Show RELIGIOUS sunday services religious services were held at the ra tabernacle bernacle salt lake city dunday may ard 1891 commencing at 2 poa pm president angus M cannon can non presiding the choir an I 1 congregation sang the hymn commencing the of 0 god like a fire is burning I 1 the latter day glory begins to come forth prayer was offered by elder edward stevenson the belloir sang the hymn prayer is the souls sincere desire uttered or unexpressed the priesthood of the first ward officiated in the administration of the sacrament ftera ment ELDER B H ROBERTS was called to address to congregation he said that amoni among the many scenes which were peculiarly striking in the career of the lord jesus christ there was one w which al always ways made an espe lal jai impress on upon his mind the description of it was recorded in the first chapter of the acts of the apostles from which proposed be to reid re d itoe it occurred some forty days after jesus had risen from the dead during which time we were informed he had been teaching his of abingd concerning concer uini the kingdom of heaven towards the conclusion of t hat very important era in his hi ministry re he gathered those who believed on him upon the mount of olives and they put to him on that occasion this question wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom unto israel to ro this jesus replied it to is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father bath put in via own power but ye shall receive power after that the holy ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem and in all judea and in samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth and when he had spoken these I 1 things while they behold beheld he was taken up and ana a cloud received him out of their sight and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel which also said ye men of galileo galilee wh why stand ye gazing up into heaven same jesus gazina wh which ch is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven acts i 1 7 11 it seemed to him that among all the promises which the lord had bad made unto those who believe in his name there was not one capable of giving more comfort or more satisfaction to the christian than t chis h Is it t was looke i upon as a glorious hope among the privileged saints and he believed lc it was so even yet among those who had implicit falth faith and court lence in the promises of god gad from time to time in christian nations this question of the return of the messiah was agitated times were set for the event to occur they had been in the pst past he saw by the newspapers of last evening that they were in the arese prese present nt and he presumed that in the fatu future re others would arise who would undertake to fix the date of that great event Pot notwithstanding withstanding the fact that the lord jesus jeans christ de declared bared that it was not for men to know the times nor the seasons which god had reserved unto himself and which he would only reveal at his own good pleasure but apart from any consideration of the time when or the place where this event was to occur he believed it to be the most glorious hope that the christian had that the lord jesus christ who once ministered among men in the flesh would return to the earth and bless it again with his presence he took it that no truth no promise was so 80 frequently alluded to in the writings of the inspired apostles as this subject of the Hess messiahs iahlo return particularly was this the case in the writings of the apostle paul in writ tog ing to the saints of Thes salonia he used this language for if we believe that jesus died and rose again even so I 1 them hem also which sleep in jesus will god bring with him for this we say unto you by the word of the lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the lord shall not prevent them which are asleep for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice 0 of f the archangel and with the tr trump m p of god and the abad dead in christ shall rise ise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the cloud to meet the lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the lord Theas alonians iv 1417 14 17 now blaul sometimes sume times u ed ad the rits rites of the churches and said to them iu ILI the course of his instructions instruction 11 1 1 give this as my judgment he was chouest enough to do that when nut not car ain that he be was prompted by the inspiration of the holy ghost but in this instance he be emphatically said that what he now wrote was 11 y the word of the lord we might continue to read passage after passage which emphatic emphatically aily st set forth that the lord jesus christ would return to the earth we gathered too one other fact from the read ing ilig of these last passages that he would come to reward his saints to inaugurate doubtless the resurrection from the dead and to punish the ungodly this was in harmony with what jesus himself said even previous to his crucifixion when he declared that the inhabitants of the earth should see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven to reward ovary every man according to his works surrounded by the glory of his father these two truths then he would have the congregation distinctly remember that the lord jesus christ would come and that he would come to judgment from the language of paul to the thessalonians Thess alonians it would seem that he expected I 1 his hill immediate coming that he hold held it up to the saints sainto in those days as some thing to which they might look forward within the immediate fut future tire referring thereto he said to thern them those of us who remain to we see his coming shall be caught up as if the event might possibly happen within the lifetime of 0 that generation he presumed that paul was wise enough in the things of god to know when he said that no im man knew the day nor the hour r rf f christs coming that he did not seek to grope into the future and penetrate the designs and purposes of god which he in his wisdom had obscured and withheld from the children of men but while paul did not know the da day nor the hour that had bad been set act for that glorious appearing he did know that some very important events would transpire beforehand what oue of those important things was waa we might learn from this same epistle to the Thess thessalonians alonians raid haiti he to them N now w we beseech you brethren by the coming of our lord jesus christ and by our gathering together unto him that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as an that the day of christ chri t is i at hand let no man deceive you by any means for that day clay shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opp oseth and exal teth himself above all that is called god or that is worshipped wor shipped so that he as god in the temple of god showing himself that he is god remember ye not that when I 1 was yet with you I 1 told you these things androw and now ye know what that he might be revealed in H his Is time for the mystery of iniquity doth already work only lie he who now zetteth will let until he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked be revealed whom the lord shall consume with thee the spirit of his mouth and shau shall destroy with rhth the brightness of his coming from this language the speaker said he be gathered that paul understood very clearly that previous to the ful flament of this glorious promise respecting the return of the messiah there would exist a long night of apostasy apo stacy in which the powers of darkness would receive the homage and worship of the children of inen instead of the god of heaven he doubtless doubt len knew that men would transgress the laws or the gospel that