Show kiso DISO OTTISE cr BY PRESIDENT UP g Q DELIVERED jn lit the meeting sleeting house honse moro roro sunday dominy jio SIo miny september and 2nd 1883 W REPORTED BY JOHN JOUN IRVINE I 1 traveling through the settlements the necessity of the settlements being visited revelation bogus authority of sectarian preachers the claim that the canon of scripture is full the cause of there being no communication with god visitation of the father and son and holy angels to joseph smith mahammed Ma hommed the world no idea of the character of god restoration of the knowledge of god angels not feathered beings no wonder th the world has gone astray space between death and the resurrection the reign of satan joseph smith accomplished his mission persecution this nation making joseph smith a prophet xo no surrendering the kingdom of god god will deliver his people temples shall those who have obeyed the law of god be looked down upon by those who have not I 1 ferl feel as though 0 I 1 would much rather sit still and listen to somebody else than to attempt to speak myself for a number of 01 weeks past the first presidency of the church have been traveling through the various settlements tle ments ana and and such counsels and instructions have been given to the people mingled with kindly re proofs and warnings as the spirit has seemed to dictate and in the meetings we have held there has been a goodly outpouring of the spirit of god the peo people pie ale have rejoiced in their meetings and in that which they have heard there is a constant necessity for the visits of those whom god has called to preside over the affairs of ills his church and to hold the apostleship of the church in the midst of he uhe various stakes of zion it is true that god our eternal father in accordance with the promise which lie he has made unto those who would receive the gospel in humility and with sincerity of heart has poured gut ggut ills his holy spirit upon the people and they are led by it in the most of of instances and the gifts of the spirit are manifested at the same time there are arc other agencies which god calls into requisition to teach and instruct ills liis people he has placed in his church apostles prophets pastors teachers etc ile he has given unto them certain specified duties he requires them to disc discharge harge those duties in ills his f fear ear car and holds them accountable forthe for the condition of the people that is to a very great extent he has placed certain men whom he has chosen as watchmen upon the walls of zion ile he has placed them as shepherds of the nock flock of of christ and in their capacity as watchmen and as shepherds fie he expects them to exercise that vigilance and care which are arc necessary tor for the protection a and n preservation of the people vople the lord lor has promised unto his servants that he will give them ahn thes necessary qua qualifications litle eions for and that he will sustain tiem them inthe in the discharge of the duties that devolve upon them and through the varied experience of the past 53 years this has been the case the lord has not left ills his people without proper care and he has not left ills his servants destitute of ills his word and of a knowledge of ills his will but has given iven ivan these to them at the very time when ghen when they have been needed no evil or difficulty has ever occurred in the church or outside of the church effecting us that we have not been warned of bythe by the servants of god and prepared f for or by their teachings their counsels and their warnings his els this constitutes the great difference between the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and the other churches that are organized among the children of men and called by various names god has made promises unto this people ile he has guided this people ile he has provided for them lie he has revealed himself unto them and has extended ills his power for their preservation and safety all the day long iong now this is a new thing it may be said in the earth carth that is comparatively new previous to the organization of this church there was no claim made by any of the churches of the day to hold direct communication with preachers and those who lead in these various sects base their claims for authority upon that which was given iv in former days to the ancient servants of god they are arc honest enough to make no pretence predence pre tence of having received communication f from rom heaven or direct revelation from god calling the them to the ministry or designating them to occupy the places they fill but as I 1 have said claiming tile the commission that was ilven given to the ancient apostles as the basis for their labor they proceeded to teach the people suli sull such doctrines as they considered essential to salvation gods voice was not heard the silence that existed between heaven and earth and which had bad existed af berthe slaying of those who had received authority from god and unto whom ile he gave communications was still unbroken there were no heavenly messengers descending from heaven to earth and making manifest est the mind and will of god unto the inhabitants of the earthnut earth but it was as though the ilea ilca heavens vens yens were as brass oven over the leads l people