Show as COURSE 0 U I 1 S 30 er r GJ gwo GEO 0 Q CANNON delivered triz the he tabernacle salt lake city reh reb dsa 1869 REPORTED BY DAVID V EVANS C the remark is frequently made to the elders of israel when preaching the gospel that if their testimony beaque be true all the rest 0 of f the horid are cut off from salvation because they testify that god has restored the everlasting gospel has organized his eis church and bestowed upon men the holy priesthood and that unless men and women are baptized by men having authority they cannot be saved they are accused of preaching uncharitable doctrine but this is no more than the apostles of jesus were commanded to more mor ethan than is taught by many of the so called christian sects but when the latter day saints testify to this effect it creates considerable excitement and men and women who look upon themselves as the elect of god because they have made a profession of christianity feel that it is very unsuitable testimony or doctrine to be preached in their hearing yet vet as I 1 have said it is not peculiar to us to teach and testify in this manner the apostles were commanded to go forth and preach the gospel unto all the world saying he that believeth beli bell eveth and is baptized zeil shall be saved and he that be not shall be damned this was the message proclaimed by the apostles in the midst of a people who Onside considered red themselves the chosen of the almighty to them pertained the oracles and the promises through th their air I 1 prophets bets the lord had spoken and he he bogad had manifested himself in u miraculous manner in the deliverance of their fathers and he had promised to their father abraham that in him and his seed teed should all the nations of the earth be blessed I 1 presume that the jews felt as indig nant at the teachings and testimony of the apostles as many do at the present time at the teachings and testimonies of the latter day saint elders but when the whole of the plan plau of salvation which has been revealed in these days is understood der stood the people generally will very readily concede that the latter day faints entertain a much larger degree of haraty than they have been credited avith th 1 I recollect on one occasion preaching in to a congregation on the sandwich islands on the first principles of the gospel I 1 dwelt upon these theae principles with as much plainness as I 1 was capable of doing and bore testimony td the uhe people that if they did not receive tife tile gospel they could not enter into the kingdom of heaven after I 1 got through a gentleman in the congregation with whom I 1 was somewhat acquainted spoke to mein merin relation to the doctrin doctrines ea I 1 had advanced he could not dispute that they were scriptural so far as baptism or being born of the water was concerned but he thought there was something con that was not explained by which a man might get into the presence of god without first being baptized with water according to the testimony of jesus in support of his views ho he alluded to the case of the thief on the eros croas cros and said to me tae here is an instance of a man who wa was not baptized or at least leaa we ve have no reason to suppose that he was and yet the savior said to him this day aay thou be with me in paradise 11 now baid said he mr cannon how do you reconcile this statement of jesus with itee ithe tiit tilt doctrine yau you have preached this f in orning morning I 1 turned to the next book of the new testament and pointed out to him the passage which contains the account of the resurrection of jesus and his appearance to mary in the garden it seems that mary as well as the disciples was exceedingly anxious about the body of jesus and she had repaired to the garden and on going to the sepulchre she found the body had disappeared she felt considerable anxiety about this disappearance and as she turned she saw taw a personage standing near her and supposing it to be the gardener she inquired what they had done with the body of her lord but instead of I 1 if being the gardener it was jesus and when he spoke to her she recognized him and in her het stepped forward with the intention intent lop iop of clasping him nim nut out he hd told her not to touch him for said he I 1 am nat yet ascend ascended dd tp to my father geither Fi ither but go to my brethren and say to them thefil that I 1 ascend 11 tp my father nuil juil and anh thein their F Father to my god d id hi hd their theli glod clod wow 11 said I 1 ajo IYA you can recon reconcile uli nii these two passage s aa as you please 41 jesu jesus I 1 after the time he spoke to the thief on the cross says he bad not yet ascended to his father but told mary that he was about to do so po the gentleman was considerably puzzled and wished me to make explanations pla pia nations in relation to it if lff iff I 1 could to men who entertain the views that are commonly believed in by christendom and especially the protestant portion of it there is something irreconcilable in these two passages the idea which is popular among the protestants at the present time is that when a person dies he either goes to heaven or to hell if he be a righteous person he goes into the presence of god the father or into heaven if he be an unrighteous person he is consigned to the