| Show DISCOURSE ey jr 21 resident Jent J id M GRANT beery aug ang 3 1856 REPORTED BY J V LONG nong having the privilege of speaking to you this morning I 1 particularly need the aid and assistance of the spirit of the lord for I 1 have lieen leen laboring under indisposition for several weeks and do not possess that physical force which is natural to me therefore 1 need more of the divine influence of the holy spirit we have professedly gathered ourselves to this land to serve our god we feel that thit we have found th the pearl epearl of great price it matters but little in relation to the land that we dwell upon or the special comforts of life that wo we m may a lit lut have found and now nov enjoy enjo y in this land BO so w we e but have within us that ete etc eternal artial treasure that warrants us in in be believing lievin that we please our our oar god and that he approbates probates ap our course I 1 am aware that the christians think inasmuch as they have circulated the bible among the nations of the earth that thai they have thereby done much towards spreading the gospel and establishing the kingdom of god on the earth but bat you as reasonable reason ibie men would consider that I 1 reasoned very badly were I 1 to say that the united SI aes oes by circulating t the constitution among the vano vario isz gsg is governments its on the earth had th cereby established so many republics republics an fn order for the kingdom cf of god to have an existence upon the earth we naturally need the radiant light of heaven we need the divine sanction of the aft almighty and he will set a man to properly organize his in people and execute those things which he designs to haxe have a v e carried out some may ask why vily uhe the L latter ti e r day saints rejoice I 1 answer ue e rejoice not alone in that we have a claim perLor si s to the claims of others not alone in mat we have houses and lands and powers and authority and the comforts of this city but bat in in the privileges given us by the almighty through faith and obedience for being more happy than other people we have not the faculties that the people of many other cities and anti parts of the earth posses indeed we are aie ai e deputed deli dell ived cf if many of the coul coal forts and lucuma which many enjoy in fit other climes but we are did become here for them were they the grand objector object of our leaving our native sofai kofl i was this the view we had zhi when we vve left europe the united states or any other part of the earth or the islands of the sea did we come here to obtain a better farm to obtain the luxuries of life if this was the object of oar our pursuit we hive haic certainly been mist ken it is possible that some may ulay live ilse h vc been tempted as they were in the d ats tys of jesus by the loaves and fisher fishes b bit it those who understood the truth and comprehended and alid loved virtue had no anch idea they understood tacit the gospel of the son of god proclaimed and taught by the proper offe officers ceis eis cis lii iii lil hd beer beed brought unto them and that the sceptre of life had been h held eld eid out ont to them and may we not as saints of god rejoice that we have found and and ind I 1 received tiie truth that ve we hd have vi tasted of us 49 sweetness and chite thata th ute itE has ni nude ade us hapij capt it matters not whether bether yoi yot dwell ii in great salt lake city or in the different settlements of this territory or whether yoa are associated with those that are following follo ung ing some special clai clat branch of mechanism if you have haie the principles of or eternal life the gift cf of the cloty ghost the therill will of the lord the power of god gott within I 1 you for then you will be contented on oa the other hand it if you have not lot the principles that thai come from heaven though you may way have rich soil to cultivate and splendid biases to darll dwi 11 in though you may he be connected with wealthy and influential families and possess choice localities cali ties in a powerful state vou you aye are not happy you are not riot contented for there here is is a vacuum where the principles of life should be and gold and silver sliver will not fill it and satisfy the arav ings within i some people act as if they looked for this I 1 city to be like the various other cities of lh th earth and if they do not prosper as well W us they think they ought they turn round upon us as though this worlds goods wera the prim try iry object of or their coming 0 here herp I 1 admit out dut ila iia ha H 11 a ven has seeh fit to pis give e us many matly of the comforts of life but the primary object of 0 1 0 ir r coming here was not to obtain more desirable 1 I 1 temporal blessings orto obtain more gold or silver this was not our view but we came here to do the will of our pathe fathe and we built houses laid out farms and went tp to wark as we would elsewhere but these thed e things did not induce us to come here when we enlisted in the covenant of the everlasting gospel gosp elof of christ our object was wag to attain eternal lif lift the object of oar our coming here was to please our god i we did not merely have the bible circulated i among among us u joseph smith did not mee y tell ds cna that ee he was a missionary sent