| Show D T exe 0 a MR BY NICHOLSON ai S i dzurik Salt Lake assembly H nail eail all gil sunday afternoon march 1 ath 1 1884 fela feia I 1 I 1 REPORTED BY jomn who christ Is rne existence mth plan of redemption election and pre destina deatina 11 mans ns for his acts effect of divine foreknowledge the ten ien wai xai economy of gad goethe the gath ering cang jot that thag jews coming of christ comprehensiveness of the tho gospel the finished work of Christ Necessity of gods gifts to the church degrees of 0 diry alry gry evidences of I 1 power in the gospel lul luk t nAV Ebden requested to address this congregation I 1 trust that in respond ing to td the call I 1 shall be blessed with a portion or t conof of the holy spirit without which velch the preaching of the elders elder is devoid of profit to this end I 1 hope to have haye the sympathy and faith of this large assemblage and if I 1 lam iam am tardy in concentrating my ideas on any particular point I 1 hope that you will eker exercise patience and charity with regard to my position fop for it Is sometimes exceedingly cee difficult unless a large portion of the spirit rests down upon a speaker to tad lad address dress a large uon like this to gath gather er in the wanderings of the mind so as to concentrate it upon things that are profitable the last hymn that was sung was in reference to the greatest personage with the exception of the tha eternal father that ever visited the earth and certainly the greatest that ever passed pawed through g h a aortal por bation in this sphere sphar jesus once of humble birth if we are asked the question who jesus christ is we we he Is the son of god and the second person in irl the godhead or the trinity this however is a bare fact in this dispensation pensa tion a flood of light has been let sensation pensa in n regarding this great personage and who he Is through the instrumentality of the tha prophet joseph the revered fo founder tinder of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints one of his greatest prophets as assumed by the latter lattur day saints there is a great deal in the revelations given through joseph smith in reference to the character of our savior showing who and what he Is in detail to a large extent Amon gother kother things that have been beed revealed in this dispensation revealed anew because it ft was understood in other dispensations of gods god revealed will to mali man prior to this one is the fact that man had an existence in the spirit before taking upon himself mort mortality allty that lie be lived as a spiritual entity organized in its completeness 1 in I th the tha form of his mortality or his in mortal coil asit as it Is sometimes called TI through jr jo joseph e h smith has come to us th the ough information tip n regarding not only the source of ki stencel but its object why we have come here and why we suffer the ills that are incidental to d a Ilfe life oll orithia orn oni this planet or to the mortal state this condition Is one of trial triai tria and probation and was understood by us before we came bame here it is stated I 1 believe in the chapter of the revelations given through the apostle called st john upon the isle of patmos that there was war among the who dwelt there and that the dragon or the son of perdition rebelled against the authority of him who sits upon the throne and Is the supreme ruler and in that rebellion drew with him a third part of the heavenly hosts when the dragon drago orthe northe son of perdition with those who were his kindred spirits were cast out of heaven and sent to the earth through joseph smith has come information as to some of the causes that led to that conflict or therea ding cause this earth has been created as a dwelling place first temporal alid arid and finally as an eternal dwelling place for those spirits of which goals godas the father for he according to the scriptures Is 19 the father of the spirits of all flesh when the earth was completed for this specific purpose as understood the plan of redemption demp tion was formulated and decided upon by the gods in eternity by the that were there and according to the revelation revelations sf we were among those there was was ond one oue as stated in the revelations through the prophet who looked like unto the son of man who proposed to be the sacrifice to be the redeemer of the world and its inhabitant inhabitants s and he proposed to the father that he tle should send him and to the father be the honor and the glory there was another the son of the morning lucifer who made a proposition to be sent also and he s stated to the father give me thy glory r and he proposed to save the human family jamily or save those spirits who are coming and erna cling upon this earth so that no one should be lost there is a principle exhibited in these two propositions the first was to save man from his sins bins and to give the glory to the father the second was to sav save e mankind in their sins or in bilier words to deprive man of his free agency which is an eternal law established by our heavenly fathe father r in regard rd wall wali to all ali the which he pad has created the proposition of the first was accepted ana and he was proclaimed the redeemer of the world hence he hd Is called in the revelation given throne 