| Show tabernacle SUNDAY MORNING aug 7 1853 jedediah M grant addressed the congregation tile the weather being warm warin and tile tho people generelly of the laboring class I 1 presume is is the cause of a rather lito attendance at meeting this morning in orning there are peculiarity peculia s connected with ith our duties that make them differ from the duties of almost every other community other communities have gold wid and silver to toaia ma them ili in building in planting g I 1 in n gutier ing and ili all the different avocations of lile life but tins people havo have to accomplish all they do accomplish by the bone and sinew alone winch which tile the Ali almighty has given 1 v an the them and where it is is constantly employed it fi has a s an effect eff act upon the bank more or less not lot however that tho the specie is is exhausted or the bills depreciated ili in value but it exhibits a feature in our history histon which has been frequently exhibited and is IB as it lies has been ir to this the world and the inhabitants inhabit ans thereof are fluctuating not only the inhabitants hut but tile tho elements that surround the earth are arc frequently in a fluctuating condition condi cond Hou ion I 1 have often listened with a great deal of I 1 attention arid and interest to tile the explanations given of oatlie tile I 1 beau beaunes ies and of the uniformity of nature contrasted with the fluctuations and changes of men of nations of kingdoms and of countries man mail is sometimes represented as if he were the only fluctuating and changeable being in ili existence but b it when I 1 contrast in ili my thoughts the revolution of I 1 nations with tile the revolutions and changes that have taken place upon the face of our globe I 1 am sometimes led to the conclusion that the elements change as often as the he inhabitants that dwell upon the earth we see at one lime tho the carth shaken as it were I 1 from contre centre to circumference we heur hear the lie sound of bellowing soo see the smoke of the towering mountains moun tHins ins and the yawning crater belching forth its boiling lava indeed every mountain valley and doll dell the rivers and the ocean into which they empty their waters and all the elements with which we are surrounded exhibit one constant scene of change bange one constant scene of vari variety oty and one constant scene of commotion we cannot say man art c creature r the changeable substance wo gize upon but b e t the ocein ocean and all the waters communicating commini communicating cating therewith herewith t the earth with ith its ten tell thousand kofl lofty I 1 mount mountains ains verdant valleys and extended plains exhibit n to 0 o our view a variety of changes that have been and th that t we 0 may expect will co continue to be from tins this afine imp forth when we seo boo man excited to follow any ally avocation in in life whether vi it bo be for gold silver or i other precious ores for which lie ho ie leaves his all acts unwise nit wise and inco asi insistent isi stent his home his is I 1 lan and 1 everything dear arid and near to lini hini we can call a exclaim lilyan 1 I chis jis wild career of man mail is is not tile the only wildness exhibited in nature if you refer back to the earliest ages and trace tiace th the hist bistry ry of the world where can call you find uniformity ili in natures yorks works if you ou call find a uniformity at any time liale in ili the earth the sea the alie air or in the elements pray tell me when it was was ie n when lion our first parents were cast out of the girden of eden when it became desecrated by s sin ili or when old father noah rods over ova the mighty deep dee protected cd by the arm of J ghovah Jehovah while every o olier h living thing t sank in ahe of a watery grive was it ahn alel bel rose up to off r tit in sacrifice tho tha first fruits of ins his flock to the most high hiah god and C cain ain his brother roso rose up tip and murdered 7 or sacrificed liim him for doing so was that a day of uniformity wire were i lie elements calm end composed did nature exhibit d u serene and smooth surface surfaced 7 you pass further down the lipse lapse of time from the days of our earliest progenitors until the earth was deluged in in water and the lofty summits were submerged in ili the raging element after the waters subside and arid the inhabitants of the theearta earth begin to lo increase and go forth upon its face von soon discover a change in in them and in ill tile the earth belf i self you in man was it tho the descendants of no noh ill sought to build a great tower that they might as they thought climb up to where their father in ili heaven lives jives and thus try to defy his power should ho he again bring a flood of waters to deluge dellige the earth was that the age when people studied to knew the purposes of a righteous ois god piss pass on from that day u until antil you como come to the illustrious abraham the fattier father of oatha the faithful and ask yourselves if his course was very uniform and if the course of the inhabitants of the earth around him was very uniform and hin to be admired you see a lum him r rushing hing forth to war waa not only did lie sally out to tile the field to fight with the weapons of death in his hands but we might take