| Show REMARKS made at the semiannual semi annual conference in the tabernacle salt lake ci city ty utah wednesday morning october 6 07 by MATTHIAS my brethren and sisters in standing before you a short time I 1 humbly solicit your faith and prayers that something thing appropriate may be suggested to 9 minds ands 1 I have rejoiced and do our rejoice in the instructions of this conference re ce and our joy may be said to consist through the holy spirit in the sit eon propriety and the practical value of imparted unto us the teachings through the servants of the lord highly edified in the r remarks e 1 chave have been directed to the youth I 1 feel especially interested in the cause of mutual improvement because I 1 lecog established by it an institution the wisdom of the lord young affording president servi cervant t the men and young women of opportunity to exercise the zion son OV pm an talents with wh which ich the lord has endowed them and it to is a work of great it is 18 necessary as stated magnitude and brother by president cannon kimball that we should study the and become conversant scriptures with the principles of the G gospel with the with predictions of the Prophet sand the of the AlmightY concerning us Pur and nd mankind at large and not only in t the ae direction dl of these particulars designated as strictly re which are but to become acquainted with bood 1 d principles I 1 think it is in section and covenants 84 of the doctrine where the injunction to Is placed upon us through the prophet jo y t the lord zu edh and it is always binding that ift wea should hould seek for wisdom by study out ut of the best books by prayer and alao by faith that we should become maquat acquainted ted with the laws of the king the earth and and nations of with the law of the kingdom of god should hould become acquainted with things which are above the earth and which we are in the earth we might say become informed regarding all things as the lord through various agencies gives Us tia opportunities tor for acquiring knowledge what a broad field of study for the youth of zion would any man with intelligence and honesty dare to attribute narrow mindedness to the lat ur ter day saints I 1 think not the lat ter day saints are not afraid to come in contact with the world in every form they are not so narrow but what they are willi willing ng to receive truth wherever it can be found we recognize the fact that there are fragments of f truth scattered abroad to in the earth that they have been handed down among the cl ildren of men on the pages of f history and by tradition from generation to generation many of the oriental dental religionists that are designated by the more enlightened as heath s have idesa ideas which are not at with some of the principles of the L in reading the history of we find and there re garding traditions of the ancient inhabitants of that land in reference to the deity and in regard to the coming of a god to this earth and we can see that it has reference to the mission of the son of god among the children of men and so in regard to the people of asia and other countries of the globe the youth of zion should be conversant with these things there is one grand and glorious principle that should be understood by the young people to guide them in their studies and investigation in regard to all things and that is the possession of the holy spirit no man says the apostle paul and it has been repeated in every gospel dispensation can understand the things of god but by the spirit of god he may understand der stand the things of man by the spirit of man but the spirit of god has a mission as stated by the savior in the chapter of st john where he says spirit of truth Is come he shall guide you into all truth for he says he shall not speak of himself here is another lesson in that passage even the holy spirit does not assume authority to speak for he shall nat speak of himself but that which he heareth that shall he also speak he shall take of the things of the father and shall show them unto you showing that the spirit of the lord associates with the father and the son and communicates the mind and will of the lord to the people who are so happy and so blessed as to enjoy that great gift it if we can understand the things of man by the spirit of man we can also understand the things of man by the spirit of god tor for it sear cheth all things how essential it to is that the young men and the young women of zion should enjoy the companionship panion ship of the holy spirit the importance of which cannot be spoken it cannot be fully realized and tv enjoy that spirit we should understand another principle and that to is that to possess it we must harmonize our lives our dally daily walk and conversation with certain requirements that the lord has made of us it Is one thing to receive the holy spirit it is another thing to keep it constantly with us we received it on condition of faith in god and in his son jesus christ and the condition of repentance from all sin a genuine repentance a laying aside of the things which are obnoxious to god we received it on condition of accepting the simple ordinance of baptism in water for the remission of sin we received it on condition