| Show X 38 TT S M BY liy siri simi at the quarterly conferences faran taran jy oman owan sunday afternoon ater Aier noon june 1883 jonn JOHN mune nune t I 1 want awant to say to the young men and the young ladies and to all the people laople but especially our ohl ohi children dren the youths in israel that the leaders of this people do not speak of themselves that which they are r striving to impress upon the tho people Is ia of theford the biord pud and not of man mau the latter day saints have not been gathered from the different nations of the earth and brought together in these mountains to worship man nor to serve man to be their slaves nor to be obedient unto man and if anybody has such euch an idea or intention they have got hold of the wrong people the people who are gathered hero nero are not tho the people calculated to do sueh such a thing the faith we teach throws everybody upon their own responsibility they are at liberty to act and mud choose for themselves and all will be held re spon apon biblo bibio before god for their faith and send conduct the free agency of man nian is and always has beon boon a prominent doctrine in this church and no one advocated it more strongly than the prophet joseph joeeph smith the free agency of man la is inseparably connected with intelligence as the revelations of god in the doctrine and covenants plainly and explicitly declare that all intelligence la is independent without this agency there would be no seif belf existence and because of this agency which existed in eternity before the worlds were with intelligent beings with our spirits when they existed in ia the spirit worlds through the exercise ot at this agency satan fell foil andall andali and all ali those who clung to him and rebelled against our out heavenly father 33 rother rothen cannon has impressed us with the idea that obedience to cor root principle believing in the truth and living it and obeying it isas isab is as good an evidence of independent thought and character and perhaps a little foreso more so than to be bad bed isobe adient that no kanj man woman or child will be more independent by re ejecting tho truth by dieci disobeying beying correct laws and idor correct principles than those who receive and obey the truth with contrite hearts noar what bay say you you must all judge for yourselves and choose what you yon will be my experience and observation of the latter day saints Is that they are the hardest 4 people I 1 know kenow anything about to either drive or lead load in a wrong dl brother cannon speaks of president young and president taylor and other good men our leaders leador sj being led cs as it were by a hair in obedience to the priesthood which implies simply obedience til to truth and to correct doctrine and to righteous nass this Is the oz ex pla pia the prophet yoseph joseph i gave a certain lawyer in hta hib time who came camo to sea sob him and his hla people and expressed astonish ment and surprise Burp rlee ilee at the tho em ease e with which he controlled the people and said it was something that was not to be found among the learned men of the world bald haid he awe wo cannot do it what chatis ia the secret 0 your success uc cees why sald said the prophet 1 I 1 do not govern the people I 1 tesch teach them correct principles and they govern themselves theme elves elvea s I 1 have been young now I 1 am getting old and expect to pass away soon boon ea as well as all choso who have been for many years before the people serving the tho lord and laboring to kopro pro moto the welfare of the people but from my youth observed the dealings of god with tho latter day saints sainta I 1 iam lam am pretty well no ao qua quaint cd with them they are pretty welt well acquainted with their leaders lenders they thelara The yare yara ara are pretty well weli bellac ac quain quainter ted with or of truth and they know it when they hear it as a rule nule that Is gaall all ali those who riho are humble and prayerful and who love the truth and the voice of the good shepherd they know it when thoy they hear it and when principles are aie taught that are goad tb that thai t como come from gods god they thoy comprehend them and receive them but as raul paul said in one of his epistles to the ancient saints there Is ia a law ja in our members mem bere berm waring against the law of the spirit and brinz brIng bringing fria friz our bodies into bondage to the tho jaw of bin bia and death that Is the lusts and desires of the flesh fieth and the pride of life which we havo have to nu yar basinet and this walfate commences oommen ces as eoon soon as aa we begin to grow row up to maturity it is thia this that lays ays the foundation for rebellion As aa soon as aa this begins to manifest itself in us ne in our youth so eoon we need to begin to curb it and here comes in tho the duty of parents in their priesthood and calling to watch over those children that are given them of the lford lord which are lent to them for a season it is re quiren of them to teach those children the law of the lord and the ways of the righteous and to res strain them from passions pw from anger from strife from contention froni from envy from jealously from d dis dib Is obedience to impress them with the necessity of doing right and repenting of