Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-08-28

any personal recount ] do not want
any honor from men, II | can have
| the honor OF God. But l do want the
Priesthood that God has bestowed and
which 1 bear in common with my
| brethren, honored ! want to see this
people who have received so many
| blessngs-in fact. whose whole con-
| ditlon, happy MS It is. Is entirely due to
| the Priesthood of the Son Of Cod
want to see them honor this Priest
| hood with all their hearts.I want to
! see them honor God. who has restored
| II: to see them receive Its counsels,
| and to be guided by II under all cir
| cumstances; to not imagine that they
can live without 1t. and that they can
| gain celestial glory without 1t, think
| ing that they have received so much
| and now are independent and can get
| along without the aid of the Priest
| hood. | tell you III you indulge in that
feeling, you viii lose the blessings that
| God has promised unto you and He
| will withdraw those which He has be-
slowed upon you. You will go into the
| dark, you will lose all power, and all
| these glorious gifts that He has given
| unto you. You young men, of whom
| there are SO many In this congregation,
let me say to yOu-and | think can
| speak now AZ one having had some cX-
| perience--if you want to be happy. IL
| you want to he blessed II you want to
| be prospered in the earth, listen to
| the counsels of Gods servants and
obey those counsels. Make 1t the object
| Of your life to obey God in all things.
| say to you, II you will do this, the
blessings of God aud the power of God
| viii rest down upon you as you have
| never imagined II could. l tell you this
because | know II through my exper-
| ience. | know the Lord Will hear this,
and that this viii be the case with
| you.
| 1t seems that we are going through
trials The faith. the integrity and the
| steadfastnrss OF the Latter-day Saints
are being tried and tested. The Lord
| IL going to test us In every direction.
| He Will have Il tried people. He has
| said this. Everything that can he
| shaken will be shaken. We will have
| to show our integrity in the midst Of
| trials and temptations. We Will have
| to learn to be ubedient in all things.
| The Lord wants to have a people OF
this kind. He has led us to this land,
| has given us goodly heritage, and
there Is nothing In the world to pre-
| vent ustrom being a very great and
| mighty people before the Lord, except
| our own misconduct But II we allow
| ourselves to he diverted from this, and
follow false teachers, false guides. and
listen to the Establishments of the EVIL
| one. as sure AS we do this we will
| lose those blessings that lie has prom
ised to us and sealed upon us; for l
presume that the most Of us have had
| great blessings sealed upon us in the
| house Of the Lord
This is n good time and place for us
to talk to each other, a good time to
get the Spirit Of God and have our
hearts softened under its influence,
and to talk plainly. ! feel so. We
want to find out what the mind of the
Lord Is concerning us. He wants to
make us srent people. He Will do II,
| with those NNlO Will Inc Obpdient Il
Him. But often think it IL a good
deal with us as II was with the chill
dren of Israel when they We're led out
of Egypt. Every man over twenty
Years Of age that left Egypt, excepting
two, died In the wilderness, not reach
ing the promised land Two men
| Caleb and Joshua, were so full of In
tegrlty and devotion to the Lord
which they showed when they were
sent to Canaan with ten other spies
and were the only ones that brought
back good report-that the Lord pre-
served them, and they were the only
two out of the whole host OF Israel that
were over twenty years OF age when
they left Egypt who entered into the
promised land. Why was 1t? Was II
not the will of the Lord that the Who'll,
OF them should enter in? Certainly II
was; but they provoked Him in tn,
| wilderness by their unbeiief theiI
hardness Of heart. their rebellion, ant
the result was, they died before tn,
promised land was reached. VIII II
be so with u.s. fear IL will with many
because OF their want of steadfastness
their want Of obedience, their DISPOSE
tlOn to reject the counsel of God, who
has wrought such mighty miracles IL
our sight az He did In the sight OF tn,
| children of Israel.
LOOK back through the history o
our people and see what mighty mir
acles God has wrought in our behalf
Why the gathering Of us together her,
In these mountains is one OF the mos
stupendous miracles ever witnessed
God led us forth out of bondage with
nm outstretchcd arm. planted us In thii
land, and has converted this wilder
ness into II fruitful field and made II
1t may be said. the JOY of the Who'll,
| earth. People look upon 1t now anC
say 1t IL the most blessed land ther'
is in the United States. This is ad
mitted by very many. and will be NOR
and more so as we 20 on. Now. thes
miracles have been wrought in GU
sight; we have seen them; God ha!
done all this for us. and yet toda,
there Is a large element of the Latter
day Saints who do not want "the rul
of the Church" who do not want tn
servants of God to talk to them, d.
not want our counsels, do not want u
to tell them what to do. The mer
mention Of the Priesthood. or of tn
Church, startes them. Is not thi
the case? l hope 1t Is not here; yo,
know whether 1t Is or not; but tina
Ia the case elsewhere. And what /
likely to be the result? | say to yo-
and / say It with all due respect 4
every mans rights. and without de
string to interfere In the least with an,
political platform or any politica
declaration OF principles = Their
IS nothing that can take place or be at
tended to outside of the Priest
hood of the Son OF God. What meal
by that is. the Priesthood embrace
the whole life OF all of us and of ever,
human being who will obey the Cos
pei. And II will do that without in
terfering with our political or civil
rights or with any privileges that tn
most independent of us may have.
want to say II, too, with clear un
Outstanding OF Its comprehenslveness
OF all that II embraces. / know tina
! the adversary Is determined to clos
I and seal UP the mouths OF the ser
wants of God. No that we shall not hay
any voice in the government OF thi
people. Yet every blessing that make
this commonwealth famous today
everything that makes Utah pre-emi
nent today, Ia traceable directly to tn
counsels and labors OF the servants o
God. You all know that. And
can be continued as II has been
: the people Will listen to counsel. No
will they find their rights intruded up
on. They will not find themselves cur
tailed In the least degree They ca
| be politicians to the fullest extant "a nj