Imatges de pàgina
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"Yea, I would declare unto every soul as with a voice of thunder, repentance, and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

"But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.

"I ought not to harrow up in my desires, the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he alloteth unto men, according to their wills; whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.

"Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; for he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth

good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires; whether he desireth good or evil, to him it is given according to his desires; whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.

"Now seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called.

"Why should I desire that I was an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth.

"For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word; yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true."

The Lord is with his people, and I know it. We have learned to know good from evil. Three score years and ten shall be the days of man on earth. We have arrived at the full stature of a man; for we are three score years and ten this day, and if this people will arise in their manhood, as they have struggled to their feet in their childhood and youth, God will give them the strength of a man.. They shall have the power to build up and inhabit, to sow and reap, and if the snows do not come in the mountains, God will send through the faith of the people, the pleasant rains to moisten the earth, that vegetation may spring forth and gladden the hearts of all. Now I learn a good many lessons myself from what I read to you, though I have not reflected so much perhaps as 1 will on the words of Alma.

I heard a man say in relation to tithing, "I don't want to pay my tithing, unless I can make a showing that will

be a credit to me and really help to build up Zion. If I could put in ten thousand dollars, I would be glad to do it, but I have nothing. I could pay a little tithing, but the idea seems ridiculous for me to step forward and pay a dollar in tithing. It seems to me like I was making a mockery of this sacred principle." But I take the other view of this, and I said to him, "My friend, if you were a child and received five cents, I would caution you to remember the fact that you owed half a cent tithing, and when you had received another and another five cents, until they amounted to fifty cents, I would advise you to go and pay your tithing on that, not for the sake of the money, but for the sake of principle." question of money,

have

the

If it were a where would been salvation of this people? When President Snow was speaking this morning I felt that the power of God was manifest in our preservation, and that money had nothing to do with it. The everlasting power of our Father has brought this people to see this auspicious day. If every man and woman would follow the example of the widow and cast in their mites, they would be acting upon principle. The amount of money paid has nothing to do with it. It is the principle which God has commanded us to observe. This is the idea that we want to instill into the hearts of the people of this generation, especially at this time, when the servant of God has delivered unto you and me the message that the time has come when this revelation, given on the 8th day of July, 1838, in Far West, Caldwell county, Missouri, must be observed. That revelation has now come to the front. It is as if God had inspired His servant to write a new revelation to the people, which must be observed, because it lies at the foundation of our prosperity in these mountains. General Thomas L. Kane once said to me, "This land, on the backbone of the American continent, from Mexico to Canada, it seems to me, belongs to the "Mormon" people. They led the way into the Rocky mountains, and occupied these valleys, and they ought to have the land." Well, there are not many people that think that, but I am of the same opinion as General Kane. We ought to have this land. But in

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relation to our preservation upon this land, I have felt sometimes very inseAlma wished that he were an angel, that his voice could be heard by the whole world and that he could convert all the sons and daughters of Adam to the Gospel which he had received. I would that I had a hundred thousand dollars to pay in as tithing, because it would make a good showing and I would be talked about. And some have the ambition to be spoken of in the midst of Israel. But I want to say to you that tithing is a principle that God has established for the training of men. It has been with us in our childhood and in our boyhood and in our young manhood, and apparently it has almost been a dead letter at times. But the revelation has come to us in our manhood, when we have reached a stage wherein we know God, and having received this knowledge and being of the full stature of a man, we can rise up as one man and obey this commandment, which has come from God through His authorized servant. appeal to you on this point. Let every man and woman in this Church arise and do that which God has called upon them to do, that this land may be sanctified and be a land of safety unto us. I do not wish to utter a threat, but I do know this: every time we have disregarded and set at naught the commandments of Almighty God, we have paid for it. We must learn, if it must needs be by the things we suffer. By and by the Saints will prove to all concerned that this principle of tithing is dear to them, and they will surely fulfill to the very letter what God has called upon them to do.