wrong whenever they do it that they may hold in check the passions that are nie common to our nature and to show them how to on enjoy if 0 y all that the lord has designed tor for 1 r our happiness in this thib world and our exaltation in the next without ex cess without allowing our tabernacle to be used as instruments of sin and wickedness we have heard duning during this conference and especially this toro zoro noon from president taylor some very important principles advanced for our government as aa individuals and as communities principle principles 4 which we are ate to observe and which are essential to our purity a and n d progress as a people and as ind individuals i visuals vi duals and our exaltation in the eternal world for the law of the lord la Is strict unto those who are instruct instructed ad and have opportunities to observe it and sar san more zo eo with us as aa latter day saints than with the gentile world the lord will make greater allowance for the gentilo gentile world than ho he will forus for us and he has had compassion upon us and male greater allowance for us in the days ot of our ignorance than he will do for us in the future for he expects us as a people to profit by our experience espern esperi ence enca and our instruction and the opportunities afforded musj us and to improve our condition conditions to purify our persons persona our families and our oun and to purge evil from our midst and touching moral purity and the intercourse of and the objects and purposes of this intercourse god has revealed to the latter nutter day saints as he also aiso revealed unto our lathers fathers has bas a great and anu glorious and grand object in view in placing na as hero upon the earths earth male and female and commanding us to multiply and replenish the earth nis ris a purposes ur pose pobe in these things are fr from om eternity to eternity they reach back into our first or former existence and consequently will reach forward through this our seo beo ond and into our next estate and through all eternity and we need a correct understanding of the proper use of the privileges and biess bleb ings that are given unto us on this depends the glory and the exaltation of ourselves and our children for evermore the lord is striving to educate a people that will properly understand these thebe things and appreciate pre preci elate ate them and that will not trifle with the fountains of life and with those choice blessings that are heir their reach when we look abroad into the genalo gentio sa nn bious at tho the present time those who are acquainted with their then condition ara are constrained to acknowledge that we live in a wicked and adulterous generation adultery whoredom and lust lost have cursed the gentile nations and the wicked uric ked portion of all mankin mankind dj we may sa say y from time buewl but nut with th the seed of abraham the chi ehi children idren of Israel who were called an holy nation a peculiar people leople god has bought boughs to regulate by me his la we those things and to teach the people eo BO that they in may ay raise up unto him a holy nation a peculiar people PE opler a royal priesthood he aboode abraham from among tho the nations and blessed him he promised to multiply hi hh seed like the stars in the heaven or the sands of tho the sea shore bhore for number he be tried tiled and proved him well weli as we this morning he bless ed him and blessed hh bis seed after him likewise his hia son leaah and his grandson grandsons jacob jacobs and promised that tho the oracles should rein nein remain ain sin wl with th 1 him 1 M and antt his beed seed nevertheless the pro promises misses made wore were general they were not pr to alono aiono yet the promises prom isea were conditional dit fono fonal they were given on an condition that their posterity should abida abide in the truth follow the teachings and examples of their fathers fa therb there and prove themselves thema erves worthy for nepal has said concerning these things in tho the boob book of mormon wo umon rmon that god covenants with none except those that repent and believe islip we in hib his E 9 P rib hig command ments but bat there ere special prom bes beh to the children of israel tho the seed of abraham as aa a people for as a people they are the elect of god but as aa individuals every one is held responsible for their own sine fins no premire of the father can gave save any individual nevertheless according to the promise made unto the fathers god makes manifest among the children of israel the priesthood and reveals unto them the gospel and gives them an opportunity to re ceide belve it and obey it and obtain exalt alta aita tiou atlon through it if they hilj will and in this respect they are more favored than the gentile nations throughout the whole world though he hns has said that whoever fears god and works righteousness is accepted of him among all nations and all peti peoples jew or gentile but the lord hab has bet set his hand to gather his peo pe and he la Is selecting them by the preaching of the gospel to the world by the tha eldera elders of israel the 1 spirit which accompanies the preaching of the gampel teela after and searches out and nad gathers together the heed beed of abraham that are worthy to be saved