Journal of Discourses

Volume 16

By President Brigham Young,

His Counselors, the Twelve Apostles, and Others.

Reported by D. W. Evans, James Taylor, and J. Q. Cannon, and Respectfully Dedicated to the Latter-day Saints in All the World.

Liverpool: Printed and Published by Joseph F. Smith, 42, Islington.
London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 20, Bishop’s Grove, Islington.

1874

Journal of Discourses, Volume 16. Kindle edition published November 2010 by Ben Crowder. Updated January 2012.

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Table of Contents

Original page numbers are in parentheses.

- Preface

- Establishment of the Kingdom of God—Permanent Equality Should Be Maintained Among the Saints—Covetousness—Tithing—Consecration—Distinctions, by Orson Pratt (1–8)

- The Order of Enoch—Study of Law—How to Become Rich, by Brigham Young (8–12)

- Testimony—Sickness in Sanpete County—Increase of Crime in the World—the Inevitable Overthrow of the Wicked, by Orson Hyde (12–15)

- Assistance of the Ladies of The Relief Societies Required in Promoting the Manufacture of Paper and the Printing of School Books—Light and Easy Labor Now Performed By Men More Adapted to Women—Should Be Self-Sustaining—Frivolities and Fashions of Babylon Should Be Discarded By the Sisters—Poverty of Those Who Follow After Mining, by Brigham Young (15–23)

- Friends and Enemies—Object of Gathering—Babylon to Be Forsaken—Prayer—Personality of the Godhead, by Brigham Young (23–32)

- Home Manufacture—Offences Must Needs Come—Zion is Growing in Importance on the Earth—the Kingdom of God is Now Established—Second Coming of Christ—Unpopularity of Our Religion—the Holy Ghost is the Infallible Testimony to the Believer—the Gospel Embraces All Truth, by Wilford Woodruff (32–40)

- Unbelief—the Saints Require Constant Instruction—Contrast Between the Gospel of Christ and the Religions of Men—Evil Would Cease Among the Saints If They Would Live Their Religion—Gathering the Poor—Tithing—Knowledge of God—Progress of the Work is Due to the Operations of the Spirit, by Brigham Young (40–47)

- Meeting of Adam With His Posterity in the Valley of Adam-Ondi-Ahman—Location of the Valley—the Covenant With Enoch—Records of God’s Dealings With Men From the Period of the Creation—Method of Preserving the Records of Ancient Prophets—Christ’s Advent Among the Nephites—Fufillment of God’s Purposes and the Fullness of Times, by Orson Pratt (47–59)

- Improved Circumstances of the Saints in Utah—Potency of the Law of Tithing, by Franklin D. Richards (59–63)

- Extension of the Utah Northern Railroad—the Building of the Meeting House and Other Public Improvements Urged on the People—Faith Made Manifest By Works—Unity in Labor and Co-Operation in All Things Pertaining to the Kingdom—Labor Builds Up the Kingdom—Number of Those in the Congregation Acquainted With the Prophet Joseph—Early Experience in the Church—Rewards Will Follow Obedience—Object of the Law of Tithing—Serves the Lord Because of the Purity of Revealed Truth, by Brigham Young (63–71)

- Ignorance of the World Concerning Our Faith—Character of Christ’s Teachings—Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Similar to that of Former-Days—Belief Alone Insufficient—Exhortation to the Saints to Live Their Religion and to Acquire All Useful Knowledge, by Brigham Young (71–77)

- The Rise of Zion in the Last Days, by Orson Pratt (78–87)

- An Account of His Journey to Palestine, by George A. Smith (87–102)

- Obedience—By Reason of Their Disobedience, Ancient Israel and the Land of Palestine Were Visited With and Still Remain Under the Curse of God—Tithing a Heavenly Requirement, by George A. Smith (102–107)

- Continued Obedience to the Laws of God is Necessary to Insure a Complete Salvation to the Latter-Day Saints—the Disobedience of Ancient Israel is Shown As a Warning to the Present Generation of His People—the Nature and Necessity of the Law of Tithing—the Fewness of Those Who Faithfully Observe that Law, by Brigham Young (108–115)

- Altered Circumstances of Gathered Israel—Allurements of Satan at Work—Selfishness and Avarice Should Be Cast Aside—Devotion to the Work of God—the Order of Enoch the Means of Establishing An Equality in Temporal Things—Heavenly Agencies Co-Operating With the Saints, by George Q. Cannon (115–121)

- The Order of Enoch, by Brigham Young (122–123)

- Purpose of God in Creating Man—Man’s Agency—Duties of Those Who Have Entered Into Covenant With God—Reward of Faithfulness—Work to Be Accomplished Before the Second Coming of Jesus—Avoid Evil Associations, by Daniel H. Wells (123–134)

- Necessity of Miracles—Belief of the Latter-Day Saints, by Orson Pratt (135–140)

- The Authority to Preach—It is God Who Has Guided the Work—Glorious Prospects Before the Faithful—Celestial Marriage—Mission to Arizona—Increasing Negligence of the Saints in Attending Meetings—Consequences of Unvirtuous Actions, by George Q. Cannon (140–146)

- The Manifestations of God’s Power, in Behalf of His People in Modern Times, Are Different From Those of Former Ages—Consecration—Order of Enoch—Tithing—Stewardships—Redemption of Zion, by Orson Pratt (146–159)

- The Gospel Incorporates All Truth—Mode of Administering the Sacrament—Abiding Counsel—Heavenly Blessings Are Conditional—Progressiveness of the Work—Plural Marriage Tithing—Tardiness of the Saints in Observing Practical Duties—Co-Operation, by Brigham Young (160–171)

- Marriage, by Orson Pratt (171–185)

- Ordinances that Can Only Be Administered in the Temple—Endowments, Etc., by Brigham Young (185–189)

- Visit of the Presidency to the Northern Settlements, by George A. Smith (190–193)

- The Knowledge of God and Mode of Worshiping Him, by John Taylor (194–199)

- Ancient Prophecy, Relating to the Time of the Restitution of All Things, to Be Fulfilled, by Erastus Snow (200–208)

- Evidences, Relating to the Divine Authenticity of the Bible and Book of Mormon, Compared, by Orson Pratt (209–220)

- A Word of Exhortation, by George A. Smith (220–221)

- The Importance of Living Up to the Knowledge Possessed By, and the Requirements Made of, the Latter-Day Saints, Through the Living Oracles of God, by David McKenzie (222–228)

- Affairs in Sanpete County—“One-man Power”—Unity Required Among the People, by Orson Hyde (228–236)

- The Word of Wisdom—Education, by George A. Smith (237–239)

- The Saving Ordinances of the Gospel, by Daniel H. Wells (239–241)

- The Character of the Church of Christ—Testimony is Given by the Spirit—Trials to be Encountered and Sacrifices to be Made in Order to Prove the Faith of the Saints—The Love of Wealth, by George Q. Cannon (241–245)

- The Instructions Given Are Intended for All the Saints—the Latter-Day Work An Individual Work—Men and Women Are Responsible for Their Own Acts—Obedience is Essential to Salvation—the Present Sinful Condition of the World the Result of Disobedience—Counsel to the Saints on the Necessity of Living Exclusively for the Building Up of the Kingdom of God, by Joseph F. Smith (246–251)

- Temples to Be Built to the Name of the Lord—the Location of Their Erection, and the Purposes for Which They Shall Be Built, by Orson Pratt (251–262)

- Unchangeableness of the Gospel—God Has Chosen the Weak Things of the World to Confound the Wise—Prophecies Relating to the Latter-Day Work—Joseph Smith’s Ministry—Zion to Be Built Up—Baptism for the Dead—the Order of Enoch—Babylonish Fashions, by Wilford Woodruff (263–272)

- Our Temporal Interests to Be Directed for the Work of the Lord—Co-Operation and Home Manufacture in Box Elder County, by Lorenzo Snow (273–279)

- Means Required to Build the Temples—the Word of Wisdom—Unity Needed in Building Up Zion—Sabbath Schools—Journeyings in the Holy Land, by George A. Smith (279–283)

- Distinguishing Characteristics Between the Latter-Day Saints and the Various Religious Denominations of Christendom, by Orson Pratt (284–300)

- Honesty of Purpose Should Actuate All True Believers—Views of Mankind in Relation to God—the Existing Modes of Divine Worship—Ancient Christianity Compared With Modern So-Called Christianity—the Principles of the Gospel, by John Taylor (301–312)

- The Creation—the Seventh Thousand Years, and Events Which Are to Follow the Period of the Millennium, by Orson Pratt (312–326)

- Revelation on the Judgments of the Lord—First Fruits of the Resurrection—What Becometh of the Souls of Men—Redemption Universal, by Orson Pratt (326–338)

- The Stick of Joseph and of Judah—Times of the Gentiles—Apostacy From the Ancient Order—Restoration of the Everlasting Gospel, by Orson Pratt (339–353)

- The Increased Powers and Capacities of Man in His Future State, by Orson Pratt (353–368)

- What the Gospel Teaches—Revelation From God Necessary—the Faith and Doctrines of the Latter-Day Saints, by John Taylor (369–376)

Preface

We now present to the Latter-day Saints, and all lovers of truth, the Sixteenth Volume of the Journal of Discourses of President Brigham Young, his Counselors, the Twelve Apostles, and others; confident that all who feel an interest in the advancement of the great Latter-day Work, and the spread of truth upon the earth, will peruse its pages with joy and profit unto themselves, and preserve it as containing sacred writings of inspired men.

THE PUBLISHER

Establishment of the Kingdom of God, etc.

Orson Pratt

Remarks by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered at the General Conference, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Monday morning, April 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

It is a pleasure to me to bear testimony to the great work which God has revealed, and which he is establishing on the earth. It has been a pleasure for me to do so for nearly forty-three years. In the early rise of this Church, when I was but a youth of nineteen, God revealed to me the truth concerning this great latter-day work, and I have felt from that day until the present time to bear my testimony to the same, being commanded so to do. I have esteemed it above all other things The things of this world have been nothing to me, when compared with the ministry, or declaring the truth to mankind. We have one of the most important messages to deliver to the children of men that has ever been communicated to mortals—a dispensation of the same Gospel as was committed to men in the early ages of the world, and in the different dispensations down to the coming of Christ. In addition to this, which renders our message of still more importance to the human family, is the fact that we are living in the last dispensation that will be given to mankind, called the dispensation of the fullness of times. All preceding dispensations have come to an end, apparently, and those who have embraced the doctrines or principles communicated to them have passed away, and darkness has intervened. But in this last dispensation which God has given to man, there will be no uprooting and destruction of his kingdom from the earth—it is established never more to be thrown down, in fulfillment of ancient prophecy. This is what makes this dispensation of greater importance than all which have preceded it.

Here in these mountains is established a kingdom, not earthly or transient in its nature, with officers who are called by uninspired men but a kingdom that is divine, and which acknowledges the Great Redeemer and Savior as its King and Lawgiver. It must endure forever.

I look back with great pleasure upon the history of this people from the commencement down to the present time. I see what God has wrought in their behalf; I see what he has accomplished among the nations. It is true that we have not continued as faithful in all things as we should. We have not made that progression in this kingdom that we ought. We have been perhaps slow to hearken in all things to the counsels which God has given, and the order which he has revealed, and which was intended to be of the greatest advantage to, and to produce the greatest amount of happiness among the Saints of the Most High. I say that, in some respects, we have been slow to obey the order of Heaven. In many things we have done well. When the doctrines of faith, repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost through the laying on of the hands of the servants of God, were taught to us, we laid hold of them with full purpose of heart. We covenanted before high heaven that we would keep the commandments of the Lord according to the best of the ability which we had. We did well in embracing these heavenly principles.

