| Show sunday services loes religious services were held in the tabernacle sunday june jane 16 1889 commencing at 2 p m president angus M cannon presiding the choir and congregation sang arise my soul arise ui tat shake off thy guilty tears fears i prayer by elder karl G maeser the choir sang farewell all earthly honors I 1 bid you all adieu the priesthood of the sixteenth ward officiated in the administration odthe of the sacrament ELDER WM M PALMER was called to address the congregation he read read from the doctrine and covenants section as follows hearken 0 ye people of my church saith the lord your god and hear the word of the lord concerning you the lord who shall suddenly come to his temple the lord who shall come down upon the world with a curse to judgment yea upon all the nations that forget god and upon all 01 the ungodly among you for he shall make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of their god while reflecting on the situation of the saints anthe on the hatred man manifested against them and the pros pres sure brought to bear in opposition to the word of god these wo words ads had come to his mind it should be apparent to all believers in the bible that there is a god in the great bork work ol 01 the latter day saints it is is a marvel that men cannot see the hand of our father ip in this work for lie he has told it so plainly t through rough his prophets and th their r prophecies decies are recorded in the scriptures christendom today does not teach the doctrines taught by christ in fact they declare that those things which he said were necessary are done away As john wesley said the reason they are done away is because professing christians have become heathen again the signe sign do not follow because the people dc not believe men say this is an enlightened age but whence comes the light it is because god has poured out revelation upon the world in preparing for the accomplishment ment of his work but the world will not acknowledge him as the source of light whenever he has sent messengers to mankind they have sought to destroy those messengers this has been the history of the world many times repeated As it was in ancient days so is it at the present time when the gospel is preached the serva servants rits of god axe are subjected unto persecution by an unbelieving world worl this is because of the wickedness of men who are not willing to let others exercise their free agency the apostle says that bod has set in the church certain officers who has the right to remove them the lord did not withdraw his action but men have departed from his word where these officers do not exist there the church is not the church of christ is not without prophets and aind the gifts of the bpi spirit rit in this age when this doctrine Is is proclaimed in the N world orld those who teach it are persecuted the reason for this te is given iven by the savior acif if world the world ye were of the would love you but ye are re not of the world therefore the world hates bates 51 9 1 1 you 1 in order to obtain salvation A is necessary for us to take tako upon us it a new life through faith repentance repent aucie and baptism and to receive the ahe holy ghost we must walk in the oath ath in which our lord walked this will bringus bring ue persecution but thatis that is the lot of those who walk godly in christ jesus the sainte have accepted the gospel and obeyed its ordin ordinances anew upon them came the spirit of gathering and they assembled together the world saw this and endeavored to break up the church they are actuated by the same spirit that produced the persecutions anciently in this age the lord will not allow the world to destroy His work but he will suddenly come to his temple and bring judgment with him he will pour out his wrath upon those who hate him the judgment of the almighty is being poured out on the nations today to day as foretold by his prophets these things betoken the fhe near approach of the second coming of christ the judgments of the lord will continue to rest reef upon the inhabitants of the earth and upon those who are ungodly yet profess to be saints there la Is a day coming when the lord will make bare his arm in the deliverance of hla his people zion ion never saw a bett better erday aday 60 the presen present for the lord pou pours is ata upon his hie faithful faith fal saints the choice blessings ings of heaven beaven he answers hie prayers of those who are re drayers saints who observe and keep his laws the time is drawing nigh for the coming of our we know it by the signs that wilh may we be faithful anu and ourselves tir for that great event GEORGE Q CANNON said the remarks of brother palmer concerning certain gifts brought to nay my mind the swords of an ancient prophet and again I 1 exhort breth ren that ye deny not the abw gifts gifts of or god for they are many ana they come from the same god W and there are different di ways that these gifts gift are administered but it is the bame god who all in all and they are givens given by the manifestation of the spirit 8 P irit of bf god unto meny men to profit them for behold to one is given by the Spi spirit of god that he be way may teach the word of wisdom and to another that he be may tea teach ch the word of i knowledge bedge by