| Show diso DISC orris SE y by elder der L SNO wi delivered in the tabernacle salt sall lake city sun Yun sunday doy day jan tan 1870 1670 reported REPORTED BY jonn JOHN GRIMSHAW in addressing an assembly of saints I 1 expect the benefit of their prayers without the ceremony of asking being assured that they are aware as well as I 1 am that our teachings and administrations trat ions in the gospel of life are blessed to us according to our faith and prayers and the diligence we give and the attention we bestow I 1 propose to make some general observations ions upon the gospel and its administrations and in relation to its effects when received and the important blessings derived by this community through its divine power aid aud and virtue this gospel which god has commanded us to ommer offer to the world is is an order or system of things simple plain and maybe may be easily understood in regard to its principles the nature of its requirements and the precise kind hind and character of its blessings and promises no one however ignorant or unlearned needs be left in the dark any great length of time but may discover its golden jolden truths and the em blazoned mark of divinity in its arrangements range ments as distinctly as speedily as aaman I 1 the captain of the assyrian host found divine virtue and the band hand of divinity in the order prescribed to lim him by elijah through which his leprosy leprosy was removed in his case the order of obtaining miraculous blessings bles bies ings lugs viz to immerse seven times in jordan as prescribed by elijah was so simple so plain and in regard to the knowledge of its divine ef fleacy efficacy so easy of ascertainment that the great caplain captain at alist first was exceedingly at tb th idea that god should propose to work upon hira him through such easy means and simple forms but the order through which he could be healed of his leprosy was wag prescribed of god through the prophet and finally the assyrian officer through the plain common sense reasoning of his servant concluded to waive his objections and comply y with the requirements and having g done so he received the promised blessing the first principles of the thel gospel which we offer and which put men in possession of the revelations of god and of a knowledge of this work are precisely as simple plain and as easy of understanding agthe as the order before alluded to through tb ro ugh which the heavens were opened in naamans klamans Ka Na amans behalf this gospel was brought to our respective habitations far remote from hese these mountain vales it found us citizens of many nations speak speaking ipg our respective languages each possessing his peculiar notions and prejudices with his associations and a strong attachment tach ment to kindred friends and country however unpleasant unkind unjust and inconsistent it might appear at first yet we clearly foresaw that in receiving this gospel we should be compelled to break up those associations and sever those attachments leaving the lands of our nativity and going forth with our wives and children to a distant land of which we had but little knowledge but a similar requisition was made upon the house of israel in the lard laud of egypt also upon noah and his family and upon abraham and the family of lot in the city of sodom and upon the families of lehi lehl lehland and ish maelan mentioned in the book of mormon but in the provisions of the tho gospel which was offered to us there were t safety it proposed to give us t through h rough obedience to its requirements a perfect knowledge of its ita divine authenticity so that in leaving our kindred breaking up our social re lations and going forth from our native land wes we should bould first become perfectly assured that it was no human contrivance something gotten up to effect some political purpose or gratify some worldly ambition to achieve some private end through human cunning and craftiness the gospel was plain and simple in its requirements and there could be no mistaking the precise nature and character of its blessings and promises nor the manner and time ume in which they were to be reached the first feature in this system which struck us with surprise and arrested our attention was its perfect similarity in all its parts with the gospel as recorded in the bew hew new rew testament it required repentance and a forsaking of sins imme immersion in water for the remission of sins with a promise t that t through the laying on of hands by those th so having authority people should rece receive e the holy ghost by which should come a knowledge of the truth of the doctrine another remarkable feature which called forth our most serious consideration was the solemn testimony of the elders that they possessed the right to administer these sacred ordinances by virtue of the holy priesthood committed to joseph smith amith through the ministration of the apostles peter james and john and furthermore ther more that the solemn and most important faeta facts should be revealed to every man upon his faithful obedience to the gospel requirements in these propositions though at first seemingly strange we saw everything was plain fair and honorable in doing what they required we should only do in fact what as truehearted true hearted