The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-06-26

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no royal road to exaltation; there is
no favoritism, no pets, with the Al
mighty. We will carry to His judg-
ment- seat our own record made by
our own hands, written by our own
acts, not like the foot prints
of one who might traverse a spotless
field of snow, leaving behind him marks
which the falling snow might soon OBJ
literate; not like writings on the sand
which the waves would wash into OBJ
livion, but written with an iron pen
and laid in the rock forever. We will
all be judged according TO the deeds
done in the body, and there is re-
ward or punishment awaiting US, &C
cording to the merits or dement's of
our lives.
l remember an anecdote that was
related to me once by an aged elder
who was telling dream which had
been told him by the one TO whom it
there lived an aged man. q
member of the Church, in the
northern part of this Territory. He
dreamed one night that he went to Salt
Lake City and attended the general
conference OF the Church; and he
dreamed that he returned; and he
dreamed that he died ana his spirit
passed into the world of spirits. One
of the first persons he meteor he
found that that world was just as tangi-
BILE to him then as this world was when
| he left; that there was a real world of
spirits, though in his body he could not
see it, except God had permitted him
was one with whom he had been formerly
acquainted, like himself Latter-day
Saint, And he said to him This
seems to be very pleasant county,"
YES" said the resident, "but is moth
ing to that country over there" why
then do you not move therei Why not
pitch your tent in that happier valley?"
Says he, Il cannot" "Why?" II am
bound here. I must stay here until 1
pay my debts" This man, in his life
paying his debts, when he had the
power to pay them, and went to the
judgment to answer for his deeds.
He found, though he had got
ont of this world, that the
shackles were on him still. The God of
| justice reigned there, as he reigns here,
and required OF him that he pay the ut
termost farthing before he could be lib
Grated and go on in the march of pro-
gress.
We must think more of God and the
principles of truth and justice than of
ourselves and our own immediate
friends and relatives. How many do
we hear saying to-day-Latter-day
Saints who have allowed the lamp of
God to 60 out within them-my first
duty is to my family. They forget that
| there is God in heaven; that they are
| the children of Abraham, and are re-
quired to do the works of Abraham.
Suppose he had said, when commanded
to offer his only son upon an altar:
why, God, my first duty is to my
| family; besides, you have placed great
promises on his head; surely you can
not require me now to STAY him, es
pecially when you have said, Whose
sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his
blood be she'd" But Abram had faith
that was not to be overcome, and went
forth as man of God, obedient to the
thing that God required at his hands,
thus keeping his covenant and proving
to the heavens what the heavens wanted
to know: I'VE will make an earth |
whereon these will dwell, and we will
try them herewith and see whether they |
will do all things that the |
Lord requires at their hands" No |
matter how much his requirements may |
come in contact with our private &C
tons or contravene our selfish desires. |
These will never stand at the judgment |
seat of God, for when He speaks, He
must be obeyed, no matter what has |
boon said or done formerly. The COM
mand to Noah to build an ark does not |
make it obligatory upon you or me to
build one. This Church is based upon
immediate and direct revelation. 1t is
what God says to-day, not what He
coli
must be considered. We must not take
the dead letter and with it judge the
living oracle. We must not sit in judg-
ment upon God and say, Il cannot do
this, because yesterday you told some
one else to do differently" We can
only escape His wrath by being willing
to do everything that He requires at
our hands, and acknowledge His hand
in all things.
There are some political stump
speakers nowadays who teach that
mans first duty is to his country, then
to his family, leaving God out of the
question. AS if God did not make the
world, create nations, and make all
men. No. 1t is a false doctrine that
puts any object between US and our
Almighty Creator. God first, and then
our fellow men," That is the motto
tnaL OuSnL CO De eugTdVeH Oh Tue
heart of every son and daughter Of
God. Those who serve the Lord will be
true to their country and their families
l believe it was Thomas Paine who
said: The world is my country; to
do good my religion" Well that is a
pretty good religion for an iRfdel.
Speaking OF inidelity, it seems to me
that the fathers and mothers of this
people should be on their watch-towers
guarding their children in times
like these. Infdelity seems to
be sweeping like mighty
wave around the earth. Only
lately Colonel IngersolI has been
brought prominently before the eyes of
two hemispheres by an article replying
to him from the pen of the Hon. Mr.
Gladstone, the foremost statesman of
Great Britain. 1t seems as though
Satan were about to entrench his forces
behind the breastwork of infdelity.
Some OF the ministers of Christendom
come up before this great giant of
atheism, and WELD a trenchant pen
with some degree of success against
him, but the most of them are power
less and feeble. This great infideI is
strongly entrenched 80 far as modern
Christendom is concerned. And why?