Show IDI S 0 0 UP DELIVERED BY mt HOME lono U if I 1 tn the ae Taber naclet walt lake city iw IN addressing an assembly of saints I 1 expect the benefit of their prayers without the ceremony of askina beina being assured they are aware as well as I 1 am that our te teachings hn h n s and adin administrations tits tra in the gospel ol 01 of life are blest ae according to our faith and prayers and the diligence and patience patience we bestow I 1 propose to diate make some general observations ions upon the gospel and its administrations and in relation to its effects when received and the important blessings derived by this community through its divine power and virtue this 11 gospel which god has commanded us to offer to the world is an order or system of things simple plain and aad may easily be understood alain ylain in n regard to its principles the nature of its requirements and the precise kind and character of its blessings bles sinas and promise no one however ignorant or unlearned needs to be left in the dark but bat may discover its golden truths and the emblazoned blazoned em mark of div divinity tv in its arrangements as distinct distinctly IV ind and as speedily e edily as naaman the captain cap i n of the TP assyrian host found divine virtue and the hand of divinity in lae e order prescribed to him by elijah through which his leprosy was removed in his case the order of obtaining a miraculous blessing viz to immerse seven times in jordan as prescribed by elijah was so simple so plain and in regard to its divine eticy efficacy so easy of ascertainment that the great captain at first was exceedingly at the idea that god should propose to work upon him through such easy and simple forms but the order through chiv be could be healed of his leprosy was pre bribed of god through the prophet and finally the assyrian officer through the plain common sense reasoning of his servant maut concluded to waive his objections and anc I 1 comply with the requirements quire ments end having done so received the promised blessing blessin the first principles of tle the gospel which we offer and which put i men in possession of the revelations s of god aud and a knowledge of this work are precisely as si triple plain and as easy of understanding as the order before alluded to through which the heavens W were E re opened to caaman naaman the gospel was brought to our respective spec tive locations far remote from these mountain vales it found us citizens of various nations speaking our respective languages each pos ss essing his peculiar notions and prejudices with his associations and a strong attachment to kindred friends and country however unpleasant unkind unjust and inconsistent it might appear at first we clearly foresaw that in receiving the gospel we should be compelled to break off those associations and sever those attachments leaving the lands of our nativity and vo no forth with our wives and our children childr erf to a distant land of which we had but little knowledge yet a similar requisition was made upon the house of israel in the laud land of egypt also upon noah and his hip family und and upon abraham and the family of lot in the city of sodom and upon the families of lehi and ishmael ishmael as mentioned in the book of mormon but in the provisions of the gospel which was offered to us there were fairness and safety it proposed to nive give through obedi obedience to its require ments a perfect knowledge of its divine authenticity so that in leaving our kindred breaking up our social relations and going forth from our native lands we should first become perfectly assured that it was no human contrivance something gotten up to effect a political purpose or satisfy some worldly ambition or to achieve some ome private end through human cunning or craftiness the gospel was plain and simple in its requirements and there could be no mistaking the precise nature of its blessings and promises nor the manner and time in which they were to be secured 1 the first feature in this system which struck us with surprise and arrested our attention was its perfect similarity in all it its parts with the gospel as recorded in the new testament it required repentance and a forsaking ut of sins immersion in water for the remission of sins W with 1 it a promise rom that through the laying on of hands ands by those having autho authority A ta people should receive the holy host ghost U by which the knowledge would b be obtained of the truth of the doctrine another remarkable feature which called into exercise our most serious consideration was the solemn testimony of the elders that they possessed the right to administer these sacred ordinances by virtue of the holy PrIest priesthood bLood committed to joseph smith through the ministration of the apostles peter james and john and furthermore that this solemn and most important fact should be revealed to every man upon his faithful obedience to the gospel requirements quire euire ments in these propositions though at first seeming seemingly see minely ay strange we saw that everything was plain tor tair and honorable in doing what they required we should only do in fact what as truehearted true hearted believers in the ancient gospel we ought to do and if we tailed failed to receive the promised