of the imposition of hands by men authorized zed of the almighty to perform that sacred ordinance for the gift of the holy ghost we never can isolate the principles of the gospel and expect by the mere outward acceptance of that principle to enjoy the blessing which to is attached to it no man has received a remission of sins by baptism alone no man has received the holy ghost by the imposition of hands alone there must be associated with it the fulfillment of the conditions that belong to these fundamental steps which introduce us into the church of christ simon the sorcerer was b baptized by philip he wen through the ordinance in form but the apoi apostles peter and john came down from jerusalem and laid th lr hands upon and baptized the samaritans samaritana Samar itans and those that were penitent only who had pure pur faith in god pure conviction that jesus jebus was the christ received the holy ghost and enjoyed some of the gifts thereof and when simon the S sorcerer saw that they enjoyed this gifts gift he offered the apostles money and he said unto them give unto me sapo also this gift that on whomsoever I 1 lay my hands they may receive it also and the apostle peter by jhb authority and power of god which rested upon him said unto him thy money perish p with thee seeing thou hast thought to buy the gift of god with money it I perceive that thy soul Is in the gall fall of bitterness and sin so it may be said of all the lat ter day saints men have embraced the gospel that Is in forra form some have been introduced into the church formally but they have dropped by the wayside we found hundreds of backsliders back sliders in the states stated of missouri and illinois who had embraced the gospel many of thern them in the days of joseph smith some borne had received a testimony and sinned against it and became embittered while others had not received it in sincerity of heart and they were ere easily led aside I 1 want to impress upon the youth that to enjoy this spirit we must not only receive it by the ordinances of the gospel but we must take tak a course in life that we can keep it constantly with us the spirit of the lord will not associate with evil anany in any form As quoted by brother kim alm ball the spirit of the lord will apt not dwell in unclean temples and thi the apostle paul felt so impressed with this that on one occasion he said add to the corinthian saints evil communications corrupt good mannen 1 and he cautioned them to avoid ertl vu association to avoid coming in contact with the influences that were of the world the savior grave gave this causton to his disciples when he said unta them beware of the leaven of the gentiles the young people should understand that the foundation the stepping stone to mutual improvement Is the reformation of life if there to a young man that Is guilty of any habit that to Is contrary to the injunctions of the Gosp elthe first step nece sary is to lay that aside lay aside the habit of smoking cigarettes lay aside the habit of chewing tobacco lay aside the habit of swearing and P profanity ro fanity and sabbath breaking antt seek unto god in humble prayer for or the enjoyment and the impressions Impress lona or at the holy spirit if we will do that the lord will preserve us from scepticism and infidelity one of the brethren tri iti his rem spoke about neglecting to read the e scriptures Scrip turee and thereby becoming fatt easier prey to infidelity I 1 thought tilou ftp my own testimony re regarding dinc be wah work that at no what might be the skill III of the sceptic or the infidel in his efforts to tear down and destro destroy Y the standards of christianity that every young man might feel as I 1 felt myself that no matter what may be their theory however plausible may appear their reasoning I 1 know that this Is the work of god regardless of these things I 1 know that there is a spirit and a power associated with what they denominate mormonism that is beyond and above the power and the natural intelligence of man I 1 have received this testimony but in addition to that my young brethren we should become so conversant with the principles of truth and also with the theories if necessary that are advanced by the world against the true doctrines of christ that we may be able when under the influence of the spirit of god to refute them and show their incon Bis als tency by the light of truth I 1 have often been impressed with a few statistics that were published by president Ps ident john morgan several years year before his decease he wrote I 1 think to the wardens of the penitentiaries aries at botito Delt rolt and ind jollet joliet ill and sing sin sing g algir tor and he asked the question quentio n ot the keepers of those government apses houses of correction to give him a clear and truthful statement as to what percentage tam e of the convicts in their respect me five prisons could read and write he also I 1 0 wanted to know what percentage 01 of them had an understanding of 0 grammar and rhetoric when the answers came back if I 1 remember correctly they showed that there were fully ninety percent per cent of all the criminals Is in those houses of correction t that could read and write afta I 1 there were some I 1 