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Show Sl'XDAY SERVICES. Rsraarks hy Apo-dle Heher J. (irant and Elder B. H. Roberts. . Religious services were held ot tho Tabernacle, Salt J.ake Cliv, Sunday, July lsUi, IStKr, commencing, commenc-ing, at 2 p. m., CounKlor Charles W. I'cnrore prtsldlhS. Tfie choir and congregaUon sang: O Je! the Gltcr Ot ah we eni3r. rrayerhy HUhoit Kl'.ks Morris. The rhu'r iang. Oiy Fatter, Tfccn tbatdwetlcit In tio hlsn ml zlorlont ptacc Tiie rrlesthood of Uie EighUi Ward officiated In the administra- tlon of Uie Sacrament. AKISII.R Hl-Llll j. oltAst was tub first speaker. Iu the course of his remarks ho said: 1 have a tesUmony of the Gospel of Christ. I kno-.v that by keeping tho commandments com-mandments of our Iiordaud Savior, and by obeying the laws laid donu for the guidance of his people that the promises which have been made that we shall know of the doctrine whether Jt be of God or of man can liefulfilled. It is because of a knowledge knowl-edge of the Gospel, because of the festiniony of Jesus Christ,that I am ever ready and willing to raise my voice in defense of the principles of trtiUi and Uie plan of life and salvation. sal-vation. I have recently had the privilege of traveling in some of the .Eastern Statesaud in Canada. I visited some cf the largest cities in Uie east, go-lngasfaras go-lngasfaras XeW York, and I confess con-fess that I was greatly surprised as i niiugteii anion; the people tu lind how little they Lnow of the Latter-day Latter-day SaiuU. I met a great many who expressed astonishment ujou hearing Uiat we believe in the liible. They had no idea that we accepted King James' trauslaUou as a guide for our actions. They seemed to think Uiat the '-Mormons," so-called, had a lilbleof their own, that we had cast away the Holy Scriptures and did not believe be-lieve in Jesus Christ. I have discovered In traveling both east and west that the al-mighty al-mighty dollar," so to speak, is the bible of the people. It is business with them morning, noon and night. Men of the world know very little except of thofe things whicli tend to give Uiem earthly advancement. ! They are bright,acU veand energetic Iin their business atT.iir.-; they study, they mate their religion, as it were, the accumulation of wealth, lu-I lu-I deed there is uo question that there l-s a great growth of wealth In I the liauus cf the few. and that there-j there-j fore the many are gradually becoming becom-ing placed iu straitened circum- stances. There is also, I am con- vinced.amoug the Latter-day Saints, . a gradual growth of what we nilght term -'class distinction." That brotherly love, fellowship, and ! union which existed among the I Saints in early times, which made j them in very deed brethren and sisters, which made Uieir alni, in-tertsts in-tertsts and ambitious one in com- ! mon are gradually dying out; we i tiud that there prevails a disposition J for every man to labor for himself ' and for his own advann-mciit. Those of us who arc familiar with Uie revelations given through the Prophet Jo"eph Smith must realise I that this tendency cf which I , sjieak is contrary to the princlplesof Uie Gosiiel, and that uulcss we be-I be-I come more united we cannot exjiect J to be blesHsi ot the Lord as He ha-! ha-! promised. I regret to soy that there j are many Latter-day Saiuts who think, tiecaiise they have received a testimony of the principles of tiie j GospelaudaknowlcdgeastoUieplan , of life and salvation in a foreign i Land and have gathered lugclhcr in these valleys, Uiat this is all that is I'eeessary; but any person who lias taken Uie pains to read and study the teachings of our Ior:I and Savior will liecome thoroughly convinced that faith wiUiout works Is dead that it requires lalior and a lulfil- mentofthe duties and obligations renting upon us as members of the j Church if we would gain tho re- I ward. In the meeting here last Sabbath we heard considerable about the disposition of the people to seek after af-ter pleasure, thereby neglecting their religious duties and obligations. obliga-tions. We heard also of the action of our enemies from time to time ,i ngii nt the tatter-day Saint. For my own irt, I have never seen the day when 1 entertained tho least fear as to what nur euemiLS could do to injure the work of God. They can do nothing against us but what shall be for us. Tiie only cause for fear Uiat I have had is lest the Saint, tither as individuals or as a people, might income negligent in keening the commandments of our Heavenly Father. The trials and tribulaUons through which, from Ume to time, we are called ujou to (ass are calculated in their very nature to connect us more closely together and cause us to lie united. It ii iu days ot adversity that the better part of man's nature is developed, and the same applies to nations as to individuals. In the early days of our country, after our patriot fathers had fought for end obtained their liberty, men labored not iu Uie interests of iarty orof jralitical ring, but with all the zeal they possessed, to fou nd and establish es-tablish a government whereby His-erty His-erty could betecureil toall. Today, however, we find that men have become wealthy; gigantic corpora-tions corpora-tions have sprung into existence; money and politics control the laws which are enacted; men unblush-ingly unblush-ingly stand up in the halls of Congress Con-gress and admit that they arc violating vio-lating the CoustiluUon of their country by passing certain laws, tiut urge Uiat