Show iilo ylie christmas iii adl nov not iou tou A DISCOURSE sy elder eider ORSON OR SON Delim delivered red in n the ath ward assembly roo kooms salt lake city sunday afternoon dec dm 29 1872 REPORTED BY DAVID W are this thia afternoon commemorating according to our usual custom one of the most important events that has ever transpired in our world and one which most concerns the whole human family namely imely na the death and sufferings suffer Buffer laga of the lord jesus christ for the redemption of the human family no other event can be compared with this in its importance and in its bearings upon tae human family everything else is bat of a secondary consideration when compared with the atonement that hau hab been wrought out in behalf of man by the great redeemer yet strange to say there are those in the christian world so called who profess to believe in christian ity and get v let et deny the of the atoning blood that was shed by our lord and savior jesus christ more especially has this been the case for a few years past I 1 suppose there are many thousands who deny this now where there were but few at the time of the tiie rise of this church this has arben arisen probably from the multiplication of spiritual influences which now prevail to a very great extent in the christian world influences that are evil revelations elat ions false visions spirit mappings rap pings and medium mediums almost without exception these false spirits have taught those who have listened to them that there is no efficacy in the atonement there is no subject more fully developed and made manifest to the children of men in modern revelation than that of the atonement much is said in relation to other doctrines all ali of which have a bearing on the atonement that lying at the foundation of the who whole 10 if th the a evil one can prevail over the human family so as to get got them to deny this fundamental doctrine he knows that they are safe so far as serving him and failing of their salvation are concerned if they can only be wrought upon and deluded so as to disbelieve in the doctrine of the atonement it does not matter to satan what else they may way believe it is not my intention however this afternoon unless so led by the spirit ot of the lord to dwell much on this suba act it is one that has been so thorough ly taught to the latter day saints that I 1 esteem it almost unnecessary to repeat that with h they are so familiar by partaking of the ordinance of the lords supper every sabbath day we commemorate that great event if we do not preach so much about it by word of mouth we certainly fulfill fulfil the commandment which god has haa given requiring us to remember unto the father the crucified body and shed shod blood of his son without which there would have been no remission of sin and no redemption and mankind would have remained in their fallen state no light could have penetrated the hearts of the children of men and there would have been no resurrection no exaltation in the kingdom of god without the atonement when we speak of total depravity it has refe reference reice to certain condIt condition ione lone man is not totally depraved now and the reason is there has been au an atonement but do away that as many do and total depravity would reign and men would live and die totally degraded beings all the light that has haa come into the world and that lights every man that comes into the world has come by reason of the atonement it is an event that all ali christian societies altemore or less least they did in former times they are getting more lax now since the devil and his angels have given so many revelations against the atonement the roman noman catholics about years after christ sa bet apart a day called christmas which they no doubt believed at that time was the day of the birth of our lord and savior jesus christ the reason why they set apart christmas and have kept up its commemoration from that day until the present time was because a certain monk a member of their church jamea named dionysius commenced a calculation to ascertain if possible the period of time from the tho birth of christ to the time the calculation cu lation was made and from all the information that he could glean be set it down at years they had not printed works in those days as we have now they bad had not access to the abundance of historical and chronological information then that we have but from all the information that dionysius Diony blus bius could glean and making a calculation cu lation thereon he came to the above result he also made a calculation in ia regard to the day on which he supposed the savior to have boen been born and that was set down as a day to be celebrated by the roman catholics church they have certain ordinances din ances in regard to that day which you may see observed in their church in this city people prior to this time did not date daie their documents from the girth birth birth of christ if they were writing a letter they did not say in the year of our lord in the year of our lord and so BO on this was never done until the calculation of dionysius was waa made then it was adopted by the roman catholics and by all nations among whom they bad power and influence by and by other chronologists made calculations as to the time of Chri christs ats birth and from the information they could gather together they discovered that Dionys iua lua had bad made a mistake and that christ was waa born about one year before the time set by him but by this time there were great numbers of important state and other documents and papers in existence all ali dated according to the incorrect calculation of this monk how to fremed remedy this the people did not know for it would wo not do to alter all these dates another set of chronologists made calculations and they discovered that Dionys dionysius lus ius had bad made a mistake of two years in regard to the time of the saviors birth poun pour others very learned men sought diligently and ana from irom the information they obtained they found that Jesu jesus awas was born three years before the birne published by dionysius five others made it four years some jew sew made it five years before and some seven years ears before the time specified by this monk all modern chronologists who have taken up the subject agree that Diony dionysius blus bius was incorrect at least several years but did the people alter the dates of their documents and manuscripts when J his bis error erron was fully made manifest not at all they have continued that old or er reckoning down to thia thle present year but they have attached the name of vulgar era to it in order to indicate that it la Is incorrect vulgar eral era I 1 think the name is inappropriate for there are thousands or of people at the present day including the youth of bur our land and perhaps many who have had bad a collegiate education who never knew or inquired into the meaning or of vulgar era or why the term was introduced its atti real ine lne meaning aning is incorrect era or date for instance we write a letter today and we the day of december 1872 this is ic cording according to the vulgar era or erroneous date or the reckoning of dionysius but this is not the true date the probability is independent of the bible or book of mormon from the great mass mas of testimony that las has been accumulated accumulated for generations past that jeus jetts was born nearly fourbears four years prior to the commence commencement of this vulgar era so that our present year 1872 should be 1876 you will find a full account of these matters in the writings of the learned in encyclopedias and in various works touching upon chronology so BO that you have no need to take my testimony alone on this subject for you have access to our library here in this cit city r and you ean examine works on chronology and see that I 1 am correct there maybe may be those here who would like me