Show DISCOURSE BY AMASA LYMAN tabernacle deo DEC 2 1855 1835 REPORTED ay BY GEO D WATT my aly brethen and sisters by the chanres chanles which mark lle ile tile lie history of our journey through life I 1 again hive the privilege of meeting with wilh you with many of you no doubt I 1 have had the same privilege before and for aught I 1 know this may be the arst first time I 1 have met w with ith others who are present to day whether I 1 have mt m t with w i th you before or not it is a source of gratification to me that we are here I 1 am not here because I 1 have fulfilled my m mission or because I 1 have laid down the labor of rny my mission as having completed it hut but I 1 arn am simply here MIS nis afternoon because I 1 have llave a mission one that has enraged my time filled up my timey times timp time and engaged all my powers it is only in the discharge of 0 f the duties of that mission that I 1 air here thorah some may have hive h ave thought that hat because I 1 have been labori laboring n in california for a it few years the labors of my mission irp ire tr confined to california but I 1 do not so understand it these are not nut the feelings that I 1 cherish within me in relation to it I 1 never have fell braue I 1 was appointed to labor for a time tune for the accomplishment of certain purposes in the state of ot california that I 1 was released from the obligations that rested upon me as a minister of righteousness every day in every place and under tinder all circumstances I 1 received a mission over ever twenty years ago to preach the gospel and have hive been ena engaged gd in it ear since it has filled up the hours days weeks months and years ot of my life since pinne I 1 ie rp it it has enlisted my whole affections for that length of time and I 1 have only just commenced I 1 say I 1 have just coan commenced e aced be cause I 1 have not completed it and the extent of time that may ruay be occupied ill in its completion I 1 do not comprehend the only fact I 1 fully rally comprehend in rela reia relation tion tinn lo 10 it la is that I 1 have began it I 1 have received it entered upon the duties of it and in the prosecution sec see se of fit it so an far I 1 have done all I 1 have done I 1 have traveled where whre I 1 have traveled I 1 have labored tailored as I 1 have labored it is in the discharge if 4 the ditties duties a of f this mission I 1 leave salt lake liike and mid in t the discharge of tile the duties of it that I 1 return il if is in the discharge of these duties hat that I 1 do all that I 1 do so far as I 1 am able to tf act as I 1 would wish to act and as I 1 design to net I 1 may this evening address people with whom I 1 have held conversation in relation to principles of the gospel long years yens yeas ago and others as I 1 have remarked perhaps see me for the girt firt time ime yet to both of these classes of persons I 1 have lave 1 lut iut tut ut one thing to say namely that it is 11 till my business to preach the gospel gri I 1 have nothing else elst to preach I 1 know nothing else to preach reach it itis is the subject that has engaged my attention and still does engage it with the years of experience that have hive added the contributions to the stora stort of knowledge I 1 have ave been able to gain in the short time I 1 have lived in the world worl di the ithe subject seems to increase in its dimensions dimen lons ions and in its extent that which I 1 thought I 1 knew when I 1 was but a it boy that I 1 thought I 1 understood under tood that I 1 supposed in n the vanity and i ignorance of childhood I 1 com rom pretended ended I 1 find in ln the mature years of man min hood that I 1 knew nothing about it or so far fir as the comprehension in of tile the great truths of the gospel in their thein extent are concerned I 1 learned that there was a gospel and became satisfied of its truth and I 1 commenced to labor satisfied in n the dospel as did those who taught me its principles and from whose lipi lips I 1 first heard heart the testimony ee ther thereof eor the first man I 1 ever heard preach it is here with me today to day br orson pratt pratt the gospel is connected with every thing I 1 can think about it is expanded to ruch nuch hn im extent that I 1 cannot see beyond it I 1 cannot rise above it nor descend beneath it there are no depths it does not reach no heights height i it does not surmount no extent which H ii not filled by it so let me talk to you what I 1 will that is true and calculated to do good 0 to o mankind it must of necessity P orm arm arn a part of tile the gospel J I 1 used to think twenty years ago that thit I 1 hadi har preached it over and over again so eci I 1 confess j one thing not as a rin fin not kot ot asa as a wrong wrongs that when I 1 was a child I 1 thought as a chill chil I 1 I 1 believed the he gospel as a child I 1 speculated about it as a child and I 1 falkl talked ed about it is as a child would but since I 1 became a man I 1 have learned diffie different rent thing things fi I 1 have earnd learned earn d that there is a vast diffie difference rence between receiving and endorsing rt belief in the existence of a fact fac tand and the fail full and perfect comprehension of it this was the relation in which I 1 stood to the go goel gopel pel pei in the days of my childhood it is the