| Show DISCOURSE BT my ELDER JOHN at t the lne forty crory fifth annual bonfer confers ence of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in the ne mew new W tabernacle salt lake city thursday morning april 8 1875 BY DAVID W EVANS 0 WE havo have met together C as Is our wont on this conference occasion to speak and to hear to deliberate to reflect and to teach principles and doctrines that are calculated to benefit and bless to comfort cheer and direct the saints of the most blost high here and throughout the world but in our meetings meeting sj and in our teachings and instructions we need today to day as much as we ever did to bo be under the guidance and direction of the almighty there Is no man living and there never was wai 4 a man living who was capable of tea teaching ching ebing the things of god only lm ai he was taught instructed and directed by the spirit of revelation proceeding I 1 roee roce eding from the almighty and then ther there eRre aro are no people competent to receive true intelligence and to form a correct judgment in relation to the sacred principles of eternal iffe life unless they are under the influence of the same spirit and hence speakers and hearers are all in the hands of the almighty I 1 I 1 we are met together for the purpose of to benefit each other old and young and the ge generation aeration that now lives the generations that have lived and those who will live hereafter for there is i something omet hing bing in the gospel of the son of god that is wide and expansive and that extends to all circumstances and situations in ilfe life it embraces the past the present and the future and in its principles we wo both as individual al und aud us Hs a community are immediately autere ted and so in fact are all the world if ir they chev could only cOmpre comprehend liend thu tho situation wo occupy it a peculiar position among the nations of the earth our oar faith nud aud its doctrines and principles are dit dif different orom from those of any other religious body in many particulars our prospects our hopes of th the e future and our ideas respecting mans pre present ent and past differ very materially from the ideas on tile the same subjects which are entertained by other oiher people we are not the originators of the peculiar ideas that we believe in or of the pec peculiar tillar doctrines which we inculcate we I 1 happen to live in an age of the world when in the economy of god certain principles have to be introduced for the accomplishment of his purposes as a part of th the e great gibat work he has been engaged in from frosa the time before the world was framed or the morning stars sa eang bang ng together for joy certain events have to be brought about certain circumstances have to transpire certain doctrines have to be made known that we may operate in our I 1 day dair with the almighty in the accomplishment of his designs the principles of salvation are not so narrow and contracted as some men suppose god is not contracted in his ideas feelings or general dealings with the human family the scriptures say that we are all his offspring no matter who we are or when or where we lived upon the earth god ia is the god and ana father of lot all ail flesh and consequently he feels interested in the welfare of all humanity no matter of what age clime nation or people and he has seen proper in the last days in which we live to reveal certain principles which were revealed in former ages to other peoples and un under der other circumstances and as it was mas in former days so in these he she has given these revelations to man for the tho accomplishment of his designs tipon upon the earth hence these those revelations are of great importance J and while we are called to take tako an a active dive alve part in bringing to pass cor tain events in the pro gramme of tho the almighty we are as much dependent upon him for guidance 3 sustenance intelligence and protection as any other people and before we get through we shall find out that it is not in man to direct his own steps we are all pf af us de dependent dependents i for all things upon our rea Tea keavenly heavenly venly father we are only an integral part of and are operating ill in and with others according to our intelligence telli gence in our sphere in the great plan which gou organized before the world was ail all and d in which all min mankind kind of all ages agles and nations are deeply autere interested we talk about the gospel of the j y y 8 icon son hon of god and there are many curious ideas and theories prevalent among ampong mankind in relation to it the gospel is not something new now or that never existed until jesus christ chrisi Chri acamo came upon the earth but it is an eternal principle and it has a friesth esth associated with like the gospel itself is without beginning ginn glnn ginning of days or end of years when god arg organized a n zed the world he had bad in his mind certain ideas and plans which ho he calculated to bring about in relation to the inhabitants who should live ripon upon it and the first great commandment that was given to them was to be fruitful multiply and to replenish the earth tu td llave alave h ave dominion over the beasts of tile the field held tho the fowls of the air and everything every thing