It is a matter of surprise to people not of our faith when they are
made acquainted with the fact that Elders of this Church are called
promiscuously, as it were accidentally, to address the congregations
that are assembled from time to time in this and other places in the
midst of this people; that they appear before the congregation without
any text, without any sermon, without giving any thought whatever to
preparing the subject or subjects upon which they may speak. And these
Elders have, by experience, learned the lesson that it is very
necessary and essential for them to depend upon the Holy Ghost for
their inspiration, for its assistance, for its influence, to enable
them to speak and instruct the people as the Lord desires they should
be instructed. What do I know about this audience this afternoon? Here
is a sea of faces before me beaming with intelligence. I feel the
influence of the various spirits of the people composing this
congregation. They are all centered upon myself, or if my Brother was
speaking, they would be centered upon him or whoever the speaker might be.
Some have come to worship God with honesty of purpose, to partake of
His holy sacrament with clean hands and pure hearts, and are worthy of
partaking of these sacred emblems of the death of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. They also come to listen to words of instruction, and
many of them have a yearning desire, perhaps, to receive comfort to
their souls, information, perchance, upon some particular point of
doctrine connected with their holy religion. And then again, there are
those in this congregation who have come here simply out of curiosity,
having no particular interest in anything pertaining to the worship of
this people, or the sacrament of which they are partaking; having no
particular fondness for the doctrines taught by the Elders of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, nor any of the principles
incorporated in the faith of this people, but sim ply to see
and out of sheer curiosity to listen that they may afterwards talk
about what they have seen and heard according to their capacity and
intelligence to understand and to comprehend that which they hear. A
great number of this vast congregation have come from distant nations;
they have heard the testimony of the servants of God, thousands of
miles from the place they now occupy. They have received that
testimony; they accepted and cherished that testimony in their hearts
and it has led them to bid adieu to fatherland, to scenes of
childhood, of youth, of mature age in many instances, to come to this
land which they believed then and still believe to be the land of
Zion, to be taught in the ways of the Lord, to be made acquainted with
the principles of eternal truth, to comprehend the law of God, and to
have an opportunity to practice that law in their lives and conduct.
They have come also for the purpose of enjoying the companionship of
the people they love—a people who feel as they feel, who believe as
they believe, who are inspired as they have been inspired, and are
today inspired; they have come to this land for the purpose of
receiving ordinances pertaining to their future existence.
By far the greater portion of the people who have thus come, have made
sacrifices for this purpose, have checked natural feelings that have
arisen in their bosoms, have severed kindred ties, associations,
affinities, and affections. What for? "I want to hear the voice of God;
I want to hear the words of inspiration; I want to become acquainted
with the law that my Father has given for me as well as the rest of
his children to be governed by; I want to be placed under the
imme diate teaching, instruction, and counsel of those whom God has
raised up and inspired by His Holy Spirit. I love you, my father; I
love you, my mother; I love you, my sister, my brother and my child;
but I love God more. I must yield your society; I must sacrifice the
associations that I have enjoyed with you, because you cannot think as
I think; because you cannot feel as I feel; because you are not
inspired as I am inspired." We might mention other sacrifices that
have had to be made, other things that have had to be yielded, given
up, parted with, for this holy purpose and this holy desire that I
have named this afternoon; for the feeling that permeates the hearts
of these Latter-day Saints permeates their entire being, absorbs their
entire thought, and their entire affection, for a true Latter-day
Saint is fully devoted to his God and to his religion, spirit, and
body; it affects his time, his talent, every energy that he possesses,
and wherever can be found among this people a man who has any reserve,
he is not devoted to his God as his religion demands that he should be.