the same spirit I 1 I 1 and to ai another iother exceeding great faith and to another the gifts ft w healing by the same spirit and again to another anO that he ae may work mighty miracles and again to another ww tbt he prophecy concerning all things may ahdawn and again to another rheble th the eble be holding of angels and spirits an J again agabi to another an other all kinda of tongues and again rn to another the inter Pret pre tation stiO n of languages and of divers diven kinds of tongues and all theve these gifts come by the spirit of christ and they come unto ever every man severally according as heuf beuf I 1 and I 1 would exhort you my beloved brethren that you remember that every good gift cometh of christ and I 1 would exhort you my beloved brethren that ye remember that he is the same yesterday today and forever and that all these gifts of which I 1 have bave spoken which are spiritual never will be done away even as long as the world shall stand only according to the unbelief of the children of men wherefore there must be faith andia and if there must be faith there must also be hope and if there must be hope there must also be charity and except ye have charity ye can in no wise be saved in the king of god neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of god if ye have not f faith th i neither can ye if ye have no DO h hope op e an and d it ye have no hope ye must needs be in despair and despair cometh because of iniquity and christ truly said unto our fathers if ye have faith ye can do all things which is expedient unto me and now I 1 speak unto all the endsor the earth that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of god shall be done away among you it shall be because of unbelief and wo be unto the children of men if this be the case for there shall be none that boeth good among you no not one for if there be one among you that boeth good he be shall work by the power and gifts of god and wo unto them who shall do these thing away sway and die for they die in their sins and they cannot be baked in the kingdom of god and I 1 speak it according to the word of christ and I 1 lie not in the words of this prophet we have clearly revealed to us the causes which shall bring about the withdrawal of those gifts to which reference has been made he says that if they are ever drawn away from among the children of men it will be because of ther their unbelief he also informs us that it is the design of god that they should continue among the children of men as long as the earth shall and and why should not this be the case we have had bad reasoning upon this effect this afternoon and this reasoning is consistent that if one gen generation e needs the spiritual gifts gift of god which are bestowed by the presence of the spirit of god another generation which needs salvation and which stands in need of the assistance which these gifts bring should likewise have them bestowed upon them it te is the greatest folly it is a fallacy of the worst and I 1 might say of odthe the most damning character to assert that one generation needs these gifts and that another generation can be saved without them such a statement is the refuge of those who have no faith or who do not believe that god is the hamd same yesterday today and forever that he fie does not deal with his children justly under all circumstances and in every generation alike now this thia is a cardinal principle in the gospel of the church of jesus christ I 1 would not give ive a fig for a religion that id not possess these powers and gifts gifts I 1 do not consider a church a burch church of christ unto which christ does not communicate lils his mind and will I 1 would not consider this the church of christ if there were not communications from christ if he did not direct it if he did not guide it if he did not it in all things control its aff affairs lairs and make plain the path that it should pursue it is this which constitutes the church of christ if man were to jovern govern the church then it is the church of man if a church be named after man and he be be the head of that church then it becomes the church of man it is not the church of jesus christ but the savior in laying the foundation of his church gave to it his name his apostles were called by his name they were the apostles of the lord jesus christ they went forth proclaiming his name as the only name under heaven whereby man can be saved when they went forth with this authority authorized and empowered by him the promises which they made unto the children of men were literally fulfilled if this were not the case today then would not be the church of christ but there there Is this grand feature about the gospel as it has been restored in our day the men who go forth claiming the authority of heaven to administer the ordinances of salvation unto their fellow men do not depend upon the credulity of those whom they address they do not appeal to them without having good ground for belief that they will have the evidences given to them from heaven that they are the servants of god in every land wherever the elders of this church go they are arc accompanied by the power of god and they make promises u unto nto the I 1 inhabitants nh abi tants of th the e en earth rth which no human being could