Show sunday services religious services were held at the tabernacle salt lake city 93 sunday nov 2nd and 1890 commencing at 2 p m counselor joseph E taylor presiding the choir sang the hymn commencing glorious things of thee are spoken zion city of our god I 1 prayer was offered by elder D IL L bavis the choir next sang the hymn come thou glorious day of promise aromi 8 e gome come aad spread thy cheerful r ray ai the priesthood of the third ward offic officiated in the administering of the sacrament APOSTLE ABRAHAM H CANNON addressed the congregation it seems ms strange he said in remarking upon the marvelous work which bod has commenced in the earth that so few people are convinced of ite Its divinity the latter day saints sainta are frequently led to wonder why it is that intelligent men and women do not recognize the hand of god in the affairs which are almost daily transpiring in connection with this work we cau can see how wonderfully he has wrought among the nations for the accomplishment t ment of many things which have been predicted concerning zion indeed there is ia no prophecy recorded in holy writ but has had its fulfillment fulfilment as far as possible in the limited period since this church was organized we find that those who receive the gospel among the various nations have such overwhelming proofs of the divine origin of the work in which we are engaged as to lead them often to feel that their friends and acquaintances should also be able to see and accept that which to themselves is so plain but the people of the world will not receive the truth they prefer darkness and wicked wickedness Dess to light and knowledge even when our elders have gone forth hearing bearing the gospel gusi gosi I 1 message and seeking to establish mh peace among men they have been mobbed and persecuted and in some instances slain nevertheless it remains a fact that the truth is here that the gospel has been restored that god is directing his people and his work and will continue to watch over it until everything which has been spoken concerning the latter days concerning zion his kingdom has been fulfilled the world will yet be compelled I 1 led to bo bow w the k knee nee a and ad ack no w C ledge dge the savior as king of kings und and lord of lords after briefly tracing the growth of the church until it has reached its present proportions the speaker referred to the remarkable fulfil fulfill ment of the prediction of the prophet joseph in regard to the war of the rebellion years before it actually occurred the prophet was led by the spirit of god not only to predict a great civil war in this land but to tell the cause whit which 11 would produce it and he went so far under the inspiration of the almighty as to designate the place where the strite strife would commence speaking of th judgments and calamities which it had been declared should be poured out upon those nations which rejected the word of god the speaker asked what do we find in those places where our elders have been derided where their testimony has been rejected meeting with no response in the hearts of the people why that trouble is brewing among them that their hearts are now filled with a fear of something about to occur but which they cannot can not understand and this kind of fear fills the minds of men in high positions in thin thia nation in some parts of the union secret organizations exist which threaten the peace and safety of communities in the southern states men are assassinated because they raise their hands adaist crime and threatening letters are sent to prominent individuals because they dare to call upon the officers of the law to suppress prime rime and drive out criminals in this country again we find that wealth to if being concentrated in the hands of a few that a condition prevails here similar to that which exists in great britain where it is said some hundred men own more than half the land there are found men too in this ibis country gathering the titles to the land into their own hands renting out their property and deriving a big income from the poor farmer who tills the soil the statement is made indeed that exists to a far greater extent in these united states than in the british dominions these men are not seeking the welfare of the laboring classes or the people generally most of them are unscrupulous and by unscrupulous means have succeeded in amassing great wealth the fight between capital and labor is a source of great danger to the and the minda of these moneyed ones are fahed with apprehensions hen siong of anarchy they fear that the masses will rise up against them aud aad demaud demand what they deem to be their rights latter day saints have your eyes open to the events which are occurring around you and study them by the light of the holy ghost that tha you may see therein therea a ho how w god is working to fulfil fulfill his word and that your faith may he be thereby strengthened in the work among the latter day saints there is a panacea for all those which exist in the world we should always be seeking to know what the will of god is concerning us so that in the dakof day of trouble in the day of wars and rumors of wars ware we may stand in holy places and build a refuge for the oppressed of the nation when calamities are poured out upon the nation then will the righteous turn their eyes and see in these mountains among these humble latter day saints a people who are at with each other and with the world they will see the place where the spirit of god dwells for or where he dwells thore is no strife no contention nothing but peace and goodness do not spend your time in idle folly to fault finding in aiming to gather wealth but seek to diffuse knowledge to gain wisdom from the source of all light and intelligence seek to have the spirit of god in your hearts so that whenever you are tried