Show sunday services religious services were held at the tabernacle salt lake city sunday february 7 1892 commencing at 2 J in president angus M cannon presiding diner the clio choir irgang sang the hymn beginning lord thou hast searched and seen me thine eye commands min mands with piercing view prayer was offered by elder henry dinwoodey the choir next sang the anthem look up and put your trust in god the priesthood of the nineteenth ward officiated in the administration of the lords supper ELDER 0 LAMBERT was called to address the congregation he said that having been unexpectedly called upon to speak that afternoon he be trusted that he might be prompted by the spirit of the liora the latter day saints were termed a peculiar people and one of the peculiarities found among them was the custom of calling upon elders from the congregation to address the saints without any previous warning he know knew that his religion was true jut bat it was one thing to have a testimony of this fact anti and quite another to be able to impress others with that truth if he were asked how he became pos possesses sessel of the knowledge of the he truth of the religion which he professed he might nut not be able abe to make a very satisfactory explanation to those who had no DO faith while it was quite satisfying to him unless the person to whom he might attempt to offer the explanation were possessed of the same spirit he would not be likely to comprehend the testimonies that bad been given to him through the operation of the holy spirit the truth which he had embraced bad been revealed ane anew w in this age it was the same gospel that was preached ached by the savior and his apostles ties it had bad been restored again to the earth after the inhabitants thereof had been for a long period deprived of it they having followed in their own way and devised creeds to auit them wives selves it was said of old by the lord through the prophet jeremiah that the people had committed two sins they had forsaken him the true and the living god and had hewn out tor for themselves broken cisterns which would bold no water that expression might A aptly aly I 1 be applied to the creeds which elys existed ted both now and when the gospel was restored to the he earth in fact he believed the prophet foresaw and had in his mind the various religious systems which existed at the present time when he used need those words if the claims of those who established these theae different religious systems werle were analyzed jt it would be found that the authority which they arrogated to themselves was wag not very valid certainly they did not receive it from the apostles to whom the commission was given by the savior not having lived on the earth in their day the lord descended condescended con to make known his will to the boy prophet joseph joceph smith who im it in earnest prayer desiring to know which of the creeds then extant was the proper one for him to embrace to his surprise for such a thought had bad never entered his mind he be was told by the heavenly messengers who visited him that they were all wrong and that he should embrace neither of them the various sects he be was informed were all teaching for doctrines the commandments of men but that if hy bet proved faithful the lord would in due time reveal unto him the true goal gosiel el and th through rugh him establish his church and kingdom upon the earth it was however very generally disbelieved and the idea was even ridiculed that heavenly mes messengers seagers ever appeared to the prophet joseph but why not such an occurrence in this age as an well as in the ancient dayle if we believed the bible we must believe that such things did happen in past aget then was it unreasonable to suppose that they occurred in these latter dayi daab the Lord shand was not shor shortened that he could not save neither had his ear grown heavy could not hear bear it might be however with upon the earth in the be i resent day as isaiah declared of ancient israel that their iniquities had separated between them and their go god and their sins sine had hidden his face from them it might be due again to a lack of faith if people did not have faith in the existence of god it was unreasonable to belief believe ve that he would answer their prayers joseph smith was simple enough to believe that theford the lord was capable of hearing bearing and answering prayer in this age just as in the ages that had bad passed and gone and he went and bowed in faith before him the father and the son appeared unto him astro mortal bet beings an bodily shape and spoke to him the fall failure anre of professing christians christiana to have their pray prayers ersan an might be attributed to their lack of intelligent faith in the existence of the deity A person who had such a faith as distinguished from a blind faith in the existence of the deity had some idea of his character and he be thought that was the kit d of faith which the apostle referred to when he informed us that without faith it to is impossible to please god even now notwithstanding that so many years had bad elapsed since the lord revealed himself to the prophet joseph there was a great lack of faith throughout the world in regard to the true character of the deity and it was now almost universally held that he was a spirit only and not possessed of bodily powers or parts but the lat ter day saints entertained an altogether different view from that held by probes generally the almighty was capable it if he deigned to do so of descending and holding converse with his prophets here below as for ansta ce he did with abraham that he COMMiSSI commissioned ODed certain men mea to act in his name and that he was displeased with chope who took it upon themselves to so act without authority from him those who officiated in the church of of latter day saints in the name of the lord did so with authority and we expected theford to acknowledge their acta and he did so in proof of this they had the testimonies which were offered by the members of this church that they know the gospel sospel to be true in bearing his own solemn testimony on this head the speaker said that if they could only possess this knowledge of the truth even at the sacrifice of everything the affie world held dear fame honor wealth and all else beside they should not reg regail rd that sacrifice as being too great it was the blessings of go god in this life and salvation hereafter that the latter day saints were striving for hence they were content to have the finger of scorn pointed at them to be hated bated of the world to become unpopular among their fellows if by so living they could only gain eternal life in order to secure and continue to enjoy this thin spirit we must follow the path which the savior had bad marked out deny cur ourselves selves take up the and follow him we must submit our own will and judgment to that of the almighty and a ad keep all his commandments whatever the trials through which the lord might require the 1 saints to pass in order to sift and test them and prove their integrity he trusted that they might bold fast to the end and secure for themselves that prize which they had set net out to gain even eternal life COUNSELOR 0 W PENROSE was the next speaker he took great pleasure he maids said in listening to the testimonies of his brethren in regard to the gospel of jesus christ because the same testimony which they bore had bad been given to him and their words found an echo in his heart the testimony they had heard from elder lambert that afternoon was true and faithful it ought not to be accounted a strange thing tl at god should speak to his people those who were called christians christiana no matter to what denomination they belonged professed to believe belleve inthe in the book called the bible the things contained in that record were supposed to have come from god by revelation in the new