anu ani as though so far as the vace voce lee ice of god was concerned he took no 11 lerest lorest in the affairs of the children of meu men and this was the conclusion to whit the whole ril rii religious 00 us world had come that god had withdrawn himself f from rom communicating with ills liis children that ile he had bad revealed ills lils mind and will as at is recorded in the bible and that therefore the canon of scriptures was f ull full and there ther was ewas no longer any feces necessity kity for further light or knowledge from him this was produced us as an argument against the elders eiders of this church when they commenced to teach the doctrine of new revelation when they went weilt forth proclaiming unto the inhabitants of tile the earth that god had spoken that the silence between heaven and earth had been broken that angels had bad descended from heaven once more and communicated gods will unto man mail that the holy ghost had been poured out according to the ancient promise that the church had been organized according to the ancient pattern and that the gifts had been restored as they existed in former times the argument that was used ag against ainest these testimonies was this that for nearly 1800 years or thereabouts there had been no communication of this cham chan character eter there had been no heavenly visitations prophets had not been known among men since tile the days of the apostles and therefore this tills being the case it was an evidence they con contended that it was not gods des design gil that there should be any of those gifts gifis and blessings and that that condition of f affairs which existed or which they 0 declared existed was the tile condition that god designed should exist and should continue to exist until tile the end of time now the world in this way tool took advantage of its own wrong and sought to justify itself by that which had been brought to 0 pass by its own de actions tiong at to god that which was traceable to man and which was the result of mans conduct for the unbroken silence which reigned between heaven and earth was ni not because god preferred to nave that condition of affairs exist but was the result of mans own actions god had sent messengers ile he had sent ills his only begotten soil and had given unto him MIS uis his gospel to declare unto the inhabitants of the earth and after a short residence among them they slew him they would not have him or ills his teachings and they were determined that ile he should nave have no place among them theiu not content with slaying him they continued the warfare against alid organization that ile he established upon the carthal earth at that time until they tiley slew every man whom ile he ld had chosen that is they either slew them or drove them from their midst the result was that the earth was r stained stain C d with the blood of the son of god and of ills his chosen apostles and prophets no one could live among the inhabitants of the earth at that time etrue who professed to have any revelation from god or to be a divine messenger for if he made such a proclamation and it wa was s in truth the whole power of satan manifested through the inhabitants of the earth was hurled against him and he was either slain or compelled to nee flee this being the case is it any wonder that there should be no voice of revelation that god should leave ills his children to themselves I 1 will tell you how I 1 feel about my family if I 1 had children that were determined not to listen to in my counsel nor to obey that which I 1 them but should treat my instructions with contempt I 1 would say to them you can go your own way you and I 1 have chosen different paths you have chosen choff n one nath path ath and I 1 have chosen another NOW if f you and I 1 go together you will have to 0 go with me and not I 1 with you and if I 1 you yon dont do that we separate you ou take ake your path and I 1 take mine 22 jl and d it t seems as though the almighty had taken gaken faken that course with his child children ren they had slain all ills lils chosen people and had left none of them upon the tile earth they had hunted them persecuted them and slain them until there was none left and the authority which god had bestowed upon men through ills his only begotten son had fled that is the men who held heid it had llad been exterminated what then why said lie he seemingly that is we may judge so by the result you have chosen this course you have slain my chosen apostles and servants and now I 1 will withdraw myself from you and leave you to yourselves and for isoo 1800 years or nearly that probably 1600 1000 or 1700 at least so far as that continent was concerned there bad been no man left upon the earth who held the priesthood that we know anything about jf if there are any among the children of men who held it they areail are arc in some retired place inaccessible to the wicked when the set time irad collie conle for god to reestablish establish re ills his church and to bring to pass the f fulfilment fulfillment of that which effi had been spoken by the mouths of the prophets ile he came himself the first account we have of the visitation of divine beings iu in thiis dispensation pensa tion is the account that is gavol to us by the prophet joseph smith himself