Show TWO FINE SERMONS delivered at utah stake quarterly WHAT IS REQUIRED OF SAINTS apostle lyman and pres cannon give some goad exhortation verbatim report of the speeches sermons of apostle F M lyman and president geo Q cannon delivered at alie utah stake quarterly conference reported by H A anderson F M LYMAN spoke aa follows my bre tinen and sisters it affords me great pleasure to meet with you and with my br ethern who are visiting here and I 1 trust that to the end of the conference we may enjoy the same good spirit that has permeated the remarks of the brethren who have spoken it is profitable for us to meet together and listen to the wards of instruction and exhortation from the lord we do not come here because we desire to bo heard for our much speaking or our eloquence we come because it ia a duty devolving upon us and the lord requires it if it were not so we would not undertake the labor it is necessary that the saints meet oftener to acknowledge to the lord chati we still have faith in him still hare a knowledge that this Us the work of the father and not of man and that we appreciate the bayors that the lord has BO abundantly bestone di upon us and to beseech him to continue his mercies to us be preserved L x we are bat a little handful in the midst of the greit world alie world are opposed to us they do not believe ai we do they have no faith that we are in communication with the lord nor that the lord is with us they believe that a deluded people and that no authority has been given us they believe that joseph smith with others have form of religion that is a mockery i but this is gobb work i he came with asas our elder brother the savior 0 the world to instruct th e prophet joseph in this work that was intended for the son to accomplish so we approach the father through the son in the name of jesus chrict Ch riat it is not possible for ua to be saints u ales we do this we have had testimonies of the gospel planted in our hearts for it we have left our country to become a peculiar people and our should make us a remarkable people we ought to be remarkable for the conscientious ious performance of our duties for ou sobriety for the absence of intemperance and profanity no man should ever hear the name of deity profaned it should not be used lightly but only with the greatest possible reverence love and esteem we should become remarkable by meeting our obligations one with the other and by settling our difficulties before the sun goes down we ought to become remarkable for the confidence we have in prayer because A e appreciate the lord and petition him m with regard to our and families because our hearts are filled with prayer and that we are a humble people because that we minister to the wants of the needy in our midst the hungry are relieved the naked are clothed and the bick are administered to that peace is found in all the boarders of zion for our prompt attendance at worship on the sabbath day and that no one fail to come to the table of the lord all israel should be remarkable for coming together to take of the sacrament for the coming of the lord ii at our dor and those who do not will be mortified and ashamed at the comic of the alvior and their hearts will blead that they have been BO careless in the past I 1 you to become remarkable that you can say at the coming of the savior we never lost an opportunity to do good wo have not neglected to appreciate the lord throughout our lives we have never been careless in any of these things ft e have performed no labor but that we have asked the blessing of god apon it we should be in aliis condition we have had experience enough in the church that we should have been ready for his coming before now we ought to be ready that to night if he come in the morning we are hie coming now I 1 exhort you that we do so from this timo keep alie commandments of ahe lord clothe the naked and feed the hungry for man cannot love god and hate bis brother we must fit and prepare ourselves for these things may god bless you amen alter the ligual opening exercises the stake clerk read the statistical report of the stake and presented dihe names of the officers president cannon then said I 1 esteem it a privilege lege to lein your today to day nd to bave the opportunity of listening to the councils and instructions that have been given from this stand I 1 trust that the desire that has been expressed concerning a continuance onti nuance of the spirit of god maybe realized reale zed during the remainder of these meetings that we may have our binda enlightened by this heavenly influence I 1 presume that there is scarcely one but his come to be instructed and to receive a benefit from this conference if this be the desire of our hearts there seems to be no reason why it sheild bof be granted to us the lord has made promises unto his people and ho never fails in fulfilling thebe promises that is if the conditions upon which the promises made are complied with A great many people seem to think thai it in not necessary to have revelations irom god 1 they seem to think that that which was received in former days is sufficient for this generation to us who have thought and reflected upon this subject and given it attention and have examined the word of goi carefully concerning this matter such an idea seems extremely absurd it appears to us that the mere statement of such a proposition would indicate an unsound mind it appears so absurd and unreasonable I 1 say we who have examined it thor bourly feel the extreme of continued communication between god and ourselves the need of continual eo in all our affairs in the different occupations which we bursua as well as in the religion we profesa but there are strange ideas in the world concerning the way in which god to his children many think that for god to he must appear in person that for jesus to communicate with man he roust do it by personal communication it may be that mia of the latter day saints entertain gome alien ideas chere are three personages in the godhead god head the father the son ard the holy gost the gost is the minister of the father and when a man has ghost with him god is with him because he stands aa representative of god and he cornea the mind and will of god for god to the children of men unto whom he comes it ie not therefore absolutely essential in haying communication with to behold the his will neither is it essential th atthe son appear when he desires to communicate with man be Spi god communicates intelligence to man ahat is the fame as if god himself should speak to that inan that is as far as the communication concerned is in this way a man may have the spirit and may under stand by the influence and presence of this spirit of god that which desires to communicate un so in every one there is a principle of ft gift of god in thia way god is with us as individuals and we are keenly alive and can it from other influences we can tell the difference between that still small voice spirit and that of our hearts there are those not in the chuich who may say that these things border upon blasphemy this was the great fault that the jews found with jesus that