Show 7 11 1 3 E 40 dic bic A ar R IS S president f BRIGHA X YO ung ONG delivered livered in the tabernacle salt sall lake city jan loth 1869 REPORTED BY DAVID NV EVANS if the congregation can bear with me a few minu minutes tesI have a few reflections to offer with regard to our religion it is a matter that should occupy the attention of the wise the good and the noble when we converse in public or private on the religion we profess we are apt to regard rezard it as som something ebbing strange new now something unheard pul vui leard of before and as being unworthy of the attention of t he the wise and to be passed by by the great and noble these reflections 1 brive brave and I 1 presume others have them why is atso it so the question can he be readily answered by saying that the natural man is af enmity with god that fallen failen nature direen in everyone every one is naturally opposed inherently through the fall to god and to his kingdom and wants nothing to do with them Is there anything con necked with our religion that is derogatory to the character of the most reen refan ed ad no f har is not elat terou gh cherem there may a y be good morals taught in the world our religion strengthens that which is good and adds to ir it and ia is calculated to benefit every one it reaches after every condition of the human family from the time that adam came to the earth to the latest of his posterity no matter where they are it calls upon those who are now here in the flesh aud and commends itself to the good are the tho negations nations wise admit that they are what would the gospel of the son of god do for them make them wiser are ara the people good od oyes y es we say they are what would the gospel do for them make them better it will add virtue to virtue knowledge I 1 to knowledge holiness bolln holiness ess gall godliness ness to godliness brothe brotherly rl y kindness to brotherly kindness charity chanty to charity and every qualification calculated to ennoble benefit and exalt the intelligence telli gence thal thad that ia Is now upon the earth even into the presence of our father now we possess intelligence as nations aa as individuals as rulers and as ruled as ministers ilsters miff as speakers as preachers and as people we be belong ong to that family that is crowned w with th intelligence the highest there is in t he the eternities Is there anything in our religion that should startle the nations of the earth no there is not not the least thing in the world and yet we talk about it as though the tho people would be struck with wonder if we should tell them what it is why it is nothing more than to receive the things of god the knowledge that god possesses and by which he has been crowned with glory immortality and eternal lives the tile knowledge that is 14 possessed by the angels and by those who wiio live ia iti the presence of the father to receive of that knowledge knowledg eto to dispense it to others and through this to acquire every qualification ne necessary essary prepare us to enter again into his presence Is there anything very startling about this no there is noe noc not alluding to anything that has been said here we always talk and feel as thou though h there ia Is something or other othey about the tte gospel of the son of god that thai the tho people 8 cannot bear what is it truth I 1 what caused the latter day saints toe to embrace m brace the gospel is a question that has ha s been asked your humble servant serva t many times the answer is very obvious and clear because it is true the very reason why I 1 cm embraced braced the gospel is because it con cot bained all truth Is there anything so startling about this to men and women intelligent beings who are fashioned after the very image and who are tha children of our fattier father and god whom we worship and who sits enthroned 11 in ll yonder heavens end who rules governs and controls all things I 1 pause upon this I 1 he controls all that he can coti control tro he will not control you and myself in our own agency buthe will control and andge govern ern and bring forth the re suits of our acts let them bo be good or evil we are the offspring of that be being lugt each and every one ot us no matter who we are if we go to the west east north or south or to the uttermost parts of the earth and gather up the humen human family and bring them here they are the offspring lof that being we worship as god Is this very strange Is this anything that should be very startling to the minds of any people oil on the face of the earth I 1 ask asic you my brethren and sis bis sisters is there anything so very strange in this and yet perhaps the mosco most of fus us who are now here in this room today to day mingle with those who fear not god nor regard his word in the least and we would almost be ashamed to acknowledge that we are professors of religion that we are lat ter day saints that we believe in jesus christ that we have been baptized for the remission of our sins and that we believe in the ordinances of the house of god how is it with each and every one of you on this point we see the inhabitants of the earth are filled with intelligence look at ht the progress made during the past few years in the sciences and perhaps we may say in some particulars in the arts but especially in the sciences from whom has this knowledge been obtained has man of himself hims hime eif elf searched out the improvements by which the