to proclaim that i i which was proclaimed and belie vedin the garl gari den of eden or the testimony oay that was ivas givens given donoh to noah before the flood ot or that thab he be was sent simply to bring the books of the writings a of the ancient apostles and prophets or alone to inform us of the works of joans jobus christ when upon the earth this was not alone the work of the prophet but it was that he had received a commission from the al at all ail 1 mighty that he had been ordained by yeter peter peter james and john who were sent unto him as messengers or ministers from the heavens with proper authority and had given him the le leai legal leal al authority of god for what to build up the kingdom of god upon the earth to organize it and set itin it in order and to ordain proper officers I 1 to execute the law this apostle of jesus christ told the people that if they would obey obe the gospel if they would repent of their sins if be baptized for the remission of I 1 thee thel U a 11 ij g they should receive receive the gift of the I 1 holy ghost by the laying on of hands which he was authorized to administer many complied with the teachings of the prophet and what was the result much Bluch the same as we read of in the bible and the book of mormon the prophet translated the book of mormon and therein found the subject ab act of salvation set forth as it is in the B bible bibie 4 bl e only more plainly and ully fully f the book of mormon and the prophet joseph taught repentance the same as the bible therefore they agreed and the prophet never limited that instruction neither did he limit any 0 of the teachings of the ancients if joseph had merely sold the people the bible and book of mormon would they have hare received the gift of the holy ghost it was and I 1 presume still is a favorite theme with mr alexander cappbell Can ca map tap bellof of the united states that the word is the spirit and the spirit is the word in short that there is no spirit to be received separate from the word of god his logic amounts to this virtually imply preach the bible the word of god and salvation as printed in the bible and all who purchase the bible thereby purchase eternal life who that is rational and possessed of a disposition to scan the subject can believe such a doctrine doubtless moses heard the thunder oe of the almighty on mount blount sinai and saw the but would you sa say Y that I 1 was reasoning sorting correctly if I 1 were to say that I 1 heard that gunder lunder thunder and saw those simply through reading the history thereof in the bible again would I 1 be reasoning reasoning L correctly to say because I 1 have read the acc abc account J of what transpired on the day of pentecost when the spirit was poured out upon the people P eo p e and peter spoke as he was moved upon by t the h holy ghost that I 1 therefore have seen seeh the day af pf of pentecost that because I 1 have read the hii history of some of the operations of the holy ghost therefore I 1 have the holy ghost or that I 1 heard them speak irr tongues because I 1 have read the history of persons speaking in tongues t certainly certain not I 1 am aware that hundreds and thousands of different denominations disagree with A mr fr Campbe campbeli 11 and also aiso declare that they receive the spirit of the lord what they call the new birth a change of the heart pat put ot 01 fly the old man and put on the new man and at the same time the 0 operations orations erat ions lons of their minds their course of or life and antall all ail their doings and sayings sayin s prove that they are equally as far bel behind T as mr ca campbell m ell eil and that t they thes ey have only the history of the light itself sho should 7 ithon you light a room with gas and should an ar artist take a sketch of the light and some author write a history of the affair and at a subsequent date some other man min mun write a history and should the two accounts be placed together describing the beauty thereof and benefit thereof would the history of the light and the benefit that had been derived and the abundance of that light that was said to have i existed light up a hall if it would do not buy auy any more wore candles but read the history of candles and stick that history in your candle stice stick read the history of oil and wick and stick chatin that in your lamp and see how much light you will get oyon you yoa may mav read the book of mormon and the book of doctrine and covenants and the word of god gott in its various written writ teft teti and printed forms and after you have read them all have 3 oil oll on by su qu d doing lilg ilig 1119 gained any right to say that you have the liht light of moses isaiah daniel and odier oilier ancient and trio modern dern men of god have you any arty teson reason reson to say that you possess thes itis une tine light li lic ilc the smie aime a 9 mie joy joyu the same spirit is cis t ahey h ey d daiil i in consequence of your possessing th the e same written woid wold of goti god that they the Y possessed yes if mr doctrine doctrina doc trine trina be coget comet no doubt do abt the followers of mr camp beil belt consider the tha doctrine doc doe trine true and anc his logic and reasoning rea sonin ning correct sume some in the fhe so called christian