| Show SUNDAY SERVICES religious services were held in iii the tabernacle salt lake city sunday july 22 1888 commencing at 2 p m president angus h M 1 cannon presiding the choir and congregation sang our god we raise to thee thanks for or thy blessings free we here enjoy prayer by elder john sears the choir sang sana behold the mount of olives rend and on its top messiah stand the priesthood of the eleventh ward officiated in the administration of the sacrament ELDER JOHN MORGAN was called to address the congregation he read from hebrews chap chapter vi verses I 1 and 2 therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of christ let fet us g go 0 on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward god of the doat doctrine aine of baptisms and of laying on of hands bands and of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment I 1 do not know that I 1 shall endeavor to be to the text but desire that I 1 may be guided and strengthened by the hol holy spirit to bring forth those things rillia are re accept acceptable ible to our Heave er the doctrines believed in by the latter day saints are not noc generally understood in the christian world the fundamental ples pies referred to by paul as the doctrine of christ the saints believe should be obeyed in order for a man to place himself in communion with god they believe that those who present themselves as candidates for to the church 3 should have faith in god and in all the principles of the gospel it a man has this faith it will increase until it brings to him an actual knowledge of the things of christ if he is falta faithful fal in keeping the law I 1 paul speaks of the power and influence of faith and tells of marvelous works of those who exercised it in ancient times for instance through falt athe mouths of el lions were stopped tor for the preservation of a servant of alerv furnace had no power oyer over the three hebrew children it is this principle of power this faith that the latter day saints believe in today a faith that increases day by day until it culminates in a knowledge of the things of god it is no blind faith but is the broadest and deepest within the reath reach of men it is the faith that constructed ted ed worlds the moving cause of aati i n men en everywhere when the latter latte day a saints fallow the injunction of the apostle in cases of sickness the rayer prayer of faith brings the promised glessing blessing and it to is because of a lack of faith that laying on of hands bands for the healing of the sick became obsolete in the christian world Follo following whig this principle of faith is that chat of repentance and paul in writing to the ephesians Ephe stans says in chapter iv s verses 25 to 32 wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another be ye angry and sin not let not the sun go do down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labor working with his hands th theIl ething ting which is good that he may have to give him that reedeth ne edeth let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and grieve not the holy spirit of god whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption demp tion let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking peaking be put awai away from you with all mauce malice and be ye kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as alrod V od for christs sake hath forgiven you this is the law of repentance as the latter day saints under understand stana it to cease doing evil and and turn to the path of righteousness peter the apostle in speaking to the people on the day of pentecost called upon them to repent faith har bad been begotten in their hearts and they asked what they should do his reply was not alone to the sinner but to the devout men and to toe the ministers of the day who were assembled there bere repent and be baptized every eadry one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remis of sins and hall receive the gift of the holy ghost if tr they were to repent of their erroneous ideas in every gorm form and to believe on the lord jesus there is an idea in the world that repentance consists in lamenting for things that men have done the saints believe that a man may mourn over sins but it if he turns not from them such repentance will lead him down to darkness ar knes for instance people join the church and after going on for a brief season depart from the faith they either did n not ot repent in the first place or the they t turned again to their sinfulness and their h air repentance availed them not they fan n tor for a time but when the night came or persecution raged they shrank from the struggle and put aside the armor of righteousness but it if a man repents repeats properly he be will walk in I 1 faithfulness and have charity cli arity for I 1 an IN men if he be does not truly repent he will fail in his efforts and hopes for exaltation men have various ways of we weighing h ing the faith of their fellow men 11 I 1 remember once hearing a minister extolling the faith of the prophets of old he told his hearers they would have their faith tried not as abraham and others did but way said he my salary last year was 1200 this year I 1 want 1500 and if you do not furnish it to me it willibe because of a lack of faith on your part I 1 thought that if jesus had been there he would have been counted as without faith because he was without the dollars necessary to aid in increasing the ministers salary the apostle paul also alsa refers to the doctrine of baptism he refers to it in the plural as though there were more than one the latter day saints accept baptism as a fundamental law of the gospel peter explained what baptism waster was for in the old testament e is a record of an assyrian being baptized seven times in jordao jordan to be healed of ef his ais leprosy but this was not the baptism that peter spoke of for he declared that it was I 1 tor for the remission of sins it was a baptism that blotted out the indebtedness of sinful actions it f its Is a plan whereby may be forgiven a system whereby men can exercise faith repent of their wrongdoing and being baptized bj one nai baving ring authority receive the there re mission of their sins it is the baptism that john the baptist taught and officiated in the latter day saints believe as did the apostles and di disciples of old that baptism is for the remission ot of sins in very deed for the lord has so declared As I 1 have said paul refers to thi this 11 doc doctrine tribe in the plural and the world have lave taken the idea ol of f forms 0 of baptism nearly all christendom christe iam admit that baptism by immersion is a proper oper form they also hold to other gr forms 0 ms because paul speaks of more than one baptism but he also speaks of the other baptism not of a form but butof of the baptism for the dead the saints accept this doctrine and it is for this baptism of the dead that they are erecting temples and also for the redemption emption of 01 the whole human family a plan instituted by the gods and now being brou wrought out by their children the saints W tb day damare are sounding the trump of the gospel to the world and it is also their duty to labor for the salvation of the dead this is not such a strange