Those present have had, in the main, equal opportunities with myself
to become acquainted with the truths of eternal life. They have been
taught where I have been taught; they have eaten, figuratively
speaking, at the same table where I have partaken; and yet this
afternoon I stand before you as a teacher and an instructor of the
very people that have had equal opportunities with myself to learn and
become acquainted with the law of God. How can I teach you? How can I
instruct you? Upon what principle can I furnish you with the bread of
life? Only by the power of the Holy Ghost, by its inspiration, by possess ing its gifts. Is there any man without this Spirit,
without the inspiration of this agency among the Latter-day Saints;
from the President of the Church down through all the ramifications of
the Priesthood, that is prepared to teach the people the law of God of
himself? No, and I am bold to declare it this afternoon; neither is
there a minister upon the face of this broad land or in all
Christendom that can go before his congregation and feed them with the
bread of life, unless he possesses the gift of the Holy Ghost, and
speaks by virtue of that gift.
We send our Elders abroad, thousands of them; we have sent them for
many years that are past, and until the Lord says to his servants
stop, we shall continue to send them even to the most distant parts of
the earth. For what purpose? To preach the Gospel, to proclaim the
simple truths of eternal life, to explain to the understanding of the
smallest mind what God expects and desires of the people in this last
dispensation of the fullness of times. What Elders have been
successful? The men that have stood before the people, and by the
power of the Holy Ghost have declared the word of the Lord God to
them; and here let me say in this connection, there never was a
congregation that listened to a discourse delivered by an Elder of
Israel, and that discourse was delivered by the power and
demonstration and Spirit of the Almighty, but there came to every man
and woman in that congregation a response by that same Spirit, "that
is true." It bore testimony there and then to the truth of the remarks
of the servant of God, and by this means, and by this means only will
those who reject the truth stand condemned before God in the day that
they will appear before Him to give an account of their acts in this
life.
Simply as a man; is not every man equal to myself? As far as opinions
go, are not my neighbors just as precious and of as much value to him
as mine are to me? Any ideas that I may possess, no matter how
rational, apparently logical, no matter how reasonable they may
sound; are not the opinions of every other man just as much value to
him as mine are to me? Certainly they are. We occupy the same place,
we are on an equality in this respect; but when we proclaim the word
of the Lord, when we undertake to make known the decrees of the
Almighty, and the plan of salvation, and we do it by the power and
demonstration of the Spirit, every man who rejects that proclamation
will do so at his own risk, and will stand condemned before God,
because he will not receive of that Spirit, not because he did not
receive the reasoning of the man who spoke, but because he rejected
the influence of the Spirit of God, by which he spoke.
I remarked at the outset that a part of this congregation had
undoubtedly been gathered from distant nations having an object in
view, with a design in their minds. Let me ask a few questions in
connection with this: Are we pursuing this object? Are we following
out this design? Are we continuing in the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the Gospel of the Son of God? Are we developing
righteousness in our lives? Are we making that righteousness manifest
in our conduct? Are we sustaining the principles that charmed our
hearts many years ago, thousands of miles distant from here? Have we
grown in knowledge of the principles of life and salvation
over and above that which we understood many years ago? What is our
standing in the midst of the people and before God today? These are
plain questions, but pertinent; and we should propound these questions
to ourselves often and thus become our own catechisers. If we find we
are lacking in any one particular we should take immediate steps to
remedy any defect, any neglect, and should cease any wrongdoing of
which we may have been guilty. We can afford to serve God, but we
cannot afford to take a contrary course; we cannot afford to
apostatize and deny the truth; we cannot afford to become recreant to
the principles we have espoused; we cannot afford to go back upon our
covenants. We profess more. We declare more. I may use another term,
which may be strictly correct, we pretend more than any other people
upon the face of the earth. We have a right to do this, but when our
pretensions are made known, when our professions become the property
of others, to the extent that these pretensions are understood, we
should be consistent therewith. Many of us were asked by our friends,
will you not abandon "Mormonism?" No. Will you not leave the society
of that people, and not go out to that wild wilderness country, but
stay with us? We answered most emphatically, No. And our presence here
today and for the many years that are past, testifies that that was
what we meant, if we did not say so in so many words. Now the same
scenes, the same conditions, the same society, the same influences,
the same evils, unbidden, unsought for, undesired, have presumed to
locate themselves in our midst. Shall we affiliate with that which we
once abandoned, drink with the drunken, shake hands with the
evildoer, fraternize with the sinner, defile ourselves before God,
and forsake the holy covenants that we have made? These are plain
questions. We have gone too far; we have become possessed of too much
understanding; we have professed too much to be able to afford to go
back again and partake of any of the evils that we left in Babylon,
years and years ago. And if we do so we shall do it at our own risk,
and that risk and its consequences will be most terrible for us.