blessing and thereby proved the elders testimony false our oar religious ani condition would nevertheless be that as good as other christians and a little lit tle better perhaps be cause we should have approached a little nearer to the doctrine of the scriptures so far as their true forms and ceremonies were concerned of Ol course in thi having proven to our oat fiat faction that there was no holy ghost no supernatural manifest manifestations manifestation atio ns no knowledg knowledge e no revelations accompanying the nar E elders ders of the gospel no human persuasion no cunning sophistry could have induced us to leave our homes and friends to embark in a scheme which our common sense taught us would eventuate in bitter disappointment and inevitable ruin but like other christians we should have continued in the enjoyment of friends and home still groping our way through religious darkness expecting nothing hoping jipping nothing and receiving nothing but that abat I 1 am now speaking to assembled thousands of intelligent and enlightened people who received this gospel with wit the aforementioned fond considerations and lively expectations eions gathered here by their heir own free will and choice out of almost every nation demonstrates most clearly most forcibly and most moot solemnly that this system of life this gospel as pr proclaimed P by joseph smith has been made known to us by the revelations ot of the almi almighty lity that it is undeniably his will ills his word and his message not only this but we find within ourselves a fixed purpose an unalterable resolution to do if need be what many of us have already done viz show the sincerity of out our convictions of these solemn truths through sacrificing all we possess not even holding ourselves so BO dear to us as this religion there was yet another prominent feature embraced in this order of things viz vaz where it found the people in poverty misery in a condition but a little above starvation it spoke in positive terms of future relief and effectual deliverance it did not simply say be ye ve warmed and be ye clothed but it declared plainly and in distinct terms that the lord had seen bondage and oppression and heard their cries of sorrow and affliction and now had bad sent his gospel for their ae deliverance and would lead them into c circumstances of independence there again was something consistent and ana worthy of admiration and characteristic of our great parent d discoverable coverable is in all his dispensations when in actual working order as they were in the case of noah and in the calling of israel making them an independent people likewise in calling lehl lehi to establish a people ople upon this continent as well as re in many other instances A religious religions system is ot of but account when it possesses no virtue nor power to better the condition of people spiritually spiritual intellectually inte morally ora and physically p enochs order am er of the the gospel did I 1 for his is people all t this is and it has d done e t the e same in every instance when preached in its purit urit yand obeyed in sincerity many thousands of the persons in these beautiful ea ticul valleys who formerly were compelled with their wives and children to subsist in a half starved condition not owning a habitation or a foot of land a horse a cownig or chicken nothing they could call their own subject at any moment nio ment through the whim of their employer to be turned into the streets miserable beggars now own cabinet shops factories mills flocks and herds beautiful gardens and orchards and prodie productive t farms wagons and I 1 ing in their own houses in comfor comfortable tab I 1 e and easy circumstances no onee one has h a 9 any apprehension of starvation within the jurisdiction of the latter day saints the gospel proposed Diess nas at its announcement and they have I 1 been most miraculously accomplished no other religious system could have achieved such things nor dared any other christian denomination venture to send out its missionaries without purse ur se or script scrip and without a college e pd education tio u to declare to the people that they hao had authority from god cod to administer the sacred ordinances of the gospel through which should be revealed tangible evidence and knowledge ot of its divinity and of their authority to administer admi hister it take people from a state of poverty and lead them thousands of miles and ad despite every obstacle establish them hem a comparatively independent people in ii the midst of a wild desert country had they found them poor friendless without the means of living and in servitude little better than egyptian bondage as we found many of them they would have imparted apart rd no cheering news new of an ail approaching pro aching salvation from the god of heaven but could only have exhorted them to be contented and reconciled with their unhappy lot and in no case se must they look tor any new Xe revelation or miraculous interposition what philanthropists have wished to accomplish and often attempted the lord Is now doing on a magnificent scale scald in this american america desert flourishing settlements towns and cities have sprung into existence extending over a distance of five hundred miles in I 1 length and hund hundreds