they would change its ordinances break their covenant and keep unto those teachers who would turn tura away their ear from the truth he knew that dam damnable heresy would creep into the church defiling the gospel of lifland life and salvation hence he bore record that the mystery of iniquity which should bring about this deplorable state of affairs was working even in his bis time and would continue to work until finally the glory of the 0 should he c corrupted by the vain traditions of men he saw that that power would hold way until the lord should hould come and consume it by the glory and power of his coming he was reminded of another thing which was also to occur before the ful dilmont of the great promise of christis second coming it was recorded in the writings of malachi behold I 1 will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the lord whom ye see shall suddenly come to hiis his temple even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the lord of hosts lt it would appear then that before the lord should come ak 1 met would prepare the way before 11 him he the speaker might have remas ked however before allu alluding to this thin matter that the gocbel of te t e lord jasus christ which had been corrupted through the th great apostasy apo stacy foretold fore tod by the apostle vaul paul would be restored to the earth again in all its ito purity we had bad the assurance of scripture that this would be the case in the hour of our lords coming to judgment in the revelations of st john we were told that among the many glorious visions given to him on the tale isle of patmos he saw an angel flying through the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth to every tongue and people saying with a loud voice fear god and give glory unto him for the hour of his judgment has come so here was proof positive that in the hour of gods judgments every nation kindred tongue and people would be without the everlasting gospel or why the necessity of restoring it to this people hence that was an event connected with the times in which the son of god should come again to the earth many biblical students and many commentators on the holy word maintained that the prediction of malachi which he had just before read was vas fulfilled when john jehn the baptist came cam from efrom the wilderness of judea preparing the way for the coming of the son of god by preaching the doctrine of repentance and baptism for the remission of sins and truly john was a messenger of the lord he was preparing the way for the boa Sort of mans coming he was a witness for him and testified that this was he who should give repentance and remission of sins unto the house of israel notwithstanding all that however john did not then fulfil fulfill the terms of the prediction from the words which he the speaker had bad quoted it would appear that when the lord jesus christ should come following this chis messenger who was to prepare the way for him it was going to be extremely difficult to abide that day and the question was asked who shall stand when he 1 he would now put this question to his hearers was it difficult to abide the day of the coming of the lord jesus christ when he appeared among men in the flesh was it difficult to stand when he appeared then well he be thought not it seemed to him that the wicked and the ungodly had no particular difficulty in abiding that day or standing when he appeared As he remembered itchey heaped indignities upon the lord jesus christ they ridiculed his words hounded him from place to te place sought his life finally dragged him before their tribunals insulted him whipped and beat him contrary to the lawand as a lamb that is 18 dumb before its he opened not his mouth in those days after he had been thus insulted before the jewish the rabble dragged him through the streets of jerusalem to the che judgment seat of pilate that the sentence pronounced upon him by the might receive the approval of the roman go governor vernon and when pilate would have let film him go the rabble raised their voice against him defied him and said let his blood be upon us and upon our children after us then after the death warrant was signed they placed his cross upon his shoulders he bowed beneath benn th the weight as am he bore it along and such was his affliction that the women standing upon the streets wept out of very pity for hla his sufferings he was led to the place ot of execution and fastened upon the cross between two thieves one of whom impenitent in his sufferings reviled and challenged him to the manifestation of his hie power you have saved others save us and we will believe the crowd below continued to mock him even in his anguish the soldiers parted his raiment cast lots for his vesture and in mockery ah ve the cross was placed the words this is the king of the jews was it difficult to stand then was it difficult to abide his presence why no but when he should come in ful filament of this prediction when he should come as those two mew messengers agers who stood by the disciples while they watched the receding form of the son of god going from the earth when he should come again in like manner as he ascended I 1 in n the glory of his father surrounded by his angels to reward the righteous and to punish the ungodly then indeed we might abide his coming and stand when he should appear turning again to malachi here was another event identified with this important circumstance behold I 1 will send you elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord and he shall turn the hearts odthe of the fathers to the children and the hearton heart of the children to their fathers lest I 1 come and smite the earth with a curse he could think of no greater day of the lord jesus than that in the chapter of revelations in describing a vision which he had the apostle said and after these things I 1 saw another angel come down from heaven hav having i n 9 great power and the earth was wag ligh lightened tene with his glory and he cried mightily with a strong voice saying babylon the great is fallen is fallen fallen ana and is become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird for all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication and the kings of the earth have COMMiL committed ted fornication with her and the merchants of the earth have waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies and I 1 heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her my people that ye be not partakers par takers of her sins and ana that ye receive not of her plagues for her sins have reached unto heaven and god hath bath remembered her iniquities reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the cup which she hath bath filled fialto fill to her double how much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her for she saith in her heart I 1 sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow therefore shall her plagues come in one day death and mourning aud and famine and she shall be utterly burned with fire for strong is the lord god who judieth her so it would seem that there were again associated with this judgment to be executed upon the world the gathering together of gotts gods people the lord knew the evil influences that mans surroundings had upon dimand how extremely difficult he would find it to walk in his ways and keep his commandments the christian world doubtless believed those prophecies contained in holy doiy writ concerning the second coming of christ but he bad sometimes wondered whether it had equal faith in the things which were associated therewith he feared not he wished to bear his testimony to the strangers present that afternoon in regard to this 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