We are threatened, we are menaced; we feel it strongly, very
sensitively, very keenly; and we shall remember well in the days, in
the years and in the times that are to come the instruments that have
made these threatenings, and that have dared to raise their arms and
their voice and their influence against us, while in the pursuit of
the principles of eternal life. What then is our course? In whom is
our trust? In God; in his power; in his arm; in his strength. Have we
not made his acquaintance? Has he not revealed himself to us in the
Gospel that we have received? Do we feel tremulous in the day of
trouble—that God will leave us and forsake us? Is this our condition?
If it is we are not living our religion; if it is we are not keeping
our covenants; if it is we have not cherished the influence of the
Spirit of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, or it would
produce other results.
It is true we number a very few people; numerically speaking our
strength is weak. Many other things might be quoted concerning our
position that are equally true; but understand this one thing—and the
world of mankind will know it by and by—that we have set out
to serve God, to keep his commandments, to build up his Church, to
redeem his Zion upon this earth, without considering any consequences
in the least. That is the condition. We have accepted the
consequences; accepted conditions as they exist, with the powers of
hell perchance sometimes combined together to force those unpleasant
conditions upon us. Yes, when death itself shall stare us in the face
and seem to be inevitable, for to that extent will the Lord try and
prove some of His people, to see if they will keep His commandments.
Even then God expects us to remain firm and unshaken. Shall we turn to
the right hand? No. Or turn to the left hand? Never. Turn round
entirely and take a backward course? No, not by the help of the
Eternal One. And this world will know, and the enemies of God's people
will know by and by of the strength and the power and the might of Him
who has revealed Himself to His servant Joseph; who has conferred his
authority, his priesthood upon men, authorizing them to act in his
name.
There is a very singular expression in this book—and I think the
Savior who used the expression had an eye to this last dispensation,
which reads: "Whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken."
Mark it, not perhaps, not maybe, not conditionally. And again: "But on
whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder." Thus hath said
the Lord God.
Now, my brethren and sisters, have you questioned yourselves as to
your standing, as to your faith, as to your confidence in yourselves,
in your religion and the Priesthood of God that administers to you,
and in God the Eternal Father?
We are in a dark land. Our minds are beclouded, the heavens are shut,
and the veil can only be lifted by the power of faith. Who possesses
it? The veil never has been lifted from the day that God hid himself
from Adam in the Garden of Eden; it never has been lifted in any age
of the world only by the power of the Priesthood and the gift of
faith, and then only for a short time. We are compelled now to
exercise the principle of faith. Whence comes it? It is a gift of
God; but it needs cherishing; it needs cultivation; it needs
nourishing, and it will grow within you and me, if we will cherish it
to the extent that it is our privilege, until it will become so mighty
within us, that we never can be moved, not even by death staring us in
the face.
The world seem to measure their entire existence by this life, this
being, these few paltry years upon this dark, cold and cruel earth.
They say—if not in words in acts—"give me enjoyment today; give me
pleasure today; give me what I conceive to be happiness today."
