| Show BY mm ELDER mm ERASTUS sw SNOW at mcadow Meadow villes bear lake on tuesday evening auguet 3rd ard 1880 BY liy GEO GM F gibbs GIBES brethren and sisters we are hap y to greet you tonight to night although it rss ris sa late lato and we are tired but we we have come to visit you and alao aho other settlements of this valley and if the lord shall bless us aad add enable us we desire to do you good we live and labor for that purpose president taylor and a h few of his brethren have eime cime to attend the quarterly conference of this stake of zion to be held at paris on sunday and also to attend to some other matters in this valley and to view the condition of the people t ie io improvement they have made and to feel after their spirits and to let the people feel after our spirits that each may judge for himself and herself as to whether we are one in spirit and in hopes and faith and if we are one in our desires an 1 labors working to the one common end in short whether we belong to the same family whether we are brethren and sisters slaters in christ jesus we have renson reason to hope yes we believe we shall find that you are our brethren and sisters slaters and although we maybe may be separated a long way from each other at times in our labors and our homes and abiding places esyet yet yel we hope and trust that the same spirit that we received when we believed the gospel and were baptized with christ is with us whether we be in the north or in the south sou son th and if we have the one ono god who is near to us all who hears our prayers when he is sought unto byhrs children he will visit us all by the manifestations of his mercy and power and with his holy spirit that brings peace and love jove and brotherly kindness and which fills filla the hearts of his saints with confident hope which is as an anchor of the soul we feel that we have the same god and that he is our father and that he is pouring out his blessings upon the earth and rewarding our labors As for myself I 1 have come a iono long long iong way from the south where the CH climate is very hot in the summer I 1 may say that st george comes up to bear lake to cool off in the summer and bear lake may go down to st george in the winter to find a more genial gen gea fai fat clime we have a variety of climate in this territory when at home r F livo hivo within rl 61 of ulu ulm south line of our territory while you are perhaps 12 miles within the northern boundary and thusie thus we see thal thac the latter day saints are stretching forth and we are not only filling up our own territory butwel but weare re running over the wall into the adjoining states stales and territories east and west north and south our people are already settling in idaho montana wyoming Cd colorado orado arizona nevada and are stretching into old Al mexico exico now some may way inquire in their minds and perhaps marvel seeing that it is the calling of this people to gather together and then see them spread abroad as we have commenced to do where is the land of zion that we have talked about so much did not the lord say to the prophet joseph that the place he had bad selected for the location of the new jerusalem was on the borders be tween jew and gentile in the western borders bordens of theSta the state teof of missour missouri and that the site for the great tempie temple to be built was independence jackson county yes he didy did and the saints began to go there and they to murmur anti anil to find fault witti wild one another and with the lord and they began to wonder why he wanted them to build a temple tempie anti antl what need there was of or bringing in their tithes and offerings to his storehouse to erect a costly and expensive ge asive building and thus many began gan to chide the lord and also alao one donean another other and because of this thia the lord suffered their enemies to come upon them and drive them from their homes which they did in ful of a revelation which was to this calamity coming upon them but the lord said in a subsequent revelation after the saints were expelled in jackson county that zion should not be removed out of her place that although the saints had bad been scattered and despoiled of their property properly proper ty yet in the own due time of the lord lond the faithful should return and possess POEMS the land NO now w ih the e atter latter art part of this revelation wo look 0 ok to b be fulfilled for just as certain as the former part came to pass pabs foretelling the expulsion of or the saints BO so sure will the latter part be fulfilled predicting the return of the saints to build the temple upon the place pointed out by the finger of the lord and it will be uhe the great centre for the latter day saints where the ordinances of gods house will bo be administered ered and where the lord will make manifest his power unto his people but then that is not the only place this whole land of america was promised anciently to joseph for an inheritance by th mouth of his father and other pro peets ets nephi and lehi and many others predicted blessings upon the righteous on this land and that it should be a land laud of freedom to those who would serve god and that it should not be a land on W which the wicked should prosper long and every nation