Show C owns aa by jbv bider elder PRATT delivered inthe in tae the tabernacle f sall SaUL lake alce alse olt Cit city yeb neb feb 1869 I 1 reported BY DAVID W EVANS mormonism 11 so called is a strange thing I 1 in the century it has caused among the inh inhabitants abitanto odthe or the earth a great deal of reflection and conversation for the last forty years it is a very marvellous marcellous marv ellous and wondrous thing to see a numer numerous oui ouk people assembled together in these interior wilds which but a few years ago were a solitary waste where the face of a white man had been seldom seen the abode of savages only who wan van wandered ered about nearly naked living upon crickets rattlesnakes aad and lizards sunk into the lowest depths of degradation to see BO so large a people all of one faith united together in their energies occupy occupying in 0 a territory which from north to south is several hundred miles in extent building up towns cities and villages establishing common schools sending forth their missionaries to the nations of the earth bringing in their thousands every season by emigration render mormonism as Itis it is generally called by the woolda wonder in our age we vve heard this morning a it discourse delivered by elder cannon upon the subject of the gospel and the principles of our faith we were told some of the principle principles 3 that have been received by this people I 1 not only in these mountains but wherever the latter day saints as a people exist our oar people are taught to believe in the lord jesus christ as one of the principles of our faith we are taught to repent of all our sins and to refrain from everything every thing that ia is forbidden by the law of god this is included in the doctrine of tence as taught by this people among the nations which we have visited having taught faith in christ and repentance of all sins ains we next neit require penitent believers to be baptized in water for the remission of their sins thus they become subjects of the kingdom of god by being born of water another principle taught by y this people is the doctrine of the laying on of hands for the baptism of fire and the holy ghost as was taught aud and practiced in ancient times we heard this forenoon concerning the effects of the holy ghost when bestowed upon individuals and its diversified gifts throughout the whole church according to the righteousness of the individuals divi duals who receive these principles we also heard it testified that god had sent down from heaven authority to administer in these ordinances that he had sent his angel for this express purpose it is my intention this afternoon if the lord will lead me by his spirit to dwell upon some subjects connected with the organization of this church which has received the principles I 1 hava have named strangers who may be be present have dard heard for many years past of a man called joseph smith perhaps they have never heard much good respecting him but this people called latter day saints believe that that man was a holy prophet of god the world consider that he was an imposter we consider that we have a sufficient amount of evidence to warrant us in believing that he was a prophet it was he who and established this church under the direction of almighty god according to our faith had it not been for that man or some other raised raided up in the same manner this people eople called mormons cormons Mor mons or latter day lint Kint Saint snow occupying this mountain territory would have been dwelling among the various nations of the earth and this territory at this period of time would probably have been a bairen waste and such a thing as the railroad would probably not have been wn started or thought about for at a century to come that man called caled joseph smith in our estimation waa a very good man and the lord him as his servant and called him a cent cert certain ain aln wor work here on the earn eart tx when did theford th eLord euord first manifest himself to this manat mault read bead our history if you wish to all the bartic ulars on this occasion shall barely refer you to the early hattory of this thurcy in print the llord hord revealed himself to that person novin not nol la his manhood but IU in his hia youth Weave heard much said by those who kno nothing of the matter about old joe smith saith how old was joseph smith when the lord first manifested himself tomm he was about fourteen years and tour lour months old was that a very aged aed a ed mm man look around here in this assembly and hun bunt tup up children fourteen years of age and you will immediately admit that A do not look I 1 very veny aged fed what were the circumstances that enabled him to have manifestations from heaven at that early period of his life he was very anxious as most of mankind are to be saved and he was also very anxious to understand how to be saved but on this point he was at sloss a loss I 1 he did not understand the way to be bei saved he was a farmers boy he was not brou brought ht up and educated in high schools academies or colleges he was merely a poor farmers boy he was not acquainted with those bad habits that are usually practiced by the youth in iri the great and populous cities of the united states you know boys al at the age of fourteen