Journal of Discourses Volume 15

BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG, 

HIS TWO COUNSELLORS, 
AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES.

REPORTED BY D. W. EVANS, J. Q.
 CANNON AND MISS JULIA YOUNG,

AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE LATTER-DAY 
SAINTS IN ALL THE WORLD.

VOL. XV

LIVERPOOL: 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY ALBERT 
CARRINGTON, 42, ISLINGTON. 

LONDON: 

LATTER-DAY SAINTS' BOOK DEPOT, 20, 
BISHOP'S GROVE, ISLINGTON.

1873.[p.iii] 

Preface

Vol. 15,  p.iii
WE take great pleasure in presenting to the Saints and the world the
Fifteenth Volume of the JOURNAL of DISCOURSES, which they will find
contains rich treasures of information concerning the glorious
principles of Eternal Life, as revealed through God's anointed
servants in these last days.

Vol. 15,  p.iii
All who read the discourses contained in this Volume are earnestly
recommended to adapt them to their lives by practice, and we can
confidently assure them that, in doing so, they are laying up a store
of knowledge that will save and exalt them in the Celestial kingdom.

THE PUBLISHER.[p.1] 

Brigham Young, April 28, 1872

The Lord's Supper—Progression—Co-Operation—Independence

Remarks By President Brigham Young, Delivered in the New 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, April 28th, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.1
I am very happy for the privilege of meeting with the Latter-day
Saints, and I have reason to be thankful that I am able to speak a
little to them. It brings many things to our reflections and causes
many thoughts to arise. When we look over the human family what a
variety we see and especially upon the subject of religion. We take
Christianity, for instance, and as nations, as people, we believe in
and on the Lord Jesus Christ. Most of Christian professors believe in
the ordinances, or some potions of the ordinances of the house of God.
Most of Christians believe in the breaking of bread, in blessing it
and partaking of it in remembrance of the broken body of our Savior;
also in taking the cup, consecrating it and then partaking of it, in
remembrance of his blood that was shed for the sins of the world. And
then take up the hundreds of different denominations and what a motley
mass we present in our faith, feelings, sympathies, judgment, passions
and conduct; man against man, priest against priest, people against
people. Now let the Christian denominations come here: "Yes, the
Latter-day Saints believe in taking the Sacrament, it is true, but
what a pity," say they. "They profess to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh dear! I wish they did! Yes, they seem to manifest great
confidence in the atonement, in the ordinances and commandments. I
wish they were a better people! What a pity it is that they are such
an outlawed, sin fill race of beings as they are! What a pity!!" "How
we Christians do pity the Latter-day Saints." Then again, how we
Latter-day Saints do pity the Christians! What a spectacle! And see
us, as Christians, warring with each other! What for? For our pure
faith, for our holy desires, for our great charity to each other, for
the love of Christ, for the salvation of the souls of the children of
men.

Vol. 15,  p.4
Now is not this a spectacle to present to angels? Why if the Lord
Almighty [p.2] was not beyond the conception of humanity in charity
and love, in mercy and longsuffering, in patience and kindness to his
creatures, where would we have been ere this? We would have been
weltering in his wrath, we would have been drinking his hot
displeasure. But he is more merciful than we are. I have thought a
great many times I was very thankful I was not the Lord Almighty. I
should be consuming my enemies. How I should contend against those who
hate me. I am glad Ism not the Lord. And to see the Latter-day Saints
here following the example of the Savior when he took his disciples
into an upper room, and bade some of them go and prepare to partake
supper with him the last time before his crucifixion. He took the
bread and blessed and brake. "Take and eat ye all of this, for this is
my body in the New Testament." He took the cup and blessed it; "Drink
ye all of this, for this is my blood in the New Testament." Here we
are doing the same to-day. What more? Do this until I come, for I will
neither eat nor drink any more with you in this capacity until I drink
anew with you in my father's kingdom on this earth. Will he do it?
Certainly he will. "Do this in remembrance of me until I come." We are
doing this to-day. Do not other Christians do the same? They do. How
do we Latter-day Saints feet towards them? Were we to yield to the
carnal passions of the natural man and we had the power of the
Almighty we would spew our enemies out of our mouths, yes, we would
hiss them from the face of human society for their evils, their
malice, for the revenge and wrath they have towards us. But we are not
the Almighty. I am glad of it. I am happy in the reflection that I
have not the power, and I hope and pray I may never possess it until I
can use it like a God, until I can wield it as our Father in heaven
wields it, with all that eternity of majesty, glory, charity, with his
judgment, discretion, and with every faculty of compassion. I am happy
in the reflection that I do not possess the power. I am glad you
elders do not, I am really glad you do not. Will he ever grant power
to his Saints on the earth? Yes, they will take the kingdom, and
possess it for ever and ever; but in the capacity they arc now, in the
condition that they now present themselves before God, before the
world and before each other? Never, never! until we are sanctified,
until we are filled with the wisdom of God, with the knowledge of God,
will he bequeath the power that be has in reserve for his Saints;
never will the Saints possess it until they are prepared to wield it
with all that judgment, discretion, wisdom and forbearance that the
Lord Almighty wields in his own capacity, and uses at his pleasure?
How do you feel about it, brethren? Do not you wish sometimes you had
power to pinch their ears? Do not you wish you had power to stop them
in their mad career? Let the Lord Almighty do this. You think his eve
is upon the work of his hands? It is. His ears are open to the prayers
of his children, he will hear their prayers, he will answer their
desires; and when we as a people possess the abundance of that
patience, that longsuffering and forbearance that we need, to possess
the privileges and the power that the Lord has in reserve for his
people, we will receive to our utmost satisfaction. We shall not have
it now. The Lord says, "I can not give it to you now." This church has
now been traveling over forty-two years—forty-two years the sixth day
of this month since it was organized with six members. What have we
[p.3] learned? We assembled in Missouri, at the place of gathering on
the borders of the Lamanites, and there we bought our farms and built
our houses; but could we stay there? Were we prepared then to enter
into Zion, to build up the Zion of God and possess it? We were not, we
must suffer. "You Latter-day Saints, you, my children," says the Lord,
"are not prepared to receive Zion." Why, we have heard detailed by
Elder Cartington the conduct of Elders at the present time, dishonest
in the matter of a few shillings or dollars. Dishonest, covetous,
selfish, grasping for that which is not our own; borrowing and not
paying; taking that which does not belong to us; dishonest in our
deal; oppressing each other. Are we fit for Zion? I say nothing to the
Christian world with regard to this. Let them bite and devour as much
as they please, it does not belong to the Latter-day Saints at least.
Could we stay in Independence? No, we could not. What was the reason?
Here are some hearing me talk who were there—some who are aged, some
here who were then children and infants, some who were born there. But
we stayed a very few years—two or three—and we must get up and march.
Why did we leave? Why the enemy is upon us, our enemies are gathered
around us, our foes are besetting us on every hand. There goes a house
burned up; there is a man that is whipped; there is a family turned
out of doors! What is the matter with all you Latter-day Saints? Can
the would see? No. Can the Saints see? No, or few of them can; and we
can say that the light of the Spirit upon the hearts and
understandings of some Latter-day Saints is like the peeping of the
stars through the broken shingles of the roof over our heads, when we
are watching through the silent watches of the night and behold the
glimmer of a twinkling star. "Oh yes, I see, I see, that we are not
prepared to receive the kingdom." Another one says, "Yes, I can see,
we were too selfish." Another one says, "I see, the wicked must be
prepared for their doom as well as the Saints for their exaltation,
and that the wicked are a rod in the hands of God to chasten the
Saints." Here are the two classes—the righteous and the unrighteous,
and the righteous must be prepared by suffering and by rendering
strict obedience to the commandments of heaven. It seems to be
absolutely necessary in the providence of Him who created us, and who
organized and fashioned all things according to his wisdom, that man
must descend below all things. It is written of the Savior in the
Bible that he descended below all things that he might ascend above
all. Is it not so with every man? Certainly it is. It is fit then that
we should descend below all things and come up gradually, and learn a
little now, and again, receive "line upon line, precept upon precept,
here a little and there a little." But hark, do the people hear it? Do
the people understand it? Scarcely! scarcely! Do the Latter-day Saints
understand these principles, and are we prepared to receive Zion? Are,
we prepared to receive the Kingdom and are we prepared for the
blessings that God has in reserve for his children? Stop, think,
consider, look around us! How is it? Are not the sordid things of this
life before our eyes, and have they not thrown a mist before them so
that we can not see? Are we not of the earth, and still earthy?
Certainly we areal the earth and still earthy. What do we know of
heavenly things? It is very true we have the Bible; but when we come
to our elders, men of limited education and moderate reading, [p.4]
they are able to teach the whole Christian world theology. Take them
from the anvil, from the plow, from the carpenter's bench, or from any
occupation, if they possess good common ability and the spirit of our
holy religion that God has revealed in these latter days, they
understand more of the Bible and the building lap of the Kingdom of
God than all the world besides that are destitute of the priesthood of
the Son of God. And yet what do we know? Comparatively we have hardly
learned the first lesson.

Vol. 15,  p.4
Could our brethren stay in Jackson County, Missouri? No, no. Why? They
had not learned "a" concerning Zion; and we have been traveling now
forty-two years, and have we learned our a, b, c? "Oh," say a good
many, "I think we have." Have we learned our a b ab? Have we got as
far as b a k e r, baker? Have we got through our first speller? Have
we learned multiplication? Do we understand anything with regard to
the building up of the kingdom? I will say, scarcely. Have we seen it
as a people? How long shall we travel, how long shall we live, how
long shall God wait; for us to sanctify ourselves and become one in
the Lord, in our actions and in our ways for the building up of the
kingdom of God that he can bless us? He defends us, it is very true,
and fights our battles. When we were driven from Missouri and had to
leave the State I recollect very well, Gov. Boggs said, "You must
leave;" Gen. Clark said, "You must leave;" the mob said, "You must
leave," and we had to leave. And after we had signed away our
property, I'd see a widow send up her little boy to brother
Such-a-one, "Will you let me go to your timber land and get a load of
wood for my mother?" "Tell your mother that I have got no more timber
than I shall want, I do not think I can spare her a load of wood." I
recollect very well of telling the Latter-day Saints, there and then,
"I hope to God that we never will have the privilege of stopping and
making ourselves rich while we grind the face of the poor; but let us
be driven from State to State until we can take what we have got and
dispose of it according to the dictation of the spirit of revelation
from the Lord. Said I, "You will not stay here;" but long faces would
come down, you know, with a gentle, mild scrowl, "I can't spare you a
load of wood." Excuse me. When are the Latter-day Saints going to be
prepared to receive the kingdom? Are we now? Not at all! We are
prepared for some things, and we receive just as fast as we prepare
ourselves. Well, what can we do, what more can we do? We can do just
what we please to do. It is in our power to do just what we please to
do with regard to sanctifying ourselves before the Lord, and preparing
ourselves to build up his kingdom: Have we not the liberty to build
this Temple here? We have, although earth and hell are opposed to it,
and arrayed against it. Have we not the privilege of preaching the
Gospel to the nations? We have. Have we not the privilege of uniting
our faith and our efforts for the benefit of the whole community? Yes,
we have.

Vol. 15,  p.4
Now come down, for example, to our present circumstances and
condition. Year after year, I labored with our merchants to unite
their efforts together to supply the wants of the people without
taking from them everything they had got; and when I assembled these
merchants some years before we entered into our present co-operative
institution in this mercantile trade, said I, "Will you unite your
efforts and your [p.5] means, and start a business here that we can
put goods into the hands of the people that we will not take their
last sixpence? Have a calico dress at forty cents a yard when it
should be only eighteen, twenty or twenty-two, and so on and so
forth." After a long conference one of the gentlemen present got up,
walked the room back and forward, and finally said, "President Young,
if you will furnish the money we will do as you say," as much as to
say, "it is none of your business what we do with the means that we
have." I dropped the conversation and said to myself. "Well then, gull
the people, take what they have got."

Vol. 15,  p.5
You recollect, a man here in the time of the Buchanan war by the name
of A. B. Miller. He was a merchant here for Russell and Majors. Our
people were not merchandising much then. Well, the merchants met
together and wanted to put up their goods to a certain notch, a dollar
a pound for sugar, for instance. This A. B. Miller—a gambler, though
there were a great really good things about him, he just turned in and
damned them. Says he, "Gentlemen, to turn in and cut the throats of
these 'Mormons,' and take what they have got, we might do, but for
being so damned mean as to ask a dollar a pound for sugar, I will not
do it."

Vol. 15,  p.5
Now then, is this co-operative institution one step towards bringing
the people to a union? Yes, but it is a very small one, and there is
danger of it growing into a condition that will cease to be one step
in the right direction. Let men say, "Here is what God has given me,
do what you please with it," and we shall be in the path of progress.
But how is it now? "Brother, have you paid any tithing? You have made
fifty thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, one thousand or five
hundred dollars as the case may be, have you paid any tithing?" "Well,
no I have not yet, but I think perhaps, I will by and by;" and this is
said with stammering tongue, faltering voice, and covetous heart. Wife
gave you your money and possessions? Who owns this earth? Does the
Devil? No, he does not, he pretended to own it when the Savior was
here, and promised it all to him if he would fall down and worship
him; but he did not own a foot of land, he only had possessed of it.
He was an intruder, and is still: this earth belongs to him that
framed and organized it, and it is expressly for his glory and the
possession of those who love and serve him and keep his commandments;
but the enemy has possession of it.

Vol. 15,  p.5
Now then, a few other items, brethren and sisters. Can you do anything
for the poor? "Well I do not know, but I can give you filly cents to
gather the poor." "Brother, can you pay that debt? You recollect you
borrowed some money of a widow woman in England. Do you recollect you
borrowed a little money of such a brother? Can you pay that?" "Well
yes, I am going to." You heard what Brother Carrington said about it,
what fellowship does the Lord Almighty have for such men? I think not
the least. What fellowship do angels have for such men? I should think
not much. What fellowship do I have for them? Not, one particle. What
ought to be done with them? I will answer the question—they ought to
be disfellowshipped by the Saints: they are not fellowshipped in the
heavens, and they ought not to be here.

Vol. 15,  p.5
"Well, now then, Brother Brigham, what are you at, what do you want?"
I want you to do just that which will displease the enemies of the
kingdom of God, and that which will please [p.6] the Lord Almighty and
the heavenly host to perfection. What is that? Do as you are counseled
to do by the spirit of revelation from the Lord. What is the cry
against us? "Brigham Young has too much influence! All the people
hearken to Brigham Young! All these poor deluded Latter-day Saints
take his counsel!" I wish it was so. If this were the fact you would
see Zion prosper upon the hills and upon the plains, in the valleys
and in the kanyons, and upon the mountains. Go to with your might,
seek unto the Lord your God until you have the revelations of the Lord
Jesus Christ upon you, until your minds are open, and the visions of
heaven are plain to you. Then follow the dictations of the spirit, and
watch Brother Brigham, and see if he counsels you wrong. I hope to see
the time when I can say to the Latter-day Saints, if I preside over
them, go and do this or that, and not ask a sixpence of this man or a
dollar from that, or a hundred dollars from another. "Here is what I
have, it is the Lord's. He has given me all that I possess, it is only
committed to my charge to see what I will do with it. The heavens are
his, the earth is his; the gold and silver are his, the wheat and fine
flour are his, the wine and the oil are his; the cattle upon a
thousand hills are his. I am his, I am his servant, let the Lord say
what the wants. Here I am, with all thou hast given me." How
displeasing this is to the devil is it not? I can not help it, this is
the true track and path for the Latter-day Saints to walk in. Walk up,
O ye Latter-day Saints, and wake up! Come to the Lord, forsake your
covetousness, your back-slidings, forsake the spirit of the world, and
return to the Lord with full purpose of heart until you get the spirit
of Christ within you, that you, like others, can cry," Abba Father,
the Lord he is God and I am his servant."

Vol. 15,  p.6
Do you think it would be difficult then for us to accomplish anything
we undertook? No. Very true the enemy, this potent foe that we have to
contend with, we know but little about him, very little; but he is
watching every avenue of the heart, rapping at every door and every
window, and if there is a crevice between the clapboards, through the
roof, or the brick or adobie wall, he throws a dart into the feelings
of each and every individual. "Take care, think for yourselves, judge
for yourselves; do not be led astray, do not you wander off after
these deluded people, and their delusion. Be careful, there is danger
in believing in the Lord, there is danger in being a Saint; there is
great danger in you yielding your judgment in another man." Oh, what a
pity! Where do you get your judgment? Where did it come from? What is
your judgment? I tell you that the judgment of the world now is pretty
much for all to do just as they please if they possibly can, to the
injury of their neighbors, for their own aggrandizement.

Vol. 15,  p.6
Can I not use my judgment in doing well just as much as in doing evil?
Am I not just as independent in performing a deed of charity as a deed
of cruelty? I contend that I am, what do you say? Have I not got my
liberty just as much, and exercise it just as freely, in feeding the
poor and clothing the naked as I have in turning them out of doors, or
in lifting myself up against God and his anointed? Has a man got to
apostatize from this kingdom, from the faith of Christ, to be
independent? Am I not as independent in believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ as I am in denying him? Am I not as independent in believing
the Gospel as I am in believing in the whisperings [p.7] and
mutterings of these spirits that are floating through the air, rapping
at everybody's door, sometimes tearing the clothes off their beds,
rapping, thundering and telling this, that and the other? You hearken
to that still small voice that whispers eternal truth, that opens the
visions of eternity to you that you can discern, understand and
follow, and the foul spirits that throng the air, and that fill our
houses if we let them in, will not have power over you.

Vol. 15,  p.7
Be just as independent as a God to do good. Love mercy, eschew evil,
be a savior to yourselves and to your families, and to your fellow
beings just as much as you possibly can, and go on with your
independence and do not yield yourselves servants to obey an evil
principle or an evil being.

Vol. 15,  p.7
God bless you. Amen.

Wilford Woodruff, April 6, 1872

His Testimony—the Fulfilling of Prophecy—Advice to Mothers

Discourse By Elder Wilford Woodruff, Delivered in the 
New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 6, 1872. 

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.7
Through the mercy and loving kindness of our Father in the heavens we
are again permitted to meet in a general conference of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Forty-two years ago this day this
church was organized with six members, by a prophet of the living God,
raised up in these last days by the administration of angels from God,
and ordained unto all the keys and powers of the Melchizedec
priesthood and apostleship, and of the kingdom of God on the earth.
According to the best knowledge we have, 1842 years ago to-day, the
Lord Jesus was crucified on Mount Calvary for the sins of the world.
The 6th day of April is a very important day in many respects. It has
certainly been very interesting to the Latter-day Saints to watch the
history and progress of this Church and kingdom during the last
forty-two years. This is one of the most important generations that
men, or God, or angels have ever seen on the earth: it is a
dispensation and generation when the whole flood of prophecy and
revelation and vision given through inspired men for the last six
thousand years is to have its fulfillment, and especially in relation
to the establishment of the great kingdom and Zion of God on the
earth. Joseph Smith was one of the greatest prophets God ever raised
up on the earth, and the Lord has had his eye upon him from the
foundation of the world. Any man who has ever read the book of Isaiah,
which we frequently have quoted to us, can see that he, with other
prophets, had his eye upon the latter-day Zion of God. He says in one
place, "Sing O heavens, rejoice O earth, break forth into singing, O
ye mountains,[p.8] for the Lord hath comforted his people, he will
have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said: The Lord hath forsaken
me, and my Lord hath forgotten me;" "Ah," says the Lord, "Can a woman
forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the
son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are
continually before me."

Vol. 15,  p.8
The Lord never created this world at random; he has never done any of
his work at random. The earth was created for certain purposes; and
one of these purposes was its final redemption, and the establishment
of his government and kingdom upon it in the latter days, to prepare
it for the reign of the lord Jesus Christ, whose right it is to reign.
That set time has come, that dispensation is before us, we are living
in the midst of it. It is before the Latter-day Saints, it is before
the world; whether or not the people have more faith in the promises
of God now than they had in the days of Noah makes no difference, the
unbelief of men will not make the truth of God without effect. The
great and mighty events that the Lord Almighty has decreed from before
the foundation of the world, to be performed in the latter days are
resting upon us, and they will follow each other in quick succession,
whether men believe or net, for no prophecy of Scripture is of any
private interpretation, but holy men of God spake as they were moved
upon by the Holy Ghost, and what they said will come to pass; though
the heaven and the earth pass away net one jot or tittle of the word
of the Lord will go unfulfilled.

Vol. 15,  p.8
Some of us have lived in and been intimately acquainted with this
church for the last forty years, a very few more than that, and some
less; but where is the Latter-day Saint or any other person who has
ever seen this church or kingdom go backward? No matter what position
we were in, whether exterminated by the order of Governor Boggs of
Missouri, or whether we lay, sick and afflicted, on the muddy banks of
the Missouri river; whether it was Zion's Camp going up for her
redemption; whether it was the pioneers coming to these mountains,
making the roads, building the bridges, killing the snakes and opening
the way for the gathering of the people, no matter what our
circumstances may have been, this kingdom has been onward and upward
all the day long until the present hour. Will it ever go backward? No,
it will not. This Zion of the Lord, in all its beauty, power and glory
is engraven upon the hands of Almighty God, and it is before his face
continually; his decrees are set and no man can turn them aside.

Vol. 15,  p.8
There never was a dispensation on the earth when prophets and
apostles, the inspiration, revelation and power of God, the holy
priesthood and the keys of the kingdom were needed more than they are
in this generation. There never has been a dispensation when the
friends of God and righteousness are among the children of men needed
more faith in the promises and prophecies than they do to-day; and
there certainly never has been a generation of people on the earth
that has had a greater work to perform than the inhabitants of the
earth in the latter days. That is one reason why this church and
kingdom has progressed from its commencement until to-day, in the
midst of all the opposition, oppression and warfare which have been
waged against it by men inspired by the evil one. If this had not been
the dispensation of the fulness of times—the dispensation [p.9] in
which God has declared that he will establish his kingdom on the earth
never more to be thrown down, the inhabitants of the earth would have
been enabled to overcome the kingdom and Zion of God in this as well
as in any former dispensation. But the set time has come to favor
Zion, and the Lord Almighty has decreed in the heavens that every
weapon formed against her shall be broken. And if we take the history
of any man, from the days Joseph Smith received the plates from the
hill Cumorah, and translated the Book of Mormon by the Urim and
Thummim, until to-day, whoever has raised his hand against this work
has tell the chastening hand of Almighty God upon him; and I am at the
defiance of the world to show me a president, governor, judge, ruler,
priest or anybody else on the earth who has taken a stand against this
kingdom who is an exception, and you may search their whole history.
We have outlived several generations of our persecutors. Where are the
men who tarred and leathered Joseph Smith in Portage County, Ohio?
Where are the men who drove this people from Kirtland? Where are the
men who drove the Church and kingdom from Jackson County, Missouri?
Where are the men who undertook to kidnap the prophet while in
Illinois? Where are they who drove the Latter-day Saints from Illinois
into these mountains? Trace their whole history and see for
yourselves. The fact is many of them are in their graves, awaiting
their final judgment. And in the whole history of this people and
their remarkable preservation, the invisible hand of God is as plainly
to be seen as it has been in the history of the Jews from the days of
Christ until now; and it will continue until this scene is wound up.

Vol. 15,  p.9
We are led by men who are filled with inspiration. Joseph Smith was a
man of God, through the loins of the ancient Joseph who, through the
wisdom which God gave him, redeemed his father's house after having
been sold by his brethren into Egypt. All the blessings that old
father Jacob pronounced upon Joseph and upon the sons of Ephraim, his
son and grandsons have rested upon them until this day. Joseph Smith
was through that lineage. In his youth he was inspired of God, and was
administered to by angels. Under their guidance and counsel he laid
the foundation of this work, and lived long enough to receive all the
keys necessary for bearing off this dispensation. He lived long enough
to have these individuals administer unto him—John the Baptist, Peter,
James and John the Apostles, Elisha and Elijah, who held the keys of
turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of
the children to the fathers; and Moroni, who held the keys of the
stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim to come forth in the latter
day, administered in person to Joseph Smith, and gave him these
records and instructed him in the things of God from time to time
until he was qualified and prepared to lay the foundation of this
work. The Prophet Joseph lived to see the Church organized with
apostles and prophets, patriarchs, pastors, teachers, helps,
governments, and all the gifts and graces of the spirit of God; to
give the Twelve Apostles their endowments and to seal upon their heads
all the authority and power that were necessary to enable them to
fulfil their missions. Why did the Lord take him away? He laid down
his life, and sealed his testimony with his blood that it might be in
three upon the heads of this generation, and that he might be [p.10]
crowned with crowns of glory, immortality and eternal life; that he
might go to the other side of the vail, and there organize the Church
and kingdom in this last dispensation. He and his two brothers were
taken away into the spirit world, and they are at work there, while
Brigham Young and the quorum of the Twelve were preserved on the earth
for a special purpose in the hands of God. These things are true, and
the hand of the Lord has been over Brigham Young, although now he is
under bonds and a prisoner, and has his privileges curtailed for the
word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Yet in the midst of all this
he is calm and composed before the Lord, and has his mind open to the
things of God. He still lives in the midst of this people and will
live as long as the Lord wishes him to remain in the flesh to guide
the affairs of Zion.

Vol. 15,  p.10
I will say to the Latter-day Saints that we have been more blessed in
this land than has any other dispensation or generation of men. The
Lord has been at work for the last three hundred years preparing this
land, with a government and constitution which would guarantee equal
rights and privileges to the inhabitants thereof, in the midst of
which he could establish his kingdom. The kingdom is established, the
work of God is manifest in the earth, the Saints have come up here
into the valleys of the mountains, and they are erecting the house of
God in the tops thereof, for the nations to flow unto. A standard of
truth has been lifted up to the people, and from the commencement of
this work the Latter-day Saints have been fulfilling that flood of
revelation and prophecy which was given formerly concerning this great
work in the last days. I rejoice in this, and also because we have
every reason to expect a continuation of these blessings unto Zion. We
have always had a vail over us, we have had to walk by faith all the
day long until the present time: this is the decree of God. When we
were driven from Jackson County, Clay County, Caldwell County,
Kirtland, and finally from Nauvoo into these mountains, we did not see
and understand what lay before us: there was a vail over our faces, in
a measure. It has been the same with the people of God in all ages. At
that time we could not see this tabernacle, and the five hundred miles
of villages, towns, cities, gardens, orchards, fields, or the desert
blossoming as the rose as we see them to-day. We came here and found a
barren desert: we were led hither by inspiration, by a law-giver, by a
man of God; the Lord was with him, he was with the pioneers. If we had
not come here we could not have fulfilled the prophecies which the
prophets have left on record in the stick of Judah as well as in the
stick of Ephraim—the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We have done that,
and we can look back twenty-four years and see the change that has
been effected since our arrival; but who can see the change that will
be effected in the next twenty-four years? No man can see it unless
the vision of his mind is opened by the power of God. The Lord told
Joseph Smith to lay the foundation of this work; he told him that the
day had come when the harvest was ready, and to thrust in the sickle
and reap; and every man who would do so was called of God and had this
privilege.

Vol. 15,  p.10
The Lord has sent forth the Gospel, and it is offered to the children
of men as it was in ancient days; men are required to have faith in
Jesus Christ, repent of their sins, and to be baptized for the
remission of them, and the promise is that they shall receive the Holy
Ghost, which [p.11] shall teach them the things of God, bring things
past to their remembrance, and show them things to come.

Vol. 15,  p.11
What principle has sustained the Elders of Israel for the last forty
years in their travels? They have gone forth without purse or scrip,
preached without money or price; they have swam rivers, waded swamps,
and traveled hundreds of thousands of miles on foot to bear record of
this work to the nations of the earth. What has sustained them? It has
been this power of God, this Holy Ghost, the spirit of inspiration
from the God of Israel that has been given to his friends on the earth
in these latter days. The blood of Israel has flowed in the veins of
the children of men, mixed among the Gentile nations, and when they
have heard the sound of the Gospel of Christ it has been like vivid
lightning to them; it has opened their understandings, enlarged their
minds, and enabled them to see the things of God. They have been born
of the Spirit, and then they could behold the kingdom of God; they
have been baptized in water and had hands laid upon them for the
reception of the Holy Ghost, and they have received that Holy Ghost
among every Gentile nation under heaven wherever the Gospel has been
permitted to be preached; and here they are to-day, from all those
nations, gathered in the valleys of the mountains. And this is but the
beginning; it is like a mustard seed, it is very small; but the little
one is to become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation. The
Lord will hasten it in his own time. Zion shall be called a "City
sought out." The Lord is watching over us.

Vol. 15,  p.11
I wish to say to the Latter-day Saints, we must not forget our
position, nor the blessings that we hope for. All that we expect, we
have got to inquire of the Lord for. Some of our brethren, as has been
said here, have suffered a little through the spirit of bigotry and
persecution that is in the world. I wonder many times there is not a
great deal more of it. the Lord Almighty is going to make a short work
in the earth; lest no flesh should be saved he will cut his work short
in righteousness. The Lord is putting his hook into the jaws of the
nations. He holds Great Babylon in his hands as well as Zion. He will
control the children of men; and, as the Lord God lives, if the
Latter-day Saints do their duty—live their religion and keep their
covenants, Zion will arise, put on her beautiful garments, be clothed
with the glory of God, have power in the earth, and the law will go
forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Then let our
prayers ascend into the ears of the Lord God of Sabbaoth, for he will
hear them, that the wisdom of the wise may perish and the
understanding of the prudent be hid. Our weapons are faith, prayer,
and confidence in God, for he is our friend if we have any, and we are
his if he has any on the face of the earth. The Lord will work with
us, and we should work with him; therefore, brethren, let us live by
faith, walk by faith, overcome by faith, so that we may enjoy the Holy
Spirit to guide and direct us. All the institutions pertaining to the
work of God in these latter days are going to progress, Zion is bound
to arise, and to arrive at that position in our great future that the
Prophets have seen by prophecy and revelation.

Vol. 15,  p.11
I want to say a few words to the sisters, who have been referred to
this morning—the Female Relief Societies. Our mothers, sisters, wives
and daughters occupy a very important position in this generation, far
[p.12] more so than they realize or understand. You are raising up
your sons and daughters as plants of renown in the house of Israel in
these latter-days. Upon the shoulders of you mothers rests, in a great
measure, the responsibility of correctly developing the mental and
moral powers of the rising generation, whether in infancy, childhood,
or still riper years. Your husbands—the fathers of your children, are
messengers to the nations of the earth, or they are engaged in
business, and can not be at home to attend to the children. No mother
in Israel should let a day pass over her head without teaching her
children to pray. You should pray yourselves, and teach your children
to do the same, and you should bring them up in this way, that when
you have passed away and they take your places in bearing off the
great work of God, they may have principles instilled into their minds
that will sustain them in time and in eternity. I have often said it
is the mother who forms the mind of the child. Take men anywhere, at
sea, sinking with their ship, dying in battle, lying down in death
almost under any circumstances, and the last thing they think of, the
last word they say, is "mother." Such is the influence of woman. Our
children should not be neglected; they should receive a proper
education in both spiritual and temporal things. That is the best
legacy any parents can leave to their children. We should teach them
to pray, find instil into their minds while young every correct
principle. Ninety-nine out of every hundred children who are taught by
their parents the principles of honesty and integrity, truth and
virtue, will observe them through life. Such principles will exalt any
people or nation who make them the rule of their conduct. Show me a
mother who prays, who has passed through the trials of life by prayer,
who has trusted in the Lord God of Israel in her trials and
difficulties, and her children will follow in the same path. These
things will not forsake them when they come to act in the kingdom of
God.

Vol. 15,  p.12
I want to say to our mothers in Israel, your children are approaching
a very important day and age of the world. In a few more years their
parents will pass away. We will go where our brethren have gone—to the
other side of the vail. Our children will remain and will possess this
kingdom when God's judgments await the nations of the earth, when war,
calamity, sword, fire, famine, pestilence and earthquake will stalk
abroad and distress the people. Our children should be prepared to
build up the kingdom of God. Then qualify them in the days of
childhood for the great duties they will be called upon to perform;
and that God may enable us to do so is my prayer for Christ's sake.
Amen.[p.13] 

George A. Smith, April, 7, 1872

Persecution—Missionaries—Emigration

Remarks By President George A. Smith, Delivered in the 
New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, April 7, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.13
We are again assembled this morning to continue the duties and
services of our Conference, and I am requested by President Young to
state that he is in the enjoyment of comfortable health and in
excellent spirits. He regrets very much the circumstances which render
it inexpedient for him to meet with you this morning, and hopes the
time may soon come when he will again enjoy theft privilege, also the
privilege of bearing testimony to the glorious work of the last days,
in the public congregation. He desires and appreciates the prayers and
faith of the Saints; he thinks that it is quite proper that any man
before he is thoroughly qualified to rule shall learn to be
ruled—that, he shall learn to obey before he learns to command. All
these lessons in their time and in their season are proper for us to
learn.

Vol. 15,  p.13
When we realize the malignity of the spirit of persecution which is
aimed at the Latter-day Saints in these valleys, we need not wonder
that we have to contend with vexatious lawsuits and with illegal and
unjustifiable prosecutions, for the influence of the pulpit and the
press when controlled by the spirit of lying is very great for evil,
but God is greater—his power is more omnipotent; and although
thousands of prophets, priests and wise men in the earth have been
compelled to lay down their lives for the cause of Zion, and for the
sake of the principles of the gospel of peace, and in doing so they
have acquired honors that could not be attained in any other way;
their reward is certain, eternal and sure.

Vol. 15,  p.13
I wish to call the attention of the elders who have been in years
past, on missions, to one important item of duty. It is well known
that our emigration annually brings some thousands of persons among
whom our missionaries have labored and with whom they are acquainted,
and among whom are many who still look to them for fatherly advice and
encouragement, but many of the elders who return immediately forget
that they have been missionaries. When they reach home they perhaps
find their affairs a little deranged, business having stopped in their
absence, money making or procuring the means of living having gone
rather behind hand, they drop right into a groove as it were to catch
up, and they forget their duties, and the people whom they have been
acquainted with and who have treated them with kindness and generosity
are also frequently forgotten and neglected. The emigrants come into
these valleys and fall perhaps under influences that are wrong and
wicked, for men inspired with a spirit of hostility to the [p.14] work
of God will take more pains to poison their minds than those who feel
all right do to give them correct information. I wish to say to all
such elders and to all the brethren, that when they get home their
mission is not consummated, and that when new comers arrive we should
take pains to look after their welfare, give them counsel and
instruction, aid and comfort, and realize that we are missionaries all
our lives, and that it is our duty to instruct such in the things of
the kingdom, to encourage them and set before them principles of
intelligence, such as will be for their benefit.

Vol. 15,  p.14
I wish further to say to the Elders and to the brethren who have
emigrated, that they should remember their friends they visited before
they came here, or when they were on missions in the old world.
Remember the poor family that went without their provision, perhaps,
to give you a feast, or the family that to make you warm and
comfortable gave up their beds to you, themselves enduring cold,
discomfort and inconvenience to do so; or the family that opened their
doors to shelter you from the storm when their neighbors hooted and
scouted them, as it were, for entertaining a stranger. You
missionaries in your experience have all met with such families, and
many of them are there yet without the means to get here. Perhaps they
have said to you, "Will you help me when you get home?" and you may
have given them a look of encouragement, a half promise, or expressed
a hope that you might be able to do so. Have you forgotten it? Perhaps
a little effort on your part and on the part of your neighbors might
bring these families to this country and place them in a position to
acquire lots, farms, and homes of their own, redeem them from thraldom
and bondage worse than slavery, and place them in a position of
independence on their own soil, enjoy the fruits of their own labors
and help to build up and develop the rising, spreading glory of Zion.

Vol. 15,  p.14
I have heard there is an Elder who, when on a mission borrowed some
money of a widow that had not means enough to get away, but had a
little she could spare until she could acquire enough to bring her
family here; and that Elder, peradventure, has forgotten to pay it. I
have heard there is such an Elder in Utah. Shame on him if there is!
Under such circumstances we should not only pay punctually and
faithfully what we owe, with good and reasonable interest, but all of
us European missionaries should be prepared to do something handsome
annually to help those from the bondage and thraldom in which we found
them, and where they must remain until means are obtained to deliver
them. I am calling now for the donation to the Perpetual Emigration
Fund. A hundred thousand Latter-day Saints in Utah, and can we riot
help a few thousand that yet remain in the old missions, and bring
them here? "Well," some may say, "they will apostatize if they come."
That is all right, they must have the privilege. I understand that we
have brought some men here with the Fund that have apostatized,
betrayed the Saints and done all in their power to stain their
garments in the blood of the prophets; but that is not our fault, it
is theirs. We should gather the Saints and they themselves are
responsible for the use they make of the blessings which God bestows
upon them, even if they come through our hands and exertions. Look at
the tens of thousands of families now in Utah in comfortable
circumstances with houses, farms, wagons, cattle [p.15] and horses of
their own, many of them with carriages, and these families taken by
the contributions of the Latter-day Saints from the most abject
servitude and poverty from the bowels of the earth, from within the
walls of factories, where but for this fund they must have remained
for their lives; but now they are in comparative independence and
enjoying the blessings of freemen.

Vol. 15,  p.15
After President Young returned from St. George for the purpose of
voluntarily placing himself in the custody of United States Officers,
as is well known, I received a letter from an eminent gentleman in the
State of Massachusetts, who said that the prosecution against him
could be nothing more nor less than a put-up job, and that the people
of the country understood it as such; "and the fact is," said he,
"Brigham Young has done more for the benefit of large bodies of people
than any other living man on the earth." That is true. By the
inspiration of Almighty God through his servant Brigham Young, this
Fund was organized, and he has been the President of it, and through
his energy and enterprise and the aid of the Latter-day Saints—his
friends—he has gathered tens of thousands that could never have owned
a rod of ground or a house as long as they lived, but would have been
at the mercy of employers who looked upon them only as a portion of
their property, and the question with them has been how much of this
man's labor can I get for the smallest pittance; but through the
exertions and counsels of President Young and his brethren they have
been delivered from this bondage and placed in comparative
independence. I say God bless such a man, (Congregation said Amen) and
God bless every man and every woman who will contribute to carry out
this glorious purpose.

Vol. 15,  p.15
I am very anxious to wake up the Elders to labor at home, to keep
alive in the hearts of the Saints the spirit of truth. While all those
who so desire are free to apostatize, it should not be for the want of
proper information, care and instruction, or in consequence of the
neglect of the Elders to do their duty. I exhort the Latter-day Saints
to unite in carrying on the work of gathering. A few years ago we
thought that we would gather them all. When we had raised what means
we could, and had expended it, we found the Elders were baptizing
about as fast as we were bringing the Saints away. That is all right.
Let us get the old and faithful Latter-day Saints away, and keep
baptizing all that desire to be baptized. In the Scandinavian Mission
the number of baptisms keep up, and some years a little more than keep
up, with the emigration. There are families from year to year that can
be brought away by a little assistance; they have part means, and only
need a little more to emigrate. I do think that the history of the
Perpetual Emigration Fund is a wonderful one. The Latter-day Saints in
Utah sent from here two hundred wagons one year, three hundred another
year, four hundred the next, arm for two years five hundred wagons
each year, each wagon having four yoke of oxen, or their equivalent in
mules and horses, and bore all the expenses consequent upon bringing
people across the Plains, bringing from one to four thousand persons a
season. This is certainly creditable, and it has been done through the
influence of Brigham Young and the united efforts of a free-hearted
and noble people. We have got a railroad now and do not have to send
the wagons; the business assumes another shape. The emigration is
brought here with less [p.16] labor and in less time, but with more
outlay.

Vol. 15,  p.16
I have now laid before you my views on the emigration of the poor
Saints from abroad. Consider upon and think about them. Make your
calculations, and feel in your pockets and contribute to help on the
work, and carry with you to all the settlements of the Saints a spirit
that shall bring home to Zion the brethren and sisters from abroad. In
that way the work can continue. May God bless all who aid in this
glorious work is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Brigham Young, April 28, 1872

His Imprisonment—Emigrating the Poor—the 
Use of Riches—Tithing

Remarks By President Brigham Young, Delivered in the 
New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, April 28, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.16
A word to the Latter-day Saints. Good morning. (Congregation
responded, "Good morning.") How do you do? (Congregation replied,
"Very well.") How is your faith this morning? ("Strong in the Lord,"
was the response.) How do you think I look after my long confinement?
(Congregation replied, "First rate.") I do not rise expecting to
preach a discourse or sermon, or to lengthen out remarks. I spoke a
few minutes yesterday in the school, but I found that it exhausted me
very soon. I will say a few words to you. The Gospel of the Son of God
is most precious. My faith is not weakened in the Gospel in the least.
I will answer a few of the questions that probably many would like to
ask of me. Many would like to know how I have felt the past winter,
and so much of the spring as is now past. I have enjoyed myself
exceedingly well. I have been blessed with an opportunity to rest; and
you who are acquainted with me and my public speaking can discern at
once, if you listen closely to my voice, it is weak to what it used to
be, and I required rest. I feel well in body and better in mind. I
have no complaint to make, no fault to find, no reflections to cast,
for all that has been done has been directed and overruled by the
wisdom of Him who knows all things.

Vol. 15,  p.16
As to my treatment through the winter, it has been very agreeable,
very kind. My associate, my companion in tribulation, I will say, has
acted the gentleman as much as any man could. I have not one word, one
lisp or beat of the heart to complain of him. He has been full of
kindness, thoughtful, never intruding, always ready to hearken and, I
think, in the future, will be perfectly willing to take the counsel of
his prisoner.[p.17] So much for Captain Isaac Evans. I will say this
to you, ladies and gentlemen, you who profess to understand true
etiquette, I have not seen a gentleman in my acquaintance that
possesses more of the real spirit of gentility, caution and of true
etiquette than Captain Evans. He has passed the window where I have
lodged through the winter every morning to his breakfast and every
afternoon; he has walked in the street in front of my office and on
the opposite side, and he has never yet been seen gazing and looking
at my buildings, or to see who was at the window, or even look at my
window. He has never looked into the second room in my office unless
invited there—never. Can you say that for other gentlemen? They are
very scarce; there are very few of them.

Vol. 15,  p.17
I have no reflections to cast upon these courts. How much power,
ability or opportunity would I have to possess, do you think, if all
were combined, to disgrace them as they have disgraced themselves? I
have neither the power nor the ability, consequently I have nothing to
say with regard to their conduct. It is before the world; it is before
the Heavens continually. The Lord has known the thoughts of the hearts
of the children of men, and he has overruled all for his glory, and
for the benefit of those who believe and obey the truth in Christ. I
will say this: when they started out with a writ for your humble
servant, and I had news of it before it was served, I told my brethren
that all their efforts would avail them nothing, and that they would
end in a grand fizzle. Do you think we have come to it? I think we
have.

Vol. 15,  p.17
Have you nothing to say, brother Brigham concerning the Supreme Court
of the United States? A few words. I am happy to learn that there are
yet men in our government who are too high-minded, too pure in their
thoughts and feelings to bow down to a sectarian prejudice, and to
hearken to the whinings and complaints of prejudiced priests, or those
who are wrapped up in the nutshell of sectarianism; men of honor,
nobility, judgment and discretion; men who look at things as they are
and judge according to the nature thereof without any discrimination
as to parties or people. I am thankful that this fact does exist. Have
they decided in favor of the Latter-day Saints? Yes. Why? Because the
Latter-day Saints are on the track of truth; they are for law, for
right, for justice, for mercy, for judgment and equity, consequently
they are for God. Would I admire the conduct of a jurist on the bench
who would decide for a Latter-day Saint if he were guilty? If he would
justify a Latter-day Saint and condemn a Methodist? No, I would
despise hint in my heart. I might look upon him with pity, it is very
true, and without malice, anger or bitterness, and pity him in his
ignorance; but if he was a man of knowledge and understanding I would
condemn him as quickly for justifying a Latter-day Saint, or one
called a Latter-day Saint, in evil, as I would a Methodist. And a man
who sits as President of the United States; as a Governor of a State
or Territory, or as a judge upon the bench, or a member of a
legislative assembly, who would reduce himself to the feelings, and
narrow contracted views of partyism, is not fit for the place. As I
said before a gentleman here, I think it was last summer, who was
stamp-speeching through the country and proclaiming his right to the
Presidency "He that most desires an office is the least fit for it."
Perhaps I made a mistake in that declaration, for though on general
principles it is true, it may not be true in every case. Some may
[p.18] desire an office for the sake of the good work that they
perform, seeing that others have abused it. This is as much as I wish
to say upon these subjects.

Vol. 15,  p.18
As I shall probably desire to speak a little in the afternoon, I shall
soon bring my remarks to a close. I will say a few words with regard
to the Perpetual Emigration Fund. Perhaps you have bad a good deal
said to you in the course of this Conference concerning gathering the
poor, but if you have I have not learned it. I have not heard of any
man coming forward and putting down his name for a thousand or two
thousand dollars. At the commencement of the Conference I donated two
thousand dollars for the gathering of the poor, but I have not heard
of anybody adding another figure to mine or placing one under it. How
is it? It is very true we gather the Saints; and when they get here
and gather around them the comforts of life, and become the possessors
of a little wealth, the spirit of the world enters into a few of them
to that degree that it crowds out the Spirit of the Gospel. They
forget their God and their covenants, and turn to the beggarly
elements of the world, seek for its riches and finally leave the
faith. But we had better gather nine that are unworthy than to neglect
the tenth if he is worthy. If they come here, apostatize and turn our
enemies, they are in the hands of God, and what they do will be to
them everlasting life or everlasting condemnation. For the good, for
the wise, or for the froward and the ungodly, it is our duty to do all
we can. It is our duty to preach the Gospel to the nations of the
earth, to gather up the pure in heart, and to lend a helping hand to
the poor and needy; to instruct, guide and direct them, and when they
are gathered together to teach them how to live, how to serve their
God, how to gather around them the comforts of lifes, and glorify
their Father in heaven in the enjoyment of the same.

Vol. 15,  p.18
When I cast my eyes upon the inhabitants of the earth and see the
weakness, inability, the shortsightedness, and I may say, the height
of folly in the hearts of the kings, rulers, and the great, and those
who should be wise and good and noble; when I see them grovelling in
the dust; longing, craving, desiring, contending for the things of
this life, I think, O foolish men, to set your hearts on the things of
this life! To-day they are seeking after the honors and glories of the
world, and by the time the sun is hidden by the western mountains the
breath is gone out of their nostrils, they sink to their mother earth.
Where are their riches then? Gone for ever. As Job says, "Naked I came
into the world." Destitute and forlorn, they have to travel a path
that is untried and unknown to them, and wend their way into the
spirit world. They know not where they are going nor for what. The
designs of the Creater are hidden from their eyes; darkness,
ignorance, mourning and groaning take hold of them and they pass into
eternity. And this is the end of them concerning this life as far as
they know. A man or a woman who places the wealth of this world and
the things of time in the scales against the things of God and the
wisdom of eternity, has no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no heart to
understand. What are riches for? For blessings, to do good. Then let
us dispense that which the Lord gives us to the best possible use for
the building up of his kingdom, for the promotion of the truth on the
earth, that we may see and enjoy the blessings of the Zion of God here
upon this earth. I look around among the world of mankind and see them
grabbing, scrambling, contending, and every one seeking to [p.19]
aggrandize himself, and to accomplish his own individual purposes,
passing the community by, walking upon the heads of his neighbors—all
are seeking, planning, contriving in their wakeful hours, and when
asleep dreaming," How can I get the advantage of my neighbor? How can
I spoil him, that I may ascend the ladder of fame?" That is entirely a
mistaken idea. You see that nobleman seeking the benefit of all around
him, trying to bring, we will say, his servants, if you please, his
tenants, to his knowledge, to like blessings that he enjoys, to
dispense his wisdom and talents among them and to make them equal with
himself. As they ascend and increase, so does he, and he is in the
advance. All eyes are upon that king or that nobleman, and the
feelings of those around him are: "God bless him! How I love him! How
I delight in him! He seeks to bless and to fill me with joy, to crown
my labors with success, to give me comfort, that I may enjoy the world
as well as himself." But the man who seeks honor and glory at the
expense of his fellow-men is not worthy of the society of the
intelligent.

Vol. 15,  p.19
Now, a few words to my friends here—my colleagues the lawyers, and
others. I gave a little counsel here, I think it is a year ago this
last sixth of April, for the people of this Territory and through
these mountains not to go to law, but to arbitrate their cases. I will
ask if they do not think they would have saved a good deal of money in
their pockets if they had taken this counsel? And to see our streets
lined with lawyers as they are! Why they are as thick as grogshops
used to be in California. What is the business of a lawyer? It is the
case with too many to keep what they have got, and to gatheraround
them wealth, to heap it up, but to do as little as possible for it; to
give a little counsel here, and a little counsel there. What for? To
keep their victims in bondage. Say they: "Let us stick to him as long
as he has a dollar in his pocket."

Vol. 15,  p.19
I will tell you a story. A man was going to market, a pretty wicked
swearing man, with his cart full of apples. He was going up hill, and
the hindbeard as the Yankees call it—the Westerners call it the
hindgate, slipped out of his cart, and his apples rolled down the
hill. He stopped his team and looked at the apples as they rolled down
the hill, and said he, "I would swear if I could do justice to the
case, but as I can not I will not swear a word." I will not say a word
more than to class dishonorable lawyers with other dishonest men.

Vol. 15,  p.19
Now what are the facts? Why this world is before us. The gold, silver
and precious stones are in the mountains, in the rivers, in the
plains, in the sands and in the waters, they all belong to this world,
and you and I belong to this world. Is there enough to make each of us
a finger ring? Certainly there is. Is there enough to make us a breast
pin? Certainly there is. Is there enough to make jewelry for the
ladies to set their diamonds and precious stones in? Certainly there
is. Is there enough to make the silver plate, the spoons, platters,
plates and knives and forks? There is. Is there enough to make the
goblets to drink out of? There is. There is plenty if we want to make
the wine casks of gold, there is plenty of it in the earth for all
these purposes. Then what on earth are you and I quarrelling about it
for? Go to work systematically and take it from the mountains, and put
it to the use that we want it, without contending against each other,
and filching the pockets of each other. The world is full of it. If it
goes from my pocket it is still in the world, it still belongs to this
little ball, this little speck in God's creation, so small that from
the sun I expect you would [p.20] have to have a telescope that would
magnify millions of times almost to see it; and from any of the fixed
stars I do not expect that it has ever been seen only by the
celestials—mortals could not see this earth at that distance. And here
people are contending, quarrelling, seeking how to get the advantage
of each other, and how to get all the wealth there is in the world;
wanting to rule nations, wanting to be president, king or ruler. What
would they do if they were? Most of them would make everybody around
them miserable, that is what they would do. There are very few men on
the earth who try to make people happy. Occasionally there have been
emperors and monarchs who have made their people happy but they have
been very rare. But suppose we go to work to gather up all that there
is in the bosom and upon the surface of our mother earth and bring it
into use, is there any lack? There is not, there is enough for all.
Then do look at these things as they are, Latter-day Saints, and you
who are not Latter-day Saints, look at things as they are. And I do
hope and pray for your sakes, outsiders, and for the sakes of those
who profess to be Latter-day Saints, that we shall have good peace for
a time here, so that we can build our furnaces, open our mines, make
our railroads, till the soil, follow our mercantile business
uninterrupted; that we may attend to the business of beautifying the
earth. I see around me a few of my neighbors who are beautifying their
gardens. How beautiful! There is one herein the Seventh Ward—Mr.
Hussey's, I never drive out but I want to drive by it. How much better
that looks than it would Be for him to quarrel with his neighbors!
Beautify your gardens, your houses, your farms; beautify the city.
This will make us happy, and produce plenty. The earth is a good
earth, the elements are good if we will use them for our own benefit,
in truth and righteousness. Then let us be content, and go to with our
mights to make ourselves healthy, wealthy, and beautiful, and preserve
ourselves in the best possible manner, and live just as long as we
can, and do all the good we can.

Vol. 15,  p.20
Now, brethren and sisters and friends, I have said a few words about
lawyers; but; I could pick up other classes of men just as bad, and we
can find fault with all. Let us be honest, let us be upright, full of
charity one toward another; and live as agreeably as we possibly can
here on this earth that the Lord has given to man to cultivate and
improve for his own benefit, and to prepare it for an everlasting
inheritance. There is a great deal before us, and it is for us to live
so that we will be able to perform our part well in this great work.
And I say to the Latter-day Saints, it is for you to put forth your
hands this season in emigrating the poor. We will receive any amount.
If it is not more than a hundred dollars or so, we will be willing to
receive it. Talk about this people being poor, why we will get so rich
by and by that we will refuse to pay our taxes; we have got so rich
now that we cannot pay our tithing. The rich do not pretend to pay any
tithing, or but very few of them. I think I have mentioned one fact
with regard to our merchants. A few years ago in the other tabernacle,
I said that our merchants who lived on the business part of East
Temple street and professed to be Latter-day Saints, if they were not
very careful, would deny the faith and be damned, and it would be by
the skin of their teeth if they ever got into heaven. How is it with
the rest of us? About the same. No matter about this. But here is one
of our merchants—William Jennings—about whom a great many have remarks
[p.21] to make. Well, it is no matter about his trade. I want to say
to the rest of the merchants that he has paid a good many thousand
dollars tithing, more than all the rest of them put together. That is
for William Jennings. We are paying our tithing in the Co-operative, I
would not consent to go into the business on any other terms only that
the tithing should be paid on all we made. But the other merchants, if
they pay tithing on what they make it has to come hereafter, for they
have never done it yet; and I think the more they make the less
tithing they pay. But you are welcome to give something to the poor;
if you will help us a little with regard to the emigration we will be
very much obliged to you, but you will have to trust in God for the
future blessings.

Vol. 15,  p.21
God bless you, Amen.

John Taylor, April 7, 1872

Revelation—Former and Latter-Day Dispensations—the 
Sure Triumph of the Cause of Zion

Discourse By Elder John Taylor, Delivered in the New 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, April 7, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans.)

Vol. 15,  p.21
We are again met, in our Annual Conference, for the purpose of hearing
the words of life, and of being instructed in the various duties and
responsibilities that rest upon us, and that we, as Latter-day Saints,
may be taught principles pertaining to our holy faith, and be
instructed in the duties devolving upon us in the various positions
that we occupy; that by a unity of faith, purpose and action, we may
be able to accomplish something that will promote truth, advance the
interests of Zion and the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the
earth.

Vol. 15,  p.21
We are told that it is not in man to direct his steps, and we stand
here in a peculiar position under the guidance and direction of the
Almighty. The Lord has seen fit to reveal unto us the everlasting
Gospel, and we have been enabled, by the grace of God, to appreciate
that message of life which he has communicated unto us, and we have
been gathered from the nations of the earth under the influences and
auspices of that Gospel. We are gathered here for the accomplishment
of certain objects relative both to ourselves and others, the great
leading principle of which is—to help to fulfil the designs that
existed in the mind of the Almighty before the world was, relative to
the earth and humanity; and I presume that that exhortation which was
made eighteen hundred years ago to certain Saints, would be just as
applicable to us to-day as it was to them. They [p.22] were exhorted
to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints."
That, no doubt, sounded very strange to them in that day and age of
the world; they had had Jesus among them, he had preached his Gospel
unto them; the light of eternal truth had been made manifest, and they
had participated in the blessings of the Gospel; and yet, under these
peculiar circumstances, blessed, as it were, with the light of
revelation, with Apostles in their midst, with a complete Church
organization, with everything that was calculated to enlighten,
instruct and lead them on in the path of righteousness, they were told
to contend earnestly for that faith once delivered to the Saints.

Vol. 15,  p.22
It seems that in the different ages of the world in the past, there
has existed, as there does to-day, a species of self-righteousness,
self-complacence, a reliance upon the wisdom, intelligence and virtue
of man. In that day the Scribes and Pharisees, the lawyers and
doctors, the great Sanhedrim, the pious men, thought they were the
peculiar elect of God, and that wisdom would die with them. Jesus came
among them and told them very many unpalatable truths; among others,
that they were "whited walls and painted sepulchres; that they
appeared fair on the outside, but inwardly there was nothing but
rottenness and dead men's bones." He told them that for a pretence
they made long prayers; not that they had any reference to God at all,
for God had very little to do with them. They did it, he told them, in
order that "they might be heard of men." They made broad their
philacteries, (that is a species of writing which they bound on all
their garments,) with certain passages of Scripture. They made them
very broad, that they might he considered extra pure, virtuous and
holy. Jesus called these very pure, holy, virtuous people, painted
sepulchres.

Vol. 15,  p.22
But there is something else associated with these matters very
peculiar. Jesus taught the principles of life and salvation—the
everlasting Gospel. He introduced men into the kingdom of God; he
organized a pure Church, based upon correct principles, according to
the order of God. Men were baptized into that Church; they had hands
laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and they received
it. They had among them Apostles and Prophets, Pastors and Teachers,
Evangelists and inspired men. The Church enjoyed among themselves the
gift of tongues, visions, prophecy; the sick were healed, the blind
received their sight, the deaf heard, and the lame leaped for joy; the
visions of heaven were unfolded to their view, and they had a
knowledge of many things pertaining to eternity; and yet, with all
their light, intelligence and blessings, with all their Apostles, with
the fulness of the Gospel in their midst, they were advised to contend
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints. The Lord has
revealed to us many blessings, and I sometimes think that we hardly
appreciate the light of truth which has been developed, the glory that
is connected with the Gospel which has been restored, the light of
revelation which has been communicated, the position that we occupy in
relation to God, angels, our posterity and our progenitors, the hope
that the Gospel has implanted in the bosom of every faithful
Latter-day Saint, which blooms with immortality and eternal life; and
sometimes, when exposed to the various trials with which we are
encompassed, to the opprobrium and reproach frequently heaped upon us
by ignorant and evil disposed persons, [p.23] some of us, perhaps,
think that our religion is something like that with which we are
surrounded. We sometimes forget our prayers, responsibilities, duties
and covenants, and we give way in many instances to things which have
a tendency to darken the mind, becloud the understanding, weaken our
faith, and deprive us of the Spirit of God. We forget the pit whence
we were dug, and the rock from which we were hewn, and it is necessary
that we should reflect on the position that we occupy, upon the
relationship we sustain to God, to each other and to our families,
that our minds may be drawn back again to the God who made us—our
Father in the heavens, who hears our prayers, and who is ready at all
times to supply the wants of his faithful Saints. And it is sometimes
necessary that we should reflect upon the position we hold in relation
to the earth on which we live, to the existence that we had before we
came here, and to the eternities to come. We should not be sluggish
and dull and careless and indifferent; but as the ancient Saints were
exhorted, so let us exhort you to-day—contend earnestly for the faith
once delivered to the Saints.

Vol. 15,  p.23
The religion of the everlasting gospel did not originate with any man
or any set of men. It is wide as the world and originated with the
Great Eloheim. It is a plan ordained by him before the world was for
the salvation and redemption of the human family. It is a thing that
men, in various dispensations, under the influence and inspiration of
the Almighty, have possessed more or less; and it is to that that we
are indebted for all the knowledge, and the light, and all the
intelligence in relation to eternity. The gospel which you have
received you received not of man, neither by man, but on the same
principle as they received it in former days—by the revelation of
Jesus Christ, by the communication of God to man, and any religion
that has not this for its foundation amounts to nothing, and any
superstructure built upon any other foundation will fade and vanish
away like the baseless fabric of a vision, and leave not a wreck
behind.

Vol. 15,  p.23
One of old in speaking of these things said: If any man build with
wood, or hay, or stubble, or anything perishable, the day would come
when it would be burned up and there would be left neither root nor
branch. But we, as eternal beings, associated with an eternal God,
having a religion that leads to that God, are desirous, as the
ancients were, to know something about him, to be brought into
communication with him, to fulfil the measure of our creation and our
destiny on the earth, and to help the Lord to bring to pass those
things that he designed from before the foundation of the world, in
regard to the human family. God has designed to redeem the earth
whereon we live. Mankind were placed on this earth for a certain
purpose, and however erratic, foolish and visionary the course of man
may have been, the Almighty has never altered his purpose, never
changed his designs nor abrogated his laws; but with one steady,
undeviating course from the time the morning stars first sang together
for joy, until the earth shall be redeemed from under the curse and
every creature in heaven and on the earth shall be heard to say:
"Blessing and glory, honor and power, might, majesty and dominion be
ascribed unto Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb for ever;"
and throughout all the successive ages that have been and that will
be, his course is one eternal round. He has had one object in view,
and that [p.24] object will be accomplished in regard to man and tide
earth whereon he lives. The only question with us is whether we will
co-operate with God, or whether we will individually work out our own
salvation or not; whether we will individually fulfil the various
responsibilities that devolve upon us or not; whether we will attend
to the ordinances that God has introduced or not; for ourselves to
begin with, for our families, for the living and for the dead. Whether
we will co-operate in building temples and administering in them;
whether we will unite with the Almighty, under the direction of his
holy priesthood, in bringing to pass things that have been spoken of
by the holy prophets since the world was; whether we will contend
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints. These things
rest with us to a certain extent. God has communicated to the
Latter-day Saints principles that the world are ignorant of, and being
ignorant of them they know not how to appreciate our feelings. They
call good evil, light darkness, error truth, and truth error, because
they have not the means of seeing the difference between one and the
other. "But you are a chosen people, a royal generation, a holy
priesthood," separate and set apart by the Almighty for the
accomplishment of his purposes. God has ordained among you presidents,
apostles, prophets, high priests, seventies, bishops and other
authorities; they are of his appointment, empowered and directed by
him, under his influence, teaching his law, unfolding the principles
of life, and are organized and ordained expressly to lead the people
in the path of exaltation and eternal glory. The world know nothing
about these things—we are not talking to them to-day, they can not
comprehend them. Their religion teaches them nothing about any such
things—they are simply a phantasm to them. They have not any
revelation, they do not profess it. All that they have is their Bible
given by ancient men of God, who spoke as they were moved upon by the
Holy Ghost. They repudiate the Holy Ghost, not in name, but in
reality. Many of them are very sincere; we give them credit for that.
That is all right, but they do not understand our principles, views,
or ideas. They could not do as we have done; they could not trust in
God as our Elders do. Their ideas are more material. Ask any of them
to go to the ends of the earth, as these Elders have done, without
purse or scrip, trusting in God, would they do it? No, they would not,
they would see the gospel damned first, and then they would not. They
do not understand the principle by which we are actuated, we have done
it and we will do it again, and we will keep doing it; we believe in a
living God, in a living religion, in the living, vital, eternal
principles which God has communicated; this is the reason why we act
as we do, why we talk and believe as we do. Men are not supposed to
understand our principles. The Scripture says that no man knows the
things of God but by the Spirit of God. And how are they to get that?
Just as you got it. And how was that? By repenting of your sins, being
baptized in the name of Jesus for their remission; by having hands
laid upon you by those having authority for the reception of the Holy
Ghost. This is the way God appointed in former days, this is the way
he has appointed in our day.

Vol. 15,  p.24
And what brought you here? Why the light of revelation—the light of
truth, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the power of God. That is what
brought you here. The Gospel you [p.25] received you received not of
men, but by the revelations of Jesus Christ; and consequently how can
men outside comprehend these things? They can not do it, it is beyond
their reach. They can reason on natural principles; they have their
own peculiar ideas, but they cannot comprehend the Latter-day Saints.
"Mormonism" is an enigma to the world. Why, the United States have
been trying to solve the problem of "Mormonism" for years and years;
but with all their sagacity and intelligence they have not made it out
yet; and they never will. Philosophy can not comprehend it; it is
beyond the reach of natural philosophy. It is the philosophy of
heaven, it is the revelation of God to man. It is philosophical, but
it is heavenly philosophy, and beyond the ken of human judgment,
beyond the reach of human intelligence. They cannot grasp it, it is as
high as heaven, what can they know about it? It is deeper than hell,
they cannot fathom it. It is as wide as the universe, it extends over
all creation. it goes back into eternity and forward into eternity. It
associates with the past, present and future; it is connected with
time and eternity, with men, angels, and Gods, with beings that were,
that are and that are to come.

Vol. 15,  p.25
The Saints of God in all ages had the kind of faith that we have
to-day. You Latter-day Saints know it, but other men do not. They will
talk about their nonsence, their ideas and theories, and call it the
religion of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, I am quite
willing they should enjoy their notions. It is all right; we would not
interfere with them if we could. Our feelings in regard to that are
just the same as the Lord's. And what are his? His ideas are not bound
in a nutshell, there is nothing contracted about the Almighty. He
makes his sun shine on the evil and on the good; he sends his rain on
the just and on the unjust. He is liberal, free, generous,
philanthropic, full of benevolence and kindness to the human family,
and he hopes and desires that all men may be saved, and he will save
them all as far as they are capable of being saved. But he desires
that his people shall contend earnestly for the faith once delivered
to the Saints, that as immortal beings they may act in unison with the
Almighty, that they may be inspired by the principle of revelation;
that they should comprehend something of their dignity and manhood; of
their relationship to eternity, to the world that we live in as it is
and as it will be, and to the worlds that are to come. The Lord has no
such idea as some of these narrow, contracted sectarian people have
that we read of. They remind me of a prayer of a man I once heard of,
who in his prayer said: "Lord bless me and my wife, my son John and
his wife, us four and no more, amen." I do not believe in any such
thing as that. I think the world on which we live was organized for a
certain purpose. I think that man was made for a certain purpose, and
so do you as Latter-day Saints. We think that the spirit of man,
possessing a body, will through the medium of the everlasting Gospel,
be exalted; and that man, inasmuch as he is faithful, will, by and by,
be associated with the Gods in the eternal worlds; and while we plant
and sow and reap, and pursue the common avocations of life, as other
men do, our main object is eternal lives and exaltations; our main
object is to prepare ourselves, our posterity and our progenitors for
thrones, principalities and powers in the eternal worlds.

Vol. 15,  p.26
This is what we are after, and what the ancient Saints were after.
This [p.26] is what Adam, Noah, Enoch, Abraham and the Prophets were
after, that they might fulfil their destiny on the earth, and, as one
of the old Prophets said, "stand in their lot in the end of days,"
when the books should be opened, when the great white throne should
appear and he who sits upon it, before whose face the heavens and the
earth fled away; that we and they, and they and we might be prepared,
having fulfilled the measure of our creation on the earth, to
associate with the intelligences that exist in the eternal worlds; be
admitted again to the presence of our Father, whence we came, and
participate in those eternal realities which mankind, without
revelation, know nothing about. We are here for that purpose; we left
our homes for that purpose; we came here for that purpose; we are
building temples for that purpose; we are receiving endowments for
that purpose; we are making covenants for that purpose; we are
administering for the living and the dead for that purpose, and all
our objects, and all our aims, like the object and aim of inspired men
in former days, are altogether with reference to eternal realities as
well as to time. We have a Zion to build up, and we shall build it. We
shall build it. WE SHALL BUILD IT. No power can stop it. God has
established his kingdom, it is in his hands, and no influence, no
power, no combination of whatever kind it may be can stop the progress
of the work of God. You Latter-day Saints know very well that you have
not received a cunningly devised fable, concocted by the wisdom,
ingenuity, talent or caprice of man. All of you who comprehend the
Gospel comprehend this; you all, male and female, if you are living
your religion, know this. Men of old knew it as well as you; and by
and by we expect to live and associate with them, with Patriarchs,
Prophets and men of God, who had faith in him, the accomplishment of
his purposes in former times, and we are contending for the faith
which they possessed. For instance old Moses and Elias, you know, came
to Peter, James, John and Jesus while they were on the mount. They did
not think they were very old fogies that it was not worth while to
listen to; but said they, "Let us make three tabernacles, one for
thee, one for Moses and and one for Elias. It is good to be here, why
here is old Moses, and old Elias." Who was Moses? A man who had the
ancient Gospel in former times. Who was Elias? A man who had the
ancient Gospel in former times. They came and administered unto Jesus,
and his Apostles would have liked to stay with them for ever. But they
could not do it at that time.

Vol. 15,  p.26
Then again we read of John on the Isle of Patmos. You know he was in
vision, and the Lord revealed unto him many great things, and there
was a personage appeared, one of the old Prophets that used to be led
around probably by a marshal. John thought he was an angel, and he was
about to fall down and worship him after he had unfolded to him the
glories of eternity. "But," says he, "do not do it." "Why?" "Because I
am one of thy fellow-servants, the Prophets; I am one of those old
fellows that used to have to wander about in my day in sheepskins and
goatskins. The priests, hypocrites, &c., of that day persecuted me;
but now I am exalted, and have come to minister unto you John."

Vol. 15,  p.26
While the world was wrapped in superstition, ignorance and darkness,
the angels of God came and ministered to Joseph Smith, and unfolded to
him the purposes of God and made [p.27] known his designs. Joseph told
it to the people, and through this means you are gathered together as
you are to-day. What did men, the best of them, know about the Gospel,
or about Apostles or Prophets, when the Prophet Joseph made his
appearance? Nothing at all, and yet there have been good men. Old John
Wesley, for instance, in his day, was very anxious to see something of
this kind, but he could not see it. Says he—

Vol. 15,  p.27
"From chosen Abraham's seed,
The old apostles choose,
O'er isles and continents to spread
The dead reviving news."

Vol. 15,  p.27
He would have been glad to see something of that kind, but he could
not. It was reserved for Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints; it
was reserved for our day. Well, then, what will we do? Fulfil the
measure of our creation; go to work and redeem those men who had not
the Gospel, be baptized for them, as the Scriptures fell us, and bring
them up, for they without us can not be made perfect, neither can we
be made perfect without them. And we will fulfil and accomplish the
purposes of God, and bring to pass the things which were spoken of by
the Prophets.

Vol. 15,  p.27
This is what we are after, and we shall accomplish it, and no man can
stop it, no organization, no power, no authority, for God is at the
helm, and his kingdom is onward, onward, onward, and it will continue,
and grow and increase until the kingdoms of this world shall become
the kingdoms of our God and his Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.27
May God help us to be faithful, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

George A. Smith, May 19, 1872

Patriarchal Marriage—the Settlement of Utah

Discourse By President George A. Smith, Delivered in the New 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, May 19, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.27
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We
will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel: only let us be called
by thy name to take away our reproach.

Vol. 15,  p.27
In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious,
and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that
are escaped of Israel.

Vol. 15,  p.27
And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that
remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is
written among the living in Jerusalem.

Vol. 15,  p.27
The portion of the prophecy of Isaiah which I have read indicates that
at a certain day and under certain circumstances, spoken of by the
Prophet as being holy, seven women would claim to be called by the
name of one man. Most of us have a different opinion with regard to
the application of this prophecy. God inspired the Prophet, and it
might be necessary, peradventure, to inquire what it all means. Seven
women [p.28] are to lay hold of one man, saying, "We will eat our own
bread and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name, to
take away our reproach." What is the meaning of this last sentiment?
We will let the Bible explain it. You remember that when Rachel, the
second wife of Jacob, the father of the tribes of Israel, found
herself barren, while the other wives of her husband were bearing
children, she prayed to the Lord that he, in his abundant mercy, would
give her children, and when God heard her prayer and worked a miracle
in her favor, causing her who was barren to become fruitful and bring
forth a child, she said, God had taken away her reproach. This
illustrates the meaning of the text. I did not make the prophecy,
neither had I anything to do with making the history of Rachel, or
even chronicling the event named.

Vol. 15,  p.28
In relation to Father Jacob, it is true he had four wives, and they
bore him twelve sons, and their descendants are the twelve tribes of
Israel. We are told by the Apostle John that the names of Jacob's
twelve sons—the sons of a polygamist and his four wives—will be
written upon the gates of the holy Jerusalem; and there are none of us
who expect to enter in through those gates but will have to
acknowledge the truth of that doctrine. It is true that the principle
of plurality of wives was adopted by the Church of Latter-day Saints
in consequence of the revelation and commandment which God gave to
Joseph Smith, and which, through him, were laid upon the heads of this
people; and we quote the passages that we do quote, in relation to the
principle of celestial marriage from the Old and New Testament, to
prove that God is consistent with himself; that if he revealed to his
Saints in the last days, the doctrine of plurality of wives, it was in
fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah and others of the Prophets, and
in accordance with the example which was set by Abraham, Jacob, Moses,
and by holy men of ancient days.

Vol. 15,  p.28
In relation to the word "reproach" in our text, I will make another
reference. In the first chapter of Luke's Gospel, verses 23 and 24, we
find Elizabeth rejoicing because God had taken away her reproach. She
though she had been barren, became the mother of John the Baptist.

Vol. 15,  p.28
These passages tell in so many plain words why it was that seven women
wished to be called by the name of one man—it was that they might have
the privilege of bearing children.

Vol. 15,  p.28
Now, if God brings to pass this prophecy in the glorious day which our
text speaks of, when holiness and righteousness are to rule, and when
truth is to have dominion, and peace dwell in the earth, although all
the world may have been opposed to it, we can not be responsible.
Until some person can find a passage in the Old or New Testament that
definitely forbids a plurality of wives, with the many incidents of
history, items of law, and declarations of Prophets in relation to the
practice by the ancient Saints of that doctrine, we are able to assert
that the Bible is a polygamous book, and that no man can believe it
without believing plurality of wives, under some circumstances to be
correct. I know it has been said that the Old Testament permitted
plurality of wives, but the New forbids it. The Savior said he came
not to destroy the law but to fulfil it, and that not a jot or tittle
of the law or Prophets should pass away, but all should be fulfilled.
The new dispensation did not annihilate the principles of law and
right, as revealed in the Old. Both John the [p.29] Baptist and the
Savior denounced all sins with an unsparing hand, and especially
adultery, fornication and divorce; and not a sentence is found in the
New Testament which prohibits plurality of wives, though the Savior
and his Apostles lived in a country where it was practised; and it is
impossible to believe that if it were a sin it would have escaped
definite rebuke and absolute condemnation.

Vol. 15,  p.29
The petition to Congress which has been read here to-day is a perfect
wonder, I presume, to those who have heard it. It is astonishing to
me, and doubtless to all who listened to it, and especially those who
reside here, that such a statement could be got up by any individual
whatever, that any imagination could be so tortured as to manufacture
so unmitigated a tissue of utter and absolute falsehoods; and much
more that persons could be found who would think so little of their
reputation as to sign such a statement. We understand, however, that
many of the persons whose names are on that petition did not see the
original. Many of them thought they were simply signing a petition
against the admission of Utah as a State, without bringing personal
charges against a people among whom they have lived in perfect safety,
and in a country where peace and order have prevailed, and where all
have enjoyed the uniform protection which our Territorial laws and the
general organization of society give. I regret exceedingly that such a
document should be made public; but as it is, with the list of names
attached to it, was published by order of the United States Senate, it
was thought proper to read it to the congregation that all might have
a chance to know what it was and judge for themselves.

Vol. 15,  p.29
I came to this valley in 1847, being one of the 143 pioneers who
searched out and made the roads from the Missouri river here. The
ample property we possessed in Illinois we had left there; and we made
the roads, about 300 miles, or nearly across the State of Iowa,
bridging about thirty streams, and passing through a wilderness
totally uninhabited save by a few scattered Indians. That was as far
as we could get the first year. The second year—1847—we made the roads
from what we termed Winter Quarters, about five miles above where
Omaha is now situated. We traveled on the north side of the river,
established our ferry across the Elkhorn, and made our road, striking
the old Oregon trail, as it was called, at the mouth of Ash Hollow;
that is, we went up on the north side of the Platte to the north fork;
while Independence road went up on the south side, and struck the
north fork at Ash Hollow, probably a hundred and eighty miles below
Fort Laramie. We thought some of crossing the river and taking the
trapper's trail, but we found it difficult, so we continued making a
new road on the north side until we reached Fort Laramie. There we
crossed and made a road a portion of the way, and followed the old
trail a portion of the way through to Fort Bridger. On this route we
encountered some companies who were going to Oregon, and being unable
to get across the Platte and Green Rivers we got up the means of
ferrying, and ferried them across both these rivers, and they
proceeded on the route to Oregon, while we worked our way across this
Wasatch range into this valley.

Vol. 15,  p.29
When we reached here we found the place very barren; but it was the
best prospect we had seen for five hundred miles. The creek we now
call City Creek came out of the mountains, and divided into
branches,[p.30] and finally sank down into the ground, apparently
without reaching Jordan river. It had about its sinks some green spots
of rushes and grass, but except that the country was very naked and
barren. The city plot here did not even bear good sage; and there was
a little grass, but it was very dry. Along the stream were a dozen or
so of serubby cottonwoods and a few willows. The rest of the ground
was naked, except being nearly covered with immense numbers of large,
black crickets, which had devoured most of the leaves of the
cottonwoods and willows; and when we went to work to cut a ditch to
carry the water down to the place known as Old Fort block, where we
first built our fort, so dry was the soil of the ditch that it took
the whole stream two and a half days to reach the desired point.

Vol. 15,  p.30
It was in this desolate place—1034 miles from the Missouri river, and
thirteen or fourteen hundred from Nauvoo—the place whence we had been
expelled, that we commenced our location. It was understood that a
party had undertaken to cross west here, some year or two before, and
had perished. The name of the man who led the party was Hastings, and
the route west is called Hastings' cut off. It is said that John C.
Fremont had been in this valley the fall previous, but we had no
report of his explorations. We had an account of him visiting the
north end of Great Salt Lake, and the south end of Utah Lake; but so
ignorant was he at the time of the country between the two lakes that
his map, published after his return from his exploration, shows Salt
Lake and Utah Lake to be one body of water, whereas there is a river
about fifty miles long between them.

Vol. 15,  p.30
In a few days after we reached here another party arrived, increasing
our numbers to about four hundred. We had but very little provisions,
which we had brought with us. The country was destitute of game, and
the most rigid economy was necessary in order to subsist. We remained
about a month, when a portion of the pioneers, myself among the
number, started back for our families, who were still encamped at
Winter Quarters, on the Missouri river; and on our way back we met
about seven hundred wagons with families moving on for this place.
These families came in late, and enclosed themselves in the Old Fort
block, and the two blocks south of it, where they lived in security
from the Indians, and during the winter they succeeded, partially, in
enclosing a field, making preparations for irrigation, and sowing
several thousand acres of grain. They found it necessary to ration
themselves on account of the scarcity of their provisions, and I
believe that almost every family allowanced themselves to half a pound
of flour a day, that is, if they had it, many to less; and they went
over these hills digging the sego—a wild, bulbous root, sometimes
eaten by the Indians, and everything that they could get that had any
nutriment in it. In those days the animals that were killed, having
crossed the plains, were generally very poor; but they were used with
the greatest economy, hides, feet and tail, all being eaten. I believe
they tell a story of a certain rule among the Mahomedans, in relation
to eating swine's flesh. Some of them refuse it, but as a general
thing the various classes of them only refuse certain portions—some
reject the snout, some the ear, others the feet, others the tail, and
so on; but among the whole Mussulman race they "go the whole hog."
Among the earliest settlers in this valley there was no rejection; and
[p.31] there are some, who lived here the first two years after our
arrival, who will now say that they never tasted any food so sweet as
boiled rawhide. About the time our first crop began to head out, the
crickets made their appearance, and devoured the greater portion of
it. This was awfully discouraging. Our nurserymen had collected their
seeds, and planted them, and some twenty or thirty thousand trees had
got up, may be five or six inches high, and one day, while the
nurserymen had gone to dinner, a swarm of crickets came down and
destroyed all the trees but three. That was the commencement of our
nursery business in this city. It is believed, fully, by the
Latter-day Saints of that time, that God delivered them from utter
starvation by sending flocks of gulls from the lake, which ate up the
crickets, and saved a portion of their crop. The crickets have not
troubled the agriculturists in the valley, materially, since, but the
flying grasshoppers have come in immense numbers, and in 1855 reduced
all the families in the Territory to half the allowance of food they
needed; and for several years back this plague has probably destroyed
from one-third to one-half the fruits of the farmer's labors. These
are very material drawbacks to our prosperity with which we have had
to contend here in Utah. Persons unacquainted with the manner and
difficulties of irrigation can not realize the immense labor, care and
attention that are necessary to commence this work. Friends come in
and look over our city, and say, "Why, how nice this water is that
runs through all the streets? But the fact is, there is not a tree,
bush, or spear of grass grows in these low valleys without being
irrigated naturally or artificially, and there is only very few and
very small spots where natural irrigation is attainable. By natural
irrigation I mean that the water is so near the surface of the ground
as to moisten it sufficiently to make it produce vegetation, and these
places are only found about the sinks of creeks. Just turn the water
that passes through these streets back into the original channel, and
next fall would see most of the trees dead. All the results you see
here, in the way of agriculture, were made, are held by main strength
and constraint and continued diligence.

Vol. 15,  p.31
During the days of our early settlement, it was necessary that
measures be taken to supply the wants of those who were without food,
and for years a fast was held every month, and sometimes every week.
The amount of food that would have been consumed by a family during
that fast was presented to the needy, and in this way, struggling for
three years in succession, the people were sustained, and nobody
perished. When we did finally succeed in raising the necessaries of
life, thousands of strangers came pouring in here, a great many of
them destitute of bread. They had started for the gold mines without
knowing how far it was, what outfit to take, or how to take care of
themselves; and great numbers of them, when they reached here, had to
be assisted on their journey, and there were thousands who went to
California during the early days of the gold excitement there, who
must have perished had it not been for the assistance they obtained
from the settlements of these valleys.

Vol. 15,  p.31
We came here full of enterprise, and our only hope for subsistence was
in agriculture. We found mines of lead, and minerals of various kinds;
but we could do nothing with them. The Legislative Assembly
memorialized Congress for a railroad and a [p.32] telegraph line
across the continent, and they set forth in that petition, in 1852,
that the mineral resources of these mountains could never be developed
without a railroad; and that if they would build a railroad, or make
the necessary arrangement for one, the trade of China and the East
Indies would pass through the heart of the American States. We have
lived to see these predictions fulfilled.

Vol. 15,  p.32
You may pass, friends, over the Territory at your leisure; go from the
north to the south, and you will find the inhabitants, generally,
industrious, temperate, moral, straightforward, diligent and honest,
very few spending their time about gambling hells or drinking saloons;
in fact very few villages support such establishments, and wherever
you find them you may be sure that modern civilization has made
inroads there. When you see a gang of men standing round, loafing
about a place, smoking cigars, drinking whisky, and looking for
something to turn up, you may generally set it down there is no
Latter-day Saint there, or if there is a "Mormon" mixed up with them
he is becoming demoralized. If the faith of the Latter-day Saints be
adhered to as it should be, men would be temperate and moral, and they
would avoid using profane language; and one of the injunctions of
their religion is that the idler shall not eat the bread of the
laborer.

Vol. 15,  p.32
We have fed thousands and tens of thousands of strangers who have
passed through here without means, and no person has been permitted to
go hungry in our midst if we knew it, admitting at the same time that
our means of subsistence were limited, and all that we have wrenched
from the soil has been by main strength.

Vol. 15,  p.32
I would like to draw a little comparison: I moved my family in '49. I
came out in '47, and went back again and made arrangements to get back
with my family, the earliest possible, which was in '49. I brought in
two hundred pounds of flour a head for the family, which I ran out in
short allowances to each one of them, and I divided some to the
neighbors, there being numbers of them around who had got out of food,
and we eked it out little by little, little by little. If a friend
called and had his dinner with us, why, we had to shorten our
allowance of bread. There was no place we could go and buy a little
flour or a little beef, for nobody had any but what they wanted
themselves, and what they must have themselves, and if we divided our
little out we, ourselves, must go hungry. If we lived fast to-day, we
must starve to-morrow, and in this way we stretched the matter along.
God, in his mercy, blessed us with good health; we had good health,
hard work and short allowance of food. There was one thing we were
very thankful for: We had been mobbed a number of times—five times
driven from our homes. We had left our inheritances in Missouri and
Illinois, and had got nothing for them, and here, whatever other
things we lacked, we had the privilege of worshiping God according to
the dictates of our consciences, and we could go to meeting, and
preach and pray without anybody interrupting us; for although there
were thousands and thousands of strangers constantly passing through
our territory, they generally treated us with kindness and
consideration. How is it now with us with regard to the necessaries of
life? If a man is out of bread he can hardly find a house but what, if
he enters and says, "I am hungry, give me something to eat," the reply
will be, "Yes, we have plenty." And there are thousands of men and
women who have [p.33] come from the States and from Europe. We have
contributed immense sums, and sent our teams by the hundred to the
Missouri river to bring them here; and when they got here, their
labor, industry and economy would enable them at once to obtain food
and the necessaries of life, plain, to be sure, but an abundance of
such as the country afforded. No one that is hungry can go to a house
or a family and ask for bread and not obtain it. Look at the contrast;
and it has been effected by years of fasting and united industry,
poverty and toil, by the pioneers of this country. To be sure we have
had plenty of. the sayings of the Savior upon our heads to satisfy us
that we were right in one particular. He says: "Blessed are ye when
men shall persecute you, and say all manner of evil concerning you,
falsely, for my sake."

Vol. 15,  p.33
We bid welcome to our friends. The fields are wide and open, and the
mountains are, no doubt, fall of mineral. At any rate, every man has
his chance, if he will dig for it. Dig for the treasures, and open the
fields and the farms, but do not trespass on the rights of your
neighbors. Worship God according to the dictates of your conscience,
observe the law of heaven, but never, under any circumstances, intrude
upon the rights of others. These are the principles which rule here.
Look at these things, and realize that it is to the efforts of the
inhabitants of this country, their labors, toils and sacrifices, that
we owe our present comfort. We commenced by hauling carding machines
and printing offices across the mountains; we built factories, and
undertook to raise wool; we labored to produce flax and hemp, not very
successfully, but we did all we could. Thousands of our brethren did
not believe it possible ever to raise fruit; but God tempered the
climate, and, although in the tops of the mountains, we have raised
abundance of fruit in many of our settlements. Our sheep have become
productive, our herds have increased, and we have laid a foundation
for plenty; and any pilgrim who comes along, who wishes to obtain food
and raiment, can obtain it, for it is here; and he can go into the
mountains, and if fortune favor him he may strike something which he
may desire, though I must honestly confess that, so far as I am
concerned, I believe the plan for any man to pursue who wishes to lay
a foundation for future independence, is to procure a piece of land
and make a farm. He might, peradventure, strike an "Emma" mine; but I
think that kind of luck will be the exception instead of the rule;
but, as a general thing, the man who labors industriously to make
himself a farm, creates around him a good, comfortable home in a few
years. Of course, if men go prospecting for minerals, they know it is
a good deal like a lottery. Our railroad is going south, and as it
progresses, new mines and new mining interests will, without doubt, be
opened and developed; and as a result of the labors of developing the
resources of the Territory, I realize that millions will be
benefitted.

Vol. 15,  p.33
There is one thing that our friends do not realize. When they come
here they make up their minds that "Mormonism" is a humbug, and their
mistake is, it is true. Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and the
plan of salvation revealed through him is the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
and every man and every woman who rejects it, rejects the truth, and
will be responsible for it; and every man and every woman who walks in
obedience to its precepts will receive [p.34] glory, honor,
immortality and endless lives. I am not talking something I guess, I
know these things are true; and it is the wisdom and prudence, the
light and the intelligence of the Almighty, revealed through his
servants to the Latter-day Saints, that have gathered a hundred
thousand people from the four quarters of the earth and planted them
down in comfortable homes in Utah, and it is only the inspiration of
the father of lies that circulates the false reports and the abuse
concerning them.

Vol. 15,  p.34
May God bless you my friends. You are welcome in this land. Go and be
blessed; and as you go to your homes, to the four winds of heaven,
tell the truth about the Latter-day Saints. May God enable us to
overcome and be faithful in all things, that we may finally inherit
his kingdom, through Jesus our Redeemer. Amen.

Brigham Young, May 26, 1872

Riches—Hurry—Fashion—Helping Tide Poor—Mysteries

Discourse By President Brigham Young, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Ogden City, Sunday Afternoon, May 26th, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.34
I am happy for the privilege of standing before this congregation and
speaking to them. I am thankful to see the spirit that is manifested
by the people to inquire after the truth, to learn the way of life. I
rejoice to see the disposition manifested by the Latter-day Saints to
attend places of worship. But this is a small part of our faith. I
wish to say to the Latter-day Saints that the Gospel of life and
salvation is the best institution that we, as mortal beings, can
invest in. Go into the financial circles of the world, and you will
find men gather and project their plans for business, for railroads,
for ship companies, for merchandizing, and various other pursuits. You
will see those engaged in these companies associate together, confer
with each other, lay their plans before each other, investigate them,
scan every branch, and every part and particle of their business. We
are engaged in a higher-toned branch of business than any merchants or
railroad men, or any institution of an earthly nature, and it is
pleasing to see the Latter-day Saints meet together to talk over this
matter, and to learn the course they should pursue to gain the object
of their pursuit. If an inquiry arises in any of your minds with
regard to this, I will answer it by saying that we are in pursuit of
all there is before us—life, light, wealth, intelligence, all that can
be possessed on the earth by mortal man, and then in a higher state,
[p.35] where there will be a more perfect development of the
smattering of knowledge than we received here, and all that can be
enjoyed by intelligent beings in the celestial kingdoms of our God. Is
this our object? Certainly it is. We are not in the same attitude that
the people were a few thousand years ago—they were depending on the
Prophet or Prophets, or on having immediate revelation for themselves
to know the will of the Lord, without the record of their
predecessors, while we have the records of those who have lived before
us, also the testimony of the Holy Spirit; and, to the satisfaction of
all who desire a testimony, we can turn to this book and read that
which we believe, learn the object of our pursuit, the end that we
expect to accomplish—the end of the race as far as mortality is
concerned—and the fullness of the glory that is beyond this vale of
tears; consequently we have the advantage of those who lived before
us. We are in pursuit of knowledge; and when you meet together, if you
have a word of prophecy, a dream, a vision, or a word of wisdom,
impart the same to the people.

Vol. 15,  p.35
Let me ask you, my brethren and sisters, Do you want wealth? If you
do, do not be in a hurry. Do you want the riches pertaining to this
world? Yes, we acknowledge we do. Then, be calm, contented, composed;
keep your pulses correct, do not let them get up to a hundred and
twenty, but keep them as nigh as you can, ranging from seventy to
seventy-six; and when there is an appointment for a meeting be sure to
attend that meeting. If there is to be a two-days' meeting in Ogden,
come to it; spend the time here and learn what is going on. Watch
closely, hear every word that is spoken, let every heart be lifted to
God for wisdom, and know and understand every word of prophecy, every
revelation that may be given, every counsel that may be presented to
the people, that you may be able to weigh, measure, comprehend and
decide between that which is of God and that which is not of God.
Refuse the evil, learn wisdom, and grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the truth. If there is a meeting appointed for the Seventies, let
them come together, and let no man say "I am in a hurry in my work,
and have not time to attend." Every man that belongs to these quorums
should be on hand at the time appointed, and not say, "I will work to
the last minute, before I start for the meeting." Take time, prepare
yourselves, be at the place of gathering promptly, to the minute, that
you may hear the first word, then you will hear every word that is
spoken and every counsel that is given.

Vol. 15,  p.35
If there is a Bishop's meeting, let every Bishop, Priest, Teacher and
Deacon attend, and no man among them say, "I must go and water my
grain," "cut my hay," or "gather my harvest;" but attend the meeting,
sit until it is out and hear every word. If you have to speak, speak;
if you are to hear only, hear every word that is said. If there is a
prayer meeting appointed, go to that prayer meeting; go to the ward
meetings, attend every meeting that is appointed. I am telling you
this, so that you can get rich.

Vol. 15,  p.35
I will say to the Latter-day Saints, there can not that community be
found on the face of the whole earth that, as a community, is as well
off as we are here in these mountains. There are more women and
children, with their husbands and fathers, sleep under their own roof
in the midst of the Latter-day Saints than in any other community; on
the face [p.36] of this earth, in civilization; and less women and
children go without food and clothing than in any other community in
Christendom. Looking around among the Latter-day Saints I will ask,
How many are there who have been taken from cellars, from pits under
ground, or from their little rooms, where one pound, or five dollars,
would buy everything they possessed on the face of the earth, and
brought to this country and taught how to plant their potatoes, beans,
beets, carrots, how to raise their cucumbers and squashes, their corn
and their wheat, how to milk a cow; feed a calf, take care of the
chickens; how to build a pig-pen and put a pig in it; to take the
offals of the house and give to the pig, and how to raise a calf or a
colt, experience they never had before in their lives? Yet they have
learned this economy, and some of them, I am sorry to say, lift their
heel against the Almighty and his anointed. I am happy to say,
however, that the large per-centage of those who have been thus
rescued from poverty, and placed in circumstances of comfort and
independence, are still in the faith. How many are there here today
who never owned a chicken or a pig, and could not keep a eat because
they had nothing to feed one on, who now ride in their wagons, have
their carriages, horses, fine harness, fine stock of cows, and have
butter, milk, cheese and wool at their command, and granaries full of
wheat, and their barns, if they have them, full of hay? Do not the
facts which present themselves before us, prove that this very
desirable change has taken place in the circumstances of many? Then
come to meeting. Appoint your meetings, Elders, and call the Saints
together and instruct them in the things of the kingdom of God. We
have missionaries that are traveling through our settlements, and no
people need preaching more than the Latter-day Saints. They know the
way, but they are forgetful, and they want somebody or other to come
along and holloa to them, and say, comparatively, "I will warm your
ears, my lady;" "Brother, I will warm your ears." "Wake up!" "What are
you doing? Are you after this mine? Are you after that job? Are you
after that piece of work? Did you pray in your family this morning?"
"No." "Why?" "I was in too much of a hurry." Stop! Wait! When you get
up in the morning, before you suffer yourselves to eat one mouthful of
food, call your wives and children together, bow down before the Lord,
ask him to forgive your sins, and protect you through the day, to
preserve you from temptation and all evil, to guide your steps aright,
that you may do something that day that shall be beneficial to the
kingdom of God on the earth. Have you time to do this? Elders,
sisters, have you time to pray? This is the counsel I have for the
Latter-day Saints to-day. Stop, do not be in a hurry. I do not know
that I could find a man in our community but what wishes wealth, would
like to nave everything in his possession that would conduce to his
comfort and convenience. Do you know how to get it? "Well," replies
one, "if I do not, I wish I did; but I do not seem to be exactly
fortunate—fortune is somewhat against me." I will tell you the reason
of this—you are in too much of a hurry; you do not go to meeting
enough, you do not pray enough, you do not read the Scriptures enough,
you do not meditate enough, you are all the time on the wing, and in
such a hurry that you do not know what to do first. This is not the
way to get rich. I merely use [p.37] the term "rich" to lead the mind
along, until we obtain eternal riches in the celestial kingdom of God.
Here we wish for riches in a comparative sense, we wish for the
comforts of life. If we desire them let us take a course to get them.
Let me reduce this to a simple saying—one of the most simple and
homely that can be used—"Keep your dish right side up," so that when
the shower of porridge does come, you can catch your dish full.

Vol. 15,  p.37
I am not going into the details, to instruct my brethren particularly
how to get wealth; but in the first place, do not be in a hurry. I
make that as a general remark. Do you want your house neat and clean?
Do you want to keep your children neat and clean? Do you wish to see
every portion of your dwelling, from the cellar to the garret, from
the wood-house to the parlor, neat and clean? Certainly, every sister
wishes this; then do not be in a hurry. I shall tell you a little
circumstance that occurred some eighteen years ago, when we had been
on a visit to the Indians. We had reached Farmington, on our way home,
and stopped at a certain house. I think there were twelve of us in
company. Our teams were taken care of. When I alighted from my
carriage I looked at my watch and we went in, sat down, and chatted
with the master of the house, while his wife prepared dinner for us. I
noticed this lady. She whispered to a little girl to take her baby out
of doors and amuse it; then, when her baby was out of the way, she
moved about without the least noise—not a word was heard from her. She
brought everything she needed from the buttery and cellar to the
kitchen where she spread her table, and she mixed and baked her bread,
cooked her fruit and meat, and from the time we alighted from the
carriage until she came and whispered in the ear of her husband,
"Dinner is ready," it was just fifty-five minutes. Said I to myself,
"There is a housekeeper." I could not help but see this; every time
she walked back and forth she accomplished a certain amount of
business. I saw this and was gratified. Now, sisters, you may do
likewise, if you are not in too big a hurry. Instead of shouting,
"Sally, where's the dish-cloth?" "Susan, where's the broom?" or,
"Nancy, have you seen the holder? I want the holder," be calm and
composed; you are in too much of a hurry. Hold on, be easy, never let
your nervous system rise above your judgment and the collection of
your thoughts, and have a place for everything, and every thing in its
place. Let your judgment be master, and when you start to do a thing
you will know exactly what you want to do. I have seen hundreds of
ladies fly to the cupboard, and then say, "Well, now, I declare I
don't know what I came for." They were in too much of a hurry. It is
just so with men. I see them through the world, I have watched their
progress for many years, and I see that many of them are too much in a
hurry. If we are not in too much of a hurry we can attend these
two-days' meetings, and talk to each other. Are you full of faith? You
can tell whether I am or not by looking at me. You can tell whether
the brethren who have been speaking to you are full of faith in the
Gospel by the look of their countenances. You can see this if there is
not a word spoken; we can tell by our feelings when we look at a
congregation whether they have faith or not. I see there is a great
amount of faith in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, and I wish
there was a little more patience and obedience.[p.38] Perhaps I have
said enough with regard to these meetings. Elders, appoint your
meetings, and invite the people to come to them. I want now to go to
other matters.

Vol. 15,  p.38
I will tell you, my brethren, my own feelings with regard to the
conduct of the Latter-day Saints. In the first place I will say that
we are governed and controlled too much by the feelings and fashions
of the world. We lust after the leeks and onions; we yield ourselves
to the spirit of the world too much. You will excuse me, for I must
say a few words with regard to this. It is true we are bound, and it
seems that men's bounds are set by each other, more or less. If I, for
instance, were to have a coat made to suit my own taste, I do not know
any of my family and perhaps my friends, and especially the tailors,
merchants and business men, but what would say, "You are an oddity,"
and they would think, "You are not fit for society, because you do not
fashion and pattern after others." I commence here, you know, at
myself. Well, I will say that I am bound, I can not accomplish my own
wishes in these things altogether. Perhaps others can not. I go to a
tailor and say, "I have a piece of cloth, and I want you to make me a
coat." He cuts that coat to suit himself. I do not see a fashion that
suits me. What use or comeliness is there in putting the legs of the
pantaloons on my coat?" Well, perhaps the tailor will be a little
moderate, and will cut it down considerably; but if I were my own
tailor I certainly should leave off—what shall we call them?
"Bustles," "Grecian Bends," or what shall we call them? Though these
coat sleeves and not exactly like the sleeves of the frocks or dresses
worn by the ladies forty or fifty years ago, which they used to call
mutton-legged sleeves, shaped just like the ham of a mutton. I
recollect there used to be considerable said about them. Sometimes a
paper would come out and tell of the wreck of a ship, on board of
which were a hundred and fifty passengers; but, they would say,
"Thanks be to kind Providence, the ladies took all the male passengers
into the sleeves of their dresses, and went ashore." Such narrations
as these, you know, were only meant as a satire upon the fashions of
the day. Now I am corning right to the point, and I wish to say to
some of my sisters, not to all, that if I were my own tailor I should
cut my own coat to suit myself. "What would be your fashion" says one?
I will tell you. I have a coat here which you can see—if I were to
take hold of a swill-pail, this part of the skirt must drop in; and if
I took hold of a milk-pail I must take the coat around by the other
end; and hold it, or else it is in the milk. I see no convenience or
beauty in it. That which is convenient should be beautiful; and I want
my coat cut so that when I lift a pail of water, or a milk or swill
pail the skirts shall not fall into it; and so with the pockets, I
would have them convenient. If I were a lady and had a piece of cloth
to make me a dress, I would cut it so as to cover my person handsomely
and neatly; and whether it was cut according to the fashion or not,
custom would soon make it beautiful. I would not have eighteen or
twenty yards to drag behind me, so that if I had to turn around I
would have to pick up my dress and throw it after me, or, just, as a
cow does when she kicks over the milk pail, throw out one foot to kick
the dress out of the way. That is not becoming, beautiful or
convenient—all such fashions are inconvenient. Take that cloth and cut
you a skirt that will be [p.39] modest and neat, that does not drag in
the dirt nor show your garters, but cut it so that it will clear the
ground when you walk, when you are passing over the floor it will not
drag everything on the floor, or in the street as you pass along. Put
enough into the skirt to look well, and if we are to go into
particulars, of course, we would have to say, we must use enough to
cover the person. I do not expect mother Eve even did this. We could
relate some little incidents of our past experience, that perhaps
would not entertain the people, and still, perhaps, they might learn
something from them. For instance, in some circles it has been
fashionable for a lady to wear, perhaps, twelve yards in the skirt of
her dress, but when it came to the waist, I guess three-quarters of a
yard would have been enough. I will relate a circumstance of which I
heard, that took place in the metropolis of our country. A gentleman,
a stranger, was invited to a grand dinner party there. The ladies of
course were dressed in the height of fashion, their trails dragging
behind them, and their—well, I suppose there was a band over the
shoulder to the waist, but I do not recollect whether the gentleman
said there was or not; but one gentleman present, who knew this
gentleman was a stranger, said to him, with all the loveliness and
elegance in his heart that one could imagine—"Is not this beautiful?
Did you ever see the like of this?" "No sir," said the party
questioned, "never since I was weaned." Well, all this, you know, is
custom and fashion.

Vol. 15,  p.39
Now, I wish to say to my sisters, If you will be just a little more
moderate, I should like it very much. Some of you, and especially the
young sisters, may say, "Why, Brother Brigham, how do your daughters
dress?" I will say, to my shame, many of them, and many do not. Then I
must have a great many, for if I have many that do and many that do
not, that will amount to a great many. But I guess I will let it go.
Some of them are modest, delicate, neat, and look beautiful, and do
not want twenty-four yards for a dress, nor seventeen. But this is
uncomely, uncouth and ill-looking. What shall I call it? A camel's
back? You will say they go from the lady to the camel, and from the
camel to the lady, and so on and so forth. They are called, I believe,
"Grecian Bends," but I do not think this term is exactly proper. Are
they comely in appearance? No, they are not. Then I should like my
daughters and my sisters to lay them aside, They should dress neatly
and comely, and to suit themselves, but not to suit anybody else. We
have the ability to tell what looks well, just as well as anybody
else. We need not go to New York, London, or Paris to tell whether a
coat looks well if it has a collar half an inch wide. Do you recollect
when collars were not more than that? I do, and I recollect when they
were about six or seven inches in width. Now we need not go to Paris
to ask them Whether a coat looks just right with a half inch or a
five-inch collar; we are the judges, and can decide that just as well
as anybody elsa on the face of the earth. I would not swap my eyes
with any living person for beauty and comeliness. I would rather trust
to my eyes for beauty, excellency and comeliness in dress, than any
other person's eyes I know of. We should be our own judges. This, I
say, to my sisters. Pause, reflect, look at the facts in the case as
regards the folly and expense of fashion. Take the people of this
city, and if you can form a correct estimate at the [p.40] cost of the
useless articles they wear. (I think I brought this subject up a year
ago this summer, when here.) Just take these useless articles that do
no good to the body of the persons who use them, and we would find
that the means expended in their purchase would enable us to relieve
many poor, suffering, distressed creatures abroad in the nations of
the earth, and bring them here and put them in a situation in which
they would be healthy, wealthy and happy. If we make a calculation on
this subject we shall find that the waste of the Latter-day Saints is
immense. There is a little town, south of here, the ladies of
which—the F. R. Society, took it into their minds, along in the latter
part of the winter, when we commenced calling upon the people to
assist the emigration of the poor this summer, to give the eggs that
their hens laid on Sunday. If they did not serve the Lord themselves
they resolved to make their hens do it one-seventh of the time; and
over a month ago I heard they had raised by this method about eight
hundred dollars. Would they miss this? No, they could do without these
eggs very well. Suppose the ladies of Ogden, who, on account of the
many ribbons and needless articles they require, are unable to give
anything else they have, should give one-seventh part of the services
of their fowls to the bringing of the poor here! If Ogden had
commenced this last January, thousands and thousands of dollars might
have been raised by this time. Can you think of such a trifling thing
as this? Suppose that every man who practices the disgusting habit,
says to himself, "I will stop eating tobacco, and the means i spend in
buying it I will give to emigrate the poor;" or, that, "what I pay out
for liquor I will give to emigrate the poor;" and each of the ladies
says, "What money I pay out for my tea or coffee" (and tobacco,
liquor, tea and coffee are four very useless articles) "I will give to
emigrate the poor," how much could be saved, do you think, in this
little community? Go to the stores, and ask them how much tobacco they
have sold for twelve months past. Take these little retail stores, and
then go into the retail departments of the wholesale stores, and we
should find in this little town, I will ensure, that within the twelve
months past, more than twelve, yes twenty, thousand dollars have been
paid for tobacco, and I will say ten or twelve, and perhaps twenty,
thousand more for liquor; and then I will say twenty-five or thirty
thousand more for tea or coffee, and I guess I could go up to forty
thousand dollars, right here in Ogden. It is immense, the people have
no idea of it, unless they go and look for themselves. Get the
statistics, and then you will know with regard to the facts in the
case.

Vol. 15,  p.40
Now suppose we say we will take the means we are spending for tea and
coffee, liquor and tobacco, and useless articles in dressing, and we
will give this to the poor; we would soon have a wealthy purse. Who
has given anything this season? How many of you have given the first
five dollars this season to bring the poor to Zion? If there is a man
or woman in this house that has given anything for this purpose, do me
the favor to hold up your hand? (One or two hands were held up.) I
have given a very little, just a trifle. Sometimes I give a thousand,
sometimes two thousand, mostly two thousand, and that is but a trifle.
I suppose many would say, "Why, that is no more for you than five
dollars for me." Well, perhaps it is not. I have nothing but what the
[p.41] Lord gave me, that is certain; and if he wanted the whole of
it, for the gathering of the poor this year, he is just as welcome to
it as I am to eat with you when you invite me to your houses. But one
thing I can say of a truth, I have not been in a hurry, I have taken
things mode rarely, kindly, calmly, and have "kept my dish right side
up."

Vol. 15,  p.41
Well now, you who want to give a little to help the poor, please hand
it over to Bishop Herrick. Bishop Herrick, will you please get the
bishops together, and request them to ask every ward in this county to
give something for the gathering of the poor, and see who will assist
in this good work?

Vol. 15,  p.41
If we will not be in a hurry, and will pray in our families, pray in
secret, attend our meetings, be patient and live so that the Spirit of
the Lord will dwell within us, and witness to God every day of our
lives, by faithful obedience to his requirements, that we are his, I
will say we are bound to get the wealth of the world. We read in this
good book (the Bible) that "the earth is the Lord's and the fulness
thereof." Everything belongs to him, and he is going to give it to his
Saints; and all our concern and care should be, to be sure that we are
Saints. Then it is all right, it is by a deed of warranty—a warranty
deed, and he will warrant and defend it, if we will serve him, and be
satisfied with his providences, turning neither to the right nor to
the left, but serving him with an undivided heart all the days of our
lives. If it pleases him, and he wishes us to travel and preach, go to
the right or to the left, to the east or to the west, to the north or
to the south, to live here or live there, to do this or to do that, to
have little or much and be perfectly satisfied and contented, his
blessings will be secured to us by a warranty deed, and he will
warrant and defend it.

Vol. 15,  p.41
If we are not Saints it is a great pity. We have the experience of
those who lived before us, we have the testimony of the fathers, we
have the sayings of Jesus and his Apostles, and we can peruse them and
can exercise faith in the name of Jesus, and be guided by the Spirit
of the Lord by which these testimonies were given; and we can know
whether we are Saints or whether we are not. It has been proclaimed
that there is a great difference between us and the Christian world.
There is. Is the difference because we believe in another religion? By
no means. The difference arises from the fact that we believe this
Bible, wide open, from Genesis to Revelations. They believe it, sealed
up, never to be opened again to the human family. They believe it
shut, we believe it open; they believe it in silence, we believe it
proclaimed on the house top; and when we scan the Bible and the
feelings of the Christian world, we find that it is, as has been
proclaimed here—there probably never was a day on the face of the
earth when infidelity reigned more completely in the hearts of the
children of men than it does now. We, as Christians, believe in God,
in Christ and in his atonement, in repentance and obedience, and in
receiving the Spirit; but what are the facts in the case? We are
persecuted, our names are cast out as evil, we have the world arrayed
against us. And who are at the head of this? The Christians. You go to
a real infidel—one brought up to disbelieve in, and pay no attention
to, this book as the word of God, and we receive little persecution
from him; none whatever in comparison with what we receive from those
who profess to believe it. Where are [p.42] their witness and
testimony that they are right and that we are wrong P We have the
Scriptures to testify to the right and righteousness of the cause we
have espoused. They shut up the Bible, say they are Christians, and
cry, "False prophets, false teachers, delusion, delusion, heresy,
outcasts, kill them if you can not get rid of them without, they must
leave, we cannot endure them any longer!"

Vol. 15,  p.42
Where is their proof, where is our proof? What criterion shall we go
by? We have the Scriptures, we have the Prophets, Jesus and the
Apostles; we have the revelations of the Spirit of God to ourselves;
we have the truth within our hearts, and all this is proof to us of
the validity of the faith that we have embraced; and if it is correct,
and the Bible is correct; if it is true, and the Lord has spoken
through his servants, they must be wrong, and their own mouths shall
judge them in the latter days; and if they are to be judged by the
Saints or by the Almighty you will find the secret, and that will be
out of their own mouths they will be judged. We have the testimony of
all this for ourselves.

Vol. 15,  p.42
How are you going to know whether this work is true, whether the Bible
is true, whether Joseph was a Prophet, whether Jesus was the Savior,
and his Apostles were correct in their teachings? There is no way for
you and me to know these things but by the Spirit of Gild; and if we
live so as to enjoy the light of that Spirit, the light of revelation,
it will be in us like a well of water springing up to everlasting
life. If we do not live thus, we are in the dark as well as they.

Vol. 15,  p.42
All religion is a mystery. Do we know this? Certainly. I have an
experience in this, and so have the elder members of this community:
we have lived with the Christians. What have been the declaration and
the sayings of the wisest of the wise among them? Is God a personage
of tabernacle? "I know not." Does God dwell anywhere, is he a local
being, or is he a traveling being? "I know not." Does he possess a
body, parts and passions? "I know not." What of his Son Jesus? What of
the evil? Acknowledge there is evil in the world—that character that
fell from heaven—the Son of the Morning, has he a located place where
he dwells? "I know not." That is the answer. What do you understand by
the Scriptures? "We do not know what to understand, they are a
mystery, and beyond our comprehension, we can not comprehend them. We
are students of divinity, but the Scriptures are a mystery to us." I
recollect once, in my early career, well nigh forty years ago,
conversing about two hours with a cousin of mine, who had finished his
studies to be a priest. As I left him he said to me, "Cousin Brigham,
I have learned more divinity from your mouth to-day than I have
learned in my four years' study. You have told me things that I know
are in the Scriptures, and I know they are correct, for I feel in my
heart and can testify to the truth of them; but," said he, "they are
not in the books, neither in the mouths and hearts of our teachers;
our preceptors do not understand them, and I have learned more
divinity from you in two hours than in all my life before." This is
their experience. Have they knowledge? Go after it, and you will find
an aching void, a shadow instead of a substance, words which are wind,
instead of realities.

Vol. 15,  p.42
We would take the world of mankind by the hand and lead them to life
and salvation, if they would let us. It was said in my office, a few
[p.43] days ago, by a party of railroad men, while conversing with me
about us as a people, "President Young, you are not known, your people
are not known; we shall know you better hereafter, and they need not
publish about you as they have, or, if they do, we shall know better
than to believe them. Why do they publish such things? We are glad to
become acquainted with you." I replied, "For over forty years I have
been striving with all my might, in my weak capacity, and with my
limited knowledge, to make the world acquainted with us and our
doctrines. There are also thousands and thousands of Elders who have
traversed this earth over, without purse or scrip, trying to get
people to learn who the Latter-day Saints are, and what they believe
in, and why have you not known us? The Bible, Book of Mormon, and the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants, are published to the world with other
works, giving to the whole reading world the principles we are
proclaiming. Why are we not known? I will tell you why: the liars are
industrious, and, according to the old saying, a lie will creep
through a keyhole and travel leagues and leagues while truth is
getting up, wiping her eyes and putting her shoes on. That is the
reason, and you believe lies instead of truth. And," said I, "from
this time henceforth, when you read an article about the people of
Utah, read it candidly and honestly, and the Spirit will tell you
whether it is true or a lie, and believe the truth about us."

Vol. 15,  p.43
I will say again, brethren and sisters, do not be in a hurry.
Brethren, if you want to get rich, live so as to enjoy the Spirit of
the Lord. You will then know exactly what to do in all matters. You
want the spirit of wisdom in all your business transactions, and just
as much in farming as anything else. We want the Spirit of the Lord
from the least chore of labor that we perform, to the highest
spiritual duty devolving upon the highest man in the kingdom of God.
We want the Spirit of the Lord to guide and direct us through this
world, to teach us in spiritual things and in temporal things, that we
may learn how to gain to ourselves the riches of eternity, and secure
to ourselves eternal lives.

Vol. 15,  p.44
God bless you. Amen.[p.44] 

Orson Pratt, April 7, 1872

The Latter-Day Kingdom—the Present 
Fulfilment of Ancient Prophecy

Discourse By Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the New 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 7, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.44
When I look over this vast congregation, assembled in the body of this
house as well as in the gallery, it seems to be an impossibility to
make all hear; and to give all an opportunity to do so it will be
necessary that the closest attention be given and that shuffling of
feet and whispering cease. I suppose there must be congregated here
something in the neighborhood of twelve thousand persons, and there
are but very few voices or lungs that are able to reach such a
multitude, and edify and instruct them. I know from former experience
in speaking from this stand, that it requires a great exertion of the
lungs and body to speak so as to be understood, and this great
exertion of the physical system is calculated in a very short time to
weary also the mind, therefore I may not be able to address you for
any great length of time.

Vol. 15,  p.44
It is now forty-two years since the organization of the Church of
Jesus Christ on the earth. Forty-two years ago, on the 6th day of
April, the Prophet Joseph Smith was commanded by the Lord Almighty to
organize the Kingdom of God on the earth for the last time—to set up
and make a beginning—to form the nucleus of a Government that never
should be destroyed from the earth, or, in other words, that should
stand forever. The founding of governments, of whatsoever nature they
may be, may be considered in the estimation of some, very honorable;
but there is no special honor attached to a man who is called upon by
the Almighty to found a Government on the earth, for it is the Lord
who works by him as an instrument, using him for that purpose. That,
of course, is honorable. Perhaps there never was a work accomplished
among men of so great and important a nature as that of the foundation
of a kingdom that never is to be destroyed. About six thousand years
have passed away since the Government established by the Patriarchs,
or by the first man, was commenced here on the earth. From that time
until the present vast numbers and descriptions of Governments, some
Patriarchal in their nature, others taking the form of kingdoms,
others of empires and so forth, have been organized here on the earth.
During that long interval of time whenever a man has founded a
Government he has been greatly honored, not only by the generation
among whom he lived, and in which he formed the Government, but he has
been honored generally by after generations. But nearly all the
Governments that have [p.45] been established have been thrown
down—they have been only temporary in their nature—existing for a few
centuries perhaps, and then overthrown. It is not my intention this
afternoon to examine the nature and forms of these various human
Governments, but to state in a few words that there is now organized
on the earth a Government which never will be broken as former
Governments have been. This will stand for ever. It began very
small—only six members were organized in this Government on Tuesday
the 6th day of April, 1830, that is according to the vulgar era;
according to the true era it was some two or three years longer. The
Christian era, that is in common use now among the human family is
called the vulgar era, because it is incorrect. Jesus, it is
acknowledged by the most learned men at the present day, was born two
or three years before the period that is now commonly called the
vulgar Christian era. It is also acknowledged by the greater portion
of the learned men of the day, who have carefully examined the
subject, that Jesus was crucified on the 6th day of April; and
according to the true Christian era it was precisely eighteen hundred
years from the day of his crucifixion until the day that this Church
was organized. Why the Lord chose this particular period—the
anniversary of the day of his crucifixion for the organization of his
kingdom on the earth I do not know. I do know that he has a set time
in his own mind for accomplishing his great purposes; but why he
should purpose in his own mind that precisely eighteen hundred years
should elapse from the day of the crucifixion until the day of the
organization of his church, we do not know. Suffice it to say that
this is the interval that elapsed. The Book of Mormon gives the exact
interval from the day of his birth to the day of the crucifixion, and
by putting these two periods together we can ascertain the true
Christian era. There is a great dispute, however, among chronologists
in regard to this matter; many of them say Jesus was born one year
before the vulgar era, others that he was born two years before that.
Four different chronologists, mentioned by name in Smith's Bible
Dictionary, place the period three years before the vulgar era; others
place it at four years before, some five, and some have placed it
seven years before the present vulgar era. If we take a medium between
these combined with the testimony of a great many who have written
upon the subject, we find, as I said before, that it makes precisely
eighteen hundred years between the two great events that took place,
namely the crucifixion and the building up of his kingdom in these
latter days.

Vol. 15,  p.45
God has seen proper in the progress of this kingdom to restore to his
servants holding the priesthood every key and power pertaining to the
restitution of all things spoken of by the mouth of all the Holy
Prophets since the world began. One of the first things that he
condescended to restore was the fullness of the everlasting Gospel,
just according to the prediction of the ancient Prophets—by the coming
of an angel from heaven. Mr. Smith fulfilled that prediction, or
rather it was fulfilled to him. He declares, in language most plain
and positive, that God did send an angel from heaven and committed to
him the everlasting Gospel on plates of gold; or in other words, he
had it revealed to him by this angel, where the plates of gold were
deposited containing the everlasting Gospel, as it was preached to the
ancient inhabitants of this [p.46] American continent, by the personal
ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This was the restoration
predicted by John in the 14th chapter of Revelations, where it is
declared that such an event should take place. John says that he saw,
in vision, an angel come from heaven to earth, to restore the
everlasting Gospel. No people on earth, prior to the advent of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, ever testified to the fulfilment of John's
prediction. If you make the inquiry of the various Christian
denominations, whether Catholic, Greek or Dissenters, they will tell
you unitedly that no such event characterized the rise of their
churches; we have therefore their testimony, proving that God never
fulfilled this portion of his word through them; but on the contrary
the united voice and testimony of all these Christians, from one end
of the earth to the other is that the Bible contains the Gospel, "And
we have preached the Gospel," say they, "as we found it recorded in
the Bible," and no angel to restore the authority to preach the
Gospel, to baptize, to confirm by the laying on of hands, to
administer the Lord's Supper, or to restore or give authority to
organize the kingdom of God on the earth, was necessary." To this we
reply, the history of the Gospel is one thing, and the authority to
preach it and administer its ordinances is another. We can read its
history in the New Testament; and we can also read there how the
ancient servants of God organized the Church in their day; we can read
what ordinances they performed or administered among the children of
men; we can read what was needful for the organization of the
Christian Church eighteen hundred years ago. We have the history of
all these things in the Scriptures, but for some seventeen centuries
past prior to the coming of this angel, there has been no authority to
preach it; no Apostles, no Prophets, no Revelators, no visions from
heaven, no inspiration from heaven; no voice of the Lord has been
heard among the nations during the long interval that has elapsed
since the putting to death of the ancient servants of God, and the
destruction of the ancient Christian Church. Joseph Smith came to this
generation testifying to the fulfillment of that which God predicted
in the Revelations of Saint John—the restoration of the Gospel. But
says John the Revelator, "when it is restored it shall be preached to
every nation, kindred, tongue and people."

Vol. 15,  p.46
Is there any prospect of this Gospel being thus extensively preached
among the inhabitants of the earth in this generation? We need not
refer you to the missions that have been taken by the Elders of this
Church. Their works speak for themselves. Behold this vast
congregation of people assembled here, and nearly all who inhabit this
Territory. Why are they here? Because the angel has brought the
everlasting Gospel, and because the servants of God have been
commissioned and sent forth with the sound of the Gospel among the
various nations and kingdoms of the earth; and because they have
succeeded in preaching it among vast numbers of people, and gathering
them out from the midst of the nations. But it has not yet gone to all
nations, kindreds, tongues and people; but wait a little longer, it
will shortly go, for just as sure as it has already been preached to
nearly all the nations of Christendom, so will it go to every other
people—heathen, Mahomedan, and every class, whether in Europe, Asia,
Africa, or the uttermost parts of [p.47] South America, the frozen
regions in the north, or the numerous islands in the great western and
eastern oceans. Every people must be warned that the great day of the
Lord is close at hand; every people must know that the Lord God has
spoken in these latter times; every people must know something
concerning the purposes of the Great Jehovah in fulfilling and
accomplishing the great preparatory work for the second advent of the
Son of God from the heavens. Here then is the fufilment of one
prophecy. Let us now come to another.

