| Show DISCOURSE BY ul YOUNGS in shenew tabernacles acle acte on sunday afternoon may ath 1877 after addresses bg elders orson pratt 1 1 J and oca aca ge a Q cannon REPORTED BY DY GEO geor IV r GIBES GIDES t r tare TAKE the liberty of saying a few row worda on this occasion to both and sinners shiners that expression brings to my mind at once oncel where are the saints and who wild are they and who are the siti sinners nen nem we are all sinners but there is quite a portion of the congregation who are trying to be saints for those who profess to be saints I 1 have a few texts of scripture with regard to those who believe the truth and desire to do it to all who wish to live and preserve yourselves in the truth lip the love of god I 1 wish to they whom god I 1 loves oves he chastens chastene cha this is 19 so whether we believe belleve it or not it we have not re received chastisement we receive not that witness that assurance to testify to us that we love iove him hime another text of scripture the wicked are a rod in the hand of god to chasten his people if the lord llord loves lovea us and w we e love h him we may expect to be chasten edland ed and it is not joyous at the time of receiving the chastisement it is grievous but if we are exercised by giace grace and the spirit of truth it will wilt yield the peat peaceable eabie table fruits of righteousness I 1 wish to whisper in the ears of latter day sal saints n to I 1 mean those who profess profesa to be saints know ye that the tho lord reigns and that the hearts of all living are I 1 in n his hands he turns the hearts of the children of men as the livers livern of waters are turned he rules in the armies of heaven and does his pleasure upon the earth when he be wills no man can hinder it when he is disposed to onen the door it is ig not in the power ef of man to shut abut it i and when he 1 CIO clo closes a the door it is not in the power power of manto man to open it remember oe r this latuer latter day saints andall andali and all ail the christian world the pagan infidel and jewish world and everybody in tho world and hearken 0 ye nations of the earth and know ye that god lives that he has spoken frem from the he heavens 3 and has sent forth his his bis everlasting gospel goepel to the children of men that through obedience to the same they may be saved and if they reject this thia message they will be damned we cannot cannon help helip it it is not our s it ii not our doctrine it is the doctrine of him whom we herve berve of him whom we obey of him who holds ua us in existence who givel us breath and aud n d being and we have a believe in iii him to love and erve herve him and to build UK up and establish his hid kingdom and we are doing it if I 1 were to tell you one half of the things that ahat I 1 know in many particulars it would astonish the halfhearted half hearted who have but little or no faith falth and who do not understand the workings of the provi dences of god among the children of men but aa ag to tue pere pore persecution cution it is nothing at all therone nei way LO lor cor r adoth another r only to purify the S achta and prepare the nations for the good or evil for the lord bord A almighty 1 to bend kend forth hib hia judgments to clea elea cleanse iise tise the earth to sanctify it and to the righteous aad ad condemn the guilty and to pre prepare pare tt the W a r th e coming lf 1 the rion or 1 I wish tosa say bay bayto Y to you to ao are in n the as wll well as to those hose who are out of the truth if we ite did not have to hear bear thel iron hand of persecution the principles we believe in which attract the attention of the good and the evil upon the earth and which occupy su so many tongues and circumscribe their philosophy would be embraced by thousands thousand 3 who are arts now indifferent to then them the evildoer evil doer would crowd upon our borders and we have plenty of them now without receiving any more mord they would crowd into this chu church rab and this thia ia is the reason why bro george QC annon byshe is pleased and rejoiced because of this thia pt persecution i we sh should ouid bo be satisfied with it we should acknowledge the hand of god iu in it and say the will bf the lord be done and not ours by closely watching the lat la ter day Saint sand seeing that the they are kept in the line of their d duty by uil using this kind of a rod it p prevents e others from coming t that would affect ua us more udoro than they can who are aro outside ot of this church there is not one man in this city nor in the territory who hates the truth and the latter day saints sainta whose influence I 1 dread no not got even the huri hurl dreth part as I 1 do a smooth slick hypocrite who professes to be 6 latter batter day saint the former I 1 ormer cannot BOW sow the infidelity and unbelief in the ther hearts of the iD eople people butche but bud the latter can I 1 wish to sar say to all the people the principles of the gospel that god has revealed from the heavens to the children of men upon the earth are worthy the acceptation of the wise the pure and the just there is no true philosophy in exis 1 fence which is not embraced in the gospel it belongs to the gospel it is a