"But," says the man of inspiration, the man of forethought, the man
whose mind reaches into the future, "what about eternity?" "Oh,"
say
the world, "never mind eternity, let eternity take care of itself; let
us gratify passion; let our ambitions be satisfied and realized here;
it is all we ask." And they live like the brute although they have an
existence like you and I. It is true they move upon the same earth,
are surrounded by the same circumstances, but their minds have never
reached out after God, and they are stultified, they are stunted in
their growth, in the development of their mind; they know nothing and
care to know less of the object of their creation and existence. They
never con ceived the idea of what dwells in their
tabernacles—the power independent of the tabernacle, but necessary to
the life of that tabernacle; a fully organized identity that can exist
without the tabernacle and possesses all the powers and a great many
more than it can make manifest through the tabernacle, an existence
separate from the tabernacle that came from God. And yet these men and
women, many of them, when you talk to them upon the principles of
eternal life, will say, "Will you reason that out to me so that I can
understand it in a way to satisfy my natural sense. Can I see what you
talk about?" No, you cannot see it with the natural eye. Can I hear
it? No, you cannot hear it with the natural ear. Can I handle it with
these hands? No, you cannot handle it with the natural hands. Then I
shall not listen. I will ignore everything you say upon this subject.
Your parents can approach you through your natural senses; they
address themselves to the tabernacle. But when we come to the
constitution of the spirit that dwells within the tabernacle, and then
come to understand that that spirit emanated from God the Father, to
whom will God the Father speak? Will He speak to the tabernacle that
is the result of the agency of man and woman in producing it? No, only
seldom and then to chosen ones, God the Father speaks to his own; and
the angels that minister and speak, address themselves to the mind, as
we call it, to this spirit that cannot be seen, that cannot be
handled, that cannot be heard by the ears of the natural man. Here is
the grand difficulty with the human family today. God cannot speak to
them for they want to compel Him to come down to the grossness of the
earthly tabernacle and reason everything out to the sense of that
tabernacle? He will not do it. He did not six thousand years ago; and
he will not do it now, nor in all time to come. The very medium
through which inspiration comes, the very medium through which
knowledge comes that benefits the human family, no matter whether it
be scientific, philosophical or otherwise, there is not a truth extant
upon the earth today that has been utilized, or many truths combined
together that have been utilized, but have been the result of divine
inspiration directly to the spirit of man, to the mind of man which is
sometimes incorrectly called the soul of Man. God will talk with His
own creation, and if that spirit in man will place itself in a
position to listen to the voice of God, what will he say to that
spirit, "Control that tabernacle, I gave it to you for a greater
exaltation; I gave it to you that after it shall have passed away, it
may be resurrected from the grave, and if you subdue its passions, its
unholy desires, if you sanctify that tabernacle before Me, then I am
bound to bring that tabernacle from the grave and to bring it to the
enjoyment of the fullness of My glory, which was the destiny of the
spirit when it was first created." And, by the way, let me here say
that there are a great many Latter-day Saints, good men and some few
good women, who seem to be possessed of a skeptical turn of mind, they
want everything reasoned out; if they receive any knowledge at all
they want it to come through the gross, cold reasoning of humanity. In
this connection there comes to my mind a little circumstance that is
recorded here in this Testament. The disciples of Jesus, who had
listened when together many times no doubt to His explanations
of His own resurrection from the grave, found Thomas, and told him
first the Savior had arisen. Said he: "I will not believe it. Unless I
get more positive proof through these natural senses of mine that such
is the fact, I will not believe it though you say it, and I have no
reason to doubt your word." Undoubtedly they had been truthful with
each other; they had been taught to be truthful by their Lord and
Master. The Savior after a while appeared to his disciples. Thomas was
there. The Savior understanding Thomas' thoughts said: "Reach hither
thy finger and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust
it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing." Whereupon
Thomas exclaimed, "My Lord and my God." What did Jesus say? Did he
reproach Thomas? Did he use harsh, cruel and severe words, because of
Thomas's unbelief, as one of the chosen? No. He said, "Blessed art
thou, Thomas, because thou hast believed" —upon any condition; if you
have received a testimony now, you are blessed; but more blessed are
they that have not seen, and yet have believed. I think again of the
beloved disciple John upon the isle of Patmos, who had the visions of
the future opened to him for many ages to come, even unto the
winding-up scene; he saw this earth eventually celestialized and made
like unto a Urim and Thummim—a sea of glass, everything pertaining to
it redeemed, and the earth clothed in the presence of God. When the
angel commenced to unfold that beautiful vision to John, suppose John
had questioned and queried and asked to have his natural senses
gratified before he would receive that revelation, do you think we
should have been in possession today of this beautiful vision showing
the grand winding-up scene of all things? I think not. I can say to
this congregation—I want to be understood clearly upon this
point—wherever it exists in truthfulness, intuition—proper, correct
and legitimate intuition is the safest rule and guide for the people,
and Latter-day Saints should seek to become possessed of the spirit of
intuition that comes by virtue of the possession of the Holy Ghost.
