Show sunday Servi services Cei religious services were held at the tabernacle salt lake city sunday may fth 1892 commencing at 2 f nl resident president angus M cannon p presiding lie biding the lhoir sang the hymn beginning sweet is the work my god my king to pral e thy name give thanks and sing eing prayer was offered by elder john kirkman the choir bang he died I 1 the great redeemer died and israels daughters wept around the priesthood of the eleventh ward officiated in the administration of the Sacr sacrament aMeUL ELDER JOHN NICHOLSON addressed add reseed the congregation herbald her aard it was a great privilege for those of y them thein who were members of the church of jesus christ christao tto to come together on the sabbath day and renew their with when ive we ap y preached pro ached the acceptance of that holy the sacrament we should be prepared for it our hearts should be rely free from any feeling of hard bess towards our fellow crea creature turee and especially those who belonged to the household of faith we should lay aside everything that was not in unison with our present purpose that we might worship god in spirit and ud in truth 21 and partake worthily of the emblems of the atonement of our lord the atonement was the fundamental doctrine of all christianity whether it be the system that we as latter day saints believe in and had accepted or any other religion which to be christian inias character there were many ideas adverse to this thin doctrine now being promulgated in the community at large not only in public tut tout in private and it therefore behaved all those who professed the name of christ beriat to be well grounded in such that mt at aj all times they might be able to give a reason for the hope that inspired them there was one feature connected with our faith which was protective in its character namely that communication betwixt the true disciples of christ and cod was open to each and every one who had accepted of his doctrine every person who obeyed the doctrine of christ was entitled to a witness tor for himself of its truth a witness that did not come from man and was not the result of more mere external evidence it was a veritable communication between the creator and the creature this principle of individual right based on obedience to law was enunciated by christ himself when he said to those who lived contemporaneously with him my doctrine is not mine but his that sent me if any man will do his will ivill he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of god or whether I 1 speak of myself this was a plain pointed and unequivocal promise it simply said that all who kept the commandments of god and boeth that which was contained in his expressed will should not bot be left in the dark they should hould know that it was the doctrine ol of god and had emanated from a divine source burce not long sincel he speaker ha hal the sure of meeting with a dis cleasure lady conspicuous in public affairs who was on a visit to this city she bhe had bad many inquiries to make relative to the doctrines of our church and put to him personally a number of que questions ettone which he endeavored to answer as an explicitly as ai possible she asked what was the basis of our religion and he informed her that it was based upon the doctrine of immediate and continuous revelation in reply to the question whether revelation was wais confined to thi the heads beads of the church or whether others also aleo had revelations for themselves individually he be informed her that the fountain of revelation was open to all have you she said at any time revelation I 1 the answer was att tee affirmative what was the subject of the revelation 12 to thia he answered that god had revealed to him that this was his elio w rk and that he established it by hit his power and commandments As he before remarked this was a protective principle for the individual who possessed this testimony ha I 1 his feet upon the rook rock of ages PY and therefore he ought to be proof against all assaults to remove him from his position I 1 he observed that in some parts of the connary numbers of clergymen were entering into discussions discue eions on religious matters and some of them from the public rostrum were giving their reasons for their present religious positions in which they stand why they are presbyterians rians whatever else their professions might be it seemed to him bim however to be a simple thing for a member of the church to explain why he be WAS waa a latter day saint taking this doctrine of revelation as a basis by accepting christ as an our redeemer we also accepted all that he had bad taught so far as it had reached us he had taught us that we must have confidence in him that we must exercise faith in him continually for the just shall live by faith but thin thia did not imply merely that we believed in his atonement in what he had done this belief must extend to the system which se he established the organization which he placed here upon the earth his church for there must be but one church of cb christ riot and that must be christ christs s church he acknowledged but one and that was the one which was according to doctrine he had given the speaker dwelt particularly on the of repentance pen tance and the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins nine and showed how the church of jesus christ of lat ter day saints was patterned after the church of former days day having apostles and Prophet Prophets sHigh Kigh priests seventies elders etc he quoted the apostle paul who emphatically stated he said that the organization of the chereb should be preserved in all its completeness the church wax was called the body of ch Christ but a church without apostles did not typify the human body because it was headless it could not speak in ahe way required by our heavenly father it could not speak authoritatively with power and efficacy not only was waff the organization of this church complete in all its parts and nd all its ita Lff moore loera similar to those that wre were planted in it originally but ak the functions pertaining to e ell office were minutely y understood da detailed and defined and both the organization and its operations were the most beautiful and orderly of anything he knewlon the face of the earth this hart had been exemplified times out of number and how deeply this thought must have been impressed upon those who were present in that tabernacle immediately previous to the impressive and beautiful ces held there on the ath ot of april last connect edwith ed with the lay laying ingot of the capstone of the temple when each quorum of the priesthood occupied its own position V and moved harmoniously accor accord jg to its ita order evidencing that the or 9 z 2 tion was the most eam complete in its character and efflo efficacy acy for every religious purpose speaking of the laying of the temple capstone this gave them an additional idea as to eky they were latter day saints I 1 because in consequence of the opera tion of this principle of revelation which had been communicated to the tha church the provisions which god had bad made for the salvation of hia hi children were shown to be wide a as eternity and all in due time received opportunities for obtaining the lull full benefits of what chhist had done for the race they held that through the wickedness of men their perversion and their opposition to the introduction by our heavenly father of that which was for their own good there had bad been long lapses of time between the dispensations that he had given for the benefit of his children when he gave them opportunities for embracing the falness of the gospel in this life it had been communicated to the church that the gospel was not only 0 a ly preached in this life to those who were iu in mortality but also alpo to departed spirits spirita who had bad passed behind the veil there royal road to the celestial kingdom it required