1 john the taj isle of pat mos the lamb that was slain from be ore the foundation of the world ile he was slain from bea before ore the foundation f oun dation of the world in theory tor forit for it was before its foundations were laid or at the time the scheme of salvation was formed and ills his proposition to come and satisfy f the law by having his blood shed for fo Is his brethren that that ilat took place in consequence of the rejection of the proposition of the other he rebelled against the authority of heaven and was cast out of heaven together with those who vent ment vent with him and sustained him in his rebellion and they were cast down dow i to the earth an and d for what purpose having chosen evil inthe in the agency which they held heid held heid before the world was peopled they were sent seeing see ln that their pursuit upon the earth those spirits who were deprived ot of the privilege of upon the earth because of their disobedience bed bedi lence ence and rebellion to t tempt m t the sons and daughters ot of men Ts and that those who were willing rather to listen to those pov poi of darkness than the powers of light which god s should hould also aiso send them should so soy exercise their agen agency cyIn in choosing the good or the evil as they might elect this then gives us an idea who this jesus of lowly birth Is and the character of his mission which is to redeem the earth and its inhabitants all except those who shall be the sons of perdition those who become a law to themselves and will not be governed b by any law or any truth these things ibave nave been revealed through the modern prophet and not ony only kas has has this been revealed but a great many stumbling blocks that have been in the pathway of people in regard to religion have been removed through the agency of the great prophet of the century who established this work there are many things which when the mind is beclouded clouded be with error and there is no vision cannot be understood for as the anci ancl ancient ent prophet has said where re no vision Is the people perish that is they perish for the bread of life they perish for the word of the lord for instance much speculation is indulged in and there ther e are various theories in the world or the religious part of it in reference to what is called election and predestination here is a key that opens up this principle to our gaze when our minds are lit up with the spirit of inspiration jesus christ was elected to be the savior of the world and on what principle was he elected electea ile he was elected so we are informed wormed because he loved lovea righteousness and hated iniquity from the beginning and was the first born of the father this I 1 say opens up a key to this principle An ciple for if U he was elected on effs this ground round for a specific purpose so arang grand and glorious a purpose as the redemption of this eart earth h and its people people then every other personage or intelligence I 1 antelli e nce nee called to any work of a conspicuous character on the earth is elected on the same ground and on the same principle because of their righteousness and because of their adaptability to the w work ork thatis that is committed into their hands hence you w will I 1 lind in the scripture in the chapter of jeremiah that jesus ch christ st was not the oni only onix one that was elected in the courts 0 of heaven to operate for the salvation of the human we are told that god speaking through the prophet I 1 have just named informs him that before he was formed in the flesh at all and before ile he was brought forth into the world ile he was selected to be a prophet to be one of gods ministers to have the authority to speak and to act I 1 in n his name and so it has been with all men who are selected they are elected to this purpose because of their good works before they came here in the spirit world because they were always valiant for the truth and loved righteousness and hated iniquity and possessed oss essed the requisite qualifications lon ion fon for the work that might be committed to them to accomplish for there is an eternal law of adaptability or fitness that no doubt our heavenly father acts upon in his ills economy in regard to manipulating the affairs of his children upon the earth regarding garding Ee the agency of mankind in the coming here this appears to have been understood amongst the jews in their day when they existed as a nationality before they were scattered among the nations As for instance this congregation will perhaps recollect the incident of jesus christ when he ministered in the flesh healin healing a man who was blind from his birth and the jews who always sought toi tol entrap the savior by asking him questions for the purpose ot 01 causing causin him to commit himself himself in some al direction or other asked him this question regarding this blind man who was healed who did this sin this man or his parents that lie he was born blind now this presupposes pre pro supposes the possibility of this man halu hain having been the cause of this misfortune by some act committed in the spirit and also that there was an understanding that sin could be committed before men were born into the world but the savior dispossessed their minds of this idea in this