| Show DISCOURSE v d in the I 1 tabernacle salt lake S csuy sunday afternoon may so 20 1894 by AY e Q CANNON Y BY ARTHUR 1 J l ier i fr a people who believe in rev nd that god speaks in our day ae did id in ancient days in our book bof e and covenants there is a wi of a portion of the scoter of matthew which I 1 think may interesting ine resting to read this afternoon ar says Sf tB deruy fly I 1 say unto you that I 1 am alpha the bagi beginning A ning and the end the attal ad tb the life of the world a light that fa ii darkness and the darkness compre bunot jae d unto my own and my 0 wn own received abut but unto as many as received me gave arto do domany many miracles and to become as of god and even unto them that bei my name gave I 1 power to obtain eter f even n so I 1 have sent mine everlasting t the world to be a light to the to be a standard for my people and to seek to it and to be a mes r before my face to prepare the way before ere re come ye unto ita it and with him h I 1 win will reason as with men in days clays of will show unto you my strong rea a hearken ye together and let me you even my widd wisdom om the whom ye say is the god of enoch emte separated ted from the earth and ad unto myself a city reserved un adf shall comes come s day il so sought for by all holy men an and they e of wickedness and abom r V 4 they were strangers and pil f ibe earth X ea a promise that they should find sit I 1 in their flesh hearken and I 1 will reason with J I 1 will via speak unto you and prophesy jaen in days clays of old it plainly as I 1 showed it up un IW sciples as I 1 stood before them in the and d e unto them saying as ye have adb concerning the signs of roy my co com ileSs ff when I 1 shall come in my glory in in blab of af heaven to fulfill the promises that ahto your fathers drasye have looked upon the long absence abriss ts from your bodies to be a bond 1 show unto you how the day of re ahau come and also the restoration israel behold this temple which is in which ye call the house bouse of god and aay sav that this house shall never 20 but verily I 1 say unto you that desolation shall come upon this generation as a thief in the night and this people shall be destroyed and scattered among all nations and this temple which ye now see shall be thrown down that there shall not be left one stone upon another and it shall come to pass pan that this generation of jews shall not pass away until every desolation which I 1 have told you concerning them shall come to pawl pass ye say that ye know that the end of the world cometh ye say also that ye know that the heavens and the earth shall pass away and in this ye say truly for so it is but these things which I 1 have told you shall not pass away until all shall be fulfilled and this I 1 have told you concerning jerusalem and when that day shall come shall a remnant be scattered among all nations but they shall be gathered again but they shau shall remain until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled and in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars and the whole earth shall be in c commotion om motion and mens hearts shall fail them and they shall say that christ dela yeth his coming until the end of the earth and the love of men shall wax cold and iniquity shall abound and when the times of the gentiles is come in a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness and it shall be the fullness of my gospel but they receive it not for they perceive not the light and they turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men and in that generation shall the times of the gentiles be fulfilled and there shall be men standing in that generation era tion that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge for a desolating sickness shall cover the land but my disciples shall stand in holy places and shall not be moved but among the wicked men shall lift up their voices and curse god and die and there shall be earthquakes also in divers places and many desolations yet men will harden their hearts against me and they will vill take up the sword one against another and they will kill one another and now when I 1 the lord had spoken these words unto my disciples they were troubled A and I 1 said unto dhembe them be not troubled ledfor for when all these things shall come to pass ye may know that the promises which have been made unto you shall be tul fulfilled filled and when the light shall begin to break forth it shall be with them like unto a parable which I 1 will show you ye look and behold the fig trees and ye see them with your eyes and ye say when they begin to shoot forth and their leaves are yet tender that summer is now nigh at hand even so it shall be in that day when they shall see all these things then shall they know that thel hour is nigh and it shall come to pass that he that heareth me shall be looking forth form for the great d day Y of the lord to come even for the signs signi of the coming of the son of man and they shall see signs and wonders for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above and in the earth beneath there is a natural curiosity on the patt part of those who are not fa familiar with the latter day saints Saint sto to know why they have gathered together as they have done in these mountains the remark has been made perhaps thousands of times wily why cannot you stay in your own bands lands and be latter day saints instead of leaving the places of your nativity and your kindred and old associations and going off to a distant place why cannot you von worship god in new england or in the middle or southern states or in europe without going to live with the mormon people in the rocky mountains visitors to this country wonder w why h r it is that the latter day saints should be so tenacious about living together as they appear to be they wonder why they did not scatter especially in the hard times through which we have passed when we have been in poverty and could have gone to someplace some place not far distant and apparently done better temporally than we were doing here this creates a feeling of wonder in the minds of those who are disposed to investigate and perhaps latter day saints themselves sometimes sometime wonder w why y they gathered why tax they could not have bave stayed where they were and probably done just as well or better than they have bave done by leaving their old homes and coming out to live with the latter day saints there is a purpose in all this and god revealed that purpose in an early day through the revelations that he gave to his church and through the outpouring of his holy spirit he impressed upon the people the great importance of gathering together our first gathering in p place lace was in kirtland ohio from V t anere ere e we were compelled to move into missouri A settlement however had been made in jackson county missouri 4 directly after the settlement in kirtland and from county to county in missouri we moved until we were compelled to leave the state and go to illinois that feature of our religion together with the union of the he people created har fear we were too un united ted it was a new feature to see a people as united as the latter day samis saints were on this account we were obnoxious we came to these valleys and we are living here in a gathered condition wherever the mormon people live however remote they have an intense desire to gather to the mountains to be with their co religionists in the remotest parts of the earth this spirit takes possession of them when they receive the gospel it is one of the most remarkable features of this age it is is something that should attract the attention of everybody that is fond of examining into the motives that prompt people to do strange or uncommon things no matter where men and women receive the testimony of the elders and become members of the church immediately they are filled with an irrepressible and an unconquerable desire to gather with