When God spake to us some forty-two or forty-three years ago, and commanded us—then scattered about in the State of New York—to gather up to Ohio, we did well in hearkening to that commandment, and coming together in Kirtland—then in Geauga County. Again, when God gave a commandment through his servant, the Prophet Joseph, to gather up from all parts of the United States and form a nucleus in Jackson County, in the State of Missouri, we did well in obeying that commandment. When God, by the mouth of his servant, commanded that we should go forth and officiate and be baptized for and in behalf of our dead kindred, we did well in performing that which we were commanded to do. When he commanded his Saints, scattered abroad in foreign countries, to gather to this continent, all who gathered in obedience to that requirement, with full purpose of heart to do his will, did well. When we were driven from our inheritances in Jackson County, Missouri, and our lands and houses and goods were spoiled, we did well in being faithful to God. When our enemies, a few years after, rose en masse and drove us from our beautiful city of Nauvoo into these inhospitable western wilds, where to all human appearance we must perish of starvation, we did well to brave the dangers of the desert, and the difficulties we had to encounter in coming to these mountains. In many other things, too, we have done well. There are some few things, however, which I wish to name, wherein I think a great reformation is needed among the people of God. I read in this book, called the Book of Mormon, of a certain order, in regard to temporal things, which existed soon after the days of Christ, which was revealed and established by him for he benefit of the Saints who lived on this Western Hemisphere. It was the highest order and law of the kingdom of God in regard to temporal things. I read that the ancient Saints upon this continent entered into that order with all their hearts. They were not a small handful of people like the Latter-day Saints, but they were spread over the whole of North and South America. Millions on millions of people dwelt in large and populous cities in the four quarters of this great Western Hemisphere, and they all entered into this heavenly order which God had established on this continent and continued therein for 167 years.

What was that order? They had all things in common. Not an isolated few where Jesus ministered to them; not a few individuals who dwelt in a certain region of country, but the Savior having chosen twelve disciples from among the multitude to whom he appeared, they were sent forth upon all the face of the land, and so great were the evidences given, concerning the appearance of Jesus, that the whole people were converted unto the Lord, and they were willing to be guided by those servants who were called and ordained to administer in their midst.

Prior to that time there were rich and poor among the people, and, from the history given, no doubt an order of things existed on this continent in those days resembling that which now exists among all the nations and kingdoms of the earth—some lifted up in pride and popularity because of their great wealth, others bowed down in the dust because of their poverty, and class distinctions prevailed until this new order of things was established. What a blessed people! How happy they must have been! No poor either in North or South America. No beggars in the streets of their great cities, but all the property—the gold and silver, the flocks and herds, and everything that was calculated to make life happy in the possession of and enjoyed, as stewards, by the whole people. No inequality, so far as this was concerned, for the pattern was after the order of heavenly things.

Now let us ask the question—has God ever revealed to the Latter-day Saints the necessity of entering into this heavenly order in regard to their wealth? He has. When? When we gathered up to Jackson County in the State of Missouri. In the year 1831, the land was consecrated and set apart by revelation for the erection thereon of a great and heavenly city unto the Most High God. Not the old Jerusalem, but a new Jerusalem, a city of Zion. God, by the mouth of his servant Joseph, who for a short space of time dwelt in the midst of the people there, revealed the law of consecration, not the law of tithing, but the law of consecration. Let me repeat that law, Latter-day Saints, for as it is a law which will come in force at some future period of our history, it will not be amiss for us to understand its nature and to prepare to approximate to its requirements, so that when it is introduced amongst us we may take hold of it with all our hearts. When we went up to that country in 1831, the commandment of the Most High to the Saints was that they should consecrate all that they had. Not one-tenth merely, not the surplus of their property, but all that they had, whether it was gold, silver, household furniture, wearing apparel, jewelry, horses, cattle, wagons, mechanical tools, machinery, or whatever wealth or property they possessed, they were to consecrate the whole and deliver it unto the Lord’s judge in the midst of Zion. Who was he? The Bishop. In those days we had not the necessity of so many Bishops as now. We were a small people then, and the Bishop in Zion, under the direction of the highest authorities of the Church, he being guided and inspired by the Holy Ghost, was to take charge of all the consecrations of the people of the Most High. This made them all equal, every person stood upon the same platform, possessing nothing to begin with. All was consecrated and became the common property of the Church.

Now how was this common property to be used? First, the Saints needed land, they needed means to build habitations; they needed farming utensils; they needed flocks and herds; they needed manufacturing establishments; they needed mercantile and all kinds of mechanical business to be introduced into their midst, just as fast as they procured means sufficient. By whom were the stewardships of the Saints laid off? The Lord’s judge or bishop in Zion purchased land from the United States, and then laid off to each man his stewardship according to the number of his family. Those who were mechanics received the tools necessary to work with; those who were called upon to engage in some business wherein a greater amount of capital was needed had a capital accordingly. That is, that was the intention as the common property of the Church should increase.

Perhaps the question may be asked, could this equality be maintained from that time, henceforth and forever? If there had been no law given instructing us how this equality could be maintained the people, before twelve months had passed away, would have been unequal again. Why? Because a man, perhaps, of small talent or ability, might mismanage his stewardship or inheritance, and instead of gaining anything he would lose. Another man, having a little more talent and industry, and perhaps a little more wisdom, would gain a little. Another man’s business tact and knowledge were perhaps such that he could carry on a large manufacturing establishment, and in a short time he would gain his thousands, and thus in the course of a year we would again have had rich and poor if God had not provided against it.

What provisions did the Lord make in order to maintain this equality among his Saints permanently? He made this arrangement by law—that every man should be considered a steward first, and prove himself a wise steward before he could be entitled to an everlasting inheritance. These stewards were to render an account to the judge in Zion of their stewardships, or in other words, as it is written in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants—“It is required of every steward to render an account of his stewardship, both in time and eternity.” (Doc. and Cov., Sec. x c: Par. 1.)

To whom does he render this report or account? To the Lord’s bishop or bishops, as the case may be; he reports what he has done with the means entrusted to his care. If a man has been entrusted with fifty or with a thousand dollars, or with a million, to carry on some branch of business he must, at the end of the year, render an account of that stewardship. If a man is only entrusted with a small farm, he renders an account of his stewardship at the end of the year, and thus all those who are occupied in these different branches of trade, render accounts of their stewardships, consecrating, at the end of the year, all that they have gained, excepting what it has cost to feed and clothe them. Are they not equal? Yes, and this maintains a permanent equality; for the man who has gained a hundred thousand in his stewardship consecrates all that he has not used; and the man with a smaller stewardship who in the whole year, has only gained fifty dollars over and above what he has used, consecrates that fifty. The man who has gained most consecrates most, the man who has gained least consecrates the least. This reduces them yearly to the same position and condition as they were in when they commenced this heavenly order.

Did the people carry out this law? No. Why? Because they had imbibed the notions which had prevailed among the people of the whole earth, and these notions were in direct opposition to the order of heaven. The notions and traditions of the world were that every man must be for himself, every family for themselves, and they must labor with their might, mind and strength to gain all they possibly could gain, and use it only for themselves and their generations after them, caring nothing at all about their neighbors. These traditions had been instilled into our minds, and we were too full of covetousness and of false notions about property to carry out the law of God, and hence many, when they came up to Zion, looked abroad upon that beautiful, rich soil, and the excellent groves of timber, and the fine prairies and meadows, with springs breaking forth in numerous places, as they do in Jackson County, and their souls lusted after these things, and the rich man said, “No, I will not consecrate all my property, I will go to the General Land Office and purchase for myself, and I will buy largely in order that I may sell to my poor brethren when they come up here. I will buy land and speculate upon it, and make my fortune.” That was the feeling which existed in the hearts of some of the Latter-day Saints. God saw this, and reproved us by revelation, and he said to the people in Jackson County, by the mouth of his servant Joseph, that if they did not repent of this covetousness he would pluck them up and send them out of Zion, for said he, “The rebellious are not of the blood of Ephraim, wherefore they shall be plucked up, and sent away out of the land.” God fulfilled this revelation—he did pluck up the people; he did cast them away out of that land in the year 1833. Some two years and a few months after we first began to settle that country we were cast out of the land—plucked up, just as the Lord had predicted, and we were told that it was because of our sins and covetousness that we were sent away.

Did the Lord forsake us? No; he had compassion upon us, as he had upon ancient Israel, when they were cast away out of their land from time to time. In what respect did he have compassion upon us? When he saw the hold that the traditions in which we had been trained had upon our hearts, he revoked, for the time being, the law of full consecration. Says one, “What! God revoke a commandment?” Yes, that is the way he did in ancient times, and he is the same God yet. He did it for our good; for if that law had been in full force this people would not have been in these mountains this day. Our selfishness and covetousness are so great that, as a people, we never would have complied with it. A few amongst us might have done so, but as a people we should have been overcome and ruined; but owing to that law being revoked, many of us will now, perhaps, be saved.

In the year 1834, a few months after, we were driven out from that goodly land, God said unto us in a revelation, given on Fishing River, “Let those laws and commandments which I have given concerning Zion and her properties, be executed and fulfilled after her redemption.” Thus you see, Latter-day Saints, that we are not under the law of full consecration, and if not under the law we are not under the penalty thereof. Where there is a law there is a penalty, and when we transgress the law we incur the penalty; but having been relieved, for a period, from the execution of that law, we were placed under another law, which, in some respects, may be considered an inferior law. When was that law given? In 1838, some five years after we were driven forth from our stewardships. What is that law? It is called the law of tithing. What is the law of tithing? Part of that law enjoins it upon the Saints as a duty to pay into the Lord’s storehouse one-tenth of all their annual income. But let me refer you to the fulness of the law of tithing, for, although an inferior law, I fear that as a people we have not kept it. The first part of that law requires every man, when he comes into the midst of the people of God, to consecrate all his surplus property, reserving to himself a certain portion. This is not a full consecration like the higher law. Latter-day Saints, have we kept this inferior law? Has the man who possessed great riches, when he came to these mountains and numbered himself with the people of God, consecrated all his surplus property, and afterwards paid a tenth of all his annual income? I will tell you what we have done—as a general thing we, rich and poor, have kept all the property we had when we came here, and some have consecrated one-tenth part of their income, and so far as this is concerned the people have no doubt done very well, with some few exceptions; and I am happy to be able to state, from information I have obtained from some of the Bishops of the Church, that the Latter-day Saints, now, are showing more determination to pay their tithing, than they ever have done heretofore.

But let us come back to the other portion of this inferior law. Have we felt a disposition to consecrate our surplus property? Go east, west, north and south, into all our settlements, and you will find that the men are few and far between who consecrated their surplus property, when they came here. In the first place, there have been but few wealthy persons who have come amongst us, and the people have been their own judges. Every man thought that he had no surplus, when he came here. If he had a hundred thousand dollars on his arrival he has said or thought, “O, I have made such and such calculations. I wish to become a merchant in the midst of the people, and I need thousands and thousands of dollars to set me up. I wish to make thirty, forty, fifty or a hundred per cent. out of these poor people, and to enable me to do so I do not think that any of this hundred thousand dollars can be called surplus property. I need it all, I can not carry on my merchandising unless I have it all to set me up.

Another man who wishes to start some other branch of business makes his calculations so as to cover up all his property, for he thinks he will need it all to enable him to carry out the particular branch of business which he wishes to introduce into these mountains, for he wants to get exceedingly rich before the law of full consecration comes. When they are thus left to be their own judges, where is the man who is honest enough in his feelings to say, “I think I can spare fifty, twenty, ten, five or one thousand dollars as surplus property?” This in my opinion is wrong. They should not be their own judges: Who should be the judges in this matter? The Bishops whom the Lord has appointed in Zion, under the counsel of the First Presidency of his Church and the counsels of the Holy Ghost which rest upon them to guide their minds. The people should be honest enough when they come up here with means, to say to the Bishops—“Here, I have so much means, judge ye, how much of this shall be surplus, and how much I shall retain.”

The reason I make these remarks is that I want this people to fully understand that there is a law given, a law inferior to that of full consecration, and for every man to enquire whether he has carried out this law according to the letter thereof. Perhaps the time has not come even for this law to be fulfilled in all its exactness. At any rate we are drifting along in about the same channel that the world does, so far as our property is concerned, with the exception of paying one-tenth of our annual income into the Lord’s store-house, and the consequence is, there have become rich and poor in Zion, some possessing their hundreds of thousands, and others digging, in the dust, as it were, from year’s end to year’s end.

How shall this be remedied? Is the time come for us to execute the higher law of consecration? In undertaking to do so in the settlements of this Territory, what a revolution it would produce? How many would apostatize and go away from the Church? How many of those who are comparatively wheat would be plucked up with the tares if we were to undertake to enforce the higher law of consecration, or the law of tithing in all its fullness. And it would produce the same revolutionary results in most of the old settlements, because we are not prepared for it. I do not see, for my part, how we can begin to approximate to that law of oneness in regard to our property unless we commence in some new place, where the Church and the settlers might be gathered together and set a pattern for all the rest. I do not know but we might accomplish it in that way. I hope that we shall see something that will do away with these distinctions of classes. I hate to see them in the midst of the people of God.

