Show 1 I 1 I 1 by bi eider gr A sitta ToUr nacle sep 10 1854 at the request of at my kiy brei brethren hren I 1 arise this morning to ofer affer such rejections AS the spirit of aluth may sugeat to my mind I 1 do da not rise to speak in ila couse consequence benca of having digested any alar lay subject but simply to communicate those feelings which are predominant predo mineM jn in my breast a and nd which I 1 fi feel anxious hould shoal dAiell dwell in the he hearts arts of nil all the saints I 1 Yeli years riago ago cheo we wore scattered ered throughout the earth and dwelt among the inhabitants of viti vai various rious dominions I 1 we wa were very anxious anions to gather I 1 I 1 every feeling and sentiment of our breast was to be permitted to gather together where we could enjoy in union our reli religion gio and practice and carr carry y out its principles in the eaily history of tile the church this was the natural result r of the spirit of gathering and began i with the commencement of this dispensation to lie felt in the hearts of all the saints wherever scattered or whatever their temporal circumstances it his has been my lot since ainee the establishment of settlements in this territory to be b familiar nith the inhabitants odthe of the greater portion of it taid and to observe and realize the feelings and views which operate upon them after having been permitted to settle in in they llie valleys of the mountains how they enjoy the society of the saints and how they regulate their own conduct which is is in nur numerous derous ins instances lances as they have a mind to I 1 it appears that in in ancient times god brought israel up out of egypt with wih a design to make I 1 them a holy people and to make them a nation I 1 a I 1 kingdom of priests priest to give them a priesthood hood which would exalt them to celestial thrones he commenced by bringing them out of the bondage the they were under to the kings of egypt ind and brought thom across the red zea sea into HITO ui me iv wilderness where they traveled under the direction of inspired leaders who were set apart for the establishment of that kingdom under these circumstances cum stances the children of israel left egypt led I 1 by moses and aaron by the power of the almighty wh ie IM in tiie the wilder wilderness uless tempters temp teis were wee let et loose among them and some of them began bean to maimu and find fault moses went bip up into tile the mount of god to obtain the law and in his absence some of them thought best to make gods of their own for they did not know what had become of moses I 1 this is is a glance at some peculiar tarten circumstances in in which israel was placed pi iced wl when they are represented presented as ail being bapties bap tied in the cloud and nd in the leaor when the gospel was preached to them iut but i it not being mixed with faith in them that leard heard it they would not abide a celestial lawther law they w would riot not walk in all the ordinances and I leges that pertain porta iii to the priesthood but would worship other gods so the lord became angry and proposed to moses to annihilate thin as a people and make of him a greater nation finally he gave them a law wh which ich is is lep t represent resented by the apostles as a schoolmaster he gave unto them ordinances would suit their notions As they were not willing to receive the tiling promised to them lie gave them something aoi else els they ethey would receive deceive under this law israel became subject to the rule ut of judges and eventually choose for themselves vos a king and commenced struggling with idolatry and aud with w ith their own evil pa passions until finally they were carried av away ay cip cap tive tie an and d their authority taken from thorn them every saint repaid regard this is as a useful lesson for all promises w which god has made to the children chil dien of men are aie upon conditions if aliey are obedient ta tithe the law of heaven lie he will ill bless them with the blessings he has promised them gype children of israel when they came from if flit had bad been obedient to the law of heaven y would havo have been made acquainted illi the principles of ot exaltation and the fullness of the fie priesthood and it would have bave rested upon them to such an extent as to exalt them and their children and would have given them iem power powei and dominion in in time andin and in the edg eternal anal world for the laws larts of exaltation dl al tation had bad been unfolded to the them but as the A postle apostle says rays the th word did not profit them not be being ing mixed with faith in them that fiat heard 10 18 I 1 when wa n christ 51 irist cimo came upon the earth he offered I 1 himself I 1 a sacrifice for the sins sills of man he com to ue people e the e priesthood riest hood he call apart to proc a 1 A nent W ny as would believe on hial ann to them he would give power to beco become e the sons of god he ha laid hid before the them the principles of exaltation exalt atio i and they went and proclaimed the fiem to the hotd woi d tile the result was is that millions received tw gos pel in its simplicity but in a few generations they began to corrupt then their way before the lord and the powers of darkness hir creased around them the savior was put