Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-01-29

can no Iou' ''' SiSit S<lAt "dlSr
and fresh.
Such Is the language of James, whose
on,stle appears in the New Testament
scripture; and the passage condensed
simply means, of course. that an i'm
nure fountain sends forth not pure
etreams neither does a good fountain
scnd fort: impure streams: such as
rho fountain is. such also are the
streams.
I have been somewhat surprised. if
not amazed of late at the bitterness
mat has been manifested in the discus
sion In our local prints, Of some doc
trncs md some of the history of this
great movement known as Mormonism
There has been lately raking UP OF
old past controversies, until one would
think that we would be under the
necessity of fighting again the old
battles of 60 and 20 years ago; for this
: raking up of old controversies extends
that far back with reference to this
great latter-day movement. / have 1t
in mind to make little contribution
10 this discussion, from the standpoint
: of this text. OF course, 1t is said that
!. the tree must be Judged by It's fruit;
and that must be admitted to be a
righteous Judgment, because In all
il must finally be judged by moral
results, and we could not, II we would,
escape the judgment of the world,
!. which will be pronounced upon the re-
suits of our religious and ethical SyS-
fem But, while that is a most excel
lent method of estimating tho value of
any religious or philosophical or ethical
system, it does not exclude the justice
and righteousness of judging II from
This standpoint of James. namely: Is
Sthe fountain, whence 1t springs. pure?
II so,' II were an anomaly, indeed. II
the streams flowing out of 1t were not
like the fountain-pure. So, for little
while, l am going to Invite your atten-
ton to the spirit in which this thing
the world calls Mormonism had Its
inception. This gives us the opportun-
ity OF briefly reviewing some things
that are very commonplace with you;
but important. nevertheless; and
we may begin with that very
wonderful incident of the Prophet Jo-
seph Smiths boyhood when but four
teen years OF age He went as you know
to the Lord in prayer, in response to
fhe Scripture which said: II any of
YOU lack wisdom let him ask OF God
Who giveth to all men literally and
upbraideth not" He became fanil-
far with that Scripture, for 1t consu-
,4gtad, at least on one OCCASION, text
cl6f a discourse to which he listened,
and II became the voice of God to his
soul At last he put this Scripture to
the test and inquired of God, with the
result familiar to You all-that he re-
ceived a splendid vision of God the
Father and of the Son, and received
knowledge of the purpose of the Father
to give new dispensatlon OF the gos-
pei to the world through him. provided
he should be faithful. Three years
passed. and when reviewing the eX-
periences of those three years, and
calling to mind, as any lad could, the
follies of youth, the light t-mlndednesS
and tho foolishness of boyhood, a sor-
row took hold of him, as he made this
review; and he wondered to what eX-
tent he had given offense to God. He
J. ..besought the Lord in prayer again, In
.hordcr to know his standing, with
-sthe result that holy messenger
frum the presence OF God Visit-
cd him and made known ms ac-
ceptancet to the Lord, notwith-
standing his boyhood follies, and as
sured him that he was still the chosen
instrument In the hands of God for inc
accomplishment of his purposes ana
revealed to him the existence Oh
whole volume OF Scripture. being the
word of tho Lord as delivered unto
the prophets living upon these western
American continents. course, am
not relating these familiar Incidents
I'm the history OF the Prophet, WIN Il
View of imparting information as TO
these facts TO you, but l simply want
to call your attention TO the course
nursued by the prophet to ask you IL
his course Is not altogether commend
able I'm him; and so far as we nave
- uursued the course followed, is IL not
altogether praiseworthy-this seeking
the Lord and finding him. rms guid-
ance by the spirit of prayer rms was
thc spirit In which Mormonism' So
Pronhet was concerned; and now i
want 10 follow its development 1T
tie further. -
By and by. others began to particl-
pate in the development OF this WORK
Among those who sought TO be uselui
in bringing it into existence was the
prophet's own father. He desired that
Nils son induire of the Lord to learn
what course he should take, and what
was to be his lot and part in his work.
Tho prophet inquired of the Lord and
received tho following message con-
talned in your Doctrine and Covenants
Behold. n marvellous work Is about
TO come forth among the children Oh
men; .
Therefore, o ye that embark In the
service of God, see that ye serve MN
with all your heart, might, mind ana
strength that ye may stand blameless
before God at the last day
Therefore. II we have desires to serve
God, We are called to the work
"ror behold the field is white already
10 harvest, and 10. he that thrusteth In
his sickle with his might the same
leyeth up In store that he perish not
200 hrIngeth salvation TO his soul;
I'd faith, hope. charity and love-
IN eye single to the glory oil God'
ify him for the work.
Remember faith. virtue. knowledge
temperance patience, brotherly KIND
ncss. godllness, charity. humility, dill
aence
ASK and ye shall receive, knock and
II shall be opened unto you
What virtue exists outside Of those
here enumerated and enJoined2 what
say you OF this fountan-good, or cor
rupt?
BY and by. but a few months after
this In fact, oliver Cowdcry came to
the prophet he who was to be the
second elder IN tho Church of Christ
about to be estabhshed-a young man,
schoolteacher, blacksmith. formerly
q storckecpcr-a variety of occupations
OF course impossible outside of frontier
HE in America, in the carly decades or
The nineteenth century. Ho had heard
of Gods dealings with this prophet who
vas being qualified for his great mis-
sion. and so came to him. He, too,
Iido the prophets fnfhcr, waS willing to
throw his lot IN with the prophet and
I. work that was developing. He.