Vol. 15,  p.47
John, who saw this angel restore the everlasting Gospel to be preached
to all the nations, declares that another proclamation was closely
connected with the preaching of the Gospel. What was it? "The hour of
his judgment has come"—the eleventh hour, the last time that God will
warn the nations of the earth. "The hour of God's judgment has come,"
and that is the reason why the Gospel is to be so extensively preached
among all people, nations and tongues, because the Lord intends
through this warning to prepare them, if they will, to escape the hour
of his judgment, which must come upon all people who will refuse to
receive the divine message of the everlasting Gospel.

Vol. 15,  p.47
We will now pass on to another prophecy. Another angel followed. What
was his proclamation? Another angel followed, and he cried with a loud
voice, saying: "Babylon is fallen, is fallen. She has made all nations
drink of the wine of the Wrath of her fornication," &c. Spiritual
Babylon the Great, "the mother of harlots and abominations of the
earth." "Mystery Babylon"—that great power that has held sway over the
nations of the earth—that great ecclesiastical power which has ruled
over the consciences of the children of men, she is to fall and is to
be destroyed from the face of the earth. Will the righteous fall with
her? No. Why not? Because there is a way for their escape.

Vol. 15,  p.47
Now mark another prophecy. "I heard a great voice," says John, "from
heaven, saying, 'Come out of her, O my people!'" Out of where?
"Mystery Babylon, the Great"—out of this great confusion that exists
throughout all the nations and multitudes of Christendom. "Come out;
of her, O my people, that ye partake not of her sins, that ye receive
not of her plagues; for her sins have reached to the heavens, and God
hath remembered her iniquities!" Is this being fulfilled? Do you see
any indications of the people of God coming out from "Mystery Babylon
the Great?" Yes, for forty-two years, and upwards, God has commanded
his people, not by something devised by a congregation of divines, or
by human ingenuity, but by a voice from heaven which has been
published and printed, requiring all who receive the everlasting
Gospel to come out from the midst of great Babylon. One hundred
thousand Latter-day Saints, approximately speaking, now inherit these
mountain regions. They are here because of this prediction of John,
because of its being fulfilled, because of the voice that has come
from heaven—the proclamation of the Almighty for his people to flee
from amongst the nations of the earth. I need not say any more in
regard to this prophecy; it is in the Bible, and is being fulfilled
before the eyes of all people.

Vol. 15,  p.47
Let me refer now to another prophecy. Daniel the Prophet has told us
that in the latter days after the great image that was seen in dream
by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, representing the various
[p.48] kingdoms of the world, should be destroyed, and those nations
should pass away and become like the chaff of the summer threshing
floor, the Lord would establish an everlasting Government here upon
the earth. The Lord God saw proper to reveal to his servant Daniel the
nature of this Government. He represented it as having a very small
beginning—as a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which
stone should fail upon the feet of the image, and they should be
broken in pieces. After the destruction of the feet all the image
should fall—the legs of iron, the belly and thighs of brass, the
breast and arms of silver, the head of gold—representing the remnants
of all those ancient nations—the Babylonians, Medes and Persians, and
the Greeks; also the remnants of those that once constituted the great
Roman empire—those now in Europe and those of European origin which
have come across the great ocean and established themselves here on
the vast continent of the west, all, all were to be destroyed by the
force of this little kingdom to be established by the power of truth,
and by the authority that should characterize the nature of the stone
cut Out of the mountains. "In the days of these kings," says the
Prophet, "shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom that shall never be
destroyed, neither shall it be left to any other people, but it shall
stand for ever," etc. The Prophet Daniel uttered the prophecy; Joseph
Smith, by authority of the Almighty, fulfilled it, so far as the
organization or setting up of the kingdom was concerned.

Vol. 15,  p.48
Let me refer now to some other prophecies. I do not want to dwell long
upon any of them. We are told in the prophecies of Isaiah that before
the time of the second advent, when the glory of the Lord should be
revealed and all flesh should see it together, there should be a Zion
built up on the earth. The Prophet gives the following exhortation to
that Zion—"O Zion, thou that bringest good tidings, get thee up into
the high mountain." Here then is a prophecy that, in the latter days,
God would have a Zion on the earth before he should reveal himself
from heaven and manifest his glory to all people; and the people
called Zion are exhorted, in the 40th chapter of Isaiah, to get up
into the high mountain. Here we are in this great mountain region, in
a Territory called the mountain Territory. Here we are on the great
backbone, as it were, of the western hemisphere, located among the
valleys of this great ridge of mountains, which extends for thousands
of miles—from the frozen regions in the north, almost to the southern
extremity of South America. Here are the people called Zion, gone up
into the high mountain, according to the prediction of the Prophet
Isaiah. Isaiah uttered the prophecy; Joseph Smith also prophecied the
same thing, but died without seeing it fulfilled. His successor,
Brigham Young, lived to be the favored instrument in the hands of God,
of taking the people from those countries down in the States, those
countries upon the low elevations of our globe, and bringing them up
here into this vast moutain region. Thus the prophecy was uttered—thus
it has been fulfilled.

Vol. 15,  p.48
We will pass on to some other prophecies. In the eighteenth chapter of
the prophecies of Isaiah we have a prediction about a time when the
Lord should make a great destruction upon a certain portion of the
earth. The Prophet begins the chapter by saying, "woe to the land
shadowing with wings, which is beyond [p.49] the rivers of Ethiopia.
Recollect where the Prophet dwelt when he uttered this prophecy—in
Palestine, east of the Mediterranean Sea. Where was Ethiopia?
South-west from Palestine. Where was there a land located beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia. Every person acquainted with the geography of our
globe knows that this American continent was beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia from the land of Palestine, where the prophecy was uttered. A
woe was pronounced upon that land, and that woe is this: "For afore
the harvest, when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in
the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and
take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto
the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth. And the
fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall
winter upon them." But first, before this destruction, there is a
remarkable prophecy. Says the Prophet: "All ye inhabitants of the
world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye when he lifteth up an ensign
on the mountains, and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye." From this
we learn that, before this great destruction, there is to be an ensign
lifted up on the mountains, and this, too, beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia, from Palestine. This is the reason why Zion in the latter
days goes up into the mountains, in order that an ensign might be
lifted up on the mountains. This prophecy was uttered some twenty-five
hundred years ago, and has been fulfilled before the eyes of the
people in our day.

Vol. 15,  p.49
But more in regard to this ensign; we find that it was not an ensign
to be lifted up in Palestine, for in the fifth chapter of his
prophecies, Isaiah, speaking of it says—"The Lord shall lift up an
ensign for the nations from afar." What does this mean? It means a
land far distant from where the Prophet Isaiah lived—the land of
Palestine. Now there is no land of magnitude or greatness that is far
off from Palestine that would answer the description of this prophecy
any better than this great western hemisphere; it is located almost on
the opposite side of the globe from Palestine. The Lord, then, was to
lift the ensign on a land that was far off from where the Prophet
lived; and that ensign, we are told, should be set up on the
mountains, and that, too, on a land shadowing with wings. When looking
on the map of North and South America it has oftentimes suggested to
my own mind the two wings of a great bird. No doubt the Prophet Isaiah
saw this great western continent in vision, and recognized the
resemblance to the wings of a bird in the general outline of the two
branches of the continent. On such a land, on the mountains afar off
from Palestine, an ensign was to be raised. But remember another thing
in connection with this ensign—See how extensive the proclamation was
to be—"All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see
ye when he lifts up an ensign on the mountains." It was to be a work
that was to attract the attention of all people, unto the ends of the
world.

Vol. 15,  p.49
"But," enquires one, "what do you call an ensign?" Webster gives the
definition of an ensign or standard—"Something to which the people
gather; a notice for the people to assemble." In other words it is the
great standard of the Almighty—the great ensign that he is lifting up
in the shape of his Church and kingdom, on the mountains in the latter
days, with all the order and form of his ancient system of church
government, with its inspired Apostles [p.50] and Prophets and with
all the gifts, powers and blessings characterizing the Christian
Church in ancient days. That is an ensign that should attract the
people unto the very ends of the world.

Vol. 15,  p.50
With the establishment of this ensign God has not only restored the
Gospel, but the keys of gathering the people together and building up
Zion, and he has also restored other keys and blessings that were to
characterize the great and last dispensation of the fullness of times.
What are they? The same as predicted in the last chapter of the
prophecy of Malachi. That Prophet, speaking of the great day of
burning says, "Behold the day shall come that shall burn as an oven,
and all the proud and they that do wickedly shall become as stubble,
and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hosts,
that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." This is something
that has never been fulfilled yet. But mark! Before the Lord burns all
the proud and those who do wickedly, he has told us be would send
Elijah the Prophet. He says, "Behold, I will send unto you Elijah the
Prophet, he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and
the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the
earth with a curse." Recollect, this is to be just before the day of
burning, before the great and notable day of the Lord should come.

Vol. 15,  p.50
Elijah, the Prophet, then, must come from heaven—that same man who was
translated in a chariot of fire, and who had such power while on the
earth that he could fight, as it were, all the enemies of Israel that
came against him; he could call down fire from heaven and consume the
fifties as they came by companies to take him. That same man was to be
sent in the last days, before the great and notable day of the Lord.
What for? To restore a very important principle—a principle which will
turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, and the hearts of the
fathers to the children. Has that Prophet been sent to the earth,
according to the prediction? Yes. When did he come, and to whom did he
come? He came to that despised young man, Joseph Smith. According to
the testimony of Joseph Smith, the Prophet Elijah stood before him, in
the presence of Oliver Cowdery, and gave them these keys. What is
included in this turning of the hearts of the children to the fathers
and the hearts of the fathers to the children? There is included in it
a principle for the salvation of the fathers that are dead, as well as
for the children who are living. You have heard, Latter-day Saints,
for years and years, that God has given keys, by which the living in
this Church might do, not only the works necessary for their own
salvation, but also certain works necessary to the salvation of their
ancestors as far back as they could obtain their genealogies. What can
be done by us for our fathers who have lived and died during the last
seventeen hundred years, without hearing the Gospel in its fullness
and power? Hundreds and thousands, and millions of them were sincere
and honest, and served the Lord the best they knew; but they lived in
the midst of apostate Christendom, and never heard the Gospel preached
by inspired men, neither had they the chance of having its ordinances
administered to them by men having authority from God. Must they be
shut out from the kingdom of God, and be deprived of the glory, joys
and blessings of celestial life because [p.51] of this? No, God is an
impartial being, and when he sent Elijah the Prophet to confer the
keys I have referred to upon Joseph Smith, he intended that this
people should work for the generations of the dead, as well as for the
generations of the living; that these ordinances which pertain to men
here in the flesh might be administered in their behalf by those of
their kindred living in this day and generation. In this way the
Latter-day Saints will be baptized and receive the various ordinances
of the Gospel of the Son of God for their forefathers, as far as they
can trace them; and when we have traced them as far back as we can
possibly go, the Lord God has promised that he will reveal our
ancestry back until it shall Connect with the ancient priesthood, so
that there will be no link wanting in the great chain of redemption.

Vol. 15,  p.51
Here then was a restoration in fulfillment of the prediction of
Malachi, and for this reason Temples are being built. The Temple, of
which the foundation is laid on this block, is intended for that
purpose among others. It is not intended for the assembling of vast
congregations of the Saints, but it is intended to be for the
administration of sacred and holy ordinances. There will be a font for
baptism, in its proper place, built according to the pattern that God
shall give unto his servants. It is intended that, in these sacred and
holy places, appointed, set apart and dedicated by the command of the
Almighty, genealogies shall be revealed, and that the living shall
officiate for the dead, that those who have not bad the opportunity
while in the flesh in past generations to obey the Gospel, might have
their friends now living, officiate for them. This does not destroy
their agency, for although they laid down their bodies and went to
their graves in a day of darkness, and they are now mingled with the
hosts of spirits in the eternal worlds, their agency still continues,
and that agency gives them power to believe in Jesus Christ there,
just as well as we can who are here. Those spirits on the other side
of the veil can repent just the same as we, in the flesh, can repent.
Faith in God and in his son Jesus Christ, and repentance are acts of
the mind—mental operations—but when it comes to baptism for the
remission of sins they cannot perform that, we act for them, that
having been ordained to be performed in the flesh. They can receive
the benefit of whatever is done for them here, and whatever the Lord
God commands his people here in the flesh to do for them will be
published to them there by those holding the everlasting Priesthood of
the Son of God. If, when the Gospel is preached to them there, they
will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will receive the benefits
of the ordinances performed on their behalf here, and they will be
partakers, with their kindred, of all the blessings of the fullness of
the Gospel of the Son of God; but if they will not do this they will
be bound over in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great
day, when they will be judged according to men in the flesh. We are
here in the flesh, and the same Gospel that condemns the disobedient
and the sinner here, will, by the same law, condemn those who are on
the other side of the veil.

Vol. 15,  p.51
We have an account of baptism for the dead, as it was administered
among the ancient Saints. Paul refers to it in his epistle to the
Corinthians, to prove to them that the resurrection was a reality,
"else," says he, "what shall they do who are baptized for the dead? If
the [p.52] dead rise not at all, why then are they baptized for the
dead?" It was a strong argument that Paul brought forward, and one
that the Corinthians well understood. It was a practice among them to
be baptized for their dead, and Paul, knowing that they understood
this principle, uses an argument to show that the dead would have a
resurrection, and that baptism or immersion in water, a being buried
in and the coming forth out of the water, was a simile of the
resurrection from the dead. The same doctrine is taught in one of
Peter's epistles. About preaching to those who are dead, Peter says
that "Jesus was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the
Spirit, by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison,
which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing?" Indeed! Jesus
himself go to the dead and preach to them? Yes. Go to the old
antediluvian spirits, and preach to them? Yes, preach to spirits who
had lain in prison over two thousand years, shut up and deprived of
entering into the fulness of the kingdom of God because of their
disobedience. Jesus went and preached to them. "What did he preach?"
He did not preach eternal damnation, for that would have been re use.
He did not go and say to them, "You ante-diluvian spirits, I have come
here to torment you." He did not declare that "I have opened your
prison doors to tell you there is no hope for you, your case is past
recovery, you must be damned to everlasting despair." This was not his
preaching. He went there to declare glad tidings. When he entered the
prison of those antediluvians, Peter says he preached the Gospel.
"For, for this cause was the Gospel preached to them that are dead,
that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, and live
according to God in the spirit." Yes, the inhabitants of the spirit
world—far more numerous than those in the flesh—must hear the glad
tidings of the Gospel of the Son of God, that all may be judged by the
same Gospel and the same law; and if they will receive it be blessed,
exalted from their prison house, and brought into the presence of the
Father and the Son, and inherit celestial glory.

Vol. 15,  p.52
This, therefore, is among the greatest of all the keys that God has
revealed in the last dispensation—the saving of the generations of the
dead, as well as the generations of the living, inasmuch as they will
repent. Shall we stop here? Perhaps I have spoken sufficiently long.
There are other principles, just as important in their nature, that
must be restored in the latter-days, but I have not time to dwell upon
them. I have reference now to the restoration of that eternal
principle—the marriage covenant, which once was on the earth in the
days of our first parents, the eternal union of husband and wife,
according to the law of God, in the first pattern of marriage that is
given to the children of men. That must also be restored, and
everything in its time and in its season must be restored, in order
that all things spoken of by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since
the world began may be fulfilled. But we will leave this subject for
some future time. There must, however, be a restoration of the eternal
covenant of marriage, and also of that order of marriage which existed
among the old Patriarchs, before the prophecies can be fulfilled,
wherein seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, "we will eat
our own bread, and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy
name to take away our [p.53] reproach." That must be restored, or the
prophecies of Isaiah never can be fulfilled. A great many other things
might be named which must be restored in the dispensation of the
fulness of times. It is a dispensation to restore all things, it is
the dispensation of the spirit and power of Elias or Elijah, "to seal
all things unto the end of all things" preparatory to the coming of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.53
The wicked as well as the righteous will feel the power of these keys.
The wicked as well as the righteous must be sealed to that end for
which they have lived. The wicked, who have disobeyed the law of God,
must be sealed over unto darkness, until they have been punished and
beaten with many stripes, until the last resurrection, until the last
trump shall sound. But the righteous, in the flesh and behind the
veil, will come forth in the first resurrection, but prior to that
great event they will co-operate in their labors for the consummation
of the purposes of the Almighty so far as necessary to prepare the way
for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to reign here,
personally, on the earth for the space of one thousand years. Amen.

Orson Pratt, December 18, 1870

Second Coming of Christ—Preparatory Work Thereto

Discourse By Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in 
the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 18, 1870.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.53
I will read a few passages of Scripture, which will be found in the
50th Psalm—

Vol. 15,  p.53
"The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from
the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.

Vol. 15,  p.53
"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

Vol. 15,  p.53
"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour
before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

Vol. 15,  p.53
"He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he
may judge his people.

Vol. 15,  p.53
"Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant
with me by sacrifice."

Vol. 15,  p.53
This congregation, the members of which are generally speaking Bible
believers, have no doubt in their minds but the ancient servants of
God were inspired by the gift of the Holy Ghost to utter many things
concerning the future, to deliver many predictions concerning events
which should take place among mankind down to the latest generations.
David, in a peculiar manner, was inspired, and composed his psalms by
the spirit of prophecy; he foresaw, by that spirit that knows all
things, some of the grand events of the future, pertaining to the
inhabitants of this world, and the [p.54] purposes of God in relation
to this creation. These passages which I have read have reference to
some of these great events, a portion of which have already, in a
measure, been fulfilled; but the greater portion remains yet to be
accomplished. "The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken," has
literally been fulfilled so far as this present generation is
concerned. It has been fulfilled also in relation to past generations;
but it is very evident from the meaning of the context, that the
speaking of the Lord here referred to was a work of latter times when
God should again speak to the inhabitants of the earth; when he should
again call upon all people, far and near, "from the rising of the
sun," as he expresses here, "to the going down thereof." To show more
fully that this was a latter-day work, he speaks or predicts that the
"Lord our God shall come and not keep silence." This bad no reference
to his first coming; for though he did then come and utter forth his
doctrine and did not keep silence, yet you will see by reading a
little further, that the Psalmist had reference to another coming of
the Son of God, very different in its character from his first advent.
"Our God shall come and shall not keep silence." Now mark, in an
especial manner, the following sentence, and you will see that it has
no reference to his first coming—"A fire shall devour before him, and
it shall be very tempestuous round about him." This was not a
characteristic of his first coming; there was nothing specially
connected with that event that would excite the attention of mankind
generally. He came in a very meek and humble manner; his birth and
advent into this world were in the most humble position. Born, as it
were, in a stable, laid down in a manger. Not born in king's
palace—not born among the great and noble, but in a very obscure
manner. He grew up from infancy to manhood engaged in the carpenter's
business. Some thirty years of his life were spent at home with his
reputed father, and with his mother Mary, dwelling comparatively in
obscurity, occasionally breaking forth and arguing with the wise and
the great. Nothing characterizing him as the Great Creator of this
world, or as its Redeemer, only to those who were well acquainted with
the predictions of the Prophets. But this last coming, or the coming
here spoken of by the Psalmist, represents him as coming with power—"A
fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round
about him. He shall call to the heavens from above," says the next
passage, "and to the earth from beneath." What object had he in view,
in calling upon the heavens above and upon the earth beneath? What end
had he in view in again speaking and breaking the silence of ages, and
in giving a revelation to the heavens and then to the earth? It was in
order to bring about a preparatory work before the face of his coming
the second time, when he should come in flaming fire. A preparation
was needed, and this preparation is mentioned in part in the last
verse which I read, which declares that he should call to the heavens
from above and to the earth from beneath.

Vol. 15,  p.54
He gives us some insight into the nature of that call. His call to his
servants was, "Gather ye my Saints together unto me, they that have
made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

Vol. 15,  p.54
This seems, then, to be a work preparatory to the coming of the Lord
in flaming fire. The nature of the fire that will be exhibited at his
[p.55] second coming in the clouds of heaven will be such that it will
consume the wicked ann ungodly, and those who repent not and who do
not sanctify themselves before the Lord. Our God in that day will be a
consuming fire; the intensity of this fire will be so great that the
very hills, the Psalmist David informs us in another place, "will melt
like wax before his presence." The Prophet Isaiah, in speaking of the
fire or heat that would accompany the second advent of the Son of God,
declares that the mountains shall flow down at his presence. The
elements that now constitute these rugged mountains which we see here
on this continent and in all parts of the earth where we travel will
melt with fervent heat, and will flow down before the presence of the
Lord. The brightness of this fire will be greater than that of the sun
in its glory. I mean our temporal, literal sun, from which we receive
light and heat, as you will find recorded in the last verse of the
24th chapter of Isaiah, which says that "when the Lord of Hosts shall
come to reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients
gloriously, the sun shall hide his face in shame and the moon shall be
confounded." With all the brightness of that luminary which lights
this creation it will hide its face in shame; and the bright
luminaries of heaven will be confounded as it were, so great will be
the glory of his presence—a fire devouring before him, and all nature
feeling the power of the Almighty, which will be exerted on that grand
occasion.

Vol. 15,  p.55
Will the wicked be able to endure this intense heat and not be
consumed? I now have reference to their physical tabernacles, their
temporal bodies. Hear what prophecy has declared in relation to this.
Read the last chapter contained in the Old Testament; that will answer
the question.

Vol. 15,  p.55
"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the
proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day
that cometh shall burn them up, saith the, Lord of Hosts, that it
shall leave them neither root nor branch."

Vol. 15,  p.55
Notice, now, how completely it will sweep the proud and those who do
wickedly from the face of this creation. The fire that proceeds forth
from the presence of God at his second coming shall burn as an oven,
and shall not only affect the mountains and the elements so as to melt
them, but it will also consume the proud and them that do wickedly
from the face of the globe. What effect will this intense heat have
upon the righteous? No more than the heated furnace of Nebuchadnezzar
had upon the Hebrews who were cast therein; and though it was heated
seven times hotter than it was wont to be heated and slew those who
east their fellows into it, yet they who were thrown into it received
no harm, not even the smell of fire on their garments. They were
protected by a miracle, and the fire that slew their enemies was their
preservation. So likewise when the Son of God shall burn up the wicked
and consume their bodies to ashes, both root and branch, leaving no
remnants of them among all people, nations and tongues, the righteous
will be prepared to enter into the midst of this flaming fire without
receiving any harm; indeed they will be caught up into the very
presence of God, and they will be surrounded with a pillar of fire as
Moses was when he came down from Mount Sinai, only to a far greater
extent; but it will have no power over them, in fact it will be their
protection and salvation, their glory, happiness and joy.[p.56] 

Vol. 15,  p.56
To prepare the people for that great day it is necessary that the
Saints should be gathered together, as predicted in the 5th verse,
when he should give this great and grand revelation in the last days,
when the mighty God, even the Lord, shall speak. He will call to the
heavens to assist in the great latter-day work; and all the angels and
the heavenly host, who do his bidding, will go forth as swift
messengers to execute his decrees and fulfil his purposes in bringing
about this grand gathering of his elect from the four quarters of the
earth. Who will they be? Those who have made a covenant with him by
sacrifice. What kind of a sacrifice? The sacrifice of every earthly
thing required, their native countries, their fathers and mothers, for
in many instances these who obey the Gospel are compelled to sever the
nearest earthly ties—parents from their children, children from their
parents and kindred from their kin, in order that they may come forth
and be gathered into one grand body preparatory to the coming of the
Son of God in flaming fire.

Vol. 15,  p.56
There are many people who have believed that the coming of our Lord
was near at hand. We might refer to many persons by name who have even
set times for his coming—certain particular days, months and years in
which the Lord would be revealed from heaven. But they have entirely
overlooked the prophecies of the great preparatory work for his
coming. If they had read closely, and instead of studying for dates
had carefully looked for the great purposes to be fulfilled before he
comes they would have known that their predictions were false. There
is to be a grand gathering of all his people from the four quarters of
the earth into one body, one family as it were; one people
consolidated in one region of country, before he shall come.

Vol. 15,  p.56
Let me refer to this great gathering of the Saints from every land and
nation; we find it predicted in various portions of the prophetic
writings. I will first refer you to the prediction recorded, if I
recollect aright, in the 43d chapter of Isaiah. There is a prediction
that before the great day of rest the Lord will again speak and will
say to the north give up, to the south keep not back! Bring my sons
from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—the same thing
that David has reference to.

Vol. 15,  p.56
This is not a work to be accomplished by the wisdom of man or by a
combination of the wisest men that are uninspired, among the nations;
but the Lord is to speak, and will say to the north give up. A new
revelation is to be given: he will say to the south keep not back, and
he will command that his sons and his daughters be brought from the
ends of the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.56
Has any such thing happened in our days? Has the mighty God, even the
Lord, spoken in our days? Yes, and connected with this proclamation we
are informed that the elect of God are to be gathered from the four
winds of heaven; and we have been called upon to perform this work.
How much have we accomplished during the forty years that have
intervened since the Lord spoke? In the year 1827, '28, '29 and '30
the Lord spoke and gave many revelations, among which was this record
called the Book of Mormon, unfolding to us not only the everlasting
Gospel in all its plainness, simplicity and ancient purity, as it was
taught to the inhabitants of this continent eighteen hundred years
ago; but also many sacred predictions relating to the great work which
God would accomplish when [p.57] he should bring this record forth in
the latter days. This book was translated by a mighty Prophet who was
inspired of God for the purpose; and since it came forth—in the short
space of forty years—it has been published in many of the languages of
the earth. It has gone forth in the German, Italian, French, Welsh and
Scandinavian languages, and also in the tongue spoken by the Sandwich
Islanders; and it has been proclaimed, as it were, on the housetops,
in the streets and highways, upon the hills and mountains and in all
public places, so far as the Missionaries and Elders of this Church
could find access and liberty to proclaim it; and wherever the people
have repented and turned from their sins and have desired to receive
the everlasting Gospel, they have continued to gather together in one.
This gathering has been going on for nearly forty years, until the
effects can now be seen in this Territory, by any person who will
travel through it in the towns and cities which have been built, the
settlements which have been formed, the meeting-houses and
school-houses and public halls that have been erected; and in the
fencing of farms, and the opening of water canals and ditches for
irrigating the soil. I say those who will travel through this
Territory may see some of the effects of the gathering out of the
Saints who hay made a covenant with the Lord by sacrifice. If we had
gathered together into a country that was well timbered, where we
could go out and get a lead of fence poles or firewood before
breakfast; if we had settled in a country that was not, comparatively
a desert, and that was blessed with the rains of heaven, we could no
doubt have accomplished far more than we now see. But the Lord
purposely led us into this desert to fulfil prophecy. A great many
people, perhaps, reflect upon and wonder at our coming into a sterile,
barren district of country, inhabited by hostile savages, and which,
to all natural appearance, would not sustain a farming or agricultural
population. But the Lord brought us into a country of this description
in order that he might fulfil prophecies that must come to pass before
"our God shall come in flaming fire."

Vol. 15,  p.57
In proof of this let me refer you to the nature of the country, the
redemption of the desert and so forth, that is to take place before
the Lord comes. I will refer you now to some of the sayings of the
Prophet Isaiah. In the last two verses of his 34th chapter he says:

Vol. 15,  p.57
"Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read; no one of these shall
fail, none shall want her mate; for my mouth it hath commanded, and
his spirit it hath gathered them.

Vol. 15,  p.57
"And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto
them by line; they shall possess it for ever, from generation to
generation shall they dwell therein."

Vol. 15,  p.57
In the 35th chapter, first and second verses, you will find these
words:

Vol. 15,  p.57
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the
desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

Vol. 15,  p.57
"It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing;
the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel
and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency
of our God."

Vol. 15,  p.57
Notice now that the Lord, by his Spirit, is to have a great gathering
in the latter days of his people, and we are advised to seek out of
the book of the Lord and learn of this gathering, and how his Saints
should inhabit the land. It should be divided unto them by lot, the
same as marry people received their inheritances when they came into
this desert. They cast lots, and drew their lots and inheritances.
"And the wilderness and the solitary places shall be glad for them."
If you can find a country that answers better [p.58] the description
here given anywhere in the four quarters of the earth, I should like
to know it. When we came here, the country to all natural appearance
was so barren that it seemed impossible to locate a people upon it.
But you see what we have accomplished. Not by our own wisdom nor by
our own strength, but by being gathered by the voice of the Lord and
by his commandment, and being guided and directed by the spirit of
inspiration.

Vol. 15,  p.58
After we are gathered, the desert is to rejoice and blossom as the
rose. How often I have thought of this in the spring time, when all of
this city, covering some four, or perhaps five square miles with
orchards and gardens, is in bloom! Then is the time to realize how
literally this prophecy has been fulfilled. Every one knows that
fruitful as it now is, when we came here it was called a desert. If
you do not believe me, go to the old maps, and you will find this
section of the country laid down as "The Great American Desert." That
is the name that was given to it then. People, when banded together in
a numerous company, and well armed would hardly venture to pass
through this desert country, it was so unpropitious and forbidding,
the rains of heaven never having been, apparently, shed forth upon it.
When we came we could dig down some eighteen inches or two feet, and
in other places there was no moisture at all, and it looked as though
there never had been any rain here. But "the wilderness and the
solitary place shall be made glad for them, and the desert shall
blossom abundantly, ever with joy and singing."

Vol. 15,  p.58
"But," says one, "perhaps this had reference to some other period and
not to the preparatory work for the coming of the Lord." Let us read a
few verses further in this 35th chapter of Isaiah's prophecies. The
third and fourth verses read:

Vol. 15,  p.58
"Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

Vol. 15,  p.58
"Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not; behold,
your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will
come and save you."

Vol. 15,  p.58
Now notice, this is not the first coming. He did not come with
vengeance then; he came to be spit upon, to be meek and lowly, to be
ridiculed by the mob if they felt disposed, and finally to be lifted
up upon the cross and crucified for the sins of the world. But the
people who are to be gathered together, and for whom the desert is to
rejoice, are called upon not to fear—"Don't be faint-hearted, don't be
discouraged." Says the Prophet, "Be strong, fear not, for behold your
God will come with vengeance; he will come with a recompence and he
will save you," that is, you who are in the desert. Then there will be
splendid miracles wrought again, as in ancient days. Then the eyes of
the blind are to be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped; then "shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of
the dumb shall sing, for in the wilderness shall waters break out and
streams in the desert."

Vol. 15,  p.58
Latter-day Saints, and what I ask of you I might ask of the whole
people of the Territory, have you seen a fulfilment of this saying of
the Prophet Isaiah since you have been located here in the desert? Has
there been any such things as springs breaking out in the wilderness
and rivulets of water in the desert? Yes, not in one or two isolated
instances, but in almost every settlement throughout this Territory.
Many places in which, in early days, there was not water enough for a
settlement, of twenty individuals, now support their hundreds. In what
way? By the great increase of water. How [p.59] was Salt Lake when we
first came here? We, that is, a few of the Pioneers, went over in July
1847, to the banks of Salt Lake, to what is called the Black Rock.
Some of us went in bathing, and we could walk out to Black Rock, and
look down on the water on each side. But how is it now? The waters are
some ten feet above that land that we trod upon then. What is the
matter? Ought not the waters of the Lake to have decreased, seeing
that the waters of the various streams that, before our arrival,
emptied their contents into it, are turned broadcast over thousands
and tens of thousands of acres of land? Certainly one would think so,
for when all this water is turned on the land it evaporates instead of
going to increase the volume of the Great Salt Lake; but instead of
diminishing, the waters of the Lake have risen some ten or twelve feet
above the surface as it existed in 1847, when I first saw it. Hence
streams have broken out in the desert, and waters in the wilderness,
as it is prophecied, not only in this chapter, but also in various
portions of the Psalms.

Vol. 15,  p.59
When speaking of the great day of the coming of the Lord, how often do
Isaiah and David speak of the desert, and the waters, rivers and
springs that should break out to water the barren, thirsty land! "The
parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of
water."

Vol. 15,  p.59
We might go on and speak about the highway that the Lord would have
there, that has also been thrown up since we came here. It is even
called a highway by the world, that know nothing of these prophecies.
I believe I will say, as I pass along, something about the highway,
for the same Prophet that predicts about this alteration in the
desert, also says there shall be a highway there. Let me refer to
another prophecy about this highway, by the same Prophet. It reads
thus: "And the Lord shall proclaim to the ends of the world, say ye to
the daughter of Zion, beheld thy salvation cometh; behold his reward
is with him and his work before him." But in the sentence preceding
this the Prophet says: "Cast up, cast up a highway, gather out the
stones, prepare ye the way of the people, lift up a standard for the
people." Then come in the words I have quoted. How was the great
highway that crosses this continent constructed? You ought to know,
for you were the ones who constructed it through these mountains; you
were the ones who built some four hundred miles of this railroad, you
therefore know how it was done. Did you gather out the stones? Did you
prepare the level places for this great highway that the Prophet had
predicted? Did you cast it up where there were hollows? Did you fill
up the hollows and gather out the stones in order to make it level and
convenient? O, yes. Did you make any tunnels and gateways? I don't
suppose that the ancient Prophet knew what a tunnel was, hence he
says, "go through, go through the gates, cast up, cast up a highway."
No doubt he saw in vision how the railroad looked, saw the carriages
driving along with almost lightning speed, darting into the mountains
on one side, and by and by saw them coming out on the other side; and
he did not know how to represent it any better than to speak of it as
a gate—"go through, go through the gates," &c. "Prepare ye the way of
the people, cast up, cast up a highway, and lift up a standard for the
people;" and then come in those notable words, showing that it was a
highway to be cast up before the coming of the Son of God. "The [p.60]
Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the world, say ye to the daughters
of Zion, behold thy salvation cometh, behold his reward is with him
and his work before him."

Vol. 15,  p.60
Don't you see from these passages that this is a latter-day work? That
there is a proclamation connected with the casting up of this highway?
And that it is a proclamation which has reference to every nation,
kindred, tongue and people? God was to speak, deliver a message, send
forth his servants as missionaries; they were to publish that message
to the ends of the world, and to declare to all people that the Lord
Was to come, "behold thy salvation cometh, and his reward is with him,
and his work is before him." The Prophet further says "They shall call
them," for whom this highway was built that their way might be
prepared, and for whom a standard should be raised, "the redeemed of
the Lord, a holy people; they shall be called, sought out, a city not
forsaken," Oh, how different from old Jerusalem, a city that has been
forsaken! It is almost two thousand years since the Lord forsook it,
and the Jews have been forsaken, and scattered among all people.

Vol. 15,  p.60
But when the Lord lifts up this highway, gathers out the stones, sends
forth his proclamation and gathers out his Saints who have made a
covenant by sacrifice, they will build a city, one that shall be
sought out. Old Jerusalem was not sought out; it was built before the
Jews went to inhabit it. It was one of the early cities of the ancient
nations of Canaan. But this latter-day city, that is called Zion, is
to be sought out, and the people that were to search it out were to be
a very good people. "They shall call them the Redeemed of the Lord;
they shall be called, sought out, a city not forsaken."

Vol. 15,  p.60
Now, with all the difficulties we have encountered here, and with all
the imaginations of our enemies in regard to us, I humbly trust and
hope that the time has come for this prophecy to be literally
fulfilled; when this city of the Lord, which is built up according to
this prophecy will not be forsaken. I hope that the Lord our God will
protect his people and guarantee to them the rights already guaranteed
by the Constitution of our Country to every religious denomination in
the land.

Vol. 15,  p.60
There are some other prophecies about the gathering of the Saints. I
think I will read one that has reference to our coming to this place.
You will find it in the 107th Psalm, and it is very applicable to the
journey which we performed when we came here.

Vol. 15,  p.60
"O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth
for ever. 

Vol. 15,  p.60
"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the
hand of the enemy;

Vol. 15,  p.60
"And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west,
from the north, and from the south.

Vol. 15,  p.60
"They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city
to dwell in.

Vol. 15,  p.60
"Hungry and thirsty their soul fainted in them.

Vol. 15,  p.60
"Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them
out of their distresses.

Vol. 15,  p.60
"And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city
of habitation.

Vol. 15,  p.60
"Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His
wonderful works to the children of men."

Vol. 15,  p.60
This has been fulfilled since the day that David uttered it. "Let the
redeemed of the Lord say so!" What redeemed of the Lord? Not those who
were gathered out of the land of Egypt before the days of David, but
those who are gathered out of all lands, says the Prophet, "'from the
East and from the West, [p.61] and from the North and from the South."
From the four points of the compass, from every nation and every
clime. "Let them praise the Lord and give thanks to his holy name,
because of his mercy and his goodness to them." They were not to find
it at first all to their satisfaction; their journey was to be in a
solitary way; they were to find no city to dwell in. I can bear
testimony to this, for I was among the pioneers, and when we came here
we didn't find any great city, with houses already built to go into.
We had to live in our wagons, and had to build a little fort to defend
ourselves against the half-naked Indians. And thus we located in the
midst of a dried-up and thirsty land—a desert; and here in this
region, where the solitude was so great that it was only broken by the
yells of savages and the howling of wild beasts, we had to go to Work
to prepare a city for habitation. We had some afflictions—hunger and
thirst; "and their souls fainted within them," says David, "but they
cried unto the Lord in their afflictions, and he had mercy upon them
and delivered them out of their distresses."

Vol. 15,  p.61
In the 31st and 32d verses the Psalmist says—

Vol. 15,  p.61
"Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his
wonderful works to the children of men!"

Vol. 15,  p.61
"Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise
him in the assembly of the Elders."

Vol. 15,  p.61
Why should they be so glad to praise him? He tells us in the next
verses—

Vol. 15,  p.61
"He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry
ground."

Vol. 15,  p.61
"A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that
dwell therein."

Vol. 15,  p.61
This has reference to what will take place in the fruitful lands of
the Gentiles by and by; but he is going to reverse this so far as his
people in the desert are concerned, for he turns the wilderness into
standing water, and the dry ground into water springs; and "there he
makes the hungry to dwell that they may prepare a city for
habitations." Just as you did, brethren and sisters. "'And sow the
fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. He
blesseth them also so that they are multiplied greatly, and suffereth
not their cattle to decrease."

Vol. 15,  p.61
Has this been fulfilled? I have been away a great many years, and I do
not know so much about it as some of these old farmers; but I think if
we will traverse this Territory, we will find that our cattle have not
decreased since we came here.

Vol. 15,  p.61
There is another prophecy in this Psalm to which I will call your
attention, connected with this people that was to be gathered out from
all lands into a wilderness and solitary place. The Prophet says—"Yet
setteth he the poor on high from affliction and maketh him families
like a flock." Now, is that true? I would ask some of my brethren
here, as I have been gone so much, Is there any man here who has
families like a flock? If you have, you are fulfilling this prophecy
of the Psalmist. I think I heard of and saw in my travels in the
Territory quite a number of such men, quite poor men, just such men as
David refers to. What wonderful things take place in the last days, in
order to fulfil prophecy! "The righteous shall see it and rejoice, and
all iniquity shall stop her mouth." This latter clause has yet to be
fulfilled, it has not yet come to pass. "Whoso is wise, and will
observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord." Amen.[p.62] 

Brigham Young, June 9, 1872

Continued Teaching Necessary—Ignorance of Professors 
of Modern Christianity—Prayer, Etc.

Remarks By President Brigham Young, Delivered 
in the Bowery, Brigham City, June 9, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.62
If I can speak so as to be heard, I will talk to the brethren and
sisters a few minutes. It requires stillness and close attention to
hear those who speak in this bowery. A great deal has been said with
regard to the salvation of the human family. I might say that more
should be done, then we could talk less. Of necessity, through the
weakness of human nature, a great deal has to be said; but if the
people could understand the principles of life and salvation, and
would act accordingly, it would require a great deal less talking.
Words are wind, they go into the ear and are forgotten; still there is
a certain portion that will be retained by a few, and they will be
profited thereby. The work in which we are engaged is not magnified in
the least by talking about it; it is only in the weak capacity of man
that these principles become exalted through the hearing of the ear.
The principles we preach are the gospel of life and salvation; and we
have entered into covenant with God to observe the rules, ordinances
and laws pertaining to this life and salvation. The question arises,
Do we perform this labor, in keeping the sayings of the Lord as
strictly as we should? No, we do not.

Vol. 15,  p.62
Suppose that we name a few of the rules and regulations by which we
are to live. If I attempt to classify them, perhaps I shall get them
imperfectly in the science of the law of God. But first, to me, after
hearing and believing that there is such a character as the Savior of
mankind, who has acted his part well and performed his duty in
purchasing redemption for the human family, and is now pleading for
his brethren, I at once inquired what he requires of me. This is the
inquiry of my reflections, and I learn that faith is the starting
point. If I believe sincerely and honestly, I must obey, and the next
step in the plan of salvation, as laid down by Jesus and his
disciples, is for me to be baptized for the remission of my sins. To
the Christian world, to the heathen world and the infidel world, we
can say that all things are spiritual, all things are temporal, all
things are natural; all things are natural, all things are temporal,
all things are spiritual; and there is not that being on the earth,
and never was, that I have any knowledge of, that can divide them. But
in the act, and in the performance of the duty of those who believe in
this plan of salvation, we can define our faith in our secret closet
by exercising faith in the name of Jesus, and seeking unto the Father
secretly in our hearts. Here we find a difference and a distinction
[p.63] between this and the actual performance of rising up from my
seat, going down into the water and being baptized for the remission
of my sins. Still the work is the same, consequently it is spiritual,
it is temporal, it is natural; it is natural, it is temporal, it is
spiritual.

Vol. 15,  p.63
Well, now, this is the work that we have before us; not that I am
going to have time to preach on these points, or delineate them to any
length; but these are the facts. If we believe, we obey, we are
baptized for the remission of our sins, which is the commencement of
the labor, the outward performance and manifestation of obedience to
God, through faith in the name of his son Jesus Christ. Then comes the
blessing by the imposition of hands upon the head of the individual
who has received baptism for the remission of sins, and he receives
the Holy Ghost. This is the blessing and the consolation of believing
in the truth; and this stimulates the individual to still exercise
faith and to continue in obedience to the commandments of the Lord, to
pray always, without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks; his
heart uplifted to God, day by day, from morning until evening, and
from evening until morning, for the blessings of heaven to be with
him, for his feet to be guided in the path of rectitude, and that he
may be preserved from speaking, thinking, and doing in anywise, that
which is wrong. This is simple and plain, and can be understood by all
classes of the children of men who are endowed with the common sense
and ability that are given to man.

Vol. 15,  p.63
The duty of the Latter-day Saints is to pray without ceasing, and in
everything to give thanks, to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all
things, and to be subject to his requirements. We, as Latter-day
Saints, can say that our duty is laid before us. We can read it, not
only in the faith and feelings of the individuals of the community;
but it is actually printed, it lies upon the pages of our history, and
we can read at our pleasure. We meet together for the express purpose
of having somebody or other tell us that which we know and have known
all the time. We have read it over and over; we have thought of it and
meditated upon it, yet we meet together and hear our brethren speak to
force these things into the affections of the people; and if we can
persuade them to hearken to every requirement of heaven, then we are
not under the necessity of talking so much. We are freed from this
task and toil.

Vol. 15,  p.63
What is our duty? To pray. Pray always? Yes. To pray in our families?
Yes. Let no man be in a hurry, but what he can get up in a morning and
pray with his family before he permits himself to partake of
refreshment. Let every man and every woman call upon the name of the
Lord, and that too, from a pure heart, while they are at work as well
as in their closet; while they are in public as well as while they are
in private, asking the Father in the name of Jesus, to bless them, and
to preserve and guide in, and to teach them, the way of life and
salvation, and to enable them so to live that they will obtain this
eternal salvation that we are after.

Vol. 15,  p.63
Now, besides being our duty to pray, it is our duty to live in peace
one with another. It is also our duty to love the Gospel and the
spirit of the Gospel, so that we can become one in the Lord, not out
of him, that our faith, our affections for the truth, the kingdom of
heaven, our acts, all our labor will be concentrated in the salvation
of the children [p.64] of men, and the establishment of the kingdom of
God on the earth. This is co-operation on a very large scale. This is
the work of redemption that is entered into by the Latter-day Saints.
Unitedly we perform these duties, we stand, we endure, we increase and
multiply, we strengthen and spread abroad, and shall continue so to do
until the kingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of our God and his
Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.64
We can read that these are our duties in the Bible, Book of Mormon,
Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other sayings that we have
from the Elders, which are just as true as any in these three books;
and all combined are a way-mark pointing us to life and salvation, and
we can read for ourselves.

Vol. 15,  p.64
We might say, if one man has a difficulty with another, let him, in
the first place, go to him privately and talk with him, and see if he
will be reconciled, or take another, and so on. We can say of a truth,
that if there be hard feelings in the midst of the Saints, they should
be eradicated from our bosoms by taking the proper course to enjoy the
Spirit of the Lord instead of the spirit of animosity and strife. All
these things you can define and enlarge upon at your leisure. It is
our duty to observe our sacraments, to observe our fast-days and
offerings; it is our duty to observe our tithings and to pay them.
There is a great deal said by our enemies with regard to the members
of this Church paying tithing. We are as free from taxation as any
other church on the earth, right or wrong, true or untrue, and we pay
as little as any other people, and if my tithing is required let it be
paid. That is the way to get rich. We have entered upon a great system
of co-operation for the building up of the kingdom of God, and, when
it is built up, it is ours, we own it. If we are Saints of God, and
sanctify ourselves through his Gospel, then we shall be worthy to
possess all things. The kingdoms of this world will be ours, all will
be ours, the heavens and the earth, and the fulness thereof will be
ours, and we are the Lord's, we are his servants, and we possess all
things in common with him. That word "all," perhaps, conveys too much
to the minds of some; but that is no matter. With regard to the
Latter-day Saints, in the performance of their duties, we could tell
them what to do to be saved. The path is as clear and plain as this
highway is here for the travel of teams and the people. But when we
inquire about the character of our Father, there are some things
connected therewith that men do not understand, neither should they
understand them. It is not in accordance with the mind and will of him
we worship as our God, that the inhabitants of the earth, in their
weak and wicked capacity, and in ignorance, should understand them. It
was mentioned here yesterday, and is frequently mentioned by myself
and others, that those who profess Christianity are in the dark, and
why? They mystify everything; they read the Bible as a sealed book,
and they believe it when it is closed and laid upon the shelf. They do
not know how to read it any other way, they do not know how to believe
it any other way, and it is right and reasonable that they should not;
but as for detailing the reasons why this is so, we have not time.
Suffice it, to say, all things are done in the wisdom of him who knows
all things. It is not right, I will say, for people to know the truth
and live in disobedience to it; it is not right for them to understand
the ways and providences of God as they are dealt [p.65] out to the
people on the earth, when they live and are determined to live in
violation of every commandment and law of God; and because they do so
live, ignorance covers them as with a mantle, shuts out the light of
truth from them, and keeps them in darkness; and if the light were to
shine upon them, as it does now and as it did in the days of the
Apostles, would they receive it? No they would not. Light has come
into the world, but the wicked choose darkness rather than light? Why?
It was told in days of old that their deeds were evil. That is the
fact to-day—"they choose darkness rather than light, because their
deeds are evil," and their hearts are fully set in them to do evil;
and here I might venture to say to all the inhabitants of the earth,
high and low, rich and poor, to the king upon his throne and to the
beggar in the street, if they had the truth and loved it they would
rejoice in it. But they will not receive it. Is not this lamentable?
It is; but we can not help it. We can declare the truth to the people,
but we can not force them to receive it. If the inhabitants of the
earth were honest, they would receive the truth; and there is not a
man or woman now living on the earth, or ever did live on it, who
would speak, write, think or act against the Gospel of life and
salvation as they do, were they not in darkness; but they are kept in
ignorance through their own wickedness and unbelief, and they nourish
and cherish the spirit of evil, and that prompts them to reject the
words of life. We can say this to all the human family; but to the
Latter-day Saints, you believe, now obey; and if we obey, all will be
right, and we shall gain the salvation that we are after.

Vol. 15,  p.65
I am happy, brethren, for the privilege of being in your midst. I
frequently shake hands with my brethren and sisters, and they rejoice,
they congratulate me on my freedom. I have been free. I do not feel,
and have not felt, that I was bound in the least. The question can be
asked, Were you not a prisoner for some five months through the
indiscreet, unmanly, inhuman, disloyal and rebellious decision and
doings of our officials? It seemed so; it had the appearance that I
was confined, and had not my liberty, through the ill-treatment,
mistaken ideas, selfishness and prejudice of the ungodly. But I did
not feel that I was in prison, or that I was confined. I will say to
the Latter-day Saints, my heart has rejoiced for the privilege of
resting. I have rejoiced for the privilege, as it was observed here,
by Elder Hyde, yesterday, of entering into my closet, that is, I
entered into my closet just as he did into his. He kept himself where
he had a mind to, and I did the same. We entered his closet, and I
into mine, or into my house, and there I abode, and continued to
abide, for a time, and was thankful for the privilege. Now I have the
privilege of going here and there without having anyone to accompany
me only those I invite. I was very happy for the privilege of being
quiet, still and retired in my own house last winter. My companion,
not my sleeping companion, but my companion in tribulation and
confinement, for the gentleman who was with me, I really think was, in
his feelings, confined more than I, a great deal, and felt so, would
urge me to ride, or to go to this party or that, or to the theater. I
kindly declined and thanked him for his kindness in offering to
accompany me; and I would say, "You go and enjoy yourself, and I will
stay here," and I got him to go occasionally.

Vol. 15,  p.66
I say this with regard to myself,[p.66] that you may know my own
feelings. But I can say still more—the Lord Almighty has guided and
directed the ship of state in our behalf and for the deliverance and
protection of the innocent and the honest. Victory has perched on
Zion's banner. We have obtained that that we could not have obtained
had it not been for the persecuting spirit that has followed on the
heels of the Latter-day Saints within the two years that are past. How
could we, without this very conduct of our enemies, have ever
approached the highest tribunal in this government to have it give its
decision with regard to right and wrong, law, legality, that that is
equitable and according to the spirit of our government, and that
which is contrary thereto? How could we have approached that body? How
could we have had our cause before it, had it not been for the acts of
our enemies, with which they designed to bring us to death? for there
is no question that, in their own feelings, the knot was tied around
the neck of your humble servant, and he hung dangling in the air. But
God designed this for good, for the deliverance of the humble and the
meek. What have we to say? We acknowledge his hand in these things as
well as everything else, and say, God be praised!

Vol. 15,  p.66
I will not occupy more time, I want others to talk. I will close by
saying a few things to you with regard to your duties. Attend to your
meetings, attend to your prayers; attend to your daily labor. Be
honest and upright with one another; be punctual, keep your word,
preserve yourselves inviolate in all things. Be chaste, preserve your
faith before God, do not demoralize or prostitute yourselves, and all
will be right. I can say that when a man comes along and turns his
cattle into his neighbor's field without liberty, he prostitutes his
own feelings—his virtue, truthfulness, honesty and uprightness before
God and angels. If we will preserve ourselves in purity, in the
integrity of our hearts, it will be well with us.

Vol. 15,  p.66
We have quite a number of the people present from the settlements of
this county generally, and from Cache Valley. I see you have a little
railroad here, and the people are building it. I am thankful to see
this enterprise. Go ahead, brethren, build this road and own it, and
do what you please with it. It will be a fine piece of improvement; it
will open up this northern country, and give you facilities that you
could not otherwise enjoy here. How beautiful that is! How
comfortable, yes, that is the word—how comfortable and easy it is for
me to get into a coach, or a good carriage, and run over this
railroad, from Salt Lake City to this place in less than three hours,
as we did yesterday morning. In less than three hours from the time we
left the depot of the Utah Central in Salt Lake City, we were in this
bowery; and, this evening, we expect, in less than three hours from
the time we leave this bowery, to be in Salt Lake City—a distance of
over sixty miles. It is very comfortable, very consoling! And if we
can see these things as they are, they open up a field for the
contemplation of the wise to improve upon, that we may shape our lives
for the benefit of ourselves and the human family and to promote truth
and righteousness upon the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.67
God bless you. Amen.[p.67] 

Orson Pratt, February 4, 1872

The Setting Up of God's Kingdom in These Latter Days

Discourse By Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the Tabernacle, 
Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, February 4, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.67
I will call the attention of this congregation to a portion of
prophecy which will be found in the 4tth and 45th verses of the 2nd
chapter of the book of Daniel:

Vol. 15,  p.67
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a
kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be
left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all
these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

Vol. 15,  p.67
Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain
without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the
clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the
king what shall come to pass hereafter; and the dream is certain, and
the interpretation thereof sure.

Vol. 15,  p.67
I have often, in my remarks in former times, addressed the Latter-day
Saints upon these passages; but as there are some strangers in our
midst who have not, perhaps, heard our views in regard to setting up
the kingdom of God in the latter times, it may not be amiss for us to
set forth before them the views of the Latter-day Saints in regard to
this prediction. We have, during the last six thousand years, or
nearly so, had a very great variety of human governments established
on the earth. Governments began to be established in the days of our
first parents. As they lived to be very aged—or almost a thousand
years before they were taken from the earth, they saw their children
multiplying around them in vast numbers, and governments began to be
established. Among those governments, however, was maintained also the
government of God—a patriarchal government, that continued with the
righteous from the days of Adam down till the days of Enoch, and for a
short period after his days. This government was patriarchal in its
nature, or, in other words, directed and dictated by the Creator of
man—the great Lawgiver. He directed and counseled his servants, and
they obeyed his counsels. In other words, a divine government existed
on the earth in those ancient times; but at length, about the period
of the death of Adam, or a little after, human governments rooted out
of the earth the government of God, mankind apostatized from the great
principles which were revealed from heaven, and all flesh corrupted
its way in the sight of God to that degree, that the just anger of
their Creator was kindled against them, and he decreed that they
should be swept off from the face of the earth by a flood of waters.
Again, after this great destruction, a divine government was organized
on the earth, Noah being the great Patriarch, Revelator, and Prophet,
to whom was given laws and institutions for the government of his
posterity. [p.68] This order, however, continued only for a short
period of time, and human governments again prevailed. The Lord
sought, from time to time, in the midst of these human governments, to
select a people who would give heed to his law and be governed by him
as the Being who had the right to govern; inasmuch as he had created
the earth and the inhabitants thereof, he had the right to give laws
and institutions for the government of man. But few, indeed, there
were that gave heed to these divine institutions. The Lord, at length,
called out a people from Egypt, and took upon himself the power, and
gave revelation to them in a very conspicuous and wonderful manner. He
came down in the sight of some twenty-five hundred thousand people,
and gave them laws; they heard those laws proclaimed from Mount Sinai.
Male and female, old and young, throughout all the hosts of Israel,
had the opportunity of learning something in regard to the laws of
heaven. However, they quickly corrupted themselves in the sight of
God, and while Moses yet tarried in the mount, not being satisfied
with the laws which God had revealed, and which he intended to give
unto them, they devised institutions of their own. They gathered
together their jewels, their gold and their silver, and so forth, and
began to make gods of their own for the people to worship, among which
we have an account of two calves that were made by Aaron, while Moses
was yet in the mount talking with the Lord and receiving oracles and
laws for the government of that people. Having received these laws,
written upon tables of stone, Moses departed out of the mount, by the
command of God, to go down and visit the people. The Lord had told
Moses that they had corrupted themselves, and he went down, being
filled with the justice of the Almighty, or, as it is written, his
auger was kindled against the people, which I interpret as a spirit of
justice. He found that they had made gods and bowed down before them,
and said—"These be the gods, oh Israel, that brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt." However, a revolution was performed in the midst
of the people, and Moses succeeded in bringing most of the people to
their senses again, that they were willing to receive the divine law.
Their sin however was so great, that the first law which the Lord
intended to bestow upon them, namely, the law of the Gospel, was
withheld.

Vol. 15,  p.68
Now here is something, perhaps, that may be a little new to strangers,
to hear the Latter-day Saints say that the Gospel of the Son of God
was withheld from the people of Israel. But in proof of my assertion,
I will refer you to Paul's declaration to the Hebrews, wherein he
says—"The Gospel was preached unto them in the wilderness as well as
unto us; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith in them that heard it." From this we learn that the
children of Israel, at first, were not placed under the law of carnal
commandments. They were not placed under the law which exacts an eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and if a man smite thee on the cheek,
turn and resist the evil. This was not the first law that was given to
Israel. The law of the Gospel, the same Gospel that was taught in the
days of Christ, was given to them first, with this one exception—the
children of Israel were required to look forward to the coming of
their Messiah, and to the atonement that he should make upon the
cross, that they, by faith in the future atonement that was to be
made, [p.69] might be partakers of the blessings of the Gospel. But
having hardened their hearts against Moses and against God, the Lord
determined to take away this higher law from the midst of the children
of Israel, and give them a law which is termed by the Apostles the law
of carnal commandments—a law by which they should not live. They could
have lived by the law of the Gospel; they could have entered into the
Lord's rest by that law, even into the fulness of his glory; but
having transgressed the higher law, God gave them an inferior law
adapted to their carnal capacity. This law is mentioned in the 20th
chapter of Ezekiel: in these words—"Wherefore I gave them also
statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not
live." Why is it that the Lord gave to Israel statutes, and judgments,
and laws that were not good? Because they were incapable of receiving
anything greater or higher. He gave them this law as a schoolmaster,
to school them and bring them to the higher law, namely, the law of
Christ, and they continued under this law, under this condemnation for
a long time, and the Lord swore in his wrath that they should not
enter into his rest in consequence of having broken the higher law.

Vol. 15,  p.69
Moses again went up into Mount Sinai, and was gone a second time forty
days and forty nights, without eating and drinking, and received this
law, this carnal law that is generally denominated the law of Moses,
upon second tables of stone, the first covenant having been dashed to
pieces, or in other words the first law, the higher law of the Gospel
contained on the first tables, was destroyed and the covenant broken,
and a new law was introduced. Incorporated on the second tables of
stone were the Ten Commandments, which pertain to the Gospel, which
were also on the first tables. In addition to these Ten Commandments
which pertain to the Gospel, were many of those carnal laws that I
have been speaking of. By this second code of laws it was impossible
for Israel to enter into the fulness of celestial glory, in other
words, they could not be redeemed and brought into the presence of the
Father and the Son; they could not enter into the fulness of that rest
that was intended to be given to such only as obeyed the higher law of
the Gospel.

Vol. 15,  p.69
After the days of Moses the children of Israel, from time to time,
corrupted themselves before the Most High; they would not abide even
in the lower law; but there were a few individuals in the various
generations of Israel, such as Prophets, Schools of Prophets, &c.,
which received the higher law, and obtained the higher priesthood, and
were blessed of the Lord, and had the privilege of entering into his
rest, being filled with the spirit of prophecy and revelation, having
the power not only to prophecy and to obtain revelation, but to come
up by virtue of the higher law, into near communion with the Father
and the Son, having the privilege to behold, by vision, the face of
the Lord.

Vol. 15,  p.69
About six hundred years before Christ the children of Israel, or
rather the house of Judah, that was still left remaining in the land
of Palestine, had again so far apostatized from the Lord their God,
that the Lord threatened, by the mouth of the Prophets, that he would
destroy that great city Jerusalem, and that the people should be led
away captive into great Babylon. We find this was fulfilled. But
eleven years previous to this great captivity, the Lord led one of the
Prophets, whose name was Lehi and his sons,[p.70] and one or two,
other families from the land of Jerusalem to this American continent.
That was about six hundred years before Christ; of these families the
American Indians are the descendants. But we will leave this branch of
Israel on the American continent and return again to the house of
Judah. While they were in captivity in Babylon the Lord raised up
Daniel, the Prophet, from whose words I have taken my text. Daniel had
the great privilege given unto him of knowing concerning the rise and
fall of kingdoms and empires, of beholding the kingdoms of the earth,
from his day, down until that universal kingdom of God should be
established on the earth never more to be destroyed.

Vol. 15,  p.70
First, Nebuchadnezzar, the heathen king, was visited by the Almighty
in a heavenly dream, but his dream was taken from him, and he could
not remember it when he awoke. He called for the wise men of
Babylon—the astrologers, soothsayers, magicians and the wisest men
that could be found, requesting them to tell him his dream, and then
give him the interpretation of it. The dream left a deep impression on
the mind of this great heathen king, and he believed that it was
something of great importance, but still it could not be remembered.

Vol. 15,  p.70
I will here remark, by the way, that the heathen nations in those days
were not so far corrupted, and had not so far apostatized from the
religion of heaven but what they believed in dreams and in
revelations, and thought there might be something contained within,
them that related to the future that would be advantageous to
understand. What man, at this day, at this enlightened era, among the
Christian nations, is so near to the Lord as to acknowledge new
revelation, as did Nebuchadnezzar? Far have they fallen beneath the
standard of heathen idolators!

Vol. 15,  p.70
King Nebuchadnezzar was so earnest in regard to this matter that he
sent forth a decree that unless the wise men of Babylon would
interpret to him his dream and also tell the dream itself, he would
destroy the whole of them. I suppose he had not much confidence in
them, and consequently concluded that if they could not tell the dream
he could not put confidence in their interpretations. When Daniel
heard of the decree of the king, to destroy all the wise men, he sent
in a request that the king would not be quite so hasty in his
measures, but give him a little time, during which he and his fellows
besought the God of heaven that they might know concerning the dream
and the interpretation thereof. The Lord heard the prayers of his
servants and revealed to Daniel concerning the dream, and also gave
him the interpretation. Daniel requested to he brought before his
majesty the king, and he promised to give the dream and the
interpretation. He was brought in before him, and addressed him in
language something like the following—"The wise men, astrologers,
soothsayers, magicians, &c., can not interpret the dream, O king,
neither is there any wisdom in me that I can; but there is a God in
heaven who is able to give the interpretation thereof. Thou, O king,
art a king of kings, and the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom,
and dominion over all the nations. Thou art a part and portion of the
dream; or, in other words, you represent a portion of the dream you
had. Thou, O king, sawest and beheld a great image. This image's head
was of fine gold, the breast and the arms of silver, the belly and the
thighs of brass, the legs were of iron, [p.71] the feet were part of
iron and part of potter's clay. Thou sawest until that a stone was cut
out of the mountain without hands, which smote the image upon the feet
that was part of iron and part of clay, and brake them to pieces, then
was the iron, the clay, the silver, the brass and the gold all broken
to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing
floor, and the wind carried them away, and there was no place found
for them, but the stone that smote the image became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth. This was the dream—he then gives the
interpretation. "Thou, O king, art this head of gold." That is, the
kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, that bore rule over all the earth, was
considered the head of gold. "After thee shall come another kingdom
represented by the breast and the arms of silver." That is the
Medo-Persian kingdom. After that another kingdom still inferior,
called the kingdom of brass, forasmuch as gold is better than silver,
silver more precious than brass, so these kingdoms, that were to
arise, to succeed each other, were to be inferior as time should pass
along. The third kingdom, of brass, represented the Macedonian empire;
then after that another kingdom, great and terrible, whose legs were
of iron, strong and powerful. The fourth kingdom bore rule over the
earth; that is admitted, by all commentators, to be the great Roman
Empire, and by the division of the Roman empire into two divisions,
representing the legs, and afterwards into the feet and toes. I shall
not go through and bring up historical facts to show the particular
divisions that grew out of the Roman empire, but will merely state
that the present modern kingdoms of Europe that have grown out from
the Roman empire represent the last vestiges of that great and
powerful empire of Rome; that is, it fills up and makes the image
complete. First the head of gold—the Babylonian empire; second, the
breast and arms of silver—the Medo-Persian empire; third, the belly
and thighs of brass, the Macedonian kingdom; fourth, the great Roman
empire represented by the two legs of iron, the eastern and the
western empires of Rome. Afterwards a division of the Roman empire
into feet and toes, constituting all the modern European governments
and those, governments that have grown out of the European governments
located in North and South America.

Vol. 15,  p.71
Do we wish to understand the geographical position of the great image?
If we do, we must consider the head located in Asia; the breast and
the arms of silver a little west of the great Babylonian Empire, the
belly and thighs of brass still westward; the legs of iron and the
modern kingdoms composing the feet and toes, part of iron and part of
clay, as extending throughout Europe and branching across the Atlantic
Ocean, and extending from the East Sea even to the West, from the
Atlantic unto the Pacific. This will constitute the location of the
great image, running westward.

Vol. 15,  p.71
The image being now complete, all that we need now is to find
something that will represent the stone cut out of the mountain
without hands, something distinct entirely from the, image, having no
fellowship with it, that has not grown out of it, and that has no
authority that comes from it, but a distiller and entirely separate
government that should be established in some mountain. "Thou sawest
until that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands." What
shall that stone do? It shall smite the image upon the [p.72] feet and
toes. Not upon the head at first, not upon the breast and arms of
silver, not upon the belly and thighs of brass, not upon the modern
kingdoms of Europe that have grown out of the legs of iron, but shall
smite upon the feet and toes of the great image; there is where it is
to commence its attack.

Vol. 15,  p.72
Now let us inquire, for a few moments, how or in what manner this
kingdom, called the stone cut out of the mountain, commences this
severe attack. Is it to be with weapons of a carnal nature, with sword
in hand and weapons of warfare to wage a war against the kingdoms or
governments of the earth? No, indeed! Connected with the kingdom or
stone cut out of the mountain without hands is a power superior to
that of carnal weapons—the power of truth, for the kingdom of God
cannot be organized on the earth without truth being sent down from
heaven, without authority being given from the Most High; without men
again being called to the holy Priesthood and Apostleship, and sent
forth to publish the truth in its naked simplicity and plainness to
the inhabitants of the earth. This truth will be the weapon of
warfare, this authority and power sent down from heaven will go forth
and will proclaim the message of the everlasting Gospel, the Gospel of
the latter-day kingdom, publishing it first among the nations that
compose the feet and toes of the great image. Will they be broken to
pieces? Yes, when this message is published to them. When they are
sufficiently warned, when the servants of God have gone forth in
obedience to his commandments, and published in their towns, villages,
cities, States and governments these sacred and holy principles that
God Almighty has sent down from heaven in the latter times, it will
leave all people, nations and tongues that hear the Gospel, and the
principles wad message pertaining to that kingdom, without any excuse.
It will be a warning that will be everlasting on the one hand, or on
the other, either to the bringing of the people to repentance,
reformation and obedience to the Gospel of the kingdom, or the
judgments which are predicted in this prophecy of Daniel will be
poured out upon the heads of those nations and kingdoms, and they will
become like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, even all those
kingdoms that compose the great image; for be it known that the
remnants of the Babylonish kingdom, represented by the head of gold,
still exist in Asia; the remnants of the silver kingdom, of the brass
kingdom, and the kingdom of iron still have their existence; but when
the Lord Almighty shall fulfil this prophecy, the toes and feet and
legs of iron of that great image, or all these kingdoms, will be
broken in pieces, and they will become like the chaff of the summer
threshing floor; the wind will carry them away and no place will be
found for them.

Vol. 15,  p.72
This prophecy of Daniel will give a true understanding of the matter
to our wise men and statesmen, and all who desire to know the future
destiny of the American government, the European governments, and all
the kingdoms of the earth. Their destiny is total destruction from our
earth, no matter how great or powerful they may become. Though our
nation may grasp on the right hand and on the left; though it may
annex the British possessions, and extend its dominions to the south
and grasp the whole of this great western hemisphere, and although our
nation shall become as powerful in population as in extent of
territory; its destiny is foretold in the saying of the [p.73] Prophet
Daniel, "They shall become like the chaff of the summer threshing
floor, the wind shall carry them away and no place shall be found for
them." So with the kingdoms of Europe, so with the kingdoms of Western
Asia and Eastern Europe.

Vol. 15,  p.73
Let us now say a few words in regard to this stone which shall be cut
out of the mountain without hands. Now there must be something very
peculiar in regard to the organization of the latter-day kingdom that
is never to be destroyed. All these other governments that I have
named have been the production of human hands, that is, of human
ingenuity, human wisdom; the power of uninspired men has been exerted
to the uttermost in the establishment of human governments,
consequently all has been done by human ingenuity and power. Not so
with the little stone. Man has nothing to do with the organization of
that kingdom. Hear what the Prophet has said: "In the days of these
kings the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom." It is not to be done
by human means or power, or by the wisdom of man, neither by mighty
conquests by the sword; but it is to be done by him that rules on
high, who is King of kings and Lord of lords; by him that suffered and
died upon the cross that we might live; by him whose right it is to
reign and govern the nations of the earth. He it is that will give
laws; he it is that will give commandment; he it is that will organize
that kingdom, and it will be done according to the pattern in all
things. Has there been any such kingdom organized since the day that
the Prophet Daniel delivered this prophecy? I know that there are some
who believe that the kingdom spoken of under the name of the "little
stone" was organized 1800 years ago by our Savior and his Apostles. I
do not know why they believe this, unless because it is fashionable.
There is no evidence to prove any such thing. Indeed that kingdom that
was organized 1800 years ago was organized altogether too soon to
accomplish the prophecies that are here given. The two legs of iron,
and the feet and toes were not yet formed, and remember that the stone
is not cut out of the mountain without hands, until this great image
is complete, not only the head, breast, arms and the legs, but the
feet and the toes also; they all become complete .before the kingdom
called the "stone" is made manifest. Now the feet did not exist, and
did not begin to exist until many centuries after the days of Christ.
What did that kingdom do that was built up by our Savior and his
Apostles? Did it break in pieces any part of that great image? No.
What, did that image do to that kingdom? It accomplished the
prophecies of Daniel—made war with the Saints and overcame them. Very
different from the latter-day kingdom! The powers of this world, under
the name of the great image, made war with Jesus, with the Apostles,
with the former-day Saints, with the kingdom that was then established
and overcame them, not only in fulfilment of what is declared by the
Prophet Daniel, but also what is declared by John the Revelator; and
those powers obtained dominion over all people, nations and tongues,
and made them drink of the wine of the wrath of the fornication of
Great Babylon, and they became drunken with her abominations. Instead
of the kingdom of God then being built up in fulfilment of the
prophecy of Daniel 1800 years ago, the nations of the earth overcame
it and rooted it out of the earth. But mark the words of the text:
"And in the days [p.74] of these kings shall the God of heaven set up
a kingdom that shall never be destroyed." Very different from the
former-day kingdom; "and the kingdom shall not be left to other
people." All these human governments have been changing hands, and
have been left to some other people. The Babylonish kingdom was left
to the Medes and Persians, the Medo-Persian kingdom to the Macedonian,
the Macedonian to the Roman; but the latter-day kingdom shall not be
left to another people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all
these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. "Forasmuch as thou sawest
that the stone was cut out of the mountains without hands, and that it
brake in pieces the iron, the brass, fire clay, the silver and the
gold; and the great God hath made known unto thee what shall come to
pass hereafter; and the dream is certain and the interpretation
thereof sure."

Vol. 15,  p.74
Having learned, then, that the kingdom built up by our Savior and his
Apostles did not fulfil this prophecy; that that kingdom itself was
rooted out of the earth, and every vestige of its authority destroyed,
and that nothing in the shape or appearance of the kingdom of God has
existed for some sixteen or seventeen centuries past, inasmuch as this
is the case and all nations without any such Church, without any such
kingdom, without any authority to baptize or lay on hands for the gift
of the Holy Ghost; without authority to administer the Lord's supper;
without the authority to build up the kingdom of God; without
Prophets, without Revelators, without inspired Apostles, without
angels, without visions, without the revelations and prophecies of
heaven, which always characterize the kingdom of God; I say inasmuch
as this is the case, and darkness has covered the earth and gross
darkness the people for so many generations, no wonder that, in the
wisdom of God, the time should at length arrive to send another
messenger from heaven. No wonder that an angel should be commissioned
from the eternal heavens from the throne of the Almighty with another
message to the inhabitants of our globe! For do you suppose that this
latter-day kingdom that is to be set tip without hands will be set up
without any communication from heaven, without any new revelation,
without any Prophets, without any Apostles, or inspired men? Do you
suppose that God will accomplish a work of this nature and yet the
heavens be veiled over ore; heads like brass? Oh no. When the glad
time shall come for God Almighty to organize and set up the latter-day
kingdom on the earth, he will make it known by sending an angel—and in
no other way, for that is the way pointed out in prophecy.

Vol. 15,  p.74
If a man rises up, like John Wesley, Martin Luther, John Calvin, or
Henry the Eighth, and undertakes to organize a new church and new
creeds, &c., without receiving the ministration of an angel, you may
know that the eeclesiastical governments that they may form on the
earth, are not the kingdom of God. But when a people shall rise on our
earth, testifying that the Lord God has sent an angel from heaven,
with the everlasting Gospel to be preached to every people, kindred,
nation and tongue, on our globe, with the proclamation that the hour
of God's judgment is at hand, that people are worthy of being listened
to, at least it should call forth the most careful investigation of
all people, nations and kindreds under the whole heaven. But when they
do not come in this way, they are not even worthy of [p.75] being
listened to, for we know that they are not the kingdom of God.

Vol. 15,  p.75
John the Revelator tells us that when the kingdom of God is to be
established on the earth, before the coming of the Son of man, before
be should unveil his face in the clouds of heaven, he would send an
angel with that Gospel. Now, query, has he done so? Go make the
enquiry if you are not satisfied. Ask the Roman Catholics if God has
sent that angel predicted in the 14th chapter of the revelations of
St. John to re-establish his kingdom on the earth, and they will tell
you no; they will tell you that the kingdom of God has continued on
the earth, that it needs no re-establishing, that they have maintained
in unbroken succession the authority of the apostleship from the days
of Peter down until the present time, and that they will retain it
while the earth shall stand; that there will be no angel sent with the
everlasting Gospel to organize the kingdom anew. Well, then, we have
their testimony that they are not the kingdom of God, for they have
denied many of the great characteristics belonging to the kingdom,
such as the gift of new revelation, the gift of prophecy, which was
always in the kingdom of God, and have bound up a few books and called
them the full canon of Scripture. And if a Prophet should arise among
them and undertake to give more Scripture, they would exclude his
Scripture and him with it, as being a heretic and fanatic. They are
not the kingdom of God then.

Vol. 15,  p.75
Go then to the Greek Church and make the same inquiry of them. Has God
sent an angel to you Greeks? I mean the millions in Russia who profess
the Greek religion, and they will tell you about the same thing as the
Catholics—that God has said nothing since the days of the Apostles.

Vol. 15,  p.75
No inspired men among them and no additional Scriptures by Prophets
and Revelators.

Vol. 15,  p.75
Then go to the 666 different Protestant denominations that have come
out from these ecclesiastical powers and inquire of them if God did
send an angel to those who founded their several denominations, and
they will tell you nay. Most of them will say that God does not send
angels in the latter times, that he has no Prophets, no Revelators,
and that there is no need of any further light from heaven. Go through
all the ranks of Christendom and make diligent inquiry for a people
that answer the description of John's prophecy, namely a people that
bear testimony that an angel has come with the everlasting Gospel. By
and by, in your inquiry you will get away up here into the heights of
the Rocky Mountains, or as some term it the backbone of the American
continent; inquire of the people you find here, ask of them at their
great headquarters, Salt Lake City, whether they believe that God has
established his kingdom by sending an angel in fulfillment of the
revelations of St. John, and you will hear one united voice throughout
all this city among the Latter-day Saints, saying that God has sent an
Angel from heaven with the everlasting Gospel to be preached to every
nation, kindred, tongue and people. Make the same inquiry in the
hundred towns, cities and villages throughout this Territory, and
there will be a united voice of all the Latter-day Saints to this one
same great fact. We therefore contend, and rightfully too, that we are
the only people in America, in Europe, in Asia, in Africa and in the
islands of the sea that are testifying to the fulfillment of the
prophecy that was [p.76] uttered by John the Revelator. We have no
need, then, to inquire whether all these contending sects are the
kingdom of God or not, for this is the only people that bear a
testimony, to the coming of the angel with the Gospel. Consequently
this is the only people that need engage our attention or
investigations in regard to setting up the latter-day kingdom; and if
we, by our investigation, find that this people answer the
description, not only of John's prophecy, but of Daniel's prophecy and
all the prophecies throughout the Old Testament in regard to the
establishment of the kingdom of God, then certainly the doctrines and
principles of this kingdom are worthy the attention and obedience
every good person.

Vol. 15,  p.76
If we had the time we would examine the doctrines of the kingdom, to
see whether, the doctrines that were brought by the angel in these
latter times agree with the doctrines that were taught 1800 years ago;
but we have not time to do that on this occasion. Suffice it to say
that if the former-day Saints taught faith in God, repentance, baptism
for the remission of sins, the reception of the Holy Ghost by the
laying on of hands; if they taught these things in former days, be it
known unto all people, nations, and tongues that the angel has
commissioned his servants to preach the same things in these days. If
the former-day Saints taught the necessity of having the various gifts
of the Gospel, such as the gifts of vision, the ministration of
angels, prophecy, revelation, healing the sick, speaking with tongues,
the interpretation of tongues, and all the various gifts mentioned in
the New Testament; if they taught these things in former days, the
Latter-day Saints have been commissioned to teach the same things in
our day, consequently there is no difference so far as doctrines,
ordinances and the gifts are concerned.

Vol. 15,  p.76
Did the Prophets in ancient times testify that when the kingdom of God
should be organized, the Saints should be gathered from the four
quarters of the earth, that all that were called by the name of the
Lord should be brought out from the north and from the South, and from
the east and from the west, even the sons and daughters of God should
be brought from all nations? The Latter-day Saints teach that the same
angel which brought the Gospel, the same God that has set up his
kingdom on. the earth in the latter days has commanded his servants
that go forth with these doctrines, to gather out his elect from the
four winds of heaven. Did the ancient Prophets testify that another
book should come forth, another revelation to accomplish the great
preparatory work to build up the kingdom of God in the last days? The
Latter-day Saints testify that the angel that has brought the Gospel
has delivered to them another book containing that Gospel in all its
fullness and plainness, fulfilling these prophecies.

Vol. 15,  p.77
May God bless you. Amen.[p.77] 

Wilford Woodruff, April 8, 1872

Comprehensiveness of the Latter-Day Work

Remarks By Elder Wilford Woodruff, Delivered in the 
New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 8, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.77
We have had a very good Conference; we have heard a great deal of
testimony from the servants of the Lord, and that testimony has been
true. The building up of the Zion of God in these latter days
includes, I may say of a truth, every branch of business, both
temporal and spiritual, in which we are engaged. We can not touch upon
any subject which is lawful in the sight of God and man, that is not
embraced in our religion. The Gospel of Jesus Christ which we have
embraced, and which we preach, includes all truth, and every lawful
calling and occupation of man. One subject that we are deeply
interested in I wish to say a few words upon. In the first place I
wish to give notice in this stage of my remarks to the members of the
Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, that they are
requested to meet, at the close of this meeting, at the Historian's
Office, to appoint their president and board of directors for the
coming season, for the times demand that we should hold a State fair
in this city this fall.

Vol. 15,  p.77
Strangers may think this a very strange subject to present in a
religious meeting, but we are building up the literal kingdom of God
on the earth, and we have temporal duties to perform. We inhabit
temporal bodies, we eat temporal food, we build temporal houses, we
raise temporal cattle and temporal wheat; we contend with temporal
weeds, and with temporal enemies in our soil, and these things
naturally give rise to the necessity of attending to and performing
many duties of a temporal and arduous nature, and they, of course, are
embraced in our religion. In building up the Zion and kingdom of God
in these latter days, our agricultural and manufacturing interests are
of the most vital importance; in fact manufacturing and agricultural
pursuits are of vital importance to any nation under heaven. Show me a
nation whose people cultivate the earth, and manufacture what they
need, and I will show you a rich and independent nation. Show me a
nation that lives entirely by mining and I will show you a poor
nation—one that is, ready to run out and become obsolete. You see this
manifest in the history of all nations under heaven. What gives
England her wealth to-day? Her coal, iron, and the products of her
soil, in connection with her prodigious manufactures; and it is so
with all the nations of the earth. What makes the United States what
she is to-day? Her products and the cultivation of her soil, and the
constant efforts she has made to supply the wants of her people. Not
but what [p.78] mining is all right, there is no fault with the
development of the resources of the earth under favorable
circumstances. When we came here our position demanded that the very
first thing we did was to plant our potatoes and sow our wheat, or we
had starvation before us; and I will here say that the Saints and the
Elders of Israel have gone before the Lord day after day and week
after week, and prayed the Almighty to hide up the treasures of these
mountains, lest even the Latter-day Saints, with all the faith they
had, should be tempted to turn away from the cultivation of the earth
and the manufacture of what they needed; and the Lord heard our
prayers, and we dwelt here many years and filled these valleys for six
hundred miles with cities, towns, villages, gardens, orchards, fields,
vineyards, hundreds of school-houses, and places of worship, until we
made the desert blossom as the rose, and had a supply of wheat, bread
and clothing upon our hands. Then, I do not know but the Elders ceased
praying for the Lord to hide up the treasures of the earth—I guess
they did, for very soon after mines began to be opened, and now silver
mines are being worked in many parts of the Territory. A few years ago
General Connor and others, who dwelt here, with soldiers under them,
spent very many days in prospecting these mountains from one end to
the other for gold and silver, but they could find none; to-day you
may go over the same places, and if you dig into the earth you may
find plenty of silver, and you may find it almost anywhere in these
mountains. I suppose this is all right, I have no fault to find with
it; but I still say that the interest of the Latter-day Saints in
these mountains is to cultivate the soil and to manufacture what they
use.

Vol. 15,  p.78
Through the influence of President Young We have many manufactories
for wool and cotton already established in this Territory. He has done
more than any man living in these last days, according to the means he
has had at his command, to establish these branches of business in the
midst of these mountains. We have now many large factories in this
Territory that have to stand still for want of wool. I want to say a
few words on this subject to the wool growers of Deseret. Instead of
sending our wool out of the Territory, to eastern States to be
manufactured into cloth, and purchasing it and paying eastern
manufacturers a large per centage for it when brought here by
railroad, I feel that it is our duty, and it would be far wiser for
us, to sell our wool to those who own factories in this Territory, and
to sustain ourselves by sustaining home manufactures.

Vol. 15,  p.78
One of the first commands given to Adam, after being placed in Eden,
was to dress the garden; and he was permitted to eat of the fruit of
every tree except one. After a while Adam and his wife, Eve, partook
of the fruit of this tree, and the history of the Fall is before us
and the world. After Adam was cast out of the garden the Lord told him
that there should be a curse on the earth, and instead of bringing
forth beautiful flowers, fruit and grain spontaneously, as before the
Fall, it should bring forth thorns, briers, thistles and noxious
weeds, and that man should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow;
and from that time to the present mankind has had this curse to
contend with in the cultivation of the earth. In consequence of this
the inhabitants of Utah, in their agricultural operations have to
fight against the cockle burr, the black seed and sunflower, as well
as thorns [p.79] and thistles and many other noxious weeds, which, if
not eradicated, speedily take advantage of us, and to a great extent,
mar the result of our labors. It will pay us to pay attention to these
things; it will pay us to dress the earth, to till it, to take care of
and spend time and means in manuring and feeding it; it will pay us to
gather out these noxious weeds, for the earth will then have a chance
to bring forth in its strength. This, with the blessing of God upon
our labors, has made the soil of Utah as productive as it is to-day. I
wish to see this interest increase in our midst; and I hope, in
addition to this, that those who are raising sheep—our wool
growers—will pay attention to and carry on that branch of business
systematically, and that we will sell our wool to those who
manufacture it at home, instead of sending it out of the Territory to
be manufactured. I feel that this is our duty, and the course which
will promote our best interests, and it is a principle which is true,
independent of religion, in any community or nation; it is a
self-sustaining principle.

Vol. 15,  p.79
God has blessed us, he has blessed the earth, and our labors in the
tilling of the soil have been greatly prospered. As has been said by
some of our brethren in their remarks, when the pioneers came here, no
mark of civilization or of the white man, was found. If those who are
now so anxious to obtain the homes we have made, had seen Utah as we
saw it, they would never have desired a habitation here, but they
would have got out of it as soon as they could. It was barren,
desolate, abounding with grasshoppers, crickets and kiote wolves, and
these things seemed to be the only natural productions of the soil. We
went to work by faith, not much by sight, to cultivate the earth. We
broke almost all the plows we had the first day. We had to let streams
of water out to moisten the earth, and by experience we had to learn
to raise anything. The stranger comes into Salt Lake City and sees our
orchards, and the trees in our streets, and he thinks, what a fruitful
and delightful place it is. He does not think that, for twenty or
twenty-four years, almost every tree he beholds, according to its age,
has had to be watered twice a week through the whole summer season, or
they would all have been dead long since. We have had to unite upon
these things, the Lord has blessed our labors, and his mercies have
been over this people.

Vol. 15,  p.79
If we had not cultivated the earth, but had turned our attention to
mining, we should not only have starved to death ourselves, but
thousands of strangers, who have passed through, would have shared the
same fate. Utah Territory has been the great highway to California,
Nevada, and all the western States and Territories, and they have all
looked, in a measure, to Utah for their bread. Nobody but Latter-day
Saints would have lived here, and endured the trials and afflictions
that we endured in the beginning; none others would have stayed and
fought the crickets one year, as we had to do year after year. Any
people but the Latter-day Saints would have left this country long
ago. Not only so, on account of the things I have already named, but I
will here say that no other people could have lived here—no, they
would have knocked each others brains out on account of the little
water they would have had in their irrigating operations. When men saw
their crops and trees withering and perishing for the want of water,
the selfishness so general in the world would have worked up to [p.80]
such an extent, that they would have killed one another, and hence I
say that none but Latter-day Saints would have stood it; but they, by
the training and experience they had before received, were prepared
for the hardships and trials they had to encounter in this country.

Vol. 15,  p.80
Brethren and sisters, let us continue our efforts in cultivating the
earth, and in manufacturing what we want. And I still urge upon our
Female Relief Societies, in this city and throughout the Territory, to
carry out the counsel President Young gave us years and years ago, and
try, as far as possible, within ourselves, to make our own bonnets,
hats and clothing, and to let the beauty of what we wear be the
workmanship of our own hands. It is true that our religion is not in
our coat or bonnet, or it should not be. If a man's religion is there
it is not generally very deep anywhere else. But God has blessed us
with the products of earth and the blessings of heaven, and his Spirit
has been with us; we have been preserved, and the Lord has turned away
the edge of the sword, and he has protected us during many years past
and gone, and we all have to acknowledge his hand in these things.

Vol. 15,  p.80
I do not wish to detain this Conference. I felt as though I wanted to
make a few remarks on these subjects. I hope, brethren, that we will
not slacken our hands with regard to the cultivation of the earth. In
the prosecution of our labors in that respect we have everything to
contend with that man has been cursed with for five thousand years. We
should clean our fields, as far as we can, of the noxious weeds, and
our streets of sunflowers. These things encumber the earth. We have
one difficulty to contend with, unknown save in those portions of the
earth where irrigation is practiced. It is true that a man may clean
his fields of sunflowers, cockle burrs, blackseed and every other
noxious weed that grows, and the very first time he waters his land
here will come a peck or a bushel of foul seed from the mountains, and
fill every field through which the stream flows. These difficulties we
have to fight against, but we must do the best we can. As farmers, we
should clean our seed, and not sow the foul along with the good. One
man, in a few hours, with a good wire sieve, can sift enough seed for
ten acres of land, and perhaps for twenty; while, to pull that bad
seed out when grown will cost from one to five hundred dollars, for it
will take a score of men days to do it. We should use our time,
judgment and the wisdom God has given us to the best advantage in all
these things.

Vol. 15,  p.80
I want the brethren to come together this afternoon and elect their
officers, for we desire to hold a fair this fall, in which the
agricultural and manufacturing interests of the Territory may be
represented and interested. Let us not be weary in well doing; let us
not slacken our hands, either in cultivating the earth or in the
manufacturing of what we deed. Co-operate in agricultural and
mercantile matters, also in our tanneries, and in the making of butter
and cheese. One man may engage in these branches of business with
advantage if he have skill and experience to guide him; but in
co-operation the wisdom of all is combined for the general good. This
plan has been adopted with advantage in other communities, cities,
States, Territories and countries, and it can be in this more
extensively than it has been hitherto.[p.81] 

Vol. 15,  p.81
I pray that God will bless us, and bless this whole people; and I pray
that the testimony which we have received here during this Conference,
which is true, may not be forgotten by us. I can bear the same
testimony. I know this work is of God. I know Joseph Smith was a
Prophet of God. I have heard two or three of the brethren testify
about brother Young in Nauvoo. Every man and every Woman in that
assembly, which perhaps might number thousands, could bear the same
testimony. I was there, the Twelve were there, and a good many others,
and all can bear the same testimony. The question might be asked, why
was the appearance of Joseph Smith given to Brigham Young? Because
here was Sidney Rigdon and other men rising up and claiming to be the
leaders of the Church, and men stood, as it were, on a pivot, not
knowing which way to turn. But just as quick as Brigham Young rose in
that assembly, his face was that of Joseph Smith—the mantle of Joseph
had fallen upon him, the power of God that was upon Joseph Smith was
upon him, he had the voice of Joseph, and it was the voice of the
shepherd. There was not a person in that assembly, Rigdon, himself,
not excepted, but was satisfied in his own mind that Brigham was the
proper leader of the people, for he would not have his name presented,
by hid own consent, after that sermon was delivered. There was a
reason for this in the mind of God; it convinced the people. They saw
and heard for themselves, and it was by the power of God.

Vol. 15,  p.81
May God bless you. May he give us wisdom to direct us in all things,
and promote all the interests of Zion for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Brigham Young, June 2, 1872

Observe the Sabbath Day

Remarks By President Brigham Young, Delivered in the New 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, June 2, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.81
I have a request to make of the Bishops and Elders, of fathers and
mothers, and of the brethren and sisters in general. There are a few
points upon which I feel that I should like the people to receive a
little counsel. One is, I would be very much pleased, and I do not
think I would be any mare satisfied than the Spirit of the Lord would,
to have the Latter-day Saints pay a little more attention to the
Sabbath day, instead of riding about, visiting, and going on
excursions. There has been a great deal said upon this subject. We are
continually teaching the people how to be saved, but they seem to
forget the responsibilities [p.82] that are upon them. I am as liberal
in my feelings with regard to using the Sabbath for anything and
everything, where duty demands it, as any person living, and believe
that the sabbath was made for man, instead of man for the Sabbath. But
it is a day of rest. The Lord has directed his people to rest
one-seventh part of the time, and we take the first day of the week,
and call it our Sabbath. This is according to the order of the
Christians. We should observe this for our own temporal good and
spiritual welfare. When we see a farmer in such a hurry, that he has
to attend to his harvest, and to haying, fence-making, or to gathering
his cattle on the Sabbath day, as far as I am concerned, I count him
weak in the faith. He has lost the spirit of his religion, more or
less. Six days are enough foe us to work, and if we wish to play, play
within the six days; if we wish to go on excursions, take one of those
six days, but on the seventh day, come to the place of worship, attend
to the Sacrament, confess your faults one to another and to our God,
and pay attention to the ordinances of the house of God.

Vol. 15,  p.82
How many ears will hear this, and how many hearts will receive it and
treasure it up? That is the question. Words go into the ear and are
forgotten; but I say to you, Latter-day Saints, it is your duty and my
duty to pay attention to the Sabbath day. When my brethren, my
friends, and my family have business on hand, and manage to start it
on a Sunday morning, I head them off if I possibly can, by throwing
some obstacle or other in the way, or by persuasion get them to omit
it on that day. As far as I car, I also persuade my own family to
observe the hours of meeting. Not that I can say that my family is as
fond of meeting as I am myself. I like to meet with the brethren, and
I like to go to a place of worship; I like to hear, and learn and pay,
attention to the ordinances of the house of God. I teach my family in
these respects, and I do not know that I have any more fault to find
with my own family than others have with theirs; perhaps there may be
some credit due to them. But I say to the brethren and sisters, in the
name of the Lord, it is our duty and it is required of us by our
father in heaven, by the spirit of our religion, by our covenants with
God and each other, that we observe the ordinances of the house of
God, and especially on the Sabbath day, to attend to the Sacrament of
the Lord's Supper. Then attend the Ward meetings and the quorum
meetings.

Vol. 15,  p.82
Another thing: I do wish that parents would urge upon their children
to cease playing in the streets as much as they do. There are
sufficient places of resort in various parts of the city without the
boys being compelled to play in the middle of the streets, Every time
I travel through the streets I see children playing in them. And will
they turn out of the way for a carriage? No, they will not, and some
of them will sometimes even dare you to drive over them; and sometimes
people have to stop their carriages to save the lives of children. We
have been more fortunate, here, I presume than in any other city in
Christendom where they drive as many carriages as we drive in our
city, in having so few accidents; but this I attribute to the kind
hand of Providence. But we see children in the street, daring
teamsters to run over them, and whether they are in a carriage, wagon,
buggy, or cart it is no matter, they will not give the road for a
horse team. I will say this to all Israel, to every man that carries
himself discreetly—as a gentleman, [p.83] if one of my boys attempts
to obstruct the highway, so that you cannot drive along and attend to
your business, leave your carriage, take your whip and give him a good
sound horse-whipping, and tell him you will do it every time you find
him in the street trying to obstruct the highway. I will not complain
of you, although I can say this, I think, of a truth, that a boy of
mine never did this, never. I have no knowledge of it at least. Look
upon a community like ours, see the conduct of the youth in this
respect, it is a disgrace to civilization; it is a disgrace to any
people that profess good morals. Well, I wish to say this to the
Saints, keep your boys from the streets, and from playing ball there.
There are plenty of grounds for them to play upon and use at their
pleasure, without going into the streets; and when we are so numerous
that we have no place of resort for our boys to pitch quoits and play
ball, there is plenty of ground on the earth, and we will thin out a
little here and go where we can have a little more room. But we have
plenty here at present.

Vol. 15,  p.83
Now, remember, my brethren, those who go skating, buggy riding or on
excursions on the Sabbath day —and there is a great deal of this
practiced—are weak in the faith. Gradually, little by little, little
by little, the spirit of their religion leaks out of their hearts and
their affections, and by and by they begin to see faults in their
brethren, faults in the doctrines of the Church, faults in the
organization, and at last they leave the kingdom of God and go to
destruction. I really wish you would remember this, and tell it to
your neighbors.

Vol. 15,  p.83
And furthermore, Low many Latter-day Saints, who live in this city,
and are perfectly able to go to meeting, are away to-day? We have
people enough in this city to fill this small building to overflowing
every Sabbath, if they liked to hear the words of life. In the
morning, it is true, there are many in the Sunday school, and that we
recommend; but in the afterpart of the day, where are these school
children? Are they playing in the streets, or are they visiting? In
going to Sunday school they have done their duty so far; but they
ought to be here. In their youth they ought to learn the principles
and doctrines of their faith, the arguments for truth, and the
advantages of truth, for we can say with one of old, "Bring up a child
in the way it should go, and when it is old it will not depart from
it." If we are capable of bringing up a child in the way it should go,
I will assure you that it will never depart from that way. Many
persons think they do bring up their children in the way they should
go, but in my lifetime I have seen very few, if any, parents,
perfectly capable of bringing up a child in the way it should go;
still most of us know better than we do, and if we will bring up our
children according to the best of our knowledge, very few of them will
ever forsake the truth.

Vol. 15,  p.83
Now, I beseech you, my brethren and sisters, old and young, parents
and children, all of you, try and observe good, wholesome rules! Be
moral, be upright, be honest in your deal. I do not wish to find fault
with the Latter-day Saints, but I assure you, my brethren and sisters,
we take too much liberty with each other; we do not observe the strict
order of right and honesty in many instances, as much as we should,
and we have got to improve in these things. We have been hearing,
today, how the kingdom of God is going to prosper on the earth. So it
is, that is very true. Do we think [p.84] that we will prosper and
abide in it, in unholiness and unrighteousness? If we do, we are
mistaken. If we do not sanctify the Lord God in our hearts and live by
every word that proceeds out of his mouth, and shape our lives
according to the rules laid down in Holy Writ, and by what the Lord
has revealed in latter days, we will come short of being members of
this kingdom, and we will be cast out and others will take our place.
We need not flatter ourselves that we are going to prosper in anything
that is evil, and have the Lord still own us. It is very true that he
is merciful to us and bears with us. "Wait another day," he says;
"Wait another year, wait a little longer, and see if my people will
not be righteous;" and those who will not, will be gathered to their
own place; but those who will sanctify themselves before the Lord will
inherit everlasting life. God bless you, Amen.

Daniel H. Wells, June 8, 1872

The Gospel Plan—It Must Be Obeyed If Its Blessings 
Be Secured—God's Kingdom Has Come

Discourse By President Daniel H. Wells, Delivered in the 
Bowery, Brigham City, Saturday, June 8, 1872. 

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.84
I feel glad of the opportunity of bearing my testimony once again to
the principles of salvation that have been revealed in the day in
which we live, to the children of men. There is an impression resting
upon the people of every nation on the face of the earth, that some
great events in human history are about to take place. In the
Christian world there is a general belief that the time is approaching
when the God of heaven will assume the reins of power. They, talk
about the reign of Christ, the great millennial day, when the kingdoms
of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lard and his Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.84
It is hardly possible for any person to live to the years of maturity
without having some impression, some anxiety concerning his future
state; all persons, at some period of their existence, have such
impressions. They come from the Lord, and their effect on the mind is
as plain as the mark of the type on the paper; and the reason we
experience them is because we are the children of God. There is a link
existing between God and his children here on the earth, and that
draws them towards him, and enables all who listen to the promptings
of his good Spirit to increase in good, and to overcome that which is
evil. This is natural, and exists to a greater or less extent in the
hearts of all the children of men.

Vol. 15,  p.85
There is evil in the world—evil [p.85] influences that strive against
and destroy that which is good. Men's names are written in the Book of
Life, and will forever remain written there unless they do something
to cut the thread and to blot them out. Men are naturally religious in
their feelings, and it is a perversion of their nature to go into
wicked and by and forbidden paths. The practice of evil brings with it
no peace or true happiness. It destroys the vital thread of life that
reaches into the eternal bowers of peace and salvation. The Lord our
God has never given a commandment to the children of men but that
would, if observed, be for their happiness and well-being here on the
earth, and it is for ourselves that we serve God and keep his
commandments. All that he has done, all the commandments he has given,
are for our benefit, not for his. It would be well for us, as the
President has just observed, if we would walk in the channels of truth
and virtue, and in strict obedience to the commands of God, for
thereby we promote our own welfare and secure to ourselves an eternal
inheritance in the realms of joy and happiness. The kingdom is ours if
we will live for it. We may come to an inheritance of all that is
worth desiring or possessing, of all that will be of any benefit to us
either here or hereafter, if we will live for it.

Vol. 15,  p.85
God, our heavenly Father, has restored the authority of the Holy
Priesthood, through the channel of which a communication has been
opened up between the heavens and the earth; and through that channel
we can learn to know God, whom to know is life eternal. The way to
this is opened to all the children of men, and the invitation has gone
forth unto all people to repent of their sins, and return to God and
receive the blessings. There is no true enjoyment but what can be
obtained through this channel, and it is within the purview of the
kingdom of God here upon the earth. The people should not be afraid of
the government of God; it is only calculated for their benefit, and it
will be a blessed day when it can take the place of the wicked
governments that now exist on the face of the earth, and its
establishment should be hailed as the grandest and best event that
could take place among the children of men. In the kingdom and
government of God is every blessing that is enduring, and it will
confer upon those who abide its laws all the peace, joy and happiness
they can conceive of. Outside of it there is nothing worth having; all
real true happiness, all that can serve our best interests comes
within its purview.

Vol. 15,  p.85
Are we obliged, in order to secure present happiness and enjoyment, to
go outside the kingdom of God? By no manner of means, although it is
so esteemed in the religious world. A great many so-called religious
people feel that they are restrained of their liberty and enjoyment by
being members of their churches. This is a wrong view. Our Father in
heaven does not wish to restrain his children in anything that is
right, and it is right for people to enjoy themselves, and the very
acme of happiness is to be obtained by obeying the behests and
commands or our Father in heaven. Men may indulge in things they call
happiness, but there is often no real happiness in them, for they
bring punishment along in the sting they leave behind. It is not so
with proper enjoyments—enjoyments within the scope of reason and
right, where there is no infringement upon each other. The great law
of demarcation between that which is wrong and that which is right is
not to infringe upon the [p.86] rights of another. No man has a right
to infringe upon another. We serve ourselves, then, by serving God and
keeping his commandments, and the way is so plain that no person can
err therein. Our boys who have been properly raised and tutored in the
Church and kingdom of God, who have attended Sunday school, learned
the catechism and become conversant with the principles set forth in
the Scriptures, in the Book of Mormon, and in the book of Doctrine and
Covenants, and have been endowed with the authority of the Holy
Priesthood, can teach men the way of life and salvation; and if they
will follow their teachings they will bring them back into the
celestial kingdom of God, they are so simple and so easy to be
comprehended.

Vol. 15,  p.86
There are a good many ways pointed out by the children of men, which
they call the ways of life and salvation, but the end thereof is
death. The Lord is not the author of the confusion that exists in the
religious world. Satan stands there, ready, and has religion at his
fingers' ends, already manufactured, to suit the notions of men. Men
get notions and ideas foreign to the truth, and they find religion
manufactured to their order, and can get any kind that they have a
mind to order, just as one who goes to a huckster's shop can purchase
anything he has a mind to pay for. They have their manufactured
religion to pay for, for Satan does not work for nothing.

Vol. 15,  p.86
There is but one way, one faith, one baptism, one God, one Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man; he has made it
manifest unto the children of men in the day and age in which we live.
It has been told to us here, to-day, and is frequently reiterated in
our hearing, that God is full of mercy, and would rather that all men
should turn from evil and live. He begs people to turn from their evil
ways. He says "Take upon you my yoke, for it is easy, and my burden,
for it is light; and come, partake of the waters of life freely,
without money and without price." These words, are sounded in our ears
continually, for the Lord would rather that all men would turn and
live end come to him. Why so? He is merciful, and the invitation is as
widespread as the vast domains of the world: it reaches every human
being, every son and daughter of Adam upon the face of the whole
earth. Holy messengers of salvation are sent forth by the direction of
the God of heaven, through the channel of the holy priesthood that he
has revealed and instituted again among men, warning the people to
turn from their evil ways, and to become partakers of this great
happiness and glory and to sustain his government upon the earth. It
is true the impression has gone forth in the midst of the nations, and
it is a true impression, that he Will establish his government upon
the earth. This earth belongs to God, he has a right to rule and
govern it, and it is his intention to do so. Prophets, in ages gone
by~ have disclosed this, and modern prophets have done the same in our
day through the channel of the Holy Priesthood. That Priesthood has
been organized according to the ancient pattern, for God set in his
Church, first Apostles, second Prophets, and so on. It has been
reorganized according to this pattern, and the proclamation has gone
forth—"Repent and give glory to God." The Gospel has been restored by
the angel which John saw flying through the midst of heaven having the
everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, saying,
"Fear God and give glory to him, for the [p.87] hour of his judgment
is come." This message has been sounded in the midst of the nations,
and the greater portion of the people who have gathered to these
valleys have listened to this proclamation. It reached their ears and
made an impression upon them, and they gathered up from the midst of
the nations of the earth to these valleys of the mountains to be
taught in the ways of the Lord, that they might walk in his paths,
instead of walking in the vain imaginations of their own hearts and in
ways of error, because, as the ancient prophet says, "They have
inherited error and lies from their fathers." Behold, this has been
fulfilled in the day in which the angel has brought forth and revealed
the Gospel. Now we can see wherein we and our fathers have been in
error. We have been taught the precepts of men instead of the
commandments of God; but in our day we have been leached with the
light of truth and with the Spirit of the living God, through
obedience to the principles of the Gospel. The Saints of the Most
High, having heard these principles proclaimed in their ears, had
faith in them and in God, and they repented of their sins and went
forth into the waters of baptism, according to the words of our
Savior—"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God."

Vol. 15,  p.87
Having been obedient to these principles and having had hands laid
upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, it has been given unto
us, and we know, ourselves, concerning these things, and hear
testimony this day that they are true. It has come from God, it is not
any "guess so;" it is not a hope within a hope, that we have a hope,
but we bear testimony that we verily do know that God has spoken, and
we warn all people to repent and turn to God, and partake of the
waters of life freely, without money and without price.

Vol. 15,  p.87
This is what has brought this people together in the valleys of the
mountains; and they are laboring now to bring forth and establish the
Zion of God upon the earth, according to the words of his Holy
Prophets, whose prophecies have been and are being fulfilled in the
history of this people. The kingdom of God is actually transpiring
right before our face and eyes, but the world cannot see it, because
they are not born again. They can not enter this kingdom, because they
are not born of the water and of the Spirit, and because they do not
comply with the requirements of the Gospel and render obedience to the
great plan of salvation devised in the heavens before the foundation
of the world This plan was understood and was in the programme before
the morning stars together sang for joy, and who can better it? Puny
men undertake to do so, but their efforts are vain, and they only
betray their own folly and presumption. Our Father in heaven knew
better than any of us what was for our best interests, and he has
condescended to make it manifest to his children here, and if they
would walk in accordance therewith they would lay the foundation for
eternal power, dominion and glory.

Vol. 15,  p.87
It is the duty of the Latter-day Saints to live by every word
proceeding from the mouth of God.

Vol. 15,  p.87
He has told us to keep the words of wisdom, and has said that they are
adapted to the capacity of all who can be called Saints, even the
weakest. But, see the frailty of humanity! We think we know and
understand better than the Lord, what is best for us. We say this by
[p.88] our acts a great many times; but we might as well learn, first
as last, that the Lord knows best, and that his way is better than
ours, as much so as the heavens are higher than the earth. He has
trodden the path, and has had the experience that we have not had, and
has kindly condescended to make known a little of his experience in
regard to these things. He has told us that it is not good for us to
take spirituous liquors; but a great many of us think a little will do
us no harm, and it is better for us to have it than not to have it. He
has told us not to swear, not to take the name of the Lord in vain,
not to give way to our evil passions. Our passions are good, and
planted within us for a good and wise purpose, to give us strength and
energy of character; but they should be governed and controlled by
that heaven-inspired intellect and reason with which every person is
endowed; in other words, our passions should be our servants and not
our masters.

Vol. 15,  p.88
If we are thus governed and influenced kindness, love and charity will
fill every heart; but depart from that, let passion bear sway, then
the evil influences. that attend us take possession and cause us to go
astray into by and forbidden paths. When passion rules it dethrones
reason and intellect, and makes a beast of a man; and he who has no
more command of himself than to be governed by passion has fallen far
beneath the dignity of true manhood, and the end of such a course is
death.

Vol. 15,  p.88
These are some of the things that we have to be told of so often,
because we are so forgetful, and we oftentimes let the cares of the
world choke the word of life. The latter is sown in the hearts of the
children of men, and sometimes it takes root and grows fairly for a
little while, and then withers and dries up. Sometimes it falls into
good ground, takes root downward and bears fruit upward; and where it
does not do this it is owing to the frailties of human nature, and to
its proneness to wander from the way of life and to disregard the
truths of heaven.

Vol. 15,  p.88
One of the greatest boons that could be conferred upon the children of
men would be to have the government of God established on the earth.
Can they see it? No, they stand in fear of it. What makes men fear it?
What makes them afraid of the Lord, or of his government being
established on the earth? Is it not because their deeds are evil, and
because they are afraid of receiving the punishment due for the same?
The word has gone, forth, and most men believe it, that every man wild
be judged according to the deeds done in the body, whether they be
good or evil. And when men are conscious of evil deeds, and know they
do not pay allegiance to the kingdom and government of God, they have
reason to fear and dread the future; and let me say here, the time
will come when they will call upon the rocks and mountains to fall
upon them to hide them from his presence. But it should not be so. We
need not be afraid of the rule and government of God, it is only
calculated to benefit the children of men, and it will be a glorious
happy day when it shall be established on the earth in its fulness.
Men should fear to do wrong, to commit iniquity; they should do
themselves the kindness to honor the principles that pertain to their
well-being, and to eternal life and exaltation. Such principles should
be hailed with joy, gladness and delight by all the children of men.
The time will come when the government of God will prevail over the
whole face of the earth, notwithstanding all that mankind, and all
[p.89] that the powers of evil can do against it. The principles which
underlie the kingdom and government of God are those of truth and
virtue, and they will endure; while sin, iniquity, disobedience and
unbelief will be swept away, and the man who builds his house or
castle on such a foundation will find that it will not stand in the
day of the Lord Almighty. When the storms come and the winds beat upon
that house it will be swept away; in that day too, men will be
stripped of all their hypocrisy and iniquity, and they will stand
forth in all their naked deformity, then they will call upon the rocks
to fall upon and hide them from the presence of the Lord. Men should
live so that they can bear the scrutinizing eye of the Almighty.
Persons may think they can commit this or that evil, and no one will
know it; they may be very secretive in doing wrong, and think they
will never be found out. But if I commit evil I know it, and when I
know it, one too many knows it; and the Lord knows it as well as I
know it. We can not hide it from him, and we had better not commit
ourselves in any such a way, for in the great day of the Lord these
things will be revealed; man will stand forth in his naked deformity,
and the wickedness of wicked men will be made to appear, and it will
be written where it can be read by all people when the vail shall be
taken from before the eyes. Then let us repent and turn to God with
fall purpose of heart, and the promise to every one who will do this
in sincerity is that their sins shall be forgiven, and that they shall
receive the testimony which we bear this day—namely that the Gospel we
preach, is the Gospel of the Son of God and has been revealed for the
salvation of the human family.

Vol. 15,  p.89
This promise is certain and sure, there need be no doubt about it; it
will be fulfilled to all whom the Lord our God shall call—to every one
who repents of his evil ways and renders obedience to its mandates.
The minister in the pulpit needs it as much as anybody else. Why?
Because he has taught error; he has assumed to himself the authority
of high heaven, which has never been given to him. He has run before
he was sent, and has taught the traditions of the fathers instead of
the commandments of God. He needs to repent of his evil ways, and not
only to repent of but to turn from them.

Vol. 15,  p.89
No man can get a greater testimony of the forgiveness of his sins by
the Lord, than a knowledge within himself that he has turned away from
his evil deeds. He knows it then, for God has promised to forgive
every one who will comply with the requirements of the Gospel and turn
from evil; and the man who forsakes evil knows it, and if he has no
other testimony of his forgiveness, this is as great a one as he can
possess.

Vol. 15,  p.89
I know that this is different kind of preaching from what people get
in the world, but that makes no difference. We are a different people
from any other, God has made us so by the instructions that he has
imparted unto us through his servants. He has taught us another and a
better way—the true way, the way that leads back to him, the way of
life, truth and salvation. The Scriptures—the history of God's
dealings with his children in past ages when the authority of the Holy
Priesthood was on the earth, also bear testimony that this is the work
of God, and that all who receive it, and remain true and faithtful,
may become coworkers with our heavenly Father in bringing to pass his
purposes and establishing his kingdom upon the earth, if we will only
let him work [p.90] with us; but we must do this. He will establish
his work any how, independent of us, if we do not see proper to aid
him in this great enterprise. If we do not do it, he will find
somebody who will, for the day of redemption, the set time has come
for the commencement of this great work. An impression has gone forth
among all the children of men that the time is rapidly approaching to
prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, and the establishment of
his kingdom on the earth. No matter whether it be Gentile, Jew, bond
or free, heathen or Christian, this impression has been made on the
minds of all classes of the children of men in all the nations of the
earth, and it is true. The set the time has come when God will put
forth his hand to establish his kingdom, and every body knows it. We
proclaim in the ears of the people that the angel has come and brought
again the everlasting Gospel to preach to all the inhabitants of the
earth—to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Let those, then,
who have not received it, make some inquiry concerning this work. It
is not a thing done up in a corner, but it is like a city set on a
hill, that can not be hid. The kingdom of God is transpiring before
the eyes of the children of men. Let them take heed and not raise
their heel against it, because if they do, it will only redound to
their own discomfiture. Then they had better not do it, they had
better receive it, or at least investigate, and then, if they do not
receive it, they had better withhold their hands instead of seeking to
destroy and overthrow the work and kingdom of God. All efforts to do
so will be futile, they will do the kingdom no harm, for nothing can
prevent its increase and triumph in the earth. God will not be
thwarted in his purposes and designs. The set time has come for him to
favor his people, and to establish his kingdom, and the puny arm of
man will be powerless to prevent it. Have they not been trying for
forty years? Are the lessons of the past of no benefit to the world?
It would seem so, indeed. They are slow to learn this lesson,
peradventure they may learn it after awhile, but not so long as evil
predominates as it does at present in the hearts of the great majority
of the children of men. We may be scattered and driven and have many
afflictions to endure, but will that stay the work of God? No. How has
it been? Let our past experience teach us and the world at the same
time. It has only increased and given greater velocity to the work of
God. Phoenix like, it has risen from its ashes and, if there is
anything about it formidable, it has presented a more formidable face
than ever before, notwithstanding the most strenuous exertions of its
adversaries. My testimony is that the experience of the past will be
renewed in the future, if the enemies of Zion work for its overthrow.
They may succeed in taking the lives of some of the servants of God;
they have done that in the past, but it never obstructed the work, and
all their efforts in the future will he as powerless as in the past.

Vol. 15,  p.90
It is for the Saints to ponder these things in their hearts, and with
renewed confidence and greater faith to press forward in their high
calling. Their past observation and experience have proved to them the
necessity of continual diligence. Many who have borne faithful
testimonies to the truth of this work have apostatized and forsaken
the truth because they have neglected some duty and have gradually
given way to evil, and the counsels of their mind have become [p.91]
darkened to the principles of truth, and they have finally forgotten
that they ever knew them to be true.

Vol. 15,  p.91
Then let us take heed to our steps. "Let him who standeth take heed
lest he fall," is a very good exhortation. We are none of us
independent, and none have got so far along but we find it necessary
to live humbly before the Lord. We should pray without ceasing, and
let our hearts be drawn towards the Lord continually, never forgetting
him, or the principles that he has revealed unto us; but we should be
actuated by them in all we say and all we do. If we do this, the
Spirit of the Lord will be within us like a well of water springing up
unto everlasting life. It is necessary that every one should live thus
humbly before the Lord, in order to have full possession of this
Spirit. This will bring peace, joy and comfort under all difficulties
that may assail us and seek to prevent our progress in the kingdom of
God.

Vol. 15,  p.91
What is a man good for who flies the track the very moment obstruction
or difficulty presents itself before him? Nothing. He has not proven
his integrity, and he cannot prove it in this way. We have undertaken
to follow the Lord through evil as well as good report; and the Lord,
and his ways, his teachings and government are in evil report in the
world; and he who has independence and courage enough to strip himself
of his surroundings in the world, and seeks to establish the kingdom
of God, has to meet these difficulties which present themselves before
him. He has to stem his ear to the popular stream. It is easy to float
with the stream; but it requires more courage, and independence of
character and greater nerve to stem the tide of corruption in the
World than to go down with the current; and the man who takes this
course is far more independent than he who has not the courage to do
so.

Vol. 15,  p.91
Then let us take courage and press onward if we have received the
truth, as we know we have; if we have received the testimony of
Jesus—the spirit of prophecy, as we know we have, let us take heed to
our steps and continue faithful, never swerving to the right hand or
to the left, for of all people in the world, the Latter-day Saints are
the people who cannot afford to lay off the armor of righteousness for
a moment. The tempter the evil one, is at our elbow, ready to enter in
and take possession and blind our understandings and cause us to make
shipwreck of our faith if possible.

Vol. 15,  p.91
The Saints should live humble, be courteous, be civil and live for God
and his kingdom. That is the only job we have on hand. Let us work on
that job as long as we live on the earth. Our religion is not a matter
of enthusiasm, to last a day or a week, and then evaporate into thin
air, like the religions of the world; but every hour, every day, every
week, every gear, as long as we live on the earth, it should be first
with us, for it is only he who endures faithful and true to the end
that will be saved, and will inherit everlasting habitations. We need
not lay to our souls the flattering unction that we can go hand in
hand with the devil all our lives and inherit celestial glory. That is
not in the programme. We can do as we please about receiving or
rejecting the principles Of life and salvation as they have been
revealed. We have this power, because we are free agents, to act as we
please in this matter; but we can not go back into celestial abodes
and inherit celestial glory unless we keep the law pertaining to that
kingdom. And so with every other kingdom, even a telestial kingdom; we
must abide a telestial [p.92] law or we can not participate in the
glory appertaining to it.

Vol. 15,  p.92
I do not wish to continue. I feel thankful for the privilege of
bearing my testimony, although I do yet count myself a preacher. But
the principles of the Gospel make preachers of us all, for they make
us bear testimony of the same to the children of men. They impel every
heart to say something, to bear testimony, if nothing more, to the
truth of the principles we have received. This life-giving power, the
Holy Ghost, I say, impels every person who has received it to bear
this testimony according to the sphere and position he fills, and the
duties he is called upon to perform. A person may be called to plough,
sow, reap, build a railroad, work in thee canyon or to go and preach
to the nations of the earth, and one calling is as legitimate as
another, inasmuch as he who is filling it is working in the legitimate
channel, and aiding to build up the kingdom of God.

Vol. 15,  p.92
Every person who has obeyed the Gospel has a share of responsibility
to bring forth and establish this work upon the earth. None can shirk
this responsibility, but it is shared by all according to their
spheres and positions. Those engaged in raising families are doing
their part to establish the Zion of God, just as much as in the
performance of any other labor.

Vol. 15,  p.92
Let us ponder these things in our hearts, receive the impressions made
from the heavens above. This will exalt us above the grovelling things
of earth and cause us to attain those which are before us with
cheerful hearts and willing minds.

Vol. 15,  p.92
May God preserve us in the purity of our most holy faith, and enable
us to endure to the end, that we may inherit everlasting habitations
prepared for the righteous, is my prayer for Jesus' sake. Amen.

George A. Smith, July 7, 1872

Sacrament—Self-Examination—Recollections of Early 
Life—Re-Flections on Scenes of Childhood, 
After An Absence of Forty Years

Remarks By President George A. Smith, Delivered in the 
New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, July 7, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.92
The administration of the Sacrament is an occasion which calls us, one
and all, to reflection, to inquire of ourselves in relation to our
course of conduct in life—whether the journey we have pursued, the
paths that we are traveling, are in accordance with the holy
principles of that religion [p.93] which has been revealed for our
salvation, and which we have received. While I have visited the cities
of the East, I have observed that a great amount of means has been
expended in the construction and ornamenting of churches and edifices
for public worship. Every city, every village is beautified with
magnificent buildings, stately domes, elegant spires, erected in honor
and for the purpose of religion, and I have reflected upon the
influence of this religion upon the minds of a community. In visiting
friends I found many who are professors of religion, who seem to have
an utter disregard for any forms of worship whatever, and who totally
neglect prayer in the family and grace at the table. I am not aware,
of course, whether or not this is general among Christians; but I
notice among the Latter-day Saints, that it seems to be very natural
to be slothful and negligent and careless in relation to our
every-day, simple duties. We may build temples, erect stately domes,
magnificent spires, grand towers, in honor of our religion, but if we
fail to live the principles of that religion at home, and to
acknowledge God in all our thoughts, we shall fall short of the
blessings which its practical exercise would ensure.

Vol. 15,  p.93
While the Sacrament is passed around, and we take the emblems of our
Savior's death and suffering, and realize the sacrifice which he made
for our salvation, we should ask ourselves, Do we remember him in all
things? Do we acknowledge his hand in the providences with which we
are surrounded? Do we call upon him in our families and in secret? Or
do we neglect our duties, do we miss praying with our families in the
morning, and have not time to do so in the evening, and are in such a
hurry that we cannot even ask his blessing upon our food, and cannot
take time to attend meeting on the Sabbath, nor afford to devote the
day to rest, meditation and study? Let us also ask these questions of
ourselves, Are we honorable in our relations with each other? Do We do
by our neighbor as we would that he should do unto us? Are we just in
our dealings? Are we honoring those principles of morality which alone
can prepare us to inherit celestial glory? Brethren and sisters, if we
ask ourselves these questions, and, after examining our conduct and
career, can answer them honestly and truthfully in the affirmative,
then we may partake of the bread and water in the presence of our
heavenly Father worthily. If, on the other hand, we have been
negligent and careless, we should repent, for repentance is our first
duty.

Vol. 15,  p.93
Since I last saw you, I have visited the scenes of my childhood, and
the place of my birth, after an absence of about forty years. My ideas
of right and wrong were formed there; my associations with the people,
up to fifteen years of age, were such as to give deep and strong
impressions of their character, and of the principles by which they
were governed. I cannot say that my visit yeas without its painful
character. Forty years sweep from the face of the earth more than a
generation. I understand statisticians to estimate that thirty-three
years carry as many souls from the earth as dwell on it at one time. I
went into my native town after forty years' absence, and inquired for
those who were the business men in my boyhood, for the magistrates,
ministers, merchants, farmers and mechanics with whom I was acquainted
then. Where were they? Nearly all dead; a very few of the old faces,
like ancient oaks [p.94] remain. On my father's farm there was a
beautiful grove of maple—some two hundred trees, standing when I was
there before, with no other timber among them, the ground sown with
white clover—it was one of the most beautiful lawns I ever saw when I
left it. I drove up before the house in which I was born, and said to
the man who was residing there, "Is that grove standing?" "Not a maple
tree on the farm," was the reply. "Not a single one?" said I. "No,"
said he, "not a maple on the farm." I had not even the curiosity to
drive across the farm, for in my mind that grove was the feature of
all others, it was the place of my dreams.

