Show sunday services religious services were held at the tabernacle salt lake city sun tay lay may 1890 commencing ata at 2 pm elder henry P richards presiding the choir and congregation sang the hymn commencing now let us rejoice in the day of salvation no longer as strangers on earth need we roam prayer was offered by elder edward stevenson the choir sang the hymn how great reat the wisdom and the love that filled the courts on high the priesthood of the twenty second ward officiated in the administration mt of the sacrament BISHOP ORSON V F WHITNEY was called u upon pon to address the congregation gre gation gatton I 1 believe it is seeD seventy ty years this spring he said since joseph smith the prophet of the latter days received his first visitation from on high according to the account that we have it was just such a beautiful spring morning as that which dawned today upon the world when this young boy went out into the woods near his home in the state of new york to ask in order that he might receive wisdom from the lord in regard to his soups souls salvation although the world was full of religious opinions notions and beliefs the aspect presented by the christian sects to the mind of this youth was not of a pre possessing poss esai ng char it was a chaos of religious opinions some claiming one thing and wine some another one priest saying lol here to is christy christ and another 10 idol lo here is christ one preacher basing his belief upon the bible claiming that baptism was essential to salvation and another basing his belief upon the same book claiming that thai it was not essential one preacher hold ing that baptism by sprinkling was the proper mode while another advocated baptism by pouring rhe fhe heavens were closed 7 so the christian world taught and believed and god no longer to man the visitation of angels to the earth was a thing of the past not to be thought of or expected in this age and aind the gifts of the holy ghost the working of miracles and the signs that were promised to follow believers anciently were all done away with as being no longer necessary this in brief was the condition of the worlie a chaos a babel of religious opinions ophilo ns when joseph smith a boy of only fourteen or fi fifteen years of age went into the woods stud asked ot of god which of all these religions was the true one it had not occurred to him up to that time but what one of them was true he knew that there re were many thousands of devout and honest bonest worshippers wor shippers in the various sects and that so far sub ab they believed iu in the bible many of them were si sincere n and earnest in their belief he tit did not regard them all as hypocrites for this would have been an unjust view to take but be could not decide for himself which was the true religion and he knew that they could not all be from god because they opposed each other and were full of discord and dissension he had read in the sacred scriptures which had bad been given he believed to make men wise unto salvation the words of the apostle james jamea ifancy man lack wi dom let him ask of god who e th to all men liberally and upal upbraid ideth eth not and it shall be riven given him never said he did words come with more force to the mind of man than these came to mine for I 1 thought that if any man needed wisdom at that particular time it was myself sf 11 so he went out into the woods and bowed down in humility before the lord and asked kim him in all earnestness which of all the denominations of the day was the church of christ he declared that soon after he be began praying there fell upon him a power which he could not comprehend gond which filled him with darkness and ami horror and tied his tongue so that he could no longer pray oral ly but he continued to beseech the lord and when he could no longer pray with his tongue he prayed in his heart and mind and asked god to deliver him he would not relinquish t the he object which he had in view although the spirit of darkness which had fallen upon him strove to crush and overpower him J just as he was about to be overcome he saw a light descending from heaven until it rested as it were upon the tree tops top just ejust above his head in the midst of this pillar of light which he be describes as being brighter than the sun at noonday he saw two glorious personages in the form of man and one of them pointing to the othor other and addressing joseph said sald this is my beloved son aon hear bear him As soon as he could collect himself joseph asked of these personages what he be desired dedred to kno know peran which of all the christian churches was the true church of christ to his astonishment he was told that none of them were that while there were many souls who were ere devout and sincere and living up to the light that was within them those churches which claimed that god was not a god of miracles that he would no longer communicate with man by heavenly visitations but had bad delegated to colleges and institutions of learning the power and authority to equip his ministers and send them out into the world to act in his name instead of receiving from himself the authority of the holy priesthood which holds the keys to minister in the name of god that that all those churches which held these opinions