In a little time you will hear something like this: "Well, the 'Mormons' are moving again. They are leaving Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Old Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and all these places wherever they are located, and they are having another exodus." Where are they going? Why, you will find out that it will be a pretty strong company going down to Jackson county, Missouri, to redeem and build up Zion, but the word will go forth that the "Mormons" are having another xodus.

The people will say that we

are going down to inhabit this land of Missouri, and "we are willing they should." Some that are afar off may howl, but the people mostly interested will be glad to see the "Mormons" return to that land and build it up. Some will say "We have been upon that land and it has proved a land of death unto us." They will have suffered the full force of that desolating sickness which will cover the land, even in Jackson county, Missouri. But when our leader calls upon the Latthat are worthy to move down there, the land will be prepared for the Latter-day Saintsnot "Mormons." Those who go to Jackson county in that day will be Latter-day Saints. The "Mormons" will Saints to control them. be left in Utah, with enough Latter-day

ter-day

Saints

I bear

I will tell you what is in my heart. We are preparing this day in our manhood for the most glorious epoch that has ever come to man upon the earth. If you do not feel in your hearts that this is the most glorious day that we ever witnessed on this earth, then you do not feel as I do. I feel that there is more of the spirit of God, more wisdom, more knowledge, more light, more intelligence and a better union among those that are Latter-day Saints than I ever witnessed in my life. you my testimony that the providences of God have been with this people, and the scenes that will come before us will be such that we will need all the power and all the union that we can get to stand and accomplish His work. Now is the accepted time to thrust in our sickles and reap that which has been sown among us and which is now ripe. It was sown in 1838; it is ripe today. That revelation is ripe and the fulfillment of it is ripe. We are now in our manhood, when we can receive and act upon it without question. God will bear us off victorious and we can smile like Him who sits in the heavens and laughs, for we are told that He shall have the wicked in derision, and this people will smile to see the fruitless efforts of those who would retard the progress of the work. They may have been successful sometimes in the past for a little season, but through it all they have seen us grow until we have

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arrived to is full for Thank God we see this day. you in this work, is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

and all who

are

ELDER F. M. LYMAN.

The Spirit of God the source of Union-Why the
Saints are a peculiar people-The coming of
Christ and Redemption of Zion-Necessity for
preparation.

the

While I attempt to speak to you, my brethren and sisters, I trust I may be able to make you hear, and that by the aid of the Spirit of the Lord' we may feel encouraged and strengthened in our faith. We meet together frequently as a Church in general conference for the transaction of business and to receive the word of the Lord. We have ancient Scriptures and we have the modern Scriptures, and scriptures are being made now, as has always been the case when the Lord has had His Church upon the earth, with the living oracles; for when they speak by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, what they say is scripture. We are entitled to know individually whether our brethren speak to us the truth, for it is privilege to enjoy the same Spirit that they speak by. This is the power that binds the Latter-day Saints together, and that holds us to our obligations and covenants with the Lord and with each other. We are not held by threats, nor by fear, but by love-the love of the Gospel, which has been planted in our hearts and has been growing with the people for these seventy years. We have become a pretty well trained people, and four-fifths of the Latterday

our

care

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years, for thirty, forty or fifty years,
and then at the last find that we have
failed to save our souls and that we are
among the foolish, it will be very un-
profitable to us. As President Snow has
said, we are gathered together for the
building up of the kingdom of God up-
on the earth, and there is some reason
why we should be thus gathered; why
we should take upon us the obligations
that we have; why we should endure
the hardships that we have; why we
should, among all the denominations on
the earth, be singled out for the despis-
ing of all people, and why this condi-
tion should stay with us and follow us
in preference to any other people in
the world. We are a small people, not
numbers nor in
very important in
wealth, and yet every little while some-
thing occurs that creates quite a furore
in regard to the Latter-day Saints. The
whole world becomes agitated and in a
ferment over the Latter-day Saints,
and there is trouble in the hearts of
the Latter-day
many people for fear
Saints will do something very wrong.
What is the matter? Are the Latter-
day Saints minding the business of any
other denomination? Are we troubling
ourselves particularly about our breth-
ren who have other forms of religion?
Are we excited and worried over them?
Do we combine together with some
other people in order to look after the
morality and purity, or the immorality
and corruption of other people? How
carefully the Latter-day Saints attend
And is it not a
to their own business!

