Show sunday services religious services were held at the tabernacle salt lake city sunday november 1892 commencing at 2 9 p m president angus M cannon presiding the choir sang bang the hymn god moves in a mysterious way his wonders t to 0 perform prayer by elder james P freeze the choir sang the anthem god of israel the priesthood of the seventeenth ward officiated in the administration of the sacrament ELDER JOHN was then requested to address the audience he felt he said eaid his own in efficiency but asked for the attention sympathy and faith of his hearers in order that he might be enabled to say may that which is appropriate to the occa slon one of the reasons why we assemble as this afternoon is to show that we remember the savior by partaking of the sacrament to do so with clean hands and pure hearts we must be pure in ID feelings and sentiments there should be no feeling of unkindness to anybody and least of all to those of the same faith before coming here we should therefore rid ourselves of all that is detrimental to our full union with one another if we prepare ourselves thus we shall feel blessed the speaker now read from the sixth verse ninth chapter 2nd and nepal book of mormon in regard to what the son of god has done for the redemption of mankind christ he continued by his atonement brought to paw pass the resurrection of man so that as all have sinned so all through his work shall rise to life again and have the benefit of the experience they have gained on OB earth it Is in daft cult to explain the he reasons of the great work before us from any other standpoint I 1 there is a tendency among the people of the world to deny revelation and some are growing up in our own midst with the same ideas they ask for philosophical rea reasons for the doctrines preached and will not accept revelation alone now this desire for reasons will no doubt sooner or later be gratified for truth can be explained pla ined it has been admitted that our elders have not had bad much difficulty in establishing their doctrines according to revelation for they are founded on truth and are in accord with sound philosophy 7 as president brigham young used used to say the gospel is philosophy it to is true ven even if it had bad never been revealed to man there have been barriers to giving a reasonable ground for the doctrine of atonement but these were wera depending on misunderstandings concerning the origin and existence of man for ages it has been taught thit that the beginning of man to is his first appearance on this planet there to Is a a ge general admission of the duality of man his bis exist ente enee as a spirit in the mortal tabernacle on this point there is not much controversy but regarding the existence of the spirit before the body the ideas are not so clear yet the scriptures are not uncertain on the sublet jeremiah for instance is said to have V been selected to be a prophet of the lord previous oua to his coming into the world christ existed before he oame came to the earth for he says he was before abraham such statements are numerous although they are alre not generally accepted even by religionists the question now is ie is it reasonable to suppose that man had a pre exist ence which question the speaker answered in the affirmative it 1 t is in the most reasonable theory to hold everything points to this the intelligence telli gence of man which has enabled him to perform the great wonders which surround us ua wonders that do not only belong to the nineteenth century but every age and an d every race of man witness the remarkable collections contained in the great museums of the world in this age ado we have the accumulation of thought and intelligence of all the preceding ages this is what gives given us the advantage over them now are these wonderful achievements the result of the experience gained byman by man only during the short s epan an of life allotted to him on earth abe the speaker thought not for that would be contrary to the law of develop ment which regulates everything in nature the most reasonable conclusion is that all this is tot the he consequence of our anterior experience and not a leap all at once into this remarkable excellence of intelligence it also accords with the announcement made by joseph smith the great prophet of this century who told us by revelation from god that all things were first created spiritually it was necessary that spirit and element should come together that there might be a fullness of j joy oy it appears also to have been necessary that man should transgress gress in order that the law of his bis previous existence should be violated and man find end himself in the position in which he now is but this again made it necessary that there should be an atonement whereby divine justice should be satisfied andas Nephi says it must be a divine atone atonement maht for no other would cover bover the ground ran man had exhausted his resources he could not redeem himself hereford ne he it must baust be the atonement of one on whom death and hell hall had no claim on us death had claim but not on him being an infinite atonement it covers the whole of the human race and makes it possible for nil 11 to derive eternal benefits now it is clear that if there is no pre of the human race the atonement can not be explained the two doctrines are in perfect harmony with each other otheir and with the whole system of true theology if we comprehend this we believe in it and md it easy comparatively to follow christ who has brought this great atonement he laid christ laid his life down for us a fact that makes it appropriate that we should give our devotion to hims him by keeping his commandments this is true repentance when we become convinced that we wa are not living in conformity to the law of god we reform we come to do that which is wrong and do what is told us by the lord is in right this thia feghe is the natu nature roof of repentance and is illustrated in the parable of the prodigal who returned to his hi father although he fooht be was not worthy to be called son eon any more but the tether father was for felt giving aud and there was joy in III tile t home borne when the prodigal returned i so bo we have hare the promise when we ore ml pent our sine bins will be forgiven hera aal re then to is the atonement faith and re fentanes pentanes pen tance tanes now when a human being resola reso rea olvea lV to follow christ and the lord acm accents him there in ii an act instituted to prop to the covenant into which ap an the lord and the repentant person have entered this act is baptism the remission of sins how beautiful for this ordinance is if rightly understood some seem to think that this ordin ordinance alu Z is too simple to be of divine origin but its very simplicity to ie in full harmony hannion with the whole plan of salvation salvat iol y it la 10 so 80 planned that no one M i excluded exclude ld from it it la Is as aa to accept acceptable bl to the he highest capacity as it is within a the reach of the simplest mind in iii this act christ Is present through hia a agents for it must be administered by an authorized servant of the lord to be blading bidding this is clearly taught bauo ht by the word of god in the history john the baptist for instance hy by or of whom jesus was baptized after which he received the holy ghost and the testimony that he was the son of god if it was not beneath him who h had left the throne of glory to submit to this ordinance it should certainly be beneath our dignity to observe it not speaking of the resurrection christ elder Nl cholson observed that of the body of the savior was freed from mortality when a candidate j for salvation goes down into the water he comes out free from sin gin as christ came forth from the free from all that was corruptible grave the symbol of beauty those who obeyed the gospel in foreign lande will wili never forget the moment when they down into the waters water of baptism went and took upon themselves the name of latter day saint even the man himself who administered the ordinance Is remembered with gratitude hv by the sainte when hen the individual is free from his sloe blue he Is lift itt a position to receive the holy spirit for it is the rf of the lord that HO he shall be given to those who have been baptized zd for the remission of sins tile the spirit to la given through the ardi ordinance hancq of laying on of hands by the elders authorized to do so there is abundant testimony am 0 the saints to the truth of the gospel 1 thousands emu can testify to the rw re caption of tift holy ghost in accord bace with the promise no matter w whether bother people choose to believe it or not the saints know that they have wa received the spirit and BO cOnt contradiction can alter after the fact any more than persecution could sitar alter the fact that paul law aw a light and tabard the voice of the savior on the road to Dam dalcus cus when a person has received the spirit of god be no longer belongs to the world but to the kilo kingdom COME dom of of the lord and if he continue faithful to the end he shall finally receive an entrance into the celestial kingdom the choir and congregation joined in singing nging ji the spirit of god like afire a fire la is burning benediction by bishop william B preston |