bottomless pit the catholics entertain a a somewhat different belief they believe there is an intermediate state which is called purgatory a state where if the soul be righteous it experiences joy but if unrighteous it experiences torment therefore this passage where jesus says he had not yet ascended to the father is not easily understood by the protestant portion of christendom they cannot reconcile it especially when compared with the other passage 10 which he says to the thief on the cross iday th thou be with me in para paradise disse 11 it is very evident that when jesus spoke thus to the thief on the cross that he e did not mean to convey to him the idea that he would ascend with him to the presence of the father it is also very evident that there was a principle connected with paradise and with the departure to paradise which jesus fully understood we find flud several passa passages geb geh on record in shenew the new testament which show with some degree of plainness the work jesus was engaged in while his body lay asleep lothe inthe sepulchre but these passages were not understood by isnor by any of the inhabitants of the earth until god our heavenly father poured out upon his servant joeph joseph smith the spirit of revelation to reveal and explain to the inhabitants of the earth that which had long been hidden it is recorded of a king of the franks a barbarian nation who overran gault gaul gaui that be he became convinced of the truth of christianity so called and after being reasoned with considerably by a bishop of the catholic church he presented himself for baptism he seems to have had some curious ideas in relation to the step he was about to take and before submitting 0 to baptism he propounded a question to the bishop which he wished him to answer saldie baid said he gli III 1 I have along a long iong line of ancestors who have died in ignorance of this gospel which you teach and who were never baptized as I 1 am about to be will you tell me what is to become of them the bishop replied ve very ry brutally they were h heathens heathers he eathie athens II 11 s therefore they have gone gope to hell the king replied then by thor I 1 will go to hell with them I 1 will go where my ancestors have gone gon e 11 and he utterly refused to be baptized and become a christian if the bishop had understood the principles of the gospel and the law of 0 god he would have been beeh able to answer the king very differently from what he did he would have understood that men and women are judged according to the light they have received le ce ived elved and that according to the words of paul where there is no law there is no transgression that for transgression to exist and for sin to be attributed to man there must of necessity be a revealed law for them to obey or d disobey that they may be held accountable for their obedience or disobedience but he did not understand this neither do thou sands of men now who profess to be ministers of jesus christ the latter like lite the bishop believe that the thousands and millions of heathen who have died in ignorance of the plan of salvation I 1 and who have never heard the redeemers name go down to hell there to suffer sunner endless torment yet in preaching to their congregations such ministers will extol god as a being of wondrous mercy and love whose bowels of compassion are moved in behalf of his erring children and whose arms are stretched stretch pd out all the day long to save I 1 them from the grasp of the destroyer tr r omha when I 1 have heard such principles enunciated by professed ministers of the gospel I 1 have been surprised that there has bas not beeh been more moro moie moio infidelity in the world gril than there is I 1 have been surprised that men mien could believe in god at all when he was thus thug misrepresented to them what should should we think if congress and the chief executive of the nation were to pass a law and amx affix to that law certain penalties oila of which should be death and they should never reveal that law to the people of the united states so that they might observe serve it why we should think it barbarous and alto aito altogether geCher unreasonable and any rulers who would act in such a manner would meet with universal execration and would be considered despots so absolute as to be unworthy to hold the reins of power yet precisely similar ideas are entertained of the lord god and they ascribe to him a course of conduct precisely similar such ideas idea s are entirely incompatible with the real character of god as described to us in the scriptures by those thoe who have known him be stand as we w know him by obrown our own experience god is not a being of this kind before requiring his children to obey any law or commandment he first reveals that law or commandment he points out the path he wishes his creatures to walk in he sends his messengers who cry to them early and late to repent of their sins hins to believe in the lord jesus christ and to be baptized for the remission of their sins sina that they may receive the holy ghost and its gifts and until people hear this message they are not held accountable by the almighty for its violation hence the command given to the servants of god to go forth to every nation kindred tongue and people to