part of the gospel the philosophy of the heavens and the earth of the worlds that are that ere We reind and that are yet to come into existence is all in the gospel that we have embraced every true philosopher go so far as ils he understands the principles of truth has hag so much of the gospel and anci so far he is a latter day saint whether he knows it or not our father the great god clod is the author of the sciences he is the great mechanic he is the of all things he plans and devises all things and every particle ef of knowledge which man has in his posses possession sion slon is the gift of god whether they consider it divine or whether it is the wis domol nian man it belongs to gou goh and he has be bestowed stowed it upon us this his children hrc buelling duelling du elling hero here the earth carth we talie up the pi principles inci ples pies or ordinances di din ances anees of the hoube house of god and wn when hen we beset st them before the peahen people peoples who would like to believe them ask the world of manh mankind ind I 1 the heathen world if there ia is one doctrine or principle iu all au these which is 13 not good for mau to receive if we could find such a place as aa an angelic world we might ask its inhabitants if we had emi em i braced in our faith a single pie not good for them even they would not nind find an idea a doctrine or a principle but what every person er would bay eay respecting it it crt is just as good as we could ask for I 1 forthe for the principles of the gospel bre are re calculated to purify the huart heart the harida hands the mouth the brain braid and every act of the children cf men I 1 and to prepare them to live with per perfect act and holy being beings these aie ate principles worth see beeking seeking ing fa for r they are worth living for they are worth dying nor for As to the struggle id that is going on between the latter day dy saints and the world have we any struggle with them thein no have 0 we any CO contention no not in the least have eave we any battle to fight no xo none at all are arts we w e to marshal our arm armies les ies to contend against them no here are the words ortruth of truth we go forth and declare them to the ends enda ef of the earth it is our mission and all we nie have to do they may war against u thy they may marshal their fortes forces and th their 0 r armies god rules I 1 r fear m glubt if I 1 pre preserve berve perve myself in the truth 11 I 1 am all nil 11 light with the rie tle tie principles that these latter caay saints Is believe in if we had bur own way slid and were riot not followed up by t h e I 1 d blessed scoundrel 4 would we haye hava any grog shop no 40 would e permit permie men to take the hame nameon of the leird lord in ln vain epif if we eju edu could d uso that moral iniquen cette would stop all drinking swearing stealing and sabbath breaking and speaking evil one of another and we would have no dishonest men we would have all men do that which is right before the lord but no we most must be followed up that is ali all right perfectly right every step we tak tau take e and every move we make must be scanned by the devil devi I 1 to see if it is right you will excuse the expression he ia is watching closely to see if we live our religion and he says sass now lat ter day saints are you not asham ed whenever you do anything that 13 naughty and tries to discourage them I 1 that they may turn away from the truth what t hould should this do for uis uil should it not cause us to refrain from all wrong and teach u us t to 0 do db better even this the chastisement t ti lsne m ent of the devil we need not worry about this that or the other not in the least i it is for us to serve the jord and see gee that we do his will and so far as persecution and arid the killing of the prophets are concerned whether ef of ancient or of modern times even joseph and hyrum smith and others of the saints men women and eW children ildren lidren aa they bave have done we do not expect that I 1 the perpetrators of these deeds will be brought to justice not in the least until theford the fjord sits upon the ther case and alid deals out justice to them the theory lias ilas been against the prophet prophets of every age against the apostles and against jesus himsel himself f and against all those who have ever preached the truth and why because the systems of the world are axe errors while the gospel is true it stands alone it is as brin as the everlasting moun mountains tins tinb the storms i may beat upon it and it is there but how is it with those who are jealous of us and who oppose us we hear some of them who profess ChriAtian christianity ity crying come to jesus come to jesus etc what is there of it itis it is so much nonsense if it jesus were in their midst today to day they would k kick ick iek him out but for they did so to his servants suppose tho the apostle paul or peter in fact any of the apostles were to get into their chapels and were to to preach from their pulpits their doctrine which they preached when upon the earth what do you think they would do to them they would take them and lead them out of doors saying we will not have any sueh such hypocrites and false prophet