| Show DISCOURSE 1 4 by ZT president pres dent brigham m tou you young tabernacle ibbe ebbe n cle cie zdi not KOT 29 1857 REPORTED ilg iti BY GEO 1 D 4 I 1 have the same diffidence ilmy in my feelings that thai most mot public speakers have and am apt opt to think mt others can speak better and moie more edifying than I 1 can there are but few pubic s but what feel more or less timidity that is 1 probably not so much a moan roan fealing sprit I 1 it T as I 1 it I 1 Is is a natural ra tural delicacy or timidity all 0 of 71 3 you on have llave doubtless to some extent realized tle tile tie same feeling ft either in large or small assemblies and anti also in people generally are more or less disturbed and thrown off their balance by the sound of their own voices especially when speaking peak ing to an audience even een after being much used to addressing assemblies some of our most eloquent and interesting speakers would rather do almost anything than speak to the he congregations gregat grgat ions lons that e here tat tal t al diffidence or timidity we must df dispense with will when it be comes our duty duly to talk we ought to be willing to talk iffe if we never exhibit the knowledge within wi hirl us the lle lie people will not riot know really whether we have any interchanging our ideas and exhibiting that which we believe and understand affords an opportunity for detective detec tiie and correcting errors and ii lii iii creasing our tock stock lock of valuable information shave frequently thought that I 1 would bevery be very happy if I 1 could hear the elders of israel speak their feelings and impart their knowledge per taira tairi i rg to their fellow beings to earthly things to heavenly things to godliness and god I 1 am sensible that peole are riot gifted and ca pacita ted alike there li 6 not that depth of understanding and intensity of thought in some that hat there is in other others neither r is there thele the tile same rf of perception some are quick to apprehend while v bile hile others are slow also while a speaker is communicating nis opinions views view sand and feelings a poi pot lion of so large a congregation as this tilis will perhaps be giving the most strict attention while tile the minds of lle lie the other portion are wandering at tile tiie moment Momen thema he may y be ad J ideas clothed in language lan lar guage choice and eloquent that inattention by some leads to a difference of under gauding I among the people through a misapprehension of the speakers mean meaning hio hig true tine some persons may use language that a portion of the congregation are unacquainted with consequently they could not be expected to readily apprehend the lle idea designed to be communicated though that is by no me ns a common incident inc dent in teachings te achins from this stand if a cou ie atlon ailon wish to be instructed so as to understand nd alike and alike receive an increase r of f wisdom and knowledge their minds must be intent oil on the subject before them they must not suffer stiffer their thoughts to be roaming over the earth narth they tiley must not riot deimit their minds to be seann scanning ine inz and traversing their every lay day duties and avocations avoca lions if they do they are not riot blessed with i that store of know knowledge ledge leage they the otherwise might obtain through paire that attention necessary sz to enable them to clearly understand I 1 acknowledge that it is a master work to school our minds so as at all times limes to exercise complete power over them if the tile people would so educate themselves as to control their thinking powers they would derive a gr graat pat eat adv alvi from il i they could improve much faster than the they y now bow aloiv do many years vgo go the tiie prophet joseph observed that if the people would have received the revelations lie he had in his possession and wisely acted upon them as the lord would dictate they might in their power to do and understand have llave been many years ahead of what they then were esperence Exper ence has taught us that it requires t ime time to acquire certain branches of mechanism also ah all principles and ideas that we wish to become master masters a of the closer people apply their minds to any correct purpose the faster they can grow and in crease in in the knowledge of the huth buth when they learn to master their feelings they can soon learn to master their reflections and nd thoughts in the degree requisite for attaining the objects they are see seeking kirg but while they yield to a feeling 11 or spirit that distracts their minds from a subject they wish to study and learn so long they will liever llever gain the mastery of their minds so it is with persons who yield to temptation and ard wickedness there are individuals who yield to that unruly member the tongue and after yielding once they have not the same st strength reneth to res st as at first they become more and more wea weakened kene d every time they yield to temptation until they are unable to control themselves when ta tiey ey are tempted either dither to speak unadvisedly or to run into info any a dy species of wickedness so every bacul y bestowed upon man mail is subject to contamination subject lo 10 be diverted from horn the purpose the tiie creator