| Show ID I 1 S 0 0 TF S smi ssi M ily nr lun ONE ORSON F DELIVERED ji in the tab er f nacie made salt lake MY city a sundial afternoon may 10 1885 reported ily liy jomn JOHN IRVINE I 1 IN rising before you this afternoon my bretl brethren tren iren and sisters I 1 place myself in tae the lands bands of the lord and I 1 desire according cordi cording ilg to the strength lie ile will give lve ive me and the faith which may be exercised in my behalf to present some thou thoughts lits before us the reflection upon which may benefit us at this time we ve are as a people passing t through brou 11 h cire birc ni stances instances which are calculated to make malc those of sober minds meditative ano and thoughtful and doubtless thesues the question is being asked in the heans hearts of many latter day saints what will be ta tai outcome of the situation in which AV now find ourselves there are perhaps some fluttering flutter ings s of the heart som sow trembling of the hands some fal layering of the spirit though thought I 1 hope aad aud bileve alieve that this feeling Is not universal v asal nor even general anion anlon among I 1 those who arc called latter day saints it if we W ft vore vere tre lre t rc not assured that we are in the performance 1 of gods work and that T lie lle i e aas chosen us as instruments of ills his iv N ill lit the means whereby lie he will accomplish com that which lie he nas has set lits his hand to do there thera mi might ht be some reason for some justification of the feeling to dialeti I 1 refer but the latter day saints samis are not engaged in their own work they are not occupied in build ing in ap up themselves the stand they nave have taken has not been the result of their selfish desires and is not the expression of their personal views independent of a higher power they have hase dt ot E en n selected f from rom the worlds people f tor for or the accomplishment of a mission which has as its object the blessing of atie tae numan human family and it is the consciousness cious ness of the rectitude of their intentions tent ions of their desires to serve him who has chosen them and to administer to the happiness of their fellow creatures that buoys them UD up to the performance of those duties in the tile discharge of which they are prepared to meet tiie the scorn the wrath and tile the opposition pos llon lion of the world it is no new thing for this people to be placed in such circumstances it is odly only one more link in the chain of events one incident among many which are sprinkled thickly through thelt their history f from roin the time the prophet joseph wd was s calle calie called d of god and received revelations to organize upon the barthin earth in this the nineteenth century the church of jesus christ it was revealed to him at tae first visit of the angel moroni lorenl to him nim na that he must expect the ane opposition of tae lae world lie he was told that his name should be had for good and evil ta to out all nations and especially for all jil evil among the unconverted portions of the tile human race so that he was prepared at the tile very outset of his career for the trials and tribulations through which he passed to the day when he was martyred marty red for the yord word vord of god and the testimony of jesus he prepared the minds and god prepared the minds of those who followed in his footsteps those who received his testimony who took up the cross to follow tae atie lord jesus christ through goodard good and ev evil 11 report for the fate which has pursued flem in fulfilment fulfillment of prophecy ancient and modern that at all ail who live godly lives ilves in christ jusus shall suffer hersl persecution cution those who i are unacquainted quain ted with this people therefore need not imagine that the circumstance cum stance in which we now are placed are a surprise we have looked for it and we look for more until every jot and tittle of gods word shall be fulfilled which he has sworn should be ful illch though the heavens and the earth should pass away the latter da day saints look upon life as a season of trial as a probation which the souls of men may be auriti purified ed may receive recelle e that training and discipline which can only be acquired by passing through troublous expert e caces thau that they them may shine with lustre in the eyes of god that they maybe may be numo numbered ered cred among ills his jewels in the day when he will come to gather them and take tako them unto himself the saints have llave always taken this stoical view of t we do not regard it 11 as a playground ground or holiday but as a school in in which e are engaged in securing an td mation matlon that will prepare and ad fil fit t us f ajr r the presence of our father and god placed us here we are absent from our homes we have left our mather kather and mother in heaven left leit the arta associations of our existence bc be nind aind us self seif exiled in obedience to the w j of god to pass through this tj probation which he has ordained lor tor maus mans purification and enlighten 0 ia o nt we do not believe that we have tov io lov time tine to idle away that we are arc iv re to play tru truant alit allt to chase the delus i of pleasure to en engage awe age in i i ty y at or in i u wickedness to