There are many men of wealth, good, honest, upright men who would be willing to do anything that the Lord required at their hands; while there are others who hug their property close to their hearts, as though it were dearer to them than anything either in this world or in the world to come. There are certainly existing now among us distinctions of classes which if not checked, may prove the overthrow of many. For instance the rich can educate their sons and daughters in the best schools, academies and universities; others can not do this, because of their poverty. This makes the children of the rich feel themselves above the children of the poor. Have we not seen in our gatherings for amusement these distinctions manifested? I have. I have seen those who were poorly dressed come into our parties and take a back seat, and there they would sit, as the old saying is, like “wallflowers,” during the whole party. Who would be out on the floor enjoying themselves? The rich. But in many instances there are parties of pleasure and amusement got up among the Saints, to which the poor are never invited; they are got up only for those who can dress in fine style, who can sweep the floor of the ball room with two or three yards of their dresses dragging after them.

With the feelings engendered by these distinctions of classes, there is not that fellowship that should exist among the Saints of the living God. If we wish, brethren and sisters, to go back and build up the waste places of Zion, and to see the New Jerusalem erected upon the consecrated spot, let us endeavor to approximate more nearly to the celestial law, that when we do get back there, and that law more fully comes in force, we may be able to enter into it; for thus saith the Lord, in this Book of Covenants, “Zion cannot be built up only according to the law of the celestial kingdom, otherwise I can not receive her unto myself.” We have got to come to that, and it is well for us in my opinion, that we begin to approximate as fast as possible, that when the time shall come, we shall be prepared for full consecration.

How long our President has labored in the midst of the people here to get them to introduce home manufactures? How long and loud he has lifted his voice, in connection with his counselors, and the Twelve Apostles, to bring about this thing; but the people, instead of hearkening to their counsel, have imported from abroad almost everything they needed. The President is willing, but some of the people are not. Amen.

The Order of Enoch—Study of Law—How to Become Rich

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered at the General Conference, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Monday morning, April 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

There are a few minutes to spare, and I wish to lay some matters before you. I will say, first, that the Lord Almighty has not the least objection in the world to our entering into the Order of Enoch. I will stand between the people and all harm in this. He has not the least objection to any man, every man, all mankind on the face of the earth turning from evil and loving and serving him with all their hearts. With regard to all those orders that the Lord has revealed, it depends upon the will and doings of the people, and we are at liberty, from this Conference, to go and build up a settlement, or we can join ourselves together in this city, do it legally—according to the laws of the land—and enter into covenant with each other by a firm agreement that we will live as a family, that we will put our property into the hands of a committee of trustees, who shall dictate the affairs of this society. If any man can bring up anything to prove to the contrary I am willing to hear it. But no man can do it.

Brother Pratt has told you, in his explanations this morning, what the Lord has revealed and how he has been merciful to the people; and when we have not been willing to be Latter-day Saints altogether, but only in part, he has said, “Well, you are the best there is, and I will accept of you. I can not get anybody else who is willing to be part Saints, and I will lead you, my people, as long as you will let me, and I will forgive you your sins this time, and I will accept part of your property if you will not give it all,” etc., all showing the kindness and forbearance of our Father in heaven; but he has not the least objection in the world to our being perfect Saints.

I have a few things to lay before the Conference, one of which is—and I think my brethren will agree with me that this is wise and practicable—for from one to five thousand of our young and middle-aged men to turn their attention to the study of law. I would not speak lightly in the least of law, we are sustained by it; but what is called the practice of law is not always the administration of justice, and would not be so considered in many courts. How many lawyers are there who spend their time from morning till night in thinking and planning how they can get up a lawsuit against this or that man, and get his property into their possession? Men of this class are land sharks, and they are no better than highway robbers, for their practice is to deceive and take advantage of all they can. I do not say that this is the law, but this is the practice of some of its professors. The effort of such lawyers, if they are paid well, is to clear and turn loose on society the thief, perjurer and murderer. They say to the dishonest and those who are disposed to do evil, “Go and lay claim to your neighbor’s property, or to that which is not your own, or commit some other act of injustice, and pay us, and we will clear you and make your claim appear just in the eye of the law;” and officers and judges too often join in the unrighteous crusades for the lawyers to wrong the just. I have been in courts and have heard lawyers quote laws that had been repealed for years, and the judge was so ignorant that he did not know it, and the lawyer would make him give a decision according to laws which no longer existed. Now, I request our brethren to go and study law, so that when they meet any of this kind of lawyers they will be able to thwart their vile plans. I do not by any means say these things of all lawyers for we have good and just men who are lawyers, and we would like to have a great many more. You go to one of the pettifogging class of lawyers, and get him to write a deed for you, and he will do it so that it can be picked to pieces by other lawyers. Employ such a man to write a deed, bond, mortgage or any instrument of writing, and his study will be to do it so that it will confound itself. This is the way that such men make business for their class. We want from one to five thousand of our brethren to go and study law.

If I could get my own feelings answered I would have law in our school books, and have our youth study law at school. Then lead their minds to study the decisions and counsels of the just and the wise, and not forever be studying how to get the advantage of their neighbor. This is wisdom.

My mind is so led upon the subject brother Pratt has been speaking upon with regard to the orders that God has revealed that I can hardly let it alone when I am talking to the people. He said there are many rich men who are willing to do anything that the Lord requires of them. I believe this, and there is quite a number of poor men, likewise, who would like to do anything if they could only know that it was the will of the Lord. I am about to make an application of my remarks with regard to the willingness of men. But in this I shall except brother Pratt, for the simple reason that I do not know a man who is more willing to do what he is told than he is. If he is told to teach mathematics, he is willing to do it; if he is told to make books, preach the Gospel, work in a garden or tend cattle, he is willing to do it, and I know of no man more willing to do anything and everything required of him than he is. But I want to say to our willing, kind, good brethren that, so far as obeying the orders which God has revealed, I can bring the rich into line quicker than I can get many poor men who are not worth a dollar, and who do not know how to raise a breakfast to-morrow morning. I have tried both, and know. Who is there among us who came here rich? It was alluded to by brother Pratt. Look over our rich men, where are they? Who is there among the Latter-day Saints that is wealthy? When I came to this valley I was a thousand dollars in debt. I left every thing. I think I got about three hundred dollars, a span of horses, and a little carriage, for all my property I left in Nauvoo. But I bought cattle, horses and wagons, and traded and borrowed and got the poor here by scores myself; and I have paid for these teams since I have been here.

When I got here I was in debt only about a thousand dollars for myself and family to a merchant in Winter Quarters, but I was in debt for others, and I have paid the last dime that I know anything about. When I reached here I could not pay one-tenth—I could not pay my surplus—I could not give my all—for I had nothing.

Here is Horace S. Eldredge, he is one of our wealthy men. What did he have when he came here? Nothing that I know of, except just enough to get here with his family. William Jennings has been called a millionaire. What was he worth when he came here? He had comparatively little. Now he is one of our wealthy men. William H. Hooper is another of our wealthy men. He is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. How much had he to pay as surplus when he came here. He could pay no surplus, for he was worth nothing; but he is now wealthy. If he had gone to California I believe he would have been poor to-day.

There is any amount of property, and gold and silver in the earth and on the earth, and the Lord gives to this one and that one—the wicked as well as the righteous—to see what they will do with it, but it all belongs to him. He has handed over a goodly portion to this people, and, through our faith, patience and industry, we have made us good, comfortable homes here, and there are many who are tolerably well off, and if they were in many parts of the world they would be called wealthy. But it is not ours, and all we have to do is to try and find out what the Lord wants us to do with what we have in our possession, and then go and do it. If we step beyond this, or to the right or to the left, we step into an illegitimate train of business. Our legitimate business is to do what the Lord wants us to do with that which he bestows upon us, and dispose of it just as he dictates, whether it is to give all, one-tenth, or the surplus. I was present at the time the revelation came for the brethren to give their surplus property into the hands of the Bishops for the building up of Zion, but I never knew a man yet who had a dollar of surplus property. No matter how much one might have he wanted all he had for himself, for his children, his grand-children, and so forth.

If we are disposed to enter into covenant one with another, and have an agreement made according to the laws of our land, and we are disposed to put our property into the hands of trustees, and work as we are directed—eat, drink, sleep, ride, walk, talk, study, school our children, our middle-aged and our aged, and learn the arts and sciences, the laws of the Priesthood, the laws of life, anatomy, physic and anything and everything useful upon the earth, the Lord has not the least objection in the world, and would be perfectly willing for us to do it, and I should like, right well, for us to try it. I know how to start such a society, right in this city, and how to make its members rich. I would go to now, and buy out the poorest ward in this city, and then commence with men and women who have not a dollar in the world. Bring them here from England, or any part of the earth, set them down in this ward and put them to work, and in five years we would begin to enter other wards, and we would buy this house and that house, and the next house, and we would add ward to ward until we owned the whole city, every dollar’s worth of property there is in it. We could do this, and let the rich go to California to get gold, and we would buy their property. Would you like to know how to do this? I can tell you in a very few words—never want a thing you can not get, live within your means, manufacture that which you wear, and raise that which you eat. Raise every calf and lamb; raise the chickens, and have your eggs, make your butter and cheese, and always have a little to spare. The first year we raise a crop, and we have more than we want. We buy nothing, we sell a little. The next year we raise more; we buy nothing, and we sell more. In this way we could pile up the gold and silver and in twenty years a hundred families working like this could buy out their neighbors. I see men who earn four, five, ten or fifteen dollars a day and spend every dime of it. Such men spend their means foolishly, they waste it instead of taking care of it. They do not know what to do with it, and they seem to fear that it will burn their pockets, and they get rid of it. If you get a dollar, sovereign, half-eagle or eagle, and are afraid it will burn your pockets, put it into a safe. It will not burn anything there, and you will not be forced to spend, spend, spend as you do now. See our boys here, why if my boys, by the time they are twenty, have not a horse and carriage to drive of their own, they think they are very badly used, and say, “Well, I do not think father thinks much of me.” A great many things might be said on this subject that I do not want to say.

Brethren, we want you to turn in and study the laws of the Territory of Utah, of this city and other cities, and then the statutes of the United States, and the Constitution of the United States. Then read the decisions of the Supreme Court. I do not mean the self-styled “United States Supreme Court for the Territory of Utah;” but the United States Supreme Court that sits at Washington—the seat of government. Read up their decisions, and the decisions of the English judges and the laws of England and of other countries, and learn what they know, and then if you draw up a will, deed, mortgage or contract, do not study to deceive the man who pays you for this, but make out a writing or instrument as strong and firm as the hills, that no man can tear to pieces, and do your business honestly and uprightly, in the fear of God and with the love of truth in your heart. The lawyer that will take this course will live and swim, while the poor, miserable, dishonest schemers will sink and go down. We live by law, and I only condemn those among the lawyers who are eternally seeking to take advantage of their neighbors.

Now we will close, and adjourn until 2 o’clock this afternoon.

Testimony, etc.

Orson Hyde

Discourse by President Orson Hyde, delivered at the General Conference, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Monday morning, April 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

It is very gratifying to my feelings this morning, my brethren and sisters, to have the privilege of meeting with you in the capacity of a General Conference. I have not spoken much in public of late, in consequence of being, for the last six weeks, considerably afflicted, and confined to my room, and a good portion of the time to my bed. I do not feel like entering into any special or particular subject; but I rejoice in the opportunity of mingling and associating with my friends. We are separated for some six months in the year, and when we come together and meet with our co-laborers, it is joyful to look upon their countenances. I rejoice in this opportunity of meeting with my brethren of the Twelve and the First Presidency, and beholding them mostly in the enjoyment of good health.

We have been endeavoring now, for more than forty years, to establish the kingdom of God and bearing our testimony to the nations of the earth. I, for one, do not know how much longer my voice may be heard among the living, but I rejoice in the opportunity of bearing testimony to the truth whenever strength will permit and opportunity offer. I take occasion to say to my brethren and sisters, this morning, that as the time is drawing near the cause seems more and more precious to me. It is part of myself, and myself, I trust, a part of it. I rejoice in saying that I know this is the everlasting Gospel, the truth of Heaven. Having experienced it for more than forty years, I know it is true and faithful, and no man can impeach my testimony. Not because there is so much sterling worth in me, as there is in the cause that I feebly advocate. It is true I lived in the days of the martyred Prophet. I was associated with him, and bore my testimony with him, and I feel no less like bearing my testimony this morning.