their corel co rel religionists igi this is not done by the power of men there is a peculiar influence that rests upon the people and under that influence they leave their homes and gather to these mountains the result is that throughout all these valleys these people are living andu enduring lo 10 n privations and suffering hardships for r ain in subduing and making the land habitable the lives of the people are worn out with toil we talk about it being a blessed land it is a blessed land but it is a land that has been and is being redeemed by immense labor and at great sacrifice in some of our distant settlements the people suffer great privations but they are firmly wedded to the coil they would not move to a better place because they believe that this is zion they believe that god has appointed these mountain valleys as a gathering place and the same spirit that rested upon those who first settled this valley and endured all the hardships incident thereto rests upon the people wherever they settled throughout ghost these mountains therold the gold mines of california and the inviting prospects connected with them had no allurements allure ments for the homeless people who settled these valleys valdys in the early days and who lived in in almost abject poverty their religion caused the lat ter day saints to live here they believed it was gods will they should come here and that this country should be their abiding place the character oi of their buildings bears testimony to this faith they did not build as others did who settled afterwards in surrounding territories but they built in a solid manner as though they expected to rive five and their children and grandchildren after them in the homes they were then creating we believe god had a purpose in pouring out upon the people this spirit of gathering we believe that god as I 1 have read in your hearing has revealed his everlasting gospel arom from the heavens the truth having been withdrawn from the earth through the wickedness of men the power and authority to administer the ordinances of the gospel having baving been taken away because the men holding that authority were slain this truth and authority have again been revealed through angelic messengers messen gersa in order that the church of god might be established again aga in i upon the earth in its iti primitive prithi tive purity with all the authority that iLc accompanies companies the gospel this is the light to which the savior refers in the words that I 1 have read and through the preaching of that gospel the spirit of gathering has rested upon the nations of the earth and has brought people from the four quarters of the earth together that a people i might nig lit be prepared for the coming of the son of man and that they might escape the judgments and the calamities which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth in the last days jesus predicted that mens hearts would fail them in looking forward to the things that were about to take place and we can see this today fulfilled the spirit of fear rests upon the people and they do not know what is going to happen I 1 want to bring home to the attention of the latter day saints if I 1 can this truth that god has sent to them a message this was glad tidings ot of salvation being the 06 gospel in ih its primitive purity and power the message is one warning to prepare them against the awful judgments and calamities with which he was about to visit the earth while the earth today is in a state of commotion and agitation there is a i calmness and a serenity resting upon the latter day saints that we cannot describe it prevails throughout our settlements tle ments there is nothing unexpected to us in these events that are creating so much agitation we have been prepared for them from the organization of this church we have been prepared for calamity for earthquakes for cyclones for pestilences and trouble of various kinds to come upon the inhabitants of the earth in fulfillment of the words of god and in the midst of all this god has given us power to be united together governments may fall thrones may tumble dynasties may be overthrown but there is a people in these mountains that are bound together by bonds that cannot be broken by any such events as these they are bound together by the ties of a new and everlasting covenant and the same love that filled the hearts of the disciples of jesus in ancient days fills the hearts of the people here who have obeyed the gospel we are the only people that I 1 know of that are in this condition corn com industrial armies may go to and fro in the earth and cause all manner of feeling because of their movements but the latter day saints are not disturbed by these things they are not numbered among them the latter day saints are not agitators but are a stable people we may have privations we may have difficulties to contend with but we have a fixed purpose in view and that is to build up the church of god upon earth to establish his righteousness and to gather together a people who love him who will deal justly one with another who will be honest truthful upright and virtuous and who will cultivate every principle of virtue connected with the gospel of the son of god and be undisturbed by all the agitating influences that may surround them we have determined with the help of god that we will seek to establish and maintain virtue in the earth that the virtue of woman shall be respected by us and by our children after us that every human right shall be respected in our midst and that anything contrary to this shall meet with our d disapproval is a P and opposition the latter day saints have set get out to do this and to create if possible a new order of things in the earth As I 1 was remarking to a gentleman yesterday we have lived in these mountains now close on to fifty years we have been organized as a territory for more than forty three years our legislatures have met during all this period and until within two or three years almost all the members of the legislature were cormons mormons Mor mons for the reason that there were very few others here but during that whole period there has never been a breath of suspicion concerning the uprightness of the members of the legislature no man can say with any truth that a mormon legislator ever had his palm crossed by bribe money nor his interests promoted in any manner to induce him to lend his voice to the support of any act that would favor some special individual or class in other words there has been po bribery it has never been saw said with t truth ruth that any mormon official has beet been open to bribery senator standford of california in my hearing in W washing ton made this remark we have Is never haa had to send a man to utah to wa watch E ite interests of the central pacific I 1 we could trust those people ancha knew that our rights would b be admi but in every state or terri rial legislature where the railroad assa through they had to send agens watch the legislature to prevent wife being done to them I 1 think this jaw remarkable record I 1 do not think it equalled equal led on the continent nor djs there ever been a breath of s concerning the fidelity of the bf people to their engagements th They arel an honest people of course we vve hal individuals among us who are nata honest but take lake the people as a and when they make a promise affel cur an obligation they keep that P ise or obligation sacredly and andux there is is no community in in the C oun coun that have such a credit in the east states as the mormon people have a all mercantile circles I 1 an am tha for this I 1 hope it will conti continue a trust that where there is dishon 2 will be eliminated from among us is our aim the mormon boy that be is as wicked in our w as a mormon girl who is un unchaste chast we do not think ther chece any sex in vice we do not think f men can take liberties with women I 1 are reprehensible and wicked for to |