Vol. 15,  p.94
Many of you know that in 1853 we had difficulty with the Indians in
Southern Utah. At that time I was military commander of the Southern
Department. Previous to every attack on the settlement, my dreams
would carry me back to that grove, and there I would see, or get some
intimation of, the coming trouble with the Indians. Now there is not a
tree left. It would have been about so with the people if I had staid
away a few years longer.

Vol. 15,  p.94
I went into the school district where I had resided some six years,
and visited Mr. Porter Patterson, with whom I was well acquainted in
my boyhood, and began inquiring for the neighbors. "Why," said he,
"they are all gone but four: myself and wife, and Mr. John Stafford
and Mrs. Garfield are all the married people that remain that lived
here when you went away, thirty-nine years and two months ago."
"Then," said I, "I must go to the graveyard."

Vol. 15,  p.94
These reflections would bring to my mind the sermons that I had heard
in my youth. I went to the cemetery, and saw the graves of a great
many of my old comrades. There were headstones with inscriptions to
many whom I had known, and some whose funerals I had attended, and I
could recite texts, and a portion of the sermons preached at those
funerals. They were generally passages like this—"Be ye also ready,
for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." Passages
of this kind were generally selected as warnings to all to be ready
for death.

Vol. 15,  p.94
From the monuments in the graveyard I found that a good many had been
summoned in their youth, for there were the graves of boys and girls
with whom I had associated, some of them my relatives. I visited three
cemeteries with a like result—the one in our own neighborhood, one in
Colton and the other in Potsdam village, in all of which I had been
more or less acquainted.

Vol. 15,  p.94
Latter-day Saints, in their preaching, call on men and women to
prepare to live, and they teach them how to live, believing that if
any person is prepared to live as he ought to, he will certainly be
prepared to die whenever the summons shall come. It was never a part
or portion of our teaching to attempt to scare men to heaven. I went
to the meeting house, or rather to the site of the meeting house, for
the old frame building had been replaced by another of bricks, and it
converted into a lecture room for the normal school. In that old frame
building I had been most solemnly sentenced to eternal damnation, nine
times, by a Congregationalist minister forty years ago. He had gone to
his grave, and nearly all the persons present in the congregation at
the time, had followed, or preceded, him. The object of this sentence,
in the eloquent and Solemn language in which it was pronounced, and so
oft-re-peated, was, no doubt, to stir in the minds of impenitent
sinners, and of [p.95] me particularly, a conviction that would secure
conversion to Christianity, as I was considered impenitent; and I do
not know but the proper phrase would be, to scare me to heaven. But it
did not have that effect with me, I never could understand nor realize
certain portions of the teachings which I there heard. That I must
become so thoroughly in love with the justice of God as to be
perfectly willing to be damned to all eternity for his glory, and
suffer all the miseries which they so eloquently described, was to me
an impossibility, I could see no justice in such doctrines· But those
were times of great religious excitement, when revivals and protracted
meetings were common all over the country, and the souls of many were
stirred to the very core, as it were, by the idea, then so strongly
advocated, of the punishment and misery which were to be eternally
inflicted upon all those who were finally impenitent. Those sermons
divided, the Christian world into two classes, one was made celestial,
inheriting all the blessings and glory which a God could bestow; the
other was banished to eternal misery.

Vol. 15,  p.95
When the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints were preached to me I
could understand them. I could believe in faith and repentance, in the
principle of obedience, and in the doctrines of baptism for the
remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy
Ghost, and that God had provided for all beings that he ever created,
a glory, honor and immortality in accordance with their works, whether
good or evil, giving, as a matter of course, to the faithful
Latter-day Saints, the reserved seats; or to use the language of the
Apostle Paul, I could believe that there was a glory of the sun, a
glory of the moon, and a glory of the stars, and that the glory of the
stars differed as much as the stars differ in brilliancy; and that all
sects, denominations and classes of people would receive punishments
and rewards in accordance with his divine justice. Every Latter-day
Saint that abides in the truth, faithful, to the end, may expect the
glory of the sun; and every man that acts in accordance with the light
that he possesses lays a foundation for greater glory and honor than
eye has seen, or than it has entered into the heart of mortal man to
conceive.

Vol. 15,  p.95
I did not visit these graves with the feeling that some of the
ministers of orthodox churches sought to impress upon my mind in my
youth—I did not believe that they were consigned to eternal punishment
because they believed differently from what I did. I went there
feeling a confidence that honorable men and women would receive
honorable treatment from a just God. In speaking on this subject, I
designed simply to wake up the hearts of my brethren and sisters to
the necessity of maintaining this honor, and to the fact that, as we
advance in the flyings of the kingdom, greater sacrifices and more
faith and diligence are required on our part.

Vol. 15,  p.95
I visited, in the course of my journey, the place where Joseph Smith's
father was born—Topsfield, Massachusetts. I was in the house he was
born in, and upon the farm where the family had resided three
generations previous, they having resided in that county—Essex—as
early as 1666. One object of my visit was to obtain some historical
information in relation to the family of Joseph Smith. It was about
eighty-one years since my grandfather moved away from that place, at
which time my father was eleven years old, and Joseph's father
twenty-one, they being brothers. [p.96] It would seem strange that,
after the lapse of eighty-one years, I should find any one who knew my
grandfather, yet I saw several persons who stated that they were
personally acquainted with him, although they could not remember when
he moved away; but after doing so, he returned to that neighborhood,
and visited his relatives and acquaintances, and they had distinct
recollections of him, and gave me reminiscences of his history.

Vol. 15,  p.96
The graveyard at Topsfield contained no monuments over about eighty
years old. I do not recollect the exact date. Among the oldest were
the names of my great aunts and other relatives. Being a firm believer
in the doctrine of baptism for the dead, I was anxious to procure the
names of those departed persons wherever our records might be
deficient, and I have, I believe, a prospect of obtaining the names of
about nine hundred of the kindred of my great grandmother—Priscilla
Gould.

Vol. 15,  p.96
The old portion of the burying ground at Topsfield, used by the early
inhabitants, is totally without monuments—no gravestones whatever, so
that I presume they simply used headboards or monuments of wood; and
the place is now reserved as a sacred precinct in which, we were told
that any of the kindred of those ancient worthies of the town might
plant gravestones if they choose, but no person is allowed to be
buried there. The cemetery had been enlarged, and from eighty years
ago down to the present time there had been placed there many
gravestones and handsome obelisks, some manifesting the pride and
aristocracy of those who placed them there. I noticed one
particularly, on which was inscribed a notice to the effect that the
person buried there was a millionaire. It did not say whether he
obtained money honestly or by some other means.

Vol. 15,  p.96
In visiting the office of the town clerk, I examined the record kept
by my great grandfather in 1776-8, at which time he was the clerk of
that town. I also found, by examining the records ten years before
then, that he had represented the town in the Legislature of the
Colony of Massachusetts, and was a very firm supporter of the
Revolution. Just as I was about leaving the office to go to the
railway station, I was told by the clerk that he had a list of the
names of the children of Robert Smith in the town record. Robert Smith
was supposed by us to be the first of our family who settled in
Massachusetts, sometime previous to the year 1665. I there ascertained
what our family records fail to show. Our records show that he had a
son Samuel, and that Samuel had a son Samuel, and that Samuel had a
son Samuel and a son Asael, and Asael was our grandfather; but I
ascertained that this Robert Smith had a large family, and their names
are contained in that old town record.

Vol. 15,  p.96
The Genealogical Society of Massachusetts has got out books containing
the records of some hundreds of the families of the oldest settlers of
the colony. If our friends here, whose ancestors were buried in New
England, would unite in purchasing an entire set of these works, they
would be enabled to find collateral, if not direct, branches of their
kindred; and so obtain a key to help them in making the necessary
records to attend to the ordinances for their dead. But our faith is,
brethren and sisters, that when we have exhausted all the powers
within our natural reason and reach to obtain a knowledge of our dead,
and the Lord is satisfied with us, revelations will be opened to our
understandings by [p.97] which we will be able to trace back our
genealogy to the time when men were within the pale of the principles
and laws of the Priesthood, before these ordinances were changed and
the everlasting covenant broken. 

Vol. 15,  p.97
In conversing with Mr. Zaccheus Gould and his wife, of Topsfield, over
eighty years old, and Dr. Humphrey Gould, of Rowe, who were cousins,
of my father, I was enabled to pick up many very satisfactory items of
information. I am also under obligation to Mr. John H. Gould, of
Topsfield, and to the town clerk of that place, Mr. Towne, for
valuable letters and papers relating to the history of our family, all
of which, as they relate to the ancestry of Joseph Smith, will form an
interesting page in connection with his history when it shall be
published.

Vol. 15,  p.97
I do not design, in conversing with you at the present time, to
enumerate the visits I made, though they remind me of a remark made
concerning me by my grandfather on the last day of his life. He died
in his eighty-eighth year, I being then in my fourteenth year. Said
he, "George A. is a rather singular boy. When he comes here, instead
of going to play as the rest of my grandchildren do, he comes into my
room and asks me questions about what occurred seventy or eighty years
ago." It seemed to me, while I was absent that I was pursuing the same
course yet, for although I had got pretty well along in years, I still
wanted to talk with the old folks.

Vol. 15,  p.97
At Woonsocket, R. I., I visited Mrs. Tryphena Lyman, a cousin of my
mother, in her 94th year, who was living with her unmarmarried
daughter, an agreeable young lady in her 70th year. I had a very
pleasant visit with them, and from them I learned some interesting
incidents of my mother's ancestors. From my cousins, Mr. and Mrs.
Simon D. Butler, of South Colton, N.Y., I obtained a copy of the
family record of my great-grandfather, Deacon John Lyman, written by
his own hand in his family Bible—now 200 years old. Mrs. Butler has
been my most faithful correspondent among all my relatives, and my
meeting with her and her husband was more like meeting a brother and
sister than cousins.

Vol. 15,  p.97
It is very well known that, by the election of a convention of
delegates from all the counties of this Territory, held in this city,
Ex-Governor Fuller and myself went to attend the Republican Convention
at Philadelphia. Persons appeared there and objected to me because, I
was a "Mormon," and the committee on credentials did not think proper
to allow the representatives of the people of Utah a seat in that
convention, consequently we retired, believing, fully, that the time
would come in our country when men will not be questioned in relation
to their religious faith or practice, when called upon to perform the
duties of citizens, but that if they are firm and upright supporters
of the Constitution and laws of their country, that will be all that
will be required of them. I then took the opportunity to make these
visits, which I had designed doing years before, and which I believe
will result in good. I did not seek to be publicly known; I made no
attempts to preach, though invited at different times to do so; and I
must say for the credit of New England, that I had the offer of a
Christian church to preach in. I say this to show that New England is
improving in its religious faith, that is, there is less bigotry there
now than there has been at certain periods. I could have had numerous
opportunities to preach, but I wished [p.98] to make my journey one of
rest, and addressed but one public congregation, and that was last
Sabbath in the Latter-day Saints' Hall, Brooklyn.

Vol. 15,  p.98
While at Philadelphia I met Mr. E. W. Foster, Supervisor of Potsdam,
my native town, he being a member of the convention, and one of the
committee on credentials before whom our claim to a seat was
contested. After leaving Philadelphia I visited Potsdam, and an
incident occurred there which I will name. On landing at the railway
station, Mr. Foster happened to be there, and recognizing me, he
called me by name, and bid me welcome to the town. A very
respectable-looking aged lady, hearing the name, stepped up to him and
inquired if I was George A. Smith, and being answered in the
affirmative, she seized my hand and said, "I want to thank you, your
father saved my life." "Why, when?" "A good many years ago." "How?"
"We were broken through the ice into the lake, and at the risk of his
own life he saved mine." The cars were about starting, and she rushed
from me and said, "My name was Eliza Courier." I really thought the
incident worth naming, as occurring in the place of my birth, and from
which I had gone nearly forty years before.

Vol. 15,  p.98
By the courtesy of General N. S. Elderkin, I had the privilege of
visiting the State Normal School at Potsdam, and was very much pleased
with the institution. The vast improvements which have been made in
buildings, machinery, roads, transportation, and telegraphs, have
certainly not been altogether inapplicable to the progress of
education. When I received my education, an ordinary school master
received nine dollars a month, and twelve if he was a first class
teacher; and he could cut blue beech switches enough in a day, and
perhaps less, to thrash the scholars the entire winter, and they were
applied very freely. I used to think I got more than my share. I
thought I could not watch the schoolmaster as well as some others, my
eyes were not quite so good. But I noticed on my visit a very
desirable change in their school government; the cultivation of the
mind is the object sought now, and the teacher has become the friend
as well us the preceptor of the pupil. The blue beech seems to be
pretty well banished, and there is a marked improvement in the whole
system of education, as well as in telegraphing, railroading,
machinery, and architectural works generally.

Vol. 15,  p.98
I met several of my old school-fellows, who were glad to see me, and
treated me with courtesy. Among these I should mention General
Elderkin, a man of influence and who never, in the darkest hour of our
persecutions, has failed to recognize me as an old schoolfellow and
friend, notwithstanding he had high religious notions. I met other
gentlemen of this kind.

Vol. 15,  p.98
We are all passing to the tomb, and we want to leave a good record,
that is, one that will be pleasing to the Lord. It is not a very lofty
ambition for a man to spend his life so as to have it recorded on his
tombstone that he died worth a million dollars; but if he spend his
life in doing good, that will be a record that will be to his
everlasting honor, and will prove to him treasure in heaven. People
say, "You Mormons believe all will be damned except yourselves." We
know for ourselves that this is the work of God, and we know that
every Latter-day Saint that is faithful to his profession and calling
will attain to celestial glory. We also further know [p.99]  that God
has extended, in his order, to all the human race, glory, honor,
immortality and blessings in accordance with their works, whether good
or evil. Read the vision in the Book of Covenants, and the 13th
chapter of Paul's epistle to the Corinthians. and judge for
yourselves; and while we should struggle to obtain the greater
blessings, we should never disparage those who may fall short of
attaining the highest glory. There is a glory of the sun, the Apostle
informs us, also a glory of the moon, and a glory of the stars, and as
one star differeth from another, so do these different degrees of
glory differ. But in these various glories will be found all
denominations and all honorable men—every one in accordance with those
things which he has done in this life; and, says the Savior, "Suffer
little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of
heaven."

Vol. 15,  p.99
As I passed by the site of the old academy, I said to General
Elderkin, "There I received my Presbyterian baptism." "So did I," said
he I did not wish to raise a question in relation to the subject with
him at all. He is now, I believe, a member of the Episcopal Church,
and I, of course, am a Latter-day Saint; but the man who sprinkled the
water on our foreheads, taught that hell was full of infants not a
span long. The idea was horrible to me from the time I first heard it.
"Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of
heaven," says the Savior; and if we live in the sight of God as
innocent, pure and holy as little children, we shall attain to the
glory of the sun. May God enable us to do so through Jesus our
Redeemer. Amen.

Orson Pratt, August 4, 1872

Revelation From Heaven and Its Continuance Necessary

Discourse By Eldeer Orson Pratt, Delivered in the 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, August 4, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.99
Sometimes I am in the habit of taking a text, but at present there is
no passage of Scripture which presents itself to my mind; I therefore,
commence speaking and, through your faith and prayers before the Lord,
I trust that something may be given to me that will edify, and benefit
the congregation. The subjects pertaining to the kingdom of God are so
numerous that, sometimes the great difficulty in the mind of a servant
of God who attempts to address the people is to know the mind and will
of the Spirit in regard to what shall be said. If I know my [p.100]
own heart, I have no desire to speak my own words or to impart unto
you my own natural wisdom; but it is the earnest desire of my heart
that I may impart instruction according to the mind and the will of
the living God. This I can not do unless God shall grant unto me the
inspiration of his Spirit at the very moment, and this will depend in
a great measure upon the hearers as well as upon the speaker. If the
people have faith in God, and pray unto him, exercising that faith, he
may give them something that will be instructive to their minds; but
if they have not faith the Lord may not see proper thus to impart.

Vol. 15,  p.100
We are permitted, Latter-day Saints, to live in a very peculiar age of
the world. It is called by us, the dispensation of the fulness of
times. Many dispensations have been revealed to the inhabitants of the
earth in past ages, and God has given, from time to time, since the
creation, much instruction to the people. What I mean by a
dispensation, is power, authority and revelation given from Heaven to
direct and counsel men here on the earth. This has been given at
different ages of the world, and the instruction which God has given
has been in accordance with the circumstances of the people, the
revelations and instructions which he has given being different at one
period from those given at another. When I say different, do not
misunderstand me. Many of the revelations of God are unchangeable in
their nature, and are adapted to all dispensations; but many
commandments have been given that were adapted only to the
dispensations in which they were revealed. I will name some of these.

Vol. 15,  p.100
For instance, when some sixteen hundred or two thousand years had
passed away, from the creation, the world had become very much
corrupted in the sight of God, so much so that what little history we
have on the subject informs us that all flesh had corrupted its way
upon the face of the earth. God gave a new commandment in that period,
differing entirely from all former commandments. It was not adapted to
any dispensation that had preceded it, neither would it be suitable
for any future dispensation: it was intended for that particular
period only. The Lord commanded his servant Noah to build an ark,
according to certain rules and dimensions that he gave unto him, for,
said the Lord, "I intend to destroy all flesh with a flood, except
those who shall gather together into the ark which you shall build."

Vol. 15,  p.100
This was a new commandment. If there had been any sectarian preachers
who then lived, and perhaps there were—for preachers who have not been
sent of God seem to have been numerous in all dispensations-they would
perhaps have reasoned with Noah in relation to this new revelation and
commandment, and said to him, "What is the use now, of getting new
revelation from God? You will not dispute, Noah, but what Enoch was
saved and translated to heaven. He had enough revelation to save him,
and can not we be saved in the same manner that he was, without having
any new revelation communicated to us?" I mention this, because such
arguments are used at the present day in reference to the new
revelations which the Latter-day Saints carry forth to the world. The
people say, "You believe in the Book of Mormon as a new revelation,
and that God has given new commandments. Have we not enough? Were not
the people who lived in the days of Enoch, Abraham, Moses and the
[p.101] Prophets, in the days of Jesus and the Apostles, saved? and if
they had enough to save them, if we follow the instructions which they
received, what is the use of obtaining another book, called the Book
of Mormon, or new commandments and revelations?" This has been brought
forth as an argument ever since my youth to my certain knowledge, in
all countries where I have traveled and attempted to communicate to
the world our ideas about new revelation. The same arguments might
have been used in the days of the flood—"Enough has been given; Enoch
has been saved and translated, and if we follow the revelations given
to him, why may we not be saved without having any thing new?" But
Noah would have answered, and very properly too, "God designs to
accomplish something now that he did not accomplish in the days of
Enoch, nor in the days of Abel and Seth, nor in the days of any of
those ancient worthies—he intends to bring destruction on all flesh
that will not repent, by overwhelming this world of ours in a flood of
water. He intends to pour out his indignation and just wrath upon
those who corrupt themselves in his sight; and he has provided a
particular way of escape therefrom, by which you may, if you will, be
saved from this judgment, and that way has to be made known by new
revelation." We will pass on, however.

Vol. 15,  p.101
Soon after the days of Noah, we find that certain men lived upon the
earth, whose names are recorded in this sacred history (the Bible),
who were called to be the chosen servants of God, and whom the Lord
blessed in a peculiar manner. I refer now to the Patriarchs, and more
especially to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, three very worthy men, so
worthy that the Lord chose them as representatives of the faithful in
all future ages, and declared that all who should be saved in future
ages should became their seed, either springing directly front their
loins, or being adopted, through the Gospel, into the family of
Abraham, who was to be called the father of the faithful: that is the
father not only of the faithful who lived from his day until the
coming of Christ, but of all who should live after Christ who followed
in the footsteps of this ancient Patriarch and embraced the same
Gospel that he taught, and they should have a claim on the promises
that were made to him.

Vol. 15,  p.101
Now, did the Patriarch Abraham receive anything new from God, or was
there enough already given? Perhaps many may cry, "Enough to save
Noah, Enoch, Abel, and all persons who would walk before the Lord
according to ancient revelation, without anything new." But there was
not enough adapted to the circumstances by which Abraham was
surrounded. Why? Because the Lord designed to call Abraham out from
his father's house, from his friends and country, and to lead him into
a strange land. Abraham might have searched all former records, and
revelations, but here was a duty he never could have learned
therefrom—"Depart from thy father's house!" It could not be found
written in former revelations, hence the circumstances required new
revelation, and God gave it by commanding this great man—the father of
the faithful—to leave the land of Chaldea and to go forth into a
country where he never had been. Abraham was obedient, he went forth
and traveled to the country that we call Palestine—a small territory
east of the Mediterranean Sea. And having arrived in that land, he
might have searched all former revelations in vain to have [p.102]
learned what his duty was then, for there were certain duties required
of him then in regard to which the revelation given to him in his
native land did not enlighten him. One of these duties was to go forth
upon a certain eminence or mountain in Canaan. He did as he was
taught. It was a peculiar commandment. I have never been commanded to
do so, neither has any other person in this congregation; neither was
any person who lived before Abraham but he, and he alone needed new
revelation to find out that he was to go to the top of a certain
mountain. When he got there another new revelation was given to him,
commanding him to look to the east then to the west; and then to cast
his eyes to the north, and to the south, and then, behold, a great
promise was made to him by new revelation, namely, "All the land which
thou seest shall be given to thee and thy seed after thee for an
everlasting possession." No such promise could he have found in any
former revelation: this promise was adapted to that peculiar
individual, and to the circumstances in which he was placed.

Vol. 15,  p.102
We would imagine that Isaac, having his father's revelations right
before his eyes, and knowing all about them, would say in his heart,
"I need not trouble myself About inquiring from God and receiving
anything new from the heavens. My father was a good man; he was saved,
and I shall content myself by giving heed to the old revelations." But
Isaac did not reason in this way; and the Lord had some new
revelations to communicate to the son of Abraham, and one of them was
to confirm the promise that had been marie to his father. One might
naturally suppose that the revelation made to his father was broad
enough and covered the case without being confirmed, for it declared
that the land promised to Abraham should be given to him and to his
seed after him, and we might suppose that that included Isaac, and
that there was no need of a new revelation to him on the subject; but
if it did include him, Isaac was not fully satisfied, he would not
place his dependence on something that had been said to some other
man, but wanted to know for himself whether God intended him to
possess that land, and there was no way for him to obtain this
knowledge except by direct communication with the heavens. He obtained
it, God renewing the promise to him that he had made to his father
Abraham.

Vol. 15,  p.102
By and by comes along the grandson of Abraham—Jacob, who, not
satisfied with the promises made to his grandfather and his
father—Abraham and Isaac, and not considering himself safe to depend
on promises made to somebody else, came before the Lord and plead with
him, and the angels of God came and visited this lad, and he saw a
ladder reaching from the ground on which he slept to the very heavens,
upon which the angels were ascending and descending; and he, on that
occasion, obtained a confirmation of the promise made to his father
and grandfather.

Vol. 15,  p.102
It is unnecessary for me to trace the history of these patriarchs, or
to mention the various times when God thought fit to communicate a new
revelation unto them, according to the circumstances in which they
were placed. We might relate the revelations given to Jacob after he
went down into the country of Laban, where he married his four wives.
We might relate to you the various revelations God gave to him during
his sojourn in that land. We might [p.103] also relate to you the
revelations he received after he left that country with his four wives
and his children. When he came to the brook Jabbok, sending over all
his family before him, he stopped back, and the Lord condescended to
give him a new revelation. An angel came down, and Jacob and this
person laid hold of each other, the same as allen do occasionally now,
to try each other's strength, in what is termed wrestling. These two
persons wrestled together all night long. The angel did not see proper
to take any advantage of Jacob by miracle, but he wrestled with him as
one man would another; and it seems that neither of them overcame the
other. The angel did not succeed in throwing Jacob to the ground,
neither did Jacob succeed in throwing the angel to the ground; but
after contending together all night, the angel at last put forth his
finger and touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and lamed him a little,
and by this means was enabled to overcome him. After being thus lamed,
Jacob found that he had been wrestling with an angel of God, and, said
he, "I will not let let thee go unless thou bless me;" and God,
through the mouth of that angel, gave to him the same great and
glorious promises than he had given to his father, and also blessed
him as a prince, because he had power to wrestle with an angel all
night and prevailed with him.

Vol. 15,  p.103
Some suppose that this was the first conversion of Jacob; but, be this
as it may, Jacob, prior to this time, had many great revelations from
God. After wrestling in this manner on one side of the brook Jabbok,
he started the next day to overtake his family, and he placed his four
wives and their children in a certain order, preparatory to meeting
his brother Esau. By and by Esau comes along with quite an army of
men, and he meets the forward company, consisting of Bilhah and Zilpah
and their children—two of Jacob's wives and their polygamous
offspring. He continues on until he meets Jacob's third wife, and
finally he comes to the fourth and her children, with whom Jacob was,
and turning to Jacob he says, "Who are all these women and children?"
Jacob answered, "These are they whom God hath given thy servant."
What! God give to Jacob more than one wife, and a number of polygamous
children! Is that so? Well, Jacob says so, and we are informed that he
was then converted, that this meeting between Jacob and Esau took
place, and this declaration of Jacob was made after his conversion at
the brook Jabbok. Now, would you suppose that a converted man would
make such a declaration, about his wives and children as Jacob made to
Esau, if it had not been true? If a man now-a-days declares that God
has given him more wives than one, and a host of polygamous children,
he is accused of blasphemy, yet Jacob, after wrestling with an angel,
declared that such was the case with him: he knew it was so and he
acknowledged the hand of God. After he reached the land of Canaan we
find that God continued to give to this man revelation after
revelation, suited to the circumstances; and thus we may trace the
history of the dispensations of God to man.

Vol. 15,  p.103
I will now touch, in short, upon the history of Moses, who lived
several hundred years after Jacob—at a period when circumstances
called for commandments and revelations different to any that had ever
been given before. After having slain the Egyptian, Moses fled from
the house of Pharaoh, and went down into the land of Midian, and dwelt
there forty years. At a certain time, when he [p.104] was herding the
flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro, he saw a bush burning with a very
brilliant flame. This excited his curiosity, and he drew near, and saw
the bush apparently burning, and yet not consumed. As he drew nearer
God spoke to him out of the burning bush, and told him to take the
shoes from his feet for the place on which he stood was holy ground.
He never could have found out by former revelation that the ground
whereon he stood was holy. This God, who appeared in the burning bush,
or the angel, as the case may be, had something for Moses to do that
he could not possibly learn tram former revelation, and that something
was to arise and go down into Egypt and deliver God's people—the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—from the hands of their
enemies. Do you not see that it required new revelation to inform him
of this fact? He was obedient to the commandment, for taking Aaron
with him, he went down into Egypt and stood before the king, and then
commenced a series of new revelations that were wonderful and
marvelous in their nature. The revelations of to-day, however, would
not suit to-morrow, and those of to-morrow would not suit the next
day. Why? Because God had something new to perform every day, and that
which was given yesterday would not be adapted to the work God saw fit
to perform to-day or to-morrow, hence, as often as the day rolled
round new revelation had to be given to Moses to make known to him
what the Lord required at his hand, what his mission was, what he was
to do in the house of Pharaoh and before all the Egyptians. Having
accomplished these wonders, by new revelation, Moses and the whole
house of Israel, some twenty-five hundred thousand in number, left the
land of Egypt and came forth to the eastern border of the Red Sea.

Vol. 15,  p.104
If there had been sectarians in that large company, they would
doubtless have reasoned with Moses on this wise: "Moses, what an
abundance of revelation God has given in former times, and have we not
enough for our guidance now?" I say if there bad been Baptists,
Methodists, Presbyterians, members of the Church of England, or of any
of the several hundred different sects into which Christendom is now
separated, this would have been their argument, for their argument now
is—"We have enough, and do not need any more." But Moses and the
children of Israel were not influenced by such considerations, for
they were placed in circumstances that required something new. The Red
Sea was before them, and there were mountains on the south and on the
north, and on the west the Egyptians were pursuing them, and the
inquiry with them was "What shall we do?" God gave them revelation. He
did not tell them to search previous revelations for that was all that
was necessary, but he gave them revelation telling them what to do,
and that revelation was, "Stand still, and see the salvation of God?"
If they had not got this new revelation they might have been so
confused that, instead of standing still, some would have run for one
mountain, and some for another, some this way and some that; but a new
revelation made them understand that their duty, instead of fleeing,
was to stand still and see the salvation that God would work out for
them. Moses was commanded to smite the waters of the Red Sea, and he
did so, and they were parted asunder by the power of the Almighty and,
as we are informed in another place, they stood up like [p.105] walls
on either side of the path on which the children of Israel traveled
through the midst of the sea We would naturally suppose that water
would not do this, but it was a miracle wrought by the power of the
Almighty. He placed the waters, like solid walls on each side of his
people, and they walked through dry shod, while the Egyptian army, in
trying to pursue them, were overthrown in the midst of the sea.

Vol. 15,  p.105
Then comes another new revelation—given by inspiration—to sing how the
Lord had overthrown the enemies of his people, how the Lord had
magnified his great power and preserved his people from the Egyptian
nation, and delivered them from bondage. The hosts of Israel traveled
along from the shores of the Red Sea until they came to the foot of
Mount Sinai, where, by new revelation, they camped; and at a certain
time, the Lord, by new revelation, called Moses up into the mount; and
when he got there the Lord saw fit to write a certain code of laws on
tables of stone, and, after keeping Moses in the mount forty days and
forty nights, he sent him down, and when he got down he found that the
children of Israel had corrupted themselves in the sight of the Most
High, for they had made unto themselves gods, certain golden calves,
and they were worshipping them. Aaron had caused the people to strip
themselves naked, and they were dancing around the calves. Moses was
very angry, not with that kind of anger which fills the bosoms of
foolish men and women; but that principle of justice which burns in
the bosom of the Almighty, burned in the bosom of Moses, and he threw
down the tables of the covenant which he had brought from Mount Sinai,
and they were smashed to pieces. He called for those on the Lord's
side to come out from the midst of that company and stand with him, at
the same time commanding them to gird on their swords and put to death
those who were not for the Lord. That was a new revelation, and a
curious one, was it not? After all this had taken place, the Lord
called Moses a second time up into the mount by new revelation, and
again gave him tables of stone and laws written thereon. He kept him
there the second time forty days and forty nights, without eating or
drinking anything. One would suppose that he could not have stood so
long a period of fasting—eighty days and eighty nights, forty each
time. When he had obtained the tables the second time he came down and
stood before the children of Israel, and his countenance shone with
such brightness that they were filled with fear, and fled from before
the presence of Moses. They could not endure the glory of his
countenance, and they besought Moses that the presence of the Lord
might not he made manifest in their midst. "Do you, Moses, go and talk
with the Lord. You can converse with him, and let us know what the
Lord says, but do not let the Lord come and converse with us, lest we
be destroyed." We find that they had so corrupted themselves in the
sight at God that he, who would have delighted to converse with all
the people, as one man talks with another, was obliged to hide his
presence from them, and to send Moses to teach them. Moreover their
corruptions had become so great that the Lord, in his wrath, swore
that they should not enter into his rest. This was made known to them
by new revelation while in the wilderness, or they never could have
learned it. The Lord also informed them that he would not go up in the
midst [p.106] of their camps. Said he, "I will not go up in the midst
of this people, because they have corrupted themselves in my sight,
lest I break forth and consume them in a moment;" "but," said he, "I
will send an angel before you, and you must hearken to his voice, but
my presence shall not go with you, you are too corrupt." By and by we
find that an angel was left with them, and a cloud by day, and the
shining of a flaming fire by night, guided all their camps. The voice
and presence of the Lord were made manifest to Moses, and Moses
conversed with the Lord as one man talks with another, and during
forty years in the wilderness he from time to time received
revelations and communications to guide the people. Do you not see
that under these circumstances, during the whole of that forty years,
there was not one year—probably not one month, and it may be, not one
day but what new revelation was necessary? The code of laws given on
Mount Sinai was not sufficient without new revelation.

Vol. 15,  p.106
We might trace the history of the people of God, if we had time, but I
see we have not, from the days of Moses to the days of Joshua, Gideon,
Samuel, Barak and various other ancient worthies, all of whom received
revelation. If we route to the days of Gideon we find that he was a
man who had seventy sons, and how many daughters, I do not know. The
Lord conversed With Gideon and sent an angel to him to tell him that
he would raise him up as a mighty man of valor, to go forth in his
might and in his strength to deliver his people Israel from bondage.
We might relate all these things to show forth that, the bondage of
the children of Israel called forth new revelation from heaven, and
that because of it the Lord spoke to and commanded his servants what
to do for the deliverance of that people; and if he called upon a man
who had so many wives and children, he did not consider that that man
was a criminal and unworthy of receiving communication from him, but
on the contrary, it is clear that the Lord considered him the most
worthy man in all Israel, and on that account he sent his angel to
him. And this noted polygamist, of all the thousands of Israel was
entrusted with the mission of delivering that people from their
enemies. God wrought special miracles by his hand in order to
accomplish this great work, though he was a polygamist.

Vol. 15,  p.106
But we will pass on, and come down for some two thousand years to the
days of our Savior. One would naturally suppose that when the Son of
God himself came from his father's glory to dwell here on the earth in
the flesh, and began to teach by the power of the Holy Ghost, the
things of his Father, that during the three and a half years of his
ministry among the people, they, of course, could say, "Now we do not
need any more revelation, we have enough; the Son of God, of whom our
law, its ordinances and sacrifices were typical, has at last come and
has offered himself on the cross, and having finished the work given
him to do, is there any more need for new revelation?" The conduct of
the Apostles is the best answer that can be given to this, for we find
them, like all their predecessors, from the days of Adam until their
day, seeking from time to time for guidance by new revelation. We read
of Philip going to the city of Samaria, preaching there awhile and
baptizing men and women; but not having the authority to administer in
the higher ordinance of the laying on of hands, the Christians at
Jerusalem, [p.107] hearing that Samaria had received the Word of God,
sent Peter and John to administer the ordinance of the laying on of
hands for the higher baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. When Peter
and John reached Samaria they found there was great icy among the
people, for many of them had been converted; but their joy was not
because of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, for the next verse says,
"For as yet he was fallen on none of them," only they had been
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, but neither man nor woman had
received the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. But the Apostles laid
their hands on them and the Holy Ghost tell on them.

Vol. 15,  p.107
Now, here was Philip in the city of Samaria. He had preached the
Gospel there, where should he go next? He had probably fulfilled all
the duties required of him there. He was not hired to preach in that
city for so much a year, and to stay there to the end of his days. No,
he needed a new revelation. All the revelations that Jesus had given
were not sufficient to guide Philip in regard to his next duty, the
Lord, therefore sent an angel to him to tell him to go down into the
south country. He never would have learned this fact by any former
revelation. While Philip was on his way to the south he saw a chariot
before him and here again a new revelation was given to him—"Draw
thyself near to that chariot." He did so, and having taught the Gospel
to its occupant, as they rode along, they came to some water and, the
man having believed what Philip had said, wanted to be baptized. The
chariot stood still, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the
water, and the eunuch was baptized, and they came forth out of the
water. Now then, how could Philip know but what it was his duty on
that occasion to still speak with the eunuch, get into the carriage
and ride along with him and give him farther instructions? But no, the
Lord had something else for him to do, and the Spirit of the Lord
caught away Philip, and he found himself at Azotus. I do not know
whether or not this Spirit actually caught up Philip, body and spirit,
and wafted him quickly from the place where the eunuch was baptized to
the city of Azotus. I should not be surprised, however, if this was
the case, for we have something very similar in the Old Testament
Scriptures, and the promise is that they who wait on the Lord shall
mount as it were on eagle's wings, and they shall run and not be
weary, and walk and not faint. I do not know but this was the case
with Philip. At any rate, the Spirit of the Lord carries people, by
new revelation, whithersoever he will.

Vol. 15,  p.107
On another occasion we find that Barnabas and Saul, not having
inquired of the Lord concerning their duties, but they probably had
been reading the Old Scriptures, which were sufficient for instruction
for righteousness, and to make the man of God throughly perfect to
every good work. I say that probably Barnabas and Saul had been
reading these, and having failed to inquire of the Lord, and to get
new revelation, they started out with the design of going to a certain
city, but the Lord checked them. Said he, "Do not go there!" How
important it was to get new revelation! "Do not you go to that city, I
have another work for you to perform;" and they were then told where
to go. Talk to the Christian ministers to-day, or to any that have
lived for centuries past, and if they had made up their minds to go to
any place, they would never [p.108] think of the Lord checking them,
or forbidding them to go, by new revelation, for they all say that the
canon of Scripture is full, and that no more new revelation is needed.

Vol. 15,  p.108
Many other instances of a similar character might be named, but time
will not permit. We find, however, that, after all that God revealed
through Jesus, and to the Apostles, for ninety-six years in the first
century of the Christian era, they had not enough, and the Lord then
gave the book of John's prophecy on the Isle of Patmos. John was
commanded to write it on parchment, and in this book a great many new
revelations were promised to be given in the latter times. One of
these was that an angel should come from heaven having the everlasting
Gospel to preach to all people, nations, kindreds and tongues,
declaring that the hour of God's judgment had come. Here was a promise
or prediction that a new revelation should be given by an angel from
heaven, and so important should it be that it should be proclaimed to
every creature under heaven. A great many people say, "We have the
everlasting Gospel in this book—the Bible—called the canon of
Scripture, collected together by the monks, cardinals, bishops and
great men of the Roman Catholic Church, some four centuries after
Christ. They bound together in this volume all the books they had that
they did not condemn, and they declared that this was enough, and
there was no need of the Lord saying anything more. But these very
Scriptures themselves contradict their compilers—those wicked men who
sat in judgment on the word of God, setting aside this book and that
book, this manuscript and that manuscript, and binding the remainder
together. I say that they put some things into this very book, which
prove that God would again make known his will to the children of men
in latter times; that he would again give new revelation, not for the
benefit of one or two individuals, but for the benefit of his
creatures universally.

Vol. 15,  p.108
Notwithstanding we have the Gospel written here in this book, yet that
Gospel, without the power and authority to administer its ordinances,
is a dead letter. We might believe the Gospel, we might believe that
Jesus is the Christ by reading this book, we could repent of our sins
by reading the proclamation of repentance here recorded; but we could
not be baptized for the remission of our sins, neither could we have
hands laid upon us for the baptism of the Holy Ghost by reading, and
that is part and portion of the Gospel of the Son of God, just as much
as the written word that proclaims these things to the children of
men. Take away the power and authority to administer that word, and
you at once leave the dead letter of the Gospel, and it would benefit
none of the children of men, so far as obeying it is concerned. They
might be benefited by repenting and believing, and so on, but they
could not embrace the Gospel, they could not get into the kingdom of
God, for "except a man is born of the water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God." You could not be born of the water
unless there was a man authorized by new revelation to administer the
baptism of water, neither Could you receive the baptism of the Holy
Ghost only by the ordinance God has instituted; hence the necessity of
the restoration of the authority to administer the ordinances of the
Gospel, and this is why God has restored it after the earth has been
without it for seventeen hundred years. No man among all [p.109] the
nations, kindreds and tongues of the earth, during that time, has had
this authority, neither the authority to administer the Lord's supper,
which is a part of the Gospel, neither in any other ordinance.

Vol. 15,  p.109
God having foreseen this long period of darkness, foretold by the
mouth of the Revelator, St. John, that he would send an angel from
heaven with the everlasting Gospel, and when that angel came and
committed that Gospel to man on the earth, it should be proclaimed to
all people under heaven, the same as the Elders of this Church are now
doing it. The Book of Mormon, containing the everlasting Gospel as it
was published to the ancient inhabitants of America, has been brought
forth by the power of God, and his servants have been sent forth to
preach it, and, not only to preach it, but, having authority to
administer its ordinances; yet the world tell us we need no more
revelation, we have enough if we only follow the Scriptures, which
Paul said to Timothy were sufficient to save him. But in the Christian
world you can not be saved by following the Scriptures, from the fact
that you cannot follow them without authority from God to administer
the ordinances. You be baptized by a man having no authority by new
revelation from heaven, and your baptism is illegal, and your
pretended adoption into the kingdom of God is not acknowledged in
heaven, for God has not authorized the administrator, and what he has
done in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, cannot be sealed
and recorded in heaven for your benefit. No wonder, then, that the
world has dwelt in darkness for so many centuries, for the earth has
become so corrupt, and the heavens have apparently become as brass
over the heads of the nations. No Prophet, no angel, no inspiration,
no Revelator, no man of God to say, "Thus saith the Lord God" unto the
people. No wonder, then, that the Lord, before the great day of the
coming of his beloved Son from the heavens, should send an angel to
prepare the way before his face! This he has done, and the
proclamation is going forth, saying to all people, nations and
tongues, "God has sent an angel, and he has sent him to prepare you
and us for the great day of the coming of the Son of Man, wherein
there will be more revelations given than have ever been given in all
former dispensations."

Vol. 15,  p.109
Tell about the canon of Scripture being complete, what nonsense! What
absurdity! Where is there any proof of any such thing? God has yet to
give revelation enough to fill the earth with his knowledge as the
waters cover the great deep. He has yet to pour out his spirit upon
all flesh that dwells on the face of the earth, and make a revelator,
prophet, or prophetess of every man and woman living, and if all their
revelations are written, this book, the Bible, will be like a primer
compared with them. "In the last days," saith God, by the mouth of the
Prophet Joel, "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and
your daughters shall prophecy, and upon my servants and my hand
maidens in those days will I pour out of my Spirit, and they shall
prophecy. Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see
visions." Supposing they write their dreams as Daniel wrote his, and
suppose they write their visions as Isaiah wrote his, and suppose they
write their prophecies as all the Prophets have written theirs, would
they not be just as sacred as this canon of Scripture? I say they
would. I would be bound just as much to [p.110] receive the
revelations of each man and woman among all flesh as I would those of
a person who lived two or three thousand years ago. A revelation given
to a living man in my day is just as sacred as one given to a man who
has been dead some three thousand years. God is a consistent being,
and he reveals himself according to his own mind and will, and in the
last, dispensation he will continue to reveal line upon line, precept
upon precept, here a little and there a little, bringing forth a
record here, unfolding the history of another people there, bringing
to light, the bible of the ten tribes who have been absent from the
land of Canaan for almost three thousand years. Their bible has got to
be brought to light, and when they return they will bring their
written revelations, prophecies, visions and dreams with them, and we
shall have the bible of the ten tribes, as well as the bible of the
ancient Israelites who lived on this continent, and the bible of the
Jews on the eastern continent, and these bibles will be united in one,
and even then the people will not have enough revelation. No, every
man and every woman will have to be a revelator and prophet, and the
knowledge and glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover
the bosom of the great deep. And by and by, as a kind of climax to all
this, the revelation of the Lord Jesus himself will take place from
heaven in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the Gospel. That will be a revelation that the
wicked can not abide, a revelation too great for them, and that will
pierce them to their inmost soul. That will be a revelation that will
consume them in their wickedness, as stubble is consumed before the
devouring flame, and he will reign here, king of kings and lord of
lords for a thousand years.

Vol. 15,  p.110
Do you suppose that he will give no new revelation during that time,
but that he will sit on his throne like the idols in some of the
heathen nations? Do you suppose that the Lord Jesus, that intelligent
being, by whom the Father made the worlds, is coming here to reign
king of kings, and to sit down on his throne in the temple at
Jerusalem, and upon his throne in his temple in Zion, and abide there
as a statue from generation to generation, for a thousand years, and
when the people come up to ask him a question that he will not say a
word, only to tell them they have enough? Do you suppose this will be
the case? Oh no, my friends, the Lord Jesus will converse the whole
thousand years with his people, and give them instruction. He will
reign over the house of David, over the children of Israel, over the
twelve tribes, over Zion and over all the inhabitants of the earth,
that is over all who are spared in that day, giving counsel here,
instructions yonder, revealing something there, and so on, and the
amount of revelation that will be given during the thousand years will
no doubt be ten thousand times more than is contained in this Bible,
and yet say the world "No more revelation!"[p.111] 

George Q. Cannon, July 14, 1872

Those Who Hear the Gospel Must Obey It, or 
They Cannot Be Saved By It

Discourse By Elder George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 
New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon July 14, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.111
I will read a portion of the 3rd chapter of St. John:—

Vol. 15,  p.111
"There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews:

Vol. 15,  p.111
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know
that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

Vol. 15,  p.111
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Vol. 15,  p.111
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

Vol. 15,  p.111
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Vol. 15,  p.111
That which is born of the flesh is fresh; and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit.

Vol. 15,  p.111
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Vol. 15,  p.111
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every
one that is born of the Spirit.

Vol. 15,  p.111
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

Vol. 15,  p.111
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and
knowest not these things?

Vol. 15,  p.111
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify
that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

Vol. 15,  p.111
If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye
believe if I tell you of heavenly things?"

Vol. 15,  p.111
In listening this morning to the remarks of Elder Schonfeldt, on the
everlasting Gospel as preached by the Elders of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, he stated in substance that none could
receive salvation outside this Church, and outside the Priesthood
which God had restored to the Church. He did not explain—had not time,
probably, or his mind was carried away on some other points, how, or
why it is that salvation can only be obtained in the way that God, our
heavenly Father, has prescribed. Many, doubtless, who listen to the
Elders of this Church, when speaking upon the principles of life and
salvation, have come to the conclusion, when they have not thoroughly
understood the principles and the system as they are set forth, that
we are an exceedingly exclusive and uncharitable people for believing
that only a very few out of the large mass of human beings who have
peopled the earth will be saved, while the great majority—those who
are outside the pale of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints—will go down to an endless hell.

Vol. 15,  p.111
The reason, probably, that these ideas are entertained by many who
have heard our Elders preach, is because they have drawn deductions
from the preaching they have heard, imagining that our views of the
sayings of the Scriptures corresponded with theirs, and that it
necessarily followed that all who failed to render [p.112] obedience
to the ordinances of the Gospel, as we preach them, would go down to
that endless hell in which so many of the sects believe. But any
person entertaining such ideas does us, or rather the Gospel that we
preach, great injustice. We believe that God, our heavenly Father, is
a God of perfect justice, a God of mercy, a God filled with
long-sufferlng and tender compassion towards all the works of his
hands. We could not, with our views respecting the character of God,
believe as our friends imagine with regard to the destiny of those who
die outside of this Church, for that would be incompatible with and
contrary to all that we understand concerning the character of our
God—the God who is revealed in the Bible, and the Father of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.112
We believe, as Jesus said, that "this is condemnation, that light has
come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because
their deeds are evil." This is the condemnation under which mankind
will suffer—the condemnation will follow the rejection of light by
those to whom it may be sent in every nation and age of the world in
other words, we believe that where there is no law, there is no
transgression—where men and women have not had the Gospel, or the
principles of salvation, communicated unto them, they cannot be held
accountable for disobeying the same. It is a truth that has been
enforced by all who have understood the Gospel, that those to whom the
Gospel is revealed, must obey it, or condemnation follows.
Condemnation did not fall upon the inhabitants of the antediluvian
world until Noah had taught unto them the will of God. Noah, commanded
of God, went forth as a preacher, of righteousness, declaring to the
people the judgments that were about to come upon them; and God so
inspired, directed and strengthened him that he was enabled to warn
the people to such an extent that they were left without excuse, so
much so that God felt justified in sending the flood upon the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.112
This has been the course the Almighty has pursued in every age when
his judgments have been poured out upon the people—he has sent
Prophets to warn them and to tell them how they might escape the
calamities threatened. This was so with the Jews, unto whom the Son of
God came. He proclaimed the Gospel unto them, and warned them of
coming judgments, and he sent his disciples through all Jewry, doing
the same. You all remember the Savior's pathetic lament over
Jerusalem, when he said he would have gathered her people as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wing, but they would not receive him
as a messenger of salvation, as the heir and Son of God, empowered to
impart unto them principles, obedience to which would have secured
them life here and hereafter. He also pronounced a woe upon many
cities of that land, and said that if the mighty works which had been
done in them had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, their people would
have repented. But the Jews hardened their hearts, and not only
rejected his testimony, but they shed his blood, and invoked
condemnation on their own heads for doing so. History tells us that
the judgments which Christ and his Apostles had declared did descend
upon the Jewish nation. Jerusalem was taken, the temple thrown down,
and the people carried into captivity, and the desolation and dreadful
woes that had been predicted by the Son of God [p.113] were all
fulfilled upon that generation of Jews.

Vol. 15,  p.113
In these instances we see that God sent messengers to warn the people
before his judgments were poured out upon them; and we also learn that
when the Gospel is proclaimed by those having authority, if the people
reject it they are held to a strict accountability therefor, and
condemnation inevitably follows—there is no escape from it, but it
falls in all its severity upon those who reject the message of life
and salvation when proclaimed by those having authority to proclaim
it. A perusal of this book (the Bible) will convince all who believe
in it, that it is a most dangerous thing, and attended with the most
terrible consequences, to reject the message that God gives to his
authorized servants to proclaim to their fellow-creatures. There is no
instance of which we read, from the beginning of the book to the close
thereof, where judgments did not fall upon a people if they did not
repent of their sins and obey the message sent unto them by God. When
I say repent, I mean a complete forsaking of sin, and turning from it
truly and sincerely; in no other way can mankind escape the judgments
and calamities threatened, and of which they are warned.

Vol. 15,  p.113
In the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ there were certain conditions
revealed. Mankind were required to obey a certain form of doctrine
declared unto them, and when they did obey they received the
blessings. But I have often thought when traveling abroad in the
nations, how different it is in our day from what it was anciently. In
our day we see countless numbers of elegant spires pointing to heaven,
and legions of men preaching what they call the Gospel, but the
wickedness of the people is unchecked. Anciently, when God sent his
authorized servants to proclaim his Gospel to the people, salvation,
on the one hand, followed obedience, or, on the other, condemnation
followed rejection. And these effects did not linger, they were not
deferred for centuries, but if the people did not repent after hearing
the message of the servants of God, great calamities quickly followed.
They could not listen to the authorized servants of God for any length
of time, and harden their hearts against their testimony and warnings,
without speedy judgment following. This was the case from the days of
Noah to the days of John the Revelator, and it will be the case in
every generation when the Gospel of the Son of God, in its purity and
fullness, is proclaimed to the people, and when God has a Church and
Priesthood upon the earth which he recognizes, He is the King of the
earth, he is the Creator of all its inhabitants, and when he calls
upon the people, and requires them to do anything, they must promptly
comply, or suffer the terrible consequences of their disobedience.

Vol. 15,  p.113
In the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as I have already remarked, there are
certain conditions with which the people are expected to comply; if
they do they receive the blessings, if they do not they receive
condemnation. Jesus and his Apostles taught that it was essential that
mankind should believe in him as the Son of God—as the only name given
under heaven by which men could be saved. All mankind were therefore
required to believe and to have faith in him, and to approach the
Father in his name. That was the first condition of the Gospel as
taught by Jesus and his Apostles.

Vol. 15,  p.113
The next condition was repentance. All who had committed sin and were
guilty of wrong of any kind, were [p.114] required to repent of that
wrong and to live pure and holy lives. They were not only required to
be sorry—to have compunctions of conscience for the commission of
evil, but they were required to forsake it entirely and to become new
creatures. If they had been dishonest, untruthful, unvirtuous,
profane; if they had taken advantage of their neighbor, borne false
witness against him, or encroached upon his rights; if, in fact, they
had done anything contrary to the dictates of the Holy Spirit, or of
their consciences when enlightened by that Spirit, they were required
to repent of and forsake the same.

Vol. 15,  p.114
The third condition of the Gospel was, that parties who had believed
in Jesus, and had repented of their sins, should take some step for
the remission of them. Now the penalty of the sin that our father Adam
committed was death—"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die" was the proclamation of the Creator; and when Adam sinned
he paid the penalty and died, and entailed death upon every generation
of his posterity, and that sleep of death would have been eternal had
it not been for the death of the Son of God. He came as the Redeemer
of the world, he died for the sin that had been committed by Adam, he
stoned for it, and thus ensured to all the family of man redemption
from the grave or a resurrection of their mortal bodies. But he gave
unto his disciples a commandment that they should preach remission of
sins, and that they should administer an ordinance by which all
obedient believers could obtain remission of sins, and that ordinance
was baptism. "Not the putting away," as the Apostle Paul says, "of the
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God."
They were required to submit to this ordinance. Jesus taught it, and
he, himself, although admittedly a pure being, set the example of
obedience to it. When John was baptizing in the river Jordan, Jesus
went to him and requested baptism at his hand. John remonstrated with
him, saying, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to
me?" But Jesus said, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness," and he went down into the water and was
baptized by John, and the first evidence that we have in the
Scriptures of his recognition by the Father was on that occasion, for
after he had been baptized the Holy Spirit descended upon him, and a
voice was heard bearing testimony to the assembled multitude that
Jesus was the beloved Son of the Father. He therefore set the example
himself, so that it could not be said, though sinless, that he had not
complied with the ordinance which he required all the inhabitants of
the earth to submit to, and which the disciples administered to all
repentant believers.

Vol. 15,  p.114
This prepared them for another ordinance which, we find in the
Scriptures, was administered to all who had complied with the
conditions of the Gospel which I have named—namely, the laying on of
hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have been told repeatedly that
this ordinance was to be administered only to those who were intended
for the ministry—it was not designed for the members of the Church
called laymen. A careful perusal of the Scriptures, however, does not
sustain this idea; but on the contrary, it very clearly sustains the
idea that this ordinance had to be administered to every one who
joined the Church, and that without it the Holy Ghost was not bestowed
as a gift. To prove that this is correct, you have only to [p.115]
read the 8th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where you will find
an account of the labors of Philip in the city of Samaria. It seems
that Philip had power and authority to preach the Gospel and to
baptize men and women, but not to administer all the ordinances. I
have the idea that he had the same authority as John the Baptist—the
authority to baptize, but not to confer the Holy Ghost. We find that
when John was preaching, he said that there would one come after him,
whose shoes he was not worthy to bear, who would baptize them with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. John baptized with water, but he did not
confer any further gift or blessing—he had not the authority so to do.
Philip seemed to have the same authority, for the sacred writer says
that when the Apostles of Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received
the Gospel at the hands of Philip, they sent unto them two Apostles,
for as yet, although the Samaritans had been baptized with water, the
Holy Ghost had not decended upon any of them; and we are told that
when the Apostles came unto them, they prayed with them, and laid
their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Nothing is
said about the hands of the Apostles being laid upon those only who
were intended for the ministry, but the ordinance was administered to
all who had received baptism at the hands of Philip, without
distinction of sex or station.

Vol. 15,  p.115
Another instance in support of this view we find in the 19th of the
Acts. We read there that when Paul was passing through the upper
coasts he came to Ephesus and he found there certain disciples who
said they had been baptized unto John's baptism, but when he asked
them if they had received the Holy Ghost they said they had not so
much as heard of it. Then, we are informed, they were baptized in the
name of the Lord, and when Paul, who had the necessary authority, had
laid his hands upon them they received the Holy Ghost, and spake with
tongues and prophesied. Many other proofs on this point might be
adduced, but these are sufficient. From what has been said we learn
that the first principle of the Gospel is belief in Jesus Christ; the
second principle is repentance of sin, and the third, baptism for the
remission of sins.

Vol. 15,  p.115
"Ah!" says one, "Cannot I come to the foot of the cross and, through
the atoning blood of Jesus, have my sins washed away without baptism?"
I doubt not that hundreds, in various nations and generations, who
have been in ignorance of the true Gospel, and far removed from those
who had authority to administer its ordinances, have had their sins
blotted out. God has looked in mercy upon them, and on account of
their sincerity has witnessed unto them that he accepted the broken
spirits and contrite hearts which they offered unto him. I cannot
doubt this; but wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached in its
fullness, none can obtain the remission of sins only in the way that
God has pointed out, and that is by baptism by one having the
authority from God to administer that ordinance.

Vol. 15,  p.115
Supposing that I, with the views which I have of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, were to-day outside of the church of God, and I were to say,
"I will not be baptized for the remissions of sins. My father or my
grandfather was a good Methodist, or a good Presbyterian or Baptist,
or a good sectarian of some other denomination, and he told me that he
had experienced a change of heart and I believe that he had his sins
washed away through the atoning [p.116] blood of Jesus Christ, and on
this account I will not submit to the ordinance of baptism which is
preached to me as necessary to salvation, but I will seek for the
remission of my sins the way my father or grandfather did," how do you
think it would be with me? Should I obtain the remission of my sins at
the hands of God? There would be no remission of sins for such an
individual in this life. Light has come into the world, God has
revealed to men the true principle by which remission of sins can be
obtained, namely, baptism, and when that is taught to them and they
refuse to obey it, condemnation follows, and the blessings will be
withheld which were granted in days when, in ignorance, men taught the
Lord in faith and humility and with broken and contrite spirits.

Vol. 15,  p.116
We now come to the fourth and last initiatory principle of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ—the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy
Ghost. "Is it not possible," says one, "for a man to receive the Holy
Ghost without being baptized for the remission of sins, and having
hands laid upon him?" Says the reader of Scripture, "I recollect that
Cornelius, the history of whose conversion is contained in the 10th
chapter of the Acts, received the Holy Ghost, and yet he was not
baptized; and if he did, is it not possible for others to do the
same?" Let those who think so read the history very carefully, and
they will find that in bestowing the Holy Ghost upon Cornelius without
baptism, God had a purpose in view. Cornelius was the first Gentile
unto whom the Gospel was preached. The prevalent belief among the
disciples, and one which they, being Jews, had inherited through the
traditions of their fathers, was that the Gentiles were not to have
the privilege of enjoying the blessings of the Gospel, they were not
for them, and the disciples were not disposed to administer its
ordinances to them. You recollect what Peter said when the Holy Ghost
descended upon Cornelius—this uncircumcised man—and his house, whom
they had supposed were without the pale of the Gospel—"Who can forbid
water, seeing that they have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?"
Peter cited this bestowal of the Holy Ghost upon Cornelius and his
house, as a proof that the ordinance of baptism should be administered
to them, and to all believing repentant Gentiles as well as to the
house of Israel. This, in connection with the vision which Peter had,
you recollect it, wherein he saw a sheet let down from heaven,
containing all manner of beasts, clean and unclean, he being commanded
to arise, kill and eat thereof, had dispossessed his mind of the
prejudice which he had entertained, in common with his fellow
believers, that the Gospel was for the Jews only. And when line saw
Cornelius and his house thus blessed, he inquired of his brethren what
there was to prevent the ordinance of baptism being administered to
them, and they were baptized by Peter.

Vol. 15,  p.116
Cornelius did not say, as many, doubtless, would say to-day, "We have
received the Holy Ghost, and having obtained this evidence of our
acceptance with God, what is the use of our being baptized? Is it
likely that God would have given us the Holy Ghost if he had not
forgiven our sins? These inquiries, I think, would be made by hundreds
in our day under such circumstances. But not so with Cornelius: he had
heard the Gospel preached to him by Peter, and though he had received
the Holy Ghost, he believed it was still necessary [p.117] for him to
be baptized in water for the remission of his sins, and he complied
with that ordinance, and then doubtless the hands of the servants of
God were laid upon him to confirm him a member of the Church and to
seal upon him the blessing of the Holy Ghost, that he might be led and
guided by it into all truth.

Vol. 15,  p.117
This, my brethren and sisters, is the only plan of salvation taught in
the Scriptures. There is no other way given by which men can be saved.
It is the way that Jesus trod, the way that his Apostles walked in, it
is the doctrine they taught, and when it is taught by those having
authority from God to teach it, the Holy Ghost will follow the
administration of these ordinances. The ancient gifts and blessings
will be bestowed, and men will be led into all truth, the power of God
will be with them, and they will know God for themselves, for he is
the same God now that lie was yesterday, the same in the year 1872
that he was in the year 33, or fifteen or eighteen hundred years
before the birth of Christ, and if we obey the same form of doctrine
obeyed by those who lived anciently, and it is administered by those
who hold authority from God, the gifts and powers will most assuredly
follow, for God loves his children now as much as he loved them in any
past age of the world.

Vol. 15,  p.117
Says Jesus, when speaking to Nicodemus, in the words I have quoted,
"Except a man he born again he can not see the kingdom of God." This
puzzled Nicodemus, he could not understand it, and he asked the Savior
another question, to which Jesus answered, "Verily, verily I say unto
thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God." Now, my brethren and sisters, how can a man
be born of water? We know a birth to be a passage from one element
into another; hence if he be born of the water he must be completely
immersed therein, and pass from that element into another. The same
with the birth of the Spirit—he or she who is born of it must be
completely enveloped in it. Jesus says a man can not see the kingdom
of God unless he is born again, and he further says, a man cannot
enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and of the
Spirit, not only of the Spirit, but also of the water.

Vol. 15,  p.117
What does this birth of the water and of the Spirit consist of? Of
that which I have been endeavoring to describe to you—baptism for the
remission of sins, being buried with Christ by baptism, whereby we are
resurrected, as it were, from the dead, in the likeness of his burial
and resurrection, entombed in the water, and being born of, or coming
forth from the bosom of the water; and then receiving the Holy Ghost
by the laying on of hands, which is the birth of the Spirit. And let
me say unto you, as Brother Schonfeldt said this morning, that unless
a man does obey this form of doctrine he can not enter into the
kingdom of God.

Vol. 15,  p.117
This is strong language, and men may say it is uncharitable. I can not
help that. These words are the words of the Savior—the Son of God.
They are the words of truth and righteousness, they can not fail. I
have not the right to say that a man can enter into the kingdom of God
by any other means than this; on the contrary, I must affirm and
reaffirm, and I must bear testimony to the words of Jesus, when he
says, "Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he can not
enter into the kingdom of God."

Vol. 15,  p.119
The inquiry then arises in the [p.118] mind, What is to become of the
millions who have died without ever hearing the name of Christ? Says
one, "What is to become of my ancestors and ancestresses who have not
been born of the water and of the Spirit?" I know how this inquiry
enters the hearts of men and women, and when they become acquainted
with this Gospel, how strongly it appeals to their affections. They
think, then, of beloved relatives and friends who have died without a
knowledge of the Gospel, and they would do a great deal for their
salvation; in fact it would embitter all their lives to think that
they could not be saved. Could we be happy, my brethren and sisters,
in thinking that we bad received a form of doctrine which would exalt
us into the presence of God and the Lamb, there to bask for ever in
happiness and bliss so great that the Apostle says, "Eye hath not
seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of
man to conceive?" Do you think we could be happy in the contemplation
and assurance of such a future, if no means were provided whereby our
parents and relatives, who had died in ignorance of the Gospel, could
be made partakers of the same blessing and glory, but because they had
not had the privilege of being born of the water and of the Spirit
they must be consigned to endless perdition? I could not be happy
under such circumstances. I would rather, it seems to me, have much
less happiness and have them share it with me, than to be eternally
separated, and them condemned to that never-ending hell about which
the sectarian world preach so much. But we are happy in the knowledge
that this is no part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That teaches that
all will be judged according to the law that has been taught unto
them. As I have already said, I again repeat, "This is condemnation,
that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light." "Where there is no law," the Apostle says, "there is no
transgression." Men cannot be held accountable for that which they
never knew. God will never consign his creatures to a never-ending
misery for not obeying the Gospel of his Son, when they never had it
taught unto them, and it is as great a fallacy, and as great a libel
on our God, as ever was propagated about any being to make such an
assertion. To say that these heathen, who roamed over these mountains
and through these valleys, before we came here, who never heard the
name of Jesus Christ, and countless myriads of heathen in other lands
who have died in ignorance of the Gospel, will be consigned to eternal
damnation, to a never-ending hell, there to welter in and to suffer
unspeakable and indescribable misery throughout the countless ages of
eternity, because they did not obey the Gospel they never heard, is
one of the greatest libels on the character of our God that ever was
enunciated by man. I do not believe in such a God; he is not the God
of the Bible; he is not the God I worship. I worship a God of mercy
and of love, whose heart is full of compassion. The Bible teaches that
God is love, and I can not conceive that a God would be possessed of
the attributes of love and mercy who would take such a course with his
own ignorant offspring. No, there is something different from this
taught in the Gospel. We are taught there that God's salvation is not
confined to this brief space which we call time, but that, as he is
eternal, so are his mercy, love and compassion eternal towards his
creatures. I have not time this [p.119] afternoon to explain our views
on this point. Suffice it to say that, in the Scriptures is found,
plainly written, the plan of salvation which God has devised.

Vol. 15,  p.119
Who are they who are under condemnation, and who need fear at the
prospect of the same? Men and women who, living in the day when the
Gospel is preached in its fullness and purity, hear it and reject it.
Against such the anger of God is enkindled, and they are in a far
worse condition than those who die and never hear it. Says Jesus, "It
would be better for a man to have a millstone tied to his neck, and
for him to be thrown into the depths of the sea," than to do such and
such things; and in another place he says, "It would be better for a
man never to be born." Why? Because light having been presented to
him, and truth proclaimed in his hearing, he rejects the same.

Vol. 15,  p.119
The Latter-day Saints, I hold, will be held to stricter accountability
than any other people on the face of the earth. Men wonder why we have
suffered and been persecuted so much in the past. I think it was
partly because of our hardness of heart. Not that the men who
persecuted us were justified in so doing. They were tested and tried,
the Lord left them their agency and they brought themselves under
condemnation because of their conduct. But we never had anything
descend upon us as a persecution or scourge that has not been intended
for our good; and we are held to a stricter accountability than any
other people because we have the Gospel taught unto us. The thousands
who live throughout these valleys testify that they have received the
Holy Ghost; they testify that they received it in the lands where they
embraced the Gospel; they say that this love which they have for one
another, and the disposition they have to dwell together in peace and
unity are the fruits of this Holy Spirit that they have received. They
testify that the Lord has revealed unto them that this is the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not know but there are thousands here
to-day who, if they had time and opportunity, would arise and testify
that this is the truth, and that God has taught it unto them, and they
know it by the power of the Holy Ghost. When a people reach this
condition they are held to stricter accountability than they are who
have not this knowledge. On this account we must walk circumspectly,
with the fear of God before our eyes. We must be a pure people or we
will be scourged; we must be a holy people, or God's anger will be
kindled against us. We must not be guilty of dishonesty or take
advantage one of another; we must not bear false witness; we must not
neglect our duties one to another or towards God, for we can not do
these things with impunity, for God's anger will be kindled against
us; and in proportion to the light which men have will they be judged,
and God will reward them according to the deeds done in the body. An
enlightened American will be held to stricter accountability than an
ignorant Indian; and the man who has heard the sound of the
everlasting Gospel and the testimony of the servants of God is held to
stricter accountability than he who has never heard them.

Vol. 15,  p.119
I said that time would not permit me to dwell on points connected with
the salvation of the ignorant dead; but there is a way provided in the
Gospel of the Son of God by which even they can have its ordinances
administered unto them. I will just refer to one passage, which you
can read at your leisure. In the 15th [p.120] chapter of the first of
Corinthians, Paul, in reasoning upon the resurrection of the dead,
says, among other things, "Else what shall they do who are baptized
for the dead? If the dead rise not at all, why then are they baptized
for the dead?" This is a little key given to a very important
principle. Paul evidently understood a principle by which vicarious
baptism could be performed, that is, one person could be baptized for
another, the same as Jesus made a vicarious offering for us. He died
on the cross for us—he was our Savior. Paul, substantiating the idea
that there is a resurrection, referred to this ordinance, which seemed
to exist in the Church and to be understood by the Saints in ancient
days. There would have been no need to be baptized for the dead if the
dead rise not at all. This is the gist of his argument; and there are
other passages which go to prove that the Gospel of Jesus is all
sufficient to reach and save those who have died without hearing and
obeying it. Peter says, referring to Jesus, "He went to preach to the
spirits in prison who were disobedient when once the long-suffering of
God waited in the days of Noah." I will give you another passage to
show that be did not go direct to his Father after his death on the
cross. You Latter-day Saints understand, or ought to understand, that
he did not go immediately to his Father, as many suppose, because,
after his resurrection, when Mary had been seeking for the body of her
Lord, and supposed that somebody had stolen it, she saw a personage in
the garden who she imagined was the gardener. She went to him and
asked who had taken away the body of her Lord. This personage spoke to
her, calling her by name. She immediately recognized the Lord Jesus,
and in her eagerness, anxiety and love she rushed forward as if to
grasp him. But he forbade her, told her not to do so, saying, "Touch
me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren
and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my
God and your God." This was on the Sunday, after his body had lain in
the tomb from the preceding Friday—the third day, and he said he had
not yet ascended to his Father. This is explained by Peter, in the
passage I have already quoted, wherein the Apostle says, "By which
also he went to preach to the spirits in prison, who were disobedient
when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah." There
is another passage in Peter, which goes to prove the same thing, but I
will not touch upon it. I have said sufficient to relieve, or it ought
to relieve, us Latter-day Saints from any fears for those who have
died in ignorance of the Gospel. But we can say, truly, that salvation
can only be obtained in the way God has prescribed—by obeying the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this is the way that he marked
and the way we must walk in to obtain it.

Vol. 15,  p.120
That God may help us to be faithful and to cleave to the truth all our
days, regardless of all consequences, and eventually save us in his
kingdom, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.[p.121] 

Brigham Young, August 11, 1872

The Fullness of the Gospel—Its Power to Unite—
Its Comprehensiveness—Definition of Its 
Priesthood—Condition of Apostates

Discourse By President Brigham Young, Delivered in the 
New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, August 11, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.121
I have an anxiety to bear testimony to the truth, though it is well
known to many of my friends and acquaintances that it is not prudent
for me to exercise myself in this large hall, as I have in days past.
But I feel very anxious to speak to my brethren and sisters and to
their families, to my friends and neighbors, and the inhabitants of
the earth, concerning the Christian religion. I feel thus many times
when I am not able to do so, but I desire at this time to bear
testimony to the Gospel—the plan of salvation, to the holy Priesthood,
that the Lord has revealed in the latter days. I admit at once,
without any argument at all, that the whole human family are possessed
more or less of truth; they have a great many very excellent and pure
ideas, beliefs, faiths and sentiments, the adoption of which in their
lives would promote truth and overcome error, sin and iniquity in
their midst, and cause joy and peace to fill the hearts of
individuals, families, neighborhoods, cities and nations. 

Vol. 15,  p.121
Sometimes we take the liberty of defining the religions of the day,
known under the general name of Christianity. We have heard some,
thing of this, this afternoon; and with regard to the philosophy of
that religion, we admit the truth of it. All have truth, all have good
desires—that is to say, as people and as communities. There may be
individuals who do not possess these principles, but there are many in
all communities of the earth professing Christianity who wish, in
reality, to know the truth, and to embrace it in their creeds, and
most of them desire most fervently that the professors of this
Christianity should live according to pure and holy principles. This
we admit, and a few of this number have received the Gospel.

Vol. 15,  p.121
When I speak of the Gospel in this sense, I mean the fullness of the
Gospel of the Son of God as it has been revealed in our day. I do not
refer to the Gospel as a mere historical knowledge of the Savior and
his Apostles, and their doings upon the earth, but of the power of God
unto salvation. And when I contemplate the human family in their
present condition, and especially Christendom, I think what a pity it
is that we Christians cannot see far enough and understand enough to
be willing that every truth should take effect on the minds of the
people, for every truth that is taught, believed and [p.122]
practiced, is good For mankind. It is good for the living, good for
the dying, good for the dead; and if we Christians would accept and
embrace all truth in our lives, instead of contending so much about
what are called "non-essentials," it would be much more to our
advantage, and would vastly increase peace and union in our midst.

Vol. 15,  p.122
When we take up the religion that has been revealed—the Gospel in its
fullness, we find that it is simply a code of laws, ordinances, gifts
and graces which are the power of God unto salvation. The laws and
ordinances which the Lord has revealed in these latter days, are
calculated to save all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve who have
not sinned against the Holy Ghost, for all will be saved in a kingdom
of glory, though it may not be in the celestial kingdom, for there are
many mansions. These ordinances reach after every one of the children
of our Father in heaven, and not only them, but after all the earth,
the fullness of the earth, all things that dwell upon it, to bring
them back into the presence of God, or into some kingdom or place
prepared for them, that they may be exalted to a higher state of
intelligence than they now dwell in.

Vol. 15,  p.122
This may seem strange to many, but these are the ordinances and laws
that the Lord has instituted for the salvation of the children of men;
and when we compare the doctrines that we have preached to the
Christian world, with the doctrines of the Christian world, we find
that ours incorporate every truth, no matter what it is. If it belong
to the arts and sciences of the day, all the same for every truth in
existence is embraced in that system of laws and ordinances taught by
the Latter-day Saints—the Gospel that God has revealed for the
salvation of the human family.

Vol. 15,  p.122
We want a little proof, a little evidence, a little testimony. This is
the testimony that we are in possession of this Gospel. Our witness is
upon the stand, before God and the people, testifying that the
Latter-day Saints have got something that no other people on earth
have. What is it? The oneness which we possess, according to the
prayer of the Savior.

Vol. 15,  p.122
We send an Elder from here to the East Indies; we send one or two to
Africa, and to the Asiatic continent, and distribute them to the
different nations, to Japan, to China, and so on. They preach the
Gospel to the Pagans, say to the Chinese. We will suppose that these
Elders learn the Chinese language so far as to be able to make
themselves understood by the people, and they preach to them the same
doctrines as are believed in by the Latter-day Saints, and they are
received into the hearts of honest Chinese—God reveals and manifests
to them that these doctrines and principles, this plan of salvation,
is true, and these Chinese would not differ with us on any point of
doctrine. They would say, "The proper mode of baptism is by immersion,
the Scriptures are plain upon this point." Here let me take the
liberty of saying, that if the whole Christian world were to adopt the
method of baptism by immersion, you would never hear a person raise an
argument about sprinkling or pouring. But leaving my witness, I say
these latter ideas are the cisterns which men hew out to themselves,
which will hold no water, for somebody or other is eternally scuttling
their vessels, and they are sinking. If every Christian denomination
would come to the house of worship on the Sabbath, and break bread and
[p.123] partake of the bread and wine in testimony of their faith in
Jesus Christ, there would be no differences, contentions or arguments,
and no person could sink their vessel; but now, comparatively
speaking, they are sinking each other's vessels continually. But again
to my testimony, to my witness.

Vol. 15,  p.123
When the Chinese receives the Gospel he is one with us. He does not
want six months' teaching or trial; he does not need to go to an
academy or a seminary five or seven years to learn that this mode of
baptism is correct; but taking the Bible he reads it, and, says he,
"The Holy Ghost bears witness to me that baptism by immersion is the
correct mode, and that it is right to break bread and drink wine in
remembrance of, and to testify our faith in him whose body was broken
and whose blood was shed for the salvation of the human family." There
is no contention, and though only one Elder may have gone there, and
he has baptized but one, or ten, a hundred, a thousand, or thousands,
they are all of one heart and one mind; and if we were to charge this
Elder not to tell these Chinese that they must gather to America, for
that was the land of Zion—and America is the land of Zion—the first
this Elder would know, somebody or other would be up in a meeting and
telling that Zion was in America, and they had got to emigrate there.
The Elder might inquire why, and he would be told, "It is revealed to
me, and I do know by the manifestations of the Spirit within me,
through your preaching, that we are to assemble on the continent of
America, for that is the land of Zion." And if they come here, they
will not ask how many methods of baptism we have, or how many of
administering the Sacrament, or of dispensing the ordinances of the
house of God, for the Spirit makes them of one heart and one mind with
those on this continent, and from whatever nation they come, they all
see alike in reference to the ordinances of the house of God.

Vol. 15,  p.123
From China let us go directly to the Cape of Good Hope, and there an
Elder is preaching and baptizing people into the kingdom of God, and
when they get into this kingdom they begin to read and understand, and
to prophesy, and if they are not checked in the gifts, you will hear
them speak in tongues. Let me say here, to the Latter-day Saints, it
is frequently asked by our brethren, "Why do not the people speak with
tongues?" We do, and we speak with tongues that you can understand,
and Paul says he would rather speak five or ten words in a language
that can be understood, than many in a language that can not be. This
is what he conveyed. We speak with tongues that can be understood; but
the reason that we do not encourage this little, particular, peculiar
gift, which is for the edifying of some few in the Church, I have not
time to explain. But to my witness again, who is on the stand.

Vol. 15,  p.123
You take men, women and families from the Cape of Good Hope, from the
northern seas, China, the East Indies, or the islands of the sea, and
let them receive the Gospel and come here, and, just as long as they
live so as to enjoy the Spirit of the holy Gospel they have obeyed,
there are no questions asked with regard to doctrine. We will now go a
step further.

Vol. 15,  p.123
Here is a great bone of contention with regard to political affairs.
The world say, "Why do not these Latter-day Saints get up their mass
meetings, and sustain this, that or the other one, and be like other
people [p.124] in a political point of view?" Why do we not sustain
these advocates who are now in the field, and join, and be one with,
some one or other of the political parties of the country? We have no
desire to do so, that is the reason. If we had the privilege of voting
in, independent of all other people on this land of America, or in the
United States, the man who should serve as president, we should east
about to find the most suitable man, and he would be the nominee, and
when his name came before the people, every man and woman who had the
privilege of putting their vote in the ballot box would vote for that
man, asking no questions. Our friends in the political world say, "We
do not like this oneness." The ministers in the pulpit, the
politicians in the bar room, on the steam boat, in the rail cars, in
the halls of Congress or in the legislatures, say, "We do not like
this oneness," and still the priest and the deacon are praying
continually, according to the Scripture testimony, that the Saints may
be one. Well, where will you have them one? Just name those particular
points wherein and how this people who profess to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ shall be one. How far shall we go? If we had the
privilege of voting for the presidential nominees to-day, General
Grant would solicit the vote of every "Mormon" man and woman, and the
cry would be, "Vote for me. Be one and vote unitedly. Do not be
divided in your votes, but vote for me." Mr, Greeley would preach the
same doctrine"Do not vote for Grant, vote for me." And when a
governor, member of Congress, or any other officer was in the field
they would all contend for this oneness, but each one would say, "I
want you should be one with me." "Well, but your neighbor, your
competitor, is perhaps quite as good a man as you are." "That is no
difference, he is my enemy, my opponent, and I wish to beat him if I
possibly can, I want this place." But when you come to the Latter-day
Saints, if they can get the right man, the best man they can find,
they unitedly cast their ballots into the ballot-box to make that man
president, governor, representative, or any other officer; and if we
learn that he is not as talented as some other man, perhaps not so
capable of filling the office as his neighbor, better be united on and
with him, and give him your faith and your prayers, and he will answer
every purpose, and will fulfil his mission to your satisfaction, and
far better than if you were to quarrel, contend and argue over the
matter, for where they do this the inhabitants of the earth, if they
did but know it, have an internal influence to contend against. Take
for instance, the financial circles, the commerce of the world, those
business men, where they have their opponents they have an internal
influence to contend against, whether they know it or not; and that
power, with all the secrecy of the grave, I might say, will seek to
carry out their schemes unknown to their opponents, in order that they
may win. Like the man at the table with the cards in his hands, unseen
by any but himself, he will take the advantage as far as he can. So
says the politician. So say the world of Christendom, so say the world
of the heathens, and it is party upon party, sect after sect, division
upon division, and we are all for ourselves, and each one is willing
that we should be one in our faith, feelings and actions, if we will
be one with him.

Vol. 15,  p.124
Well, this witness that is on the stand can not be set aside or
overcome; it is a witness that the world [p.125] of mankind can not
impeach, neither the testimony which it imparts. Take people flora
China, India, Africa, Europe, the North Pole or the South Pole, give
them the Gospel and they are one. It was not Joseph Smith, neither is
it Brigham Young that makes them one; it is neither the high council
nor the First Presidency that makes them one, but it is the power of
God unto salvation that makes the Latter-day Saints one in heart, in
spirit, in action, in their religious faith and ordinances, and in
their dealings, where they are honest and live their religion. That
makes them one, no matter who they are, where they are, or upon what
subject, if it be a subject worthy the attention of the people. Our
religion descends to the whole life of man, although some, sometimes,
say, there is divine law, there is human law, and there are principles
which pertain to our religion and there are principles which pertain
to the philosophy of the world· But let me here say to you, that the
philosophy of the religion of heaven incorporates every truth that
there is in heaven, on earth, or in hell.

Vol. 15,  p.125
Now, we wish to be one and to understand the Gospel. Receive the
Gospel and the spirit of it and we will be one. All Christendom would
say, "Come go with us, come go with us and we will do you good." We
can say the same—"Come go with us, and we will do you good." We will
tell you how to be saved. How far does the Christian religion go? Let
every man look at it, read, pray, meditate, call upon the Lord, and
judge for himself. I say that that which is commonly called the
Christian religion is far from civilizing the world, and far from
making the Christian world one, far from bringing the disciples to be
of one heart and one mind. They say that there are a great many of
these nonessentials that we differ about. Very true, they are
non-essentials, and they are pretty much all of them non-essentials.
Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is very essential; believing in
God, his Father, and our Father, is very essential; having faith in
the name of Jesus is very essential. On these points they all agree,
and we agree with them, and they with us; but it is very different
when we come to the laws and ordinances of the kingdom of God.

Vol. 15,  p.125
It has been read to you here what Jesus said to his disciples—"I will
drink no more with you of this wine—the juice of the vine—until I
drink with you anew in my Father's kingdom." Jesus undertook to
establish the kingdom of God upon the earth. He introduced the laws
and ordinances of the kingdom. What was the result? After killing the
Son of God, they could not even let the Apostles live; they could not
let Paul live, who was not a believer in the days of Jesus, but an
opposer, and who, after the death of the Savior, hunted and sought all
who believed on him, for the purpose of imprisoning and punishing
them, and he was the very man who held the clothes of the young men
who stoned Stephen to death.

Vol. 15,  p.125
What did they do with the rest of them? Crucified them, stoned them,
mangled them, and so on, with the exception, I suppose, of John. As
long as any of the disciples of the Savior was on the earth they were
hunted and persecuted, and the cry of their enemies was, "Do not leave
their track until they are exterminated," just as it is now with
regard to the Latter-day Saints—"Do not leave their track, go where
they go, introduce every iniquity you can, and do as they did in
ancient days." How did they do then? You can [p.126] read the account
given of our first parents. Along came a certain character and said to
Eve—you know women are of tender heart, and he could operate on this
tender heart—"The Lord knows that in the day thou eatest thereof thou
shalt not surely die, but if thou wilt take of this fruit and eat
thereof thine eyes will be opened and thou wilt see as the Gods see;"
and he worked upon the tender heart of mother Eve until she partook of
the fruit, and her eyes were opened. He told the truth. And they say
now, "Do this that your eyes may be opened, that you may see; do this
that you may know thus and so." In the days of Jesus and his Apostles
the same power was operating, and, actuated by that, men hunted them
until the last one was banished from human society, and until the
Christian religion was so perverted that the people received it with
open hands, arms, mouth and heart. It was adulterated until it was
congenial to the wicked heart, and they received the Gospel as they
supposed. But that was the time they commenced little by little to
transgress the laws, change the ordinances, and break the everlasting
covenant, and the Gospel of the kingdom that Jesus undertook to
establish in his day and the priesthood were taken from the earth. But
the Lord has again set his band to gather Israel, to redeem his people
and to establish his kingdom on the earth, and the enemy of all
righteousness says, "We have got plenty of religion, we have got
plenty of followers, we have plenty of money, we have plenty of
influence, never leave the track of the Latter-day Saints until they
are used up." Well, it is God and them for it, as far as that is
concerned; that is not for me to say anything about. We are here, and
the Gospel we have got makes us of one heart and mind in all the
affairs of life; and the philosophy of our religion embraces all the
true philosophy, every art and every science there is on the face of
the whole earth, and when they step outside the pale of the Christian
religion, the power of God and the priesthood of the Son of God, they
step out of the kingdom of heaven, and they then have cisterns that
will hold no water, systems that will not bear scrutinizing. I know
that a great many of the scientific men of the world philosophize upon
this, that and the other thing. Geologists will tell us the earth has
stood so many millions of years. Why? Because the Valley of the
Mississippi could not have washed out under about so many years, or so
long a time. The Valley of Western Colorado, here, could not have
washed out without taking such a length of time. What do they know
about it? Nothing in comparison. They also reason about the age of the
world by the marvelous specimens of petrifaction that are sometimes
discovered. Now we can show them plenty of places where there are
trees, perfect stone, running into the solid rock, and perhaps the
rock is forty, fifty, or a hundred feet above the tree. Yet it is a
perfect tree. There is the bark, there is the heart, and there is the
outer-coating between the heart and the bark, all perfect rock. How
long did it take to make this tree into rock? We do not know. I can
tell them, simply this—when the Lord Almighty brings forth the power
of his chemistry, he can combine the elements and make a tree into
rock in one night or one day, if he chooses, or he can let it lie
until it pulverises and blows to the four winds, without petrifying,
just as be pleases. He brings together these elements as he sees
proper, for he is the greatest [p.127] chemist there is. He knows more
about chemistry and about the formation of the earth and about
dividing the earth, and more about the mountains, valleys, rocks,
hills, plains, and the sands than all the scientific men that we have.
This we can say of a truth. Well, if it takes a million years to make
a perfect rock of one kind of a tree, say a cedar tree, how long would
it take to make a perfect rock of a cottonwood tree? Let the chemists
tell this, if they can, but they can not tell it.

Vol. 15,  p.127
Our religion embraces chemistry; it embraces all the knowledge of the
geologist, and then it goes a little further than their systems of
argument, for the Lord Almighty, its author, is the greatest chemist
there is. Will any of the chemists tell us what the Lord did with the
elements in Wisconsin, and in Chicago, Illinois, last Fall? They made
a flaming fire of the heavens, the elements were melted with fervent
heat. This was a chemical process, but can any of our chemists tell
how it was brought about? I think not. But there were certain elements
which lost their cohesive properties, and a change occurred, and the
result was this terrible fire. So it will be when, as the Scriptures
foretell, "the elements shall melt with fervent heat." The Lord
Almighty will send forth his angels, who are well instructed in
chemistry, and they will separate the elements and make new
combinations thereof, and the whole heavens will be a sheet of fire.
Well, our religion embraces this; and we know of no laws, no
ordinances, no gifts, no principles, no arts, no sciences that are
true, but what are embraced in the religion of Jesus Christ, in this
Priesthood, which is a perfect system of government.

Vol. 15,  p.127
If anybody wants to know what the priesthood of the Son of God is, it
is the law by which the worlds are, were, and will continue for ever
and ever. It is that system which brings worlds into existence and
peoples them, gives them their revolutions—their days, weeks, months,
years, their seasons and times and by which they are rolled up as a
scroll, as it were, and go into a higher state of existence; and they
who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ—the maker, framer, governor,
dictator and controller of this earth—they who live according to his
law and priesthood will be prepared to dwell on this earth when it is
brought into the presence of the Father and the Son. This is the
habitation of the Saints; this is the earth that will be given to the
Saints, when they and it are sanctified and glorified, and brought
back into the presence of the Father and the Son. This is our
religion, and I bear testimony to it; and this oneness which the
Latter-day Saints possess, which is now so much contended against and
hated by the Christian world, in a political, financial,
philosophical, and every other respect and capacity, is the power of
God unto salvation, and is not produced by the influence or power of
man, and this witness cannot be impeached—it is impossible to impeach
it. This is our testimony, and this is one witness, one testimony that
the Gospel which we preach is the Gospel that God has revealed for the
salvation of the children of men, and it will bring all the sons and
daughters of Adam and Eve into a state of glory and happiness that is
far beyond their conception, or any ideas that thy have ever received
while in this wicked world; and this glory the Lord has prepared in
his mansion for his children.[p.128] 

Vol. 15,  p.128
"Well," says one, if I am pretty sure to get a state of glory better
than this, I guess I will not take the trouble to inherit anything
more." Well, run the risk of it, every man on the earth has that
privilege. The Gospel is preached, sin revives, some die and some
contend against it—some receive it and some do not; but this is the
sin of the people—truth is told them and they reject it. This is the
sin of the world, "Light has come into the world, but men love
darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." So said
Jesus in his day. We say, Here is the Gospel of life and salvation,
and every one that will receive it, glory, honor, immortality and
eternal life are theirs; if they reject it, they take their chance. I
hope and pray that we may all be wise and receive the good part, that
we may have the benefit thereof.

Vol. 15,  p.128
I say to the Latter-day Saints, Will you live your religion? You can
see people apostatizing from the Church, but what is the result? Ask
every apostate who ever received the spirit of this work, "Can you go
and enjoy any other religion?" Not one of them. Have you never known
persons leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and
join any other church? Certainly I have, and pretty good people. I
recollect one old lady that we left in the States. She said she was
too old to gather up with the Saints. Her friends were Baptists, she
lived in the midst of them and joined their church. Sit down and talk
with her—"Sister, how do you feel?" "Just as I have always felt." "Are
you satisfied with this religion you have joined?" "I believe in the
work I embraced years ago. 'Mormonism' is true, and I believe it just
as I always have. But here are my home and my friends, and I
fellowship them as far as they do right—as far as they believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. They want I should be a member of their church and
I do not know that it hurts me to be so." "Are you satisfied to accept
their religion and none else?" Says she, "I care no more about it than
I did while in the midst of the Latter-day Saints; but here are my
friends and home. By and by I shall sleep in the grave;" and there she
is today, sleeping with those who have laid their bodies down to rest.
This is one instance. But you take men and women with youth and vigor,
who apostatize from the truth, and are they satisfied with anything
else? No, and they are not satisfied with themselves. They are not
beloved by God nor by Angels, nor by their families. Are they beloved
by the enemy of all righteousness and his fellow associates? No. They
say to the apostate, "You are a hypocrite, a traitor, a deceiver, and
if you are not a false witness we ask who is, for you have testified
hundreds and thousands of times, that, by the power of God and the
revelations of Jesus Christ, you knew Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and
that this latter-day work was true, and now you say it is not true."
"When did you tell the truth?" says Mr. Devil, "then or now?" Says he,
"I despise you;" and they hate themselves and everybody else. They
have no fellowship for their neighbors, for the Latter-day Saints nor
for any Christian denomination, and I do not know where in the world
they can be placed. This is the condition of an apostate. But while
this is the condition of those who apostatize from our Church, how is
it with those who leave any of the sectarian churches, after having
been a Methodist, Presbyterian, [p.129] Baptist, or Congregationalist?
Why they go from church to church, and feel just the same as before?
Is not this true? Yes, I know it is; not that I have passed from one
to another myself, but I have been acquainted with those who have. Did
I fellowship them? I fellowshipped them no more than I do now. I
fellowship everything that is good and virtuous, everything that is
truthful and good; but sin I do not fellowship in them, nor in a
Latter-day Saint, or one who professes to be so. I fellowship all
good, and we have it. It is all right, and if we have error, it is
because we do not live according to the Gospel that we have embraced.
If we have embraced error in our faith, it is because we do not
understand our own doctrine; if we have error in our lives, it is
because we deviate from the path of rectitude that God has marked out
for us to walk in.

Vol. 15,  p.129
May the Lord help us to do right. Amen.

Brigham Young, August 18, 1872

Fault Finding—Advice—Wholesale Co-Operative Store for 
Logan—Dress—Marital Relation—Establishing Zion

Remarks By President Brigham Young, Delivered in 
the Bowery, Logan City, Sunday Morning, August 18, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.129
There is just about time for a ten minutes' sermon. I have several
little sermons for the people, and I will begin by taking up the case
of brother Samuel Roskelly, Bishop up here in Smithfield. I have been
hearing for a year or two about brother Roskelly being wonderfully
dishonest, oppressing the people, overbearing with his brethren,
treating them with contempt and abusing them, taking their means and
so on. Last Friday, about five o'clock, we assembled in this hall,
that is, all who were disposed to come together, to have these matters
brought before us. We sat and heard them as patiently as we could. We
had not time to hear all speak and say all they wanted to. We found,
as we generally find these complaints—they have their origin in
selfishness, in greediness, in a complaining heart, destitute of the
Spirit of the Lord, imagining to themselves that they know just what
is right, and they want to get everybody in the world to feel as they
feel. But we find that almost all complaints that arise are sown by
the enemy; they grow in this soil, they take root, spring up and bear
seed, and when the stalk is shaken then the seed makes its appearance.
We examined these matters [p.130] far enough. I think there were eight
complaints against Bishop Roskelly, and when we had got through I did
not stop to ask the brethren how they felt, for I did not see anything
to talk about. I did not learn that there was anything of sufficient
importance to spend time about, or to ask my counselor, or to ask any
of the Twelve, any of the Bishops, or any of the brethren present, to
give their opinion on the subject. I did not see that there was any
opinion to be formed. I learned nothing, only that these little
roots—this seed of bitterness—had grown up and borne fruit.

Vol. 15,  p.130
Just about the same complaints came to me year after year against
brother Maughan and brother Benson, and of other Bishops in this
valley very few have been excused. If we were to hear them all and
trace them to their origin, we would find they all are the fruits of
jealousy, covetousness—which is idolatry, discontent and greediness.
Those with whom they originate are very anxious to have everybody look
through the glasses they look through, to feel as they feel, and to be
dictated by them. I want to say this to the brethren and to the
sisters, that they may know how we feel about this matter. We did not
chasten Bishop Roskelly nor any of the brethren of his ward, but we
talked to them a little, and gave them some good counsel; and we do
not feel like chastening them, but just say to them, Try and live so
that the Spirit of the Lord will live within you, and you will do well
enough.

Vol. 15,  p.130
I gave brother Roskelly some counsel with regard to keeping accounts.
I learned, years and years ago, the benefit of having my business
transactions well written out in black and white, and when I have any
dealings with a man, put that down. If I have paid him, say I have
paid him, how much and what for, which makes a proper account and
history. I learned this by experience, and I got this little item when
I first started in business in my youth. We were building up a little
town. A few merchants, a few mechanics, and a few others had come in,
and we were together one evening talking about keeping account books,
and bringing up the different authors. One gentleman in the company,
named David Smith, said—"Gentlemen, I have studied every author in
America on bookkeeping, and some of the European issues, and I have
learned that there is no rule or method so good as to write down facts
just as they occur. That is the best book-keeping I have learned yet."
This I have observed in my life; I adopted this principle as soon as I
heard it. I say, then, to brother Roskelly, instead of keeping his own
books, have somebody or other that will know his accounts and
understand his dealings to keep a faithful record of the same; and I
say this to all the Bishops and to men of business, not only to those
in the tithing department, but merchants, mechanics and farmers. Most
of our farmers that I have been acquainted with never keep any books
at all; they depend on memory, and I have known some men to do quite a
business in this way. We have a considerable number of tradesmen in
our community, some of whom never keep any books or accounts. This
class are liable at any time to be imposed upon. A person comes up,
and, says he, "You owe me, and I want my pay." The man knows he has
paid him, but he forgets when, where and how, but it is settled in his
feelings that he does not owe him anything. This brings contention,
discord and strife, even among pretty [p.131] good Elders; but, if we
keep a strict account of everything, we can tell a man then whether we
have paid him or not, or whether we owe him or not. this is the way
for brother Samuel Roskelly and all the Bishops to do. I wanted to say
this, and also that there is no particular fault to be found with
brother Roskelly, and no particular fault to be found with the people,
only they do not live their religion quite as they should, and the
spirit of contention creeps in instead of the spirit of prayer. My
counsel, brethren and sisters, is to pray, keep the law of God,
observe the Sabbath day, partake of the Sacrament, observe your tithes
and offerings, and fill up your lives with doing good. This
accomplishes my ten minutes, and now I leave the ground. We will close
our meeting until 2 o'clock, then I have a few other discourses to
deliver.

Vol. 15,  p.131
[When the congregation re-assembled, after singing and prayer,
President Young again took the stand, and spoke as follows:—]

Vol. 15,  p.131
Now for my second lecture. This is upon financial affairs entirely. It
is merely a question I am going to propound to the people, and I
desire an answer from them. Suppose that the Wholesale Co-operative
Store in Salt Lake City should be pleased to extend its operations to
this valley and establish a wholesale store here, I want to know what
the disposition and action of the people would be with regard to
sustaining it? I see there is a necessity for it, for there are a good
many settlements in this valley and Bear Lake Valley that now go to
Salt Lake City to do their trading. We have proposed placing a
wholesale store here, and whatever is kept in Salt Lake City in the
wholesale department, duplicate the same for this place, and keep a
perfect assortment here the same as is done in the city—farming
implements wagons, carriages and everything necessary to supply the
wants of the people. This will be a short lecture. Suppose that we
undertake this, what will be the action of the people? I expect every
settlement is represented here to-day, probably by the Bishops and
leading men, who know the feelings of the people and who, more or
less, control the business portions of their settlements. Perhaps a
good many have not thought of it, then again a good many have, and
they have matured this pretty well in their feelings and
understandings. If we do this, our plan will be to supply the people
with everything they want, and all their products that can be disposed
of to buy them. We will take the products of the country that we can
sell, ship them off and dispose of them, and in return supply you with
goods. Will the Bishops, High Priests, Seventies, Elders, Priests,
Teachers, Deacons, and their fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and the
brothers sustain this institution if we place one here? We shall give
you the goods just about as cheap as we can sell them in Salt Lake
City, very little difference, so little you would not know; for the
additional expense in bringing them from Ogden to this place, over
conveying them from there to Salt Lake City, would be very trifling.
If this would be the feelings of the different settlements, I would
like to have you manifest it by showing your right hands. (Hands up.)
Now let us have the opposition vote. (No opposition.)

Vol. 15,  p.131
While I am on this subject let me say a few words with regard to
dress, though I have not as much reason to do so here as I have in
Salt Lake City and Ogden. You know that we are creatures subject to
all the vanities of the world, and very subject to admiring its
fashions. We [p.132] have left Babylon, and instead of introducing it
here we want it to stay yonder, and just as much as we can, no, that
is the wrong word—just as much as we will, we want to make our own
head dresses here, especially for the ladies, and for the gentlemen
through the summer season. We would like to see all through our
country what we see here in a measure—a decent dress on a lady.
Instead of having four, five or six yards of cloth drawing through the
street to raise dust on the people, that she can go along decently and
you would not think there was a six horse team traveling there, with a
dozen dogs under the wagon. This is what we would like, but when we
come to the ornaments, I feel like blackguarding. I am going to speak
about a little ornament they get up, I believe it is called a
"bender," and I do not know but there is a Grecian or a Greek to it—a
"Grecian bend." You have seen this ridiculed enough without my doing
it. I want to say to you, ladies, just take off this ornament. If my
sisters will take the hint, they will leave off these little articles.
Some of them, after they have got half a dozen yards on it are not
satisfied until they go and get a dozen yards of ribbon several inches
wide too make bows to put on the top of that. It is ridiculous! I do
not see much of it in this place, to what I do in some others. I would
really like to see the ladies dress decent and comely. This will do on
this subject, for a hint to the wise is sufficient, and enough has
been said if the sisters will take counsel.

Vol. 15,  p.132
I will now say a little with regard to our young people—a subject
introduced here yesterday, very modestly and very nicely. Suppose the
Latter-day Saints and the world at large were to carry out the
principles that are received in the faith of a society called the
Shaking Quakers, how long do you suppose it would be before there
would not be a human being left on the earth, unless there was some
necromancy or stealthful conduct going on? About one hundred and
twenty years would take the last man and woman from the earth. But
this is not what is required of us, it was not required of Adam and
Eve. They were required to multiply and replenish the earth, and I
will here say a word to the ladies—Do not marvel, do not wonder at it,
do not complain at Providence, do not find fault with mother Eve
because your desire is to your husbands. Bear this with patience and
fortitude! Be reconciled to it, meet your afflictions and these
little,—well, we might say, not very trifling, but still they are
wants, for if we desire only that that is necessary, and can govern
and control ourselves to he satisfied with that, it is a great deal
better than to want a thousand things that are unnecessary, and
especially to the female portion of the inhabitants of the earth. But
there is a curse upon them, and I can not take it off, can you? No,
you can not—it never will be taken from the human family until the
mission is fulfilled, and our Master and our Lord is perfectly
satisfied with our work. It will then be taken from this portion of
the community, and will afflict them no more; but for the present it
will afflict them. And almost every lady I ever saw in my life is just
as bad as a certain lady lecturer who, after lecturing and extolling
her sex, and trying to impress upon them the idea that it would have
been much better for the world if there had never been a man upon the
earth, said, "Yet you know our weakness is such that we turn round and
grab the first man we come to." How natural it is![p.133] Well,
ladies, just be reconciled to your condition, and if there is a
principle here or elsewhere that wishes to override the principle of
celestial marriage, take heed to yourselves, for I can promise you one
thing—If you ever had any faith in the Gospel and in celestial
marriage, and you renounce or disbelieve and deny this doctrine, you
will be damned. I promise you that, no matter who it is. Now take heed
to yourselves! Look at the world. We might show up this matter here,
but we do not wish to do so. Those who travel through the world can
understand these things, and see the millions of the human family who
are trodden under foot. I will refer you to the great cities of the
world. Get their statistics and see how many young females perish in
them yearly. Why? Because some good men have taken them and made
second wives of them? No. It is because wicked men have seduced and
ruined them, and have made them so reekless in their feelings that
rather than see father, mother, brother, sister or friends again, they
would die in a ditch. Those who are acquainted with the world know
these things are true, and they are trying to introduce this practice
into Salt Lake City. I will say no more on this subject, but let this
little lecture or sermon suffice.

Vol. 15,  p.133
I will now ask a question of the Latter-day Saints, and I can ask it
of the aged, middle-aged and the youth, for it is a matter that comes
within the range of the understanding of the entire community, even
the children—How long will it take us to establish Zion, the way we
are going on now? You can answer this question, as the girl did the
schoolmaster, I suppose, and say, "If forty years has brought a large
percentage of Babylon into the midst of this people, how long will it
take to get Babylon out and actually to establish Zion? The
schoolmaster boasted of his aptness at figures and told the girl that
no question in mathematics could be asked hint that he Could not
readily answer. Said the girl, "I think I can ask you a question you
cannot answer?" "Well," said he, "let's have it." "Well," said she,
"if by eating one apple Mother Eve ruined the whole human family, what
would an orchard full of apples do?" You will be as puzzled to answer
my question as the schoolmaster was his pupil's question. You can say,
"I do not know," and it is true, you do not know; but I can inform you
on that subject—Until the father, the mother, the son and the daughter
take the counsel that is given them by those who lead and direct them
in building up the kingdom of God, they will never establish Zion, no
never, worlds without end. When they learn to do this, I do not think
there will be much complaining or grumbling, or much of what we have
heard about to-day—improper language to man or beast. I do not think
there will be much pilfering, purloining, bad dealing, covetousness or
anything of the kind; not much of this unruly spirit that wants
everybody to sustain its possessor and let him get rich, whether
anybody else does or not. I think when we have learned that lesson, we
will be willing to take the counsel of those who are set to direct us,
the officers who are over us; and if they are not just, true, truly,
upright and men of God in every respect, just have faith enough so
that the Lord Almighty will remove them out of the way a and do not
undertake to remove them yourselves. This is the way we should live.
There should be faith enough in the midst of this people that if your
[p.134] humble servants were to attempt to guide them in the ways of
error, false doctrine, wickedness or corruption of any kind, he would
be stopped in his career in twenty-four hours so that he would not be
able to speak to them, and if he were not laid in the grave, he would
have no power nor influence whatever. There ought to faith enough in a
Ward, if the Bishop is wicked, if he is doing wrong and serving
himself and the enemy instead of the Lord and his kingdom, to stop him
in his career, so that the Lord would remove him out of the way. This
has been the case in some few instances, and it ought to be every time
and in every place.

Vol. 15,  p.134
When shall we establish the principles of Zion? You can say, "I do not
know." If we had power to do it, we should do it; but we are just in
the position and condition, and upon precisely the same ground that
God our Father is—He cannot force his children to do this, that or the
other against their will—the eternal laws by which he and all others
exist in the eternities of the Gods, decree that the consent of the
creature must be obtained before the Creator can rule perfectly. It is
just as impossible for the principles of heaven to rule in the hearts
of the wicked and ungodly as anything you can well imagine; you might
as well throw powder into a flaming fire and say it should not burn,
or burst a cask of water in the air and say it should not fall to the
ground. The consent of the creature must be had in these things, and
until you and I do consent in our feelings and understand that it is a
necessity that we establish Zion, we shall have Babylon mixed with us.

Vol. 15,  p.134
I know the faith of the people, in a great measure, is, "We would like
to see Zion." "Would you?" "Yes, but I would like to see it enjoyed by
others. I do not want to be there myself, I want to see how it looks."
This is the feeling, these are the ideas that pass through the minds
of many. "We would just like to see the people live according to the
principles of heaven, to see how they would look and act, to learn
their ways; but we would not be bound to live there until we had seen
enough to be able to judge whether we would like it or not. Maybe we
would like it, maybe not; it might deprive us of some little
privileges we have now. We might not be permitted to wear what we wear
now, or to act, think and feel as we do now. We might be crippled or
curtailed in our views or operations, consequently we do not want to
enter into this order ourselves, but we would like some others to do
so that we may see how it looks." This is the way they feel about
Zion.

Vol. 15,  p.134
Well, brethren, I have talked all I ought to, and perhaps more. I say,
as I always do, God bless you! Peace be with you, and love be
multipiled upon the people. I pray for the good all over the earth. My
desire is to see the kingdom of God prosper. We are prospering in many
things, but we are not prospering in the grace of God and in the
spirit of our holy religion as much as we should. Herein we come
short. But if we will try and improve our minds, school and train
ourselves to overcome every evil within us, every passion, every
unruly thought, I do know by experience, by a close application of any
individual to himself in schooling and training his mind, he can cease
to think evil thoughts and he will be able to think good, that is, his
mind will be filled with pleasant reflections. This I know by
experience. I heard Brother Taylor preach a sermon once on the
principle of revelation, which contained [p.135] the most pleasant
ideas. Still it is in the Bible—all this is taught there—but he
illustrated the principle of living for God perfectly day by day,
showing that we could do so until God lived within us, and until we,
ourselves, became a fountain of revelation; instead of having to ask,
plead and pray the Lord to give us a vision and to open our minds, we
could live for God until a fountain of light and intelligence was
within us, from morning until evening, and from evening until morning,
week after week, month after month and year after year. This is the
fact. Then let us live so that the spirit of our religion will live
within us, then we have peace, joy, happiness and contentment, which
makes such pleasant fathers, pleasant mothers, pleasant children,
pleasant households, neighbors, communities and cities. That is worth
living for, and I do think that the Latter-day Saints ought to strive
for this.

Vol. 15,  p.135
May God help us!

Brigham Young, August 24, 1872

Increase of Saints Since Joseph Smith's Death—Joseph 
Smith's Sons—Resurrection and Millennial Work

Remarks By President Brigham Young, Delivered at 
Farmington, Saturday Afternoon, Aug. 24, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.135
There are a few minutes to spare before we dismiss, and there are
quite a number of items that could be talked about that would be very
interesting to the people, especially in regard to the first
experience of the Church. When I hear brethren relate their experience
of those days it brings to my mind many things pertaining to the
establishment of the kingdom in the beginning. Not that I was a member
of the Church at its organization, but I was near by and knew
something of the doings of the Saints. I recollect very well the night
that Joseph found the plates: the recollection of that event is as
vividly impressed on my mind as though it were last night. But, to
change my remarks to another subject referred to, let me ask you,
brethren and sisters, How many do you suppose there are in the Church
now who were in twenty-eight years ago? Some are disposed to imagine
that the people we now call Latter-day Saints have been brought into
the Church through the labors of the Prophet Joseph Smith. If we were
to ask this congregation how many of them were in the Church
twenty-eight years ago, we should find only a small portion of them. I
will say that, probably, two-thirds, yes, three-fourths, and even more
than that, have come into the Church through the administration of
what is called the First Presidency at the present [p.136] time;
consequently our work shows for itself. We need not ask persons to
give their opinion about the theory that we have placed before them,
but what do you think of the work itself? What do you think of this
great kingdom, this little empire, we might say, as it now appears to
the world? It is twenty-eight years since Brother Joseph was killed,
and the work has gone forth steadily and rapidly, and through the
providences of God we have apparently advanced faster since then, than
in the fourteen years before, so far as bringing the people into note,
and giving them a name and fame in the eyes of the world. The work is
still onward and it is upward.

Vol. 15,  p.136
I simply ask the question about what the people think of these things,
I do not wish to dwell on the principle of parties denying the faith,
or remaining in the faith, they can do just as they please about that;
but while Brother Levi Hancock was talking about sticking to the
Church, and declaring that he meant to hang on to it, I thought, and
say now, what in the name of common sense is there to hang on to, if
he does not hang on to the Church? I do not know of anything. You
might as well take a lone straw in the midst of the ocean to save
yourselves as to think of doing so by the knowledge, power, authority,
faith and priesthood of the Christian world, and the heathen world
into the bargain. There is nothing but the Gospel to hang on to! Those
who leave the Church are like a feather blown to and fro in the air.
They know not whither they are going; they do not understand anything
about their own existence; their faith, judgment and the operations of
their minds are as unstable as the movements of the feather floating
in the air. We have not anything to cling to only faith in the Gospel.

Vol. 15,  p.136
As for the doctrine that is promulgated by the sons of Joseph, it is
nothing more than any other false religion. We would be very glad to
have the privilege of saying that the children of Joseph Smith,
Junior, the Prophet of God, were firm in the faith of the Gospel, and
following in the footsteps of their father. But what are they doing?
Trying to blot out every vestige of the work their father performed on
the earth. Their mission is to endeavor to obliterate every particle
of his doctrine, his faith and doings. These boys are not following
Joseph Smith, but Emma Bideman. Every person who hearkens to what they
say, hearkens to the will and wishes of Emma Bideman. The boys,
themselves, have no will, no mind, no judgment independent of their
mother. I do not want to talk about them. I am sorry for them, and I
have my own faith in regard to them. I think the Lord will find them
by and by—not Joseph, I have told the people times enough, they never
may depend on Joseph Smith who is now living; but David, who was born
after the death of his father, I still look for the day to come when
the Lord will touch his eyes. But I do not look for it while his
mother lives. The Lord would do it now if David were willing; but he
is not, he places his mother first and foremost, and would take her
counsel sooner than he would the counsel of the Almighty, consequently
he can do nothing, he knows nothing, he has no faith, and we have to
let the matter rest in the hands of God for the present.

Vol. 15,  p.136
Now a few words to the brethren and sisters upon the doctrine and
ordinances of the house of God. All who have lived on the earth
according to the best light they had, and would have received the
fullness of [p.137] the Gospel had it been preached to them, are
worthy of a glorious resurrection, and will attain to this by being
administered for in the flesh by those who have the authority. All
others will have a resurrection, and receive a glory, except those who
have sinned against the Holy Ghost. It is supposed by this people that
we have all the ordinances in our possession for life and salvation,
and exaltation, and that we are administering in these ordinances.
This is not the case. We are in possession of all the ordinances that
can be administered in the flesh; but there are other ordinances and
administrations that must be administered beyond this world. I know
you would ask what they are. I will mention one. We have not, neither
can we receive here, the ordinance and the keys of the resurrection.
They will be giver to those who have passed off this stage of action
and have received their bodies again, as many have already done and
many more will. They will be ordained, by those who hold the keys of
the resurrection, to go forth and resurrect the Saints, just as we
receive the ordinance of baptism, then the keys of authority to
baptize others for the remission of their sins. This is one of the
ordinances we can not receive here, and there are many more. We hold
the authority to dispose of, alter and change the elements; but we
have not received authority to organize native element to even make a
spear of grass grow. We have no such ordinance here. We organize
according to men in the flesh. By combining the elements and planting
the seed, we cause vegetables, trees, grains, &c., to come forth. We
are organizing a kingdom here according to the pattern that the Lord
has given for people in the flesh, but not for those who have received
the resurrection, although it is a similitude. Another item: We have
not the power in the flesh to create and bring forth or produce a
spirit; but we have the power to produce a temporal body. The germ of
this, God has placed within us. And when our spirits receive our
bodies, and through our faithfulness we are worthy to be crowned, we
will then receive authority to produce both spirit and body. But these
keys we cannot receive in the flesh. Herein, brethren, you can
perceive that we have not finished, and cannot finish our work, while
we live here, no more than Jesus did while he was in the flesh.

Vol. 15,  p.137
We can not receive, while in the flesh, the keys to form and fashion
kingdoms and to organize matter, for they are beyond our capacity and
calling, beyond this world. In the resurrection, men who have been
faithful and diligent in all things in the flesh, have kept their
first and second estate, and worthy to be crowned Gods, even the sons
of God, will be ordained to organize matter. How much matter do you
suppose there is between here and some of the fixed stars which we can
see? Enough to frame many, very many millions of such earths as this,
yet it is now so diffused, clear and pure, that we look through it and
behold the stars. Yet the matter is there. Can you form any conception
of this? Can you form any idea of the minuteness of matter? Let me
give you a comparison, for instance, with regard to mathematics. You
take a child that is born to-day, say at twelve o'clock, precisely at
high noon. One year from to-day there is another child born. The one
born to-day will be just one year older than the other. The second one
is perhaps not a minute old, it has just commenced to breathe the
vital air. Now the one born first [p.138] is a great many times older
than the second, we would have to get some of these mathematicians to
tell how many times. It would be over 31 millions of seconds, a great
many minutes, many hours, three hundred and sixty-five days, and one
year. When these two children have lived just one year longer the
elder of the two is two years old, the other one, the former, being
just as old again as the latter. In one year more the first one will
be only one-third older, the fourth year be will be one-fourth older,
and so on. Now then, how long must these two children live to be
exactly of an age? They never will be; never, no never, through all
the eternities there are, and that is for ever and ever. They will
always differ in age, and when countless millions and myriads of ages
have passed away there is still, do you not see, a difference, these
children are not yet of the same age. It is just so with matter. Take,
for instance, a grain of sand. You can not divide it so small that it
can not be divided again—it is capable of infinite division. We know
nothing about how many times it can be divided, and it is just so with
regard to the lives in us, in animals, in vegetation, in shrubbery.
They are countless. To illustrate, you take a perfectly ripe kernel of
corn—you will have some here perhaps in a few days—and if you get a
glass, it does not require a very powerful one, and you take the chit
of this corn and open it, you behold distinctly a stalk of corn, in
that chit, a perfectly grown stalk of corn, with ears and leaves on
it, matured, out in blossom,—there is the tassel, there are the ears
and there is the corn! Well, you get a stronger glass and divide
again, and you can see that this very chit is the grandfather of corn!
We take the scientific world for this. Well, how many lives are there
in this grain of corn? They are innumerable, and this same infinity is
manifest through all the creations of God.

Vol. 15,  p.138
We will operate here, in all the ordinances of the house of God which
pertain to this side the vail, and those who pass beyond and secure to
themselves a resurrection pertaining to the lives will go on and
receive more and more, more and more, and will receive one after
another until they are crowned Gods, even the sons of God. This idea
is very consoling. We are now baptizing for the dead, and we are
sealing for the dead, and if we had a temple prepared we should be
giving endowments for the dead—for our fathers, mothers, grandfathers,
grandmothers, uncles, aunts, relatives, friends and old associates,
the history of whom we are now getting from our friends in the east.
The Lord is stirring up the hearts of many there, and there is a
perfect mania with some to trace their genealogies and to get up
printed records of their ancestors. They do not know what they are
doing it for, but the Lord is prompting them; and it will continue and
run on from father to father, father to father, until they get the
genealogy of their forefathers as far as they possibly can.

Vol. 15,  p.138
I am going to stop my talking by saying that, in the millennium, when
the kingdom of God is established on the earth in power, glory and
perfection, and the reign of wickedness that has so long prevailed is
subdued, the Saints of God will have the privilege of building their
temples, and of entering into them, becoming, as it were, pillars in
the temples of God, and they will officiate for their dead. Then we
will see our friends come up, and perhaps some that we have been
acquainted with here. If we [p.139] ask who will stand at the head of
the resurrection in this last dispensation, the answer is—Joseph
Smith, Junior, the Prophet of God. He is the man who will be
resurrected and receive the keys of the resurrection, and he will seal
this authority upon others, and they will hunt up their friends and
resurrect them when they shall have been officiated for, and bring
them up. And we will have revelations to know our forefathers clear
hack to Father Adam and Mother Eve, and we will enter into the temples
of God and officiate for them. Then man will be sealed to man until
the chain is made perfect back to Adam, so that there will be a
perfect chain of priesthood from Adam to the winding-up scene.

Vol. 15,  p.139
This will be the work of the Latter-day Saints in the millennium. How
much time do you suppose we have to attend to and foster Babylon? I
leave this question for you to answer at your pleasure. I have no time
at all for that, I say, and stop my sayings.

Brigham Young, August 25, 1872

God's Ways not As Man's Ways

Remarks By Brigham Young, Jun., Delivered at 
Farmington, Sunday Morning, August 25th, 1872. 

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.139
I have a testimony, brethren and sisters, as to the truth of the work
of God, that it is a pleasure to me to bear to you, and to strangers
when opportunity offers. I have no particular text to speak upon at
the present time, save the one that should be at all times in the mind
of every Latter-day Saint, and that is, the kingdom of God, and its
growth and development upon the earth. This is a subject that should
be ever present with us; and when an individual whose interests are
professedly identified with that kingdom, forgets the duties devolving
upon him in connection with it, we may infer that he has ceased to be
useful therein.

Vol. 15,  p.139
We know, brethren, that it is impossible to please the Lord by
following the counsels of our own minds, unless they are enlightened
by the Spirit of the Almighty. The wisdom of man is not the wisdom of
God, and to be successful in extending and strengthening the cause of
God on the earth, we must have his Spirit to guide us. If our ways
were as God's ways, we would do as he would have us do; but it is
evident to all who are acquainted with the actions of the human
family, not excluding the Latter-day Saints, that the mind of man is
not as Gods mind. A verse of Scripture, which now occurs to my mind,
will illustrate [p.140] this. It will be found in the 11th verse of
the 2nd chapter of the 1st epistle to the Corinthians:—"For what man
knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
even so the things of God knoweth no man, but, the Spirit of God."

Vol. 15,  p.140
The experience that the Latter-day Saints have had has taught them
that this is true, and we know that when a man deems himself capable
of acting solely on his own intelligence, and neglects to seek for the
wisdom of Heaven to guide him, he is very apt to go astray. This
feeling of independence of the Almighty has caused the apostacy of
some, whom we, perhaps, have thought it would be almost impossible to
blind to the truths they once advocated so well; but it is the case.
Men do not look at things as God looks at them, therefore it is
indispensably necessary for each individual Latter-day Saint to have
the Spirit of God within him, that he may do His will and not carry
out his own views.