proclaim the message of life and salvation is as imperative in these days as it was in former times for this reason the elders of this church traverse sea and land because of this they have traveled throughout the united t states and europe and have visited asia and africa and the islands of the sea that they might stand as swift es ses in the day of the lord jesus before this generation that they had discharged a duty in proclaiming in plainness and simplicity and in the power of the holy ghost the testimony of jesus that has been entrusted to them this was the case in the days daya of the apostles for we are told by paul that the sound of the gospel had gone throughout theearta the earth as far as the earth was known the inhabitants thereof had heard the sound odthe of the plan of salvation salvat ion ioA which the disciples of were authorized by him to pro proclaim dalm au devery audevert and aud every person that heard that message sounded mounded in ili hi his ears cars was held accountable from that time lime for his obedience or once ence to the same and they who rejected it could not claim the theL mercy that was extended to those who had never heard it jesus proclaimed woe to some of the cities of judea because of their unbelief after the mighty works performed by him in their midst he said it would be far better in the day of judgment for the heathen who did not know anything about him his miracles or his message than for them for as I 1 have said where there is no law there is no transgression hence the heathen who had never heard beard of jesus or the message he brought will be comparatively free from condemnation for they can not be held helg accountable for rejecting that which they have not heard the cities of judea and samaria and throughout the land of palestine had been visited by the savior he had preached the gospel in their synagogues and public places he had proclaimed to them that the acceptable year of the lord had come and that salvation was extended unto them he was followed by his disciples who preached to the inhabitants of that and the surrounding countries the message of which they were the authorized bearers the question naturally arises in the minds of those who reflect on the subject what will become of those who die in ignorance of the plan of salvation the lord be praised he has not left his people in ignorance upon do these subjects but has revealed to them in plainness what will become of this class through being baptized and entering the church of christ our minds have become enlarged and our understandings enlightened and we can comprehend the things of god as as we could not previous ro to obedience the anxiety in the breasts of people when they join the church in relation to their parents children or relations who have died without hearing the gospel is very natural and they nave have inquiries to make about them the reply of the elders to such questions is not like that of the bishop to chichi which I 1 have referred but it ift is one that ImI imparts tants Tarts comfort pomfort and consolation and that is in accordance with the plan pan of salvi salvation tion and with the attributes which we ascribe to our heavenly father such inquirers learn that their father or mother or others for whom they are ansi bu ae are not beyond the reach of the gospel of salvation the work of god t is not confined to this little earth of ours but it embraces within it all the eternities of god it emli emil embraces races the work that took tock place before the earth was created and it brings within its pale that which will take place thousands of centuries hereafter the plan of salvation is as broad as eternity and is as eternal as its great author your father bother mother friends and relatives though they have died Tit b hout the gos pel will yet have the privilege of hearing if they have not already heard the principles of life and andal andai salvation proclaim ed by those who have authority there is a place which jesus when speaking to the thief on the cross called paradise the savior Savio had rhad not time timeto to tell nim him him then what he would have explained if ho he had been differently situated his time was short ile he was suffering dying but said he I 1 this day thou be with me in in paradise the thief wanted the lord to remember him when he came into his kingdom but he did not promise that he intimated that in a very little time they would be where the thief might leam learn the plan of salvation and how to avail himself of its benefits in the beginning of the ministry of jesus we are informed that on one occasion he stood up III in a synagogue tle lie to read and he opened at the place where isaiah in speaking of the mission of the messiah says the spirit of the lord goi god is upon me in e because the lord hath anointed mo me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind ind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the cap tives and the opening opening of the prison to them that are bound we are told the people wondered at his ills gracious words that verse contains a part palt of the mission assigned to the messiah but while he was on the earth he never preached liberty to the captive except to those tha c captive te bosin fo sin lie he never opened the prison doors to the |