Show DISCOURSE delivered at the general conference of the church in the tabernacle sall sail lake city friday april ath by ELDER GEORGE TEASDALE BY ARTHUR WINTER WINTE Rj I 1 have listened with a great deal of pleasure and I 1 hope profit to the excellent instructions that have been delivered from this stand and I 1 cannot help but think what an excellent people we should be if we would carry out the counsels of the almighty I 1 frequently say that we should learn to be kind to ourselves and it anybody is going to be benefited by keeping the commandments of god it is s the individual that keeps them there is one principle patent before us all the time and that is that individually we have a character and a reputation the reputation is what we seem to be as others sit in judgment upon us but the character is known to the angel of our presence and to the invisible by which we are surrounded when we pass away we take our character with us we do not dot take the gold and silver and the perishable things of this world but we take our own dear selves so i I 1 do not know that we need be so troubled about anybody else I 1 saw a scurrilous piece that was written in one of the papers mesia wa 4 fabe 1 ahmo W lake V ditta agiak us kic in 1 fmc I one of toe authorities of bf abe he chu church rah it me think of the saying in hamlet be thou chaste as ice as pure as now thou not escape calumny know servant of god did you vou ever a evir ever did what did they say of our bourrand grand rAnd master the lord jesus christ what kind of a reputation did aid he have how was it with the prophet joseph smith everybody that knew the man loved him he was one of those men that improved upon acquaintance the more you knew him the better you loved him so it was with the lord jesus christ well was that their reputation no bait but it ic wits was their glorious character what is the use of at us thinking we can an deceive the almighty we talk about tithes and offerings what does the lord want with tithes and offerings afroyim do we pay to him or do re it 11 F r understand we pay nay to the bishop tithes aud and offerings they e are an offering unto the lord jacob of old made a covenant with the lord and said of 01 all that thou give me I 1 will surely jive give die tenth unto thele thee how do we pay nay our ou r ming to lo th the bishop I 1 do not pay my tithing to the bishop I 1 it to the lord he knows whether I 1 pa pay it he knows whether my heart is ariy riy right with aimar him or whether 11 ll it is not nol he knows whether I 1 am deceiving him he has only asked for one little gift from any of us what can we give to him when we are dependent upon him lor for everything that we have for food for raiment for habitation for all the means that comes into our hands we may be so ignorant that we do not acknowledge this nevertheless it is true yet there is something that we have which he prizes what is it my son give me thine heart my daughter give me thine heart what do I 1 understand by this I 1 understand my affection that I 1 acknowledge his hand in all things and that I 1 have bothin nothing th that a t is dearer tome to me than my affection for for H him i m we love our wives and children but the call comes to go on a mission we take our lives in our hands and we preach the gospel to a people that do not seem to care much about it and we ask them to come and enjoy the happiness that we have in the church of god why do we do it because we have a greater affection tor for god than we have lor for wives and children houses and lands or anything else I 1 hope my affection will always be centered on the almighty I 1 want to be redeemed back into his presence and it I 1 fail there is an end to my happiness when I 1 go into my secret chamber and appeal to my heavenly father for something that I 1 need I 1 go there simply because I 1 want it when 9 gathered adhered around the family baltar atar we tender our praises and thanksgivings to god for his protecting care it is because we feel it we want the fellowship of the holy ghost there is no one else who can give it and so we naturally ask him if we are in any trouble we naturally akly go to our unseen Frie friend td the Father of our spirits and we plead wi h b him in the name of jesus christ for or just such things as we need do we not in this way manifest by out our works wat that we have confide confidence tice in him do we not manifest that we believe that he is and that he is a of those who diligently seek him you see men and women that never do this it is simply that they are too ignorant they do not know the source from whence they are fed and clothed they think it is their own smartness they are so self sufficient and so independent that the they think it is ill all nonsense to ask the lo 10 lord r yd for anything well I 1 know different how hov do I 1 know it in my experience peri ence I 1 know that toe the lord god has been my friend I 1 know that he has guided and directed me ine I 1 never think ot at going on a journey I 1 never think of taking an any y stop step witti without out looking unto him tor or counsel toun st and advice otner other wise ise we do scattered as ab we are in the nations of the earth and men and women coming unto us tor for advice do they come to us because of our superior or ability or because of our scholastic attainments no they do not why do they come because we represent the lord jesus christ and they have faith in him and in his church and they come to seek counsel at the fountain head they have perhaps been impressed themselves and they want to know if that impression is is right and when they receive something that comes exactly as they understand it it is a source of satisfaction to them the sunday school girl who is sick in bed sends for her teacher because she knows he is a good man she wants to be anointed with oil and have the prayer of faith and she knows her teacher lias has faith because he has i aught her can not you see from this that that child has faith that she has some confidence in god and in the ordinances of his house it is manifested by her works when people are sick and the first thing they do is to send for a doctor they manifest by their works that they have no faith in the anointing of oil and the prayer of faith but they have faith in something else it is a simple proposition to me that men and women are going to be rewarded according to their works we manifest our faith by our works the lord has given his