| Show DISCOURSE by elder sider george A smith tabernacle sep 19 1859 REPORTED BY J Z V LONG this second epistle beloved 1 now write unto you in both which I 1 stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance that demay ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandments mand ments of us the apostles of the lord and savior knowing this first that there shall come in the last days sc offers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the fiell promise romise of his bis coming for since the fathers fell feil asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation the first four verses of the third chapter of the second epistle of peter in calling your attention to this subject brethren and sisters I 1 do it with an understanding that you will appreciate more or les less the natural bearing and design of the pre prediction cletion here recorded it appears that the apostle in this general epistle wishes to stir up the minds of the saints by way of remembrance that they maybe mindful of the things that were spoken before by the holy prophets hold and also of the things spoken by t the e apostles and prophets of our lord and savior jesus christ knowing that in the last days would come sc offers walking after their own ungodly lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things things main remain re as they were in the beginning T these thebe ese f four 0 ur verses contain within themselves a pointed plain clear and straightforward sermon a lesson and a warning are all combined in them as completely and theologically set forth as could be done by any that are skilled in the art of discussing theological 0 questions it appears that the a apostle wished to impress trance drance ress upon the minds of the t KO e saints the remembrance of those things which would be scoffed at which would as it were be blotted out of existence by an immense number of false teachers who would walk after their own lusts justs who would endeavor to spread their own ignorance 0 over the minds of the children of men if we were to follow sermonizing sermon izing as an art or a science which has been in practice for many generations we might divi divide e this subject into a variety of heads I 1 believe the huleis rule is first to consider the length of the text giving it sufficient room to contain a subject an attribute and an object then divide it properly into heads beads next to consider each head separately and then by way of conclusion close up by a brief and simple repetition of the whole considered under its heads but when the spirit of the lord moved upon his servants in the last days to preach the gospel it did not pick up those individuals hence men were required and taught to speak as they were moved upon by the holy spirit they were expected to speak and inform the people upon principle and doctrine they were also called upon to a acquire u i re a knowledge of those things necessary cio to ll 11 enable nabie them to preach and declare the gospel as fast as opportunity would permit and instead of preparing a discourse by fly mechanical rules or the scientific mode of construction to which I 1 have referred they were taught to depend upon the manifestation of the holy spirit to communicate such a knowledge of principles as would be suitable to the wants and necessities of the audience which they were addressing it pleased the lord as in the days of the savior to call upon the weak things of tile the world ivorid to confound the wise and the mighty it is the way which the lord has acted in all ages of the world instead of calling upon the philosophers high priests and learned doctors of the law it was the carpenters son the fishermen men who were mending their nets and men of other and similar pursuits that the savior called to declare the gospel to bear the keys of the priesthood to the nations one mail man here is called upon to preach the gospel and another there and they rise with trembling limbs unacquainted with the system of preaching and hence they are obliged to depend upon the spirit of the lord to rest upon them they go to work actively to seek knowledge and they lay it up u p in in i their th air hearts every principle of truth of knowledge of understanding of wisdom that they can cin can comprehend they treasure the law of god may rewritten be written in their hearts and that it may be engraved in their inward parts an elder in israel by thus storing g u up knowledge and that will walk in the way of righteousness P becomes a kind of walking oracle Is possessing assessing a i knowledge of those principles that are necessary to the salvation of man and I 1 and ha having th the e manifestation station 0 of f the holy spirit to enable him hini to select such sub acts as will benefit the audience which he nay 4 be addressing it t appears from reading history that immediately after the day on which the apostle wrote this text from which we have quoted that a contention arose among the only disciples and its fulfillment commenced sc offers arose and substituted hastead thereof many systems of philosophy one system succeed succeeded elf eif another and one plan took the place of a discarded one until almost every one of the numerous branches of the church which had been established by the apostles through the then known world became become divided and thenceforward produced certain learned writers and doctors system after system arose until they became so numerous that it is annoying to read the church history no farther along than the third century it appears that the principles inculcated in the words of our text were fulfilled men jhen be began bean an to disagree on various points of doctrine and nd to reason them away and this practice has continued from generation to generation until the present period and now almost every year we hear of some new religion some new form of doctrine and new schism I 1 recollect having a conversation with the learned dr lysle of new york he presented ine me with a tract and after I 1 had read it I 1 enquired of him which was the true christian church for me to join weyhe why he said the episcopal the methodist or baptist but lie he preferred the episcopal I 1 then wished to know which was the correct one well he did not know but be he thou thought g lit they would all do they differed difre red in fion non essen