compliance with all that god had revealed both in relation to ordinances and spiritual obedience hence the erection ut temples by the latter day saints in order that these ordinances which pertained to the dead might be performed for them vicariously by the living this principle was understood der stood by the ancients and appeared to have been acted upon by them as well as by us ue when the oracles of god were amongst them the apostle paul introduced this subject as a sustaining proposition in support of the doctrine of the resurrection he said else what shall they do that are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all why then are they baptized for the dead in the temple erected by the latter day saints at kirtland ohio it was there Anuncia enunciated ted that elijah the pro phot appeared to the prophet joseph smith and oliver cowdery and bestowed upon them the keys key for turning the hearts of the children to the fathera era and the hearts of the fathers to the oh children ildren P this w was an to in ful fulfillment ft jim e nt ot of the last words of the old testament wherein malachi the prophet said that in the not days god should send elijah the prophet to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of fathers to the children lost lest he smite the earth with a cutes there were many evidences proving that those keys were berc bestowed upon joseph smith and oliver cowdery as they claimed the best and most powerful evidence that he knew of was that the hearts of the latter day saints were turned towards the fathers that showed that there had bad been an Ini influence luence and a power at work among them that had broadened ft their thoughts widened their sympathies and caused them to make sacrifices in so great a purpose as the application of the principles of Pal calva tiou to the human race not only to those living but to those who had gone to the gre yond without a knowledge ol of the of the gospel atif a was 9 demonstrated no longer than jhan a week ago when according to at a call of those who presided over this church the latter day stints 8 biinte in nearly every part of the where the gospel had a foothold and where there was an organized branch so far as ae we knew fasted met together and contributed their offerings with a view to complete the tom tern pie in this city nobly did they come forward and he be now testified in re gard to that gathering in which he himself elf participated that the peace the power and the spirit of our heavenly father were present and reports fro 11 all parts a 3 far as received were to the vaine flame effect one of the chief purposes of this movement was that the way might be opened up more fully to spread the principles of the gospel and make them applicable to the dead as well as the living in order to obtain information ta to enable them to comply with this god given i of the saints many of their number made sacrifices left their business and homes and visited foreign lands from whence they came endeavoring to obtain genealogical information concerning their progenitors then entered into gods holy house and performed work in their behalf and how bow great and glorious a work kt wasl was Therie re many however who notwithstanding the efforts that they put forth to accomplish the desires of their hearts to towards the fathers in this regard were yet unable to do anything any thing in this direction because their way was not opened up they could not obtain the requisite knowledge regarding their progenitors but the lord had bad other means that woul I 1 no doubt be developed in time to come and we were near that time now for by processes that were not ordinarily visible numbers of people had bad already been assisted in obtaining information Inform atlo atio to enable them to carry forward this labor under the gospel of the son of god as aa we understood the family organization was made perpetual as well as complete under this eternal law for 9 the 1 law of god was necessarily eternal partaking of his own nature where the sexes were united in marriage it was not only till death did them part but the contract was formed for this life and for the life in the great beyond ft last for ever and ever those who were born under that eternal contract were the children of parents in eternity as well as here we were latter day saints because this glorious view certainty and promise lay before us the signs signa of C christa arista second comings coming were multiplying on every hand all the conditions were here at least in their incipient stages all things human appeared to be in commotion as he predicted would be the case men were being divided into classes animosities were being engendered bitterness a and nd violence were spreading over the face of the earth and eve every ry thing pointed to the time when there should be a gigantic and revolutionary upheaval there were earthquakes famines I 1 in n divera places and great dis distress and perplexity of nations in fact all that christ foretold was here and we an j that in the nations of the world at large these theae things would increate until he whose right it is to relga should come ard dwell in the midst of his people to reg ulolo auman af affairs latra according to his hip there were people who claimed to be christians and yet said that christ was waa no more tha i a mere man they robbed him of his divinity or said that he was not god how any person could take this position and maintain it from a christaan Chrt Christ lan standpoint was beyond his own comprehension because christ himself declared that he was the son of god and ard this statement permeated a an his teachings those who surrounded the lord jesus christ in his ministry so designated him in his presence when his disciples informed him of the numerous popular conjectures regarding his identity he turned to peter and said whom do ye say any that 1 I the son SOD of man am thou art christ the son of the living gid 21 was the ready response jesus commended the apostle for his declaration telling him that be was blessed in consequence of possessing this knowledge know lege as lit lt had no not been communicated to him of man but by revelation from god all the philo philosophers sophera religious mora moral I 1 and scientific admitted the VoteD potency cY beauty and force of christ christis Is teachings they have not been approached in grandeur and efficacy by the expositions of any being known to history hj story while his personal goodness is placed beyond the reach of question his self melt abnegation reached the greatest attainable tai degree of perfection all this is admitted even by those who hold that christ was not a divine being that he was not the sun of gid gd that he was only a good man this repudiation of his divinity la is utterly incompatible with the theory of his goodness because he himself claimed to be divine the son of god this claim permeated all his teachings and he listened to declarations to that effect from his followers without an attempt to cor root them he on the he contrary confirmed them by his big own statements A goo I 1 man cannot possibly be an impostor a deceiver a hypocrite the teachings and example of the savior were specially and tremendously directed against deception and fraud his ells career exhibit I 1 the fact that he could not claim for himself a position that was not genuine ile his exalted intelligence prec preclude ludel the possibility of his making an error on the subject he spoke and acted like a god he did not have in A ma heart the resentment under injury ury which char prized num amcy oui but traits of a superior being while in fills a mortality under the most moat tants tanta V dazing aud and trying conditions this was demonstrated when he gave hla his life for the cause of truth and salvation in his dying moments he vied in reference to those who crucified him father forgive them they know not what they do one who had a grot dis ne in |