Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1895-08-17

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10 restrain us. DO YOU think ! could
give way to q spirit Of that kind, how.
ever pleasant II might be to me for the
time being, ut such rsS--thc risk OF
grieving the Spirit OF God and causing
It to be Withdrawn from mc' No, could
not and neither ought any of Us. Tue
cons. uuenCcs should be before Our
eyes. would like YOU all, young and
old, more especially the young men ami
women, Who have no; had the eNperi.
cnce OF the older ones, to be impressed
with the feeling that from this time
forth as long as YOU live upon the earth
YOU will never be guilty Oi doing any
thing Oi this kind. Leave those who do
wrong to the Lord. lie will see tina,
His servants are not permitted, as Pttsi.
dent Woodruff said yesterday, TO lead
this people asifay. II your brethren anu
sisters do wrong take them out and
talk to them yourselves, and reason
with them, but do not speak evil against
them; do not hacsbte them and seek TO
lessen their influence with their neigh
bUis. speak IN tuis way 10 those VINO
have a desire to remain faithful to the
end aud who do no, want to iall away
tor ] tell you as servant OF God that
there Is only one way to be saved, and
that IS by keeping the commandments
OF God. and no man has any assurance
that he will b. saved un.csshc does this.
Another fruitful source Of aposiasy Is
adultery, form uiou, lustiul desires.
God has seemingly placed an angel with
q flaming sword In that direction. lie
ha, defined tie relationship OF the sexes.
The l.aiter.day Saints, In obedience 10
the law OF celestial marriage, took TO
Themselves wives and lived with them
as wives: but no one ever ard Of a man
who o served this law In tue spirit OF Il
apOstaiizlng because OF that. With all
my experience among the men OF this
CuufCh ! do not recall a single instance
OF q man losing his faith because he took
10 himself wiycB-that H. u be lived IN
accordance with the law as God had re-
yralcd il. But here IS remarkable
thing. showing how clearly defined is
the line OF demarkalion between mar.
rage and illicit association. there have
been men In this Church who have had
wives, and while they confined them.
selves to their wives they had the Spirit
OF God with them, hut they afterwards
had Illicit association with women,
which from an outside standpoint was
no more Improper than their association
with their wives, and yet In every such
case that has come to my knowledge
where the man has not re-
pcnted with full purpose Of heart
he has lost the faith and God has
shown Ills disipprp1ation OF his conduct
by Withdrawing His Spirit from that
man. Thus the Lord has shown unto
thi, people that there Is a line beyond
which they cannot 40 without bringing
down His anger upon them, Have YOU
not seen thi, IN your experienced And is
u not an impressive lesson to shlw Us how
Jealous our God Is concerning Violations
Of His law, and how sensitive is the
HOLY Spirit that II will no, ABIDE with a
man who does wrong Tn this direction
unless he thoroughly fcpcutsn trust
may be pardoncd Tor referring here TO
plural marriage. | have done so solely
| 10 Illustrate the principle ! wish to inn
press upon you, aud 10 show that there
| Is a marked distinction in the sight OF
God between q man living IN that fclI.
ton and one who has adulteruus con
ncgtiou. he one associates only with
| his viycs. who rtc bound 20 him by
| sacred and eternal cIyennni, and h S
| action In lhii respect does not cause the
| Spirit Of God 20 withdraw itself from
| him, while the other associates with a
| woman not his wife IN any sense OF the
| word. AM thus violates the law Of God,
and OF course the Holy Ghost will not
! dwell with such a man. To have the
| fellowship OF the Holy Ghost alter such
| an act or acts he must repent truly and
| sincerely and seek for aud obtain the
forgiveness oil the Lord, And 50
! itiyiia man allows lust TO enter into
| his heart. lie can dclilc his tabernacle
| ny indulging 10 iusiiul and improper
| thoughts. he can make his tabernacle an
unit receptacle Tor the Holy Ghost
| And this too without any outward
| bfea II OF the law Vt God, In this way
| he can gtievc the Spirit OF Gud, and
II he does not repent with all his heart,
but continues In H. he will deny the
| faith God has said II, and Il Is so,
| Many times we wonder how men fall
away. We look around and see II we
can define the cause, What is the
cause2 The man was good, faithful
man, strong IN the faith, and yet how
weak he has grown. lie IS careless
| about his duties and Indifferent. He /,
spiritually sick; he exhillts the evidence,
! OF so ritual disease, and II lie examine,
| his own heart he Is conscious OF IL, but
blinded by the spirit that has taken
| possession OF him he will not repent Il
he could only be made 10 realize the
dreadful condition which he is in, he
| would he stirred up TO repentance and
| would put all his sins lar from him.
Brethren and sisters, have alluded Il
two fatal causes OF apoNasy Time
would fail me to enumerate all the
causes, but these probably are the mos
frequent ones. Whenever / see Elders
no matter how high they may be, ndulg
ing In either one or the other, | know
| what the result will be. When see
men disregardng the counsels OF the
servants OF God and going their owr
way feel sorry for them, because
know that unless they repent the con
sequences to them will he most serious
During this conference the Elders hav,
spoken to US upon various causes which
lead to a loss Of the Spirit OF God, ant
we should ask ourselves continually IL
the light OF that Spirit, what Is Their,
that am doing that would grieve In,
Spirit OF Gol| Hence il is that prayel
is epjlined upon US. We are command
ed 10 pray often, and when we do thi,
the Lord through HIS Spirit brings tc
our attention the wrong that we hav,
done. None OF us should 20 to oul
beds al nigh, without reviewing In,
events Of the day and examining our
selves ia the light OF the Spirit OF God
I 4