de do signed it to fill if a man permits himself to make uso of language calculated to wound liis his spirit and infringe upon his better judgment and d does oes not try to resist that practice ewhen when he be is argain tempted upon the point he is more likely to give way and to have less compunction of con science than before if lie he continues day after day to yield himself a servant to the uncontrolled whims of his own nature and the evil influences that may be exercised upon him film from without in a few years he will be so seeped steeped in in sin as to be entirely given over to the tile error of his ways the sooner booner an individual resists temptation in to do I 1 say or or think wrong while he be has light to correct 11 hi is judgment b the quicker ha be will gain strength and power to overcome every tempt temptation atlon to evil let the people study to bring the tle tl tie e r thinking or reflecting faculties into subjection we are preaching pe aching principles that belong to this his every day of our lives last sabbath I 1 spoke uon pon yon the concentration of faith of action of feeling of reflection that in ii a matter I 1 often ct upon because I 1 am called lato circumstances that bring it before me every time I 1 hear a man iran pi pit pry V am arn 1 I byet so to master masler iny maats and reflections that no thought nor desire of my heart beart is i trying to 0 o forestall the speaker in uttering his sentiments and whiles have I 1 lle ile lie the power to hold my mind directly upon his words and desires asking continually that he lie may be directed by tile lie holy ghost I 1 acknowledge that I 1 am not lot yet perfect in this point I 1 have not riot yet that power over myself but to the praise of the name narno of the tile god I 1 serve I 1 do act oct actually dally daily gain upon it I 1 aben when my mind has betrayed me and I 1 detect a desire different from that which is uttered by my s speaker I 1 feel to 10 retract and offer in my desire to the throne of grace that I 1 inay may have bave power to hold my faith with the man that is appointed to pray those who think and reflect upon this matter matler can realize what I 1 wish of myself and what I 1 lvis iris wish of the tiie people unthinking persons may not riot fully realize the importance of thes ic marks but every person who has lifis a realizing sense of the duties devolving upon bitic of tile the way of life and salvation of what we are called to in the be holy gospel must roust be aware of the tile importance of to all who are ate determined to live their rel reli blon ision you are all acquainted or profess to be with i the gospel of salvation tou ton have entered into covenant with god have received the ordinances of the gospel gopel and if you have not received he the holy ghost you should have llave received it you have the history of the adm administration inIst ration of the holy ghost as given by the theados Apos alps in it the days of jesus and i is referred to in all sacred wiit ill lil ings S this people profess to be more or less acquainted quain ted with 1 caples developed by the administration of the holy ghost we will admit that you understand it now ask yourselves whether you believe that the holy ghost ever commenced to produce a work or an effect before it was in the heart and mind of that B being e ng we call our heavenly father do you think that lle ile lie ilie noly holy ghost ever thought of dictating tic lic lating that being we call our god this whole people have earned learned enough upon this subject to answer at once ti eliat at we do not riot bellve belive beli bell ye that the holy ghost ever er dictated suggested moved or pretend pretended ed to offer a plan except that which tile the eternal father die aard I 1 with regard to this particular point F awill will say any that you shall judge the matter and be my witnesses have we not learned enough n with iiii regard character of tile the father fattier son sou and holy gast to at once believe admit and that the holy ghost always has and always will operate precisely according to the suggestions of the ile lie father not a desire act acl wish or thought does tho the holy ghost indulge in contrary to that which is by the father fattier we all sense ills this liis in a degree because it has always been taught to us it is taught in in the bible in the revelations given through joseph and in it the preaching by the elders of israel it is our tradition education and experience in the kingdom of god the holy ghost we believe is one of the characters that form the trinity or the tile godhead not one person in three nor t three ree lee persons in one cue but blit the father fattier son and holy ghost are one in essence as tha hearts of three men who are united in all thing things he is one of the three characters we believe in whose cafice it i ii to administer to those of the human family who love tile the truth I 1 have h ave stated that they are one as the hearts of three men might be one lest vou you you should mistake me I 1 will say that I 1 do not wish vish you to understand that the holy ghost is a personage conage having a tabernacle like the father fattier and the son but lie he is gods messenger that thit diffuses his influence through all the works of the tile al mighty