Show 1 JD I 1 sa S C 0 TJ 17 ea n ai k K 1 xa Y eider ORSON pea dea PRATT TT delav delivered red med in the lef lee iff tabernacle AI 41 lak C f y dee deo alsea r BY DAVID W EVANS evams there Is a passage which will be found in one of the epistles of john the substance of which I 1 will repeat every spirl confesses not that jesus is the christ is not of god I 1 may not ha have ve given you this passage word fur lur word as it is recorded but I 1 have given you yon the substance of it as laid down in the scriptures it is well known by all readers of ghe the scriptures that in every ago of our word mankind have had to contend against a power which is I 1 in n opposition onto to the almighty it seems thad that bur world is infested with mitose spirits of darkness which were in the be inning cast down down dowa from the almighty iii in consequence of their rebellion him and in every age of the world these wicked spirits have manifested themselves and especially when the priesthood has beep upon the earth and a dispensation has been committed from weaven heaven to man then all hell has seemed to be toe in an uproar and the power of all the fallen angels made manifest hence it is written somewhere in the new testament that we wrestle not against llesh flesh and blood merely but bat against spirit ual wickedness ia in high places we not only have to meet with wicked men an and ana d the power of the devil manifested in them but the saints of god have always had t to meet with manifestations of power from beneath powers not ordained of god and which are calculated it 11 possible to deceive the very elect sow sow now there are in existence two great powers one is of god including all the heavenly host the angels and celestial beings who dwell in the presence of god and partake of ills his glory holding power and authority from him rini to tol goforth and minister according to llis ilia command the other ether power Is an enemy to god it is the power of that bein being who wiio rebelled against him in heaven and sought to take possession of the throne of the almighty according to the history that is given of this event a general council was held in heaven heaved about the time of bf the creation of this earth in that council there was a personage called an an angel anzel elcho who stood in authority in the me presence of god and when the ques tion was asked who shall go forth and redeem mankind lucifer the son of the morning this angel who stood in the presence of god answered and said hero am 1 I send me I 1 will go forth north and redeem all mankind in that not one soul shall be los ios lost t 12 bat theonley tho the Only begotten son sort of the father who was with the tha thee ather father from the beginning replied and said gaid father thy will be none sone and the glory be thine forever and here a rebellion rose up between satan the son of the morning and the son of the living god as to the redemption of mankind one sought to destroy the plan plarl of god and the agency meney that ape the lord intended to toivo tolvo rive give to intelligent beings and to redeem them whether they would be redeemed or not and because he considered that his pim alm plan pian was so good before so superior to the plan that god had devised said saia he suro surely Surd surely ly I 1 will do it where wherefore kore give me thine honor which is the power of god god 11 that is be he sought to obtain the t throw ronse of the almighty and ano to barry tarry out his own purposes in prele preference rence to yielding fieldin ta to the purposes and power of the almi aimi almighty IF h ty this rebe rebellion lon ion became so great and sad the influence of no It spread so rapidly among the heavenly host that one third part of that heavenly throng I 1 mean the spirits rebelled against god and followed the evil design and purpose of this angel no doubt some of them thought that they could accomplish their design for they had not a knowledge of the facture designs and purposes of god only in a small degree and consequently the they supposed that their plan was better than that hat K of the alm aim almighty ity and in this great rebellion the lord caused satan or lucifer the son of the morning and those who followed him to be cast out oat of heaven we may form some little calculation of the vast numbers thus thrown out of heaven when we consider that t they ey were one third cfall tho tha spirits spirit that were tre are born intended for this creation only two thirds crept their first estate and they have jils ills he great eriv privilege of coming here to this creation and taking in bodies of flesh an and d bones tabernacles wherein their spirits may dwell to prepare themselves lor for a more glorious drigus state of existence hereafter if then en only two thirds of the hosts of heaven are to come to our earth to tabernacle in the tha flesh we may form some ideh idea of the vast number who fell already our earth haa baa teemed for six thousand years yeats with numberless millions of human beings whose spirits existed before the foundation of the world those who now exist proba bly number one thousand or r twelve hundred millions twelve hundred millions of spirits now dwelling in mortal flesh think of the immense who must have hate preceded usana asana us ind the myriads