| Show by elder oto uto JOHN HN TA taylor OR delivered m in the tabernacle salt lahce lahe coty city sendas sunday march 17 1872 REPORTED BY DAVID W EVANS IN rising to address the congregation this afternoon I 1 do so as I 1 always do with very great pleasure it always affords me gratification to contemplate the things pertaining to the church and kingdom of god and to the interests of humanity on the earth I 1 love to speak of these things I 1 am always pleased to hear of them and I 1 am as willing to listen to the truth when emanating from some person else as I 1 am to communicate it to others as it may be made manifest to me I 1 feel as our elders generally do that we are seeking to communicate muni mun leate cate not our own special ideas or any peculiar theory that we may have entertained but under the guidance of the almighty that we may instruct and teach a aa 7 we may be led and guided by the spirit of f the living hying god I 1 feel eel as anitis it is expressed in the scriptures that it is not in man to direct his steps and it is not especially in man to teach things pertaining to eternity or to the everlasting welfare of the human family unless he be under the guidance and direction of the almighty and feels that he is simply an instrument in his hands to unfold and develop certain prin print prini i cielos that are made manifest unto him I 1 feel always willing to hear bear to teach to receive instruction or to communicate unto others those principles that are calculated to promote their happiness and weil wen being in time and in eternity these things lie at the foundation of the happiness of the human family they emanate from god our father in whom we are told we live and move and have our being and upon whom we are dependant for all the biels blessings we enjoy whether they pertain to this world or the world to come ignorant of all trus true principles without ut inspiration from him we feel mel at all times that it is necessary for us to be under his guidance and direction and to seek for the aid of his holy spirit that we may be led and taught instructed ted and directed in all of our acts and associations in life that we may be prepared for any events that may transpire aso as associated o coated with the affairs of this world or relative to the world to come we look upon ourselves as eternal beings and that god is our father we are told in the sacred record of truth that he is the god and father of the spirits of all flesh of all flesh that has lived that now lives or that will live and it is proper that we should hava just conceptions of our relations relationship hf p to him to each other to the world wherein we live li ive lve to those who have existed before us or to those who shall come alter alten us that as w wise ise lse intelligent beings under the inspiration of the almighty we may be able to conduct our steps so that our pathway in life may be such as to secure the approval of a good conscience coji science and of god angels and good men and a nd that whilst we live upon the earth we way fulfill fulfil in an honorable mannor manner the measure olour creation and obeying our creator feel that he be is indeed what the scriptures represent him to be and what we believe him to bethe be the god and father of the spirits of all ali al flesh there is a feeling generally extant in the world that god is a great and august personage who is elevated so BO high above the world and is so far separated from human ity that it is impossible to approach him and although the christian religion under whatever form it may be practised practiced teaches mankind to pray unto god in the name of the lord jesus christ yet it is very few who suppose that their prayers Z amount to anything that god will list listen en to their sup or that they will prove of any special benefit A feeling of this kind tends more or less to unbelief ula uia belief bellef instead of faith in god and hence we find very few men in our day who act as men of god did in for form mer days that is seek eek unto him for guidance and direction in the affairs of life if we examine what is termed the sacred history of the bible we shall find that in the various ages of the world until soon after christianity was introduced there was a feeling among men to call upon god and to have their prayers answered a feeling that if they would approach the alost most nigh high and call upon his name in faith he would answer their supplications ions and g give i lye lve unto them wisdom intelligence and revelation sor jor the guidance of their feet in the pathway of life and it was not based as it is now generally upon some old theories or upon communications made unto others but bal if we trace the records of scripture through we shall find that men generally sought for themselves guidance and direction and nd revelation adapted to the peculiar circumstances in which they were placed if we go back to the time when adam first made his appearance on the earth the lord god we aro are told communicated with him gave him certain commandments told him what he should do and what he should not do and when he transgressed the law we are told thal thai he heard the foot stops steps of the lord in tho the garden and he heard his voice speaking unto him and when at the dictum of the almighty