that creeps upon the face of the earth man blan was created in the image of god and he was the offspring of deity himself and consequently made in his likeness and being made in that likeness he was a son sou of god and the very object of his being planted upon the earth was that he be might multiply why that the spirits which had existed with their heavenly eav eather father might have ta tabernacles tabernacle s to hil hii inhabit labIt and ald become mart mortal I 1 and through the possession of these the se tabernacles and the plan of salva tion that they might be raised to greater dignity glory and exaltation than it atwould would be possible for them td L enjoy without these an and d hence though man was made a jit ift tie tle lower thau ihan the angels the time will come como when 1 he 3 will pill be a little higher than many angels for the apostle i says in speaking nf those who had received the gospel tir now ye not that ye shall shail judge angels god had a purpose therefore in th the e organization fiction of this earth ad and in the placing nf or man upon it and he be has never deviated one hair to the right or to the left in rega regard rd to man andars and his destiny from that time until the present he is eternal and unchangeable and so are his ideas in regard to the tile world that we inhabit and mankind who live upon it and he hiis has been seeking from the commencement of or cr creation e to the present time to benefic benefit mankind just as much as it was in in llis lits power to accomplish consistent with certain laws governing and regulating the sanie same that be jae could not violate any moro mere than we can there are certain ideas that men entertain pertaining to the world that we live in that it is enough for them athey if they have bave only ionly something to eats eat drink and wear these ideas of a sensual nature men seem to be governed by to a very great extent jesus in his day said to the people and to his disciples especially take fake no thought for the morrow what ye shall eat what meshall yo shall shail drink ar or wherewithal ye shall bo be clothed for after all these things do the gentiles seek 11 that is the acme af 0 their zeal energy struggles perseverance and thought what whal shall shail we eat what shall we drink and an d wherewithal shall we be clothed baid said jesus consider the lilies of tho the neld held they toil toll not nelt neit neither hei bei do they spin and yet solomon in all his glory was not arrayed li keone one of these god takes talles care of the beasts bealts and the fowls the creeping things and of everything that lives and moves upon the earth he be regularly provides for them their breakfast dinner and supper and if he did not do it they would have to go without he provides for us also and has hash taken care of us from our kirth birth birth up to the present time and we are not so independent as mandof many of us think we are in very many particulars winess witness fon foi instance our breathing we breathe what we call the breath of life is it by any action of ours oure god made us and planted that principle within us a and d sl sleeping beeping or warin waking our lungs lunga continue to play there is something remarkable about it I 1 have havo sometimes gazed upon an old wd man mao lust on ori the verge of or eternity perhaps se seventy enty eighty 0 or r nine ninety ty years of age ago and I 1 haile have watched tho the his pulse the draw drawing of the tho breath and the sight 0 o of the oye eye his breath has haa dee nee deen n inhaled all the years of his life not through any agency or volition of his awni but simply by the organism which god mado made and gave to him our qun pulse beats in thet bame same way from courto hour minute to minute and our oar blood flows from the heart to the extreme parts of the system simply b by yr the energy and vitality which nelch god imparts when we come to examine ourselves we are not dot so no ter all what have wo we to dp w with ith the functions of many other things connected with the human system in god wo IYO 11 live VO 14 god we move and from god we have our being and let him withdraw the breath of ilde life and aud the pulse stops beating and in a short time we become helpless heiple 3 inanimate clay we are not very independent we are adlof all ali of us iu the hands of bod god and when he be withdraws the vital power we go to decay god la Is watching ovelus anabo ard and ho Is ing oter his people we realize that we possess certa certain iru lri faculties ardd arid powers of mind and these those and the power of conveying them to the brain imin or thought and reflection come from god we aro arc indebted to him for every power we haveard baye bave aud and BO so are all the inhabitants of the earth and as I 1 have already sald eald he has been seeking to benefit the human family just as ad much as lay in his power froin frond the beginning until the present time the first thing vae vac multiply and replenish the earth carth 11 then by and by through the power of satan wadi who I 1 suppose was a necessary full lull influence hence dence to be used or heti he would ouid duld not hate have been beer there iuchs minds got estranged from god and cyb eveny every imagination of the tilou ats of hearts WAS eyll etil and it was necessary