I want to say a few words in relation to the place whence I came, and where I mostly labor. We have had some affliction there, in the shape of small pox. There have been many cases of that disease, but it was of a mild type, and I am happy to say that it has nearly left us, and we are again comparatively free. But we have been afflicted with a disease that is much more to be dreaded than the small pox, and which we have generally called “spotted fever.” The small pox is no more to be compared to that disease than the bite of a flea or mosquito is to the bite of a rattle-snake. There have been about sixteen deaths, mostly children, from spotted fever, and there are some half dozen cases yet remaining, but no new ones. They have lingered for ten or twelve weeks, and they, apparently, can neither live nor die, and are mere skeletons. I feel sorry to see children, who should grow up and develop an intellect and a power equal if not superior to any that now live, thus afflicted; and to see them cut down in the morning of their existence grieves me very much. But the word of the Lord unto us has declared that scourges in the shape of sickness shall be sent forth, beginning first at his house, and from thence they shall spread and make the nations quake.

We are living, my brethren and sisters, in an important period of time, and when I read over the testimony of the martyred Prophet, and the word of the Lord through him, it seems that in comparing the signs of the times at present with his testimony, there would be ample evidence to convince any rational being that God, our heavenly Father, sent him. I read of disasters by sea and by land. I read of a receding from the principles of honesty, and that great men go into wild speculations and dishonesty, and involve the country in ruin unless there be a speedy arresting of their course. The murders that are committed at the present time, show to me that the word of the Lord is true where he declares through the Prophet, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” As the Spirit of the Lord forsakes the people, bloodshed, corruption, confusion and anarchy must follow, and all these are increasing in our country. I can not take up a paper without seeing the fulfillment of some of the sayings of our martyred Prophet, and of our brethren who are sitting behind me, on this stand. And what power is there that can arrest the course of evil? There is nothing but genuine repentance and obeying the everlasting Gospel. That is the only remedy that Heaven has provided; the only fountain of life and salvation for the nations exists among these poor, despised Mormons, and I know it. Brethren and sisters, I rejoice in the Lord our God, that he has moved graciously in favor of the Latter-day Saints; and inasmuch as we will forsake all evil and cleave unto him we shall find that his words unto us will be fulfilled, where he declares, “I will fight your battles.” I would rather live near to God and serve him with all my heart and soul, might, mind and strength, than fight my own battles. If the Lord will fight our battles there can be no treason in that, he is too high for treason to attach to him. He is beyond the reach of the power of this world and he can hurl his storms and blast the prospects of the most sanguine, and accomplish wonders, and none can stay his hand or say—“What doest thou?” The increase, in a thousand forms, of evils, accidents, and calamities through our land and the nations of the earth should admonish us to live near to the Lord our God, to remember our prayers, and the obligations we are under to the Most High, and to seek with all our hearts to discharge them with fidelity. Those who have held fast to the iron rod, and have remembered their God, Savior and prayers, feel to thank God, and to praise his holy name that they have endured. Let that feeling ever fill your hearts, and may the peace of God rest upon Israel, and confusion come upon them that seek to destroy the best and choicest principles that heaven ever revealed to man.

I was thankful to hear the definition and distinction, given yesterday by the President, of the words “enemies” and “friends” of mankind. It was true and faithful. He is my friend who is the friend of truth and humanity; he is my enemy who seeks to trample under foot the truth of heaven and those who are striving earnestly to serve the Lord. Brethren and sisters, be faithful to him who has called you and from whom you have derived every blessing you possess to-day. Remember our brethren and sisters who are scattered and are anxious for deliverance. Strikes have been inaugurated in various portions of the old world, and thousands of people are out of employment in consequence thereof. Similar operations are threatened in our own country, and they are likely to seriously affect the welfare and interest of the nation. In what shape troubles may come I do not know, but it will be a wonder to me if bloodshed does not result. Well did the angel say, forty-five years ago, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” This is the reason why the Saints are gathering from the countries of their nativity. Yet when the people see the Saints gathering they frequently say, “What folly, what folly!” Go to the fowls of heaven and learn a lesson. When you see the fowls, in the fall of the year, going to the south, crooping as they go, you say that winter is nigh; so when you see the Saints gathering together, remember that disaster awaits the countries they are leaving. God has declared it, and his arm is sufficiently potent to fulfill his words.

I rejoice in the truth, and I bear my testimony, to-day, before you, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the true and living God. I bear my testimony that brother Brigham Young, the President of the Church here in Zion, is a man of God, and that he is carrying on the work that Joseph Smith began. When we came here how was it with us? We had nothing but a few worn-down teams and a few old wagons, very much demoralized. They were so in the start, because we could not get any other kind. But when we got through here, having brought seed, provisions, and implements such as we could command, our case was a pitiful one. But the Lord has had mercy on us and he has blessed us, and now we are beyond the reach of present want. I am thankful that all this has been brought about under the administration of our present honored President, and the world is trying to kill him and those who sustain and uphold him. It is a great warfare, it is a great wrestling; but I am aware how it will come out. It will be with the enemies and opposers of God and truth as it was with the Irishman who, as he was crossing over a bridge, saw the moon in the stream, and believing it to be a cheese, he said to his companion—“Let us go down and get that cheese.” Well, one held on to the railing of the bridge and the other slipped down and hung to his heels, thinking that he would reach down and obtain the cheese. By and by, says the one that was holding to the bridge to his friend below—“Pat, hold fast below till I spit in my hands above,” and down they went. That is the way the contest between the world and “Mormonism “’ will terminate—while they are saying, “Hold fast below till I spit in my hands above,” crash goes the whole concern.

Brethren and sisters, God bless you, Amen.

Assistance of the Ladies of The Relief Societies Required in Promoting the Manufacture of Paper and the Printing of School Books, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at the General Conference, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Monday afternoon, April 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I will make a few remarks to the ladies of the Relief Societies. First of all I can say of a truth that, in sustaining the poor and ministering to the sick and afflicted, much credit is due to them for the good they have done; but I wish to add a little to their labors. If these societies will take into consideration the further duties and obligations that we are under to each other, and the importance of becoming self-sustaining, we wish to enlist their interest to aid us in making paper, by taking steps to collect the rags. We have an excellent paper mill here, and can make our own paper, as well as to send abroad and pay out our money for it, and then bring it here. We should cease importing paper, for paper-making is a branch of manufacture for which we have all the necessary facilities, and if we carry it on it will benefit us. We want the ladies of the Relief Societies to enlist the sympathies of the children, in their respective Wards throughout the Territory, to save the pager rags; we want mothers to do this, and also to show their children how to do it. When you see them throwing them out of doors, say, “Stop, my child, put that into the basket,” or other place designated. “We will wash these rags, and when we get enough of them we will sell them and buy some books for you to read.” If we can only enlist the feelings of the sisters on behalf of this great interest, it will lay the foundation for printing the books that we need in our own community, and then we can save this expense also. This is the first step. We want these cart loads of cloth saved that we now see kicked around the streets and lying around the yards. Go to the poorest family in this community, and I will venture to say that they waste rags enough every year to buy the school books that are needed for their children, and do even more. This is slothfulness and neglect, and produces wickedness. To be prudent and saving, and to use the elements in our possession for our benefit and the benefit of our fellow beings is wise and righteous; but to be slothful, wasteful, lazy and indolent, to spend our time and means for naught, is unrighteous; and we might think of this, and contemplate the facts in the case until our feelings and interests are so far enlisted that we will save our paper rags, and take them to the paper mill.

When this is done I want the sisters to so far use the abilities which God has given them as to learn to set type, and have your printing office and carry it on. It looks very unbecoming to me to see a great, big six-footer stand and pick up little type and put it in its place to make a word or a sentence, a book or a paper; and when he has got his stickfull, taking the type out of the stick and setting it on the galley. To see a great six-footer doing this, and measuring off tape, which is about the same, has always appeared to me, according to that which I understand, as if men were out of their place. I have thought so all my days. I have occasionally seen women in the harvest field, ploughing, raking and making hay, and sometimes, though very seldom, I have seen them pitch and load hay. I think this is very unbecoming, this hard, laborious work belongs to men. But when you come to picking up type, and making a book of it, that belongs to the women. I know that many arguments are used against this, and we are told that a woman cannot make a coat, vest or a pair of pantaloons. I dispute this. It is said that a man is stronger and that he pulls his thread stronger than a woman does. I will take any of these ladies to a tailor’s shop, and they will snap every thread a tailor sews with. Tell me they can not pull a thread tight enough, and that they can not press hard enough to press a coat, it is all folly and nonsense. The difficulty is the tailors do not want them to do it, and they try to shame them out of it or to make them believe they can not sew a seam, press a collar, wristband, sleeve or body of a coat, and if women do it ever so nice the tailors will say it is good for nothing, and so the great, big six-footer sits there crosslegged sewing. This is not the order of prudence and economy; neither is it according to the nature of the calling and the ability that God has given us as men and women, to see a man measuring tape, and such light work, it is far more suitable for women. “Well but,” say some, “a woman can not do press work.” I recollect what was said to me in my youth by a journeyman printer. We were working off Ball’s Arithmetic together and we boarded together. I did not eat meat at that time, and he was very fond of it. We went into the office one day from dinner and he said to the workmen, “Young never eats any meat;” and said he, “I can just throw any man that don’t eat meat.” I said to him, “Mr. Pratt, if you will step here into the middle of the floor I will show you how to dirty coats.” But he dared not try it. They say ladies do not eat enough to make them strong—why I have seen scores and scores of them that could pull a hand press, and we do not use them now; they would have nothing in the world to do only to take the paper and lay it down. “But don’t you let a woman know she can do this, don’t say to a woman that she is capable of setting type, or of setting a stick of type on a galley, and making up a form and locking it up with a little mallet that weighs eight or ten ounces. Do not tell a woman she can do this—no, no, it would spoil our trade.”

Suffice it to say we want to enlist the real understanding and good sense of these women, and to tell them what their duty is. We want to make our own school books. We are paying now from thirty thousand to sixty thousand dollars, a year for school books that can be made here just as well as to send and buy them abroad. This is carrying out the plan and principles of building up Zion, whether you know it or not. We may preach until Doomsday, and tell how Zion will look, how wide her streets will be, what kind of dwellings her people will have, what kind of carriages and what fine horses they will have, and what a beautiful looking set of people they will be, but it is all nonsense to talk about that we will never reach if we do not stop our folly and wickedness. We have the privilege of building up and enjoying Zion, and I am telling you how to do it. We want the women, from this time forth, to go to work and save the paper rags, and we will make the paper for them. And they can learn to make type. I can pick hundreds and hundreds of women out of this congregation that could go into a shop and make type just as well as men, it is a trifling thing. And they can learn to set type, and they can learn how to write for our school books. We have plenty of men and women that know how to write books, and how to teach too. We have just as good school teachers here as any in the world.

While on this subject I will say that I am ashamed of our Bishops, who can not have anybody but a stranger for a school teacher. Let a “Mormon” come along, who can read all around and over and under him, and who, as far as learning is concerned, is his superior in every way, but because he, the “Mormon,” does not come in the guise of a stranger, the Bishop will not hear him. Bishops, I wish you would just resign your offices if you can not learn any better than to get such characters into your school houses. Not but what there is once in a while a good man comes along as a school teacher who is not a “Mormon;” but, as a general thing, what have these men done? They have planted the seeds of infidelity in the hearts of the children, decoyed the hearts of their female pupils and led them to ruin, and they have turned round and cursed us. That is the character of some of the men our Bishops get into their school houses. There are many of our Bishops not fit to set type, measure tape or to teach a scholar. That is saying a good deal for the Bishops, is it not? But it is a fact. In many instances they have not wisdom enough to guide themselves one day without getting into error. They do not know truth from error, they do not know a Saint from a sinner, or righteousness from unrighteousness.

Will you, Relief Societies, devote your time and talents and take hold of this business? We want you to commence forthwith. Say we take thirty thousand dollars, and that is only a portion of what we will pay out for school books in 1873, and devote that to making paper and for paying brethren and sisters for making books, and then distribute them among our own people. If this work is done by us there is so much saved. Will my sisters enlist themselves and endeavor to make this movement successful?

