| Show 5 RE IA I 1 G IOU S sunday services religious services werts were held at the tabernacle salt lake city sunday ITo vember 1 1891 commencing at 2 president angus M cannon P t m presiding e the choir and congregation sang the hymn commencing sweet is the work my god my king to praise thy name give thanks and sing f prayer was wab offered by bishop elias morris the choir next sarg sang the hymn jesus once of humble bumble birth now in glory comes to earth the priesthood of the fifth ward officiated in the administration odthe of the ads supper 41 APOSTLE ABRAHAM H CANNON g the speaker he said eaid he realized 0 that his bis efforts to instruct the saints c teat afternoon would be in vain unless i he be was guided and prompted by the of god the words of an elder be pleasing to the ear and his but unless accompanied brilliant 1 ideas aas by the that it spirit those words would fall to 4 touch the hearts of the people while 1 they might give comfort and perhaps they would not carry with thern them that tha t convie conviction tion which the alm pleat words presented by the humblest c weaker would if inspired of god among other things they prayed that abe lord bord would open the way I 1 whereby those atoo of their the faith th I 1 who were still scattered among the na lions alons of the earth might be gathered to these mountain valleys and become eyt E them a united people other beets did not pre preach ach the g at bering of r converts to any lecial locality satisfied to convert people to er dg ie air ir particular doctrine and leave them em in the place where they found hem surrounded by their friends eu en burene ng in the same pursuits which followed when the word of bod sm it was called was preached to them anthie In I 1 this thie how however evors as in many other othe thing the latter day saints differed from tn the rest of the world they b believed that god would in the latter days rather gither his chosen people from au uthe the nations of the earth those who received the truth would need no afRum ent to convince them of the ne deity for this gathering for with the reception tion of the gospee dospel the spirit of athert ng would take possession of t them ahem ang and however distant they might be from the land which the Y knew god had appointed as the dwelling place amm of his peoples people they would still be anxious to forsake their native home and come to zion the gospel brought to the children of men aben not only spiritual salvation teat jt salvation which belonged to the other side aide of the veil but it would help them temporally anal they believed that this gathering was de signed ignec by god as a means of preserving t them of protecting them from the the judgments of various kinds which were to be poured out upon PO the earth in great measure flow necessary it was that mankind wherever they were should make familiar with the plan of fy f y sial salvation al which god had established I 1 upon tipon the earth the latter day saints f who lived in these mountain valleys claimed that god had given unto them the truth they claimed that jose joseph 11 smith was the humble instrument in n the hands of god in restoring this thia gospel to the children of that it would yet be preached in every land that all should hear beav it and have the privilege of accepting or rejecting it as seemed best unto them those who received it would have the knowledge of its divinity the he truth would be made plain to them and the spirit of god would bear testimony to them that that which they had bad received was indeed the gospel of life and salvation what was the gospel that which jesus himself taught while on the earth etwas it was faith in the lord jesus christ faith that jesus died for the sins sine of the world faith that through His death atonement was made forthe for the original sin and that through that atonement all men were re relieved from the effects of the fall of adam through his death and resurrection life had been restored to the children of men those who had lived righteous lives and kept the commandments mand ments of god would live never again to die while those who had rejected the truth the sons of perdition would receive the sentence of a secona second death having spoken of those having the authority to administer in gods holy ordinances apostle cannon remarked that if we were baptized a thousand times by men possessing no such authority from god who had received no calling except that which came from within all would be in vain and their work would be unacceptable in the sight of the lord we must bave have a constant testimony of the spirit within us to enable us to withstand the trials and tribulations to which we were subjected here in the flesh or in the day we looked not for it temptation would overcome us ua and we would fall again into darkness and unbelief the only way in which we could retain the spirit of the gospel aud the testimony of its divinity was by doing the work which christ commanded his disciples to do when on earth A most important work devolA devolving tIg upon the latter day saints was the bul building d i ng of temples tem ples for the salvation sal of those who had died without the truth thoy they believed that unless they I 1 performed r a certain work within w I 1 tm those temples th they with their dead would be rejected rejected of god the living must work for the salvation of those who had pawed passed away the latter must work for their own redemption they in th the spirit espirit world could hear the truth their spirits could repent but they could not be baptized for ahe the remission of their own sins their bodies lay jay in mother earth they had bad moul ingul dered and turned to dust dual but their offspring the children whom god gave them were expected to remember their parents the hearts of those who lived today should be inclined toward those who had passed away by their seeking out the genealogy of tl ti e dead as far as possible and within those sacred buildings b dedicated to god and which he by his presence and favor had accepted at their hands bands they must perform the work of salvation for those who had died without a knowledge of the truth this then was the work which greatly devolved upon the people in these latter days none more important for the saints to consider and earty carry out opt was this a new doctrine or theory gospel which had existed from the beginning 0 time and which would save