Show DISCOURSE by elder ORSON PRATT delivered m ia tho new tabernacle salt lavie lalie city sunday june IS 1871 REPORTED BY DAVID dawid W EVANS LET me MO call the attention of thi this congregation to a portion of the word of god gd contained in the and verses of the I 1 last ast chapter of the gospel according to saint luke and said unto them thus it is written and thus it behooved christ to suffer and to rise from the tho dead the third day aay and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at jerusalem these are the words of our savior to his disciples after his resurrection and just before he was received up into heaven the apostles who heard these words had gone forth alorth among the jewish nation and preached in their numerous cities towns and villages the gospel of the kingdom declaring that the kingdom of heaven was at hand they had gone forth crying repentance pen tance in the midst of the people and had pointed them to jesus as the messiah and now after the resurrection when christ in fulfillment of the prophets had been sacrificed for the sins of the world a new now commission seems to have been given hem jesus said unto them go ye nto into i all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and in another place the last chapter of matthew the commission reads go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the eather father 9 and of the iho son and of the holy ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 1 have commanded you and lo 10 I 1 am with you tou always even unto the end of the world these apostles received a divine commission to preach the gospel of the son of god to every people under the whole heavens first to the inhabitants of judea and jerusalem they were to commence there to fulfill this greab great commission commiss lon fon they were wore were not permitted to go forth and bein begin be boin in the great proclamation to open the door doom of the kingdom in all its it fullness illness and ana glory elory until qualified but were commanded to tarry as it is recorded by one of the evangelists at jerusalem until they were endowed with power from on high then they were to go forth to all the world and proclaim repentance pen tance and remission of sins the gospel of the lord lo 10 d jesus in its fullness jerusalem was to be the tarrying point until then we accordingly find as is recorded in the first and second chapters of the tho acts of the apostles that they did tarry in that city waiting wilting for the power that was needful to enable them to carry out the commission which had been given to them they could not fulfill fulfil the tho duties of that great mission without power from the heavens they needed something more than human power they needed that spirit from on high which was promised them just before the crucifixion of christ said he it is expedient for me that I 1 go to the father for your sakes for if I 1 go not to the father the comforter will not come but if I 1 go to the father I 1 will send him unto you without this comforter it was impossible for them to accomplish the duties ot of that great and solemn commission that was given them by our lord himself they needed the comforter for various purposes jesus had bad told them that it should tape take the things of the father and show them unto them and ana that it should lead them into all ail truth and show them things to come that is it should make prophets and revelators revelatory oi of them and inspire them to word of god to the inhabitants inh abitanta of the earth without this they could not magnify and honor the office of the apostleship which was waa the ministry to which they had been ordained they needed the spirit of revelation they needed power to commune with the heavenly hosts with god the father and with his son jesus christ that they might be able to impart their will to the inhabitants of tho the earth according to the heed and diligence which mankind might disposed be to give unto them on the day of pentecost a great feast which had bad been observed by tle jewish nation for many generations there were gathered at jerusalem not only the twelve A apostles sties but also all the disei disel disciples ples pies of jesus wro who 0 had not apostatized to the number of about a hundred and twenty souls tho those F of the ministry the seventies as well weli as t the h e twelve they thoy were gathered together in one place in an upper room of the temple and they were engaged in fervent pr prayer 4 er and supplication before the lord vh what at for for the endowments and qualifications necessary to assist assiat them in the work of the ministry while they were thus assembled sem bled praying and exercising faith with one accord in the lord and in his promises they heard a sound as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared to them cloven tongues like as of lire fire and it sat upon each of them that is upon the hundred and twenty souls that were present and they were filled with the spirit of god baptized with the comforter with the holy ghost and with tire lire they were immersed in it really baptized by immersion after having received the holy ghost or comforter it immediately began to make manifest a supernatural power upon those men of god they were unlearned men most of them or most of the principal prin cipa ones at any rate were unlearned they the had a been engaged as we heard beard this foren forenoon on at the business of fishing and no d doubt t had bad lacked the opportunities for the acquisition of learning which many of the scribes pharisees pharis ees high priests and nelt neit religious relt c 0 u people of f that day enjoyed the ap apostles and disciples of the lord jesus were not doctors of law and divinity they had not been educated and qu qualified allfie for the ministry in any theological school seminary or university but they received the spirit of god which manifested unto them the will of heaven and though they understood only their mother tongue the power tife ilfe bf t the he spirit bestowed upon them enabled ahem m to speak ia in the various languages and tongues of the earth and to declare the things of or god therein on that occasion there was then assembled a very great company of jews gaiso also aiso proselytes prose lytes who had come from the surrounding nations to jerusalem to keep the feast of pentecost according to their usual custom and they heard of the marvelous work that was transpiring in the midst of this little company and they heard unlearned men declaring e in the several tongues in which they were born the wonderful works of god this was marvelous it was not the result of human power but it was by the operation pe ration of the holy ghost however in that large congregation there were some who were disposed to accuse the disciples of folly the followers lowers fol lol of jesus did not belong to the popular orders of the day they were not high priests they did not belong to the learned scribes or charl sees but it was known that as a general thing they were illiterate men and when the people saw this extraordinary manifestation of the power of god through them many ascribed it to the effects of new wine said they it can not be anything else and they accused them of being actuated on that occasion with the spirit of intoxication or drunkenness but peter with the eleven stood up in the midst of the thousands there assembled and opened the proclamation of the gospel at jerusalem according to the commission they had received and what wo we wish to understand this afternoon is how bow or in what manner did he preach on that occasion in other words what was the pian plan of salvation he declared to the thousands of the children of men then gathered together if we can find this out we can ascertain what the gospel is when they were accused of bein being r i under the influence of new wine peter