| Show DISCOURSE by president george geor 96 Q ganno cannon at me tabernacle aole satt sam lake anty sunday afternoon april 1890 REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER I 1 win read a portion of the ath chapter of pauls pau Is epistle to the romans I 1 say aay the truth in christ I 1 lie not my bons eons conscience enee also bearing me witness in the holy oly ghost that I 1 have Ibave er great eat heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart art for I 1 could wish that myself cereac were accursed from christ for or my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh who are israelites to whom pert aineth t the le a adoption tion and the glory and the covenants pd a to and the giving of the law and the service of god and the promises whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh ly hrut johnst came who is in overall over all god blessed forever for ever amen not as though the word of god hath taken none effect for they are not all israel which are of israel neither because they are the seed of abraham are they all ali children ildren oh but in isaac shall thy seed be called that is they which are the children of the flesh these are not the children ot of god but the children of the promise are counted for the seed for this is the word of pro promise miso at this time will come and sarah shall have a son and not only this but when rebecca also had conceived by one even by our father isaac for the children being not yet born neither havill having done any good or evil that 1 the purpose of god according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleta cal leth it was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger As it is written jacob have I 1 loved but beau have I 1 hated what shall we say then Is io there unrighteousness with god god forbid for he saith to moses I 1 will have mercy on whom I 1 will have mercy ind I 1 will have compassion on whom I 1 will have compassion so go then it is not of him that willeth nor mor of him trtat but of god that mercy for the Scrip scripture turo saith unto aloah pharoah even for vais same purpose have I 1 raised raise thee up ftp that I 1 might show shew my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth therefore hath he mercy on whom he be will have mercy and whom he will he har ceneth thou wilt say then unto me why doth he ye and fault for who hath resisted hiski his will nay but 0 man who art thou that re against not god shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor what if god willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known en dureth with much longsuffering long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory 1 ory even us whom he hath cali called led not of the jews only but also of the gentiles in addressing you this afternoon I 1 desire very much to have an interest in your faith and prayers that wy my remarks may be prompted and accompanied by the spirit of OW god and that they may be profitable to us it is our privilege in coming together to be fed with the bread of life I 1 would not take much Dle cleasure allure in meeting as we do today and certainly not in speaking if I 1 did not partake 0 of the spirit of goda god so that my heart would be made to rejoice in the truth and I 1 myself be strengthened by that which should be said I 1 often remark that our spiritual wants need to be supplied just as much as our physical wants there are many even among the latter day saints who undergo a species of starvation through neglect in attending meetings and availing themselves of the opportunities which god has given unto us they do not get that spiritual nourishment which is as necessary to make the man or the woman in christ jesus perfect as it is that we should partake of earthly food to sustain our bodies this scripture which I 1 have read in your hearing bearing contains some remarkable expressions nd it has been by many individuals Individual sto to convey the idea that there is a predestination or foreordination nation by bv which some men are elected to be saved and others are predestined to be damned even among latter day saints I 1 have heard remarks made to the effect that there was something in this doctrine and that although the idea was not fully conveyed certain individuals were selected to be vessels of wrath and did not have it in their power to help themselves but vi were ere inevitably evit ably destined to receive certain punishment and to take such a course of life as would bring upon themselves this punishment only a few days ago one of our sisters in speaking of a young man who had gone astray seemed to be at a loss lose to understand why he should have been left to take evil courses she asked me how bizow it was that the elders had bad been led to help that young man or that child he was a child at the time how they were led to emelect him to pachis pay his passage and bring him to zion and then he be permitted after be reached here and had grown up to go to the ibe bad she wanted to know why god would prompt 0 his servants to do as they did and suffer such results to follow of course the reflection was made that there wu something inscrutable about this providence something that needed explanation and the inference might be drawn from the inquiries chih h were made that god in some man manner ner had failed to do that which should be done or to exercise his providence in a way that it should be exercised to compass the salvation of his children and especially of this young person now if there is auy anything thing that to la clear in the gospel of the lord jesus christ as it is revealed to tn us in these last days it is this that ev every ery human being born on the earth has given unto him and unto her the utmost latitude in the exercise of his or her agency we are taught and it is made exceeding plain in the word of god that we can exercise our free agency to the fullest extent necessary to make us responsible for our acts and by its exercise to gain for ourselves glory IB fia the eternal worlds and the reward which god gives unto his faithful children childre nj or on the other hand the condemnation and punishment that wickedness inevitably brings upon those who practise it this T is is a fundamental principle of the gospel of the lord jesus christ and we ve as his hia followers should clearly under stand it if we do wrong and we have it in our power to do wrong we must be responsible for that we do it because we elect to do it and not because we are compelled by some power over which we have no control to commit this wrong on the tee other hand if we do right it is because we exercise our agency agena in that direction and not because 11 t there ere is a power exercised over us which compels us to do right those who reach that blissful state that god clod has prom promised t to t the he faithful could not enjoy 0 happiness pi 3 ess there if they obtained it in any ny other way than by the exercise of their agency so 80 with punishment if men should be punished for acts that they were compelled to commit by a power superior to their own how unjust would it lie be to punish them and how properly they could reproach our creator for holding them accountable for the commission of deeds in which they had no agency there is no such principle as this in the gospel the gospel of the lord jesus christ is one of perfect freedom every soul has the right to choose whom he will serve whether god or baal and no individual who does that which is wrong can reproach god unfavorable circumstances m my kysur surround human beings at their birth which may have influence upon their subsequent careers but our great creator in judging his children will make full allowance for these man having his agency need not unless he be so wi wishes become the entire creature of these circumstances it 11 