Show DISCOURSE by eiser eyser der ORSON PRATT in the lauer laber micle salt lake C fity city aya sunday afternoon aug sug 4 1872 pORTED REPORTED aE BY DAVID W EVANS SOMETIMES I 1 am in the habit of taking a text exl but at present there is no passage or of scripture which presents itself to my mind A 1 therefore comme commo commerce com eom nce uce speaking and through your faith and prayers before the lord I 1 trust truet that something may be given to we me that will edify and benefit the congregation gre gation the subjects pertaining to the kingdom of god bre bye so BO numerous that sometimes the great difficulty in the mind of a L servant ter ser ervant vaut cf god who attempts to address the people is to know the mind and will of the spit it in regard to what shall be baid bald if I 1 know my own heart I 1 have no do desire to speak my own words or to impart unto you my own natural wisdom but it is the earnest desire of my heart that I 1 may impart instruction according to the mind and the will of the living god this I 1 can not do unless god shall grant unto me the inspiration of his spirit at the very moment and this will depend in a great measure upon the hearers bearers as well as upon the speaker if the people have faith in god and pray unto him exercising that faith he may give them something thing that will be instructive to their minds but if they have not faith the lord may not see proper thus to 10 impart in pa r we arb are r permitted latter day saints to live in a very peculiar age of the world it is called by us the dispensation of the ful noss ness ot of times many dispensations have been revealed to the inhabitants of the earth in past ages and god has given from time to time since the creation much in at st ruction to the people what I 1 mean by a dispensation Is power authority and revelation given from heaven to direct and counsel men here hero on the earth this has haa been given at different ages of the world and the instruction which god has given lbs has been in accordance with the circumstances of the people the revelations and instructions which he be has given being different at one period from those given at another when I 1 say differt nt do not misunderstand me many of the cevela eions of god are unchangeable in their na ture and are adapted to all dispensations but many commandments have been given that were adapted only to the dispensa dispensations in which they were revealed I 1 will name some of these for instance when some bome sixteen hundred or two thousand years had bad passed away from the creation the world lind bem beh be come very much corrupted in the sight 0 gud god so much so that what little history we have on the subject informs us that all hesh flesh had bad corrupted its way upon the face of the earth god gave a new now commandment in that lormer period differing entirely from all former commandments it was not adapted to any dispensation that had preceded it neither would it be suitable for any future dispensation it wils waa intended for that par nicular period only the lord commanded his servant noah to build an ark accord ing to certain rules and dimensions that he gave unto him tor lor said the lord 1 t I intend to destroy all ali flesh with a flood except those who abail shall gather together toge into the ark which you shall build 11 this was anew a new commandment if there bad been any sectarian preachers who theu theil live daud darid perhaps the e were wery for preachers tiers who have not been sent of god seem to have been num numerous acus in all dispensations they would perhaps have reasoned reb ren with noah in relation to this thim new revelation aud and commandment aud said to him what is the use now of getting new revelation from god you will not dispute noah but what enoch was saved aud and translated tran trun slated to heaven he hud had enough revelation to save him and can not we be saved in the sime manner that be was without having any new revelation communicated to us I 1 mention this because such arguments are used at the present day iii in reference to i the new now revelations whick the latter day saints carry forth to the world the people bay eay y I 1 you bel bei believe leve love in th tah book or of M mormon ormon as a new revelation and that god has given aven new commandments have we not bot enouen 7 were not the people who lived in the das days of enoch abraham moses and aind the prophets in the days of jesus and the apostles saved 7 and if they had enough vi ti save leave them if we follow the in which they ree rec niveo what whal is the uge uga of 0 obtaining another book called the book bok nok of mormon or new commandments and revelations 7 this has been brought forth as aa an argument ever since my youth to my certain knowledge in ab att countries where I 1 have traveled and attempted to communicate to the world our ideas about new revelation the saime same arguments might have been used in the days of the flood enough hlis hiis li bis liis is been given enoch has hka been saved and translated and if we follow tho the revelations given to him why may we not be saved without having anything new now 7 would have answered and very properly too god designs to accomplish something now that he did not accomplish in the days of enoch nor in the days