in those cities are apt to become contaminated with the evils with which they are surrounded but oseph joseph smith having been reared in a secluded part of the country and laboring hard ard on the farm with his father had not fallen into the pernicious habits practiced by many boys when he be was about fourteen years old there was what is called a religious revival or reformation in the neighborhood in which he lived it was not confined to any one particular sect the methodists baptists presbyterians rians and the various dt nominations denominations in that district of country were all ail engage engaged dmore more orless or less in this revival several of the relatives of this youth had taken part in this re vival viva and had united themselves with the presbyterian church this young man was also requested to unite himself with this church first one and then another of the different persuasions would come and converse with him and t try ry to influence him to join his lot with t them h em and seeing BO so much confusion each sect claiming that they were the true people of god he became at a loss what to do he occasionally devoted an hour when his labors on the farm would permit to reading the tha bible and while doing so his eyes happened to fall on a certain passage of scripture recorded in the epistle of james which says that if any man lack wisdom let him ask of god who liberally to all men and upbraid eth not now this youth this old joe smith that we have beard heard so much about was just simple enough to believe that that passage really meant what it said he went out into a little grove near his fathers house in the town of manchester ontario bounty county state of new yur york k and n d there he knelt kneit down in all the s simplicity p 1 ac ofa of a child and prayed to tha the arta father th er in the name of jesus that thab he would show him which among all the churches was the true one isaid he show me father who are in possession of the truth let me know 0 lord the right way and I 1 will walk therein therel 21 he had now come to a person who was able to teach him all his inquiries previously sly siy had been futile and vaina vain but he now applied to the right source did the lord hear him yes but he had to exercise falth faith faith falth this young man while thus praying was not discouraged because he was tempted but he continued praying until he overcame the powers of darkness which tried to prevent him from calling upon god the lord hearkened being the same god who lived in ancient times he was able to hear and answer prayers that were offered up in this sincere manner and he answered the prayers of this youth the heavens as it were were 0 opened to him or in other words a opened glorious orious pillar of light like the brightness of the sun appeared in the heavens above him and approached the spot where whore he was praying his eyes were fixed upon it and his heart was lifted up in prayer before the most high he saw the 11 light gradually approaching him until it rested upon the tops of the trees he beheld that the leaves of the trees were not consumed by it although its brightness apparently was sufficient as he at first thought to con coni i sume everything before it but the trees were not consumed by it and it continued to descend until it rested upon him and enveloped him in its glorious rays when he was thus en eni 1 circled about with this pillar of bf fire his hid mind was caught away from every ob jeet that hur kur surrounded rounded him and he wa was filled with the visions dislong of thel tha almighty and he hie saw in the midst of this glorious pillar of nire fire two glorious personages whose countenances shone with an exceeding great lustre one of them spoke ae t to 0 him saying baying while po pointing inting to the 0 other ther this is my beloved son in whom I 1 am well pleased hear ye him hini 31 now here was a certainty here was something that he saw and heard here were personages capable of instructing him and of telling him which was the true religion how dif dlf different this from going to an uninspired man professing essing to be a mini minister sterl one minute minutes a instruction 1 from personages clothed with the 41 glory of god coming down from the eternal worlds is worth more than all the volumes that ever were written by uninspired men mr smith this young man in id the 8 simplicity p cit elt of his is heart eart cont continued ue saying I 1 to t these es p personages esona es 11 which le c church s shall all ail I 1 joi jot join w which lc is I 1 the true e church he et then ena and there was commanded in the most strict manner to go not after them for they had all gone out of the way he was waa told there was no christian church on the face of the earth according to the ancient pattern as recorded the in new testament ment but they had all strayed from the ancient faith and had lost the gifts and power of the holy ghost they had lost the spirit of revelation and prophecy the power to heal the sick and every other gift and blessing possessed and enjoyed by the ancient church go not after them was the command given to this young man and arid he was told that if he would be faithful in serving the true and living godi godl god it should be made manifest to him in a time to come the true