world contend that tint the spirit is the word and that word argue will sivo SAVO the people now that thit some missionary or bible s clely ciely send a few missionaries to the L itei D ly ty Sain Saint tsin sn these hearing thit we w were era erk short of bread anu and ana other kinds cf ef food aid aid sop sip suppose pose thab that those missionaries i sho should ild ltd tell us is about the various kinds of food v to ss estain tain lift and then suppose that this benevolent institution should publish 15 or 2000 tracts to teach us its what an addan trig it is ig to live in new york london paris or new orleans and aliat hat they live upon in the vario is s regions df the habitable portions of the darji what bood would all that do us I 1 answer not any arter epi eor voil voit li ive lve ive lve read in this book holding up UK fhe bible bibe concerning the commis commission sion gion which ji it sis sis zave jve ave to es certai ertain n of his disciples can you g ill ril gt iii t up bp and siy that yott iott yoa you are pet Pat peter erJames james john or any atty of the ancient apostles or prophets or by so iloni that you had the holy ghost the same aa as they had could conid yon you reason that thab when you dad gad had read the thi th account of the psalmist where he says the ithe I mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs tha tyoa had seen the glory of god in this way because the psalmist records thit lie saw it could you when yoi you have read that paul knew hib hie a man who was caught up to the third heavens testify that you knew the man who was caught up simply from having read that account I 1 wh n you read of the gifts fitts gifta that were bestowed upon apon ad and circulated circulate among the people of god you certainly would not wish others to suppose thit mere reading about them their puts you in in possession of the same blessings but many in the world would suppose that nhen heh hen they preach and circulate the bible they actually put in inthe the possession of the people that power and life and those gifts that the ancient apostles and prophets and ani saints ot 0 f god enjoyed i brethren and sisters we understand the difference I 1 between enjoying and reading oe of enjoyment between beaw een the history of a feast and the feast itself also between the history of the law of god and the law itself I 1 when the prophet joseph came among the people lie he did not tell them that he would sell them the word of god but after he had established the truth in their minds and anti they were baptized he then laid his hands upon them that they might receive the gift of the holy ghost for he had promised this and they received the holy comforter and the same light the same spirit the same power of god and the same principles of eternal life that very gift which is 13 the greatest gift of god and it fave save gave them the same joy and the same great blessings and this spirit taught C them the mil will of god I 1 herein is is the difference between this church and the people of the world they rejoice in in thinking that their foie forefathers fathers had bad such rich blessings and that they were so happy and re rejoiced voiced so much that they saw god his son jesus s christ and peter james and john and that their forefathers received the holy ghost we rejoice that we have seen and that our prophets have received the like blessing bles bies sine and not that we read of their enjoyment e 0 o ament we rejoice that our god lives that jesus christ his son lives ilves liv es and that the b gifts and blessings lessin 0 ms are bestowed upon us it is is generally admitted that it is natural f for or parents to love iove lov lok e their young children as well as the older ones and if there bo be any diffie difference renco rence t they hey will love the youngest 50 ingest ones a little the most for they sometimes have to be more severe with the ol older deones ones but the world reverse this doctrine with regard to the almighty for they make god love adam abraham and the ancients but when it comes down to the present time their wonderful peace peacemaking making religion makes them rejoice that their older bretl brethren gren Tren and sisters had rich dinners and suppers and that they had feasted on the good things of heaven but that our rather father is so unmerciful in in our day that we have to eat esat husks according to the doctrine of our religious friends we have to rejoice that the ancients e enjoyed y ed the rich blessings of our father a and nd t that ht he will ivill not hot give us anything but the history ther thereof 1 beof prest B young and the 0 chaff 1 suh sach a course is not as consistent aa as that of the devil for he treats his first chil children dren dreu in in a certain way and then he treats all the others in in much the same way wd he treats everybody about alike have hav ewe we not a right to receive those blessings that were vv ere erp enjoyed by our elder brethren if the devil temp s ind find tries every body and if the young children have to be tried why it y not the young be biest blest blest biest like the old children I 1 am aware th tint it the litter L itter day saints require a great deal of preaching and some of that too on subjects very easy of comprehension I 1 will tell you what I |