of abel and letb nor in the days of any of those ancient worthies be intends to bring destruction on all flesh that will not ilot repent by overwhelming wh wb elming this thia world of ours in a flood of water he intends to pour out his indignation and just wrath upon those who cor rupt bupt in lri his bis inight and aud he bo lias ilas provided a particular way of escape by which you may if you yon will be saved savel from this judgment and that way has to be made known by new revelation we will pass on however soon after the days of noah we dind find that certain men lived upon the earth whose names are recorded in this sacred bistor history y the bible who were called to be the chosen servants of god and whom the lord blessed in a peculiar manner I 1 refer now to the patriarchs and arid more especially to abraham isaac and jacob three very worthy men so BO worthy that the lord chose them as representatives of the faith ful in all future ages and declared that all who should be saved in future ages should become their seed either springing directly from their loins or being adopted through the gospel into the family of abraham who was to be called the father odthe of the faithful that is the father not only of the faithful who lived from bis his day until the coming of christ but of all who should live anner afner christ who followed in the footsteps of this ancient patriarch and embraced the same gospel that he be taught and they should have a claim on the promises that were made to him now did the patriarch abraham receive anything new from god or was there enough already given perhaps many may cry enough to have bave noah enoch abel and all persons who would walk before the lord according to ancient revelation without anything new dew but there was not enough adapted to the circumstances cum stances by which abraham was surrounded why because the lord do de signed to call abraham out from his fathers a house from his friends and country and to lead him into a st strange ange land abraham might have searched searcha all former records and revelations but hero was a duty he never could have learned depart from thy fathers hou houe it could not be pound round written in former revelations hence the circumstances circum required new revelation and god gave it by commanding this great man the father odthe of the faithful to leave the land of chaldea and to go forth into a country where he never had been abraham was fc to bedient be went forth and traveled to the country that we call palestine a small territory east of the mediterranean sea and having arrived in that land he might nave have searched all former revelations in in vain to have learned what his duty was then for there were certain ditlea duties required of him then in regard to which ane revelation riven given to him in his bis native land did not nut enlighten nim bim one of these duties was to go forth upon a certain eminence or mountain in canaan cauaan he did a aw he was tau taught gilt glit I 1 was a peculiar commandment I 1 have never been commanded to do so neither has any other person in this congregation neither was any person who lived before abraham bul but he be and ho he alone needed new now revelation to find out that he was to go to the top ofa efa of a certain mountain when lie be got there another new revelation was given tor him commanding him to look to the east then to the west and then to cast his bis eyed eyel to the north and to the south and then behold a great promise was made to him by new revelation namely all the land laud which thou seest shall be given to thee and thy seed after thee for an everlasting pom pos session ll 11 no su buch such h promise could he be have found in any former cevela tion this promise was war adapted tu to that peculiar individual and to the circum stan ces cea in which he be was placed we would I 1 imagine in 9 an a that isaac having his fathers rev revelations elti eitl right before his eyes and knowing all about them would sail say in his bis heart 1 I need not no trouble maseli about inquiring from god and rec ree receiving receiving eivin elvin g anything new now from the heavens my father was a good man he be was saved and I 1 shall content myself by giving be heed beed ed to the old revelations 11 but isaac did not dot reason in this way and the lord had some new dew revelations to communicate to the son of abraham and one or of them was to confirm the promise romise that bad been made to his bis father oae might naturally suppose that the revelation made to his bis father was broad enough and covered the case without being confirmed for ll it declared that the land promised to abraham should be given to him and to his bis sued beed after him and we might suppose that that included isaac and that there was no need ot of a new revelation to him on the subject but if it did include him isaac was not raily fully satisfied be would not place his dependence on something that had been baldt bald to some otner man but wanted to know for himself whether god intended him to possess that land and there was no n way for him lim to obtain this knowledge except by direct communication with the heavens he obtained it god renewing the promise to him that be had bad made to his fattler father abraham by and by comes along the