City]], July 19th, . -[REPORTED BY DAVID W. EVANS.]- THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST—ESSENTIAL TO ABIDE ITS LAWS. I am requested to occupy a little time this afternoon in speaking to the people. It is a great satisfaction to me, and I presume it is to all Latter- day Saints who enjoy their religion, to contemplate and realize that God is our friend, and that we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Religion is very popular in the world, and has been for many generations; and the religions of the world are as various as the temporal governments of the world. But for a person or commu- nity to know and understand for themselves the true gospel, the gos- pel of Jesus Christ, must be a source of great consolation. I have taken a great deal of satis- faction in the gospel of Christ; in fact it has been my life. I have tra- veled and preached this gospel for the last thirty-five years, more or less, either to the world or to the Saints of God. And in my contemplations and meditations, when I have had sufficient of the spirit of God upon me, I have realized the gifts and graces and blessings pertaining to the salvation of men in the gospel of Christ. The governments of the world are varied. We have despotic, monarch- ical and republican governments, and in order to become a citizen of any one of them we have to obey the laws of that government. A great deal has been said about the form of go- vernment, and the constitution under which we live. They have been the praise of all Americans, and perhaps of people living in other portions of the earth. We consider that we have been blessed as a nation in possessing the freedom and privileges guaran- teed by the Constitution of the Uni- ted States. They have been a rich legacy from our fathers. We consi- der our form of government superior to any other on the earth. It gua- rantees to us "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." And while the inhabitants of many other go- vernments have been tyranically bound up, and their minds controlled in certain channels, and they have been deprived of the right of liberty of speech and of many other rights valued by freemen, ours has guaran- teed unto us all the liberty that can be enjoyed by man. Still, I have many times thought that we, as American Citizens, have not prized the gifts and blessings guaranteed to us by the Constiution of our country. For the last few years, especially, the Constitution at times, has been look- ed upon as a matter of the smallest consequence. In some respects, how- ever, it has been a blessing to us as a people, and it is to the whole na- tion, as far as it is carried out. But in order to fully receive its blessings we have to honor its precepts. Now it is just so with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who believe it and obey it in sincerity enjoy far greater blessings than are enjoyed by others. But we have to abide by the laws of the gospel in order to enjoy its blessings and privileges.