he was expelled from the paradise in which he lived an angel was placed there as a guardian to prevent his return from the accounts that wo haye in our possession 8 ion lon of events that took place soon af ithac after t that time we learn that the lord communicated his hla will unto others and ano there was a man called enoch a very re rey personage chosa whose history is very vety brief indeed considering the important events that transpired during duning his day we are told that he be walked with god bad communication muni cation with dimand that I 1 he was not for god took him our oar recent revelations give us information pertaining to this same man that he be gathered together a people that he taught them the principles of the gospel that he be gathered together all who would listen to the principles of truth pre to the flood and that he be and his city were translated or as the account of the bible says he was not for god took him by and by another event transpired the people had bad become excessively wicked and corrupt so BO much so that as the scriptures inform us their thoughts were only evil and that continually and nd in consequence of this the lord decreed that he would de stroy the people from the face of the earth but bat before he did it he gave revelation unto noah telling him that the destruction of all flesh upon the earth had been decreed by the almighty inconsequence in consequence of the wickedness of the people and noah had special revelation given to him adapted to the circumstances which surrounded him and the age in which he lived hewa Howa he was snot not told to build a city to preach the gospel and gather the people as eno enoh h had done don 6 but no he was told that tho wickedness of all flesh had come up before the almighty and that he lie had determine to destroy them with a flood and noah believing in god and in the revelation which he gave unto him according to the testimony of the scriptures built an ark and gathered into that ark himself and wife his sons and their wives and two male mate and female of the various kinds of beasts birds and creeping things that dwelt on the face of the earth history records the coming of the flood the destruction of the world by it and the preservation in the ark of those who had listened to the word of god and to whom he communicated his will subsequent to this time a variety of singular circumstances transpired and there existed many prominent characters both good oo 00 and bad worshipers of god and worshipers ship of idols we find that after the re peopling of the earth after the flood men set to woi wol to build a tower and the lord confused their languages and scattered them from all the earth about this time a singular kind of person age appeared on the stae of action named abraham he had b been een taught b by y his father to worship idols but the lord had manifested himself to him on vertaim oc and instructed him in the true religion he did not teach him as he be taught enoch or as he had bad taught noah noab the circumstances cum stances of abraham were terent different dlf din from those of enoch and noah and if abraham had the history of their times as he unquestionably had for abraham was with noah and noah with adam and must have been acquainted with the events which had transpired from the days dayson oi adam at least from inner infer mation given by adam to noah and by noah to himself he would know that tae revelations they received were not applicable to his case but he needed revelation revea nevea tion from god for his own guidance and direction lon that be might be led aright and that he might light be able to instruct his children after adm in the path they should tread in the principles doctrines and ordinances that should be according to the mind and will of god there is something humorous in a history that we have bave in relation to this per conage the priests of those days offered sacrifices to their gods and like the priests of these days they were generally opposed to new re revelation from god abrahams nat fat nather father her had instructed him in the doctrines of these idols and had sought to induce him to have faith in them and in their power authority and dominion telling him what great personages thy they were but abraham inspired by the lord went on a certain occasion into luto the temple of these gods and smote them right and left upsetting and breaking them in pieces leoee his father came in and asked what lie lle ie had bad been doing what great sin this was wag that he had committed why he was so sacrilegious ri in his feelings au and aud d so wicked as to seek to destroy these gods said he father I 1 did not do anything to them they hey quarreled among themselves vei and went to work fighting and knocked one another down broke broce one an others heads and knocked off one an others arms and legs oh said his father my son do not tell me blything anything of th that atkind kind for they are made of wood and they could not move or stir from their place nor knock one another down it has been some other agency that has done it 11 why father said he be would you worship a being that could not stir or move that had hands and could not handle that had legs and could not noh walk a mouth that could not speak and a head and it was