dabble in il those 0 s e loo ugo too which will lead us away from to tai object and pur purpose lioe looe of our earthly t ince tace t aee ace but that we should stead fa fbi ly 1 v devote desote our lives our time our taint our opportunities wherever nui aul AU 1 whatever they maybe max may be to acquiring iring tnt thu reat lessons which we came caroe here to t tac ai am a we regard this life as but a ili cil the ocean of eternal duration ao beath simply as an incidents inc mc identa passing Iro trombone mione sphere of existence to another I 1 have referred to our eternal paren 1 tage and existence before we set foot foitl upon this world this is a part of tha afon e elision igdon of the saints that they had bad a pre existence iu in the pre pue presence gonce gence ot of their creator that they stood as spirits counterparts of the tabernacles ill in which they now are arc clothed m tile tuc pies ence ot of god in the morning of his spiritual creation for we aru nat the works of god are firstly spiritual and then temporal and on tile the earth firstly temporal and then taen spiritual we believe the earth itself hada had A spiritual existence before it took pon apon itself the temporal body that the spirits of men and women the world v orld orid over were created in the sprit before they were created temporally that the beasts of the field the fowls of the theair air the fishes of the sea a and nd every f form 0 rin of animal and Tege vegetable table tabie life were created in a similar manner that all men passed through a certain trial or probation before they took their places here liere upon the earth and proved all who have been permitted to nave have na e an existence in mortality cacir worthiness to stand here created IQ in the image of god being given tile the opportunity to pass through this condition that by faithfulness and a display of integrity to god and to the principles ol 01 truth the they might rise to endless exaltation hereafter return to the glorious state they left attain to more than tile tiie they laft if it 1 for having descended like the their ir savior v lor tor below all things they bould natu naturally rally raily rise above all things according to the tile humility and faithfulness which they manifest here to emoy enjoy eternally eter nally the presence of god and the lamb the tile whole course of llie lilu is a time of trial there will never come a time when man will not have his and the privilege of choosing for himself between good and evil ve we read and believe that there was a time of testing in our spiritual spir estate when all men were required to give a proof of their worthiness to descend to this earth eaith aud take upon themselves mortality morta moita lity for tor a wise and glorious ultimate purpose when the earth was rolled into existence as a temporal lenro oral orai body or before it had a temporal body there was a council held in heaven and the plan was discussed and considered whereby men 11 might billit mount unto the exaltation to wh which ichie we now aspire were two candidates put forward at that council for the onice office of savior of the world i one presented himself and said that ile he was willing to die that all men might live to descend below all things as to endure the scorn the wrath and the tribulation which ile he foresaw fore saw and which the they r who were with him foresaw would would be the fate of those who endeavored to stand by principle and to establish truth and righteousness aness on the earth he said ile he was ivas willing to die for the sake of establishing the truth that whosoever should believe on him and do the works that ile he commanded should not eternally perish but should rise to life everlasting after their bodies had moul dered in the grave and should be resurrected bv the power of god lie he said aurther more that ile he proposed to allow men their agency the privilege of choos choosing between right and wrong the privilege vile slie of acknowledging him as their Is sav lor ion or the privilege of rejecting him nim the privilege of obeying his laws lawi which he tie would lay down for their guidance or of rejecting and despising them that they might receive the reward of their acts whether they were good or whether they were wire evil lie he did not oser oner to save man in his sins but to save hini him from his sins ile he proposed it should be an individual work thal thai man should not lie supinely upon his back while the work which gave him salvation was wrought out by another that men should earn what they received and aud receive that which they earned not one jot or tittle more or less there was another candidate who seemed to 0 believe that he had a superior plan for he proposed to save all men that not one soul should be lost and how was he to accomplish this by depriving man of his agency b taking away that liberty of thought that liberty of action which is tue inestimable privilege of freemen here upon the earth ile he in other words would compel men to be saved he would drive them into heaven he would coerce them thinking that quantity irrespective spec tive of quality wa was what was desired and that if he saved all men his work would be more grand and comprehensive than that of the tile one who proposed to save man according to his