that has hai inhabited this land laud since the flood have been destroyed out of it when they were fully ripe in their iriqui tyl kyi the ancient Jared ites inhabited this land about 1600 1000 years arld and they became a very wealthy and great nation they dwelt in north america they did not extend their settlements into south america and anti when they were fully in fit their iniquity god dod doi destroyed troyed them out of the earth they were destroyed by pestilence and war until only one man was left of that rate rafe ra raf e the Nep hites succeeded them and possessed tho the land a short time before the complete destruction of the Jared ites the race commenced in south america their progenitor having first landed there after living several undred hundred li years in south america they began to extend their settlements into north america before they had any knowledge of the jare aites but the Nep litte in like manner when they became fully ripe in iniquity perished as a n nation a after occupying the tiie land about 1000 years the Lama continued in war for many years after the destruction of the nation until they became broken up into bands or small nations which was the result of great wickedness among themi them and the remnants of the race are still found scattered over the land Inthe la the same bame broken condition but the lord made certain covenants with their fathers to the effect that their descendants should not utterly perish but should be restored to his favor in the latter days we look for the this great promise made to the E glo gla a me aie remnants of the ten ren sep Nep TeD hites that became intermixed wa with the Lama anti and the remnants of the jacob jacobites tes teg jose joso josephites Joseph ph I 1 itea tea Zora mites Lemu elites and ishmael ites for afu all belong to the same ly the tribe of joseph through tile the loins loine of ephraem and Mana uana aseh asch father jacob when ho be was years old knowing that lie he was wa about to die called his twelve sons together and bestowed upon them his blessing and when we came to josephs josepha blessing we find these words joseph is 13 a fruitful bough oven even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall the archers have sorely grieved him and sot fot ot at him and hated him but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty god of jacob see genesis 50 th chapter now this joseph was the same that had been sold by his brethren into egypt and afterwards had become the savior of his hia fathers household and been exalted to the throne of egypt this joseph was to be a fruitful bough boug ob whose branches should run over the wall ghis was a figurative expression express in emblematical blema of the seed of jose joseph 11 leaving I 1 the land of their fathers le the land I 1 an d of canaan which was given to ule hie tribes or israel in canaan A branch of joseph that fruitful bough left that land and ran over the wall even crossed the sea to the american continent and filled this land with his seed eced and the Lama Ismaell tes etc etc were mere all brethren al though a portion of them turned fumed away from tho the lord and called themselves lama Lima ultes etc while t hose those who adhered to the principles of the gospel were called nephi being their prophet and leador the people that are scattered to and fro upon this continent whom we call the american indians are the remnants of the di different ff br branches of the tribe of joseph and perhaps a remnant of s company who built bulit Zarah emla that same patriarch jacob after blasing oies oles sing sins his ills own sons called to him josephs two sons ephraim and Man nasseb and blessed them also and said let them grow together in the midst of the earth man alan shall become a people and he also alsos shall hallbe be great but ephraim shall be greater than he and his seed shall become a multitude of nations in this american land more especially has haa this prediction of the tile patriarch jacob been fulfilled the seed of joseph through tigh his two sons have grown together and become a multitude of nations 11 they have llave stretched abroad and occupied this tills whole american continent maintaining their separate and distinct dist luci tribal organizations organization 4 but they have fallen luto darkness and many of them into ino deep barbarism yet there is is a remnant of them who wilo have much faith and who are looking for the fulfillment fulfilment of the promises which god made to their fathers which are preserved in their traditions as well as in the book ol 01 mormon and they have hd had the spirit directing their thein minds to those utterances odthe of the tho prophets concerning their fathers father seed and there are many bands tribes anti ami villages chodo hearts the lord is 13 preparing to receive the blessings he has fias promised coner ning them namely restoring them to the possession of light and knowledge and the gifts and blessings of the gospel now wo we who are permitted ermit ted to be numbered with tile the tho latter day Saint saints sand and to bo be called tho the people of the lord and who wilo have been gathered together into these mountains u we are called upon to do a work for the Lama to airry the gospel to them to labor to enlighten them and