tho north or to the south if you expect deliverance deliver anca to como from without the pale of tho kingdom of god you will bo utterly deceived and mistaken I 1 believe tho kingdom of god like every work which from him is perfect I 1 believe this as I 1 believe every tree that grows and bears fruity and every flower that blossoms in its beauty and every creature that god has over made has the power to perpetuate itself if not it will fall in the path which god has worked out when wo deviate from that path we havo no assurance god has sworn that his word can not be removed the tree that blossoms in alie spring that bears its fruit for sustenance may bo matured by the sun and ripened thereby its roots may be watered by the streams and strike down in tho earth until it blossoms and bears fruit to perfection but if that tree did not hold within itself the life and power to perpetuate itself do you suppose all tho sun that might pour down upon it would causes it to live and grow the dead tree may be blistered by tho sun and bear no fruit tho trpo may bo deluged by water but if ills dead where will you get your fruit tow I 1 am a believer in salvation from heaven and although the almighty may shape circumstances cum stances and events in the lives of men and nations to form the growth of his work to encourage it these are only sunbeams that ripen tho fruit or help to ripen it streams of water that assist to nourish its roots there must bo life ia its body or death will be tho result I 1 believe with all my heart that the kingdom of god has been growing ever since it was planted I 1 do not believe thoro is such a thing as retrogression for this work and what may seem a failure in tho eyes of men is success rising out in disguise just through blunders may como stepping stones to success what seems to be failure in gods plan eventually will provo itself to bo a great triumph in tho end and yet this is not mans view men think that if something does not come to pass during his life this is the end of it there is no success for it and if it does not como to pass in tho way ho say god has made a mistake and if he does not receive unconditional salvation he thinks asod is to blame who am I 1 s f saith the lord whose promises are not fulfilled I 1 command and man obeys not I 1 revoke and they receive not the blessing then they sav in their hearts this is not the work of god or his promises are but woe unto such for their reward will be most unenviable when the savior fell a victim to persecution which perhaps was the most rigid in that age of the world being ono of the most wicked generations bo sut feied to save man this was the reason christ came since the advent of christianity since the com in of christ the world has been better and no doubt men have greatly improved although there might have been many set backs and retrogressions retrogress ions the world has been better from the fact that christianity was established in its apostate and fallen condition it was better than no light all it was better than the paganism of brome and greece the jews at the time when the savior fell a victim having come for that purpose was the nation which only could have done such a deed the disciples after having been told what they might expect having it repeated in their ears that he bad come to die without his death had taken place they would have thought it was all up with the kingdom of god and they did say to themselves lets go fishing we thought he was to redeem israel but they have taken him and slain him they manifested almost as much belief as those who scoffed at him and when they said others he can save himself he cannot save they overlooked this principle that in this god is working triumphs and there never was a greater triumph than when jesus was slain for this was decreed in the plans of the world and if his disciples had had more faith he could have shown them more clearly his great plan in relation to the human family he woric not among men except according to their faith he loft certain places in his ministry and did not do many mighty works among them because of their unbelief and when he came to this continent after he was crucified at jerusalem and established his church among the Nep hites he revealed far more than he did to the at jerusalem why because there was less darkness there was more faith among tho Nep hites their hands wore not stained by the shed blood of the savior and were not in the clouds of iniquity circumstances were more favorable aa a nation they were more righteous than the jews and were more faithful people who could believe in god and his purposes and could trust him while a nation falling in unbelief cannot trust god for as soon as he is out of sight with mankind man kird they would cease to believe m him while those who honor god will still plod on with faith that the dawn will be lifted and the sun will shine as before in this condition were the Nep hites and christ taught them not only himself but angels came down upon the earth and sat upon the ground partaking of the sacrament which administered ered and he blessed little children and blessed them all to a far greater extent that he did those in jerusalem said he 1 could not tell my disciples what I 1 have said here and moroni undertook to write some of the things he said but was forbidden by christ as they wore too strong and mighty and too great to come forth at that time they were to be reserved until a greater degree of faith should be manifested things that were unlawfully to be told yet they were true christ said other sheep I 1 have which are not of this fold and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd they thought I 1 meant the gentiles but I 1 never have said the gentiles should hear my voice but I 1 beani you Nep hites of whom your brethren in jerusalem are in ignorance he could not tell them because of their unbelief this lesson comes homo to us with telling force we are in the midst of a period which is very discouraging to look out at from a human standpoint and seems that the ship zion is going to pieces on the rocks and breakers and this I 1 conceive is the grandest test of their faith that was ever applied we have hundreds who have been scorned by men and ridiculed for fifty years who have endured it all fire and sword have been brought against gods people apostasy apo stacy has come to apostles and elders alio join as rebels against their brethren and sisters the mouth of hell seems to engulf us at times but the work is progressing the work has endured these things thousands of miles have been traversed and many havo left their bloody footprints while fleeing from their homes and their bloody persecutors they have marked the path with the cross over he graves of their loved ones fleeing from the borders of civilization and fleeing to the protection of savages unto the bocky mountains one of the last prophecies of joseph smith was fulfilled in coming to the bocky mountains these things appear not to those who are not living the commandments mand ments of god far away but those who are the seed of jesus christ and who trusted in him to redeem israel and who said lets go fishing it is painful to contemplate the thousands who have borne the name of latter day saints who have failed through the trials the church has passed through for its purification growth and development they have failed whilo I 1 ho work went on they jumped overboard and the ship sailed on they were like bubbles in the sea to those who jumped overboard to save their lives now we have come to another test you cannot make some people believe that god is in this state of affairs in this failure the flock is being scattered no s shepherd no captain the boat driving upon tho roda no god in that the way man looks at it that is the human view but god never takes his eye off this work while the heavens are gazing upon it and unto us how many will remain faithful god may seem absent simply because wo cant see him and there never was a time when the heavens were watching moro than today to day angels aro in our midst and the heavens are watching over us weeping over us no doubt for our sins for our unbelief the arm of god is over this people and when it looks to man most ake failure he will make it a success the going to sleep or the failure to have oil in our lamps may seem a failure but it is not a failure of gods work but a failure upon our own part no matter how dark no matter what our circumstances or how our weak minds may believe that thus far god is within tha shadow god is watching over his in due simohe may stretch forth his almighty arm and roti his seeming failure and bring life out of darkness strength out of weakness order and nake that which men call a failure a success I 1 have B tte faith that this work will come out triumphantly the speaker thought the work of god was developing that nothing we could do could prevent its success that wo could help the cloud to be lifted and that wo held in our hands to a great extent our own salvation he referred to the reign of the savior when equal rights would be given to all a perfect government ern ment that the united states government was probably the nearest perfect of any we have now and he believed in perpetuating it brigham young kaiawe would have men of every nation in the legislative halls of zion and tho speaker believed in minority representation that it is a principle of justice and truth that all men are to be represented prayed that god would make an example of us as a light sat upon a hill the choir sang an anthem holy lord god of aoth benediction by elder evan |