myri ads who are to toc toe comel oniel these are the two thirds who kept hept their first estate their numbers probably cannot be less lesa than two hundred thousand millions leaving as an approximate estimate one hundred thousand minions millions of rebellious spirits or devils who were cast out from heaven and tani banished shed totals creat creation ioui having no privilege of f fleshly it was in the garden of eden that the devil or one of these foul entered into a certain animal or bet beast called ed a serpent and came before our fir first t parents arents and beguiled them and they su summered suffered srenea themselves to partake of the forbidden fruit if then they were in the earth as early as the garden 0 of lk eden no doubt they have been here frem from that day to this and that the earth is the place of their habitation they wander to and fro is in the earth seeking whom they may devour only think of a hundred devils to every being that now exists on the earth though these spirits bad not the fuli full knowledge of the almighty though they ther had not that superior knowledge that reigns in the bosom of the son of goda god and of many that stood in irk his presence yet t they e had great information before t their theiu derfall fall fali they e had stood in the presence of god and had no doubt learned many things from his hig mown own mouth auth how long they had been in his presence it ia is not for us to say god has not revealed it but they had bad great experience lam speaking of ledge and the cunning canning thad that these enemies of god they were cast down here to the earth they them have cunning beyond what ever seen manifested by the children of men they can at times apparently be gentlemen when they enter the tabernacles of the tha children of men they can become apparently parent ly very pious and if you could not discern spirits you would think from from fron the manifestations of devils when in the tab lern fern acles of many individuals lz that they ahey angels on earth the devil operates in every conceivable form and this Is hat the apostle meant when he said we do not merely wrestle against flesh and blood but also against alast alast alp principalities and powers we have enemies far more powerful than men to contend aga against ast tnie trie tle devil ha has not the power to take tako fall fail fall possession of the thop tabernacles of human creatures unless they give way to him and his influence to that degree that he gets power over them but w we have not time now to trace the history y of the powers of darkness in early ages but will briefly state that they did show forth their power in ancient times moses hoses was called of god and ordained to the holy priesthood after the order of by the hands of his hia father in law liw jethro and and ans sent forth with power and authority into egypt to seek after the welfare of the seed of abraham isaac isaae and jacob in bondage there justna soon astige almighty began to manifest himself through the power of the legal priesthood so soon these opposite po powers ers began begali to work whenever they could tind find a chance and the individuals nals through whom they worked were the priti principal cipal ian men of egypt the mot most popular men they had in their midst the priests pr feats teats magicians and ers were tie toe ones t through U whom v hom satan matui matul ested this oppa oppe site power his design I 1 no doubt was to frustrate or destroy destros the influence of the miracles signs and wonders that were made manifest west fest hy by loses hoses among adlong the people of god for the ther emption redemption led nence hence when moses Mosea canua before pharaoh ho ifo cast down bis his staff and it was turned into a ser sera pent or into info something having the appearance of a serpent and wastell wa stull of ilfe irie and animation that was a great miracle that the lord laora saw proper on that occasion to to manifest before this wicked king that he might have what he had desi desired fed ked tor for he had asked for a sign and the lord granted it but immediately others were called by the klug king jang the magicians soothsayers and those tho so whom satan satah had gained power and itil influence luence over and they were commanded to show what they could do they cast down their rods and they likewise became serpents 46 aak now here was a manifestation of similar power moses rod became a serpent and the rods of the magicians also became serpents but by and by moses rod swallowed up the rods of the magicians what did t that thai a prove rove in in the estimation of wicked men like ike the king hing of egypt and his hia subjects subject etwas it was nothing noth ingmore more than the extending of this power had bad in possession by the magicians they whey did not look upon mas was it as a distinct and separate power because they had not the spirit to discern the spirit of th eLord was wag not with them and they could not discern the difference nut but there were manifested on that occasion two distinct aad aid separate powers so similar in their ef cf none non e but those who lived near unto god and understood the workings of the holy boly spirit could detect the difference between them A succession of wonderful manifestations of the power of tit