particular instance and said neither but that hat god might be glorified and god was glorified by the man iuan belne being born blind kifor vitor upon him the savi savl savior or performed or a miracle that was ma marvelous ve it ous in the eyes of the diviki peo people e and was an indication of the divina character of his mission and the divine character of the power which he held because he could say to the blind those who were unable to see sec from their birth receive thy sight and they received their sight and alid even on one occasion so great was the power of the almighty h manifested through jesus christ that he raised the dead dean I and ind nd caused lazarus to come forth f from roin his grave after his spirit had bad taken its flight from its earthly tabernacle so also in relation to arede predestination tina which is a great mystery in the world but which is simpli simplified flea by the revelations iven given through the prophet joseph smith it is stated in the ath chapter ot of the romans and the verse for whom ile he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of ills his son that he might be the firstborn first born among many brethren jesus christ was predestined elected to be the savior of the world borla ile he was to be like unto ills his father and to possess all things that lits liis father possesses ardd anid to be clothed with the same glory jesus christ being the first firstborn born among many brethren I 1 there are others foreknown b by god on the same principle that carist christ was foreknown predestined to I 1 the same glory to the same exaltation to the same bright destiny objections are sometimes brou brought gi it up in regard to this theory ot of election and predestination re destination or that it was ordained gained that jesus christ should come in the meridian of time and have ills his blood shed for the sins of humanity sometimes it is brought up thatis it was rearranged prearranged and there was no help for ti t then why is judas condemned for th the e part that he retook betook took in bringing about H his is crucifixion the explanation appears clear to me in this matter judas was not deprived of his bis agency he was cilos chosen as one ono of the twelve apostles of the lamb he possessed within his organization all an the powers and qualifications of every other othe r intelli intelligent ent man maii that comes to the earth with the power of self control jesus christ was surrounded by other ether characters he was surrounded by other eleven for instance why did they not betray him why we s sit it that they would not sell their master and take his blood upon their hands simply because they used their agency for righteousness while judas being a free agent also took the other course and sold the savior for a few pieces of silver and no power on earth nor any power anywhere compelled him to perform that act it was all his own free rree will it was his free volition and therefore he merited the condemnation which such an act brings because of his choosing it it was a murder that he committed and the consequence likewise fell upon the nation where jesus was druel crucified fled why because no matter whether it was necessary that jesus christs blood should be shed it does not excuse the persons who will use their powers and their intelligence and their ability to accomplish the death of any being be it the savior or an any other only as it Is done accord according ln t to law iv and consequently the results came down aown upon the jewish nation because they endorsed the death of 01 christ chris they h mt endorsed the murder of the savior i 0 r and isaid gald gaid his blood be upon us and upon our children they suffered th aln the consequences because they consented to the act no matter how much good may be accomplished by an incident or through even the commission of a crime it does not alter the consequences of the deed in relation to the parties that perform it because when they perform that act it Is not for the purpose of ef doing good b but ut to deprive a being of life and therefore having used their agency for this purpose they are under condemnation it has been said also that god knows all from the be beginning inning to the end and that he beholds bedol s by his bas foreknowledge the most detailed acts committed by his child renand renaud the minutest thoughts that pass through their minds this is a stumbling block in the way to some and they think that this foreknowledge would destroy the agency of mankind how would this det destruction ruction be brought about here liere Is a congregation before me and around me who are here in probation suppose that an individual in this assemblage sem blage should have the power given him to understand your lives in every detail from the beginning to the end in regard to your course in this life how bow amneh would that deprive y you 9 U of your agency not a particle the possession of that khow knowledge lede by any intelligence would not indence influence you on at all you would be just as iree free free to act as you vou you von are now and it should make no difference to the ike situation it is evident that so far as the general design is concerned all things are known to our heavenly r father from the be beginning inning luning to the |