human race is now so much and blessed no he has haa not where did be he get it it came from him who is 19 the giver of every good anti and perfect gift no matter mattar what it is if it be to make any anyone one of these my sisters excel as a nise wise and discreet housekeeper housek bousek beeper even that knowledge comes from him we have received our lives and everything that tend tends to life ilfe acta salvation to truth and holi holiness nebs nees everything pert pertaining to the things of god godwin in the heavens on the earth all mechanism every improvement pro that is made mado ilas has its source with god now what is there about our religion that should ba be very startling we say eay we have progressed so we have we say the religion we have embraced will increase and extend on thea the earth this I 1 believe myself but whether we shall be bene fitted by it or not depends entirely upon uvon our faithfulness to it do you think the lord almighty wail will reveal the great improvements in the arts and belei belet sciences cs which are being con scantly made known and will not revive a pure religion D if any man imagines lles iles that with the mighty strides which the sciences have been nj making aking for a few past vast there will be no improvement in reil rell religion igdon that man is vain in his imagination atlon god will improve in the religion of be the nations of the earth in proportion to the improvement made in in the sciences this is true whether you believe it or not the lord has commenced the thu work anait and it is a marvellous marcellous marv ellous one let me ask my brethren and sisters around me can ou u tell when the first carding machine was brought to america do you reu ruu remember lember jember my aged brethren and si sturn storn when you used to have to card and wool and tow by baud band yes in any of you amer americans remember it i c is not so with our foreign brethren but egme of the americans here can van remember when there was no such thing on the continent of america as a carding machine yet now look into the houses of th the poorest sisters we have and see the crockery and fine linen with which they can spread and adorn their tables how was it seventy years ago it is only a little over a hundred amundred years since they first made crockery in england and since I 1 can remember the people used to eat off wooden plates but bea sea the advancement and improvement the lord has conferred on the children of men and tien tsen ben say if you think he is not going to improve their morals and their religion it is a mistaken idea to suppose that he fie will not cewill he will lm improve us in every sense of the word in every trait of life and bring us up to the wisdom he designs to bestow upon his children hereon here hera on the earth it we reject j act this truth and knowledge we shall shail ha 11 go back to ignorance let the inhabitants of the earth join hands now to obliterate this people called latter day dainta and their religion from the earth earthy and they will go to heathenism but let lot them favor foster foater nourish lind and cherish them and the scie scle sciences laces will ill iii advance anee with double strides from from what they have hitherto these are a few of my reflections As to the morals of the world I 1 have laid sald said it a great many times and still say that there are just as good men and women on the earth in other ether societies alid arid communities as we have here as far as they under understand stand and we are after such ones now my brethren and sisters be encouraged cou raged and if you meet with a gentleman do not say well i 1 think he does not nut profess religion and it will not do for me to 10 say I 1 believe in the lord jesus christ but take ake a pride in acknowledging the savior train and educate yourselves until you will take a pride in acknowledging god the anthor of all take a pride in the rd ligion religion that makes you pure and holy and that produces in the heart of every individual who embraces it a feeling to be truthful in every word he speaks to be honest in every act he performs in all his dealings with his neighbors take a pride ride in this and fear not the wicked I 1 have often hald haid and I 1 can say it now in truth there id Is not a wicked man on the face of the earth but what reveres a pure servant of god they may way not acknowledge it with their organs of speech but in their hearts sentiments and feelings fee linga they revere such a character when they see a pure and holy man or woman say they 1 I wish I 1 was as good aa as you are then let us tak take e a pride in acknowledging our religion and living it by being virtuous true and good in everything and then take pride in educating your minds until you can conquer land and control yourselves in eve everything grything thing ry educate your children in all the knowledge the world can give them god has given it to the world it luc is all his every true principle every true science every art and all the tho knowledge that men posses possess or that they ever did or ev erwill ever will possess is from god we should take pains pride to this knowledge into the minds of our neighbors 1 and our brethren and rear ou our children so that the learning and education of the world may be theirs and that virtue truth and holiness may crown their IF arvea re that they may be saved in the kingdom of god 11 may the lord help held us to do BO so amen |