We have no societies or persons to assist us in our efforts to school ourselves and our children; we never have had, and the feeling that is now exhibited, and which has always been shown towards us since the organization of the kingdom of God upon the earth, is that those who are our enemies would rather spend ten, yea, a hundred dollars to deprive us of the least privilege in the world, than give us one cent towards schooling our children. When we were leaving Nauvoo, in our poverty, we sent our Elders hither and thither to the principal cities of the United States, to ask the people if they would assist the Saints. Our brethren told them that we were leaving the confines of the United States, having been driven by the violence of mobs from our homes, and how much do you think we got in the cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and a few smaller towns? Their hearts and hands were closed against us. From the whole people of the United States, after making an appeal to them in our deep distress and poverty, we got but a few dollars, and we were then starting into the wilderness, and how we were going to live God only knew. Well, we have got to help ourselves, we have to school ourselves. Has Government given us the privilege of one acre of land to educate our children here? No. The school land is kept from us, and we get no benefit therefrom.

I want to say a word or two here with regard to our schools. There are many of our people who believe that the whole Territory ought to be taxed for our schools. When we have means, that come in the proper way, we can make a fund to help the poor to school their children, and I would say amen to it. But where are our poor? Where is the man or the woman in this community who has children and wishes to send them to school, that cannot do it? There is not one. When the poor complain and say, “My children ought to be schooled and clothed and fed,” I say, no sir, not so, you ought to yield your time and talents to the kind providences of our Father in the heavens according to the dictation of his servants, and he will tell each and every one of you what to do to earn your bread, meat, clothing, schooling, and how to be self-sustaining in the fullest sense of the word. To give to the idler is as wicked as anything else. Never give anything to the idler. “The idler in Zion shall not eat the bread of the laborer.” Well, they do eat it; but it is a commandment and a revelation as much as any other, that the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer in Zion. No, let every one spend every hour, day, week and month in some useful and profitable employment, and then all will have their meat and clothing, and means to pay teachers, and pay them well. Not that they should receive more pay than others. If men have learning, and they have the faculty of imparting it to others, and can teach children to read and write, and grammar and arithmetic, and all the ordinary branches of a common school education, what better are they than the man that plows, hoes, shoves the plane, handles the trowel and the axe, and hews the stone? Are they any better? I do not know that they are. What better is the man that can dress himself nicely and labor in a school house six hours a day, than the man who works ten or twelve hours a day hewing rock? Is he any better? No, he is not. Are you going to pay him for his good looks? That is what some of our Bishops want to do. If they can get a man, no matter what his moral qualities may be, whose shirt front is well starched and ironed, they will say—“Bless me, you are a delightful little man! What a smooth shirt you have got, and you have a ring on your finger—you are going to teach our school for us.” And along comes a stalwart man, axe in hand, going to chop wood, and, if he asks, “Do you want a school teacher?” though he may know five times more than the dandy, he is told, “No, no, we have one engaged?’ I want to cuff you Bishops back and forth until you get your brains turned right side up.

Here I am talking to thousands of men and women who know that if we are ever helped we have to help ourselves, with what God does for us. We have heard considerable from some parties in this city about what they call free schools, which they say they have established here. I say, now, come out, and be as liberal as you say you are, and teach our children for nothing. If they knew the “Mormons” were willing to accept of their charity and send their children to these so-called free schools, their charity would not weigh much. Their charity is to decoy away the innocent. Send your children to their schools and see how far their charity would extend. We sent to them when we were in the wilderness without bread, without shoes, without coats, and ploughing our way through to get away from our murderers, and asked them for help. No, they would not give us anything to save the lives of women and children in the wilderness. When we were right in the midst of Indians, who were said to be hostile, five hundred men were called to go to Mexico to fight the Mexicans, and said Mr. Benton—“If you do not send them we will cover you up, and there will be no more of you.” I do not want to think of these things, their authors belong to the class I referred to yesterday—the enemies of mankind, those who would destroy innocence, truth, righteousness and the kingdom of God from the earth. We sent these five hundred men to fight the Mexicans, and those of us who remained behind labored and raised all that we needed to feed ourselves in the wilderness. We had to pay our own school teachers, raise our own bread and earn our own clothing, or go without, there was no other choice. We did it then, and we are able to do the same to-day. I want to enlist the sympathies of the ladies among the Latter-day Saints, to see what we can do for ourselves with regard to schooling our children. Do not say you cannot school them, for you can. There is not a family in this community but what we will take and school their children if they are not able to do it themselves; and we do not do it through begging in the East and telling what others have told there about this people, and about their own efforts to establish free schools here. I understand that the other night there was a school meeting in one of the wards of this city, and a party there—a poor miserable apostate—said, “We want a free school, and we want to have the name of establishing the first free school in Utah.” To call a person a poor miserable apostate may seem like a harsh word; but what shall we call a man who talks about free schools and who would have all the people taxed to support them, and yet would take his rifle and threaten to shoot the man who had the collection of the ordinary light taxes levied in this Territory—taxes which are lighter than any levied in any other portion of the country? We have no other schools but free schools here—our schools are all free. Our meetings are free, our teachings are free. We labor for ourselves and the kingdom of God. But how is it with others? Have they a meeting without a plate, basket, box or hat passed round? And, “Have you got a sixpence for us? Put in your sixpences, your half dollars, your dollars, or your five dollars.” No, it is beg, beg, beg from one year’s end to another. Ever see this in a “Mormon” meeting? I don’t think you have in this city, if you ever did anywhere else. Are the “Mormons” eternally begging and sending round the hat and the plate, and asking every stranger, “Have you a sixpence for me?” No, we do not want your money, we have enough of our own, and we earned it and got it honestly, we have not stolen it nor lied for it either. Now that I am upon free schools I say, put a community in possession of knowledge by means of which they can obtain what, they need by the labor of their bodies and their brains, then, instead of being paupers they will be free, independent and happy, and these distinctions of classes will cease, and there will be but one class, one grade, one great family.

Now, sisters, what do you say? Will you give your attention to this? We want to erect a house for you to do printing in. Some one, perhaps, will use some little argument against women doing anything of this kind. But the truth is women can set type, and read and correct proof as well as any man in the world, if they learn how. Men have to learn it before they can do it, and when they tell you that that is not a woman’s business, you tell them they do not know what they were born for. They were not born to wash dishes, to dress the babies, nor to have babies, they were born to go into the field and do the work that the women cannot do, and should not do for fear of exposing themselves. Keep the ladies in their proper places, selling tape and calico, setting type, working the telegraph, keeping books, &c.

See a great big six-footer working the telegraph. One of them will eat as much as three or four women, and they stuff themselves until they are almost too lazy to touch the wire. There they sit. What work is there about that that a woman cannot do? She can write as well as a man, and spell as well as a man, and better, and I leave it to every man and woman of learning if the girls are not quicker and more apt at learning in school than the boys. It is only occasionally that a boy is met with who will keep up with the girls in learning reading, writing, spelling and grammar; as a general thing the girls will go ahead of the boys in these branches, and yet we are told they are not capable of doing these light kinds of work, such as I have mentioned. Shame on the boys, and shame on the great big, fat lazy men! Let these women go to work; and let those who have children teach them to handle the needle and sew, to make lace, to raise silkworms and the mulberry tree, to pick the leaves and feed the worms, and then to wind and weave the silk, that they may make themselves good, nice silk dresses. I saw a very pretty piece of silk made into a garment in St. George, that a woman had made from the silk-worms. She tended them, reeled their silk, wove it and made some beautiful cloth. This is far better than teazing [teasing] the husband or father to get you fine dresses and then drag them after you in the street. Learn some good, solid sense. Learn how to raise silk, how to make the silk into dresses, and make it, as neat and beautiful as you possibly can. Then another thing—may I say it?—girls, learn to comb your hair in the morning, and fix up your head dress. “Well, but, pa will not buy me a chignon.” Well, then, fix your own hair, that is all you ought to have. Wash your face nice and clean, and your neck, and comb your hair neat and nice; put on your dress comely, and make it look neat and nice. I do not mean protruding out behind like a two-bushel basket. And when you come down stairs look as if you were wide-awake, and not as if your eyes needed a dish of water to wash them clear and clean. Young ladies, learn to be neat and nice. Do not dress after the fashions of Babylon, but after the fashions of the Saints. Suppose that a female angel were to come into your house and you had the privilege of seeing her, how would she be dressed? Do you think she would have a great, big peck measure of flax done up like hair on the back of the head? Nothing of the kind. Would she have a dress dragging two or three yards behind? Nothing of the kind. Would she have on a great, big—what is it you call it? A Grecian or Dutch—Well, no matter what you call it, you know what I mean. Do you think she would have on anything of that kind? Not at all. No person in the world would expect to see an angel dressed in such a giddy, frivolous, nonsensical style. She would be neat and nice, her countenance full of glory, brilliant, bright, and perfectly beautiful, and in every act her gracefulness would charm the heart of every beholder. There is nothing needless about her. None of my sisters believe that these useless, foolish fashions are followed in heaven. Well, then, pattern after good and heavenly things, and let the beauty of your garments be the workmanship of your own hands, that which adorns your bodies.

Now, sisters, will you go to work and help us to get up our school books? Whether you do or do not belong to the Relief Societies, we want you to join in and help us, and save your rags to make paper, and then go and set type and make the books. You who feel like doing this, hold up your hands. (Hands up.) There is a pretty good showing, enough to carry an influence—the day is ours. If you will only carry this out we will make our own school-books, and keep the money in the Territory that we now send out for them.

Elders of Israel, I want to tell you how to save a little. You want to get rich. Go to the mines and you will be so poor that you never can pay any tithing. This is proved. I want to tell you now, how you can pay your tithing. You trade off your horses and mules and harness, just as quick as circumstances will let you. Raise the calves that will make oxen, break them and work with them; and let this community take this course, using oxen instead of horses, and mules for all their farming and teaming, and in one year they will save one million dollars, and this will increase year by year, and that will enable you to give a little to emigrate the poor Saints from the old country. I want you to swell this Perpetual Emigrating Fund so that we can send for a good many of the poor this year. What have you to give? Some will say, “I have not anything, brother Brigham.” “What have you been doing?” “Oh, I have been mining, and it takes all my time and labor to support my family. I have a splendid claim—I am just going to have a hundred thousand dollars for it.” We have plenty of this class around, and whenever I see a man going along with an old mule that can hardly stand up, and a frying pan and an old quilt, I say, There goes a millionaire in prospect! He is after a million, he calculates to find a mine that he can get a million for next summer. These millionaires are all over our country; they are in the mountains, on our highways and in our streets. But ask them, “Can you give me a sixpence to buy me a morsel of meat?” “No, I have not got it, I am just going to have plenty of money, but I have not got it now. Cannot you lend me a little to keep me from need, I have no bread for my family, but I am going to have a fortune in a little while.” There are numbers of the Elders of Israel in this position. Ask them if they can pay a little tithing? “No, not a dollar.” “Give anything to help the poor?” “No, I have not any, will you lend me a little to buy some flour for my family?” and so they go on year after year. Why? Because they will not take the counsel of the wise. When you hear a man, outside or inside of the kingdom of God, finding fault, complaining or casting reflections, that President Young has got so much influence over the people called Latter-day Saints that they (the grumblers) are afraid of him, you just tell them that he has not a hundredth part of the influence he ought to have. He ought to have all the influence imaginable with them, he is deserving of it, he earns it, and he knows what to do with it, and he directs and guides for the advancement of the kingdom of God on the earth. Just think of these men, trailing through these can[y]ons, running after shadows—jack-o’lanterns—all over creation for something in prospect! They are just like some business men I have seen in my life—they have got their eye on a picayune, away off yonder in the distance, and they start after that and stub their toe against a twenty dollar gold piece; but they kick that out of the way, they do not see it. By and by they start again, and they pass fifty dollars in their path, and so they keep on, passing right by ten, twenty or fifty dollars. “Oh, that picayune does so dazzle my eye, for God’s sake let me get it!” They are fools, they know nothing about life, nor sustaining themselves, they are worse than children. Well, now, brother Brigham ought to have influence enough over these Elders of Israel to keep them from deceiving themselves as much as they do; and when they run after this shadow and tire themselves out and fall in the mud, they lose the spirit of their religion, find out that “Mormonism” is not true and away they go to the devil.

I am going to stop talking to the sisters, and will conclude by asking them, Will you be printers or clerks in stores? The brethren will keep every one of you out if they can, and I do not know but I shall have to go and keep store myself independent of every other institution, and hire ladies to tend it. I want them also to telegraph for us, set our type, write our books, and save the rags to make the paper.