they do it "liccause the country demands If The concentration concen-tration of wealth and power and the latwring for self-aggrandizement is the ruling spirit of Uie age. In years gone by men did not look toward their own personal Interests. Our iiatriot fathers la-liomi la-liomi for the common good of all, to establish a land of lilicrty that should in very deed be the home of the oppressed of all nations. Rut things have changed. History Is repeating itself, anil evidences ot dissatisfaction are very plainly seen ou all sides. Theru is a lack of that patrioUsm and honor which should exist in tiie hearts of men who hold high and rw-pon-ible position. They will remark unblusliingly, "Your cause is just, but we can do nothing foryou." Now we as IaUcr-dy Saint, as the jieople of God, seeing the tendency ten-dency of wrong, ami the growth and centralization ot iower, should seek to become more united, seek to lalior for each other's advancement. It should bo impossible for any member of the Church to ruffcr without all suilering; and wn shoul J likewise rejoice together. The persecutions per-secutions by our enemies, the trills through which wc are calle i upon to loss, amount to absolutely nothing. They are iu the nature of chastisements, jut as a parent would chastise a child whom he or she loves, when it doe wrong, in order to bring it bacK to tho line of duty. The Latter-day Saint areaecujed of lieing narrow and contracted in their religion mil ideas, and yet thh is the Gospel of Christ, rcachingout and embracing all mankind, nnd redeeming them eventually through Uicaloning blood of our Lord and Saviar Jesus Christ It is indeed glad tidings to a fallen worlJ; aud it behoves each aud all of us who have received a tesUmony of the Gospel so to live and order our lives that the example wo set shall bring credit to the work of God. I maintain main-tain that Uie Latter-day Saints shculdso live that as they come iu contact with tho iieople of the world those who learn to know them will have to acknowledge their honesty of purpose, sincerity of heart, the uprightness of their lives, and their good example. Speaking of ireecutloD, If the LaUer-day Saints had not lieen driven to the mountains, one of the predicUons of the Prophet Joseph would have fallen to the ground. Those who drove the people here thought, no doubt, lint they were doing God's service that Uie "Mor- intoto.'SS? Pro'y tT huMted ! into the wildcrnrss to starve and theWbUi ,h,at ? '""hlct" would uT l,y wlidout. Joseph Smith had said that the Saints would be driven from city to city, fmn. fLVle'.in,iV,froal te to State, finally to the Rocky Mountains, mid Ulti?- Therefore 'Mo 8 pcretcuL-d thrt taller-Jrv taller-Jrv paluhj Were simply makm a fulfilment of, Uie prophecies uttered by the Prophet, he who told ui that ilSu'i. M t01lle wl:en utt V1L City, county and State would be arrayed against us. but tho whole United States. This prediction predic-tion was laughed and scoffeU at by peoplu forty year ago. Win? it was ridiculous to Imagine that in a laud of freedom and cf toasted lib- j erty sucli things would happen, j Rut the day has come, and we have ' frequently st-n iu prlet a; tha' head ot Use newspupeA, "Tiie United States of America versus the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-day Latter-day Saints." We have seen our property taken away from us and confiscated, ami measures are now introduced Into Congress to distribute dis-tribute that projwrty broadcast throughout tho school) cf Utah Territory to take Uie money that you and 1 have earned by our labor aud give it tho-e who liavo never contributed a dollar. We have not only seen Uie United States opposed to this handful of despIscd-'Mormons"lutwehavofelt their oppression and lower. Our1 liberty has bec-u taken awuy; and propositions made in the Senate Uiat tho money taken from us be returned to thu iieople are voted down. Great lilierality and generosity have beeu shown by people putting their hands into other people's pockets, takiug out the money, and giving it to somebody else These tilings we have expected. The Lattcrtay Saints accepted this stealing by the United StaUs calmly and deliberately when the decision came Uiat the Supreme Court had decided to hike their property. The United States did not know wliat to do with it, as there was no law to govern the case; but Kdmunds has come to the rescue res-cue and introduced a bill. Yet all this did not rutlle the people any more than it would for them to be told that dinner was realy. The tatter-day Saints lelieve in the greatest i-si-ble liberty to all men, an I the day will never come, no matter how viciously they may lUht against us. when this pcuplu 'will oppress and rob others as they have been op-pnwed op-pnwed and robbed. The man who lias himself suffered will not feel to inflict uni-hmeut upon ethers. I am thankful that the trials through which wc are justing are uniting the hearts of the people. If we, as tatter-day Saints, have received re-ceived the testimony of the tio-pel, then unless wr exeicisc the faith within us and improve upon the I spiritual knowledge we posscf. by keeping the commandments of God, it will assuredly die. May Hod help us to be f.iitiiful iu all things. KI.HKK 1:. li. iiunrjiTS next aJdres-eJ the congregation, and said he rejoiced intheteslimony borne by AuiUe Graut. Some of his rrnuuks, he continued, relative rela-tive to the acctimulatiin of wealth in Uie world and the-spirit that i abruad among the chiMreu of men to seek for wealth aud make it their god, and his statement Uiat to some extent, at lea-t, -a like spirit prevailed pre-vailed unxmg the Latter-day Saints, called to my mind a jitsige in the iiook of Mormt:. It is a piece of history cunnctted Willi the . ophites of olJ, iu which, as in a i mirror, we may see nlWt'.il the spirit cf our own Units and the ten-, Uciicy of thing as existing iu our ! own nation. The Sjnaker then j read tin; JKissage referred to from theslittii chajiterof the third Book of Ncphl aud proceeded to say: That Li very much the condition of the ikuple today. If the spirit of pride, the spirit of greed, of mukiiig class di-tinclions, losed U4in Uie io-sessIon uf wealth, exists milling Uie tatter-day Saints to any very great ex eut, men woe Is.