bt bi comes his duty to contend against that which is evil and by the help of god to overcome evil inclinations and rise above evil surroundings it is for this purpose that god gives his holy spirit unto his children that thab auder its influence and by its power they may be able to resist evil to overcome over colne the temptations that may be in their pathway and to strengthen themselves in the practice of those virtues which he has enjoined upon us as necessary to make us acceptable in his sight but the question arises and it has often arisen in times past how it is that god should make such expressions preset pres ons as he has concerning lacob jacob and esau by reference to the history we find fl nd that before the children were born in response to the inquiry of rebecca concerning them the lord said to her the elder shall serve the younger 0 unger s although they each should become the head of a great nation and by those who try to prove that some men are predestined to do good and others to do evil it is often remarked has not god said that jacob have I 1 loved but esau have I 1 bated Is not this an evidence that predestination was doing its work in the lives of these twin brothers did not jacob start before his bis birth with advantages over b his Is brother esau and was esau to be blamed for selling his birthright std losing the favor of God when god beforehand had declared that that should be the cue case then agatia again those who take this view say why god has said expressly that he raised up pharaoh for the very purpose of showing forth we his power through him and has he not said that he hardened his heart that be might not dot let israel go even though he beheld the mighty miracles thet were performed by moses and aaron 22 looked at from one standpoint these passages of scripture would seem to give color to the idea that there to is foundation for this doctrine of predestination and that before the birth of esau and jacob there had been a foreordination or a predestination by which the lives of the two men inen were determined and the course that they should take had been onla ined by jed glod so go that each had to follow a certain line of life to accomplish his destiny the rho difficulty that many people have in considering this subject is that they confound foreknowledge with foreordination because god foreknew foreknow fore knew that esau would serve bis big brother he knowing the end from the ue beginning ginning it does not dot follow that because of this foreknowledge and because he reven revealed led this fact to rebecca it was his design or that he had predetermined that these children yet unborn should each take the course that he did esau and jacob had their agency so with all of us yet our heavenly father knows beforehand everything concerning us and what our lives will be there is nothing hidden bidden from or uia unknown known to him concerning the earth and its inhabitants everything that will take place is known beforehand to him by the spirit of prophecy therefore he predicts events that shall take place and works that men and nations will accomplish com he knew before these children were born upon the earth the course that both jacob and esau would take and was able to foretell ao to the mother that the elder would serve the younger and that the younger would be the greater and the better man but says one he says that jacob have I 1 loved and esau have I 1 hated as though god before they were born bad loved one and bated the other before they had bad committed any act to cause the feeling of love or to prompt the feeling of hatred he had g ad expressed himself in that manner this is not the case however this expression was not dot made by the lord before the birth of these children it was malachi the last of the prophets whose record in the bible has come down to us who made this expression concerning these two men after they had lived upon the earth after they had accomplished their labors the prophet malachi Malac bi in sp sweating eating ahing of them and of the blessings that had descended upon israel and speaking by the spirit of the lord and for the lord made this expression jacob have I 1 loved and esau have I 1 hated ff of cou coarse roe it was easy to declare this then after they had finished floi shed their work on oa earth there was no impropriety in it for the judgment was then pronounced upon them the works of jacob had been those which god loved the works of esau had been those of which god did not approve therefore this could be said of them with perfect propriety N and impartiality tia lity and without conveying the idea that esau helpless in th the e presence of a fate to which he had been foreordained fore ordained had bad no BO alternative but to perform the works which cereso were so displeasing to the lord in the case of phar oh the lord raised him up tio no doubt for the express purpose of showing forth his power lie he know knew pharaoh before he was b born arn he knew his character and spirit he knew that which lie he would do therefore to show forth his might and to accomplish his pu poses not by taking away Pha pharaohs Phara agency not by compelling him to do that which he be did but by leaving him to the free exercise of his agency he spoke as he did concerning pharaoh and declared that he had raised him up for that express purpose he placed him on the throne of egypt at a time when it was waa necessary in order to fulfil fulfill the predictions that had already been made respecting the deliverance of I 1 Israel from the bondage of egypt I 1 n order that the children of israel might go forthwith forth with mighty power and with the exhibition of great miracles god so arranged and prepared events that a spirit such as this pharaoh was should occupy the throne of egypt so that his glorious ability to save his people and to fulfil fulfill his word might be made mani man fest feet to the nations of the earth and that the story thereof should go down through all the ages of time to be tad as long as there should be men upon the eath ea th to relate the story or to hear it and in order too that his chosen people the children of israel might know that he had brought them forth with mighty power anti and with an outstretched arm that it might never be forgotten by them nor their children after them but it was not that god fore ordained this thia man to commit this wickedness wicked ness and to oppose his work I 1 would like you to clearly understand that foreknowledge is one thing and foreordination or pre destination is another and there is a great distinction between the two they must not bp be confounded one with the other ether Is it not plain that god does possess foreknowledge foreknow lege but does it necessarily follow that because he knows that a spirit when it takes a mortal tabernacle will follow evil courses he ordains that soul to that end or predestines predestined tines him to he be the wicked man he becomes such buch a doctrine is abhorrent to every principle of righteousness and justice and to all that god the father and the lord jesus jess christ and the holy prophets have said concerning our great creator that men are foreordained fore ordained there can be no doubt entertain enter entertained tai ned by those who believe the gospel but not to bedan be damned ined every human bei being lagis is ordained to be saved if he will be if f he be is damned it is because he chooses the eatn that leads to condemnation dem nation and we know that all thin things a work together for good to them that love love god to them who are the called according to his bis purpose for whom he did foreknow he be also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn first born am among 0 n g bover many any brethren m moreover 0 i whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he be |
