The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-08-22

SOAs
The choir then sang:
How great the wisdom and the 1--we
Tnat filed the cou is on high,
And sent the Savior from above
10 suffer, bleed and die.
ELDER JOSEPH F. MORGAN,
having been requested to address the
congregation, said, in substance: I'm
expectedly 1 am called upon to occupy
small portion of the time this after
noon, and hope, by the assistance of
the Almighty, TO have few thoughts to
present before you. Were 1 not thor
oughly convinced of the divinity of the
latter-day work, l would naturally
shrink from this position at this time;
but being thoroughly assured of this
great fact, 1 feel it my duty to testify
thereof to those under sound of my
voice.
| We are called upon to proclaim to the
nations of the earth some startling
| truths, many of which are very much
questioned by the worlds inhabitants.
and when the statement is made that
our heavenly Father has condes;ended
to speak unto man. giving unto him
IL essage to declare unto the children of
men, it is something that caunot ap-
parently be accepted by great many
of earth's inhabitants. Nevertheless
the statement we have to bear is that in
this age of the world our heavenly
father has sent holy angels from the
| heavens to the earth, that He has even
/ him Golf n with HJs Snn
Jesus Christ, and has commissioned
men to go forth and proclaim the great
message of life and salvauon. 1t seems
strange to my mind why such state.
ments as these should be looked upon
as anything startling, especially by
great portion of mankind. In perusing
the sacred scriptures, we discover that
when the Lord had work to perform
upon the earth he revealed it through
heavenly messengers to His servants
who have been sent forth to bear testi-
mony of the truths made known to
them. It is q prominent feature
in, history that such messages
have been unfavorably received by the
majority of mankind. They have been
unwilling to receive such statements as
from heaven, generally ridlculing the
idea that God should disclose His pur-
poses to man.
One such instance, that comes to my
mind at the present time, we IeaPof In
the history of the prophet Noah, when
the world was apparently in in'quity.
| The people then were unwilling TO re-
celJe the message OF God through His
prophet, and accordingly the Lord sent
a food upon the earth, destroying the
lima bitants thereof with the exception
of the few who gave heed unto His
message. No doubt great many of
the earth's inhabitants at that time
ridiculed the idea of Noah building an
shore and seeing no probability of
launching it on the deep. The prophet
OF God, however, continued faithful to
his mission, warning tie peol a.d pr
parit G an ark, giving them to
! understand the designs OF hea.en
in relation to the earth's in
habi rants. Only eight persons
gave heed to the warning message an
complied with the requirements OF
Heaven, thus escaping The judgments
which were poured out upon the wicked.
1t is declared in the scriptures of di-
vine truth that God will again send
judgments upon the earth, not BY
water, but by fire. Oar Heavenly
Father has sent His servants in this age
of the world to declare unto the inhab-
itants of the earth that this event is
dra wing near. The Elders of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
SAINTS go forth among the nations of
the earth, bearing testimony to this
fact, calling upon the inhabitants of
The earth to repent of their sins. en-
BRACE the gospel, and avoid the calaml-
ties that are to attend the wicked and
un believing.
1t is true that great many OF our
Christian brethren and sisters tell Us
egarding the statements in the N.w
Testament where it says: "If any man
shall add unto these things, God
shall add unto him the plaques
that are written in this book.
And if any man shall take away from
the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away his part out of the
book of life, and out of the holy city,
and from the things which are written
in this BOOK" Because this passase of
scripture is found in the last book of
the New Testament, O. great many of
our Christian brethren take it for
q anted that the accounts given in the
Olu and New Testaments were all that
God intended to make known unto the
children of men. Thl. is, of course, a
very superficial view TO take of this
matter, and one that does not bear
very close investigation.
it is well known by the students of
history that nearly all the gospels con-
ia ned in the New Testament scriptures
We're written years after this statement
W made. 10 the Latter-day Saints,
this statement is perfectly clear.
Although it deprives man from
ding to the words of the
book, it does not curtsil the priv.
ilsges of the Almighty. Hence, we are
not afraid to declare unto the earth's
Inhabitants that God has, in this age of
the world. given unto Joseph Smith
message to dc C are unto the children of |
men, and this message is of such a |
character that it cannot be rejected |
with impunity; for if men lightly treat
II they will certainly bring upon them
selves coIdamnation. We find in look |
ing at the dealings of God with the |
culIdren of men when He sent a mes
sage unto them that it was of the ut
most impor ance that they, who received
ii, should understand IT'S nature and
elatsvor TO End out whether it had
come from God or whether it was de-
v.sl a nv men