redi of miles in width through the untiring energy and verance of a people formerly totally ignorant of such labors in these cities citie people live in harmony and ang poor houses grog ghods gamb lin ling hells hell h houses auses of ill fame angl and prostitution are not known in any of our numerous towns and cities except tin in sorrie some instances where christians so called possess a footing and influence no one however prejudiced he may be can scarcely avoid acknowledging ledgin 1 the palpable fact that this system has conferred miraculous blessings upon thousands and tens of thousands in the way of putting them la in possession of the means tor for sustaining themselves after having delivered them f from rom oppression and tyranny little better airman slavery and no doubt our legislators fit at washington one and all would give us credit fw our i and successful labors in establishing tab lishing extensive an aw flourishing and colony on a portion of our government domain domai n formerly inhabited by savages and wild beasts provided we would admit this work to be the work of man and not of god that it had bad been accomplished through the artifice and wisdom of man and not by the power wisdom and revelations of god jpseph smith whom god chose to 1 establish this work was poor and uneducated and belonged to no popular I 1 denomination of christians ue he was a mere boy honest toll of 01 integrity unacquainted with the trickery cunning and sophistry employed by politicians and religious hypocrites to ac cum com complita leilh e 1 their ends like moses of old adte ne f felt elt incompetent and unqualified Q for the task to stand forth as a religious religions reformer in a posit position ibn the most unpopular to battle against opinions and creeds which have stood for a ages having the sanction and support of iben men the most profound in theological lore lone buthod had called him to deliver the poor and honest hearted of all nations from their spiritual and temporal thralldom and god promised hm him that whosoever should receive and obey his message be baptized for the remission of sins with honesty of purpose might receive divine manifestations should receive the holy ghost the same gospel blessings which were promised and obtained through throng t the e gospel when preached by the ancient apostles and this message this promise was to be ift force wherever and to whomsoever it should be carried by the elders gods authorized messengers so said joseph smith the uneducated educated the unsophisticated ane plain simple bonest boy it is thron through gli the virtue and force of this boys statement that I 1 speak this afternoon to assembled thousands in the integrity of my heart with honesty ot of purpose to know the truth I 1 received this mes message 1 obeyed this form of doctrine aua ana I 1 received in the most tangible and satisfactory manner a divine manifestation the pro promised m bies blessing sinz a knowledge of th this is work am ami 1 the only witness how is it with the experience of thousands whom I 1 now address are you also witnesses it if you are not I 1 ask you in the name name of common sense why are you OU here why did you leave your aames ancl connary giving your sanction to the truth of a system which promised you divine manifestations but which you failed in experiencing being honest ourselves if we can not bear a truthful testimony of having received divine manifestations that god himself has founded this order of 0 things then it becomes a serious fact that we are witnesses and in truth the only proper er witnesses that this whole plan pr and pre of joseph smith is a sneer sheer falsehood a mise rabble fab 1 ri cation ic will be recollected that this gospel message proposed to give us divine manifestations through our doing certain specified acts we haye have performed those acts in precisely the manner indicated dica ted none but ourselves have attempted to conform to this arrangement consequently no other people are prepared to be witnesses either for or against this system this gospel as recorded in the new testament in its promises and provisions was precisely similar it required certain specified acts to be done with promises that divine would follow their performance jesus jesu said he ae that will ivill do the will of godshall shall 1 know of the doctrine ine 11 peter on the day of pentecost said repent and be bb baptized for the remission of sins and you receive the holy ghost again jesus said these signs shall follow them that believe A multitude of testimonies could be cited showing that divine manifestations and knowledge were promised to and were actually received in a specific and tangible tang gible form by those thos e who then obeyed the gospel those who obeyed its requirements were the only competent witnesses for or against its divine authenticity after honestly com plying with its requisitions then lidd had they failed to receive the holy ghost G h ost with its gifts and promised knowledge they would have shea seen that the entire apostolic scheme of salvation rested on a baseless fabric when the gospel or order of things aich which we have received was presented to us we carefully oem compared pared it with the gospel recorded in the scriptures crip and found it alike in every particular |