fulfil fulfill of himself it is this thia which constitutes the strength of the church today dmn a man goes forth he says unto his fellow men if you will believe in jesus christ if you will repent of your sins ains if you will in sincerity go forward and bl be baptized for the remission of your yours sins ns u shall receive the gift of the iro holy ly ghost now this is a great and grand promise it Is ie a promise which no human being ingeman can fulfil fulfill it would be an impossibility for any man of himself to fulfil fulfill such a promise as this therefore when that promise is fulfilled it is an evidence to the person who receives its fulfillment fulfilment that the man who made it is a servant of god because god would not lend himself to any deception he would not bestow a gift upon a man because some other man said he should receive it unless that man had the right from god to mke mike that promise romise and he was bound by his HIE own promise to fulfil fulfill it it is in this manner that the gospel has been preached in our day as in ancient days it has not been preached by scholarly men by men who have been trained in schools or som seminaries Maries of learning and theology but god has used his own instruments as in ancient days the savior chose the humblest men of the land of palestine fishermen and others who were not of a literary turn he gave them the authority he laid his hands upon them and ordained them they went forth empowered by him and wherever they went they had these blessings upon them they came back rejoicing and said to their master even the he devils are subject to us they laid their hands bands on the sick and they rei covered and did many mighty works and after his death they bestowed the gift of the holy choat on all upon whom they laid their hands thus witnessing by the bestowal of this blessing that they were his ebbsen chosen servants in this way there was a great church built up a church which would suffer all the persecutions to which reference been made without faltering its members had received a testimony from on high it was not man it was not peter nor james nor john nor any odthe of the apostles who had converted them and given them a testimony but it was the almighty power of our god it was by the opening of the heavens and the outpouring of the spirit of god upon thema teotimo testimony DY which they received from heaven that coti convinced VInced them that they had 0 obeyed the gospel of tb the e son of god therefore when persecution came they were sustained by that knowledge they could go to prison they could go to death and suffer all manner of hardships and afflictions supported by the knowledge which god had given them and which they had not derived from man there can be no L C hurch of christ unless this is the case As I 1 have already said it is folly foll buz for man main to claim that there is such a church on the earth if christ does not recognize it if it has not ob bained spiritual gifts and blessings to distinguish it from those who are not of the church of christ if there were no distinguishing features between the church of christ and the hurches churches of men what efficacy would there be in the gospel of the lord none but there are distinguishing features there are powers there are heavenly heaven beaven en y gifts there are blessings and they are bestowed upon the children of men according to their faith some may I 1 have faith to receive one gift and some another and these gifts are distributed according to the e good pleasure of our god upon his people there is one blessing however that everyone who enters into the church of christ can claim and will receive if they enter it in sincerity and humility repenting of their sins the gift of the holy ghost if you do not as latter day saints possess these gifts remember it is because of unbelief for god has promised them unto you and all who will obey his gospel iu in sincerity and singleness of burp purpose and when you receive these gifts gif you can be strengthened sustained J and upheld because you will have the living testimony withie you that you have done that which god has required at your hands he has placed his seya sead of acceptance upon you and upon your acts by bestowing upon you these gifts and heavenly blessings this is the testimony which everyone should receive and cherish and without these things there would be no of christ upon the earth my brethren and sisters these are important truths to us we are living in the last days there is every I 1 indication that the words of the lord are being fulfilled concerning judgments and calamities wars wara and destructions these things must come and they will not be poured out without cause god never punishes a people without first sending some message of warning to them he never did tu iu ancient days even nineveh guilty as it was had bad the prophet lonah jonah sent to it to warn the inhabitants of their wickedness and exhort them to turn to god and through their humiliation and repentance pen tance humbling themselves before him clothing themselves and even their animals with sackcloth and by sitting in ashes the lord averted the destruction he had threatened and they escaped for that time he has sent his messengers now to the nations of the earth they have been |
