Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-05-21
DISCOURSE
Zion
April Gath, 1898 by
ELDER GEORGE TEASDALE.
ELDER GEORGE TEAsDALE.

/ that we have come out Of the world
| and that our desires and our feelings
/ are no longer In harmony with the
world. but in harmony with the ever
lasting principles of the Gospel of the
| Son Of God We wer4 Catholics we
| were Professionals of various dcnomina-
| tons, or perchance We were lnfdcls,
| when this message, these glad tidings
| of great joy, came unto us and told us
| that God had again spoken from the
| heavens, that He had restored to the
| earth the precious gift Of the Holy
| Ghost. which is the Spirit of revela-
| ton, and that the same condition eN
! listed now as existed in the primitive
| church-that whose would do the
| will of the Father should know of the
doctrine; John VII 10, 10 that these
| precious principles had been restored to
the earth by a mighty angel, who had
| flown through the midst of heaven.
having the everlasting Gospel to
preach to men on the earth,
, crying with q loud voice, Fear God.
and give glory to Him. for the hour of
Ills judgment is come. (See Rev. 40
II is published in the Bible, which goes
all over the world that this mighty
angel was to come, and that John the
Baptist was not only the forerunner OF
Jesus Christ in His first coming, but
also in His second advent; for of him
II was said that he was "the voice Of
one that cryeth in the wilderness Pre-
pare We the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert q highway for
our God" Gsaiah 40: 81 Jesus, in
speaking of John. said: For this Is
he, of whom 1t is written. Behold, l
send my messenger before thy face,
which shall prepare thy way before
thee" Matthew il; 10D The passage
Jesus referred to You will find In NAL
achl Q, which reads as follows:
"Behold / will send my messenger.
and he shall prepare the way before
me: and the Lord, whom we seek shall
suddenly come to His temple, even the
messenger of the covenant, whom ye
delight in: behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts.
"But who may abide the day of his
coming? and who shall stand when he
appeareth? for he is like a refiners
fire. and like fullers' soap:
And he shall sit as a rellner and pur-
ifer of silver" etc.
1t might be n question whether John
fulfilled that mission in his first com.
ing So that 1t was not very singular
that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery
should testify that John the Baptist
visited them and conferred upon them
the Aaronic Priesthood. How was 1t.
If they were impostors, that they were
enabled to discern that important fact?
When the Gospel Is taken from the
Gentiles to the Jews, 1t will be with
n voice crying, Comfort we, comfort
we my people. saith your God. Speak
We comfortably to Jerusalem" What
for? Because that her warfare is ac>
complished, that her iniquity Is par
doned; for she hath received OF the
Lords hands double for all her sins"
Gsaiah 40: /, % 1t will be u sound Of
glad tidings to the honest in heart
among the Jews.
Now, in these meditatlons we can
not help rejecting that as people, IL
would be impossible for MS to be an
immoral people. We are accused OF
being n sensual people; and, of course,
II we are sensual we must be deviish,
because we learn that men became SEN
sual and devillsh that departed from
God and the principles of purity and
Righteousness. But I say 1t is impos-
sible for the Saints of God to be OF
that character, because a man ceases
to be n Latter day Saint whenever he
acts immorally. The Lord has enjoin-
ed upon us chastity, purity, honesty
and uprightness; and II we were to he
guilty Of these wrorgdoinEs to which
I refer we would no longer he Latter
day Saints. 1t is not the Latter-dny
Saints that commit themselves in thls
manner; It Is the latter-day sinners.
The instructions that we receive are
entirely opposed to anything Of the