prophets as you am aro in our midst there is ig once in a while a good honest man who Two processes lesses to preach the truth and when he does preach it amounts fo to this 11 my aly brethren we think we are christians we are beli bell everts evera iu in the word of god but I 1 tell yuu you if the apostles were vere here to day das da we would not these good honest preachers would a few do say may it to their congregations A false faise principle a false theory whether in mechanism or philosophy ophy requires much argument and aud superior talent to sustain it but when the truth Is presented tit lit commends itself to the understanding of the people so readily that it requires 1 no great amount of learning to substantiate it nor much skill to declare it to the honest bonest who want truth and it re maitis firm and bound hound I 1 forty five years ago they were detert mined to kill the prophet joseph chave 1 hate have lain upon the floor scores and E cores scores of nights ready to receive the mob who sought his life this persecution commenced a little neighborhood then a town then a coun conn yv y then a state and then the people of the united states and by and by other nations will be just as bitter towards us aud stud the doctrines we preach as is many of the people of our oar own nation now are they will struggle and strive and plan and devise baying saying let us take this course and that coarse and they will struggle until they will come to a stop as though they were against a mountain cf of solid rock they will do all they can to bre break brenk ak ns us hp jap and even destroy ut this thia has been the case now for the last forty nive five years joseph smith sinith had bad forty eert n law jaw suits and I 1 was with him through the most of them and und never was the first thing proved against him he wak wad neven never guilty of the first viola vlola violation tion of the rood good order and when governor ford asked him to go to prison as themos the mob were eo so enraged that be he could not tsuie hid hii life that be he raight be I 1 safe cafe f tin til til he returned f rora from nauvoo h he sald bald 1 I wall faith falth of tho the th 9 state stat ate Illinois of for your safety barety but I 1 as he wag was cone gone the mob murdered both I 1 josph joseph and his brother hyrum in the jail that was to bem hebo hoso I 1 heard joseph say many 1 1 I shall not live until lam iara iam forty years of age che tho spring before he was killed his death occurred the zeth of jun june 1511 1 he her hu hanff r JT ried off the first eidem elders of the churchs chorchi all AU right I 1 thought then and I 1 taink so now it Is all in the handa hands of god they killed joseph and what for for tho the gospels gospel Is sake it was for no evil vi for I 1 was we weli well 11 acquainted with him he ile k 1 tied fied to the truth he be sealed his testimony with his blood whether we believe ini m i 1 blood atonement or not the lord so or dered it that joseph as well as othere others of the prop prophets beta betz sealed their testimony with their blood I 1 said here last sabbath Sab bith that if the people of thlu government are not satia batts j fled with wb what a t they have air already ei dy pinati through this side of twenty years past walt wait a little longer londer an and d ther they will wiil le ie l e perfectly satisfied with blood they shed the blood of the innocent if are not satisfied with the blood they have hed shed bed of each other wait a a little while and they will shed each othe others rs blood to their full satisfaction the lord has bar spoken it and we bat have on nothing othin todo to do with it if it we could we would hide ourselves away from the scenes thit that will take place but this we cannot do bug bat wait 4 a little littie longer and the people of thia this nation us well weli as others will have blood till they are satisfied with shedding the blood of each other this ie Is the predict prediction lon ion of the tho ancient prophets and has been confirmed unto us through bib bis s sai servant bafit joseph the people are in the hands of god he be will rule all things and deal justly with all mankind bat he hi will not r thim thin wickedness iko to dwell on the theearta earth earth it must be cleansed all that we need to concern ourselves about Is to serve the tho lord to trust in him so that we may be ready to rece receive I 1 te his det del dealings lings tings upon the he justad lut just tad bud nud the unjust in all bis his chastisements 1 lel let L ct us live up to the principles at of the jut jat and god will continue to bless us and and aud deliver us with the tho just jnet I 1 if I 1 had powei powel power powen I 1 ceita certainly iDly would bies bles the people with everything hearts could wish if they would not ilot bin I 1 would do as I 1 heard beard the mothers of some of my children tay that went with me to st george this winter that I 1 indulged them in everything they wanted why because they never manifested ft desire for anything wrong and if it wire were in my power I 1 would bless all the inhabitants of the earth with everything in which they could glorify god and purity their thel own hearts MU may god bless you amen |
