Show JD I 1 S C CO 0 O T S E 39 by wider eer affat taylon taylor delivered in the old tabernacle sal flait lake I 1 city march uth 1 ath 1869 REPORTED BY DAVID W EVANS we meet 1 together from time to time agether to hear of things n gs pertaining to the kingdom of god on the earth we have our own peculiar views in relation to many things that occupy the minds of men and we have been in the habit of investigating the principles of df the gospel and pur our minds are more or less jess occupied with pith affairs connected with the welfare of humanity whether associated with the tho present life 1116 or that which is to come there la ia ia 14 a common tendency in the minds of men generally to take very little tt tk tible uble in lin relation to religious religions matters and anil men of all nations seem beem more disposed to let others think and act for iii in such puch mattes matters than to do so for themselves hence holice those thosa who are dise dist posed to prey upon the tha credulous have every opportunity to accomplish their ends another point ukon upon upon which men do not reflect uch is tiie the fact that between this and the spirit world there is 14 a veil veil vell drawn which can only be penetrated through the medium which the scriptures unfold untold there we are told that no man can understand the things of god bilt but by the spirit of god hence though men may reason upa upon natural principles pios and speak logically on most of the common affairs of life when they attempt to investigate the principles of religion and hud the nature of our relationship to god they seem to be at a loss and not being willing villing an the one on hand to acknowledge theli their owa weakness wd akness ignorance and imperfection nor on the other hand to acknowledge jahe he hand of the almighty they know not what course to pursue on account of these various feelings in the world a great many errors of every kind have crestin and have led the human mind astray the christian portion of the world are ard apt to look with contempt upon what is called the heathen and wonder how hovy men possessing any degree degreeff df of intelligence gence genee can be led to nip stockland stocks and stones and gods of their own making yet millions under the influence of raft do this and they think they I 1 lire are right and that they are on the high road to heaven the christian world tod too feel that it is ati all ali right night with them in preference deference to a future life in fact they feel in respect to religious matters mattens rs abbat as the athenians did about the goddess dana that she hud had descended from irom heaven and that all the world knew it the various sects geets of chec ris rig tian world methodists baptists pres byte rians episcopalians Episcopal ians lans church of rom 0 and i other others sno bno no matter kattef w whal what hat their pe peculiar pecullar bullar creeds or forms of worship may be entertain the idea that they are afo all on the highway to heaven they build magnificent churches and pay ray thousands of ministers they alq also very zealous in missionary labors and contribute largely for the support of charitable institutions but ifera very few of them who reflect upon first principles they do not like to trouble themselves on buch such matters I 1 have hilve traveled a great deal and have come in contact with professors of eve ave every liz creed but they almost invariably like ilke to assume without contradiction that they are right and that their fathers before them were they do not like the idea to be entertained for a moment that the principles doctrine and ordinances they believe in and obey may be wrong or that there is any possibility of the whole so called christian church having departed from the faith and ordinances as laid down in the gospel by jesus christ the methodists for instance could not for a moment suppose that john wesley was not competent to judge all matters nat nal ers p pertaining erta I 1 n I 1 ng to salvation wesleyan ae YE ln m ministers in e rs will hardly permit his doctrines to be questioned they must be swallowed without investigation in fact I 1 have heard some of them say that he was a man of such erudition talent and piety that they would not have his doctrines questioned in their hearing the protestant German germans sand and a great many others are just the same with regard to luther yot yet in some of his ideas and principles the great ee re former was as foolish h as sa any ny other man th the e scotch are d a good deal so with john knox they think that he wa everything good praiseworthy and amiable and in fact that he was the pink of perfection the roman Catholic catholics i will not for a moment admit that the they are not the true e hurch church and they wili wilp win maintain that they have held the keys of the kingdom of heaven from the days of peter until now and that they still have the thel pure doctrines of the gospel and have power to bind hind on earth and in heaven and to loose on earth and in heaven you may ask a great many who have seceded from the church Chur chun choi chol of rome and you would find that they have similar ideas about their own infallibility only they are a little be better t ter than those from whom they seceded they have made some improvements