to death and the apostles I 1 were weis or 01 compelled to retire from the I 1 fild fi ld tile blood of the saints flowed like water uniti th until chris 1 r i danity became so perfectly mixed with the wat 1 i enc eret n 0 nies of the roman world that it was very difficult to tell tile the one from the other tile the then known world was subjected to the rule of tile the roman empire almost entirely there were but few exceptions those parts to which the apostles had access to preach peach the gospel were under the rule romans claimed and enjoyed protection under tile the garb of of roman citizen while others had to purchase their freedom I 1 the roman empire at that time was partly of a religious character there was attached to the empire a sacerdotal authority the senate possessed so ed power po ver to proclaim gods and goddesses c 0 adde 1 ases and dedicated temples to ao them and a variety of dy heathen I 1 rights lights which are connected with he core care i monies in ollies of the religion when the apostal proclaimed the gospel it was in its true sim purity and falness ful ness and it was received by the people in in that light and was persecuted alike by the jews and by the pa I 1 gans of tile the roman empire which persecution timo of constantine when he found it a political to him to ass ime christianity I 1 would not pretend to say that constantine Cousta ntine did not have some christian feelings but the tha whole history of his life as far as I 1 have traced it indicates his political feeling to Is be a great deal stronger than his religious scruples it is said he was baptized in the font of the church of saint john the mother of Ca catholic tholie churches at rome lie he may have attended to the ordinance orji nance but eusebius Eus ebins tel le i a us that constantine put off his baptism like liko some people do their wills till the day dai of his hi death at nicomedia the facts in relation to this his movement amount to but little any way the bulut I 1 wish 1 to show is is that a revolution produced by a christian emperor instead of establishing christianity in its purity corrupted it with the pagan religions that before existed pagan rights ceremonies all and A corruptions corrupt ions were mixed so di erectly it from ling aud and men began to secede from it and on their own responsibility establish what is termed reformed religious religions hence we lre find in the middle ages a great religious and political revolution going on in europe called reformation the princes following 3 the example of constantine undertook to stu klish ish religion an their own responsibility for instance in our mother country H ebery wry the eighth a pious Cut catholic holic wrote a work in derence defence of catholic church for which his holiness the pope bestowed upon him the title of defender of the faith yet being crossed in his notions in relation to divorcing queen cw ca oberine tb erine lie established a religion of hi his s own excommunicated the pope and proclaimed himself the heid head of the church and confiscated all the estates of the catholic church with valuable property erty belonging to those that he now denounced as heretics heretics if we trade trace the revo luhs in germany we may trace trac e them from similar sim ilaf bauges princes es espoused the reformation in order to render fl them r 1 fl A r rome rollie innovation having commenced the history its of the church goes on to show a constant succession of it societies of independents cove banters nan baptists and I 1 might name d a great number of others and then others in succession si oniece seceded fram the different nt religions they had received ip in chiq stae of things the question would woud fre batly oise arise WT with ith the honest I 1 inq inquirer u where they fhe got their authority I 1 i I 1 I 1 ir I 1 recollect allec olice of wring eving a 4 A baptist minister conte contend a that the fhe bitis vot got their authority rim the Walden sos where did waldo get hist why he was q a merchant and employed a 4 priest to totiana I 1 1 j late the four gospels forham for liim there is where ha be 1 ahot got his authority and if the poor monk had any hempst he must have got it fr from orn the churchak chur chat rome j and if that church had power pokie r and authority I 1 it t did I 1 cut off those r and did nullify 1 any an authority arit y that went iven t buttrom 1 r ro in it and all other 1 an authorities th or ties and ild meliv religious tous 01 organizations were conj or secessions recessions from the trus true order all the societies comp composing oming a great portion of 1 the christian world have set it down as a fundamental 1 truth troth that the church et rome is anti I 1 christ totten lotten at the very core and totally corrupted by paganism sm when the nineteenth cen tury opened upon the world we find an almost 1 endless number of religious creeds and still there is a cousta constant innovation and secession going on 1 and all of them profess to be sent of god I 1 was once attacked by a learned preacher and I 1 I 1 asked him the nature of liis his calling to preach he said lie did not know what I 1 meant mean he had been liberally educated and felt an inward desire to preach and had procured a license from the ders and that was ali he knew about the