of no use would you yon worship a being bein 9 like that but nevertheless our his history tory informs us that the priests were angry and stir up his father against him but the lord abraham to leave there the bible tells us ua the lord said to him get thee up from thy fathers house from the land wherein thou wast born and go up to a land I 1 will show unto thee and which I 1 will afeei wards give unto thee for an inheritance and weare we bre are told that he went up not knowing whither ho went abere is something very peculiar about this thia little history so far as aa we have it in the bible I 1 think I 1 see this man of god rising up after he had incurred the dis pleasure of the priests and his father and had slain these gods making preparations to leave his native country I 1 fancy I 1 see some of his neighbors coming to him and saying abraham where are bire you going oh says he be 1 I do not know you you yon dont know no well weli who told owell you von you vou to go tho tho the L lord nord d 11 and you do ao not know where you are go ng nig oh no says he 1 I am going to a land and I 1 that he will show me and that he has to give me and my seed after me for an inheritance and I 1 believe in god and therefore I 1 am starting there was something very peculiar about it almost as bad as aa us when we started to come yome off from nauvoo we hardly knew know where we were going but we could not have rest peace or safety barety among the christians consequently we leit lert them and started off to the icky reky K mountains under the direction of god hardly knowing whither we went just as abraham did and ido I 1 do not think we were any bigger fools than he for he went just about as aa we did not knowing whither he went afterwards the lord gave him hirn a son for when he w a an old man and his wire wife sarah was seventy years old they were childless and at this advanced age the lord gave them a son there had been no event or of that kind ever transpired before in the history of the bible and if it were the bible they had to look at it would have been of no use to them for they could not get got any instructions there how they were to act but he be feared god and put his trust in him I 1 and the lord gave him revel atlon the toe angel of the lord we are told visited abraham and his wife and told her she should have a son sarah was a good deal amused at it and laughed over the matter in atter for she was about seventy years old and thought it rather strange that she ghe should have a son at that ake age and she laughed at the idea as ai many of durold sisters would unquestionably do now if they were told such a thing it seems all very natural when you look at it just about as it I 1 is s and arld when the angel asked her why she lau iau laughed shed she lied and said 1 I did not laugh she did not want to have it known that she laughed at what the lord said nay but 11 said he thou laugh and as tire tee time cae came cao round lo 10 and behold she had bad a son and called his name isaac and after this the lord seemed determined to try abraham and see sea whether or not he won would id be faithful tobia and obey him in all things ile he had obeyed him in break ing up those gods and in leaving his fathers house and going up to a laud that ife lie ae had shown unto him and the lord loid was determined to try him to the uttermost and see whether he would obey him hina yet further now says he be abraham take thy son thine only son isaac and go to a place that I 1 will indicate and offer him up as a burnt offering before me that was a curiosity it had bad something odd and strange about it it was not really what you w uld call cali philosophical it was not in ac corrance cor dance wita any principles that we could understand anything about in our day and a nd it would have been difficult for abraham to have reasoned it out why he should he be called to offer up hisson his son as a sacrifice nothing of the kind had e ever ver transpired before as a precedent no such thing written in the biblo bibio that had taken place among men before in offer ing up his only son there was something very peculiar not especially y us as a 16 sacrifice but it came in contact with every pa parental rental beeline which he must necessarily havo have felt for his only child this in and of itself rendered it one of the most severe and painful trials that could be placed upon man but there was something else connected ne atod with this which was explained by the prophet joseph smith who when speaking of these things said dod god was determined in these days to have a tried people aA a he had in former times and that he would feel after their heartstrings heart strings and try them in every way possible for them to be tried and if he could have invented anything that would have been more keen keea cute eute and trying than that which he re quires of abraham he would have done it but that no doubt was one or of the greatest trials that thal could bave nave been inflicted on any human being notice the old gentleman tottering along with his son brooding over the promises or of god and the pec peculiar pecullar tillar demand now made upon him says ie he isaac let us go up into the mouri mountain tain here hore an and d offer offar a sacrifice to the lord 11 and he be took ook |