essentials ti als but not in material points now it seems that the christian churches of tile the present day have adopted systems that evince a kind of convenient arrangement so that it is you worship my god and I 1 will worship yours to be sure they differ in their manner of administering ordinances and they differ in their doctrines when the savior sent forth his apostles he commanded them to go forth and baptize the the people teaching them to observe rules principles and commandments that were necessary for their salvation but he never sent them to tell the people that any part of the gospel was none essential neither do I 1 remember reading of any such doctrine having been taught by the apostles I 1 remember going to a cam camp meeting in ohio and hearing hea ring a minister preach preace and occupy an hour and a half to convince the people that baptism by immersion was not a scriptural doctrine and he invited everybody that thought etwas it was true to come forward and he would attend to it and some who had been listen listening ine inq to the discourse did actually go forward and the preacher baptized them by immersion they suffered the ordinance to be a administered by a man who did not believe in the essential necessity of the obedience thus rendered the plan upon which men will be saved I 1 in I 1 n the celestial kingdom will be by observing the principles of the gospel and by doing those things that are required for says the savior he that would be my disciple let him take up his bis cross and follow me when the savior commenced his ministry upon the earth what was his first step why he went to the water to jordan and was baptized going down into the stream and then after being immersed by bt john jobi he came up out of the water well wel now I 1 suppose that if we were to adopt the policy of bringing in a bowl of water and sprinkling individuals with one or two drops of it that would answer the conscience of a great reat many deb geb Zet yet yeb in that day the savior went down wn into jordan ordan 0 and came up p oat of it and let him that wat would be my disciple take up his bis cross and follow me when the lord commanded alases to build the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle he gave him directions or a pattern of th them m and then said and look that thou make them then after their pattern patterns which was chewed tilea thee in the mount and that was done as the lord commanded but in the last dayts days comes sc offers who say that it is not essential to follow folio v tile the pattern while walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming the apostle when speaking to a mixed congregation gre 1 gation tells them to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and then tells them that they shall receive the gift of the holy ghost for says he the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are afar off even to as many as the lord our god shall call the savior in talking of the Cm comforter forter tb the P holy spirit tells them that be wallsend will send it unto them and hat that it shall lead them unto all truth and bring brine all things to their kemem brance and teach them things to come but low now learned men dispense with these principles and lav aside these doctrines and what is the result the present confused state of the religious world then the question arises arises where is the tha th promise of bis his coming where is the administration of the ordinance ordinances a the fulci fulfillment fulfilment ament of the above prophecy ey is self evi evl evident for men are constantly crying where is the promise of his comin coming P learned men have argued ho howeler weier weser from the sacred book that these things thin were to be done anav they have pretended to deduce from the new testament such arguments aa as would go to prove that these things were to be discontinued ba but it all such attempts at have proven so many failures one of the he arguments that has been used by some eminent divines ia ir found in the apostle pauls writings to timothy and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able tomake the wise iino unto salvation tb through 6 faith which is in christ jesus the argument is that as timothy bad known the scriptures from a child which were abl able e to make elmise hl him mIse wise unto sa lia lva tion thit that that therefore no more was necessary essaiy but paul baya saya thou hast known these scriptures from a child and consequently the only scriptures that he lie could have been acquainted with must have been the old testament and if no more were necessary then the new testament was not requisite but we will read a little further all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable f for or doctrine eloc trine f for or cepro reproof of f for or correction f for or instruction st Bt in righteousness that the man of god ngay be berf perfect act thoroughly f furnished unto all good works 2 tim 3 chap 15 1517 17 verses we find then from this very passage which has been a great point of argument that all scripture is given by inspiration and that it is profitable roff rohi table tabie and then we find written by paul elm Eim himself himself self seif other inspired epistles of later date and the same work was continued by other apostles aud the last one of the new testament writers that wrote which was john the revelator tells us that the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy the investigation of this subject is of the utmost importance while some men are telling that god has ceased to reveal himself and to operate by the power of his spirit but we v e have been told by revelation from god that they have all gone astray and are still going astray and from the time t me that joseph smith commenced bib bis ministry there hag has been a change constantly working in christendom upon these subjects the revelations of those scriptures contained in the book of mormon while the light shone in darkness has had bad an effect upon the minds of many I 1 feel to bear my testimony that the revelations given through joseph smith are true and I 1 warn and call upon my fellow men to give heed beed unto these things proclaimed by the latter day saints that they may ba be prepared to receive celestial crowns which may god grant unto us all in the name of jesus christ amen |