Vol. 15,  p.140
Look over the nations of the earth, and where is there a government
established on correct principles, that is, in accordance with the
commandments of God? There is not one, for they are all established by
the wisdom of men, and men's ways are so different from the ways of
God that it is impossible, with all their intelligence and
knowledge—and we know they possess a great deal—for men to establish a
government after the order of God. In some minor particulars such a
government might not be far out of the way, but in all the essentials
it would be dissimilar. It is the same with us, the Latter-day Saints,
without the inspiration and wisdom of Heaven to guide us, we can not
hope to carry out and accomplish God's purposes. Many of us have not
had the educational advantages enjoyed by the wealthy in the outside
world, having belonged to the laboring classes—to what is termed the
down-trodden portions of the population of Europe and America, and I
say thank God for it, for as a general thing the educated classes are
fast becoming unbelievers in the Old and New Testament. We, having
been taken from the lowly walks of life, have not, according to the
ideas of the world, the intelligence necessary to establish a form of
government equal to that which other men have established who have
been more learned, better educated than we are, and who have had more
wisdom than we seem to have, in a temporal point of view. But God, in
his infinite mercy, has inspired our leaders, he has endowed them with
wisdom and understanding to take the course and perform the work that
he desired. I have heard men of the world point out to President Young
and other leading men in this Church the course they should pursue
under certain circumstances, to ensure the approval and friendship of,
and to give satisfaction to, the leading men of our nation and the
nations abroad; and to my certain knowledge their counsel was
diametrically opposed to the course taken under those circumstances. I
have noticed these things, and I know it is true that God's ways are
not as men's ways; and for a man to undertake to be a Latter-day Saint
while groping in the dark by trusting wholly to the intelligence of
his own mind, is the hardest work imaginable; it is the most laborious
task that can be, for any individual on the earth to try to be what he
ought to be before his God without the Holy Spirit to assist and guide
him. We know that naturally our hearts are far removed from God; and,
speaking to the ancient Saints, one of the [p.141] Apostles told them
they were blinded in part, and saw through a glass darkly. This is our
condition, then how necessary it is for us to seek continually for
that Spirit which will enable us to live as Saints of the Most High
should live, and to labor so that we may establish a kingdom on the
earth which God will delight in, and which, when the great men of the
earth see, they will be willing to acknowledge the wisdom manifested
therein, and to glorify God for the same. To-day, if a stranger were
to come into this congregation, for instance, he would be very likely
to think, "These are the Latter-day Saints—the people who have
gathered out from the nations of the earth to worship God! Well, I do
not see a great amount of intellect manifested, there is no great
intellectual ability, not so much as among the people of other
congregations where I have been." That may be true, and hence the
proof is more striking that the work we have done has been directed
and dictated by the wisdom of the Almighty, and in its accomplishment
the very spirit, energy and determination which our leaders have
exhibited were required. You might have ransacked the world from one
end to the other, and you could not have found educated men—men
brought up in colleges—who would have come out and taken the axe and
the plow, driven the teams, made the roads, led the people and located
them as our leaders have done. They might have done these things if
they had been willing to bow in obedience to God; but they are too
highly educated, they are too full of the wisdom of the world to seek
unto God, in lowliness of heart, for his Spirit to guide them, as our
leaders have done. Such men as those I am referring to, could not have
trusted implicitly in the arm of Jehovah, when on the plains, to
protect them from the savages, the storms, and all the dangers
incident to such a journey; they could not understand and comprehend
the necessity of faith in God under such circumstances, their
education and worldly wisdom would have rendered it next to
impossible, and it required the very men who have been our leaders to
do the work that has been done, and it needs them still. They are
perfectly willing that God should guide this great ship Zion, they are
willing to act under his direction; and no matter who the man is, nor
where he comes from, if he identifies himself with this people, he
must be willing that God should lead and guide him, and to obey every
word that proceeds from His mouth, or he is not the man to help to
carry on this work.

Vol. 15,  p.141
To say that we are a perfect people, I can not do it, neither can I
say that I am a perfect man. I am just as full of weaknesses as any
other man, and so are my brethren with whom I associate; but the Elder
of Israel, no matter how great his weaknesses, who humbly trusts in
God and continually strives to overcome evil and to do only that which
is right, will be enabled to triumph and be faithful to the end. What
matters it if a man likes whisky, if he does not drink it? I do not
care how much a man in this Church likes it, if he does not drink it,
it makes no difference. I do not care how much he loves tobacco, or
this, that or the other, that is not good, if he brings his actions
and feelings into subjection to the dictates of the Spirit of God. I
do not care how much a man loves property, it will not harm him if he
does not set his heart upon it so that he could not sacrifice it, if
required to do so, to promote the interests of God's kingdom upon the
earth. I remember once, when a [p.142] boy, Jedediah M. Grant saw me
chewing tobacco, and said be, "You chew tobacco, do you?" "Yes, sir."
"Well, I never had any taste for it; it is no virtue in me that I do
not use it, I tried hard enough, but it made me sick." The virtue,
brethren, is in putting away or overcoming habits which you know would
impede your progress in the kingdom of God. It was not a virtue in
Bro. Grant that he did not chew tobacco, he tried to learn how, but
could not do it. I tried, and succeeded. But, brethren and sisters,
the idea is, to bring our actions, thoughts and feelings into complete
subjection to the dictates of the Holy Spirit, and to be on hand at
all times to labor as we are directed for the building up of the
kingdom of God upon the earth; that should be the object with us. It
is no use for a man to say, "I am a Latter-day Saint, and they have
not cut me off yet. I have almost feared it sometimes, because I did
not do that which I knew to be right; but I am still within the pale
of the kingdom, and I hope to slip along with the balance." This is
just as great folly as for a man to claim the right to go a journey by
railway when he has no ticket and no means to pay his fare. He may
hang around, and declare that he is one of the crowd, and that he is
going along with them on that train; but, ignorant of the time it
starts, and destitute of the means to pay his way, he strays off for a
short time, and in the meanwhile the train starts and leaves him
behind. It is just so with an unfaithful Elder in this kingdom—he is
not prepared for events as they transpire, and, lacking the spirit of
the Gospel, is liable to be left behind.

Vol. 15,  p.142
I am talking to people who understand me, to people who have the word
of God. The Elders testify that God has spoken from the heavens, and,
that he revealed principles to the Prophet Joseph Smith and others,
for the salvation of the human family; they declare that the
principles revealed to them will save the people if they will practice
them in their lives. I am talking to people who have received a
testimony of these things for themselves, who have stood before, and
lifted up their voices to, the nations of the earth, and declared that
they knew Jesus was the Christ, that he had established his kingdom on
the earth, that he had revealed principles which would save us and
return us back into the presence of God, if we would practice them.
These are the men and women I am talking to; you know as well as I do
that the Gospel is true, and my talk is to inspire your hearts and my
heart to be more faithful to that which we know to be true. It is not
anything new to you and to me to be told that the kingdom of God is on
the earth, or to hear the principles of salvation proclaimed by the
Elders; but it is good to have our hearts warmed and inspired, and our
desires to be diligent and faithful renewed and strengthened. I do not
want the train to start without me, I want to be on board the good
ship Zion, with my brethren. So does every soul present, I have no
doubt of it. I believe that the atheist—the man who has no belief in
God, or faith in any religion, would like the best berth to be had,
either on a sailing vessel or steamer, if he saw any chance to obtain
it. The Latter-day Saints have good berths in view. You can testify
with me that the Spirit of God has enlightened our minds; you can
testify with me that the power of God led us to these valleys; that
prophecies have been uttered in our hearing, and we have [p.143] seen
them fulfilled, and we know that God has spoken in our day.

Vol. 15,  p.143
Brethren and sisters, let us be faithful, let us be true to the
covenants we have made, for if we are, we insure to ourselves life and
salvation; but, on the other hand, if we are recreant, we shall go to
destruction. This is the testimony of modern as well as ancient
revelation; and we need not take our own works to convince the people
of the error of their ways; there is principle enough bound within the
lids of this book—the Bible—to convince all mankind of the error of
their ways, and to lead them from darkness to the Lord Almighty, if
they felt as humble before God as I suppose my brethren and sisters do
to-day. But it seems that, in the providence of God, things have been
ordered as they are, that is, he has suffered the wickedness of men to
transpire in the nations of the earth, and he has suffered priests to
be raised up to blind the minds of men. Why? Because men have their
agency to do as their hearts prompt them, and there is no power that
can prevent them doing this, that or the other; but their acts will be
over-ruled by a superior power. We have our free agency, to think and
act just as men think and act, independent of the promptings of the
Spirit of God; but that is not our object, our aim is to do the will
of God; and brethren, if we could only see the labor and toil that we
have to perform before we accomplish our salvation, we would bow in
humility before God and pray him to give us strength as our day.

Vol. 15,  p.143
Look at the immense number of people who have lived on the earth since
its creation! In what relationship do we stand to them? Who are they?
Our progenitors, and millions of them have died without the Gospel.
What an immense labor opens up before us when we think of these
things! Millions and hundreds of millions of men and women, just as
good as we are, according to the knowledge they had, must be
administered for by us, and we have to build temples in which the work
for their redemption may be performed. We have not only to build
temples, but cities; we have to redeem the earth, and we have a vast
amount of physical labor to do, that our progenitors did not have the
privilege of doing, it was never offered to them, but it has been laid
before us in plainness and simplicity. We can understand the principle
of baptism for the dead, it has been made plain to us, and
administering it, and performing the various duties that will arise in
building up the kingdom of God, will give us labor for centuries. Can
we, in view of these duties and responsibilities, be idle? Can we fail
to seek after the Spirit of God to guide us, that we may accomplish
these labors? If we do, we shall not only deprive ourselves of a great
privilege and of great glory, but we shall deprive others, perhaps, to
some extent, of receiving that which is theirs by right; they have
lived for it, and they are entitled to it at our hands.

Vol. 15,  p.143
What can injure the Latter-day Saints? I will ask Brother Hulse here.
Does it injure a man to be tarred and feathered? I understand that
while he was east he was tarred and leathered, or ducked, or something
of that kind, and I have no doubt he feels glad of the persecution.
Still, I would not like it just now. Our Elders have been tarred and
leathered, and they have suffered a good deal in their efforts to
spread the Gospel of the kingdom; but what have they suffered in
comparison with the blessings they have received? What is there that
would [p.144] induce a man to sacrifice that feeling of joy which he
experiences when preaching the Gospel in the nations? I have heard
Elders testify, and it is their general experience, that when abroad
preaching, depending for their food upon strangers, unsustained and
unsupported, save as the providences of God opened the way before them
that they have had a feeling of peace and joy such as they never
experienced before in their lives, and which they would not lose for
all the wealth on the face of the earth. What is that feeling and
where does it come from? It is the peace of God, and when a man
possesses it, his thoughts are not as man's thoughts, and, inspired
from on high, he goes forth freely, ready to endure any trial and to
make any sacrifice to declare the principles of life and salvation to
the people. This is the way that all Latter-day Saints should always
feel, and they who take this course are continually in possession of
the spirit of peace; they are worthy the name of Saints, and the
Scriptures inform us, that from such no good thing will be withheld,
and if a man wants anything that is bad he is not a Saint, he does not
belong to that catalogue.

Vol. 15,  p.144
My exhortation to you is to be faithful. You know the truth, honor it
by walking uprightly; serve God and you will be the most independent
men and women on the face of the earth People come amongst us
sometimes and declare that there is no independence of character
amongst the Latter-day Saints, because they do the bidding of one
man—do just as one man says; but I heard a remark made last night,
that the Latter-day Saints are the most independent people on earth,
and I believe it. If it does not manifest independence of character
for men and women, who have been honest and upright all their days, to
leave their relatives, neighbors, friends and associates, by whom they
have always been respected, to join the Latter-day Saints and be
called everything that is mean, where will you find it on the face of
the earth. Such men have joined the Church in the States, and Bishop
Hunter is an instance. He was respected and honored by his neighbors,
and was known to have been an honest, upright, God-fearing man all his
days; and when such men have joined the Church they have been talked
of in the most scandalous manner. Vituperation has been heaped upon
them, the papers have slandered them, their neighbors have turned
against them, and called them thieves, robbers, murderers, and
everything mean, contemptible and bad. But this treatment never
changed the character of Bishop Hunter. He came to Nauvoo, and was a
good Latter-day Saint, a good, honest man, faithful and true to his
covenants, and he has proved so up to the present day. This has been
the treatment and the course of very many of the members of this
Church, and in enduring and pursuing it, they have shown an
independence of character that is rarely equalled. They have also
shown themselves possessed of inspiration from the Almighty, and when
men enjoy this, their ways are not as men's ways, but as God's ways
and they are willing to come out and acknowledge God, and to enter
into covenant to do his will as he makes it known to them. This is the
position of the Latter-day Saints—when God's will is made known to
them, the spirit within them testifies to the truth thereof, and they
know it is their business to perform their part of the contract. Who
can blame them for doing it?

Vol. 15,  p.145
As far as independence is concerned, we are a little too independent
[p.145] of God, sometimes. I know that this is the feeling I have to
contend with. Brethren, let our hearts be uplifted to the Almighty!
Remember the covenants you have made; they are pure. Keep them so.
They are holy; keep them so! Do not disgrace them! Brethren and
sisters, if we value our salvation, temporal and spiritual, let us be
true to our covenants, and to the God we have engaged to serve.

Vol. 15,  p.145
May God bless you. Amen.

George Q. Cannon, September 8, 1872

Tithing

Discourse By Elder George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 
New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Sept. 8, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.145
"Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the
portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged
in the law of the Lord.

Vol. 15,  p.145
"And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel
brought in abundance the first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and
honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all
things brought they in abundantly.

Vol. 15,  p.145
"And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the
cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and
the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord their
God, and laid them by heaps.

Vol. 15,  p.145
"In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and
finished them in the seventh month.

Vol. 15,  p.145
"And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they
blessed the Lord, and his people Israel.

Vol. 15,  p.145
"Then Hezekiah questioned with the priets and the Levites concerning
the heaps.

Vol. 15,  p.145
"And Azariah, the chief priest of the house of Zadok, answered him,
and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house
of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the
Lord hath blessed His people; and that which is left is this great
store."

Vol. 15,  p.145
I have read this portion of Scripture, it having suggested itself to
my mind in view of our condition, and the circumstances which surround
us as a people. The law of tithing is of very ancient origin. How
early it was observed by the people of God is not clearly set forth in
the Scriptures, but we have an account of its observance as early as
the days of Abraham and Melchizedec. We have also, anterior to that,
an account given us in the Scriptures of the bringing forward of
offerings by Cain and Abel, one bringing the first fruits of the
earth, and the other the first fruits of his flocks, as offerings unto
the Lord their God. From the days of Abraham down to the days of Jesus
the law of tithing was observed by the people of God. It was made a
perpetual ordinance; in fact, the Lord promised unto Aaron and his
children that it should be an [p.146] ordinance forever. And there is
this remarkable fact connected with this law—whenever it was strictly
observed, the blessings of God rested upon the people, and when it was
neglected the anger of God was kindled against them; and a careful
perusal of the Bible reveals to us that neglect on the part of the
children of Israel to pay tithing was one of the most fruitful causes
of unbelief, darkness of mind, departure from the ways of God, and
falling into idolatrous practices.

Vol. 15,  p.146
I may be asked, why was this the case? Had the Lord need of the fruits
of the earth? Had he need of the cattle? Had he need of the first-born
children? Had he need of a tenth of their gold and silver? Was there
any necessity for these things to be devoted to him because of any
want on his part? Of course not. The fruits of the earth ore his, the
cattle on a thousand hills are his and the gold and silver are his, he
created them, and he can cover or uncover them at his will. The heaven
of heavens is his dwelling place, and he has no need of a temple built
with hands; yet in the economy of heaven, in the dealings of God with
his children, he reveals unto them laws, ordinances and institutions
which he requires them to observe, and which, when observed, bring
blessings, but a disregard of which brings down his anger and
indignation upon them. There is nothing plainer in Scripture than
this.

Vol. 15,  p.146
God commands his children to believe in him, and to render obedience
to his laws; he commands them to call upon his Son Jesus Christ, or
rather, to call upon him in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. He
commands them to pray unto him; he commands them to repent of their
sins and to be baptized for their remission, to have hands laid upon
them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and to observe other
ordinances that he has revealed. What for? Does prayer to him advance
him? Does belief in him contribute particularly to his happiness? Does
repentance of sin on the part of the creature add anything
particularly to God's glory? Does baptism for the remission of sins
have any saving effect upon him? Does the laying on of hands for the
reception of the Holy Ghost have the effect to increase his light,
knowledge, wisdom or power? We all recognize the fact that these
commandments are given for man's benefit, to increase his happiness,
and to prepare him for salvation and exaltation in God's kingdom. So
also with the law of tithing: it does not, when obeyed by man, add to
God's comfort, contribute to his wealth, increase his happiness, or
furnish him with that of which he would be destitute if it were not
obeyed; but it is given to man and he is required to obey it that he
may receive the reward, and that be may acknowledge by this act—by
this payment of the tenth of his increase—that all he obtains is the
gift, and comes from the beneficent hand of God, and that he is
dependent upon God. Hence Abraham, after returning from the conquest
of the kings, when be was met by Melchisedec, paid to him the tithes
of all, acknowledging by this act the divinity of the law, and the
necessity of obedience thereunto. So strict was the Lord upon this
point in his dealings with the children of Israel in the wilderness,
that he gave very strict commandment unto Moses and Aaron, and to
those who presided over and officiated among the people that they were
to be very careful to collect, and the people were to be very careful
to pay their tithing.

Vol. 15,  p.147
One object of enforcing this law [p.147] among Israel in ancient days
was to sustain the service of the house of God. The tribe of Levi was
selected from amongst all the other tribes—as the Lord's peculiar
inheritance. In the division of the land of Canaan among the different
tribes, the tribe of Levi was left without an inheritance. The eleven
tribes had their portions of Canaan set apart to them under the
direction of the servant of God, but the tribe of Levi had no
inheritance given unto them. They were told by the Lord that they were
his inheritance, and that which they should have as an inheritance
should be the tenth of the product of all Israel: the tenth of the
labor, the tenth of the cattle, the tenth of the gold and silver, the
tenth of the fruits of the earth, and of everything that was produced
in the land. And so strict was this law, that when an animal passed
under the rod, to use the expression of Scripture, and thereby became
a proper animal to be devoted to the service of God, though it were a
choice animal, and one which the owner of it desired to retain, the
law provided that it could not be retained: it was devoted to the
Lord, and was holy on that account. And if the owner of it were to
substitute another animal instead of it, they both became holy unto
the Lord, and both became tithing animals and had to be dedicated unto
him, so strict was the Lord in enforcing this law of tithing upon
Israel. I often think of the practice which prevails among us in this
respect, how differently we act to what ancient Israel did, and how it
would pinch some of us if the law of tithing were enforced among us as
strictly as it was among them. Not only was this the law of tithing,
as I have rehearsed it, with regard to substitution; but if a man
wanted to redeem that which was devoted for tithing, a certain
valuation was put upon it, and in addition to this valuation a certain
sum of money had to be paid before it could be redeemed. in other
words tithing had to be paid in kind, and if a man wanted to redeem
his tithing he had to pay not only the money valuation of it, but an
additional sum besides, before the redemption could be effected.

Vol. 15,  p.147
You can readily see, with a little reflection, the object the Lord had
in being thus strict with his people: it was to prevent violations of
that law, and to enforce the strictness in observing it which was
necessary to secure the promised blessings.

Vol. 15,  p.147
I have said that a tenth of all the produce of Israel went to the
tribe of Levi; the Levites also had to pay a tenth of that which they
received, and that tenth was given to the priests, those who
ministered in the priesthood in the midst of the people, so that there
was in Israel a standing ministry—a tribe chosen from all the tribes
of Israel, whose office it was to minister in the things of God,
having been called specially by God to this service.

Vol. 15,  p.147
You doubtless recollect that the Lord also required his children—the
people of Israel—to set apart the first-born male in every family to
be his. They had been redeemed in Egypt, or rather they had been saved
from the scourge which fell upon all the families of Egypt. When God
plead with Pharaoh, through Moses, to let the people go, destruction
fell on all the households of Egypt, the firstborn in every one being
slain. But among the children of Israel the firstborn were spared, and
the Lord claimed them as his; but it was inconvenient for them to be
used in the service of the Lord and he, therefore, after Israel had
left Egypt, commanded that all their first born should be numbered;
and after all of a certain [p.148] age had been numbered, he commanded
that the tribe of Levi should be numbered, and upon numbering them it
was found that the firstborn of Israel outnumbered the Levites by two
hundred and seventy-three, if I remember aright. The Lord had already
stated that it was his intention to take the tribe of Levi instead of
the firstborn of Israel, and when it was found that the firstborn
outnumbered the Levites by two hundred and seventy-three he commanded
that they should be redeemed, and that the redemption money should be
banded over to the tribe of Levi.

Vol. 15,  p.148
These were very singular laws and ordinances, but God had a design in
view in enforcing them. Everything he does is dictated by infinite
wisdom, and when the people strictly complied with these laws and
ordinances I have mentioned the Lord blessed them in all things, so
much so that it became a proverb in the midst of Israel—"Honor the
Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of thy increase, so
shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses burst forth
with new wine." When the people honored the Lord with their substance
his blessings rested upon them and they were prospered. The palmer
worm, blight, grasshopper and other evils which afflicted the land
under some circumstances, were removed far from them. Their trees did
not cast their fruit untimely, and they produced in abundance, and
Israel prospered and waxed fat in the land. They spread abroad on the
right, hand and on the left, and the land teemed with fertility. There
were times when israel neglected this law, when they fell into
idolatry, became careless and indifferent concerning the requirements
of the Lord; when the tribe of Levi forsook the service of God and
became idolaters; when the priests quit the service of Jehovah, and
the temples became desecrated and filled with rubbish. It was daring
one of these periods that Hezekiah came to the throne of his father
Ahaz, who had allowed the ordinances of God to fall into disuse. He
put aside the service of God and instituted in its stead idolatrous
service. Tithing had been neglected, and when Hezekiah came to the
throne, his heart being set in him to do right, he commenced to
cleanse the temple, and to restore the ordinances of the house of God,
and the ministers who had been set apart to this service he called
back to its performance, and the people brought in their cattle, wine,
oil, honey, and in fact a tithe of all their substance as well as
freewill offerings unto the Lord; and when the king looked upon it, we
are told, in the words which I have read, that he blessed the Lord and
his people Israel, and upon inquiry of the chief priest he was told
that "since the people began to bring in the offerings into the house
of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty, for the
Lord hath blessed his people." The Lord blessed them because they had
complied with his requirements, and they were prospered. The land
prospered under their cultivation, and it yielded its strength in
abundance.

Vol. 15,  p.148
In connection with this I would like to read to you, my brethren and
sisters, the remarks of Malachi. You are doubtless familiar with them,
but they are words which can be read and pondered on time and time
again, without any loss of interest in the subject. Says Malachi—

Vol. 15,  p.148
"Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine
ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return
unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, wherein shall we
return?[p.149] 

Vol. 15,  p.149
"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have
we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Vol. 15,  p.149
"Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole
nation.

Vol. 15,  p.149
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat
in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if
I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a
blessing, that there will not be room enough to receive them.

Vol. 15,  p.149
"And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not
destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her
fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

Vol. 15,  p.149
"And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome
land, saith the Lord of hosts."

Vol. 15,  p.149
We see here portrayed, in the most graphic and striking language, the
blessings that God promised unto his people Israel when they observed
this law, which he had given them in the beginning; and we can also
understand from the statements of Malachi, the curses that would
descend upon Israel if they did not observe this law. "Ye are cursed
with a curse," says he, "for ye have robbed me, even this whole
people." Strange language for God to use to his people, it may be
thought, that they should be accused of robbery, that he should look
upon them as thieves, as appropriating that which was not theirs,
because they did not render unto him that which he had commanded them.
They had refused their tithes, they had withheld their offerings, and
consequently they were cursed. "But," says he "bring in your tithes
into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house and prove me
now, herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the
windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not
be room enough to receive it," etc. What great promises are herein
conveyed to God's people!

Vol. 15,  p.149
I have drawn your attention to this law, my brethren and sisters, to
show you what it was in the days of Israel, when God communicated his
mind and will unto His people. I wish to impress upon you this fact,
which you can all realize and understand for yourselves if you will
read, that when Israel served God, and were strict in observing this
law, he blessed and prospered them, and his favor was shown towards
them; but when they neglected this law, his anger and indignation were
kindled against them, and one of the most fruitful causes of disaster
to Israel was their neglect in this particular. There were two things
connected with Israel's disasters: one was neglecting to observe the
laws of God, prominent among which was the law of tithing; and the
other was their intermarriages with the heathen nations—those who were
idolaters. This proved the destruction of the wisest king that ever
reigned in Israel. It proved the destruction of the nation itself, for
it brought disaster and ruin upon it.

Vol. 15,  p.149
There is something connected with the law of tithing that, when men do
not have faith in God, appeals to their selfishness; and for a people
to be wholehearted in its observance, they need faith in God. When
Israel began to decline in faith in God, their selfishness increased,
and their determination became stronger and stronger to grasp
everything within their reach and to retain everything they gained
possession of; and as this feeling grew, tithing and freewill
offerings were withheld from the house of God, and in consequence
[p.150] of this the blessing of God was also withheld. There is a
passage in the book of Amos on this subject, which shows the Lord
pleading with Israel, to bring them back to the consideration of this
law, as well as others that he had given them. The Lord says through
the Prophet Amos—

Vol. 15,  p.150
"And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet
three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city and
caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon,
and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

Vol. 15,  p.150
"So two or three cities wandered into one city, to drink water; but
they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the
Lord.

Vol. 15,  p.150
"I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and
your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the
palmer-worm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the
Lord."

Vol. 15,  p.150
These are the calamities which God sent upon Israel with the intention
to have them return to him; but notwithstanding they were poured out
and pestilence visited the land, the people hardened their hearts
against him, broke his laws and violated his ordinances, and his anger
was enkindled against them, and they were driven out from the face of
the land.

Vol. 15,  p.150
This law of tithing has been revealed to the Latter-day Saints. If I
remember aright, the last revelation in the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants, given as a revelation, is one in which this people are
commanded to observe this law of tithing for ever. With the
restoration of the Gospel in its fullness and purity there has also
been restored this law, and I am thankful to God for its revelation. I
am thankful for the restoration of every principle of truth, of every
law that pertains unto salvation, for they are all for the benefit of
the human family; and as long as the Latter-day Saints have observed
this law they have been blessed; and we know by our own experience
with grass-hoppers—the Lord's great army—how easily he could collect
his dues from ancient Israel if they robbed him by neglecting or
refusing to pay their tithes.

Vol. 15,  p.150
When men have come to this desert land and have seen the changes that
have been wrought in such a brief space of time, they have wondered
what has been the reason of it. The promise of God has been given to
this people as it was to ancient Israel upon this point, and when the
Latter-day Saints have observed the law of tithing they have been
favored of God, and his Spirit has rested upon them, and not only upon
them but also upon the land, and where it was once so barren,
unfruitful and forbidding that it looked as though no human being
could live by cultivating it, it has been converted into a fruitful
field. Men say, "What wonderful results water has produced!" "What a
great system this irrigation is which you practice!" True, it is a
wonderful system, it is productive of wonderful results; but to my way
of thinking, or according to my views, these results are due to the
blessing of God on the labors of the Latter-day Saints, because they
have honored him by observing the law of tithing. We have looked upon
this land as the Lord's, and have viewed ourselves as his tenants. He
could not come down here in person and receive from us the first
fruits of the soil, or take our cattle, our gold and silver, or any of
our manufactures. Hence there must be somebody to do it for him. In
ancient days the children of Levi acted in this capacity: they
received the [p.151] tithes and offerings, but in these last days,
there being none of the descendents of Aaron that we know of in the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to act in this capacity,
we have been under the necessity of choosing other men to hold the
authority which his seed would hold if they were here in our midst,
and they have been set apart for the purpose of looking after temporal
things, and to take or collect the tithing, and see that it is
properly managed and appropriated to the uses for which it is
designed.

Vol. 15,  p.151
I know how quickly men, in looking at "Mormonism," come to the
conclusion that it is a system by which a certain class will be
benefited and built up. I have heard men say that the "Mormon" Elders
had a pretty good thing of it; that Brigham Young, as President of the
Church, had a very nice arrangement, and that those who were leaders
in the Church had every reason for desiring to retain their position,
imagining, of course—though I do not know why such an imagination
should be prompted unless it was because they judged us as they judged
one another—that all the means that is devoted by the people for the
payment of tithing is appropriated by President Young and those
associated with him in conducting the affairs of the Church.

Vol. 15,  p.151
Now I would not, as a speculation, endure for one month, that which
President Young has to pass through—the care, responsibility, obloquy,
and the weight that rests upon him continually, for the sake of the
tithing alone, if I could have it all. He would not, no other man who
is connected with this people would. Why do they endure that which
they pass through? Because, by the revelations of God, they know that
God has established his Church once more in its fullness upon the
earth, because they know that angels have come from heaven to earth,
because they know that the holy priesthood has been again bestowed
upon man, with the authority to administer in the ordinances of God's
house, as in ancient days; and because this work is established by the
commandment of tied, and they are called by his command to labor in
it. But there is one advantage which this unbelieving generation have
over those which have preceded us, and I think, in view of the
selfishness which prevails to-day in the midst of mankind, it is a
wise provision. If there had been a tribe set apart in this generation
to receive the tithing, I do not know but what the people, universally
almost, would have rebelled against it. If there had been a privileged
class to receive the tithing, the unbelief and selfishness of man
would have prompted them to find great fault with it. But there is
this peculiarity about the work in these days—not only do the people
pay their tithing, but the ministers of life and salvation pay
theirs—if they do not they should do, and I believe they degas
punctually as the humblest member of the Church, from President Young
down—his Counsellors, the Quorum of the Twelve, the Bishops of the
Church, every faithful man pays his tithing, the highest in the Church
as well as he whose name is scarcely known beyond the narrow circle in
which he moves; and, instead of the tithing going to sustain a class,
as it did in ancient days the tribe of Levi, or the priests, it goes
to build up the work of God—to erect temples and in various other
ways. Thousands and thousands of dollars have been spent in sustaining
the poor, and there is no class of men sustained in the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the [p.152] tithing. There is
this difference between ministers in this Church and ministers in
other churches; ministers in this church have to labor for their own
support; but in other churches they are supported wholly by the
people. On this account—in Massachusetts, if I remember
aright—ministers are not allowed to be elected to the legislature;
they are regarded as men unfit for the practical duties of life. Men
who devote themselves exclusively to the service of their churches go
into their studies, read and fix up their sermons, and, on the Sabbath
day, they deliver their written, prepared discourses to their
congregations, and they are the most impractical men connected with
their churches. the ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is in direct and striking contrast with this. The
leaders of this Church are the most practical men in it. The President
of this Church is the most practical man connected with the body. His
Counselors, the Twelve Apostles and the leading Elders and Bishops are
all distinguished for being practical men—men perfectly capable of
doing everything connected with a life in these mountains—men who are
able to sustain themselves and to help to sustain others. Our theory
is that a man who can not sustain himself and also teach others how to
sustain themselves is unfit for a leading position, and he becomes a
drone in the great hive. On that account we compel or require every
minister in this Church to sustain himself. Jesus said that he who is
greatest among you let him be the servant of all, and we have carried
this into effect—the servant of the whole people is the President of
the Church. The man who is the greatest servant in a settlement is the
President of the settlement, or the Bishop of a ward. He lives for the
people, his time is devoted to their service, looking after their
interests, that is, if he does right and magnifies his calling. Is
there a helpless man in a ward? He becomes the object of the Bishop's
solicitude and care. Is there a family in indigenece? Then they are
the wards of the Bishop, and he looks after them, and visits them or
sees that his teachers do, and that their wants are supplied. By this
means the ministry in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
is an active one, carrying the blessings of spiritual and temporal
salvation into the midst of the people.

Vol. 15,  p.152
It has been by the labors of such men that this community has been
founded, and this once barren desert changed into a fruitful field and
made to blossom as the rose. Through the labors of the Apostles,
Elders and Bishops of this Church, settlements have been extended to
the remotest bounds of the Territory, north, south, east and west.
They have been the pioneers in all great labors, not saying to the
people, "Give us of your wealth and substance, we want to be sustained
in idleness, that we may rule over you;" but on the contrary they have
said, "Come, brethren, let us go and accomplish this labor that God
has laid upon us." They have been the pioneers in all these
labors—these Apostles, Presidents, Bishops, Dignitaries, these men who
are supposed to fatten on the labors of the people. Instead of doing
that, they have been the creators of the wealth that the people now
enjoy; they have been the fathers of the people, the people have been
the objects of their paternal care from the beginning until to-day. I
would not give a fig for a leading man who would not act in this
capacity; he is worth nothing, [p.153] and deserves no place in the
midst of the people of God. Men to save their fellow-men and to be
ministers of Jesus Christ must have the spirit of Jesus. His spirit
was one of self sacrifice, one that prompted him to go forth and save
the people, not to be a burden upon them, not to crush them. That is
priestcraft; and wherever that system prevails a system of despicable
priestcraft prevails, and God is angry with it and with those who
practice it.

Vol. 15,  p.153
I have said that I thank God for the revelation of this principle. I
do, for this reason—it appeals directly to man's selfishness. It makes
men sacrifice their selfish feelings, and causes them to show faith in
God. If a man has not faith in God he is not very likely to pay
tithing, or make many offerings. To use a common expression, he looks
after "number one," and self-interest rules him. Such a man is an
unworthy member of the Church of Christ. But when every man pays his
tithing and witnesses unto God that that law is honorable in his
sight, what is the result? Is anybody impoverished by it? No. Are we
as Latter-day Saints any poorer because of the tithing we have paid?
Not one cent. When that tithing is properly appropriated it is
expended in works which add to the wealth of the entire community. It
contributes to the erection of public edifices; it adorns those
edifices, and creates a fund that is exclusively devoted to the work
of God, and that helps to build up and to make the community
prosperous and respectable in the earth. It is a mighty engine, or
would be if properly wielded, in establishing righteousness and truth
in the earth, for let me say, brethren and sisters, that a warfare has
been commenced in the earth, and it has been waged for a long series
of years, speaking according to the length of a man's life; and that
warfare or contest is for this earth, and it is between God and Satan.

Vol. 15,  p.153
Men wonder why it is that the "Mormon" community, with their good
qualities, their love of temperance and good order, and whose members
conduct themselves with such propriety, are so hated. it has been
frequently remarked to our Elders—"You are a pretty good man, I would
not take you to be a 'Mormon,' I would think you are a man of too much
intelligence to be a Latter-day Saint," as though, to be a member of
this Church a man must be an ignoramus, stupid blockhead, knave or
feel in the estimation of those not of our faith. God has not chosen
that kind of a people, he has chosen intelligent people, and he will
give them greater intelligence. But, the reason we are hated is
this—and it is the same reason that Jesus and his Apostles were
hated—we have the truth, because we have received the revelations of
God, and because, in singleness of purpose, we are endeavoring to
build up the kingdom of God. Let any other people do what we have done
and they would be lauded to the skies. Let any other man do what our
leader has done and his fame, as a benefactor of his race, would be
worldwide. But our labors are only an additional reason for hating us
and for warring against us. It is, as I have said, because there is a
warfare in the world, and it will not end until God is victorious and
the earth is redeemed from sin.

Vol. 15,  p.153
I will revert now to the contrast there is between our desert land and
the lands from which we came. Our people were organized in the State
of New York—a most fruitful State. From New York they moved to Ohio,
another most fruitful State. From Ohio they moved to Missouri,[p.154]
the garden, it might be said, of the United States; and from Missouri
to Illinois—all rich and productive States. What is the result of our
removals? We came to a land that was a barren, uninviting desert, and
what are the remarks of visitors who come here now from the lands we
formerly lived in? They wonder how it is that our fruit trees are so
healthy, and that our land is so inviting. I honestly believe, if the
people of the United States would observe this law of tithing,
devoting a tenth of their substance to the service of the Most High,
that instead of this land being in many respects so superior, the
fertility which formerly prevailed there would be restored. And when
the day shall come, as come it will, when we shall go back—and we
expect to go back to Jackson County, Missouri, and to lay the
foundation of a temple, and to build a great city to be called the
centre stake of Zion, as much as we expect to see the sun rise
to-morrow; I say when that day shall come it will be found that that
country will have its old fertility restored, and that and all the
lands that the people of God will occupy will be healthy and fruitful;
and the land of any people who will honor God by obeying this law of
tithing will be made fruitful to them, God will bless their industry,
and they will rejoice and prosper therein.

Vol. 15,  p.154
There are many things connected with this subject that might be
touched upon. One thing I will mention before I sit down, and that is
the growing tendency among this people to look after their own
interests and to neglect the interests of the work of God. This remark
has often been made to us: "When you Latter-day Saints increase in
wealth, are surrounded by the fashions of the world, and the waves of
civilization surge against your walls of barbarism, all your
peculiarities will recede and melt away, and you will become like
other people. Your plural system will disappear, for no man can
sustain half a dozen wives if they are fashionable women, and no more
than one." I have heard this time and time again; and it is true that
young men in the east will not marry because of the expense, they do
not want to take a wife because they can not sustain her according to
the requirements of modern society. Now, there is a good deal of truth
in this statement. If I thought we would become subject to the follies
that now prevail I would have fears concerning the work of God and its
perpetuity on the earth. If I thought that this people would lust
after wealth, and that they would allow their feelings and their
hearts to become set on the accumulation of money, and that they would
think more of that than they do of God and his work, I would fear for
its perpetuity. But God has said this work shall stand for ever, and
that it shall not be given into the hands of another people, and on
that account I do not entertain any fears as to the result. But there
are individuals in this community who have given way to these feelings
about tithing. When men are poor, it is noticed that they are punctual
in paying it, but when they increase in wealth it is less so. For
instance, when a man has ten thousand dollars it looks a big pile to
give one thousand as tithing. If a man's tithing amounted to no more
than five, ten, twenty, or even a hundred dollars, says he, "I can
give that, but a thousand is a great amount," and when called upon to
give a thousand, no, I will not say "called upon," the difficulty is
we ate not called upon enough, there has been neglect in calling upon
us; but when it comes [p.155] to this, why a thousand dollars looks
like a very large sum, and the party whose duty it is to pay it is apt
to hesitate and feel reluctance, and he perhaps says, "I can invest
this thousand dollars in such and such a way, and it will produce so
much interest, and I will pay it then;" and he allows himself to be
satisfied with this course.

Vol. 15,  p.155
There is this remarkable fact connected with tithing in our midst. You
are all familiar with the apostacy of some of our leading
merchants—men who dealt in merchandize and who, for years, by their
exorbitant prices literally fleeced the people of their means. This
was before the construction of the railroads. Well, it was predicted
yeats before, that sooner or later they would deny the faith and leave
the Church. It was easily understood that no man could remain in the
Church, if it was a pure Church, and practice a system of extortion on
his brethren, and the prediction was made, and strange as it may
seem—though it is not strange to those who understand the working of
these things—it was fullfilled to the very letter, and those men did
deny the faith, and they are now opponents of that work which they
once testified they knew to be true; and an examination of the tithing
records would show this remarkable fact—that some of them did not pay
their tithing as they should have done. Those who have prospered most
are they who paid their tithing honestly. And I have noticed it, as an
individual, that when men close up their hearts in this direction, and
neglect their tithing, and their offerings on fast days for the
benefit of the poor, they lose their faith. This is one evidence of
the loss of faith and confidence in the work.

Vol. 15,  p.155
I will tell you how I feel now, if I were to be tempted in this
direction, I would say, "Mr. Devil, I have no lot or part with you. I
will pay my tithing, and if you say anything I will double it. I know
that there is a blessing attending this. I know God prospers those who
are strict and punctual in attending to this. I know he blesses those
who feed the poor, clothe the naked and attend to the wants of their
indigent brethren and sisters. I should deplore the increase of wealth
in our midst if it created class distinctions, if it should create a
feeling that, "I am better than thou, because I wear a finer coat,
dwell in a better house, ride in a finer carriage and have finer
horses, or because my children are better schooled and better dressed
than yours." I should deplore the increase of wealth among us if such
results were witnessed. I should expect the anger of God would be
kindled against us, and that we should be scourged as a people until
we repented in deep humility before him.

Vol. 15,  p.155
God has bestowed upon us the earth and the elements in and around it,
and he has given us them for our good. There is no sin in taking the
wool from the sheep's back and spinning and manufacturing it into fine
broadcloth. There is no sin in planting mulberry trees and feeding
silkworms and making fine dresses and ribbons with the silk which they
produce. There is no sin in spinning the flax and making fine linen of
it. There is no sin in taking the dyes that abound in nature and dying
these silks and other fabrics in the most beautiful manner. There is
no sin in digging gold and ornamenting our service with it, and in
covering our tables in the Lord's house therewith. There is no sin in
taking silver and making furniture for the Lord's house. There is no
sin in making fine carriages, and in painting [p.156] and fitting them
up in the most exquisite manner. There is no sin in having a noble
race of horses, or a fine breed of cattle. There is no sin in building
houses and decorating them, having fine furniture, carpets, mirrors,
baths, heating apparatus and every appliance and convenience of modern
civilization therein. There is no sin in all this, or in any blessing
God has given us, but there is sin in abusing these things. There is
sin in being lifted up in pride because God has bestowed them upon us.
There is sin in thinking, "I am better than another man who is created
out of the dust of the earth, as I am; who is a child of God, as I am;
who came from God, as I did, and who will go to God as I hope to do."
Brethren and sisters, there is no sin in having what I have named. We
may have fine houses, fine gardens or orchards, glorious temples, a
fine land, and we may make our homes heavenly places, and fit for
angels to visit, and there is nothing wrong in all this, neither in
adorning the bodies God has given unto us, if our hearts are tremble
before him, and we glorify him in our lives. But this is the great
difficulty and has been from the beginning. When wealth multiplies the
people get lifted up in the pride of their hearts, and they look down
on their poor brethren and despise them, because they are better
educated, have better manners, and speak better language—in a word,
because they have advantages which their poor brethren and sisters
have not. There is sin in this, and God is angry with a people. who
take this course. He wants us to be equal in earthly things, as we are
in heavenly. He wants no poor among his people; he does not want the
cry of the oppressed to ascend from the midst of the Latter-day
Saints, and God forbid that it ever should! God forbid that the cry of
any should ever ascend from the midst of the Latter-day Saints because
of oppression or because of the lack of any blessing necessary for
comfort! God wants us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and impart
our substance for their support. But he does not want the poor to envy
the rich. That is just as great a sin on their part as for the rich to
oppress them. They must not envy the rich; they must not look on their
brethren and sisters and envy them that which they have. That is
sinful, that is wrong, and the man or woman who indulges in it,
indulges in a wrong spirit. God wants us to build each other up in
righteousness. He wants us to love one another and to seek one
another's benefit. This is the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
He has revealed it unto us, and we must cultivate it.

Vol. 15,  p.156
I look upon this law of tithing as an equitable law: it comes alike
upon the rich and the poor. the poor person who pays his ten dollars
tithing gives as much in proportion as the richest man in the
community. The rich gives no more than a tenth, and the poorest gives
no less. We are all alike, then, in this respect when we observe this
law of tithing; and it should be strictly observed by us, if we want
the blessings of God to rest upon us.

Vol. 15,  p.156
I have thought, I do not know how truly, that of late there has been a
disposition among the Latter-day Saints to be penurious in this
respect. It has seemed to me that with the increase of God's blessings
around us, a disposition has been manifest to be stingy, to withhold
our substance, and to tie up the hands of those who have the great
work to perform. We want to build this temple, and other temples in
other [p.157] parts of our land. We want to fill the land with
temples—houses that shall be dedicated to the Most High God. At the
present time people in St. George and other settlements in that
region—from 350 to 400 miles from this city who wish to be married
according to the order and ordinances that we believe in and view as
necessary, have to make this long journey one way, and the same the
other, making 700 or 800 miles travel, to have the ordinances of God's
house solemnized as we believe they ought to be. What a labor this is!
This has to be obviated.

Vol. 15,  p.157
We are building a temple in Salt Lake City; but this is only one.
There will be doubtless a temple built in St. George, and probably
others in the north, east, west, and throughout the land. Do you think
the tithing is all going to be spent in Salt Lake City? Do you think
that the remote settlements are all going to contribute of their
strength and their increase to build up this city alone? No, this
would not be right: this would be filling the heart and letting the
extremities suffer. The extremities must be sustained. Tithing must be
devoted to the building of temples and places of worship, so that the
Latter-day Saints in every section of the Territory may go and attend
to the ordinances for the living and the dead. We have a mighty work
to do in this connection. God has revealed this law, and, as I have
said, it is a law that works alike upon all. It is not oppressive on
any class, but it is distributed equally upon all classes. Let us
observe it, and all the laws of God, that we may become a blessed
people; that we may increase in wealth, and use that wealth to the
glory of God; that there may be neither pauperism, want, nor ignorance
throughout our entire land, and that the grateful prayers of a blessed
and happy people may ascend from every habitation throughout all these
valleys unto the Lord of hosts, praising his holy name for the
numerous blessings which he has bestowed upon us, for the peace, good
order, union and every other blessing we have received from him. 

Vol. 15,  p.157
That this may be the case is my prayer in the name of Jesus,
Amen.[p.158] 

Brigham Young, October 9, 1872

Saints Should Sustain Themselves—Keep the Commandments—
Abuses—Power of Righteous Combination of Labor

Discourse By President Brigham Young, Delivered at the 
42nd Semi-Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, October 9, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.158
I want to express my feelings to the Latter-day Saints upon certain
points of business which pertain to our welfare, and I wish to do it
without being obliged to raise my voice so high and so loud as to
infringe upon the organs of speech to that degree that I shall have to
stop. If the people will be still, they can hear me in my common voice
perfectly easy. I will not go into all the details with regard to the
duties of the Latter-day Saints, and their desires, as they have
manifested them by gathering out from the world, and assembling
themselves together. They generally understand them, and they can read
for themselves the doctrines of the Church, and the reasons why we are
gathered together. But I wish now to impress on the minds of the
people the necessity of our taking a course to be able to exist and to
sustain ourselves—to have something to eat and wear—hats to put on our
heads, and coats, mantles, blankets, vests, shirts, garments and other
things suitable to wear and to make our bodies comfortable, provided
that the Lord should knock the underpinning from under Babylon. The
time will come when Babylon will fall. If it should fall now, it would
leave us pretty destitute. We would soon wear out our head dresses and
fine clothing, and what should we do? Why, we should be as badly off
as the Saints were when they came into this valley, twenty-five years
ago. They picked up a few buckskins, antelope skins, sheepskins,
buffalo skins, and made leggings and moccasins of them, and wrapped
the buffalo robes around them. Some had blankets and some had not;
some had shirts, and I guess some had not. One man told me that he had
not a shirt for himself or family. If Babylon should happen to tip
over, so that we could not reach out and gather the necessaries of
life, we should be in a bad condition. I want to put you in mind of
these things, and it is my duty to say to the Latter-day Saints that
they should take measures to sustain themselves—they should lay a
foundation for feeding and clothing themselves.

Vol. 15,  p.158
You are well aware that there has been a great deal of money spent in
this Territory to get machinery for the purpose of working up the wool
and cotton, and I think you are pretty well aware that there have been
a great many thousand words spoken to the Latter-day Saints in these
valleys, upon the necessity of raising sheep, though we have had a
tide of opposition against this. Still, [p.159] wool-raising is now
proven to be a success in these mountains, any and all of the Bishops
to the contrary notwithstanding. This is a fine wool growing country,
no better in the world. We have proved this; and we have got a great
deal of machinery. here to work up the wool, most of which is now
standing still for the want of wool. Many of those who have been
prevailed upon to raise sheep, have got so covetous and love money so
well that they must sell their wool for money, and send it out of the
country, in consequence of which the factories are now standing still.
I think there are a few who will recollect that, in the excitement of
purchasing wool here last May, June and July, in many instances I
refused to buy their wool. If I would have paid a little more than
agents from the east, I could have got it; in some instances I got it
for a little less. I bought some and let a good deal go, and told the
people with whom I conversed upon the subject, that I would let the
buying of wool alone until Fall, then I thought I could send east, buy
my wool and ship it back here, and I believe I could get it cheaper
than I could get it then. And it is now verily so, for I can send to
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, or anywhere in the eastern country,
and buy wool and ship it back here from 10 to 30 per cent. cheaper
than I could buy it here last spring. I can send west and buy wool and
ship it here and save a still higher per centage. This is the
difference in the price of wool last spring and the fore part of the
summer, and now what our friends and brethren who own factories will
do with regard to purchasing wool, I am not able to say. Some of them,
probably, are able to buy wool, and quite a number are not, and they
who are not will, in all probability, let their factories stand still.

Vol. 15,  p.159
I want the brethren and sisters to take an interest in sustaining
ourselves here in these mountains. It is the duty of the Bishops to
see that the members of their Wards take a course that will build up
the kingdom of God, not only in providing food and raiment, but see
that the people do their duty with regard to the law of God in
preserving themselves in purity. My mind is now upon those things
which some people call temporal, and I wish to urge them upon the
Latter-day Saints. I want them to save their wool and to keep it in
this Territory. If we have not factories sufficient to work up all the
wool that grows in this Territory, and in these mountains, we will
send and get more machinery, and build more factories, and work up the
wool for the people. It is the duty of those who grow wool to keep it
here. It is the duty of the wife of the man who owns sheep to look to
it, and see that that wool is not sold and carried out of the country.
It is the duty of the Bishops to see these men, and urge upon them the
necessity of keeping the wool in the mountains where it can be worked
up; and the Bishops should set the example themselves. We expect they
do; if they do not, they are not fit for Bishops. It is the duty of
the Bishops to see the wives of these men and their children, that
they may prevail on their greedy, covetous fathers or husbands, who
would sacrifice the prosperity of the kingdom of God for a little
worldly wealth, and see that they do not run distracted or go crazy
over a little money. I say the Bishops should see to it, that these
men who have sheep act like rational, reasonable men. What are you
here for? What did you come for? Virtually you all say you left
Babylon and came here to build up the kingdom of God; but our acts
speak as loud, and a little louder than our [p.160] words can. We
witness to one another and to the Heavens, and to all people, that we
believe in building up the kingdom of God on the earth. There is an
item that ought to be before the Latter-day Saints with regard to the
kingdom as it will be built up. They ought to teach themselves—read
the Scriptures, the Old and New Testament, the prophecies, what the
Savior and his Apostles have said, and what has been delivered to us
in the latter days, and compare them, and then draw their own
conclusions, and see if they are under the necessity of working
temporally, literally, manually, physically for the building up of the
kingdom of heaven. I say that we are or it never will be built up.
With regard to the fundamental facts of our doctrines, we can not show
to any person that we have faith therein, except by our works. If I
were now in the world, and an Elder was to come along and preach, and
I were to go and hear him, the act of walking to the meeting house or
to the private dwelling house, would be manual labor. I might believe
every word such an Elder said in preaching the Gospel, but if I never
took any steps towards fulfilling his requirements who would know
anything about it? Nobody on the face of the earth. Would there be any
manifestation that I had faith? Not the least in the world, and if it
slatted to grow in my heart while listening to the Elder, without
works on my part it would soon die out and cease to exist. If I do
believe, it is a manual labor to get up and say to the people, "I
believe that what this man has said is true." That is an exercise of
the body, and a temporal labor. Well, this Elder says, we should
repent of our sins. I do repent. He says we should obey the Gospel,
and the first thing after having faith or believing it, is to go down
into the waters of baptism, and to do that is a temporal act, physical
labor; and the act of baptism by him is also a temporal act or labor
And so in everything else with regard to the Gospel and the building
up of the kingdom of God on the earth—we must have works or we can not
have faith. I can not divide between the two. The Elder is preaching,
I believe, I confess and obey, and I can not, for my soul, divide the
temporal, the manual, the physical labor from the internal faith and
hope and joy which the spirit gives, and which cause obedience in my
acts.

Vol. 15,  p.160
I wish to make this application right here to the Latter-day Saints.
If we believe that God is about to establish his kingdom upon the
earth, we believe firmly that we have got to perform a manual,
temporal labor to bring this about. If the kingdoms of this world ever
become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, it will be by his
people conforming to the plans instituted for the establishment of a
kingdom here on the earth. You may call it temporal, no matter what it
is called, it is territory, it is dominion. In the first place we must
have territory, then we must have people; and in order to organize
this kingdom, we must have officers and laws to govern or control the
subjects. To make the organization of a kingdom perfect, we must have
every appendage necessary and proper, so that the Savior can come and
reign king of nations as he does king of Saints. We shall be under the
necessity of raising breadstuff, and then we shall want to eat it. We
shall have to raise our fruit as well as eat it; we shall have to
raise our vegetables as well as eat them. We shall be under the
necessity then of making hats, or of going without [p.161] them; we
shall be under the necessity of making clothing—coats; vests, pants,
shirts and so on, or else go without them. We shall be under the
necessity of having courts organized, unless all are in the Lord and
all walk in his way; if that were the case, I do not know that we
should want any sheriff, marshals, constables, magistrates, jurors,
judges or governors, because the word of the Lord would govern and
control every person; but until that time arrives we shall want
officers, so that we will be prepared to reckon with the transgressor,
and we shall have transgressors in building this kingdom, for it will
be some time yet before all are in the Lord. The law is for the
transgressor, consequently we must have officers, and we already have
in this kingdom as now organized all the officers necessary, every
quorum, every organization, every court and authority necessary to
rule all the nations that ever were or ever will be upon the earth, if
they serve God, or try to do so. But if we must have an organization
after the order and wishes of those who are ignorant of the things of
God, we must have political and municipal organizations. Kingdoms are
organized to suit the conditions of the people, whether the government
is that of the people, in the hands of a few individuals, or centred
in one. But the kingdom of heaven, when organized upon the earth, will
have every officer, law and ordinance necessary for the managing of
those who are unruly, or who transgress its laws, and to govern those
who desire to do right, but can not quite walk to the line; and all
these powers and authorities are in existence in the midst of this
people.

Vol. 15,  p.161
Now, we have this kingdom organized here upon the earth, and we shall
be under the necessity, by and by, of understanding this, or we will
be left in a very destitute condition. It is my duty to say to the
people that it is their duty to make their clothing; and permit me to
say, still further, upon the subject of the fashion of cutting cloth
and putting it together again, that it is most useless, unbecoming and
ridiculous. The present custom of many is such that I would as soon
see a squaw go through the streets with a very little on, as to see
clothing piled up until it reaches, perhaps, the top of the hedge or
fence its wearer is passing. If I do not say much about such customs
and fashions, I shall probably skip over some naughty words. In my
feelings they are positively ridiculous, they are so useless and
unbecoming. Do you recollect a fashion there was a few years ago, that
has now nearly ceased, when a woman could not walk through the streets
without holding her clothes two feet in front of her if her arm was
long enough? I shall not say what I thought of those who followed this
fashion. Now it is on the other side, and I do not know but they will
get two humps on their backs, they have one now, and if they get to be
dromedaries it will be no wonder, not the least in the world. I
recollect a fashion of cutting up cloth some forty years ago, that was
very peculiar. A lady would go into a store and say to a merchant, "I
would like to get a dress pattern this morning." "Very well, what will
you have?" "Oh, bring down your goods and show them. This suits pretty
well! I think I will take this." "Madame," says the merchant, "If you
will buy the sleeves, I will give you the dress." This, of course, is
jocosely said. I refer now to what was called the "mutton-legged"
sleeve—by comparison it took seven yards for the sleeves, and [p.162]
three for the dress. That was the way they dressed then. How
unbecoming! How unbecoming it is to see ladies dress as they do in
some places at the present day. Then another fashion is to wear their
dresses short in front, walking through the streets, and a long train
dragging in the dirt behind. How unbecoming! This is not modesty,
gentility, or good taste; it does not belong to a lady at all, but to
an ignorant, extravagant, or vain-minded person, who knows not true
principle. I take the liberty of saying that these fashions are
displeasing in the sight of truth, mercy and justice. It is
displeasing to the Spirit of the Lord for persons to array themselves
in any way whatever that is disgusting to the eye of the pure and the
prudent. There is not a Latter-day Saint nor a Former-day Saint that
ever did, or ever will expect to see any such customs or fashions when
they get into heaven. If they were to see an angel, they would see a
being beautifully but modestly dressed, white, comely and nice to look
upon.

Vol. 15,  p.162
I would like to advise the Latter-day Saints to avoid, these foolish
customs and habits. Let them pass by and not follow them; they do not
belong to us. I would like to repeat to the ladies What we have said
hundreds and thousands of times—they should make their own
head-dresses and fashions, independent of all the rest of the
inhabitants of the earth. Pay no attention to what others do, it is no
matter what they do, or how they dress. Latter-day Saints should dress
in that plain, neat, comely manner that will be pleasing and prudent,
in every sense of the word, before the Lord, and try and please him
that we serve, the Being that we acknowledge as our God. Not
flaunting, flirting and gossiping, as a great many are, and thinking
continually of their dresses, and of this, that and the other that
will minister to and gratify their vanity. Such women seldom think of
their prayers.

Vol. 15,  p.162
I am extending my remarks much longer than I intended. But how is it
about the Word of Wisdom? Do we observe it? We should do, and preserve
ourselves in all things holy before the Lord. How is it about keeping
the Sabbath day? We have some articles that we would like to read
here, but the people have them to read at their leisure. We should
observe the Ten Commandments, for instance, that were given to Moses.
If we do that, we shall be a pretty good people. But there is nothing
in those commandments about building factories and raising wool, for
the children of Israel, at the time they were given, were in a
condition that they did not need factories, they did not need to raise
wool. If they had goats and sheep with them, they made mutton, and
tanned the skins probably, but I do not know what they did with them.
It appears that their clothing did not wax old, and they probably had
no need to spin or weave. But we have need to, we have got to make our
own clothing, or to get it some other way—buy it or else go without
it; and we ought to keep the Word of Wisdom, and keep the Sabbath day
holy, and preserve ourselves in the integrity of our hearts before
God.

Vol. 15,  p.162
I want to ask if the people pay their tithing? Bishops, do the people
of your wards pay their tithing? I will answer the question for you
and say, No, they do not. Some people in modern times shudder at the
word tithing—it is a term they are not used to. They are used to
sustaining Priests, to donating for building meeting houses, and
administering to those who wait at the table of the [p.163] Lord, or
that do their preaching and praying for them. And this is done by
subscription, donation, and passing the plate, hat or basket, but the
word "tithing" is frightful to them. I like the term, because it is
scriptural, and I would rather use it than any other. The Lord
instituted tithing, it was practiced in the days of Abraham, and Enoch
and Adam and his children did not forget their tithes and offerings.
You can read for yourselves with regard to what the Lord requires. Now
do the Latter-day Saints pay their tithing? They do not. I want to say
this much to those who profess to be Latter-day Saints—If we neglect
our tithes and offerings we will receive the chastening hand of the
Lord We may just as well count on this first as last. If we neglect to
pay our tithes and offerings we will neglect other things, and this
will grow upon us until the Spirit of the Gospel is entirely gone from
us, and we are in the dark, and know not whither we are going.

Vol. 15,  p.163
It is the duty of the Bishops to see that their wards pay tithing. But
we have Bishops who are not reliable—men, for instance, who will take
tithing grain when it brings a good price in cash, and when good beef
is bringing cash they are so kind to their wards, and especially to
their sons, that if a son has got a parcel of wild horses on the
prairies that are not worth a yearling calf a head, they will say to
him, "Drive up your wild horses, my boy, I will trade with you, and
let you have neat stock, yearlings, or two years or three years old,
or wheat that is in the tithing bin, I will take your horses. I will
send down word to the General Tithing office, that there are so many
horses here belonging to the tithing office." Such horses are a curse
to us, or I can say they have been to me as an individual. I have
raised stock enough to supply this whole Territory, if they had been
taken care of. But they were like the Indian's boy. The missionary had
been telling him that if he brought up a child in the way he should
go, when he was old he would not depart from it. But the old chief has
got it, just about as it is, and said he, "Yes, bring up a child, and
away he goes;" and this is the way the horses go. And as for the neat
stock, if any of it ever gets out of my sight that I do not know where
it is, and can not send and get it, I always calculate that a thief
will have it. I never trouble myself to look after it, there are too
many men riding on the prairies with their blankets behind them, and
their dinner in their blanket, and their lassoes with them to hunt up
all the stock there is. This wild stock that is turned in on tithing
is a curse to us. And where does the wheat go to? I am not disposed
to, but I could tell names of Bishops who have taken our tithing wheat
out of the bins and it has been sold by them or their families. And
they have taken our stock that we wanted here for beef to feed the
public lands, and traded it off for wild horses. This is a pretty hard
saying, but it is true, and I could tell their names it I were obliged
to.

Vol. 15,  p.163
If the people will pay their tithing, we will go and do the work that
is required of us. It is very true that the poor pay their tithing
better than the rich do. If the rich would pay their tithing we should
have plenty. The poor are faithful and prompt in paying their tithing,
but the rich can hardly afford to pay theirs—they have too much. If a
man is worth enough that be would have a thousand dollars to pay, it
pinches him. If he has only ten dollars he can pay one; if he has only
one dollar he can pay ten cents; it does not hurt [p.164] him at all.
If he has a hundred dollars he can possibly pay ten. If he has a
thousand dollars he looks over it a little and says, "I guess I will
pay it; it ought to be paid any how;" and he manages to pay his ten
dollars or his hundred dollars. But suppose a man is wealthy enough to
pay ten thousand, he looks that over a good many times, and says, "I
guess I will wait until I get a little more, and then I will pay a
good deal." And they wait and wait, like an old gentleman in the east;
he waited and waited and waited to pay his tithing until he went down,
I guess, to hell, I do not know exactly; but he went to hades, which
we call hell. He went out of the world, and this is the way with a
great many. They wait and continue waiting, until, finally, the
character comes along who is called Death, and he slips up to them and
takes away their breath, then they are gone and cannot pay their
tithing, they are too late, and so it goes.

Vol. 15,  p.164
Now this is finding fault with the rich, and I am going to find fault
with the poor by and by. But if we will pay our tithing we will be
blessed; if we refuse to do so the chastening hand of the Lord will be
upon this people, just as sure as we are here. You may say I am
threatening you Take it just as you please. I do not care. You may
grease it and swallow it, or swallow it without greasing, just as you
have a mind to. It is true, and we will find it so.

Vol. 15,  p.164
Will the Latter-day Saints pay their tithing? Will they keep the
Sabbath day holy? Will they deal justly with their neighbors? In my
own feelings I excuse a great many naughty things that are done in our
midst. I know that men and women brought up in different countries
come here with their prejudices, and with the instincts which they
have had bred in and born with them, and which have grown up with
them; and many of these traits of character are obnoxious to others
brought up under other circumstances. These traditions cling to the
people, and cause them to do many things which they would not do if
they had been differently taught. Their morals have not been looked
after in their youth and as prudently preserved as they should have
been. Children should be taught honesty, and they should grow up with
the feeling within them that they should never take a pin that is not
their own; never displace anything, but always put everything in its
place. If they find anything seek for the owner. If there is anything
of their neighbor's going to waste, put it where it will not waste,
and be perfectly honest one with another. Take the world of mankind
and they are not overstocked with honesty. I have proved that. In my
youth I have seen men, who were considered good, clever, honest men,
who would take the advantage of their neighbors or workmen if they
could. I have seen deacons, Baptists, Presbyterians, members of the
Methodist church, with long, solid, sturdy faces and a poor brother
would come along and say to one of them, "Brother, such-a-one, I have
come to see if I could get a bushel of wheat, rye or corn of you. I
have no money, but I will come and work for you in harvest," and their
faces would be drawn down so mournful, and they would say, "I have
none to spare." "Well, deacon, if you can let me have one bushel, I
understand you have considerable, I will come and work for you just as
long as you say, until you are satisfied, in your harvest field, or
haying or anything you want done."[p.165] 

Vol. 15,  p.165
After much talk this longfaced character would get it out, "If you
will come and work for me two days in harvest, I do not know but I
will spare you a bushel of rye."

Vol. 15,  p.165
When the harvest time comes the man could have got two bushels of rye
for one day's work; but the deacon sticks him to his bargain, and
makes him work two days for a bushel of wheat or rye. I used to think
a good deal, but seldom spoke about any such thing, for I was brought
up to treat everybody with that respect and courtesy that I could
hardly allow myself to think aloud, and consequently very seldom did
so. I thought enough of such religion, at any rate, that such
Christians called me an infidel, because I could not swallow such
things, but I could not if they had been greased over with fresh
butter. I did not read the Bible as they read it; and as for there
being Bible Christians, I knew there were none; and it their religion
was the religion they liked, said I, "Just go your own way, I want
none of it" I wanted no religion that produced such morals. 

Vol. 15,  p.165
If we pay our tithing, and begin to live a little stricter than we
have heretofore, in our fairly, cease to break the Sabbath, cease to
spend our time in idleness, cease to be dishonest and to meddle with
that which is not our own, cease to deceive and to speak evil of cue
another, and learn the commandments of the Lord, and do them, we shall
be blessed. 

Vol. 15,  p.165
Suppose we should say to a few of the Latter-day Saints, if we could
find those who would answer the purpose, "How would you like to build
up a stake of Zion, a little city of Enoch? How would you like this?
Would you like to enter into a covenant, and into bonds, according to
the law of our land, and let us bind ourselves together to go into a
systematic co-operative system, not only in merchandizing, but in
farming and in all mechanical work, and in every trade and business
there is; and we will classify the business throughout, and we will
gather together a few hundred families, and commence and keep the law
of God, and preserve ourselves in purity. How would the Latter-day
Saints like it? Do you think there could any be found who would be
willing to do this?" Let me say to you, my brethren, I have a very
fine place to start such a society as this that would probably sustain
from five to ten thousand persons. I would like to make a deed of this
property to such a society, and enter into a covenant with men of God
and women of God that we would go to and show the world and show the
Latter-day Saints how to build up a city of Zion, and how to increase
intelligence among the people, how to walk circumspectly before our
God and before one another, and classify every branch of labor, taking
advantage of every improvement, and of all the learning in the world,
and direct the labor of men and women, and see what it would produce;
follow it out for ten years, and then look at the result. Our friends
who visit us here say that we have done a good work, and we bear
testimony that we have been greatly prospered. It is true that most of
the people in this house came here like myself comparatively naked and
barefoot. I left all I had in the States. I say all—no. I had some
wives and children whom I brought along with me. Some of them had
shoes to their feet, some had not; some had bonnets, some had none.
Some of my children had clothing, and some had very little; and we
took up our line of march and left all. I believe for [p.166] some
four pretty nice brick houses, and a nice large farm, timber land and
so on, I got one span of little horses and a carriage worth about a
hundred dollars, the horses were worth about sixty dollars apiece, the
harness about twenty. I think that was everything I got for my
property. We came here and we have been prospered and blessed. If I
had the privilege of living with a community that would do as I say
for ten years, I would show them that our blessings now, in a temporal
point of view, have been but as a drop to the bucketful. But would we
bear this? Would our feelings submit to this? Would we not want to go
and serve the devil if the Lord were to heap riches upon us? We see
that what he does now makes melt covetous, they can not even pay their
tithing. Well, do we get all that we want? No, each man wants it all,
and as long as this is the case with us, I think the saying common
among the boys in my youth will be good—"Every man for himself, the
devil for us all." Just as long as every man works for himself we are
not the Lord's; we are not Christ's, we are not his disciples in this
point of view, at any rate. If we had faith to be baptized, we do not
carry out the principles of the salvation that he has wrought out for
us. He is going to set up his kingdom—a literal, temporal kingdom. It
will be a kingdom of priests by and by If we had been willing to fully
capri out the rules of the kingdom, followed counsel, and worked
together for twenty-five years past, the blessings we have received
are not a drop in the bucket to what we would hay received.

Vol. 15,  p.166
Some twelve or fifteen years I labored faithfully with our merchant
here, before I could get them to break through that everlasting
covetous crust that was over them, and consent to operate together in
merchandizing so as to give the people a chance with us. And it was
the design and the feeling of men here, belonging to the Church, to
aggrandize themselves and to monopolise to themselves the wealth of
the community. And if another one sprang up and had good luck they
would take him into the corps, into their fellowship, and he would
belong to the order, and that was to make a few rich, and grind down
and make every other man poor. That was the design, no question of it.
But I determined with God and the good to help me that I would break
that everlasting covetous crust and I succeeded at last. Are we making
enough in our mercantile business here now? Yes, we are making all we
should make. I suppose a great many would like to know how we are
doing. It would be no harm for me to tell you perhaps that, the last
six months, the Board of Directors of Zion's Co-operative Mercantile
Institution are able to declare a dividend of ten per cent., with five
per cent. in reserve, which is added to the capital stock, and is as
good as money. That is good enough for me, it yields some thirty per
cent per annum.

Vol. 15,  p.166
If we would work together in our farming, in our mechanism, be
obedient and work as a family for the good of all, it would be almost
impossible for anybody to guess the success we would have. But we have
got to do it in the Lord. We must not do it with a covetous heart.
Always be ready and willing that the Lord should have it all, and do
what he pleases with it. I have asked a favor of the Lord in this
thing, and that is not to place me in such circumstances that what he
has given me shall go into the hands of our [p.167] enemies. God
forbid that! But let it go for the preaching of the Gospel to sustain
and to gather the poor, to build factories, make farms, and set the
poor to work, as I have hundreds and thousands that had not anything
to do. I have fed and clothed them and taken care of them until they
have become comparatively independent. I have made no man poor, but
thousands and thousands rich, that is, the Lord has, through your
humble servant.

John Taylor, May 26, 1872

Things of God Revealed Only By the Spirit 
of God—Development of the Work of God, Etc.

Discourse By Elder John Taylor, Delivered in 
the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, May 26, 1872. 

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.167
I am pleased to have the privilege of meeting with the Saints in this
place, and of speaking to them such things as the Lord may place in my
mind to communicate. I am well aware that I do not know how to speak,
and that you do not know how to hear, unless we are all under the
influence and guidance of the Spirit of the living God. We are
spiritual beings, and liberal and temporal beings; we have to do with
time and eternity, and, as we can know nothing about eternity and
nothing about God only as he shall reveal it unto us, it follows as a
necessary consequence that all the theories, ideas and dogmas of men
can be of no avail in instructing the human family in things
pertaining to God and eternity. This holds good in regard to all of
our affairs in lite, whether it be the life that now is Or the life
that is to come. We know very little about the world we live in. We
know very little about ourselves, about our own bodies, about the
spirit and mind of man, or the operation of the Spirit of God upon
that spirit and mind, and much less about eternity, about God and
heaven, and about the designs and purposes of the Almighty; and it is
folly for man, unaided and undirected by the Almighty, to attempt to
teach things pertaining to the kingdom of God or to the welfare and
happiness of the human family. We, as human beings, and especially as
Latter-day Saints, who have given some attention to these matters, and
feel ourselves identified with the Church and kingdom of God upon the
earth, have ideas that differ very materially from those of the world,
and, that difference may be traced to the influence and operation of
the Spirit of God upon our minds through obedience to [p.168] the
first principles of the Gospel of Christ; for, while the world of
mankind generally have repudiated the order of God and the
institutions of his house, we as believers in him and in the
establishment of his kingdom upon the earth in these latter days,
occupy a very different position from that of the rest of the world.

Vol. 15,  p.168
The Scriptures definitely inform us that no man knoweth the things of
God but by the Spirit of God. The Gospel teaches us how we may obtain
a knowledge of that Spirit, and that is, by repenting of our sins,
being baptized in the name of Jesus for their remission, and having
hands laid upon us for the reception of the Holy Ghost. And as we have
complied with the first principles of the Gospel of Christ and
partaken of the Holy Ghost, we have had some slight manifestations of
the will, designs and purposes of the Almighty in relation to us, to
those who have lived before us, and those who shall come after us; in
relation to the worlds that are and that are to come. I say that we
have had some slight idea of these things, and that it has originated
from the peculiar position that we occupy through our obedience to the
first principles of the Gospel of Christ Other men do not—can
not—comprehend things as we do; they have not the means of
demonstrating the truth of the Gospel as we have, not having complied
with its first principles. That which is light, intelligence,
intelligent, happifying and glorious to us, is confusion and darkness
to them. They can not conceive of it; they can not comprehend the laws
of life, nor understand anything pertaining to the kingdom of God. I
do not care what intelligence they may possess in regard to other
matters; I do not care how profoundly learned they may be in the arts
and sciences of the world; they may have studied mathematics, examined
the physiology of the human system, and may have made themselves
acquainted with geology, mineralogy, and the structure of the earth on
which we live, and of the planetary system and the motion of worlds
with which we are surrounded; they may have made themselves acquainted
with history, geology, botany, law, physics, literature and theology,
and all this knowledge, and much more than this, and if they are not
in possession of the Holy Ghost, the principle of revelation, the
light of eternal truth, they can not comprehend the kingdom of God.

Vol. 15,  p.168
You have all read about Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night. Nicodemus
thought there was something good about Jesus, but there was not enough
manhood about himself. He was something of a sneak, the same as you
sometimes see some men now. He wanted to come to Jesus, but he had not
manhood to do so by daylight, so he came by night—under cover of
darkness, and said he, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come
from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except,
God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom
of God." Nicodemus did not understand this, and he said unto Jesus,
"How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God." He could not even see the
kingdom of God unless he was born of water, and he could not enter
into it unless he was born of water and of the Spirit.[p.169] 

Vol. 15,  p.169
This was the statement of Jesus, and it may account for the singular
feeling we see manifested among the children of men towards us as a
people. Men of ability and learning will come into our midst and say,
"You have a remarkably fine country here, and you have exhibited a
large amount of intelligence, industry and perseverance. We donor know
anything about your religion, nor about its principles. We were
inclined to think unfavorably of it from the many reports we heard
abroad concerning you; but now that we see your order, diligence,
perseverance, improvements your beautiful cities and villages, your
railroads and the various enterprises you have engaged in; when we see
your freedom from the vices which generally prevail in the world, we
think there is something peculiar about it, but what it is we do not
know." They can not see the kingdom of God—they have not been born of
water, that is the trouble with them. I frequently talk with ministers
of various denominations on these subjects, but they are as blind as
bats—they do not know anything about them. They can talk about
politics and history, and they can discourse philosophically on
various branches of art and science, but when you come to the kingdom
of God they are egregiously ignorant, and they fulfill the words of
Jesus, that no man can see that kingdom unless he is born again.

Vol. 15,  p.169
Take a retrospective view of the history of this people. See their
position and the position of the Church and kingdom of God, years ago
and now, and then look at the things to come; talk of the kingdom as
it was, as it is, and as it will be. There is something great,
magnificent, and glorious to reflect upon—something which every
Latter-day Saint, who has his mind lit up with the Spirit,
intelligence and revelation which flow from God, admires; and he feels
to say in his heart, as one said in former days: "Let this people be
my people, let their God be my God; where they live let me live also,
and where they die let me be buried; and let me be their associate and
mingle with them in time and in eternity. This is the kind of feeling
that the Spirit of God imparts to every Latter-day Saint who lives his
religion and keeps the commandments of God.

Vol. 15,  p.169
We are engaged in a work that God has set his hand to accomplish, and
he has made use of us as instruments, and he will also use others who
shall yet be gathered, to build up his kingdom, and to introduce
correct principles of every kind—principles of morality, social
principles, good political principles; principles relative to the
government of the earth we live in; principles of salvation pertaining
to ourselves and our progenitors and to our posterity, and pertaining
to the world that was, that is and that is to come; and as I said, he
is using us as instruments. it is true that we blunder and stumble; it
is true that we are surrounded with all the weaknesses and infirmities
of human nature, but with all our weaknesses and foibles clinging to
us the Lord has called us from the nations of the earth to be his
co-adjutors and co-laborers, his fellow-work-men and assistants, in
rolling forth his purposes and bringing to pass those things that he
designed before the world was. It is true that the Lord made man
perfect, but man has found out many inventions, and he is very much
degenerated, and is all the time prone to weakness, corruption, folly
and vanity, and God knows it, and he knew it when he selected us. But
what could he do? He could not select angels to associate with [p.170]
him in regentrating the earth and its inhabitants, for they were not
very proper associates. He had to select just such beings as there
were, and in the first place he revealed himself from the heavens to
Joseph Smith. He made known to him some of the first principles of the
Gospel of Christ, and then unfolded unto him certain things pertaining
to the organization of the Church of God upon the earth, the Church in
its organization, with Presidents, Apostles, High Priests, Seventies,
Bishops and their councils, high councils, for their instruction and
guidance, and with teachers, priests and deacons, and so forth. He
organized his Church here upon the earth, and revealed unto these
various quorums their several duties, and placed upon them certain
responsibilities, told them what they were, and revealed unto Joseph
Smith all things pertaining to the first organization of his kingdom
upon the earth. He told his disciples, as Jesus told his, to go forth
without purse or scrip, to preach the Gospel to every nation and
kindred and people and tongue—to call upon them to repent of their
sins, to be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of their
sins, to have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy
Ghost; to lay hands upon the sick and to cast out devils, just as
Jesus told his disciples to do; and said he: "Freely you have
received, freely give." "Go without purse or scrip, trust in me, I am
your father, I am the God and father of all the spirits of all flesh.
I have you under my special control, I will stand by, I will sustain
you, my spirit shall go with you, mine angels shall go before you to
prepare the way for you." This is what he told Joseph Smith, and the
Elders went forth, according to the word that God had given them, and
they told you and told others to repent of your sins and be baptized
in the name of Jesus for the remission of them. And what then? You
should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which should take of the
things of God and show them unto you; it should unveil the heavens to
one, give the spirit of prophecy to another, the gift of
interpretation to another, the gift of healing to another, and so
forth, the Spirit dividing to each man severally as he saw fit.

Vol. 15,  p.170
These Elders went forth and preached to you Latter-day Saints now
before me, this very Gospel I have been laying before you, and there
was something in your spirit ready to receive it. You could not tell
why or wherefore, but you believed it to be a message sent from God,
and you went forth into the waters of baptism and were baptized, and
you received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and you then knew for
yourselves of the truth of that doctrine which God had committed unto
them; and you, in turn, were ordained, and you also went forth to
preach the same Gospel, with the same results, for you saw the power
of God manifested, You saw the sick healed, and the power of God
attend your ministrations. You saw the same leap for joy, those who
were downcast, inspired and led to rejoice through the principles of
eternal life, and thus the Lord has perpetuated the same thing until
the present day. Mixed up with that have been other things. We have
been gathered here. What for? What did we come here for? Who knows? We
came here because God said he would build up his Zion in the latter
days.

Vol. 15,  p.170
Under the teachings of Joseph Smith and President Young, the Elders of
the Church have preached the gathering, and this is a gathering
[p.171] dispensation. But there is something else to be done besides
simply being introduced into the spiritual ordinances of the Church of
God: there is a kingdom to be established. We have gathered from the
east and the west, from the north and the south, for a spirit rested
upon the people to gather together, and no man could prevent them. All
of you know how this feeling operated upon you, just as much as when
it operated upon you by baptism—when you had the Spirit of God upon
you you could not resist it. I remember a circumstance that transpired
in Liverpool some thirty years ago. We were told at that time by
Joseph Smith not to preach the gathering, for we had been driven from
Missouri, and as there was no particular specific place, he thought it
was not well to say anything about gathering until a place should be
prepared, then we should have instructions and could teach it. That
was all well enough, but we could not keep it from the people. Why?
They had received the Holy Ghost, and that took of the things of God
and showed them to the people, and you could not hide the gathering
from them. I remember a sister coming to me on one occasion and
saying, "Brother Taylor, I had a curious kind of a dream the other
night." "What was it?" "Well," said she, "I dreamed there was a whole
lot of Saints standing at the pier head down below here, in Liverpool;
and there was a vessel there and it was going off to America, and we
were going to some place they called Zion. I was going, you were
going, and the Saints were all going. I thought I would ask you the
meaning of it." I told her I would tell her one of these times. We
could not keep it away from the people. If we had been told not to
baptize and lay hands on them we could have kept it from them, but
when they had been baptized and had hands laid upon them they received
the Holy Ghost, and that Spirit showed the things of God to them and
we could not hide them from them, hence from the time the people in
the nations began to obey the Gospel to the present there has been a
feeling in their hearts to gather up to Zion. The Saints abroad have
desired to come here, and the Saints here have desired that they
should come, and this is why we have sent as many as five hundred
teams in a year to fetch our brethren from the Missouri river who were
unable to come without assistance. What have we done this for? Well,
some people may say it is a grand emigration scheme; but we say it is
a scheme of the Lord to build up his kingdom and to gather the people
together, according to the saying of the old prophets—"I will take one
of a city and two of a family and bring them to Zion." "What, will you
do with them?" "I will give them pastors after my own heart, who shall
feed them with knowledge and understanding," that is what I will do
with them when I get them to Zion.

Vol. 15,  p.171
Well, we have gathered from the nations year after year, until to-day
we find ourselves a large people, actually occupying a Territory some
five hundred miles in length. What is the result of this? Why we have
got to have a political organization—we cannot avoid it. The Church
has gathered us together, the Spirit of God has operated on our minds,
and we are here an integral part of the United States of America, and
we cannot help ourselves. If we wished to do so we could not
annihilate ourselves or blot ourselves out of existence, and we do not
want to if we could. But the necessities of the [p.172] case have
forced us into the very position that we now occupy—namely, a
Territory in the United States of America; and as we are here, we like
other people, have to eat, drink, wear clothing, build houses, make
farms, and so on. God has ordained all these things before, and we, as
part of his creatures, have to do our part towards beautifying his
footstool.

Vol. 15,  p.172
Finding ourselves in this capacity, we must have our courts. It is
true that, formerly, our individual matters were regulated by our High
Councils, Bishops' Councils, teachers, and so forth: but in some of
the revelations it says, "Let him that steals be delivered up to the
laws of the land." Well, here we are, and we occupy a political
position, and we cannot help it, and nobody else can help it. You who
live here, form a city, and you must have city regulations. You want
police to guard you from the inroads of wicked men, either among
ourselves or outsiders, no matter who, to protect the peaceable,
industrious, honest and virtuous, and you must have some kind of
government to do it. In a church capacity, whether here or abroad, we
could cut the thief or drunkard from the Church if we had a mind to,
but here, if we cut a man from the Church, we can not cut him from the
State, he is still a citizen of the United States, and in the United
States. In other places they make laws to punish theft, licentiousness
and other crimes. It is true they do not carry them out; they do not
care to do it, but they have such laws, and a variety of others to
regulate property matters, and so forth. And we are compelled to enact
such laws for safeguards around the whole community, for among other
things we are beginning to possess property. We have farms, and they
are in the United States, and we have to apply for patents for them,
just as they do anywhere else, and we have to conform to the processes
of law in all these matters, the same as any other people have. We
have also to plow the ground, and to fence it, and to have our
neighborhood, city and county regulations in Utah among the Saints,
just as the people do elsewhere, for, as I have already said, we are
part of the body politic of the United States.

Vol. 15,  p.172
It has been thought good to apply for a State government for us Here
is Brother George A. Smith going down for that purpose. Why so? Why do
you do that? Is not that of the world? Yes, and we are of the world
and in the world, and we can not get out of it until we are called out
of it by old age or some accidental death. We are here and we have got
to act, and we live, move and have our being, like other people. We
are not here to interfere with the rights of anybody. People may want
to rob us, but we do not want to rob anybody. We want to protect
ourselves in every legal and equitable way from the aggressions of
those who would seek our overthrow, and the overthrow of the kingdom
of God on the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.172
Well, finding ourselves thus organized, what have we to do? Why, we
have our bodies and our spirits, we are temporal beings, we are
immortal beings; we have to do with time and with eternity. We had
very little to do with coming here, we came by some manner of means,
we hardly know how, and we have to leave when the time comes, and we
can not help ourselves. Then the only thing we ought to do is to act
as wise, intelligent beings before God. The world have no idea of God,
and they do not acknowledge him. He may develop, through one person,
[p.173] the principle of electricity, but the world will say it is
some wise man that did it. He may, through another, develop the power
of steam, but they say, Some wise man did it. Through another, God may
make known the light-giving power of gas, to another the tapping of
the earth to bring forth oils for illuminating purposes; but the world
say, "Some wise man has done this." Men do not like to acknowledge
God; it is just as the Scriptures say: they will not acknowledge him
in all their thoughts. They want to get rid of him, and they give the
glory to men for doing this, that and the other. Fools that they are!
What do they know about these principles? Who organized the principles
which they found out? Did man? Did he organize the principle of
electricity or give it its vitality and power? Did any of our savans?
No, they could not. Who placed the principle of power in steam? Did
man? No, he Could not do it. They want to throw off God where they
can, while we want to bring him in and have him one of our crowd; that
is the difference between us and them. They find out something which
God has made, just as the little child when it discovers its fingers
for the first time. It had them long before, but when they first
attracted its attention it seemed to fancy it had made a great
discovery. God organized the child and placed its spirit within its
body, and it at last found out that it had a hand. And the scientific
babies of the world just discover some of the properties of matter,
some of nature's laws created by God long before, and like
Nebuchadnezzar they cry, in the pride of their hearts, "Is not this
great Babylon which I have built?" Yes it is, and it is as much of a
Babylon or Babel as the other was.

Vol. 15,  p.173
Well, God has commenced to do a work, and he began, in the first
place, with the very first principles of the Gospel, and he has led us
on gradually, until we find ourselves in our present position, and we
have got a beautiful land here, haven't we? And yet they call our
leader a murderer, and those who are his co-laborers the most infamous
blackhearted scoundrels that ever existed. Are these the works of
murderers that you see around here? Excuse me for referring to these
things, but I do it to contrast between one thing and another. We
always knew they were liars, and do to-day.

Vol. 15,  p.173
What are we after? What are the world after? Say they, "Is not this
great Babylon that we have built?" They tell us what magnificent
stripes and stars, and what glorious freedom we have got here in this
land of liberty; and in our Fourth of July orations we talk about the
great blessings that we enjoy, and how we have got bigger flags,
higher mountains, taller trees and deeper rivers than anybody else,
and we are the most magnificent people in existence. All over the land
this is the kind of talk and feeling that prevails, and men boast of
their wisdom, intelligence and prowess. But they are in the hands of
God—this nation and all others are in his hand, and he will deal with
them just as he sees proper. By and by he will cause the nations to
tremble to their foundations. Empires will be overthrown, kingdoms
destroyed, and the powers that be will fade away like "the baseless
fabric of a vision;" and he will exalt and ennoble those who put their
trust in him, and work the works of righteousness. We are here to do a
work; not a small one, but a large one. We are here to help the Lord
to build up his kingdom, and if we have [p.174] any knowledge of
electricity, we thank God for it. If we have any knowledge of the
power of steam, we will say it came from God. If we possess any other
scientific information about the earth whereon we stand, or of the
elements with which we are surrounded, we will thank God for the
information, and say he has inspired men from time to time to
understand them, and we will go on and grasp more intelligence, light
and information, until we comprehend as we are comprehended of God.
This is what we are after. We are here to introduce correct principles
upon the earth on which we live; but we cannot do it any more than any
of these men can understand the laws of nature, unless God reveals
them to us. The world is all confusion, and men need the illuminating
influence of the Spirit of God.

Vol. 15,  p.174
We talk sometimes about our political status, and think that we have
been dreadfully oppressed and crowded here. Why, there are millions
and millions worse off in the United SLates than we are to-day. We
need not grunt much. Besides, we expect that the wicked will grow
worse, deceiving and being deceived. You Elders of Israel, have you
not prophetical about it? And if you have, are you surprised that men
begin to expose themselves, and to manifest the works of the devil in
every form—religiously, socially and politically, trampling under foot
every principle of honor and integrity? Are you surprised at it? I am
not, I expect it, and I expect it to grow worse and worse. But don't
you think we have got over all our difficulties. Not quite; not by a
long way. I expect things will grow worse and worse. As we increase in
power, the power of Satan and his emissaries will increase also. I
expect that all the time; but in the future God will put the opposers
of his cause and people to shame, as he has done the wretches now in
our midst. I expect that he will stand by Israel, maintain his
kingdom, uphold his people, and lead them on from victory to victory,
from strength to strengh, from power to power, from intelligence to
intelligence, until "the kingdoms of this world shall become the
kingdoms of our God and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and
ever," until a universal hosannah shall go up from the nations of the
earth, and "blessing, and glory and honor, and power, and might,
majesty and dominion shall be ascribed to him who sits on the throne
and unto the Lamb forever."

Vol. 15,  p.174
We are associated with these principles to-day. God is our God and our
Father. We approach him and we say: "We thank thee, O God, our Father,
for the mercies thou hast vouchsafed to thy people. We humble
ourselves before thee, because thou art our Father, and thy mercy
endures forever." This is the kind of feeling we have when we feel
right.

Vol. 15,  p.174
Well, we are here, and God is going to build up his kingdom. He will
do it, and we need not trouble ourselves about outsiders and their
notions, or about Foolish men or their thoughts, practices and
calculations. It is a matter of very little difference to us. God is
at the helm—he manages, he guides, he directs and controls, he
influences his people, and he will continue to influence them. Well,
we are here, in the capcity, say, of a kingdom, and people tell us
that we are different from anybody else. Of course we are; we do not
expect to be like others. It is true that smoke goes out of our
chimneys, as out of the chimneys of others, because it is a law of
nature. It is true that potatoes, wheat and corn grow here as
elsewhere. It is true [p.175] we have to attend to the common affairs
of life—eat, drink, sustain ourselves, clothe and keep ourselves warm,
as others do, and we have to take care of and protect ourselves from
the incursions and machinations of those who seek to destroy us. In
all these respects we have to take the same course that other people
do; but the difference between us is—we have an organization, a Church
organization, given by revelation from God, and which does not exist
anywhere else in this little world.

Vol. 15,  p.175
But what about other things relative to temporal affairs? If God can
organize us as a Church, if he can unveil the heavens to us, draw
aside the curtain of futurity, and enable us to penetrate the veil and
gain a certain knowledge in regard to the future, certainly he can
make known or reveal something about a few temporal things, such as
plowing, sowing, building, planting, trading, manufacturing, making
railroads, and a thousand other little things that have to be attended
to in this world. If he can do the bigger things, I think he can do
the less.

Vol. 15,  p.175
"Well, we are capable of doing that ourselves," say some people, some
of these philosophers I have referred to—they are all wise men, and
you would think wisdom would die with them, but it will not be
entirely extinguished when they are gone, not quite. God will still
lead, govern and direct his people. "But," say they, "we think we
could do things so much better than somebody else. Well then, go at it
and try; there is plenty of room in the world for you to exhibit your
intelligence.

Vol. 15,  p.175
We are in the hands of God. We have come here. What for? The Lord
says, "I will take them one of a city and two of a family, and bring
them to Zion." What will you do with them? "Give them pastors after my
own heart, who shall feed them with knowledge and under. standing." It
is a fact, to-day, that the wise men and great men, and statesmen, and
men in position in various parts of the world, as they come here to
visit, us with all our failings and infirmities, tell us that we are
the best and most orderly people they have ever seen. And they say we
have a beautiful country, and that we are governed by wisdom, by sage
counsels, and by a high order of intelligence. That is the opinion of
the leading statesmen of this day who pass through our midst, and many
of them come through here. the question naturally arises, Where does
this wisdom come from? Why, God inspired Joseph Smith; then he
inspired President Young with the same kind of spirit and feeling.
Then he inspired the devil, or the devil inspired his imps—one of the
two—and drove us from our former possessions, and it all worked
together, the Lord inspired on the one hand, and the devil on the
other, and by hook or by crook, we got here, just as we are to-day.

Vol. 15,  p.175
We commenced to build a temple in Kirtland, and we built it. We built,
another in Nauvoo, and we are building another here. We are attending
to the ordinances pertaining to the Church of God, temporal and
spiritual, ordinances pertaining to the body, and ordinances
pertaining to the spirit. And then, as men having to do with the world
on which we live, with the Territory that we possess, we have to enact
laws, and we have to conduct ourselves properly, and seek the
assistance of the Almighty to direct us in all our affairs, and the
Lord has promised if we would do that, he would show us that the
wisdom of God is greater than the cunning of the devil. Well, he does
keep showing that from time [p.176] to time, and if we do right he
will keep or, doing it. But to ensure this there is something
devolving upon us.

Vol. 15,  p.176
Says one, "If I could have so much money, such a farm, or this, that,
and the other, I would feel satisfied." I say, get the Spirit of God
in your hearts! Let the light of revelation burn in your bosoms like
living fire, then you will know something about God, something about
the blessings of salvation, something about the benefits that will
accrue to Zion. "But, sometimes, I have to make a little sacrifice if
I carry out the counsel given." Well, make it then. If it is a
sacrifice, it ought to be a pleasure to help build up the kingdom of
God, establish righteousness, plant the standard of truth, and to be
on the side of God, angels and eternal realities, to be saviors of
men. To be thus situated is the most honorable position in this world
or the world to come. Now, God could not get the world to do anything
towards building up his kingdom, they would not do it, they could not,
see it, and he had to get you baptized before you could see it; and
seeing it now, will you barter it away for the follies of this world,
for the smiles and promises of the ungodly? Or are you going to cleave
to the truth, live by it, and, if necessary, die by it? What are you
going to do?

Vol. 15,  p.176
I am glad we have come here. I am pleased that these meetings have
been instituted, that the people get together, and that we have a
chance to talk with them, in their assemblies, about the things of
God. We are God's people, God is our Father, and we should spend a
little time in these things. This is our duty, and we should feel an
interest in them. That is what we set out for, and we mean to go
forward, and we will go on and on, for our motto is eternal progress.
This kingdom will advance, the purposes of God will roll forward, and
no power on this side of hell, or the other either, can stop it. God
will sustain his people, and Israel will rejoice and be triumphant.

Vol. 15,  p.176
Now then, we come to the management of our affairs. Talking of the
wise men of the world, why we have had many of them ever since the
world was. And what have they accomplished in the nations of the
earth? They have built cities, and some have raised themselves to fame
by trampling under foot thousands of others. They have waded through
seas of blood sometimes to get upon the throne of power. What to do?
That they might trample still lower poor humanity, and bring men down,
as it were, to the dust of death, and make serfs of them. What else
have they done? They have established every kind of government, as
they have every kind of religion. Do you not think that we need
revelation about government as much as anything else? I think we do. I
think we need God to dictate to us as much in our national and social
affairs as in church matters. Some people are willing to have their
souls looked after, but they think they are smart enough to look after
temporal affairs themselves. In the world they want a doctor to look
after their bodies, a parson to look after their souls, and a lawyer
to take care of their property. In these respects we differ from them.
We begin with God. Our light comes from him, our religion is from him,
and we need his guidance and instruction in all these other matters.
Is not that simple, plain and reasonable? They are in confusion in the
world about their religion, because there is no God in it. That is
what's the matter. The Scriptures say, "There is one Lord, one faith,
one [p.177] baptism, one God, who is in all and through you all." They
have a religion without God, and they are going to heaven without God,
and when they get there they will find no God, and they will still
have a chance to have their own way inasmuch as the Lord will let
them.

Vol. 15,  p.177
Well, as I said, we begin first with God, religiously, spiritually if
you please—teaching first, the first principles of the Gospel. Then we
go on to other matters—to temporal matters. A Bishop, you know, in the
world, is a kind of being who has nothing to do but to attend to
spiritual matters, and he does very little of that. Our Bishops have
to take care of the poor, and see that they are provided for, that is,
see they have something to eat, and they have also to attend to many
secular affairs that are naturally connected with common humanity.
Well, what then? We build churches and temples, and we administer in
those temples, according to the revelations which God has given to us.
And they would like to know something about that, but they can not,
for that belongs to the Saints only. Then, what next? We find
ourselves, as I said before, in a governmental capacity, and perform
our duties as good citizens and attend to all the duties and
responsibilities thereof. But then it is no trouble for us to keep the
laws of the land. What difficulty is there for other people? Can they
live then? I am sure we can, No law of any land will interfere with or
molest the man who does not cheat or defraud his neighbor, but pursues
an honorable, honest, upright course. Laws are made for the unruly and
turbulent, for lawbreakers and for men who violate right. Then there
are many ether things besides these in which we differ from the world,
in their social, political and religious affairs. I will refer to
one—their method of treating the acknowledged head of the Government,
the President of the United States. At one time it was "Hurrah for
General Grant," he was almost a demi-god. What do they say now? If you
can believe the papers, he is one of the biggest rascals that was ever
unhung. I do not know whether they told the truth before or now, but
they do talk these things, and who would stand by him if he were
thrown out? Very few. Here is President young, whom his enemies have
been calling a murderer; did anybody forsake him? No, oh no! Did any
of your knees tremble? Perhaps a little, not much; but still you had
faith in him, and you would as soon see him to-day as any other man on
God's footstool, wouldn't you? (Congregation answered "Yes.") There is
the difference. There is a principle implanted in the hearts of men,
that no man can tear therefrom; the Spirit of God plants it there, and
there it dwells and will remain, and it can not be rooted out. It is
true you act foolishly about here, sometimes. I know you do, because
we do among us yonder, and you are just as we are, and you act very
foolishly sometimes; but when we let the Spirit of God operate upon
our minds, it is "Hurrah for Brigham Young," "Hurrah for the Twelve,"
"Hurrah for the kingdom of God!" That is the feeling, isn't it? Well,
now let us carry it out, and live it, and do what is right and God
will bless us. Don't be particular about having your own way, for it
is not always the right way, and that which seems pleasing in our eyes
is not always right, and that which looks the most profitable is not
always right. It is the most profitable and right for the Saints of
God [p.178] to keep the commandments and be governed by the counsels
of God; and if you are governed by that he will lead you on from light
to light, from strength to strength, from intelligence to intelligence
until you will be exalted among the Gods, there to rejoice for ever
and ever. We have commenced the race and we will go on and win it; we
have commenced a battle, and we shall triumph, for the kingdom of God
will go on, and no power can stop it.

Vol. 15,  p.178
May God help us to be faithful in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Orson Pratt, September 22, 1872

Review of God's Dealings With the Prophet Joseph—Coming 
Forth of the Book of Mormon—Gathering, Etc.

Discourse By Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the New 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Sept. 22, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.178
Having been requested to address the congregation this afternoon, I do
so with the greatest cheerfulness. There is one passage of Scripture I
would like very much to take as a text, if I knew where to find it. It
is somewhere in the book of Jeremiah or Ezekiel. I have not time now
to look it up, and perhaps it would be better to take some other text
having a bearing on the same subject. The text to which I would like
to direct the attention of the people has reference to the
colonization of this country by one of the descendants of Zedekiah,
king of Judah. It reads something like this: "Thus saith the Lord God,
I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set
it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and
will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent: in the mountain of
the height of Israel, will I plant it: and it shall bring forth
boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall
dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof
shall they dwell."

Vol. 15,  p.178
We read of the fulfillment of this prophecy in the Book of Mormon; but
because I cannot direct your attention to the passage, I will read
another text, which will be found in the 11th verse of the 85th Psalm:
"Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look
down from heaven."

Vol. 15,  p.178
Forty-five years ago this morning this prophecy, so far as it relates
to "truth springing out of the earth," was fulfilled. Forty-five years
ago, early this morning, plates resembling [p.179] gold were taken
from the earth, the morning, if I recollect right, of the 22nd of
September, 1827. Owing to that great event the Territory of Utah is
now settled by the people called Latter-day Saints. Owing to the
fulfillment of this prophecy this Tabernacle has been built here in
these mountains; and had it not been for that event, it is probable
that Utah Territory would still have been a desert, a barren,
solitary, uninhabited district of country. Sometimes great things are
accomplished and grow out of things that appear very small in their
nature. It has been so in relation to this prophecy—"Truth shall
spring out of the earth."

Vol. 15,  p.179
In order that the meaning of these words may be more fully understood,
it may not be amiss to read the context or the passages preceding· The
Psalmist commences:—

Vol. 15,  p.179
Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land: thou hast brought back
the captivity of Jacob.

Vol. 15,  p.179
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people: thou hast covered all
their sin. Selah.

Vol. 15,  p.179
Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the
fierceness of thine anger.

Vol. 15,  p.179
Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to
cease.

Vol. 15,  p.179
Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to
all generations?

Vol. 15,  p.179
Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?

Vol. 15,  p.179
Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.

Vol. 15,  p.179
I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto
his people, and to his saints; but let them not turn again to folly.

Vol. 15,  p.179
Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him i that glory may dwell
in our land.

Vol. 15,  p.179
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed
each other.

Vol. 15,  p.179
Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down
from heaven.

Vol. 15,  p.179
Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield
her increase.

Vol. 15,  p.179
Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his
steps.

Vol. 15,  p.179
Thus reads the 85th Psalm. It is very evident that the Psalmist David,
being filled with the spirit of prophecy; saw the condition of the
people of Israel, saw also that they would be under the displeasure of
the Almighty for many generations, and he prays that the Lord would
look upon them in compassion, and turn himself from the fierceness of
his anger, that it might not be drawn out towards them to all
generations, and he utters this prayer: "Turn us, O God of our
salvation, and show unto us thy mercy," etc. The Lord, in answer to
this prayer, promised to speak peace to his people, but said he, "Let
them not turn again unto folly." And then he informs them how he would
speak peace unto them, and how he would turn himself from the
fierceness of his anger, that his anger might not be drawn out unto
them to all generations. He informs them that he would commence this
great work, that should result in peace and salvation to Israel, by
causing truth to spring out of the earth, at which time righteousness
should look down from heaven. Righteousness and truth and peace should
kiss one another, and the Lord should cause the land of Israel again
to yield its increase. We know how barren, sterile and uninhabitable
is the land that was once promised to that chosen people. The Lord has
not only cursed the people and made them a hiss and a byword among all
the nations whither they have been driven, but his anger has also been
upon their land. He has withheld the rains of heaven, and has cursed
it with barrenness and sterility; and the cities which once covered
its face and reared their lofty spires to heaven, now lie in ruins,
and scarcely a vestige of some of them can be found. But when the Lord
should cause truth to spring forth out of the earth, he would speak
[p.180] peace to his people and to their land, and it should yield its
increase; and truth should go before him and should set them in the
way of his steps.

Vol. 15,  p.180
We have been proclaiming for forty-two years this Book of Mormon,
which we have declared has sprung forth from the earth by the power of
the Almighty, for the benefit, first of the Gentile nations. The
proclamation, according to the words of the book, must go forth to all
people, nations and tongues under the whole heavens, called the
Gentile nations, after which the Lord has promised in numerous places
in this record that it should go to the remnants of the house of
Israel. But that which the Lord intends to accomplish first by the
bringing forth of this book, is the redemption of as many as will
hearken to its words in all the Gentile nations of the earth, and to
gather them together in one; for not only are the house of Israel and
the house of Judah to be gathered back to their own lands, but all
Christians throughout the whole earth are to be gathered in one in the
latter days, according to a prophecy which you will find in the 43rd
chapter of Isaiah: "I will bring them from the east, and gather them
from the west. I will say to the ninth, Give up; and to the south,
Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends
of the earth; even every one that is called by my name." This has
reference to the sons and daughters of the living God, to the people
called Saints; not particularly to the literal seed of the house of
Israel, but to all those who believe in him, and who are called by his
name. All must be gathered; all must come from the ends of the earth.
No Christians will be left, scattered abroad over the nations, as many
suppose will be the case so long as time lasts. A complete and full
gathering together of the people of God must take place in the latter
days, called, by Paul, the dispensation of the fullness of times. You
will find this prediction in the first chapter of his epistle to the
Ephesians. Paul there declares that a new dispensation must come in,
and he denominates it the dispensation of the fullness of times. He
tells us that in that dispensation the Lord will gather together in
one all things in Christ. Every person that believes in, and has put
on Christ by baptism and by repentance of sin, must be gathered in one
in that dispensation; not only those on earth, but those in heaven—all
the congregations who are in Christ, who have dwelt on the earth in
former ages, are to be united with those who are in the flesh on the
earth. One great, vast, general assembly of all that are in Christ—the
dead as well as the living—from the days of Adam down until the work
is completed.

Vol. 15,  p.180
In order to commence this great work the Lord has brought forth truth
out of the earth. He will speak peace to his people, and they are
requested by the Psalmist, when the Lord undertakes to do this work,
never to turn again unto folly.

Vol. 15,  p.180
Now I will attempt to give a brief account to my hearers of how Joseph
Smith obtained the plates of the Book of Mormon from the earth. He was
but a lad, a farmer's boy, when the Lord began to speak to him and
send his angels to him, being not quite fifteen years of age. He was
almost too young to be a brazen-faced impostor, was he not? Cast your
eyes around on this congregation for the youth of fifteen, and see if
you think it would be possible for one of that early age to become one
of the most barefaced impostors that the world ever heard of, [p.181]
for Joseph Smith was thus regarded by the world at large with few
exceptions; and he must have been so, at a very early age, if this
work be not true, for he could not be deceived, himself, in relation
to it. There was no possible chance for any deception, so far as he
himself was concerned. Why? Because the circumstances were of such a
nature that he could not be deceived. God revealed to him that there
were certain plates deposited about three miles from his father's
house. He saw, in vision, the place of their deposit. He heard the
holy angel declare to him in relation to these records. But first,
about four years prior to this, the first vision that he had was in
answer to prayer. Being but a youth, and anxious for the salvation of
his soul, he secretly prayed, in the wilderness, that the Lord would
show unto him what he should do, what church he should join. The Lord
heard and answered this prayer. Do not be astonished, good Christians,
because the Lord hears prayer in the 19th century. I know it is very
popular to pray to the Lord in Christendom; but, when you talk about
the Lord answering prayers, by giving revelations, visions, or sending
angels, it is very unpopular. But unpopular as it was, this youth
ventured to go and ask the Lord for wisdom, having, in the first
place, read a passage in the New Testament, which says, "If any man
lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and
upbraideth not, and it shall be given unto him." Joseph Smith was nut
so full of tradition that he could not lay hold of this promise. I do
not know that he had been taught long enough, the idea that the Lord
would not hear prayer. At any rate, having read this passage, he
prayed, really believing in his heart that the Lord would answer him,
for he wanted wisdom, he wanted to know which was the true Christian
Church, that he might be united with it; and while pleading with and
praying to the Lord for this information, which was a matter of great
concern to him, the heavens were opened, and two personages clothed in
light or fire descended and stood before him. As soon as this light
surrounded him, and he was enclosed or enveloped in it, his mind was
caught away from earthly objects and things, and he saw these two
glorious personages, their countenances shining with exceeding great
brilliancy. One of them, while pointing to the other, addressed him in
this language, "Behold my beloved son, hear ye him." All fear was
taken from this boy during the progress of this wonderful event, and
he felt happy, but anxious to know concerning the things about which
he had been praying, and be repeated his request, that he might be
told which was the true Christian church. He was informed that there
was no true Christian church on the earth, that there was no people
established or organized according to the Apostolic order; that all
had gone out of the way and had departed from the ancient order of
things; that they had denied the power of Godliness, the gifts,
miracles, the spirit of revelation and prophecy, visions, that all
these things had been done away with by the unbelief of the children
of men, and that there were no prophets or inspired men on the earth,
as there always had been when there was a true Church upon the earth.
He was strictly commanded to join none of them. the Lord also informed
him that, at some future period of time, if he would be faithful in
giving heed to the instructions which were then imparted to him, and
in his prayers to the Lord, he would impart [p.182] to him his own
doctrine in plainness and simplicity.

Vol. 15,  p.182
Some four years passed away from this time, making this boy not quite
nineteen years of age, and on one Sunday evening he returned to his
bed-room, pondering upon the promise that had been given to him, and
he began praying earnestly again that the Lord would show him the true
Gospel of his son, according to the promise; and while he was thus
praying in his father's house in his chamber, a light burst into the
room, becoming brighter by degrees, shining and then partially
withdrawing, so that fear did not take possession of his bosom to any
great degree. As he continued praying the light became brighter and
brighter, and finally a personage clothed in a white robe stood before
him. This personage was a little above the size of common men at the
present day, and his arms and feet were partially bare. His feet did
not stand on the floor of the room, but a certain distance above, and
his countenance shone like lightning. This Angel appeared so pleasant,
beautiful and glorious, and his countenance radiated such happiness on
the mind of this young lad that all fear was taken from him as on the
former occasion. This personage told him that he was an Angel of God,
and that he had been sent, in answer to his prayer, with a very
important message to deliver to him; that God designed to accomplish a
great work on the earth, and that he was to be a chosen instrument in
laying the foundation of, and establishing this work. He commenced
telling him about the ancient inhabitants of this continent. He told
him that the present American Indians were the descendants of Israel;
that their forefathers were brought here from Jerusalem about six
centuries before Christ; that when they came they were a righteous
people and had Prophets among them; that when they landed on this
continent they commenced, by the commandment of the Lord, keeping a
record of their history, their prophecies and sacred doings upon
metallic plates; that that nation, after having dwelt here about a
thousand years, fell into great wickedness; that they divided
themselves into two great nations; that the portion that had these
plates, the Nephites, had so far apostatized from the Lord, that he
threatened their overthrow, and to destroy them if they did not
repent; that the Prophets went forth among them prophesying that if
they did not repent, the other nation, called Lamanites, would destroy
them from the face of the land. But they would not repent, and Mormon,
a Prophet who lived at that time, was commanded of the Lord to take
all the plates that were kept of the records of his fathers, and make
an abridgment of them upon a new set of plates. So he commenced and
abridged their history, from the time they left Jerusalem until that
period, incorporating therein many of the prophesies and revelations
given during that thousand years. After having made this abridgment he
committed it into the hands of his son Moroni, knowing that his nation
would be destroyed, and that Moroni, according to the revelations God
had given him, would be spared to keep the records, and to behold the
downfall of his nation Mormon hid the records from which he made this
abridgment in a hill, called the hill Cumorah, that being its ancient
name, and this hill was about three miles from where this young man
resided, in the town of Manchester, Ontario County, State of New York.
There all the records were deposited, and [p.183] according to the
Book of Mormon they must have been very numerous indeed. The history
of the ancient inhabitants of this land was kept by their kings, and
the records became very voluminous; and they were all deposited by the
Prophet Mormon in that hill; but the abridgment from which the Book of
Mormon was taken was given into the hands of his son Moroni, to finish
out the record. The last date given on these records was 420 years
after Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.183
You may inquire how the people on this land knew about the birth of
Christ. I will say that they understood Christianity on this western
hemisphere as well as on the eastern hemisphere. They were not left in
darkness here concerning the Savior of the world and his atonement.
They knew all about it. How? Jesus, who is the God of the whole earth,
appeared to them after his crucifixion, and resurrection from the
dead. He showed them the wounds in his hands, feet and side, and
delivered to them his Gospel in its plainness and fullness, and they
were commanded to write it on plates. They knew also, of his birth, in
the land of their forefathers, by the signs which God. gave to them on
this land. They were told that at the time of the birth of Jesus there
should be two days and one night without any darkness at all; they
should see the sun go down at night and rise in the morning, and that
during the whole of that time it should be light as day. They
commenced the reckoning of their time from that period. Previous to
that time they had reckoned their time from the date of their leaving
Jerusalem, precisely six hundred years before the birth of Christ.
Four hundred and twenty years after that great event the Prophet
Moroni informs us that he also was commanded to hide up this
abridgment in the same hill, but in another part of it, in which his
father Mormon hid up the sacred records. And the Lord made a promise
to Moroni, also to Mormon, and to many other Prophets who dwelt on
this land in previous generations, that these plates should never be
destroyed, but that they should be preserved by his hand, and that
they should be brought forth out of the earth in the latter days, for
the purpose of bringing about the gathering of his people from the
ends of the earth, and the bringing in of the fullness of the Gentiles
and fulfilling their times, after which the translation of these
records should go to all the remnants of the house of Israel,
scattered abroad on the face of the whole earth; and that these
records should be instrumental in the hands of God in gathering Israel
from the four quarters of the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.183
These were the promises of God to the ancient Prophets of this
continent, and the angel told Joseph Smith concerning these plates,
and where they were deposited. At the same time, the vision of the
Almighty was open to the mind of Joseph, and he saw the very spot.
After the angel had conversed with him sometime on this subject, and
had opened up to him the prophecies of the Italy Prophets concerning
the great work that was to be accomplished in the latter days, he
withdrew, and Joseph continued praying. Some, perhaps, might think
that this was a dream; but it was not, he was wide awake. As he
continued praying, the angel came again the second tinge, and gave him
still further information concerning the rise of the latter-day
kingdom of God upon the earth, and the great work the Almighty
intended to accomplish preparatory to the coming of his Son from the
heavens with all [p.184] his Saints. The angel then again withdrew,
but in answer to Joseph's prayers he came the third time, and imparted
to him still more information. After his withdrawal the third time
Joseph arose, and it was early in the morning, he having been awake
all night receiving instruction from the angel of God. In the morning
he went out into the field to work with his father. He had not yet
told his father of the remarkable things that he had seen during the
night; but his father noticed that he looked weak and feeble, and
advised him to go to the house. He started to do so, and while on the
way, the angel again appeared to him, and commanded him to return to
his father and tell him all about it. He did so, and his father, on
hearing it, burst into tears, and said, "My son, be not disobedient to
this heavenly vision!" The angel, when he appeared to him in daylight,
told him not only to tell his father, but also to go to the place
shown him in vision the night previous, and see the plates. His father
told him by all means to be obedient and faithful. He went according
to the instruction of the angel and visited this hill. The hill runs
north and south some three quarters of a mile, and on one end of it,
or near the end of it, was where he saw the plates. The surface of the
stone which covered the plates was bare; around its edges was a thick
greensward of grass or turf. He knew the place as soon as he saw it,
and procuring a lever he lifted off this principal or crowning stone,
and found that it was cemented on the top of four stones that sat on
edge, forming a stone box. After having lifted off the stone he saw
the plates, just as he had seen them in vision the night before. These
plates rested upon three little cement pillars that ran up from the
bottom, and the stones that formed the sides of the box were cemented
together at the corners.

Vol. 15,  p.184
With the plates was an instrument, called the Urim and Thummim, used
by Seers in ancient times, and which enabled them to understand the
things of God. The great High Priest used such an instrument in the
midst of Israel on the other continent, and inquired of the Lord to
receive sentence of judgment in difficult cases that were brought
before him to be judged. Aaron had a Urim and Thummim in the centre of
his breastplate; and when the cases were brought before him, the
breastplate of judgment, containing the Urim and Thummim, was
consulted, and whatever sentence the Lord gave, Aaron gave to the
people of Israel. The Prophets who deposited those plates in the hill
Cumorah were commanded of the Lord to deposit the Urim and Thummim
with them, so that when the time came for them to be brought forth,
the individual who was entrusted with them might be able to translate
them by the gift and power of God. Joseph put forth his hands to take
the plates, but upon doing so the angel immediately appeared to hint
and said, "Joseph, the time has not yet come for you to take the
plates; you must be taught and instructed, and you must give heed to
my commandments and to the commandments of the Lord until you are
fully prepared to be entrusted with them, for the Lord promised his
ancient servants on this land that no one should have them for the
purpose of speculation, and that they should be brought forth with an
eye single to the glory of God; and now, if you will keep the
commandments of God in all things, and prepare yourself, you will in
due time be permitted to take these plates from their place of [p.185]
deposit." He would not suffer him to take them at that time. Four
years from that day—on the morning of the 22nd of September,
1827—having been commanded of the Lord to come to that place at that
special time, he went and was met by the angel. I will state, however,
that during these four years he was often ministered to by the angels
of God, and received instruction concerning the work that was to be
performed in the latter days. But when the time had fully arrived he
went to the hill Cumorah, according to appointment, and took the
plates, and the Urim and Thummim with them, and took them to his
father's house in a wagon, which he had brought near to the hill for
that purpose. He was then nearly twenty-two years old—twenty-two the
following December.

Vol. 15,  p.185
Soon after this a certain portion of the characters on these plates
were copied off by the Prophet, and the manuscript sent, by the hands
of Martin Harris, a farmer who lived in that neighborhood, to the city
of knew York, to show them to the learned, to see if they could
translate them. Among those to whom they were presented was Professor
Anthon—a man noted for his learning in languages—but he could not
translate them.

Vol. 15,  p.185
You may here inquire, What was the particular character in which these
plates were written? They inform us that they wrote in two separate
characters. Some of their plates were written in Hebrew and some in
the Egyptian; but both the Hebrew and the Egyptian, after they came
from Jerusalem, were reformed by them. I mean the alphabets were
altered or changed. If they had not done this by design, we know that
in the course of a thousand years languages will greatly change, and
sometimes new characters will be added to alphabets. We know that none
of them, at the present time, are precisely as they were anciently;
they have been added to from time to time. The Hebrew, on the eastern
continent, had the points representing the vowels added to it after
the Nephites left Jerusalem; and no doubt the Egyptian, understood
when they left, has been greatly changed since. They wrote, therefore,
in the reformed Egyptian—a language that the learned Professor Anthon
did not understand. He requested Martin Harris, however, to bring the
plates to him, telling him, if he would, that he could perhaps assist
him in the translation. Joseph translated the few characters that were
sent to Professor Anthon, and when the translation and the original
were shown to him, and he had compared them, he expressed the opinion
that the translation was correct, and he gave a paper to that effect
to Martin Harris. As Mr. Harris was leaving the room, Mr. Anthon said,
"How did this young lad obtain the plates?" Said Martin Harris, "He
obtained them by the ministration of an holy angel." Professor Anthon
immediately requested him to return the paper that he had given him,
and as soon as Mr. Harris had done so, he tore it to pieces, saying,
"Angels do not appear in our day."

Vol. 15,  p.185
I do not know that Joseph Smith, at the time that he sent these words
to the learned, knew anything about the prophecy that is contained in
the 29th chapter of Isaiah, a few words of which I will read; but at
any rate, whether he knew it or not, it was a literal fulfillment of
it. Isaiah speaks of a time when deep sleep should be poured out upon
the nations of the earth, and they should be drunken, but not with
wine; they should stagger, but not with strong drink; and [p.186] the
Prophets and the Seers, &c., should be covered; in other words, they
would not have any Prophets or Seers. Every one will bear me witness
that that was the case at the time these plates were brought forth.
Where was there a people who received revelation? Where were their
Prophets and Seers? Gone, covered, "and the vision of all has become
to you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one
that is learned, saying, 'Read this I pray you;' and he saith, 'I can
not, for the book is sealed.' And the book is delivered to him that is
not learned, saying, 'Read this I pray thee,' and he saith, 'I am not
learned.' Wherefore the Lord says, 'Inasmuch as this people'—the
people to whom these words should be delivered—'draw near to me with
their mouths and with their lips do honor me, but remove their hearts
far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of
men, therefore I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this
people, even a marvelous work and a wonder. For the wisdom of their
wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men
shall be hid.'"

Vol. 15,  p.186
This prophecy was fulfilled in the transaction I have already related.
The words of the book, Isaiah says, are to be delivered to the
learned, not the book itself. I have had people rise up and say, "Why
did not Joseph Smith send the plates to the learned?" Because that
would have been a violation of this prophecy. The words of the book,
not the book itself, were to be delivered to the learned, requesting
him to read them—"Read this I pray thee." But he says, "I can not, for
it is sealed." Martin Harris told him a portion of these plates were
sealed and were not to be translated during the present generation;
but the portion that were unsealed were to be translated. He replied,
"I can not read a sealed book," thus fulfilling the words of Isaiah.

Vol. 15,  p.186
The book itself, we are informed in the next verse, is to be delivered
to him that is not learned. Now in regard to Joseph Smith's
qualifications or attainments in learning, they were very ordinary. He
had received a little education in the common country schools in the
vicinity in which he had lived. He could read a little, and could
write, but it was in such an ordinary hand that he did not venture to
act as his own scribe, but had to employ sometimes one and sometimes
another to write as he translated. This unlearned man did not make the
same reply that the learned man did. For when the book was delivered
to this unlearned youth and he was requested to read it, he replied,
"I am not learned." I suppose he felt his weakness when the Lord told
him to read this book; for he thought it was a great work. But the
Lord replied to Joseph in the very language of this prophecy—"Inasmuch
as this people"—meaning the present generation—"draw near to me with
their lips, &c., therefore I will proceed to do a marvellous work,
even a marvellous work and a wonder."

Vol. 15,  p.186
Now, did the unlearned man read the book? Some might suppose, if they
were to read no further, that the book was not read at all. Let us
read what is prophesied in the 18th verse: "And in that day shall the
deaf hear the words of the book." Indeed! Then it seems that the book
must have been read, or they could not have heard its words. "And the
eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness."
Does this mean those who are spiritually deaf, and those who are
spiritually [p.187] blind? Or does it mean literally, those who are
blind and can not see and those who are deaf and can not hear? It may
mean either way, for it is well· known by thousands and tens of
thousands now on the earth that the eyes of the blind—those who have
been born blind—have been opened, and that the ears of the deaf have
been opened by the power of God, through the preaching of this book,
so that the prophecy has had a literal fulfillment, for those who were
physically and spiritually blind and deaf have been made to see and
hear by the power of God, and they have gathered themselves from the
nations.

Vol. 15,  p.187
Now let us read a little further in this prophecy, and see whether
this corresponds with the words of our text. You recollect it refers
particularly to the ingathering of the house of Israel, and when the
Lord would cause the land of Palestine to yield its increase, that he
would cause truth to spring out of the earth," and so on. Does this
prophecy of Isaiah correspond with David; so far as the events
predicted to transpire in the days when the book comes forth? We will
see. "Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning
the house of Jacob; Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his
face now wax pale." Why should they no longer be ashamed? Why should
not their faces still wax pale? The reply is, "But when he seeth his
children, the work of my hands in the midst of him, they shall
sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel."

Vol. 15,  p.187
Do you not see how these two Prophets harmonize in their prophecies?
One says, "Wilt thou not turn to us again, O Lord, and bring back
again the captivity of thy people, Jacob, that we may rejoice in thee?
How long, O Lord, will the fierceness of thy wrath continue? Will it
continue to all generations?" And the answer is that he will bring
truth out of the earth, that it should set them in the way of his
steps; and the land of Israel or Jacob should again yield its
increase. While the other says Jacob shall not be ashamed, neither
shall his face wax pale. It seems then, that both these Prophets
beheld that truth out of the earth, or a certain book, would bring
about the gathering of that long-dispersed people.

Vol. 15,  p.187
We find also, other events described, of a very remarkable character.
One is that the meek should increase their joy in the Lord. There have
been a great many meek people among all the religious denominations,
who have no doubt lived, with all the desire of faithfulness that we
Latter-day Saints have, and some perharps have been more faithful than
some of us. "The meek, also, shall increase their joy in the Lord."
When will they do this? In the day that the deaf should hear the words
of the book. For what reason? Because of the instructions, counsel
perfect doctrine, and prophecies contained therein; because of the
knowledge it gives to the children of men concerning the great work
which is to be accomplished before the coming of the Son of Man. All
this knowledge would cause the meek of the earth to have their joy
increased.

