The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-12-23
SUNDAY SERVICES.

l
choir sang the hymn on Page Al:
| Well sing all hail to Jesus namel
Honor and praise we give
| To him who bled on Calvary's hill,
And died that We might live.
ELDER JOHN MORGAN addressed
the congregation, giving an account
of the mission in the southern
states, from which he recently re-
turned. He said an elder just re-
turned from his missionary labOrs
appreciated the privilege of meeting
with the saints, for here there was
a spirit not found abroad. When
travelling and preaching the elders
looked forward with pleasure to the
time when they should again meet
with the saints in the mountains.
The labors in the south had been
crowned with u certain degree of
success, for which they gave thanks
to God. The elders, as a rule, had
enjoyed good health. Among the
younger elders there was desire to
emulate the examples set by their
fathers in preaching the gospel often
under unpleasant circumstances.
The spirit of opposition was the
same now as in times gone by. He
had scarcely found an exception
among the young elders where one
was unworthy TO bear the message
of glad tidings. There was an i'm
preston that the young men would
depart from the faith, but he had
found them earnest in their labOrs
to build up the kingdom Of God and
spread the truth. They were will
ing, if necessary, to lay down their
lives in the service Of God and for
the PRONUNCIATION OF the everlasting
gospel. La travelling the elders often
met with families who had stopped
when the Mormons came west,
and where they had stopped
temporarily they had stopped
spiritually. but in them and
their children were firmly implanted
the seeds of truth. The opposition
of the world, instead Of injuring the
saints, strengthened the latter, and
made them tirmer in the faith. |
There were many honest, upright, |
noble-hearted people, who, feeling
that they must have somewhere to
rest, join some of the churches /
there were many others equally |
honest and upright who had not yet
become connected with any church,
and who had never heard the word |
of the gospel. The opposition, as
rule, eliminated in violence, and |
the greater the number of converts
the more bitter was the opposition.
Many fair, right-thinking men
treated the elders with respect and
consideration. A prominent news
paper was seldom found but would
open it's columns to the elders, and
editors were anxious to learn more
of the saints and their theology.
Many Of the presumably intelligent
men were surprised to learn that the
Mormons believed in the Bible. In
the churches were found men who
said they were anxious to get
the truth, and in and out of the
the churches, those who are willing
to listen to the the elders,
but they usually had the expression
upon their faces, of can any good
come out of Nazareth ?-Can any
good come from Utah? The
Mormon question was living issue
in the United States. There was
general inquiry concerning it, and
there was no difficulty in getting up a
sensation over it. The elder had once
heard the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
assert in a sermon that there were
millions of people who had never
heard of the Bible, but they would
be preached to and instructed in the
gospel in the spirit world. This
would have been strange assertion
4 few years ago, yet to-day it was
accepted as true, showing that ideas
were changing as to religion.
Forty years ago a number OF elders
went through the southern states,
eaving tracts and books. The
elders of to-day frequently meet
people who said, "Why. our minister
has been preaching that" meaning
some principle of the gospel; and in
vestigation would prove that the
had a ''Voice of Warning"
lid away in his saddle bags, from J
which he was in the habit of
to the people. The peo- :
de in the south were very poor,
)Wing to the late war and later car :
)et bag rule; last summer there was
| destructive drouth, the south not
'aising sufficient corn to provide !
)read until next harvest. Wages !
we're low, and provisions and dry !.
FOODS high. There seems to be a
Wasting away Of the earth, a r
decrease of the ability to produce.
Thousands of acres of formerly pro-
ific land have been turned into !
commons" Corporation mOnopOlies
lad also a tight grip upon the people.
The opposition to the saints, chiefly
N the part Of the clergy,
vas as strong to-day as
yer, and was melted and main
aimed by men living in Salt Lake
Jity. Last summer Elder Morgan
vas in Louisville, KY, few days,
nd there saw such evidences of sin
md corruption as he had never be-
ore witnessed-drunken men, and
women, wicked children. ETC., and it
aused him to think of some Of the
eformers who had come from that
ity to Utah to find field for the ex