| Show 3 X I 1 S 0 0 TT R P S E M BY PRESIDENT lili JOHN TIM lim DELIVERED DELIVER 91 in the iasi lAsi embly hail hall salts sam lake city february 1882 IMPORTED REPORTED BY GM geog 7 GIBBS IT is well sometimes for us to reflect upon the position we occupy before god it Is well for tor us to understand the relation we sustain to each other it is well for us to comprehend the relation that we sustain to the church and kingdom of god godit it is also well for us to know the position that we occupy in relation to the world in which we live As intelli intelligent ent beings it is for us to comprehend all truar truth so far as we are capable of understanding it the ne gospel Is spoken of as being light and dyher it was introduced oy our lurd and savior jesus christ i it was then said that light had come into the world but while light had come into the world there was a certain class of people that loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil jesus in alluding to himself said I 1 am the true light and ile he Is spoken of as being the light that enlightens every man that cometh into the world iv orld orid and a again ain aan it is said of him the light chineth in darkness but the darkness comprehend eth it not there are many very sayings on the same subject that afford f food abd for thought and reflection the gosper of the son of oj god has always been obnoxious to a great portion of the human f family amily in it there is too much light too much truth too much intelligence for the bulk of mankind its principles are too p pure too noble nobie too e elevating to accord with the general feel feelings of humanity and with that spirit t that lat proceeds from the powers of barki darkness ess and which rules in the thee midst of the children children of disobedience and hence people generally have been opposed to it and they are opposed to it today to day reuple people oppose they do not com comprehend it they speak against it but til they ey speak of t that at which they know not of and while they think we are superstitious and ignorant we know that they are there is no doubt on that question we know that they understand neither what they say nor whereof they affirm 11 therefore tous to us they are objects of commiseration tio n moie moi e than anything else talk of christianity and of the gospel of the son of god in all ane ages of the wor world ad whenever an and wherever it was proclaimed I 1 there was a 06 spirit of hostility and antagonism manifested towards it from the very first we may go back as far as the days of cain we read that adam had two sons named cain and abel cain lent himself to the enemy of all righteousness and became what Is termed in scripture the father of lies he rebelled against god and rebelled against his father I 1 and instigated by the spirit of enmity which proceeds proceeds from the evil one he k killed ed his brother these things are not always understood nor the reasons for them but it has been revealed unto us that cain loved satan more than he loved god and that he placed himself under his influence and when cain and abel offered up their sacrifice cain offered his at the instigation of the devil and his sacrifice of course was not accepted goj god god knew his heart and the feelings by which he was actuated and therefore rejected his offering then came lucifer the devil and says to cain 1 I told you the lord would treat you wrong wro ngHe ile lle has kas treated me wrong and he instigated him to kill his brother which he did and why because his brother believed in god and obeyed god and because he believed in the atonement of the lord jesus christ which had been made known to them because he believed these principles and because satan was opposed to them he instigated cain to kill his brother it looked a rather awkward thing for fr the world under these circumstances As we nye read it there were two sons one of them righteous the other wicked the wicked killed the righteous and the world was left under these influences to a certain extent but then adam had other sons and other progeny and lie he himself was there and te he believed in god and blessed god for having revealed the savior and the plan by which he and his children were to be redeemed from the fallt falit fall fali which he had been an active participator in brin bridgina bring alna gina inc ind about which probably was all I 1 right that it should be brought about and from that time the spirit of antagonism existed between the two principles the power ower of god and the power of the ax adversary ver sary it had commenced in fact bea before ore that time lucifer and those that were associated with him were cast out of heaven because they rebelled against god their heavenly eather father they were not willing that ile he should carry out the plan of redemption and salvation which he had devised before the world was and having been cast out of heaven he with of wrath and of hosti hostility lit against the purposes e S and dei det signs 0 of I 1 the almighty in r regard to th the salvation and exaltation of the human family and this spirit continues to g grow now row and extend and the descendants of cain multiplied led as did the other descendants ants of adam by and by another seed was raised up to adam namely seth to stand in the place of abel for god said eve hath appointed for me another seed in stead of abel whom cain slew and he tie became the representative of god as adam was the representative oi of god lie he took abels place as the representative of god and the laws of god and he had revelation and the priesthood and the gospel and was acquainted with the principles of of truth finally there was a number of prominent men of whom we read but of whom a very short ace junt Is given no matter it is not necessary to enter into details on these subjects but I 1 wish to touch upon some of the leading points eints thereof alter atter alter a while wickedness had spread very extensively upon the face of the earth so much so that we read that the thou thoughts ats of men were evil and that continually and it became inexpedient in the lord to permit the people to I 1 live lye to perpetuate their corruptions corrupt ions and in camies and therefore god decreed that he would cut them then off from the face of the earth that they should not have the power to perpetuate their species and thus become the f fathers lathers and mothers of lives and be the media through which the intelligent pure spirits that existed in the eternal world should receive bodies or tabernacles they were to be deprived of that privilege but before this was done the lord sent messengers among the people proclaiming clai cial mingto to them what was about to befall them if they did not repent and turn f from rom their evil ways enoch was one of these he stood at the head of that dispensation ile he as we are doing ent sent out missionaries among the people who had bad become very numerous their mission was to call upon the people to repent and to obey the gospel and to believe in the son of god and to obey his ills law and to tell them that god had prepared a scourge for those who would not repent that they would be destroyed from off the face of the earth by a flood 1 and the people thus destroyed destroy ed should should be cast into prison a prison which god had prepared on purpose for them and when these inen men went to preach this doctrine many believed on them and they were gathered together as we are unto a place which they callea called zion and they were placed under the direction of the holy priesthood men who were inspired of god with whom ile he communicated communicate dand and whom he taught in all the principles pertaining to me gospel of the son of god and they continued in this condition for a length of time and as they gathered out from dipong the people the spirit of god was