matter one of the learned divines of the day dr T thomas of chicago was recently ai afe ag ped from the organization to which chic lie be belonged for saying that he believed man would have an opportunity after death I 1 once heard henry ward beecher in nashville promulgate the same doctrine these learned men are but in the wake of the prophet joseph smith dr goodrow a prominent baptist in georgia has recently been declared unfit to stand at the head of a 4 seminary of learning in his bis district because he had advocated the doctrine of an opportunity for man after death the chicago times sarcastically referring to the action of a conference of presbyterian ministers recently said these worthies had bad by a vote of 64 to 53 consigned to an endless bell all who did not accept their idea of the gospel in this life the mind minority rity were in favor of giving a man a chance after death but the majority had sealed the doom of mankind by taking an opposite view it is not so with the saints they believe that their work continues bedord the vail and that theve men will be brought to a knowledge of the marvelous truths of the caspel I 1 remember hearing a minister in a rural district in the southern states speak of the time when the angel would declare that time should be no long longer er he said that there would be th there ere some from the east some from the west a great many from the south and a few from the north this minister had not yet got rid of his secession notions it is 16 easy to narrow down our own ideas on this matter but that is not God gods olan sulan for he has declared that every linee knee shall bow and every tongue declare that jesus is the christ yes and all will admit that joseph smith is a prophet of the most high in the eighth chapter ot the acts ol of the apostles apostle another princa principle ie is referred to it is there related concerning the finding of people in samaria who were asling to be baptized but bat something more was necessary and peter and john were seat tor for and prayed for the people that tadej ue y might receive the hol holy ghost eat the people had ha had f faith had bad re repeated anted and been ba baptized sized buethe but abe voly holy ghost had boa not fa f alien en upon any of them the record says then laid they peter and john their hands on them and they received the holy ghost there was one among them simon who had bad been baptized yet he had bad not bot repented he savi s the result of the application of the ordinance of la laying i ng on OB of the hands bands for the gift of t the je holy ghost that those who had hands laid on them received that spirit this is an ordinance ridi caled cu ledas s a rule in the christian world the 1 latter I ater day saints are accused 4 of not believing the bible but when an elder reads from the bible the world find that as mr beecher remarked it we believed the bible as tile the mormons cormons do we would be better christians then the saints are found fault with for bellavin bel believing levin 9 the bible too much this is especially true regarding the laying on of hands as an ordinance to bestow the holy ghost simon offered the apostles money for the gift and was sharply rebuked for his unrighteousness the gifts of the spirit are obtained by honest endeavor and faithful observance of gods laws and cannot be pu purchased rehashed with money I 1 freely accord to a all 11 men the privilege to worship as they please and I 1 claim the same privilege the gifts of god are for all of his children who conform to those laws that entitle them to them whether those children be rich or poor learned or unlearned after the manner of the world the bestowal of the holy ghost follows after a proper observance of the gospel ordinances it is related in acts chapter verses I 1 and 2 and it came to pass that while apollos was at corinth paul having passed through i the upper coasts came to ephesus Eph esue and finding certain disciples aishe said unto them have ye received the holy ghost since ye believed and they said unto him we have not so much as heard whether there be any holy ghost evidently there had been a false teacher in their midst one who wha had not taught the gospel in its entirety entirely it was something like it is today there were impostors who led people astray by presenting a portion of theorda the ordinances of the gospel the record urther further f states and he said unto them unto what then were ye ve baptized 1 and they said unto johns baptism then said paul john verily baptized with the baptism of repentance saying unto the people that ahat they should believe on him wh which h should come after him that is on christ jesus when they heard this they were baptized in the names of the lord jesus and when paul had laid his hands upon them the holy ghost came on them and they with tongues and prophesied it will be seen that they exercised the gifts gift of the spirit which paul explains in the first epistle to the corinthians chapter xii verses 7 to 11 as foeloa follows but the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal for to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge by the same spirit to N another faith bathe by the same spirit to another the gift of healing ealing by the same to another the working of miracles to another prophecy to another discerning of spirits to another divers kinds of tongues to another interpretation of tongues but all these that one and the selfsame spirit dividing to every plan man severally as he will the sats sects of christendom claim to believe in the word of wisdom aud and of knowledge by that spirit but farther they will not go no healings no ne tongues leagues no prophecy for them this is one of the things in which the mormons cormons Mor mons believe too much in the bible for the majority of professed pro lessed christians the latter tell us that the holy ghost does not do these things now but that it comes to us powerless dead as far as its action on the human family is concerned suppose you were to go to a hotel for dinner and you were to be presented with a bill billot ot fare on which you could read of the delicious viands and atter after you had read it you were told that that was all you could have to satisfy your hunger hung er would you think such a proceeding consistent and yet today the christian worl world dare lare just as unreasonable in their demands upon the latter day saints they ask that we be satisfied with the spiritual bill of fare but this is not IS accordance with gods law his gospel always has the same power and efficacy you are my witnesses today that the gifts of the spirit are with the latter day saints aud and there are prophets in the midst of of israel and the lord is guiding his people to ultimate victory deprive the saints of the holy ghost vexed mormon ques tioff will be solved take this spirit away and the organization goes to pieces anything that deprives the saints of the holy spirit will des troy them but bat so ion as it is with them so long will god be with them and be their guide their protector Protect of and friend which may he grant will ever be our blessed lot in the name of jesus amen the choir sang the anthem great and glorious is thy name 0 lord benediction by elder C J thomas |