Vol. 15,  p.187
"The poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." This is
a very important item. When we wander over the nations of the earth,
at the present day, what do we behold? Millions on millions groaning
in worse than African slavery. Our American slavery here, never
compared with the slavery of those millions in the old countries. They
were very pointed there, against what [p.188] they termed African
slavery, but they did not look at the slaves at home—the millions of
people who were obliged to work fourteen or sixteen hours a day for a
sixpence, their bones sticking out of their skin, as it were, and they
having the appearance as if famine had been gnawing at their vitals.
This is the condition of millions now. But here is a book, the coming
forth of which should make the poor among men rejoice in the Holy One
of Israel.

Vol. 15,  p.188
I would call upon this congregation, and upon the inhabitants of Utah
Territory, I mean that portion called Latter-day Saints, and ask of
them, Have you experienced the fulfillment of this prophecy, in the
deliverance of yourselves and children from the oppressions that you
endured in the mother country? If a response were given to this it
would be a united affirmative from scores of thousands that this
prophecy has been fulfilled to the very letter in their deliverance
from the bondage which they and their fathers before them had been
compelled to endure by the cruel hand of the oppressor.

Vol. 15,  p.188
Another event is spoken of in connection with the bringing forth of
this book—"For the terrible one is brought to naught, the scorner is
consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off." Has that ever
been fulfilled? No, but it will be in its time and in its season; but
not until they have heard the words of the book, and have been
thoroughly warned by the coming forth of truth out of the earth. When
that has been sounded in their ears, if they hardened their hearts
against it the decree of the Almighty is that all that watch for
iniquity shall be cut off. All who persecute the Saints of the living
God, all who would make a man an offender for a word, that will lay a
snare for him that reproveth in the gate, that will turn aside the
just for a thing of naught, are to be consumed.

Vol. 15,  p.188
Another very pleasing thing is mentioned, which you can bear me
witness has been fulfilled. "They also who erred in spirit shall come
to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine." Oh,
how my heart has been pained within me when I have seen the blindness
of the Christian world, and I knew that many of them were sincere! I
knew they desired to know the truth, but they scarcely knew whether to
turn to the right or to the left, so great were the errors that were
taught in their midst, and so strong the traditions which they had
imbibed, the fear of the Lord being taught them by the precepts of men
instead of by inspiration and the power of the Holy Ghost. They also
that erred in spirit shall come to understanding" when this book comes
forth, and "they that murmur shall learn doctrine."

Vol. 15,  p.188
It would seem, then, that there is something connected with doctrine
in the contents of this book, or the people could not learn doctrine
therefrom and have their errors done away. But those who have read
this book will bear me record that their minds have been forever set
at rest in regard to doctrine, so far as the ordinances of the kingdom
of God are concerned. Those who erred, and did not know whether
sprinkling, pouring or immersion was the true method of baptism, now
know? Why? Because the Book of Mormon reveals the mode as it was given
to the ancient Nephites on this continent. So in regard to every other
principle of the doctrine of Christ—it is set forth in such great
plainness that it is impossible  for any two persons to form different
ideas in relation to it, [p.189] after reading the Book of Mormon.

Vol. 15,  p.189
You may ask, Why this plainness? Because it was translated by the
power and gift of God; because it came from a proper source—,from him
who is truth itself. God has brought it forth from the earth, and as
the Psalmist David says, "It will set us in the way of his steps." If
we have murmured because we did not understand doctrine, we now have a
revelation that will show us the true Gospel, with all its ordinances,
principles, gifts and blessings, and we may enjoy them inasmuch as we
will seek them according to the promises of the Almighty.

Vol. 15,  p.189
I know that I am sometimes lengthy in my teachings, and may be tedious
to some, but bear with me a few moments longer, for there are some
other prophecies connected with the coming forth of this book that it
seems to me should be understood By the people. I will refer you to
one now, which will be found in the 37th chapter of the prophecies of
Ezekiel. We there have a declaration of the means that God will use to
gather the house of Israel from the four quarters of the earth I have
not time to turn to it, but I will repeat it. Speaking to the Prophet,
the Lord says—"Therefore, son of man, take one stick and write upon it
for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim; and then take another stick and
write upon it for Judah, and join these two sticks together in thine
hand, and hold them up before the Children of Israel in thine hands."
Now here were two sticks. I have no doubt that they were literal
sticks in Ezekiel's hands. The question is what did they mean? Two
sticks written upon, one for Judah, and the other for Joseph, the
stick of Ephraim. And after they were written upon, Ezekiel was to
take the two sticks and join them into one, and then hold them up
before the children of Israel as one stick. Then the Lord proceeds,
"And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying,
What doest thou mean by this?" Now, notice the interpretation—"What
dost thou mean by these two sticks that are written upon for Judah and
for Joseph? "Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, behold I will
take the stick of Joseph, written upon for Joseph, and I will put it
with the stick of Judah, written upon for Judah, and they shall be one
in mine hand." The two sticks in Ezekiel's hands were a representation
of what the Lord was going to do, when he would do it and what events
should follow the joining of these two sticks together. In reading the
next verse we see how it harmonizes with what David and Isaiah have
said on the subject. "The sticks whereon thou writest shall be in
thine hand before their eyes; and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord
God, Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen
whither they be gone. I will gather them on every side, and bring them
into their own land upon the mountains of Israel. They shall no more
be two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any
more at all. But they shall dwell in the land which I have given to
Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall
dwell therein, even they and their children and their children's
children for ever, saith the Lord."

Vol. 15,  p.189
Has that been fulfilled? No. When will the work commence that will
bring it about? When the Lord takes the stick of Joseph, written upon
for Joseph, and puts it with the Jewish record, written upon for
Judah, and makes them one in his own hand, and not until then. You
[p.190] might raise millions of dollars, and form missionary societies
for the amelioration of the condition of the Jews; you might form
Christian societies and raise funds until they are ever so great, and
go to the nations of the earth and try to convert Israel, but you can
not do it. Why? Because God Almighty has decreed that that work shall
be brought about after the union of the two records, and not till
then. When he brings forth the record of the tribe of Joseph—his
sacred writing and puts it with the record of the Jews—the Bible then
and not till then may we took for the restitution of the house of
Israel; and not even then, until the times of the Gentiles are
fulfilled.

Vol. 15,  p.190
Now let me say a few words about the times of the Gentiles. You know
that Jesus predicted, in the 21st chapter of Luke, that Jerusalem
should be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles
should be fulfilled, and from the day of the dispersion of the Jew,
seventy years after Christ, until the present year—1872—that land has
been trodden down by the Gentiles, and the house of Israel have not
enjoyed their former location, their beautiful city nor their land of
promise, and they can not enjoy it—God will not permit them until the
times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Vol. 15,  p.190
The question is, How will he bring about the fulfillment of the times
of the Gentiles? I answer, by sending forth to them the stick of
Joseph, written upon for Joseph, in connection with the Bible, by his
servants who go forth to the nations of the earth. They will proclaim
to all people, nations and tongues, to the Gentiles first, the
fullness of the Gospel of the Son of God, contained in these two
records. The testimony of two nations running together and growing
into one is stronger than the testimony of one nation; and when the
Lord makes the ancient continent of America bear record to the same
great truths; when he unites the Bible of the Western hemisphere, with
the Bible of the East, and sends it forth to the nations of the earth,
it will be a witness, an evidence and a testimony sufficient to bring
about what is termed the fullness of the Gentiles, or to fulfill their
times.

Vol. 15,  p.190
This is the reason why, during forty-two years, God has restricted us
to the Gentile nations, and would not suffer us to go with the Book of
Mormon to the house of Israel until the times of the Gentiles were
fulfilled. How much longer the Lord will bear with the Gentile nations
I know not; but I do know that when they count themselves unworthy of
eternal life, when the servants of God have thoroughly warned them by
preaching to them the fullness of the Gospel of his Son, then the
commandment will go forth from the Almighty to his servants—"Turn from
the Gentile nations and go to the dispersed of Israel. Go, ye fishers
and ye hunters, and fulfill that which I spake by the mouth of mine
ancient Prophets, that Jacob may no longer be made ashamed, that his
face may no longer wax pale. Go and say to the house of Israel in the
four quarters of the earth that the God of Jacob has again spoken. Go
and tell them that that which he spake by the mouths of their ancient
Prophets is being fulfilled." And they will go, and their proclamation
will be to Israel the same as to the Gentiles, with the exception of
gathering the Jews to old Jerusalem, instead of to the land of Zion.

Vol. 15,  p.190
I might quote many other passages that have a bearing on this subject,
but let this suffice. The work is before the nations, and they can
examine [p.191] it. It has received its foundation and start, and
there is no power beneath the heavens that can stay the hand of the
Almighty. His work will roll forth, whatever the conduct of the
unfaithful may be. The work of the Almighty is onward, and will
progress in its majesty and power until every prophecy is fulfilled
that has been spoken by the mouth of his ancient servants. It will
come to pass, and the people will be gathered, for the powers of the
earth can not stay the hand of the Almighty. Amen.

Brigham Young, October 8, 1872

Testimony—Search the Scriptures—Word of Wisdom

Discourse By Elder Brigham Young, Jun., Delivered at the 
42nd Semi-Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, October 8, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.191
I believe it is pleasing, generally, for an Elder in this Church to
have the privilege of bearing his testimony, though it may be done
with fear and trembling, before the people; yet the knowledge which
God has given to the Elders of Israel inspires them to declare it unto
the world. Although I am considerably afflicted, as well as my
brethren, with this manfearing spirit, yet it is a pleasure to me, and
I hope it ever will be, to stand before the congregations, and tell
them that I know, by the revelations of Jesus Christ, that this is the
people of God. I may not be able to instruct the people to that extent
which others might, but with the help of the Spirit of the Lord I can
testify to that which I do know, which I have experienced in my life,
and which has been brought home to my understanding. I think that it
strengthens me in the principles of the everlasting Gospel every time
I have the privilege of testifying to their truth.

Vol. 15,  p.191
It is almost impossible for this people to realize that they are
called by the power and authority of the Almighty, and that they are
the Saints of God, nevertheless it is true if we are living that
religion which we profess to believe in. Let those who have not
received a testimony to that effect go before their Maker, seek him in
all diligence, be faithful to that which they know, and he will reveal
it unto their minds. We have not come to this earth to idle away our
time, or to throw away that precious gift which is within the reach of
all whom God has created. Eternal life is extended unto us by a
merciful Creator, and we have the opportunity of gaining an exaltation
[p.192] in the kingdom of God if we have a mind to improve it. We have
Come here without a knowledge of a former existence, we are like
strangers in a strange land. The knowledge that we have acquired
guides us to some extent, enables us to gain a living, and in part to
understand the things of the kingdom of God. Brethren and sisters, we
are here as strangers in a strange land, and a guide is what we want—a
guide for our actions on the earth. God has given us one—he revealed a
guide through Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and others who have lived in
modern times, and they have revealed the will of the Almighty unto the
people. We are not left destitute, so that we can be led away by every
manner of doctrine; when we hear people say, "Lo! here is Christ, lo!
there is Christ," we are not left to ourselves, neither have we to
seek the advice of men to know whether these expressions are true or
not, because the Spirit of the Almighty has testified unto us that the
revelations contained in those books—the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants and the Book of Mormon, which we received through Joseph
Smith, are true, and they are given unto us for our guidance.

Vol. 15,  p.192
Is it necessary to ask this people if they are acquainted with the
revelations contained in these books, which have been given unto us as
a guide to eternal life in the presence of God? Do we understand the
revelations contained within the lids of these books? They contain
blessings and truths inestimable, for they point the way back into the
presence of our God. Do we study and understand them, or are our minds
taken up with such light reading as naturally tends to distract the
attention from the principles of the Gospel? There is too much
faultfinding and confusion, and too much of the world in the midst of
this people, and especially in the midst of the Latter-day Saints who
dwell in Salt Lake City. It is true that temptations are broadcast in
our midst, and we meet them on every hand. But is that any reason that
we should give way to them? Is it any reason that we should adopt the
follies and fashions of the world because they have been introduced
into our midst? Well do I remember the time when, in this city, it was
customary for the Saints to retire to rest without locking their
doors. There was no necessity to lock granaries, or stables, or to
guard property as we are compelled to do now. But times have changed,
the temptations which the Lord said should overtake his people have
come, and they have come for our salvation, for without them it would
be impossible for us to show to God that we are for him and his
kingdom and that, under any and all circumstances, we are determined
to work righteousness upon the earth. I do not complain because these
temptations have been introduced into our midst, for they are
necessary. If the Lord sees fit to permit them, I have nothing to say
only by way of counsel, and to exhort the Saints not to indulge in
those things which would have a tendency to grieve the Spirit of the
Lord. I am aware that these evils are not pleasant, and probably if we
could understand and comprehend evil without coming in contact with
it, God would never have placed us on this earth, so far from our
home, so far from those with whom we dwelt in the eternal worlds. He
never would have placed us here but for our own good.

Vol. 15,  p.192
Here are the books—the Bible, 'Book of Mormon, and the Book of
Doctrine and Covenants—which are [p.193] given for a guide to the
people of all the earth, if they will but listen to them; but they
will not listen to the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants, and yet I have failed to discover a learned man who could
take those books and tell where they differed in doctrine in the
least. They can not do this, because the doctrines of all are the
same, for they all proceed from God, and they contain his plan for the
salvation of his children upon the earth. Shall we obey the
revelations which have been given? If I could have an answer from each
individual here to-day, professing to be a Saint, I have no doubt it
would be "Yes." And if strangers, and the nations of the earth knew
that we believe in them as firmly as we believe in anything on the
earth, they would say, "If you believe in them, practice and obey them
in every particular, and live according to your conscience and the law
which God has given you." I, by the revelations of the Almighty,
understand these books to be true. I know that Jesus is the Christ.
Not because I have read it in the books which I have named, or because
I have heard Joseph Smith or others testify to it, but I know it by
the revelations of God, just as others have known it in former
dispensations of the Gospel, and just as others know it in this
dispensation. Saints should live their religion; they should obey the
principles which have been revealed and which are contained in these
books. But there is too much ignorance concerning these revelations;
they are not sufficiently studied; or if studied they are not
remembered, if I am to judge from what I see around me. In traveling
and preaching among the people, there is one revelation which presses
itself particularly on my mind, and which I think the people would
obey if they considered that it came from the Almighty. But as they do
not obey it, I suppose they do not consider that it came from God. I
refer to a revelation given in the year 1833, called the Word of
Wisdom. We fail to obey it to-day, and we shall fail to-morrow unless
we make a short turn and determine in our own minds that we will obey
it. How many of us have disregarded that revelation, in every
particular? It is to be found on page 240 of the Doctrine and
Covenants, and it shadows to me that a time will come in the midst of
this people when a desolating scourge will pass through our ranks, and
the destroying angel will be in our midst as he was in Egypt when he
slew all the firstborn of the Egyptians. God says "the destroying
angel shall pass by" and shall not harm you if you will observe to do
these things. Now if we believe this revelation, and I take it for
granted that we do, though i may choose to doubt in my own case and
some others, yet I assume that as a people we believe it; but what
assurance have we that that angel will pass us by unless we do observe
it? No more than the children of Israel would have had if they had
failed to mark their doors and lintels with the blood of a lamb, as
Moses had commanded them. What effect would a failure to comply with
this commandment have had on them? Would the Destroyer have passed by
the firstborn of Israel? I trow not; I think the firstborn of Israel
would have been slain as well as the first-born of Egypt. That was a
revelation given by the Lord to Moses for the salvation of Israel; the
Word of Wisdom is a revelation given by the Lord to Joseph Smith for
the salvation of this people, and if we disobey we have no more
assurance than Israel had that the destroying angel [p.194] will pass
through our ranks and leave us unscathed. There is not a father or
mother before me to-day who would like to see a child horne away to
the graveyard because of their disobedience. Well, light is given, it
has come to us, and it is for us to obey it, and to put into practice
the commandments which God has given us. It is true that the Word of
Wisdom does not say anything about drinking tea and coffee, but our
leaders—men inspired of the Almighty, in whom we have full confidence,
have told us that it includes these things, era that should be
sufficient for us. The Word of Wisdom says that in those times,
through the wickedness which is in the hearts of men, they would seek
to destroy this people, by introducing into their midst something
deleterious to health. If these are not tide exact words, they are
tantamount. Now is it necessary for us to observe the Word of Wisdom
with regard to tea and coffee? Just, as much as with regard to tobacco
and liquor, because it has been so defined to us, and i so understand
it.

Vol. 15,  p.194
When I think of these things, I think of what I have seen among the
men who have been called particularly to labor on our railroads and in
our co-operative institutions. What is the situation of some of the
young men who labor in these institutions and upon our railroads? If
they do not follow the examples set by those who travel and labor on
other roads, then I do not understand it. I find that our young men
are copying after the young men who travel on other roads—they smoke
and they drink, with as much assurance as though they had followed it
all their lives; and I doubt not, if they continue in the pursuit of
such practices, they will become as proficient in other sins as some I
have seen elsewhere. If young men wish to continue habits of this kind
I have no objections, so far as I am concerned, but I do not wish them
to invade my household. I do not wish my children to keep the company
of men of this class. I do not wish my daughters to go into the
society of men; even though they process to belong to this Church, who
will smoke, drink and swear, and who are ready to commit all the other
sins contained in the catalogue if they had the opportunity, and were
from under the eye of those who would condemn them. I know these
things exist upon our railroads, and also in our co-operative
institutions more or less, throughout this country. Now what course
shall we pursue with regard to these things? Shall we foster them? If
you see a young man in a co-operative store he dresses better and has
a little more means and influence than other young men of his own age
in the community. He exercises that influence for good or for evil
over the minds of younger members of the community. My sons see such
young men smoking and drinking, and they say "Why should not we?" And
they will be likely to, until they arrive at years of discretion, and
get sense to know better. Some may say, "Oh, they will turn round by
and by, and do better." We have no business to hope that, when once
these evil habits are acquired by our children, they will turn round
and do better when they arrive at years of maturity; at least I have
no right to hope it on behalf of my own children I hope to prevent it
in their youth, I could not hope to stop it after they had commenced
and become confirmed in it, although in some cases I might succeed.
But I wish to prevent it, for I believe that prevention is better than
cure.

Vol. 15,  p.195
It is our business, brethren and sisters, to put our foot upon these
[p.195] practices, and to discountenance and condemn them whenever we
see our youth practicing them. This people are not gathered here to
practice the sins which are prevalent in Babylon, at least I do not so
understand it. The Scriptures teach me, and the Spirit of the Lord
bears testimony, to cry unto the people to come out of Babylon, and
not to drag Babylon or its sins into our midst. They are not necessary
for our happiness. It is astonishing to me when I look over the people
in this and other countries, to see the immense number who use tobacco
and liquor. I sometimes wonder how the world lived so long without
tobacco before the discovery of America! Now nearly everybody smokes
or chews. They did without it before America was discovered, and they
could now if they were so disposed. This people could if they would,
and yet they are importing perhaps more tobacco, tea, coffee and
liquor than ever before during their existence as a Church. I believe
this is the case, from all I can hear and learn on the subject. This
is wrong. We can go into our settlements in the north, south, east and
west, and it is just as necessary to have tea, coffee and tobacco now,
as ever. I can also find that where there is an almost boundless
range, and the people can have an unlimited number of stock, all their
cheese is imported—they eat States cheese there as they do in the
city. Home manufacture is neglected, and our cows are left to die on
the range, and we are expending the very bone and sinew of this
community to get means to import articles which we can raise in
abundance here. This will ruin us as a community if it is practiced
long enough. These things may not be quite so prevalent as my words
may imply. I do not mean to say that all the people disregard the Word
of Wisdom; but I fear that the great majority do. If the brethren who
have been called to occupy responsible positions in the midst Of the
people fail to observe the Word of Wisdom, it will grieve the Spirit
of the Lord, and if they do not turn. and repent they will leave this
Church. That is my faith—if they continue to use these things, and to
impress the minds of the people with the idea that it is utterly
unnecessary to observe the Word of Wisdom, they will lose the spirit
of this work and will eventually turn from it. The presiding Elders of
this Church are called to observe the Word of Wisdom, and in all
things to set a good example before the people. That is their
business, and that is their mission, and as long as they live they
will never have a greater.

Vol. 15,  p.195
Brethren, let us seek to understand and practise these things, and
also endeavor to instruct the minds of our wives and children with
regard to the principles contained in these books. Endeavor, brethren,
to build up Zion, and not Babylon. I think very often, when I am
speaking to the people, of a remark to President Young. He has been in
the Church a great many years. On one occasion, only a very few years
after the Church was organized, the Prophet Joseph counseled him and
others never to do another day's work to build up Babylon, and he has
obeyed that counsel. I know he has for twenty-five years past, and I
am satisfied he has from the time the counsel was given.

Vol. 15,  p.195
Do we need to go away from home to build up Babylon? Do we need to
leave this city to build up Babylon? No, continue to indulge our
fancies for fashion and for the practice of those habits and customs
which a corrupt civilization has introduced into our midst, and we
are[p.196] building up Babylon in the most approved style. That is my
belief. Our outside friends have brought a great many good things
here; they have improved our city, they are building fine buildings,
and are expending their capital liberally. I do not object to this,
but I do not want it to lead us from the path of truth and to bring us
into bondage, to sin and iniquity. There is no necessity for this if
we wisely use that which God has given us. You remember the time,
brethren, after we had been in this valley a year or so, we were, in a
manner, naked and barefooted, and were a thousand miles from any
supply of clothing, and it was impossible for us to manufacture it,
for there were no sheep in the country, nothing to manufacture cloth
with, and no means to obtain it. You remember the prophecy delivered
here upon this block by the late Heber C. Kimball, that within a
certain time—a very brief period—clothing would be as cheap in Salt
Lake City as in New York. What prospect had we at that time that his
prophecy would be fulfilled, for a journey to the States and back
again then required months to perform, and there was seemingly no
chance of a supply of clothing from outside importation? Yet within
the time specified, the prophecy was literally fulfilled, and clothing
was far cheaper in the streets of this city than in the streets of Yew
York. This is only one among the many prophecies which have been
delivered and fulfilled. Some of you remember, and others of you have
heard it spoken of, when President Young, in July 1847, while walking
on this block, about where the Temple now stands, said to the brethren
who were around him, "if our enemies will let us alone for ten years
we will ask no odds of them." Ten years that day, brethren, we got
news that an army had left the confines of the States at that time,
for Utah. What for? Their boast was, to destroy the "Mormons." Did we
ask any odds of them? No. Did we ask anything of them? No. We
attempted to give them supplies, but they would not receive them.
Brethren, this is the Church and kingdom of God, and we are led by
holy men, men inspired by the Almighty. They give us a little now and
a little then; we receive line upon line and precept upon precept, and
if we give heed thereto, God will strengthen us, and the kingdom will
grow and increase beneath our watch-care.

Vol. 15,  p.196
Is it necessary for us to remember the prophecies and the revelations
which have been given for our salvation? If we have the truth—the
Gospel of the Son of God—and we testify that we have, it is just as
necessary for us to remember these things as it is for us to be saved
in the kingdom of God. That is our position to-day; and it is
impossible for any human being who has made covenant with the Almighty
to be saved in his kingdom if he disregards the revelations and
counsels that are given by the servants of God. I do not expect
strangers to understand and believe this as we do. Strangers have not
come here for the purpose of identifying themselves with the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the people to whom I am talking
came here for that express purpose. They came here for their souls'
salvation, they want to be saved in the kingdom of God. They had the
testimony in the old countries, in the States, or wherever they
received the Gospel, that God had revealed himself to the children of
men and that his kingdom was established on the earth, and they
received light and intelligence which they never before [p.197]
possessed. They came here to build up the kingdom of God, and that
kingdom is rolling forth and increasing and will continue to do. But
are we giving way to folly and fashion to such an extent as to blind
our minds to the great purpose we had in coming here? I hope not. I
hope that we are living our religion.

Vol. 15,  p.197
Brethren, I testify to you that this is the kingdom of God, and that
you are in a faith that will lead you back into the presence of your
Father and God. I also testify that if the people of the nations of
the earth will obey the Gospel they will receive salvation at the
hands of the Almighty, and if they reject it they Will receive
condemnation at his hands at the last day.

Vol. 15,  p.197
May God bless you, Amen.

Erastus Snow, October 7, 1872

Zion—the Duty of Its Citizens—Testimony

Discourse By Elder Erastus Snow, Delivered in the New 
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 7, 1872. 

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.197
God has said that Zion shall be as a city set upon a hill, whose light
can not be hid. We are called to be the children of Zion. The Lord has
declared that Zion consists of the pure in heart. He has said,
further, that the nations of the earth have corrupted their way before
him, and, referring to Babylon, his command to his Saints is—"Come out
of her, O my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, that ye
receive not of her plagues." The Bible is full of prophecies delivered
by the Prophets and Patriarchs, and by the Savior and his Apostles,
concerning the day and age in which we live. The end draweth nigh and
the time approacheth speedily when the Lord will make a full end of
all nations who fight against Zion, who reject his law and harden
their hearts against him, his precepts and his government. It is our
high privilege to bear this testimony, and the testimony we have to
bear unto the people of the 19th century is but a renewal of that
which was borne by Prophets and Saints in days days past and gone.
They spoke of the time in which we live by the spirit of prophecy and
revelation, which was like one looking through a glass darkly, yet it
is our privilege to behold with our eyes and to hear with our ears
those things which Prophets and Patriarchs long desired to see, but
died without the sight. The duty especially enjoined upon us today is
to awake to righteousness, and consider the calling wherewith God has
called us. We should consider that God has separated us by the [p.198]
preaching of his word and by the testimony of Jesus; and has called us
to be a distinct people, distinct in this particular, that we separate
ourselves from sin and wickedness, and, as far as possible, from the
company of sinners and from all those customs and habits that tend to
darken, degrade and abase the human mind, and cultivate those which
will sanctify, the affections, purify the heart and ennoble the whole
being of man, and fit us, as far as in us lies, to regenerate
ourselves and our race. In short, God desires, and has put forth his
hand, to exalt his people from their low degree, and to lift them up
and make of them a peculiar people, a holy nation, a kingdom of
Priests unto the Most High God and the Lamb.

Vol. 15,  p.198
In all this, is there anything that can hurt, destroy or injure, in
any wise, any portion of our fellow-men who do not feel disposed to
join us in this glorious work, or engage with us in this noble
enterprise? Not at all. The salvation of God is revealed for the good
of all men who will receive it. The Gospel is offered without money
and without price to all flesh, and the testimony that we bear to the
world is that Jesus died for all, and that through the shedding of his
blood, salvation may come unto all men who will believe and yield
obedience unto the requirements of his Gospel. The government which is
inaugurated and established among men by the preaching of the Gospel,
and the administration of its holy ordinances, is a government of
peace, love and goodwill to men, prompting those who receive it to do
good unto all, but especially unto the household of faith.

Vol. 15,  p.198
The duties which are enjoined upon us are, first, to our own
house-hold—the household of God, those who have been baptized into
Christ by being born again of the water and of the Spirit, and become
the children of God by adoption. Next, to all men who have not thus
bees translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's
dear Son; and that love which is wrought in the Saints of God by the
fire of the Holy Ghost through faith in and obedience to the Gospel,
prompts all who are brought under its influence to yield obedience to
its requirements and to labor for the well-being of every creature
that bears the form of God.

Vol. 15,  p.198
There is nothing in the constitution of the Gospel, or the
organization of the Church of Christ and the kingdom of God among men,
and the precepts that are taught of God and his servants, that would
in the least degree inflict injury or withhold blessings from any
member of the family of man, inasmuch as they place themselves in a
condition to receive them, and are willing to accept them. But God has
ordained certain everlasting principles of truth by which his people
may be exalted, and without which they can not be exalted into his
presence and to the enjoyment of his glory. All things are governed by
law, and all good and wholesome laws, which are ordained and enacted
by men, designed for the peace, prosperity and wellbeing of their
fellow-creatures, should be respected, maintained and honored by all
people, and this is one of the duties enjoined upon all Saints in all
the commandments and revelations of God to his people.

Vol. 15,  p.198
It is, further, the duty of all who are entrusted with the
administration of law, in any department whatever, to act in good
faith, in all purity and integrity, and in good conscience for the
wellbeing and happiness of their fellow-creatures in the
administration of justice, truth and judgment; and [p.199] it should
be the aim of all law-makers to consult the best interests of the
people from whom they derive authority, or in whose behalf they are
called to act. It is the duty of Latter-day Saints, and of all good
people to honor all laws and regulations that are ordered for the
freedom of all flesh. And if there are people who do not feel disposed
to, or who can not, receive the testimony of the Lord Jesus, they are
left with as much freedom to enjoy the rights and privileges which are
accorded to them, as the children of God on the earth, as though they
did believe, taking and suffering the consequences of their own
unbelief, which consequence will be a failure to attain to the
blessings which are revealed, and which God deigns to bestow upon the
obedient and faithful.

Vol. 15,  p.199
The word of the Lord unto all flesh is, "Come unto me, all ye ends of
the earth, and be ye saved. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me,
for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest to your
souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." If any doubt the
yoke of Christ being easy and his burden being light, let them try the
experiment, and demonstrate for themselves. If there are any either,
within or without the Church of Christ, who feel his yoke to be heavy
and galling, and his burden not to be easy, I can inform them that
they have not taken upon themselves the yoke of Christ, they are not
bearing his burden, for they are not meek and lowly of heart, they
have not learned their lessons correctly—how to govern and control
their own spirits by the principles and spirit of the everlasting
Gospel. There is nothing in its nature that is oppressive, galling or
hard to bear. In saying this I give the experience of my life, for it
has been devoted from my childhood to the contemplation of these
glorious truths, with an earnest endeavor to apply them practically
unto myself, and I have demonstrated them, and I speak that which I
know and have experienced, and most assuredly believe and testify of
them. And many there are who believe this testimony and are able to
corroborate it; and those who are not, and have not experienced it in
their lives have the privilege of doing so.

Vol. 15,  p.199
It is our duty to sanctify the Lord in this land that he has given us
for an inheritance, by observing, not only the law of tithing, which
is one means which he has given us for that purpose, but by observing
every precept that emanates from him, and living by every word that
proceeds from his mouth, not forgetting the words of wisdom, which are
designed to improve us in a physical point of view, to add strength to
our bodies, lengthen our lives, to increase our powers of endurance,
and to increase the strength, efficiency and power of the rising
generation. Every institution which God has established in our
midst—social, political and religious—is designed for our improvement,
individually and collectively, as a people and as families, to prolong
our lives and to increase our usefulness and our ability for good in
the earth; and if we observe these principles and apply them
diligently in our lives, praying earnestly with our families and in
secret to the Lord for wisdom in doing so, our light will continue to
shine, our strength to increase and our influence both at home and
abroad, on the earth and in the heavens, before God, angels and good
men, and the strength, union, faith, light and purity of the lives or
the Latter-day Saints will be a terror to evildoers.

Vol. 15,  p.200
What can men do against the Lord, and against the people who fear him
[p.200] and are united in good works? What can the arm of flesh
accomplish but its own discomfiture. The weapons of the people of God
are not carnal, but they are mighty through faith. We war not against
flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places, and
against corruption wherever it is found, reproving sin, folly,
deception, dishonesty and wickedness of every kind· And if there are
those who profess to be Saints, and who do not live the life of
Saints, whose light is not shining, whose lamps are not trimmed and
burning, whose lives and characters, precepts and examples do not
correspond with the principles of the Gospel, this only testifies to
the weakness of men and is nothing against the truth, the testimony of
Jesus, or against the testimony of those who do live their religion
and magnify their calling as Saints, and whose precepts and examples
correspond. If some do not believe, will that make the truth of God of
none-effect or less valuable? And what if some do not make their lives
correspond with their doctrines and precepts, it will but show more
Vividly and clearly the character of those who are clean and pure, and
who do love the truth and delight to honor it.

Vol. 15,  p.200
I am a witness of the truth which God has revealed unto man pertaining
to the fullness of the Gospel: that Jesus is the Son of God, the
Savior of those who will receive him, and that he has laid the
foundation for a more glorious and extended salvation than the
majority of us are capable of conceiving and properly comprehending;
and his work is onward in the earth, and it will continue onward and
upward, until the nations of the earth shall be warned, and all people
who will hear may hear and receive the Gospel, he numbered with his
children, be gathered into his fold, become the children of Zion, and
prepared for his coming, for at the appointed time, which he has
foretold, and which time is in the bosom of the Father, the Son will
surely come in the clouds of heaven and the holy Angels with him, to
assume the reins of government on the earth, and to reign King of
kings and Lord of lords. Then, all those who will not bow to his
sceptre, yield obedience to his rule, and accept of his government and
of his dominion will be cut off. Then comes the time spoken of when
every knee that remains shall bow, and every tongue confess, to the
glory of God the Father, that Jesus is the Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.200
It is to lay the foundation of this work, and to prepare a people for
this era that the Lord called his servant Joseph Smith, and revealed
unto him the fullness of the Gospel in this, the 19th century. Elder
Rich testified that he knew, by the revelations of God to himself,
that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. The question will arise in the
minds of the unbelieving, How can this be? They marvel, like Nicodemus
marvelled when Jesus told him he must be born again. He wondered
within himself how a man could be born again—how, when he was old, he
could enter a second time into his mother's womb and he born. The
marvel rises in the minds of many, How can a man know for himself that
Joseph Smith was truly called to be a Prophet, seer and revelator to
this generation? That God did reveal to him the fullness of the
Gospel? That the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the
Gospel—the same that was taught and revealed by the Savior and his
disciples, as recorded in the New Testament? How can a man know that
Angels administered to him? That [p.201] God opened the visions of
heaven to the Prophet Joseph Smith? I answer, They may know it
precisely as the Apostle Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Son
of the living God. It is in this manner that Elder Rich knows that
Joseph Smith was a Prophet; it is in this manner that I know he was a
Prophet and a servant of God raised up to commence this work in the
earth, and to lay the foundation of the Church and kingdom of God on
the earth. When Jesus asked Peter and the rest of the Apostles, "Whom
do men say that I, the Son of Man am?" They answered, "Some think thou
art Elias; others that thou art John the Baptist risen from the dead;
others that thou art Jeremiah or one of the Prophets." "But whom say
ye that I am?" Peter answered—"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God." "Blessed art thou Simon Barjonah, flesh and blood hath
not revealed this unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven; and
verily I say unto thee, upon this rock I will build my Church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Not upon Peter, not his
person, for he was flesh, and must pass away like the flower of the
field. It was not on Peter, or his successors in office, as is taught
by the Romish church Then who and what was this rock Christ referred
to? It was the rock of revelation, revelation from the living God. "On
this rock," said the Savior, "I will build my church, and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it." And I repeat that I know the truth
of the Gospel, as Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ, by revelation
unto me from the Father who is in heaven, and I bear this testimony
unto you.

Vol. 15,  p.201
I know that there are many, very many, whose testimony has been
proclaimed in the ears of this generation, and is recorded in heaven.
Their words are like the precious things that John saw in the vials
that were before the throne of God, and their testimony will remain,
and blessed are all those who receive it. Blessed be the Lord God who
revealed these things unto Peter and unto his servant Joseph, and who
has revealed it unto many more who have sought him with an earnest
desire to know his ways! Blessed are those who fear him and keep his
commandments!

Vol. 15,  p.201
May God help us to live as Saints, and let our light shine! May God
seal the testimony of the Twelve upon the hearts of those who desire
it, that they may come unto and walk in the light, be saved through
the truth, and inherit exaltation with the sanctified, is my prayer,
for Christ's sake. Amen.[p.202] 

George Q. Cannon, October 8, 1872

Gathering—Its Spirit—Its Object—Duties of the Gathered Saints

Discourse By Elder George Q. Cannon, Delivered at the 
42nd Semi-Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, October 8, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.202
Since the commencement of our Conference we have heard very much
valuable instruction, and testimonies which have been very cheering to
the hearts of those who have heard them; and no doubt every person who
has attended Conference from its commencement until the present time,
and who will continue until the Conference shall terminate, will feel
amply rewarded for the time spent, and will go away feeling better
prepared to perform the duties which may devolve upon him or her.

Vol. 15,  p.202
There is so much to talk about connected with our circumstances and
condition, that it requires a portion of the Spirit of the Lord to
enable a person, in speaking, to dwell upon those points which are
best adapted to our present requirements. We are not situated as any
other people, that is, in many respects, and instructions adapted to
our circumstances would differ probably from those which would be
required by others. We have been, from the commencement, a peculiar
people; our religion is in many respects at the present time a
peculiar one; yet, if there be any distinctive peculiarity about the
religion of the Latter-day Saints, it is that they believe and receive
the Scriptures as they are, and do not attempt to put double meanings
to their teachings. Our religion being peculiar, the effect of it is
somewhat peculiar. The message which the Elders of this Church declare
when they go forth to preach the Gospel has a different effect, upon
people who listen to it, to that which is declared by any other
denomination. Not because faith in Jesus Christ, repentance of sin,
baptism for the remission of sins, and laying on of hands for the
reception of the Holy Ghost are taught, but because, following these
principles, there is declared unto the people the propriety and the
necessity of gathering out from the various nations where they dwell,
from the midst of their kindred and their former associates, and
concentrating at the place which God, as the Elders testify, has
selected as the place for his people to reside in. This is a strange
doctrine, and one that is peculiar to the Latter-day Saints, and, as I
have said, the effects upon the people are peculiar. No sooner do they
hear the proclamation of this doctrine, and in some instances before,
than there springs up in the hearts of those who have received the
testimony of the Elders a desire to gather out, and be associated with
the people with whom they have joined, and whose faith they have
received. I suppose that among [p.203] the thousands who live in this
Territory, who have been gathered from the various States of this
country, and from the various countries of Europe, of Asia and the
islands of the sea, there is scarcely one to be found who did not, as
soon as he or she embraced the Gospel, have an intense desire to
gather with the people of God, and to become closely associated with
them, to believe as they believed, to live as they lived, to share
their trials, to partake of their prosperity or adversity, as the case
might be; to receive instructions from the man whom they believed God
had chosen to preside over his Church upon the earth. And the effect
upon the Latter-day Saints in every land is the same in this respect.
You may travel to the most inhospitable climate—to the bleak regions
of the north, or to the sunny climes of the south; to the lands of
sterility and barrenness, where hardship seems to be the lot of the
people, where privation is one of the incidents of their existence; or
to the lands of fertility, where the inhabitants acquire a livelihood
with ease; in fact, no matter where you go, nor whatever the
circumstances may be which surround the people, when they hear the
testimony of the servants of God, and receive and act upon it, the
same spirit takes possession of the people, and they gladly forsake
the lands of their nativity, and the associations of life—of early
life and mature age, the homes of their childhood and the graves of
their ancestors, and wend their way with joy and gladness to this
strange land, which God, as they verily believe and know, by the
testimony of his Holy Spirit, has prepared as a resting place for
them. This is the universal effect wherever the Gospel has been
preached, and in this respect the Latter-day Saints are a peculiar
people.

Vol. 15,  p.203
But though we have gathered together, as we have, in this country,
there seems to be in the minds of a great many people a disposition to
overlook the reasons which God our heavenly Father has had in view in
gathering us out, and collecting us together, and making us one
people. The prophecies which were recorded in ancient days, as well as
those which have been given us in the day in which we live; all point
forward to this great dispensation, as a time When God should do a
great and mighty work in the midst of the earth, and when a great
revolution. should be effected and a great reformation accomplished
among the children of men; when he should have a peculiar people—a
people who should be gathered out from all nations, a people who
should be free from the vices and the evils of all nations, a people
upon whom he should place his name, and whom he should recognize as
his. We are told by the Revelator John, that a time would come when
the people of God should be commanded to come out of Babylon, out of
confusion, when they should be gathered out from every nation, from
the remotest parts of the earth, and when he should make of them a
great and mighty people.

Vol. 15,  p.203
We see a partial fulfillment of this prediction in this Territory—this
people are gathered from various lands, and are dwelling together in
peace and in union, without litigation, animosity or strife, all
harmonizing together—their interests blended in one. To my mind this
is one of the most remarkable phenomena to be witnessed on the face of
the earth. It strikes me as such, and although familiar with it from
my childhood, I look with wonder and astonishment at the great work
that has been done in gathering this [p.204] people together. Visitors
come here, and they are full of admiration for the great labors that
have been accomplished by the Latter-day Saints in transforming this
wilderness land into a fruitful field, in creating these gardens, in
erecting these houses, in adorning this land with beautiful
habitations and with groves, and making this soil, once so barren and
sterile, teem with fertility. They admire the physical works which we
have accomplished; but to my mind there is something greater than this
to be admired. There are works which far surpass the work accomplished
on the face of nature. When I contemplate the work that has been
accomplished in gathering the people from the various nations; when I
see men of various languages and, originally, of various creeds, born
under various forms of government, spread throughout this land,
dwelling together in peace, union and love, worshiping together in the
one Tabernacle, or in the same places of worship throughout the length
and breadth of this Territory, I see something which to my mind is
far, far more surprising than anything wrought by our physical labors.
I see a power wonderful in its effect—a power which has moulded the
heart's and blended the feelings of the children of men, and created a
oneness in their midst, the effects of which are witnessed all around
us. God has done this, and to his name the glory must be ascribed. Man
cannot do these things, he cannot thus affect and operate upon the
minds of his fellowmen. He may produce some effect, may accomplish
some results, but that union, love and harmony which we witness among
ourselves is beyond the power of man to bring about—it is the power of
God which he has manifested; and for wise and great ends has this
wonderful Godlike power been restored, which binds the hearts of men
to their fellowmen, and causes them to co-operate, as they have clone
in this land, in accomplishing the labors which have devolved upon us.

Vol. 15,  p.204
But yet, though I can admire these things, brethren and sisters, these
are many things which we have neglected to do, which devolve upon us.
God has given unto us a great mission in the earth, and whether we
realize it or not it is a fact. He has entrusted to us, as a people, a
great and mighty work to perform. We look around us in the various
nations as well as in our own nation, and we see a great many evils
existing, we see these evils increasing in magnitude, and becoming
more formidable and threatening every year that passes over our heads.
Probably we who reside in these mountains, and have done so for a
quarter of a century, can realize the evidence of these evils better
than they who live in the midst of them and witness their gradual
growth without noticing the great changes which have been effected.
But we see extravagance, corruption, and a lack of virtue and public
morality; we see the breaking down of those barriers which formerly
existed, and a sapping and demoralization of public sentiment and of
private morality throughout the nation of which we form a part, as
well as in other nations.

Vol. 15,  p.204
Now there is laid upon us, as a people, the labor of establishing
righteousness in the earth. There is laid upon us the duty of building
up in purity and power a system which God has revealed unto us. Not a
system of theocracy to be exclusive in its effects, not to build up a
class, a priesthood that should domineer and wield unjust and
oppressive power over the hearts and minds of the children of men. Our
mission [p.205] is to lay the foundation and to build up a system
under which all the inhabitants of the land can dwell in peace and
safety. But I notice a difficulty in our own midst, and that is that
we yield, to a great extent, to the tendencies of the age, to the
influences which surround us on every hand. We must refrain from this
we must set our faces like flint against every species of corruption,
against every kind of wrong, in whatever form it may approach us. We
must seek with all the energy that we have, to build up in truth and
righteousness that which God has committed unto us, and establish
impregnably the system of reformation with which we are entrusted.
There can be no better way for us to commence than by listening to the
counsels that have been given unto us in the past, and which have been
the means of producing the peace, happiness and prosperity which we
witness among us.

Vol. 15,  p.205
There are tendencies to be witnessed in this city, and among our own
people here, that we have to guard against. We well know that, of
late, there has been an increase of wealth, and of the means of
acquiring luxuries and comforts. God has bestowed these upon us, and
the question now is with us, Will we use these, means aright, with an
eye single to his glory? Will we, with our increased prosperity,
devote ourselves in the future, as we have in the past, to the
building up of the kingdom of God, as our paramount duty? Not for our
own aggrandizement, but for the benefit of our fellow-men in every
land, as well as for the benefit of those who reside in this
Territory. If we do this, God will bless us. But you know what the
fate of all people has been who have been similarly situated to us in
the beginning. In their early days they were pure, they were not
extravagant, they were simple in their tastes, habits and dress. They
did not allow their minds to go out after earthly things, or to be
placed upon them. But means and wealth will always increase among
frugal, economical, virtuous and industrious people, for it is one of
the natural consequences which follow industry and well-directed
labor, and we are no exceptions to this rule. We live in a land that
has been barren and sterile above all lands on this continent, and by
well-directed energy and industry, by perseverance temperance and
frugality, we have been blessed, and now the fruits of our
long-continued abstemiousness and industry are beginning to flow in
upon us, and we are becoming wealthy. Our lands are becoming valuable,
our surroundings are becoming, if not luxurious, at least comfortable,
wealth is pouring into our laps, and the prospect is that ere long we
will be as wealthy a community, probably, as can be found between the
two oceans. This seems to be the natural tendency of events at the
present time.

Vol. 15,  p.205
Now the question arises—and I deem it an important one for this
Conference—it has rested on my mind, as I doubt not it has on the
minds of the brethren—will we as a people devote the means that God is
giving unto us, for the preservation and continuation of that system
that he has revealed unto us? Or will we scatter it abroad, destroy
ourselves, and spoil the future which God has in store for us? We must
be a different people from every other that has preceded us, if we
fulfill the predictions of the holy Priesthood, for God has said,
through the mouth of his prophet Daniel, thousands of years ago, that
this kingdom should not be given into the hands of another people, but
it should stand for ever. It [p.206] should not share the fate of
previous attempts of the same character, and be overthrown in
consequence of the weakness of the people, and the abandonment by them
of the principles of truth and righteousness. There is nothing plainer
to my mind than this, that if the Latter-day Saints become luxurious
and extravagant; if they love the world and forsake their former
purity; if they forsake their frugality and temperance, and the
principles which God has revealed unto them, and by the practice of
which they are to-day the people that they are; we shall be overthrown
as others have been overthrown. But I do not look for any such result,
for I believe firmly in the prediction of Daniel, that this work, when
established, shall not be given into the hands of another people, but
it shall stand for ever, and there will be means and agencies used and
brought to bear on the minds of the people, to prevent such a
catastrophe as that to which I have alluded—to prevent the downfall of
the system and the overthrow of those connected with it, and to
prevent the victory of that which is evil over that which is good,
holy and pure.

Vol. 15,  p.206
These means have been indicated in revelations which have been given
unto us. We are not living as we should live. As a people we follow
the systems of our fathers in regard to the management of wealth. We
follow in the footsteps of those who have preceded us. We are
innovators so far as religious thought and doctrines are concerned,
and we have been bold innovators. We have not hesitated to adopt great
reforms, and to proclaim them, and we have sought, with all the
energies God has bestowed upon us, to make them facts in the earth. We
have proclaimed this doctrine of gathering, and the people have been
gathered together. This is a great innovation, it is a bold step, and
it has resulted in success thus far. It is not now a novelty, or a new
and untried experiment, for the gathering of the people together has
been going on for forty years and upwards. But it was a great
innovation when introduced. It is so with other doctrines which the
Elders of this Church have taught. God inspired their hearts, and
they, regardless of all consequences, fearlessly proclaimed the truth
which he imparted unto them. We have made a great revolution in our
domestic relations, and in our social system. We have taken a bold
stand, and have been fearless of the consequences, because God, as we
testify, has revealed unto us a principle that should be practiced,
and which we should carry out, and be the pioneers in inaugurating for
the redemption of men and women, and that should check, and, in fact,
effectually cure, the evils under which Christendom has groaned for
centuries. The Elders of this Church did this, and have risked all the
consequences, from the time the system was inaugurated until the
present time. The results of this we can all see, in the purity and
chastity of our community; for strange as it may seem, in no other
land are the chastity and virtue of women so highly respected as in
Utah. Throughout the length and breadth of this Territory public
sentiment is utterly opposed to anything that would violate that
chastity and virtue.

Vol. 15,  p.206
In these directions, then, we have been bold and fearless innovators.
But so far as financial matters are concerned, so far as the
accumulation and management of wealth are concerned, we have not
followed in the path which God has marked out. Yet the time must come,
and we may as well prepare our minds for it, when [p.207] we shall
have to take a great step in this direction, and when we shall have to
follow the path indicated by God in order to escape the evils that are
inevitable, and that will otherwise most assuredly come upon, and
overwhelm us.

Vol. 15,  p.207
I have told you that others who have preceded us have fallen a prey to
evils. The increase of wealth in every nation has been attended with
fatal consequences. We have but to read the history of our race from
the beginning until the present time to rest assured of that. Men have
said, probably, to all of you who have been out and mingled with the
world, "It is very well for you Latter-day Saints to talk about your
condition now, because you are a primitive people, you are a young
community, you have not been tempted and tried. Wait till you increase
in wealth, and until you become familiar with the sins which surround
the wealthy. Wait until you are brought in contact with luxury; wait
until the spirit of reform which animated your pioneers dies out, and
a generation rises up who will think more of the world, then there
will be a different feeling and spirit, and you will not be
persecuted, hated or despised. You will become more popular, because
the world will become familiarized with your ideas. Then "Mormonism'
and the Latter-day Saints will become like every other people that
have preceded them—overcome by the luxuries of the world, and by the
love of riches." Have you not heard remarks of this kind time and time
again? Doubtless they have been made to you or in your bearing.

Vol. 15,  p.207
Now, how shall we avert these evils? It is very well to say that God
has established this kingdom; it is very well to say that this is his
Church. Did he never have a Church or kingdom on the earth before? Did
he never have a people on the earth before? Why, most certainly he
did. He had churches before this; he had people before he chose the
Latter-day Saints. He had communities that he owned and recognized
before we were organized. Yet they went the way of all the earth, and
the Church of God disappeared from the midst of the inhabitants of the
earth. Luxury, corruption, vice, extravagance, the love of wealth and
the allurements of sin prevailed in all the earth, and the devil—his
satanic majesty—held high carnival throughout the earth because of the
influence and power of these things over the hearts of the children of
men. It is true that God established his work before; we know it to be
true; and because he has established it in our day, we need not think
that he is going to preserve it without using means to do so. He has
revealed, and will continue to reveal, law, and that law must be
obeyed by us, or we can not be preserved. The time must come when we
must obey that which has been revealed to us as the Order of Enoch,
when there shall be no rich and no poor among the Latter-day Saints;
when wealth will not be a temptation; when every man will love his
neighbor as he does himself; when every man and woman will labor for
the good of all as much as for self. That day must come, and we may as
well prepare our hearts for it, brethren, for as wealth increases I
see more and more a necessity for the institution of such an order. As
wealth increases, luxury and extravagance have more power over us. The
necessity for such an order is very great, and God, undoubtedly, in
his own time and way, will inspire his servant to introduce it among
the people. I do not wish to foreshadow when it will be done, or what
the circumstances will [p.208] be that will call it forth, for this is
not my province; but I feel led to talk upon it, and to prepare my own
heart, and to seek, with all the faith and influence I have, to
prepare the hearts of my brethren and sisters for the introduction of
this order. It will doubtless be a time of trial, and will be attended
with many things that will test our feelings; but When we view the
great results that will follow its introduction and its perfect
establishment upon the earth, we should be filled with thanksgiving
and praise that God has devised a scheme of this kind. You can see
already the effects of the partial introduction of something akin to
it in co-operation. We have had that established in ore' midst, and
what are its effects? We witness a gradual diffusion of means
throughout the community, greatly benefiting all its members. One of
the effects of this which we witness is that wealth does not increase
so rapidly in the hands of the few, and that the poor are not kept in
poverty so much.

Vol. 15,  p.208
Before co-operation started, you doubtless saw and deplored the
increase of wealth in some few hands. There was rapidly growing in our
midst a class of monetary men composing an aristocracy of wealth. Our
community was menaced by serious dangers through this, because if a
community is separated into two classes, one poor and the other rich,
their interests are diverse. Poverty and wealth do not work together
well—one lords it over the other; one becomes the prey of the other.
This is apt to be the case in all societies, in ours as well as
others; probably not to so great an extent, but still it was
sufficiently serious to menace us as a people with danger. God
inspired his servant to counsel, the people to enter into
co-operation, and it has now been practiced for some years in our
midst with the best results. Those who have pot in a little means have
had that more than doubled since Z. C. M. I. started—three years last
March. And so it is with co-operative herds, cooperative factories,
and co-operative institutions of all kinds which have been established
in our midst, and all the people can partake of the benefits of this
system. You can see the effect of co-operation on the people. But this
is only a limited system, it does not extend as far as needed,
although it required faith to enter into this; yet it will require
more to enter upon the other of which I have spoken.

Vol. 15,  p.208
While upon co-operation, let me here say that we can witness the good
effects of this to the Church, and we shall feel them in days to come.
President Young, the other day, paid into the co-operative
establishment—Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution—a hundred
thousand dollars tithing—the tithing of his own personal means—and it
is now where it will yield profits for the benefit of the whole
Church. Now, if this amount had been used to pay the hands on the
public works and those laboring for the Church, how long do you think
it would have lasted? It would very soon have been used up. But I have
admired the wisdom, and have felt thankful that there was a sum placed
where it could be used for the benefit of the work, and at the same
time yield a handsome return for the investment. I do not think it
will take more than three years, if the Co-operative Institution
prospers as well in the future as in the past, for this sum to double
itself in the shape of dividends. I refer to this in passing, because
it is a testimony to-day, after three years and a half have elapsed,
to the wisdom [p.209] that prompted the establishment of this
institution; but notwithstanding this you are aware that many cried
out against it, and denounced it as very unwise, and likely to end
disastrously, and several apostatized through its inauguration because
they wanted all the profits themselves, and were unwilling the people
should have any. But we have the facts before us. The people who
entered into it have been blessed exceedingly, and they will continue
to be so if they persevere.

Vol. 15,  p.209
But I have said that this is only a stepping stone to something beyond
that is more perfect, and that will result in the diffusion of the
blessings of God to a greater extent among us. In other lands you see
the people divided into classes. You see beggars in the street, and
men and women who are short of food, dwelling in hovels and in the
poorest of tenements. At the same time, others revel in luxury, they
have everything they need, and more than they need to satisfy all
their wants. Every philanthropist who contemplates this, does so with
sadness, and measure after measure has been devised to remedy this
state of things. Our community is not a prey to these evils. Beggary
and want are unknown in this Territory; at the same time we have no
very rich men among us. Like other new communities we are more on an
equality than we would be if we were older, and if we were to become
an old community under the system which prevailed before co-operation
was established, then it is very probable that some of the class
distinctions to be seen in other communities would be seen in ours. It
is to avoid this that God has revealed that which I have alluded to,
and his design is to bring to pass a better condition of affairs, by
making men equal in earthly things. He has given this earth to all his
children; and he has given to us air, light, water and soil; he has
given to us the animals that are upon the earth, and all the elements
by which it is surrounded. They are not given to one or to some, to
the exclusion of others; not to one class, or to one nation to the
exclusion of other classes or other nations. But he has given them to
his children in all nations alike. Man, however, abuses the agency
that God has given him, and he transgresses his laws by oppressing his
fellow-men. There is selfishness in the rich, and there is
covetousness in the poor. There is a clashing of initerests, and there
is not that feeling among men which we are told the Gospel should
bring—a feeling to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This does
not exist on the earth now, it is reserved for God to restore it. We
pray that God's will maybe done on earth as it is in heaven, and when
it shall, then the order which exists in heaven will be practiced and
enjoyed by men on the earth. I do not expect when we get to heaven,
that we shall see some riding in their chariots, enjoying every
luxury, and crowned with crowns of glory, while the rest are in
poverty.

Vol. 15,  p.209
I have spoken longer than I intended, but there are some few thoughts
on my mind to which I will allude in this connection before I sit
down, and that is, brethren and sisters, that we should, to the extent
of our ability, foster these institutions that have been established
among us. We should do all that we can to sustain ourselves—sustain
our own factories, do all in our power to maintain these things that
we have established, and seek with all our energy to foster them. We
have factories here that can make as good cloth as any of their size,
probably,[p.210] in the nation. They ought to be sustained by us.
Brother Erastus Snow related an incident a day or two ago in relation
to their operations at St. George. They received quite a quantity of
cloth from the factory of President Young. He told the store-keeper at
St. George not to say anything about where it was manufactured. At the
same time they received a consignment of eastern manufactured goods.
They were put side by side on the shelves of the store and sold to the
people. There were very few—some two or three persons—who knew that
any of these goods were manufactured in the Territory. They sold very
readily to the people, who said they were the best goods they had
bought. They wore them, and they wore well. Several lots were received
from the President's factory, and sold in the same way, the people
remaining in ignorance a good while as to the place of their
manufacture, and imagining that they were brought from the east. There
is an idea prevailing among many of us that something manufactured
abroad is better than that manufactured at home. President George A.
Smith, Elder Woodruff and myself, on our recent visit to California,
examined the Oregon and California goods. We went through a woollen
factory there, where very excellent goods were made. We saw some
blankets and some other things which were manufactured there, which
can not be surpassed. I recollected that I had heard parties here, who
had purchased Oregon cloth, praise it very highly; but in examining
that class of goods in California, I found that the cloth manufactured
in this Territory compared very favorably with it, and had they been
put side by side, bolt by bolt, it would have been very difficult to
tell which was Utah and which was Oregon manufacture. Indeed if there
was any preference I was inclined to give it to our own cloth.

Vol. 15,  p.210
We have factories that can make straw hats, straw bonnets and every
thing of this kind. We have good tanners' and shoe shops, and harness
shops. We have a great many manufactories in our Territory that should
be fostered by us as a people. We should guard against luxury and
extravagance, and use that which is manufactured at home.

Vol. 15,  p.210
That God may bless us, that he may pour out his Holy Spirit upon this
Conference; upon those who speak and those who hear, is my prayer in
the name of Jesus. Amen.[p.211] 

John Taylor, October 7, 1872

Choice of Rulers—Headship—One Man Power—the Yoke of Jesus

Discourse By Elder John Taylor, Delivered at the 42nd 
Semi-Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, October 7, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.211
I am happy to have the privilege of meeting with and speaking to the
Saints on the present occasion. If I were inclined to take a text I
would repeat a passage made use of by Jesus, which is something like
this—"Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly
of heart and you shall find rest to your souls." Perhaps I may not
have got it verbatim, however the principle is there, and you can
correct it from the written word. The ideas contained in the saying of
the Redeemer are rather peculiar. The yoke that is there referred to
would seem to imply a degree of servitude of some kind or other, and
men generally look upon such expressions in that point of view. The
nations of the earth, generally, are under some kind of rule and
government. The religious portion of mankind are also under a species
of government and rule, and no matter where you go, you find an
influence of this kind more or less prevailing among men. We stand
here in rather an anomalous position. We have a church with its
government or laws, and we have also a government and laws according
to the organization of the United States. Hence our obligations are
twofold, one as subjects of the United States, the other as subjects
of the Church of God. And then, were we to go a little further, we
might also add, of the kingdom of God. Now, in every government of men
that exists anywhere on the face of the earth, there is a species of
rule associated with and founded on authority voluntarily given by the
people or usurped by the rulers, according to circumstances; but all
mankind, everywhere, are under some form of dominion, government or
rule. The same thing applies also to churches and the worship of God.
There are various systems in existence on the earth, including
Judaism, Mahomedanism, Pantheism, and heathenism of many kinds, as it
has existed for generations in many parts of the earth; and there is
Christianity with the multifarious ideas, rule, and authority of the
Christian churches as they exist, scattered abroad in the earth,
principally in Europe and America as well as in some parts of Africa
and Asia. But whether we refer to the Pagan, Jewish, Christian, or any
other form of religion, its followers are expected to submit to some
kind of authority; to subscribe to certain articles of faith, and to
submit to certain forms, laws and ordinances,[p.212] according to
their several theories.

Vol. 15,  p.212
The same thing precisely, exists among the nations; they have their
various forms of rule, government and dominion, and they exact certain
conditions from their subjects. No matter what kind of government, it
requires a species of obedience from all persons living under it; for
government, of course, necessarily implies rule, authority, dominion,
governors and governed, or law and the execution of that law. All
these principles exist in one form or another over all the face of the
wide earth whereon we live. We can not separate ourselves from that,
go where we will. In a despotic government the power to dictate and
control all its affairs is vested in the emperor, according to his own
will and pleasure, sometimes, perhaps, modified by counsel, which he
can receive or reject at pleasure. In other kinds of government, such
as are called limited monarchies, the people hold a certain part of
the power or authority in their own hands, and give a certain part to
the government. The government of England belongs to this class. There
they have a king or queen, as the case may be, at the head of the
government, and two houses called the Lords and Commons, the latter
are elected by and represent the people. It is what is called a
popular government, the people having a voice, but at the same time
they concede a certain amount of their power to their legislators, who
manage their affairs according to their ideas of what would be most
beneficial for the nation.

Vol. 15,  p.212
The government of the United States is what is called a republic. In a
form of government Of this kind the foundation of all law, power and
authority is the voice or will of the people; that is the genius of
the government. It is based upon a written constitution granting unto
the legislature power to do thus and so, and to go no further; and
while they who make and administer the laws confine themselves within
the limits of that constitution, their acts are what is called
constitutional. When they go beyond that, their acts are called
unconstitutional, that is, they deprive the people of certain rights
guaranteed to them by the written compact that they have entered into.
I speak of these things simply to elucidate certain ideas that I wish
to communicate.

Vol. 15,  p.212
But to proceed further. If we—the people in this Territory, or in
other Territories or in the States, confer certain powers on the
General Government, we no longer retain them, they are ceded away by
us to others. If we give to our legislators certain authority, they
hold that authority, and it is for us to submit to the laws which may
be enacted by them. This is what is called republicanism, and it is
also in agreement with the theory of a limited monarchy. Whenever a
people give up certain rights they ought to honor the parties into
whose hands they place them. The President of the United Stales ought
to be sustained; so ought the ministers of the government of England,
by the people over whom they preside, because they are acting for and
on their behalf and according to their dictates. If you go to some
other governments they ask no odds of the people. Say they, "We will
be sustained, if we have to sustain ourselves by the sword."

Vol. 15,  p.212
We come now to religions matters, and here in our own country are
Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and a host of others. I need not
go to foreign countries and examine their religions. I wish to arrive
at certain conclusions, and to do so I [p.213] have no need to go
beyond the confines of the United States. Here we have the Methodists,
Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Quakers,
Shakers and so forth. Very well, all these sects have their own
peculiar ideas of church government. The Methodist has his
Discipline—a system got up by the ministers of that church that all
its members have to be governed by. They must come within the purview
and be under the influence thereof. If you ask a Methodist to become a
Latter-day Saint, he might say, and truly, "I have not the privilege
of being Methodist and Latter-day Saint at the same time." A man can
not be a Baptist and a Methodist at the same time, neither can he be a
Methodist and a shaking Quaker. Why? Because he is bound by the
articles of the Discipline of his church, and he must submit to that.
So it is in regard to the Catholics. Many, of you have no doubt read
recently of Pere Hyacinthe, who, a short time ago, was very popular
among the Roman Catholics. But he dissented from their views; and
among other things he took to himself a wife, which was contrary to
their ideas and creed, and probably his own views, the result was that
they excommunicated him and they treated him as if he had been dead,
and had a funeral, following him to his grave while he was yet living.
This is according to their ideas, and he, being a Catholic, had no
right to expect anything else. A Catholic priest must submit to the
laws of the priesthood, and they have excommunicated him for departing
therefrom, and he had no cause to complain. We may have our own
peculiar ideas about the propriety of this, that and the other
religious faith, ceremonies and forms of worship, but I am now
speaking of law, and of governments, and of the arrangements that
peoples, nations, churches, and the members of churches bind
themselves to be governed by.

Vol. 15,  p.213
The same thing applies to any of the various sects that exist in
Christendom. The Baptist commences a church, and he believes in
baptism by immersion, but he could not be a Latter-day Saint. Why?
Because he can be baptized by anybody not having authority from God,
and he does not believe that baptism is for the remission of sins.
According to his ideas he must have his sins forgiven first, and then
be baptized after a while. He could not be a Latter-day Saint, because
his ideas and ours are at variance. If a man is a Baptist, as long as
he remains so, he must submit to their law. If he is a Methodist, and
remains so, he must submit to their discipline, be it right or wrong,
the question of their laws being Scriptural or not has to be decided
in and of itself. It is the same way with a nation. If I were in
Russia, and did not like the government, I might, if they would allow
me, go to England, come to the United States, or go to one of the
Southern republics, and become a citizen thereof, but I could not be a
republican in Russia. If I went to England, I should have to be
subject to the laws of England, and the same if I came to the United
States, hence the principle that I mentioned before is applicable all
the way through, no matter which way you look at it. I am not saying
at present which of these governments, whether religious or political,
is right, I am merely trying to elucidate a principle that exists
among and is acknowledged by men. If I go to live in any country on
the face of the earth, I have to be subject to its laws, and if I am a
reasonable, intelligent man, I [p.214] acknowledge the propriety of my
being so. If I join the Methodist church, I have a right to be a good
Methodist, and to submit to their discipline. If I join the Baptist
church I have a right to be a good Baptist, and to submit to their
discipline, creed, laws and so on, for I join them knowing that I
ought to submit to them, and as an honorable man I do so or leave it.

Vol. 15,  p.214
Well, we stand here in a peculiar position, as before stated. We are
here in a religious capacity, and we are here in a political capacity.
As religionists our faith is that God has spoken, and that angels have
ministered to men; that the everlasting Gospel has been restored in
its fullness, simplicity and purity, as it existed in Jesus's day. We
believe in Apostles and Prophets, and in the principle of
revelation—in God communicating with the human family. These things
were taught to us before we became members of this Church, and we
received them as part and parcel of our faith, and having faith in
this system we obeyed it. We believed in being baptized for the
remission of sins, and having hands laid upon us for the reception of
the Holy Ghost. That is our faith, it has been communicated to us by
revelation, by the opening heavens, by the voice of God, by the
ministering of holy angels, and by the testimony of God's servants, as
they have gone forth through the world.

Vol. 15,  p.214
We also believe in having a Priest-hood—a ruling power to regulate and
dictate, under the guidance of the Almighty, the affairs of his Church
and kingdom upon the earth. That is our faith, and it was taught to us
when we first listened to "Mormonism." Before we were baptized into
this Church we believed the men whom we heard proclaim its principles
were inspired by the Almighty, and we pray to God for them daily now,
that the revelations of Heaven may be unfolded to their view, and that
the purposes of God may be made plain to their understanding, that
they may be able to instruct the people and lead them in the way of
life. This is our faith, and when we talk about these things we do so
understandingly, there is no halfway business about it.

Vol. 15,  p.214
We meet here to-day in Conference, believing in these principles. When
we talk about paying our tithing, we believe that it is the duty of
all who ever obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to contribute one-tenth
of their increase to the Lord. As Latter-day Saints we subscribe to
this, and we believe it is right to be honest, and to show integrity
in this as in everything else. We believe in being truthful, virtuous,
pure and holy, and we believe in keeping the commandments of God in
all things. This is part and parcel of our religious faith and,
belief, and we have, from time to time, of our own free will,
subscribed to these very principles of which I have spoken; and we
have held up our hands time and time again to sustain the authorities
of the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth. Having said so much
in regard to these things, I desire, very briefly, to compare the
position that we occupy with that which others occupy.

Vol. 15,  p.214
I have already told you that there exists a variety of governments on
the earth, and that all men are expected to be in subjection to the
laws and usages of the governments under which they live. I have told
you that in England they have a limited monarchy. At the present time
a queen presides over their destinies. How did she come to that
office? She was born of royalty, and inherited it by lineal descent.
The people had no choice in the matter. She [p.215] has been, I
believe, a very good, virtuous, exemplary woman, and has ruled with
mildness, generosity and kindness among her people; but if she had
done otherwise, she was still their queen. Now I want to talk about
what people call equal rights, and to examine a certain principle in
relation to these things. What say had the people of England in regard
to their queen? None at all: The President of the United States is
elected by the people, therefore he is what may be termed the people's
candidate. How often do they elect a President of the United States?
Once every four years, and consequently there is great excitement now
on account of the coming Presidential election. The people are ranging
themselves into parties, and each party using all the influence they
possess to elect their own special and peculiar favorites. Besides the
President, there are Legislators and Governors. Governors generally
hold their office for four years; Senators of the United States from
four to six years, according to circumstances; members of the House of
Representatives for two years. In many of the States and Territories
the Legislators are elected for two years, and hence, during the time
for which they are elected, they have a perfect right to use their own
judgment in enacting laws for the benefit of the people, being sworn
not to transcend certain bounds laid down as their guide. If they
should be ever so bad during their term of office, and should enact
oppressive laws, the people have no right to change them until their
time expires, unless, from some flagrant violation of their trust,
they should be impeached.

Vol. 15,  p.215
How is it in the churches? With the Catholics it is once a priest
always a priest, except in such cases as that of Pere Hyacinthe, and
then they bury them. In some churches the bishops and other
authorities hold officegood behavior, or for lifetime; in some
churches they are voted for by a certain conclave according to
circumstances and their own peculiar notions and dogmas, and in very
many instances these officers hold their offices for life without any
counteraction whatever, unless they violate their own constitutions,
laws or discipline, when they are liable to be dealt with according to
the laws and regulations of their several churches. Now nobody thinks
they are very badly oppressed in all this. They enter these churches
voluntarily, they are not bound to stay in them, and they leave them
when they like.

Vol. 15,  p.215
Now let us contrast our position with that of other people in these
respects. We hear a good deal about one man power. I want to examine
that power a little, and see how it exists, and how far it extends. We
believe in two principles—one is the voice of God, the other is the
voice of the people. For instance, we believe that nobody but God
could set the religious world right, we believe that none but God
could have given any man correct information in regard to doctrine and
ordinances. We believe that God did instruct Joseph Smith in relation
to both, and also pertaining to the government of his people here on
the earth. How are this people selected and set apart? Joseph Smith
was selected by the Lord, and set apart, and ordained by holy angels.
How with the others? By the authority which God conferred on Joseph he
selected, set apart, and ordained others to the various orders and
organizations of the Priesthood. We know that the Lord, in former
times, called some men who did not magnify their calling, [p.216] and
who were set aside as unfit for the Master's use. Jesus, for instance,
called Judas to be one of the Twelve, and Judas betrayed him, and he
was cut off from the Twelve. We have had many instances in our Church
of a similar nature, men have been found unfaithful, and they have
been cut off. By whom? By the authority of that Priesthood of which
they formed a part. That Priesthood has the same power now that it had
formerly—to bind on earth and it is bound in heaven, to loose on earth
and it is loosed in heaven. How does this Priesthood stand in relation
to the people? It is not thrust upon them as the queens of England,
the kings of France, the emperor of Austria, or as the former king,
but now emperor of Prussia, are; no, it is not thrust upon the people
in any such way. It is precisely in the same way that the Israelites
were organized in former times—God gave them certain laws, and all the
people said "Amen," then the laws became binding upon Israel The
position we occupy is this: the Holy Ghost, which has been given to
all who have obeyed the Gospel, and have lived faithful to its
precepts, takes of the things of God, and shows them forth through a
living Priesthood to a people enlightened and instructed by the Spirit
of revelation from God, and the people thus enlightened, instructed
and blessed by the spirit of light, voluntarily and gladly sustain the
Priesthood who minister unto them. When Joseph Smith was upon the
earth, he did not force himself upon the people as these kings and
emperors do, but he presented himself before them every six months, at
the Annual or Semi-Annual Conference, and the people had a chance to
lift up their hands to receive or reject him. That was the position
occupied by Joseph Smith, and those associated with him, in guiding
the affairs of the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth, and it is
precisely so with President Young. He stands here as the
representative of God to the people, as the President of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is, or ought to be, full of
light, life, revelation and the power of God, and he is, and bears
testimony to it. He ought to be able to lead the people in the paths
of life, and he is. He is the choice of God, and what more? He is the
choice of the people of God. Has he a right to say, "I am chosen, I am
elected, I am President, and I will do as I darned please, and help
yourselves?" No, he presents himself before you, and if there is any
man who has aught against him, he has the privilege of holding up his
hand to signify the same. That is the position of our President—he is
brought to a test every six months, as it rolls around, before the
assembled Conference of the Chinch of Jesus Christ, of Latter-day
Saints. It is the same with the Twelve, the President of the Stake,
the High Council, the Presidents of Seventies, and with all the
leading officers of the Church—they are all put to this test twice a
year, and the people have the privilege of voting for or against them,
just as they please.

Vol. 15,  p.216
Here then, on the one hand, there is the voice of God. Shall we object
to it? Who made us? Who organized us, and the elements with which we
are surrounded and that we inhale? Who organized the planetary system
that we see around us? Who provides breakfast, dinner and supper for
the millions that dwell on the face of the earth? Who clothes them, as
he does the lilies of the field? Who imparts unto man his breath,
life, health, his powers of [p.217] locomotion, thought, and all the
godlike attributes with which he is endowed? Where did they come from?
Who has controlled and managed the affairs of the world from its
creation until the present time? The Great I Am, the Great Eloheim,
the Great God who is our Father. We bow before him. Is it a hardship
to reverence the Lord our God? Is it a hardship to have him for our
instructor? And shall we follow the notions, theories, ideas and folly
of men, who seek to supersede the wisdom, light and paternal care of
God our heavenly Father? No, we will not. God is our God, "the Lord is
our God, the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our King, and he shall
rule over us." We do not object to bow the knee to God and say, "Our
Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy
will be done on earth as it is done in heaven:" and we pray that it
may be hastened. We acknowledge, we bow before, we reverence the name
of our heavenly Father. That is one thing that we do for God, who
causes seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, day and night, the
God who has watched over us and all the myriads of the inhabitants of
the earth from the time of creation until the present time; the God in
whose hands are the destinies of the human family pertaining to this
world and the worlds to come. If God will deign to teach, lead and
dictate us, we bow with reverence before him, and say, "It is the
Lord, let him do as seems him good." We ask the guidance of the
Almighty, we reverentially present ourselves before him and we submit
to his authority; for his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Vol. 15,  p.217
What next? Then comes the freedom of man. On the one hand the guidance
of God, on the other the freedom of man. We ask God to dictate us and
he does. He has given us a President, Apostles, Prophets, Bishops; be
has organized his Church in the most perfect and harmonious manner. We
see these things before us. I need not talk about the country that we
inhabit, nor about the blessings that have been shed abroad among us,
rich in comparison with those enjoyed by others by whom we are
surrounded. These things are patent to all intelligent men, and
surprise is frequently expressed at our improvements and at the wisdom
and intelligence that have governed, managed and controlled our
affairs; they do not know where they came from. We do—they come from
God through the medium of his servants.

Vol. 15,  p.217
What next? God having given as a President inspired by his Holy
Spirit, we are required to vote for him—will we have him or will we
reject him? We lift up our hands and say, "Yes, we will receive him."
The world say this is despotism, being governed by one man. Is it
despotism for every man and every woman to have a voice in the
selection of those who rule over them? Is that despotism, tyranny or
oppression? If it is I do not know what the terms mean. There are no
people on the face of the earth to-day who have to undergo so severe a
criticism as the President and Priesthood of this Church before the
people, and why is it that the people vote unanimously for them?
"Well," say the world, "there is a kind of influence, we hardly know
what, we wish it did not exist, for we do not like this one man
power." I know you do not, for it is one thousand men, ten thousand
men power, it is the power of the kingdom of God on the earth, and the
power of God united with it, that is what it is. As [p.218] I have
already said, it is not only the President of the Church who has to
undergo this test, but the Twelve, the Seventies, and all the
presiding officers of the Church have to go through the same ordeal.

Vol. 15,  p.218
I will now go back to my text. I have been a long way from it, but you
know it is usual to preach from the text. I have been from mine
awhile, now I am coming back to it. Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you
and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find
rest to your souls." What was the yoke placed upon the followers of
Jesus? Precisely the same as that placed upon you. What did he tell
his disciples to do? To go forth and baptize the people in the name of
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and it was promised that certain signs
should follow them that believed. In his name they should cast out
devils, speak with new tongues, if they drank any deadly thing it
should not hurt them, and if they laid hands on the sick they should
recover. The word was—"Go forth in my name and with my authority, and
my Spirit shall accompany you. And it did, and the people became one
in faith, doctrine and principle, just as the Scriptures say. "Take my
yoke upon you." What was it? Said he, "Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth; blessed are the pure in heart for they shall
see God; blessed are they that hanger and thirst after righteousness
for they shall be filled." This was the kind of yoke Jesus put upon
them, and this is the kind that is put upon you—to love righteousness,
keep the commands of God, live your religion and obey the principles
of truth, is this a hard yoke? This is what is required of Latter-day
Saints. "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me!" And how did he do it?
He obeyed the will of his Father, and then he expected his disciples
to obey his will. Said he, "Father, I pray for them, that they may be
one"—a good deal of this one-man power there, was there not? "I pray
for them, that they may be one, even as the Father and I are one, that
they may be one in us;" and in his mind, looking to the universal
expansion of this heavenly principle, said he, "Neither pray I for
these alone, but for all them that shall believe on me through their
word, that they all may be one, even as I and the Father are one, that
the world may know that thou hast sent me." This was the kind of
principle the Savior taught to his followers, and this is the kind
that is taught to us.

Vol. 15,  p.218
Now let me ask is it right for a Methodist to obey the Methodist
discipline? Yes, or else leave them, he has the privilege to do which
he pleases. Is it right for a Presbyterian to obey the Presbyterian
doctrine and principles? Yes, or leave them. Is it right for a Roman
Catholic to obey their principles? Yes, or leave them. Is it right for
a Latter-day Saint to obey their principles? Yes, or leave them, one
of the two. Do not try to drag in something else, do not make
Methodists of us for instance, nor Presbyterians. Do not try to make
Catholics of us, if you do not like "Mormonism" leave it. That is
honest, straightforward and upright, and good doctrine, and according
to the principles which are acknowledged to be correct everywhere.
"Well," says one, "I think that things could be improved a little."
Well then, go out somewhere and make your improvements, here is a big
continent, go north or south, or where you please. Get as many to
follow you as you can, and teach them what principles you please, and
if you can build up a better system [p.219] than ours all right, but
do not start it here. This is the kind of faith that Paul spoke of
when he said, "If thou hast faith have it to thyself." If you do not
have it to yourselves take as many with you as you can get. That is
right, the world is open, plenty of room in every direction, go and
try your hand and see how you will succeed.

Vol. 15,  p.219
The same principle is true in relation to other things as well as to
religion. I might apply it to things political. Some people say, "You
folks always vote together," we would be poor coots it we did not, and
just as bad as the rest of you. Some folks here, a short time ago, got
up a little political operation, and tried how it would answer to run
one against another; but it did not work well and they had to quit. We
believe in oneness, and our outside friends say, "We do not." Yes you
do, y-e-s y-o-u d-o. Now all you gentlemen who go in for General Grant
would you not like to elect him? Yes you would, and you will use all
the influence that you have to do so, and if he is not elected it will
be because you can not do it, because you have not influence enough to
elect him. On the other hand, you who are in favor of Horace Greeley,
how you would like to have him elected, would you not? Yes, you would.
And will you not get all to vote for him that you possibly can? Yes,
and if all do not vote for him it will not be your fault. Well, if the
people do not vote as we want them it will not be our fault, and the
only difference, in this respect, between you and President Young is,
that he has a little more influence than you, therefore do not grunt
about it, these things are fair and straightforward. When men talk
about oppression they talk about what they do not understand, and the
same when they talk about the one-man power and the bondage of the
people. Is it not horrible bondage for the whole people to have the
privilege of voting for whom they please? Terrible, let us get out of
it, shall we not, and go somewhere where they will not let us do as we
please, and have some of that liberty that would put shackles upon us,
and bind us down? But we Latter-day Saints do not want that, we want.
to be delivered from that, and to walk according to the light of
truth. Well, let us take the yoke of Christ upon us, and learn of him,
and keep the commandments of God. And if we Vote for a Bishop
somewhere over yonder, let us sustain him as long as he is in office,
and if he does not do what is right we will vote him out. And if we
have Presidents or Apostles or anybody that we do not like, let us
vote them out, and be free men, and cultivate and cherish in our
bosoms the principles of liberty. But let us be careful that we do not
grieve the Spirit of the Lord, and while we are looking at these
things let us look at our own eternal interests, and lean upon God for
wisdom and instruction, that his Spirit may lead us in the paths of
life, that we may comprehend true principles, and be one as Jesus was
and is one with the Father.

Vol. 15,  p.220
May God help us to be faithful, in the name of Jesus. Amen.[p.220] 

Brigham Young, October 9, 1872

The Order of Enoch

Discourse By President Brigham Young, Delivered at the 
42nd Semi-Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, October 9, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.220
Suppose we should examine a city in a stake of Zion conducted after
the order of Enoch! We would like to look, for a few moments, upon the
facts as they would exist. If a people were gathered together, were
they many or few, who would follow out the instructions given them in
the Bible and in the other revelations that we have, they would have
to be very obedient, and probably many would feel to say, "I wish to
manage my own affairs, I wish to dictate myself, I wish to govern and
control my labor, I can not submit to have anybody else dictate me.
This is servitude, and is nothing more nor less than slavery!" I
suppose there are some who would feel thus. When I look at the
Latter-day Saints I think how independent they are. They have been
very independent, there is no question of it. When they have heard the
Gospel, though, perhaps, in the flood of persecution, and the finger
of scorn pointed towards them, they have said, "The Gospel is true,
and if my friends will not believe it, it makes no difference to me, I
am independent enough to embrace the truth, and to gather out from the
midst of Babylon and to make my home with the Saints. There are plenty
of such people here in this house—men and women, old and young. There
are young people here who have left their parents and every thing they
had on the face of the earth for the sake of the Gospel. Middle-aged
men have left their wives and their children, saying, "I am going to
live according to the plan that has been laid down in the Scriptures
for the salvation of the human family." This certainly exhibits as
much independence as mortal beings can manifest, and yet we have said
we will yield strict obedience to these requirements, preparatory to
enjoying the glory that the Lord has for the Saints. I will ask, Is
there liberty in this obedience? Yes, and the only plan on the face of
the earth for the people to gain real liberty is to yield obedience to
these simple principles. Not but that we should find a great many who
do not exactly understand how to yield obedience, strictly, to the
requirements of heaven for their own salvation and exaltation; but no
person can be exalted in the kingdom of heaven without first
submitting himself to the rules, regulations, laws and ordinances of
that kingdom, and being perfectly subject to them in every respect. Is
this the fact? It is even so. Consequently, no person is fit to be a
ruler until he can be ruled; no one is fit to be the Lord of all until
he has submitted himself to be servant of all. Does this give the
people liberty? [p.221] It is the only thing in the heavens or on the
earth that can do so. Where is the liberty in subjecting ourselves
strictly to the requirements of heaven and becoming one in all our
operations to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth? By strict
obedience to these requirements, we prove ourselves faithful to our
God; and when we have passed through all the ordeals necessary, and
have proved perfectly submissive to all the rules and regulations
which give live eternal, he then sets us free and crowns us with
glory, immortality and eternal lives; and there is no other path that
we can walk in, no other system, no other laws or ordinances by which
we can gain exaltation, only by submitting ourselves perfectly to the
requirements of heaven.

Vol. 15,  p.221
Now suppose we had a little society organized on the plan I mentioned
at the commencement of my remarks—after the Order of Enoch—would we
build our houses all alike? No. How should we live? I will tell you
how I would arrange for a little family, say about a thousand persons.
I would build houses expressly for their convenience in cooking,
washing and every department of their domestic arrangements. Instead
of having every woman getting up in the morning and fussing around a
cookstove or over the fire, cooking a little food for two or three or
half a dozen persons, or a dozen, as the case may be, she would have
nothing to do but to go to her work. Let me have my arrangement here,
a hall in which I can seat five hundred persons to eat; and I have my
cooking apparatus—ranges and ovens—all prepared. And suppose we had a
hall a hundred feet long with our cooking room attached to this hall;
and there is a person at the farther end of the table and he should
telegraph that he wanted a warm beefsteak; and this is conveyed to him
by a little railway, perhaps under the table, and he or she may take
her beefsteak. "What do you want to take with it?" "A cup of tea, a
cup of coffee, a cup of milk, piece of toast," or something or other,
no matter what they call for, it is conveyed to them and they take it,
and we can seat five hundred at once, and serve them all in a very few
minutes. And when they have all eaten, the dishes are piled together,
slipped under the table, and run back to the ones who wash them. We
could have a few Chinamen to do that if we did not want to do it
ourselves. Under such a system the women could go to work making their
bonnets, hats, and clothing, or in the factories. I have not time to
map it out before you as I wish to. But here is our dining room, and
adjoining this is our prayer room, where we would assemble perhaps
five hundred persons at one time, and have our prayers in the evening
and in the morning. When we had our prayers and our breakfast, then
each and every one to his business. But the inquiry is, in a moment,
How are you going to get them together? Build your houses just the
size you want them, whether a hundred feet, fifty feet or five, and
have them so arranged that you can walk directly from work to dinner.
"Would you build the houses all alike?" Oh no, if there is any one
person who has better taste in building than others, and can get up
more tasteful houses, make your plans and we will put them up, and
have the greatest variety we can imagine.

Vol. 15,  p.221
What will we do through the day Each one go to his work. Here are the
herdsmen—here are those who look after the sheep—here are those who
make the butter and the cheese, all at their work by themselves. Some
[p.222] for the kanyon, perhaps, or for the plow or harvest, no
difference what, each and every class is organized, and all labor and
perform their part.

Vol. 15,  p.222
Will we have the cows in the city? No. Will we have the pig pens in
the city? No. Will we have any of our outhouses in the city? No. We
will have our railways to convey the food to the pig pens, and
somebody to take care of them. Somebody to gather up the scraps at the
table, and take them away. Somebody to take the feed and feed the
cows, and take care of them out of the city. Allow any nuisance in the
city? No, not any, but everything kept as clean and as nice as it is
in this tabernacle. Gravel our streets, pave our walks, water them,
keep them clean and nicely swept, and everything neat, nice and sweet.
Our houses built high, sleep up stairs, have large lodging rooms, keep
everybody in fresh air, pure and healthy. Work through the day, and
when it comes evening, instead of going to a theatre, walking the
streets, riding, or reading novels—these falsehoods got up expressly
to excite the minds of youth, repair to our room, and have our
historians, and our different teachers to teach classes of old and
young, to read the Scriptures to them; to teach them history,
arithmetic, reading, writing and painting; and have the best teachers
that can be got to teach our day schools. Half the labor necessary to
make a people moderately comfortable now, would make them
independently rich under such a system. Now we toil and work and
labor, and some of us are so anxious that we are sure to start after a
load of wood on Saturday so as to occupy Sunday in getting home. This
would be stopped in our community, and when Sunday morning came every
child would be required to go to the school room, and parents to go to
meeting or Sunday school; and not get into their wagons or carriages,
or on the railroads, or lounge around reading novels; they would be
required to go to meeting, to read the Scriptures, to pray and
cultivate their minds. The youth would have a good education, they
would receive all the learning that could be given to mortal beings;
and after they had studied the best books that could be got hold of,
they would stall have the advantage of the rest of the world, for they
would be taught in and have a knowledge of the things of God.

Vol. 15,  p.222
Bring up our children in this way and they would be trained to love
the truth. Teach them honesty, virtue and prudence, and we should not
see the waste around that now is witnessed. the Latter-day Saints
waste enough to make a poor people comfortable. Shall I mention one or
two instances? I will mention this one thing any way, With regard to
our paper mill. Can you get the Latter-day Saints to save their rags?
No, they will make them and throw them out of doors. Is there a family
in this community but what are too well off in their own estimation to
take care of paper rags? I think a good many of them would rather
steal their beef and what they want than stoop to pick up paper rags
to make paper to print our paper on. Not all would do this, but a few;
and the majority are so well off that they have not that prudence
which belongs to Saints; and I feel sometimes a little irritated, and
inclined to scold about it, when I see women who were brought up
without a shoe to their foot, or a second frock to their back perhaps,
and who lived until they were young women in this style, without ever
stepping on to an inch of carpet in their lives, and they know no more
how to treat a carpet than [p.223] pigs do. Do they know how to treat
fine furniture? No, they do not; but they will waste, waste—their
clothing, their carpets and their furniture. I hear them say
sometimes, "Why, I have had this three years, or five years." If my
grandmother could have got an article such as you wear, she would have
kept it for her daughters from generation to generation, and it would
have been good. But now, our young women waste, waste.

Vol. 15,  p.223
This is finding fault, and I wish I could hurt your feelings enough to
make you think of it when you get home. If I could make you a little
mad, when you get home if you see a pretty good piece of carpet,
thrown out of doors you will go, perhaps, and shake it and lay it up,
thinking that it may be serviceable to somebody or other; and if you
cannot do anything else with it, give it to somebody who has not a bed
to lie upon, to put under them to help to make a bed.

Vol. 15,  p.223
If we could see such a society organized as I have mentioned, you
would see none of this waste You would see a people all attending to
their business, having the most improved machinery for making cloth,
and doing every kind of housework, farming, all mechanical operations,
in our factories, dairies, orchards and vineyards; and possessing
every comfort and convenience of life. A society like this would never
have to buy anything; they would make and raise all they would eat,
drink and wear, and always have something to sell and bring money, to
help to increase their comfort and independence.

Vol. 15,  p.223
"Well, but," one would say, "I shall never have the privilege of
riding again in a carriage in my life." Oh what a pity! Did you ever
ride in one when you had your own way? No, you never thought of such a
thing. Thousands and thousands of Latter-day Saints never expect to
own a carriage or to ride in one. Would we ride in carriages? Yes, we
would; we would have them suitable for the community, and give them
their proper exercise; and if I were with you, I would be willing to
give others just as much as I have myself. And if we have sick, would
they want a carriage to ride in? Yes, and they would have it too, we
would have nice ones to carry out the sick, aged and infirm, and give
them exercise, and give them a good place to sleep in, good food to
eat, good company to be with them and take care of them.

Vol. 15,  p.223
Would not this be hard? Yes, I should hope so. If I had the privilege
and the power, I would not introduce a system for my brethren and
myself to live under unless it would try our faith. I do not want to
live without having my faith and patience tried. They are pretty well
tried. I do not know how many there are who would endure what I endure
with regard to faith and patience, and then be persevering in the
midst of it all. But I would not form a society, nor ask an individual
to go to heaven by breaking all the bones in his body, and putting him
in a silver basket, and then, hitching him to a kite, send him up
there. I would not do it if I had the power, for if his bones were not
broken he would jump out of the basket, that is the idea. I see a
great many who profess to be Latter-day Saints, who would not be
contented in heaven unless their feelings undergo a great change, and
if they were there and you wanted to keep them there, you would have
to break their backs, or they would get out. But we want to see
nothing of this in this little society.[p.224] 

Vol. 15,  p.224
If I had charge of such a society as this to which I refer, I would
not allow novel reading; yet it is in my house, in the houses of my
counselors, in the houses of these Apostles, these Seventies and High
Priests, in the houses of the High Council in this city, and in other
cities, and in the houses of the Bishops, and we permit it; yet it is
ten thousand times worse than it is for men to come here and teach our
children the a b c, good morals, and how to behave themselves, ten
thousand times worse! You let your children read novels until they run
away, until they get so that they do not care—they are reckless, and
their mothers are reckless, and some of their fathers are reckless,
and if you do not break their backs and tie them up they will go to
hell That is rough, is it not? Well, it is a comparison. You have got
to check them some way or other, or they will go to destruction. They
are perfectly crazy. Their actions say, "I want Babylon stuck on to
me; I want to revel in Babylon; I want everything I can think of or
desire." If I had the power to do so, I would not take such people to
heaven. God will not take them there, that I am sure of. He will try
the faith and patience of this people. I would not like to get into a
society where there were no trials; but I would like to see a society
organized to show the Latter-day Saints how to build up the kingdom of
God.

Vol. 15,  p.224
Do you think we shall want any lawyers in our society? No, I think
not. Do you not think they will howl around? Yes, you will hear their
howls going up morning and evening, bewailing one another. They will
howl, "We can get no lawsuits here; we cannot find anybody that will
quarrel with his neighbor. What shall we do?" I feel about them as
Peter of Russia is said to have felt when he was in England. He saw
and heard the lawyers pleading at a great trial there, and he was
asked his opinion concerning them. He replied that he had two lawyers
in his empire, and when he got home he intended to hang one of them.
That is about the love I have for some lawyers who are always stirring
up strife. Not but that lawyers are good in their place; but where is
their place? I cannot find it. It makes me think of what Bissel said
to Paine in Kirtland. In a lawsuit that had been got up, Bissell was
pleading for Joseph, and Paine was pleading for an apostate. Paine had
blackguarded Bissell a good deal. In his plea Bissell stopped all at
once, and, turning to Mr. Paine, said he: "Mr. Paine, do you believe
in a devil?" "Yes," said Mr. Paine, who was a keen, smart lawyer. Said
Bissell, "Where do you think he is?" "I do not know." "Do you not
think he is in hell?" said Bissel. "I suppose he is." "Well," said
Bissell, "do you not think he is in pain [Paine]?" They almost act to
me as if they were in pain. They must excuse me if there are any of
them here to-day. I cannot see the least use on the face of the earth
for these wicked lawyers who stir up strife. If they would turn
merchants, cattle breeders, farmers or mechanics, or would build
factories, they would be useful; but to stir up strife and quarrels,
to alienate the feelings of neighbors, and to destroy the peace of
communities, seems to be their only business. For a man to understand
the law is very excellent, but who is there that understands it? They
that do and are peacemakers, they are legitimate lawyer. There are
many lawyers who are very excellent men. What is the advice of an
honorable gentlemen in the profession of the law? "Do not go to
[p.225] law with your neighbor; do not be coaxed into a lawsuit, for
you will not be benefited by it. If you do go to law, you will hate
your neighbor, and you will finally have to pick some of your
neighbors who hoe potatoes and corn, who work in the cabinet shop, at
the carpenter's bench, or at the blacksmith's forge, to settle it for
you. You will have to pick ten, twelve, eighteen or twenty-four of
them, as the case may be, to act as a jury, and your case goes before
them to decide. They are not lawyers, but they understand truth and
justice, and they have got to judge the case at last." Why not do this
at first, and say we will arbitrate this case, and we will have no
lawsuit, and no difficulty with our neighbor, to alienate our feelings
one from another? This is the way we should do as a community.

Vol. 15,  p.225
Would you want doctors? Yes, to set bones. We should want a good
surgeon for that, or to cut off a limb. But do you want doctors? For
not much of anything else, let me tell you, only the traditions of the
people lead them to think so; and here is a growing evil in our midst.
It Will be so in a little time that not a woman in all Israel will
dare to have a baby unless she can have a doctor by her. I will tell
you what to do, you ladies, when you find you are going to have an
increase, go off into some country where you cannot call for a doctor,
and see if you can keep it. I guess you will have it, and I guess it
will be all right, too. Now the cry is, "Send for a doctor." If you
have a pain in the head, "Send for a doctor;" if your heel aches, "I
want a doctor;" "my back aches, and I want a doctor." The study and
practice of anatomy and surgery are very good; they are mechanical,
and are frequently needed. Do you not think it is necessary to give
medicine sometimes? Yes, but I would rather have a wife of mine that
knows what medicine to give me when I am sick, than all the
professional doctors in the world. Now let me tell you about
doctoring, because I am acquainted with it, and know just exactly what
constitutes a good doctor in physic. It is that man or woman who, by
revelation, or we may call it intuitive inspiration, is capable of
administering medicine to assist the human system when it is besieged
by the enemy called Disease; but if they have not theft manifestation,
they had better let the sick person alone. I will tell you why: I can
see the faces of this congregation, but I do not see two alike; and if
I could look into your nervous systems and behold the operations of
disease, from the crowns of your heads to the soles of your feet, I
should behold the same difference that I see in your physiognomy
—there would be no two precisely alike. Doctors make experiments, and
if they find a medicine that will have the desired effect on one
person, they set it down that it is good for everybody, but it is not
so, for upon the second person that medicine is administered to,
seemingly with the same disease, it might produce death. If you do not
know this, you have not had the experience that I have. I say that
unless a man or woman who administers medicine to assist the haman
system to over me disease, understands, and has that intuitive
knowledge, by the Spirit, that such an article is good for that
individual at that very time, they had better let him alone. Let the
sick do without eating, take a little of something to cleanse the
stomach, bowels and blood, and wait patiently, and let Nature have
time to gain the advantage over the disease. Suppose, for
illustration, we draw a line [p.226] through this congregation, and
place those on this side where they cannot get a doctor, without it is
a surgeon, for thirty or fifty years to come; and put the other side
in a country full of doctors, and they think they ought to have them,
and this side of the house that has no doctor will be able to buy the
inheritance of those who have doctors, and overrun them, outreach
them, and buy them up, and finally obliterate them, and they will be
lost in the masses of those who have no doctors. I know what some say
when they look at such things, but that is the fact. Ladies and
gentlemen, you may take any country in the world, I do not care where
you go, and if they do not employ doctors, you will find they will
beat communities that employ them, all the time. Who is the real
doctor? That man who knows by the Spirit of revelation what ails an
individual, and by the same Spirit knows what medicine to administer.
That is the real doctor, the others are quacks.

Vol. 15,  p.226
But to the text. We want to see a community organized in which every
person will be industrious, faithful and prudent. What will you do
with the children? We will bring them up until they are of legal age,
then say, "Go where you please. We have given you a splendid
education, the advantage of all the learning of the day, and if you do
not wish to stay with the Saints, go where you please." What will you
do with those who apostatize after having entered into covenant and
agreement with others that their property shall be one, and be in the
hands of trustees, and shall never be taken out? If any of these
parties apostatize, and say we wish to withdraw from this community,
what will you do with them? We will say to them, "Go, and welcome,"
and if we are disposed to give them anything, it is all right.

Vol. 15,  p.226
Where are we going to find the greatest difficulty and obstruction
with regard to this organization? In the purse of the rich? No, not by
any means. I have got some brethren who are just as close, tight and
penurious as I am myself, but I would rather take any moneyed man in
this community, and undertake to manage him, than some men who are not
worth a dollar in the world. Some of this class are too independent.
They would say, "I'll go a fishing," or "I guess I'll go a riding,
where I please." Well, if I were to give out word, and say to the
community, Send in your names, I want to see who are willing to go
into an organization of this kind, who do you suppose would write to
me first? The biggest thieves in the community. Do not be shocked at
that, any of you, whether you are strangers or not, for we have some
of the meanest men that ever disgraced God's footstool right in the
midst of the Latter-day Saints. Do not be startled at that, because it
is true. I have told the people many a time, if they want anything
done, no matter how mean, they can find men here who can do it, if
they are to be found on the earth. I can not help this. You recollect
that Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a net which gathered all
kinds. If our net has not gathered all kinds, I wonder where the kinds
are that we have not got. I say that some of the worst men in the
community would be the first ones to proffer their names to go into
such an association. I do not want them there. Is this the fact? Yes
it is. I understand it exactly. But if such a community could be
organized, to show the Latter-day Saints how to build up the kingdom
of heaven on the earth, I would be glad to see it—would not
you?[p.227] 

Vol. 15,  p.227
If this could be done I want to say to the Latter-day Saints, that I
have a splendid place, large enough for about five hundred or a
thousand persons to settle upon, and I would like to be the one to
make a donation of it, with a good deal more, to start the business,
to see if we can actually accomplish the affair, and show the
Latter-day Saints how to build up Zion. Not to make a mock of it. Not
go and preach the Gospel without purse and scrip, and gather up the
poor and needy, and have them bring Babylon with them. Leave Babylon
out of the question. Make our own clothing, but do not put seventeen
or twenty-one yards in a single dress, neither be attired so as to
look like a camel. It is not comely, it does not belong to sensible
people, nor to any people who wish to carry themselves justly and
correctly, before the heavens and intelligent men.

Vol. 15,  p.227
If the ladies want silks, we have the mulberry here of all kinds; we
have the silkworm eggs here, and we have made the silk. Go to work now
and raise worms, and wind the silk, and weave it and make all the
satin ribbons you wish for. We have men and women here, who did
nothing sit their lives before they came here but weave satin ribbons
and satin cloth. This is their business, they know how to get it up.
If free will raise the silk, dress yourselves just as beautifully as
you please. 

Vol. 15,  p.227
By and by when this people learn the value of the mulberry and the
silkworm, you will see the women with their few trees in their yards
and around their lots, and for shade trees in the streets; and the
children will be picking the leaves and feeding the worms, and they
will get up silk dresses here like those in the East Indies. The silk
dresses they make there you can put them on and wear them until you
are tired of them, and almost from generation to generation. We can
make them here just as good. And we can have coats and vests and pants
made of our home-grown material, which a man would wear for his best
suit, and hand down to his posterity. When we have learned the worth
of silk we will make it and use it instead of linen. We have a
splendid country for raising silk, but not a good country to raise
flax in; splendid for raising wool, grain, fruit, vegetables, cattle,
milk, butter and cheese, and here we are importing our cheese. We
ought to be making cheese by the hundreds of tons. We ought to export
it in quantities; but instead of that we are sending to the States for
it.

Vol. 15,  p.227
Where are your cows? Have you taken care of them? If you see a
community organized as they should be, they will take care of their
calves; they will have something to feed them on in the winter, and
they will take care of their stock and not let it perish. What a sin
it, is to the Latter-day Saints, if they did but know it, to abuse
their stock—their cattle, milch cows and horses! Through the summer
they will work and use them, and in the winter turn them out to live
or die as they can, taking no care of that which God has given them.
Were it not for the ignorance of the people, the Lord would curse them
for such things.

Vol. 15,  p.227
We ought to learn some of these facts, and try to shape our lives so
as to be useful. Let the men make their lives useful. Let the women
make their lives useful. Mothers, teach your daughters how to keep
house, and not how to spend everything they can get hold of. I will
just say a few words on this subject. We have hundreds of young men
heir who dare not take girls for wives. Why? Because the very first
thing, they want a horse and buggy, and [p.228] a piano; they want
somebody to come every day to give them lessons on the piano; they
want two hired girls and a mansion, so that they can entertain
company, and the boys are afraid to marry them. Now mothers, teach
your girls better things than these. What are the facts in the case?
If you had been brought up to know what property—fine furniture,
carpets, and so on, was worth, you would take care of it, and be
prudent in the use of it, and teach your girls to take care, instead
of wasting it. Do you believe it? This does not hit all, but too many.
I wish you would hearken to these things. I am taking up the time, and
not giving to others an opportunity to address you. We have not said
what we want to say to the Latter-day Saints. We ought to have a house
Cent times as large as this, and we ought to fill it; and we ought to
sit together not only four days, but a week and perhaps two weeks, and
leave home at home, leave Babylon in Babylon—leave everything and come
here to worship the living. God, and learn of his ways, that we may
walk in his paths. This is our duty, and what we should do. But there
are so many who can hardly spend time to go to meeting on the Sabbath
day; and they can hardly spend time to go to Conference. They have so
much business on hand, so many cattle to take care of; they have money
to let out, or money borrow; they have men to see to, or something or
other, and it seems as if the affections of the people are hankering
after the things of this world too much, too much! Stop, Latter-day
Saints, and reckon with yourselves, and find whether you are actually
in the path of obedience to the requirements of heaven or not. Some
suppose that they are serving God and are on the road o eternal life,
but many will find they are mistaken if they are not careful. We had
better reckon with ourselves and look over our accounts, and see how
we stand before the Lord. See if we are doing good, if we are
bestowing our substance on the poor, that they may have food to eat
and habitations to dwell in, and be made comfortable: see if we are
sending our means for the poor in foreign lands, and aiding to send
the Elders to preach to the nations and gather up the people and make
them happy and comfortable. Instead of doing this I fear that many are
wandering away from the commandments of the Lord. "O fools, and slow
of heart to believe!" We can get rich a great deal quicker by serving
God than by serving ourselves, do a great deal better, and do a great
deal more good. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. He
is anxious, and is waiting with extended arms and hands,
comparatively, to pour the wealth of the world into the laps of the
Latter-day Saints, if they will not give it away to their enemies. But
now, just as soon as anything is given to the Latter-day Saints they
are looking from east to west, and from north to south, to see where
they can strew that that God gives them among their enemies—those who
spurn the things of God, and would destroy his kingdom from the earth.
I say, let the Lord keep us poor rather than forsake our religion and
turn away from it! Why can not a man serve God with his pockets full
of greenbacks, and not lust after them one particle? If he can not do
it, he is lacking in wisdom, faith, and knowledge, and does not
understand God and his ways. The heavens and the earth are fall of
blessings for the people. To whom do they belong? To our Father in
heaven, and he wishes to bestow them upon his children when they
[p.229] can receive and dispose of them to his name's glory.

Vol. 15,  p.229
We shall have to stop here. We are going to adjourn our Conference,
though we have not said half what we wish to say to you and to
ourselves, for we want to be co-workers together. Now let me say to
the First Presidency, to the Apostles, to all the Bishops in Israel,
and to every quorum, and especially to those who are presiding
officers, Set that example before your wives and your children, before
your neighbors and this people, that you can say: "Follow me, as I
follow Christ." When we do this, all is right, and our consciences are
clear.

Vol. 15,  p.229
God bless you.

Orson Pratt, November 24, 1872

Spirit of Light and Truth—Its Value—Its Opposite 
Necessary—Final Triumph of Light and Truth

Discourse By Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the 
13th Ward Assembly Rooms, Nov. 24, 1872. 

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.229
I have, through upwards of forty years' experience in the public
ministry, learned some few lessons in regard to public speaking. In
the first place I know that the wisdom of man avails but very little,
and that our own judgment, thoughts and reflections are not what the
Lord requires; but he does require, and has required, ever since the
rise of this Church, that his servants should speak by the power of
the Holy Ghost. A revelation given to the Elders of this Church in the
year 1831, says, "My servants shall be sent forth to the east and to
the west, and to the north and to the south, and they shall lift up
their voices and speak and prophecy, as seemeth me good; but if you
receive not the Spirit you shall not teach." This is a commandment
that the Lord gave to his servants over forty years ago. I have seen a
few times from the commencement of my ministry, when my mind seemed to
be entirely closed up, and when what few words I could stammer forth
before a congregation, were altogether unsatisfactory to my own mind,
and I presume to those who heard me. But I do feel thankful to God
that latterly, from year to year, he has favored me with a liberty of
utterance and with the power and gift of the Holy Ghost. I acknowledge
his hand in this, for I know it has come from him, and having
experienced the two conditions of mind I know the difference. I know
that, not only as public speakers, but as individual members of the
Church of the living [p.230] God, there are many things pertaining to
our everyday duties, which if we clearly understood by the light of
the Spirit, we would escape many things which cause unhappiness. It is
the want of clearly understanding the will of the Lord under all
circumstances that causes us to fall into many of the evils that we
pass through in life. I can look back on my past life and can speak
from experience in these matters. I can remember many times when, if I
had been guided by the Spirit of the Lord in regard to temporal
matters, it would have been well with me; but not altogether
understanding what the mind of the Spirit was, the course I have taken
at times has been very disadvantageous to me. I will relate one
circumstance of this kind as a sample. Some few years ago, I had a few
hundred dollars in goods and property, and I expended all that I had
in a store. Not one of these co-operative stores, but in a store kept
at Fillmore. Being requested by the merchants in that place to
purchase a bill of goods for them, and to give my own note until they
could settle it; and being anxious that their business should go on
and prosper, I was foolish enough to do as they wished, by which I
brought myself into great difficulties, and lost over two thousand
dollars by the transaction. I had the bill of goods to pay for, and
lost all I put in besides. If I had understood the teachings of the
Spirit—and I did have some impressions in relation to the matter, but
if I had fully understood them I should not have fallen into these
unpleasant circumstances. I have no doubt that there are many others
among the people of God, who can see where they have erred, because
they did not have the Spirit of God upon them at the time.

Vol. 15,  p.230
I can see, also, many times when the Spirit of the Lord whispered to
me, and I scarcely knew whether it was my own thoughts and
imaginations or whether it was the revelations of the Spirit; yet it
seemed to be the Spirit of the Lord, and I followed the teachings, and
was prospered in so doing.

Vol. 15,  p.230
If we, as a people, would live up to our privileges, how many
difficulties might be avoided! How many Latter-day Saints would
constantly live in the light of revelation! This puts me in mind of a
text which I have often heard quoted, but I do not know that I have
said much in relation to it. Neither do I know where it is recorded,
but I think it is somewhere in the writings of Solomon. The passage I
refer to says that there is a spirit in man and the Spirit or candle
of the Lord, I do not remember which, giveth it understanding. The
idea is that in these tabernacles of ours we have an intelligent
spirit which God has placed there, and he has ordained that the Spirit
of the Lord shall light up these human spirits of ours, that we may
follow in the paths of light, truth and righteousness and obtain
eternal life.

Vol. 15,  p.230
This text also puts me in mind of one that is recorded somewhere in
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, in which the Lord, speaking
directly to this people, says that the word of the Lord is truth, and
whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even
the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the spirit giveth light to every man
that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man
through the world that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit. I can
not tell you on what page nor in what section of the Book of Covenants
this can be found; but you who are in the habit of reading that book
will find these words, as I have [p.231] quoted them. "Whatsoever is
truth is light, whatsoever is light is spirit," consequently, if we
could always follow in the light, instead of following in the channel
of darkness, We would always follow in the path that would lead to
peace and happiness, and we would avoid ten thousand difficulties
which beset our pathway.

Vol. 15,  p.231
Another revelation that agrees with this will be found in the Book of
Doctrine and Covenants, in a very lengthy communication made by the
Lord to this Church, which shows very plainly that light is the
principle and law by which everything is governed. I will quote the
revelation as near as I can remember it. Speaking of his presence, he
says, "As he is in the sun, and is the light thereof, and the power
thereof by which it is governed; and as he is also in the moon, and is
the light and the power thereof; and in the stars; and the light which
shineth is the same light which quickeneth your eyes, which is the
same light which quickeneth your understandings, the light which is in
all things, and which giveth life to all things, and which is the law
by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sits upon
his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of
all things, which light proceedeth forth from his presence to fill the
immensity of space." When we put all these texts together, we find
that this great principle of i light which should enlighten the mind
of man, and by which he should be led continually, is something that
is not confined to one little part of space; it not only lights the
sun, moon and stars and all the heavenly bodies, but it is in and
surrounds all things, and gives life to all things.

Vol. 15,  p.231
Here is something that we do not perfectly understand. The principle
of life by which we are able to move, think and reason; the principle
of motion and of power is a principle of light. And there seems to be
a connection or relation between these principles that govern the
motion of living beings and the light that proceeds forth from the
son. But we do not understand that relation. God has told us that it
is the law by which everything is governed; and we can not find a law
throughout universal space, but what light has something to do with
it. But we do not know in all cases how it operates. We do not know,
for instance, how light operates in making a blade of grass grow out
of the earth. We can not understand how particle comes to its
particle, how it is organized in a certain form, and finally produces
the complete blade of grass. We do not know how this is carried on,
but the Lord has told us that it is done by the principle of light. We
do not know, either, how it is that we can communicate with different
and distinct parts of the earth almost instantaneously through the
medium of the electric wires. We understand that this phenomenon
exists, but we do not know the cause of it; if we did we should find,
according to the revelation which God has given, that it is
accomplished through the medium of light. How that light operates we
do not know, God has not revealed that. He has only told us that light
is the cause and the power by which everything is governed.

Vol. 15,  p.231
We see a stone, and when we hold it in our hands. and let go of it, it
does not stand still, neither does it fall upwards, neither does it go
horizontally, but it falls downwards to the surface of the earth. We
have named this gravitation. But what is the cause? No one knows. No
person can tell why that stone does [p.232] not stand still. We see it
fall and we see all terrestrial bodies fall to the surface of the
earth, but we cannot tell why this is so. The cause, however, is
light, but how that light operates we do not know.

Vol. 15,  p.232
We see the sun shine, and we know that it illuminates the face of this
world and of many other worlds. Its light proceeds forth flora that
centre and radiates to immense distances. We see all this, but what
connection is there between this and the understanding or light that
is in man, that assists him in his power of thought and motion? What
connection is there between the shining of that light and the light
that is within us? We do not know, and yet God has said that the light
which proceeds forth from these heavenly bodies is the same light that
quickens the understanding of man and that gives life to all things.
We do not understand all these things which God has spoken and given.
For instance we see a candle set on a table; we apply a match to that,
and immediately there is light where before existed darkness. Chemists
tell us that this is a chemical operation; that the light proceeds not
from the tallow but from a principle called oxygen—a certain portion
of the atmospheric air which we breathe; that that principle has a
great tendency to unite with the materials of the candle, and in so
doing it gives out its light. But how this light is produced and
sustained by a combination of the elements of the candle and the
oxygen of the atmosphere we do not know, only we know that it is the
power of God, we know that it is the light which is in all things. But
what I term knowledge, and what we should all term knowledge, is to
understand not only the phenomena but the cause of these things. We
endeavor to distinguish between the natural and the spiritual light,
but is there any such thing as drawing a line of distinction between
the two? Who can do it? Where is the man or philosopher that can tell
the distinction, and where one ends and the other begins? They can not
do it. If we take the revelation which God has given we learn that
there is no difference; it is the same light that produces both
effects, and the light which darts along the electric wire is the same
as that which comes from the distant bodies of the universe, only it
has a different name, and operates a little differently. The time will
come when the Latter-day Saints, if faithful, will have an
understanding of all these things. We have made a commencement in the
right channel; we have placed ourselves in an attitude to learn the
first principles in this great, divine university called the kingdom
of God. God has given us his Holy Spirit, which is the commencement of
knowledge, light and intelligence. But unless we walk according to the
light and the mind of that Spirit, wherein are we benefited? We are
not benefited at all. "If my words abide in you," says Jesus, "you
shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be given unto you." This
promise is given unto every Latter-day Saint. The Book of Mormon,
however, qualifies this saying a little. It says, "Whatsoever we ask
in faith, which is right, believing that we shall receive, it shall be
given unto us." These words—"which is right"—greatly qualify the
promise. The Lord has not bound himself by promise to give to the
children of men whatsoever they ask for, unless it is absolutely right
that they should ask for that thing. If what we ask for in faith is
right, then he is bound.

Vol. 15,  p.233
This puts me in mind of a passage in the revelations contained in the
[p.233] Book of Doctrine and Covenants in relation to prayer. He says,
"You shall receive whatever you ask for in prayer which it is
expedient for you to receive; but if any among you shall ask for that
which it is not expedient for him to receive it shall turn to his
condemnation." We must, in the first place, try to have light enough
to discern what is right or expedient for us; in the second place, to
ask God the Eternal Father in the name of his son Jesus Christ, for
the things which we know he is willing to bestow upon us. Then we can
ask in faith, for we have the promise that we shall receive.

Vol. 15,  p.233
The great difficulty with me, and I presume it is also the experience
of almost every man and woman in the Church of the living God, is, we
are not so faithful as some of the servants of God have been in former
days. Some of them were so faithful that they lived constantly in the
light of revelation. Their minds were opened to it, and scarcely a
thing could transpire but what they understood it beforehand. They did
not need the news or intelligence to be brought to them from a
distance, but there was a spirit within them and the candle of the
Lord gave that spirit understanding in regard to things that were
transpiring thousands of miles distant. They lived for this; they
walked before the Lord so faithfully that they were entitled to know,
not only things that were present with and that would benefit
themselves and the people among whom they dwelt, but also things in
the future—ages and ages to come were opened up to their minds, and
their minds comprehended them by permitting this candle of the Lord to
shine upon and illuminate them.

Vol. 15,  p.233
It is my most earnest desire to live so as to discern under every
condition and circumstance in life precisely what would be most
pleasing in the sight of God for me to do, and when I comprehend this
I can act as a person who does not grope in the dark, like the blind
man who gropes for the wall; but if I live for it, the path in which I
should walk will be plain, the Spirit of God being as it were a lamp
to my feet, and my guide and instructor by day and by night. Do you
not desire Latter-day Saints to be instructed in this way? Every
honest-hearted person will answer yes. Every one who hungers and
thirsts after righteousness, and who desires eternal life will
acknowledge that he does desire to be thus guided and led.

Vol. 15,  p.233
But now having spoken so much about the benefits of this light, and
how good it would be to be continually guided and instructed by the
spirit of revelation, there is another thing connected with it which
we perhaps do not all fully understand. Supposing a person were thus
guided all the time, from waking in the morning until they retired to
rest at night; and then when asleep if his dreams were given by the
same spirit, and this should be the uninterrupted condition of an
individual, I ask, where would be his trials? This would lead us to
ask, Is it not absolutely necessary that God should in some measure,
withhold even from those who walk before him in purity and integrity,
a portion of his Spirit, that they may prove to themselves, their
families and neighbors, and to the heavens whether they are full of
integrity even in times when they have not so much of the Spirit to
guide and influence them? I think that this is really necessary,
consequently I do not know that we have any reason to complain of the
darkness which occasionally hovers over the mind. I recollect that
Lehi had [p.234] a very great and important dream communicated to him,
and his son Nephi had the same renewed to him. While Lehi was on his
way to this country he dreamed that he wandered many hours in
darkness; that there was a certain rod of iron, notwithstanding this
darkness that seemed to gather around him, on which the old man leaned
steadfastly. So great was the darkness that he was fearful he should
lose his way if he let go the rod of iron; but he clung to it, and
continued to wander on until, by and by, he was brought out into a
large and spacious field, and he also was brought out to a place where
it was lighter, and he saw a certain tree which bore very precious
fruit. And he went forth and partook of the fruit of this tree, which
was the most precious and desirable of any fruit that he had ever
tasted; and it seemed to enlighten him and fill him with joy and
happiness. Lehi was a good old man—a man who had been raised up as a
great prophet in the midst of Jerusalem. He had prophesied in the
midst of all that wickedness which surrounded the Jews; and they
sought to take away his life, because of his prophecy. But
notwithstanding this gift of prophecy, and the gifts of the Spirit
which he enjoyed, the Lord showed him by this dream that there would
be seasons of darkness through which he would have to pass, and that
even then there was a guide. If he did not all the time have the
Spirit of God upon him to any great i extent, there was the word of
God, represented by an iron rod, to guide him; and if he would hold
fast to that in his hours of darkness and trial, when everything
seemed to go against him, and not sever himself therefrom, it would
finally bring him where he could partake of the fruit of the precious
tree—the Tree of Life. Consequently I am not so sure, that it is
intended for men of God to enjoy all the time a great measure of his
Spirit.

Vol. 15,  p.234
I will refer to another example—one that I have often quoted. It will
be found in the "Pearl of Great Price." It is a revelation that was
given renewedly to Joseph Smith, concerning what God revealed to
Moses, before he was permitted to go down and be a deliverer to the
children of Israel. The Lord severely tried Moses, as well as
enlightened him. He had to pass through both conditions of
experience-a condition of great light, truth, knowledge and
understanding in the ways of God, and a condition of darkness and
great temptation. Hence we find that on a certain occasion God called
Moses up into a very high mount, where he bowed down before the Lord
and cried mightily unto him, and the Lord heard his prayer, and the
glory of God descended and rested upon him, and he beheld many great
and wonderful things. His mind was opened to things that he never had
understood before—things that were great and marvellous. Yet the Lord
showed him but very few of his works, for he told Moses on that
occasion that no man could behold all his works except he beheld all
his glory; and no man could behold all his glory and afterwards remain
in the flesh. To behold all the works of God was more than any mortal
man could endure.

