Show sunday services religious religions services service were held at the tabernacle salt lake city sunday march 20 1892 commencing at 2 p in counselor joseph E taylor presiding the choir sang bang the hymn beginning zion stands with hills surrounded zion kept by power divine prayer was offered by elder joseph H R dean the choir next sang the hymn he died I 1 the abe great redeemer died and israels daughters wept around the priesthood of the third ward administered the sacrament ELDER ELDEB B H R ROBERTS was the speaker he presumed it might be taken for granted that in a congregation so large as the one present on that occasion there were more or less of those not dot of the faith of the lat ter day saints probably some of them came out of curiosity and hence it would be well perhaps tor nm to expound the fundamental principles and doctrine of their C church hurch for the instruction of those strangers that they might not come there in vain but be made acquainted with some of the great principles in which the latter day saints believed such instruction st he took it would prove equally profi profitable taule for the saints since it would at least refresh their minds even if nothing new DOW was taught indeed it would be extremely difficult to teach anything new to the latter day saints at any rate he be felt his own inability to do so in his researches and gospel studies he had often been surprised to tb find that when he thought he had discovered some new idea it would not be a great while before he learned the fact that it had been known long ago by elders who were labori laboring in the ministry before he was vas born nj but u t perhaps chaps under the inspiration of f tb abe e voly holy spirit one might be fortunate enough to make new combinations with the known facts and teach the old things in a little different manner from what others had taught and ad thus create new impressions on the minds mainds of those who heard among the people of the world the latter day saints were regarded as a very bigoted claw clasa very narrow mind ed and very exclusive in their ideas of religion he supposed that this impression prea sion bad g ne abroad in consequence of at the very pecullar peculiar cullar position that the church of je jesus qua christ had taken in relation to the revelations of god clod nearly all modern sects or denominations might refer their origin to the researches to the genius gedius of organization of some man who left the older forms of religion and established something now new to which doubtless he gave his own name or some name descriptive of the circumstances surrounding the sect when it came into existence thus the methodists followers of john oteley received their name because of the precise methods methode adopted in the worship described by this great reformer the lutherans Luth erans took their name in in the same way from martin luther lather the Calvinist Sj usually known as presby te rians took thelt their name from the style of church government inaugurated by john calvin and his bis followers and so from some circumstance or other of this thie kind the religious sects of the day had become known in the church of jesus christ it was quite different this church referred its origin not to any man or to the labors of any men but claimed to have been founded by direct revelation from god and to in that first revelation which might be regarded as aa the source from whence the church sprang it was announced to the youthful prophet joseph smith that the cree creeds and religions of men were not acceptable to god were not recognized as his church or his kingdom but on the contrary that those creeds were an abomination in his sight eight that they had bad reduced religion to a form of godliness lacking the power thereof because the latter day saints gave this thin account of their origin they were looked upon as bigoted and lecause because they esteemed all other religions religion si to be wrong and their own alone to be right he for one confessed there was very much in that position that should excuse their friends for looking upon them as bigots as egotists and in a measure even as the enem enemies lesof of all other religious rel ivious sects and denominations it was a post needed explanation in order to take away from it that appearance pe arance of bigotry which those who looked only upon the surface of things were very liable to attribute to them yet he thought it came with an ill III grace from the christian world to speak k of bigotry especially if based upon the ground th that atthe the latter day saints were so few in number in comparison with the great body of the christian people in the world the task he proposed to set himself that afternoon was to show if he could that mormon 1 1 theology was more it lib b oral eral and broader than the general conceptions of the dospel of jesus christ and that while there might be a seeming ground for the charge of bigotry against the latter day saints it was only in seeming in proof of this he desired sired to call attention to a passage of scripture recorded in the book of mormon a book held by this people to be of equal authority with the jewish scriptures hence it was the word of this the lord to them it contained the inspired utterances of the prophets who inhabited this continent in ancient times the circumstances connected with the passage which he would now read were very interesting one alma had been traveling for seme years among the heathen of the land by this he meant those who refused to believe in christ the Lama from whom the american indians indiana were the direct descendants he had bad been bless blessed eci in his ministry and the lord had given to him souls for his bis hire yetchen yet when this good man compared the few whom he had convinced of the truth with the great bulk who remained unconverted lie he seemed very dissatisfied with his bis labors and wished in his heart that he had bad the voice of an angel that he might go from land to land from people to people and cry out with a I 1 voice that would make the earth to I 1 tremble trem bk teab teaching the glorious prin caples of salvation to his fellow men after expressing the desire that be had described this ancient prophet reproved himself for the very thoughts of his heart and he be said why should I 1 desire that I 1 was an angel that I 1 could speak unto all the ends end s of the earth 1 for behold the lord doth grant unto all nations of their own nation and tongue e to teach his word yea in wisdom all th that at he seeth fit bey should have therefore we see that the lord doth counsel coupel in wisdom according to that which is just juet and true alma 78 7 8 the speaker said he be believed in that doctrine and so did the latter day saints who believed in the book of mormon to him it was a most glorious truth and swept away the charge of narrow o against them as well as being destructive to the theory of bigotry suppose they tested this by reference to the men who had bad arisen in the various nations of the world who had been teachers of their fellows the founders of religion and systems of philosophy in their lives would then be discovered an exemplification of those great doctrines contained in the book of mormon elder roberts first took up the course of confucius the chinese philo philosopher ropher who be said succeeded in founding a system of philosophy rather than religion this a great teacher of the chinese race described the relationship existing among men under three heads the relation between sovereign and subject between husband and wife and between parents and children ob ildreD say BUY what we would about the wisdom of it transpired that china had had fewer civil strafes than any western nation he taught that the virtues might be crystallized into live five first universal charity second impartial justice third adherence to and respect for ancient customs and usages fourth rectitude of