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Show SUNDAY SERVICES. I'resldrnt George (J. Canson and President Wilford Woodruff at the Tabernaclf. Religious services were held at the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, Nov. I6th, 1S&3, commencing commenc-ing ut p. m., Elder Henry P. Richards presiding. Tbe choir sang tbe hymn commend com-mend Dg: Tboagh deep'mng Critlt l&ron; jour vsv, rrufon.pttiioB.yeSllBUot God. Prayer was offered by President Seymour B. Young. The congregation Joined with the choir in singing the hymn: Fraise to the man nho commnaed wltb JeboTih; Jetoj anointed that rrophel and Seer. The Priesthood or the Filth Ward officiated in the administering administer-ing of tbe Sacrament. VBUSIDEST GEOKGE Q. CAVSOS read the fifth chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews. These words, he said, were written to the Hebrews in relation to tbe Priesthood Priest-hood of Jesus, the Son of God, to distinguish tbe character of His Priesthood frcm that of Aaron, which was In existence amongst the Jews and recognized by them as authority. Paul bad endeavored to convince in other places besides the chapter whlcb he had just read these unto whom he preached and to whom he addressed bis epistles that Jesus, though not of the tribe of Levi, was still a High Priest and entitled to the authority which came from God. He clearly set forth in this chapter that Jesus himself him-self was called of God, as he says, A High Priest after the order of Melchisedec" It had always been a peculiarity of the work olUod upon the earth thM He had required thote who officiated In his name to be called or Him, to be ordained by the authority which lie recognized as legal. Hence Paul said, "Ho mau takeththls honor unto himself but be that Is called of God, as was Aaron." Aaron was called by reve-Utlon reve-Utlon through Moses and was ordained or-dained to the Priesthood which he bore by tbe hand of God, through the authority which Moses hal re celved to ordain. Ho man could rightfully presume to officiate in the ordinances of God's house, tn perform any of those ceremonies which pertained to the remission of ins or to the salvation or the people unless he had received that authority In the proper manner. There were many wboaccusetT the Latter-day Saints of being entirely en-tirely too subservient to what was "mown among them as the Priest hood. They were accused or paying pay-ing altogether too much deference t this authority. This was one of the objections urged against them, and It was frequently made to appear ap-pear as a cause of disloyalty. The Latte'-Jjy Saints knew that In this respect tbey doubtless differed dif-fered from a great many of those who professed to be followers of Jesus Christ. Probably, with the exception of the Catholics, there was no denomination or people who entertained tbe reverence for the authority of God known as tbe Priesthood as did the Litter-day Saints, and there were good reasons for exhibiting this reverence. Through the Priesthood of God they believed that tbey owed tbe blessings bless-ings of salvation so fir as they had received them. I f they stood today free from condemnallou before God, If they enjoyed the remission of tb-ir sins, and had a claim upon tbe Holy Ghost, it was bscauje tbe Priesthood or God had been restored to the earth. It was, therefore, only natural that they should reverence rever-ence that authority, at the tame time not yielding their free agency nor doing anything that would be Inconsistent with manhood and good dtizenshin. He thought he might say without vanity that the Latter-day Saints were considered today to be the most remarkable people, or their numbers, to be found anywhere In Christendom. Those who were sufficiently divested of prejudice to look at them In their true light acknowledged ac-knowledged that there wre some very remarkable, and It might be said admirable, feature in the character of the community termed Latter-day Saints. There was, first of all, a wonderful union, a wonderful wonder-ful oneness among them. They were bound together by very strong ties, and this was apparent to every visitor who mingled with- Ihe people. peo-ple. This unlun was frequently deemed objectionable by those who wenvnot of them. He might dwell upon other peculiarities which, tbe Latter-day tialnt possessed, but thla was probably the most striking difference dif-ference between themselves and those by whom thry were surround- In his remarks be was frequently led to dwell upo2 the wonderful gathering together In this Territory of people of various nationalities from the four quarters of the earth, men and women born and brought up under different circumstance, Ju many instances speaking different languages and trained in different creeds. He loved to dwell upon It, because to his mind It was one of the most striking evidences of the divinity of this work that people could be brought from remote lands and gathered together as they were In these settlements, dwelling together to-gether in love and union, with a unanimity .unparalleled elsewhere. They bad become changed beings; they bad been "oorn again;" they had become new men and women In Christ Jesus. A great chabge had been wrought in their characters charac-ters by an influence which the Saints declared to be the Spirit or God; for any influence tint produced love and union, and