| Show remarks 1 by ry president BRIGHAM YOUNG sept 1 REPORTED BT BY G 1 D WATT I 1 wish you to understand and practise the lessons you have already received or youcan you can not consistently look for more and do not become tired nor discouraged if you cannot learn your lessons all at once for with dili gent and close application you can learn how to live uve to all eternity which is the object of our being here be patient do not murmur i at the dealings of providence the ile lord rules in the heavens and works his pleasure upon the earth can you comprehend the meaning 11 cf of the prophet amos in the question shall thare there be evil in the city and the lord hath not dot done it his provi dences are cons constantly tautly ruling and overruling to a greater or less degree in the affairs of the children of men do all ail people discern and understand that his provi dences are over the workmanship of his hands and that he controls all thing things no they do not the lessons you have been taught tedd tend to instruct you upon these points can this people und understand ersland that the lord that Being we call our father rather as also the goe gods gor ail ati anu ana all heavenly beings lives upon the principles ples plea that pertain to eternity acanthe can the i people eople comprehend that there is not has not i 1 been een and never can be any method scheme or plan devised by any being in this world for intelligence to eternally exist and obtain an gal mal exaltation tation without knowing the good and the evil without tasting the bitter and the sweet can the people understand that itis it is actually L necessary necessary Ec essary essany for opposite principles to be placed before them or this state of being would be no we ire would have no opportunity for exe exercising Teising the agency given ui us can they understand rider stand that we can not obtain eternal life unless we actually know and comprehend and by our experience the principle of gool good and d the principle of evil the light and the darkness truth virtue and holiness also vice wicked wickedness 5 and corruption we must discern and acknowledge that the provi dences of the lord are over all the works of his hands that when ile he produces reduces intelligent beings lie he watches over tiem them for their good ile he has given human beings an intelligence design designed ta to become eternal self existent independent and as godlike as any being in the heavens to answer such design we are given our agency the control of our belief and must know the darkness from the light and the light from the darkness and must taste the bitter as well as the sweet yoa you need exhorting rather than teaching you have been taught doctrine in abundance and I 1 have sometimes thought it a pity the lord has revealed quite as much a as h he e has and I 1 can truly say that I 1 believe if I 1 am guller guilty in any one point in in my my walk before this deop people e it is in in telling them things they are not worthy of that I 1 have hive given unto them things that they could not receive for this reason I 1 deem it mainly needful to stir up you pure minds by way of remembrance br spencer referred to the carelessness and forgetfulness of the people eople and to how bow prone P we oe to get out of the te way to depart from ahe he love eio ero elO enjoyment ment peace ace and light that the spirit of the lord ford lord and an pd e of our religion re g ion lon i gives unto us we should live so as to possess that spirit daily hourly and every moment that is a blessing blessingto to us which makes the pat path of life easy I for eor or a man to undertake to live a j saint and walk in darkness is one of odthe the hard hardt 1 est tasks that he can undertake you cannot imagined imag inea a position that will sink a person more deeply in perplexity and trouble than to try to be a aint saint without living as a saint should without enjoying the spirit of his religion it is our privilege to so live as to enjoy the spirit of our oar rali religion lon ion that is s designed to restore us to the presence of the gods gods exist and we had better strive to be prepared to be one with them pard the e deop people I 1 e wi sh to know what to do to do ri right 0 ht when those who live their religion meet to speak to each other to mut mutually bally streng strength strengthen thell theli eh their faith and encourage encourage one another in good principles in good wholesome holesome Aole some loving 0 lives in morality tradition causes some to say that they mean to do better to alter their lives and live better than they have it was to save the world they could not live any better unless they knew more have we not made mistakes yes a great many if we had known better we could have done that which would have resulted in greater good considering But their knowledge knowledg e those who are striving to aa do right can not conduct themselves any better than they do I 1 know a great many that I 1 have that opinion about do they err yes do they knowingly do wickedly they athey do not but they do as well as people can and I 1 do not believe that br spencer the president of this stake could with the same knowledge better his life in past years and I 1 have the same feeling in regard to many with whom I 1 am acquainted