we believe that we have a correct idea of the character of tile the son from the writings of ot the apostles so far as they learned it but while he was in the flesh he was more or less contaminated with fallen nature while lie he was here in a body that his mother mary bore him ile he was more or less connected with and influenced fluen ced by this nature that we have received according to the flesh lie he was of the seed of adam and eve and suffered puff ered the and temptations of his fellow mortals he was liun hungry and thirty weary and faint and had to eat drink and sleep in him were developed all the traits pertaining to mortal man according to the scanty history that we have of the savior as neal near nothing I 1 at all as well can call be from the time of his birth to 0 o the tiie time of his entering on his ministry at the rge ige of thirty years lie be administered his gospel for about three years and a half among lle ile the lie people and raided up his church ordained his apostles and established his kingdom and of that limited time we have but a scanty li story according to that history according to 0 o all you have learned and to all the holy ghost has ever borne testimony of to you concerning him let me ask you the same question in regard to him as I 1 did concerning the holy ghost and what would you that lie he did nothing of himself he wrought miracles and performed a good work on the earth but of himself he did nothing he said as I 1 have seen my father do so do 11 11 came not to do my will but the will of him that sent me we must come to the conclusion that the son of god did riot not suggest dictate act act acl or produce any manifestation of liis his power of his glory or of his errand upon the earth only as it came from the mind and will of his father do you not all firmly believe hat that the whole soul heart thoughts and all the he being of the son of god were operated upon and did show forth that all he lie did manifest and biln blin bling 11 forth pertaining to liis his miss mission on was according 1 to the word and will of his bis fattler father certainly you do jesus odred offered 4 up one of the most essential prayers that could po possibly sibly be offered up by a human or heavenly being no matter who pertaining to the salvation salva tion fion of the people and embodying inga a principle without which none can be saved when lie prayed the father to make his disciples disciples 1 one as lie and his father were one he knew that if they did not riot become one re they could not be saved lil ill tho hie celestial kingdom of god if ifa persona do riot am see as lie ile did while widdie in iu the flesh flash hear as he reheard heard understand as he understood and become precisely as lie wa was according accordi rg to their several capacities and callings gi they can never dwell with him and his father that same principle ciple stands out as the most prominent item of te teaching cb ing in all the teachings and revelations that have eyer ever been given from heaven to men on the earth that thread of faith of feeling of hope of joy jy and of action may be found through all the instructions that have ever come from heaven to earth in order to bring the children of god that Is the whole of the human family the children of our fa father ther and we as brethren bret tren iren and sisters parents and child children rii ril all emanating from one parentage back again into the presence of the tiia father and lle ile lie the son to bring up tip the whole posterity of fattier alftin aam and mother eve to enjoy tile hie light ligh tilory lory bory intelligence power kingdoms thrones and dominions that are prepared for exalted beings which could not nut be until they had llad taken upon them tabernacles thoy could not be exalted unless they were prepared for an exaltation and I 1 upon no other principle could they be prepared without taking P tabernacles of or flash and bell beil being made subject to vanity the whole of the divine divin e each ingi from I 1 the lie days of adam until now have been to teach til ill the e human family to yield to the teachings dicta dieta dictations lions influence and power of the holy gospel to make them one without that oneness there is no salvation for Us lis in the celestial kir hir adom of god were werd we to particularize in regard to the different rent reut organizations of the human earnil family v w we would learn that some are not riot capable of th the tho e same exaltation as are others arising from the difference in the tile conduct ard capacities of people there is also a difference in the sp nit uit t it is tile the design tile wish it the will and mind of or tiie the lord that the inhabitants of the earth should be to thrones kingdoms principalities and powers according accordi rg to their capacities in ili their exaltation one may be capable of presiding over ten felt cities while a nother another may not be capable of presiding overn overT bhore more than five another over only two and another over but one they must all first be su subjected il je i acted to sin and to 0 o the calamities of mortal flesh in order to prove them themselves worthy then the gospel is ready to take hold oil on thin thim th in and bi baing ino ing them up unite themy theme them enlighten their |