you will see in your trials the hand of god and acknowledge it thus you will have peace and safety and finally eternal life COUNSELOR CHARLES W PENROSE was the next speaker he bore his testimony to the remarks of apostle cannon and rejoiced in the fact that to some extent at least he could discern the hand of godin god in the mi of his people also tome to see that he was moving among the nations of the earth to accomplish those things which were predicted by the prophets of old and which had been foretold by the prophets of god in the latter days the lord he said saia brings about his great purposes by what we call natural means things appear supernatural to those who do not understand natural laws we only comprehend a few of the laws of nature things are taking place around us all the time which we cannot thoroughly comprehend the speaker in illustration of his argument briefly referred to the science of astronomy and other accepted theories and remarked that certain things occurred day by day of which we took but little notice because they were what we thought natural though after all they were in one sense miraculous god works in and through nature and the laws of nature are the laws of god there is a natural yet spiritual principle called faith and it is the first principle of the gospel of jesus christ faith in the true and living god this faith in one sense is a principle of power as we understand dit it it is part of our creed it was by the power of faith that these worlds were brought forth not that god created the material of which they are composed but he spoke to the pre materials which always existed which are without beginning and which cannot be annihilated hil ted in the turning them again into nothing the elements are eternal spirit is eternal and matter is eternal in its elementary particle bartic dev jasus christ manifested some portion of this power of faith when among men he walked upon the water and did not sink he spoke to the winds and the waves and they chey obeyed him he said to the sick be thou healed and disease departed he said to the blind receive thy sight ff and they looked upon him to the lame leap and they leapt and even the tomb comb could not hold him when wicked men had slain him he H came forth from the grave and overcame death and the power of death this power which was manifested in jesus christ was an exercise of the principle of faith which is inherent in everybody it is part of our existence it it is a spiritual force and though we may not know how to use it yet it is part of our very being we exercise faith all the time in natural things it 13 is this principle which prompts us to action we are brought forth in the likeness of god we are his seed the spiritual part of man is his offspring and all the powers which exist la in their perfection in the bosom of deity exist in us in an state and if we will take the course he has pointed out look to his precepts commune with him walk in his ways and be guided by his spirit until it possesses us in its falness ful ness we will come up like jesus christ our elder brother to the the godhead bodily and exercise all the powers that belong to deity I 1 faith opens the eyes of the spirit and enables us te see and discern god and his purposes we should cultivate this principle within us the first principle of the everlasting gospel it comes to us by hearing the word of god that is a natural process though we may call it supernatural people are not converted entirely by hearing the word it must mua be accompanied by the spirit faith is exhibited by works if I 1 therefore we will exercise faith in the gospel that we have received and do its works day by day that faith will increase with the using just j like any otner faculty that we possess mess there is a great lack of 1 faith aith in the world it is at a discount and we latter day saints should try and bring it to a premium there are certain gifts of the holy spirit and alie lord has revealed to us in these latter days that all these gifts are for us every gift enjoyed by the primitive church is for this church also among these the speaker mentioned the gift of knowledge of wisdom of discernment of healing and being healed speaking in tongues the gift of prophecy of seeing visions and having divine dreams all these come from the exercise of faith but the exercise of faith is not simply for the benefit of the individual though he cannot obtain salvation without it he has to exer exercise elso it for the good of others as well as himself study the principle of faith it is worthy of investigation ti all things must be done in faith for without it it is impossible to please god when we pray we should pray I 1 in n faith if we want to accomplish anything any anything tAing that Js is good we should exercise faith then the lord will bear us and work with us there is an increase of spiritual force when tw or three are agreed in its exercise as there is iu in physical force I 1 in u your prayer meetings meet together in faith and let there be union in the midst of the brethren we ought to be a people of faith in these mountain valleys for we came to zion to build up tip the kingdom of god do not indulge in skepticism do not let your minds run in that direction but train rain your children to have faith in the true and living god let us exercise faith together and we will be able to remove mountains of prejudice and ill will against us we are a small people numerically and also as regards wealth and and learning but we are improving in that direction we are small in many ways but if we have faith and use it in the way god has appointed the powers unseen will work with those that are seen and together in our faith we will prevail and god will give us the victory the choir sang the anthem the song of the redeemed ff benediction was pronounced by elder henry P richards |