Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-06-15

county and there you win be assisting
I'm building the Temple, and II you wiz
not have seen the Lord Jesus AZ tha'
time you may expect Him very sooi'
TO see Him, to eat and drink with nm
to shake hands with Him and TO invite
Him TO your houses as He was invited
when He was here before, | am say
Ing things 20 you now Of which Know
something OF the truth Of them teel
with all my heart TO say God bless you
from the President down 70 the Coun-
sellers OF the Bishops and al OF you,
God has blessed you with light ana
knowledge and all those within the
sound of my voice who have not re-
ceved q perfect understanding OF their
prospects and what they may reach in
the next HE, want you TO so i've and
to so exercise your faith that you may
60 into the Temple ana receive your
higher blessing, and have there unfold
ed to your view the glorious prospects
for which the Latter-day Saints have
struggled and suffered and for which
they have been driven and driven until
they finally located here. ] suppose |
am talking 70 some who have hed wor-
ry and trouble and heart burnings and
persecution, and have at times been
caused to think that they never expect
cd TO endure quite so much But for
everything you have suffered. for ev-
erythlng tina has occurred 10 You which
you thought an evil at that time, you
will receive 'four-fold, and that suffer-
ing win have had a tendency 20 make
you better and stronger and to feel that
you have been blessed When YOU look
back over your experiences you will
then see that you have advanced far
ahead and have gone up several rounds
Of the ladder toward exaltation and
glory.
The people Of Ogden have been abun-
dainty blessed In temporal affairs and
otherwise. You have good president
here, and you are worthy Of as good a
one as there Is In the Church. | doubt
II you could have selected better one.
YET there are no doubt some Of you
who. when you look upon his actions,
may think you could have done little
better than he. Perhaps you could. /
and perhaps you couldn't, but you must /
exercise charity and grant him your
support You who have aspirations TO /
be great--and there is no wrong In that |
should realize this and the support that |
you should give to those over you so
that when you are placed In RESPONSE |
Bile positions you may demand OF the |
Lord the faith aud support Of the peo- !
pie, You win AL he great some day. |
as great as YOU want 70 be. / remUIn- |
Der an Incident which occurred in |
Kirkland when received my first patrl- |
arohial blessing from Father Smith, |
A better man never existed, nor was
there A man better loved than he |
was introduced by my sister Eliza r., |
though at that time ! was not q Lat
ter-day Saint and had no idea OF be-
coming one. He said to me- Don't wor-
ry take II calmly and the Lord viii !
show you, and you will want 10 be
baptized. lie told me another thing
that greatly surprised me. lie said
you VIII be great and as great as you
want to be, as great as God Himself |
and you will not wish to be greater.
could not understand this, but years
after In Nauvoo while talking upon
principle Of the Gospel the Spirit OF
God rested powerfully upon me and
showed me more clearly than can now
see your .aces a certain principle and
It's glory, and It came 20 me summar-
lied In this brief sentence. "As man Is
now, God once was as God is now man
may be- The Spirit of God was on
me In a marvellous manner all that
day, and | stored that great truth away
IN my mind ] felt that / had learnt
something that | ought not to commu-
nlcate to others; but | told It to my
sister Eliza II, Three or four weeks
after that ] was called to go upon a
mission to England, and | went As
| said | dld not understand Father
Smith at the time, but | studied the
principles OF the Mormon people, and
went to their testimony meetings IN
Kirkland, and what heard there was
marvellous 20 me. Brethren and sisters
would get up and testify Of experiences
which they had enjoyed. such as had
never heard of before. found after a
while when l had obtained a smatter-
Ing Of Mormon principles that could
successfully argue with the sectarlan
ministers whom ! sometimes met
found something in the Mormon rell
gion by which the knowledge Of the flu
ture life could be obtained that pleased
me, and one Sunday / was baptized by
one OF the Apostles. / wanted to be
baptized to get knowledge for myself
that the testimony that Joseph Smith
had seen God and that there were men
upon the earth who could baptize for
the remission Of sins. was true
He related his first attempt TO speak
In public and hcw he made up his mind
soidly that whatever he was asked 10
do in the Church and Kingdom Of God,
he would try and do IL. He reverted to !
the time OF his first patriarchal blessing
when Father Smith placed his hands
upon his head and blessed him while
an aged brother wrote the blessing and
then continued: He told me many ex-
traordlnary things When the written
blessing was shown 90 the Patriarch, he
said that this brother had not written
IL all. as II was impossible for him,
reared as he was In the sectarian tradi-
lions. TO grasp 1t all. but ] felt that II
was enough This blessing has been
written of in a beautiful style by Bro
Their Moench, and / now have II hang
ing In the Salt Lake Temple. lie told
me told me many extraordinary things
that have occurred 10 me since In my
past history, from 1886 - this hour"
The President then related his doubts
caused by his not having any great
manifestation az the time Of his contir-
nation. He felt that he had made great
sacrifices in becoming a Mormon and In
bligbtlng his prospects as a
votng man. but he was ashamed
now that he had ever called II
n sacrifice. II Il inconsistent he said,
for any OF US 10 eau our losses for the
Gospei's sake a sacrifice. lie related
his visit 10 his many relatives after he
became a Mormon and how he had
gajned light and knowledge OF the truth
after being thus disturbed in his mind
nv moi receiving the gift Of tongues or
nronhecy when confirmed; and how the
shirt had come down upon him once
when kueeling in prayer with a power
maj had passed through his body and
had given him an absolute knowledge
mar God lived. that he was our Father
ard that Jesus was his son and had
coma 40 earth and talked with the Pro-