Vol. 15,  p.234
Moses, after receiving this remarkable vision, had such great
knowledge and intelligence unfolded unto him that he marveled
exceedingly, and while gazing upon the works of God the Spirit of God
withdrew from him, and he was left unto himself, and he fell to the
earth, for his natural strength departed from him. "Now," said Moses,
"I know for [p.235] this once that man is nothing, which thing I never
had supposed." But he had learned by the contrast that man, in and of
himself, was as nothing, and comparatively speaking, less than the
dust of the earth, which moves hither and thither by the command of
the great God; but that man, being an agent unto himself, and God not
having a disposition to control this agent contrary to certain laws
and principles, when this agent was left to himself he found that he
was nothing. The Lord then permitted Satan to appear in a personal
form and visit this great man of God. Here, now, was a contest. Satan
came up before Moses, not in all his ugliness and maliciousness, but
assuming the form of an angel of light. Satan said, "Moses, son of
man, worship me!" Moses looked upon Satan and said, "Who art thou,
that I should worship thee? For I could not look upon God except his
glory should come upon me, but I can look upon thee as a natural man."
Here was the difference. He could look upon this individual who came
to him pretending to be an angel of goodness and light, and have none
of the glorious feelings that he had before. Hence said Moses, "I can
discern the difference between God and thee. Get thee hence, Satan!"
Satan did not feel disposed to give up the attack, and he commanded
him again to worship him, and he exerted a great power and the earth
shook and trembled, and Moses was filled with fear and trembling, but
he nevertheless called upon God. for he was convinced in his own mind
that his visitor was one from the infernal regions, a personage of
darkness, and he felt to rebuke him, and in his fear he saw the
bitterness of hell, that is, the fear and trembling that came upon
him, and the darkness that surrounded him, gave him an experience of
the bitterness and misery of those who are in torment. After a certain
period of time in which Satan tried to overpower him, Moses gained
strength from God, and commanded Satan, in the name of Jesus Christ,
to depart, and he departed. Moses then received strength, and he
continued to call upon God, and the glory of God again rested upon
him, so that he beheld the works of the Creator, and he began to
inquire very diligently concerning the earth upon which he dwelt. The
Lord saw proper on that occasion, after severely testing Moses with
the opposite power, to show to him the whole earth. Not merely
portions of its surface, but he showed the whole of the inside as well
as the outside, for the revelation says, "There was not a particle of
it which he did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God." If we
go to the top of a very high mountain, we can only behold a very
limited landscape, for the most distant portions of our view are
generally obscured by the vapors of the earth or by smoke, so that we
only see a dim outline. But here was a man of God, having the Spirit
of God lighting up his mind to that degree that he could see every
particle of the earth. This was a wonderful development of the mind
and powers of man. I do not suppose that the mind of Moses was
constituted any different from the minds of the congregation now
before me; every one of us has the same kind of human spirit that he
had. Though not called with the same calling, yet we have the same
kind of spirit, and are the children of the same Father. Now if Moses
had within him a certain undeveloped principle, which for the space of
some eighty years he did not know that he possessed, until God on that
occasion lighted it up [p.236] and brought it forth, so that, he was
capable not only of looking upon the surface of our globe, but of
looking into its interior, I do not know why each and every one of
those now present before me have not the same faculty and gift, if it
were only developed.

Vol. 15,  p.236
I bring up these flyings to show how God deals with his children—his
sons and daughters—by lighting up the mind, and then leaving them
awhile in darkness. It is not likely that many of us, with the little
experience that we have, could resist such great temptations as Moses
did. If such powers were brought to bear on our minds they might
overthrow and destroy us, but he was prepared beforehand; he had
beheld the glory of God, and had received strength from the heavens,
consequently when the opposite powers assailed him, his previous
experience strengthened him, and he held fast to the rod of iron
notwithstanding the darkness he had to contend with.

Vol. 15,  p.236
When Moses received this great light and saw the whole earth, he felt
a very great anxiety to know how the earth was formed. It would be
very natural for a man suddenly endowed with the power to behold every
particle of the earth, to ask, "How was this made?" and Moses said,
"Be merciful unto thy servant, O God, and show me concerning the
heavens and rite earth, and then thy servant will be content." The
Lord told Moses that there were many heavens, and many worlds that had
passed away by his power, and that as one heaven and one earth should
pass away, even so should another come, and there was no end to his
works and to his words. Then Moses limited his desires.

Vol. 15,  p.236
Here we see something asked of the Lord by Moses that was not
expedient, it was not wisdom in the Lord to reveal it to him, he could
not know all about the many heavens. Then he asked the Lord, saying,
"Show unto thy servant concerning this earth and this heaven, then
will thy servant be content." The Lord then gave him what we term the
Book of Genesis, one of the first books of Moses, telling him, in
answer to his prayer, how he formed and created this earth and this
heaven, and the various stages thereof, as performed in the several
days, until on the sixth and seventh it was completed. This, according
to new revelation contained in the "Pearl of Great Price," is the way
Moses obtained a knowledge of the history of this creation. Other men,
before his day, also obtained it. Abraham, who lived several hundred
years before Moses, had the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord God gave
unto him in the land of Chaldea, and by the aid of this instrument he
also obtained a knowledge of the history of this creation, and not
only of this, but of many others, God also giving the names of many of
them, such as Kolob and others, which it is not necessary for me to
repeat. But the Lord, in various ages, has manifested these great
things to the children of men. But all these great Prophets, Seers and
Revelators had to experience their seasons of darkness and trial, and
had to show their integrity before God in the midst of the
difficulties they had to encounter. Shall the Latter-day Saints
despond, then, because they may have seasons of darkness, and may be
brought into trials and difficulties? No! Let us be steadfast, holding
fast to the rod of iron—the word of God—and to our honesty, integrity
and uprightness, that God may he well pleased with us whether we have
much or little of the Spirit. I do not know how we could have many
[p.237] trials, if we were all the time filled with the Spirit and
continually having revelations.

Vol. 15,  p.237
This puts me in mind of the experience of our Prophet Joseph, and of
David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery and others. You are familiar with many
things contained in the history of Joseph, about his hours of trial.
He had some before the Lord permitted him to take the plates from the
Hill Cumorah. God showed him where those plates were, and he was
commanded by the angel to go and view them. He did so, and when he
first saw them he put forth his hand to take them. But was he suffered
to do so? No. What was the reason? He had not had the trials necessary
to prove his integrity, and this must be proved before he could be
entrusted with so sacred a treasure. Hence he was told to go and be
obedient to the Lord, and to come there from time to time, as he was
commanded by the angel of the Lord; and when the time had fully come
he was permitted to take them.

Vol. 15,  p.237
Do you suppose, from the time be saw the plates first, to the day when
he was permitted to take them, being some four years, that he had no
temptations, trials, darkness or difficulties to grapple with? We are
told in his history that, besides the glories of heaven that were
opened to his mind, the powers of darkness were also portrayed before
him. The Lord showed him the two powers. What for? To give him the
experience necessary to enable him to discern between that which came
from God and that which came from the opposite source. He saw, as
Moses did, these evil beings personally. They were manifested before
him in their rage, malice and wickedness. He had also many seasons of
sorrow, tribulation, difficulty and temptation; and when he had proved
himself before the Heavens, and before the Saints in Paradise who once
dwelt on this continent, and had shown that he was full of integrity,
God permitted him to take the plates, and he translated the record
thereon into the English language.

Vol. 15,  p.237
Perhaps I have spoken Sufficient in relation to these two powers. What
I have said has been with the design to comfort and encourage the
Saints, that they may not think, because same are tried this way, and
some that way, and some another, that something has befallen them
different to what has taken place upon the human family before, and
that they are more tried than any other individual that has ever been
upon the earth. Do not think this, Latter-day Saints, but strengthen
yourselves in God, and in the hour of your trial call upon him, and he
will impart strength and faith to you, light up your understandings,
and bring you through victoriously, and your blessings will be still
greater than before your temptations came upon you.

Vol. 15,  p.237
By and by the time will come when the vail, which hides this earth,
and shuts out its inhabitants from the presence of God, will be
removed. We read this in the Book of Covenants. The earth is now shut
out from the presence of God, and all the inhabitants, and the animal
creation, the fowls of the air and the fishes of the sea, and
everything wherein there is life, all are shut out from the presence
of God. Because of the fall of the great head and being who was to
have dominion over this creation, it is banished, a vail is let down
which hides us from the presence of God. This vail or covering will
soon be taken away, and the earth will roll back again into the
presence of God. When I speak of the earth's rolling back again, I do
not mean that the [p.238] Lord is going to translate it from its
present orbit around the sun; I do not mean that it is going to be
moved from its present position, which it has occupied for six
thousand years; but I mean that the vail which shuts us out from the
presence of God will be removed.

Vol. 15,  p.238
Those who are sufficiently pure to abide that day have great promises
made to them. You will find these promise, recorded in the Book of
Doctrine and Covenants. We are told that when that day arrives, God's
people, whether those who have died and are resurrected, or those who
are living on the earth, shall know all these things that I have
spoken of. They shall know about the earth, and all things in, under
or around about it, and all the power thereof and the materials that
enter into its constitution. All these things will be open to the mind
of man, and it will be one of his natural gifts apparently. I say
natural, because it will be so frequent. That which we call natural is
something, generally speaking, that takes place all the time, and the
frequency of the thing makes it to us natural. Well, when this
covering of which I have spoken is removed, the knowledge that the
people will then have of the mysteries and wonders of creation will be
Such that they will many times be in about the same condition that
Moses was in during the short interval of light and glory that was
manifested to him. If that man of God could retain his existence as a
mortal being after that great manifestation of the power of God unto
him on that occasion, I do not know why the minds of all who are
counted worthy to live, when the Lord removes the vail, can not be
developed the same as the mind of Moses was, that they may grasp and
comprehend the things of God the same as he did. I can not, in my own
mind, see so much difference, as many people suppose, between the
ancients and the moderns. I believe that God is willing to bless all
his children, ancient or modern, if they live before him worthily.

Vol. 15,  p.238
We read in Isaiah of a time when a certain people called Zion should
be clothed upon with the glory of God, and their city be lighted up
with a cloud by day and the light of a flaming fire by night, and they
should be so highly favored that, so far as light was concerned, they
should not need the light of the sun by day, nor the moon by night,
for the Lord their God would be their everlasting light, and the days
of their mourning would be ended. We also read in the same connection
that when that day comes, "thy children," speaking of Zion "shall all
be righteous;" that is, they would be a, people upon whom and to whom
God could manifest himself as he did to Moses and others; that the
knowledge of God would cover the earth as the waters cover the great
deep. Jeremiah has said that the time would come when the new covenant
should take its full effect here upon the earth; that there would be
no more need of ministers and priests to teach the people, although
there would be need for ordinances to be administered, and for the
priesthood to administer in other capacities; but so far as teaching
the people to know, the Lord was concerned it would be unnecessary. In
that day no man would need to say to his neighbor, "Know ye the Lord."
Why? Because all would know him, from the least unto the greatest, for
Isaiah says they should all be taught of the Lord, all be righteous,
all receive revelation and visions, all prophecy and dream. That is,
God would reveal by his Spirit in different ways, at different times
and by different methods to his people those [p.239] things that would
comfort and build them up in their most holy faith.

Vol. 15,  p.239
When we see the great necessity there is at the present time to teach,
and see how prone men are to forget that which they are taught, we
say, they are like him who beholds his natural face in a glass and
turns away, and straightway forgets what manner of man he is. It is
just so with regard to teaching the people; they need to be stirred up
continually, because of the weakness of their minds and memories; and
naturally viewing this weakness, it seems almost impossible to believe
that it will ever be different, as long as men are in a mortal state.
Yet I do not look at it in this light. I look for a great change and
revolution among the inhabitants of our globe. I look for the vail to
be taken not only from the earth, but from every creature of all flesh
that dwells upon the face thereof; and all will be in the presence of
God. God himself will be their God, and they will be his people. God
himself will wipe away all ;ears from their eyes, and there will he no
more death, no more sorrow nor crying, for all things will become new,
and God will be with his people from that time henceforth and forever.

Vol. 15,  p.239
Does this mean that God will all the time dwell upon the earth? No.
There will be a connection, an opening between man and God, that will
bring us into his presence, and whether he shall be far distant or
near it will make no difference. Here is a principle that none of us
fully comprehend. We speak oftentimes of going to and returning from
God, of going to heaven, and so on. I have no doubt that many of us
will be counted worthy to approach near to him so far as distance is
concerned. But then, when we come to reflect that distance will be
comparatively annihilated, between God and the worlds he has made, so
that it will make no difference, as far as his presence is concerned,
whether he is close by or millions of miles distant—there will be a
mutual communication between the Creator and his children all the
time, consequently there will be union and fellowship with him, and
rejoicing in his presence, though he be in a world far beyond Kolob,
of which Abraham speaks.

Vol. 15,  p.239
As an illustration of this principle, let me bring up some temporal
phenomena here on the earth. A few years ago, when I was a boy, no
such thing was dreamed of as conversing with our neighbors two or
three hundred miles distant. And if such a thing had been thought of
and it had been mentioned, the dreamer would have been at once set
down as a fanatic or enthusiast, or as one beside himself, crazy or
weakminded. That was the idea our fathers had, and the idea that some
of us old men had when we were boys. But since that period God has
seen proper to inspire certain individuals with information and
knowledge, to erect telegraph poles, and through the medium of wires
attached to these poles, placed upon non-conductors of electricity, we
are enabled to converse instantaneously, almost, with the most distant
parts of the earth; and if there is proper wire connection we can send
our message to the other side of the globe in one or two seconds and
get a return as quickly. Is not this making neighbors of the nations?
So far as this one means of communication is concerned, it is quite
neighborly. We in Salt Lake City can sit down by the side of our warm
fires and converse with persons sitting by their fires. The people of
these two cities can talk together, though it is quite expensive as
yet to do so.[p.240] 

Vol. 15,  p.240
Supposing now that it were possible to invent something still further,
by which we could see our neighbors in London, and the people in
London could see us in Salt Lake City, then we could both converse and
see. And if we could do this, do you not see that, so far, distance
would be almost annihilated?

Vol. 15,  p.240
Again, suppose that by some medium now unknown to us, we could
absolutely be able to hear, not by the vibrations of this coarse
atmosphere of ours, but by the vibrations of some fluid spread through
space, more refined, operating upon the organs of the immortal ear,
transferring sounds at an immense distance, say millions and millions
of miles, conveying them with the rapidity of the electric fluid
itself and perhaps with a velocity a thousand times greater, then we
could both see and hear, and also converse with our neighbors at long
distances from us; and if such means of communication were opened
among the different nations of the earth, they would all be neighbors.

Vol. 15,  p.240
Now extend this principle, and let us suppose that there was a medium
of communication by which immortal beings could see, hear and
communicate from the earth to the sun, and from the sun to the earth;
from the earth to Jupiter, and from Jupiter back again to the earth;
from the sun to the most distant planetary bodies of our system, and
back again from those bodies to the sun; and then from the solar
system itself to some of those starry spheres, and from one sphere to
another, taking in whole groups of systems, until finally we had means
of communication with all the different worlds of the universe, as we
have now between Salt Lake and London, only through a more refined and
perfect medium, would it be necessary under these circumstances that
our Father and God should be directly here on the earth in order for
us to be with him? Not at all. He could be situated on a world as far
distant as some of the fixed stars from us, and there he could sway
his sceptre over millions of worms and systems, and all of them be in
his presence, the vail having been removed; while those powers that
are latent, now as it were, in the mind of fallen beings like man,
being developed among all the inhabitants of these worlds, they could
communicate with him and he with them. Would it not be said, under
these circumstances, that they were all in the presence of God? Yes,
and it would obviate the necessity of travelling and spending millions
of years on long journeys through space in order to get into his
presence.

Vol. 15,  p.240
I expect that in future ages all these things will be made manifest to
the children of God. If we are to grow up in light, intelligence and
truth, and become gods, even the sons of God; if we are to be filled
with light, understanding and knowledge; if we are to understand all
things pertaining to our earth and to other worlds, then it seems to
me that we must approximate very nearly to the fullness of the
blessings that are now enjoyed by him who is our Father and our God. I
do not consider that man has all of his senses developed here, and
because we leave not yet exercised some or our senses that Lave slept
unknown to us ever since our birth, that is no argument that we do not
possess such senses, no evidence at all. You might take a man that had
the faculty of seeing in perfection, and if he was born where not a
glimmer of light ever entered his eye, he would not know that he had
such a faculty, and you could not by talking instill the idea into his
mind, he could not comprehend it.[p.241] He would say, "I have the
sense of feeling, and the sense of smelling, and the sense of hearing,
but this sense of seeing that you talk about I have no idea of, what
is it?" He would have to experience it in order to find out what was
meant by seeing objects at a distance, defining their colors, and so
on. But when he looked on the surface of nature by the aid of light,
when it was once brought to bear upon him, what a world of knowledge
would rush into his mind, not all at once, but by degrees. So it will
be with the Saints of God, when their latent faculties begin to be
developed and brought forth, so that they can gaze upon the works of
God.

Vol. 15,  p.241
This great future reward is worth living for, and this is what we
should seek for, even for the enlightenment of the Spirit. This is
what we should endeavor to cultivate in all our business transactions,
and in all our concerns here in life. If we cultivate this Spirit, it
will increase upon us, and it will grow brighter and brighter, until
the perfect day, and we shall rise by degrees into that high position
that God intends for his children, to make them gods, to dwell in his
presence for ever and ever. Amen.

Orson Pratt, December 15, 1872

Pre-Existence of Our Spirits

Discourse By Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the 14th 
Ward Assembly Rooms, Sunday Afternoon, Dec. 15, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.241
It would have been my choice this afternoon to sit and listen to
others, but having been requested to address the congregation I
cheerfully comply, having a desire in my heart that God will pour out
his Holy Spirit upon me and upon the hearers, so that we may be
mutually edified. We call ourselves the children of the Most High God.
It is a term that is Scriptural in its nature, and that has been
applied to the people of God in all ages. In the hymn that was sung,
at the opening of this meeting, this subject was more fully portrayed,
according to the views of the Latter-day Saints, than is generally
expressed by religious people in the world, for I believe that all
religious people claim to be, and term themselves, the children of
God. It may not be amiss to investigate, for a little while, the
reality of this title, and see if we can come to some kind of an under
standing in regard to our being the sons and daughters of the Most
High God. It is said by some that we are his sons and daughters only
by adoption, [p.242] or through obedience to the Gospel; that we
become his sons and his daughters, through being born of the water and
of the Spirit. Now I admit that it is necessary for the human family
to be thus adopted; there would, however, have been no need of this
adoption if mankind had never become wicked and corrupt. If there had
never been any sin in the world, I do not think that adoption would
have been necessary. According to my views, and I believe, according
to the views of the Latter-day Saints, and also of the ancient Saints,
we were at one periled legitimately his sons and daughters independent
of adoption, and this will carry us to the first ideas manifested by
revelation, in regard to the origin of man. Many people suppose, when
Adam was placed in the garden of Eden, that then the first of the
human family originated. I admit that that was the origin as far as
man's temporal existence here on the earth is concerned; but had we no
prior existence? Was that the beginning of man? Was it, in reality,
his origin? This is a very important question, and a correct answer
thereto would certainly be calculated to cheer the hearts of the
children of men. That man had a secondary origin here on this earth,
and was placed in the Garden of Eden, are Scriptural facts, which we
all believe; but did not our first parents, and all their descendants
have an existence, before there was any Garden of Eden on this earth?
I think it is admitted by the whole Christian world, that man is a
being compounded of body and spirit, at least all the Christian
societies with which I am acquainted believe this. They all believe
that within man's body or tabernacle of flesh and bones there dwells
an immortal spirit. All Christian societies, with perhaps very few
exceptions, believe that this human spirit, welch dwells within the
tabernacle, will exist after the dissolution of the body. There may be
some few Christians who believe that the spirit is disorganized or
dies between the time of death and the resurrection. I think this view
is entertained by some few individuals, but the great mass of the
human family believe that when this body falls asleep and crumbles
back again to its mother earth, the spirit still survives as an
organized being or personage. Some, however, do not believe that the
spirit is a personage. They think it is something which can not be
defined, something that has neither the shape nor the properties which
we give to any kind of material substance. The views of the
immaterialist are that the spirit, occupies no space, and has no
relation to matter, something entirely separate and distinct from
matter. There are however, but few in the Christian world who have
worked themselves so far into the depths of these mysteries, as they
term them, as to believe in such absurdities as these. I could not
believe it for one moment—I never did. To suppose that there is a
spirit in man and that that spirit has no shape, no likeness and
occupies no space, as the immaterialists inform us in their writings,
is something that I do not believe, and never could believe, unless I
became perfectly beside myself, and deranged in my mind.

Vol. 15,  p.242
We, as Latter-day Saints, believe that the spirits that occupy these
tabernacles have form and likeness similar to the human tabernacle. Of
course there may be deformities existing in connection with the
outward tabernacle which do not exist in connection with the spirit
that inhabits it. These tabernacles become deformed by accident in
various ways, sometimes at birth, but this may not [p.243] altogether
or in any degree deform the spirits that dwell within them, therefore
we believe that the spirits which occupy the bodies of the human
family are more or less in the resemblance of the tabernacles.

Vol. 15,  p.243
Now a question arises, If this spirit can exist separate and
independent of the tabernacle, when the tabernacle dies is it
unreasonable to suppose that it could exist before the tabernacle was
formed? This is an important question and in my estimation there is
nothing absurd or unreasonable in the least degree, in believing that
that personage that we call the intelligent spirit, which can exist
between death and the resurrection, separate and distinct from the
body, could also have had an existence before the body was formed,
that is, a pre-existence. This is a Scriptural doctrine, for there are
many passages in Scripture which, in my estimation, prove that man had
a pre-existence. If we turn to the first and second chapters of
Genesis, we shall find it clearly indicated that man had an existence
before he was placed in the Garden of Eden. In the first chapter of
Genesis we are told that God made the earth, and the seas, and the
grass, and the herbs and the trees in about six days of time. We also
read that on the fifth day of the creation he made the fish and fowls;
that on the sixth day he made the animals, and last of all that he
made man, male and female created he them. This seems to have been the
last work of creation on the sixth day. Read on still further, in the
second chapter of Genesis, and we are informed that on the seventh day
there was not yet a man to till the ground. Now how are we going to
reconcile this with that which is stated in the preceding chapter—on
the fifth day he made the fowls and the fish, and on the sixth day he
made the animals before he made man, and on the seventh day there was
not yet a man to till the ground. And then we are informed about man's
being placed in the garden on the seventh day; and also that on that
day the beasts were formed and brought to the man to see what he would
call them. This seems to have been another department of work that the
Lord accomplished on the morning of the seventh day. He planted a
garden on the seventh day in Eden, he placed the man in that garden on
the seventh day; and then we are informed that he brought the beasts
of the field and the various animals that he had made before the man,
and man gave names to them on the Sabbath day; but on the sixth day
they were made male and female. I reconcile this by giving a
pre-existence to man; such is my faith. I believe that man had an
existence before the Lord commenced the great temporal work of
creation, so far as this planet is concerned. How long he had existed
prior to the formation of this planet I do not know, but it is certain
God seems to have formed the spiritual part of it in the six days, and
when it comes to the temporal part that seems to have been the work of
the seventh day. On the seventh day the Bible says that God ended his
work. He did not altogether end it on the sixth, but he ended it on
the seventh day.

Vol. 15,  p.243
When we come to new revelation which God has vouchsafed to give to his
people in these latter times, this subject is made very plain; and on
these new revelations in connection with the old, what little light we
can gain through the hymn that was sung at the opening of the meeting,
was founded, "When shall I regain thy presence," as expressed in the
first verse, showing that we once were in [p.244] his presence and
existed where he is, but for some reason we have been banished
therefrom, and that when we are redeemed we shall return again, or as
one of the inspired writers has it—"the spirit shall return to God who
gave it."

Vol. 15,  p.244
This returning of the spirit to God who gave it, clearly shows to my
mind that the spirit once existed with God and dwelt in his presence,
otherwise the word "return" would be inapplicable. If I were going to
China it would be inapplicable for me to say I am returning to China.
Why? Because I never have been there, consequently the word "return"
would be an improper word. So in regard to the saying of the prophet,
it would be entirely improper to say that, after the body crumbles to
dust the spirit would "return" to God who gave it, if it never had
been there.

Vol. 15,  p.244
Jesus seems to have been a pattern in all things pertaining to his
brethren, and we find that he had a previous existence—his spirit
existed before he carne and tabernacled in the flesh. This is
abundantly proved in the Scriptures. In the prayer which he offered to
his heavenly Father beseeching him to make his disciples one, he says,
"Father, glorify thou me with that glory which I bad with thee before
the world was." Now if Jesus dwelt with the Father before the world
was, why not the rest of the family, or in other words, the rest of
the spirits? It certainly was not his tabernacle which dwelt there
before the world was, for he came in the meridian of time, and his
spirit entered a tabernacle of flesh and bones, and was born of a
woman, just the same as all the rest of the human family. What then is
the meaning of that Scripture which speaks of Jesus being the elder
brother? It certainly could not have reference to him being the eldest
so far as his natural birth on this earth was concerned, for he
certainly was not the eldest, for generation after generation had
preceded him during the four thousand years which had passed away,
from the time of creation until he was born; but yet he is called the
"elder brother." In another Scripture it is said of him that he was '"
the first-born of every creature." This would imply, then, that Jesus,
so far as the great family of man is concerned, was the first-born of
the whole of them. How and when was he born? He was born in the
eternal world, not his flesh and bones, but that intelligent spirit
which dwelt within his tabernacle was born before this world was made,
and he seems to have been the first spirit that was born, and for this
reason he became the elder brother; and we are told in many Scriptures
in the New Testament, that we are his brethren, and that he is not
ashamed to call us his brethren. I look upon him as having the same
origin as we had, only he was the eldest; and if he was born in the
eternal world thousands of years ago, why not all the rest of his
brethren, so far as their spirits are concerned? I know that the
objection will immediately arise in the minds of individuals who have
not reflected on this subject, if we were intelligent personages
thousands of years ago, and dwelling in the presence of God, and of
Jesus, our elder brother, how is it that we have no remembrance of
anything that transpired in our pre-existence? I answer this question
by saying, that when we came into this world from our former state of
existence, and had our spirits enclosed within these mortal
tabernacles, it had a tendency to take away our memories so far as the
past was concerned. It did so in relation to [p.245] Jesus. He had
great knowledge before he was born into this world—sufficient to
create the heavens and the earth, hence we read in the Hebrews that
God, by his Son, made the worlds. This was before Jesus came here, and
he must then have been the possessor of great knowledge to have been
able to do that; but when he took upon himself flesh and bones did he
forget this knowledge? We read in the Scriptures, speaking of Jesus
coming here and taking a body of flesh and bones, that "in his
humiliation his judgment was taken away." What humiliation? His
descending from the presence of God his Father and descending below
all things, his judgment was taken away, that is, his remembrance of
things that were past, and that knowledge which, while in the presence
of his Father, enabled him to make worlds, and he had to begin at the
first principles of knowledge, just the same as all his brethren who
came here in the flesh. We read that Jesus, as he grew in stature,
grew also in wisdom and knowledge. If he had possessed all wisdom, and
had not forgotten that which he formerly possessed, how was it that he
could increase in wisdom as he increased in stature? It shows clearly
that the wisdom which he had possessed thousands of years before, had
for a wise purpose been taken from him. "His judgment was taken away,"
and he left, as it were, in the very depth of humility, beginning at
the very first principles of knowledge and growing up from grace to
grace, as the Scriptures say, from one degree to another, until he
received a fullness from his Father. Then when he did regain all his
previous knowledge and wisdom, he had the fullness of the Father
within him, in other words, "in him dwelt all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily."

Vol. 15,  p.245
Now if his knowledge was forgotten, and his judgment taken away, why
not ours? We find this to be the case. What person among all the human
family can comprehend what took place in his first existence? No one,
it is blotted from the memory, and I think there is great wisdom
manifested in withholding the knowledge of our previous existence.
Why? Because we could not, if we had all our pre-existent knowledge
accompanying us into this world, show to our leather in the heavens
and to the heavenly host that we would be in all things obedient; in
other words, we could not be tried as the Lord designs to try us here
in this saute of existence, to qualify us for a higher state
hereafter. In order to try the children of men, there must be a degree
of knowledge withheld from them, for it would be no temptation to them
if they could understand from the beginning the consequences of their
acts, and the nature and results of this and that temptation. But in
order that we may prove ourselves before the heavens obedient and
faithful in all things, we have to begin at the very first principles
of knowledge, and be tried from knowledge to knowledge, and from grace
to grace, until, like our elder brother, we finally overcome and
triumph over all our imperfections, and receive with him the same
glory that he inherits, which glory he had before the world was.

Vol. 15,  p.245
This is the way that we as a people look upon our previous existence.
There is something truly cheering in contemplating the previous
existence of man, much more so than in the old idea of the sectarian
world—that God is constantly creating, that he did not finish his work
some five or six thousand years ago, but that he is creating all the
time. They will tell you that they have spirits in [p.246] their
bodies capable of existing after the bodies have crumbled back to
mother earth. Ask them the origin of these spirits, and they will tell
you they originated about the time the infant tabernacles of flesh and
bone originated. Hence, according to their ideas, God has all the time
been creating about one person every twenty seconds, which I believe
is about the average rate that persons are born into the world; in
other words, about three a minute, and according to their ideas the
Lord is engaged in making spirits with this rapidity, and sending them
here to this world.

Vol. 15,  p.246
I cannot, for my part, see that there is any more absurdity in
believing that he made them thousands of years before they came here,
than to suppose that he made them just before they came here, and
entered into the tabernacle. One can certainly not be more
unreasonable than the other.

Vol. 15,  p.246
Because we can not recollect our former existence is no proof whatever
that we did not have one. I can prove this. In regard to this present
existence, what person is there in this congregation who can remember
the first six months of his or her infancy? There is not a man nor a
woman on the face of the earth, I presume, who can remember this; but
no person will argue, on that account, that he did not exist at that
time. Oh no, says the objector, that would be an improper method of
arguing. Our memories have nothing to do with a previous existence. If
we remember it, all good; if we do not, it does not alter that
existence.

Vol. 15,  p.246
If we were born in heaven before this world was made, the question
might arise as to the nature of that birth. Was it by command that the
spiritual substance, scattered through space, was miraculously brought
together, and organized into a spiritual form, and called a spirit? is
that the way we were born? Is that the way that Jesus, the firstborn
of every creature, was brought into existence? Oh no; we were all born
there after the same manner that we are here, that is to say, every
person that had an existence before he came here had a literal father
and a literal mother, a personal father and a personal mother; hence
the Apostle Paul, in speaking to the heathen at Ephesus, days, "We are
his offspring." Now I look upon every man and woman that have ever
come here on this globe, or that ever will come, as having a father
and mother in the heavens by whom their spirits were brought into
existence. But how long they resided in the heavens before they came
here is not revealed.

Vol. 15,  p.246
We will refer now to the 19th chapter of Job, to show that there were
sons of God before this world was made. The Lord asked Job a question
in relation to his pre-existence, saying, "Where wast thou when I laid
the corner stone of the earth?" Where were you, Job, when all the
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy;
when the nucleus of this creation was commenced? If Job had been
indoctrinated into all the mysteries of modern religionists, he would
have answered this question by saying," Lord, why do you ask me such a
question? I had no existence at that time." But the very question
implies the existence of Job, but he had forgotten where he was, and
the Lord put the question as though he did exist, showing to him in
the declaration, that, when he laid the corner stone of the earth,
there were a great many sons of God there, and that they all shouted
together for joy. Who were these sons of God?[p.247] They certainly
were not the fleshly descendants of Adam, for he had not then been
placed in the Garden of Eden. Who were they then? They were Jesus, the
elder brother, and all the family that have come from that day until
now—millions on millions—and all who will come hereafter, and take
tabernacles of flesh and bones until the closing up scene of this
creation. All these were present when God commenced this creation.
Jesus was also there and superintended the work, for by him God made
the worlds, consequently he must have been there, and all felt joyful,
and shouted for joy. What produced their joy? It was foreknowledge.
They knew that the creation then being formed was for their abiding
place, where their spirits would go and take upon them tabernacles of
flesh and bones, and they rejoiced at the prospect. They had more
knowledge then than the world of mankind have now. They saw that it
was absolutely necessary for their advancement in the scale of being
to go and take tabernacles of flesh and bone; they saw that their
spirits without tabernacles never could be made perfect, never could
be placed in a position to attain to great power, dominion and glory
like their Father; and understanding that the earth was being created
to give them the opportunity of reaching his position, they sang
together for joy. They composed a hymn, and if we could have a copy of
it, we should no doubt find that it was a hymn in relation to the
construction of the earth and its future habitation by those spirits
in the form of men. I should like to see that hymn myself, and if we
had it we would get our choir here to sing it. I think it would impart
a good deal of information to us, and perhaps we would shout for joy
again.

Vol. 15,  p.247
It is very evident that this was the belief of the people in the days
of the Savior. Even the Apostles and those with Jesus evidently
believed in the pre-existence of man. This is manifest from a certain
question which they put to Jesus on the occasion of a blind man making
his appearance before him. They said to him, "Master, who did sin,
this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" In other words, did
this man sin before he was born, and in consequence of his sin was he
born blind? Or was it that his father sinned that he was born blind?
This question would have been very foolish to put to the Savior,
unless they had believed in the pre-existence of man. But they not
only did believe it, they also believed it possible for man to sin in
that pre-existence, and that the penalty of that sin might be carried
down to this state of existence, and be the cause of blindness at
birth, and with that belief they put the question to the Savior. That
would nave been a very favorable opportunity for him to have corrected
them, if their ideas about pre-existence had been false. He could have
turned to them and said, he could not have sinned before he was born,
and that be the cause that he was born blind, because he had no
previous existence. But he said no such thing, he replied, "Neither
this man nor his parents sinned, but that the glory of God might, be
made manifest."

Vol. 15,  p.247
In the first and second chapter of Genesis, in the new translation
given by inspiration through Joseph Smith the Prophet, this subject is
made very plain. After Joseph had translated the Book of Mormon from
the gold plates, the Lord commanded him to translate the Bible. Now
you know that we have no inspired translator at the present day among
any of the nations. We have translations [p.248] of the Bible made by
the wisdom and learning of men, but as each translator has differed in
his views, no two of them agree. Indeed, when we go back in the
history of the Bible, we find that about four hundred and fifty years
before Christ Ezra compiled into one volume the different books of the
Old Testament so far as they were given. Previous to that they had
been in scattered manuscripts. The five books of Moses were kept in
the Ark of the Testament. The writings of Joshua and others who
followed Moses were kept here and there, and but very few copies were
to be had in those early days. Indeed, so scarce were the copies of
the Bible, that in the days of the kings of Israel they had lost
almost all knowledge of any written copy of the Bible. They retained
many of their ordinances, their Temple worship, and so on, but written
copies of the Bible had so nearly disappeared, that on repairing the
Temple at a certain time they found a copy of it hid up, but they did
not know whether it was true or not. They bad nothing to compare it
with, and the only way they could ascertain whether it was a true copy
of the Bible was to send for a man of God—a Prophet—and get him to
inquire of the Lord whether it was genuine or not. Thus we see that
the people in those early ages were not favored as we are in these
days with copies of the Bible. But Ezra, according to the history,
gathered up these fragments as far as he could.

Vol. 15,  p.248
Two hundred years before Christ there were seventy-two Israelites,
said to be six out of each tribe, met together in the city of
Alexandria in Egypt, and they translated the law of Moses, the
prophets and the psalms from such Hebrew copies as they happened to
have possession of, into the Greek. This was called the Septuagint
translation. Jerome, a staunch Roman Catholic, translated this Greek
version called the Septuatint into what was termed the Vulgate—a Latin
translation. That, and copies of it made by scribes for many
generations, became the Bible of the Roman Catholics; and even to this
day, so far as they use Latin they appeal to that edition of the
Scriptures called the Vulgate.

Vol. 15,  p.248
In the year 1610 the Vulgate edition was translated into English. this
was called the Douay Bible, because it was published at the town of
Douay in France, and it is the Roman Catholic Bible, so far as the
English translation is concerned, to the present day. It differs
materially from the Protestant Bible.

Vol. 15,  p.248
About the same time that the Douay translation was published—in 1607,
King James the First appointed fifty-four men, some six or seven of
whom did not serve, to translate the Bible from the original Hebrew,
and they gave us that version called King James' translation.

Vol. 15,  p.248
All these translators that I have spoken of translated by their own
wisdom, according to the best understanding they had. None of them
were prophets or revelators, and not one of them understood the
meaning of the original text like a man of God filled with the Holy
Ghost. But they have made a very good translation notwithstanding,
especially the forty-seven who labored under the appointment of King
James. Different parts of the Scriptures were portioned out among six
different classes of translators, and they, I believe, have given us
the very best copy of the Bible in existence, so far as translations
by human wisdom are concerned.

Vol. 15,  p.248
But to come back again, as I said before, after having translated the
Book of Mormon, this young man, [p.249] Joseph Smith, a man of no
education or learning, comparatively speaking, was commanded to
translate the Bible by inspiration. He commenced the work, and the
first and second chapters of Genesis containing the history of the
creation are very plain and full. In the first chapter the Lord speaks
about the spiritual creation of all things before they were made
temporally. In the second chapter he goes on to state that there was
not yet a man to till the ground, "for in heaven created I them." That
explains the mystery about the work previously spoken of in the first
chapter, and shows that it had reference to the great work which God
had performed in the heavens before he made this earth temporally.
This same doctrine is inculcated in some small degree in the Book of
Mormon. However, I do not think that I should have ever discerned it
in that book had it not been for the new translation of the
Scriptures, that throwing so much light and information on the
subject, I searched the Book of Mormon to see if there were
indications in it that related to the pre-existence of man. I found
them in a great revelation that was given to the prophet who led the
first colony to this country from the Tower of Babel at the time the
language was confounded. This great prophet had a remarkable vision
before he arrived on this continent. In this vision he saw the
spiritual personage of our Savior as he existed before he came to take
upon him flesh and bones; and Jesus, in talking to this great man of
God, informed him that as he appeared to him in the spirit so would he
appear to his brethren in the flesh in future generations, and said
he, "I am he that was prepared from before the foundation of the word,
to redeem my people." He furthermore addressed himself to this great
man saying, "Seest then that thou art created in mine own image?" That
is, man here on the earth is in the image of that spiritual body or
personage of Jesus, so far as we are not deformed. "Seest thou that
thou art created in mine own image, yea even in the beginning created
I all men after mine own image." This is about the only place that
refers pointedly to the pre-existence of man in the Book of Mormon. I
think there are one or two other passages in which it is just referred
to.

Vol. 15,  p.249
Now admit, as the Latter-day Saints do, that we had a previous
existence, and that when we die we shall return to God and our Former
habitation, where we shall behold the face of our Father, and the
question immediately arises, shall we have our memories so increased
by the Spirit of the living God that we shall ever remember our
previous existence? I think we shall. Jesus seems to have gained this
even here in this world, otherwise he would not have prayed, saying,
"Father, glorify then me with that glory which I had With thee before
the world was," showing plainly that he had obtained by revelation a
knowledge from his Father of something about the glory that he had
before the world was. This being the case with Jesus, why not his
younger brethren also obtain this information by revelation? And when
we do return back into the presence of our Father, will we not there
also have our memories so quickened that we will remember his face,
having dwelt in His presence for thousands of years? It will not be
like going to visit strangers that we have never seen before. Is not
this a comfort to persons who expect to depart this life, like all the
rest of the human family? They have a consolation that they are going
[p.250] not among strangers, not to a being whose face they never saw,
but to one whom they will recognize, and will remember, having dwelt
with him for ages before the world was. Looking upon it in the light
of reason, independent of revelation, if a person were to form a
system of religion according to the best light that he had, would it
not be more happifying and calculated more in its nature to give joy
and peace to the mind to suppose that we were going back to a
personage we were well acquainted with, rather than to one we had no
idea of? I think I should prefer, so far as reason is concerned, to be
well acquainted with people I am going among.

Vol. 15,  p.250
These are the expectations of the Latter-day Saints: we do not expect
to go among strangers. When we get back there we expect this place to
be familiar to us, and when we meet this, that and the other one of
all the human family that have been here on the earth, we shall
recognize them as those with whom we have dwelt thousands of years in
the presence of our Father and God. This renewing of old friendships
and acquaintances, and again enjoying all the glory we once possessed,
will be a great satisfaction to all who are privileged to do so.

Vol. 15,  p.250
If we ever dwelt there, it is altogether likely that God made some
promises to us when there. He would converse with us, and cheer us up.
Being his offspring—his sons and daughters, he would not be austere
and unwilling to converse with his own children, but he would teach
them a great many things. And all this will be familiar to us. We read
in the New Testament that God did make promises to us before this
world was made. I recollect one passage in one of the epistles or
Paul, either to Timothy or Titus, the Apostle says, "In hope of
eternal life, which God, who can not lie, promised before the world
began." To whom did he make that promise? I contend that we had the
promise of eternal life before the world began on certain
conditions—it we would comply with the gospel of the Son of God, by
repenting of our sins and being faithful in keeping the commandments
of God.

Vol. 15,  p.250
There are many Scriptures in the New Testament that have relation to
the previous existence of man, which I do not at this time feel
disposed to quote. They can be searched up by the Latter-day Saints,
and by all who are curious enough to enquire into these things. There
are some other things however, which I feel anxious to bring forth in
connection with the pre-existence of man. One thing is our origin more
fully. I have already stated that the spirits of the children of men
were born unto their parents. Now who are the parents of these
children?

Vol. 15,  p.250
There are certain promises made to the Latter-day Saints, one of them
being that when we take a wife here in this world, it is our privilege
by obedience to the ordinances of heaven, to have that wife married to
us for time and for all eternity. This is a promise which God has made
by revelation to his Church, hence the Latter-day. Saints believe in
the i eternity of the marriage covenant. This is one of our
fundamental doctrines. We consider that a marriage for time alone is
after the old Gentile order, and they have lost all knowledge of the
true ordinances and order of heaven. They marry until death separates
them. I believe that almost every religious society, in their marriage
ceremony, use this phrase, "I pronounce you man and wife until death
shall part you!" This sort of a marriage never originated [p.251] with
God; the marriage that originated with him is the same as that of
which we had an example in the beginning—the first marriage that was
ever celebrated here on the earth. Do you enquire what was the form of
that first marriage between Adam and Eve? I will explain it in a few
words. They were united as husband and wife by the Lord himself; when
they were united they did not know anything about death, for they had
not partaken of the fruit of the tree that was forbidden, and they
were then immortal beings. Here were two beings united who were as
immortal as you will be when you come forth from your graves in the
morning of the first resurrection. Under these conditions Adam and Eve
were married. I do not believe that the Lord used the ceremony that is
now used—I marry you until death shall separate you. By what means did
death come into the world? After this marriage by partaking of the
forbidden fruit, they brought death on both male and female, or as the
Apostle Paul says, "By one man sin and death entered into the world,
even so shall all be made alive, and every man in his own order.

Vol. 15,  p.251
It seems then, that if there had been no sin death never would have
come upon Adam and Eve, and they would have been living to-day,
immortal, nearly six thousand years after being placed in the Garden
of Eden, and would they not still be husband and wife? Certainly, and
so they would continue if millions and millions of ages should pass
away, and you could not point out any period in the future, when this
relation would cease; no matter how many myriads of ages might pass
away, unless they by sin brought death into the world. All will admit,
who reflect on the subject, that this marriage was for eternity, and
that death interfered with it only for the time being, until the
resurrection should bring them forth and re-unite them.

Vol. 15,  p.251
The "Mormons," or Latter-day Saints, believe in this kind of marriage,
and the first one ever performed on the earth is a pattern for us.
Moreover God has revealed to us the nature of marriage, and that its
relationships are to exist after the resurrection, and that it must be
attended to in this life in order to secure it for the next life. For
instance, if you wish to obtain a great many blessings pertaining to
the future world, you have to secure these blessings here. You cannot
be baptized in the next state of existence for the remission of sins;
that is an ordinance pertaining to the flesh, which you must attend to
here. And so with all other ordinances which God has ordained, you
have to partake of them here in order to have a claim on the promises
hereafter. It is so with regard to marriage; and this agrees with
wharf Jesus has said in relation to their not marrying nor giving in
marriage in that world. There will be no such thing there. Why?
Because this is the world for all these, ordinances to be attended to.
Here is the place to secure all the blessings for the next world. We
have to show in this probation that we will be obedient in obeying the
commandments of heaven so that we may have a claim on every blessing
pertaining to the next life. Consequently, We have to secure this
marriage for eternity while in this world. When a female in the
Latter-day Saint Church marries a person outside the Church it is not
a marriage in our estimation, in the scriptural sense of the word, it
is only a union until death shall part them. When a person does this
we really consider them weak in the [p.252] faith; indeed it is
equivalent in my estimation not only to being weak in the faith, but
since these revelations were given on the subject, if people with
their eyes wide open will still reject these important things, and
marry a person outside the Church, it shows to me very clearly that he
or she has no regard for the word of God, nor for their own salvation.
They are lacking not only in faith but in the principle of obedience.
They have no hope when they marry outside the Church, but when they
marry in the Church according to this order, and the persons who
officiate in declaring them husband and wife, being commissioned of
God and having authority to administer in all the ordinances of his
kingdom, that marriage is not only for time, but for all eternity.

Vol. 15,  p.252
Another question. Having been married for eternity, we die and our
spirits go into celestial paradise. We come forth in the morning of
the first resurrection as immortal males and immortal females. Our
wives, married to us for eternity, come forth, and they are ours by
virtue of that which God has pronounced upon them through those whom
he has appointed, and to whom he has given authority. We have a legal
claim upon them at the resurrection. But here comes forth a person
that is married outside. She comes up without a husband, he without a
wife, or any claim upon any of the blessings. Here is the difference
between these two classes of beings. One dwells as an angel, without
any power to increase their species, family or dominions, without the
power to beget sons and daughters. This class will be angels. Perhaps
many of them will be worthy of obtaining a degree of power, glory, and
happiness, but not a fullness. Why? Because they have not come up to
that position of their Father and their God. He has power to beget and
bring forth sons and daughters in the spirit world; and after he has
brought forth millions and millions of spirits, he has power to
organize worlds, and send these spirits into these worlds to take
temporal bodies to prepare them in turn to be redeemed and become
Gods, or in other words, the sons of God, growing up like their
father, possessing all his attributes, and propagating their species
through all eternity. Here then is the difference between these two
classes of beings—one having lost what they might have obtained and
enjoyed if they had had faith in God and been willing to obey his
commandments. But the others are worthy, as the Apostle Paul has said,
to obtain a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while the
others will be angels or servants, to go and come at the bidding of
those who are more exalted.

Vol. 15,  p.252
This is what Paul meant when be said that in the Lord the man is not
without the woman, neither is the woman without the man; as much as to
say that in order to be in the Lord and to obtain a fullness Of his
glory and exaltation, you can not be separated; or in other words, to
speak according to the common phrase, you can not live old bachelors
or old maids and go down to your graves in this condition. That is not
the order of heaven, why? Because marriage is essentially necessary to
qualify them to propagate their species throughout all eternity, that
they in their turn may have worlds created on which these sons and
daughters of their own begetting may receive tabernacles of flesh and
bones as we have done. This is the order by which all worlds are
peopled by spirits that have been born in the eternal worlds; and
these worlds are [p.253] organized expressly for them that they may go
and have another change, another state of being different from their
spiritual state, where they may possess bodies of flesh and bones,
which are essentially necessary to the begetting of their own species.
Spirits can not bring forth, multiply and increase. They must have
bodies.

Vol. 15,  p.253
We have said this much on the hymn that was sung in the morning, and
these ideas are fully inculcated therein, and they are established and
founded on the revelations God has given in different ages. Amen.

Orson Pratt, December 29, 1872

True Christmas and New Year

Discourse By Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the 13th Ward 
Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Dec. 29, 1872.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.253
We are, this afternoon, commemorating according to our usual custom,
one of the most important events that has ever transpired in our
world, and one which most concerns the whole human family, namely, the
death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ for the redemption of
the human family. No other event can be compared with this in its
importance, and in its bearings upon the human family. Everything else
is but of a secondary consideration, when compared with the atonement
that has been wrought out in behalf of man by the great Redeemer, yet,
strange to say, there are those in the Christian world, so called, who
profess to believe in Christianity and yet deny the efficacy of the
atoning blood that was shed by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. More
especially has this been the ease for a few years past. I suppose
there are many thousands who deny this now, where there were but few
at the time of the rise of this Church. This has arisen, probably,
from the multiplication of spiritual influences, which now prevail to
a very great extent in the Christian world—influences that are evil,
revelations, false visions, spirit rappings and mediums. Almost
without exception these false spirits have taught those who have
listened to them, that there is no efficacy in the Atonement.

Vol. 15,  p.253
There is no subject more fully developed and made manifest to the
children of men in modern revelation than that of the atonement. Much
is said in relation to other doctrines, all of which have a bearing on
the atonement, that lying at the foundation of the whole. If the evil
one can prevail over the human family so [p.254] as to get them to
deny this fundamental doctrine, he knows that they are safe, so far as
serving him and failing of their salvation are concerned. If they can
only be wrought upon and deluded so as to disbelieve in the doctrine
of the atonement, it does not matter to Satan what else they may
believe. It is not my intention, however, this afternoon, unless so
led by the Spirit of the Lord, to dwell much on this subject. It is
one that has been so thoroughly taught to the Latter-day Saints, that
I esteem it almost unnecessary to repeat that with which they are so
familiar. By partaking of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper every
Sabbath day, we commemorate that great event. If we do not preach so
much about it by word of mouth we certainly fulfill the commandment
which God has given requiring us to remember unto the Father the
crucified body and shed blood of his Son, without which there would
have been no remission of sin, and no redemption, and mankind would
have remained in their fallen state. No light could have penetrated
the hearts of the children of men, and there would have been no
resurrection, no exaltation in the kingdom of God without the
atonement. When we speak of total depravity, it has reference to
certain conditions. Man is not totally depraved now, and the reason
is, there has been an atonement; but do away that, as many do, and
total depravity would reign, and men would live and die totally
degraded beings. All the light that has come into the world, and that
lights every man that comes into the world, has come by reason of the
atonement. It is an event that all Christian societies commemorate
more or less, or at least they did in former times. They are getting
more lax now since the devil and his angela have given so many
revelations against the atonement.

Vol. 15,  p.254
The Roman Catholics, about 532 years after Christ, set apart a day
called Christmas, which they no doubt believed at that time was the
day of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The reason Why
they set apart Christmas and have kept up its commemoration from that
day until the present time, was because a certain monk, a member of
their church, named Dionsysius commenced a calculation to ascertain,
if possible, the period of time from the birth of Christ to the time
the calculation was made; and from all the information that he could
glean he set it down at 532 years. They had not printed works in those
days as we have now; they had not access to the abundance of
historical and chronological information then that we have; but from
all the information that Dionysius could glean, and making a
calculation thereon, he came to the above result.

Vol. 15,  p.254
He also made a calculation in regard to the day on which he supposed
the Savior to have been born, and that was set down as a day to be
celebrated by the Roman Catholics church. They have certain ordinances
in regard to that day, which you may see observed in their church in
this city. People, prior to this time, did not date their documents
from the birth of Christ. If they were writing a letter they did not
say, in the year of our Lord 520, in the year of our Lord 416, and so
on; this was never done until the calculation of Dionysius was made,
then it was adopted by the Roman Catholics and by all nations among
whom they had power and influence. By and by other chronologists made
calculations as to the time of Christ's birth, and from the
information they could gather together, they discovered that [p.255]
Dionysius had made a mistake, and that Christ was born about one year
before the time set by him. But by this time there were great numbers
of important State and other documents and papers in existence, all
dated according to the incorrect calculation of this Romish monk. How
to remedy this the people did not know, for it would not do to alter
all these dates.

Vol. 15,  p.255
Another set of chronologists made calculations, and they discovered
that Dionysius had made a mistake of two years in regard to the time
of the Savior's birth. Four others, very learned men, sought
diligently, and from the information they obtained they found that
Jesus was born three years before the time published by Dionysius.
Five others made it four years; some few made it five years before,
and some seven years before the time specified by this Romish monk.
All modern chronologists who have taken up the subject, agree that
Dionysius was incorrect, at least several years. But did the people
alter the dates of their documents and manuscripts when his error was
fully made manifest? Not at all; they have continued that old,
erroneous reckoning down to this present year. But they have attached
the name of vulgar era to it, in order to indicate that it is
incorrect. Vulgar era! I think the name is inappropriate, for there
are thousands of people at the present day, including the youth of our
land, and perhaps many who have had a collegiate education, who never
knew or inquired into the meaning of vulgar era, or why the term was
introduced. Its real meaning is, incorrect era or date. For instance,
we write a letter to-day, and we call it the 29th day of December,
1872. This is according to the vulgar era, or erroneous date, or the
reckoning of Dionysius; but this is not the true date. The probability
is, independent of the Bible or Book of Mormon, from the great mass of
testimony that has been accumulated for generations past, that Jesus
was burn nearly four years prior to the commencement of this vulgar
era, so that our present year, 1872, should be 1876. You will find a
full account of these matters in the writings of the learned, in
encyclopaedias, and in various works touching upon chronology, so that
you have no need to take my testimony alone on this subject, for you
have access to our library here in this city, and you can examine
works on chronology and see that I am correct. There may be those here
who would like me to cite some works on this subject. I will cite one
that I read while I was in England, a Bible dictionary, by a very
learned author named Smith. This subject is treated very plainly and
fully in that work. I think that Mr. John W. Young of this city has
this work in his private library. The reason why I make these remarks
is, that this is the first Sabbath after Christmas, and the day on
which I believe the Roman Catholics in this city are celebrating
certain ordinances in their church in commemoration of this event.

Vol. 15,  p.255
Having found out that there is an error in regard to the year of
Christ's birth, now let us inquire if the day observed by the
Christian world as the day of his birth, the 25th of December, is or
is not the real Christmas Day? A great many authors have found out
from their researches that it is not. I think that there is scarcely
an author at the present day that believes that the 25th day of
December was the day that Christ was born on. Still it is observed by
certain classes, and we, whether we make any profession or not, are
just foolish enough to observe this old [p.256] Roman Catholic
festival. The boys and girls all look forward with great anticipations
to Christmas. Many of them, it is true, do not know the meaning of it,
or why it is celebrated; but when we come to reflect on the matter, it
is all nonsense to celebrate the 25th day of December as the birthday
of Jesus. It will do for a holiday, so you might select any other day
for that purpose. It is generally believed and conceded by the
learned, who have investigated the matter, that Christ was born in
April. I have seen several accounts—some of them published in our
periodicals—of learned men in different nations, in which it is stated
that, according to the best of their judgment from the researches they
have made, Christ was crucified on the 6th of April. That is, the day
on which this church was organized. But when these learned men go back
from the day of his crucifixion to the day of his birth, they are at a
loss, having no certain evidence or testimony by which they can
determine it. I intend this afternoon to give light on this subject
from new revelation, which we, as Latter-day Saints, can depend upon.
I will read to you from the Book of Mormon, some things that happened,
at the time of the crucifixion, on this great western hemisphere, and
I will say we have a date given there in connection with these events,
showing how old Jesus was at the time of his crucifixion. It may not
be amiss, however, for me to make a few remarks before I commence
reading, to inform strangers who may be present, that the inhabitants
of ancient America, and those who wrote the Book of Mormon were
Israelites! that when they came from the city of Jerusalem, 600 years
before Christ, they were a righteous people, and had prophets among
them, and that they kept the law of Moses. Now the sacrifices and
burnt offerings of that law were typical of the great offering that
was to be made by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The ancient
inhabitants of this continent, to whom I have referred, understood the
nature of these ordinances, and they looked forward to the coming of
the true Messiah and celebrated it by these ordinances, the same as we
look backward and celebrate his death and sufferings by partaking of
the symbols of, as we have done this afternoon.

Vol. 15,  p.256
Now if God led a company of Israelites from Palestine to colonize this
continent, and taught them to keep the law of Moses with its
sacrifices and burnt offerings, typical of the great sacrifice that
was to be made at Jerusalem, it would not be at all strange for him to
give to them a sign concerning Jesus, when he should be born, and when
he should die. He did this by the mouths of prophets. Numerous
prophets were raised up on this land, and they prophesied to the
inhabitants thereof, and taught them about the coming of Jesus, and
what signs should be given at the time he should come. They taught
them that the night before Jesus should be born there would be no
darkness on this land, but that it would be perfectly light. They
would see the sun set in the evening, and that, during the night,
until it should rise the next morning, there would be no darkness;
that great signs and lights would appear in the heavens, and that they
were to be to them indications of the birth of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. These signs were given, and by them the people on this
continent knew the very day that Jesus was born.

Vol. 15,  p.256
Some years after this, before the crucifixion of Jesus, they fell into
great wickedness. They persecuted the prophets, shed their blood,
stoned [p.257] them to death, and cast them out of their midst, and
they were full of wrath and indignation and sinned against great
light, so that the Lord was under the necessity of sending other
Prophets to them, telling them that at the time of the crucifixion, if
they did not repent, many of their cities should be burned with fire,
many destroyed with tempests, and that they should be visited with
sore judgments and calamities; and that during the time Jesus should
be lifted up on the cross, there should be tremendous earthquakes upon
all the face of this continent, and that after that there would be
three days and three nights of darkness, and that this darkness should
come immediately after the execution of the Savior. Now let, us read
what the Prophet says on page 450 of the Book of Mormon concerning
these events, which transpired just as they had been predicted.

Vol. 15,  p.257
"And it came to pass in the thirty and fourth year, in the first
month, in the fourth day of the month, there arose a great storm, such
an one as had never been known in all the land." From what period was
this date reckoned? We are informed on page 435 of this book, that the
Nephites began reckoning the beginning of their year from the sign
given them at the birth of the Savior—the night without darkness.
Previous to that they had reckoned from the time of their leaving
Jerusalem, 600 years before Christ, and they continued this some five
centuries, until they changed the form of their government on this
continent, and introduced judges; then they reckoned their time from
the beginning of the reign of the judges. This mode of reckoning
lasted ninety-one years. Five hundred and nine years having passed
away before the reign of the judges commenced, and ninety-one added to
that made 600 years from the time that Lehi and the colony came out of
Jerusalem. Then they changed their mode of reckoning, and reckoned
from the time this great sign was given in the heavens, so that we
know what this date means—"in the thirty and fourth year, in the first
month, and in the fourth day of the month." Now I think this gives us
a clue to the age of Jesus when he was crucified, but we will read on,
and see about the storm.

Vol. 15,  p.257
"There arose a great storm, such an one as never had been known in all
the land; and there was also a great and terrible tempest, and there
was terrible thunder, insomuch that it did shake the whole earth as if
it was about to divide asunder; and there were exceeding sharp
lightnings, such as never had been known in all the land. And the city
of Zarahemla did take fire."

Vol. 15,  p.257
Zarahemla was their great capital city. It was located in the north
part of South America, on one branch of that river that we call the
river Magdalena, that runs down from the mountains to the northward,
and empties into the Carribbean Sea. On the west side of that river
was located the great city of Zarahemla. We will now read further:

Vol. 15,  p.257
"And the city Zarahemla did take fire; and the city Moroni did sink
into the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof were drowned;
and the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah, that in the
place of the city thereof there became a great mountain."

Vol. 15,  p.257
Now if our miners, those who go into South America, should happen to
dig in a few thousand feet, and should come across old buildings, they
need not be astonished, for the Lord made a terrible revolution in the
land. There came a great [p.258] mountain in the place where this city
stood; "and there was a great and terrible destruction in the land
southward"—what we term South America.

Vol. 15,  p.258
"But behold, there was a more great and terrible destruction in the
land northward"—North America—"for behold the whole face of the land
was changed because of the tempest, and the whirlwinds, and the
thunderings, and the lightnings, and the exceeding great quakings of
the whole earth; and the highways were broken up, and the level roads
were spoiled, and really smooth places became rough, and many great
and notable cities were sunk, and many were burned, and many were
shook till the buildings thereof had fallen to the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof were slain, and the places were left desolate; and
there were some cities which remained; but the damage thereof was
exceeding great, and there were many in them who were slain; and there
were some who were carried away in the whirlwind, and whither they
went no man knoweth, save they know that they were carried away; and
thus the face of the whole earth became deformed because of the
tempests, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the quaking of
the earth. And behold, the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken
up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in
broken fragments, and in seams and in cracks, upon all the face of the
land."

Vol. 15,  p.258
You can see from this, what terrible convulsions have taken place on
this continent, even here in these mountains. In the mountains west of
this valley, you will find the strata of rock set up almost
perpendicular; that was not the way they were first formed. You will
also find there, as elsewhere, strata dipping at a greater or less
angle into the earth. The cause of all this has been the terrible
convulsions that our globe has undergone, and more especially at the
time of the crucifixion.

Vol. 15,  p.258
"And it came to pass that when the thunderings, and the lightnings,
and the storm, and the tempest, and the quakings of the earth did
cease—for behold they did last for about the space of three hours; and
it was said by some that the time was greater; nevertheless, all these
great and terrible things were done in about the space of three hours;
and thou behold there was darkness upon the face of the land."

Vol. 15,  p.258
I might go on reading, if it were necessary, in regard to the weeping,
wailing and mourning of the people during these three days of intense
darkness—no sun, moon, nor stars were to be seen, and the vapor was so
great that the inhabitants of the land could feel it, the same as the
darkness was felt in the land of Egypt. It was not, of course, the
darkness that was felt, but the vapor that was so thick. There is one
thing, however, to which I wish to call your special attention, before
I make any further remarks in regard to the date that is here given.
When this darkness dispersed, it is said to have been morning. You
will find it on page 454. "And it came to pass that thus did the three
days pass away; and it was in the morning, and the darkness dispersed
from off the face of land, and the earth did cease to tremble, and the
rocks did cease to rend."

Vol. 15,  p.258
You might say that this was not three days and three nights, for Jesus
was crucified and died on the cross at 3 o'clock in the afternoon at
Jerusalem, and consequently for it to have been just three days and
three nights, you might suppose that the darkness must have dispersed
in the [p.259] afternoon. But this book tells us that when the three
days and three nights of darkness had passed away it was morning. Now
why this discrepancy—for it seems to be one—between the Bible and the
Book of Mormon? Can you account for it, and tell why it should have
been morning in America? The reason is because of the difference in
longitude. The writer of the account in the Book of Mormon resided in
the northwestern portion of South America. Now you take a map of the
world, and see the difference in longitude between the place where.
Jesus was crucified, and that where the writer of the Book of Mormon
lived, and you will find that it is about seven and a half hours. Now
you subtract seven and a half hours from 3 o'clock in the afternoon,
and what time would it be when the three hours of quaking and the
destruction of cities expired, or when the darkness commenced? Would
it not be in the morning? Take away seven and a half hours longitude
from 3 o'clock—the time that Jesus expired—and would it not be half
past seven o'clock in the morning with the inhabitants of this land,
while it was afternoon with the inhabitants in Jerusalem?

Vol. 15,  p.259
I presume that Joseph Smith, being an unlearned man, never saw this to
the day of his death; that is, he never understood it. I never heard
him, or any learned man refer to it until after his death; but reading
it over myself, I saw, at first, there was an apparent discrepancy
between this book and the New Testament; one placing it in the
morning, and the other in the afternoon. When thinking of this seeming
discrepancy, the difference in longitutde occurred to my mind, and
that is just what it should be to account for the difference in time
given in the two books; and this, though not direct, is incidental
proof that the man who translated this book was inspired of God. I do
not think that Joseph Smith, to the day of his death, knew that a
difference in time at different places on the earth was caused by
their difference of longitude.

Vol. 15,  p.259
We will now go back to the date, at the commencement of the extract I
have been reading—"in the thirty and fourth year, in the first month,
and on the fourth day of the month"—that would make him thirty-three
years, three days and part of another day old, at the time of his
crucifixion, according to the account given in the Book of Mormon. But
this does not decide his age exactly, unless we can learn what kind of
years the Nephites reckoned. Did they reckon their years as the
English and Americans do? No, I presume not. How can we learn the
length of their years? I do not know of any better method than going
back to the early Spanish historians who lived contemporary with
Columbus, the discoverer of America. When they penetrated into Mexico,
and conquered that country, they found that the Mexicans were
partially civilized, so that they had many records, although their
mode of keeping them was very different from those of other nations.
The Mexican calendar gave their views and ideas with regard to the
length of the year, and their mode of reckoning them. This was about
the close of the fifteenth century, for Columbus discovered America in
1492. Soon afterwards these Spanish historians became extensively
acquainted with Mexican literature, their form of writing, and the
half civilization that existed among them. I have in my possession
nine large volumes, got up soon after the Book of Mormon was [p.260]
translated, by Lord Kingsborough, on Mexican antiquities. The nine
volumes will probably weigh over two hundred pounds. Five of them
contain nothing but plates of antiquities, the other four contain
translations, in English, Spanish and French, of the declarations of
historians concerning Mexican literature and their knowledge
concerning the length of the year. They reckoned 365 days to the year,
but did not add what is termed the intercalary day every four years,
to make what we call leap year. They did this only once in fifty-two
years, and then they added thirteen days, which made one day for every
four years. This shows that they had a very good idea of the length of
the year.

Vol. 15,  p.260
When Jesus was crucified, at the age of about, thirty-three years, if
the Nephites reckoned according to the Mexican portion of the
Israelities, they had not added the eight days that we would add for
leap year, consequently this would shorten their years, and instead of
being thirty-three years, three days and part of the fourth day, it
would bring it, according to our reckoning, eight days less than the
Book of Mormon date, or thirty-two years, three hundred and sixty days
and fifteen hours. This, then, it is highly probable, must have been
the real period that existed between the birth and the crucifixion of
our Savior.

Vol. 15,  p.260
Now we have a clue in the New Testament to the time of his
crucifixion, but not of his birth; that is, we know that he was
crucified on Friday, for all of the Evangelists testify that Saturday
was the Jewish Sabbath, and that on Friday Jesus was hung on the
cross, and according to the testimony of the learned, that was on the
6th of April, consequently by going back from the crucifixion 32
years, 360 days and 15 hours, making allowance for the longitude, it
gives Thursday for his birthday. Again, making allowance for the
errors of Dionysius the monk, adding four years or nearly so to the
vulgar or incorrect era, it would make the organization of this Church
take place precisely, to the very day, 1800 years from the day that he
was lifted up on the cross.

Vol. 15,  p.260
This is something very marvelous in my mind. Joseph Smith did not
choose the 6th of April upon which to organize this Church: he
received a commandment from God, which is contained in the Book of
Doctrine and Covenants, setting apart that day as the one upon which
the Church should be organized. Why did he set up his kingdom
precisely 1800 years from the day on which he was lifted up on the
cross? I do not know why. The Lord has his own set time to bring to
pass his great purposes. If Joseph Smith had been learned in
chronology and in the writings of the world; if he had been a
middle-aged or an old man of experience, or a man who had access to
libraries, instead of a farmer's boy, then we might have supposed that
perhaps he had studied chronology, sought out the true era, found out
how to distinguish between the true and the vulgar, and then find out
the true date of the birth of Christ and his crucifixion, and got it
all arranged together nicely and harmoniously, and then have pretended
that he had had a revelation to organize the Church precisely 1800
years from that great event. This is what we should have to concede if
we wanted to make out the work an imposition: but the very fact that
God commanded that boy to organize the Church on that day, ought to be
regarded as strong collateral evidence of the divine authenticity of
the Book of Mormon.[p.261] 

Vol. 15,  p.261
Perhaps I have said all that is needful on this matter. If I were to
celebrate Christmas, or the birthday of Christ, I should go back a
little less than thirty-three years from his crucifixion, and it would
bring it to Thursday, the 11th day of April, as the first day of the
first year of the true Christian era; and reckoning on thirty-two
years, 360 days and fifteen hours from that, it would bring it to the
crucifixion, and bring it on Friday also.

Vol. 15,  p.261
In saying that "it was the thirty-fourth year, first month and fourth
day of the month" on which the great storm and earthquakes took place,
there is another thing to be noted—that it must have taken place on
Friday, according to the Nephite reckoning in order to bring his
crucifixion on Friday. If Tuesday was the first day of the 34th year,
the second day would be Wednesday, the third Thursday, and Friday
would have been the fourth day of the month, just as the Book of
Mormon says, bringing it correct according to the reckoning of the
days of the week.

Vol. 15,  p.261
There is another thing that, perhaps, a great many of the Latter-day
Saints and many of the world have not reflected upon; that is; that
the beginning of our present New Year is incorrect, reckoning the
years from the birth of Christ, for the first day of January was not
the day of his birth. We call it the first day of the year, but it has
no reference to the day of Christ's birth. The first day of the year
of the true Christian era should be the day of the Savior's birth—the
11th day of April. About 122 years ago we did not have the first day
of January for New Year. At that time, or thereabouts, everybody in
America and England reckoned New Year's Day on the 25th of March. That
had been the first day of the year for many generations. How came it
to be changed to the first day of January? In 1751 the Parliament of
Great Britain passed a law that the year should be moved backwards
from the 25th day of March to the 1st day of January, making the year
1751 some eighty-four days shorter than all the other years had been.
Why did they do this? In order to place New Year in connection with a
certain event in astronomy. Those who are acquainted with the earth
going round the sun, know that the path in which it moves is not a
circle but an ellipse, or elongated circle. You make a wire into the
form of a circle and then pull it out, and that is the form of an
ellipse. The sun is situated in one of the feel of this ellipse, and
is nearer to the earth on the let day of January or the 31st day of
December, by about three millions of miles, than it is on the let day
of July. The object of placing the year back was to have the year
begin when the earth was in its perihelion in going around the sun.
This was not the only alteration that has been made, but this accounts
for the phrases "new style" and "old style," with which you
occasionally meet in historical documents, the former having reference
to the new mode of reckoning, the latter to the old mode.

Vol. 15,  p.261
I have said that this was not the only change made in time. in the
year 1752—when the second day of September had arrived, in order to
bring the year to correspond with the seasons, it was found necessary
to set the time forward so that the 3rd day of September should be
called the 14th, eleven days being dropped out of the calendar. This
was also established by parliamentary law; and in this way the seasons
have been brought to correspond, in some measure, [p.262] with the
length of the year. All these things should be taken into
consideration in our dates; and when we read the saying in the Book of
Covenants that the Lord organized his Church in the year of our Lord
1830, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month, the Lord
made his language to correspond with our present mode of reckoning,
that is, he adopted the reckoning of the English, established by
parliamentary law. Instead of reckoning the year to begin on the 25th
of March, he says, "It being in the year of our Lord 1830, the fourth
month, and the sixth day of the month that the Church was organized."
We are not on this account to take this as the real date, but it is
adapted to our present mode of reckoning. I have made these remarks,
that no persons, if they should feel disposed to search into
chronology, might be misled in relation to this matter. Being so near
Christmas and New Year, I have deemed it appropriate to dwell on this
subject, for the purpose of enlightening the minds of all who may be
present, so far as I have information in regard to it.

Vol. 15,  p.262
Now, if I have not already occupied too much time, I desire to dwell a
little upon the subject of the chronology of our world. We have no
dates on which we can depend as to the period or history of our globe
from the creation down to the present time. Chronologists differ in
regard to the history and age of the world, Some make the age of the
world, from the creation to the coming of Christ, to be four thousand
years Archbishop Usher has introduced this chronology into King James'
Bible; and in that you will find all the dates adapted to that
particular reckoning; and according to his reckoning you will find
that Christ came in the year of the world 4004. Is this to be depended
upon? Not at all. Many chronologists equally as learned, and who have
made deeper researches than he has on this subject, differ with him
materially. There are many who place the birth of Christ at 5500 years
from the creation; others place it at 5490, others at 5508 or 9 years.
There are about two hundred chronologists who all differ in regard to
this matter. Many Jewish chronologists make it over six thousand years
from the creation till the birth of Christ, so that you see when we
attempt to take up the subject on the learning of the world, we are in
the midst of confusion—no person knows anything about it. It is not
really necessary that we should know, but we have some little light on
this subject.

Vol. 15,  p.262
We know that it was not six thousand years from the creation to the
birth of Christ. How do we know this? God has told us in new
revelation that this earth is destined to continue its temporal
existence for seven thousand years, and that at the commencement of
the seventh thousand, he will cause seven angels to sound their
trumpets. In other words, we may call it the Millennium, for the
meaning of the word millennium is a thousand years. Six thousand years
must pass away from the creation till the time that Jesus comes in the
clouds of heaven, and he will not come exactly at the expiration of
six thousand years. When the Prophet Joseph asked the Lord what was
meant by the sounding of the seven trumpets, he was told, "That as God
made the world in six days, and on the seventh day he finished his
work and sanctified it, and also formed man out of the dust of the
earth; even so in the beginning of the seventh thousand years, will
the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man,
[p.263] and judge all things and shall redeem all things, except that
which he hath not put into his power when he shall have sealed all
things unto the end of all things, and the sounding of the trumpets of
the seven angels is the preparing and finishing of his work, in the
beginning of the seventh thousand years; to prepare the way before the
time of his coming." This quotation will be found in the Pearl of
Great Price, p. 34.

Vol. 15,  p.263
Neither of these trumpets have sounded yet, but they shortly will; and
this gives us a little clue to the period and age of our world. We
know that six thousand years have not yet elapsed since the creation,
but we know that they have very nearly expired. We know that God set
up and established this kingdom 1800 years from the date of his
crucifixion, preparatory to his coming in the clouds of heaven to
receive the kingdom that he sets up here on the earth, and to rule and
reign over all people, nations and tongues that are spared alive.
Perhaps this is sufficient on the history and chronology of the world;
but for the benefit of the Saints, and it will not hurt the strangers,
although they do not believe in our revelations, I will refer to some
further evidence and testimony on this subject.

Vol. 15,  p.263
In the new translation which Joseph Smith was commanded to make of the
Old and New Testament, we find that some of the dates given in King
James' translation of events before the flood are incorrect, but they
are corrected in the new translation. For instance, the age of Enoch,
as given in King James' Bible, is incorrect. The new translation gives
a lengthy prophecy which was delivered to him before the flood, and
this prophecy relates to generations in the future as well as to
things that were past. Enoch, in his vision, saw the great work that
he was destined to perform on the earth, in preaching the Gospel among
the nations, and gathering out a people and building up a city called
Zion. He saw that in process of time the people of Zion would become
sanctified before the Lord, that the Lord would come and dwell in
their midst and that by and by, after the city had existed 365 years,
it with all its people, would be taken up to heaven. And all the days
of Zion in the days of Enoch, says the new translation, was 365 years,
making Enoch 420 years old when he and his people were translated,
which is older than the age given him in the uninspired translation.

Vol. 15,  p.263
In this new translation we have also a much greater history of the
creation of the world than is given in the uninspired translation made
by the forty-seven men employed by King James. In that book we have a
very short history of that great event; but the inspired translation
shows that the periods of time called days, in which the several
portions of the work of creation were performed, were not by any means
of such limited duration as the days we speak of, but from what is
revealed in the Book of Abraham, they were probably periods of one
thousand years each. God might have been for the space of a thousand
years in organizing a certain portion of this creation, and that was
called the evening and the morning of the first day, according to the
Lord's reckoning, one day being with him as a thousand years and a
thousand years as one day. By and by another day's work was performed,
which I do not suppose was a day of twenty-four hours, but an
indefinite period of time, called the second day—the evening and the
morning of the second day. By and by the third day's [p.264] work was
done, and then there was the evening and the morning of the third day.
Three thousand years probably, passed away in the performance of these
three days' work. In the fourth day the Lord permitted the sun and
moon to shine to give light to the earth. What regulated the evening
and the morning the first three days we do not know, for neither sun
nor moon were permitted to shine until the fourth day. I have no
doubt, the Lord has a variety of methods of producing light? The new
translation gives us some information on this subject, for there we
read that, "I the Lord created darkness on the face of the "great
deep." In King James' translation it says darkness was on the face of
the great deep, and I, the Lord, said, "Let there be light, and there
was light." Now how did the Lord create this darkness? He has a power,
the same as he had in causing darkness three days and nights over this
American land. But before that darkness was created what produced
light? it must have been light here on this earth, and probably was so
thousands of years before the Lord created darkness; and then he had
the means of producing darkness, and afterwards of clearing it away,
and then called it morning. But how long that morning had existed We
do not know, unless we appeal to the Book of Abraham, translated by
Joseph Smith from Egyptian papyrus. That tells us in plainness that
the way the Lord and the celestial host reckoned time, was by the
revolutions of a certain great central body called Kolob, which had
one revolution on its axis in a thousand of our years, and that was
one day with the Lord, and when the Lord said to Adam, "In the day
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," the Book of Abraham says
it was not yet given unto man the true reckoning of time, and that it
was reckoned after the Lord's time that is one thousand years with us
was a day with him, and that Adam, if he partook of the forbidden
trait, was to die before that day of a thousand years should expire.
Hence when we go back to the history of the creation, we find that the
Lord was not in such a great hurry as many suppose, but that he took
indefinite periods of long duration to construct this world, and to
gather together the elements by the laws of gravitation to lay the
foundation and form the nucleus thereof, and when he saw that all
things were ready and properly prepared, he then placed the man in the
Garden of Eden to rule over all animals, fish and fowls, and to have
dominion over the whole face of the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.264
There is another very curious thing revealed in Joseph Smith's
translation, and one that explains some mysterious passages in the
first and second chapter of Genesis. In the first chapter of Genesis
in King James' translation we read that on the tilth day the Lord made
the whales, the fish and the fowls of the air. On the sixth day he
made the animals, beasts and creeping things, and last of all he made
man, male and female. Now read along in King James' translation to the
seventh day, and we are told that there was not a man to till the
ground, yet he had made them male and female on the sixth day. Now,
where were they made? They were made in heaven first. All the children
of men, male and female, all the spirits of beasts, fowls, fish and
creeping things were made spiritually in heaven before they were
placed temporally here on the earth, and the spiritual creation
differs from the temporal creation. the new translation says that man
was the very first flesh made here on the earth;[p.265] whereas,
according to the account in King James' translation, the flesh of
beasts, fowls and fish was made on the fifth day, before man was made.
But in the great temporal work of placing man on the earth, he was the
first flesh formed and placed here among all the works of God. He had
made the spirits of fish, fowls and beast, but none of them were
permitted to come to the earth in their fleshy tabernacles until man,
the great masterpiece, was placed here—then they were brought before
him—for him to give names to them.

Vol. 15,  p.265
In the work of creation the first is last and the last first. God made
the spiritual part of this creation during these six days' work that
we read of; then he commenced the temporal work on the seventh day. He
planted the garden on the seventh day; he placed man in that garden on
the seventh day; formed the beasts and brought them before the man on
the seventh day, all this being the temporal work, the first being
spiritual. Not so in the last of his work—the great work that is go
come. When the seventh millennium shall arrive the Lord will redeem
man and bring him forth from the grave, and he will begin to redeem
this creation not making it, entirely immortal and spiritual, like a
sea of glass. It will exist for a thousand years in a temporal
condition, as it was before the Fall. This will be the first of his
temporal work in the last days. By and by when the millennium has
passed, and the earth passes away and dies and its elements are melted
with fervent heat, and there is no place found for it as an organized
body, he will again speak and there will be another creation—a
creation of this earth out of the old materials; in other words a
resurrection of the earth, a literal resurrection. That will be the
last of his work. In the morning of creation spiritual first, and
lastly temporal. But in the ending temporal first in the redemption,
and lastly spiritual, which will be the perfection or ending of his
work.

Vol. 15,  p.265
There are a great many things that God has revealed to us as
Latter-day Saints, and it would be well for us, for our Elders and for
all, to search these revelations, to prepare their minds to understand
what God intends to do with our creation, and those who are prepared
to inherit it, when it is made new. We, if faithful, shall inherit it
in its temporal condition before the millennium passes away. Though
our bodies may go down to the grave, God will bring us forth. He will
redeem us and bring together bone to its bone, organize the flesh,
sinews, muscles and every part of the body in its proper place, cover
it with skin, cause the breath to enter into us, and the Spirit from
on high to quicken us, and the human spirit, that will dwell in a
celestial paradise, to return and take possession of the body. Then we
shall inhabit the earth, not at first in its glorified state—that
state which eventually awaits it, but in the beginning of its
redemption in its temporal condition during the thousand years, of
which the work before the Fall was typical.

Vol. 15,  p.266
God bless you. Amen.[p.266] 

John Taylor, January 5, 1873

God the Source of All Good—the Common Love of Man 
for Increase—the Necessity of Righteously Directing Our Powers

Discourse By Elder John Taylor, Delivered in the 13th Ward 
Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Jan. 5, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.266
I take pleasure in meeting with the Saints. I like to break bread with
them in commemoration of the broken body of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, and also to partake of the cup in remembrance of his shed
blood, and then to reflect upon the associations connected therewith:
our relationship to God through our Lord Jesus Christ; our
relationship to each other as members of the body of Christ, and our
hopes concerning the future; the second appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ, when, we are given to understand, he will gird himself and
wait upon us, and we shall eat bread and drink wine with him in his
Father's kingdom. I like to reflect upon all these and a thousand
other things connected with the salvation, happiness and exaltation Of
the Saints Of God in this world, and in the world to come.

Vol. 15,  p.266
We have one day set apart in seven for the worship of God, and I think
it a very great mercy we have, for we can thus draw aside from the
world, its cares, perplexities and anxieties, and, as rational,
intelligent, immortal beings, reflect upon something pertaining to the
future. We are very much engaged, generally, in relation to things of
time and sense. Our hearts, feelings and affections seem to be drawn
out in this direction, and these are the only things which a great
many people have in view. Jesus, in speaking to his disciples, tells
them not to take any thought about what they shall eat or drink, or
wherewithal they shall be clothed, for, said he, after all these
things the Gentiles seek. We, of course, must take this as being
specifically addressed to his disciples under the circumstances in
which they were then placed; the principle involved in his words is
nevertheless true. Says he, "Consider the lilies of the field, they
toil not, neither do they spin, and yet Solomon in all his glory was
not strayed like one of these." Again, be says, reflect upon the fowls
of the air, they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet your
heavenly Father takes care of them, and will he not also take care of
you, O ye of little faith?

Vol. 15,  p.266
There is something beautiful in reflecting upon many of these
subjects, and something, very frequently, that is quite in harmony
with our feelings when they are in accord with the Spirit of truth and
the light of revelation. We feel, then, that we live in God, and as
the Scriptures say, that in him we move and have our being. If we have
life, or health, or possessions; if we have children, and friends, and
homes; if we have [p.267] the light of truth, the blessings of the
everlasting Gospel, the revelations of God, the Holy Priesthood, with
all its blessings and government and rule, all these and every true
enjoyment that we possess come from God. We do not always realize
this, but it is nevertheless true that to God we are indebted for
every good and perfect gift. He organized our bodies as they exist in
all their perfection, symmetry and beauty. He, as the poet has
expressed it,

Vol. 15,  p.267
"Makes the grass the hills adorn,
And clothes the smiling fields with corn,
The beasts with food his hands supply,
And the young ravens when they cry."

Vol. 15,  p.267
He is merciful and kind and benevolent towards all his creatures, and
it is well for us to reflect upon these things sometimes, for we thus
realize our dependence upon the Almighty.

Vol. 15,  p.267
In speaking of the affairs of this world, it is often asked by
many—"Why, should we not attend to them?" Of course we should. Do we
not talk of building up Zion? Of course we do. Do we not talk of
building cities and of making beautiful habitations, gardens and
orchards, and placing ourselves in such a position that we and our
families can enjoy the blessings of life? Of course we do. God has
given us the land and all the necessary elements for this purpose, and
he has given us intelligence to use them. But the great thing he has
had in view is, that whilst we use the intelligence that he gives us
for the accomplishment of the various objects that are desirable for
our well-being and happiness, we should not forget him who is the
source of all our blessings, whether pertaining to the present or the
future. Mankind everywhere and in all ages have universally manifested
a desire to obtain the things of this world—gold, silver, houses,
lands, possessions, &c. This desire is inherent in man; it was planted
in our bosoms by the Almighty, and is as correct as any other
principle if we can only understand it, control it, and rightly
appreciate the possessions and blessings we enjoy. The earth was made
for our possession. The lands, waters, mountains, valleys, the trees,
the minerals, vegetation of all kinds, plants, shrubs and flowers—all
these things were made for the use of man, and it is for us to
appropriate them to their proper use, to estimate them at their proper
value, and as rational, intelligent, immortal beings, to comprehend
the object of the creation of these things, as well as the object of
our creation, and why and how, and under what circumstances we can
enjoy them, and how long we can retain possession of them. In
examining the human mind you will find many correct feelings and
instincts planted there, if men would be governed by them. I do not
know but it is this the Prophet has reference to when he says, "There
is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth it
understanding." Another Scripture says that "God has given to every
man a portion of his Spirit to profit withal;" but then, many men do
not profit by it; and although they have this light or intuition
within themselves, they are not governed by it. There is a party of
religionists in the world, called Quakers, so strongly impregnated
with this idea, that they think that this inward monitor is sufficient
to guide men in all their acts in life.

Vol. 15,  p.267
There are certain political principles (I am referring to the freedom
of the human mind,) that are very pertinent on this point. When the
framers of the Declaration of Independence assembled on this
continent, far away from other nations and peoples, in reflecting upon
governments and man, the very first thing [p.268] that they struck
upon was this—"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men
are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness." Almost simultaneously with them, or I believe a very
little after, I will not be positive as to the date, a number of
gentlemen got together in Paris, France, to lay the foundation of a
government which they thought would be a government of the people, and
they expressed themselves in almost similar words to those which were
expressed here. And you will find, in examining the history of the
world, that whenever mankind have been oppressed or bound down, there
has generally been a reaction, a continual striving among the people
to liberate themselves from their bondage, to gain freedom and the
exercise of those inalienable rights of which I have spoken.

Vol. 15,  p.268
One great principle which has existed among men from the beginning of
creation until now, is a desire, planted within them by the Almighty,
to possess property—lands, houses, farms, &c., and in a national
capacity, to possess territory, to increase their boundaries, and to
extend their rule and dominion. As I said before, this principle is
correct, only it wants controling according to the revelations of God.

Vol. 15,  p.268
Our time on the earth is very short and transitory. No matter what we
acquire it amounts to but very little, and we soon leave it. There is
no great statesman, warrior, king, emperor or general, who has
acquired extensive territory, but who has had to leave it soon. This
is, the universal history of mankind. You may go back to the old
Assyrian empires, or examine the history of the kings of Babylon and
Nineveh, and the mightiest among them have passed away after a brief
exercise of power; no matter how extensive their possessions were.
Read their history in the Bible and, although some affect to despise
that book, it is the best history we have, and contains a hundred
times more information in relation to those old nations than you can
find anywhere else. When the Medes and Persians dispossessed the
Assyrians, they had just the same ideas as the Assyrians had—they
wanted to extend their territory, and they did it, but what did it
amount to? Not very much when we speak of it as immortal beings; when
we speak of it as mortal beings, as butterflies that flutter around
for a short time, and then die, it might be a sort of transient,
passing glory, like a sunbeam when the sun shines from behind a
cloud—it appears very brilliant, but it soon passes away. So it was
with their glory, and where is it now? Why you can scarcely find where
their mightiest cities stood. People think. they can, but there is
nothing definite about it, and their glory, pomp and majesty have no
more existence now than their cities. They had a correct principle
planted in their bosoms, but, it was perverted and corrupted, and they
sought by fraud, strategy, war, robbery and plunder to possess
themselves of dominion, empire and authority, and when they got
through, they had to lie down among the silent dead; and could neither
move a hand, stir an arm, move a leg nor open an eye, but had to be
devoured by worms.

Vol. 15,  p.268
That is the history also of the Grecian and Roman kingdoms. It was
said of Alexander that after he had conquered the world he sat down
and wept because there was nothing more for him to subdue, and I have
heard it said frequently, in regard to [p.269] individuals, that they
wanted everything in their own grasp; and if they had had a world, it
would not have been big enough, they would have wanted a little piece
outside to make a garden patch. We see man here striving anxiously for
the possession of lands, houses and so forth. That is all right
enough, but it wants to be corrected. I will refer you to some
Scripture about Abraham. We read that God took him upon a certain
hill, and told him to lift up his eyes eastward, westward, northward
and southward, and said to him, "To thee and to thy seed after thee
will I give this land." Here was a promise made by God. Of course
Abraham ought to have felt interested in it. But was it pertaining to
this world only? No, certainly not. I mean was the promise confined to
Abraham's lifetime? No, certainly not. Then what had it reference to?
These are questions that demand our serious attention and
consideration. We find also that there was a promise made to Joseph,
that he should possess a land, rich and fruitful, abounding in the
precious things of the earth, and the precious things of the
mountains, and of the everlasting hills; that should abound in corn,
wine and oil, and the rich blessings of life, and that he should
become a multitude of nations in the midst of the earth. These
blessings were spoken by men who were just, as it were, tottering on
the brink of the grave, by Moses and Jacob, for instance, who put
their hands on the heads of their descendants and blessed them
previous to their departure. How was it in regard to the promise made
to Abraham? Did he really possess that which was promised him?
Certainly not. Yet God promised. Then why did not Abraham possess that
which was promised? Because it was not necessary at that time.
Stephen, in talking about it, I suppose about eighteen hundred years
after, says that "God promised these filings to Abraham, but
nevertheless he gave him none inheritance in it, no not so much as to
set his foot on;" but, says he, he will give it to him and his seed.
That is, they shall by and by inherit. This was the idea and feeling
they had in relation to this matter. They did not consider the world
at that time in a perfect state, and men who understand themselves do
not consider it in a perfect state to-day. Abraham and his seed had
that land given to them and they will possess it, redeemed and
renewed, when it will be worth having. Well, then, how is it? A good
deal as it was with the rich man that Jesus spoke of in his day. He
had gathered around him a great quantity of property, and said he,
"Soul, sit down and be at rest, do not trouble thyself any more, take
thine ease, eat, drink and be merry, for thou hast much goods laid up
for many years." Jesus says, "Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be
required of thee," and then whose shall these things be which thou
possessest? Would he have them? No. Who would? Perhaps his children
and wife, perhaps not, just as it happened; there was no dependence
then any more than now about such things. All that the rich man knew
was that his soul would depart, and that his body would be placed in
the ground to feed the worms. These things ought to lead us to
reflection. As I said before, the principle or desire to acquire the
goods of this world is in itself good, but it has been perverted by
man; and when Gentiles and "Mormons" seek for nothing but what they
shall eat and drink, and wherewithal they shall be clothed, they are
both fools, for they do not know at what time [p.270] their souls will
be required of them.

Vol. 15,  p.270
If man were to live up to the privileges with which he is surrounded;
if he followed the light of revelation and sought for and became
acquainted with God, and correct principles in relation to the future,
he would not want to lay up so much the treasures of the earth as the
treasures of eternal life. But you are now talking of spiritual
things? No, I am not, I am talking about temporal things, and I will
go back, and examine some men who have lived here on the earth, Job,
for instance. He said, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he
shall stand in the latter day upon the earth, and that I shall see
him; and though worms feed on my body, yet in my flesh I shall see
God." Job, when he was resurrected, expected to stand upon and to
inherit the earth in the latter days, when the earth should be
redeemed.

Vol. 15,  p.270
Another prophet, speaking of the same things, says, "I shall stand in
my lot in the end of the days." He also expected an inheritance upon
the earth. And then, the ancient apostles, in talking about these
things, said that the Saints should live and reign on the earth after
the resurrection, when the earth should have become purified. Hence it
is very natural for a feeling of this kind to be planted in the bosoms
of men, that is, an attachment to the earth, for it is man's eternal
inheritance, but that feeling must be sanctified.

Vol. 15,  p.270
Who is it that will possess the earth? Is it those ancient monarchs
who fought, conquered, subdued and slew their thousands, waded through
seas of blood to gain empire? No, not at all. Is it the man, who, by
fraud, deception, trickery, dishonesty and chicanery, took advantage
of those around him, and so amassed large wealth and possessions?
Verily no. Who will, then? Let Jesus speak. Says he, "Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth." They are the ones who will
rejoice before God in the possession of the blessings of earth, and
not the kings and other characters to whom I have referred. One of the
prophets saw the end of these kings and rulers, and he says, "They
were gathered together, as prisoners are gathered together, into a
pit, and they were shut up for many days, and after many days they
will be visited." They will have some chance of salvation and of an
exaltation, but they have to remain in prison for many days, like the
antediluvians had, before Jesus went to preach to the spirits in
prison, who were sometimes disobedient in the days of Noah.

Vol. 15,  p.270
We have a great many principles innate in our natures that are
correct, but they want sanctifying. God said to man, "Be fruitful and
multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, the fowls of the air, and the creeping
things that creep on the face of the earth." Well, he has planted, in
accordance with this, a natural desire in woman towards man, and in
man towards woman, and a feeling of affection, regard and sympathy
exists between the sexes. We bring it into the world with us, but
that, like everything else, has to be sanctified. An unlawful
gratification of these feelings and sympathies is wrong in the sight
of God, and leads down to death, while a proper exercise of our
functions leads to life, happiness and exaltation in this world and
the world to come. And so it is in regard to a thousand other things.

Vol. 15,  p.270
We like enjoyment here. That is right. God designs that we should
enjoy ourselves. I do not believe in a religion that makes people
gloomy, melancholy, miserable and ascetic. I would not want to spend
my life in a [p.271] nunnery, if I were a woman, or in a monastery if
I were a man; and I would not think it very exalting to be a hermit,
and to live by myself in a poor miserable way. I should not think
there was anything great or good associated with that, while
everything around, the trees, birds, flowers and green fields, were so
pleasing, the insects and bees buzzing and fluttering, the lambs
frolicking and playing. While everything else enjoyed life, why should
not we? But we want to do it correctly and not pervert any of these
principles that God has planted in the human family. Why, there are
some people who think that the fiddle, for instance, is an instrument
of the devil and it is quite wrong to use it. I do not think so, I
think it is a splendid thing to dance by. But some folks think that we
should not dance. Yes, we should enjoy life in any way we can. Some
people object to music. Why music prevails in the heavens, and among
the birds! God has filled them with it. There is nothing more pleasing
and delightful than it is to go into the woods or among the bushes
early in the morning and listen to the warbling and rich melody of the
birds, and it is strictly in accordance with the sympathies of our
nature. We have no idea of the excellence of the music we shall have
in heaven. It may be said of that, as one of the Apostles has said in
relation to something else—"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive of those things
which are prepared for those who love and fear God." We have no idea
of the excellency, beauty, harmony and symphony of the music in the
heavens.

Vol. 15,  p.271
Our object is to get and cleave to everything that is good, and to
reject everything that is bad. One reason why religious people in the
world are opposed to music and theatres is because of the corruption
that is mixed up with them. Wicked and corrupt men associate
themselves with these things, and degrade them; but is this any reason
that the Saints should not enjoy the gifts of God? Is that a correct
principle? Certainly not. It is for them to grasp at everything that
is good, and calculated to promote the happiness of the human family.

Vol. 15,  p.271
I remember the time very well, and many of you do, when we used to
commence our theatrical amusements here by prayer. We do not do so
much of it now. This practice is put to one side. I suppose one was
right and the other is right. I merely speak of these things. All our
acts should be sanctified to God. You know that we are in the habit of
having parties occasionally. I will give you my ideas about some of
them. I have attended one or two lately, and I think we are running
rather wild, and that we do not act as much like gentlemen and ladies
as we should, nor quite as much like Saints as we ought to do. I think
there is a great deal of impudence and pertnesS, a great amount of
interfering with other people's rights in these places, and I think
that we need correcting, that is, in our Ward. I do not know how it is
here in yours. Perhaps you do better here. I am speaking of things as
I see them. I think we ought to elevate everything of this kind to its
proper standard. We ought not to intrude upon or take advantage of
anybody, even in amusements. When this is not observed, I will tell
you what it leads to: it leads to a separation in society, inducing
men and women who desire to be polite, refined and courteous, to keep
out of the company of those who do not take this course, and produces,
if you please [p.272] something like an aristocracy, which is very
repugnant to the wishes of good feeling men and women. But they have
either to do this or to be run over in many instances.

Vol. 15,  p.272
I speak of these things for your information. I do not know that you
need any information of this kind here. I suppose I ought to have
delivered this lecture in our Ward. In all our amusements we should
see that things are conducted right, and we should never forget to act
the part of ladies and gentlemen, and we should do away with
frowardness and impudence, and treat everybody with kindness, courtesy
and respect. I speak of these things because they strike my attention.
But perhaps I have said enough on this subject.

Vol. 15,  p.272
We are here—a number of Saints. Well, you have outsiders among you.
That is none of our business, they are not us. I am now talking to
Saints. We have come here to fear God and keep his commandments. I do
not expect to frame my religion, ideas or amusements to suit the
feelings of any man under the heavens. I want to get my inspiration
from God, and be led by him, and I want to honor him in all my acts. I
do not care what this, that, or the other man does. Know ye not that
God has called us from the world to plant among us the principles of
eternal truth, to teach us correct principles, and to show us how to
conduct ourselves towards one another, and towards all men? To show us
also how to enjoy life, what course to pursue to elevate ourselves in
the world, and to bring up others to our standard? We should never
descend to others. That is my feeling, but I have seen some do it. Go
out among the Indians here, and you will see traders among them who,
instead of lifting up the Indians, go right down to them. I do not
object, myself, to have good, decent, respectable, honorable men
associated with us more or less; but I do object to descending to the
morality of the wicked and corrupt. I do not believe in drinking, or
in the lasciviousness and dishonesty that are practiced by many Who
call themselves honorable men. I want nothing to do with them, and I
say, "My soul, enter not thou into their secrets; and mine honor, with
them be not thou united."

Vol. 15,  p.272
We have come here for the purpose of elevating ourselves, and of
elevating the people that we are among. We have come here to build up
Zion, to be taught of the Lord, to establish righteousness, and to
prepare a people for his coming. What is there in the world that we do
not know? We knew their religion, philosophy and morality before we
came here. We came here in order that we might prepare a people for
the time when the bursting heavens shall reveal the Son of God, when
creation shall feel his power and cease to groan, and when all people
under the heavens shall say, "Blessing, glory, honor, power, might,
majesty and dominion be ascribed to him that sists on the throne and
the Lamb forever." We came here to introduce principles in regard to
our religion, morals, social status, the covenants that we make with
God, and all things pertaining to this world and the world to come.
And because of this, heavy responsibilities devolve upon us as
parents, Elders in Israel, Bishops, Presidents, High Priests,
Seventies, and in every office in the Priesthood and all the various
avocations in life, that we may be able to say, finally, "I have
fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith, I have done that which is right, I have been full of integrity,
virtue, holiness and purity, and hence is laid up for me a [p.273]
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall
give unto me, and not unto me only, but to all those who love the
appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." These are some things
we are after, the attainment of which ought to be the object of our
existence.

Vol. 15,  p.273
Well, but is it not right for us to have lands? Certainly, we have
come here lot the purpose of building up a Zion, and we ought to use
all diligence for its accomplishment. You Saints possess facilities
here that people never possessed before. Do you realize this? Perhaps
that is stretched a little. I expect that in the days of Enoch they
had a splendid time and that they lived in a very happy manner. But we
are living in the dispensation of the fullness of times, when God is
gathering all things together in one, and he has brought us from
different nations, countries, climes and peoples. What to do? To make
fools of ourselves? Is our object to live as the wicked do—to be
"covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
heady, highminded, despisers of those who are good, to have a form of
godliness without the power?" No, we came here that we might learn the
laws of the Almighty, and prepare ourselves and our posterity for
thrones, principalities, powers and dominions in the celestial kingdom
of our God. We talk sometimes about, Zion, that has got to be built up
in Jackson County; also about a New Jerusalem that has to be built and
prepared to meet a Jerusalem that shall descend from the heavens. How
do our lives and actions compare with these things? Are our hearts,
feelings and affections drawn out after them, or are we forgetful and
our minds swallowed up with the affairs of time and sense? Are we
preparing our children for this time, and spreading an influence
around us wherever we go to lead people in the paths of life and lift
them up to God? Or are we taking a downward course—come day, go day,
just as it happens? I think we ought to wake up and be alive, and
endeavor to pursue a course that will secure the smile and approbation
of the Almighty. Every one of us, as fathers, mothers and Elders of
Israel, ought to cultivate the Holy Ghost in our hearts, and let it
burn there like a living fire. We ought to draw near to God, and
receive from him light and life and intelligence. We ought to seek for
Wisdom to manage our youth, that they may grow up in the fear of God.
Well, we are doing this, more or less? Yes, very well indeed, in many
respects, and in many respects very poorly. I feel led to talk of
these things, and what I am led to refer to, I speak about. We ought
to be preparing our youth to tread in our footsteps, if they are
right, that they may be honorable members in society, that when we get
through in this world and go into the other, we may leave behind those
who are fall of integrity, and who will keep the commandments of God.
We ought to teach our children meekness and humility, integrity,
virtue and the fear of God, that they may teach those principles to
their children. No matter about many of these furbelows, or whether
they can dance round dances or not; that is not of very great
importance. No matter whether they are in the tiptop of fashion, or
whether their feathers and ribbons are all right, only get the spirit,
heart and feelings right. Let the heart be drawn out to God. Let there
be an altar in every house, and let the sacred fire burn on that
altar. Seek to implant [p.274] in the hearts of your youth principles
that will be calculated to make them honorable, highminded,
intelligent, virtuous, modest, pure men and women, full of integrity
and truth, who will represent you correctly that is, if you walk
correctly, and if not, that will represent, at any rate, the
principles of truth which you profess to believe in, that they with
you may have an inheritance in the kingdom of God, and inherit, the
earth, for Jesus says it is the meek that will inherit the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.274
There are many things that we may hear that we do not fully
comprehend; and we perhaps see really things that are distasteful. But
never mind the actions of men, especially the leaders of the Church
and kingdom of God. You are not their judges. God is. You follow their
counsel, and if they and you have the Spirit of God, you will see eye
to eye. The Scripture says, "The watchmen will see eye to eye when God
brines again Zion," perfect in holiness. If you have committed sin,
pray that God may forgive it. If your family has sinned, pray that God
may forgive them, and lead them in the right path, and do not be too
censorious about others. We are none of us perfect, we all need mercy,
and if we exercise judgment without mercy, perhaps judgment without
mercy may be meted to us. Let us be, merciful. Jesus says, "Blessed
are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God." Let us have our hearts right, our
spirits pure and our affections sanctified, and let us seek to promote
a love of those principles among our youth everywhere where we go,
that we may be blessed of the Lord and our offspring with us. Then
when Zion shall be redeemed and the purposes of God shall be
accomplished, no matter whether we possess much or possess little, God
will be with us, and he will bring us off victorious, and we shall
join in sieging, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and has risen
again, to receive glory and honor, and power, and might and majesty
and dominion;" and if we are faithful, we shall live and reign with
Christ on the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.275
May God help us to be faithful the name of Jesus. Amen.[p.275] 

Wilford Woodruff, January 12, 1873

The Signs of the Coming of the Son of Man—the Saints' Duties

Discourse By Elder Wilford Woodruff, Delivered in the 
13th Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, January 12, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.275
My address this afternoon will be intended for those who profess to be
Latter-day Saints—those who have entered into covenant with the Lord
our God. I am surrounded with those who know by experience that we are
dependent upon the influence and inspiration of the Holy Ghost to
enable us to teach the things of the kingdom of God. My faith is that
no man, in this or any other generation, is able to teach and edify
the inhabitants of the earth without the inspiration of the Spirit of
God. As a people we have been placed in positions the last forty years
which have taught, in all our administrations and labors, the
necessity of acknowledging the hand of God in all things. We feel this
necessity to-day. I know that I am not qualified to teach either the
Latter-day Saints or the world without the Spirit of God. I desire
this this afternoon, and also your faith and prayers, that my mind may
be led in a channel which may be beneficial to you. In my public
teaching I never permit my mind to follow in any channel except that
which the Spirit dictates to me, and this is the position we all
occupy when we meet with the Saints, or when we go forth to preach the
Gospel. As Jesus told his Apostles, Take no thought what ye shall say,
it is told us, Take no thought what we shall say; but we treasure up
in our minds words of wisdom by the blessing of God and studying the
best books.

Vol. 15,  p.275
We are told in the 24th chapter of Matthew that Jesus, on a certain
occasion, taught his disciples many things concerning his Gospel, the
Temple, the Jews, his second coming and the end of the world; and they
asked him—Master, what shall be the sign of these things? The Savior
answered them, but in a very brief manner. As my mind runs a little in
that channel, I feel disposed to read a portion of the word of the
Lord unto us, which explains this matter more fully than the Savior
explained it to his disciples. That portion of the word of the Lord
which I shall read, is a revelation given to the Latter-day Saints,
March 7, 1831, forty-two years ago next March. It commences on the
133rd page of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.

Vol. 15,  p.275
[The speaker read the revelation, and then resumed his remarks as
follows]:

Vol. 15,  p.275
I want to ask who are looking for the fulfillment of these events, and
who upon the earth are preparing themselves for the fulfillment of the
word of the Lord through the months of Prophets, Patriarchs and
Apostles for the last six thousand years?[p.276] Nobody that I have
any knowledge of, without. it is the Latter-day Saints, and I for one
feel that we are not half so much awake as we ought to be, and not
half as well prepared as we ought to be for the tremendous events
which are coming upon the earth in quick succession in these latter
days. Who can the Lord expect to prepare for his second coming but his
Saints? None. Why? Because, as is said in this revelation, light has
come forth to the inhabitants of the earth, and they have rejected it,
because their deeds are evil. This message has been proclaimed among
the Christian nations of Europe and America, and in many other nations
for the past forty years. Inspired men—the Elders of Israel—have gone
forth without purse or scrip declaring the Gospel of life and
salvation to the nations of the world, but they have rejected their
testimony, and condemnation rests upon them therefor." As the Prophet
said, "Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the
people." Who believes in the fulfillment of prophecy and revelation?
Who, among priests and people today, has any faith in the sayings of
Jesus Christ? If there be any people besides the Saints whose eyes are
open to the great events which will soon overtake the nations, I would
like to know and visit them. I would to God that the eyes of the
Latter-day Saints were open far more than they are to those things
that rest upon them! the Lord is looking to them alone to build up his
Zion here in the mountains of Israel, and to prepare the bride, the
Lamb's wife, for the coming of the Great Bride groom.  I believe in
the fulfillment of the revelations which the Lord has given to us, as
much as I believe that I have a soul to save or lose, or as much as I
believe in the shining of the sun in the firmament of heaven. Why?
Because every word that God has ever spoken, whether by his own voice
out of the heavens, by the ministration of angels, or by the mouths of
inspired men, has been fulfilled to the very letter as far as time has
permitted. We have fullfilled many of the sayings of the Prophets of
God. The revelation I have read this afternoon was given forty-two
years ago. Has there been any sound of war since then? Has there been
any sound of war in our land since that period? Has there been any
standard lifted up to the nations, any gathering together of the
people into these mountains of Israel from nearly all nations? There
has. We have had a beginning, the fig tree is leaving, putting faith
its leaves in the sight of all men, and the signs in both heaven and
earth all indicate the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.276
When my mind, under the influence of the Spirit, of God, is open to
comprehend these things, I many times marvel and wonder, not only at
the world but also at ourselves, that we are not more anxious and
diligent in preparing ourselves and our families for the events now at
our doors, for though the heavens and the earth pass away, not one jot
or tittle of the word of the Lord will go unfulfilled. There is no
prophecy of Scripture that is of any trieste interpretation, but holy
men of God spake as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and their
words will be fulfilled on the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.276
We are approaching an important time. As Jesus once said, The world
hate me, and without a cause, therefore I have chosen you out of the
world, and the world hate you also. The servant is not above his
master, you are not above me, they save hated me and they will hate
[p.277] you. The Lord has chosen the Latter-day Saints, and through
them has sent a message to all nations under heaven. The Zion of God
is opposed by priest and people in every sect, party and denomination
in Christendom. The Elders of Israel have been called from the plow,
plane, hammer and the various occupations of life, to go forth and
bear record of these things to the world. We have followed this up
until the present time for more than forty-two years—forty-three years
next April. The kingdom has steadily grown, and while we have labored
we have seen the fulfillment of the word of the Lord. The sea has gone
beyond its bounds, there have been earthquakes in divers places, and
there have also been wars and rumors of wars. These are only a
beginning, their fullness had not yet opened upon the sons of men, but
it is at their doors; it is at the doors of this generation and of
this nation. And when the world rise up against the kingdom of God in
these latter days, should the Saints have any fears? Should we fear
because men, in their secret chambers, concoct plans to overthrow the
kingdom of God? We should not. There is one thing we should do, and
that is, pray to God. Every righteous man has done this, even Jesus
the Savior, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, had to pray,
from the manger to the cross, all the way through; every day he had to
call upon his Father to give him grace to sustain him in his hour of
affliction and to enable him to drink the bitter cap. So with his
disciples. They were baptized with the same baptism that he was
baptized with; they suffered the same death that be died, being
crucified as he was. They sealed their testimony with their blood.
Nevertheless all that Jesus said concerning the Jews has had its
fulfillment to the present day. This should be a strong testimony to
the while infidel world of the truth of Christ's mission and divinity.
Let them look at the Jewish nation and the state of the world, in
fulfillment of the words of the Savior eighteen hundred years ago in
Jerusalem. It is one of the strongest testimonies in the world of the
fulfillment of revelation, the truth of the Bible and the mission of
Jesus Christ. The Jews have fulfilled the words of Moses, the prophets
and Jesus, up to the present day. They have been dispersed and
trampled under the feet of the Gentile world now for eighteen hundred
years. when Pontius Pilate wished to release Jesus Christ, saying that
he found no fault in that just man, the high priests, scribes,
pharisees and other Jews present' on that occasion cried, "Crucify
him, and let his blood be upon us and upon our children." Has it not
followed them to this day, and been manifest in their dispersion,
persecution and oppress on through the whole Gentile world for
eighteen hundred years? It has. And they have to fulfill the words of
the Lord still further. As I have been reading to you to-day, the Jews
have got to gather to their own land in unbelief. They will go and
rebuild Jerusalem and time temple. They will take their gold and
silver from the nations and will gather to the Holy Land, and when
they have done this and rebuilt their city, the Gentiles, in
fulfillment of the words of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and other prophets,
will go up against Jerusalem to battle and to take a spoil and a prey;
and then, when they have taken one-half of Jerusalem captive and
distressed the Jews for the last time on the earth, their Great
Deliverer, Shiloh, will [p.278] come. They do not believe in Jesus of
Nazareth now, nor ever will until he comes and sets his foot on Mount
Olivet and it cleaves in twain, one part going towards the east, and
the other towards the west. Then, when they behold the wounds in his
hands and in his feet, they will say, "Where did you get them?" And he
will reply, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, your Shiloh,
him whom you crucified." Then, for the first time will the eyes of
Judah be opened. They will remain in unbelief until that day. This is
one of the events that will transpire in the latter day.

Vol. 15,  p.278
The Gospel of Christ has to go to the Gentiles until the Lord says
"enough," until their times are fulfilled, and it will be in this
generation. Forty years have passed since the revelation I have read
was given to the sons of men. We are living in a late age, although it
is true there are a great many vast and important events to transpire
in these days. But one thing is certain, though the Lord has not
revealed the day nor the hour wherein tide Son of Man shall come, he
has pointed out the generation, and the signs predicted as the
fore-runners of that great event have begun to appear in the heavens
and on the earth, and they will continue until all is consummated. If
we, as Latter-day Saints, want anything to stir us up, let us read the
Bible, Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, they
contain enough to edify and instruct us in the things of God. Treasure
up the revelations of God and the Gospel of Christ contained therein.

Vol. 15,  p.278
As an individual, I will say that I feel a great responsibility
resting upon me, and it also rests upon you. Joseph Smith and Brigham
Young alone have not been nailed to build up in the latter day that
great and mighty kingdom of God which Daniel foretold, and which he
said should be thrown down no more for ever. I say, they were not
called to be the only ones to labor in building up that great and
glorious Zion, which was to become terrible to all nations; nor their
counselors. nor the Twelve Apostles; but this responsibility rests
upon every one of the Lord's anointed upon the face of the earth, I do
not care who they are, whether male or female, and the Lord will
require this at the hands of all the Latter-day Saints. I therefore
desire that we may be awake to these subjects, and to the position we
occupy before God and in the world.

Vol. 15,  p.278
The inhabitants of the earth may hate and oppose us, as they did Jesus
Christ, and as they have all inspired men, as they did Noah, Enoch,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the prophets who ever
lived. They have always been a thorn in the flesh to the world. Why?
Because they had enough independence of mind to rebuke sin, to
maintain the promises of God unto man, and to proclaim the
declarations of the Almighty unto the inhabitants of the earth,
fearless of consequences. The lust song sung here was, "Do what is
right, let the consequence follow." That is what I say to the
Latter-day Saints. Let us do what is right, maintain our religion
before God, be valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ, and prepare
ourselves for his coming, for it is near, and this is what God
requires at our hands. He leans upon no other people; he expects from
no people but those who have obeyed his Gospel and gathered here, the
accomplishment of his great work, the building up of his latter-day
Zion [p.279] and kingdom. And, as I have said, this responsibility
rests not only upon Prophets and Apostles, but upon every man and
woman who has entered into covenant with him. I say that we are too
near asleep, we are not half awake to the position that we occupy
before God, and the responsibilities we are under to him. We should be
on the watch tower.

Vol. 15,  p.279
Who is going to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah? These men
who enjoy the Holy Ghost and live under the inspiration of the
Almighty, who abide in Jesus Christ and bring forth fruit to the honor
and glory of God. No other people will be. There never was a there
infidel generation of Christians on the face of the earth than there
is to-day. They do not. expect that God will do anything in a temporal
point of view towards the fulfillment of his promises; they are not
looking forward for the establishment of his kingdom, or for the
building up of his Zion on the earth. Their eyes are closed to these
things, because they have rejected the light. When Joseph Smith
brought this Gospel to the world, there was a great deal more faith in
God, a great deal more faith in his revelations, and, according to the
light they had, a great deal more pure and undefiled religion than
there is now. We have carried the Gospel to all Christian nations who
would permit us, and they have rejected it, and they are tinder
condemnation. Our own nation is under condemnation on this account.
This land, North and South America, is the land of Zion, it is a
choice land—the land that was given by promise from old father Jacob
to his grandson and his descendants, the land on which the Zion of God
should be established in the latter days. We have been fulfilling the
prophecies concerning it, for the last forty years. We have come up
here and established the kingdom; True, it is small to-day, it may be
compared to a mustard seed, but as the Lord our God lives, the little
one will become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation, and the
Lord Almighty will hasten it in his own time, and the world will learn
one thing in this generation, and that is, that when they fight
against Mount Zion, they fight against the decrees of the Almighty and
the principles of eternal life.

Vol. 15,  p.279
I rejoice before God that I have lived to hear the principles of
eternal life proclaimed to the sons of men; I rejoice that I have
lived to see this people gathered together, I rejoice in coming to the
land of Zion with the Saints of God. When we came here twenty-four
years ago, we were a little handful of men, pioneers; we came to a
patched and barren desert. Since then we have built up six hundred
miles of cities, towns, villages, gardens, farms and orchards; and
while doing this we have had to contend with the opposition of both
priest and people. Have they prevailed? They have not, and they will
not. Why? Because he who sits in the heavens, the Lord our God, has
decreed certain things and they will come to pass; because the Lord is
watching over the interests of this people. He requires us to work
with him, he is at work for us. It is our duty to build these temples
here—this in Salt, Lake City, another in St. George, in Logan or
wherever they may be needed for the benefit of the Saints of God in
the latter days. I think many times that many of us will get to heaven
before we shall want to go there. If we were to go there to-day, many
would meet their friends in the spirit-world and it would be a
reproach to them, for [p.280] you, Latter-day Saints, in one sense of
the word, hold in your hands the salvation of your dead, for we can do
much for them. But I think many times that our hearts are too much set
on the vain things of the world to attend to many important duties
devolving upon us connected with the Gospel. We are too much after
gold and silver, and we give our hearts and attention to temporal
matters at the expense of the light and truth of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.280
We have not much time to spare as a people, for a great work is
required at our hands. I know that, without the power of God, we
should not have been able to do what has been done; and I also know
that we never should be able to build up the Zion of God in power,
beauty and glory were it not that our prayers ascends into the ears of
the Lord God of Sabaoth, and he hears and answers them. The world has
sought our overthrow from the beginning, and the devil does not like
us very well. Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, does not like the idea
of revelation to the Saints of God, and he has inspired the hearts of
a great many men, since the Gospel was restored to the earth, to make
war against us. But not one of them has made anything out of it
yet—neither glory, immortality, eternal life nor money. No man or
people ever did make anything by fighting against, God in the past,
and no man or people will ever make anything by taking that course in
the future.

Vol. 15,  p.280
This is the work and kingdom of God; this is the Zion of God and the
Church of Christ, and we are called by his name. The Latter-day Saints
have to abide in Christ, and we can not do that unless we bring forth
fruit, any more than the branch of the vine can unless it abide in the
vine. To abide in Christ we must enjoy the Spirit of God, that our
minds may be enlightened to comprehend the things of God. When I look
at the history of the Church of God in these later-days I many times
marvel at what has been done and how we have progressed, considering
the traditions, unbelief, failings, follies and nonsense that man is
heir to in the flesh. We have had a great many traditions to overcome
and the opposition of the world to contend with from the beginning
until to-day. Brethren and sisters, we should be faithful. The Lord
has put into our hands the power to build up his Zion and kingdom on
the earth, and we have more to encourage us than was ever possessed by
any generation that has preceded us. We have the privilege of building
up a kingdom that will stand for ever. Noah and the Antediluvian world
did not have this privilege. Enoch built up the Zion of God a little
while, and the Lord took it away. Jesus and the Apostles came here.
Jesus fulfilled his mission, preached the Gospel, was rejected by the
Jews, and was crucified. His disciples had a similar fate, and the
Gospel was taken to the Gentile nation, with all its gifts and
blessings and power, and Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles warned them
to take heed lest they, in turn, should lose it through their
unbelief.

Vol. 15,  p.280
You know how it has been with them—that there has been a falling away,
and that for seventeen hundred years the voice of a Prophet or Apostle
has not been heard in the world; and now again, in these latter days,
the Lord Almighty, remembering his promises made from generation to
generation, has sent Angels from heaven to restore to man the Gospel
and has given authority to administer the same. The Revelator John,
says he saw [p.281] an angel flying through the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell on the
earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, saying with a loud
voice, "Fear God and give glory to him who made the heavens, the
earth, the seas and the fountains of water, fur the hour of God's
judgment has come."

Vol. 15,  p.281
Oh! ye Gentile nations, wake up and prepare yourselves for that which
is to come, for as God lives his judgments are at your door. They are
at the door of our nation, and the thrones and kingdoms of the whole
world will fall, and all the efforts of men combined cannot save them.
It, is a day of warning, but not of many words, to the nations. The
Lord is going to make a short work, or no flesh could be saved. If it
were not for the manifestation of the power of God what would be the
fate of his Zion and people? The same as in the days of Christ and his
Apostles. The Lord has had Zion before his face from before the
foundation of the world, and he is going to build it up. "Who am I,"
saith the Lord, "that I promise and do not fulfill?" the Lord never
made a promise to the sons of men which he has not fulfilled,
therefore Latter-day Saints, you have all the encouragement in the
world to sustain you in the faith that the Zion of God will remain on
the earth. The work is in our hands to perform, the God of heaven
requires it of us and if we fail to build it up we shall be under
condemnation, and the Lord would remove us out of the way and he would
raise up another people who would do it. Why? Because the Almighty has
decreed that this work shall be performed on the earth, and no power
on earth or in hell can hinder it.

Vol. 15,  p.281
I would here say to our delegate to Congress, when you go to
Washington, have no fears with regard to the opposition of men. You
have every reason to go in confidence, and do your duty, knowing that
the Lord will stand by you, and so has every man in the Church and
kingdom of God, I care not, where we are placed or what God requires
at our hands. He, is at the helm, and he has protected us until today.
Where should we have been a few years ago when the army was sent to
destroy us, if it had not been for the protection of the Almighty? We
should not have been here. And so it will be in days to come. The
world hate us because the Almighty has called us out from the world to
proclaim his Gospel and build up his kingdom. Let us be faithful, for
the Lord is going to protect us, and build up Zion. He will also
gather Israel, rebuild Jerusalem and prepare the way for his second
coming, in the clouds of heaven. Then let us. Latter-day Saints, wake
up to our duty. Think nothing too hard that the Lord requires of us.
Let us build this Temple that we may attend to the ordinances for the
living and the dead. If we not do this we shall be sorry. When I see
men who have received the word of God, and tasted the powers of the
world to come, and then turn away, I think of the parable of the five
wise and five foolish virgins. It will pay us to be wise and to have
oil in our lamps, to have fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and to live
our religion and keep the commandments of God day by day. Brethren are
passing away. I have been away three or four weeks on a visit to the
people in the upper settlements, and since my return I hear of this
man and that man dead, whom I saw well and hale before I went
away.[p.282] So it will be with us in a little while. We shall pass
away and go to the other side of the vail, and the burden of the
building up of Zion will rest upon our sons and daughters. Then
rejoice in the Gospel of Christ. Rejoice in the principles of eternal
life. I am looking for the fulfillment of all things that the Lord has
spoken, and they will come to pass as the Lord God lives. Zion is
bound to rise and flourish. The Lamanites will blossom as the rose on
the mountains. I am willing to say here that, though I believe this,
when I see the power of the nation destroying them from the face of
the earth, the fulfillment of that prophecy is perhaps harder for me
to believe than any revelation of God that I ever read. It looks as
though there would not be enough left to receive the Gospel; but
notwithstanding this dark picture, every word that God has ever said
of them will have its fulfillment, and they, by and by, will receive
the Gospel. It will be a day of God's power among them, and a nation
will be born in a day. Their chiefs will be filled with the power of
God and receive the Gospel, and they will go forth and build the new
Jerusalem, and we shall help them. They are branches of the house of
Israel, and when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and the work
ceases among them, then it will go in power to the seed of Abraham.