concerning the visit of the I 1 father and the bon there had been men doubtless many men in thu tho th varl vari 1 ous ages of the world who had light and who had a degree of th the spirit eSpirit of god I 1 believe myself that maligin med whom the christians deride and call a false prophet and stigmatize with a great many epithets I 1 believe that he was a man anian raised up by theli the all ail ali mighty and inspired to a certain extent by him im to affect the which lw hu did in his land and in the nation notion luu quy hut lut 1 rounding founding ile he at attacked tacked 1 latry matry aud au 1 l great and crow lilii liea lica that there is buto but boie ie god ile he t taught aught that idea to his people and antt reclaimed them from polytheism and ind und from froin the tite heathenish practices into which they had haq alien ailen believe many men were inspired inspired who lived after him and before or him who nevertheless did not have the holy priesthood but but were led by the spirit of god to strive for a better condition of affairs andio and to live a purer and higher life tharl thail those by whom they were surrounded were living but while this was the case it was the spirit of god that did it iti we have no account no authenticated account at leaston iea lea of angels coming from froin heaven or of the father manifesting himself unto the childr enof men and we have no account of the priesthood being restored in fact there is every reason to believe it never was restored after etwas it was withdrawn the I 1 first that we knew concerning concertin god M was as through h the testimony of the pr prophet PI let joseph josek even the personality of god 0 d was doubted the traditions of men were so false res respecting acting god that the idea of a had faded from cheso the so called christian mind though jesus had appeared on tile the earth as ae a isoif age having a body parts and passions and declared himself to be the ras gas passions e son of god and the apostles de cidred declared him t to 6 abdin be in the express cepress image of ills his eather rather notwithstanding that fact and that the record bore ample testimony to it so long iong llad been tit silence that had existed between god and man that the very conception of the nature of god lod iod that is of III lii llis characteristic shad had entirely n faded laded from the human mind and anil ile he was deemed to be something other than ile he is the common secta sectarian riall idea was that ills his center was nowhere andalis circumference was everywhere there was no man scarcely upon the earth that had a true conception of god the tho densest ignorance prevailed and even ministers of religion could could not conceive of the true idea and there was mystery associated with what is called the trinity that is with the father the son and the holy ghost but all this was swept away i in n one moment by tile the ap appearance baranc of f the almighty himself by y the appearance of G god 0 the father and ills his SonJe son jesus Aus ehrnst christ h ast to the noy pot joseph as he kneeled in the forest lorest beseeching god for knowledge concerning him jilin and concerning the gospel of salvation in one moment all this darkness disappeared and once more lnore there wasa was a rilau lilau found on the earth embodied ili in the fhe flesh who had seen G god od who had seen secil jesus and who could coula dc describe the personality personality of both faith was vas again restored to 0 the earth the i true faith falth and the true knowledge con cernilli nili our creator our eat Fat eather father fier fler the being from whence we de denive derive rive our origin this revelation dissipated all misconceptions and all false faise ideas and removed the uncertainty that had hid existed respecting these matters the father came accompanied by the son thus showing that there were two personages of the godhead two presiding p personages whom we worship and to whom we WC look the one the father and the other the son joseph saw that the father had a form that he had a head that ile he had arms that he lle had limbs that ile he had feet that ile he had a face and a tongue with which to express ills his thoughts for he lle said unto joeph Joc joe joceph ph this is my beloved son pointing to the son hear him now kow it was meant that this knowledge should be restored firstos first of all it seems so at least from the fact that god himself came it seems that this knowledge had to be restored as the basis for all true faith to be built upon there can be bd no faith that is not built bulit upon a true conception of god our father therefore before defore ei even angels came ile he came himself accompanied by ills his son and reve Teve revealed aled himself once more to man upon the earth As I 1 have said the set time had come the instrument had been born the instrument ment that had been selected doubtless as much as the son of god had been selected to accomplish ills liis mission that is he had also been selected from before the foundation of the world to come and be the instrument in the hands of god to ag again aln ain lay the foundation of ills his church upon the earth that instrument had been born bom and the set time tinne had come for the establishment of the work of the lord joseph smith had |