Show 4 da bp BjEl aar alt 1 r ORSON PRATT T deu D ueral deral in the tabernacle salt like ide dy va sunday Aftem afternoon oon r murch march 10 40 REPORTED BY lly DAVID dawid W evans evang tre THE speaker who addressed you this forenoon referred to another booe book that is called the book of doctrine and covenants I 1 will select a few lew words from that book this afternoon a part 0 of the esth paragraph of mie nie section being a revelation given to the prophet joseph smith in september 1831 the word of the lord to the prophet reads thus for behold I 1 say unto you that zion shall flourish and the glory or of the lord shall shail be upon her and bhe she shall bean be an ensign unto the people and there shall come unto her out of every nation under heaven and the day shall come when the th e nations of the earth shall tremble because of her and shall fear because of her terrible ones the lord hath spoken it amen much has been leen said since the rise of this church in a regard to the zion of the latter dayland day sand much more ml might be ba said for after we havo have said all that wo we can say as far as god has revealed I 1 presume that we shall not bo be able to portray scarcely anything compared with the glory and the greatness and the excellency and the thel beauty of that people and of that city that are called zion to be built up ou on the earth in the latter times the first quest question lon ion that naturally presents itself to the mind in IM regard to zion is this what is zion what are wo we to understand by its term Is it a city citi Is it a people Is it a good people or a bad people what may we understand by the term as used in the tho scriptures there are a great many ideas among the children of men in reference to this term especially among all christian denominations I 1 presume there thero is not a people on the whole gace face of the earth who profess to be christian but what have their definition de of the term zion it we go to toe the catholics they tell us that they are zion that they are the only people whom the lord acknowledges as zion if we go to the greek church that has existed contemporary with the catholics for many centuries and inquire of them what their understanding is concerning zion they will tell us that it is the greek church you go to all the protestant denominations that have dissented from the catholics and from the greek church a and and aad ad inquire of them what zion is and the answer of the greater portion of them will bo be itis it is the various christian denominations such as the lutherans Luth erans the church of england the methodists the various orders of baptists Baptist sand band ana and the various christian denominations that have arisen during the last three or four centuries go to the latter day saints and inquire of them what zion is and they will tell you it is tho the church of the living god wherever it can be found consequently in order to ascertain what zion is it is necessary for us to understand what the church of the living god is and try to distinguish between that and all other churches I 1 shall endeavor in a very few fow words to mark out some of the distinguishing features between the true church of the hying living god and churches built up by human wisdom and when we have ascertained what the true church Is we shall then have learned what the true zion Is I 1 will wili begin with some of the first principles which god has revealed and which it is necessary for mankind to obey before they can constitute a part and portion of zion before zion or the church of the living god can have any existence on the earth it is very important and necessary that there should be divine administrators ahat what I 1 mean by this is men having a divino mission a divine call being called of the lord by tho the spirit of revelation to build up zion on the earth and when I 1 11 speak of men having a divine call I 1 do not mean those who have merely an impress sion as a great many ministers among all ali religious denominations say they are aro called ot of god because they have an impression that god has sent them and they go forth and teach their peculiar doctrines as a mission vh which ch they have to deliver to one ono man who says bays he is sent of god preaches baptism by sprinkling another man sent bent by the same samme god or who professes to be teaches baptism by pouring water on people A third man mail who says he is sent of df god and has an impression to preach preaches that baptism by immersion is the only true truo mode and Is to be ad ministered administered to those who have experienced perien perlen gt r fenced ced religion and have obtained forgiveness gi elless veness of sins A fourth man comes forth and says he is called of god I 1 and has a divine mission and the way that god has taught him Is to baptize by immersion for the remIs remission slon blon ol of sins now we must not mider wider undertake take to suppose that god is the author of all these different methods and that he sent all these different ministers if he sent bent any one man to baptize by sprinkling then those who baptize by immersion are false teachers running of their own accord if he sent any one man to pour water on those who are candidates to be baptized he has never sent any per bons to