and are a little nearer the celestial kingdom feelings Pe elings of this kind obtain not only among religionists but also among p philosophers hil hii hll for tor some christian philosophers have brought in 14 philosophy to their aid in order to prove the truth of the tha christian religion paley and dick very prominent christian philosophers have havo examined the works of nature and have endeavored to prove that the god of nature who controlled all these these things must bes bea bo A being full of love jove intelligence and power in their investigations they have examined the tha lesl lesi ical and visceral systems of man mim beasts birds birda and ina ing infects desand des and have hava deduced manx many arguments which are interesting and ible ale dle but when they apply their reasoning to the christian religion they wallow swallow it at ohe one gulp guip without investigation their arguments go to prot prove V the existence of a supreme being a wod burthey but they do not prove the truth q or falsity of the christian or of any aily other system of religion they have nothing at all to do with them people peppie generally are apt to accept the various religious systems of the day without reasoning or investigation when I 1 was a little boy I 1 used to ponder over such things and I 1 do W so still finding vinding myself an inhabitant of the world orid orld surrounded by ten thousand conflicting flicking opinions on religious religions subjects 1 l I 1 want to know what ia truth who has it in his possession where shall we find it if I 1 were vero among the fhe heathen and had been taught to worship an alligator I 1 hould nut not think it t right to worship a cat dat and if it was ight to worship a cat it would not be fa 6 worship a bull and if a bull it would abot be to worship a snake and if a snake it would not nol be to worship a monkey and if a monkey it would not be bo to worship sun moon or stars were I 1 hum mum among the christians I 1 would think if the ithe baptists are right the presbyterians rians are iare not if the presbyterians rians are right then the baptists are not if the church England of J is right then theotho the others are gre wrong if the roman catholics are right then others are wrong and if any of the others otiler are right the roman catholic lles iles ard are wrong I 1 cannot conceive of two ways to go to heaven and both right bight I 1 1 cannot think of a god of intelligence telli gence genee who has created the whole human fam family lly ily ana and who has had organized every living thing and adapted them to the varied positions which they oc cupy being boink the author of the confusion that exists in the world in relation to the forms of worship lp butia but if god is not the author of it who is where did it come from I 1 know that men generally are not inclined fo to investigate invest igata these subjects when I 1 was wag a boy I 1 used to be connected with the church of england theirs heirs is a pleasant kind of religion I 1 liked it very well when I 1 was connected with it they pay the parson for preaching and pay the clerk for saying amen no difficulty about ter everything every eveny thing moved along pleasantly nobody 0 ody thought of questioning the par har parson on they considered the whole system correct and that they were all on the way to heaven the roman catholics feel a good deal the same way only their religion is not quite so easy they have to do penance sometimes if they do wrong they may get absolution but they have to pay for it in talking with church of england jsn JUn giana glana ministers I 1 have sometimes asked them where they got their authority from that is a kind of question they har hardly adly deem admissible but the they y would say 1 I well if we must confess we got it from the roman boman catholics where did they get it from from peter but unfortunately you episcopalians Episcopal ians say that the roman boman catholics are in error yes they are in error well if that be the case how could they confer power upon you do not the scriptures say if a tree la is bad its fruits willbe bad oh say they they might retain their twerp power ow e re even v e n if til they ey had bad I 1 ost lost thelt thein 1 virtue 0 indeed d you admit that much well if they had power io to bind on earth and to bind in heaven they had power to loose on earth and to loose in heaven eaven and if they had fiad howerto power to give the priesthood they had bad power to take it ife aw away ay and if they cut you off you have no authority they do not like ilke to reason upon these things but I 1 do I 1 like ilke to know the chya and wherefores in all such things and to understand their foundation especially in matters pertaining to maids mans eternal welfare I 1 have generally taken tha them liberty of applying the word of god to principles of religion whether taught by the methodists church of engl engi england MO roman catholics or any others and wid when mormonism was presented to me my first inquiry was is it scriptural is it reasonable and philosophical this is the principle I 1 would act upon to day no matter how popular the theories or dygmas preached might be I 1 would not accept them unless they were strictly in accordance with the scriptures reason and common bense sense sense bense I 1 used