brought about harmony, must be from God; and whatever change of this nature bad beeu effected In this commuulty was attributable directly to the Priesthood. Iu the da) a of Jesus, He chose Twelve Apostles. These were called from various avocations, several of them being fishermen. They were not educated in worldly wisdom; they were illiterate men. But Jesus called and ordained them, and sent them forth witli the Gospel messagethe mes-sagethe message of salvation, and when they returned they testified to their Master that1 even tievlls were subject unto thenf. "Authority was conferred upon them enabling them to do mighty works, they were blessed exceedingly, tbey had increased jewer given unto them which they exercised to an even greater extent after His death. This authority was the authority of the everlasting Priesthood, If the Twelve had gone forth without this ordination and attempted to do what they did, their efljrU would uc doubtedly have resulted In complete failure. God recognized their authority, au-thority, He acknowledged them as Ills servants, aud that which they performed in His name received the seal of Ills approval by tbe bestowal of great gifts and powers pow-ers upon those who listened to their testlmony.lt was worthy of note that so long as this Priesthood remained among men, wherever the name of Christ was taught by those who bore it, the fruits which attended its first preaching continued to le manifested and the people were united. Wherever division cxlsteu amoug professing Christians whether Latter-day Saints or any other sect it .was evidence to the world Uiat they were not of God that eomethlug was wrong, that someone had gone astray. The Spirit uf God did not prevail intbeheartv of those who were thus divided. If the everlasting Priesthood had not !een restored In ourday, the blessed fruits which had attended this -o-ple would not have followed them. He knew It was fashionable among many denominations to say it made no difference about being ordained that everj body who chose to take upon himself the duty of preaching preach-ing the truth had the right to do so ir he only possessed the education requisite for the calling. But till-was till-was not tlie boHef entertained by the ancients: and, according to the . Word of God which had come down I to us, it was entirely contrary to that which He had given unto us as a guide In these matters. Every man in the world bad the light to fireach the truth; there was no Imlt iu this respect But that wa.-not wa.-not tbe point. There was something some-thing besides preaching the truth needed to save the people, and that was the ordinances of life aud salvation, without tbo al-ralnl-tmtlon of which no man could see the face of God and dwell in His presence eternally. !Nb man had tin. right to baptize his fellow man.toimmersehim in water, unless un-less Uod had called him and given him the authority to perform that ordinance. It required authority from God to bestow the Holy Ghost. This was the cause of the confusion which existed in the Christian world today. Men acted who had not the authority, aud hence the people were split up into hundreds of seefs. Men lose up and thought that they, individually, had the authority because they perceived some truth, and had got some light from God; therefore very frequently if a man thought the other sect were in error, he felt emboldened to go forth aud lay the founda lion of a new sect. Yet all these claimed to be the followers of the Son or God, that holy Belno who prayed that His disciples should leas one, even as He and the Father were one. This splitting up and division at the present time was Indeed raj to contemplate. It wa due to the withdrawal or tbe holy Priesthood or the authority from God. In vain men strove to build up churches to God and to save tin souls of mankind If tbey did net have the everlasting x'rlestliood. which God always honored w lien men bore It on the earth. Tin world was shocked at the very mention men-tion of holy angels descending rrom heaven; but how else could this authority au-thority have been restored? Noth lug coulj be more logical, although hn knew thU thousbt win veri startling lo people in the dnv. H there wn any la.k or fallh, power or gifts In our day It was not because God haJ changed, becausi lie withheld from His Church tin gifts that He once bestowed upon ll. but becaue the children or met themselves had departed from tht truth. The Latter-Jay Salnls wonld bt1 the most ungrateful and uuworthy people in the world ir thiy did noi honor tho Priesthood. But there wr ( a difference between honoring the i'riesthood, the authority or God, an. gitingaway their manhood, at.d do ing such thingsasthey wereaccUHx of. Xo people on earth valued fre. agencyasdidtlie LaUer-day Saint; they preached it anj taucht Ihcip children that they were rttingenb free to chncse and act for themselves. them-selves. They would not bind a man by-a single hair to do something' Vhlch his own rree will would tint prompt him to do. The Latter-day Saints, acknowledged tbey were a, one, and thanked God for th. gospel which had brought them to gether; but because bf this oneness it did not follow that they did not reason and hold indivlduaioplniotu. that they were led by- ono mini, or one mm. People who had dom what tbo Latter-day Saints hao done had shown their Independence; Indepen-dence; for it required independ eace and courage to embrace this Gospel and become Lattir-di Saints. Thousands had h.