Vol. 15,  p.282
Brethren and sisters, let us remember our position before the Lord!
Let us try and keep the faith, let us labor for the Holy Spirit, that
our hearts, minds and eyes may be opened, that we may live by
inspiration, that when we see clark clouds rising and evils strewing
our path, we may be able to overcome The Savior was tempted, so were
his Apostles, and if we have not been We shall be. As the Lord told
Joseph Smith, "I will try and prove you in all things, even unto
death. If you are not willing to abide my covenants unto death, you
are not worthy of me." Did Joseph abide unto death? I think he did,
and he with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, will sit at the right hand of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and will receive his glory and crown. He was
true and faithful unto death, and his testimony is in force to-day, in
language as loud as ten thousand thunders. Whether it is believed or
rejected it will have its fulfillment on the heads of this generation.

Vol. 15,  p.282
By and by great Babylon will fall and there will be wailing, mourning
and sore affliction in her midst. The sons of Zion have got to stand
in holy places to be preserved in the midst of the judgments that will
shortly overtake the world. We can see how fully the revelation,
calling us to go to the western countries, has been fulfilled. In less
than forty years, a standard has been lifted up, and people gathered
here from France, England, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Norway, Sweden,
and almost all the nations of the earth in fulfillment of that
revelation. When it was given no man among us knew anything about Salt
Lake or the Rocky Mountains; but it has been fulfilled before our
eyes. We have come up here, and in so doing have fulfilled the
re-relations of God so far. Let us continue, I pray God my heavenly
Father that he will bless the Latter-day Saints; that he will give us
his Holy Spirit and wisdom, that our eyes may be opened, that we may
have faith in the things of God. Let a man lose the Holy Spirit and
what faith has he? None, either in God or in his revelations, and that
is what is the matter to-day. You may take the best friends we have
outside of of this kingdom, and you can hardly get them to believe
that God has anything [p.283] to do with the affairs of men, or that
he has power to do anything for them, either as individuals or
nations. If their eyes were open one moment they would understand that
God holds them all in the hollow of his hand, weighs them in the
balance and that they cannot make a move without his permission. They
would no longer wonder why the Latter-day Saints have faith in God if
their eyes were open so that they could understand the work and things
of God. They can not understand it, they cannot even see the kingdom
of God unless they are born of the Spirit of God, and they cannot
enter into it unless they are born of the water and the Spirit,
according to the words of Jesus to Nicodemus.

Vol. 15,  p.283
I have a desire that we may be faithful in our mission and ministry,
as Elders of Israel and as Saints of God, that we may do our duty, and
maintain our position before the Lord. Let our prayers go up before
him. If I have any forte it is prayer to God. We are not called to
build up Zion by preaching, singing and praying alone; we have to
perform hard labor, labor of bone and sinew, in building towns,
cities, villages; and we have to continue to do this; but while we are
so engaged, we should not sin. We have no right to sin, whether we are
in the kanyon drawing wood, or performing any other hard labor, and we
should have the Spirit of God to direct us then as much as when
preaching, praying, singing and attending to the ordinances of the
house of God. If we do this as a people we shall grow in the favor and
power of God. We should be united together, it is our duty to be so.
Our prayers should ascend before God, and I know they do. I know that
President Young is prayed for—I know that his Counselors and the
Twelve are prayed for, and that the Church and kingdom of God is
prayed for. We should continue this, and if we pray in faith we shall
have what we ask for. The Lord has taught us to pray, and I rejoice
that I have learned to pray according to the order of God, for in this
we have, a promise—that where two or three agree in asking for any
thing that is just and right, it shall be granted unto them.

Vol. 15,  p.283
May God bless you! May he give us wisdom, and his Holy Spirit, to
guide us, that we may be enabled to be true and faithful to our
covenants, and be prepared to inherit eternal life, for Jesus' sake.
Amen.[p.284] 

John Taylor, January 12, 1873

The Spirit and Principles of the Gospel the Same As of Old—
Early Experience of Settlers of Utah—Religious Liberty—
Modern So-Called Civilization—Baptism for the Dead

Discourse By Elder John Taylor, Delivered in the 13th Ward 
Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Evening, Jan. 12, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.284
It was announced this afternoon that I should speak here this evening.
Brother George Q Cannon is here, however, or will be I expect, and
when he comes I would much sooner listen to him than speak myself, and
I presume you would also; therefore when he comes I shall be pleased
to give way that you may have the pleasure of listening to him. He is
only here to-day and will be going away again; I am here frequently.

Vol. 15,  p.284
I always take pleasure in speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God to my fellow men, and especially to the Saints. I feel
that my lot is identified with theirs, and I expect to be associated
with them, not only in time but in eternity. The Gospel that we have
received has unfolded unto us principies pertaining to eternal life
that we were entirely ignorant of heretofore. It has put us in
possession of certainty in relation to the future, and we always have
confidence so long as we are keeping the commandments of God. We know
for ourselves of the truth of the doctrines that we believe in,
because, having obeyed the Gospel, the Spirit, which in Scripture is
called the gift of the Holy Ghost, has been imparted unto us, and that
Spirit does in the latter days just as it did in former days—it
unfolds the things of God to those who receive it and reveals to them
the relations they hold to each other and to God and his Church and
kingdom, not only in this life but in that which is to come; for we
have entered into eternal covenants. The covenants which men enter
into generally are of a transitory nature, and pertain only to time,
and when time ceases with them these obligations terminate. Our
covenants, however, are of another character. We enter into eternal
covenants with God to serve him faithfully here on the earth, and then
we expect to be associated with him in the heavens. Having entered
into covenants of this kind we feel that there are certain
responsibilities and obligations resting upon us, which it is our
bounden duty to perform. And then we consider that there are certain
duties which God has laid upon us in relation to ourselves, to those
who have existed before us and to those who shall come after us. Our
religion is not something in which we alone are personally concerned,
but the moment people are put in possession of the Spirit of God they
begin to feel interested about the welfare of others.

Vol. 15,  p.285
It would be a very hard thing for [p.285] many people in this day to
do as the Apostles did in former days, that is to go without purse or
scrip, trusting in God for their sustenance, to preach the principles
of lite to mankind. It has never been considered a hard thing by the
Elders of this Church to pursue that course. Inspired by the Spirit of
God they feel as God feels towards the human family—a desire to bless,
comfort, and instruct and to lead them in the paths of life. God
places this principle in the hearts of his servants—it emanates from
him and is part of his nature; and inasmuch as the orders are dictated
by this spirit in their acts insomuch do they resemble their heavenly
Father, who is full of benevolence and "causes his sun to rise on the
evil and on the good, and makes the rain to descend on the just and on
the unjust;" and hence whenever we become acquainted with the
principles of life ourselves we feel a desire to communicate the same
unto others, and I see those all around me, here in this assembly,
who, as well as myself, have traveled thousands of miles—I have
traveled hundreds of thousands—on the same principle as the ancient
disciples did, trusting in God for sustenance while proclaiming the
principles of life to the people. Men do not always appreciate this;
but that makes no difference, the principle is the same.

Vol. 15,  p.285
God is kind, benevolent and merciful to the human family. He feeds and
clothes them as he does the lilies of the field, or the birds. He
takes care of them, but they do not appreciate this. Thousands and
millions of the human family seem hardly to comprehend that God has
anything to do with them, or that they are under any responsibilities
or obligations to him. Still as a father, full of kindness,
benevolence and love, he feels after the human family and he seeks to
promote their happiness and well-being, and he would save and exalt
them in his kingdom, if they would be obedient unto his laws. We
understand this principle, and therefore are governed and actuated by
it, and no matter what the thoughts and feelings of others may be in
relation to us, we know for ourselves that God has spoken. I know for
myself, if nobody else does, that God lives, and I obtained this
knowledge through obedience to the Gospel that he has revealed unto us
in these last days. I know that it is the privilege of all men to have
this knowledge if they will obey the Gospel and be governed by its
principles; and hence when I and my brethren have gone out to preach
the Gospel, we have told the people precisely the same things as were
taught, in former times, by the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He told
his disciples to preach the Gospel to every creature the promise being
that he that believed and was baptized should be saved, but he that
believed not should be damned; and said he: "These signs shall follow
them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall
speak with new tongues, if they drink any deadly thing it shall not
harm them, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."
They, in other words, should receive the Holy Ghost, and that Spirit:
would take of the things of God, and show them unto them.

Vol. 15,  p.285
I have gone forth and I have told the people as the disciples did
formerly. When they have asked me what to do to be saved, I have said,
"Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of
sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost." "What is that?" "It is
the same that it was in former [p.286] times, or it is nothing at all.
It produces the same results as it did in the days when Jesus and his
Apostles were upon the earth, or it is not the Holy Ghost. It is not a
phantasy, or I am a false teacher." That is the position that I have
assumed always, wherever I have gone; there is no mincing this matter.
I felt like Moses did when he was leading the children of Israel to
the land of Canaan, as we heard Brother Pratt, talking about this
afternoon. The Lord said he would not go with Moses and the people
because the people were rebellious and stiffnecked, but Moses plead
with him, saying, "Oh God, if thou goest not with us, carry us not up
hence;" and if I can not have a religion that God will sustain with
the Holy Ghost, I want nothing to do with it, and I will have nothing
to do with it. Feeling these sentiments and principles, I have always
had confidence in God. I know in whom I have believed; and understand
that God is at the helm, leading, guiding, controlling and governing
the affairs of his people.

Vol. 15,  p.286
What is it that has brought you Latter-day Saints here? It is the
principles of the Gospel. You heard them perhaps in England, Scotland,
Ireland, Wales, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany or some other
parts of the earth; no matter where you heard them, when you did hear
you believed them. You had the same teachings that I have spoken of
to-day. And I have heard men praising God in these different languages
for sending the Gospel unto them, and for communicating unto them the
principles of eternal truth. They knew by the same principle that we
knew it, that the Gospel which they had heard was true, and they could
bear testimony to it. And it was in consequences of this that you
Saints came here. You heard Brother Pratt talking to-day about the
gathering, about the Lord taking one of a city and two of a family,
and bringing them to Zion. Did you come here because you considered
that this was a better land? No. Was it because you had friends and
associations here? No, you left your friends and associations. Was it
because there was something very desirable for you here? No, it was
because God had dictated it, and because the Holy Ghost which you had
received planted a desire in your bosoms to come and mingle with your
brethren. As the Scripture says, "I will take them, one of a city and
two of a family, and I will bring them to Zion, and I will give them
pastors after my own heart that shall feed them with knowledge and
understanding." You hardly knew, in many instances, how or why on
earth you struggled and toiled and obtained the means to come to this
land. Your brethren, hare, operated upon by the same spirit, sent
forth their means to assist you; and before railroads were built here,
as many as five hundred teams were sent year after year to the
frontiers, to bring from there those who were desirous of coming.
Those who were scattered did what they could, and those who were here
did what they could, and the result of these united operations is that
thousands of you are now here who would not have been had it not been
for this.

Vol. 15,  p.286
The question then arises, What are we here for? "Oh," say some, "we
have a pretty good country here." Yes, but what about the country? We
did not come here after gold or silver; most of us came before that
was discovered. I came to this city before it was known that there was
any gold in California. We did not come here [p.287] because it was a
beautiful place, for when we arrived it was inhabited by Digger
Indians, wolves, bears and coyotes—a desolate, and plain, a howling
wilderness. That was the position in which we found the country. And
to get here we had to make the roads and build the bridges, and when
we got here we did not have orchards and vineyards, and beautiful
pleasant places ready for us, we had to make them. We had to roll up
our sleeves and take our tenths and go into the kanyons and drag down
the logs, and saw our boards by hand. I have sawed many a one by hand
and George Q. Cannon has assisted me. "What," say some, "do you
ministers saw?" Yes, we ministers saw and we work, and I would be
ashamed to be dependent upon anybody but myself for a living. I hope
that God will ever preserve me from that, and I shall feel grateful to
my Heavenly Father if he will always enable me to obtain my own. I
remember being over in Tooele a number of years ago, and a party said
to me, "Brother Taylor, I wish you would come here and preach."—"
Well," said I, "I am here, am I not?" "Yes, but we would like you to
come again." Said I, "Perhaps I will, when I get ready." "Well, but if
you will come here, we will make you up something, we will get you
some chickens, a little flour and some pork," and I do not now
remember what else. Said I, "I am very much obliged to you, very much
indeed, for your proffered kindness, but I always prefer to dig my own
potatoes, and I would just as soon plant them as not, and then dig
them." These are my sentiments, and also those of my brethren. Here is
Brother Woodruff; he has traveled hundreds and thousand of miles, as I
have, and he generally digs his own potatoes and he knows how to plant
them, and on these points, for diligent labor, I will set him against
any man in this Territory.

Vol. 15,  p.287
We did not come here then, for anything of that kind. There were no
houses here when Brother Woodruff and I first came here, and before we
had any we had to make them. Before we had any gardens we had to make
them; before there were any flowers we had to plant them, and we had
to plant the steeds before any trees grew. I have got trees in my
orchard now that grew from seeds planted by my first wife, which she
brought from the East when I came here. People come here now, and many
of them say, "You have a very beautiful city here." Yes, our city is
well enough. "And you have a very pleasant place, and nice streams of
water." Yes, but we had to make the ditches for them to run in, they
did not run as they now do when we first came, we have had to do
everything that has been done.

Vol. 15,  p.287
Well, what do you gather together for? What is your object? Just
precisely what the Prophet told of thousands of years ago. You know
that Brother Pratt was talking about fleeing "as doves to the
windows," and while I was listening to him I was very much interested,
and thought we had been fulfilling the words of the Prophets. I think
that some of our folks, both young and old, sometimes forget "the pit
whence they were dug, and the rock whence they were hewn;" and I think
they spend a great deal of their time in frivolity and nonsense. This
is not the case generally, and I do not care, this evening, to make
accusations; for I delight to see that many are engaged in Sunday
Schools, and in acts of benevolence and kindness and many of oar young
brethren and sisters are engaged in labors of a similar kind.[p.288]
But a large number are thoughtless, forgetful, careless and
indifferent in relation to the things of God, and to the duties and
responsibilities devolving upon them, and I fear are forgetful in many
instances of the object of their existence.

Vol. 15,  p.288
Many strangers are now amongst. us, parties whom we term, "Gentiles."
They have their ideas, feelings, systems, and modes of worship, and we
have ours. Do we wish to interfere with them? No, no, and I would
protect, to the extent of my ability, any religious denomination in
this Territory, and no man should interfere with them. What, the
Episcopal church? Yes. The Methodist? Yes. The Presbyterians and the
Catholics? Yes, no matter wire or what they are, I will protect them.
If God has a mind to hear will people, I will. Then, you would not
persecute anybody for the sake of their religion? No, not at all, that
is a matter between them and their God, and they have a perfect right
to worship as they please, or not to worship at all, and they ought to
be protected in all their rights to the fullest extent. No man ought
to interfere with them, and no gentleman, no Latter-day Saint who
understands himself would do so. They have a right to worship as they
please, or not at all if it suits them. Then we have our rights, and
one of them is to protect the people—every-body, socially, morally,
religiously and politically—in every position, and to preserve a good,
wholesome state of affairs in our midst, and not to be interfered with
by anybody, outsiders or insiders. Ministers and editors preach and
write and tell us that when the waves of "civilization" shall roll
over Utah, things will be changed, and say they, "The people will
become elevated and refined in their feelings and they will be like
us." Some of their waves are not very pleasant, they have brought a
lot of scum with them, and it babbles and stews and froths and foams,
and exhibits anything but that which is pleasant and enticing, or that
is calculated to promote the happiness and well-being of man. We do
not have any sympathy with gambling, drunkenness and prostitution, for
instance, and these are among the waves they have brought. They find
fault with us for having more wives and children than they, and for
preserving purity and chastity in our midst, and they would introduce
their infamies amongst us. Gentlemen, we hope you will keep your waves
back, where they belong, put them in your own cesspools, keep them
where they originated. No such things have been originated by us, we
carne here to get rid of them, and that we might fear God, and worship
him in spirit and in truth, according to the principles that he has
revealed. The Scriptures say, in speaking of the last days, that
perilous times shall come—men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, truce breakers, having a form of Godliness but
denying the power thereof." This is a very singular statement, but I
do not think you would have to travel very far among our
reformers—those who have come to reform and regenerate us—to find this
pattern fully exemplified. Are they lovers of their own selves? There
are a great many here who would not object to take our possessions,
and give us nothing for them. Covetous, the Scriptures say. Why, at
the time Buchanan commenced his raid upon us, they had it all planned,
and had our possessions apportioned, and had agreed who should nave
this establishment,[p.289] that and the other. But it did not exactly
work, and they did not get them, but that did not alter the feeling or
principle that existed. Covetous, boasters and proud! I am quoting
from your own Bible—King James' translation—and one of your own
Prophets predicted these very things of you. Boasting! Holy much
swaggering do we see around everywhere? No matter where you go you see
little boys growing up full of pride, impudence and impertinence. They
are called "Young America." Beautiful specimens, and fine men they
will make when they are full grown! Plenty of them come along here. We
know all about them. What is the feeling abroad in the world in
relation to disobedience to parents? Who the devil cares about father
or mother? Say the youg folks, "I am of age and I will do as I d—d
please;" and off they go, and do as they please. The Prophets have
testified that these things would be, and what we see and hear is only
fulfilling their words.

Vol. 15,  p.289
What kind of people should these be? They should have a forth of
godliness, many of them be very pious, have long faces, and for a
pretence make long prayers. Jesus in his day accused some of being men
of this kind, and said he, "These shall receive the greater
condemnation." They shall be truce and covenant breakers. Have we any
such now-a-days? Why if a man borrows five dollars he must give a
mortgage on something, because the lender fears he will be cheated out
of it. Men have no confidence in each other's word. I would not give a
straw for a man if I could not trust his word. There is nothing of
him, no foundation, nothing to tie to. Yet these are the very people
that the Prophet said should exist in the last days. They enter into
covenant and never think of fulfilling it. Their word amounts to
nothing, their integrity has no foundation.

Vol. 15,  p.289
I speak of these things for your information, for this is the
condition of the world. And are we free from it? Not by a long way—I
wish we were. I wish there were more honesty, virtue, integrity and
truthfulness, and more of every principle among us that is calculated
to exalt and ennoble humanity. I speak of these things as a shame to
the human family; and if they exist among the Saints it is a crying,
burning shame, and we all ought to be disgusted; for if anybody in the
world ought to be men of integrity, truth and honesty, we should be,
everywhere and under all circumstances. And if we say a thing it ought
to be as worthy of belief as if we had sworn to it, and as if we were
bound by ten thousand ties to accomplish it. But if a man has not the
principle of integrity in his own self you cannot put it there. The
Latter-day Saints should be ashamed to mix up with these things, and
to prostitute the principles which God has revealed unto them. I speak
of these things to warn you against them.

Vol. 15,  p.289
The Lord has brought us here, that we may be taught and instructed in
correct principles and led in the paths of life. Did we gather here to
get religion and to prepare to die? Nothing of the kind. I do not care
one particle about death. I have had him grin at me numbers of times,
but I care nothing about him, and I ask no odds of him. I know
something beyond death. We are here to prepare to live, and to teach
our children how to live after us; and to teach the world the same
lesson if they will only receive it. We know that our spirits existed
with the Father before we came here. We know that we are immortal as
well [p.290] as mortal beings, and that we have had to do with another
world as well as this. We know that the world abounds with corruption;
but it is our business to keep ourselves from it, and to progress in
virtue, truth, integrity and holiness. We came here to be saviors.
"What, saviors?" "Yes." "Why, we thought there was only one Savior."
"Oh, yes, there are a great many. What do the Scriptures say about
it?" One of the old Prophets, in speaking of these things, says that
saviors shall come up upon Mount Zion. Saviors? Yes. Whom shall they
save? In the first place themselves, then their families, then their
neighbors, friends and associations, then their forefathers, then pour
blessings on their posterity. Is that so? Yes. This reminds me of some
remarks I heard a short time ago. There was a number of gentlemen,
travelers, passing around the world, and on their way they stayed here
awhile. They wanted to obtain some information from me upon certain
subjects, and I took them around a little, and among other places I
took them to see the Tabernacle and the foundation of the Temple. Said
one, "When you get that Temple built you will have another place to
meet and preach in." "Oh no," said I, "that is not for preaching." All
the idea that most men have about a Temple of the Lord is that it is
for preaching. '" Well," said these gentlemen, "what is it for if not
to preach in?" I answered, "The Christian world have no knowledge of
what Temples are for, but we build them for the same purpose as they
were built for anciently—to perform ordinances in them." "To perform
ordinances?" "Yes, among others, baptism for the dead?" "Baptism for
the dead?" "Yes, baptism for the dead, that those who have lived
before us, and have not been in possession of the light that we have,
may be placed in a position in which they can receive intelligence
from God, and salvation at his hands; that all God's creatures who
have lived may have an opportunity to have the Gospel preached to
them, and to participate in its blessings. As Paul says, If the dead
rise not at all, why, then, are ye baptized for the dead?'" Said I,
"The Christian world know nothing about these things, but God has
revealed them to us, hence we are baptized for our dead, that they may
partake of the Gospel and have the opportunity of being exalted in the
kingdom of God. Hence, as the Scriptures say, "saviors shall come up
on Mount Zion."

Vol. 15,  p.290
There are a great many more reasons why we engage in these operations,
which it is not necessary to talk about to you Saints; you understand
them in part, but not much; but you will understand more when it is
developed. Well then, we are desirous of blessing our posterity? We
read of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, before they left the world, calling
their families together, and under the inspiration of the spirit of
prophecy and revelation, putting their hands upon their heads and
pronouncing certain blessings upon them, which should rest upon their
posterity through every subsequent period of time. We have the same
Gospel and Priesthood, and the same light and intelligence, and we are
after the salvation and exaltation of our families that shall come
after us, as they were, and we are seeking for God's blessings to be
poured upon their heads as they were. And if our fathers have died in
ignorance of the Gospel, not having had an opportunity to listen to
it, we feel after them, and we go forth and are baptized for them,
that they may be saved and [p.291] exalted in the kingdom of God with
us.

Vol. 15,  p.291
Is this the Gospel? Yes, the very Gospel that Jesus taught, and when
be was put to death in the flesh, and was quickened by the Spirit, he
went and preached it to the spirits in prison who sometimes were
disobedient in the days of Noah. Did he preach to them that they
should stop there? No, not at all. What did he come here for? To open
the eyes of the blind, to unstop the ears of the deaf, to preach glad
tidings to the poor, to open the prison doors to those that were
bound, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. That is what he
came to do; and when he got through preaching to the living he went
and preached to the spirits in prison, and "opened their prison
doors," as the Prophets said he would do, "to those that were bound."

Vol. 15,  p.291
We are after these things. God has shed upon us the light of eternal
truth, he has revealed to us the everlasting Gospel, and that Gospel
brings life and immortality to light. We are seeking to walk in that
light, to enjoy these privileges ourselves and to impart them to
others, that others with us—the living and the dead, those who have
been, those who are and those who are to come, may rejoice with us,
that we and they may obtain exaltation in the celestial kingdom of
God.

Vol. 15,  p.291
May God help us to be faithful, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

George Q. Cannon, January 12, 1873

Universality and Eternity of the Gospel

Discourse By Elder George Q. Cannon, Delivered in the 14th 
Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Evening, Jan. 12, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.291
The subjects that have been touched upon by Elder Taylor are the most
delightful that the human mind can contemplate. It is true that men
can find employment and considerable enjoyment in the acquisition of
wealth, and in expending the serve in the busy scenes of life, but
after all, there is something unsubstantial and unreal about
everything of this character. Decay is written upon everything that is
human, death is written upon everything that we put our hands to and
upon ourselves We know that we are here but for a short time; we know
that everything we possess will, like ourselves, perish and pass away;
that our existence here is an ephemeral one—shortlived, therefore when
[p.292] we can contemplate the future and the life that is to come,
and can understand anything connected with it that we can rely upon,
there is something in the contemplation that lifts us above everything
of a sublunary or perishable character. We are brought nearer to God,
we feel that there is a spark of immortality within us, that we are
indeed immortal and partakers of the Divine nature, through our
inheritance as the children of God. And this is the effect that the
principles of the Gospel, when properly understood, have upon mankind.
They had this effect upon them in ancient days; they have this effect
upon them in these days. It is on this account that men are capable of
making sacrifices; and that men in ancient days could face every
danger and could submit to the most ignominious tortures and death. It
is knowledge concerning the future, which God has given to the
Latter-day Saints, that has sustained them in their persecutions and
trials in the past, and which sustains them at the present time; and
it is this which has sustained thousands of other people who have not
been Latter-day Saints, and who have not had a fullness of the Gospel,
but only understood the principles of the Gospel to a partial extent.
What is there that is calculated to fill the heart of man with greater
joy than the knowledge that God has revealed the plan of salvation—a
plan which not only comprehends within its scope man's individual
salvation, but the salvation of his ancestors and his posterity, and
gives unto him, to a certain extent, the power to be a savior of men,
to be a progenitor in the earth, as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were; to
be the means in the hands of God of bringing to pass also the
salvation of those who have passed away in ignorance. It has been a
matter which has puzzled thousands of well-meaning, honest people who
believed in God and in the Gospel as far as they knew it,—to
understand what disposition would be made of those who died in
ignorance of the Gospel. For instance, the millions of heathen who
have died without having heard the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many
men, including ministers, have entertained the idea that they go to a
place of punishment from which there is no escape, but that they
welter there in torment throughout the endless ages of eternity.
Others, more charitable, have scarcely any idea what will become of
them, and they therefore do not venture an opinion respecting the
subject.—Others still, have an idea that this can not be the fate of
the' heathen, or, if so, that God must be unjust. There is something
revolting to the merciful mind in the idea that God, our Heavenly
Father would condemn millions of people to endless pain because of
their ignorance of some great principle or truth, which he might have
communicated to them but did not. For instance, millions of people
have lived in Polynesia and the islands of the Pacific for unnumbered
generations—history does not tell us hew many, their traditions
scarcely number them—and they never heard, until quite recently, the
name of Jesus Christ, never knew that he was the Son of God and the
Savior of the world. They have died by millions in total ignorance of
the plan of salvation as taught in the Scriptures. Millions died on
this great continent before the landing of the whites on American
soil—countless tribes of Indians wandered to and fro from the polar
regions of the north to the equator, and from the equator to the polar
regions of the south, and not one amongst them all knew anything about
God, his Son [p.293] Jesus Christ, or the plan of salvation. They
lived and died, generation after generation, in ignorance of these
important truths, and many of them were doubtless just and upright
men, so far as their traditions enabled them to act and walk
uprightly.

Vol. 15,  p.293
Certain religious denominations entertain the belief that these people
have all been consigned to endless torment; and not only those who
have inhabited this land, but those who have inhabited Polynesia and
Australasia, the groups of Islands in the Indian Archipelago and
throughout Asia and Africa. Who can contemplate such a plan of
salvation, or rather condemnation, and admire the author of it, and
worship him as a just, pure and holy being? Is there any wonder when
such theories are propounded and advocated by the professed ministers
of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, that men have revolted at such a
belief and would not exercise faith in Jesus Christ? The wonder to me
is that so many have received teachings from men who, professing to be
ministers of Christ, have entertained such views as these. To think
that God would consign to endless torment millions of his creatures
who died in ignorance, of which they might have been relieved if he
had revealed his will and sent his ministers unto them!

Vol. 15,  p.293
This is not the faith of the Latter-day Saints. The Gospel that we
have heard brings to us peace and joy. There is no feature in it from
the contemplation of which we recoil. There is no feature connected
with it that we can not sit down and contemplate with pleasure and
joy, and the more we contemplate and investigate it, the higher our
admiration rises for the author of it—the great and good Creator who
has revealed it. So far as I understand this plan of salvation, which
is the one taught by Christ and his Apostles in ancient days, and
which is left on record in the Scriptures, there is nothing connected
with it but what excites my admiration and calls forth my unbounded
gratitude to God for having revealed it, and for having given me the
privilege of understanding it, so far as I have learned it. Instead of
a Gospel filled with woe, sorrow and condemnation, it is a Gospel of
peace, joy and happiness to those who received it.

Vol. 15,  p.293
We as a people, brethren and sisters, and we should always bear this
in mind, do not believe that God our Heavenly Father will condemn any
human being unless he has been made acquainted with the law which he
has revealed; in other words, to use the expression of one of the
Apostles, "Where there is no law, there is no transgression." Unless a
law is proclaimed unto men, that they may understand it, there can be
no transgression of that law, and consequently no condemnation
following its transgression; and if condemnation follow, there must be
a knowledge of law. There must be a comprehension of a law and wilful
violation of it, before condemnation can come. There is no room for
the exercise of pity to a person who, knowing a law, violates it. We
do not have any feelings of pity to men who violate our laws when they
understand them. We may regret their course, but when we know that
they understood the law, and had power to live above it, and that
through yielding to their weaknesses and to their propensities they
have violated the law, we feel to say, "Let justice take its course,
the punishment is a just one, and they must abide by it." So it is in
the Gospel—you will not be condemned for that which you do not
understand, neither will any other people that ever lived—that now
live—or ever will [p.294] live in the future. They will be condemned
according to their knowledge: every man will be judged according to
the deeds done in the body. Then what shall be done with the millions
who have died in ignorance? If I thought that the plan of God's
salvation was confined to this earth, and this limited space of time,
I should have different ideas of God to what I have, But God is
eternal, and his salvation is an eternal plan of salvation. This
earth, or the elements of which it is composed, is eternal. We who
live on the earth are eternal in one sense—our spirits are eternal;
and the elements of which our bodies or tabernacles are created are
also eternal. They can be changed, dissolved and reconstructed,
recreated and reorganized, but they are eternal, and so are we, and we
shall live eternally. God's providences and God's salvation are not
confined to this space of time, which we call life; but they extend
throughout eternity and when individuals die in ignorance of the
Gospel they will have the opportunity of hearing that Gospel
elsewhere. As has been said, "If the dead rise not at all, then why
are ye baptized for the dead?" This was the remark of Paul. Peter also
tells us that Jesus went to preach to the spirits in prison which
sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited
in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that
is, eight souls, were saved by water. They had been in prison for
nearly 2,500 years, according to our chronology; but Jesus, having the
power to preach the Gospel, went and preached to them while his body
lay in the tomb. I know that this doctrine is strange to many persons.
I recollect on one occasion preaching on the Sandwich Islands to a
large congregation, endeavoring to prove that baptism for the
remission of sins was necessary, and that, according to the words of
Jesus to Nicodemus, unless a man was born of the water and of the
Spirit he could in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. After I had
got through, a gentleman came forward from the congregation and
commenced interrogating me on the statement which I had made; and in
his remarks he dwelt particularly on the case of the thief on the
cross. Said he, "You have told us that no man can enter the kingdom of
heaven unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit." I told him
that I had quoted the words of the Savior. He wished to know how I
disposed of the repentant thief on the cross, who died at the same
time that the Savior did. Said be, "You recollect that Jesus said,
'This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise;' but your doctrine
conveys the idea that the thief did not and could not go to Paradise
unless he was born of the water." I remarked to him that I supposed
our views with regard to Paradise differed. He said that he believed
that Paradise was heaven—the presence of God, and that the thief went
there immediately after death. I said to him, "The Scriptures tell us
that he did not." The assertion startled him, and said he, "Do you
mean to say that Jesus did not go to heaven?"—I replied, "Jesus
certainly did not go into the presence of his Father when he died, and
to prove to you that what I say is correct, I have only to refer you
to the 20th chapter of John, which contains the account of Mary and
Jesus, after his resurrection. Mary went to the sepulchre on the
morning of the Sabbath, and she found that the stone had been rolled
away and that the Savior's body was gone. She was startled at the
occurrence, and turning round she saw somebody standing beside her
whom [p.295] she supposed to be the gardener, and she inquired of him
what had become of the body of her Lord. Instead of the gardener, it
was Jesus, and he called her by name, and as soon as she beard her
name she knew it was Jesus, and stepped forward to embrace him. But
Jesus said, 'Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but
go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your
Father; and to my God and your God.' Now, said I, "here is the
testimony of Jesus himself that, on the Sabbath after his crucifixion,
during which time his body had lain in the tomb, he had not yet
ascended to his Father." Said I, "Peter tells us that during this
time, he had been to preach to the spirits in prison, who were
disobedient in the days of Noah; and he also says—For this cause was
the Gospel preached to them that are dead, that they might be judged
by that Gospel, just the same as they who are living." From this we
can learn how proper was the remark of Jesus to the thief. He did not
say, "Thou shalt be with me in my kingdom this day." The thief said,
"Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." But Jesus, who
was then undergoing the pangs of death, and had not time to explain
the plan of salvation to him, said, "This day shalt thou be with me in
Paradise." And he no doubt was with him, and heard him explain the
Gospel in its fullness, plainness and simplicity, and he had an
opportunity of receiving or rejecting it.

Vol. 15,  p.295
These are the views entertained by the Latter-day Saints on this
important subject. We believe that every being that ever has
lived—that does live now or ever will live—will sooner or later be
brought to a knowledge of the eternal plan of salvation, and that none
will be condemned to endless torment only those who Sin against the
Holy Ghost, for Jesus says every sin shall be forgiven except the sin
against the Holy Ghost; that shall not be forgiven in this world or
the world to come. Every human being will be brought to a knowledge of
the Redeemer's grace; every human being will have truth and error
placed before him or her, and will have the opportunity of embracing
truth and rejecting error. God has placed us here, we are his
children, and he loves us all. We can not begin to understand the love
that God our Father has for his children. He loves all that dwell on
the face of the earth—the dark sons of Cain that dwell in Africa and
in America, in Asia and throughout the islands of the sea, as well as
those who live in Europe and America who are of the white race. All
are the objects of his care. His providence is over all and his
salvation is extended to all. But upon whom will condemnation rest?
This is condemnation, says Jesus, that light has come into the world,
and men are made to understand it and reject it. But will all be
saved? Yes, every human being will be saved except those who commit
the unpardonable sin. But will they all receive the same salvation?
No; every man will be rewarded according to the deeds done in the
body. Will those who, live lives of ease and pleasure, consulting
their own inclinations and gratifying them, be saved with those who
endure all things for the truth's sake? We read in the scriptures of
men and women who aspired to serve God with all their mights, and to
do everything that was required of them. They were they who wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, who dwelt in dens and caves of the
earth. They were willing to take upon them the obloquy and shame; to
be sawn [p.296] asunder, to have their heads cut off, to be crucified,
to be thrown into the dens of wild beasts, and to suffer anything and
everything, every kind of death, for the sake of the Gospel that they
had embraced, and they endured these things unflinchingly. Will they
receive only the same glory as those who pass along without any
affliction and suffering, and who have pleasure all their days? No,
the Apostle Paul, in the chapter that has. been quoted from—15th
chapter of the 1st of Corinthians, makes it plain that there is a
difference in the decrees of glory that men will receive after death.
He says that there is one glory of the sun, another of the moon and
another of the stars. This straws that different degrees of glory will
be awarded men and women in the resurrection according to their
faithfulness here. Some will receive the glory of the sun, which is
called the celestial glory; others will receive a glory typified by
the moon, called the terrestrial glory; and others a glory typified by
the stars, which is called the telestial glory.

Vol. 15,  p.296
The Latter-day Saints, as a people, are seeking to obtain celestial
glory. They want to go where the Father and Son are, and to dwell
eternally in their presence. They want to receive blessings similar to
those which Jesus has received. On this account they have been as
willing as the former-day Saints to suffer all things for the sake of
the Gospel of Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.296
Many men wonder why we left the States as and when we did, and came
into this wilderness, and why we endured persecutions. This is a
matter of constant wonder to those who investigate our history and who
do not understand the reasons which have prompted us to cling to our
religion. They say, "If you will abandon this principle or that, we
will fellowship you. If you reject the Book of Mormon, that is not
much, you have the Bible. If you would reject Joseph Smith as a
Prophet, we would receive you. Your doctrine is not so unpalatable. If
you did not have so much confidence in Brigham Young, and did not take
him as your counselor in all things, there would not be anything
particularly objectionable in your doctrines. You believe in the
Bible, the Old and New Testaments; but there are some principles of
your religion which you might as well abandon." Some men who call
themselves good friends of the Latter-day Saints reason like this.
They do not seem to understand that every principle connected with the
Gospel is vital to salvation, and that if we reject the Book of Mormon
we reject the Bible; if we reject Joseph Smith, we reject Jesus Christ
who inspired and sent him; if we reject Brigham Young as an Apostle,
we might as well reject Peter, James and John and the other Apostles
who lived in ancient days; and that, in fact, to reject any of these
would be to reject the whole, and that to be Latter-day Saints we have
to believe every principle connected with our religion, or we have to
be complete apostates to the whole of it. We can not say we will
receive this and reject that principle. We cannot say, We will receive
faith in Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, baptism and the laying on of
hands and reject everything else. We will not gather with the people
we will not pay tithing, we will not believe in Brigham Young as an
Apostle or Prophet. We can not be Latter-day Saints and feel thus, we
must either receive, or be apostate to, the whole of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.296
We are fighting for great truths, not with carnal weapons—swords,
guns, or weapons of war; but we are [p.297] engaged in a great and
mighty spiritual contest, we are seeking to establish or rather to
re-establish the principles of truth and righteousness on the earth.
We are endeavoring to erect a standard of purity higher than that
which now prevails and is recognized by men, and to elevate the people
to that standard. That is the aim and labor of the Saints. We are
misunderstood—so were Jesus and his Apostles, and the Prophets of God
in ancient days. We stand in goodly company. We are strayed, in this
respect, with the noblest of earth's sons. Our names are cast out as
evil, and everything we do is misrepresented and misunderstood, but
this does not change our disposition or the character of the work we
are engaged in. We are resolved, notwithstanding this, to stand firm
to the principles which God has revealed unto us. This is the duty of
every Latter-day Saint, come life or come death, or whatever may be
the consequences. If God has entrusted us with the revelations of his
will, if he has taught us holy and pure doctrines, as we testify that
he has, we would be recreant to God and to the duties and obligations
he has placed upon us if we did not stand up and face the world in
arms, if necessary, to maintain his great truths in the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.297
It is so with everything connected with our religion. There is nothing
impure about it—it is God's. There may be impurity in men, and they
may fail in carrying out the doctrines which God has entrusted to
them, but this does not alter the doctrines. They are true and good
from beginning to end, from the first to the last that has been
committed to us, and their practice among the people will exalt them.
"What?" says one, "will plural marriage, that we have been taught to
look upon as so degrading, elevate people?" Yes, even that principle,
much abused as it is, when it is understood by the people, will be
viewed in a very different light from what it is now. And so with
every other principle of the Gospel. There is nothing that we teach or
practice but what is contained in the Bible, and for which we do not
have the example of Prophets and Apostles, and that was not embodied
in the plan of salvation revealed to the ancients. We are willing to
be tested by the word of God. Not by man's traditions and
misconceptions; but we are willing to go to and be tested by that book
upon which Christendom relies—the translation of the Scriptures made
by King James the First, of England. If we have embraced error, we are
willing to renounce it whenever it is proved to us.

Vol. 15,  p.297
There are about a hundred and twenty-five thousand people in these
valleys in Utah Territory. We are but a small handful of people, and
we are surrounded by the foremost civilization of the age, which is
believed in and upheld by forty millions of people, who have in their
possession all the agencies of the pulpit and the press—the most
advanced agencies of civilization; and our barbarism, as it is called,
is brought face to face with their advanced civilization. We do not
shrink from the contest, but are willing to abide the issue and to
submit to the results. We are not afraid of this Gospel. It is
reported of President Young that he once said, It was a very poor
religion that would not stand one railroad. I do not know whether he
ever did make the remark, but whether he did or not, it is true. It is
a poor religion that will not stand one, two, three, or half a dozen
railroads, or that will not stand in the midst of the hottest [p.298]
persecution, and triumph when in contact with everything that can be
brought against it. I would not give a fig for my religion if it would
not do this, so long as its believers are not extirpated, as were the
believers in the Gospel in ancient days. If they will only let us live
and enjoy our natural and heaven-bestowed rights, I have no fears as
to the result. It is true that the wicked could turn in and kill us
off in detail, as they killed our ancient predecessors—the Apostles
and followers of Christ. In that day they killed every man that
professed to have revelation from God. They searched and hunted until
not a man could be found among the sons of men who could say unto the
people, "Thus saith the Lord," until not a man could be found who
could say that an angel had appeared to him; until not a man could be
found among all the children of earth who could say, "God has revealed
this to me." If God would permit it, we might be hunted, slain and
driven until all were finally extirpated from the face of the earth,
and in this way, probably, our religion would not stand and endure the
contest or contact with what is called a superior civilization. But so
long as we are allowed to live, and to enjoy the exercise of our
opinion in this great nation, whose boast it is that it is the land of
untrammeled liberty, I do not fear the contest or its result, and in
saying this I believe I speak the sentiments of every man and woman
who belongs to the Church in this Territory. We know that we have
received the truth, that it. will be triumphant in the end, and that
it will live through and survive all kinds of persecution that may be
brought to bear against it.

Vol. 15,  p.298
But there is something that I dread more than active persecution. We
have endured persecutions which have driven us from our homes. Mobs
have burned our houses, destroyed our corn and wheat fields, and torn
down our fences; our men have been slain, and in seine instances our
women ravished. We have been driven as wild beasts are driven from the
habitations of men, and compelled to flee to the wilderness. We have
endured this, and we know that we can endure it, and live in the midst
of it, for we have been tested. But we have not yet endeared
prosperity, we have not yet been tested in this crucible, which is one
of the severest to which a people can be subjected. We have not been
tested with abundance of property and wealth lavished upon us; and
here, my brethren and sisters, is the point against which we have to
guard more than all others, for there is more danger to-day to the
Zion of God in the wealth that is pouring into and increasing in the
hands of the Latter-day Saints, than in all the armies that, have ever
been mustered against us, or all the mobs that have been formed for
our overthrow, from the organization of the Church until to-day. There
is danger not in mines alone, not in the increase of strangers in our
midst, not in the seducing influences which attend the presence of
some of them, but in the fact that we ourselves are growing wealthy,
and that it is natural for us to become attached to wealth, and for
the mind of man to be allured by it, and by the influence which it
brings. There is danger in this, and I look for the same results to
follow this condition of affairs that formerly followed mobocracy. The
mobs came upon us, and they cleansed from among us the hypocrites and
cowards, and those who could not endure. The Gospel of Jesus Christ,
which brought persecutions, and called upon men to forsake houses
[p.299] and lands and everything that was dear to them, and to push
out into the wilderness, had no attraction for the classes I have
named, in the early history of the Church; and I expect that there
will be attractions stronger than the Gospel to hypocrites and those
weak in the faith in the present phase of our history, and that
influences now operating will produce the same results as we have
witnessed, that is, to cleanse the people of God. We have, therefore,
at the present time, that at our doors, which menaces us with greater
danger than mobs. I do not dread the results, but doubtless many,
unless they are very careful, will have their hearts hardened and
their eyes blinded by, and they will fall a prey to and be overcome
by, these evils, which the adversary is seeking to pour upon us.

Vol. 15,  p.299
It has been truly said by many, "Introduce fashions into Salt Lake,
increase wealth among the people and induce them to follow fashion and
be surrounded by influences that will win them from their primitive
habits, then you have solved the Mormon problem." There is great truth
in this statement. I recognize it and warn you of it. I know that if
we would allow ourselves to be thus influenced, there is really more
danger in this than in anything else. I stand here to-night in the
presence of God and before you, my brethren and sisters, and I declare
that I fully believe that we shall stand this trial, as we have
others. I have no fear as to the result, so far as the entire people
is concerned. But as a people we had better be warned· We had better
watch well our ways, look well to our hearts, keep our minds well on
the principles that God has revealed, and love our religion more than
anything else on the face of the earth. We must preserve our love for
the principles of our faith intact and inviolate, free from every
impurity. What could be offered to us that we have not got in our
religion? Is it wealth? I expect to have boundless wealth and
boundless dominion, if faithful to God; and I expect that every
faithful man and woman in the Church will have everything that his or
her heart can desire in this Gospel which God has revealed. The
Prophet Isaiah, speaking of Jesus, says, To the increase of his
kingdom there shall be no end. That promise is also made to us—to the
increase of our kingdom there shall be no end. What did the Lord say
to Abraham when he had blessed him? He told him to look upon the stars
of heaven and promised that as they were countless and innumerable so
should his seed be. That promise, made to Abraham, the Father of the
Faithful, is couched in the words of Isaiah to Jesus. There was to be
no end to the kingdom of Abraham, he was to have thrones,
principalities and dominions; to be crowned not with a barren, empty
crown, not a crown without a kingdom, but a real one, emblematical of
endless and boundless rule, power, dominion and glory. The Lord has
promised the same glory to every being who attains to the glory of the
sun, who gains a fullness of glory in his celestial kingdom. They all
will be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Recollect the
words—joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and as he has dominion and rule
so will they. He that has been faithful over a few things shall be
made ruler over many, says Jesus; and in another place he says that
all who have forsaken fathers, mothers, houses or lands for my sake
shall receive a hundred fold in this life. and in the life to come
life everlasting. We are promised, then, a hundred fold for all we
forsake in this life, and life everlasting hereafter. What was [p.300]
the song which John says was sung by the saved in heaven? "Thou hast
made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign on the earth."
This is the promise made to the faithful by God, the King of kings. It
is natural for man to seek to exercise rule wherever he can; and it is
perfectly right when bounded and controlled by principle.

Vol. 15,  p.300
In the Gospel there is open to us room for the exercise of this
feeling without any evil results following it. We can, if we choose,
in this life lay a foundation for eternal riches, dominion and rule,
and the possession of all blessings which God has promised to the
faithful. We therefore look for a heaven of this kind. The Latter-day
Saint does not look for an empty heaven, where he has got to sing
continually to the thrumming of the harp. The Saints look for a
tangible heaven, the same as we have here, only glorified immensely.
We expect to be like God, our heavenly Father—to take part in
creation, in the creation and peopling of new worlds, and in doing
things similar to what God has done. This is a subject of such
magnitude that I can only briefly allude to it in passing.

Vol. 15,  p.300
Do you understand, can you understand, brethren and sisters, why the
ancients were willing to suffer and endure all things? They knew that
God had in store for them everything that their hearts could desire;
and that the joys of which they had a slight foretaste here they would
receive a fullness of hereafter. If they had wives they knew they
would be theirs for eternity. If they had families they knew they
would be theirs for eternity. They knew that Jesus meant what he said
to Peter when he said, Thou art Peter, to thee I give the keys of the
kingdom, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven? What ordinances were there that Peter had to perform on earth
that should be bound in heaven? The Latter-day Saints understand it.
God has restored the same authority to the earth, and has bestowed it
upon the man who occupies the same position in the Church in this day
that Peter held in his. Peter was the senior Apostle—the President of
the Twelve, and he, therefore, had the right to hold the keys, and to
seal a wife to her husband, and the ordinance would he bound in heaven
as he bound it on the earth. The Latter-day Saints claim to have
received the same authority. We believe when we marry that we marry
for eternity, and that our wives and children will dwell with us in
eternity. This is our faith. It was over his posterity that Abraham
was to reign. What benefit would it be to him to have posterity as
numerous as the sands on the sea-shore, or as the stars of heaven, if
he did not rule over them? But embody the idea of rule and dominion,
and of his being a prince over his posterity, the progenitor of a
great and mighty race, over whom he should eventually reign and rule,
and then we see the precious nature of the promise which the Lord made
to him. The Lord gave him Canaan as an everlasting possession, yet
Stephen, the martyr, when he preached his last discourse to the Jews,
told them that Abraham had not had so much as a foot of it, but the
time would come to which I have referred, when he and his seed would
sing, "Thou hast made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall
reign on the earth. This reigning on the earth was embodied in their
ideas of heaven. This is the kind of heaven to which the ancients
looked, and it is the kind of heaven to which the Latter-day Saints
look, and this is in consequence of the great and [p.301] glorious
principles which God has revealed to them. Because of this they have
been willing in the past to endure what they have endured.

Vol. 15,  p.301
There is much more connected with these points than any human being
can say with regard to them. They are immense in their magnitude, and
cannot be grasped at once. But the more the truth which God has
revealed is investigated the more beautiful it appears. I often
remark, There is something beautiful to me in the idea of a people
being gathered together as the Latter-day Saints have, and dwelling in
love and harmony. By this, says John, you may know that you have
passed from death unto life, because ye love one another. We, with all
our faults, do love one another. The Latter-day Saints dwell together
in unity, no matter where they come from. They come here by hundreds
and thousands from foreign lands, but here they are in the midst of
their friends. They may not speak the same language, and may have
different habits and ways of living, but when they reach here they are
at home. This is one of the results of the Gospel. It is strange, but
how beautiful and Godlike, and how much it ought to fill our hearts
with gratitude that we live at a time and are associated with a people
who are thus blessed.

Vol. 15,  p.301
The world would give everything they possess, and there have been
those who would have given their lives, to partake of the blessings
that we enjoy and that are so common in our midst. I have just made a
hasty trip through the length of the Territory. Before starting, I
telegraphed to different points that I wanted horses at such a time. I
promised no remuneration whatever, but they supposed that my business
was of importance, and at the time needed the horses were at hand and
men ready to accompany them. When I thanked them, they would say,
"There is no need, brother Cannon, we have as much interest in this
work as you have." Wherever we went there were friends, and tables
spread to give us all we wanted. Can it be done in any other country?
I believe that we have made a journey that could not be made in any
other country, unless in Russia, where a despot rules. He could order
the people as he pleased; but this has been done by simply inquiring
by telegraph, "Can you do so and so?" The response came, "Yes,
anything you want." What caused this? Was it despotism? No, it was
love. Their interest in this work is as great as mine or any man's,
and it was a pleasure to them to do it. The result was that we went to
St. George and returned in a little over nine days, and staid there
four, traveling seven hundred miles. It has filled me with peculiar
feelings, and I have rejoiced to think that I have been associated
with such a people as the Latter-day Saints. I said to them, "You
know, I would do the same." "Yes, we know that." The majority of this
people feel that they cannot do too much for this work. It is the work
of God, and we feel that we cannot do too much for the salvation of
our fellow-men. We have shown this time and time again. To illustrate
it: the Latter-day Saints have sent year after year five hundred teams
dear to the Missouri river, with four yoke of cattle to the team, and
over five hundred men to drive these teams, and a great number of men
to guard and watch them. These teams were loaded with provisions to
feed the returning emigrants for upwards of a thousand miles. This was
done willingly. Men spent their entire summer, and in this country
that means the entire [p.302] year, for when a man and his team lose
the summer, they lose the benefits of the entire year's labor. Where
can you see anything like this, except in Utah? What was it done for?
To build up some man or despotism, or to gratify some impostor? No, it
was because the people loved their fellow-creatures—their brethren and
sisters. This was missionary labor on a large scale. It was not like
putting a few cents into a missionary box, and then publishing each
man's name, and the amount he contributed, in a magazine, to show the
world how much he had done for the salvation of the poor heathen.
There was nothing of this kind here; there were no trumpets blown on
the corners, Pharisee-like, to show the amount of donations made, but
quietly and unobtrusively the people of this Territory sent their
young men and teams, two thousand yoke of cattle, sometimes
more—twenty-five hundred—with horses and provisions and everything
necessary to equip large companies and bring, a thousand miles over
land to this city, men and women they had never seen, and whose names
they had never heard. This is done all the time, the people paying
hundreds of thousands of dollars for the emigration of their poor
brethren and sisters in foreign lands. A great deal is published in
foreign lands about missionary efforts. I recollect when a child how
anxious my parents were that I should save a little to send the Gospel
to the heathen. That was before they joined this Church. I thought it
a very great thing to do as they desired. But the Latter-day Saints
are doing this all the time. They send missionaries over the earth.
Men leave their families and comfortable homes to preach the Gospel in
foreign lands without purse and scrip. What for? For the salvation of
their fellow-creatures. It is the result of the teachings of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we have to do more of it, and to feel
greater interest in our fellow-creatures than we do, until the time
shall come when we shall love our neighbors as we do ourselves. That
time must come for us as a people.

Vol. 15,  p.302
May God bless you, by brethren and sisters and friends, and pour out
his Holy Spirit upon you, enlighten your minds and strengthen you in
doing right, regardless of consequences, that you may be able to
endure to the end, which I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.[p.303] 

Orson Hyde, January 19, 1873

Rewards According to Works—Tithing

Discourse By President Orson Hyde, Delivered in the 14th Ward 
Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, January 19, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.303
It is some time since I had the pleasure of meeting with the Saints in
the Fourteenth Ward of Salt Lake City. I only regret, this afternoon,
a severe cold that. I have taken since I arrived in the city, which, I
fear may disqualify me, at least in part, from doing justice to any
subject that may engage my attention.

Vol. 15,  p.303
I discern but a small portion of the people of this ward collected
together on the present occasion. I do not express myself thus with
the idea of finding fault with them for their non-attendance at
meeting. I only wonder how so many of you were enabled to come
together at this time and I almost wonder how I got here myself
without being stuck in the mud. However, we are here to wait upon the
Lord, that we may renew our strength, and certainly in these times of
wonders we have as much occasion for food adapted to our immortal
spirits, to strengthen and invigorate them, as we have for food to
nourish and strengthen the body. We may be more sensible of the want
of food for the body than we are of the want of food for the mind, but
still a lack of the latter preys upon the interior man as much as a
lack of the former disqualifies us for the discharge of those arduous
duties which pertain to our mortal organization.

Vol. 15,  p.303
I hardly know, my brethren and sisters what to speak to you about this
afternoon. I have no sermon prepared, and I do not. know that I should
have prepared one if I had had time, for a discourse delivered by any
individual that is not the outburst of inspiration by a higher power
can not be productive of any lasting good, though good moral
principles may be set forth, and that too in an engaging and
interesting point of light.

Vol. 15,  p.303
In the course of my life I have traveled over a considerable portion
of the world, and have had opportunities to mark the different
customs, fashions and styles of people, and not only people, but the
different styles of architecture which prevail among them—every
variety which the mind is capable of imagining, from the princely
mansion down to the meanest hovel. I have found that all classes have
some kind of shelter or home. It is rarely that I have met with one
who has said to me, "I have no home, no shelter, nowhere to go." Even
the insects and most of the wild animals have some kind of refuge,
some place to flee to in the time of storm. Our Utes who roam over the
mountains here have their wickiups, not very desirable to us, but they
serve them a purpose—they shield, or at least partially shield,[p.304]
them from the inclemency of the storm. All classes of people then, we
say, have some place of resort or refuge, and the presumption is that
all have built according to their taste, coupled with their ability.
This is about the idea that I have formed.

Vol. 15,  p.304
Whence came the idea of these forms and structures? Where did they
originate? I believe that everything that is of service to and that is
designed for a blessing to man, came in some way by the revelations of
God. I do not say that they have all been revealed through a Prophet
or through an Apostle. God has organized every human being on the
earth, and has given to him a temperament and a disposition
susceptible of impressions; and though he may not know their origin,
still they play upon his imagination, and disclose to him many
important matters connected with his earthly existence. A carpenter
has many tools in his box. They are not all the same kind, yet in the
execution of the several branches of his art he finds a use for them,
they are not to be thrown away; and so it seems to me that in the
great family of man there is not one to be thrown away, but all may be
used by him who created them.

Vol. 15,  p.304
The art of printing was no doubt revealed from on high, the matter or
fac-simile being imparted to some instrument—some vessel chosen for
that peculiar purpose, not necessarily an Apostle or Prophet—by which
to open a door to flood the world with intelligence, to organize and
establish the kingdom of God. But whoever it may be through whom such
revelations are made, his own individual organization is played upon
by the light of revelation, though he may not understand it and give
God the glory, to whom, in reality, it belongs. It was not necessary
that the power of steam to facilitate business and journeys by land
and sea throughout the world, should be revealed to Joseph Smith,
Brigham Young, Isaiah or Jeremiah; but there was an organization
prepared to receive that communication; and so I might say in relation
to all the arts and sciences that exist on the earth. If I might be
allowed the expression, I would say that the celestial kingdom is a
central college where all true sciences exist. We have them here, not
in their pure and refined state, but merely the coarse and shadowy
outlines. No doubt many of you have had your portraits pencilled upon
the canvas by the artist, and after he had drawn the outlines, without
filling up or embellishing at all, you looked at it and said, "That is
not myself, it does not look like me, it belongs to some one else."
But when it came to be filled up and embellished, perhaps you were
ready to own it. We have the shadows of things that are, and not the
real things themselves, in many respects. The question arises in my
mind, whether or not there are mansions prepared, the other side the
vail, adapted to every human being who ever did or ever will live upon
the earth. Jesus said to his disciples on a certain occasion, "I am
going to leave you. In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were
not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." It
seems that, at this time, there was no place prepared for them; that
those that were already constructed were designed for others, and not
for them, hence said he, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go
I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there ye
may be also." It is very natural for every person who dwells on earth,
when weary, or when his task is done or his journey ended [p.305] to
seek his home. I will venture to say that when you go from this
assembly you will naturally seek your own abiding places. You may
perhaps call in at a sick neighbor's; but your ultimate purpose is to
retire to your own homes, and you are not content until you arrive
there. The question with me is whether all people will not naturally
seek the place designed and prepared for them on the other side of the
vail—whether there does not exist a sympathy between the moral
qualifications of the human heart and the character of that mansion
which its owner is destined to occupy—a kind of attractive power that
will lead each one to his respective abode. Brethren and sisters, we
are all forming characters which will entitle us to the different
styles of mansions in our Father's house. If I seek and do obtain a
superior degree of intelligence—if I do labor to acquire purity of
heart and uprightness of conduct in all things, no matter how high my
standard, is there not a mansion, corresponding with the exertions
which I make, that I am heir to and destined to inherit? I am inclined
to the idea that this is so.

Vol. 15,  p.305
I have heard some say, "I would like to know what my condition and
situation will be the other side of the grave." We are solving that
problem in our present state of existence, we are determining the
matter by our actions in every-day life. I recollect once, in my
travels, standing on the deserts of Sahara, where I could view the
wide expanse and motion of sand, filling the air as the drifting snows
do the atmosphere here many times. I saw the sirocco fill the air with
sand so that it was with difficulty we could open our eyes, without
endangering our sight. I saw neither plant nor flower of any kind
there, nor even a shrub on which a camel could browse. There are
places, I suppose, in the desert, where springs of water burst forth,
that are green, breaking the monotony that reigns over that wide
expanse, but I did not see them. And yet I considered "You will drink
every drop of moisture and every drop of dew that distils from heaven,
and in return you send forth no plant or flower, ungrateful soil! Come
northward a little, or northwest, and land on the southern borders of
Europe, say Italy, and there is a beautiful country, delightful fruits
of a very fine grade grow there almost spontaneously; the weather or
climate is adapted to almost every one, but particularly to those who
are native, of the country. Come further north, into Germany, for
instance, or to England. There it is much colder; more hardy fruits
grow there. Well, continue on northward to Denmark, Norway, Sweden,
Lapland and indeed into the Arctic regions. What do we find there?
Hardy races of men, adapted to the climate, and they seemingly prefer
that as a resilience to any other portion of the earth. There is the
Esquimaux dwelling in his habitation of ice—ice forming the walls of
his dwelling. He is wrapped in the skins of animals, and he lives to a
great extent on the blubber of whales. Would he like to exchange
situations with the inhabit ants of warmer countries? He has no
disposition to emigrate, that seems to be the place he is attached to.
All this, for aught I know, may reflect something of the climate of
those regions that we may hereafter inhabit. I do not know but the
very heavens reflect their existence upon earth. I do not know but
that, in a shadowy form, the earth itself is a facsimile of the
heavens.

Vol. 15,  p.306
Now, on another subject, what would you think, brethren and
sisters,[p.306] of that man who would refuse to pay his taxes to the
government under which he lives. There are some who decline to pay
their taxes in this country as if the original inhabitants were
exercising a jurisdiction which the dignity of modern civilization
affects to despise and repel! What do we think of any man who declines
to pay his taxes? We think him not entitled to the protection of the
laws. I believe there is one statute in Utah which says that every man
shall have the privilege of voting at the polls after a residence of
six months, provided he be a taxpayer within its boundaries. This is
an important clause. I do not speak of this because I want to urge the
collection of taxes, I care nothing about that in comparison, I use
this as an illustration, in reference to some other matters which I
wish to urge upon your attention. Go where we will we find we have to
pay our taxes to political organizations and governments. The Savior
of the world, poor as he was, was not exempt from this obligation or
liability, hence he said to Peter, "Pay taxes." "Oh, we have no
money." "Well, go and cast your hook into the sea, and you will take a
fish, and in that fish you will find money, take that and pay the
taxes for thee and me." Thus we see that he who made all things
discharged this liability. We also should pay our taxes to the
governments and powers of this world. If we never should pay our taxes
with what kind of a grace could we appeal to the County Court for aid
to construct a road here, a bridge there, or an improvement yonder?
"You have not paid your taxes, how can you expect anything to revert
to you when you have not aided to replenish the treasury or to keep
the fountain full? You have no right to expect to share in the
advantages enjoyed by loyal citizens." Again, if I refuse to pay my
taxes to the government is it not pretty conclusive evidence that I am
an enemy to that government and its friends? It seems to me that the
tide beats in that direction, and shows that I am disloyal. If I pay
all my taxes and discharge all my obligations to the government under
which I live, I should be called a loyal citizen.

Vol. 15,  p.306
Says one, "I do not know what is done with the taxes. I would like to
know how they are applied, and what use is made of the money, and
before I pay I think I will ascertain." If you undertake this I think
you will have a heavy and difficult job on your hands. I would not
like to ferret it out. When I get my receipt for taxes paid I put it
in my pocket, and say, "Good bye, sir," till he calls again. That is
all the care I have. If the collector makes a bad use of the money he
collects, or appropriates it for other than legitimate purposes,
somebody else will see to him, not I. I have got his receipt, I have
done my duty, I have discharged the obligation devolving upon me.

Vol. 15,  p.306
We all look, brethren and sisters, for the kingdom of God to be
established at some time, if it is not already done, and yet some of
us complain very much about paying our tithing. The very word grates
on the ears of some! Well, as taxes are to the governments of the
political world, so is tithing to the kingdom of God. That is my
understanding, and if I pay my tithing I come within the promises and
protection of Heaven's laws, and I am considered a loyal subject of
and a friend to that government. I will notice here a little
peculiarity with regard to tithing. There is not much said about it in
the New Testament Scriptures; except mere allusions; it is the same
with regard to polygamy;[p.307] but you turn to the Old Testament and
you will find that these two subjects run parallel one with the other,
and where one exists the other follows as a matter of course. I might
ask a question here as to what our Savior meant when he said, "The
first shall be last, and the last shall be first." If the first order
of things is to lap over on to us who are engaged in forming the last
and closing scenes of God's work on earth pertaining to this
dispensation, the last may turn back; and if the former dispensation
forms the field of our last labors or under its shadows we bring
things to a close, by and by the reality, the substance may come. I do
not know that we can charge the Savior with folly when be said, "The
first shall be last and the last shall be first."

Vol. 15,  p.307
Do I want a mansion in yonder world that is glorious? Then I must
comply with the law of Heaven and pay my tithes and bring my offerings
and prove to the Heavens that I am a friend of his government; and
that I am willing to sacrifice anything to please him and to secure
the desired treasure. You no doubt recollect reading in the New
Testament of a certain man who found a treasure which was hid in a
field, and he went and sold all he had to purchase the entire field.
It was but a little portion of ground that contained the treasure, but
he was so bent on securing it that he purchased the entire field. What
was that treasure? It was the kingdom of God. Some say the gifts of
God are not purchased with money, and again some will contend that
they are. I will speak a word or two upon this subject, by way of
illustration. I suppose that in former days they had speculators among
them, somewhat similar to those we have in, these days. Once on a time
the inspired Apostle laid his hands upon some who had been baptized
for the remission of their sins, and they received the Holy Ghost. One
Simon Magus saw the operation and he asked the Apostle to give, him
that gift, saying to him, "I will give you money for it." Probably
Simon said to himself "I see money in it," as much as some of you do
in that mine; "just give me that gift, that upon whomsoever I lay my
hands they may receive the Holy Ghost, and thus I will accumulate a
fortune." Said Peter, "Be it known unto you that the gifts of God are
not purchased with money, thy money perish with thee," &c. But then
again, read in another part of the Scriptures about a certain steward
who had charge of his master's goods. He was accused unto his lord of
wasting these goods, or of making an improper use of them, and he was
called to an account, and informed by his master that he could no
longer be steward. Said the steward, "What shall I do? I am bound to
lose my place, and to dig I can not, I am not used to it, and to beg I
am ashamed; what shall I do to sustain myself?" This happy thought
occurred to his mind—I will go round now to all my lord's debtors, and
I will say to this one, "How much owest thou to my lord?" "One hundred
measures of wheat." Said the steward, "I will forgive you fifty. I am
yet in power, I am not yet displaced, take thy bill and sit down
quickly and write fifty," So he went and did to all his lord's
debtors. His lord saw what he was doing and called him to account, and
he commended the unjust steward for his wisdom and shrewdness—he had
acted wisely for himself. And now says the Savior, as if predicating a
principle upon this transaction, "I say unto you, make unto yourself
friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, that when you fail you
malt [p.308] be received into everlasting habitations." While it is
the suggestion of one spirit, which is the spirit of falsehood,
although the truth may be spoken by that spirit, yet God will not own
it, and yet the same principle spoken of by another spirit, which is
of God Heaven will own What are all the riches of this world given
unto us for, but to secure some mansion in yonder world that will be
glorious, and grand and worthy the noble and sacrificing spirit that
sought it?

Vol. 15,  p.308
Well, we pay our tithing. What does it consist of? One-tenth of all we
possess at the start, and then ever alter one-tenth of our annual
income. If that be one thousand dollars per annum you pay one hundred
of that in taxes to the kingdom of God. Say some, "If it be God's
kingdom we should think it could stand and roll on without this kind
of backing or aid." I will tell you that the Lord Almighty wishes to
prove our fidelity to him. It is not for his sake that we pay tithing,
it is for ours. Hence he says, "If I were hunry or thirsty, I would
not call upon them for meat or drink, but I Want to prove you and see
whether you are loyal to me or whether you are rebellious Hence bring
your tithes and your offerings into my storehouse and prove me now,
herewith, and see if I will not open to you the windows of heaven and
pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room to receive." We
are told by some of the unbelievers that we pay tithing and we are
dupes to fanaticism, that we are priest-ridden, and bound down with
galling chains of oppression. That same class of persons will boast
that they pay no tithing. They are not priest-ridden, they are
free-born American citizens and are not subject to this priestly rule.
Ahem! By and by perhaps these individuals go hence to the other side
of the vail, and they inquire the way to their home or mansion, and
yonder, perhaps, one represented by the deserts of Sahara is pointed
out to them, and they are told—"There is your home. You have been
eager to grasp every blessing that flowed from the beneficent hand of
the Creator, but what have you given in return? No more than that
sandy desert has given, and there is the place of your home. An
American citizen, eh! Not priest-ridden, not oppressed so that you
have to pay tithes or taxes to the kingdom of God?" ":No, we do not
know any such kingdom." Well, brethren and sisters, I almost shrink at
the task of following this subject up. It is a little sensational, but
perhaps it might as well be told, if not in whole, at least in part.

Vol. 15,  p.308
We find that there are many worlds surrounding us, revolving in their
sphere and orbit. Some learned men have pretended to say that some of
the planets in our own solar system are nothing but a mass of liquid
fire. I do not know how true this is, I can not vouch for it. It is a
long time since I was there, and I have forgotten much that may, at
some future day, be brought to my recollection, when the vail shall be
parted from all eyes, and we see as we are seen and know as we are
known. Here is my friend and brother Pratt, he is more skilled in
astronomy than I am, and if I am guilty of an error, he can correct me
if he sees fit. But some learned men say that there are worlds which
roll in eternal night, not one ray of light from the grand central
luminary penetrating or dawning upon their orbit, but they move in an
eternal eclipse—always dark. I do not know how this is, but I know
that some will come up and want an inheritance, and it will be said to
them, [p.309] "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, into
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." There are
some now who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are
evil. I will venture to say that if some of the zealous opposers of
what is sometimes called "Mormonism," who were once united with us,
could see an improper step made by your humble servants, they would
seize upon it with the greatest avidity. If there was a dark spot in
my moral character, that would be food for them. I, or my friend
brother Pratt, or President Young, may have achieved worthy exploits
and done great good, but they pass by this, they have no relish or
appetite for it; but the moment there is a dark spot, either real or
imainary, they are ready to sieze upon it with the greatest avidity,
and roll it as a sweet morsel under their tongue, because they are
children of darkness and love darkness rather than light. Now the sun,
the great fountain of light of our system, is said to have dark spots
on his disc. I believe it is so, but there is much light there, and he
throws his rays to an immense distance. Now, because he has some dark
spots on him, shall we dispense with and refuse to receive his light?
No, with all the darkness he has we love the sun, and whether on sea
or on land his rays are cheering and welcome, notwithstanding the dark
spots that may exist on his face. So in relation to the servants of
God. We may be men of like passions with others, but if an additional
halo of light and glory burst upon us, and we as reflectors send that
abroad for the benefit of others, the dark spots, real or imaginary,
in our characters, should be overlooked, as those of the sun are
overlooked.

Vol. 15,  p.309
Well, others besides those I have referred to, come up and want a
mansion. They are asked—"Have you showed yourselves friends to the
kingdom of God?" "No, we have sought to hedge up its progress in every
way we could. We have told all the lies we could manufacture, and sent
them abroad on the wires to create a storm of indignation against
it—anything was justifiable to suppress 'Mormonism.' We have even
twisted plain, straightforward common sense law into a ram's horn, and
made it so complex that neither we nor anyone else could understand
it, for the sole purpose of ensnaring the feet of the defenders of
this latter-day kingdom." "Well, you want a mansion, and you love
darkness rather than light because your deeds are evil?" "Yes." "Well,
yonder is your home, in that world that rolls in eternal eclipse."
"And these shall go away," says the Bible," into outer darkness, where
there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth." Dwell in
eternal night! Oh, ye sons of rebellion, ye daughters of departure,
contemplate the character of your future home! Turn from your ways,
seek unto the Lord God of Israel, and know ye that mortal man here on
earth is not perfect. I do not know that the angels of God are
perfect, I rather question it. You question the perfection of the
angels of God? A little, for the Bible says that God charges his
angels with folly. If the angels are charged with folly by him who
sits on the throne, with much more propriety may mortals who are at a
greater distance from the central government be charged with the same.
I will tell you that this is a singular kind of a world, and the
machinery of man is very singular and complex, and it requires the
wisdom of God to know and understand everything in relation to it, or
even a small portion of it.[p.310] 

Vol. 15,  p.310
I might go on and point out the different characters, but having given
you two or three examples, you must draw your own inference in
relation to the condition hereafter of every living being. "Why," says
one, "I expect to go into the celestial kingdom." You do? That is the
highest grade of glory that we have any knowledge of. Put you or me
into a place that we are not qualified to fill, and is it a heaven or
a hell to us? For instance, there are many heavy mercantile firms in
this city. An upright man, full of charity and good works, applies at
the counting house of one of these large establishments for a berth as
chief clerk, to keep their financial affairs properly posted up. He
knows nothing about figures or about wielding the pen, but he is a
good man. Let the weight of responsibility gradually descend and fall
upon him, and he says, "I am crushed, I can not do anything with this
position, Oh deliver me from this place!" How often do we hear men
say, "I am going to be a ruler in the kingdom of God." The presumption
is that such men possess certain necessary qualifications. To be a
ruler without the qualifications for one, is to receive an exalted
position to become a mark of ridicule for all beholders. I will tell
you that to put you or me in a place that we are not qualified to
fill, it is a hell for us, instead of a place of honor and exaltation,
and I feel that I have no time to lose in preparing and qualifying
myself to learn first to be a subject. If I can not submit to be a
subject, how can I ever expect to be a ruler? If I have not regard
enough for the kingdom of God to comply with its requirements and laws
and to pay my tithing, but show myself disloyal all my life, how can I
expect to be elevated as a ruler in that kingdom that has no end? I
can not expect it.

Vol. 15,  p.310
I will now repeat what I said before—the celestial kingdom is the seat
of all science, and like a great tree whose shadow reaches our earth,
true science emanates thence, where it exists in its most refined and
pure state, down here to our earth. Now, unless we go to and establish
schools to educate ourselves and our children in all the shadows that
are reflected upon our earth, how can we manage the substance? As it
is said, "He that is unfaithful in the unrighteous mammon, who shall
commit to his trust the true riches?" And if we are unfaithful to the
shadows, who will commit to us the golden beams of purity,
intelligence and love, even the sciences as they exist in the
celestial kingdom? it is for us to look at and reflect upon these
things, and to devote ourselves to the acquisition of knowledge.

Vol. 15,  p.310
This city is becoming a fashionable city. I see that the Latter-day
Saints are copying the fashions of the outside world. I love to see
innocence, purity, cleanliness and all this, and I would rather have
disclosed to me, in the visions of one night's sleep, the true
principles of godliness as they exist on the other side of the vail,
than to have all the pride and fashion that decorate these poor mortal
bodies, for one view of eternal things throws into the shade all
earthly grandeur and glory. This is what I delight in. Brethren and
sisters, let us pay our tithing, that we may earn an inheritance in
the kingdom of God, and we shall find that our loyalty in this shape
will actually purchase us an everlasting inheritance.

Vol. 15,  p.310
Says one, "What becomes of tithing? I would like to know whether these
Priests, Apostles, Bishops and Presidents use it all up [p.311] in
extravagance?" I will tell you where it goes, though I am under no
obligation to do so, any more than I am to tell what is done with the
money I pay to the tax collector, or the internal revenue man. When
you go to the marriage altar, or to be baptized for yourselves or for
your dead relatives, or to get your sealings and anointings, or
anything of this kind, do you have to pay five shillings or five
dollars for officiating for your father or mother who is dead and
gone, that they may share the benefits of the everlasting Gospel with
you, or are those ordinances free to you? You do not have to pay for
them, do you? Do you find beggars in the streets of Zion? I have
traveled through many countries in the old world, and I could hardly
pass a corner, without hearing the petition—"A penny if you please, a
penny, a penny. My mother is at home sick, got a little baby and
cannot get out, and they are afflicted. Oh, please sir, a penny, a
sixpence to help them!" No such scenes in this country. I have seen
nothing of the kind, and I question very much whether you have. In
those old countries beggary is going on in five hundred different
ways, but you do not see any of it here. What stops up all these
channels of distress? Tithing—the taxes you pay to the kingdom of God.
The little child's mother is provided for, if her Bishop looks after
her, and the presumption is that he does. These little children are
cared for. Is there any real poverty in our land? There may be, but
really the cases are few and far between. All are well fed, all
comfortably clad, and wherein they are unable to do it themselves, the
tithing department pays.

Vol. 15,  p.311
We may think that we are going to get all our sealings, anointings our
marriages and everything of that kind free, but we are mistaken about
that have got to pay for them all. How do you pay? Tithing and
offerings to the kingdom of God pay for it all. Then when you come up
to have accounts adjusted, and the books are opened, and another book
is opened and the dead are judged out of those things written in the
hooks according to their works, they have paid the charges, and that
which they claim is their own, it is given to them of God. Not so with
the world, they only marry for time. I have married a great many
couples in the ways of the world, but I never married any of them for
time and for all eternity, my mind did not stretch so far then—I
married them until death should separate them. Those who have paid no
tithing and have not enlisted under the law and commandments of God,
those who have had no faith in Jehovah and in the resurrection, are
parted when they go down to the grave. Farewell to all alliance then!
They have raised families of lovely children, they have passed through
sorrow, tribulation and joy, tasted the sweet and the bitter together,
but when they reach the grave farewell for ever, an eternal separation
takes place. Not so with the Latter-day Saints. We are administered to
by the authority of that priesthood that is without beginning of days
or end of life, whose ministration is just as efficient the other side
of the vail as this side, for what it binds on earth is bound in
heaven, and what it looses on earth is loosed in heaven. If we have
not a priesthood possessing this power and authority we have none at
all. We claim that we have, and it cannot be found anywhere else. If
we go to the Presbyterian church, with all respect to its ministers
and people, and ask, "Do your ministrations reach beyond the vail? Can
you [p.312] marry for time and for all eternity?" we are told, "No."
And every other sect in Christendom will say the same. They could just
as easily argue me out of my existence as to convince me that the
ministrations of my priesthood do not reach within the vail of
eternity, and run parallel with the great God himself, because that
priesthood comes from God, and Heaven can not destroy his own power,
unless he destroy himself, and that he will not do, he will not be
guilty of suicide. This is the superiority of the Priesthood that is
conferred upon the Latter-day Saints; and although we have this
treasure in earthen vessels, and are despised and rejected, there is a
purity and an eternal principle embraced therein which will last until
the heavens are no more.

Vol. 15,  p.312
God bless you, Amen.

Orson Pratt, January 19, 1873

Different Degrees of Reward and of Punishment—Marriage 
for Eternity Necessary to a Fullness of Celestial Glory

Discourse By Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the 14th Ward 
Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Evening, Jan. 19, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.312
I do not know when I was more edified and instructed than I was this
afternoon in listening to the discourse of Elder Hyde. According to my
judgment it was certainly calculated in its nature to edify and
instruct every person who listened to it with attention. It, was
delivered in eloquent language, was plain and simple, pointed and
definite, and, if obeyed, was calculated to do good to all.

Vol. 15,  p.312
The Lord has appointed a variety of gifts in his kingdom, some having
one and some another, and especially in the Quorum of the Twelve, of
which Brother Hyde is the President, there is a great variety of gifts
and talents, and it gives me great pleasure to listen to them, and it
would be with great satisfaction that I would listen more than I do.
But I am frequently called upon to address the people when I would
prefer to listen to others.

Vol. 15,  p.312
What subject I may present before you to-night I do not know.
Sometimes a subject will open to my mind while I am listening to the
singers, and sometimes I rise without having the first thing before my
mind to speak to the peope, and I trust in God to give me what is
needful at the very moment. This is the case [p.313] with me this
evening, and I do humbly pray to my Father in heaven, in the name of
his beloved Son, that he will grant unto me the Spirit to discern what
to say and what would be most adapted to the wants of those who are
present. There is such a vast field of light and truth which God has
revealed in different ages of the world, and more especially in our
times, that the great difficulty with the servant of God, I have often
thought, is to distinguish and discern what portion of the great
variety would be most pleasing in the Sight of the Lord to lay before
the people.

Vol. 15,  p.313
There are a great many peculiarities in our religion, but the
generality of the Latter-day Saints are well acquainted with them.
Sometimes strangers attend our meetings who would be glad to have us
dwell upon certain subjects, which they think would greatly interest
them. We are willing to do so, but still we study to have the Spirit
to edify all, whether they be in the Church, or whether they be
strangers who are here on a visit.

Vol. 15,  p.313
Among the peculiarities which God has revealed directly to the
Latter-day Saints may be mentioned the various degrees of happiness
and glory which exist in the eternal world, also the various degrees
of punishment upon the different classes of individuals. Formerly,
before we became Latter-day Saints, we were instructed by our fathers
and mothers, and by the ministers whom we heard, that there were but
two places in the eternal worlds, one or the other of which was
intended for all the human family; that all that happened to miss
heaven would be sent to the other place, which they called hell. This
subject was dwelt upon very lengthily and very interestingly by
Brother Hyde this afternoon, and during his remarks he told about the
different mansions that God had in reserve for all the human family,
some of which are glorious, and others intended as places of
punishment. These things were dwelt upon very fully by Brother Hyde,
in some respects, but there were some items connected with them that
were not fully investigated and laid before the people.

Vol. 15,  p.313
The way that we obtained a more perfect knowledge of the future
condition of the children of men was by revelation; indeed all the
knowledge that ever mankind did obtain in relation to this matter was
by revelation. We read in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians
something about the different glories connected with the resurrection
of the dead. We are told in the reasoning of Paul that when people
come forth from the dead, some will inherit one glory and some
another; and these glories are typified by the various creations which
the Lord had made. Paul says, "there is one glory of the sun, another
gloW of the moon, and another glory of the stars, and that as one star
differs from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the
dead."

Vol. 15,  p.313
We are also told in the Scriptures that there is a great variety of
punishments as well as glories—these punishments differing in nature
according to the works of the children of men. For instance we read of
some persons who are to be punished for sins they have committed
without; any chance of forgiveness either in this world or in the
world to come. This plainly indicates to us that certain classes of
sins can not be forgiven in that world, while other classes of sins
may be forgiven on certain conditions. He that sins against the Holy
Ghost, we are told, shall not receive forgiveness. Men can sin against
God the Father, and [p.314] if they repent in this world, they may be
forgiven; if they sin against Jesus his Son, and repent and work the
works of righteousness, these sins may be blotted out; but if they sin
against the Holy Ghost after having received the same and been
baptized by him, there is no forgiveness for that sin, neither in this
world nor in the world to come.

Vol. 15,  p.314
Now if there is to be a variety of punishments as well as a variety of
glories, there must be a variety of places of punishment. It would
look inconsistent to us, even here in this life, to see a person
guilty of but a small crime against the laws of our country thrust
into the same dungeon with the murderer. It would be unjust, for
instance, according to our notions, for a person who has committed but
a trifling offence against the law to be thrust into the darkest and
deepest dungeon along with him who has shed innocent blood. We have
sufficient justice in our own bosoms to classify these individuals and
to point out to each the apartment in which he is to dwell. Is the
Lord less just than man? Is he not filled with the great principles of
justice far beyond that which any man ever did receive? From him have
emanated all our ideas of justice, consequently we cannot look upon
him as a being who would consign the poor heathen who died without a
knowledge of the law, and others who have led moral lives but who have
not obeyed the Gospel of the Son of God, to the same punishment as the
murderer and him who sheds innocent blood. We should regard it as
unjust if all these classes were to be thrust into one place, there to
welter under the same conditions of punishment throughout the endless
ages of eternity without any hope of redemption. I could not look upon
this as just, and I presume that no other reflecting being could,
especially if he was acquainted with the Scriptures. Jesus, in
speaking upon this subject, says—"He that knows his master's will and
does it not shall be beaten with many stripes;" while he who is
ignorant of his master's will and does things that are worthy of
stripes, shall he beaten with few. I have not quoted the saying of
Jesus, word for word, but I have given you the sentiment; the Lord,
therefore, in judging man, judges not by the act in all cases, but
according to the understanding and knowledge of the individual who
performs that act If two persons were each to commit a murder—shed
innocent blood—and one had a full knowledge of the revealed law of
God, and the other was in entire ignorance of it, there would be a
distinction in judging these two characters. We would say at once that
he who had sinned against knowledge should receive a heavier
punishment than he who had not this knowledge.

Vol. 15,  p.314
Suppose that Saints, who have not only beard the law of God, but have
embraced the Gospel of the Son of God, have been renewed in their
minds by the power of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of
God and the powers of the world to come, should be so far overcome as
to shed innocent blood, would there be any forgiveness for them? Not
at all. Would it be our duty, if such a person were judged, and
condemned by the laws of our country to be hanged by the neck until
dead, to visit him and pray that God would forgive his sins? No, we
would be sinning against God in doing so. Why? Because God has
revealed to us that persons who have this light and knowledge, and
shed innocent blood, cannot be forgiven in this world nor in the
[p.315] world to come, and we should not ask him to do that which he
has decreed that he will not do. Such a person commits the
unpardonable sin—he sheds innocent blood after having the light of the
Holy Ghost, knowing that in so doing he is not only sinning against
God the Father and against his Son, but against the convictions of the
Holy Ghost.

Vol. 15,  p.315
Supposing, again, that persons outside of this Church, that have heard
the Gospel of the Son of God, but have refused to obey it, should
murder, they sin against great light and knowledge, but not against
the Holy Ghost. Here is the difference between the two classes of
murderers; the Latter-day Saint would never be forgiven, but he would
become a son of perdition.

Vol. 15,  p.315
Now let me bring up some instances from Scripture in regard to these
different classes of individuals and the light and knowledge which
they had. Some may be forgiven, as I have already stated, in the world
to come. Let me refer you to a certain class that are named in the
Scriptures that will be forgiven on certain conditions. You recollect
that the Apostle Peter, having gathered around him a large
congregation of Jews, the murderers of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, who had shed innocent blood, delivered to them a discourse,
but it was a very different one to that which he preached to the mixed
multitude who had gathered from the different nations on the Day of
Pentecost. When he preached to the latter he said, "Repent, every one
of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission
of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for
the promise is unto you and your children, and unto all that are afar
off, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call." That was a true
Gospel sermon, preached to individuals that were not guilty of murder.
They were all required to repent, believe in Jesus Christ, to be
baptized in water for the remission of sins, and they and all who were
afar off, who would receive the Gospel, were promised the forgiveness
of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost. But come to the other sermon
to which I have referred, the one preached to the wicked and corrupt,
Jews who crucified Jesus. Peter said, we wet not but what you have
done it through your ignorance in other words, you have not received
the Holy Ghost, and because you have not had the Spirit of the Lord
resting upon you, you have shed the blood. of the innocent One, you
have murdered the Son of God, the Messiah; but you have done it
through ignorance. Now the question is, was there any hope for them?
Could they have their sins forgiven in this life? No, Peter, after
first telling them that they had shed the blood of the Just One in
their ignorance, then tells them how and when they may obtain
forgiveness. I will repeat the words: "Repent ye, therefore, and be
converted"—no baptism here—"repent ye, therefore, and be converted
that your sins may be blotted out, when be shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive
until the times of the restitution of all things spoken of by the
mouth of all the Holy Prophets since the world began." He did not tell
them to be baptized for the remission of their sins. Why? Because he
understood too well the nature of their sin to tell them to be
baptized for the remission thereof. He knew they had lost that
privilege in this world, because they had shed the blood of [p.316]
the Holy and Just One. He said to them, If you will repent now, you
murderers, you who have killed Jesus, the Just and Holy One, there is
one hope that even your sins may be blotted out. Not in this life, not
by baptism for the remission of sins, but when the time of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus
Christ, whom the heavens will receive until then, and not even then
unless they repent while here in this life. This must have been
sorrowful news to those to whom it was communicated, if they believed
it.

Vol. 15,  p.316
"Repent and be converted." Notice now what this sentence means. The
word "converted" has been construed to be born of God," or to become a
new creature; but the true meaning of the word is to reform our lives
converted from doing that which is evil to do that which is
good—turning from sin and transgression to that which is righteous
before God. If those Jews would repent and turn or be converted from
their sins to do that whirl, was right they had a hope of having their
sins blotted out when Jesus should be sent from the presence of the
Father in the times of restitution; but until then they must remain in
torment suffering for their sins.

Vol. 15,  p.316
Let me bring up another instance. There was a man in ancient times
named David, and because he was a man after God's own heart, the Lord
chose him to be king over Israel. The Lord also greatly blessed this
man, and poured out richly upon him the spirit of prophecy and
revelation, and many of his, psalms, which we now sing with so much
pleasure in our meetings contain prophecies relating to the most
remote generations of the human family. This man was a Prophet and
Revelator, he was filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke as he was moved
upon by that Spirit. God loved him, and said that he was a man after
his own heart. God also blessed him, while but a ruddy youth, fleeing
from cave to cave, and from mountain to mountain to escape from the
persecutions of Saul, who sought to take his life, with eight wives.
This was before he was placed upon the throne. But after Saul had been
cut off and David had been elevated to the throne of Israel, the Lord
also gave him all the wives of Saul his master. So says Nathan the
Prophet, and he was sent to reprove David. What had he done to need
reproof? Why he had taken his neighbor's wife, a person he had no
claim upon, and he not only committed adultery by thus taking the wife
of another, but by his order her lawful husband was placed in front of
the battle that he might be destroyed, and he was destroyed, hence,
though he himself did not thrust a dagger to his heart, he became a
murderer in the sight of heaven by having this man placed where his
blood would be shed. After all his goodness, and after all the light
and knowledge which God had given to this man, he committed these two
great crimes. Nathan the Prophet was sent to reprove him for them, and
he did so by means of a parable. He told David, the king, that a
certain poor man sad but one ewe lamb, and his rich neighbor, close
by, had a great flock, and there came along a stranger, and the rich
man went to this poor man's fold and took the only sheep he had and
dressed it in order to make a sumptuous feast for the stranger. This
kindled David's wrath, for though he had transgressed, the principle
of justice was [p.317] not extinct in his bosom, and he said, "He who
hath done this thing shall surely die." Nathan said, "Thou art, the
man." God hath given to thee a great number of wives, among the rest
all the wives of thy master Saul. All this great flock of sheep, as it
were, has been given unto you from the Lord, yet you have gone and
taken the only one that a poor man had, and committed adultery with
her, therefore said the Lord, I will punish you. With what kind of
punishment was this man punished? Amongst them was that of suffering
in the eternal worlds. How long? I can not say exactly, but a good
many centuries, a thousand years at least; this man, once righteous,
now wicked, had to suffer the penalty of that crime. Did he repent? He
did. Did he cry unto the Lord? He did. Was he sorely troubled? He was,
and he was perhaps as repentant as any one could be; but the decree
had gone forth, and hence that man had to endure the penalty of his
crime. Peter, when referring to this subject on the day of Pentecost,
as recorded in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, quotes
from the Psalms of David, and says, "Thou hast not left my soul in
hell neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." It
seems that after all, though David's repentance could not wipe away
his sin, yet he had a hope, and he looked forward to the time when he
would be liberated from hell; when that time arrived he would come
forth and receive some kind of a glory, how much I do not know, for it
is not revealed; but suffice it to say, he sinned against great light
and knowledge and because of his sin he fell from a very high
position. That he had received many of the principles that are now
understood by the Latter-day Saints, under the new and everlasting
covenant, I doubt; for if he had he never could have been redeemed, he
never could have said, "Thou wilt redeem my soul from hell," etc.

Vol. 15,  p.317
Let us refer to some other instances. There were the Lamanites, a
people who, according to the Book of Mormon, had dwindled in ignorance
on this American continent before Christ came. They had dwelt here for
centuries, and before the coming of our Savior they were sunk in the
depths of ignorance. They had lost the knowledge of the principles of
salvation, and they had become a very ignorant, wicked, idolatrous
people The Nephites, an enlightened nation which dwelt on this
continent at the same time, sent missionaries to the Lamanites to
convert them, if possible, from their sins. They went amongst them and
had much success, bringing a great many thousands of them to a
knowledge of the truth. This nation had been taught, in their
ignorance and wickedness, that there was no harm in murdering the
Nephites, and they had murdered them while in ignorance of the law of
God; but when the Gospel was laid before them, could they obtain
forgiveness for these murders? On certain conditions, and one of them
was that they would lay down their weapons of war, and they did so,
burying them deep in the earth as a testimony before God that they
would no more shed innocent blood; and through their great sorrow and
repentance the Lord had compassion upon them, and he forgave in this
life the sins they had committed in ignorance. That showed that
murderers, under certain conditions, could be forgiven here; but there
are other classes of murderers for whose forgiveness in this life it
would be very wrong to pray, even if they never [p.318] had received
the Holy Ghost—I mean those who have read and understood the revealed
law. To pray for present forgiveness would be contrary to the mind and
will of God, and hence it would be sinning against him. I believe I
have said sufficient to show the principle upon which the Lord acts in
punishing the sins of the children of men. Now let me say a few words
in relation to their coming forth and redemption.

Vol. 15,  p.318
I will here ask, will many of these individuals who have sinned
against God come forth and inherit that high degree of exaltation in
the celestial world? This is a great question. Can they inherit the
same glory that will be enjoyed by the Saints who have lived in
different ages of the world and endured faithful to the end? Can they
receive that fail exaltation and shine forth in the kingdom of God?
No. Why not? Because they are not prepared for it. I do not say but
what they may in some future age, according to the purposes of God, be
led along from one step to another, until, finally, some of them
attain to celestial glory. We Latter-day Saints believe that when the
Lord comes he will redeem the heathen nations, not into his presence,
into celestial glory, but they will come forth from their graves; not
with celestial bodies and prepared to wear a celestial crown, to shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. No; such a glory they
cannot have, but they will have a glory adapted to the light and
knowledge which they have had, and that glory is typified by the moon.
"There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another
glory of the stars, and as one star differeth from another star in
glory, so also in the resurrection of the dead." Now, there is quite a
difference among these celestial bodies that shine in the firmament.
The sun is far more glorious than the moon, so much so that
astronomers tell us it would take several hundred thousand full moons
to make a light equal to the light of the sun; in other words, if all
our visible firmament from the horizon was just one glare of moons,
all this would not be equal to the light of the sun, consequently you
can form an idea of the difference between the glory of the sun and
the glory of the moon.

Vol. 15,  p.318
Again, when we look upon those twinkling stars in the firmament of
heaven, we see some shining with a much greater brilliancy than
others, and they are divided into classes by astronomers, and ranked
according to their magnitude, or according to the intensity of the
light they shed forth upon our world, not according to the real nature
of the stars, because they are too far off for us to judge of that,
only we know that they are suns, the centres of systems, and that they
shine by their own radiance; and if we were as near to them as we are
to our sun, many of them would be far more resplendent in their glory,
and would shed forth more light than our sun does. But the Apostle
Paul in speaking on this subject had reference to the glory of the
stars as they appear to us, and to the amount of light which they seem
to send forth.

Vol. 15,  p.318
Now those persons who receive a glory like that of the stars, or as
the light of the stars appears to us, will riot come up to that glory
enjoyed by the heathen, for their glory will be like that of the moon,
and all the stars put together do not shed forth as much light upon
our world as one moon, and hence the glory of that class of beings
whose glory differs as the stars will be lower than that of the
heathen, for they will receive the glory of the moon. But all who go
[p.319] into the glory typified by the sun will have to obey certain
pinciples of law, and that law is a celestial law. What is that law?
It is the law of the Gospel. All persons in these days who enter
celestial glory must not only be acquainted with the Gospel as taught
in ancient times, but they must be acquainted with it as it is taught
and administered by men having authority to administer it now. If they
do this, they will be entitled to the blessings of the Gospel, to the
forgiveness of sins in this world, and being thus made the sons and
daughters of God, they will be entitled to all the fullness of the
glory of that plan of salvation, and Jesus says that they shall shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of my Father.

Vol. 15,  p.319
As we have not time to enter fully into the investigation of all these
different glories, I wish more particularly to inquire concerning the
nature of this higher state of glory called celestial. Will there be
any difference among those who are redeemed into that glory? There
will, in some respects. They will all be equal in the enjoyment of
some blessings, and so far their glory will be the same, but yet in
some respects there will be a difference. Some who will inherit a
portion of that glory will have no families, they will be deprived of
that blessing to all ages of eternity, while others will receive an
exaltation and kingdom, and will have wives, children, dominion,
greatness and power far above those I first referred to.

Vol. 15,  p.319
Now why should there be this distinction in the celestial kingdom, and
what is the cause of it? It is because certain persons who have obeyed
the Gospel have become careless and indifferent in regard to securing
that high exaltation which was within their reach. God lisa revealed
to this people what is needful for an exaltation in his kingdom. He
has revealed to us, as we heard from Elder Hyde this afternoon, that
marriage is destined for eternity as well as time,—that the marriage
covenant between male and female must be entered into in this life,
and the ordinance performed here by those whom God has appointed and
ordained to hold the keys and authority to seal on earth that it amy
be sealed in heaven; for in heaven there is neither marrying nor
giving in marriage; no such thing can be attended to there. Now
persons among the Latter-day Saints who do not enter into this
covenant of marriage but prefer to lead a single life can not enjoy
all that fullness of exaltation which will be possessed by those who
have had this covenant sealed upon them. They might not have forfeited
the blessing of celestial glory altogether, but they have forfeited
the right to have wives by which only they could have a posterity in
the eternal worlds. Who will be the subjects in the kingdom which they
will rule who are exalted in the celestial kingdom of our God? Will
they reign over their neighbors' children? Oh no. Over whom then will
they reign? Their own children, their own posterity will be the
citizens of their kingdoms; in other words, the patriarchal order will
prevail there to the endless ages of eternity, and the children of
each patriarch will be his while eternal ages roll on. This is not
according to present customs, for now when a young man reaches the age
of twenty-one years he is free from his parents, and considers that he
is no longer under the necessity of being controlled by his father.
That is according to our customs, and the laws of our country. It is a
very good law and [p.320] adapted to the imperfections that now exist;
but it will not be so in the eternal worlds. There will never be any
such thing there as being from under their father's rule, no matter
whether twenty-one or twenty-one thousand years of age, it will make
no difference, they will still be subject to the laws of their
Patriarch or Father, and they must observe and obey them throughout
all eternity. There is only one way by which children can be freed
from that celestial law and order of things, and that is by rebellion.
They are agents, and they can rebel against God and against the order
of things he has instituted there, just as Satan and the fallen angels
rebelled and turned away. The increase of those who are exalted in
that kingdom will endure for ever; and the bringing forth of children
will not be attended with sorrow, pain and distress as it is here:
these evils have come in consequence of the fall of man and the
transgression by him of God's holy. laws. But when men are redeemed to
immortality and eternal life there will be no pain, sorrow or
affliction of body, and yet children will be brought forth, and to
their increase there will be no end. Hence the promise of God to the
patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that their seed should be as
numerous as the stars of heaven, or as the sands upon the sea shore.
We all know that the sand on the sea shore is innumerable to us. If we
take a handful it numbers its tens of thousands of grains, and if
Abraham's seed are to become as numerous as the sands on the sea shore
they will fill a great many worlds like this of ours. There is to be
no end to the increase of the old Patriarch, and, as his posterity
increases, world on world will be created and brought into existence,
and those children will be sent forth from the presence of the
Patriarch to take upon themselves bodies, as we have done here in this
world. I mean their spirits. Understand me now, resurrected parents
are the parents not of bodies of flesh and bones, but of spirits the
same as we were before we came and took these mortal bodies, that is,
when we lived up in yonder world in the presence of our Father, and in
the company of the thousands of millions of our brother and sister
spirits. They will be of the same class and nature, and they will bare
to take their position in worlds that will be created for them the
same as we came from heaven to this world, that we might gain
knowledge and experience that we could not gain in any other way. Thus
will the Lord continue his work and purposes, and there will be one
eternal round in creation, and redemption, in the formation and
redemption of worlds, and bringing them back into his presence.

Vol. 15,  p.320
We read that God is the Father of our spirits, the Father of the
spirits of all flesh Moses calls him. The Apostle James tells the
Saints in his day, that we have fathers in the flesh who have
corrected us, how much more ought we to be obedient to the Father of
our spirits and live?

Vol. 15,  p.320
What will become of the old bachelor who refuses to obey the ordinance
of marriage? We have preached to the young men of this Territory, and
laid before them the sacredness of the marriage covenant. We have told
them and the young women that it is their duty to enter into this
covenant as much as it is their duty to be baptized for the remission
of their sins. The same God that commanded the latter gave the
revelation concerning the marriage [p.321] covenant, yet there are
some who will give heed to one ordinance—baptism—but will be careless
and indifferent about the other. By taking this course they do not
altogether forfeit their right and title to enter that kingdom, but
they do forfeit their right and title to be kings therein. What will
be their condition there? They will be Angels.

Vol. 15,  p.321
There are many different classes of beings in the eternal worlds, and
among them are angels. Who are these angels? Some of them have never
yet come to take upon them bodies of flesh and bones, but they will
come in their times, seasons and generations and receive their
tabernacles, the same as We have done. Then there are others who were
resurrected when Jesus was, when the graves of the Saints were opened
and many came forth and showed themselves to those who were then
living in the flesh. Besides these there are angels who have been to
this world and have never yet received a resurrection, whose spirits
bare gone hence into celestial paradise, and there await the
resurrection. We have now mentioned three classes of angels. There are
others, among them some redeemed from former creations before this
world was made, one of whom administered to our first parents after
they were cast out of the garden as they were offering sacrifices and
burnt offerings, according to the commandments which they received
from God when they were driven from the garden. After they had done
this many days an Angel came and ministered to them and inquired of
them why they offered sacrifices and burnt offerings unto the Lord.
The answer was, "I know not, save it be that the Lord commanded me."
Then this angel went on to explain to our first parents why these
offerings were made and why they were commanded to shed the blood of
beasts, telling them that all these things were typical st the great
and last sacrifice that should be offered up for all mankind, namely
the Son of the living God. These angels that came to Adam were not men
who had been redeemed from this earth—not men who had been translated
from this earth—but they pertainted to former worlds. They understood
about the coming of Jesus, the nature of these sacrifices, &c.

Vol. 15,  p.321
Some of these angels have received their exaltation, and still are
called angels. For instance Michael has received his exaltation. He is
not without his kingdom and crown, wife or wives and posterity,
because he lived faithful to the end. Who is he? Our first, great
progenitor, Adam, is called Michael, the Prince. I am mentioning now
things that the Latter-day Saints are acquainted with. Many of these
things I have just been quoting are revelations given to us, as those
who are readers will recollect. Some of these angels have received
their exaltation. They are kings, they are priests, they have entered
into their glory and sit upon thrones—they hold the sceptre over their
posterity. Those other classes I have mentioned have neglected the new
and everlasting covenant of marriage: They can not inherit this glory
and these kingdoms—they can not be crowned in the celestial world.
What purpose will they serve? They will be sent on errands—be sent to
other worlds as missionaries to minister, they will be sent on
whatever business the Lord sees proper; in other words, they will be
servants. To whom will they be servants? To those who have obeyed and
remained faithful to the new and everlasting covenant, and have been
exalted to thrones; to those who have covenanted [p.322] before God
with wives so that they may raise up and multiply immortal intelligent
beings through all the ages of eternity. Here is the distinction of
classes, but all of the same glory, called celestial glory.

Vol. 15,  p.322
But how about these terrestrials can they come up into the celestial?
No, their intelligence and knowledge have not prepared and adapted
them to dwell with those who reign in celestial glory, consequently
they can not even be angels in that glory. They have not obeyed the
law that pertains to that glory, and hence they could not abide it.
But will there be blessings administered to them by those who dwell in
celestial glory? Yes, angels will he sent forth from the celestial
world to minister to those who inherit the glory of the moon, bearing
messages of joy and peace and of all that which is calculated to
exalt, to redeem and ennoble those who have been resurrected into a
terrestrial glory. They can receive the Spirit of the Lord there, and
the ministration of angels there.

Vol. 15,  p.322
Now let us come to still inferior glories. I have mentioned those who
inherit the glory of the stars. Who are they? They are not the
heathen, for they come up higher—into the terrestrial glory. Who are
they, then, who are permitted only to inherit a glory typified by the
stars? They are the general world of mankind, those who have heard the
Gospel of the Son of God but have not obeyed it. They are to be
punished. How long? Until Jesus has reigned here on the earth a
thousand years. How much longer? Until the "little season" has passed
away after the end of the thousand years, and then when the final end
all come and the trump of God shall sound, and the great white throne
shall appear and the heaven and the earth shall flee away; when that
time shall come, the sound of the trump shall call forth those
sleeping millions of all ages, generations and nations who have heard
the sound of the Gospel and have not obeyed it, but until then their
bodies must sleep. They are not worthy of the first resurrection."
"Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection, for on
such the second death has no power." But, those who will not give heed
to the law of the Gospel have no claim on this first resurrection, and
their bodies mast sleep through all these long centuries that are to
intervene between the time of their death and the end of the earth.
Where will their spirits be all that time? Not in any glory; they
cannot inherit a glory until their punishment is past. They are not
permitted to enter into prison. A great many people, and perhaps some
of the Latter-day Saints, have supposed that these characters will go
into prison. I do not know of any revelation anywhere intimating that
any one of this class of persons will ever be put in prison. Where do
they go? To another place altogether different from a prison. A prison
is designed for those who never heard the Gospel here in the flesh,
but yet have committed a few sins without the knowledge of the
revealed law, and who have to be beaten with few stripes in prison.
But these persons who hear the Gospel, as the nations of the present
dispensation are doing, can not go to prison, it is not their place.
They fall below a prison, into outer darkness or hell, where there
will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. There they have to
remain with the devil and his angels in torment and misery until the
final end, then they come forth. Can they come where God and Christ
dwell?[p.323] No, worlds without end they cannot come there. Can they
go into the presence of the heathen where the glory is that of the
moon? No, they cannot even come there. When they are delivered from
the power of Satan and endless death and brought forth, where do they
go? If they do not go into the presence of God the Father, if they are
not counted worthy to enter into the terrestrial world among the
heathen, where will they go? God has provided mansions for them
according to their works here in this world. Having suffered the
vengeance of eternal fire for the space of a thousand years and
upwards, and suffered the extreme penalty of the law of God, they can
now be brought forth to inherit a place where they can be administered
unto by terrestrial beings and by Angels holding the Priesthood, and
where they can receive the Holy Ghost.

Vol. 15,  p.323
Those in the terrestrial world have the privilege of beholding Jesus
sometimes—they can receive the presence of the Son, but not of the
fullness of the Father; but those in the telestial world, still lower,
receive only the Holy Ghost, administered to them by messengers
ordained and sent forth to minister to them for glory and exaltation,
providing they will obey the law that is given unto them, which law
will be telestial law. That will finally exalt them. How far I know
not, but where God and Christ are they can not come, worlds without
end.

Vol. 15,  p.323
Now I think I have set forth these glories and these different degrees
of punishment, and the different classes of people that are to be
judged according to the knowledge that they have here in this world. I
have set these things forth as plainly as I am capable of doing in one
short discouse; and will bring my remarks to close in a few moments.

Vol. 15,  p.323
We are what the Lord calls Latter-day Saints—we have received light
and knowledge to that degree from the heavens that will, if obeyed,
exalt us to these high privileges of which I have been speaking. On
the other hand, if not obeyed, that very light and knowledge are
sufficient to sink us below all things. Hence we stand on dangerous
around in some respects, and we have need to fear lest we sin against
this light and have not the privilege of even the telestial world. He
that rejects this covenant, (let me quote the word of the Lord given
in these last days)—"He that rejecteth this covenant and altogether
turns therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor
in the world to come." Do you hear it, Latter-day Saints? If you do,
then strive with all your hearts to be faithful. Strive to abide in
the covenant that you have received. There is no halfway business with
us—we have got to remain faithful to this covenant, for if we turn
away from it we can not even claim the glory that the world will have
when the last resurrection shall come, but our doom is fixed—we have
to dwell with the devil and his angels to all eternity. Why? Because
they once had light and knowledge, dwelt in the presence of God, and
knew about the glories of his kingdom. But they rebelled, and kept not
the law that was given to them—they sinned against light and knowledge
and were thrust down in chains of darkness, there to remain until the
judgment of the great day. If we do not wish to be placed in their
society for all eternity we must abide in the covenant that we have
made. If we do this, Latter-day Saints, glory and honor and
immortality and eternal lives, and thrones [p.324] and kingdoms and
dominions and creations and worlds will be given to us, and our
posterity will increase until, like the sand on the sea shore, they
cannot be numbered.

Vol. 15,  p.324
Amen.

Joseph F. Smith, February 9, 1873

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper

Discourse By Elder Joseph F. Smith, Delivered in the 13th Ward 
Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Feb. 9, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.324
While preparing the Sacrament the thought was impressed upon my mind
to make a few remarks on the subject, although I will not promise to
confine myself to it. I desire to be led by the Spirit of the Lord.

Vol. 15,  p.324
The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is a very important and sacred
ordinance; however simple it may appear to our minds it is one which
will add to our acceptance before God, or to our condemnation.

Vol. 15,  p.324
It was instituted by the Savior in the place of the law of sacrifice
which was given to Adam, and which continued with his children down to
the days of Christ, but which was fulfilled in his death, he being the
great sacrifice for sin, of which the sacrifices enjoined in the law
given to Adam were a similitude.

Vol. 15,  p.324
The Lord designed in the beginning to place before man, the knowledge
of good and evil, and gave him a commandment to cleave to good and
abstain from evil. But if he should fail, he would give to him the law
of sacrifice and provide a Savior for him, that he might be brought
back again into the presence and favor of God and partake of eternal
life with him. This was the plan of redemption chosen and instituted
by the Almighty. before man was placed on the earth. And when man did
fall by transgressing the lair which was given him, the Lord gave to
him the law of sacrifice, and made it clear to his understanding, that
it was for the purpose of reminding him of that great event that
should transpire in the meridian of time, whereby he and all his
posterity might be brought forth by the power of redemption and the
resurrection from the dead, and partake of eternal life with God in
his kingdom. For this reason Adam and his posterity, from generation
to generation, observed this law, and continually looked forward to a
time when them should be provided for them a means of redemption from
the fall and restoration from death to life, for death [p.325] was the
penalty of the law transgressed, which man was powerless to avert, the
fiat of God being, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die," and this penalty was to follow upon all flesh, all being
as helpless and dependent as he was in this matter. Their only hope of
redemption from the grave and the power of death was in the Savior
whom God had promised, who should suffer death, but being without sin,
having himself never transgressed any law, being without blemish, pure
and holy, he should have power to break the bands of death and from
the grave rise to immortal life, thereby opening the way for all who
should follow him in the regeneration to come forth to life again,
redeemed from the penalty of the law, and from the sin of
transgression to eternal life. In anticipation, therefore, of this
great sacrifice which was to be offered for Adam and his seed, they
offered sacrifices, more or less acceptably, and in conformity to the
pattern given, in proportion to the knowledge of God and of the Gospel
which they had, and their faithfulness from generation to generation,
to the days of Jesus.

Vol. 15,  p.325
They would take the firstlings of their flocks, the best fruits of
their fields, and those things which were emblematic of purity,
innocence, and perfection, symbolical of him who was without sin, and
as "a lamb slain from the foundation of the world," and offer
sacrifices unto God in memory of him, and the matchless and wonderful
deliverance to be wrought out for them by him.

Vol. 15,  p.325
Undoubtedly the knowledge of this law and of other rites and
ceremonies was carried by the posterity of Adam into all lands, and
continued with them, more or less pure, to the flood, and through
Noah, who was a "preacher of righteousness," to those who succeeded
him, spreading out into all nations and countries, Adam and Noah being
the first of their dispensations to receive them from God. What
wonder, then, that we should find relics of Christianity, so to speak,
among the heathens and nations who know not Christ, and whose
histories date back beyond the days of Moses, and even beyond the
flood, independent of and apart from the records of the Bible." The
ground taken by infidels, that "Christianity" sprang from the heathen,
it being found that they have many rites similar to those recorded in
the Bible, &c., is only a vain and foolish attempt to blind the eyes
of men and dissuade them from their faith in the Redeemer of the
world, and from their belief in the Scriptures of divine truth, for if
the heathen have doctrines and ceremonies resembling to some extent
those which are recorded in the Scriptures, it only proves, what is
plain to the Saints, that these are the traditions of the fathers
handed down from generation to generation, from Adam, through Noah,
and that they will cleave to the children to the latest generation,
though they may wander into darkness and perversion, until but a
slight resemblance to their origin, which was divine, can be seen. Yet
this is a stumbling block to some and there are those who endeavor to
make progress on this foundation against the work of God, but it is
absolute folly. How do we know that the Bible accounts of Adam and the
succeeding generations are correct? How do we know anything pertaining
to God and his dealings with men anciently? We know many things by
tradition, naturally, by intuition. "There is a spirit in man, still
the inspiration [p.326] of the Almighty giveth it understanding."
There is an inherent principle in man that leads him to faith in a
superior or a Supreme Being, who has designed and created all things.
The Bible account, being the most rational and indeed only historical
one of the creation and the dealings of God with men, we are
constrained to accept it, in the main, as truth. Then we behold the
wonderful works of God spread out before us, the starry heavens, the
sun and moon, the earth on which we dwell, and its times and seasons,
its fruits and grams, its herbs and varied productions, its fountains
and rivers, mountains, valleys and plains, and the mighty deep, all
teeming with life and animation; also the laws that govern these vast
creations, and man, the crowning work of God on this earth, the
masterpiece, if you please, whom inspiration teaches us is the
offspring of that eternal being who is the Creator of all things, he
being the most perfect in his organization, possessing greater
attributes, powers of reason, and intelligence than all other beings,
constituting him the "lord of creation," and the nearest in
resemblance to the Creator. We look at these things and we cannot but
come to the conclusion that this is not the work of chance, but the
result of matured omniscient designs and purposes, that man is the son
of God, possessing the attributes and image of his Father, and in the
beginning much of this intelligence, insomuch that he was the
companion and associate of God and dwelt with him, and knew no sin.
The Lord gave him the earth as a possession and an inheritance, and
laws for his government, that he might fill the measure of his
creation and have joy therein.

Vol. 15,  p.326
We look at these things in this manner, and they appear rational and
true, and we are convinced that they are true, that the Scriptures,
the Bible and Book of Mormon, are of divine origin.

Vol. 15,  p.326
But is this all we have to convince us of the truth of these things,
and to confirm upon our minds the principles laid down as the Gospel
of Christ, which is called "Mormonism?" These are the only means of
knowing in regard to the truth of religion that the world claim to
have, or that we had prior to becoming acquainted with the doctrines
of this Church, and we were in a measure satisfied because it was the
best light we possessed. There are thousands of the most intelligent
and best educated men that live, and some of the greatest and
brightest minds in many nations now engaged in the dissemination of
what they believe to be the Gospel of Jesus Christ, claiming no other
means of knowing the truth, than tradition and reason, and they appear
to be satisfied with their convictions and faith. Millions of dollars
are expended annually in promulgating their religion, they "compass
land and sea to make proselytes," with no other acknowledged evidence
of the truth of the Bible, or of the divine mission of Jesus Christ,
than that I have cited.

Vol. 15,  p.326
But we go farther than this, although to my mind this mode of
reasoning is conclusive so far as it goes, and no doubt is left as to
the existence of our Father and God, or that he created all things for
a wise purpose, for his glory, and for the glory and happiness of His
children, that the earth and the fullness thereof are God's, although
designed for man and his use; and finally to be given to him as an
everlasting inheritance, when he shall, through obedience, prove
worthy of it. But, as I said before, we go farther than this—there is
"a more sure word of prophecy, [p.327] whereunto we do well to take
heed." There is revelation, a means of direct communication from God
to man, a power which can rend the veil between us and God, open the
eyes of our understanding, and bring us into proximity to him, so that
we may know him as he is, and learn from his own mouth and from the
mouths of his holy messengers his laws and will concerning us, as
anciently. This is the principle by which Adam knew God in the garden
where he was placed in the beginning. God came to him day by day, and
conversed with him as one man converses with another, giving him
instructions and counsel, for man was pure. And when he was cast out,
God did not forsake him, but appeared to him, sent his angels to
communicate with him concerning the plan of salvation, and gave him
the Holy Ghost to be a light in his path through the world, made
dreary to him by being banished from the immediate presence of God.

Vol. 15,  p.327
Men have enjoyed privileges from that day to this, in proportion to
their worthiness, through every Gospel dispensation, thereby obtaining
a knowledge of God for themselves, not being left to the traditions of
the fathers and to reason alone. From time to time the Lord raised up
Prophets, to whom he has appeared, either himself or by his
messengers, as to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and all the Prophets from the begin. ning, revealing his will
and making known his requirements, so that they have had a positive
knowledge given to them of God himself.

Vol. 15,  p.327
We claim that in this dispensation this key of knowledge has been
restored to man, and we stand upon the same footing with the ancients,
and are not left in uncertainty or doubt, the truth of the Gospel
being confirmed upon our understandings by inspiration and revelation
from God, "line upon line, and precept upon precept," until we have
obtained a knowledge of God, "whom to know is life eternal."

Vol. 15,  p.327
The ordinances of the Gospel have been restored in their purity. We
know why the law of sacrifice was given to Adam, and how it is that
relics of the Gospel are found among the heathen.

Vol. 15,  p.327
When Jesus came and suffered, "the just for the unjust," he that was
without sin for him that had sinned, and was subject to the penalty of
the law which the sinner had transgressed, the law of sacrifice was
fulfilled, and in the stead thereof he gave another law, which we call
the "Sacrament of the Lord's Supper," by which his life and mission,
his death and resurrection, the great sacrifice he had offered for the
redemption of man, should be kept in everlasting remembrance, for said
he," This do in remembrance of me, for as often as ye eat this bread,
and drink of this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come."
Therefore this law is to us, what the law of sacrifice was to those
who lived prior to the first coming of the Son of Man, until he shall
come again. Therefore we must honor and keep it sacredly, for there is
a penalty attached to its violation, as we shall see by reading the
words of Paul: 1 Cor. xi, 27, 30.

Vol. 15,  p.327
"Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the
Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

Vol. 15,  p.327
"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and
drink of that cup.

Vol. 15,  p.327
"For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

Vol. 15,  p.327
"For this cause many, are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."

Vol. 15,  p.328
And it is even more plainly given in [p.328] the Book of Mormon, which
I will read. Nephi, 8th chapter, 9th verse, page 471.

Vol. 15,  p.328
And now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words, he
turned his eyes again upon the disciples whom he had chosen, and said
unto them, behold verily, verily I say unto you, I give unto you
another commandment, and then I must go unto my Father, that I may
fulfill other commandments which he hath given me. And now behold,
this is the commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall not
suffer any one knowingly, to partake of my flesh and blood unworthily,
when ye shall minister it, for whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and
blood unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul; therefore
if ye know that a man is unworthy to eat and drink of my flesh and
blood, ye shall forbid him."

Vol. 15,  p.328
These are some of the injunctions and commandments that are given in
relation to the partaking of the Lord's Supper. Now let us be careful
what we do, that we may not incur the penalty affixed to the
transgression of this law, remembering that the ordinances which God
has given are sacred and binding, that his laws are in force,
especially upon all that have covenanted with him in baptism, and upon
all unto whom they come, whether they embrace them or not, as Jesus
said, "This is the condemnation of the world that light has come into
the world, but ye love darkness rather than light." Therefore all men
will be held accountable for the use they make of the light which they
possess. For this reason we are commanded to preach tee Gospel unto
every creature, that those who obey and are baptized may be saved, and
those who reject it may be condemned.

Vol. 15,  p.328
I bear my testimony to these things. I know that Joseph Smith was and
is a Prophet of the living God, and President Young is also a Prophet
of God, and that by inspiration and revelation, and not of man. God
bless you and help us to be faithful, is my prayer in the name of
Jesus. Amen.[p.329] 

Orson Pratt, January 26, 1873

Latter-Day Judgments

Discourse By Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the 13th Ward 
Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, January 26, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.329
If I feel the liberty of the Spirit to do so, I shall read a number of
quotations, this afternoon, from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants
and from the Bible, and perhaps from the Book of Mormon in relation to
some of the great events which are about to take place on the earth,
more especially the judgments that are coming to pass speedily. The
first that i will read will be the 9th and 10th paragraphs of a
revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, July 23rd, 1837—

Vol. 15,  p.329
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Darkness covereth the earth, and gross
darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt
before my face. Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants
of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation,
of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation, and as a whirlwind it
shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord.

Vol. 15,  p.329
And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth,
saith the Lord. First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have
professed to know my name, and have not known me, and have blasphemed
against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord.

Vol. 15,  p.329
I will make a few remarks upon these passages as I read them. It seems
that this is a dispensation peculiar in its nature, differing from
former dispensations. It is a dispensation of mercy and of judgment—of
mercy to those who receive the message of mercy, but of judgment, to
those who reject that message. In other words it is a dispensation in
which the Gospel has been revealed from heaven, the servants of God
called to labor in the vineyard for the last time, and in which the
Lord intends to pour out great and terrible judgments upon the nations
of the wicked after they have been warned by the sound of the
everlasting Gospel. We are told in the revelation I have just read,
that vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth; that
it is a day of wrath, burning, desolation, weeping, mourning and
lamentation, and that as a whirlwind these things shall come upon the
inhabitants of all the earth.

Vol. 15,  p.329
Where shall these great and severe judgments begin? Upon what people
does the Lord intend to commence this great work of vengeance? Upon
the people who profess to know his name and still blaspheme it in the
midst of his house. They are the ones designated for some of the most
terrible judgments of the latter days. This should be a warning to the
Latter-day Saints; and not only those who are parents, but those who
are children should diligently consider whether they are numbered
among hose who are mentioned in the 10th [p.330] paragraph, which I
have read. Upon my house, saith the Lord, shall it begin, first upon
those among you who have professed my name and have not known me and
have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house.

