families to engage in these things, be-
cause they lead to evil and away from
the Lord and the influence of His Spirit.
There are plenty of good and profitable
things to engage in; and these things
that are not profitable, let us not par-
ticipate in them. When we are invited
here and there to sociables and gather-
ings, we ought to consider, is there go-
ing to be any profit in this for me. Oh,
yes; it's going to be a grand thing; we
are going to have a nice program. Well,
I have thought sometimes that we are
getting so much program that every-
thing will be run by program by and by,
if the Presidency of the Church will
only sanction it. I heard not long ago
of Relief Society meetings having pro-
grams. I asked them what they had a
program for. "Oh, we have a program
so as to make it interesting." "You
leave the Lord out, then; you have ev-
erything cut and dried, learned by
heart, and you do not depend upon the
Spirit of the Lord." I do not believe in
too many programs. In some cases we
might have programs, which would be
very nice and profitable. But to carry
this to the extreme, like we have our
politics, I think will work an injury. I
heard of a ward once where they were
going to introduce programs into their
ward meetings. I do not believe in that.
I think we can have a ward meeting
without a program, and we will depend
upon the Spirit of the Lord to direct
what shall be said and done.

My brethren and sisters, there are many, things that we can improve in. We can improve in our tithes and our offerings. Who is there in all Israel that cannot improve a little in this direction? Peradventure there may be a few that observe the law of the Lord strictly; but I tell you the large majority of the Latter-day Saints do not, although there has been great improvement made among the people. Further improvement is in order, and it will be well for us to do a little better this year than we did last year. If we cannot do any more ourselves, we might convert others to pay their tithing, if we will take pains to reason with them, that they might not be burned in the day of the Lord Almighty. It is said that they that are tithed shall not be burned, inferring that they that are not tithed may be burned. This is

a law of the Lord. It was not instituted by man. President Snow did not inaugurate this principle. The Lord revealed it to the Prophet Joseph and it is expected that all Latter-day Saints will observe this law of the Lord. I want to bear testimony that you who observe this law strictly will be blessed of the Lord. He will multiply you and your means shall be increased unto you, because you have obeyed the law of the Lord and you are entitled to have the windows of heaven opened unto you and blessings poured out upon you. But do not become faint-hearted or discouraged because you do not receive everything today that you expect; but trust in the Lord, and so sure as you continue to trust in the Lord the way will be opened up from time to time and means will be multiplied upon you. Above all things, my brethren and sisters, let us resolve in our hearts that from this time forward we will observe the law of the Lord, we will be consistent in our lives as Latter-day Saints, and we will try to educate ourselves to love one another, to love the work of God, to love His Priesthood, to reverence and obey them, and to walk in the light that God may sustain us and give us the victory, which He will do, if we will only do these things.

How many of you Latter-day Saints neglect your prayers? How many fail

to call your families together in the morning and in the evening, or have you so much to do that you cannot attend to it? Do you have to go to some secret organization, and you have not time for family prayers? I want to advise you personally to drop all these organizations wherein there is no profit; associate yourselves with things wherein there is profit, wherein you may have more influence with your households, in persuading them to obey the laws of the Lord. There are a great many things for Latter-day Saints to do, and we know what is best to be done if we will only sit down and think about it. Let us consider our condition before the Lord and place ourselves in the position of the Prophet who said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Why cannot we ad

that sentiment? If we will do so, and observe these things, we will be glad of it by and by. When we get through with this short career of ours, and we look back upon our lives, if we have kept the commandments of God, what joy and satisfaction it will be to us. We shall go in peace and associate with the just behind the veil.

Brethren and sisters, attend to the duties that pertain to your calling in the ministry, and let everything else take care of itself. God bless you, and lead us all in the paths of life, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen. The choir sang:

Let the mountains shout for joy, and the congregation joined in singing the Doxology.

Benediction by Patriarch John Smith.

must have the Holy Spirit within it; the members of the Chuch must have this Spirit, and the spiritual gifts must be manifested; otherwise it would be a dead church. These words are recorded in the Book of Mormon-this wonderful book that has been brought forth by the power of God in our age. This book was printed before there was a church organized, and yet we find these remarkable words in it, which at once furnish the world with a test whereby they can judge if this is the Church of Christ or not. It says that in the Church there must be found these gifts. Now, if Joseph Smith had not been an inspired man; if the Book of Mormon was not the word of God, but written by man, how careful such a man would have been not to furnish the world with a test like this whereby they could at once detect whether it was the Church of Christ or not. A man who should fraudulently give himself out to be an inspired man, would be careful that such words should not be given to the world. But these were not the words of Joseph; they were the words of a prophet that lived some fourteen hundred years before, and one who understood the Church of Christ.

