| Show DISCOURSE delivered at the weber stake confer ence Ogden sunday afternoon october irth 1896 by PRESIDENT JOSEPH P F SMITH REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER I 1 pray that the spirit of the lord may rest upon us during the remainder of f the meeting as it hii has done so farand that it may not only assist me in what I 1 shall say but that it may carry to your winds minds a clear understanding of the truth I 1 was remarkably struck at the opening of this meeting with the beautiful hymn that was sung commencing with the words 1 I know that thai my redeemer lives 21 and I 1 will endeavor to make this the text of my remarks although I 1 may not divide and sub divide the subject in the orthodox wa way Y it is of the utmost importance for every person who has reached the years year of understanding before god to solve this problem to his or her satisfaction it is written if any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of god or whether I 1 speak of myself the nature of our lives anti and the circumstances in which we are placed make it etive that we shall know of the doctrine for except we have knowledge we shall be like the waves of the sea driven by the wind and tossed and we shall not know that our redeemer lives I 1 will refer to the days of jesus when he was with his disciples in jerusalem and will endeavor to call to your mind some circumstances that occurred then which appeal today to the hearts ot of men we are all familiar with the history oi of our savior as it is recorded in the new testament how that he was born of a virgin that he grew in the midst of his brethren to be a man and what marvelous things he did even in his childhood by the power of his anointing and mission how he taught the lawyers and the doctors in the synagogue and in the temple and how he confounded those who sought to make him an offender for a word we are all familiar with the power which he displayed in healing the sick in restoring sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf and in cleansing the leper aper and making the lame to leap with joy we are familiar with the doctrines which he taught and it has always seemed to me that there need be no further proof of the divinity of jesus christ than the doctrine which he taught that men should love those who despitefully despite lully used them and persecuted them and that they should return good for evil up to his day the doctrine taught in the world was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth this was the philosophy of the age but jesus taught directly the opposite of this he enjoined upon his disciples that they should not return evil for evil but that they should return good for evil whosoever shall smite thee anthy on thy right cheek turn to him the other also this doctrine was new to the world it is a doctrine not in accordance with the fallen nature of man it comes directly in contact with the natural man therefore it is not of man men could not teach such a doctrine and carry it out in their lives without inspiration and power from on high blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are they wat mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled read the sermon on the mount and then ask yourselves whether it is beyond and above everything ever tau taught ht by man it confirms me in the bet belief cef that jesus was not merely a man but that he was god manifest in the flesh it is the doctrine of eternal life by which if a man shall live he shall never die by which it he shall walk he shall in pleasant paths and by which if he shall abide he shall know the truth and the truth will make him free then we come to the day ot of his trial when one whom he chose to be an apostle and a witness of him turned traitor and betrayed the lord to his enemies they came out with sword and with staves to capture the man of peace the man who forbade violence who had never lifted his voice nor his hand against the innocent and the good nor indeed against any man except only against their wicked practices and evil doings they came out to take him prisoner and to pass him through a mock trial that they might find occa sion to condemn him to death on one occasion when he had been teach ing the people these righteous principles and testifying that he was the son of god they picked up stones to stone him jesus replied many good works have I 1 showed you from my father lor for which of those works do ye stone me he had done no evil works among them all that he had done was good and yet they sought to kill him when peter incensed drew his sword and smote off the ear of the servant of the high priest jesus rebuked him and said put up thy sword into his place f for or all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword in the midst ot his trial when mocked when smitten when crowned with thorns and when reviled against he reviled na not again but meekly submitted to his locc and stiffened stiff suffered ered that which god permitted the wicked to inflict upon him im he into circumstances where the doctrine he taught could be put to the test and in au ali he proved the genuineness of his teaching even evenin ia the midst of his agony on the he cross he cried out father forgive them for they know not what they do p I 1 I 1 ask is thia chii true it it be true then I 1 say that no man could utter such words as these at such a time it required the power and spirit the love mercy charity and forgiveness of god himself I 1 bear my testimony to you that a being who could ask god to forgive men from whom he bad re such unmerited cruel cruelty tr te is nothing less than god it if there aas was no other proof than this of the divine mission of jesus christ this alone would convince me that jesus was the redeemer of thle the world he taught and exemplified in his life the very principles that will redeem the world and the only principles that can be found written in any book that will redeem the world there is no other doctrine taught taugh beneath the sun to auy knowledge that is capable of redeeming men than that which he taught he taught that we should commit no s sin a and yet he taught that we should forgive the vilest sinner that we should not let the sun go down on out our wrath if we would but carry out one ot of these principles how much better we would be for it it if we would bu but t hearken to that one doctrine of christ agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with M hi him 11 1 1 and as expressed by paul in the wor words let not toe the sun go down upon your wrath how much better we would be than we are how much nobler and an d how much greater in the eyes of hono rable men and id ib the sight of the heavens beavens when we allow anger to rankle in our hearts one towards another and carry animosity in our souls against our brother from day to day how necessary this principle is it we would but carry it out it would revolutionize the world and make it a thousand fold better than it is today there would be no strife no anger continued in the hearts of the children of men but instead there would abide in the heart the principles of forgiveness charity and mercey murders would cease hatred would cease and everything that leads to the multi tude of evils that prevail among men man today if we would only hearken to that one thing which jesus so wonderfully e exemplified I 1 e M p in his life but we fall far short of this jesus as I 1 have saido said was crucified his body was takeyo from the cross by his friends washed and wrapped in clean linen and laid away in a new sepulchre where never the body of man laid previous to this however jesus had bad taught his disciples that the son of man should be put to death he said in plain words therefore doth my father love me because I 1 lay down my lite life that I 1 might take L up again