withdrawn frok frog from among the people and they became exceedingly cee angry angry at enoch and angry at those who preached the gospel altot to them em and the nature of menis ments men Is I 1 just about the same now as then they spoke all manner of evil against the servants of god who ministered among them they rejected their testimony and not only that but like some of the very pious people in our day do towards us they thought it would be doing god service to sweep these men off the face of the earth and they thought go so in they gathered boget together er their armies for that purpose the saints were under the immediate direction and guidance of the lord and were therefore t governed by revelation and ee the power and spirit of the lord rested upon enoch and be he rose up and prophesied and told the wicked of the fate that awaited them and the power of god rested upon him in a marvelous manner so much so that tae mountains trembled and the earth shook and the people were afraid and fled tied away away from his presence berc bere because ause they could not endure it Their armies were scattered and they failed to accomplish com that which they in their thein wickedness had designed to do but still the same spirit that animated them continued to grow and increase and finally atter alter the ne saints of that day had become sufficiently taught they and their city that Is the great majority of them and their city ascended up to heaven we are told iu in thestil the scripture ture which is a meagre account of of it that enoch was not for god took him anci and we may add enochs city and enochs people were not for god took them they were translated the principle of translation was a principle that at that time existed in the church and is one of the principles of the copeland Gop Gosp eland which will exist in the last days many of those that were aed to bear testimony to the truths taught by their predecessors and they themselves were caught up from time e to time according to certain revelations communicated through the prophet joseph smith the spirit of antagonism to the truths of god and to the order of god and to the law of gi god d and to the priesthood of god and the gospel of the son of god continued to exist by and by the flood came and the things spoken of by the men who had preached ct among them were f fulfilled uI tIlled and the people swept from the face fate of the earth they were shut up in prig prison in the prison house which had been prepared lor for them A few people were left eight only noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives one of the great evils that existed among the people was that the sons fons ot of god married the daughters of men or in other words many who were connected with the church mixed themselves up with those who were botand thus their hearts were drawn away from god and in the sight of god they were no better than those who rejected ills his servants and consequently the they peri feri perished hed with the disobedient and wilc wicked ked there Is something associated with these things that it maybe mas may be necessary to refer to it Is necessary there should be opposing principles light and darls daris darkness mess truth and error virtue and vice good and evil etc it Is necessary that man inan shoula should go through a state slate of probation and trial that be should have the opportunity of receiving or rejecting correct principles or the gospel of the son of god and it is a further farther development to us that it if men have not had this opportunity upon the earth they will still have it there is a further principle exhibited here in relation to this matter those very verv men who rejected the gospel I 1 in n their day were visited by jesus after lie was put to death in the flesh and was quickened by the spirit ile he went we are told and preached to those spirits in prison who had hart been disobedient in the days of noah and connected with that there is another principle it is to place all mankind on the same f footing bootin that all men of every age and nation may have the same ieee leee le ce and we are informed ther they th elwill will have and hence the gospel Js an everlasting goegl gospel the priesthood is an everlasting priesthood the work in which we are engaged commenced with our father in heaven it has been revealed from time to time to moan roan upon the earth and it will continue in all its power f ulness and glory llory in the eternal worlds until al all ali thins thin things s that god has designed pertaining to the welfare and exalt exaltation atlon of the human family will be accomplished in relation to these things 11 there are arc some remarkable passages passage contained in the bible for instance As the days of noe xoe wele eo so shall also the coining of the son of man be for as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and inking drinking di de mar arving and giving in marriage manja man arr ard ja until tae the ae day that lat soe noe oe reentered entered into the ark ank and knew not until the flood came and took them all away I 1 so shall also the coming of the son of man alan be is a very significant scripture and if correct is pregnant with the greatest consequences to the human family if not correct then everything every thin we believe in is a phantom and ou our r worship and religion are vain valti and not only ours but everybody alses but if such a personage as jesus existed and if ile he spoke those words ile he most assuredly the tru thana they will most assuredly be f fulfilled ul tilled now oaf in speaking of the jwo two J wo great principles Ves the tho two opposites it must needs oe e that there bo be opposition in all things that Is darkness as opposed to dolight light error ay as opposed to truth evil as opposed to good etc we are arc told by one of the old apostles that the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temper anczo mccand and the spirit of evil is envy ha hatred tre malace lying slandering etc we are told also la in the book of mormon the same things precisely whenever we see lying slandering enmity hatred malice we see the fruit of the tile spirit of darkness no matter hw pious the people are who profess these sentiments and who operate therein and this is carried out still f urther further in the revelations of john the lord through him says for without the city are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters idol aters and and whosoever loveth and mabeth a lie such characters have no place within but those who fear god and work righteousness who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb they will be introduced into the presence re s ence of god to participate with V him im in the glories there referred to hence while these things here upon t the he earth make mea men feel exceedingly unpleasant i exceedingly unhappy aua and uneasy when they get through and expect to get to heaven they will find tind themselves outside the city because the pure would not have hsuch society amon among them thein neither would they here it is necessary I 1 say that those print caples should exist in order to to try and prove them it was necessary that jesus should be tried in this way we are told that it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect suf ering fering 11 and again when john saw an lawi innumerable merable merabie company clothed clotted in white one was heard td to ask what are these which are arrayed in white ro robes besand and whence came they tile the answer was these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white inthe luthe in the blood of the lamb therefore are arc they ther they before the throne of god and serve him liim day and nl night ht in his ills temple tempie there thene Is something very interesting for or saints to reflect upon in relation to these matters and |