Friends and Enemies—Object of Gathering—Babylon to Be Forsaken—Prayer—Personality of the Godhead

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, April 6, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

In my remarks to you I want your eyes, ears, attention and faith. This is the Forty-third Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we have assembled together for the purpose of being benefited. We like to see and hear each other, we like to give and receive counsel, and we like, above all things, to enjoy the Spirit of the Lord. In singing, praying, speaking and hearing, and in all duties devolving upon us upon such occasions as this, the Spirit of the Lord is the best of all.

I have a great many reflections with regard to the Latter-day Saints and the work in which they are engaged. I have many reflections in regard to the world of mankind. We all enjoy the power of sight, but how differently we look at and comprehend things! And we are very much like the people who have lived before us. We are a strange and curious composition—no two alike. Of all the faces before me this afternoon there are no two alike. We might possibly find those whose judgment would be pretty much alike on various subjects, still there are no two whose judgments are precisely the same. Human life is a great stage, and it contains a very great variety of scenes and scenery, of thought and of action. Some are not very beautiful, others are, and they are painted with fine colors. We see all this before us, and each and every person has the privilege of judging for himself, and upon each different impressions are produced.

I see a large congregation before me this afternoon of people called Latter-day Saints. If the world of mankind were to give their opinion concerning us they would use terms I heard frequently this morning—“enemy,” “enemies,” “our enemies.” These expressions would be frequently heard from the inhabitants of the earth about the Latter-day Saints, for the impression has existed and has been growing stronger for years past, that this strange people—the Latter-day Saints—are the enemies of mankind. I do not wish to convey the idea that all the inhabitants of the earth consider this people their enemies, but there are those who wish to have this impression or belief prevail. I hear many of the Elders of Israel refer to the outside world as enemies. I do it myself at certain times and on certain occasions, for certain deeds wrought by those who wish to destroy the truth from the earth, for every person who would uproot the truth of God is mine enemy, he would destroy me if he had the power. What shall we say of those who desire peace and whose hearts are filled with good will towards their fellow-men? We say peace to such persons, and give them ours and God’s blessing.

Who is the enemy of mankind? He who wishes to change truth for error and light for darkness; he who wishes to take peace from a family, city, state or nation and give the sword in return. He is my enemy, he is your enemy and the enemy of mankind. Who is the friend of mankind? He who makes peace between those who are at enmity, who brings together those who, perhaps, through some misunderstanding, have been at variance with and lost friendship and fellowship for each other, and shows them that their ill-will is without foundation and existed simply because they did not understand each other. To illustrate we will suppose that two men come in the same car to this city. One, of them is full of deception and carries false colors. If he speaks a word that would become a gentleman, it is not because he feels it, for in his heart he is cursing and damning, and his purpose is to sow discord and enmity among the people in a neighborhood. He delights to set the members of one family jarring with each other. He will teach the youth to believe that such or such persons are their enemies and it is no harm to burn their houses down, to take their horses, cut their carriages to pieces, to open the gate of their garden or field and let somebody’s cattle in. Such a person is an enemy of mankind. But the other one is a friend. If he sees his neighbor’s gate open, he shuts it; if cattle are in a neighbor’s field, he tells him of the mischief that is being done. If he sees a fence down, and there is none of the family to come and put it up, he gets out of his carriage, or off his horse, or if he is afoot, he steps to the fence, turns the cattle out, puts up the fence or shuts the gate and prevents further mischief on his neighbor’s premises. Who is your enemy and mine? He that teaches language that is unbecoming, that presents falsehood for truth, that furnishes false premises to build upon instead of true, or that is full of anger and mischief to his fellow beings. I call no others enemies, except such characters as I have named. There is no question that many have done much mischief while in ignorance of what they were doing. I have no doubt that the soldiers who were commanded to nail the Savior to the cross did not realize what they were doing. They treated him as they did the thieves, whom they knew to be worthy of death; but through prejudice, over-persuasion and much talk by the priests, Scribes, Pharisees and people, they perhaps supposed they were doing God’s service when they crucified Jesus. But it was an enemy that did it, it was a bad act, a very heinous crime, it—but I pause. The question may be asked, What would have been the consequence suppose the Savior had not been crucified? I can only answer by saying that he was. The Scriptures say that offences must needs come, but woe to him by whom they come. But we will resume our subject. Who is the man that is an enemy to his nation? The one that breeds mischief, prompts strife, and brings sorrow among the people.

Now to the Latter-day Saints—What are you here for? Can you answer this question? Many of you can. One brother says, “Why, I came here to join the Saints.” “Where did you come from?” “I lived in Scotland. I worked in the mines, or in the factory, or in iron works.” “What did you come here for?” “When I heard the Gospel preached I believed it, and I received a desire to leave my neighbors. I believed the Bible and the Book of Mormon; I believed that Joseph Smith was a Prophet. My neighbors said, ‘Oh folly, oh fool. There goes a Mormon,’ and they pointed the finger of scorn at me.” This is the spirit of the world, but if there had been no persecution whatever in the feelings of his neighbors he would have had a desire to leave his home and old associates to join the Saints, for the Spirit he received prompted him to do this. Ask a sister, “What are you here for?” “Why, I came here so that I could live my religion a little better than I could in Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, France, Scandinavia,” or wherever it might be that she came from. Ask another man, “What did you gather to these mountains for?” “Well, I think I came here because of my religion. I used to think I wanted to gather up with the Saints. I liked their society, and when I came up here I really delighted to be with them.” “What are you doing now, brother?” “Well, I am trying to do about the best I possibly can. Here are a few dollars I want to pay on Tithing.” “Have you paid your Tithing this year?” “No.” “Did you pay it last year?” “No.” “Have you not paid Tithing lately?” “No.” “What is the reason?” “Why, I am after gold and silver, and the riches in these mountains, in this trade, I am after the world, I am after Babylon.” This is the conduct. I do not ask for words, I do not ask anybody to get up and declare that their affections are turned away from the holy Gospel of life and salvation, and turned to the world. Let me see their daily walk and know their life, and I know what their thoughts and feelings are. And the sister that comes here for the Gospel’s sake, her mind is so frivolous and easily wrought upon that she is led by every wind and breeze of fashion that blows through the streets here. “Oh, don’t you see that lady’s dress?” “Here, look here, did you see that lady walking down the street?” “Yes.” “What a beautiful dress she has got on! Oh dear, how I want such a dress!” Go down the street and you can see it; go up the street and you can see it; go into the workshops, and even into the kanyons, and you can see it. What of it? Latter-day Saints, what of it? “Oh, I do love Babylon so well.” “I do want a new dress.” “I do want to go into the mines and dig.” “I have a claim, and I am just going into the mountains to dig,” says a brother. Another one says, “I have served the Lord about long enough, and I am going to serve myself now.” This is the way with one here and another there, and if they have not got Babylon they want to get it. And here comes along a man who professes to be a Latter-day Saint, and the first you know he is using the name of the Deity in vain, and it is “curse” this, and “curse” that, with the name of our Father in heaven attached to it. Is that according to the faith that we have embraced? Mingle with the Latter-day Saints, and see them playing on the stage of life, and watch how some of them will change their colors and their coats, and some come out, in one fashion and some in another, according to the circumstances in which they are placed.

Here we are assembled in the capacity of a general Conference. Babylon is in the hearts of the people, that is to say, there is too much of it. What did you come here for? “Why,” says one, “I understood they were getting rich in Utah, and I thought I would gather up with the Latter-day Saints and get rich also.” Without making many remarks on this subject, I want to say to every one of those who come up here, their minds filled with Babylon, and longing for the fashions and wealth of the world, you may heap up gold and silver, but it will leave you, or you will leave it, you cannot take it with you, and you will go down to hell.

Perhaps I may be considered their enemy by some of those called Latter-day Saints, and by outsiders, for telling them these things. That is no matter, it is for their life and salvation that I tell them. If I should see men and women going blindfolded to an awful precipice, and not hail them and warn them of their danger, I should be guilty, and perhaps their blood would be found on my skirts. I will say, at once, not prolonging my remarks or multiplying words, that if my brethren and sisters do not walk up to the principles of the holy Gospel of life and salvation, they will be removed out of their places, and others will be called to occupy them. Elders of Israel, High Priests, Seventies, High Councilors, Presidents, brethren and sisters, no matter who, if you have an idea that you are going to take Babylon—I use this term, because it is well understood that Babylon means confusion, discord, strife, folly and all the vanities the world possesses—if you have the idea that you are going to take Babylon in one hand, and with the other cling to the Savior and drag yourselves into his presence, you will find yourselves mistaken, for he will drop you, and you will sink. You may just as well believe this to-day, and shape your lives accordingly, as to betray yourselves.

There are a great many who say, “Why, yes, I say my prayers, I do not use the name of the Lord in vain, I do not injure my neighbor.” That is true. How many of the Latter-day Saints live like this? I am pretty well acquainted with them. I see and understand their feelings by their works, and I can say that a large majority of the Latter-day Saints are a good, obedient, faithful, God-fearing, God-loving people, and yet we fellowship those who are full of iniquity and evil, individuals who are full of the spirit of anti-Christ. I talk and tell the truth to the good and to the evil, and I wish to comprehend the whole; and I tell you today that if our minds are not made up to serve God, if we are not for Christ, and for his kingdom upon the earth; if we are not willing to devote our time, talents, means, influence and everything that he has given into our possession, we are not in the way we should walk. I know that it may be said, and with great propriety, “Why, my brother, we can not be sanctified in one day, we cannot overcome every evil and every passion in one day.” That is true, but this holy desire can dwell in the heart of every individual from the time that he or she is convinced that God reigns, that he is establishing his kingdom on the earth, that Jesus is our Savior, that the holy Gospel has presented to us the way of life and salvation, and we believe it and can receive it with our whole hearts—I say we can have that holy and pure desire from that moment to the end of our lives, and in possessing this we have faith and favor before the Lord, and his grace is with us by the power of his Holy Spirit, and by this we can overcome temptations as we meet them. This is my experience, that is pretty good proof, is it not? And I have more evidence than this—this is the experience and testimony of every Latter-day Saint who has lived his or her religion since obeying the Gospel. Their testimony will corroborate mine, and strengthen the faith of all.

I have not preached much to you this winter, and I pause and think. I was in the stone quarry the other day, and saw the men breaking a large granite rock. They first drilled the holes so as to break the rock in a direct line. I saw one man take up his hammer and give a blow. It was too hard. Said I, “My father taught me in my youth that light knocks would split great blocks. Tap light next time.” The quarryman did this and pretty soon the rock divided almost as evenly as though it had been jointed. I wish to make an application of this to this people assembled here. If I and my brethren had strength, we would meet together here about one week, to begin with, then go to our work for a few weeks, and then we would come together again. By continuing this course, I expect that in about three months we could get the feelings of this people warmed up like wax before the flame, so that we could get at their judgment and affections and we could actually mould them over, and make them realize the work that they are engaged in. But to do it in one day would be like driving the wedges so fast that you would split the rock where you would not want it split. Still, many who want to receive the word can, and I say to all, you and I must be Latter-day Saints or we are not walking in the path that God has marked out for us. “What do you mean by that, brother Brigham? I want to know what you mean by that, I can not understand it.” This is the difficulty, but thank kind heaven, I have found out in my experience, that learning a, b, c, d, does not hinder me learning e, f, g. I thank my Creator that the principle is implanted within us, that we can learn, if it takes a long time, and by a close application of the ability that God has given us, we can improve and in time become Saints in very deed. Were it not for this I should have been discouraged long ago. But, know that we can learn to be Saints if we are disposed to. Practice your religion to-day, and say your prayers faithfully.

Says a brother, “I pray in my family sometimes, and sometimes I do not feel like it, and I do not pray in my family. Sometimes I am in a hurry, my work is driving me, my cattle are in mischief, and I do not feel like praying.”

If I did not feel like praying, and asking my Father in heaven to give me a morning blessing, and to preserve me and my family and the good upon the earth through the day, I should say, “Brigham, get down here, on your knees, bow your body down before the throne of Him who rules in the heavens, and stay there until you can feel to supplicate at that throne of grace erected for sinners.”

“Well, but I am in a hurry, and my cattle, perhaps, are in mischief and my work is driving me.” I should say, if the cattle are in the corn, “Eat away;” if they are in the wheat, “Eat away, eat the wheat, we have more than we can use any how;” and if the children are in mischief and this wants seeing to, and that wants seeing to, I say, “Kneel down before the Lord and there stay until this body learns obedience, until my tongue learns to praise his name, and to ask for the blessings I need.”