When we look back upon the history of the Church we find that the spiritual gifts were very abundant in the original Church, and that whenever the Saints met they were much blessed with the power of the spirit. They were so eager to attend their meetings and to speak, prophesy. and talk in tongues, that the Apostle Paul had to regulate their meetings and give them counsel in regard to the manner of conducting them, that order might prevail.

This morning, when Brother John W. The Saints were abundantly blessed Taylor read the testimony of the Prophet Moroni to us, I was much struck with some of the words he read. We were told there that the spiritual gifts should always be found in the Church, and that if there ever came a time when these gifts were not in the Church it would be on account of unbelief; and a woe was pronounced upon the inhabitants of the earth if such should be the case. I thought how clear the Prophet Moroni made this; that the Church whenever it is upon the earth

with these manifestations of the spirit. But when the apostasy took place, the spirit of the Lord departed, its manifestations were fewer, and at last they were not known in the Church. Then it was very convenient to teach the people that revelations were no longer needed, that prophets were not needed; that these spiritual gifts were given only in the beginning of the Church, to convert men; but that they were not to continue with the members of the Church, and therefore they were done

away.

When

Jesus appeared to the Nephites, upon this continent, He taught them the pure Gospel and organized His church. He left this power of the Priesthood with His servants here, the same as He had with His servants upon the Eastern continent, and the spiritual blessings were enjoyed as long as the Church was in existence upon this continent. Moroni understood this so well that he said these gifts must always be found in the Church, and if not it would be a sign of unbelief.

After the Book of Mormon was published, the Church was organized, and then men could read the book and test the words, and judge whether or not the Church that was afterwards organized corresponded with what the Prophet had said the Church should be.

It was but a few days after the Church was organized before the spirit uttered itself in power, and spiritual manifestations were given and miracles performed, showing that the Church been recently

had

not

an

it was

imita

the

which
organized was
tion, but that
Church itself, containing the same pow-
er and spiritual blessings. In fact,
this wonderful book itself was trans-
lated by the power of God. Joseph
Smith was an unlearned man; he had
not studied at colleges; he was not
much of a writer at that time, but had
to employ others to write for him, and
those who wrote for him wrote as he
dictated. Now, you who have tried to
dictate to a person know how hard it is
to dictate, and to continue to do this,
without altering or without having the
last sentence repeated; but Joseph dic-
tated to these men, and was not under
the necessity of asking them where they
had left off, because he translated by
the power of God. The Urim and
Thummim was in his possession, and
with this instrument he was able to
translate the characters that were en-
graven upon the plates. This was a mir-
acle in itself, and these men who wrote
for him would soon have been able to
detect whether he was inspired in the
translation, or whether it was his own
brain that furnished them the material
to write. And let me say that no man
could write such a work, if he were

ever so gifted. He would be detected in some fault or other.

The book has been given unto us by the Lord, and we find in it prophesies concerning our time and prophecies concerning the time that is already past, which have been fulfilled, proving These the book to be an inspired one. gifts which the book mentions should be found in the Church; my testimony to found in the you is that they are Church. Talking in tongues has been very common in the Church. Nearly all the members have at some time or another heard this gift, as well as the interpretation of tongues. Some may say, But how can we judge whether this is a true tongue or not? You can judge by the Holy Spirit whether it is prompted by that Spirit or not. There have been times when the proof of the tongue spoken has been overwhelming. When President Peterson of the Sanpete Stake was a young man he attended a meeting in Illinois. There were many present, and the spirit of the Lord was poured out upon the Saints in a great measure. He felt urged by the spirit to talk in tongues, and when he sat down a young girl arose and interpreted it. She was but seventeen years of age, perhaps younger, and she interpreted what Brother Peterson had spoken. Some of the brethren there, then in good standing but who afterwards left the Church, were told that if they did not take heed they would apostatize, and that the balance of the branch should emigrate to the West and travel in wagons like houses, across large plains. This was the interpretation of the tongue. They did not then know that there would come a time when they should travel in covered wagons and go to the west. But a remarkable thing happened at that meeting. Two young girls that had been stolen while children, by the Indians, and been brought back by the government, were present.

speak in
that he

They heard Brother Peterson

tongues, and they declared spoke in an Indian tongue, which they had heard before, and they understood most of it, though they said he spoke it better than they ever heard the chiefs speak it, and the young girl, they said, had translated what they understood correctly. This is a great tes