a glance at his course in ili thedor tho domestic circle was it uni uniform forin in sarah and hagar to quarrel wit with h each other and when hagar had to be banished with her son ishmael even in the ilia domestic circle of the great patria ch we discover nature was not uniform was it u uniform ni forin when the cry of the banished hagar ascended to heaven and brought an augel angel to give drink to the young urchin who was dying under one of the shrubs if you pass on through the line of his descendants we find tho same lack of uniformity how sublime the quarrel that took place between joseppi and his bis brethren what remarkable contentious contentions existed among them look at the old patriarch jacob in his family circle and you sen see him goaded wi with h thorns of grief because of his family broils do we find the elements around that family very calm pacific uniform serene angelic and god like how calm they were when one of his wives in order to get her rights had to purchase her husband with mandrakes you yon discover a scone scene of vexatious broils in the domestic circle though they were not at war with surrounding nations na lions yet the elements were at war in ili the very ceara of that thai venerable house such then were the scenes in early ages among those righteous pure holy just and no noble ble patriarchs who conversed with god wrestled with angels obtained promises and coped with high heaven li eaven if you pass on oil and seek to find uniformity beauty and sublimity will you find it when the israelites were bondmen bondeen in egypt when they were compelled by hard t task ask musters masters to gather straw and make bricks for a living if you on should pass on oil to the time the illustrious meek m eek man of god moses was sent to them theja hov boxy much uniformity do we discover when he led them n to the red sea and a mighty host from egypt around them threat ni ag their destruction but the sea opened and let them through dry shoaf aud and the tins skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs was this a scene where we may look for uniformity or after he led them forth to 0 o sinai where the voice of god the r roaring 1 thunder and vivid lightning were ex exhibited hibi ted while i moses was upolu upon the mount conversing ersin w with ith file he most high god aaron took the i gold id offered I ered to him by the people and made a calf for israel 1 to worship and they said these be thy gods 0 israel which brought thee out of tile the land of egypt and out of the house of bondage 11 Ws there a any lly sublimity glory and loyalty to god in this when moses descended from the mountain was vas everything calm and peaceable and uniform no the israelites c had made a golden calf and were dancing round the god they had made out of their ear rings and jewelry they had pilfered from the egyptians which they had stole by revelation by divine direction they were having a grand dance around this molten calf when moses in Us his anger broke the tables can you von find any uniformity rany utility any order reigning in the house of israel i pass on and look at affairs inthe in the days of solomon I 1 j how uniform that mighty king was in ili his course 1 with his wives sand and a legion of concubines how uniform he was in his passions and feelings he was not contented with the fair daughters of israel but the queen of sheba and the llie women of nations afar off captivated this wise king by whom lie was led astray and desecrated the altars of god the sanctuaries of israel and the arim and Thum mim by introducing the idolatrous worship of the strange gods of his wives and concubines there was also david the aither of solomon and I 1 the man after gods own libat though his wives were many and his family n timorous numerous yet li he e could not cas this eyes out of a window and see a beautiful beau woman in ili a bath without lusting after tier her his heart was so susceptible of love that lie he conceived the murder of tier her husband to possess tier her arid and caus ed his victim to be stationed in ili tile the front of the battle where lie ho would be sure to be sl iliin tin this was the I 1 kind of sublimity the men of god exhibited an 1 look at tile tho difficulties that existed between israel and the prophets prop liets look at the murders devastation tie destruction altars smoking with blood cities wrap ped in ili flame and thou thousands and tens tells of thousands mantled in a death upon the bloodstained blood stained eurah by contending armies and ask yourselves if li that lut is mhd time to look for uniformity was it to lo bo be found fon nd in the days of alexander the great when lie ho conquered the world and spilled rivers Is of blood to lo attain his purpose was it to la be 1 ro found und among the romans or a among molla tile the medes and persians shall we look to any of tile the anci ancient ailt nations for uniformity but wo we will pass by these dark a ages cn C 2 and come down to the inheres ing time w when ion ti the io sun of god unfolded the glo glorious rions theme of the gospel of peace of matchless glory of matchless love when tho the babe of bethlehem was born when tile llie son of righteousness appe appeared r edwill wili lieulo healing ija in ill liis his wings arid and when beauty ail and d