“Well, but are you not afraid you will come to want?” Bless me, if I had all the gold and silver on the earth and no prayers, I should be in greater want than I should be with the prayers and without the gold and silver. I will make an application of this with regard to the feelings of the people. It is true that you and I can not learn every thing at once, but we can learn one thing at once and the one thing above all others that we should make it our business to learn is to yield strict obedience to the requirements of heaven, and we can learn that to-day just as well as any other time, and just as well as to spend a lifetime in doing it.

Now, Latter-day Saints, do you know what you are here for? You know there is a field opens before us in talking about what we are here for, why the Lord suffers what we now behold, and why he permits this and permits that. It is all perfectly reasonable and rational, all according to his providences and his dealings with the children of men. I can say to all that you have got to learn this one fact—the Lord will have a tried people, and if my wife or my daughter can not see and pass by, as things of naught, the follies of fashion, she has not learned her duty, she has not learned the spirit of her religion, and is not, in the full enjoyment of the Spirit of God. Fashions are nothing to me, one way or the other. How long is it since ladies wore bonnets into which you would have to look with a spyglass if you wished to see their faces, and then from their faces to the crown of the head. From this fashion they got to one in which one flower or leaf and five yards of ribbon made a complete head dress. What of these fashions? They are nothing here nor there, and by trying we can learn to pass by every needless fashion, and to stop the use of every needless word, and to carry ourselves correctly before the Lord.

Now let us consider, are we for the kingdom of heaven? “Oh yes,” “Oh yes,” everybody says, “certainly we are.” Are we for happiness? Yes, certainly, the whole world is with us there. There is no person but what would say, Give me power, give me influence, give me wealth, give me gold and silver, houses and lands, goods and chattels, tenements, horses, carriages, friends, families, associations, &c. The whole world will join in saying, Give us heaven and happiness; but talk to them about “Mormonism,” and they will say, “your doctrine is a speculation.” The cry with regard to brother Joseph was, “He is a money digger, he is a speculator.” Well, how long was it before the whole world was on his track digging money? It was no disgrace just as soon as the world commenced digging money, but when there were only a few accused of it, it was a disgrace. How things are changed! How differently we look upon our bonnets now! If a lady were to enter this building wearing an old-fashioned head-dress everybody would be looking at her. If a lady were to come into this assembly with sixteen yards of cloth—I am talking extravagantly now to illustrate—in her two sleeves, and only four in the waist and skirt of her dress, how ridiculous it would appear, would it not? And yet something very much like that was once the fashion.

I look at this and make the application. The world would say, “Yes, if you are going to have happiness, we want some; if you are going to have gold and silver, look here, we shall come in for a share.” Very good, all right. I used to tell the people—bless your heart, you accuse me of being in a speculation, and so I am. You cry out that the “Mormon” leaders are for speculation, for money making. We go in for wealth. I used to tell the people, and I tell them the same now, I do not go in for a few millions, I go in for the pile, and I calculate to have it. “How are you going to get it?” By serving God with all my heart and being a Saint indeed, and when the earth and its fullness are given into the hands of the Saints, I shall go in for my share—the whole pile. I used to say, “Why, brother Joseph is the greatest speculator I have heard of in modern times—he is going to have the whole earth. Jesus is coming to earth to reign King of nations, and he is going to share the gold and silver with his brethren. That is not all—all things are yours for time and eternity—the heights and depths, the lengths and breadths, crowns of glory and immortality and eternal lives are yours.” Well, I go in for the pile.

I want to ask, Am I an enemy of mankind? Is a Latter-day Saint an enemy of mankind? No. I say to the intelligent world, if they did but know it, we in connection with God, Jesus the Mediator, angels, the good that are on the earth and the good that have been, are the only friends of mankind upon the face of the earth. That is a great word to say, and some may think it is extravagant. They say, “See what our benevolent societies, our ministers, our kings and our rich people are doing for the poor, and then say that the Latter-day Saints are the only friends of mankind.” I want to say to all the world that no good or benevolent act, no act that sustains innocence, virtue and truth and does good to the human family will go unrewarded of the Creator. Do not be discouraged. Have they done any good? Yes, a great deal of it. The Christian world have sent forth their missionaries and they have done a great deal of good, but they could do a great deal more if they had a mind to. They hedge up the way and try to destroy the little good they have done by instilling into the hearts of the people the necessity of dwelling in darkness and remaining in ignorance, and preventing them from receiving the Gospel. This is their practice, and in this they are doing injury, but they have done a great deal of good.

What are we hated for? What do men lie about us for, and send forth their lies to the world right from this place? Are they who do this the friends of mankind? No, they are their enemies. They plant falsehood in the hearts of thousands of people. One liar is like a bad king. A corrupt and wicked king can corrupt a whole nation. One liar can deceive thousands. They are not the friends of mankind. Why are we hated? Is our religion obnoxious? Why?

“Because of this one man power, because of the great influence there is in the midst of the people to unite them together.”

Do you not read in your Bibles that except ye are one ye are not the Lord’s? Do you not read in the Bible, that you have had all your lives, that you must love God with all your hearts, that you must be united, that you must receive the Gospel of Christ? Do you not read that there is but one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God and Father of all, &c.? Certainly you do. Well, we believe these things, but does that prove that we are the enemies of mankind? No, it proves that we are their friends. Why do we differ from them, and why do they differ from us? I can tell it in a few words—it is simply because we are disposed to believe the truth, and they are disposed to reject it. They are disposed to live and drink water, if they can get it, from cisterns that will hold no water. Is there anybody, do you think, who has transgressed the laws of God? Has anybody ever changed the ordinances of the house of God? Was there ever any such thing done as to destroy the principles pertaining to the ordinances of the house of God? Why, yes, in ancient days.

Well, we know the reason why, we know why they did it—they hewed to themselves cisterns that would hold no water? Do we, as Christians, teach the Gospel according to Saint Mark, St. John, St. Luke, Matthew, Paul, Peter and James and the rest of the apostles and the disciples of the Lord? Do we teach the same doctrine as the Christian world? No, we do not. Do we teach the same doctrine as Jesus and his Apostles? Yes, we preach the same Gospel. How many modes of baptism have the so-called Christian world? I do not know how many. One is by immersion, or being buried in the water. Another is to get down on your knees and have water poured on the head; another is to stand up and have water poured on the head; another is to have somebody dip his fingers in water and touch the forehead with it; another is to plunge face foremost, and how many more modes of baptism there are I do not know. How many there are who say that all these are outward ordinances and that they are non-essential? Did God ever say this? No. Jesus? No. Any of the Apostles ever say anything of the kind? No, they did not. Has any man in modern times received a revelation from heaven, doing away with the ordinances of the house of God? No, only false revelations; and we ask the simple question, If our doctrine is not true, and if there is no necessity for the ordinances of the house of God, will you not be pleased to tell us the name of the man who received, and the place where he received a revelation from God doing away with his own ordinances, and declaring that all miracles were to cease? &c. It is true that we differ from the Christian world in our faith in regard to these things. Does this prove that we are their enemies? No, it proves that we are their friends. We believe in doctrines that they do not believe in, and we disbelieve in some fanciful ideas that they profess to hold as doctrine. For instance they hold that God is an imaginary being. They can not tell where nor how he lives, nor anything concerning his character, whether he is material or immaterial; but, like many of the most eminent divines, who have spread it through their pages for the people to read, they have come to the conclusion that the centre of God is everywhere and his circumference nowhere—one of the most vain ideas that could be conceived by any intelligent being. Then what is their idea of the soul of man? That it is an immaterial substance. Who ever heard of such a thing? Ask any true philosopher if he can explain the meaning of an “immaterial substance.” It is like the centre of a being everywhere and his circumference nowhere, or like being seated on the top of a topless throne. These are self-confounding expressions, and there is no meaning to any of them. We differ from them in our ideas of God. We know that he is a Being—a man—with all the component parts of an intelligent being—head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, cheek bones, forehead, chin, body, lower limbs; that he eats, drinks, talks, lives and has a being, and has a residence, and his presence fills immensity as far as you and I know. We differ with them, for we know that the Lord has sent forth his laws, commandments and ordinances to the children of men, and requires them to be strictly obeyed, and we do not wish to transgress those laws, but to keep them. We do not wish to change his ordinances, but to observe them; we do not wish to break the everlasting covenant, but to keep that with our fathers, with Jesus, with our Father in heaven, with holy angels, and to live according to them. We differ with them in the tenets of our religion, we cannot help it. We would not believe “Mormonism,” as it is called, if it were not for one thing. I never would have believed it if it had not been for one simple thing. What do you think that is? It is true. I believed it because of that. What a strange idea! If it had not been true I would not have believed it, but being true I happened to believe it.

Now there is quite a difference between me and the man who stands up to teach the people what he says is the way of life and salvation, and who has transgressed every law that God ever gave, who has changed every one of the ordinances of his house, and broken every covenant that he has made with the children of men. What do you know, Mr. Divine, about glory, exaltation, happiness and eternal lives? I will answer for him, and say, nothing at all. What do you know about God? Nothing at all. What do you know about his dwelling-place? Nothing at all. What about his person? Nothing at all. Pardon me for making these expressions, but look on this stage which I brought before the congregation—the human family acting and bringing out what they have behind the scenes. What a spectacle it presents!

Are we the enemies of mankind? No, we are their only friends, and we calculate to hang on until we save the last son and daughter of Adam and Eve that can receive salvation. We calculate to be co-workers with Jesus, our Savior, until the last man and woman that can be saved is placed in the kingdom or mansion prepared for them, and none will be lost or turned away except those who sin against the Holy Ghost. What do you think of it? An enemy of mankind! Shame on the expression! And shame on those who give utterance to it when speaking of the Latter-day Saints. We have the oracles, the law and the commandments; we have all the laws or ordinances necessary to reach and take hold of our fathers, mothers, grandfathers and those who have lived before us, and to bring them up to eternal life. What divine teaches this doctrine? If there is no resurrection, says Paul, why then are ye baptized for the dead? It is the only expression that alludes to the doctrine of baptism for the dead in the New Testament, but it is true. We have this law, we have the ordinances. We have a knowledge of the covenants necessary to reach and pick up the last man and woman that has lived on the earth, and we calculate to preach the Gospel to the living until the line is drawn and Jesus comes to reign King of nations as he does King of Saints, and the separation is made. But until then the wheat and the tares will grow together. We are together now, the wheat and the tares are here.

Now let us see your wheat heads bow down as though you were fully ripe or preparing to be so, your whole hearts and labors for the kingdom of God. The wicked may flourish for awhile like a green bay tree, but by and by they will be cut down, and the righteous will go forth and inherit the kingdom, which may God grant to be our happy lot for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Home Manufacture—Offences Must Needs Come, etc.

Wilford Woodruff

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered at the General Conference, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

One of the proverbs common among the Saints of God in the dispensation in which we live—the dispensation of the fullness of times, is, “The kingdom of God or nothing.” President Young has been trying to get us to labor to build up the kingdom of God. This kingdom has been given into the hands of the Latter-day Saints to establish on the earth, and unless we labor for its advancement we shall certainly fall short of salvation, for all the salvation there is, whether for Jew, Gentile, Saint or sinner, is in connection with this kingdom.

We have had a great many plain truths presented before this Conference, and if we will observe the counsels that have been given we shall be led to salvation. Every one of the propositions made by President Young has this tendency. It is our duty as Latter-day Saints to sustain the Zion of God on the earth. What he has said to us is true. We have heard it thousands of times. We have been counseled for many years to try to lay a foundation for our own independence in these mountains. It is a well known principle in political economy, that any nation or people that expend more than they produce, or buy from other nations more than they sell in return, will grow poor. We should produce what we use—what we eat and wear, and as for what we drink, why the mountain streams supply that of the purest quality.