-ll-r.,! I, their principles but had not tin txurage to espouse them and cast their lot with the Saints Quoting the words of the Prophet JsepL when once asked at s'auvot how It was that such goodordei prevailed among his followers anu everything was so well regulated, "L teach them good principles, anu they govern themselves," the speaker said that that was tbe case with the Latter-day Saints all through. In conclusion, ho exhorted hlr hearers not to allow selfishness to come between them so as to produce' disintegration. He, prayed that God would bless thenrttjlll them with His Holy Spintf enlighten" their minds and give them Joy and I peace. i'BESIDEST 'WIl.l'OKD,VO0DnuF spoke very briefly. He said he did not believe there ever waSa time in the history of the world when there existed so little faith among the people with regard to God, His Son Jesus Christ, aud tbe gospel as was tbe case today. Just as soon as the Lord organized or-ganized this Church, with the same principles which belonged to it in ancient days, it seemed as though the wbolo world was stirred up against them as a people. Tbey were therefore Jed to ask the cause ufj 'J.. . j"- -' mi. ' 'm of all the opposition a---l jtriecu-tion jtriecu-tion which had attended lb o Latter-day Latter-day Saints throughout the whole Christian world; and the answer came "Btcaufe"you differ from us In rellglo'n. You preach tbe gifts, gracesy and revelations of Jesus Christ today as taught In ancient days, and we do not believe In tbem. Those things were taught In thedark .ages to convince the children of men of the work of God. We now live In tbe glorious Gospel irght,and wo do not need them." That was tbe kind of teaching by ministers i J tHtr present day: but he (the speak-crjt'would speak-crjt'would .say' In answer to this: J'Then, for God's sake, give me the dark ages of the Woild." ,Ho did not believe there ever lived a people, cither in this or any other generation, who bad been mare lied about than the Latter-day Saints. It was astonishing how little these "Mormons," as they were called, were known in the world. Strangers who came Into this city would somt'lmes enquire of a man whom they saw standing on the street and who had probably probab-ly made up bis mind enough to lie about them something about the "Mormons," andttley learned from him In five minutes all about "Mormonlsm." These people returned re-turned home and told what they had learned, and the story spread until the truth was hardly ever heard. It had been aiserted here In years gone by, as a reproach again it the Latter-day Saints, that not a manor woman could send a letter anywhere out of the Territory .Without tbe Presidency of the Church first reading it. Such statements state-ments were of course false. NNby, he had scarcely time to read his own letters when written, much less those of the many thousands of people who dwell here. There was just as much truth in that as In tbe statement that the Presidency told 'eviry'TrUter-day Saint bow.to vote, He hadrcelded In this valley some torty-four years, and he could safely say that during the whole of that time, so far as he coJld recollect, he had never told any man or woman how to vote. If he bad told anyone, It had only been some of bis own boys who might have asked his advice; but he did not remember re-member even that. Falsehood had been spread or the whale world to such an extent that the people hardly knew what to believe in regard to the Latter day Saints. Some persons had actually ac-tually entertained the idea that the "Mormons" hadhorutl The speaker recited an incident bearing on thb absurd fallacy. On one occasion, he old, a few Gentllu gentlemen got Into the company of a young "Mormon" "Mor-mon" Elder for the first time. He was a Kood-Iooking, bright, and Intelligent In-telligent young fellow, and tbey were somewhat surprised to find that be was like other men. They all wore their hats at tbe time, and one of the company desired de-sired the Elder to remove his from Ills head. He at once complied with the request, remarking, however, as he did so, "You see I am young aud my horns have not begun-to grow yet." President Woodruff related another an-other circumstance within his experience. ex-perience. Some years ago he traveleu from OgJen with a rty of clergymen. clergy-men. Upon their arrival here, and ou passing the Blxteenth ward uliooltiouse, one of the number inquired what that building was used fir. On being informed, the questioner ques-tioner expressed ills astonishment, remarking that be had no idea the "Mormons" bad schools! The world was opposed to the Littcr-dsy Saints on almost every ground; and as to revelation, it was one of the worst things a man could believe In if he wished to be popular with the multitude outside. lie urged the Latter day Salnls to exercise faith in God, to believe in Him aud In His Son Jesus Christ as tho Savior of the world. If they were not united they were not the people of God. Let them live true to their religion, looking forward to the promises which God had made unto them, and which He would assuredly fulfil if they walked In tbe w ays of righteousness. Tbe choir sang tbe anthem: rrom alar, xraclon Lord.Thoa nat gain eredTliy flock. The benediction was pronounced by Apostle Abraham II. Cannon. |
