Show litigious sunday services religious services were held in the tabernacle salt lake city sunday may 5 1889 commencing at 2 pm counselor charles W penrose presiding the choir and congregation sang praise ye the lord my heart shall join in work so BO pleasant so divine now while the flesh is mine abode and when my soul soni ascends to god prayer by elder H P richards rd s the choir sang G god the eternal father who dwells amid the sky the priesthood of the tenth ward officiated in the administration of the sacrament ELDER OHARLES CHARLES W PENROSE said add he had been requested to address tho the congregation it is customary for the elders elden when called to in this way to solicit the faith and prayers of those assembled sem bled this is not done out of a mere matter of form but because th they desire to be aided by the spirit of god feeling their own weakness the th lord has instructed his servants in these latter times that if they have not the spirit they shall not teach they are not to teach by the enticing words of mans wisdom but to seek for the light and inspiration of the holy spirit so that the people who hear may receive at the time such things as are suitable to their condition and circumstances the first verse of the first hymn sung this aate afternoon a anoon suggested to my m mind ind a au subject b act upon which I 1 would like H ke to speak s peat a the third line of that verse indicates indies to us that this body of ours is simply a dwelling place for something else for the abul or spirit which at some tune time shall ascend to god this is in accordance with holy scripture in the chapter of ecclesiastes ath verse we read on the subject of death then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to god who gave it from that text we learn that man is a dual being that is he h is composed sed of at least two parts thag the body dp ay and the spirit the body efte from the earth or earthly elements the spirit came from god and when death ensues the dust returns to the earth whence it came and the 8 spirit frit to god from whence it came this this carries out the idea of that line in the hymn the flesh is our abode at present it is a dwelling place for the being that inhabits it in the book of job we read there is a spirit in man and tle the inspiration of the almighty them understanding 59 there are various opinions in the world concerning our nature origin and destiny we know very little about ourselves as we are now we know less lees about what we shall be in the future we know very little about the sphere in which we live less about mat bat t from which we came and that to which we are hastening in fact with all the boasted understanding learning and wisdom of this enlightened nineteenth century after ages of accumulation of the worlds knowledge we actually know but very little we are not familiar with everything that belongs to the globe on which we live we do not know all concerning its surface let alone its interior therefore he it is not very wonderful that we are but little acquainted quain ted with our pant or future home we are finite creatures in our present existence we can see but a very short distance around us our knowledge is circumscribed in regard to earthly things how therefore can it be otherwise as to heavenly things but there are some persons esons who think that what we see feel feel and comprehend by our senses is all there is of us and that when we go down to the grave that is the end ad that the dissolution of the body is the entire dissolution of the being if that were so our existence here would not be of much account of what avail would it be for us to scramble and struggle for a living if this little brief existence is ia all there is of us Is it possible that all the light and intelligence and experience P peri ermence ence which we gain in this mortal t al life are to be dissipated when our breath leaves the body that that is the end of it all our reason seems to resist such an idea all the instincts of our nature rise up and repel it everyone who has examined himself or herself must be aware that there is something within us which is superior to the body itself that can resist the inclinations of the body and control and conquer cono them and bring them into subjection there is something within us that can think understand comprehend h and reach out farther than th the e body can reach farther than the fhe limits of this globe and add penetrate to some extent at least the sphere that is on high there is something within us corresponding to that beal which we cannot see with our natural eyes to that which we cannot handle with our hands to that which we cannot taste with our mouths something that ha has an affinity with it reaching atter after that which is eternal greater mightier and more glorious than anything we behold around with our natural vision who is there am among hodg us that is thoroughly satisfied an and d contented with the condition in which he finds himself no matter how much tie he may succeed in his earthly desires in the accumulation of wealth or in the acquisition of anything 2 labored for no one that thail 1 know 0 of there is always something beyond to seek after som something greater rester in ethLin f the minda eye