it kather gather together those whom god has called plied to have part in the great jatter latter day work in the dispensation of a the falness of times the ten thou thousands gands rands of Ephraim and the thousands tf cf spoken of cf by loaia 8 wh when eli ell he blessed the tribes of israel well now because tho lord ha har set act bet his hand band to gather out ont from the nations ot of the earth the humble and the honest in heart and those these that will be obedient and will submit themselves to the truth and to the jaw of the lords lord dord therefore he re boals unto an to them a new now and everlasting covenant the holy covenant of marriage for time and for all eternity the union of the sexed sexes the sealing of wives to husbands and husbands hub hus bandt banda to wives children to pa rents etc the uniting and sealing us in the holy priesthood unto the fathers and even unto aoto our lord jesus christ who stands at the lueada 0 the kingdom of righteous nees the chiet chief apostle and aud high priest of our profession and unto this new and everlasting covenant ha has the lord purposed and designed his people to be united and bound together with the lson ison our barlor and through bras ini int unto ibus his father for he hae eaid said whosoever re me my rny eather father and all that my father hath bath shail bhail bo be given unto him ss this new now and covenant reveals unto us ua the keys of the holy priesthood and ordinances thereof it is the grand keystone of the tho arch which the lord is building in the earth in other word it is ia that which complete the exaltation and glory of the righteous who receive the everlasting gospel and without it they could not attain unto the eternal power and godhead and the falness of celestial glory now many may enter into the lory of god and become servants in the house of god and in the celestial kingdom of god who are not able to ablee this new and everlasting covenant but as aa we are told in the doctrine and covenant with them ia 13 an end to their exaltation they may remain in their caved condition without exaltation exaltations but they enter not into the order of the gods goda they cannot progress through tho t h oc ceaseless aas elbs eibs r rounds of eternity except they abide in the covenant sand abide the law that governs it and the lord will not be mocked in these things thinea we heard this morning how strict was the law pertaining to these matters matter sNow now we fay hay unto all israel old and young these things are revealed unto us for our good the strictness of the law may not in times past have been taught us and enforced upon us as we may look for it being taught and enforced in the future but it behovets beho veth us to reflect upon there things and while it Js is our privilege to go forward earnestly desiring aud and seeking after all that the lord has haa to bestow upon us yet we must remember that tha the more we receive and the greater privileges we nrc are permitted to enjo the more strict accountability will be required of us and the more dread ful will be the consequences of transgression gres assion sion or violation of the holy covenants and obligations which we assume now I 1 wish to say bay that 1 I realize that there are some in our midst whether aber they are in your midst in this stake of zon won or not I 1 am not net prepared to say with vi th any certainty for I 1 can only judge of the condition and feeling of tho the people as I 1 am informed from time to timo leay isay there are some bome whom satan would stir to disobedience and try to make mahe FM an impression upon their binds that the system of plural marriage man lage irge a end n d t thebe these h 0 0 e th things 1 n g s t that h at pertain e r ta J n t to a t the h e sen ben sealing 1 in g 0 of f m men e a and u d w women 0 pa n f for tor 0 r time and for eternity and the le ie which has been read in our hearing given through tho the prophet joseph pertaining to this subject that it wab wag the work of man and not the work of god tood we have recently had bad published in some of the utah papers some letters lettera on this subject and one from joseph smith the eldest son bon of the prophet in which a great deal of sophistry ja made use of special pleading such as the lawyer that he ibee ibbe eema ems only capable of using and the object of this ape epe cial clai plea piea cling clog and this sophistry is to try to leave an upon t the e ignorant those who know na no better that plural marriage was not introduced and sanctioned and practiced practised by his father but that it has been an innovation of man and does not belong to the syi ay tem term of religion which he believed and aud practised practiced ano and am taught faught the pearle pearie and there thera are ame 8 me among us who would fain take this view of tho thu subject not I 1 hit fht t lere are many who belove behove it but buttliere butt but there fiere are bemb hemb who would like to believe it and BO there ther earo enro aro jn in the world many people who fear that mormonism as a abola is true and of god they are very much afraid that it is IB but they hopa hope that it is not northey They do not want to receive it 11 they do not want to live it but they are afraid it is true and multitudes of people have been convinced |