sprinkle neither to baptize by immersion mer sion slon and if we can ascertain who it is that Is 3 sent and what the form forna of ordinances oe is IA that areto treto are to be administered then we shall understand something towards the firby principles ot the building buil up of zion on the martli or to come moke moie more directly dir ecly to the tho point concerning these divinely authorized me messengers how should true messengers of heaven be sent in what way has god always sent them by divine revelation now there never was a dispensation since god made man on tho the earth wherein a me message a was sent forth to tho the human family unless thero there was revelation connected with that message unless the ministers who bore that message forth to the human family were divinely called by revelation new revelation I 1 mean I 1 need not go back baci back and trace the callings and the gifts of god unto the patriarchs before the flood nor those who lived immediately after the flood nor in the days of moses nor in the days of the prophets who followed moses nor in the days of jesus nor in the days of the apostles all these are before the people the callings and the gifts that were manifested in those thoad days among the various dispensa eions which god has introduced among the human family in all these various dis perin matious god has directly spoken from the heavens he be has communicated his will to the tho human family he has raised up reve laborg and inspired them ho he has filled filled his servants with tho the spirit of prophecy that they should foretell the future he has hag inspired them to write revelations and hence in all these different dispensations the god of heaven has thus authorized the children of men to buildup his zion on the earth and without these no such thin chingas gas as alon zion can be built up among the child children refi reli of bf men those persons were not only called by revelation but they also were guided after they were called by the spirit of revelation in all their travels sometimes when they of their own accord would have a dispose tion to visit a certain city town neighbor hool hood or nation the spirit would speak unto them and say not so that is not the place for you and they would be constrained by the holy ghost not to travel in that dl dim reet ton ion but to go to some other city that that same spirit should designas des ignao and point out to them thus they were guided and directed where they should go what they should preach what form of doctrine to deliver to the people whay wham what kind of ordin abuce to administer to them every particular was given by revelation from the mot high let us stop right here and inquire have been any christian denominations for the last seventeen centuries that have enjoyed this spirit of divine revelation it if there lavo lave beon mon then zion existed on oil the earth during the period this spirit of revelation was enjoyed when this spirit or of revelation ceased cemel zion ceased teased when people ceased to be called by direct revelation ani the scriptures ceased to receive any addi addin dional books then zion ceased among the children of men when mankind came to the conclusion that their own wisdom was all sufficient independent of any more revelation zion ceased from off the earth how long is it since zion ceased for everybody will admit among all christian denominations that there has been no revelation for some seventeen hundred years among all the tho protestants of the present day among all the catholics that lived before them and that now live and among all the different peoples and nations and tongues that have roc elved the doctrines of the catholic or of the greek church they all admit that they all tes tea testify tiby and acknowledge that god has had no inspired men on tire the earth since the days of the apostles consequently he has las had no church on the earth for whenever the church of god exists there exist prophets and men who are capable of writing scrip ture lure thore there exist men who have com comment commune munh munt ion and fellowship with god there exist men to whom the lord communicates his bis will by the ministration of holy angels and by his own voice therefore when these things ceased and men ceased to be inspired to write scripture and the scripture was pronounced fall and complete i sealed up as it were that moment the people called zion aro are banished from the face of the earth or in other words the church of the living god has no existence thereon there was a zion on the earth in the first century of tho the christian era they were christians they believed in christ they worshipped wor shipped christ hla his ordinances they were filled with tho the spirit of revelation they had their inspired prophets and revelators revelatory they had bad their heavenly visions they had had bad tho the ministration of angels they could hear hoar the voice of god they could behold in heavenly vision fhe the face of the lord jesus christ after he be had bad ascended to his father and was glorified at his right hand they bore testimony that they hanseen had haa seen him that he had conversed with them and that he had communicated his will unto them these were christians that was wag the christian church that may lb be I 1 pronounced