church that god intended to establish now we can see the wisdom of god in not revealing everything to him on that occasion ha he revealed as much as joseph was capacitated to receive the lord dwelt with this young man as you parents do when you wish to instruct your children on any subject you ou do not pour out volumes of instruction st on them all at once but impart lart to them according to their capacity just so the lord acted towards this youth he imparted enough to let him know that the whole christian world was without authority as we heard this forenoon about or not nob quite four foun years from that tim ewhen mr smith was between 17 and 18 years of age and not yet old enough to be called old joe smith he retired to his chamber reflecting u upon pon his former vision and earnestly de desiring string the fulfillment fulfilment of the promise made to him that be he should be made acquainted with the fatness of the gospel caspel and have more of the things of god od revealed to him while reflecting and praying a light began to burst into his room which continued to grow brighter and brighter until the whole room seemed to be lighted up with a splendor which far exceeded the brightness of the sun at noonday noon day in the midst of this glorious light a personage appeared he was desaez in a white robe and his countenance was lighted up with the glory of god he was not standing upon the floor of the room but his feet appeared to bea boa be a distance from froni it while looking at this personage agathe 0 the spirit of god rested reste dupon upon joseph to that degree that all fear was removed from his mind and instead of feeling alarm and terror as would have been the case with a wicked person he felt as though he was in the presence of a friend this personage I 1 on that occasion gave him a great deal of instruction I 1 shall not pretend to give you the full detail of the instructions then given bab but shall merely lay before you a few of the principal items this personage announced himself as a holy angel sent from god to communicate to him glad tidings of great joy he was told that the day had arrived in which the lord god was about to commence a great and marvellous marcellous marv ellous work on the face of our globe to bring about the fulfill fulfil ment of the ancient prophecies in regard to the restoration to their own land of the scattered remnants of the house of israel he was also told that before this great work of gathering the house of israel should take place the church of god must be built up among the gentile nations that the gospel must be preached to the gentiles first that the sound thereof must go to all people nations and tongues first to the gentiles that their times might be fulfilled and aud then that the gospel should go to the nations of the house of israel and they should be gathered in this was something of course that a boy at this early aie ale age knew nothing about abou he knew only what god communicated munica ted to him he was furthermore told that the indians who were wandering over the face of north borth 3 orth and south america were a branch of the house of joseph that same jpseph who was askold oid old into egypt he was informed that their fathers were wore b from jerusalem some years temor before christ that they lived here herein in righteousness fora for a long period and had many prophets ts who kept records and that these records were handed down down for the space of a thousand years amongst them and that finally fin flu ally aily the nation haying having fallen into wickedness god commanded his servant who kept these records to hide them up in the earth in order to preserve them from being destroyed by the wicked and apostate nation who had turned away from godt god a certain promise however was waa made that in the latter days these records should be brought forth joseph was told that these records were hid some three thre miles emiles from his fathers house at the bame same time the vision of his mind was opened so that he saw the hill in which they were deposited and he saw the stone box which contained them he saw the surrounding objects object ik and understood by the vision that was unfolded to him in the presence of the angel con concerning berning the place where they chev lerede were deposited posited he was told that if he would te be faithful he should be the chosen instrument in the hands of god in bringing that sacred record of the ancient prophets to light and that it should come forth and be united with the jewish record which we call the bible that through the united teotimo te ny of these two branches of the house of israel all nations might have sufficient evidence and testimony to convince them concerning the gospel of the son of god and the great work that was to be performed in the latter days this was the first visit of the angel and it occurred on the of septem ber 1823 after the angel withdrew mr mrs smith continued praying he was nol not asleep it was not a dream it was not in slumber that this remarkable vision had been riven given given he still continued praying and marvelling mar velling and wondering exceedingly at the things that he had seen and the great things he had heard chile while praying and beseeching the lord the vision was renewed to him and the |