I 1 know this bemy by my own experience which is a most excellent schoolmaster when we do the best we can we will seek unto finto the lord for more 1 knowl ege we will get wisdom and forget it not but treasure it up in in our heartland heart sand treasure up every holy principle as fast as our ability will permit us to do so and if our minds are strong 01 enough and we ire are so constituted as to comprehend and retain let us strive to receive every principle that pertains to life and salva tio nand treasure them up in our hearts against the time of need walk humbly before our god and learn correct principles asfalt as fast as you canard then when you discover you yon have missed it here and there where you imagine that you could have done better never hind find fault with the knowledge god has given you nor with your own faith virtue and works for you have hav done edone the best you could this people are familiar with very many principles pertaining to eternal life and I 1 will ask you what principle that will endure what that is valuable irl iri galife life ilfe is there so far as you have learned and ana what shat is there in life which you know have known can learn or that exists that nion Alor lor monism has not given to you mormonism or in other words the gospel of salvation embraces he the whole it ates every true principle there is in heaven andon and on earth I 1 if a person erson learns a truth he learns so much of t the gospel of salvation and when he learns that he wants to understand the bearings of the great plan ile he wants to understand I 1 will not say the extent of it because he cannot do so but as much thereof as his ability can comprehend and to discern that the gospel of salvation the eternal priesthood priesthood riest hood of the son of bodis the life that ia i teat that was and that ia is to come eternal life those principles are given to the children of men to practise upon that in so doenz they may come up and inherit eternal life this is for us to learn treasure up in our hearts and practise donot do not seek for that which you can not magnify b J but practise upon that which you have in your possession I 1 know very well that whether we are active or not the invisible spirits are active and every person who desires and strives to be a saint is closely watched by fallen spirits that came here when lucifer fell and by the spirits of wicked persons persona who have been here in tabernacles and departed from them but who are still unde undo the control of the prince of the power of the air those spirits are never idle they are watching every person who wishes to do righted right nd are ar continually prompting them to do wrong this ilia makes it necessary for rus fus us to be continually on our guard makes makos this probation a continual warfare var fare we do not expect to be idle the individual that obtains a celestial kingdom will never be bp idle in the flesh it is 13 a spiritual warfare ile he contends against the spirits of dar darkness kness kuess and against the workers of iniquity andward and wars warb all the day ion lon long iong against his own passions that pertain to falle fallen n man it is th therefore necessary stat the people a speak eak eal often one with another each othel other encourage each other in e aery ery cry good word and work sustain every one in in every good act operate against atai it every evil act and continue so to do through t r 0 h ilfe life some who underhand and more or less of the principles of the gos gospel el ap appear ear car to be a trifle so ank discouraged such do not think more of the life to come than they do of the present life ide when the breath leaves leavis the body your life has not become extinct your life is still in existence and when ullen you are in the spirit world every thing t there thare lere ap apperti appear peair peati aa ast natural as aa j 1 things now do spirits will he be familiar with spirits sp friis in the spirit world will converse behold and exercise every variety of or communication one with ano another theras as familiarly and naturally as while here in tabernacles there as here all things will be natural and you will understand them as yon you now understand natural things you will there see that those spirits we are speaking of or are active they sleep sleep steep not and you will learn that they are striving with all their might laboring and toiling diligently as any jn individual d iv bidual would to accomplish ah an act in this world to destroy the children of men pertaining to the present state of the world you know what evil spirits are doing they are visiting the human family with various manifestations I 1 told the people years and years ears ago that the lord wished them to believe leve in revelation and that if they did not believe what he had revealed lie he would let the devil make them believe elleve b in revelation do you not think that the devil is making them believe in revelation what is callea called spirit rapping spirit knocking and so forth is produced by the spirits that the lord has aas suffered to communicate to people on the earth and make them believe in revelation there are many who do not believe this bui but I 1 believe it and have from the beginning it if true principles are revealed from heaven to