But to return now, my brethren and sisters, where do we stand? What is
our faith? How much is our confidence? Have we lost any of it? If so,
let us regain it. There is a time yet for repentance; there is a time
yet left for us to manifest our humility before God; there are
opportunities for us to retrace our steps if we have traveled in the
wrong direction. The time will come, as far as this earthly existence
is concerned, when these opportunities and advantages will cease. Can
you be baptized here in the flesh for the remission of your sins? Yes.
Can you yourself attend to that ordinance when your tabernacle is laid
away in the grave? No, you cannot; that ordinance was revealed
especially for this time. Can you have hands laid upon you for the
reception of the Holy Ghost in this life? Yes. Can you enjoy this
privilege when your body is laid away in the grave? No; and to prove
that this ordinance, as well as others pertains to this life, this
time, I need only say that when we undertake to extend the principles
of salvation to those that are dead, somebody in the flesh must
represent the person for whom the ordinances are intended who may have
neglected or have had no opportunity to attend to these ordinances
themselves while in the flesh. When we get to the other side
of the veil, we shall find another state of things existing there; we
shall find other conditions, other surroundings, other laws,
pertaining to that peculiar existence of spirit; we shall find already
existing there other organizations. Our bodies will have been left in
the grave with all their weaknesses, with all their imperfections. Our
spirits will not go down into the grave. They live in the presence of
God; they will be held responsible for that tabernacle, for its acts,
for its development; they will be held responsible before God, before
the heavens, for the faith they have exercised, or for the wrongs that
they have allowed themselves to be guilty of in the flesh; for I say
right here; I repeat it again, that it is the business of the spirit
to preside over, to be master of and to control this fleshy tabernacle
to all intents and purposes and to hold it subject to all the laws of
God. But, says one, there are weaknesses that pertain to the flesh,
are they all sins? No. What about those weaknesses? The man who has
been pure in his spirit, pure in his heart, pure in his intentions and
desires before God, when he lays that body down in the grave there
will be found in the very elements with which his body will mingle, a
power to cleanse and purify all weaknesses as pertaining to the flesh
which cannot be regarded as sins before God. Yes, give mother earth
time and she will so effectually purify the taber nacle that she will
get it ready for the resurrection from the grave to be reunited with
the spirit. Then after a while we shall become acquainted with the
higher laws, with principles altogether different to those taught to
us in the flesh and which also pertain to eternal lives. And then
again, when we come to be resurrected from the grave we shall find
other conditions in advance of those; we shall find God's Priesthood
there, his law there, his power there, his influence there, as there
will be teachings and instructions to be given even then; and thus
shall we keep going on from condition to condition of perfection and
glory until we become possessed of the glory that belongs to God. Is
it worth living for? Is it worth enduring a few threats for? Is it
worth being quiet when you are menaced, and as passive as the Lord
wants you to be? Yes. Is it worth making any sacrifice for? Is it
worth leaving home, father, mother, sister, brother? It is. And why?
The day will come, perchance, even in the spirit world, when that
father and mother, sister and brother, who despised you, will be
seeking after salvation and will want to have conferred upon them the
powers of eternal life. And you will have placed yourself in the
position to act for them though your body may be in the grave, for
your spirit still lives and you can preach and even become a minister
of salvation to those of your own house. Amen.
- Joseph E. Taylor