and opposed each other and were at war with one another in their ideas and practices that they and their hypocrisies were an abomination in the eyes of god he was further informed that the true church was about to be restored to the earth having been taken aay from it hundreds hundred of years before after me A apostles fell asleep and the true servants of god were persecuted cast out out and slain in fulfilment fulfillment of the predictions of the prophets and apostles and of the savior himself joseph was told that a new dispensation was about to open and that he bad been chosen as an instrument in the hands of god to begin a great and a inar marvelous work in the midst of mankind a vork having as its object the preparing of the world for the coming of the lord jesus christ in his hill glory when the vision departed and the young boy came to himself he found that he was waa lying upon his bis back gazing up into heaven he know knew that he be had seen the father and the son and had received a vision from god supposing that those around him would rejoice cli equally qually with him because of the great things he had to tell he began to speak of his wonderful visitation he made a confident of a minister or professing minister of the gospel who bad shown him some kindness and taken some interest in his welfare but what was his surprise when this man instead of rejoicing at the tidings of the marvelous manifestation which this humble and pure minded boy had received even as samuel of old had received the word of the lord told him that it was a delusion and a snare that god no longer spoke to man that the preachers of the day were his ministers and that there was no longer on any necessity for angels to visit the earth because the people were living in the full blaze of gospel light in the nineteenth century an era of learning power wisdom and civilization but did this convince joseph smith that he bad not received a visitation from the lorl no he could not deny it though ton ten thousand ministers chose to doubt it said he be 1 I knew that I 1 had received a vision and I 1 knew that god knew it and that I 1 would be condemned if il I 1 should deny what my eyes had beheld 11 this was the testimony many which he bore to those around him but the same fate betel him that has usually befallen men in every age whon when they have come in contact with the preconceived ideas and notions of their generation when they have resolved to belleve believe for themselves and not be misguided by the uninspired and erroneous teachings of others he began to suffer slander abuse and persecution and was neglected ignored and slighted by those who should have been his best friends wandering into bye paths giving way to the weaknesses of youth because forsaken by his monitors and guides and being persecuted by bv the more respectable portions of society he confesses in the honesty of his heart that he did many things which were sinful in the sight of god but he repented and some time later bowed himself down before the lord and besought him earnestly and with tears in his eyes that he would overlook his bis youthful follies receive him again into his favor and give him a manifestation that he might know whether or not he was still acceptable and would be forgiven he had retired to bed after praying he saw alight a light again descending d from heaven in the midst of this light was a personage of glory who presently stood at his bedside the heavenly visitant told joseph that his name was Alo moroni roul that lie he was an angel from the presence of god that once he be had bad been a prophet upon this american continent and was the last of a race of prophets who ministered unto a people called the Nep hites whose ancestors came from jerusalem in the days of the prophet jeremiah years before the birth ot of the savior moroni told joseph thatis that in a hill some distance from the place where he lived were hidden some golden geldert plates or records giving a history of the ancient inhabitants of this continent their wars war their civilization the birth growth decline and death of their nation and telling how the savior after he had been crucified at jerusalem came to this land and established his church with apo apostles and prophets with the gifts of the holy ghost the borki workings of miracles and the same principles that were preached on the eastern hemisphere hemia phere at jerusalem and other places he told him that these records were to be translated by the gift and power of god that interpreters would be found hidden with the plates and that these records were the stick of joseph spoken of by the prophet ezekiel which should be joined with the stick of judah the bible and should grow together in the last lays days for the putting town down of false doctrine and the establishment of the kingdom of god upon the earth the speaker next related the visit of the prophet jose joseph di to the hill hillou cu morah and the fl finding adi ng of the plates as directed by the angel moroni unlike the book of mormon he said the holy scriptures have for hu hundreds of years year passed through the hands of uninspired men who have taken away from the bible some of the plainest nest and most precious par parts ts and involved the rest in mystery so that people are confused