grandson grand bon or of abraham jacob who not satisfied with the pro promises wises made to his hla grandfather and his father Abra abraham hiam tiam and isaac and not considering himself safe to depend on promises made to somebody else eise came defore the lord and plead with him and the angels of god came and visited this lad and he be saw a ladder reaching from the ground on which he be slept to the very heavens epou which the angels au gels geis were ascending and aud descending nud ind he on that occasion obtained a confirmation of the promise made to his father nather aud and grandfather it is unnecessary for me to trace the history of those these patriarchs or to mention the various times timen when god goil thought fit to communicate a new revelation unto them gnem according accordi ig g to the circum circumstance circumstances stane in which they were placed we might relate the revelations given to jacob after he be went down into the country of laban where he married his hia four tour wives we might relate to you the various revelations god gave to him hiru during his bla sojourn in that land we might also relate to you the revelations he received after he be left that country with his four wives and hig big children when he be came omme to the brook labbok sending over all his bis family benn beni re him he stopped back find and the lord condescended descended con to give him a new now revelation an angel came d down own and jacob and this thim person pernon laid hold hoid of each other the came as men do occasionally now to try each strength th in what is termed wrestling these two persons wrestled together all night long the angel did not see bee proper to take any advantage of jacob by miracle but he be wrestled with him as sis one man would with another and it seems that neither of them overcame the other the angel did not riot succeed in throwing jacob to the ground neither did jacob succeed in throwing the angel to the ground but after contending together all the angel at last put forth bis his finger and touched the hollow of jacobs thigh dud aud lamed him a little and by this meins was enabled to overcome him alter being thus lamed jacob found that he had been wrestling with an augel aukel of god and said he 1 I will not let thee go unless thou bless biess me 11 and god through the mouth of that angel gave to him the same great and glorious 4 promises that he had given to his father and also blessed him as a prince because be bad power to wrestle with an angel all night and prevailed with him some suppose that this was the tho first conver conversion slon sion of jacob but be this as it may jacob prior to this time had many great revelations from god atter after wrestling in this manner on one side of the brook jab bok he started the next day to overtake bih hib family and he placed his four wives and their children in a certain order preparatory to meeting bis his brother eimu eau by and by esau comes along with quite an army of men and ho he meets the forward company consisting of bilbao and zilpah and their children two of jacobs wives and their polygamous offspring me be cont cout continues coutino inu on until he meets jacobs third wife and finally he be comes to the fourth and ber her children with whom jacob was waa and turning to jacob hesayo he says who are all ali these women and children jacob an these are they whom god hath bath given thy servant what god give to jacob more than one wife and a number or of polygamous childrens childre nl Is that so well weli jacob says bays so and we are informed that be was then conver couver converted ted tod that this meeting between jacob and esau took place and bed this of jacob was made after his bis conversion at the brook jubok now would you suppose that a converted man would mak maue sueh such a declaration about his wives and children aa jabob made matlo to E esau eau au irit if it had not been true if a man nowa now a days declares that god has given him more wives than one and a host of polygamous children be is accused of blasphemy att y t jacob after wrestling with an angel declared that such was the CASO case with him he be koew knew it was so and he acknowledged the band of god after he reached the land of alaan canaan we find that god continued to give to this man revelation after revelation suited t his hla circum circumstances staves and thus we may trace the history of the dispensations of god to man I 1 will now touch in short upon the history of moses who lived several hundred years after jacob ht at a period when circumstances called for commandments and revelations different to any auy that had ever even eaf r been given before atter arter having slain the egyptian moses fled from the house of pharaoh and went down into the land of midian and dwelt there forty years at a curtain time when he be was herding the flocks or of his father in law jethro he be aw raw a bush burning with a very brilliant flame this excited his curiosity and he drew nasr and saw the bush buah apparently burning and yet not consumed As he drew nearer god spoke to him out of the burning buh bush bub 1 and told him to take the eh ah es from his bi 8 feet for the place 0 on n which he stood was holy ground he never could have found out rut by former revelation that the ground |