the soul I 1 u I 1 longs 0 after infinitude it reaches out to something greater than that which it can comprehend through the medium of the senses senam it reaches after god from whom it came after the eternal home in which it was born and cannot and w will III not be satis satisfied fili with the t things bings that are limited by tills this narrow and contracted sphere in this body WO we axe are cribbe crib bd cabinet cabined and confined 11 and our souls reach out to grasp eternity we feel that this is not our permanent home we are dwelling just for the time in this flesh I 1 will read to you a passage from the doctrine and covenants page this book contains some of the revelations from god to the prophet joseph smith a man whose name is despised and cast out as evil all over the world because he is not understood so it was with all the prophets in their da day they were despised and rejected of men even as jesus the son of god the savior of the world was waa when he came and in the flesh and spent his time here in mortality but the prophet joseph smith received from god a vast fund of truth floods of intelligence came down from the fountain of all light to his mind and some of the things revealed to him are in this book having read the portion named from the book of doctrine and covenants the speaker continued from this we learn that every man is a free agent and condemnation comes because he will not receive that which was made manifest from the beginning which is light we learn from this too that man is a spirit the intelligent individual or being which inhabits the body is the real reay person we read in the scriptures that god is a spirit and they that worship him must worship himin him in spirit and in truth jesus the great teacher uttered that krand grand truth man is the offspring s ring of god this body came from tre the earth from the elements which exist here and these we read in this revelation are eternal they were not created in the sense that some people understand the term the idea of people generally concerning creation is that it means the making of something out of nothing but as the old latin adage has 1 it t out of nothing nothing co comes in es I 1 so it will be eternally nothing cannot produce something neither can something be produced out of nothing by any being that exists you may take this book which I 1 hold and burn it the elements may go off in smoke but every atom remains the elements are eternal indestructible matter can be organized or disorganized but the atoms remain and these elements of which I 1 speak organized into human form by the process of genera generation tion as ordained by the great creator can be made the abode of th the spirit espirit which comes from god and which is eternal because it is the offspring of god the spirit of man placed in these elements organized in the kuman human form with them constitute a living soul the body can be destroyed so far as its ite organization is concerned but the elements remain the spirit separated from the ay body continues to exist it existed before it car came ne into the body it can and will exist after it leaves the body this idea with respect to the spirit existing before it came into the body may be a now new one to some people but it is an idea older than the hills it is an eternal truth in this same book of doctrine and covenants page th verse we read that man was also in the beginning with god and on the same page we read and now verily I 1 say unto you I 1 was in the beginning with the father and am the firstborn first born ye were also in the beginning with the father according to the revelation of god to joseph smith this is not our first estate our first estate was in the beginning with the father jesus according acco r din g to t the h 0 old d serl scriptures was in th the beginning inning be beginning wi with the father b before f ore the word rd wasand aasand so it was with us was not that what the father referred to when speaking to job out of the whirlwind I 1 think so read bead job 17 1 7 when the foundations of this earth were laid and the corner stones were brought together when god and chaos heard and the worlds came into order by the power of his word through faith I 1 all the sons of god shouted for joy and the morning stars sang together so we read who were those sons of god we are told over and over again in the sacred record that we are the sons of god in his first epistle ill iii chap ad verse john specially mentions this in the ath verse of hebrews we read I 1 furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live this is a cogent argument we had fathers of our flesh they corrected us and we gave lem them reverence how much rather then should we be in subjection to him who is the father of our spirits A great many people declare that god is unknown and unknowable not only but incomprehensible well I 1 presume he is just now in our present condition the finite cannot comprehend the the infinite but in some respects he is comp comprehensible rehe t to 0 us by his spirit which sear cheth lall all things yea the deep things of god god is our father as well as our creator the term create as I 1 have said does not mean to form something out of nothing in genesis we read that god