Show DISCOURSE by elder gcorge george A smith mith tabernacle xo sat hav I 1 aj 1857 A as 1 BY liy G D WAT WATT our father w who to is isan in heaven has placed us in tins thiis world wyli in ill the present generation and arid has placed belble belbie us laws and end and principles by which wh ch vve ave e may obtain ex exaltation illation and aad celestial glory iche acquisition of ady any department of science the laws laus thereof must be ascertained a arld arid nd tiie tile the application pl properly ro perly made or it I 1 is i not in our burp power oa er to 0 o become acquainted with its branche so as to master in aster it and arid realize ilia the or of its effects si so also in entering into the ilia kingdom of the high god i we e eiter elter enter by a door preparatory and to all thosa ailio ho have lave lava been tradition 11 e ed d I 1 inthe n t 11 a rai ral lala laia ie religions leli gions of the ire lre present ent nile alle age this tins door i seems acis to be ue but little dundei stood 1 I have watched the movements of dersons coming into inlo the chirich chiti ch or of christ from sectarian I 1 chur churi churches lies hes for many years and I 1 discover dic dir cover they aie ale I 1 almost entirely enveloped envelop cd ir jr a kind of cast iron shell and it is with avith the ili ill greatest of difficulty that they divest divet Ahem themselves selves of il it of their prejudices and arid tradition ou it is the work of ears and arid altho I 1 many cume into th s church churchAk v bile without Ail all hout an extensive knowledge kno fedgo of sectarian principles ye yet tsuch such sueh is is tle ue foice force of tradition ven iven i in in them that they have to stop consider and arid question whether are really true and received from a proper source or whether they are false theitis a feeling in man breast to reverence r we find if among the untutored savages sav say gs I 1 we eind find il it among what shat are denominated i the heathen rations nations 1 ar amog org ong those who are we considered pagans bow holms anz down to worship linae linagen the workmanship nhip of their own hands iliad I 1 had the wh ilein th the states of being s subject to tile llie keeping beeping of the rail 1 road company I 1 wished very devoutly to llave hae ibe the eriv privilege liege of spending ny my time with wilh ilia in saint L rials but to avoid avold traveling oil on bath the aci declee ea had gone forth that we I 1 should not leave chicago Chica gb so oa on the sabbath I 1 went to sa s1 S marys cathedral for the purpose of afi i hea hearing ringa a catholic di discourse cou arse I 1 I 1 evas ivas vas kras there gratified by hearing a very elo j quent quart gentleman gent pent lenan lenau explain th the reason redson why tiie tire thel ar paintings cruc crue dixion and em beems of thi shi kind aroused are used in the c churche ile he said sala that thata it avas wis not understood with that a person I 1 before a likeness or a picture of d u saint did so with the intention of dipping that saint j oi or picture but ht the design was to inspire iu in the heart of the tire worshipper wor shipper a disposition to em am j the tle tl e virtuous deeds aid ald ai d good actions of that saint hence said syd the tire orator a portrait of the vit vii i gill gin mary placed in a proper proper position where fe fel fei l males wales especially the 5 oung can call come coma before it and arid offer their ad orations insures inspires ia in their chaste chasle and virtu virtuous ous cus ideas holy thoughts pare pure principles and end ardent desires to live as perfectly i to be as humble and to observe the laws of i li 11 as fully as did the birgin whose pc turye they stand before 1 I bring this up simply to illustrate the tiie brincil ia upon which the catholics aricer answer the objections raised by world against tile the use of images etc tc in in their churches churchea thus accusing 1 them of kofl blo olo latry j there are reason reasons well veil known to eveary evory reader of why pictures were into lito the cathola Cat holc churches although illey ass agn for this lie lle the reason elven given by thel tha eloquent gentleman ia ili sf st marys cathedral chicago yet they were not liot used in the thi callic chur churches chei nor in ili any of the christian chur ebur churches ches previous pre pie 3 to lo their g mixed with romanism Roman sm when it look took its origin the empire of homb home I 1 I 1 i 1 I 1 i I 1 j j j i ivas as both a religious and political institution its emperors and senators had attached to thern them sa sacred gut put authority hority and their xe ligion religion embodied within i it t the tie lie power perfection and consolidated union of the tire pagan institutions of that age which consisted ii ia a series of systems of idolatry hence hy by order of the hie government temples aver a dedicated particularly to their pod god of peace pence to be opened ili in the time lime of peace a antt anit 7 to b bo shut in tila the time dfwar of war temples were also dedi dedicated caled to lo the god rod of ot war var to be opened in ili time of war and arid closed in time lime of peace for or at certain times the gods of peace and arid plenty were lo 10 be invoked at other times the god pod of war ivar was to be courted the christian