zion what existed after this tho the apostles were put to death they were hunted from nation to nation they wandered abot abort in sheepskins sheep skins and goat skins in tho tee dens and caves cates of the earth of whom the world was wag unworthy their followers were wore put to death by hundreds by thousands thousand by tens of thousands and after awhile tha there re sprang up a people that pretended to be christians followers of the meek moek and lowly jesus havi having anglon no apostles no inspired men no nove neve revelation lat no ministration of angels none of the characteristics except a few forms of the Christ christian lah church as it existed in the first century of tho the christian era this class of mn mein calling themselves christian uniting with the various forms of the pagan religion adopting many of their thein ceremonies nies anh and institution became very popular and finally some of the pagans embraced christianity Caristi anity and were placed as ag it were 1 upon the throne and what they term termed ed christianity became very popular petular indeed howlong dowlong how long iong has this order of t things ings existed this dreadful apo apostasy stacy this class of people that pronounced them thom themselves selves zion or christians without any of the thel characteristics of zion it has existed for some sixteen or seventeen cantu i rles it has haa spread itself and grown and gone bone one into the four lour quarters of the earth ft it is the great ecclesiastical power that ls is is 14 spoken of by the revelator john and called by him the most corrupt and most wicked of all the powers of the earth I 1 under the name same of spiritual babylon or in other words babel which signifies confusion this great and corrupt power is also represented by john as presenting a golden cup to the nations full fuli fulfor of all manner of filthiness and abominations she is termed in other places by the same pro prophet tie tte hel het tho The whore of all the earth making the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication some three centuries ago there came out some excellent men named martin luther john calvin and many others that might be ba mentioned who protested against the wickedness and abominations of the church wherein they had been edu edus bated and of which they had haa been members because of their protestations against the mother church they were called protestants they pronounced her the whore of all the earth they declared that she had no authority that she had none of the blessings and gifts which characterized the ancient christians they came out and established other churches the lutheran church prevailed lu in germany and various carious portions of northern europe the calvinist church or presbyterian church was also established henry the eighth established and became head hoad of the english church wesley at a later established a church which has grown to great numbers at the tho present day but bul among all these churches where whore are the characteristics of zion we hunt sor lor them in vain go to all these ogg gog different protestant denominations that have come out from the tho mother church and inquire of them have you living inspired men among you and their united voice is that god speaks no more in our day no other message is given from heaven no yolee is heard from the eternal worlds no angels are sent in these days no inspired apostles are raised up to establish the church and the kingdom of god no men are filled with the spirit of prophecy to portray the tho events of the future or to accomplish and perform the work of god in our day we enquire ahat have you oh we have dihe dike different differ reat eat denominations and we have surnamed ourselves christians we are bible christians how mi mistaken they are bible christians christiana were those who vrho believed in having apostles apost lea and inspired prophets among them bible christians christiana could receive moro more revelation and add new books to the bible bible christians could converse with the lord and oftentimes beheld the face of jesus they could commune with holy angels they had iu dhority from god to lay hands upon thoe thoa whom they baptized for the reception or baptism of the holy holy ghost this w was as what constituted ancient zion but inquire for these characteristics among these different christian denominations and they will tell you they are all gone they have not any of them amongst them now suppose we take their word for it I 1 I 1 do I 1 really believe them I 1 think they tell t be the truth when they bay say they have no I 1 inspired n men I 1 believe them when the they thoy y say bay they have neither prophets nor apostles ales among thomm thom why do I 1 believe them because hoy ahoy ahey have received no now books in addit addia addition ibn to the bible and whenever god had bad a people on tho the earth they them were constantly giving now books inspired from on high and when that ceases we draw the conclusion that inspiration has ceased under these circumstances what is to be done if tho the world has thus apostatized andt andA and there chere here has bas been no church of the living god no zoa zon Z on among the nations for the long period I 1 have named what are vi we e tp to expect Is the |