relation in which I 1 stand to to ity its it in a great day it is no more a fact today to day than it was a score core corb of years ago that I 1 comprehend the gospel only in part that I 1 comprehend it fully now I 1 would not he so understood J comprehend seim srim something ething of it all the truth that I 1 am able to C is so much of it IN row dow biow ow is i this the case with any body besides m myself I 1 have reason to think that if I 1 have tile the gospel to learn others have it to learn and that tint if a comprehension nathe of the truth is requisite to my salvationist salvati onit is to theirs then the important thing in relation to the gospel is that we should receive it in in its true spirit spirits that we should shoula duly apreci te the object of its institution the he reasons reason why it is revealed to us and the necessity that 9 called for its revelation thle thie will enlighten us as is 0 to o the principle upon which we will he be really saved when we are saved iri irs if aeter afler fill all we do not comprehend the gospel in its fui ful ness and in u its it 3 widest extent we may perlin ps fill fall as 43 far short of what may bf be called accord according ints to our way of or understanding a perfect salvation as we may lack inz to comprehend the gospel in its fullness the tile gospel as I 1 receive it believe it learned to be true to be he a system of truth that cir clr circum curn scribes all thin things v that embraces all the good that exists is a something that is is designed to produce for the children of men such things aa as are requisite to their happiness to their deliverance from the bondage of sin from the bondage of error ignorance and darkness or from ig entrance nt tance rance by whatever name it aty b be called or whatever may be the particular agency by which it may exert its influence over the freedom of the soul this review re view of the matter has hag led me to cc com coa a clude dude that it is not the heathen nations sinn sion lone inne r aa as we denominate them in contradistinction 1 to the tha christian world that are groveling in darkness that are worshiping they know not whai what and that are seeing they know not what but that it itis is actually the case with thousands who have subscribed to the doctrine god has revealed in the last days even the gospel as a system of truth and salvation yet in looking forward t to that em emancipation anci ancl pation from darkness from error and from all the concomitant train of con conse buenes resulting from an ignorance of truth they have failed V to recognize in examining the subject that the comprehension of truth was waa actually necessary to con constitute the salvation they sought fought for W we e have looked for heaven or happiness happi ness in in a del dei verance from flom every thing that is is in reality a it cause pause or annoyance to us of sorrow misery and from front this we expect expert to be saved from it we expect the gospel n will ill lii redeem us U 3 we well weil I 1 now how do we expect to arrive nt at so desirable a con consummation animation of conr wi wishes hoddo we expect to gain the till point where we shall re alize a full ana perfect deliverance from the evils that afflict us with which we are surrounded bur in life and froni from wlm whit ii it we expect to be ae saved when th gospel has wrought out for u tim ism all we anticipate shall shill have hive h uve ive brought to us the realization of our higl highest iett lett hopes and Ioli eft expectations what then shall have been done with us where shall we be what kind of rif men and women will we he be what whitt coun locality of the great universe shall we occupy where can ran the bread of life be found and the tile water of tile the fountain of life from which we may fain quench our thirst i one mi mii mil ht calculate that all the good ne we expect to realize when we are saved will be obtained by doing in all things as we are fire told to do doby by fulfilling every requisition that is im posed upon us and thereby securing the full nes nesa of this salvation whit does this chis obedience lead bad b had ad people to it leads them to go where they are ate required to go and to in stay where they may be required to stay in fine it leads them to perform every labor that is is roqui required red at their hands in the building up of the lie kingdom of or god and the establishing lishing of zion or the cause of truth on the earty earth in the of pursuance this what do aix wix we find we find men crossing the desert deserts and the o ean of their own free freewill will pissing ihra thra all the contingencies of a journey of that kind passing pissing privations hardships dangers and evils that may hang around their heir path because they have been commanded to do so we see sec sorn some fall off who have spent a score of years ia in traveling preaching laboring toi tol toiling linz and striving to gain salvation by heing being obedient to th tbt requisition requisitions that were laid up dpn n them they have gone when and whre where wh re they were kere v vere ere pre sent and hive have come back when called for they have made it their business to respond to the calie calk that were mi bre are bregard aard gard less of what they in cht be concluded conclude in next nezi number dumber |