think seventy five per cent of them that were quite grammatical in their conversation on a still smaller per cent that act had bad a very good understanding of arithmetic and other branches and some of them were highly educated 1 I remember member the statement by president morgan that there was a greater percentage of well educated people in the penitentiary compared with the whole of the inmates than there was outside of the prisons as compared with tha entire population of the united states to me this was a great lesson it was a lesson that impressed me that the mere education of the intellect Is not sufficient men may understand der stand astronomy they may understand mathematics they may be efficient in the beautiful art of mus lethey in may be conversant with law and the sip science lence of civil government as it obtains in the nations of the earth and athe at the same time they may be corrupt they may be dishonest men their motives may be impure in the sight of god go d no man knan no matter what may be his natural attainments if he does not enjoy the spirit of the living god if his we life is not circumspect squared by the principles ples and doctrines of the son of god is a well educated latter da day Y fil saint aint he does not enjoy the true light he be Is in not a safe man to follow another striking thing in the history of athla Is that when men no matter how prominent they have become have ceased to follow in the counsels of the prophets of vod god or have violated their covenants in any respect especially if it has been in a serious manner they have ceased to enjoy the light that comes from the father there to is one man spoken of in the dook book of mormon in connection with the prophet joseph smith you know that prophesied that of the seed of joseph that was sold into egypt in the last days the L lord cord would raise up a 2 Ifo vliet phet whose name should be joseph ana his to fathers fathera name should be jo ph and he said that this prophet joseph h in the last days should not be mighty in speaking but he should be mighty in writing the words of the lord like unto moses and he says god will raise up unto him a mouthpiece like unto aaron now by reading the doctrine and covenants we know who that mouthpiece mouth piece was we know the name of that man that enjoyed so much of the spirit during his faithfulness that his tongue was eloquent and powerful but when he ceased to follow the line of his duty when he despised the day of small things when he became lifted up in the pride of his heart became jealous of his associate the prophet and began step by step to turn aside from the course of rectitude the gospel enjoined upon him that man lost his power lost his influence he lost his tongue of eloquence and went down into oblivion I 1 heard many years ago president george Q cannon say that when he was a boy he was present in nauvoo when that man stood up before a congregation and sought to lay his claims before the people to be the guardian of this church and I 1 remember distinctly that president cannon said he spoke as he had never heard him speak before that Is his remarks were characterized by weakness a lack of power and a loss of what he had previously enjoyed these are lessons that ought tobe to be stamped upon the hearts of the young men such way marks are scattered along the path of the history of the church from the days of the prophet joseph until the present time it is a testimony of the divine authenticity of this work that no man has a monopoly on the mercy of god he may be ever so great in the eyes of the people he may be ever so prominent in his position in the hol holy y priesthood but he must comply with the conditions as every man and woman in this church must do in order to retain the blessing and the favor of god no man has a monopoly on the work of god no man can sin with impunity no man can turn aside from the path of rectitude without I 1 meeting the consequences which are specified in the gospel of our lord and savior so my young brethren remember this that while men may become educated in the world they may become powerful physically they may become powerful mentally but until they are educated spiritually and the moral properties of their natures are reached and touched and cultivated the soul is not educated for the spirit and the body is the soul of man it Is not complete without and god has provided that in this church and in the glorious plan of salvation the entire soul shall be educated in the ways of truth and in the knowledge of things that are good and elevating in the sight of god remember therefore that we should cultivate the spirit of the lord in our hearts and keep it ever as our constant guide lay aside everything that would grieve that spirit listen to the counsel of the servants of god heed the warning I 1 volee voice which they have given unto us and then I 1 testify unto you that the dor doctrines trInen of this church ns as stated by the lord to joseph the Pron het will i be distilled upon your mind lindh as the dews from heaven and you will be proof against scepticism and infidelity and the day adny will come when the I 1 i sans sons and daughters of zion dball grow up without sin unto salvation god bless you amen |