breaw man but he formed him out of the dust and if god created craft ted man out of the dust of the earth then he may have created the earth itself out ut of preexisting pre existing elements experience and chemistry tell us that not a particle of matter can be annihilated its form maybe may be changed but the elements remain for they are eternal it may be asked why cannot we remember what took place in the eternal world if out spirits existed there in the beginning because the past t is shut hut out from our memory through brough the s spirit ale rit becoming incorporated corp orated in uie tabernacle of flesh just as it was with jesus jesus is 19 the great pattern for us all he was the firstborn first born among many breeb brethren ren 1 after some thousands of years had transpired he came down from above and was born of a woman just exactly as we are only that we have had earthly fathers of our flesh god was the father of his body as well aa of his spirit he was the only begotten son accor according dink to the flesh the first begotten according to the spirit after undergoing the troubles and trials of this earth and bavi having performed his mission he yielded up his life gave up the ghosts ghost died for the sins of the world he knew no sin himself but he gave himself a offering for sinners when his body was taken down from the cross and laid in the to tomb mb it did not become disorganized it I 1 was dead that is without a spirit where did the spirit go some people say it did not go aDy anywhere where they have a notion that when the body dies the spirit dies also the they bo believe in the spirit in a certain fal fashion and that when the body is resu resurrected the spirit is resurrected likewise now read I 1 peter iii 1820 18 20 ministers make a great effort to try and cover this up to suit their own peculiar views but they make a terrible mess of it take it as it stands and it is all clear and plain it tells us that the people who were disobedient in the days of noab while the ark was preparing and afla who were destroyed by the flood were shut up in prison they were imprisoned spirits and jesus after being put pub to death in the flesh went by the spirit and preached to them what did did he preach read the next chapter ath verse these then were not men in the flesh but men who were called dead the spirits of men who were dead shut up in prison for their disobedience were visited by jesus christ and B 10 preached to them the same gospel which was given to men in the flesh so that they might be j judged the same as men in the flesh when jesus himself left the flesh crY father into thy hands I 1 commend bommen com men my spirit spir 11 his spirit went forth and he preached the gospel to the spirits in prison and thus fu fulfill the se scripture rip ture which he read frolo isaiah in the synagogue one aft bath day they were glad tedi tiding P IC that he pre presented a anted to those who had been in the spirit world won about 2000 years for disobedience w to the preaching of ef the prophet nosh noan they had teen been warned by him bw but had neglected the warning christ went into that prison house alone he came out with a multitude 1 ailed led captivity captive he thon to arose from the dead and appear appeared T his disciples in what capa capacity cig simply as a spirit oh no xa v came bothem to them in the same ame s boda which was hung on the cross and aa bore the marks of the nails and the wa spear read bead luke 86 48 aw john 1929 19 29 some peo people tp le think that we lat 1 tor ter day saints are very credulous cre duio because we believe a nol great reat bif vif 9 things which we do not see it lg a blessed and happy thing when w can have faith in rini him whom wv we it canno cannot tsee see with our natural e eye res is a blessed thing to have faith 1 his promises to lay hold u upon ZO 0 them with the grasp of faith th are bound to be fulfilled if WO we w for them n it la in the aspli spirit it that div gevea life to SS things the spirit that proceeds from the bosom of god to fill the immensity of space is the life as well yell as s the light of all things jesus esua when raised from the dead was quickened by th the spirit espirit his blood had been shed for the sins of thet the world and was now animated by spirit jp irit he thus had a spiritual nody body the natural body was put into the tomb it came forth a arpir spir atal body i and in that spiritual body dwelt that immortal mighty eternal spirit which was the Ofis offspring pring of god the firstborn first born of every creature he was made in ai points ints as we are read bead hebrews 11 r 9 18 he partook of flesh and blood because bebau se we had partaken partaker par taken of it esus was made a little lower than the he angels and took upon himself seah flesh and blood the same as his br brethren ethien that he might be in all things ings like unto them he lived on the earth struggled against evil ud ad temptation and finally passed assed through brough death that he might experience peri ence all those things which beng to this lower sphere even as we have to do in our probation aich which is for our schooling and testing and when he had finished his earthly work he gave up the ghost the spirit went to the spirit world |