thou being man maketa thyself equal to god he taught bis disciples the divine principles of truth and they taught the same so far as they preace ed the gospel this my brethren and sisters is a grand feature in connection with the gospel the gospel thus brings to all who receive it and consola among the rest of mankind desire for something unattainable among the churches outside of the church of jesus christ if there be any latter day saint who does not feel these blessings the fault may be found within himself this is a continual source of satisfaction to me that this church is not dependent upon the testimony of any single man or any number of men god has pointed out the fountain of eternal truth and asked us all to come and drink freely he has not said to come and drink and let them receive through you but every soul can come and drink and hold holy communion with him so every person must stand before god responsible at the day of judgment the first presidency of the church will not be responsible for the church only so far as the duties connected with the priesthood is concerned each is placed upon individual responsibility in the be curing of A this is e great beauties of we adeall enabled to come to him and have revelation for iffe do not have sit god will hold ua responsible for it if you do riot have communication with god dihe ame feeling exists today to day among ahe authorities as did exist in the hen t moses when it was reported that t 0 in u in the camp were prophesying he answered would to god that all prophets how easy it would be to govern thia people if every man possessed the spirit of prophecy would there be much necessity for us to talk tithing and the word of wisdom would there be the strife and back biting of today to day now ilet me ask you all in plainness this afternoon ter noon ought there to be such neg elect lect every i man and woman should live BO near the lord that the spirit of god will tell them wherein they are slack duties we i should cot emerge from our chamber in the morning to commence the labors of the day without being at peace with god that we may be baptized in the spirit of god for be labor of the day there are those who pressed by temporal duties who express themselves aa hardly having time to pray and alie result is they grow careless and indifferent not realizing that god can bestow temporal as well as spiritual blessings there are among you many who have been on missions and returning resume their labors and in a short time it seems that the lord has made UD to them so that you cannot tell them from those who hive not gone the elders who go abroad are not dis for their poverty if god can bless the missionary do not you think he can blesa all of us who dalre the time in the morning to pray to him even though the harvest is in a dressing condition and the hay needs our labor do you not think he who blesses alie elders ia able to bless us and enable us to go forth in strength it is an easy thing for god to thus bless us and also for his blessings to be withdrawn from us therefore I suy it pays to worship go d and have his favors we should not engage in any enterprise we cannot ask the blessing of god upon our best anu most profitable course is to berye god and if death or other misfortune comes we have no reproaches to offer for we can say I 1 have done as I 1 should have done the question should be are we in a way to claim the blessings of god how much better it would be if all did their tithing and kept the commandments of god because they desired to keep his commandments and because they love god and besre tb please him we should be able to pass by kegs of liquor and boxes of tea coneo and tobacco as if they were I 1 should be ashamed to meet him if I 1 did not try to meet this course the whole tithing of this does not enrich goethe cattle on a thousand hills are his the whole earth it his he does not ask us trygive him a tenth part because he needs it lint b cause it is for our good aal when wd do these things we can baini ali bles Binga of gud upon ua what a glorious people we would be it we would exemplify in our lives aft r the principles of the gospel there would be no quarreling LO drunkenness no fa ire to d that which is richt NOTE on account of space it is necessary to abridge this part of the sermon conder ably on my return from colorado I 1 happened to acet in conversation with a very intelligent young man and in the coarse of our conversation he told me that he was a member of a club of some twenty members none of whoa were married and that the were that probably no more than two or three of them ever would marry i in asking the reason I 1 was informed thai it waa of the inability oath ese young men of hia class all professional men to support their wives in clife luxury to which they had been accustomed and to obtain enough means for such luxuries would require the wor of almost a lifetime they could enter the best of society and so did twant no to marry unless they could live in style and then those who i did marry he said would have few if any children he belonged to a new england famus and bately in tracing his had that his early ancestors had from twelve to fifteen children the increase 88 so small that there was a danger bi the name dying ont another young man with him said that in returning home and visiting the old school he had found only four chila dren of american parentage the reec were all foreign names and two of these four were negroes another school was visited and scarcely better results shown I 1 asked these young me to whom they had left the business busi nees of increasing their race to low and ignorant foreign arsand your places will be taken by an inferior people one of them said that e were falling into as many evils as the romans did the othera dent of history said that we were in all e the romans were he remarked remar keu that the young men were not virtuous but also broken down because they expected to have no children I 1 cannot eoe any hope for the race expect that which ii here we are only a email handful of people but god has taught us the value of virtue and the principles of salvation he designs to make a great people and he has destined to people the earth by our posterity ost erity for the wicked will bring their own destruction children are not valued women look upon them as burdens and do all that they can to prevent having them that is the condition and J have heard that among our women there are those who dont want children but I 1 want to say that any woman who indulges in thia practice will be damned teach tho girls of the heine generation that the greatest blessing a woman can have is a numerous posterity and women who will take means to prevent increase will bring the condemnation and the wrath of god upon them every man should set his face against it every woman should teach how dreadful this is murder and they will be fauni guilty of bloods we are being bound close together by the bonds of the everlasting covenant we love each other and we are happy letus do nothing that wil take away athis jorj and union may this spirit grow and increase upon as bod name of jesus amen |