| Show tae THE MORALITY OF THE POSITION it Is I 1 hardly po possible isible for the saints ever to occupy any position aa as a people without being ben furnished shad therein abundant opportunity of d g the potency of their faith over the evl evi eyl arod them in our mind if there be any co col coi lateral attral evidence sustaining the great work in which we are engaged more forcible than another it is the constantly recurring of experienc experience ein in th the lives elives af pf if the saints in all ages aea a aes ea ihara becoming acquainted with the gospel ra c ja 1 chrit garit and his bis plan of human I 1 I 1 read the fhe scriptures scrip 41 11 tuf like esery csery e v I 1 e ry other native matiy bar boru bora u chritton Chrit Christ lan tan in our schools in week I 1 days is as select reading and committed to memry mem ry at the dictation of our sunday every prominent episode in the i public life of chaitt christ and tle former apostles till we could with unerring exactness give I 1 chapter and verbo of every thing in the four with all the books from genesis to revelations we were expected to be familier and were BO so till probably zibie bible items fored the largest hare bare of our historical acquisitions far ur years after we had bad entered our degris teens and gul guj tt rough them gild aa buch ouch h hes hea s probably the experience of nine tenths of the saints both here b ere and an d abroad yet with it all we khew anew no more of the principles with eith which prophets patriarchs and apostle apostles were familiar and to t the de of which they devoted devond their lives ilves than if it we ive had never heard of ther existence exist erce ence great preachers prea cherb chera and great commentators commentator a only made obscurity midnight darkness and every effort to grasp and comprehend comp rehena the design and of our creation and the personal duties and obligations devolving upon us before our maker was only futile and invariably ended in the diminution mi nution of our faith till lill scarcely a of bope tope was left within us such aas fas was our condi ion ton and such has been the mental condition of a great many of the saints and we most sincerely believe that there are arc few intelligent tell igent men and women who dare to think who are not in the same uncomfortable and unenviable condition of mind e everywhere in christendom today to day illiterate unpretending men told us of the restoration of the gospe they opened a new life to us read to us a new history and prin cipes of hope happiness and life ute burst upon us from the light of their testimony we listened we believed we bumbled ourselves ours oura elves elvea I 1 and joyfully joy soy tully obeyed the mandate that severed us from the kingdom of darkness dar knew knem and from that hour our course was changed we have witnessed over and over again the same routine of experience with the rich and the poor the learned and the unlearned the aged and the youth and have beheld the whole united in the holy bonds of brotherhood with but one testimony one experience and with the same bame sa me ambition to advance the interests of that kingdom for the establishment of which upon the earth they had been taught tau abt to pray bray with the prattling tongue of infancy no more gratifying experience can mortals d estre desire than the dawning upon their mindret minds of the I 1 glorious truths of revealed religion they feel that the galling chains of superstitious bondage which held them is III abject fear and slavery have bust from off them that they are free indeed and can call no man master I 1 to individuals and to the community the I 1 i dark and cloudy day that t h at will try mens souls has also aiso occasionally shad dowed its advance father has turned against the son the daughter against the mother and the before unclouded friendship of affectionate hearts has been severed and faces ever joyous and places before familiar and sacred bave bare changed 0 as if they had nev neyr never r been known the tongue that spoke peace and comfort has been turned against ua us to wound and to curse and the hands bands that were strengthened and encouraged by us have partaken partaker par taken of the same change and been the readiest to smite us the saints have passed through it all and can look back upon their history and read there with themselves aa as individuals or in a collective capacity the great struggle for supremacy pre prenia macy ey the arch rb rebel ehas ehab ba heid beij the world in his grasp rasp for many generations he has taught for or wisdom the destructive damning pie of self belf till man has come 0 o look jook upon his fellow man as another crea ure some few tew in every age of the worlds a bave have seen that the end thereof was death and have zealously labored to unite men in fraternal bonds for mutual protection against the appalling dangers of unrestrained self but the enemy against whom they have battled has been too powerful for their unaided efforts and the world today to day presents i the sad picture of fractured fracture dl and i broken tip up organizations and institutions enough to satisfy the most sanguine san ean guine of reformers ifor mers that no human power can save the world from universal desolation if to others this conc cone conclusion is not legibly written inthe in the pages of history to the saints it has ever been a palpable fact read what we may of sacred history and we we feel the breathings brea things of inspiration whispering from adamco adam to noah and from Noah Noala to christ ye are brethren be ye one there is one above who is 13 your father in other history it has been rule who can in the providence of the lord we wee are now in a position to demon demonstrate strate how well we live the faith how much we are in earnest for right and eunity how sincerely aln ain cerly we labor for the establishment of the kingdom kingdon of right lausness ness let every one of our brethren anel and aera tera who may read our wandering thoughts calmly gander gender over the past let them th review binm what whak they ba hara hava ra experienced since bince eth the day they em braud truth andl and they will therein read the history of saints in all ages wo know jesus to be the son S on of god we know moses the enlightened and educated leader of ancient israel we know the des peter the fisherman of galilee Gal gai ilee and we know the thousands of men who have been prominent in the eastern and western continents anciently in the prorogation of the principles of life and salvation to be our i brethren engaged in the same glorious cause i their experience thousand thousands bof bot of years ago is ours today to day our future was their future the principles they taught observed and reduced to practical pra cical life we thoroughly understand der stand and know the spirit that animated them as well as we know and can onders and th the spirit of men with vi hom horn wi we now have daily intercourse inter ourse local lical circumstances were different with the antediluvian saints to those in which moved the saints in the days of abraham and so were dif dlf different derent the tea teaching teachings of moses moes to that of malachi malichi but the same spirit and one purpose is everywhere palpable when the saints saint s were driven from their heir possessions in the states and were wanderings van ering 1 westward into the wilderness in an honest trav traveler ller kler who witnessed that tbt wearisome pil wrote the have a destiny while our enemies reviled our names cursed us because they had robbed us and rei re rel i joicey ia in the prospect of our starvation star etar from want or our destruction destruct ioa loa by the bloody axe of the indian the trave travelers ors unprejudiced eyes I 1 could discover disc oper within i our grasp the elemen elements tat tai of life and the fostering fost f gning tring hand of almighty god preserved ua us from death when no eye and no hand was extended to help us we came cams not rot here for silver and gold nor for fine apparel the lord had a purpose and they are blind indeed who cannot read it today we look around and behold evidence upon evidence of that destiny and are bulj ful fui j batis katis satisfied fied wi wl h the labors of men for the house of irael I rael and against it J bub but happy think we are they whose hearts have not wandered after folly tolly and who have bave ba vernot not walked in forbidden paths they will realize all that has been promised abie the principe un ea will fall fail in the day of trial rial t now ia is an excellent time for nien raen to show themselves whether they are for god or alamson never forgetting that we are all writing our histories that we vre are all shaping our destinies dest inies iules |