Vol. 15,  p.330
There are some who have been baptized into this Church, baptized,
perhaps, when they were eight years of age, entered into a covenant
with the Lord to keep his commandments according to the best of their
ability and understanding, some of whom, when they have been brought
into temptation, have turned away from that covenant. Have they
blasphemed the name of the Lord? I do know that as I walk along the
streets of Salt Lake City, I often see boys from six or eight up to
fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, and perhaps twenty years of age collected
together, and so far as my ears are concerned, I can bear testimony
that they have no regard nor respect for the word of the Lord nor for
the covenants into which they have entered, for they blaspheme his
name in the midst of his house or kingdom. Will the Lord hold them
guiltless? Can they escape his wrath and indignation? Can their
parents escape the judgments of the Almighty if they have neglected to
teach them the wickedness of taking the name of the Lord in vain? If
the parents have not done this the sins of their young and
inexperienced offspring will rest more or less upon their heads. If
the children are lost the parents who have not properly instructed
them may be lost also, for the Lord has said in one of the revelations
which this book contains that inasmuch as they who are parents do not
teach their children the doctrine of repentance, and faith in Christ,
and the doctrine of baptism, that they may be baptized when they are
eight years old, and be confirmed by the laying on of hands for the
reception of the Holy Ghost, the sins of the children shall be upon
the heads of the parents. Again he says "You shall teach your children
to walk uprightly before the Lord, and teach them to pray to and have
faith in God, and if you do not these things, the sins of your
children shall rest upon your heads. And this shall be a law unto my
people in Zion, and in all the stakes of Zion that shall be
established."

Vol. 15,  p.330
Do we teach our children to walk uprightly and keep the commandments
of the Most High? Do we read to them the revelations of God, and show
them how wicked it is to take his name in vain? Do we point out to
them how that we should not curse ourselves, nor one another, nor
anything that is about us? Do we not often hear children in the
streets of our city heaping curses upon the heads of their fellows?
"D—n your soul," is often used by them; "d—n my eyes," and d—n this
thing, and d—n that thing, as though they had no fear of God before
them. Is this wicked or is it not? Every person who reads the word of
the Lord, knows that it is wicked; and these children growing up thus
in our midst go from one degree of sin to another until they finally
lose, altogether, the Spirit of the Lord. What will be the
consequences? There is a day of reckoning and judgment coming, and it
shall begin at the Lord's house, and from there it shall go forth
among all the nations of the earth. Let parents awake and see to it
lest the same destruction that will overtake their children because of
their apostacy come upon them also.

Vol. 15,  p.331
To show what the Lord has said further in relation to some of the
[p.331] judgments which are coming upon the earth, I will read the
third paragraph of a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in
March, 1829, before this Church was organized. It will be found on
page 173 of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and is as follows—

Vol. 15,  p.331
"Behold, verily I say unto you, I have reserved those things which I
have entrusted unto you, my servant Joseph, for a wise purpose in me,
and it shall be made known unto future generations; but this
generation shall have my word through you; and in addition to your
testimony, the testimony of three of my servants, whom I shall call
and ordain, unto whom I will show these things, and they shall go
forth with my words that are given through you; yea, they shall know
of a surety that these things are true, for from heaven will I declare
it unto them. I will give them power that they may behold and view
these things as they are; and to none else will I grant this power, to
receive this same testimony among this generation, in this the
beginning of the rising up and the coming forth of my Church out of
the wilderness; clear as the moon, and fair as the sun, and terrible
as an army with banners. And the testimony of three witnesses will I
send forth of my word; and behold whosoever believeth on my words,
them will I visit with the manifestation of my Spirit, and they shall
be born of me, even of water and of the Spirit. And you must wait yet
a little while, for ye are not yet ordained; and their testimony shall
also go forth unto the condemnation of this generation if they harden
their hearts against them; for a desolating scourge shall go forth
among the inhabitants of the earth and shall continue to be poured out
from time to time, if they repent not, until the earth is empty, and
the inhabitants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the
brightness of my coming. Behold, I tell you these things, even as I
also told the people of the destruction of Jerusalem, and my word
shall be verified at this time as it hath hitherto been verified."

Vol. 15,  p.331
Here we see what the Lord promised unto his servant Joseph concerning
the testimony that should go forth unto this generation. Those things
which the Lord had entrusted Joseph Smith with were the plates from
which the Book of Mormon was translated, Joseph being then engaged in
that work. The Lord gave him a promise that there should be three
witnesses raised up who should know from heaven of the truth of those
plates. Joseph, at that time, had no knowledge who these witnesses
should be, but a promise was made that they should be raised up.
Before that year expired—the year 1829—there were three witnesses
raised up, namely Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer.
They saw the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and
they were commanded to bear record of them to all peoples, nations and
tongues to whom the work should be sent. These three witnesses saw the
Angel of the Most High God, and after the work had been published with
their names contained therein, the Lord began to raise up his Church
and to bring it out of the wilderness. It was in April, 1830, that,
the Church was organized, a little over a year after this revelation
was given, and those who believed in the Book of Mormon and in the
things here spoken, were visited by the manifestations of the Spirit
of the Lord—they were born of the water and of the Spirit—and their
testimony went forth in connection with that of the [p.332] three
witnesses, and the Lord says that through the united testimonies of
those who believed in this work he would condemn this generation, that
he would send forth a desolating scourge, and it should be poured out
upon the inhabitants of the earth until the earth should be Empty and
desolate inasmuch as its inhabitants would not repent of their sins.
The Lord informed us on that occasion that it should be with the
inhabitants Of the whole earth as it was with the inhabitants of
Jerusalem in ancient times, that is, as he spoke concerning their
destruction and his word was verified, so should they be verified st
this time in relation to the inhabitants of the earth in the latter
days. Consequently we see from these re-relations, that the judgments
of the Almighty are to be universal—upon all the earth desolation and
destruction, a day of vengeance and burning and sore calamity until
the inhabitants are wasted away and the earth made empty and desolate.

Vol. 15,  p.332
We will now read other revelations confirmatory of the same thing, so
that we can judge a little concerning the nature of the judgments
which will be poured out. In a revelation given in February, 1831, the
Lord thus speaks of his servants, in the fifth paragraph, near the
middle—

Vol. 15,  p.332
Lift up your voices and spare not. Call upon the nations to repent;
both old and young, both bond and free, saying, prepare yourselves for
the great day of the Lord; for if I, who am a man, do lift up my voice
and call upon you to repent, and ye hate me, what will ye say when the
day cometh when the thunders shall utter their voices from the ends of
the earth, speaking to the ears of all that live, saying, repent, and
prepare for the great day of the Lord; yea, and again, when the
lightnings shall streak forth from the east unto the west, and shalt
utter forth their voices unto all that live, and make the ears of all
tingle that hear, saying these words, repent ye, for the great day of
the Lord is come.

Vol. 15,  p.332
And again, the Lord shall utter his voice out of heaven, saying,
hearken, O ye nations of the earth, and hear the words of that God who
made you. O, ye nations of the earth, how often would I have gathered
you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye
would not? How oft have I called upon you by the mouth of my servants,
and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the
voice of thunderings, and by the voice of lightnings and by the voice
of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes, and great hailstorms,
and by the voice of famines and pestilences of every kind, and by the
great sound of a trump, and by the voice of judgment, and by the voice
of mercy all the day long, and by the voice of glory and honor, and
the riches of eternal life, and would have saved you with an
everlasting salvation, but ye would not? Behold the day has come, when
the cup of the wrath of mine indignation is full.

Vol. 15,  p.332
Here we perceive how long the Lord will bear with the people—all the
day long, stretching forth his hand, pleading with them by the voice
of lightnings, thunders, earthquakes, great hailstorms, famines,
pestilences of every kind, and by the voice of mercy and judgment, yet
they will not repent, but will harden their hearts when all these
things go forth among them, from nation to nation, people to people,
and from kingdom to kingdom, and they will refuse the message of
salvation. It is true that the Lord has not yet spoken by the voice of
thunders, calling upon the people from the ends of the earth, saying,
"Repent and prepare for the great day of the Lord," but such an event
will come; and when it does come it will not be a mere ordinary,
common thunderstorm, such as we experience occasionally, extending
only over a small extent of country, but the Lord will cause the
thunders to utter their voices from the ends of the earth until they
sound in the ears of all that live, and these thunders shall use the
wry words here predicted—"Repent O ye inhabitants of the earth, and
prepare the way of the Lord, prepare yourselves for the [p.333] great
day of the Lord." These words will be distinctly heard by every soul
that lives, whether in America, Asia, Africa, Europe, or upon the
islands of the sea. And not only the thunders, but the lightnings will
utter forth their voices in the ears of all that live, saying,"
Repent, for the great day of the Lord is come." Besides the voices of
thunder and lightning, the Lord himself, before he comes in his glory,
will speak by his own voice out of heaven in the ears of all that live
commanding them to repent and to prepare for his coming. I do not know
how the Lord will send forth his voice so as to make all the people on
the four quarters of the globe hear it, for the loudest sound that we
can produce only extends over a small area, a few miles at most; but
the Lord has power to make his voice heard by all that live on the
four quarters of the earth, and when he fulfills this prediction, all
that live will literally hear the words that are here named; and the
wicked will perish out of the earth as they did in the days of Noah,
and so far as they are concerned the earth will be made empty and
desolate.

Vol. 15,  p.333
I will now read a paragraph, testifying in different words to the same
things in a revelation given in August 1833. Speaking of Zion that is
to be built up in Jackson County, Mo., and of the Temple that is to be
reared there unto his name, the Lord says:—

Vol. 15,  p.333
And inasmuch as my people build an house unto me in the name of the
Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it that it be
not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it; yea, and my presence shall
be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that
shall come into it shall see God; but if it be defiled I will not come
into it, and my glory shall not be there, for I will not come into
unholy temples.

Vol. 15,  p.333
And now, behold, if Zion do these things she shall prosper, and spread
herself and become very glorious, very great and very terrible, and
the nations of the earth shall honor her, and shall say, Surely, Zion
is the city of our God, and surely Zion cannot fall, neither be moved
out of her place, for God is there, and the hand of the Lord is there,
and he hath sworn by the power of his might to be her salvation and
her high tower: therefore, verily, thus saith the Lord, let Zion
rejoice, for this is Zion—THE PURE IN HEART; therefore, let Zion
rejoice while all the wicked shall mourn; for behold, and lo,
vengeance cometh speedily upon the ungodly as the whirlwind, and who
shall escape it? The Lord's scourge shall pass over by night and by
day, and the report thereof shall vex all people; yet it shall not be
staved until the Lord come; for the indignation of the Lord is kindled
against their abominations and all their wicked works; nevertheless
Zion shall escape if she observe to do all things whatsoever I have
commanded her, but if she observe not to do whatsoever I have
commanded her, I will visit her according to all her works, with sore
affliction, with pestilence, with plague, with sword, with vengeance,
with devouring fire; nevertheless, let it be read this once in their
ears, that I, the Lord, have accepted of their offering, and if she
sin no more, none of these things shall come upon her, and I will
bless her with blessings, and multiply a multiplicity of blessings
upon her, and upon her generations for ever and ever, saith the Lord
your God. Amen.

Vol. 15,  p.333
Here we perceive what the Lord intends to do both for Zion and for the
wicked. Zion shall spread herself if she will only keep the
commandments of God, and she will become great, glorious and terrible;
or as one of old said—The church will come forth out of the
wilderness, leaning upon the arm of her beloved, and she will be as
fair as the sun, as clear as the moon, and terrible as an army with
banners. So will Zion be clothed upon with the glory of her God and
armed with the panoply of Heaven, and the nations will fear and
tremble because of her, for God will be in the midst of Zion, and he
hath sworn by the power of his might that he will be her refuge, her
high tower and her strength, and he will uphold and sustain her, if
she keep his commandments in all things; but if not, here is another
declaration to all—fathers [p.334] and mothers, middle aged, old and
young—who transgress the commandments of God, "If Zion does not
observe to do all things whatsoever that I have commanded her, I will
visit her according to all her works, I will visit her with sore
tribulations—with pestilence, plague, vengeance, sword, with the flame
of devouring fire," &c.

Vol. 15,  p.334
The Lord means what he says. He has told us in one of the first
revelations published in this book, that though the heavens and the
earth should pass away, not one of the prophecies and predictions
contained in these revelations should go unfulfilled; therefore if
Zion sins, if her people suffer pride to arise in their hearts, and
follow after the foolish fashions of the Gentiles who come into their
midst, and are lifted up one above another, the rich and wealthy
looking down upon the poor with scorn and derision because they cannot
clothe themselves in the same costly apparel as the rich, and begin to
make distinctions of classes among themselves, behold the Lord will
visit Zion according to all her works, and he will purge her and pour
forth his judgments upon her, according to that which he has spoken.

Vol. 15,  p.334
I hope that we shall take a course to prevent these things coming upon
us. It is better to be chastened and receive judgment in this world,
even if it be sword, pestilence, famine and the flame of a devouring
fire, if we can be brought to repentance thereby, than to remain
unchastised and go down swiftly to the pit. If we, because of our
sins, need chastising by the Almighty, let the chastisement come while
we are in the flesh, that we may repent; and I would say still
further, and pray in the name of the Lord, "Oh Lord, if chastisement
must come, may it come from thine hands." When the Lord through the
Prophet gave David the choice of one of three terrible judgments—first
to fall into the hands of his enemies, and for the people of Israel to
be afflicted many years; second, a lengthy famine, and third, three
days' pestilence, he chose the three days' pestilence, for he said it
was better to fall into the hands of the Lord, who was full of tender
mercy, and who might repent and withdraw the chastisement, than to
fall into the hands of the wicked who have no mercy. I would say the
same so far as my feelings are concerned, and if it be needful let the
Lord chasten those who need it, and not suffer us to continue in our
sin, and to drew and flourish like the green bay tree, as the wicked
do until we are cut off finally from the earth and cast away in the
eternal worlds. It is better for us to be saved there if we are
punished here.

Vol. 15,  p.334
The scourge of the Lord, we are told in this revelation, shall go
forth by day and by night, and the report thereof shall vex all
people. Among all those revelations concerning the scourges that were
to go forth, the one which I have read was given long before the
cholera broke out. The first year that we have any knowledge of that
terrible plague, if I mistake not, was 1833, some four years after
this revelation was given that the Lord would send forth scourges. He
did send forth a scourge that seemed to sweep over all the nations of
the earth. Did it come among the Latter-day Saints? It did. Why?
Because they did not keep his commandments, and as the Destroyer was
abroad laying waste the nations, the Latter-day Saints had to receive
their share, I mean those among us who did not keep the commandments
of the [p.335] Lord. When we were journeying between Ohio and the
State of Missouri, Joseph told us if we did not keep the commandments
of God and hearken to his counsel we should die off like rotten sheep
in that camp. There was no sickness among us at that time, and
probably some in the camp did not believe that the words of the
Prophet would be fulfilled; but after we had traveled a few weeks, and
did not do that which we were told, we learned to our sorrow that the
hand of the Lord was upon us, and found the words of the Prophet
verified to the very letter, and numbers were laid low by cholera.

Vol. 15,  p.335
The Lord has told us in this book that he would scourge this people,
and would not suffer them to go on in wickedness as he does the world.
He will make a difference in this respect between those who profess
his name and the world. The world may prosper. They have not the
religion of Heaven among them; they have no revelators and prophets
among them; they have not the baptism of the Holy Ghost, nor the gifts
and blessings of God among them, and consequently though they
transgress the revealed word of God, he suffers them to go on,
apparently Without checking them, until they are fully ripened in
iniquity, then he sends forth judgment and cuts them off, instead of
chastening them from time to time. Not so with the Saints. God has
decreed, from the early rise of the Church, that we should be
afflicted by our enemies, and by various afflictions, and he would
contend with this people and chasten them from time to time until Zion
should be clean before him. He has done this, and more especially
while we were in the States. We were inexperienced, and did not then
understand the necessity of strictly obeying every word spoken by the
mouth of God, and we had to suffer because of this. We were first
driven from Kirtland, in the State of Ohio; driven again from Jackson
County, in the State of Missouri; again from Clay County into other
counties in Missouri; again from Far West and Caldwell County; driven
from the State of Illinois, though we were prospered there until the
people waxed wealthy through their industry, then we were driven
again. We have been literally fulfilling the prophecies contained in
this good old book, the Bible. Zion has been tossed to and fro and not
comforted. She has been driven from place to place and from State to
State, until finally she was driven into the wilderness. What have all
these afflictions been for? To fulfill the word of the Lord by the
mouth of the Prophets. Joseph Smith told us, or the Lord did through
him, and it is printed here in this book, that when he first planted
this people in Jackson County, in the State of Missouri, if we did not
take such and such a course, our enemies would come upon us, our blood
would be shed by them, and we should be scattered and driven from
place to place, and this has been literally fulfilled upon our heads.

Vol. 15,  p.335
I do not know that it is necessary to say any more about the new
revelations, let us turn now to some of the old ones. I might refer
you to many prophecies contained in the Book of Mormon, as well as
those contained in the Book of Covenants relative to the great
judgments of the latter days, but I perceive that shall not have time
to do so, and also to refer to some that are in the Bible. I will turn
now to the revelations of St. John, and will refer first to a few
sayings contained in [p.336] the 14th chapter, commencing at the 6th
verse:—

Vol. 15,  p.336
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.

Vol. 15,  p.336
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the
hour of his judgment is come.

Vol. 15,  p.336
It seems that the dispensation in which the Angel should fly was to be
characterized as a dispensation of judgment. Immediately after the
Angel brought the Gospel judgment was to be poured out on the nations
of the earth. In the 8th verse we read, "And there followed another
Angel, saying, 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication.' And a third Angel followed, saying with a loud voice,
'If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in
his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the
wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his
indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the
presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb.'"

Vol. 15,  p.336
To show that this preaching of the Gospel and the pouring out of these
judgments upon spiritual Babylon the Great, was a work which should
precede the coming of the Son of Man, I will read the 14th verse and
to the end of the chapter

Vol. 15,  p.336
And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat
like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in
his hand a sharp sickle.

Vol. 15,  p.336
And another Angel came out of the Temple, crying with a loud voice to
him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reap; for the time
is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

Vol. 15,  p.336
And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and
the earth was reaped.

Vol. 15,  p.336
And another Angel came out of the Temple which is in heaven, he also
having a sharp sickle.

Vol. 15,  p.336
And another Angel Came out from the altar, which had power over fire,
and cued with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying,
Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the
earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.

Vol. 15,  p.336
And the Angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the
vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath
of God.

Vol. 15,  p.336
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of
the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand
and six hundred furlongs.

Vol. 15,  p.336
You see then from this what is to follow the coming of that Angel with
the Gospel. The one representing the Son of man is to thrust in his
sickle and reap the earth, then the Angels are sent forth to thrust,
in their sickles and also to reap. These Angels are to gather the
clusters of the vine of the earth into one place that they may be
punished and the judgment which will overtake them who are thus
gathered together will he so severe as to cause the blood that is shed
to reach to the horses' bridles. That is called the winepress of the
Lord. Would you like to know where that soot is, and why the people
are gathered there? the Lord will sutter three unclean spirits, John
tells us in another place, to go forth about that time, spirits of
devils working miracles, and they shall gather together the kings and
great men of the earth and their armies to a place called in the
Hebrew tongue Armageddon, the Lord calls it a great wine press. Where
is this Armageddon? It is a little east of the old city of Jerusalem.

Vol. 15,  p.336
In order to show you that that is the wine press where the Lord will
pour out these judgments, let me call your attention to the third
chapter of the prophecies of Joel, where this same thing is alluded
to, the valley of Jehoshaphat mentioned by [p.337] Joel, and the
valley of Armageddon spoken of by John, being very near together, in
the same neighborhood. Joel says—

Vol. 15,  p.337
For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again
the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 

Vol. 15,  p.337
I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the
valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people
and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations
and parted my land.

Vol. 15,  p.337
In the 9th verse he says—Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles, Prepare
war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let
them come up;

Vol. 15,  p.337
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears;
let the weak say, I am strong.

Vol. 15,  p.337
Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves
together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O
LORD.

Vol. 15,  p.337
The Lord will come with all his Saints in the clouds of heaven just
about the time this army gets into the valley of Jehoshaphat.

Vol. 15,  p.337
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

Vol. 15,  p.337
"Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe"—the same harvest
mentioned in the 14th chapter of John.

Vol. 15,  p.337
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down, for
the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

Vol. 15,  p.337
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the
LORD is near in the valley of decision.

Vol. 15,  p.337
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw
their shining.

Vol. 15,  p.337
If you want to know about the time when the sun and moon are to be
darkened, and when the stars will no longer give any light, and when
there will be total darkness over all the face of the earth, here is
an event predicted so that you can not mistake. When you see the
nations of the earth, especially the heathen nations, and also those
north of Jerusalem—the great nation of Russia and other nations on the
continent of Asia, together with many in Europe, gather up against
Jerusalem after the Jews have returned and rebuilt their city and
Temple, and when their armies become exceeding great multitudes in the
valley of decision, then you may look for the Lord to come down with
his mighty ones, and for the constellations of heaven to be darkened.

Vol. 15,  p.337
The LORD also shall roar out of Zion and utter his voice from
Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD
will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of
Israel.

Vol. 15,  p.337
The children of Israel as well as Judah will put, their trust in the
Lord God of their fathers in that day, and they will look for
deliverance from his hand. They will know that they can not stand
without the aid of the Lord against all those from the north
quarters—Gog and Magog, all the hosts of Russia, and of the various
nations round about that come up there and cover the land like a
cloud. They will know that unless God helps them they can not obtain a
victory over this mighty host; but they will put their trust in the
Lord, and he will "roar out of Zion and utter his voice from
Jerusalem," and he will be the hope of his people and the strength of
the children of Israel.

Vol. 15,  p.337
So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy
mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers
pass through her any more.

Vol. 15,  p.337
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop
down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers
of Judah shall flow with waters, and the fountain shall come ferris of
the house of the LORD, and shall water, the valley of Shittim.

Vol. 15,  p.337
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edens shall be a desolate wilderness,
for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed
innocent blood in their land.

Vol. 15,  p.337
But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to
generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have [p.338] not
cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

Vol. 15,  p.338
Let me make a few remarks here in relation to the difference between
Zion and Jerusalem. Zion will be favored with the presence of the Lord
before the Jews are permitted to behold him. The Lord will come to the
Temple of Zion before he comes to the Temple at Jerusalem. Before he
comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, he will
manifest himself in the city and Temple of Zion; or in other words all
the pure in heart who are permitted in those days to enter into the
Lord's Temple in Zion, which will be built on this continent., the
Lord will reveal his face onto them, they will see him and he will
dwell in the midst of Zion. His throne will be there. This land—the
land given to the children of ancient Joseph, now called the American
continent—will be the land of Zion, and the great central capital on
this land will be the New Jerusalem; and the inhabitants of that city
and their habitations and Temple will be overshadowed by the glory of
God. But after he has come to and roared out of Zion, after he has
"suddenly come to his Temple," and visited his people there in the
character of a Shepherd, and dwelt in their midst for a long space of
time, he then goes with all his Saints to visit old Jerusalem, the
last work before the day of rest shall come being to visit those
nations that are gathered together in the great winepress to be
trodden without the city on the east side of the city, and there the
blood of horses, camels and men will be mingled together, and in those
small valleys, so great will be the number slain that the blood will
reach to the horses' bridles, for a certain distance, according to the
words of the Lord.

Vol. 15,  p.338
I do not know that I have time to enter into a full investigation of
some other terrible judgments that are to come, but I will refer to a
few of them mentioned in the revelations of St. John. Before doing so,
however, let me say for your information that the Lord gave through
the Prophet Joseph Smith what is termed a key to John's revelation.
The Prophet on one occasion asked the Lord what was meant by the
sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels, and the Lord answered
him in this language, as near as I can recollect: "As the Lord made
the earth and the heavens in six days, and on the seventh day finished
his work and made man out of the dust of the earth, so in the
beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the
earth and redeem man, even all that is within his power, and shall
seal all things unto the end of all things. And the sounding of the
seven trumps is the preparing and finishing of his work in the morning
of the seventh thousand years."

Vol. 15,  p.338
This gives a clue to the time when the seven angels will sound. They
will not sound their trumpets in the evening of the sixth thousand
years, but when the six thousand years shall have passed away from the
creation, and the morning of the seventh has commenced, then these
great events will happen. Jesus does not come immediately at the
commencement of the seventh thousand years, but as there was a work in
the beginning which he performed on the seventh day, such as planting
the garden and placing men therein, so there will be a certain work to
be performed in the beginning of the seventh thousand years, namely,
the resurrection and redemption of man, including the heathen nations
and those people in prison who have died [p.339] without the law and
have been punished for their sins. When the Lord has caused these
seven angels to sound their trumps, he will bring about all these
purposes which he has ordained, and which must be accomplished in that
morning. Before Jesus appears in the clouds of heaven they are to
sound to prepare the way of the Lord before his coming. What will take
place when they sound? I will tell you some few things.

Vol. 15,  p.339
When the first angel sounds there will come upon the inhabitants of
the earth a great hailstorm mingled with fire and blood, and so severe
will be this storm of fire and blood, that one-third of the trees will
be destroyed, and all the green grass will be burned up. The second
angel will sound his trump, and the Lord will pour out his judgments
upon the water, and a third part of the sea will become blood, and in
consequence of the corruption thereof one-third part of all the
animals living in the sea will die.

Vol. 15,  p.339
When the third angel sounds his trump, John says he saw a star fall
from heaven to earth, burning as it were like a lamp, and it fell upon
the fountains and rivers of water, and they were turned into
bitterness, and the name of the star Was called "Wormwood," and great
were the numbers of the people who perished and died because of the
bitterness of the waters.

Vol. 15,  p.339
The fourth angel will sound his trump and certain judgments will
follow. By and by the fifth angel will sound his trump, and an angel
will descend holding the key of what is termed the bottomless pit, and
he will open the door of this pit, and there shall issue therefrom
certain terrible creatures called locusts. And it will be given unto
them to torment men five months—the time which is to intervene between
the sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpets, and during that time
these awful creatures, such as neither we nor our forefathers, in all
the generations before us, have ever seen on the earth, will torment
the wicked. These creatures have wings, hair like women, teeth like
lions, tails like scorpions, and with their stings they will torment
the wicked for five months. But it will not be given unto them to
destroy men, only to torment them. That will be a terrible judgment.
They will haves king over them, whose name in the Greek tongue is
"Apollyon," in other words the devil. He has power over them and with
them, and commands these awful beings, and they go forth and torment
the inhabitants of the earth, but are not permitted to kill them. Men
in those days will seek for death, but it will flee from them,
although they Will greatly desire it on account of the terrible
torment they endure.

Vol. 15,  p.339
When the Lord permits the devil to go forth and torment people he has
considerable power. You can see this in the case of Job. When the
devil stirred up the Lord to torment Job, the devil was permitted to
go and strike Job with pestilence, with sore boils, and to make him
feel sorrow, pain and distress. Said the devil to the Lord, "He will
curse you to your face," and to prove whether he would or not Job was
sorely smitten and afflicted; and so will men be afflicted by these
awful creatures which will issue from the bottomless pit, and are
under his command.

Vol. 15,  p.339
By and by the sixth angel sounds his trumpet, and what will take
place? The powers around the great river Euphrates in Asia will be
loosed, and they will come forth riding on horses, and the number of
them is two hundred thousand thousand, that is two hundred millions—a
[p.340] great and tremendous army, greater than the inhabitants of the
earth ever saw before. Who will be with them? This same class of
beings with animals such as the earth never saw nor heard of, only as
they heard of them in the revelations of St. John. Animals with
brimstone and fire issuing from their mouths, having tails like
serpents, and heads to their tails, and with these one-third part of
the inhabitants of the earth are to be destroyed. How long will it be
before they are destroyed? There will he at least a year pass away
between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets. This great
army is prepared for a day, and an hour, a month and a year. Now I
have named some of the judgments, not all, that will transpire before
the coming of the Son of Man. Let me refer in a few words to some of
the last ones that will come before Jesus makes his appearance, called
the seven last plagues. I shall only refer to a few of them.

Vol. 15,  p.340
One of the four beasts gives seven vials filled with the wrath of God
to the seven Angels that came out of the Temple and Tabernacle in
heaven, and these vials are to be poured out upon the earth. We find
that the inhabitants are to be visited with greater judgments than
what they have been heretofore, so much so that when the second Angel
pours out his vial upon the great waters, instead of a third part of
them becoming blood, they all become as the blood of a dead man; and
there shall not any living thing be preserved in the great mass of
waters on our globe, but everything living in the sea will perish, the
whole ocean becoming as the blood of a dead man. Quite a difference
between the blood of a dead man and the blood that comes from a living
man—one is very nauseous when compared with the other. No wonder then
that everything having life in the sea should perish.

Vol. 15,  p.340
A third Angel pours out his vial on the fountains and rivers, and they
also become blood. You have already learned that when the third Angel
sounded his trump the third part of the waters become bitter with
wormwood, and it was accompanied by certain judgments not universal,
but when the last plagues are poured out the fountains and rivers of
water, and the ocean become blood. Does this cause the people to
repent? One would imagine that all the earth would repent when they
see judgments of this kind; yet we are told that for all this the
people will blaspheme God, because of their plagues, sores and pains,
and the calamities they have to endure. They are given up to hardness
of heart, the Spirit of God is withdrawn teem them, and instead of
repenting of their evil deeds, their murders, sorceries, whoredoms,
idolatries, thefts and various, crimes that are mentioned, they
continue in their wickednesss, and judgment after judgment is poured
upon them until they are consumed.

Vol. 15,  p.340
When the rivers and fountains are turned into blood, a certain Angel
cries out saying, "Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art and wast and
shall be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood
of Saints and Prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for
they are worthy." This shows that there will be Prophets in those days
and that these people will shed their blood. A great many people think
there are to be no more Prophets; but the Prophets have their blood
shed in those days, and God will give the wicked blood to
drink.[p.341] 

Vol. 15,  p.341
There are many other things on my mind that I would be glad to lay
before you concerning the terrible judgments of the last days, but I
have already occupied too much of your time. We are living in this
Territory, comparatively at peace, but unless the Latter-day Saints
live according to the light which God has revealed to them, they
cannot escape. If God sends judgments upon the nations, he will send
them upon us. If he cuts off the horses of the nations, as he has said
in the Book of Mormon that be will, upon the face of this land, unless
we keep his commandments he will cut off ours. If he visits the
inhabitants of the earth with pestilence and blood, he will visit us
in a similar manner unless we keep his commandments. If the
inhabitants of the earth who know not God are to perish because of
their wickedness, how much more will he visit those who have greater
light and knowledge if they will not keep his commandments? The Lord
sent forth the destroyer in ancient times to lay waste the first-born
of the Egyptians, pointing out the means by which his people might
escape, and those who failed to do as they were commanded had no
promise of being preserved; so in these days when judgments come, they
will begin among his Saints, and those who have not attended to the
word of wisdom and the laws of life that he has pointed out and have
no claim to mercy and favor, God is no respecter of persons. They who
have great light and yet sin will endure tribulation and indignation
from his hand unless they repent. Amen.

Wilford Woodruff, February 23, 1873

His Acquaintance With the Deceased—Incidents in the 
Latter's Life Since He Joined the Church

Remarks By Elder Wilford Woodruff, at the Funeral Services 
of Elder William Pitt, in the 14th Ward Assembly Rooms, 
Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, Feb. 23, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.341
My friends here kindly granted me the privilege of making some opening
remarks on this occasion. I had an appointment in Ogden today, but
when I heard of the death of brother Pitt I felt as though I wanted to
attend his funeral. If I had heard that one of my own family had
dropped dead I should not have been more surprised than I was when I
heard of the death of brother Pitt. I was conversing with him in the
[p.342] street, I think the day before he was hurt, and he was then,
apparently, cheerful, comfortable, well and happy. When I heard that
he was dead, I immediately went to his house, visited his family and
saw his body. I will say that I seldom or ever give way to weeping,
either for the living or the dead, but upon this occasion, when I saw
his body lie cold in death, all the early scenes of my acquaintance
with him in the Herefordshire mission rushed upon me like a whirlwind,
and I confess that I manifested a good deal of weakness in giving way
to weeping before the family. Solomon says there is a time to weep and
a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to rejoice; and there are
times when reason will excuse weeping. Anthony said, "I come to bury
Caesar, not to praise him," yet Anthony did, on that occasion, portray
before the Senate and citizens of Rome the virtues of Caesar in his
public life. We have come to bury brother Pitt, and I do not consider
it wrong to speak of the virtues and good deeds of the dead any more
than of those of the living.

Vol. 15,  p.342
My first acquaintance with brother Pitt was of such a character as to
cause the formation of ties between us of no ordinary nature, as it
is, I may say, with all the associations of the Elders of Israel. The
world know nothing about these ties. The ties they form together are
very different from those formed between the servants of God, who are
associated together in the Holy Priesthood and by the power of the
Holy Ghost and the inspiration of the Lord our God. These are ties
that no men comprehend unless they occupy the same position that we
occupy. I have found this in my whole career with this Church and
kingdom. I love the brethren and the Saints of God, because we are
associated together in a great, noble and Godlike cause; and these
associations are to ourselves, and what more can a man do than lay
down his life for his friend? How many are there in this room and in
this Church and kingdom, who, in case of necessity, would be willing
to lay down their lives to save their brethren? There are thousands of
them.

Vol. 15,  p.342
I wish, and feel that it is my privilege, to refer to my first
acquaintance with brother Pitt, whose body lies before us to-day. The
history of the Herefordshire mission is before the world and before
the Church, and I wish in a few words to refer to that mission, for it
was there that I became acquainted with brother Pitt. Brother Taylor
and i were the first two of the Quorum of the Twelve who arrived in
England in 1840. Brother Taylor went to Liverpool, and I went to the
Staffordshire potteries. I labored there with brother Alfred Cordon,
who is now in the spirit world. We were preaching almost every night,
and we baptized some nearly every meeting. It was a very good mission.

Vol. 15,  p.342
Some eighty miles from there, in Herefordshire, there were people who
had never seen a Latter-day Saint, and never heard the Gospel. Some
six hundred of them had broken off from the Wesleyan Methodists, and
called themselves the "United Brethren." They were under the
presidency of Elder Thos. Kington. Shey were searching for light and
truth. As a body they had called upon the Lord, and had advanced just
as far as they could with what light they had. They prayed to the Lord
that he would open the way before them, that they might advance in the
things of his kingdom. While in this position I went one evening to
fill [p.343] an appointment in the Town Hall, at the town of Hanley.
There was a very large congregation, and I had appointments out for
two or three weeks in that town and adjacent villages. As I went to
take my seat the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and said to me, "This
is the last meeting you will hold with this people for many days." I
was surprised, because I did not know, of course what the Lord wanted
me to do. I told the assembly when I rose, "This is the last meeting I
shall hold with you for many days." They asked me after meeting where
I was going. I told them I did not know. I went before the Lord in my
closet and asked him where he wished me to go, and all the answer I
could get was to go to the South. I got into a stage end rode eighty
miles south, as I was led by the Spirit of the Lord. The first man's
house I went into was John Benbow's. He lives now down here at
Cottonwood. I had some conversation with Brother Benbow, and I told
him that the Lord had sent me to that place. But without wishing to
dwell on this subject particularly I will say that I learned that
there were six hundred people there, under Elder Kington, called
United Brethren, and that they had been praying to the Lord for
guidance in the way of life and salvation. Then I knew why the Lord
had sent me to that place—he had sent them what they had been praying
for. I commenced preaching the Gospel to them, and I also commenced
baptizing, Elder Pitt being among the first who was baptized by me
into this Church and kingdom. The first thirty days after I arrived
there I had baptized forty-five preachers, which flung nearly fifty
preaching places, licensed by law, into my hands; and out of the six
hundred belonging to Elder Kington's body all were baptized but one in
seven months' labor. I brought eighteen hundred into the Church in
that mission. and I will say that the power of God rested upon me and
upon the people. There was a spirit to convince and a people whose
hearts were open and ready to receive the Gospel. And as Jesus said in
reference to John, that all Judea and Jerusalem went out to John's
baptism I felt as if all Herefordshire was coming to be baptized. The
third meeting that I held at Brother Benbow's, the rector of the place
sent a constable to take me up. I was just about to begin when he
entered. I said to him, "Take a chair until after meeting and I will
attend to you." He sat down and when I got through he came forward and
I baptized him with others. He went back and told the rector, "If you
want to take up that man you must go yourself, I have heard him preach
the first Gospel sermon I ever heard in the world." Almost every man
that came to meeting was baptized.

Vol. 15,  p.343
I did not see Elder Kington for some little time after going there;
and when I did see him he came to me as the leader of the people. I
laid before him the Gospel. He said, "If it is true, I wish to embrace
it; if not, I shall oppose it." I said, "That is right." But I made a
covenant with him. I said to him, "If you will go before the Lord and
ask him if this work is true, I promise you in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ that you shall receive a testimony for yourself if you
will promise to obey it." He said he would, and he went away to attend
to his appointments. The next time he came to Brother Benbow's; a few
day's afterwards, I [p.344] asked him if he had enquired of the Lord.
He said he had. "What did the Lord tell you." "He told me it was true;
and he then said he was ready to obey the Gospel, and I baptized him.
I name this because as soon as Brother Pitt heard this Gospel he
obeyed it, and he was one of the leading men in the choir of the
Church of England in Dimock. I now wish to relate a circumstance
concerning him. The first meeting I held in Elder Kington's house
brother Pitt was present. I will say first, however, that Mary Pitt,
brother Pitt's sister, was something like the lame man who lay at the
gate of the Temple called "Beautiful" at Jerusalem—she had not been
able to walk a step for fourteen years; and confined to her bed nearly
half that time. She had no strength in her feet and ankles and could
only move about a little with a crutch or holding on to a chair. She
wished to he baptized. Brother Pitt and myself took her in our arms,
and carried her into the water and I baptized her. When she came out
of the water I confirmed her. She said she wanted to be healed and she
believed she had faith enough to be healed. I had had experience
enough in this Church to know that it required a good deal of faith to
heal a person who had not walked a step for fourteen years. I told her
that according to her faith it should be unto her. It so happened that
on the day after she was baptized, Brother Richards and President
Brigham Young came down to see me. We met at Brother Kington's. Sister
Mary Pitt was there also. I told President Young what Sister Pitt
wished, and that she believed she had faith enough to be healed. We
prayed for her and laid hands upon her. Brother Young was mouth, and
commanded her to be made whole. She laid down her crutch and never
used it after, and the next day she walked three miles. This created a
great deal of anger and madness in the feelings of the rector of that
town. We had baptized Brother Pitt, and this took one from his choir
of singers, and he felt angry. We were holding a meeting at Elder
Kington's house one evening, when these things were taking place. The
house had very heavy shutters on the windows of the first story. We
had these shutters closed, and I rose to preach. The rector came at
the head of about fifty men armed with rocks about the size of a man's
fist, or larger than that. They surrounded the house, and for about
half an hour the house was battered with rocks like a hail storm, the
whole of the windows of the second story being stove in and the glass
all broken. I told brother Pitt that I would go and see these men. He
said, "No, I will go, you will be injured if you go." He went out into
the midst of this mob, of about fifty, I should judge—I do not know
the number. He took their names, and the rector was the leader. They
stoned brother Pitt back to the house, but as we had finished meeting
they left. We had to clear the house of broken glass and rocks before
we could retire to bed. I name this because it was one of Brother
Pitt's first labors with me, and I will say that from that time until
the present he has been a true and faithful servant of God, and of
this Church.

Vol. 15,  p.344
Associations of this kind have been formed by all the Elders of Israel
who have gone abroad into the vineyard to preach the Gospel. We go
forth and gather strangers to us in the flesh, but they embrace the
same testimony and Gospel with ourselves. This was the case with
[p.345] brother Pitt. I do not mourn for him, I did not when I was at
his house; but all these scenes and early associations rushed on my
mind, and as I gazed upon him, and thought of the way he had been
stricken down, taken away from us, when to all human appearance he was
but an hour before, as it were, enjoying health and strength and
attending to the duties of life, I realized that in the midst of life
we are in death.

Vol. 15,  p.345
In his associations with this Church and kingdom brother Pitt was
leader of the Nauvoo brass band for a long time; he has also been
associated with the various bands here; and in his associations with
the people he made a great many friends, to whom he was endeared
because of his many virtues and good deeds and his disposition and
desire to serve God. I am certainly glad to see so many friends
gathered together to honor his remains. When I realize that a man like
him has lived, heard the Gospel, embraced it and has fulfilled the
measure of his day, what can we say about him? Can we mourn because he
is gone? Bless your soul, he is with Joseph to-day, and with others of
the Elders of Israel, and he rejoices with them. Whether his spirit is
here witnessing his funeral services I can not say, it tenet revealed
to me; but suffice it to say that he is happy, and blessed are the
dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth saith the Spirit, for they
rest from their labors and their works do follow them.

Vol. 15,  p.345
I do not know whether brother Pitt has preached much in the world, but
I do know that he has labored for the benefit of the Saints of God.
But he will preach now. He has gone to the other side of the vail, and
he will preach there to large assemblies of spirits. He has been
faithful and he will receive a crown of life. His body will lie in the
tomb a few years, and but a few. His death is a loss to his wife and
children, and the parting is grievous. But how glorious is the thought
that there is a victory over the grave! In Adam all died, but in
Christ all are made alive. Christ was the first fruits of the
resurrection. This is a glorious thought to me when I see a Latter-day
Saint lie down with the harness on, true and faithful until he has
wound up his work.

Vol. 15,  p.345
Out of that 1800 which we baptized in Herefordshire in seven months, I
hardly know one that has turned against this Church. There has been
less apostacy out of that branch of the Church and kingdom of God than
out of the same number from any part of the world that I am acquainted
with.

Vol. 15,  p.345
We are called every day or two to bury some of them. A good many of
them are still living. Some of them are Bishops—bro. Clark, bro.
Rowberry, and a good many of them scattered all through this
Territory. Old father Kington is still living or was the last I heard
of him, though near the grave. They are passing away, and when I went
to see brother Pitt's body, the thought came to me, Whose turn to go
next? May be mine, maybe yours, we can not tell anything about it.
These things should be an admonition to us to be true and faithful
while we dwell here. The thought that we can obey and be sanctified by
the Gospel, and be prepared thereby to inherit eternal life, is one of
the most glorious principles ever revealed to man. I thank God that I
live in this day and age of the world. I thank God that I have been
associated with such a class of men and women as those who are
gathered to-day in the valleys of the mountains.[p.346] They are the
people whom the Lord has chosen. We have a hope that the world knows
not of, and it can not enter into their thoughts. Unless they are born
of the Spirit of God, they can not even see the kingdom of God, and
they can not get into it unless they are born of the water and of the
Spirit, hence they can not share in the joyous anticipations and hopes
that we possess. Their eyes, ears and hearts are not opened to see and
hear and feel the power of the Gospel of Christ.

Vol. 15,  p.346
Brother Pitt has gone before his family to prepare a place for them. I
say to them, let your hearts rejoice before the Lord. You are left
alone, he has gone before you, but he will prepare the way. He is not
going to lie in the spirit world without having something to do. There
those who have gone before us have something to do as well as we have
here. They are laboring to prepare the inhabitants of the Spirit world
for the coming of Christ, the same as we are trying to prepare the
inhabitants of the earth for the same great event.

Vol. 15,  p.346
I do not wish to occupy a great deal of time, but I will say to my
brethren and sisters this morning, It is better to go to the house of
mourning than to the house of feasting. Death is the end of all men.
The living should lay this to heart. My associations with brother Pitt
have been of the most joyful and consoling character. We associated
together a good while in that land, while I dwelt there; and we have
been since, both in Nauvoo and this place. I was always glad to meet
him. I met him often in the streets, and we scarcely ever met without
referring to former times, and if I can only have as good a glory, and
lie down as he has—die the death of the righteous—and have as good a
reward, I shall think myself very well off. I consider that when a man
has embraced the Gospel, continued faithful, received his endowments
and the sealing blessings of God upon his head, as brother Pitt has,
he has accomplished the object for which he was created.

Vol. 15,  p.346
In closing my remarks I will say that I am thankful for the
associations I have had with brother Pitt, and with the rest of my
brethren and the Saints. This is the Gospel of Christ; this is the
Zion and kingdom of God. The hand of God is stretched out for the
salvation of this people, and however dark the clouds may appear;
however strong persecution, oppression and opposition may become to
this work, the Lord has, from its commencement, until to-day watched
over its interests, and has sustained and preserved it, and he will
continue to do so until its consummation; until Zion arises and puts
on her beautiful garments, and all the great events of the last days
are accomplished. Then, in the morning of the first resurrection,
brother Pitt will come forth, and he and his family will be re-united,
and they and all the faithful will receive their exaltation. This is a
glorious thought! We should prize our families, and the associations
we have together, remembering that if we are faithful we shall inherit
glory, immortality and eternal life, and this is the greatest of all
the gifts of God to man.

Vol. 15,  p.346
I pray that God will bless you, that he will comfort the hearts of the
family of brother Pitt, that he will feed and clothe them, and unite
them together, and preserve them in the faith, that when they [p.347]
get through with this world, they may meet their companion and be
prepared with him to receive exaltation and glory, which may God grant
in the name of Jesus, our Redeemer, amen.

John Taylor, February 23, 1873

Certainty of Death—By the Spirit of God the 
Saints Obtain the Fullness of the Blessings of the Gospel—
God Will Take Care of His People

Remarks By Elder John Taylor, at the Funeral Services of Elder 
Wm. Pitt, Delivered in the 14th Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt 
Lake City, Sunday Morning, February 23, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.347
I have been very much interested in the remarks made by Elder Woodruff
in regard to his mission to Herefordshire, and more particularly in
regard to brother Pitt, whom I have always regarded as a high-minded,
honorable man, one who feared God and worked righteousness, and a man
from whom, in all my acquaintance with him, I never heard one remark
that was inimical to his character or reputation as a man, as a Saint
or in any capacity. We have often been very much delighted with the
music that he made for us, both in this town and in other places where
we have sojourned. Now he has gone, and has taken the same course as
every person that ever lived, with the exception of two or three
individuals. There is something peculiar about these things that
always creates with me a solemnity of feeling. Not, as brother
Woodruff said, that I mourn the loss of a good man when he has gone. I
do not, I have not the slightest feeling of this kind; but when I
reflect upon the position of the world that we live in, and of
humanity in general, look back through the dark lapse of ages that
have transpired and contemplate the millions upon millions, and
hundreds of thousands of millions who have inhabited this earth, and
that they have all of them gone, we see that there is no staying of
these things, no arresting the course of destiny, no stopping the hand
of fate, or the power of the destroyer. An eternal decree has gone
forth, and it is appointed for all men once to die. It is impossible
for us to evade this, and with the exception of the very few to whom I
have before referred, all men have paid the great debt of Nature. The
human body may be propped up through the ingenuity,[p.348] nursing and
care of man for some time, but like a sweeping flood, although you may
dam up the water from its natural course and arrest it in its progress
and keep it back, back, back, for a while, yet by and by it will rush
over its barriers, seek its natural channel, pursue its own course and
find its own resting place. So it is with the human family. We come
into the world, we exist for a short time, then we are taken away, no
matter what our feelings, ideas or faith may be, they have nothing to
do with this great universal law which pervades all nature.

Vol. 15,  p.348
We are here to exhibit our sympathy and affection for our brother whom
we respect and esteem, that is all we can do. Who is there that can
stay the hand of death? What talent, what ingenuity, what philosophy,
religion, science or power of any kind? Who possesses that power,
individually in this assembly or combined to say to the great monster
death, Stand back, thou shalt not take thy victims? There is no such
person, there is no such power, no such influence, such a principal
does not exist, and it never will exist until the last enemy is
destroyed, which the Scriptures tell us is death. But death shall be
destroyed, and all then, even all the human family, shall burst the
barriers of the tomb and come forth—those who have done good to the
resurrection of the just. Then and not till then will that influence,
that fell tyrant be destroyed. There is something about that
interesting to us, while the world of mankind are thoughtless and
careless, and desire not to retain God in their knowledge, and wish to
put away from them everything pertaining to him and eternity. We, as
Latter-day Saints, if our hearts, feelings, affections and desires are
placed upon those things that pertain to the future, look back to our
associations, as brother Woodruff looked back to his first
associations with bro. Pitt when first the light of eternal Truth
beamed upon his mind. We look back to the feelings that influenced
brother Woodruff when inspired by the Spirit of the living God to go
to that place where those people had been calling upon the same God
for light and truth, intelligence and revelation and a knowledge of
his law and of his purposes, and while God was leading them forth, he
was leading brother Woodruff by the same Spirit and power. We reflect
upon these things with pleasure. It is satisfactory to know that the
hand of God has been with us, that his power has been with this
Priesthood, that the Spirit of the Lord God has been associated with
them, and that the promises of God have been fulfilled to the Elders
when he said he would send his Angels and Spirit before them. I have
rejoiced thousands of times with brother Woodruff over these things,
and I Was talking with brother Pitt about them not long ago, and his
countenance lighted up, his eye was bright and brilliant, and his soul
seemed to rejoice at the recollection. It is pleasant to reflect upon
these principles of the Gospel, and there is something in relation to
the future that animates our feelings and desires.

Vol. 15,  p.348
We are gathered here, a peculiar people under the direction and Spirit
of the living God; and our gathering has been effected by the
revelations of the Lord. Some of us have been gathered in one way,
some in another, operated upon and influenced in a variety of ways.
And what is our idea in gathering? Is it simply to plant, sow, reap
and [p.349] to accumulate a little worldly goods around us and then
lie down in the dust and occupy a small space of two feet by six? Is
this the object of our gathering? Verily no. Something higher than
this dwells in the bosoms of the Latter-day Saints; they are actuated
by another spirit and influence. The Spirit of the living God has
beamed upon their minds, drawn back the dark vista of the future and
unfolded unto them principles of eternal lives, and they are looking
forward to honor, immortality and eternal lives in the kingdom of God.
These are the feelings and influences, and this the spirit by which we
are actuated. We have obtained a knowledge of our Father who dwells in
the heavens. We have partaken of the Spirit of the living God, which
has flowed unto us through obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our minds have been, as it were, torn from the grovelling things of
time glad sense, and we feel as though we are eternal beings,
associated with an eternal religion, with everlasting principles,
sustained by an eternal God who governs, controls and manages all the
affairs of the human family on the face of the earth, and Will in the
world to come. Feeling thus we rejoice in the fullness of the
blessings of the Gospel of peace. This is the Spirit that the living
God has imparted unto us; and though the world are thoughtless,
careless and forgetful, and sometimes in their ignorance seek to
oppose us, we care nothing about that. Why, our life is hid with
Christ in God. Do you know it? Do the world know it? No, they can not
perceive it, they know nothing about it, it is out of their ken. They
can not comprehend the principles, feelings, spirit, light,
intelligence, visions and manifestations of the Spirit of God that
dwell in the hearts of men when they are under the influence of the
Spirit of God. They neither know their peace nor the prospects which
lie before them. They are like the brute beasts, which the Scriptures
say are made to be taken and destroyed, just like the ox that you feed
until he is flit—he does not know that the knife is going to pierce
him by and by. But the Saints understand something about the future.
They have begun to live for ever. They have obtained the Spirit of
life and truth and intelligence. They have a hope that blooms with
immortality and eternal life. They know that if the earthly house of
this tabernacle dissolves they have a building of God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Knowing this they feel that
all is right. They feel just as Jesus said to his disciples—Don't care
anything about these fellows who can only kill the body, and when they
have done that there is an end of their rope, the extent of their
power, they can go no further, but like the other worms of the earth
they have got to fall down, and crumble and be preyed upon by worms;
but fear him who, after he has killed has power to cast into hell.
"Yea," said he, "I say unto you, fear him." You Latter-day Saints,
fear not any outside influences, fear no power or spirit that may be
strayed against you. Put your trust in the living God and all will be
right in time and in eternity. God will take care of his people. He
has commenced a work and he will roll that forth, and woe to the man
that fights against Jehovah—he will move him out of the way. Like the
grass or flowers of the field all such will pass away, but God's
kingdom and people will live and extend,[p.350] grow and increase
until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God
and his Christ. Then that man whose remains now lie before us, and
millions of others, shall be heard to say, "Glory and honor and power,
and might and majesty and dominion be ascribed to him that sits on the
throne and unto the Lamb for ever."

Vol. 15,  p.350
God bless you. It is all right with brother Pitt. Is it right with us?
Let us live our religion, keep the commandments of God, walk according
to the light of truth, follow, as brother Woodruff said he did, the
leadings of the Spirit of God, and that will lead us into all truth,
and by and by, to thrones, principalities, and powers in the eternal
worlds. May God help us to be faithful, in the name of Jesus: Amen.

Daniel H. Wells, February 23, 1873

Character of the Deceased—Manifestations of the 
Power of God—the Saints Have No Interest 
Apart From the Kingdom of God—the Fear of Death

Remarks By President Daniel H. Wells, Delivered at the Funeral 
Services of Elder Wm. Pitt, in the 14th Ward Assembly Rooms, 
Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, February 23, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.350
I have been associated with brother Pitt a good many years. He taught
music in my family as early, I think, as 1842, and I have been very
intimately associated with him in the public works, in the Legion, and
in the band that he has led, and I have never seen that man when he
was not cheerful and full of life, indeed I have thought he had more
music in him than any man I have ever known. If there was a musical
instrument; he could not play, I do not know what it is. He was always
faithful and cheerful under the most trying circumstances, and no
matter what blast blew of difficulty or persecution, brother Pitt was
there on hand at a moment's notice full of life and music, ready to
cheer the hearts of the people. He was a beautiful painter, and
followed that trade for his subsistence. He was always industrious,
and ready to do a job of work whether he could get anything for it or
not. It made no difference, it was for the kingdom, and it was all
right. He was one of [p.351] the best of men in my opinion, and as has
been said, it is all well with him.

Vol. 15,  p.351
I suppose there are a great many here who would like to bear testimony
and speak a good word for brother Pitt; but, brethren, he does not
need it—his whole life has spoken for itself, and will speak
eternally. That mission that brother Woodruff has mentioned was just
as remarkable in my estimation, if not more so, than the account
contained in the New Testament, of the way in which Cornelius received
the Gospel. He was told where to go to make inquiry about what he
should do; and if the circumstance brother Woodruff mentioned had been
put in the same language and had the antiquity that the baptism of
Cornelius has, we would consider it one of the most remarkable
manifestations of God's power ever given to the children of men. In
the Herefordshire mission there was not only one man and his house
ready to receive the Gospel, but six hundred received it and were
baptized, and it was by the same power and influence—the power of God
and the Holy Ghost resting upon them, a revelation being a!so given to
the servant of God to carry the Gospel to them; and he was sent of God
just as much as Peter was ever authorized to go and tell Cornelius,
just exactly. And this is only one instance of the kind among many
thousands that are occurring and have occurred almost daily ever since
this work commenced in these last days; and it is as remarkable as any
we read of in the Bible; but because we live in them and they are
common things with us, we do not esteem them. The healing of sister
Mary Pitt, after having been unable to walk for fourteen years, was a
remarkable manifestation of the power of God. And such things have
been transpiring many years right before the face and eyes of the
children of sen throughout the nations of the earth, but what heed do
they give to them? They read over in the Bible bout the great
blessings that were poured out on the people in the days of the
Apostles, and yet see things equally remarkable transpiring right
under their eyes and in their midst continually, and take no notice of
it. The work of God is growing and increasing, and the God of heaven
will not go back upon it; his work will spread and increase until his
purposes are all fulfilled.

Vol. 15,  p.351
It has been said of brother Pitt that he did not preach much, but his
whole life has been a continual sermon to this generation since he
received the Gospel, and before for aught I know. I think that he has
performed two or three missions, and I do know that he bore a faithful
testimony to the truth of this work, not only by his words but by his
acts. He was on a mission all the time. He did not hold himself to
himself at any time, but he was continually on the altar, ready to go
and to come as he was directed by the servants of God. A man is as
much on a mission at home, building up Zion, as he is when abroad
preaching the Gospel, and he should esteem his labors under the
direction and dictation of the servants of God just the same. Here is
where a good many make mistakes. They think that unless they are
called to go on a mission to preach the Gospel they are not on a
mission at all, but their only business is to look after their own
individual interests. Why, a Latter-day Saint has no individual
interest separate and apart from the kingdom of God, any where, at any
time and in any place, and all he does should be with an eye to
advance the interests of that kingdom upon the earth.[p.352] 

Vol. 15,  p.352
We have the blessed privilege of being co-workers with the Almighty in
building up his kingdom, bringing to pass his purposes and in
sustaining and spreading abroad the institutions of high heaven and
the principles of the everlasting Gospel in the earth if we will only
let him work with us. But in order to do so we must be submissive and
work in accordance with his plan. We have come here from the nations
of the earth to be taught in his ways, not that we may make a path for
ourselves, and that we maybe instructed in the things of eternal life,
and learn to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, for this is
eternal life.

Vol. 15,  p.352
This is Scripture, and we have often heard it drop upon our ears with
little effect, and it is unnoticed by the world. But if to know the
only true and wise God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent is eternal
life, unless we have that knowledge we have hot eternal life. What do
the world know of the relationship between God and his children here
on the earth. Nothing at all. The world is without the knowledge of
God, hence they are without eternal life. He has revealed himself in
these last days, and is begging and beseeching his children here on
the earth to turn from their evil ways. He has said through his
Prophets long ago, "Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die, O house of
Israel? Take upon you my yoke, for it is easy, and my burden, for it
is light. Come and partake of the waters of life freely, without money
and with out price." This is the invitation from God to his children,
but they are a good deal like the inhabitants of Jerusalem when Jesus
mourned over them and said, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would
I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but
ye would not. Now your house is left unto you desolate." Let this
generation look to it, or their house will be left desolate, and they
will be without hope of reaching to that within the vail unless they
receive the invitation which has been renewed in our day and
generation to the children of men, to repent and be baptized, and to
turn to God and live. It seems as if man-kind have ears and hear not,
eyes and see not, hearts and do not comprehend the things of God. It
is true, as was observed by brother Taylor, the life of the
Christian—the true Latter-day Saint, is hid in God, and the world
cannot see it. This work is transpiring and these remarkable events
are taking place right before their eyes in the building up of this
kingdom, and nothing pertaining thereto is hidden, but it is like a
city set on a hill for everybody to look at, still it seems as though
they cannot see it.

Vol. 15,  p.352
There are a great many Latter-day Saints who do not see more than half
of it. They cannot see the kingdom of God in this thing and in that
thing and in the other thing that is presented before them. This is
for the want of a little faithfulness, a little more of the Spirit of
the Lord. There is some obstacle in the way which prevents a free flow
of the Spirit to enlighten their minds and be to them as a well of
water springing up to eternal life. 

Vol. 15,  p.352
Meet brother Pitt when you might, you would find that feeling in his
heart, welling up continually to eternal life. That was the kind of
man he was. I know it, because I was well acquainted with him, and
associated with him frequently, and I never saw him without it. I saw
him almost every day for years, and I hope it will be as well with us
as it [p.353] is with him when we pass the ordeal of death. We all
have to pass it. In and of itself it is nothing to him who is
prepared. Brother Pitt might have done a great many things perhaps
that some people thought curious, for he was a cheerful man, not one
of those long-drawn-down, pious souls who never smiled. A person
unacquainted with him might have supposed that he never had a serious
thought, still his heart was full of love to God. If a man goes about
with a handkerchief tied over his head, and his head bowed down with
Sorrow for the sins of the world, that is no evidence to me of love to
God shed abroad in his heart, not a particle. I would sooner risk a
man like brother Pitt, who was always cheerful and on hand, ready to
go and come and to do his duty, whether in the paint shop, in the
dance hall or anywhere else among the Saints of God. His delight was
to be with them and cheer and encourage them in the faith; and he
never swerved the right or to the left. He was full of integrity. Did
he ever have a doubt concerning the work? He never showed the least
symptom of it to me, and I do not think it ever occurred to him; I do
not believe a shadow of a doubt concerning its truth ever crossed his
mind. He was ready, on hand, and full of fun, and that is the kind of
a man I like to see. I should like for him to have lived a hundred
years, because good men are scarce, and they are needed to build up
the kingdom. Not that it would have been any better for him to live,
he is all right, but for the sake of the kingdom, and for my sake and
your sake, and for the sake of his family, and for the sake of all
with whom he was associated in this stake of Zion it is a loss to lose
such a man, but it is no loss to himself. He has laid a foundation
that will eternally endure. No person can rob him of his crown. He is
safe, and can do nothing himself that will bar the same. It is not so
with you and me. We may live to do things that will clip our glory. It
would be better that we should be taken away than to live and do
anything of that kind. Not that I think there would have been any
danger of any such thing with him. But he has gone, and we will soon
follow. As it has been expressed to-day, death is passed upon all men,
and we only wait our turn to pay the debt of nature. Brother Pitt, has
paid that debt, and that very self-same body will come forth again,
and when we grasp his hand we shall know that it is brother Pitt, for
he will maintain his identity in the eternal worlds. Do you not think
that is glorious? When the spirit and body are re-united in
immortality they will never be separated again. We need not fear
death, that is if we are numbered among those who will have the
privilege Of coming forth in the morning of the first resurrection,
for upon all such the second death will have no power. It is the
second death that people may be afraid of. Fear him who has power to
destroy both soul and body in hell. This is the second death, but this
will have no Power upon those who have part in the first resurrection.
All manner of sin will be forgiven to men except the sin against the
Holy Ghost; that will never be forgiven neither in this world nor the
world to come. If men will only be obedient to the Gospel, and avail
themselves of the plan of salvation devised by our Father and God in
heaven before the world was, they may obtain forgiveness of their sins
by being obedient to the Gospel. The plan of [p.354] salvation is
ample to save to the uttertnost. God, in his mercy, designed it to
save his children, because he delights to give good gifts to his
children far more than an earthly parent does. The Almighty has sent
forth his servants to plead with the children of men, to declare the
acceptable year of the Lord, and to call upon them to repent lest the
end come when no man can work. Some few will listen and be prepared,
because some are honest enough to receive the Gospel, others are not.

Vol. 15,  p.354
I pray God the Eternal Father to bless us all, that we may cleave to
that which is good, reject evil, fill the measure of our creation in
our probation as our brother has done, that we way lay up a crown and
an inheritance in everlasting habitations, for Christ's sake. Amen.

Orson Pratt, March 9, 1873

Consecration—Temporal Equality—Selfishness to Be 
Overcome—Resurrection—Return to Jackson County—Glory of Zion

Discourse By Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the 16th Ward 
Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, March 9, 1873.

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.354
On page 235 of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants there is a
revelation given to this Church on March 9, 1832, which contains these
words:

Vol. 15,  p.354
For verily I say unto you, the time has come, and is now at hand; and
behold, and lo, it must needs be, that there be an organization of my
people, in regulating and establishing the affairs of the storehouse
for the poor of my people, both in this place and in the landor Zion,
or in other words, the city of Enoch, for a permanent and everlasting
establishment and order unto my Church, to advance the cause, which ye
have espoused to the salvation of man, and to the glory of your Father
who is in heaven, that you may be equal in the bands of heavenly
things; yea, and earthly things also, for the obtaining of heavenly
things; for if ye are not equal in earthly things, ye cannot be equal
in obtaining heavenly things; for if you will that I give unto you a
place in the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the
things which I have commanded you and required of you.

Vol. 15,  p.354
We will next read a passage which is contained in the latter part of
the 3rd paragraph of a revelation given in March, 1831. It will be
found on page 218 of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.

Vol. 15,  p.354
But it is not given that one man should possess that which is above
another, wherefore the world lieth in sin.

Vol. 15,  p.354
I will now read a portion of a revelation given on the 22nd of June,
1834. It will be found in paragraph 2, Book of Doctrine and Covenants,
[p.355] page 295. Speaking of the Church, it reads as follows—

Vol. 15,  p.355
But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I
required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do
not impart of their substance, as becometh Saints, to the poor and
afflicted among them, and are not united according to the union
required by the law of the celestial kingdom; and Zion cannot be built
up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom,
otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself: and my people must needs
be chastened until they learn obedience, if it must needs be, by the
things which they suffer.

Vol. 15,  p.355
I have read these passages of new revelation for the benefit of the
Latter-day Saints who are here this afternoon, and it is well enough
for us to examine ourselves, to see whether we are living in strict
accordance with them, and if we are not, to see whether there are any
persons throughout all the Territory of Utah who are complying with
them. In one of these revelations, given in March, 1831, before the
Lord had led this people to Jackson County and before we knew where
the New Jerusalem was to be built, or where the great central
gathering place for the Latter-day Saints was to be, the Lord informed
us "That it is not given that one man should possess that which is
above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin." Now let me inquire
of the Latter-day Saints, Are we all equal in the bands of earthly
things, or have we rich and poor in our midst? The answer that all
would give to this question is, Every person and every family has
accumulated just as much wealth, as he or they could, for his or their
own use only, and this order of things has existed amongst us since
the Church was organized, nearly forty-three years. How much longer
will this continue? How long will every family be for themselves,
every man's energy and ability be exerted only for himself and his
family, every man grasping to enrich himself? He does not care about
his neighbor, and if he thinks about him at all, the inquiry rises in
his mind, "Have I got as much wealth as my neighbor, or as this or
that person? If I have not I must strive to obtain as much; for if I
have not as much as my neighbors I can hardly think to crowd myself
into their society; for I have noticed that our wealthy citizens are
creating distinctions of classes among us. If they get up a party in
their own private dwellings, or a nice luxurious supper, for instance,
it is generally only those who are wealthy in appearance who are
invited, and unless I can accumulate as much wealth as they have, I
shall be cast out and fall below into some other class."

Vol. 15,  p.355
I am now talking of facts as they really exist. When do you see a rich
man among the Latter-day Saints who, when he makes a great feast,
invites the poor and the lame, the halt and blind, and those who are
in destitute circumstances? Such events are few and far between. The
Savior has strictly commanded us that when we make our feasts, instead
of inviting those who have abundance and roll. in the good things and
luxuries of life, we should invite the poorest among us, the lame,
blind and infirm, and those who perhaps have not enough food to eat.
Do you Latter-day Saints do this? No, I fear not. There may be persons
who are doing these things; if so, blessed are they if they observe
this and all the other commandments of the Lord.

Vol. 15,  p.355
What kind of a revolution would it work among the Latter-day Saints if
the revelation given in March, 1831, were carried out by them—"It is
not given that one man should possess that which is above another,
wherefore the world [p.356] lieth in sin?" How much of a revolution
would it accomplish in Salt Lake City it this order of things should
be brought about? I think it would work a greater revolution among
this people than has ever been witnessed amongst them since they had
an existence as a Church.

Vol. 15,  p.356
Again, in another revelation, given in 1832, soon after the place of
location for the city of Zion was made known, the Lord declared that
the time had come to establish an order among his people requiring
certain persons, whose names were mentioned, to consecrate a portion
of their property. They were to put so many dollars into the treasury,
and that was to be a common property among those individuals, for
their own benefit, and for the benefit of the Church. Among the
persons called to enter into this order was the great Prophet and seer
of the last days.

Vol. 15,  p.356
This order was entered into partially by the individuals who were
named, but even they were not all prepared for this partial order
pertaining to the celestial kingdom of God. It was too sacred, too
much in opposition to the traditions of the age, and which had existed
for many generations. We all know that, since the days of the
Apostles, the whole world, except the Nephites and Lamanites on this
continent, have been divided in regard to their wealth and property.
Among whatever nation you might travel on the eastern hemisphere, and
on this hemisphere too, since it was discovered by Columbus and
settled by Europeans, this individualism has existed among all classes
of people, with a very few exceptions. Among these exceptions we may
mention the Shaking Quakers. This sect is in great error in many
respects, but its members did enter into a community of property.
Their properties were consecrated and put into a store house, and were
controlled by certain men who were chosen for that purpose. How wisely
they used this property or how they lived on this common stock
principle is not for me to say; but suffice it to say, that so far as
consecration and a community of property were concerned they carried
them out. But the great mass of the human family have sought for ages
past, and are still seeking, to accumulate dollars and dimes, houses
and lands for themselves, to bequeath to their heirs or to whomsoever
they see proper. This individualism that has existed all over the
world has been one of the principal means of introducing almost all
the crimes that exist among men, for as the Apostle Paul has said—"The
love of money is the root of all evil."

Vol. 15,  p.356
The Apostles endeavored to introduce the common stock principle in
their day among the Saints, but the people, even then, had been so
long accuse meal to accumulating wealth for themselves and their
families instead of having it in common, that the Apostles found it
impossible to establish this principle on a permanent foundation, and
it did not continue. It might have been carried out a year or two and
perhaps a little longer; but according to the writings of the Apostles
to the early Christians, this principle seems to have been done away
with, and individualism prevailed amongst them.

Vol. 15,  p.356
Let me inquire now, how this selfish principle produces the great
variety of evils that exist in the world? I will refer to some that
have sprung from it, and have made their appearance among the
Latter-day Saints, and which will [p.357] increase unless we reform in
this respect. For instance, wealthy persons have the power to educate
their children more thoroughly than the poor man can. They can send
them to the very best schools and institutions of learning, and they
can keep them there year after year until they have acquired what is
termed a thorough education. Then, their fathers think, "Our sons have
been trained in various branches of learning and business, they
understand book-keeping and other branches necessary in following
mercantile pursuits; they know how to accumulate means and how to keep
everything straight. We can therefore entrust them with the means we
shall leave them, and knowing how to make good use of it, they will be
able to keep themselves at the head of the heap," or in other words,
they will be above the poor who have not had the education they have
had.

Vol. 15,  p.357
A rich man can educate his daughters, and have them taught music and
everything calculated to make them refined, polite and genteel. This
enables these daughters to fascinate the rich, and should a poor man
come along, and knock at the rich man's door and tell him he desires
to keep company with his daughters, he is told that he has no business
there. Says the rich man, "My daughters must marry wealthy men, they
must be exalted and be with the upper class among the Latter-day
Saints."

Vol. 15,  p.357
The poorer classes, seeing that they have neither the means nor the
business education and information to compete with the rich ones,
grovel along in poverty and ignorance, and a distinction of classes
arises. By and by these rich young men come along with their fine
carriages and if a poor man happens to be crossing the street, they
look down with scorn and contempt upon him, and cry, "Out of my way
there," when if it had been a wealthy man they would have turned their
carriage out of the Way until he had passed; but the "poor scrub," as
they term the poor man, must be blackguarded and ridiculed, and
treated as a slave or as a person who has no right to be seen in the
society of the wealthy.

Vol. 15,  p.357
What kind of feelings does this produce in the hearts of the humble
poor who desire and are striving to serve the Lord? They feel in their
hearts that they do not fellowship these rich persons, and this causes
hard feelings between these classes. Is this right or is it wrong? It
is wrong, materially wrong, and we have continued in this wrong over
forty years. When shall it come to an end? When will we learn to keep
the commandments of God and become one, not only in doctrine but in
"the bands of earthly things?" Such a time must come, and if we do not
comply with it, we shall fall behind. I will prophesy to this people
on this subject. The Lord commanded me to prophesy when I was about
nineteen years old, but I seldom do it, for fear I should prophesy
wrong. But I will prophesy concerning this Church and people, that all
who will not come into that order of things, when God, by his
servants, counsels them so to do, will cease growing in the knowledge
of God, they will cease having the Spirit of the Lord to rest upon
them, and they will gradually grow darker and darker in their minds,
until they lose the Spirit and power of God, and their names will not
be numbered with the names of the righteous. You may put that down and
record it.

Vol. 15,  p.358
We find, a few years after these [p.358] revelations that I have read
were given, the Lord saw that we were so covetous and filled with the
selfish principle instilled into our minds by our forefathers, that we
would not give heed to the law which he gave concerning the
consecrations that were to be made in Jackson County, Mo., and he
determined in his own mind that that should not be a land of Zion unto
the present generation of people, take them as a people; and he made
this decree, after giving them revelation upon revelation, warning
them by the mouth of his servant Joseph, who went in person and warned
them, and sent up his revelations a thousand miles from Kirtland and
warned them. After they had been sufficiently warned, for some two
years and upwards, after their commencement of the settlement of
Jackson County, Missouri, the Lord fulfilled that which he had spoken
concerning them—that they should be driven out of the land of Zion.
This was literally fulfilled. Why? Because of covetousness. You will
recollect my reading, I think last Conference, a letter written by the
Prophet Joseph Smith. I think it is in the 14th volume of the Star, in
connection with the history of this Church published in that
periodical. That letter was written to one of the brethren in Zion in
relation to the consecrations of the properties of the people. The
Lord said in that revelation that the principle which he had revealed
in relation to the properties of his Church must be carried out to the
very letter upon the land Of Zion; and those individuals who would not
give heed to it, but sought to obtain their inheritances in an
individual way by purchasing it themselves from the Government, should
have their names blotted out from the book of the names of the
righteous, and if their children pursued the same course their names
should be blotted out too, they and their children should not be known
in the book of the law of the Lord as being entitled to an inheritance
among the Saints in Zion.

Vol. 15,  p.358
We find, therefore, that the Lord drove out this people because we
were unworthy to receive our inheritances by consecration. As a
people, we did not strictly comply with that which. the Lord required.
Neither did they comply in Kirtland. Many of those persons were called
by name to enter into an inferior order, afterwards called The Order
of Enoch, in which only a portion of their property was consecrated,
and even they did not comply, but some of them broke the most sacred
and solemn covenants made before high Heaven in relation to that
order. The Lord said concerning them that they should be delivered
over to the buffetings of Satan in this world, as well as be punished
in the world to come. He also told them that that soul that sinned and
would not comply with the covenant and promise which they made before
him in relation to their properties, should have his former sins
returned to him, which had been before remitted in baptism.

Vol. 15,  p.358
This ought to be an example for us who are living at a later period in
the history of the Church of the living God, and who ought, by this
time, to have become thorougly experienced in the law of God. It is
true we are not now required to consecrate all that we have; this law
has not been binding upon us since we were driven from the land of
Zion. The reason why this law was revoked was because the Lord saw we
would all go to destruction [p.359] in consequence of our former
tradition in relation to property if this law had continued to be
enforced after we were driven out, hence he revoked it for the time
being, as you will find recorded in one of the revelations given June
22nd, 1835, after we were driven from Jackson County. I will repeat
the words—"Let those commandments which I have given concerning Zion
and her law, be executed and fulfilled after her redemption." Here you
perceive that, for the salvation of this people and of the nations of
the earth among the Gentiles, God saw proper to revoke this
commandment and to lay it over for a future period, or until after the
redemption of Zion. Zion is not yet redeemed, and hence we are not
under the law of full consecration. But is that any reason why we
should not be under some other law differing from the one we were
formerly required to practice? Do we live up to the law called the
Order of Enoch, which is inferior to that law requiring full
consecrations? No we do not. Let us go down another scale in the
ladder of obedience, and inquire if we are carrying out a law inferior
to the Order of Enoch, that is, the law of Tithing? Do the Latter-day
Saints comply with that, and, to begin with, when they come from the
nations of the earth, do they consecrate their surplus property to the
Lord, placing it in the bands of the Bishop of his Church, and alter
that pay one-tenth of their annual income into the treasury of the
Lord? Where is there a person carrying out this law which was revealed
in the year 1838 and which has never been revoked? It is one of the
most simple and inferior laws, far below the order of full
consecrations and far below the Order of Enoch, but have we as a
people complied with this? I think not. Can you find one out of a
hundred persons in Salt Lake City who has carried out this law? Have
you done it? The Bishops, whose duty it is to collect the tithing can
answer this question better than I can, but I very much doubt whether
the records of the Bishops would show that the people have complied
with the latter clause of this law—namely to pay one-tenth of their
annual income, to say nothing about their surplus property. Are we
under condemnation or are we not? Judge ye for yourselves. What will
become of this people unless we reform, and repent of our sins in
these respects? That which I have already spoken will he fulfilled
upon their heads—they will lose the spirit of the Gospel.

Vol. 15,  p.359
We are looking for the redemption of Zion. What would be our condition
if the Lord were to say unto us this season, "Arise, my Saints, arise,
go back to the land which I promised to give to you and to your
children for an everlasting possession; go back and build up the New
Jerusalem according to the law of the celestial kingdom," as recorded
in the revelation in which the Lord says unless she be built according
to that law he can not receive her unto himself. What kind of a Zion
would we build it called this present season to go back to Jackson
County? We would have to begin altogether a new order of things. Are
we prepared for it? I think not. If the people had faithfully Complied
with these inferior laws they would be better prepared: but, when I
see the backwardness of many of the people of this Territory calling
themselves Latter-day Saints, about paying their tithing, refusing to
do so or being careless about it, I say in [p.360] my heart, "Oh Lord,
when will thy people be prepared to go back and build up the waste
places of Zion according to celestial law?"

Vol. 15,  p.360
The Lord has said in this book, (B. D.C.) that the time is to come
when Zion shall be redeemed. I will read the passage. It commences on
page 292, and is as follows:—

Vol. 15,  p.360
Behold, this is the blessing which I have promised after your
tribulations, and the tribulations of your brethren; your redemption,
and the redemption of your brethren, even their restoration to the
land of Zion, to be established no more to be thrown down;
nevertheless, if they pollute their inheritance, they shall be thrown
down, for I will not spare them if they pollute their inheritances.
Behold, I say unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by
power; therefore, I will raise up unto my people a man, who shall lead
them like as Moses led the children of Israel, for ye are the children
of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham, and ye must needs be led out of
bondage by power, and with a stretched out arm; and as your fathers
were led at the first, even so shall the redemption of Zion be.
Therefore, let not your hearts faint, for I say not unto you as I said
unto your fathers, mine angel shall go up before you, but not my
presence; but I say unto you, mine angels shall go before you, and
also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land.

Vol. 15,  p.360
In a revelation given June 22nd, 1834, the Lord tells us that before
the people of Zion shall be redeemed the army of Israel must become
very great. What he meant by this, was "great" compared with the few
individuals to whom this revelation was given. It will be recollected
that a certain number were required as the strength of the Lord's
house to go up to redeem Zion, as they supposed. They gathered
together, some one or two hundred and went up for this purpose; and
the Lord said that the strength of his house did not hearken to his
voice, and did not come up according to his commandment and
revelation, but had said in their hearts, "If this be the work of the
Lord, the Lord will redeem Zion, and we will stay at borne upon our
inheritances." They made excuses and would not go up. The little
handful that did go up were called the Camp of Zion. Some few of them
are still living. When we arrived in the neighborhood of the Land of
Zion, the strength of the Lord's house not having hearkened to his
voice, the Lord gave a revelation and said first, "Let my army become
very great, and let it be sanctified before me, that it may become
fair as the sun, and clear as the moon, and that her banners may be
terrible unto all nations." How do you suppose we are going to fulfill
this, preparatory to the redemption of Zion? Are we now taking a
course to sanctify ourselves before the Heavens? it is true that the
army of Israel is very great even now when compared with that little
handful that went up with the Camp of Zion, but though blessed with
numbers, we are not blessed with that sanctification which the Lord
has spoken of in that revelation. How much faith have we now, in our
disobedience to the law of tithing, and to many other principles?
Blessed are they who have faithfully paid their tithing all the time,
and blessed are their children, they will receive their inheritance in
the Land of Zion, when the Lord shall come. The Lord will bless them
and their generations for ever. But those who have not complied with
this law are not sanctifying themselves before God, neither are they
preparing themselves for the redemption of Zion. Their hearts are set
upon the foolish things of this world, they are grasping after riches
to aggrandize themselves.

Vol. 15,  p.360
This is plain preaching, and perhaps some of you will not like it. I
can not help it, these are the things that present themselves before
my mind. There must be a reformation [p.361] there will be a
reformation among this people, for God will not cast off this kingdom
and this people, but he will plead with the strong ones of Zion, he
will plead with this people, he will plead with those in high places,
he will plead with the Priesthood of this Church, until Zion shall
become clean before him. I do not know but that it would be an utter
impossibility to commence and carry out some principles pertaining to
Zion right in the midst of this people. They have strayed so far that
to get a people who would conform to heavenly laws it may be needful
to lead some from the midst of this people and commence anew somewhere
in the regions round about in these mountains. Ask this people if they
are willing to abide by the law of God, and how would they vote? The
hands of every one would be up almost without exception, but when it
comes to the very point, when consecration in part might be required
at their bands, that is the time to prove them and to see whether they
would or would not be obedient. "Oh, I bare such a fine house, and
such a fine carriage and horses, such an abundance of merchandize and
good things. It has taken me years and years to get these things, and
it is hard to give one-half, three-fourths or nine-tenths of them to
establish another order of things, and I rather think I had better
keep on the background, and see how the order flourishes. Let others
try it first, and if they get on very well and become wealthy, then
perhaps I will venture to give a little of my property." These are the
feelings that exist in the hearts of some individuals among the
Latter-day Saints, but they have got to be rooted out, or those who
give way to them will lose the Spirit of the Lord.

Vol. 15,  p.361
I do not know how many will stand up and obey the law of the Lord unto
the sacrifice of all their earthly goods, or how long it will be
before people will be called upon to make this sacrifice, I do not
know how long it will be before this people are brought to the trying
point to see who is and who is not for the Lord; but I would advise
the Latter-day Saints to prepare for this, for it may come sooner than
some of you expect. If the Lord should undertake to bring about an
order of things different from that which now exists, and establish it
not exactly in the midst of this people, but in some place where they
can commence anew, I hope the people will begin to pray to the Lord,
reckon up with themselves and examine their own hearts, and see
whether they are willing and prepared, if called upon, to place all
that they have, or as much as they are required in that order of
things, and carry it out.

Vol. 15,  p.361
When we go back to Jackson County, we are to go back with power. Do
you suppose that God will reveal his power among an unsanctified
people, who have no regard nor respect for his laws and institutions,
but who are filled with covetousness? No. When God shows forth his
power among the Latter-day Saints, it will be because there is a union
of feeling in regard to doctrine, and in regard to everything that God
has placed in their hands; and not only a union, but a sanctification
on their part, that there shall not be a spot or wrinkle as it were,
but everything shall be as fair as the sun that shines in the heavens.

Vol. 15,  p.361
In order to bring about this, who knows how many chastisements God may
yet have to pour out upon the people calling themselves Latter-day
Saints? I do not know. Sometimes I fear, when I read certain
revelations contained in this book. In one [p.362] of them the Lord
says, "If this people will be obedient to all of my commandments, they
shall begin to prevail against their enemies from this very hour, and
shall not cease to prevail until the kingdoms of this world shall
become the kingdoms of our God arm his Christ." That promise was given
almost forty years ago. In the same paragraph it says—"Inasmuch as
this people will not be obedient to my commandments and live by every
word that I have spoken, I will visit them with sore afflictions, with
pestilence, with plague, with sword and with the flame of devouring
fire." Is it not enough to make a person fear when God has spoken this
concerning the Latter-day Saints? I do not know all things which await
us. One thing I do know—that the righteous need not fear. The Book of
Mormon is very express upon this subject. In the last chapter of the
first book of Nephi, the Lord, through the Prophet, speaks concerning
the building up of Zion in the latter days on the earth. He says his
people should be, as it were, in great straits, at certain times, but
said the Prophet, "The righteous need not fear, for I will preserve
them, if it must needs he that I send down fire from heaven unto the
destruction of their enemies." This will be fulfilled if necessary.
Let the righteous among this people abide in their righteousness, and
let them cleave unto the Lord their God; and if there are those among
them who will not keep his commandments, they will be cleansed out by
the judgments of which I have spoken. But if the majority of this
people will be faithful, the Lord will preserve them from their
enemies, from sword, pestilence and plague, and from every weapon that
is lifted against them. God will shield us by his power, if we are to
be led forth out of bondage as our fathers were led, at the first.
This indicates that there may be bondage ahead, and that the
Latter-day Saints may see severe times, and that unless we keep the
commandments of God, we may be brought into circumstances that will
cause our hearts to tremble within us, that is, those who are not
upright before God. But if this people should be brought into bondage,
as the Israelites were in ancient days, Zion must be led forth out of
bondage, as Israel was at the first. In order to do this God has
prophesied that he will raise up a man like unto Moses, who shall lead
his people therefrom.

Vol. 15,  p.362
Whether that man is now in existence, or whether it is some one yet to
be born; or whether it is our present leader who has led us forth into
these valleys of the mountains, whether God will grant unto us the
great blessing to have his life spared to lead forth his people like a
Moses, we perhaps may not all know. He has done a great and wonderful
work in leading forth this people into this land and building up these
cities in this desert country; and I feel in my heart to say, Would to
God that his life may be prolonged like Moses, in days of old, who,
when he was eighty years old, was sent forth to redeem the people of
Israel from bondage. God is not under the necessity of choosing a
young man, be can make a man eighty years of age full of vigor,
strength and health, and he may spare our present leader to lead this
people on our return to Jackson County. But whether it be he or some
other person, God will surely fulfill this promise. This was given
before our Prophet Joseph Smith was taken out of our midst. Many of us
no doubt thought when that revelation was [p.363] given that Joseph
would be the man. I was in hopes it would be Joseph, for I had no idea
that he was going to be slain, although I might have known from
certain revelations that such would probably be the case, for the Lord
had said unto him, before the rise of this Church, that he would grant
unto him eternal life even though he should be slain, which certainly
was an indication that he might be slain. But we still were in hopes
that he would live and that he would be the man who, like Moses, would
lead this people from bondage. I do not know but he will yet. God's
arm is not shortened that he cannot raise him up even from the tomb.
We are living in the dispensation of the fullness of times, the
dispensation of the resurrection, and there may be some who will wake
from their tombs for certain purposes and to bring to pass certain
transactions on the earth decreed by the Great Jehovah; and if the
Lord sees proper to bring forth that man just before the winding up
scene to lead forth the army of Israel, he will do so. And if he feels
disposed to send him forth as a spiritual personage to lead the camp
of Israel to the land of their inheritance, all right. But be this as
it may, whether he is the man, whether President Young is the man, or
whether the Lord shall hereafter raise up a man, for that purpose, we
do know that when that day comes the Lord will not only send his
angels before the army of Israel, but his presence will also be there.

Vol. 15,  p.363
Do you suppose that the Lord will suffer any unclean thing to be in
that army? Not at all, for his angels and he himself are to go before
us. God will not dwell in the midst of a people who will not sanctify
themselves before him. That is the reason why he withdrew his presence
from ancient Israel. Moses sought diligently to sanctify that numerous
people and to bring them into subjection to the law of God; he
endeavored to teach them the higher Gospel ordinances and law, which
would have exalted them into the celestial kingdom of God, but he
could not do it; they were a hardhearted, stiffnecked people and they
would not give heed to his words or to the words of the Lord; and in
the absence of Moses they made to themselves a golden calf and
worshipped it as the God who brought them forth out of the land of
Egypt. If we follow in the same track and make to ourselves golden
gods, and heap up the treasures of the earth and worship and think
more of them than of the laws of heaven, we may fall under the same
example of unbelief and transgression, and under the same judgment
that came upon ancient Israel. But Moses was not to blame, for he
sought diligently to sanctify them, but when they transgressed time
after time, God became so angry with them that he finally swore in his
wrath that he would not go up in the midst of that people, lest he
should break forth in his anger and fury and consume them in a moment.
That was the way he felt towards them because of their sinfulness, and
in order that they might not be consumed, but that a remnant might be
spared, and that seed might be raised up to old father Abraham and to
Isaac and to Jacob, he withdrew his presence from the midst of the
camp of Israel. But he did not forsake them entirely. Said he, "Mine
angel may go before you. You may have an angel and you may have Moses
for a season, but I will not go with you." He swore that that people,
in the wilderness, should not enter into his rest,[p.364] which rest
is the fullness of his glory.

Vol. 15,  p.364
It is to be hoped that there will be nothing of this kind among the
armies of Israel in the latter days. We have the promise of the
Almighty, and I hope that it will never be revoked, that "I say not
unto you as I said to your fathers, my angel shall go before you, but
not my presence, but I say unto you that my angel shall go before you
and also my presence." In order for the presence of God to go with us
we must retain the higher Priesthood, for without that and the
ordinances thereunto pertaining, no man can behold the thee of God and
live; therefore if we would retain this higher Priesthood we must
sanctify ourselves through obedience to the higher laws. If we do
this, we can then claim the fulfillment of this promise which the Lord
has made and which I have repeated, that his presence shall go with
us.

Vol. 15,  p.364
I expect that when the Lord leads forth his people to build up the
city of Zion, his presence will be visible. When we speak of the
presence of the Lord we speak of an exhibition of power. His presence
was with the children of Israel as a cloud by day, and as the shining
of a flaming fire by night. Though Israel were not worthy to enter the
tabernacle and behold the personage of the Lord and to talk with him,
yet Moses, not having forfeited that right, could enter into the
tabernacle of the Lord while his glory rested upon it, and he could
talk to the Lord face to face. Why? Because he held the higher
Priesthood and had been obedient to the higher law and had attended to
the higher ordinances. He was not subjected to the law of carnal
commandments, he had sanctified himself so that he could endure the
presence of the Lord and not be consumed.

Vol. 15,  p.364
We shall go back to Jackson County. Not that all this people will
leave these mountains, or all be gathered together in a camp, but when
we go back there will be a very large Organization consisting of
thousands, and tens of thousands, and they will march forward, the
glory of God overshadowing their camp by day in the form of a cloud,
and a pillar of flaming fire by night, the Lord's voice being uttered
forth before his army. Such a period will come in the history of this
people, and when it arrives the mountains and the hills will be ready
to break forth with a loud voice before the Lord's army, and the very
trees of the field will wave to and fro by the power of God, and clap
like hands. The everlasting hills will rejoice, and they will tremble
before the presence of the Lord; and his people will go forth and
build up Zion according to celestial law.

Vol. 15,  p.364
Will not this produce terror upon all the nations of the earth? Will
not armies of this description, though they may not be as numerous as
the armies of the world, cause a terror to fall upon the nations? The
Lord says the banners of Zion shall be terrible. If only one or two
millions of this people were to go down and build the waste places of
Zion, would it strike the people of Asia and Europe with terror? Not
particularly, unless there was some supernatural power made manifest.
But when the Lord's presence is there, when his voice is heard, and
his angels go before the camp, it will be telegraphed to the uttermost
parts of the earth and fear will seize upon all people, especially the
wicked, and the knees of the ungodly will tremble in that day, and the
high ones that are on high, and the great men of the earth.[p.365] 

Vol. 15,  p.365
We shall in due time walk forth into Jackson County and build up the
waste places of Zion. We shall erect in that county a beautiful city
after the order and pattern that the Lord shall reveal, part of which
has already been revealed. God intends to have a city built up that
will never be destroyed nor overcome, but that will exist while
eternity shall endure; and he will point out the pattern and show the
order of architecture; he will show unto his servants the nature of
the streets and the pavement thereof, the kind of precious stones that
shall enter into the buildings, the nature of the rock and precious
stones that will adorn the gates and the walls of that city; for the
gates will be open continually says the Prophet Isaiah, that men may
bring in the force of the Gentiles.

Vol. 15,  p.365
The nature of the city of Zion is nowhere fully described. John the
revelator has described in his 21st chapter, two cities coming down
from God but of heaven. The first one is the New Jerusalem. That will
come down on the land of Joseph. After John had seen that, one of the
angels who had one of the vials of the seven last plagues came to him
and said, "Come hither, John, and I will show you another city, that
is that great city, the holy Jerusalem." He took him to the summit of
a high mountain and showed him that great city descending from God out
of heaven, and John describes that city, the height of its walls, the
number of its gates, the names that are to be upon the gates, and a
great many particulars in relation to that city are clearly revealed.
But the New Jerusalem is nowhere so fully described, only as the
Psalmist David says, "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great
King." David also says, in speaking of this same city, "Out of Zion,
the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." From these declarations we
can at least believe that Zion will be a very beautiful city—"the
perfection of beauty," whether it is constructed after the order of
the old Jerusalem or not. Suffice it to say that God by revelation
will inspire his servants and will dictate to them the order of the
buildings of that city—the number and width of the streets, the kind
of houses, the character of the Temple that is to be built therein,
the kind of rock, timber and the various materials that will have to
be brought from a distance to enter into the composition of that
beautiful city.

Vol. 15,  p.365
When the Temple is built the sons of the two Priesthoods, that is,
those who are ordained to the Priesthood of Melchizedec, that
Priesthood which is after the order of the Son of God, with all its
appendages; and those who have been ordained to the Priesthood of
Aaron with all its appendages, the former called the sons of Moses,
the latter the sons of Aaron, will enter into that Temple in this
generation, or in the generation that was living in 1832, and all of
them who are pure in heart will behold the face of the Lord and that
too before he comes in his glory in the clouds of heaven, for he will
suddenly come to his Temple, and he will purify the sons of Moses and
of Aaron, until they shall be prepared to offer in that Temple an
offering that shall be acceptable in the sight of the Lord. In doing
this, he will purify not only the minds of the Priesthood in that
Temple, but he will purify their bodies until they shall be quickened,
renewed and strengthened, and they will be partially changed, not to
immortality, but changed in part that they can be filled with the
power [p.366] of God, and they can stand in the presence of Jesus, and
behold his face in the midst of that Temple.

Vol. 15,  p.366
This will prepare them for further ministrations among the nations of
the earth, it will prepare them to go forth in the days of tribulation
and vengeance upon the nations of the wicked, when God will smite them
with pestilence, plague and earthquake, such as former generations
never knew. Then the servants of God will need to be armed with the
power of God, they will need to have that sealing blessing pronounced
upon their foreheads that they can stand forth in the midst of these
desolations and plagues and not be overcome by them. When John the
Revelator describes this scene he says he saw four angels sent forth,
ready to hold the four winds that should blow from the four quarters
of heaven. Another angel ascended from the east and cried to the four
angels, and said, "Smite not the earth now, but wait a little while."
"How long?" "Until the servants of our God are sealed in their
foreheads." What for? To prepare them to stand forth in the midst of
these desolations and plagues, and not be overcome. When they are
prepared, when they have received a renewal of their bodies in the
Lord's Temple, and have been filled with the Holy Ghost and purified
as gold and silver in a furnace of fire, then they will be prepared to
stand before the nations of the earth and preach glad tidings of
salvation in the midst of judgments that are to come like a whirlwind
upon the wicked.

Vol. 15,  p.366
I intended to lay before you some things pertaining to the order of
full consecration that will be observed when we get back to Jackson
County, but time will not permit to enter into that now.

Vol. 15,  p.366
May God bless you, Amen.

George Q. Cannon, March 23, 1873

The Times of Our Savior Compared With the Present—
Revelation—Duties of the Saints—Self to Be 
Overcome—Coming of Christ

Discourse By Elder George Q. Cannon, 
Delivered in the 13th Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake 
City, Sunday Afternoon, March 23, 1873.

[The 11th chapter of Hebrews was read as a text.]

(Reported by David W. Evans)

Vol. 15,  p.366
A more comprehensive chapter than this, in its description of the
effects of faith when properly exercised by the children of men, I
think is not contained within the lids of the Bible. The entire
history of [p.367] God's dealings with the children of men, so far as
the Jewish record is concerned, is epitomized therein. The Apostle, in
the plainest possible language, describes the leading events that had
transpired up to his day among the fathers of his nation, setting
forth with unmistakable clearness the power that they wielded through
faith in God, in accomplishing the work that was assigned unto them;
and he tells the Hebrews, in writing to them upon this subject, that
it is impossible to please God without faith, for those who come unto
him must believe that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek
him.

Vol. 15,  p.367
I expect that the Apostle Paul had a generation to deal with that were
not dissimilar to the generation in which we live—a generation who had
in their midst the Scriptures, the predictions of the holy Prophets,
ministers who professed to have received the authority which they
exercised in ministering to the people from a high source, and who
were, in their own opinion at least, called of God, an elect people, a
chosen generation, who rejoiced in the power that had been made
manifest to and in behalf of their fathers, and which, to a certain
extent, they had received. The Apostle, in this chapter, pointed out
the power which their fathers exercised through faith, and to the
mighty works that had been wrought thereby, and he endeavored to stir
up within them a desire to exercise the same faith.

Vol. 15,  p.367
At the time that Paul wrote this epistle to the Hebrews, the Jews did
not believe in living revelation; they did not believe that God spoke
to his people by any manifestations such as their fathers had
received. We are told that they garnished the sepulchres of the dead
Prophets, that they reverenced the places of their birth, honored
their memories, and declared that if they had lived in the days of
their fathers they would not have been guilty of putting the Prophets
to death. But the Son of God and his Apostles were treated by them
precisely as their fathers had treated the Prophets of old.

Vol. 15,  p.367
It is a good thing for us who live in this generation that we have
this record in our midst. It is an encouraging thing to read the
history of the past, and to learn about the treatment that men of God
received in ancient days. It is encouraging for those who contend for
the same faith to know that slander, persecution, ignominy and shame,
and even death itself are not evidences of the falsity of a system, or
of the falsity of the doctrines taught by any individual, because we
have the history of the Apostles—some of the best men that have ever
trod the earth, and of Jesus, the holiest and best man that ever trod
the earth, or that ever will, and we find that he and they were
persecuted, hated and despised, and their names were east out as evil,
and they were slain by a generation who professed to honor God and be
very righteous, and who claimed to be the descendants of the
Patriarchs of old, who were called the friends of God. If this story
were told to us without our knowing anything of the circumstances, we
should be reluctant to believe it. It would be a difficult thing to
persuade us that human beings could have been so base and degraded,
and so lost to every feeling of humanity as to persecute and crucify a
pure being like Jesus, who had come from the Father for the express
purpose of laying down his life as an expiation for their sins. But
the record is before us. We have been familiar with it from our
infancy, and in the minds of those who profess to have [p.368] any
faith in God, there is no room to doubt it. It is most fortunate for
us that this record has been preserved, for by it we are enabled to
understand what kind of a generation lived in the day in which the
chapter I have read in your hearing was written. They were a people
who spoke highly of religion, who built synagogues and places of
worship, who honored the Sabbath day, who wore long phylacteries, on
which were written select passages from Scripture, who had the word of
God written on their very doorposts, who prayed at the corners of the
streets, who fasted, and, apparently, sought in every way to glorify
God. They believed in Abraham and Moses, and in the covenants which
God made with them. They believed and practiced the law which Moses
had revealed unto them, and so strict were they in observing many of
its principles, that they were ready on one occasion to have a woman
slain for the violation of the commandment respecting adultery; and at
another time their wrath was kindled against the disciples because
they plucked some ears of corn on the Sabbath day to appease their
hunger. They considered that act a violation of the Sabbath, and their
righteous souls were shocked thereat. They were shocked even at the
idea of Jesus eating with unwashed hands, and at him, who professed to
be a teacher, associating with publicans and sinners. They thought it
was beneath the dignity of a man of God to condescend to associate
with the low and degraded. This was the kind of people that existed
when Paul wrote this chapter, yet with all their professions and with
all their apparent sanctity they were utterly destitute of the
knowledge and power of God. They drew near to God with their lips, but
their hearts were far from him. They made a great parade of their
religion, but they dwelt on the glories of the past, on the evidences
of God's favor which their nation and religion had formerly received.
But did they themselves possess the spirit of prophecy, and the faith
which Paul describes? If they had they would have recognized Jesus
when he carne amongst them, and they would have gladly received him
and his teachings, and would have obeyed and practiced in their lives
the principles of his Gospel. But as I have said, they were utterly
destitute of the Spirit of God, they were darkened in their minds, and
instead of receiving Jesus and his teachings, they hounded him until
they got him into their power and then they slew him, and they treated
his Apostles in the same manner.

Vol. 15,  p.368
It is truly said that history repeats itself. We are familiar with
this in the history of our race. When the Prophets who preceded Jesus
went into the midst of the people and preached unto them the word of
God, they found them believing in the Prophets who had gone before.
They were willing to receive the testimony of Moses, and of some who
succeeded him. Samuel, after his death, was recognized as a great
Prophet by the Jews, and so were some others who were dead; but while
they lived they were treated much the same as Jesus and his Apostles
were treated. The wicked could not recognize the character of the men
of God who labored among them, and they rejected and persecuted, them,
and slew many of them. This is characteristic of the human family. One
of the most unreliable things connected with mankind is popular
opinion. So far as God's dealings with the children of men are
concerned, and the sending of prophets and Apostles to them, those who
[p.369] have been guided by popular opinion have always erred. The
opinions of the great majority concerning the truth have in almost
every instance been unreliable. Moses, notwithstanding the mighty
miracles he performed, was not appreciated by those among whom he
lived, and narrowly escaped being stoned by the people whom he led
across the Red Sea. When they got into the wilderness they murmured at
him, and were ready to choose others to lead then back to Egypt. It
was so with Samuel. Although the nation was comparatively a righteous
nation, they rejected him. They were not content with the power and
authority which he exercised over them, and they wanted a king. So
with other Prophets. The more wicked the generation, the harder they
were to convince of the truth of the predictions that were uttered
among them by the servants of God; and so much was this the case, that
it became almost an infallible rule, when a majority of the people
decided against a man, he was sure to be a servant of God.

Vol. 15,  p.369
It may be asked, why has this been the case? I know that men say, If
God be God, and is the being that he is described to be, why has he
not manifested his power in the midst of his children to such an
extent that they are compelled to receive the testimony of his
servants? There is a class of people who can not understand why it is
that truth can not be made so plain to the human understanding that
men can not reject it. Infidels advance this as an evidence that there
is no such thing as divine power, no such being as God, and that there
is no Supreme Providence presiding over the affairs of the children of
men. They say that if God be the kind of being that he is described to
be in the Scriptures, it would be inconsistent with his character to
withhold from the children of men such manifestations of power as
would convince them beyond all controversy that the men he sends to
declare his will unto them are his divinely appointed servants.

Vol. 15,  p.369
It is very plausible, taking one view of the subject, for men to
imagine that this ought to be the way in which God should act; but
there is one saying, written in ancient days, that is as true to-day
as when it was written, that is, "That as the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are God's ways higher than our ways, and God's thoughts
higher than our thoughts." In our degradation and ignorance we can not
comprehend the purposes and plans of our heavenly Father. No man can
do this. If any man were capable of doing this, he would be unfit to
dwell on earth, and he might perhaps be translated, as Enoch was
anciently. No man can rise to the wisdom of Deity, and comprehend the
purposes and designs of him who created the earth and placed us upon
it, and who regulates the movements of the universe of which we form a
part; and when we try to do it, it is like a child just beginning to
talk, seeking to dictate and comprehend the movements, actions and
thoughts of men who are in possession of the wisdom and experience of
mature age. In fact the difference is greater. Our Father and God has
made it plain to us that he has placed us here on this earth in order
that we may be tested and proved in the exercise of the agency that he
has given us; and if, when he sends forth his Prophets, he were to
manifest his power, so that all the earth would be compelled to
receive their words, there would be no room then for men to exercise
their agency, for they would be compelled to adopt [p.370] a certain
course, and to receive certain teachings and doctrines regardless of
their own wishes and will. But God has sent us here, and has given to
every one of us our agency, as much so as he has his. I, in my sphere,
have my agency, as much as God, my Eternal Father, or as Jesus, my
elder brother, has in his. I can do right or I can do wrong; I can
serve God or reject him; I can keep his commandments or violate them;
I can receive his Spirit or reject it. This agency God has given unto
man, and hence it is that when he sends his truth, and his servants to
declare it unto the people, he does it in such a way that man is left
to the free exercise of his agency in receiving or rejecting them; at
the same time we are assured that whoever receives that truth will
also receive the convincing power of the Spirit of God to bear
testimony to him that it is divine; and this is the reason why, as the
Apostle says in the chapter I read to you, the ancient Saints, though
they were stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain with the sword; though
they wandered about in sheep skins and in goat skins, being destitute,
afflicted and tormented, were able to endure to the end. They had
received a testimony from God through obedience to his Gospel in the
exercise of their agency in the right direction, and this enabled them
to endure all these things cheerfully, looking forward, as Paul says
Moses did when he fled from Egypt, to the recompense of reward.

Vol. 15,  p.370
In this manner the servants of God have gone forth in every age and
preached the Gospel. To bring the matter down to our own day—when
Joseph Smith commenced to preach the Gospel, to tell the people that
God had once more spoken from the heavens, a great many said, "Where
are the signs, or evidences that God has done this? Can you not show
some sign or work us some miracle that shall convince us that this is
true? If you will work us a miracle, if you will walk on the water,
raise the dead, or do some other miraculous work, then we will believe
that he has spoken to you, and that the words you testify to are
true." They wanted signs, and yet they had the Bible in their midst.
The position of those to whom Joseph taught the Gospel was very
similar to that of the Jews in Paul's day, only the former were more
blessed than the Jews were unto whom Jesus came. They had the Prophets
and Apostles, that is, they had their words. They had the record of
the Gospel as taught by Jesus and his Apostles, with the account of
the miracles wrought by them; they had a form of godliness, and they
thought they were on the road of salvation. But they did not believe
in miracles, they did not believe that God was a God of revelation,
hence they would not receive the testimony of the Prophet Joseph, but
they wanted miracles to convince them. In this they made a great
mistake, as many others have done in other ages of the world in
relation to this matter. It is written of Jesus that he did not do
many mighty works in Galilee because of the unbelief of the people;
and he said it was a wicked and adulterous generation that demanded a
sign, and none should be given them. When the people demanded
miraculous signs of Joseph Smith to convince them of the truth of his
testimony, they would not, or did not exercise their agency, but
wanted some overpowering evidence to convince them.

Vol. 15,  p.370
The Lord does not operate in that way among the children of men. He
sends forth his servants with the truth, and he makes this promise—he
made it through Joseph Smith—If [p.371] they will believe in Jesus
Christ, repent of their sins, be baptized for the remission thereof by
one having authority, they shall receive the Holy Ghost and a
testimony from Him as to the character of the work in which they have
engaged. A man who comes to God must believe that he is God, that he
has power to do as he says. This is the way the ancients received
their faith. The difficulty to-day is, that the people do not believe
that God is a being of this character. You talk to those men who
profess to be ministers of the Gospel, and ask them, "Do you have the
gifts, powers and blessings of the Gospel as they were enjoyed by the
Saints in ancient days?" and the reply will be, invariably, "That
power is withdrawn, those gifts and blessings are no longer enjoyed
among men. God does not reveal his will unto the children of men as he
did in ancient days, and it is in vain for you to ask God for those
blessings, for they will not be bestowed." This is the teaching of the
ministers in the religious world to-day. Is it any wonder that there
is no faith among men? Is it any wonder that the blessings which Paul
describes as being the fruits of faith are not realized to-day? Is it
any wonder that men wander in darkness and error, and that the heavens
are as brass over their heads? Is it any wonder that angels do not
come to earth and visit men, and that the gifts and blessings of the
Gospel are not enjoyed? It is no wonder to me; on the contrary, the
wonder to me is that there is so much faith, or rather that there is
any faith left among the children of men, and to tell the truth, my
brethren and sisters, there is but very little. I can see a great
change since I became old enough to comprehend anything about
religion. I can see an absence of that faith which religious people
once had. There has been a gradual lapsing into unbelief, and
infidelity and scepticism are growing among the people, and today
there is very little of that old fashioned vital religion that was
enjoyed previous to the revelation of the Gospel.

Vol. 15,  p.371
Among the earliest of the predictions of the Elders of this Church
that I can remember, were those foretelling, as effects which should
follow the declaration of the Gospel in these days, those we now see.
They declared that when this Gospel was proclaimed unto the people, if
they rejected it, the faith which they then enjoyed and the light they
then possessed would disappear, and they would be left in darkness. I
have lived to see the fulfillment of this prediction. The Apostle
Paul, in his epistle to the Thessalonians, says, "For this cause God
will send them strong delusions, that they may believe a lie who take
not pleasure in righteousness," &c. "For this cause"—because they
rejected the truth and the testimony of God's servants, strong
delusion would be sent unto them, which would cause them to believe a
lie. I have lived to see the fulfillment of that prediction. The first
time I heard of modern revelation outside of this Church, I was on the
Sandwich Islands. I had been from home then several years. I happened
to call at the house of a friend and picked up a book. I read its
preface; and I was astonished at it. I had never heard of anything of
the kind outside of our Church before then. The author argued that it
was right to expect that spirits would visit and make communications
to men, and he went on to quote from the Bible in support of his
argument. I have since seen many books of the same character,[p.372]
and it is now as common to believe in spiritual revelation as it was
formerly uncommon. It is as rare a thing now to meet with persons who
do not believe in this in some form as it was formerly to meet with
those who did believe it. Up to the time of my early manhood I had
never heard of anybody believing in this but Latter-day Saints. Now
you will find ministers of religion—Methodists, Presbyterians,
Episcopalians, and men of all classes and degrees who believe in
spiritual communications. But have they any organization, or any point
upon which they can unite together? No, each man receives revelation
to suit himself, until to-day there is no faith in the land and no
belief in the manifestations of the power of God. The adversary has
captivated the hearts of the children of men, he has fortified their
minds against the truth, and is leading them to destruction.

Vol. 15,  p.372
Formerly, the great objection to the Latter-day Saints was that they
believed in revelation. That was one of the great charges made against
us in Jackson County, Mo. Another was, that we had a Prophet, whose
words we hearkened to, and that we believed in the working of
miracles. These were among the charges made against us by the mob as a
reason why we should be expelled from our lands. But after a few years
had elapsed, our cunning adversary began to give revelations and
manifestations to the people, and he spread abroad his lying signs and
wonders, and now they are far more numerous than those contained in
the Bible. People everywhere can get revelation. Profane men and
women—drunkards, gamblers and wicked people of every decree can get
round a table and obtain revelation. What necessity is there for them
to obey the Gospel? What attractions has truth for such persons? They
can get all the revelation they need without having recourse to the
Gospel or to its ordinances, or without being under the necessity of
enduring the ignominy of being the servants of God, for it has always
been considered ignominious by the world to be a servant of God since
Satan had power in the earth. Can you not see how cunningly the
adversary has worked, and how difficult it is under such circumstances
to snatch people from the error of their ways? The truth has not been
sweet or desirable to this generation, and they have rejected it. The
truth has no attractions for those who do not love it for its own
sake. Connected with the truth there is a love such as Jesus said his
followers should have, which should induce them to cleave to it when
they were persecuted, their names east out as evil, and when they
should be hated of all men for his sake. There is nothing attractive
about all this to people who do not love the truth for its own sake,
but they who do are willing to endure all things for the sake of the
blessings that God has promised to bestow upon them.

Vol. 15,  p.372
Brethren and sisters, it is our duty as individuals and as a people to
live so that we may have that faith that was once delivered to the
Saints; that we may have the revelations of God in our hearts, that we
may know for ourselves concerning the truth, and have each day a
testimony thereof. You know that the idea is very prevalent that we
are led by one man, or by a few men. It is thought that President
Young leads this people according to his own ideas, and that he and
his counsellors and the Twelve, through some cunning craft of theirs,
are able to [p.373] influence them to do this or reject that, to
pursue this course or avoid that. I suppose this idea will be
prevalent as long as there are people who do not understand the
character of this work. But it is our duty, one and all, to live so
that we shall have the light of the Holy Spirit and a continual
testimony within us of the truth of the work that God has established,
and that we may have that faith that will enable us to endure all
things. If women had their dead restored in ancient days, women ought
to have faith enough in these days to realize the same blessings. But
a spirit of unbelief, darkness and hardness of heart has gone forth,
and it is shared to some extent by this people. The more we mingle
with the world the more of this spirit we feel. It permeates the
literature of the present day. You can not take up a book that has not
been written by a servant of God, that does not bear evidence of this
spirit of unbelief. You can not take up a newspaper, but something is
said therein to weaken the faith of those who have any. Unbelief
permeates the world at large. There are good reasons for this. The
great mass of the people ridicule Jesus, the resurrection and life
beyond the grave. They can not understand why men should deny
themselves and suffer as Jesus and his disciples did. The people of
to-day can not comprehend anything but living for to-day, enjoying
themselves and having pleasure to-day, and letting tomorrow take care
of itself. The idea of laying up treasures in heaven is ridiculed,
even by some who call themselves Latter-day Saints. I have heard, and
perhaps you have, some amongst us say, "I am satisfied with getting
the best I can here, and with enjoying myself to the best advantage
here, and let the future take care of itself. I do not know anything
about the life to come, but I know about this, and I want my enjoyment
here, and I will risk the future."

Vol. 15,  p.373
The whole tendency of the Gospel of Jesus is to the effect that we
must deny ourselves, and be willing to endure and suffer even to death
itself. It is right that we should dress comfortably and according to
our means; it is right that we should take care of our bodies and have
suitable food. God has given us the elements of food and raiment and
to build good houses. He has given us horses and cattle, and the
materials to make carriages, and it is right that we should use these
things. I do not believe in any religion that denies to man the use of
the blessings which God has given, but I deny that God designs that we
should abuse or worship these things. If you or I have wealth, we
should not worship it. If you have comforts, your heart should not be
set upon them. If you have pleasant homes, orchards, gardens and
fields you should not worship them, but hold them as the gifts of God,
and be as ready to go forth and leave them as you would to leave a
barren wilderness, or as these Indians are to take up their wick-i-ups
and go from place to place. As Latter-day Saints we should be ready
and willing to move in any direction and to do anything that our
Father and God requires of us, holding the religion that he has given
us dearer than life itself. Our brethren and sisters who lived
anciently aimed for the same glory that we are aiming for, and they
were willing to be sawn asunder, to be stoned, to dress in sheepskins
and goatskins, to dwell in dens and caves of the earth, to have their
names east out as evil, and to do all things for the righteousness of
God. We are aiming for the same [p.374] glory they have received, and
if we attain to it we must be willing to endure all the afflictions
and to make all the sacrifices they endured and made.

Vol. 15,  p.374
There is this difference between us and the work in which we are
engaged, and them and the work in their day—they looked forward to the
time when the kingdom of God would be withdrawn from the earth on
account of the growth of unbelief and apostacy, but in our day God has
promised that this kingdom shall stand for ever. On that account we
can rejoice. We know that our enemies' attacks upon us will fail. They
may drive us, at least they have done it, but I do not think they will
again if we are faithful. They have driven and persecuted us; they
have slain some of our numbers, they have east out our names as evil;
they have called us everything vile, as they did Jesus. We are of all
men the most despised, so far as our characters are concerned; and yet
we are known better than any other people. The adversary has spread
this mist of darkness over the minds of the people until they think us
capable of everything evil. But notwithstanding all this, the course
of this work is onward and upward, and it will prevail. Men may
combine and form plots and schemes against it, and do everything in
their power to overthrow it, but they will be signally defeated every
time in the future, as they have been in the past. There has never
been a move against this Church, from its organization until the
present time, that did not benefit it. There never has been a hostile
hand stretched forth that did not add to the speed and strength of its
progress. There never has been a drop of the blood of its members shed
by the ungodly that has not contributed to the increase of our
numbers, and that has not added to the strength of the system with
which we are connected. Let your minds go back and contemplate history
of this Church, trace the course of this people from. the inception of
God's work to the present time, and what has there been done against
it or them that has not added to its strength and to the certainty of
its perpetuity? Think of all the schemes concocted, and of all the
smart men that have been engaged in fighting this work; think of all
the talented men in the Church who have apostatized and have preached
against the Gospel, and have written books and newspaper articles, and
everything else to destroy this work. Think of it, and then think how
this people have gone forth increasing in strength, numbers and
everything that is calculated to make them great and mighty. God has
preserved us. He has given us the supremacy of the land and to Him the
glory is to be ascribed for the supremacy we still maintain. It is not
because our enemies would have it so. They have fought us step by
step; they have devised mischief and evil in various ways against us,
but God, through His providences, has overruled all for our good, and
to Him, not to man, be the glory therefor. Man is utterly incapable of
accomplishing these results. There were men in ancient days as brave,
fearless, honest and mighty as any who have been connected with this
work, but they sank beneath the blows of their destroyers, and went
down to death. Satan and his emissaries overcame them. But God has now
set to his hand for the last time to build up his kingdom and to send
his Gospel to the people, and he has declared that when that time
arrived his work should never again be overcome.

Vol. 15,  p.375
Any man who will look at the condition [p.375] of the people will say
that if there ever was a time in the history of the world when God
should speak to man it is now. The people everywhere are gone astray.
Men and women are filled with extravagance and foolish notions, and
they are corrupt in every sense of the word. The churches are
corrupted, the people are divided, and the humble man who desires to
serve God is laughed at, ridiculed and crowded to the wall, while the
man who is bold in iniquity, and shrewd in taking advantage of his
fellows, lords it over them. Honesty is far below par, and the
virtuous are the butt and ridicule of the wicked. Mingle among men of
the world and talk to them about virtue, and they will laugh at you,
and if a man is known to be chaste and pure in his thoughts and
actions he is ridiculed and sneered at. It is so with everything else
that God values. Think of it. Where do you see meek and humble men
prospered? You see bold, defiant men—those shrewd in iniquity, get all
the advantages, and the man who can take advantage of his neighbor
best flourishes most. Is this right? No. I should mourn for the race
if I thought so, I should mourn if I thought that this condition of
things would forever prevail. God promised in ancient days that in the
latter days he would reveal the truth, send forth his servants and
gather out his people. He has commenced the work By the preaching of
his word, he has gathered thousands of honest-hearted people who love
the truth and who are willing to abide by it. He has given unto them
the same spirit that he gave to his servants in ancient days. He has
given them the same faith, but they do not always exercise it as they
should do, they are overcome of evil; and there are some who call
themselves Latter-day Saints who have almost got to believe that there
is nothing particularly special in this work, God has not shown
himself as they expected. Such persons will sooner or later leave the
Church if they do not repent.

Vol. 15,  p.375
There is this about unbelief, brethren and sisters, it is one of the
most dreadful feeling, I think, that can assail any human being. I
have seen men in this condition, and I have thought while beholding
them, that I got a better conception of hell than I ever did from any
other exhibition. How, you may ask, shall we guard against this spirit
of unbelief? I will tell you. There are some people who, when assailed
by doubt, will commence a controversy with the devil, they will argue
with him, and give room to him. You should never condescend to any
such thing. Just tell him you have nothing to do with him, bid him to
get behind you, you have set out to serve God and to keep his
commandments, and you are going to do it regardless of him or any of
his temptations or snares. Be firm and steadfast, and close your ears
against evil influences and everything of that kind. I will tell you a
rule by which you may know the Spirit of God from the spirit of evil.
The Spirit of God always produces joy and satisfaction of mind. When
you have that Spirit you are happy; when you have another spirit you
are not happy, The spirit of doubt is the spirit of the evil one; it
produces uneasiness and other feelings that interfere with happiness
and peace.

Vol. 15,  p.375
It is your privilege, and it ought to be your rule, my brethren and
sisters, to always have peace and joy in your hearts. When you wake in
the morning and your spirits are disturbed, you may know there is some
spirit or influence that is not right. You should never leave your bed
[p.376] chambers until you can get that calm serene and happy
influence that flows from the presence of the Spirit of God, and that
is the fruit of that Spirit. So daring the day you are apt to get
disturbed, angry and irritated about something. You should stop, and
not allow that influence to prevail or have place in your heart.
"Why," says one, "not be angry?" No, not be angry, unless righteously
so at some great wrong that ought to be reproved. That is not the
anger of which I speak. Some people wall get angry with their wives
husband, children or friends, and will justify themselves and think
they are perfectly right because they have some spirit which prompts
them to say harsh things. I have known people give themselves great
credit for their frankness and candor for speaking angrily and
improperly. "Why," said they, "it is better to 'spit' it out than to
keep it in." I think it is far better to keep it in than to let it
out. If you do not speak it, nobody knows how you feel, and certainly
the adversary does not get the advantage over you. You do not make a
wound.

Vol. 15,  p.376
We of all people should be happy and joyful. When the clouds seem the
darkest and most threatening, and as though the storm is ready to
burst upon us with all its fury, we should be calm, serene and
undisturbed, for if we have the faith we profess to have we know that
God is in the storm; in the cloud or in the threatened danger, and
that he will not let it come upon us only as far as is necessary for
our good and for our salvation, and we should, even then, be calm and
rejoice before God and praise him. Yes, if led like the three Hebrew
children, to the fiery furnace to be east therein, or as Daniel was,
into the lions' den, even then we should preserve our equanimity and
our trustfulness in God. I know that some will say, "This is folly and
enthusiasm," but notwithstanding this idea I know that there is a
power in the religion of Jesus Christ to sustain men even under these
circumstances and they can rejoice in them. Yes, if we had to take our
flight into these canons and mountains to hide from our enemies who
were hunting us in the deserts and wilds of this great interior
country, we should be as happy then if we loved our religion as we are
to-day. I know that when the Saints crossed these plains in
destitution, driven by their enemies from their pleasant places,
burying their dead by the wayside, I know that God bestowed peace upon
them, and that they rejoiced to as great an extent as they have at any
time since.

Vol. 15,  p.376
Brethren and sisters, seek for the faith once delivered to the Saints.
I know that faith will grow in you, and it should grow in you and you
should instill it into your children, that it may be a fixed principle
with them, that we whom God has called from the nations of the earth
may be the nucleus of a faith that shall be disseminated until there
shall be found amongst us the faith once given to the Saints, and
until a race shall spring from us who, like the mighty of ancient
days, shall, through faith stop the mouths of lions, put to flight the
armies of the aliens, quench the violence of fire and raise their dead
to life; until the darkness that enshrouded us and our fathers shall
be known no more, and we be prepared for an eternal residence in his
presence. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.