tot cite some works on this burle banle su eject ct I 1 will cite one that I 1 read while I 1 was in england a bible dictionary by a very learned author named smith this whis subject is treated very plainly and fully in that work I 1 think that mr john W young of this city has this work in his bis private libri library iry the reason why I 1 make these remarks is that this is the first sabbath after christmas and the day on which I 1 believe the roman catholics in thi this s city are celebrating certain ordinances in their church in commemoration of this event having found out that there is an error in regard to the year of christs birth n now ow let us inquire if the day observed by the christian world as the day of his birth the of december is or is not the real Christi christmas christians aks day A great many authors have found out from their researches that it is not I 1 think that there is scarcely an author at the present day that believes that the day of december was the day that christ was born on still it Is observed by certain classes and we whether we make any profession or not are just foolish enough to observe this old ro roman an catholic festival the boys and girls alj bil look forward with great anticipations to christmas many of them it is its true do not know the meaning ot at it or why it is celebrated but when we come to reflect on the matter it is all nonsense to celebrate the day of Decem december berl benl as tae birthday of jesus it will do for lor a holi holiday hollday days dayt so you might select any auy other day for that purpose it Is generally believed and conceded by the learned who have investigated the matter that christ was born in april I 1 have seen several accounts some of them published in our periodicals of learned men in different nations in which it is stated that according to the best of their judgment from the researches they have made christ was crucified on the ath of april that is the day on which this church was organized but when these learned men go back from the day of his crucifixion to the day of his hla birth they are at a loss having no certain evidence or testimony by which they can determine it I 1 intend this afternoon to give light on this subject from new now revels ion which we as aa latter day saints can depend upon I 1 will read to you yon from the book of mor mon some things that happened at the time of the crucifixion on this great west ern hemisphere and I 1 will say we have a date given there in connection with these events showing how bow od 0 d jesus was at the time of his crucifixion it may not be amiss however ho for me to make a few re marks before I 1 commence reading to in form strangers who may be present that the inhabitants of ancient america and those who wrote the book ot of mora on were israelites isra ibra elites that when they came from the city of Jeru jerusalem Jerusal salam sm years before christ they were a righteous people and haa had prophets among them and that they kept the law of moses now the sacrifices and burnt offerings of that law were typical of the great of fering foring that was to be gnade by our lord ind and savior jesus christ the I 1 ancient inhabitants of this continent to I 1 whom I 1 bave have referred understood the nature I 1 of these ordinances aud sid tuey looked forward to the coming of the true messiah and celebrated it by these ordinances the same barue as we we look backward and celebrate his hla math death and sufferings Buffe ringa rings by partaking of the symbols of as we haye ha ye done this arter arner noon now if god led a company of israelites from palestine to colonize this continent and taught them to keep the law lacot of moses mosos with its sacrifices and burnt 0 fieri a atypical of the great sacrifice tb phat that at wa to be made at jerusalem it would not be at all strange for him to gab give to them a sign concerning jesus when he should be born and when be should dle die he did this by the mouths of prophets numerous prophets were raised up on this thih land and they prophesied to the inhabitants tanta tants thereof and taught them about the coming of jesus and what signs should be given at the time he should come they taught them that the night before jesus should be born there would be no darkness on this land but that it would be perfectly light they would see the sun sev bev in the evening and that during the night until it should rise the next morning there would be no darkness that great signs and lights would appear in the heavens and that they were to bo be to them indications of the birth of our lord and savior jesus christ these signs were given and by them the people on this continent know knew the very day that jesus was born some years after this before the crucifixion of Jesus they fea fez into greal great wickedness the they persecuted the prophets shed their blood blood stoned them to death and cast them out of their midst and they were wera full fuli of wrath and indignation andl sinned against great light so that the lord was under tinder the necessity of bendin sending bending gb other prophets to them telling them t that at at the time of the crucifixion if they did not repent many of their cities should be burned with fire many destroyed with tempests and that they should be visited with sore bore judgments and calamities and that during theotime the time jesus should be lifted up on the crosb cross there should be tremendous earthquakes upon all the face of this continent and aud that after that there would be three days and three nights of darkness and aud that this darkness should come immediately after the execution of the savior now let iet us read what the prophet says on page of the book of mormon concerning these events which transpired just as they had bad been predicted and it came to pass in the thirty and fourth year jn in the first month in the fourth day of the month there arose a great a torm storm such an one as had never been known in all the land it from what period was this date rec reckoned kond we are informed on page of this book that the Nep hites began reckoning the beginning of their year from the sign given them at the birth of the savior the night without darkness previous to that they had reckoned ned from theotime the time of their leaving jerusalem years before christ and they continued this some five centuries until they changed the form of their government on this continent and introduced judges then they reckoned their time from the beginning of the reign of th the e judges adges this mode of ninety reckoning lasted ninety one years five hundred and nine years having passed away before the reign of the judges commenced and ninety one added to that made years from the time that lehi and the colony came out of Jerusalem Then they changed their mode of reckoning and reckoned from the time this thia great sign was given in the heavens beavens so BO that we know what this date means esin in the thirty and fourth yean year ear ean in the first month and aud in the fourth my day of the month now I 1 think this gives us a clue to the age of jesus when he was crucified but we will read on and see about the storm there arose a great storm such an one as never bad had been known in all the land and there was also aiso a great and terrible tempest and there was terrible thunder in insomuch that it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder and there were exceeding sharp such as never had bad been known in all the land and the city of Zarah emla emia did take fire Zarah zareh emla emia was their great capital city it was located in the north part of south america on one branch of that river that we call the river magdalena that runs down from the mountains to the northward and empties into the sea on the west side of that river was located the great city zirah Zarah emla emia we will now read further and the city Zarah Zarab emia emla did take fire and the city |