god was made through U moses and in all save two or ahr three a I 1 instances the magicians did likewise wh what would naturally be the conclusion at chic wicked men would arrive under suca snell circumstances cum stances they would naturally say here herff is moses who has been brought up in all the learning of the egyptians and he Is moro more advanced than than thau our magicians ho be has learned lessons that they have not yet acquired 1 consequently men of that stamp would decide that it was all by the same spirit and ther they would not acknowledge led ge the fin tin finger finer tiner er in it thalmay that maybe bd a sample to all 01 people jn n futura future generations in the manifestations of thes power epowers the wicked cannot discern and comprehend the difference between these two powers if vt believe that there is a god and anda abea heavenly venly host standing in his presence ready to do his behest swe swo must believe in thoi thol manifestations of dl vine pow power er and ifko if we believe belleve that there are fallen spirits who have been cast down to this earth we must also believe that they will manifest their power just as far as they are sunn suffered ered or permitted but bat we do not wish to dwell too long upon the tag history of past ages we want to come down more immediately to our own time I 1 now appeal to the aged and to the mid dle aged in this assembly and I 1 will ask them this one question what vaz the condition of the world forty years ago in th regard to miraculous manifestations of power and to new revelation I 1 am now speaking of the christian world at large largo did they believe that god would perform any miracles in our day theold the old oid and the middle aged know that the whole world had come to the conclusion that there was no such thing as supernatural power to be made manifest in our times that was wag the almost universal belief among the children bf men when you talked to tu them about new revelation they considered edthe the very idea of ot such a thing a folly tradition had taught them therit and their fathers for many generations that the book called the old and new testament contained ablahat god ever did reveal or ever would ie veat veal to the theuman th human family this notion was not peculiar to some fo few classes of christian society but it was almost universal throughout christendom such a thing thins as new now revelation vas was discarded by them all over the world said they the canon of scripture is fall it is complete and alid it is the very height heh lit if or blasphemy to suppose u appose that god would give any more this was the condition of mankind before this church arose forty years fears ears ago by and byan by an obscure individual ua I 1 a ayoung young man rose up and andi in the tha midst of all arl the startling news that god had sent an angel to him that through his naith faith prayers sad and sincere repentance pen tance he her had beheld it supernatural vision that he had seen a pillar of fireda from heaven beaven and SAW two glorious personages clothed upon with this pillar of fire anre whose countenance shone ilke like like ilke the sun at noonday that he heard one of these personages sa say hay pointing to the other 0 this is my beloved son hear heat ye yo him this occurred before this young man was fifteen years of age and it was a startling aling announcement to make in the midst of a generation EO so completely given up to the traditions of their lathers fathers and when this was proclaimed by this young unlettered boy to the priests and the religious societies in the sute yute of ofner nevi neni York they laughed him to scorn what said sald they 9 visions and revelations in our dayl goi gol god speaking 0 tom to inn lan ian a I 1 in our day dayis they looked upon him as deluded they pointed tho the finger of scorn at him and warned their congregations against him the canon of scripture is closed up co no more communications communication earo sare saro to be expected from heaven the ancients saw heavenly visions and perso personages nages they beara heard the voice of the lord they were inspired by the holy ghost to receive revelations but behold no such thing thina is to be 9 ilven iven to man in our day neither has there een for many generations past pasit ibis was the style of the remarks made ty by religionists forty years ago this young man some nouh fout years ears afterwards was visited again agam by an loly holy angel it was no not nov merely something speaking in the dark it was not something wrapped up in mystery with no glory it but a glorious angel anel an el whose countenance shone ebone like me a vivid flash fish of lightning and who arrayed in a white robe and stood before him a this lis young man saw the countenance of the angel he saw his person and revealer hi his IS glory glor alel and rejoiced therein this angel reve neve revealed to him some great realities not mysterious ions or dark sayings covered ftp without any auy particular information light or knowledge but certain realities were made manifest to him concerning the ancient inhabitants of thi land this angel told him that they were a branch of df the house of israel that they kept sacred sarea and holy records that those records were kept by prophets and inspired men |