holding h the keys of the kingdom stood up and said this is not the effect of new now wine as ye yo suppose and as an argument to prove that they were no intoxicated he informed them abat thatis it was only the third hour of the day in those days probably people did not get drunk at all hours as they do in these and according to the custom then the third hour was too soon well if it the effects now made manifest to the people are not the results of drinking new wine to what do you ascribe them said peter this is that which was spoken of by the tho prophet joel who says and it shall come to pass pasa in the last days saith god that I 1 will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophecy your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions and upon my handmaidens hand maidens will I 1 pour out of my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy and I 1 will show wonders in the heavens above and signs in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall be turned into blood before the great and nd notable day of the lord shall come here then was wasa a prophecy repeated by the apostle peter to i prove what was the cause of the effects manifested on that occasion there one quotation from the prophecies of joel to which I 1 wish to call your special attention peter did not say this is the fulfillment of joels joers prophecy for we all know that it was not then fulfilled the spirit was not poured but upon all flesh all men and women were not made prophets on that occasion consequently the prophecy was not fulfilled peter said these cloven tongues of fire and this spirit that has been poured out upon these hundred and twenty individuals divi duals ia Is the same spirit which joel said should bo be poured out in the last days upon all flesh that promise down to the nineteenth century has never been fulfilled the spirit has never yet been poured out upon all flesh making all men and women living prophets seers revelators revelatory ac ghe work was begun on ane the day of pentecost but the sun was riot darkened on that occasion nor the moon turned into blood the signs that were to precede the second coming of the son of god were not then shown forth and consequently the prophecy was not fulfilled it lt yet remains to be fulfilled I 1 would like to ask what are we going to do with the whole christian world which declare that there are to be no more prophets revelators revelatory or ins inspired plied men when the word of the lord through joel says all flesh are to become prophets that is all who are spared on the earth for there will be a tremendous destruction before that is ful fal fulfilled filled the wicked will be swept from the earth and all who remain will become revelatory revelators prophets and inspired men getting visions and revelations and foretelling for telling the fluture what shall we do with the sayings that have gono gone forth and been inculcated and promulgated by numerous sects and parties that the day of visions revelations and prophecies has past fiut fint but we will pass on after having quoted this prophecy to show that the spirit that man should receive under the gospel dispensation was to give them revelation and prophecy and to show that the spirit then being poured out was that sp spoken of by joel the apostle refers to what david the psalmist said about jesus and about his sufferings death and resurrection and having quoted what the prophets witnesses that were dead had to say about the holy one they as living persons the oracles of god then in the midst of the people bore witness that jesus was the very christ and that the jews had put to death the holy one these combined testimonies convinced many that jesus was indeed the messiah this was not a popular doctrine in those days as it is now there are millions at the present day with whom it is popular to believe in christ they do so traditionally and because it is customary in the nations where they were born they believe it because they have had millions of copies of ortho the word of god published in their midst and spread broadcast over the nations of christendom but in those days very few believed it the very great majority of the people believed him to be a wicked impostor and regarded him aa as the of all things the friend of publicans public ans and sinners and they said that he cast out devils by the power of beelzebub they called him ulm a a wicked man and so on and the most religious people of those days were his greatest persecutors and as they had influence over the rest it was very unpopular indeed to believe that he was the true messiah buethe but the arguments brought forth in the first christ christian lan ian sermon after the resurrection of christ were sufficient to send conviction into the hearts of many thousands of people they believed or professed to believe in their ancient prophets and when they were quoted in relation to jesus and the testimony of living witnesses was borne they cried out in the anguish of their hearts men ani ana and brethren what shall we do As much as to say we ff e see that our nation has crucified jesus lesus the christ we thought he was an impostor and that he re ought to die but now we are convinced that ile he is the ugly holy one and that he has indeed risen from the dead and is there any salvation for our nation seeing that athas it has put jesus to death these were the feelings of sincere sin convicted persons on that occasion and they cried men and brethren what shall we do I 1 sometimes think that if they had lived in in our day they would have had so many ways pointed out to obtain the forgiveness of their sins that they would not have known which way to turn and perhaps would not have had much confidence in what was said to them on the subject but these men being under the influence of the comforter the holy ghost knew pro precisely what these convicted sinners should hz do in order to obtain the pardon of their sins now mark the answer and see if it agree with the ways taught by tho the christian sects peter said unto these enquiring souls who believed and were pricked in their hearts for belief comes belore before repentance pen tance for a person who did not believe would not repent peter said repent what mor morn come to the mourners I 1 bench uh no that is not written there come hero to the mercy seat and be prayed for oh no nothing of that kind was said then what else were they to do besides repent said peter repent repeat and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ tor lor the remission of your sir sit sins is and you yon shall receive the holy ghost what do you yon mean peter by the holy ghost do you mean that same holy spirit rt th the comforter om that you YOUL have just rei lve P ive d and tha that t has rested upon the hundred and ana twenty individuals who are followers of christ yes for he had just told them that it was the effects of the holy spirit which they had been witnessing and they no doubt felt anxious to receive the same for the holy spirit was wag that which would enable them to prophecy see visions dream dreams and guide them into all truth reveal unto them the things of the father and show them things to come hence it was a spirit greatly to be desired and they wished to know how they might obtain it and here hero ws wis the path it A is very plain and very sim simple pie can it be wondered at then that ao ho few in sald sale lake city wanted to go to the mourners bench at the methodist camp meeting after having heard beard and obeyed ples no they have heard these ples pies les ies for years and years and haying tested toem them them the fables fabies of sectarianism possess no charms for them seeing then that the pardon of sins is what the penitent soul desires how is he to obtain it by being baptized what do you mean to say that sinners can obtain pardon by being baptized in |