rel rei religion aion alon gion silently advanced until it became become a power to be ciutti d by inn who thirsted for dominion domi niom when constantine got possession of the throne the empire had become to a considerable extent r and it became inc luc essary to do something to consolidate con solida e the fe feelings elinos flinos of the whole vwe to destroy idols entirely tirl would b taken with a bad grace by the I 1 higher order of the roman people in order lo 10 j meet this difficulty Consta cousta constantine niffie substituted pictures instead of idols instead of the statue r tat ue of minerva minerya lie had the picture of the virgia instead of a temple tempie dedicated ded bated toju to J jupiter u church zedicar ed ad to st peter petel instead of a statue of apollo a likeness cf of some of tiie llie apostles or of some gaint saint or pel pei sonsie imaginary or omeal oneal leal real thus completely coin coln co mingling ingling the christian i algion ion lon with willi idolatry then the men started up to assign reasons for this and these reasons were svere presented in the tiie eloquent style of the ilia address I 1 heard in st marys ra ral heathen ald idols are built for jil ill h same purpose you ask tho the priest ofa of a heathen temple if the real intent is to w L worship that stone or that image imae lmae of gold silver brass or iron and lie lle would tell you that it was only a e of something thin that you could abt t see e lsne tiie tile real god a and ud the itanaga jagt vas was introduces ap a substitute 1 aifong the early 11 bitante of the world who arh 0 rejected the true lell gion glon many began to pay their adoration ador allon alion to the tile sun moon stars ac etc these soon adopted personages that they considered would represent the tile objects of lle ile the lie adoration hence we find jupiter is represented as the king kins indof of gods or as the go gal 1 of thunder more par pat tiei tiel ticul aily ariy the thunder representing his ills weapon berg beng the most powerful rul rui agent they nad had any idea of and arid lils his ima imae image e or statue was ivas worshipped wor shipped by the early inhabitants of the cal cai eaith ili ill as ulo the representative senta penta tive of that power T thero there h ere was gene generally rally raily attached to these deities an idea of terror ili in studying the principles of mythology held by the greeks who ale afa are ara considered the mast most classical people of early ages we discover that to a almost everything they associate the idea of terror hence when a iran tran passed jiom from fro ii this world to the he next they lifey considered ved red it necessary to plase pla e a little change in his hii cafin to pay I 1 hi 1 passage across aaros the river styx they had a personage named chiron ch irod iron who w ho in their mythology operated as felry feiry fel fei ryman maii mali and arid the tle very moment he ilia spirit it of the tha dead crossd the river it came in contact with a doe cerberus with three heads and ii istead of hair imir covered with snake that dog answered as watchman to keep the depart departed cd gnit from tole abodes of men the human imagination was tortured to up tip the most moat hideous pictures in following these imaginations they had a variety of detal ind and add I 1 lil iii these wo we find that scarcely any two rite writers rito rs I 1 agree agree the greeks were about as united ili in chevor th the evor worship ship of their gods as the christians Chiist chilst ians lans are aro who profess lo 10 worship jesus they went in however for tor wor war g all the deities and arid sunae same si raa rae of them to a great extreme 1 4 for ingance in jn tance lance go to athens in the day giery glory as did the apostle paul punt and you bigla see sec the statues of all ail the gods of the ancients and I 1 amon among the rest an jin altar to the unknown god there was a god they di not know but they were determined to jilt every case and ba be prepared to worship ever every y body hody like the tiie man in a storm at sea ea it was good goot lord andwood and good de devit devil 1 I with him hien for he lie knew not in whose hands lie should fall therefore to be sure that they worshipped wor shipped all th sy y set et tip up an I 1 altar itar to the unknown bcd that if they should fall fill into his hands they could claim that they had llad worshipped wor shipped him hun and end that is about the 04 sum slim and substance of tile cheso so called christian Christ iiii lali worship of the tile present ay agg you may go into ally any society of people almost arid and ask them what they worship and the they would as soon teil tell you vou yau they worship llie ilie unknown god as gioi not you may take up their the i r creeds mid wid aid ald they give it out hat that they worship ago a god L r 0 d that has neither body parts nor pas passions iol is and a nd yee et t has three persons their ideas are ere so perfectly 1 3 confused and their knowledge so supremely ty r rid calous caious oil on this suba ct et as to inake maae it clear to thoe enlightened by tile the holy ghost that hey they are entirely ignorant and totally in the dirk dark on this tin s matter ih ahey must have livov made madel their heli creeds without thinking wt irl ether the words