Saints, I believe, are doing tolerably well, and I believe proper thing for the Latter-day Saints that the one-fifth that are to take care of themselves, their own Shall we not less in some things, are perhaps labor- morality and honesty? ing fairly well in others. There will give attention to our own affairs, and no doubt be quite a percentage of the are we not just about of the same mapeople that will not be found num- terial, the same kind of people, as our bered among the wise. other religious brethren? Have we not come from among other denominations? Have we not been gathered from among the Catholics, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Baptists, the Congregationalists and the Christians, as well as have infidels? Now, we gone the to these various denominations and gathered the very worst of them? Have we ever advertised in our peri

While listening to Brother Brigham Young and to President Snow, the para. ble put forth by our Savior, as recorded in the 25th chapter of Matthew, was presented to my mind, and I thought to read it, that we might be brought to consider by its examination whether we are numbered among the wise or among the foolish. This

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odicals and in our preaching and labors, publicly or privately-have we ever bid for the bad Methodists, the bad Presbyterians, the bad infidels? Have we ever promised them an easy way of salvation? Have we done any of these things, or have we gone to the world conscientiously and honestly and laid before them the offer of life and salvation on consistent and Christian terms? Have we ever promised anybody that they could be saved in their sins? Have we ever asked anybody to come into this Church without repentance, without reformation, without honesty, without virtue? Have we entered into a compact with anybody to be corrupt? Have we promised them immunity from the punishment of the law if they transgressed the law? Do we cover up their sins and hide them? Are we do

ing that? Are Bishops, Presidents of Stakes, Presidents of quorums, Elders, High Priests and Seventies asking the corrupt and wicked from among the nations of the earth to come to us and we will shield them in their corruption, in their adulteries, their fornications, their thieving and their dishonesty? Why no. But we have presented to the world a very startling and remarkable work, a work that requires repentance and reformation. And when repentance has been complied with, in order that that repentance may be genuine and the forgiveness of sins continue, it must be eternal. It is not enough for men to repent in order to come into the Church, and then do as they please, but their repentance must be perpetual; it must not need to be repented of. If a man has been a thief and ceases to steal, he must continue to refrain from his larcenies. If a man has been a liar, a deceiver, or currupt in any degree whatever, it is required of him in this Church that he must cease forever. If he should live a hundred years, he would not live long enough to have any degree of allowance shown to him for transgression because of his age, but the older men are the better they must be. I think that is reasonable; for the oldest of all whom we have ever heard of is said to be good and the only one that is entirely good-our Father who

in heaven. I say the father should

be better than the son, the n.other should be better than the daughter, and this Church has now arrived at the full ripe age of three score and ten. What shall we do who have been entrusted with the holy Priesthood? Can we afford to be indifferent and careless? We are now seventy years nearer to the coming of the Son of Man than we were when the Prophet Joseph, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, organized this Church. Afterthis extended experience, can we not well afford to be good, conscientious and honest with the Lord. Can we not afford to make our repentance and reformation genuine from this time forth, believing that the coming of the Son of Man, the redemption of Zion and the fulfillment of the purposes of the Lord are at our door?

Can we not afford to do this now, so that when the Bridegroom comes we shall be prepared to meet Him; for He will come; he has always come when he has promised. He has visited the earth in this dispensation and has established his authority and power among men, and the Millennium, the reign of righteousness, is to be ushered in; and it is liable to come in our day. The redemption of Zion is also liable to come in our day. There is doubtless a set time for the redemption of Zion and for the coming of the Son of Man. The time has not been made known to us, and is not likely to be, until He comes. It would hardly be fair for the Presidency, the Twelve and the presiding brethren to know the very time of His coming, so that they could be prepared, and let the people be indifferent and careless. The coming of the Son of Man will be as much of a surprise to the presiding brethren as to

any

others. That is, it will occur when they are not looking for it particularly. We hope to be prepared, and we hope the people will be prepared, but it will come suddenly, and you will know it as soon as we know it. We have the Spirit of that coming, and the Spirit of the redemption of Zion. We have the Spirit that indicates that in the near future the Lord will appear.