teach them the words of ilfe life how to become useful in building up zion and sanctifying sanctify ing themselves to prepare themselves fun for the coming of the son ot of man blan you may consider that you are not doing I 1 much towards it in bear lake valley and tb eliat at your chief ob eject is to raise cattle and get alid land arid where you can grow wheat corn ete eto etc to sustain your fam families ilo iio you think this is all you havo hava to do be cause comparatively y yon you are like children yet in the knowledge of god but if ir you have not forgotten the testimony ot of your fathers and the elders of israel who have test fled in your earing hearing Ii who have told you these things you know that you are children of prophets and apostles ales and elders of israel righteous and good men who have passed away you know that being their children you are heirs to io the promises and that you are called to a holy work and you cannot treat this calling with indifference neither can you forget 1 so the prayer prayers j of your fathers and mothers which have been offered ered up in your behalf prayers the most earnest and fervent fervent which are preserved in those golden vials described by john the revelator which he be saw in heaven representing the prayers of the saints sainta the prayers and blessings of your fathers and mothers in your behalf are as it were graven en upon the palms of his hands and the lord will not fot rot foigel get them and he will visit them upon your heads the prayers and blessings of your fathers and motherland mother mothers sand and the elders of israel and the testimony which they have brno in your hearing yo you will not forget al though you may neglect your youn duties and manifest for a time somewhat indifference to them although the cares and response responsibilities bill ties 0 of f life may seem to occupy your thoughts at the present to such an extent as to make your religious duties see secondary yet you cannot forget these thing things the lord will not let you do it ills his spirit will follow you and it will awaken you to tho thought and rt reflection like one gently at your bedroom bed room door calling you t arise and tills this gentle monitor will keep urging you to perform your duties and to remember the covenants of your fathers and to seek after tho the realization of those promises which were made by them to almighty god through tile the mouths months of his hig servants and I 1 would say search bearch the tile revelations of god given through modem modern prophets for there are many precious things spoken and on record things most precious in which you are interested modern prophets but by his hia ancient servants who though dead drad dr ad yet speak abeth eth yes search the book of mormon too also the bible hible and study well tie the life and teachings of the savior and store up his doctrine in your hearts and also zarch garch w arch the records and history of this church of jesus christ of lat ter day saints and consider the sayings and teachings of the elders eders and faithful women that have havo pa pas s youe couf your and dint tint mothers mot lier iier some rome of whom have pealed sealed their festini testimony ony with their blood and those who have ered have left their testimony nes fes for the good of their children after atter wearing out opt a life through suffering exposure hardships 21 anxiety and care and much preaching in order to jay the foundation for the establishment of truth in the tile earth and to plant 11 ij ili in good soil that it may become a goodly tre tree 0 with wide spreading branches bearing much precious fruit tile the eary elders of this church whether dead or alive are aro tilled with anxiety respecting aill apil dren the kisul rising generation because they know kilow tim to be tle the work of god they are not in d abt about it li they know that god lives ives and antl rules and that he stands at tile tiie head bead of this his hig church and hin kin kingdom goom they know that t at he has jim brought forth and a nd established this people in the earth and that although he fie has sufi ered bred their enemies to pere perie eute rute them and drive them yet he has overruled all things for their best good ib it ha ilaa been beed consecrated for their welfare it has strengthened thern them il it haa has rendered them more vigorous in ili their growth and more persevering and diligent in their labors and it has increased their influence in the world never before did the influence of the latter day saints reach so far never bedore before has lias that anilu ence and their power been frit go fo strongly in tho tile midst of the earth as to day and this thia stretching out and occupying the valleys odthe of he mountain the good locations in all parts of this land is only a part of the plan and purposes of god re spooling his people that we may be the better able to exert an influence for good throughout this nation and even this north american continent and among all the people thereof for we are a growing people and because of this growth tiie tile the immigration of or the theloris Lords poor fro from m abroad and the immigration from tile the heavens leavens in the shape of additions to our families our ch lidren as they grow up |
