The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-05-15

the opening of the services, the cnon
and congregation sang:
O God our help in ages past,
Our hope for years 10 come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Prayer was offered by Elder Robert
Morris.
he choir then sang:
WAS on that dark, that solemn night
When powers of earth and hell arose,
Against the Son, cen Gods delight,
And friends betrayed Him to His foes.
ELDER CHARLES w. STAYNER, who had
been requested to address the congrega-
ton, sail, in substance;
/ would arise with much reluctance
before this vast assembly, were it not
that have, within my soul, a knowledge
of the truth of the work IN which we
are engaged; and earned by experience
that the Holy Spirit will fall upon the
speaker who rises with authority to ad-
dress the people upon the subject of
their salvation. l desire that God may
touch our minds with the magic power
of the Holy Spirit, enabling US to see,
by the light OF revelation, some of the
glorious truths which He has revealed
for the salvation OF men. l desire to
be made a strong. supple bow, that
through my fundamentally God may
send a few shafts of eternal truth to
the hearts of those who shall hear-not
coniectures of the mind of man nor pre-
cepts tainted bytradition, " hich in many
instances, are now circulated through
out the religious world for truth, but
those sacred principles which God him
self has made known; that we may
walk In the light of His Spirit and at
last reach His presence in the courts OF
glory. If | shall be so blessed this af-
ternoon, 1 shall feel that my words
are like those described by Solomon,
3k8s "apples of gold in pictures
of silver" We may consider the apples
to be the gems of truth couched ia such
language as shall be appropriate, to
reach the hearts of the people. and to
afford them comfort in this trying age.
Jesus declared that there are two
roads, one leading to eternal life, the
otheT to destruction, and in describing
these two paths, he said: Straight is
the gate and narrow is the way that
leadeth to eternal life; but wide is the
gate and broad is the road that leadeth
to destruction and many there be that
walk therein. 1t may be asked, why
is it that the road to eternal life and
glory should be narrow and difficult
path in which to walk" II we were
dwelling as celestial beings in the midst
oN celestial glory, surrounded by an
CELLO circumstances and holding the
power of heavenly things, We might
find it more easy to walk in the path of
. life and blessing, but we have come
down here from our spiritual pre- existent
state to dwell in tabernacles of mortal
ity inheriting from our ancestors
many follies and weaknesses. We
are also the recipients in this
4 generation of the tradition which has
4 come down through centuries OF time,
during which time the light of revela-
ton has been hidden from the word.
= The early Christian church suffered at
the hand of cruel persecution and con :
sequently men have, to large extent,
sought out for themselves those things
which they desired for salvation. They
depended largely upon the written
word, it is true; but they, in many in
i stances. put their own construction
upon the sacred Scriptures; hence the
difficulty we have to-day in impressing
upon the religionists of our time the
literal meaning of the simplest sayings
of the Savior. Even the beautiful doc
trine of baptism by immersion for the
remission of sins, which, according to
sacred and secular history, was prac-
ticed by the early church, has received
through tradition spiritual meaning :;
: and we find many of the most ferven5
+ religionists disputing the fact that bap-
tism by immersion is essential to saliva
tiGks6 When Christ described this
Il pI pie to Nlcodemus, he ikened it
to birth and said: Except a man
be born of water and of the
Spirit he cannot enter into the King
dom of God" All things in life seem
to symbolic the spiritual and the tenn
poral. There is a Melchisedec Priest
hood which typifies the spiritual power
exercised for the salvation of GODS
{ people; and there is the AaroDic Priest.
hood which typi6es the temporal and
outward ordinances of the gospel. The
one ministers spiritual things by the
revelations of God, by the laying on of
q hands for the gilt of the Holy Ghost, by
administering to the sick, and by the
working of miracles; the other minis
tiers in the outward ordinances and
duties Of the Church. such as baptism
in water aud the administration of the
Sacrament. In these beautiful ordl-
nances Christ symbolizes the spiritual
and the temporal-the former always
being superior to and above the latter.
i We understand that Philip held
TIE Aaronic Priesthood, and he
4 not lay on hands for the gift of the
Holy Ghost. He only officiated as far
as be had authority. When the apostles
learned that all Samaria had received
the word and had been baptised they
sent thither Peter and John, who held
the Melchisedec priesthood. and when
they hal laid their hands on the bap-
tised believers the Holy Ghost was i'm.
parted and the recipients of it spake in
tongues and prophesied. But it is al :
ways noticeable fact that the authority
to act must exist.
us2n> one occasion, when the apostles
We're performing mirseies in the name
of Jesus, there were cert ain men who
EEere called the "Sons of Sceva." These
knen said to themselves when they saw
person possessed of the devil: LET
us perform a miracle in this name. u
They had not been called of God. No