composing them had deanin meaning 9 or not bot when V n I 1 was 18 years of age I 1 was sent on a mission mission preaching the tire gospel I 1 called one sabbath to tol see a friel d of the pre 13 persuasion the old gentleman wanted I 1 should go baptist ine lne kneeing eing with bairt As I 1 had bad no appointment until evening evening I 1 went with him I 1 had bad not been here thero a great while before he made an effort to have them let me preach they thes however did not feel disposed their minister was gone and arid one of or he the deacons got up and read an in old fashioned close communion bonim u nio a dry chip and arct porridge berrion Feri ferr flon and besides the deacon beacon being a miserable erable boor joor reader I 1 was not very much interested when the meeting ine lne eting was dismissed the deacon came can up tip to tome me and asked me ilia where 1 lived I 1 told him hire and I 1 in return inquired of him what church that was he ile said it was tile the church of christ said 1 I what apostle built it tile tiie apostle paul he lie replied I 1 said I 1 vs vas avas not aware that paul bad been in in this country preaching and arid building buning up churches yell yeli vell eil eli ell said he be it was built bulit up upon ils lis ir s doctrine fri iri n a ft indeed said 1 I what apostle pres presides les ies over it we dont have babe any in these days lays 1 then it Is as not the church of godf 1 4 yes it fi as said baid lie he apostles andar and prophets ady any done away way a 3 h not so said I 1 a and n d I 1 drew out the tiie new nw ta iasa sfa sta ment and rea tea read d god h luth atil set pet la ia his church first apostles e etc c now said 1 I the very fact of or there not being apostles und and prophets ophela Pi ili ill in your church trat that it is la not the of god aid ald ai d I 1 dont want avant anything to do willi with it sais says lie he you are a strange fellow ingver I 1 never thought of that before I 1 told him the he scriptures scrip turps tures alil alii ai A fl said your may forever forcier read such ser Ber sermons mons is you sout have haie been beert reading today to day and arid they blaud unless is a principle in in the tho org ong orga animation kniza aniZa tion ilon of af the tile church inspired from the he almi almighty aty unless there theio ij is an air authority auth onty only that is u governed by th the power of god od alid alio ai ills ins blint weli men might just as well weli worship dumb idols idol the fancy jancy jaue jane gods odthe of the ancient heathen iila llie pictures of the tha Catholic sas as to go tu to meeting or perform any other ki id 0 worA worship jip if yon you UP dermake to RO go to any place youl you have havo lava iava got to take the tire right load you must start ri nir lit il it you starl start wrong you araa arai breasure are sure pure sura iura ao to come corne olit J t wron wrong and tiie the furar further you oil go in in a wron wion direction tiie the further you are off the I 1 hae have heard it said ill ili in the ilia course of my ady travels that if persons pe sons thick they are it they ibey 1 11 are re right that if persons are only cincere hin bin gln sin sincerer cerer cere alf ali wi I 1 jana 5 a out well that may way 31 answer awer for people to taik talk about who know they are wrong and are arc trying to carry themselves into the ilia idea that it is is aist as s well to be wrong as liht but if a abish wish to enter the kingdom of hda beaven leaven ach we vie have llave ta ts enter by b the fhe door for says sacs the sav savior 1 wr 1 I 1 am the tha door by me if it any ffman man enter ili lii in he shai shul have hava ifa brit suppose you enter through somebody el cue cLe e where ilus lids the idea orl ori originated til hat haf at there is is the tha least possible prospect of coming conning out right fight from star starting lili lill wrong suppose a man mun should start lo 10 the ilia states but instead of that lie he makes his vav into inte the tire western desert saving it doit doht dolt make any difference ce v way ay I 1 go 0 o lah wint it would vv ouid ha be the result ile he would wander in in the desert aud and p pen h suppose a 4 man in attempting tt to serve il llie ilie leTord lord by mistake should serve the do devil lly liy is the lord going gom to reward him hia for tor seg sex the devil not a at all ul r when joseph joseppi smith commenced to proclaim to the llie world the tire truth the ways ft ay of life and salvation in in the manner he was vas ip 0 ot tile the lord to do every religious denomination Prote protestant stant stunt idolater or what no not hot t the morn ehlt erit they heard lizard of it commenced a dismal hott 1 of false prophet false teacher imposture deception 1 etc amity because there was a light directly froin from the almighty a man vad had iad lad wine forth foith that tal tai a ill in the name of bf the lord a per bore of the plan of salvation that would actually overthrow dissolve use usa up annihilate and aud destroy every thing that dd d a not come fi flom om G A d well say s the tire old eld priest if this goes abroad what will ba be the lault the people a ill lii seeth seethed rf light the hie true doctrine and they will quit corning I 1 ank and to my 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