heart and mind ad last but not least leas pure sincerity it was not admitted that this philosophy of confucius was a religion because it said nothing about the relationship between god and man but he the speaker op eaker maintained that an adherence to those live five cardinal virtues stood in very good stead of a religion and incorporated nearly all the virtues that religion enjoined A man who could arise six hundred years before christ and give such a system of philosophy to so BO great a people had a mind of no ordinary character he believed it was a work altogether incompetent for natural intelligence telli gence to perform and his blis religion led him to recognize confucius as one of the prophets or wise men spoken of by alma who taught to his bis people the decree of gods laws they might call this man a heathen if they pleased but his bis religion taught him to recognize in him a brother and a benefactor of his race one inspired of god to lead men to greater light rather than to drag them down to lower depths what confucius was to the chinese lycurgus was to the state of sparta heroo was a remarkable one who imar seed his race for ages with the doctrines which he taught solon soloa of athens created reforms very much after the pattern of those established by lycurgus and very much improved the condition of his bis people go 80 wise were his laws lawa so equitable the justice be established thereby that we today indirectly at any rate honored his name by terming all legislators our solons socrates the great philosopher was said to have brought philosophy from heaven down to earth that was to say philosophers previous to his bis day had been content with vain speculations concerning deity his nature and attributes socrates began to teach men seek not thy god to scan the proper study for mank nd to is man 11 he taught like confucius the duties and obligations that existed between man and man at the same time he did not forget to inculcate ideas in relation to the deity that could stand second only to those taught by the son of god himself while he and his people continued tu to bow down to images of wood and stone he be taught his followers that they were not dot their gods but that baek back of them was a power that ruled in the universe iverse of which those images were but the representatives reduced to material forms so that the conception of the simple mind might grasp an idea of god giving almost an excuse for the us use e of this medium between god and the grovelling gro velling minds of men his disciple piato was not far behind his master in bold conception and in the truths he taught his fel these philosophers heathen though our christian friends considered them taught that true philosophy did not consist alone in knowledge but in wise action and virtue and if there was anything virtuous aud good among the ancient heathen nations and only the most moat bigoted could deny the existence of good among them they owed it to those vast minds which taught them that portion of the truth which they were able to receive another great character the name of whom it would be improper to omit ta in this enumeration was mahomet called the false prophet prophete tP but he himself bad not yet found the this on the other hand baud he be found very much to convince his mind that there was some truth in him and that there here was inspiration behind his life who were his bis people principally the inhabitants of arabia who were the descendants of abraham the chosen friend of god and in raising up mahomet he believed that the lord iu in part rt fulfilled his promise to brabam abraham A he ie granted there was much error in Maho mahometa Ma homets teachings much that seemed false but the system of religion that would inculcate the doctrine of kindness to strangers of obedience from children to parents and protection on the part of parents to their children must of necessity have some F thing good in it that which was good who would question the source from whence it came it came from god it would be well for them to consider for fora a moment the manner mannelin man nerin in which they looked upon their fellow chris fians for though the lord bad said that they drew near to him with their lips while their hearts were far removed from him and while their creeds nian man made as they were were an abomination in his sight eight still the latter day saints perceived in their systems fragments of the truth and wherever they saw a fragment of truth they recognized recognize A praised and honored it because it was a part of their own system of teaching a part of toe the gospel of jesus christ which included within its ito pale all that was good virtuous and praiseworthy the sixteenth century found the christian world in midnight darkness it found a church predominant which was as absolute in its despotism as were ever the laws and decrees of the kings of media and persia a tyranny of the worst kind became it was not only political and religious tyranny but intellectual tyranny also aho and men were compelled to receive its decreeft decre dec reefe ei upon science upon the facts which they observed in the heavens above and discovered in the depths beneath it must all be yielded up no matter how clearly the truth was established in their minds if contrary to the decrees of this tyrannical church it must be surrendered and against this tyranny there were ere found men grand and noble enough to rebel he cared not that this struggle straggle this revolution ution took upon it the face of a religious reformation to him it was not a religious reforma tion for he believed in all sincerity that the protestants who left the catholic church left more truth in it than they incorporated within the systems that they afterwards found edIt was not a desire to establish a purer religion that was the grand movi jr causa of that revolution of the sixteenth century but it was an all absorbing cesire to be free intellectually and politically and in proof of this he be had artl only y to point to the one fact that wherever any nation attained to intellectual aud political freedom freedom from the interference of the roman pontiff s that people were satisfied with the results of revolution and di did I not seek to interfere further about religious matters still till there was a strata of re licious reformation ru running nut through it but it was not that desire that prompted the princes of this world they merely used the religious strata running through that revolution as a means to an end and that only but their work had supreme good in it he knew of nothing better than liberty and to him it if they wanted to reform the people and to make progress gred the first to that progress was liberty hence it was wag necessary that a foundation should be laid tor lor the freedom of mankind before they could be led up tip to those heights of glory intelligence telli tell gence and moral excellence contemplated tem plated in the gospel of jesus christ martin luther and the other eis associated with him were therefore inspired and laid the foundation away back in the sixteenth century for the political and religious freedom that we enjoyed today he recognized the hand oford of god in this and it was 3 very significant withal that about the time these elements were we re disturbed in europe anti and the foundation stones of the new temple of liberty were being laid this great continent wis was discovered by another character inspired of god and when oppression denied liberty to the people of europe they afterwards found an outlet for themselves to this continent where greater liberty had bad been enjoyed than in the old world and where the chief cornerstone corner stone of the constitution is liberty of state liberty of church freedom for the individual all these things blended into beautiful harmony and plainly over all could be seen been gods guiding hand but because we lived in the sunlight in the |