men and if there are angels and there is a possibility of their communicating to the human family always look for an opposite power an evil power to give manifestations also look out for the counterfeit there is evil in the world and there is also frue true good was there ever a counterfeit without a true irue coin no la Is there communication from god yes from holy angels yes and we have been proclaiming these facts iduria during nearly thirty years are there any communications from evil spirits yes and the devil is making makin t the ho people p e ave e be believe lie ert crt very cry strongly tr in revelations f from r 0 m the spirit pir it world or ld this is called spiritualism and it is is said th that t th thousands of or spirits declare that mormonism is true but what do that class of spirits know more than mortals perhaps a little more in some particulars than is known here but it is only a little more they are subject in the spirit world to the same powers they were subject to here if we live rv faithful to the doctrine and faith of the holy gospel we have embraced we shall understand the real benefit and advantage that we will have over those who are not in possession of the true principles of salvation or the priesthood if we are faithful to our religion when we go into the spirit world the fallen spirits lucifer and the third part of the heavenly hosts that came with him and the spirits of wicked men who have dwelt upon this earth the whole of or them combined will have no influence over our spirits Is not that an advantage yes all the rest of the children of men are more or less subject to them and they are subject to them as they were krile virile here in the flesh it I 1 we conquer here and overcome in the gospel in the spirit world our spirits will be above the power of evil spirits not that we can so overcome while here as to be free from death for though jesus overcame yet his hia body was sain every person possessing the principle of eternal life should look upon his body as of the earth earthy our bodies must return to their mother earth true to most people it is a wretched thought that our spirits must for a longer or shorter period be separated from our bodies and thousands and millia millions have been subject to this affliction through throughout out oat their lives if they understood the design desin deain of this probation and arld the true principle of eternal life it is but a small matter for the body bosy to suffer suise r and die when death is past the power of satan has no more influence over a faithful individual that spirit is free and can command the power of satan the ne penalty demanded by tee the fall has been fully paid all is accomplished pertaining to it when the tabernacle of or a faithful person is return returned td to the earth all that was lost is passed away and that person will again receive his body when he ia is in the spirit world he is free from those thos contaminating and condemning influences of satan that we are now subject to here our bodies are subject to being killed by our enemies our names to being cast out as evil we are persecuted hated not beloved though I 1 presume that we are as much beloved here as the spirit of ohp th saints are in the 9 spirit pirk world by those writs spirits who hate righteousness it is the same warfare but wa we will have power over ovet them those who have passed ardagh the vail tail have power over the evil spirits to ta command commando and they must obey obby you yea require to be stirred up tf to reflection to examine your religion the tb e faith of the holy gospel the priesthood spi dj U is worthy of your year notice lest perhaps a little gold becomes too pre precious c in your thoughts tle the individual who bu builds liou ilou s aln all ali chis his hopes upon property upon gold and silver and the possessions of this world making these treasures his idol has never yet seen by vision the tha glory of the celestial world has not had a foretaste of it ile he has little or none of that knowledge which god designs to give to the faithful when that is possessed what is the world warl to saints it is subject to them and it is not ia in the power powe r of satan to blot out or destroy that heavenly knowledge you see men eagerly striven striving for gold riches wealth and mourning and fre fretting t ng we wish we had done so and so for then we e should have made a f few ew more dimes and arid now row we ive wish to go and obtain piles plies pi lesof of gold andio do this and ana that to heap up wealth and kain jain gain power As lorin IV babbitt said who used to belong to this church but went to california 1 I am going to sell my 1 house and go away I 1 have labored eighteen years jears for the lord and now I 1 am going to work bork for lorin VV babbitt what an ex expression on as though he could control the elements if he possessed a mountain of gold and gambled it away in one night it would still be in the world whether in his bis possession or out of it il suppose that 1 I through covetousness covetous ness nesa and dishonesty had accumulated millions of dollars and then should lose it all in an hour in neither case is it out of the world and there ia is as much property in the one case as in the other it has merely changed hands solomon when |