and bewildered regarding their meaning this is one cause of tile the dissensions and differences of 0 opinion p which prevail in the christian world today J oseph joseph smith the speaker showed leevi received ved many visitations of angels including john the baptist who bestowed upon him the priesthood the authority to preach the gospel of repentance and baptize by immersion in water for the remission of sins also a visitation from peter jamesland james Jame sand and john who conferred upon him the Melchi sedek priesthood with power to lay jay hands and bestow the holy ghost until he was tally fully equipped in knowledge wisdom and authority to build up with his associates the church ana and kingdom of god on the ath april 1830 in the little town of fayette seneca county new york six men met together agreeable to tile laws of the land which required at least that number for such an undertaking and organized the church of beaus christ of Latte rJay saints I 1 need not rehearse here in detail the experience of the church since then gathering from new york and Pennsyl pennsylvania Valli and the eastern lauds lands to kirtland ohio abandoning kirtland because of persecutions and and going to missouri only to be cast out and expelled in the depths ot of winter before the inhuman decree of governor boggs who commanded the militia of the state to exterminate the mormons cormons Mor mons or drive them from the land suffice it that men women and children were driven forth from their plundered homes leaving their bloody footprints on the hard crusted snow their path made bright before them by the light of their burning dwellings and alad ravaged fields flying in haste baste from missouri and throwing themselves upon the hospitality of the kindhearted people of Illi illinois for at that time they were kindhearted kind hearted and nobly opened their arms to receive the homeless refugees but the clouds of persecution again gathered the heavens again filled wilh blac blackness kriess the tempest of mans wrath burst over the heads of gods people and finally they were again compelled to forsake their homes driven before the bayonets and cannon of a ruthless mob and performing a journey unparallel in history of 1600 1500 miles from the borders of the inspired mind of brigham young halting baiting on the bench east of this city exclaimed this is the place klace here the temple of god will he e built and here the saints will be gathered and become a great and mighty people in the midst of the rocky mountains this was in fulfilment fulfillment of a prophecy left on record bythe by the prophet joseph in the summer of 1842 we are here in the mountains of ephraim in the chambers of the everlasting hills according to the words of the prophets ancient and matern modern and they who have driven us nom n om oni place to place have only fulfilled the prophecies pushing us though with a bloody hand with a mailed malle darm arm of oppression on to our great desti destiny uy we are suffering for our religion and we expect to suffer for it just as men and women in all ages have had to suffer who have been brave enough independent enough free enough from the traditions and pre of the world around them to rise up and say 1 I am willing to forsake all father fat lier mother husband wife children home possessions and follow the lord jesus christ through good and through evil report I this is the spirit that has gathered to these mountains from nearly every nation under heaven this people called latter day saints people who were once methodists catholics presbyterians rians baptists infidels or what you will all having been baptized into one spirit and instead of quarreling and contending among themselves receiving for their god the true and living god for their faith the ancient faith restored for their baptism the true baptism and have taken as their guide the holy spirit which has been poured out upon them from on high the world thinks the latter day saints are deluded that it is the cunning and wisdom of man that has brought this aggregation of people of different creeds and climes together and them into one homogeneous mass maes but they are mistaken it is because each member of the church of god has received for himself or herself a knowledge that these things which I 1 am now BOW telling you are true they know that joseph smith did receive a visit from the father and the son they know that he did receive the book of mormon in the way that he declared they have received the testimony of the spirit of god though they dwelt among nations far over the sea received under the hands bands of the servants of god who have power to bestow the holy ghost this testimony which they now bear to the world the cunning and the shrewdness of man could not bring such a people together why if it were earthly considerations that had brought this people here they would have been scattered to the four winds long before now they would have followed the example of cravens and cowards traitors and apostates in all ages they would fly over to the stronger side at the first approach of danger and persecution earthly considerations no these are not the inducements that have brought the latter day saints together although many of us seem to give the lie to this de declaration claradon we |