believers in the ancient gospel wo we ought to do and if we failed to receive the promised blessings and thereby proved the elders testimony false our religious condition would nevertheless be then as good as any other and a little better perhaps because we should have approached a little nearer to the doctrines of the scripture inasmuch as their true forms and ceremonies were concerned of course in this case having proved to our satisfaction that there was no holy ghost BO iao supernatural manifestations no knowledge no revelations accompanying the elders administrations of the gospel no human persuasion cunning sophistry could bave babe nave have induced us to leave our homes and friends to embark in a scheme schemer which our common sense taught us would eventuate in bitter disappointment and inevitable ruin but like other christians continued in the enjoyment of friends and home grouping our way through religious darkness expecting nothing hoping nothing and receiving nothing but the fact that I 1 am now speaking aing to assembled thousands of intelligent and enlightened people who received this gospel with the aforementioned fond considerations and lively expectations gathered here by their own free will and choice out of almost every nation demonstrates most clearly most forcibly and most solemnly that this scheme of life this gospel as proclaimed by joseph smith has been shown to us by the revelations of the almighty that it is undeniably his will his word and his message not only this but we find within ourselves a fixed purpose sean seau an unalterable resolution to do if need be what many of ua us have already done show the sincerity of our convictions of these solemn truths through sacrificing all we possess not even holding our lives as dear to us as this religion there was yet another prominent feature embraced in this order of things viz where it found people in poverty misery and in a condition but little above starvation it spoke in positive terms of future relief nind and effectual deliverance it did not simply say be ye warmed and be ye clothed 11 but it declared plainly and in distinct terms that the lord had seen their bondage and oppression and heard their cries of sorrow and misery and had now sent them his gospel for their deliverance and would lead them into circumstances of independence where they could supply their own wants and necess lites here again was something som sem ething fair and conci consistent stent and worthy of all praise and admiration and characteristic of our great parent which we discover in all of his dispensations when they are in actual working order aa as they were in the case of noah and in calling israel and making them an un independent people me likewise ar as in calling lehi lehl to establish ta sh a people upon this continent as well as in id many other instances A re religion 1 g on or system is 13 of little account w where ere it possesses no virtue nor power to better mans mansi condition spiritually s intellectually morally and physically enochs order of the gospel did for his people all ail this and it has done the same in every instance when preached in its purity and obeyed in sincerity many of the thousands of persons in these beautiful valleys who formerly were compelled to subsist with their wives and children in a half starved condition not owning an habitat habitation ioa iop nor a foot of land nor a horse cownig or chiok chick ensin fact nothing they could call their own subject at any moment through the whim of their employer to be turned into the streets miserable beggars now own cabinet shops factories mills flocks and herds beautiful gardens and orchards productive farms wagons and carriages dwelling in their own houses housos in comfortable and easy circumstances no one has any apprehension of starvation within the jurisdiction of day saints the gospel proposed these blessings a at t its announcement and they have been most miraculously ac complis hed no other othera religious system could have achieved such things nor dared any other Christian denomination venture to send out its missionaries without purse or script and without a college education to state to the people that they had bad authority from god to administer the sacred ordinances of the gospel through which should be revealed tangible evidence and know ledge of its divinity and of their being authorized authorized to administer it and take the people from a state of poverty and lead them thousands of miles and despite every obstacle establish them as a comparatively ively independent people in the midst of a wild desert country had they found the people poor friendless and without the means of living and in servitude not much better than the egyptian bondage as we found many of them they could have imparted no cheering news of an approaching salvation from flom the god of heaven but could only have instructed them to be contented and reconciled with their unhappy lot and in no case must look for any new revelation or any miraculous interposition what philanthropists have wished to accomplish and have often attempted the lord is now doing upon a magnificent scale in this great american desert flourishing settlements towns and cities are rapidly being built extending over a distance of miles in length