no man it from me but I 1 lay it down of myself I 1 have power to lay it down and I 1 have power to take it again he came to fulfill the predictions of the prophets that as in adam all died so in christ should all be made alive that as by one man sin came into the world so by the atonement of one man righteousness should be restored and mankind redeemed from sin all the doctrines of christ were good I 1 defy the world to point out a single flaw in any one of these doctrines if sin had come into the world by the transgression trang ot of one man and the consequences of this transgression had fallen failen upon all men without any act of theirs is it not just is it not consistent that mankind should be relieved irom these consequences by the act of one man this was the plan that was instituted in the beginning and there is naught but righteousness in it jesus offered his life as a sacrifice to accomplish this he was put to death by wicked wick edmen men who accused him wrong full yand who shut their eyes and closed their hearts against the true principles he taught alter he had been buried we read in the scriptures that on the first day of the week mary magdalene came to the sepulchre but behold the stone was rolled away and ile he was gone she looked into the sepulchers chere and saw two angels in white the one at the head and the other at the feet and they said unto her woman why deepest thou she saith unto them teem because they have taken away my lord and I 1 known not where they have laid hud him and when she had bad thus said she turned herself back and saw jesus standing and knew not that it was jesus jesus saith unto her woman why deepest thou whom seerest thou she supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him sir if thou have borne him hence tell me where thou hast laid him and I 1 will take him away jesua saith unto her mary she turned herself sel an and saith faith a unto him which is to say master jesus saith unto her touch me not for I 1 am not yet ascended to my father but goto go to my brethren and say unto them I 1 ascend unto ray my father and your father to my god and your god k mary then went way and tol told d the disciples that she had bad seen the lord and he also appeared unto them now let bet us think of this a moment here is a historical fact related that mary went to the tomb and saw two angels there and afterwards saw the risen redeemer himself she had the testimony of heavenly messengers con firmed by the son of god himself that the redeemer had risen her words are handed down to us in testimony will you dispute them will you doubt her testimony what right have you what revelation have you received that her testimony is not true Atter afterwards wards he overtook two disciples who were journeying eying to emmaus and went with them but their eyes were holden that they should not know him 1 jesus asked them what made them so sad and they replied art thou only a I 1 stranger in jerusalem and hast not known bowa the things which are come to I 1 pass there in these days by and by i their e eyes were opened and they knew him 18 after after fter this he appeared unto his disciples disc ioles iDles one of the disciples heard that jesus was risen but said he would not believe it except he saw him and could thrust his hand into his side and his finger into the prints of the nails in his hands how very much like mankind today was thomas he again appeared unto the disciples and aad thomas was with them then saith he to thomas reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing and thomas answered and said unto him my lord and my god jesus saith unto him thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed jesus administered unto his disciples after he was risen and confirmed upon n their understandings the fact that they were not deceived but that he ahe was truly the son of god now risen from the dead to immortality and eternal life they saw not with the natural eye we may see a great many things with our natural sight but that may be deceived we may hear with our ears but they may be deceived our natural senses are susceptible to deception I 1 will guarantee that there are no two persons in this congregation that can go out from this meeting and tell precisely the same story of what has been said this afternoon each one will have his own version and will see things according to his own idea and conception but let me tell you when the almighty reveals him self unto man he does it by the power ot of the holy ghost and not through the natural eye or the natural ear he speaks to man as it if he were speaking to him independent of his body he speaks to the spirit therefore if god almighty speaks to you and bears record of his truth by the power of the holy ghost you will not go out with two stories or with two different ideas in regard to that which god has declared to you but you will have the same understanding der standing and the same knowledge beside that you will know as god knows it will not be something that you believe only something that has been communicated to you through your natural senses in which you may be mistaken or deceived but it will be that which god has spoken to the heart to the living soul to the eternal being of man which like god is indestructible and eternal it was in this way that jesus opened the spiritual eleand under standing of his disciples after his resurrection so that they knew that he was both lord and christ they knew that he was risen from the dead they knew that he was the son of the living god because god had bad revealed leve aled it to them therefore they could say as the poet has said 0 the sweet joy this sentence gives I 1 know that my redeemer lives men are weak but the truth is mighty I 1 am not strong enough to endure all truth I 1 am but a child but ob who can tell the joy and the satisfaction that comes to the soul of man who has received this witness from almighty god no man can utter it t cannot tell it to you there are no words of man that can speak it it can only be felt it can only be understood by the immortal part of man unspeakable is the I 1 joy 0 that a mah man feels who has received t this hta mony from the holy ghost I 1 want to leave my testimony with you on this occasion it may pos siby be my last testimony to you I 1 know not what awaits me I 1 have no tease on life I 1 may never stand before this audience again therefore I 1 want to bear my testimony to you jesus declared it is expedient for you that I 1 go away for if I 1 go not away the comforter will wib not come unto you but if I 1 depart I 1 will send him unto you and ft ad again he says speaking of the comforter he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I 1 have said unto you but when the comforter is come whom I 1 will send unto you from the father even the spirit ot of truth which edeth from the father he shall testify ot of me this was the testimony of jesus christ unto his disciples now let me say to this audience and especially to the young people that same holy ghost the third in the godhead has been given unto man in afie day and age in which we live just as it if was given by the savior himself to his disciples and as it was given by them to those that believed and were baptized the office and duty of the holy ghost is to bring to our remembrance things that are past to make clear to our understanding things that are present and to show us things that are to come it is his duty also to testify of the father and of the son and reveal them unto us I 1 say to this congregation that the holy spirit of god has spoken to me not through the ear not through the eye but to my spirit to my living and eternal part and has revealed unto me that jesus is the christ the son of the living god I 1 testify to you that I 1 know that my redeemer lives furthermore I 1 know |