to be told when investigating religious principles that it was dangerous austo to do so and I 1 had better let them alone but I 1 did not think so I 1 believe belleve it is good to investigate and prove all pi sciples that come before me prove all things hold fast that which is good and reject that which Is evil no matter what guise it may come in I 1 think if we as mormons cormons Mor mons hold principles that 1 ean can noh not be sustained by the scriptures land and by good gool sound reason and philosophy the quicker quicken we pa part with them the we better botter no lo matter who believes in ili them or who does not in di every principle presented to us our first inquiry should be I 1 Is it truey I 1 does it emanate from from god if he is its author it can be sustained just as much as any other truths in natural philosophy jp h I 1 lo 10 s aph y f false faise a IQ e 1 it t should be opposed find alid exposed just as s much as any other error hence rence upon u on all sueh such matters we wish to go bacr back to first principle principles fi if llana ham a nian man where did I 1 coine colne come from and what is the nature of my existence annd arid being here liere I 1 want information ml atlon on these points if anybody can give it if I 1 had lied an ex existence before I 1 came asre I 1 want to know something about it if therel there is a god and anybody on the earth ever knew anything about abou him I 1 want to kno kr ov something abou about him if there are wise intelligent and learned men anywhere who can tell teil me adyth any thing a about b ou t him m about my own existence and an gd fu future destiny tiny I 1 want w ant to t 01 know it these desires are reasonable chy rhy why should they not be gratified you go to the heathen and inquire about god and they have thousands of them in every form go to the tho christians and they have one god goa but bub he has neither body parts nor passions his presence is everywhere but he exists nowhere they have never heard nor been een him and they do not know anybody who gho ho aver ever did not even their mini min mint I aisters whom they claim present god they are equally as ignorant in ah geist relation an to their own existence and the we ends of their creation they say they are going to heaven but all they can tell teli te I 1 you vou about it is that thai th t it is beyond the th e bounds of time and space this kind hina of doctrine dodt pine Tine does not sul suit tind me t can read nad in the scriptures that men used wed to converse with god and that an 4 gels gela conversed with them that others nad aad had visions and could read the purposes of bf god as they were unfolded before them bat come to the present day when according to their own account accounts the most intelligent people that ever were upon the earth are now in existence and they know nothing about god goa or his purposes I 1 care nothing about sueh guch knowledg knowledge e and wisdom in the language of tze tue the old prophet et I 1 say I 1 I 1 my nry soul enter not thou into their secret 1 1 I want something that la is intellectual and true and that will bear investigation when I 1 turn to the gospel as taught by jesus I 1 find that he sent his disciples into all the world and commanded them to preach pr ea en the gospel to every creature saying baying s y 1 n g he that believeth beli bell eveth and is baptized t az e d shall be saved but he that believeth beli bell eveth not shall shail be damned this gospel was no pliant thing as in this day that men could receive or reluse as iney iuey pleased or that they could tinker to suit thenh theft own notions but when preached it involved the salvation or damnation of those who heard it when the apostles commenced to preach the gospel jesus said it was necessary for him to go away for if he went away he would send them the comforter the holy spirit which should call all things to their remembrance and show them things to come this was sor sol something very Imp important a 1 religion that would do this was a reli gion fit for immortal men why should men made in the image and after the likeness es of godbe god be ignorant of themselves the in of bf their pre existence and their future destiny the religion that jesus fesus came to teach instructs men in relation to these subjects and puts them in possession of correct information well then I 1 dd not want to go to any of the old doctrines of the egman epman catholic church or to the Episcopal episcopalians ians calvin ests or lutherans Luth erans I 1 want the het Net doctrines rines that were promulgated by the disciples of jesus on the day of pentecost through obedience to which men may gain the power and inspiration that were enjoyed by them in accordance with the promises which jesus had made on that day we read that the disciples began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance people from different nations heard th them ein ern preach the gospel in their own tongues tongue 5 and they marveled and thought thep they were drunken with new wine peter told them that it was not so but sald bald said ball he this is that which way was spoken en bj by the prophet it shall come to pass in t the e last days that I 1 will pour out my spirit upon all ail flesh and your old men shall dream dreams and your |