saints the cue whosoever among you are sick and have not faith to be healed but believe shall be nourished with all tenderness with herbs and mild food and that not by the hand of an enemy and the elders of the church two or more shall be called and shall pray for and lay their hands upon them in my name and if they die they shall die unto me and if they live they shall live unto me we te talk about the progression of the e church h ch in scholastic attainments I 1 would not ot give a fig dij tor for all your scholastic attainments if you have no faith what better are you than the gentile nations they have the highest education that is possible to give but they have little faith they do not believe in god they do not believe in the ordinances of at fa his is house they are infidel to those precious principles that exalt men show me men and women who are advancing in faith and in righteousness in meekness and in virtue and I 1 will show you a people that love the lord god of israel show me a people that are advancing in the iniquities of the world a and i nd I 1 will show you a people who despise the Ai almighty mighty and are more in favor of the establishment of the kingdom of the adversary we show it by our works hot matter much what our reputation is we manifest whitt we really tire are by our works we prove that we love the lord god when silently we meditate upon the principles of righteousness and practice them malachi in his last chapter calls upon the people to remember the instructions that god gave to moses on mount horeb hareb have those laws eyer been repeated I 1 no not do you du not think it wold I 1 be orth cur r wh while we e to atu study up P these things and see what malachi to sc see e whether her we wd are living as as we w should live and whether we are in harmony with the revealed will of god if we are kind to ourselves we will do so 30 I 1 am interested in my own salvation I 1 am interested in striving for part in the first resurrection and to have an invitation to the marriage supper of the lamb can I 1 attain to this by following after the fashions and the follies of modern babylon and putting myself in harmony with their unfortunate condition I 1 think not and god forbid that anyone should ever do so that loves the lord jesus christ I 1 want to bear testimony here that there is no one that loves the lord jesus christ that wants the iniquities of babylon we talk sometimes about the first presidency and twelve apostles did it ever occur to us that the presidency and the twelve are just as anxious to obtain their salvation as anyone else did it ever occur to us that they are as anxious to be in harmony with the revealed will of god as any other men or women in the kingdom of god or any quorum of the priesthood Is it not to be supposed that they are just as m much uch interested to keep themselves clean and unspotted from the blood and sins ol of this generation and to manifest the power and love ol of god in their works by striving to do his will and keep his commandments it is a cruel thing to stab a man i in n the dark I 1 pity anybody that would do it god help the poor creature who writes something that he is ashamed to put his name to thou not bear false witness against thy neighbor if we love god we will not do it such inspiration is from beneath we want the inspiration from above that is the reason we pray we can only obtain it through prayer you have your schools ol of theology what can you do with them all that you can do is to teach your scholars how to obtain the fellowship of the holy ghost and the revelations of almighty god and how can you obtain that by being humble and childlike and forsaking the world and all its abominations and living a pure life I 1 do not care whether it is a child or an aged man we are dependent upon the revelation of almighty god and we can only obtain this by line upon line precept upon precept grace tor for grace so far as we manifest our love for god and the principles of righteousness so will we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth my testimony is that god lives that jesus esus is the christ arid and that he has raised ased up in in these days the prophet joseph smith that he has organized his is church U upon on the earth and that we cave have livi living alg apostles and prophets anciently he set in the church first apostles etien prophets and evangelists pastors and teachers he has d pe the same today the world need wl not fear ls we ire are not going to exer ase ajtay unrighteous dominion the s e v I 1 n of this country need not be w f Us even aven elwe if we had political power we can afford to be generous we can afford to honor them in their rights if they cannot see just as we see they have certain rights as citizens and we are bound to recognize them arven even if we were the head bead and front and had all te the power their rights would have to be respected evsay therefore they hey need dead not be afraid of us I 1 1 I do not k koe GO much about what you u ari are doing here only from the ti newspapers as I 1 live a long way on off but I 1 know this that the only way for us is to serve god and keep his commandments hear it 0 israel and if you think that your political affairs are more to you than your priesthood and your priesthood meetings I 1 am sorry for you the lord knows our hearts he knows whether I 1 love him so far as politics is concerned berned if I 1 were here I 1 think I 1 would have sense enough to know how to vote in order that we may have a proper government all we ask for is tor for honest men who will property properly represent usand us and not plunge us head over heels into debt like we are today whenever a man is in debt he is in bondage we are commanded in the scriptures to owe no man anything and if a man has the spirit of the lord he will try to keep out of debt he may be forced into it sometimes but as a general thing he will try to keep out of debt my beelin feeling issaef is is father in heaven bless all israel bless the men and women that love thee and are striving to keep thy corn mand ments bless the men that thou hast placed to be thy representatives over stakes over missions over conferences feren ces may thy power and blessings attend them and the convincing power of thy spirit rest upon thy ministering servants that they may preach thy gospel in the power and demonstration of thy spirit and win souls to thee that shall be eternally saved in the name of jesus christ amen |