| Show REMARKS by elder GEORGE X A SMITH tabernacle Mer nacle 0 7 8 L oely oily sunday jan tan 22 IW REPORTED BY E L j we have heard a very practical discourse tills this afternoon from elder woodruff fr one which is calculated to cause all persons to consider for themselves whether they are pursuing such a course as is in accordance with the law of righteousness instead of following the wickedness spoken of which exists in the world considerable has been said on various occasions to show us that great efforts have been made to teach the princ prine principles ip les ies of religion and to make known to the children of men what they should do to be saved but professing christians have unfortunately become very much divided in their opinion opinions sas as to the proper way of obtaining this salvation and he said unto them thus it is is written andtius and thus it behooved christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations nation s beginning at jerusalem and ye are witnesses of these things such is the record of luke of the last commandment given bythe by the savior of mankind to his apostles when they went forth furth to preach the gospel and communicate to the human family a knowledge the way by which they could be saved he commanded that repentance and reinis filon sion of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at jerusalem jand and said he ae ye are witnesses of these things the he witnesses were the apostles sent forth to deliver the message entrusted to them and to administer the ordinances by which salvation could be attained and lie he gamesome gave some esome apostles randsome and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work woric of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the falness of christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed too and fro and carried about with every wind 0 of doctori doctrine by the sleight of men and cunnin cunning craftiness ra tin ss whereby they lie in ill wait i to deceive 11 Now when these apostles these witnesses went forth in obedience to the injunction of their master they preached repentance to the people they called upon the human family to believe in the lord jesus christ bearing teotimo ny as they were witnesses that it behooved christ to suffer and rise again from the dead that the way might be opened for the human family to obtain a remission of their sins let us enquire what they taught the very first lesson as we find it recorded by the same writer ljuke luke after tile tite the apostles had borne testimony of the coming of the tilo savio savior r of lils his ills ch eath death and ie resurrection to the representatives of the various nations assembled at jerusalem on the feast roast of pentecost a testimony which excited so much interest as to cause an outcry among them of men and brethren what amoni s shall shail lall we do the very first lesson was repent and bo baptized every one oy or you in the name of jesus christ for iho remission of sins and ye bhagi shall receive the gift of the holy ghost this the first delivered message to the nations of the earth after the ascension of the savior that we have any record of was plain and simple easily casily comprehended and casill easily obeyed but in a few generations a after we find that those plain and simple doc doctrines tribes the tiie doctrines of repentance and the remission of sins through the ordinance of baptism and the doctrines which they continued to preach of the nril aill lay laying ng on of hands and the ministration and power of the holy ghost which the savior promised should be a comforter and should teach and instruct and lead those who received it into all truth we find that those doctrines became unpopular the apostles foresaw this in their warnings to the children of men and cried out beware lest any M man an spoil poll you through philosophy and va vain in deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after christ look through the writings of these holy men and you will find them replete with prophecies concerning the degeneracy of or mankind in the last days they declared that men shall bo be lovers of their own selves selven covetous boasters proud blasphemers blaspheme rs disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural ailbe affection tion alce truce breakers breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers despi sers of those that are good traitors heady high minded lovers of or pleasures more than lovers of god having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away and furthermore the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears cars and they shall shail turn away their ears cars from the truth and shall shail he be turned unto fa fables fabies blips 11 this is history reversed in the writings of the apostle peter we find these prophetic warnings repeated and if we search what is called church history we find the result in exact conformity the declarations made linthe year 1830 such was the condition of the world take a bible in your pocket at that time and go into any of the lar large larre e cities in in christendom th the 0 city of vondon london for instance an and a enquire as you enter a large edifice devoted to religious borshi worship what church is this this is st pauls and this this is st peters 1 and and tills this st judes 11 and so on have you any apostles apostles here I 1 find they were set et in the church according to the bible I 1 have in my pocket oh no they are all done away have you any prophets no I 1 they are all done away have you any inspired men here no t they areail are all ali done away do you baptize in water here for the remission of sins oh dear no we sprinkle babies when they are brought here but baptism for the remission of sins is no ion lon longer needed isyou if you had searched through christendom you would have found this to be the condition of afra affairs irs religiously among professing Christians when god in his abundant mercy sent forth from the heavens an angel having the engg ing gospel bopre to preach a cil oil to them that dwell on theearta the earth and to every nation kindred tongue and people when this angel delivered his message to joseph smith to lay the foundation of the church upon the original basis it was as the prophet isaiah describes it in language which some would be inclined to say had been written quite recently if they did not believe in prophecy behold the lord mabeth the earth empty and mabeth it waste and it upside down and scatter eth abroad abroe ld the inhabitants thereof and it shall be as with the people BO so with the priest as with the servant so with his ills master as with kith the maid so with her mistress as with the buyer so with the seller as with the lender so with the borrower as with the taker of usury so with tile the giver of usury to him Theland rhe land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled for the lord hath spoken this word the earth mour neth and eadeth away the world languis heth and eadeth away the haughty people of the earth 10 lo languish tile the earth also as is defiled under the inhabitants there thereof because they have transgressed the laws changed the ordinance broken the everlasting covenant therefore hath the curse devoured the earth and they that dwell therein are desolate therefore the inhabit inhabitants ints of the earth are burned and few liere here men inen is left set forth in in the utmost plainness why this great destruction this cleaning 0 out u t of wickedness should gater mankind had transgressed transgressed essed be because cuse be changed the ordinance broken laws ae ever eser everlasting fasting covenant therefore hath the curse curso de devoured the earth and they the ie leat feat dwell therein are desolate therefore the inhabitants of the earth are barned turned and few men left the storm of desolation and destruction has barely commenced ommen ced eed and all who would avoid it uusi dusi must come back to the original platform beginning with faith repentance idd ind baptism for the remission of sins iad and live according to the principles of that gospel that was revealed from te heaven areil avell with apostles and prophets rith ith powers and blessings accompanied by the gifts of wisdom of knowledge and understanding to bless and save and exalt mankind and which will among the honest in heart of pread preal ireal kindred and every nation tongue peo kingdoms of this world I 1 ome me the kingdoms olour of our oun lord and ichrist gig christ may god bless us and enible us to live worthy the high honor lionor of being associated with such a work and participants in its ita blessings in the mine of jesus amen ame n |