merits the plan of the second was rejected for the wisdom of the gods prevailed they foresaw that it was not feasible fea feas loie iole that it would be impossible to save man in his sins that the presence of god being a pure presence iniquity could not ue sheltered shelt bhelt ered there could not bo be taken openly or surreptitiously into ills his kingdom for the glory of god would consume it as chaff in a furnace furn furu ace it was foreseen that the plan pian which was advocated bv by lucifer son of the morning a 13 son of god who offered himself as the savior of the world and who it seems ought to have had morle lnore wisdom was way cable it was ivas known that men could not be force forcel I tole to jie lie saved that they could not receive re ene that khat rinch winch illert they had not meri mini fed yd led tha exaltation ill in the presence of god meant the capacity to receive of lil his s fullness and that I 1 if ff man obtained a fullness his fullness fulem ss be according to capacity or the size of his s oil they who were broader more widely expanded more grand in their natures by reason remon of the tile expanding process of obedience to the principles of righteousness and by humility on earth would receive a correspondingly despondingly ly larger degree and heavier weight ot glory while those who shirked their duties and anti responsibilities through ii fear of man or personal disinclination to endure the trials of this life would receive simply what they earned and not having developed their soul to the gaine same extent could ilot obtain the tile aine tanie t devree degree e of glory it would overpower baelli they N would ouid be unable to stand up under it consequently the plan of the first candidate was chosen and lie ile was ordained as the savior of oi the world to de decena bend to this earth in the meridian of time to establish the gospel of salvation to buildup build up a church which should be in constant and immediate communication muni mani cation catlon with the heavens whose oil leers should possess the priesthood should enoy enjoy tue powers of the holy ghost and distribute them to those who would receive their testimony and be willing willingto to follow them this created a cont cout controvert roversi in the eternal world aadne and we are told tolf that Ln lucifer cifer elfer who was rejected f from roin ruin the candidacy of the ite ile deemer hip rebelled against god the condition which he made when he offered to be the savior was that god his father should descend from ills his throne a and d allow him to sit there in ills his stealy steady stead while the other whom on earth we call jesus christ said lie he would do all and give the glory to the father to whom it belon belonged ed these were the plans that were iut put put forward and the plan of the first one was accepted and established and the other was rejected because it was found to be infeasible impracticable and wicked but hut it seems there were a gre t many of our brethren and sisters for they were our brethren and sisters in the spirit who thought that the plan of lut lur inciter iter iten lter was glorious for it would not make them personally accountable they could do as they elected take whatever course they pleased and they would be saved whether they were worthy or unworthy they sided with lucifer they raised tile the standard of rebellion they hounded bounded the tocsin docs m of war and the battle which ensued was between a third of tiie the spiritual population of heaven who chose lucifer fr as their leader and the powers that remained true and steadfast basing themselves upon principle upon iraln truth anti and righteousness and being willing to stand or tall on the issue we are f urther further taught that those who remained tl no to their father in heaven or who fo to lift up their arms against him were civen the privilege of ot descending to the earth and taking upon mortal bodies wherever we find the human race therefore according to this teaching they are childred child chil dreu drea re a of god who were either valiant in fighting for him at that day and winning the victory over those who rebelled against him or who at least refrained from joining the other side there were no doubt as we are taught degrees of faithfulness manifested ested sume isome perhaps remained inactive through a leeling of fear sitting upon the fence as we term it here shaking hands with both sides endeavoring t to carry water on both shoulders being willing to join either side whichever side was victorious too fearful and cowardly to risk their personal interests upon the outcome of the conflict which was taken place it is evident that the trial which we and all men passed assed tb through in that preexistent life fife life ilfe was diff different erent in its nature to tint that which we are now passing through for at that time we could behold tiie tile face of god we were out from llis his pre presence bence we could feel his power we vve could behold his glory and the choice which we were then required to make was a choice of the eye a choice of sight bight a choice of apprehension sion slon comparatively f ull full to what it is in this life ilfe ill in other words it did not require the same amount of faith which men must manifest in the flesh |