- unto this oplr; they are occupying extremely extreme-ly dangerous ground. It is laid down as a law In ion. it is con- J tallied in the Rook of Mormon it-! self, that the iuhaliitints of Ziuti j shall labor for Zion ami uutj for money. lVerring to Uie sul jivt of the gathering together of ttie Saints frni the various nations na-tions of the earth, and the object then-if, Koter Rblierts observed: It was no mi-tike, our gathering into these mountain valleys. The purposes pur-poses of God were not thwarted when Uie Saints were conqielled to leavu the city of Nauvno and their glorious temple and tame here. .Many of our veterans can bear testimony tes-timony that years befoie his death Uie I'mpiiet Joseph Smith talked with thu hrtthrcn in relation to our coming into these mountain valleys. val-leys. It was our desli ny. and not our enemies, Uiat drove us here, though their .executions may have hastened the day of cur iiirtiire. I bear my te-Umony to you tlial the work whicli the world calls "Mormonism"' is the Gospel of the j San of (toil, that it is the power of I GoJ unto salvation, and that mail can do nothing against it Just as -sure as tho Throne uf Jehovah Iscs-j tiblUhed and cannot be moved by i the jiuny anil of man. Just so sure will Uie truth which i-i have embraced stand unmoved by anything Uiat our cucniiis can do. So far as they are concerned we cau feel jierfectly at ease, aud the evidence that wc do feci at ease is seen In the calmness with which tho tatter-day Saints look uu move after move made against us. Tills is all right and projicr. I do not know Init what we would lie ashamed if we could not be equal with Uie fanner -tiny Saints, of whom it is written 'They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods." Tiie Latter-day Saints ought to bu ublnto do this just as much as they did, and I think we can; and if our enemies should wish to fleece and rob us ef that whicli is ours, while we may not rave alioutit, call mass meetings, and protect very loudly against it, I do Iielieve It Is right to let them know wu understand that they arc going to commit the then. Rut wo can afford it If they car.. There has been a great deal said about weaning the youth of Uie Latter-day Saint from the faith of thtir fathers by introducing education educa-tion Into our midst I know how densely ignorant Uie jieople of thu Kasteru States are in relation to the tatter-day Saints. They have no idea Uiat we have schools, and have had schools from the very begin-ulng. begin-ulng. I have myself met some men who were astmlshed to hear that the Jlornions" understood the Ku-glMi Ku-glMi language, and wliohad no Idea that wu hail schoolliouscs, majs-, chart, and globes, and all the furniture fur-niture common Iu their schools in the east. They do nut understand these things. They believe that we love Ignorance; iu fact, we havo frequently fre-quently been tohl that "Mormon-ism" "Mormon-ism" can only llouri-h where ignorance is most profuse. A biter falsehood than this was never uttered concerning the work of GjJ. It was Joseph Smith, Uie despised cue in tills generaUon, who taught the glorious truth that man could not li saved iu ignorance. He went further Uian that by way of encouragement at leostandsald thai whatever urinelplo of knowledge wc attained to in this life would give us just as much advantage in the world to come, for that knowledge knowl-edge would coma up with us as we came forth in the resurrection; If one man,;iiy his faithfulness, by lib enlarged experience and diligence obtained more knowledge than another, an-other, lie hal just that much advantage ad-vantage over the one who had beeu neglectful. Xow theru has come a sudden revolution of feeling. The people havo withheld from us all assistance in this nutter of education, and finally come to the conclmiju. 1 presume, Uiat we are notoulya'de to educate our own children, but to contribute something to the education educa-tion of theSn. And wo can do It; I irit we want them to understand iu ! tho future that it wasour means that educated their childien. Wewaat to havo the privilege of telling them I that the means whicli accumulated I MKcl'"- I in Uie hands of the "Mormon" people, peo-ple, and designed forbenevolent pur- ' poses amongst oursel ve, ero stolen sto-len to educate their children, and that we submitted to It pleasanUy. I love tho work of God; I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ; I love it because be-cause it is not only going to operate for the sal vntlcn of men In tlila litUe trace of time; but ro long as there is a child cf God absent from Uie fold I of Christ It shall conUnuttooperate, untUit!ec:'!st!i.iTayjnltd hncfc to the throne of UctJ. The choir saug . the authem, "Praise the Lord." RenedlcUsu by Elder Wm. R. Jones. |