nature of itis his call under these circumstances and in this c condition any one that will viii look upon udon the face of society onieta in the world can see that the nineteenth beti century tury opens with the whole world broken up ug presenting a mass of religious S sects with diversified notions and views and not a any n v one of the them in professing to have authors authority ity direct r t from god except the ohp mother church arid the whole of them denounce I 1 lier her as ai awgull awfully y corrupt this is tl the e position in which we find ta the ie re religious i one world aad ed under which god revealed d the ii falness T ess of the govel gopel to joseph smith i when joseph smith lifted up his voice and proclaimed the alie doctrine of baptism for the of sins s ins in the state of new york it vs was said paid where did you get your aul authority bority 7 supposing he be was on the same footing A as lill all the religious humbugs humburgs then in existence you ask a methodist where go his e tiit th loit wa zd howin 1 I tali all ve VC john wesley and where alier did he get hill his fram the church chuich of en england glaud and where frem did the church of englard get her authority from the church of rome or no where yand aud is the church of rome considered a true church by the church of england no she cals cal cid s her the mother of harlots when joseph smith appeared did he rise up like the balance of them not at all but he came camei a messenger from god to bear testimony of the pure principles of the hie gospel and that ho h had receives a commission from heaven by direct revelation I 1 when the elders lifted up their voices they bore the same testimony they set forth the principles of truth so that they could be tested for instance they proclaimed the original principles of the gospel as proclaimed by cha christ is t and his apos tl esthey told the peo people ale they must re repent p ent of their sins and be baptized for the remission of them that they must follow the example oi of the savior go down into the W water ate r a and IT d ca come me out of the weter water being buried with liim in baptism and then be confirmed by the laying on of hands by those having authority A agte great at many of us had been pious christians in ht our day and our fathers before us opened and read the ibs big bible that contains contain this very doe doctrine trine but were so blinded we never dreamt it was there theme howie how in the world is jt it that we could have read the Bib bible leall all our lives and never found out that the way to commence in the path of salvation to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins sills aud and receive the gift of theu holy ghost by the I hying 0 on of hands we never thought of it but it is cliar clear as dayto day to us I 1 now but the qui question stion is liot hor lio ho T r shall we know but what this is all false falge true the rev robert altkin aitkin of london said 11 1 am afraid of you I 1 am braid of you you bod are bonear so near the truth it is impossible to detect you we told that gentleman lie he had great fame faine for learning that lie had spent his life in the study of the bible and when we presented to him the truth lie he had to acknowledge that it was impossible to see any anything thing wrong a bout it andave and we therefore considered lie he was avas under obligations to receive it he had been foy fot several years ahe he leader of a prominent religions sect termed the Aitken ites but instead of being honest enough to truth after making this ac to us he right then renounced hiar religion as an ceased to proclaim its doctrines and confessed to ushe us he was sorry he had bad ever left the church of england yet while lie 11 from a a be oe defice in the isle of man where lie be employed a curate his living was more to him blip than the salvati on of his soul so lie he t turned a r n ed and went to his for 1 mer station in the english church ard ad began to rz rad r ad prayers before the congregation the elders that went forth to preach said to ther the people if they would receive the first principles of the gospel and obey thern them they shou should produce certain effect 5 that is i you shall hecei ve the holy ghost through your obedience and they knew 1 by the testimony it bore and by the effects it produced upon them that they were true hence we have liere here hundreds and thousands and tens tells of thousands who can rise up and bear testimony that they know they have got the true religion and have embraced the pure gospel this testimony has been born in the old country by thousands now new inhabiting these thesa mountains and thousands abroad ard ara still bearing the same testimony these principles were not only new but stranger strange to the world though strictly scientific and mathematical for when the promises pio were made and complied with they were fulfilled d to ell all those who came caino under the condi conditions irions required and tile the result was in plain english the proof A after fier the tha people peaple had entered upon tho the platform of this subject the word was I 1 we will now gather ourselves home so every man began to sell liis his prop erty to his neighbors 1 in this and in that direction and his friends began to denoi deno nee |