testament we read that holy men of old as they were moved upon by the holy ghost we also read in the let chapter of the epistle to the hebrews god who at sundry times and in divers manners in times past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son etc Accor according diug to the accepted version of the new testament paul wrote the epistle from which he had bad quoted although he believed modern skeptics expressed some doubt as to the author none however knew for certain who wrote it unless it had been made known by revelation and people now a jays days did not noi take much stock in modern revelation but all sects and parties composing what was called christendom professed to believe in the old and new testaments and the testimony of both books was that god in former times and in divers map manners ners did speak to the people of the earth by means of prophets such being the caw case why should he not speak to those living in this age of the wonlu could anyone give a good reason why he should not some of their christian friends said 0 O there is no need for it now we are so no enlightened we are so wise we are living in the nineteenth cea century tury we are not living in the dark ages but in tle me age of gospel blaze and we have learned men who have studied the scriptures who have been to of oc liege who have been educated on purpose to be ministers to the people we have so much light so much information so BO much science that we do not need any voice of god now that wax all very well in the dark days was that a good reason the speaker asked why god should not reveal himself tous ta in these theme times among the people who professed the greatest light the greatest intelligence who professed to have made the greatest advancement in all these matters mattera they found folind an utter lack of knowledge in ia regard to god and the things of god where was there a man in all the array of theological talent wisdom and experience who could say ot of his religious theories 1 I know this is so was wad there any man among them who could cou lJay say 1 I know god who could say 1 I know that jesu jesus s of nazareth whom the jews crucified was the son of god was there any min man among them who could lay jay down principles for the guidance of the people in religion that he could conscientiously say he knew to be true and from god was there not doubt uncertainty variety of opinions discord contentions disputation and debate on all these important things even among the most learned experienced and wise and among those people who pro fessel the greatest faith in the things of god why certainly and when they attempted to make revisions of a comparatively ancient creed they lot got into discussion and contention and sometimes manifested anything but a 8 christian spirit why were there so many different professions of the christian faith each varying from the other if they were were filled with knowledge and were not in doubt and uncertainty why did they not all see eye to eye in regard to the things of god as was the case in the early christian church in those dark ages in the days of the Apo apostles otles when people were led to believe ira in god and add jesus christ they repented of their bins si ns and were baptized by men who wb 0 had received divine authority to act not authority from colleges college schools synods and councils but from god and these men having baving received authority from on high stood in the place of deity those who thus believed and repented and were baptized rice received ived the holy ghost which is the spirit of revelation i since that time what a great change had taken place in the world after the apostles fell asleep the Church went into darkness and error divisions crept in among the people and spiritual dark ness came over the face of the earth and how was it today had that spiritual darkness been removed were we really living in an aire age of the gospel blaze or was it not rather a uwe time of theological darkness and want of faith of skepticism of lack of knowledge ol 01 0 contention between sect and sect and between individuals in those sects and A n d the tb e very men who stood u p as being the ministers of the L lord rd were contending one against another they were bound to confess choir doubt uncertainty and lack of knowledge in regard to the things ol of god when brought right to the touchstone touch istone sime 8 me of them had strong faith but this know knowledge ledga which Is essential to salvation they did not obtain this la is eternal life said jesus to know god and jesus jesua christ whom he bath sent would it not be a good thing in the midst of all the contentions which exist in regard to creeds in regard to god his hia ess es elsoe his personality his nature his hi characteristics if we could got get something from him direct that we in ht know something about him among 9 all these various forms ceremonies and organizations called christian would it not be a good thing if we could understand der stand from the lord himself which was the true church how it should be organized what should be its ita tenets tene tle ordinances and doctrines so that we might not be left in the dark and tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine we reiva thit that the lord was unchangeable the same yesterday today and forever that the course of god was one eternal round then if it was his way in the olden times to speak to the fathers by the prophets why should he not speak to the people in the latter times by prophets in a similar way he had never yet heard a good reason why he should not there was not a line in the old testament or the new which chieh said that the time should com come ewhen whan god would shut up the heavens and ami seal them over the heads of his children so that no divine word should again come down from on high there were pro pre fictions that darkness should come upon the face of the earth and gross darkness cover the people predictions that the people would close their ears against the revelations of god and turn from sound doctrine unto fables was it not a fact that these prophecies had bad come to pass A great many people did not dot want revelation from on high the word of god d direct i from him they wanted a preacher after their own heart some man they coull hire and pay as their servant who would preach to them that which they wichel to bear they paid a man inan for tickling their itching ears the speaker referred to many of the erroneous doctrines or fables now taught among so called christian sects some of those fables were hatched batched in monastic cloisters cloist ersin in bygone days the real dark ages by celibate monks in their celam dark ideas of god and his justice monstrous ideas of the father of the race and of gods dealings with his creatures the idea that God would roast infants in burning almes for ever because they were not elect 90 that he would put people in eternal misery and never take them out of it again just because they did not believe something they had bad never understood was one of the fables of modern christendom preached by men professing to have authority from bod another of their ideas was that our father was a being without body parts or passions that his centre was everywhere and his circumference nowhere that he filled all space an ah 4 yet took up no room taking these and scores of other fables that men had turned their ears to instead of the truth was it not reasonable to believe that god shoud reveal something to u now that we could understand in order to explain something ething about his ways and what he required of us u the speakers speaker experience in regard to the truth of the gospel as revealed to the prophet joeeph smith was lar to that of elder lambert when he first heard it he thought it too good to be true but he did not throw it aside without investigation though only a boy at the time he had be been trained to |