hundreds of miles in width through the untiring energy and persa perseverance of afa a people formerly totally ignorant of such labors in these cities people live in harmony and peace and robberies grog shops gambling hells houses of ill ili fame and prostitutes are arct not known in any of our numerous towns and cities except in some instances where christians so called possess a footing and an influence everywhere else this community flourishes without these demoralizing institutions no one however prejudiced he may be can scarcely avoid acknowledging the palpable tal Eal palpable pable fact that this scheme of things has as conferred marvelous blessings upon thousands and tens of thousands in the wa way of putting them in possession of the means of sustaining themselves after having delivered them from oppression and tyranny little better than T african slavery and no doubt our legis gators at Washing and all would give us credit for our indefatigable and alid successful labors in establishing an extensive and flourishing colony upon a portion of our governments domain formerly inhabited only by savages and wild beasts provided we would allow this work was of man and not of god that it had been accomplished through the arti artl artifice flee and aud wisdom of man and not by the Pow power erwis ervis wisdom dom and revelations of god joseph smith whom god chose to establish this work was poor and uneducated bated dand and belonged to no popular denomination of christians he was a mere boy honest full of integrity unacquainted with the trickery cunning and soi sol sophistry employed by the politicians and the religious hypocrite to compass their ends like moses he felt incompetent and unqualified for the task to stand forth as a religious reformer in a position the most unpopular larto battle against opinions and creeds which had stood for ages having had the sanction of men the most profound in theological obedience but god had called him to deliver the poor and hon est hearted of all nations from their sp spiritual and temporal thralldom and god promised him that whosoever should receive and obey his mes alsage sage and whosoever would receive baptism for remission of sins with honesty of purpose should receive divine manifestations should receive the holy ghost should receive the same gospel and blessings as were promised add arid obtained through the gos pel pei celaa as preached by the ancient apostles and this message this promise was to he be in force wherever and to whomsoever elbr it should be carried by the elders gods authorized messengers bo so baia said joseph smith the uneducated the unsophisticated s op the plain simple honest b boy oy it is through the virtue and force of f this boys statement that I 1 speak this aft afternoon ernon to assembled thousands in the integrity of my heart with honesty of purpose to know the truth I 1 received this message I 1 obeyed this form of gospel and I 1 received in the most tangible and satisfactory manner a divine manifestation the promised blessings a knowledge of this una work am I 1 the only witness how is it with we the experience of the thousands whom hom I 1 now address are you also witnesses if you are not I 1 ask you in the name of common sense why are you here why did you leave your homes and countries giving your sanction to the truth of a system which promised you divine manifestations but which you failed in experiencing being honest ourselves if we cannot bear a solemn testimony of having received divine manifestations of the great fact that god himself has founded this system of things then it becomes a serious fact that we are witnesses and in truth the only proper witnesses that this whole plan and pretension of joseph smith is a sheer falsehood a miserable fabrication it will be recollected that this gospel message proposed to give us divine manifestations through doing certain specified acts we have performed those acts precisely in the maner manor indicated no one else but we ourselves has attempted to conform to this arrangement consequently no other people are prepared to be witnesses either for or against this system the gospel as recorded in the new testament in its promises and provisions was precisely similar it required certain specified acts aco to be done with promises that divine manifestations should follow their performance jesus said I 1 he that will do the will of god bhail shall know of the doctrine peter said on pentecost day I 1 repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the tho holy ghost 11 again jesus said thes thess signs shall follow them that believe etc A multitude of testimonies could be adduced from the new testament showing that divine manifestations manifestations and perfect knowledge were promised to and were actually received in a sped fled and tangible formby those who then obeyed the gospel those who obeyed its requirements were the only competent witnesses for or against its divine authenticity after honestly complying with its requisitions viz repent ing of and forsaking their lins bins neing being immersed in water for the remiss mi ii of sins and receiving the ordinance f the laying on of hands then had they tailed to receive the holy ghost with its gifts and promised knowledge au and aud d attendant |