Hence, the Spirit of the Lord has been very powerfully upon President Snow and his brethren, and they have been

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triarch, every Bishop, President, etc. And we will not always be tolerated with the authority of God unless we do honor it. We will be found among the foolish, lacking oil in our lamps and being unprepared for the coming of the Son of Man, unless we attend faithfully to these duties.

led to urge upon the people the importance of reformation, not alone in the law of tithing, but in every other principle of the Gospel. Tithing alone is not enough. It will yield its measure of oil and light, and of inspiration and power, to those who observe that law. But if we are non-prayers, non-partakers of the Sacrament; if we are not found doing by others that we would that others should do by us; if we are not honest and virtuous, the fact of our being tithe-payers will not be enough to save us. But it is pretty well discovered and understood that if men can stand the test of the law of tithing, which appeals to our wealth, they will be able to make other sacrifices as well; for there is a strength and a power which comes in answer to our fulfillment of this law that will enable us to do other things much less difficult. There are many things less difficult than the payment of tithing. In our fallen condition, being of the earth earthy, we love the things of this world, and it is a most difficult thing for some of us to meet this requirement of the Lord. There is quite a percentage of the brethren who have received the Priesthood, as well as members of the Church, who ought to be tithepayers and are not. I want to ask any man upon whom I have ever laid my hands and conferred authority in the name of the Lord Jesus; I want to ask any brother who has ever had the hands of the servants of God laid upon his head, to fer the Priesthood of upon him, can you reconcile your course of life, if you neglect to furnish the revenue necessary for the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth? Can you justify yourself in this? want the High Priest, the Seventy and the Elder to come to me as an individual and show to me his philosophy and reasoning as to how he can conscientiously hold the Priesthood of God and yet decline to meet the obligations that belong to that Priesthood. I believe that there is no man in this Church entitled to the holy Priesthood who will not magnify it. I believe the Lord requires it of every Deacon, every Teacher, every Priest, every Elder, every High Priest, every Seventy, every Pa- And we expect to look after every man,

con-
God

Is a man justified in this church who fails to partake of the Sacrament when the opportunity is offered? Is a man justified who does not bow his knee before the Lord daily, and who forgets the Lord in secret prayer? I think not. I believe that the Latter-day Saints are required to meet all these obligations and to be as honest with their brethren as they are required to be honest with the Lord. It is not enough for us to pretend to be honest with the Lord, and not be honest with our brethren. We cannot be honest enough with our Father in heaven to justify us in being dishonest with our brethren, We must meet our obligations to our brethren, to our families, to the world. We must deal honestly and conscientiously in all these things. If we do not, the spirit of the Lord will withdraw from us, and when the spirit of the Lord withdraws from us, we complain, we find fault, we are not happy; and we are not satisfied. We cannot afford to sacrifice the presence of the spirit of the Lord, because we cannot be Latter-day Saints unless we enjoy it and are directed by it constantly. It seems to be a difficult thing to do to meet our temporal obligations to the Lord. Our hearts are naturally set upon the things of this world. We can see temporal blessings a little plainer than we can see the spiritualities of the kingdom, for they are here before us, and we enjoy them. We are inclined to gather the things of this world around us and to treasure them up, while the spiritual things, and eternal life with our families and friends hereafter, pertain to the future. They are a little ahead of us, and if we do not have the spirit of the Lord strongly in our hearts, there is more or less a question of doubt and misgiving about them. All these things, however, vanish when we discharge the duties that devolve upon us as Latter-day Saints.

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