glory and sublimity were displayed in their gran grandeur d eur full bloom and glory you do u not ot wish us to understand that that was the timo when herod put forth his hand to put pill to I 1 death the young children under a ca tain age in ili hopes to kill the young child jesus Is this the beaudy beau y of that age the sublimity to which you call our attention when the reigning king put pill to death thousands of liel children tile the earth with their innocent blood when tho bube babe jesus rel burns urns froni from egypt lie he ex cla claims irlis of himself tile the fowls of the air have nests and tile the foxes have holes hut bill tile the son of man mail hath not where to aljy his head even in that ag age e look at I 1 tile the commotion the turi turmoil noil the arife and the biffi I 1 1 I 1 curties that existed I 1 was sublimity uniformity and beauty seen at the time lime when the king of righteousness tile the anoint d of god was carried up unto an elc excreting eding high mountain by lucifer who showed liim him the kingdoms of the world arid and tile the glory of them saying if thou wilt fall down and worship me these will I 1 give to thee was hat suppose a prophet should arise now and proclaim c to tile the world lie he is a kroph t of god and lucifer should take lake him by the lie coat collar or by the hair of the head and escort him to the top of a high pinnacle and hold him there would they believe lie were a prophet the uniformity of that ao ag aoe re e is thus exhibited however by the writers odthe of the new testament again we find it exhibited ahn n a legion of dev j its ils was cast out oat of a man and entered into a herd I 1 0 of f swine causing them to run down a steep sleep place 1 into the sen wa where aeye they were drowned these are some of if the characteristic features of f the age in which c h christ and liis his apostle lived I 1 if you on p pass ass on to the time little when jesus christ the so son of god was put to deal death h when they mocked i liim him spit upon him and placed a crown of thorns upun his head smote him upon tile the cheek saying prophesy prophesy Is that the time lime for fo r its to look fur for uniformity isyou if you wait until they arraign hirn him before an earthly tribunal con condemn denin 1 and put him to death and place him in the tomb do you the there look forbe for beauty autv and uniformity what do you see A ast of soldiers guardi guarding rg the ii of the tomb to krep keep his disciples from froin stealing ili his dead body they did ot only think they would steal his lead dead body but that they would lie about it afterwards wards and say lie lad had risen 1 from rom the dead and palm an ail imposition upon that eliat agu age of the world these are some of tile he sublimities of the christian Chri alian religion in the days daya of its founder and the bonfi the inn multitude had in the advocates of that religion but if you at still ill wait until lie he who was once the bt albe be i i i burst the barriers of the tomb and approaches and peake to his hi disciples and commissions them to preach his gospel beginning at jerusalem what do you see watch the movements of the disciples the son of god told them to await the appointed time lime at jerusalem and ahen the holy ghost came upon them and they began to speak by then the anti and power thereof clr ib the multitude tude cried out these fellous are arc drunk they are filled with new wine thiis was tile the uniform testimony of the mu but if you will notice the assembly prea clied to on that occasion there were some few who gave a contrary teotimo ny but bilat were viere a few thousands compared to I 1 the vast number then assembled in some small harnet hamet a few thon thousands sands of people might be a de I 1 tided maj majority arity and perhaps laps in jn ill baptize I 1 so many but a few thousands in in comparison with etli the great graat multitude that dwelt t in in Jerum le lem is is only like one grain of sand in in combar son to a T the lie grand majority maj nty odthe of the mass masi governs the uni uni form te testimony S of the million was that they them were drunk and of course you yon are to believe according 1 to the greatest amount of testimony are you nota not then it you i arraign those disciples before tile grand tribunals of the nations nation the great majority of tile the multitude would say they were drunk but if only a aie IL thousands shousan thou i as say they were not which are you to believe 11 where there then is lathe tile uniform uniformity ily in in testimony tefa timon look lok at the diser ani and the ar ray of testimony against tile the di disciples so ip I 1 e S it is is overwhelming in in its nature but if you look kook still further and seek to find uni uni in in that age odthe of the world follow the disciples when they hey left jerusalem to go forth with the proe proc lavation la mation of the gospel and we find wherever they went they were ere considered insane ins sane mad and pos of devils it was said of jesus their master thou art leagued with beelzebub the prince of the devils devil and said the savior bif if they have called the master in asler of tie the house beelzebub what will they say of his household wherever they went then they were called kazantes Naz antes arites and |