thit be cut afrand oss off and that god should commence another seed and that thoc thoe men who lived at that time should not have haye tha the power to propagate their thein species in ubi unrighteousness righteousness and entail misery upon 0 11 their thein posterity why got goy because man Is a dual beine P possessed cd of a body and ln d a spirit having to do with time and c eternity t whether we think about and reflect upon or belleve it or br not it makes no difference we existed before we came here we exist herc here in another form froni froal what we did then and we shall lire jire in another 0 and dim dIf different feren menen t sphere when we leave le ve here whether we believe it or not tind and a no acton aeton act on of ours can alter it and nu no matter what our thoughts and reflections on this subject may be they will avill not change the course of the great jehovah in regard to man well when goa goo found that the people were transgressing h his laws continually and that they were raising rii ril sing slug ul up a posterity who followed in the tho samme sahn dahn path to prevent injustice being heing done to spirits unborn by those who were in the flesh be he cut theia them off and raised up another seed berd and change has succeeded cli chance change anre anze and god has dealt de ailt with nations and with individuals according to his risdom wisdom for the beet beat good of the human family he raised up abraham and moses and by and by jesus came tu to accomplish certain objects and to restore the gospel which had been lost in consequence of transgression jesus preached the gospel was it ekht yes why did it not continue I 1 do not know hat but t did not continue and the prophets eaid eald it would not and one of them prophesied that a certain power would seek to make war with the saints of god and that it would prevail against ti them and that they would beum be ulven given lyen iten into hia hla hands until a time and times and the dividing of a time and then other events had to transpire and other plans and stud principles bad to be introduced and by and by the time came for the restoration of the gospel again and joseph smith lias leas was vias raised ralser up and through him he the revelations of god and the priesthood were ri rc stored the same saine priesthood that jesus had and which existed upon the earth long before his day there was nothing new about it why adam before be he left the earth gathered his people together in lit the vailey of adain adam ondi ah man and the curtain of ar eternity was unfolded before bl inand ho he gazed upon all events pe perta perla i inin 0 his descendants which should transpire tran spire spine in every sub sequent period of time and he prophesied led to td them lle lie saw the flood and its desolating influence he be saw the introduction again of a people in the days of noah ne tie saw their departure from the right path he ile saw abraham moses and the prophets make male their appearance and wit witnessed nested the results of their acts he saw nations nise riso and fall he baw saw the time when jesus would coing corm corn and restore the gospel and arid when he would preach that gospel to those who perished in the days of noah and in fact he saw everything that should trans pire upon the earth until the winding up scene ile he was acquainted with the day in which we live and the with which we are surrounded many other men have possessed a portion of the same power influence knowledge and in telli cence gence and they have obtained it from the tho game same source there Thero have been many pecullar peculiar circumstances connected with the past history of mankind enoch for instance occupied a peculiar position it in his day before the flood when the imaginations of the hearts of the people were etil evil in that da day god endowed men wita with the spirit of revelation and prophecy and they went jorth forth and proclaimed to the pe people ople opie tho the same game gobbel that we are proclaiming now cow andenocci and aud enoch gathered together his peaple people and they were taught of god by anu tiie everlasting priesthood which holds tho the keys of tilo the mysteries of the tho revelations of god tind find which has done so in every nio age neo nee of the world whenever it has existed those men were taught of god but they could not stop the evil nor stem the march manch and progress of or iniquity but they conid could gath cr er to together ether those who would tic be obedient to tg tho revelations of god aud and they did gather them together and enoch aud and his bis city being perfected and the world doomed to destruction the lord moved them out of tho the way and the rumor went forth zion is ned fled they were taken up out of the way of the world into the keeping of the almighty then came the tho flood then came many other events and joseph smith came through whom god revealed the principles bychich by which he governs the world joseph knew know nothing about these thines things until the lord revealed them there was nothing noth ina lna parti particular culat elmul him he be was a man like the balance of u ne e but the lord for certain rea reasons rions of h his is own I 1 suppose selected him to ie his mouthpiece to the nations iu this a ac c of tho the world |
