Show A CHRISTIAN HOME elder J M tanner s excellent THE SPEAKERS VISIT TO BETHANY AND gethsemane last services at the meeting giouse the amual sabbath services of the church of jesus christ of latter da saints veri held in the meetinghouse meeting house on sundet afternoon at 2 pres A 0 smoot presided the choir sang from greenland icy from cajal cojal stroud str prayer was offered bv elder isaac bullock gonoir sang ha died the greit redeemer died and israels daughters wept aloud the sacrament was administered by the bishopric of the fourth ward elder J M Tanner said the custom prevails among the cattar day saints in relying ioan the spirit of god while speaking is peculiar to this people and I 1 have no knowledge vi what I 1 will i say we always have a testimony to bear of the divinity of this work which is sufficient to lead us out in remarks conducive to the welfare of the latter day saints the circumstances which the people have passed through from the earliest times are worthy of our thought our purposes have been to build chris tian homes there are circumstances which prompt us to activity and devo tion incur calling one day it may be with the rich at another with the poor i our labors are varied and we are active in the great work I 1 have been lead to i speak of a christian home when I 1 have heard men speak of the advantage of a christian home over the pagans of the world A christian home means the throwing away of the duties of life doing away with children giving themselves up to luxury and ease diverting the true plan of god curtailing their family living in grandeur preferring opulence opu lance and ease to what god has commanded and what nature demands at their hands I 1 have eat in elegant par lora and seen all the arrogance of the world and this is said to be a christian home as men say a home life befitting CI irist I 1 remember when going to bethlehem where martha and mary were wont to go where the savior would go to pour out his heart lo 10 god that I 1 could but help his circum stances with that of our day at the little dirty arab village today to day an old stone house is raid to be the home of martha and mary but when I 1 think of the barrenness barren nesa of the country when christ was there I 1 thought of the saying the foxes have holes the birds have nests but the son of man kath nowhere to lay his head go where you will upon the face of the eartle the greater part of the wealth accumulations are given up to the luxuries of men now I 1 do not take it that a christian home is for this they should raise their offspring and not be guilty of murdering unborn children and have a home where love and peace reign christ was subject to persecution was driven suffering all kinds of disasters and adversities versi ties yet a symmetry in his nature grand in poverty grans when men despised him under all circumstances ho held the great privilege that he was to do the will of his father when his mother came to him and asked if he could not devote a little attention to her he said thou not I 1 am here to do the will of my father I 1 do not sabit is not a christian home where there are music and intellectual pursuits these are to be cultivated for our enjoyment but we should have before us a guiding principle raising a family that will be arne to principles even in adversity to whom even alie prisons and the grave will be a christian home A man today to day may enjoy luxuries yet this does not say ha does not enjoy the spirit of the gospel but a man that would not accept the mission of christ could not have that character chich christ possessed honorable to their fellow men and true to the god who made them they go to the poor partaking of the hospitality pita lity of the poor however simple wherever poverty may exist there they go and partake of the spirit of the sa vior with them in this church we may find that men may have to give up their luxuries and obey calls from godso god so I 1 have thought when visiting the garden of gethsemane or the catacombs Cata combs where men have concealed themselves that they might not he brought before the lord I 1 have thought of our people today only probably their persecutions were greater than ours I 1 have gone to these spots where men have been stoned where blood has been shed around the arena from the martyrs enough to swim a boat yet here are christian homes A man who can enjoy hig home willing to go in rich clothes or in poor clothes ready to follow the convictions of his own heart these are true christians I 1 have seen missionaries there willing to leave their opulence and easo those are truly christians going there to convert the nations going there to do the will of our father in heaven when we have that degree of society and arc called to take honorable positions in life it comes a great deal harder the latter day saint who is prepared for this is ready to go at any call and take nc thought of the morrow the rich man who had accumulated wealth said now I 1 will take it easy and spend alamy wealth jesus said thou fool tomorrow to morrow ye die although I 1 had heard of the condition of I 1 was not prepared to mee tit and biad no idea until the change came I 1 learned to worship god that nothing too bard or nothing too good night turn my mind from the things of god it is the condi tion of the heart which gives comfort and our bomea atvill be christian homes let them be where they will the speaker told of bis experience in his missionary labors and prayed for the welfare sang tha anthem the sons or joy benediction by elderk G maeser |