every ain ai n and daughter of adam whether they bad heard beard the truth in the flesh or not even the heathen would come within the pale of the gospel goepel which had been restored in the latter days day every soul would bear this truth either in this life orin or in the spirit world it was the most moat glorious doctrine and showed to us as far as our feeble minds could grasp the idea the justness and nd mercy of our father in heaven he told us through the revelations which he had given us in the latter days that as man is god once was and as he is man may be his promises had been sealed upon our heads beads and if they failed it would only be because we had failed on our part should we then be heartened disheartened dis when troubles came upon us and when it seemed that we were about to be overwhelmed no rather should our hearts rejoice in tribulation when that was not the result of our own follies but because of our virtues good intentions and diligence in the work of god we believed that god had a hand in a this work for the dead in these last days it was a thing formerly unknown why should men desire to learn of their ancestry prom from a worldly standpoint it would be the he gratification of a curious feeling but ut there had been a spirit resting upon them that they could not account for urging them on in this work and they had bad not rested until they had bad exhausted all portions of the dominion where their relations lived and died years and years ago in view of all that god had bad aromi promised bed to the latter jay day saints saint if they remained true and steadfast to their covenants they could afford to suffer oppression and indignity to live and die in bondage if necessary they could afford if needs be to let their blood be shed so that the truth might be established in view of all that was in store for the faithful though they might be called to undergo persecution yet would thoy they know that gods god Is work would go on and future generations would praise the people who had had bad the fortitude to go forth among the nations and endure persecution and death in the cause of the gospel gospe the latter day saints were not understood der stood today their motives were misunderstood their actions were misjudged but god would bring all things to pass in his own good time and cause their trials to cease their faults were magnified by the world and they had enough already without that they knew they were sinful and corrupt full of weakness and infirmity fir mity but they were nevertheless seeking with the help of god to over come all evil they were striving to put themselves under subjection unto the lord seeking to establish his p pur poses not that they might rule among menor act in opposition to any hu human mail government but bit seeking to proclaim goodwill towards all men they did not seek tor for power except to preach the gospel and administer the blessings of life and salvation to the children of men they had no desire to exclude from their midst those who were not of their faith they expected that in the latter days kings and queens would come to zion and that to this land of Aime america the eyes of all rations nations would turn with fond desires they expected that the government under which they lived would prosper and grow they believed it was from god and that the men who prepared the sacred instrument of the constitution were inspired by him they believed that god goa was directing the affairs of men in all parts of the earth earlb and that he would over rule anle all the acts of wicked men for the salvation of the honest in heart every where god having gathered the saints to these mountains what had he not done for them in the way of temporal blessings the speaker referred to the advent of the pioneers to these valleys and to the sufferings of the early settlers in this then forbidding region the valleys were at that time be said as barren as the mountains surrounding them were now and it seemed impossible to the human mind that any number of people could long exist much less prosper in such a place but what did they find it today A country upon which the blessings of god had rested in rich abundance and fields yielding telling cro crops unexcelled in any part 01 of this great lai land nd apostle cannon cited various instances in proof of his assertions spoke of the immense quantity of grain harvested in the territory the ample water supply where only small streams once branand the marvelous growth of those thickly populated settlements where at one time only a family or two resided god haj hai indeed fulfilled his promises and the predictions which bad been made concerning his zion of the latter days he had caused the desert place to become a fruitful garden he had caused streams stream of f living water to spring from the earth and the waste places had become the habitations of men and he told us in the strongest language that we should trust iu in him and not be afraid of what man could do people from all parts of the earth would yet come to zion and we must make room for them and welcome the good and honorable to our settlements bidding them godspeed god speed so long as they lived righteous lives and sought to do that which was pleasing in gods sight eight thou though h they might not be of our faith and saw not as we did yet we must show goodwill good will towar towards do them for the gospel taught us this goodwill towards all men and women on earth it was their duty to feed the hungry clothe the naked and welcome the stranger st Canger within our gates this was our duty towards the whole human family and by our actions in this respect we would win many souls to the gospel of jesus christ kindness should be one of the strongest characteristics te of the latter day saints our emigrants emig auts when they first arrived here should be looked after and cared for so that they did not want or become dis heartened until employment could be fou found n d the speaker in conclusion bore his testimony to this work in which the latter day saints are engaged as being the work of god and predicted that the day would come when the noblest men of the earth would come and live in zion and the brightest intellects would find lustre added to their intelligence by coming to dwell among the people of god the choir sang bang the anthem fv B 0 4 1 and truth the benediction was pronounced by counselor charles charlea W jenrose penrose Pen roBe |