There are several items to which I would like to call your attention. President Young has taken the lead in establishing woolen factories in this Territory. Others have assisted in this work, but he has done much more than any other man, and now we have several good mills for the manufacture of cloth and other fabrics owned and run by the Saints in Utah. Still we send many large quantities of wool abroad instead of using it in our own mills, and import goods of outside manufacture instead of making them at home. How long will it be before we are poor, and our Territory drained of all the money we can raise, if we continue this? We should not send our wool to be manufactured in the States, and then pay our money for cloth brought from there here. Where are our wool growers? What are they thinking about when they do this? This is an item which I consider of vital importance to the Latter-day Saints. We should keep our wool at home, and we should manufacture this wool into cloth, and we should buy and pay for that cloth, and support home manufactures. This is a principle which we have neglected in a great degree; but we have got to come to it sometime. We have got either to make ourselves self-sustaining, or we shall have to go without a good many things that we now regard as almost indispensable for our welfare and comfort, for there is not a man who believes in the revelations of God but what believes the day is at hand when there will be trouble among the nations of the earth, when great Babylon will come in remembrance before God, and his judgments will visit the nations. When that day comes, if Zion has food and raiment and the comforts of life she must produce them, and there must be a beginning to these things.

This is the Zion of God, this is the work of God. The servants of God have borne record and testimony to this now for more than forty years, and the Lord has backed up their testimony, fulfilling his word in the events which have transpired in the earth. The Lord says, “I am angry with none except those who acknowledge not my hand in all things.” As a people, we have been obliged to acknowledge the hand of God in our salvation and guidance. Some of the speakers have referred to the drivings and persecutions of the Saints in the past. The Lord says, “Offences must needs come, but woe to him by whom they come.” If we had not been driven from Jackson, Caldwell and Clay Counties, and from Kirtland and Nauvoo, Utah to-day, would have been a barren desert, there would have been no railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and we should not have fulfilled, I may say, thousands of the revelations of God as we have done. The hand of the Lord has been manifest in all these matters. He has watched this people, and over this work from its foundation until today, and he will continue to do so. But it is certainly true that, as a people, we must heed the counsels of the Lord through his servants, for these counsels, if observed, will secure us salvation, and lead us to prosperity, union and happiness.

President Young, as an instrument in the hands of God, has brought his tens of thousands from the old world who never were worth, I may say, a farthing, who never owned a horse, carriage, wagon, cow, pig or chicken, and hardly had bread enough to keep soul and body together. There are thousands upon thousands now in these valleys of the mountains who were brought here by the donations of the Saints of God, and the mercies of God unto them. They are now settled through this valley for six hundred miles. They have enough to eat, drink and wear, houses and lands of their own, and plenty of this world’s goods to make them comfortable.

Everything that leads to good and to do good is of God, and everything that leads to evil and to do evil is of the wicked one. I will ask, Has not good grown out of the whole work of God from the organization of this Church until to-day? Has not this Gospel been offered for more than forty years to the nations of the earth in its plainness, truth and simplicity, as it was anciently by Jesus and his Apostles? It has, and thousands who are in this Territory to-day can bear testimony to its truth. The example is before the world. Zion is like a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. She is a beacon to the nations of the earth. The Saints of God are fulfilling the revelations of God; they are fulfilling the prophecies and sayings of the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets, who spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and no prophecy is of private interpretation. If those holy men of God spoke the word of God, what they said will have its fulfillment, and no power can stay this work.

The set time has come for the Lord to establish his kingdom of which Daniel spoke, that Zion which Isaiah saw and portrayed, and about which he and many other Prophets have left so many sayings in their prophecies. The history of the progress of this Church is before the world. It is the work of God, and not a saying ever made about it by an inspired man, whether in the Bible, Book of Mormon, or in the Doctrine and Covenants, will fail of its fulfillment. No matter whether these words came by the voice of God out of the heavens, by the ministration of angels, or by the voice of the servants of God in the flesh, it is the same; although the heavens and the earth may pass away, they will not go unfulfilled.

This is the foundation upon which the Latter-day Saints labor, and upon which they have labored from the beginning of this Church. Joseph Smith has often been termed an illiterate, unlearned man. He was a farmer’s son, and had very small chance of education. What primer had he to reveal the fullness of the Gospel to the world? None at all, only as he was taught by the administration of angels from heaven, by the voice of God and by the inspiration and power of the Holy Ghost. The principles which have been revealed to the world through him are true as the throne of God. Their influence is already felt in the earth, and will continue to increase until the coming of the Son of Man; and the blood of the Prophets which has been shed in testimony thereof will remain in force upon all the world until the scene is wound up.

What other people on the face of the earth are preparing for Jesus Christ? The Lord Jesus Christ is coming to reign on earth. The world may say that he delays his coming until the end of the earth. But they know neither the thoughts nor the ways of the Lord. The Lord will not delay his coming because of their unbelief, and the signs both in heaven and earth indicate that it is near. The fig trees are leafing in sight of all the nations of the earth, and if they had the Spirit of God they could see and understand them.

The Latter-day Saints can not stand still; we can not become stereotyped. God has decreed that his Zion must progress. We can not remain in one groove or position. This kingdom has continued to progress from the beginning, and the little one is now more than a thousand, and it will hasten to become a strong nation, for it is God’s work, and its destiny is in his hands. It becomes us, as Latter-day Saints, to realize these things as they are, and also our position and calling before God. We must build up the Zion and kingdom of God on the earth, or fail in the object of our calling and receiving the Priesthood of God in these latter days. The full set time has come, which the Lord decreed before the foundation of the world—the great dispensation of the last days, and a people must be prepared for the coming of the Son of Man. How can they do it? By being gathered out from Babylon. How often has the question been asked, “Why can not the Latter-day Saints live abroad in the world and enjoy their religion?” We can hardly enjoy it as we are to-day—gathered together, the wicked will follow us up; and then we are overwhelmed like a mountain with tradition. But we have gathered together that we may be taught by Prophets, Patriarchs and inspired men, and we are endeavoring, under their instructions, to throw off the trammels with which we and our forefathers have been bound for generations. We are not prepared for the coming of the Son of Man, and if he were to come today we could not endure it. There is no people on the earth prepared for that. But the Lord is laboring with us, he has carried us through a school of experience now for forty years, and we should certainly have been dull scholars if we had not learned some wisdom. The Lord intends that we shall unite ourselves together, and in building up the Zion of God, if we can not attain to all that is required of us to-day, we will do what we can, and progress as fast as we can, that the way may be prepared for the fulfillment of the words of the Lord.

Here is the Bible, the record of the Jews, given by the inspiration of the Lord through Moses and the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets. Is it an imposture, and as the infidels say, the work of man? No, it is not in the power of any man who ever breathed the breath of life to make such a book without the inspiration of the Almighty. It is just so with the Book of Mormon—all the ingenuity of all the men under heaven could not compose and present to the world a book like the Book of Mormon. Its principles are divine—they are from God. They could never emanate from the mind of an impostor, or from the mind of a person writing a novel. Why? Because the promises and prophecies it contains are being fulfilled in the sight of all the earth. So with the revelations given through the Prophet Joseph Smith contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants—they are being fulfilled.

We, the Latter-day Saints, have this great almighty work laid upon us, and our hearts should not be set upon the things of the world, for if they are we shall forget God and lose sight of his kingdom. The counsels, exhortations and instructions which we receive from the servants of God are just and true. As a people if we will do the will of God we have the power to build up Zion in beauty, power and glory, as the Lord has revealed it through the mouth of the Prophet. It rests with us, the Lord working with us. We are called upon to work with the Lord just as fast as we are prepared to receive the things of his kingdom. But I am satisfied there has got to be a great change with us in many respects before we are prepared for the redemption of Zion and the building up of the New Jerusalem. I believe the only way for us is to get enough of the Spirit of God that we may see and understand our duties and comprehend the will of the Lord.

This is a great day, an important time—a time in which great events await the world—Zion, Babylon, Jew, Gentile, saint and sinner, high and low, rich and poor. Great and important events will follow each other in quick succession before the eyes of this generation. No generation that ever lived on the earth, lived in a more interesting period than the one in which we live; and when we consider that our eternal destiny depends upon the few short years that we spend here, what manner of persons ought we to be? Men spend their lives for what they call wealth or happiness, but they seek not after the way of life, and in a few years they lie down and die and open their eyes in the spirit world, and they will come forth at some time and be judged according to the deeds done in the body.

A great deal has been said with regard to “Mormonism” and the strange people who dwell in these mountains. Many strangers have come to visit this city, thinking that their lives were hardly safe because of the horrid stories they had heard about these terrible “Mormons,” when the fact is, if they had only known it, they were a great deal safer here, than in any of the great cities of the world.

The Lord has been working, and this people have been working, and the object of their labor has been and is to establish the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to spread truth and righteousness. We came here, a few pioneers, on the 24th of July, 1847, and we found a desert. It looked as though no white man could live here. We have to acknowledge the hand of God in all the blessings we have to-day. This Territory is now filled with cities, towns, villages and gardens. The earth has blossomed like a rose, and the desert has brought forth streams of water from dry places. The Lord has blessed the people, we have to acknowledge his hands in this. This is only a beginning. The world have opposed us from the beginning, even very many honest-hearted men, ignorant of the nature and object of “Mormonism,” have opposed us. If the vail were lifted one minute from the eyes of the world, and they could see the things of eternity as they are, there is not a man living, not excepting our friend brother Newman, or President Grant, or any other man that breathes, who would not bow down before God and pray for Brigham Young and the prosperity of this work. But there is a vail over men’s minds. Darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the minds of the nations, and this is to prove whether they will or will not walk in the covenant of the Lord. There are a few who have had sufficient independence of mind and stability of character to obey the celestial law. But how few friends the Almighty and his servants have had in this age of the world? As it was in the days of Noah and Lot, so it will be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. The numbers of the servants of God are few. Let the Lord Almighty send a message to the world now as he did in the days of Noah, Enoch, Lot, Jesus Christ and the Apostles, and few among the nations of the earth would be willing to receive it. In the days of Jesus the High Priests, Sadducees, Essenees, Stoics and every sect and party then known in the Jewish nation cried—“Crucify him! Crucify him!” So it was with Joseph Smith. From the day that he laid the foundation of this work, Priest and people, doctors and lawyers, high and low, rich and poor, with but few exceptions, have been ready to crush it to the earth. Why? Because, ignorant of its character and mission, they have believed that it interfered with their religion. Joseph Smith had to walk in deep water, he had to row up hill or up stream all the days of his life in order to try and plant the Gospel in the midst of the sons of men. A few here and there heard and were disposed to receive that Gospel, and the Spirit of God bore record unto them of its truth, and they went before the Lord and asked him if it was true, and the Lord revealed it unto them and they embraced it. From that day until the present this message has gone to the world. I have preached it to millions of my fellow-men, so has President Young, and I may say the same of hundreds of the Elders of this Church; and I do not believe that ever a man, with his ears open, stopped a moment to listen to the testimony of the servants of God about the truth of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith being a Prophet of God, and the restoration of the fullness of the Gospel, but what a measure of the Spirit of God has backed up that testimony to him. When men have rejected these testimonies they have done so against light and truth, and herein is where condemnation rests upon this generation—Light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

“Mormonism” is not popular, and few, comparatively speaking, have embraced it. Jesus Christ was never popular in his day. The old Patriarchs and Prophets had but few friends, yet they were called and inspired by God, and held in their hands the issues of life and death, the keys of salvation on earth and in heaven. What they bound on earth was bound in heaven. Whosesoever sins they remitted were remitted, and whosesoever sins they retained were retained. Yet the world was ready to destroy them. It is so to-day. But the unbelief of this generation will not make the truth of God without effect to-day any more than it did in any other period of the world. Therefore I say to my brethren and sisters, let us try and prepare our minds and hearts by prayer before the Lord, that we may obtain enough of the light of the Spirit, and of the influence of the Holy Ghost, to see and be preserved in the path of life, and when we receive the teachings and counsels of the servants of God, that we may be disposed to treasure them up in our hearts and practice them in our lives.

We shall soon pass away; in a little while we shall be on the other side of the vail. There is no man or woman who has ever lived on the earth and kept the commandments of God who will be ashamed of, or sorry for it, when they go into the presence of God. Our eyes have not seen, our ears have not heard, it has not entered into the heart of man to conceive the joy, glory and blessings which God has in store for his faithful Saints. As President Young told us yesterday, whether men believe or disbelieve, the Lord Almighty has wrought out salvation for the world. We are laboring for this; the Prophets and Patriarchs in days past and gone did the same. In these latter days Saviors have come up on Mount Zion, and they are laboring to save the world—the living and the dead. The Lord requires this at our hands, and if we do not labor to promote this cause and to build it up, we shall be under condemnation before him.

The Gospel is the same to-day as it was in the days of Jesus Christ. The word to his disciples was—“Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.” That is a very plain and simple declaration, yet it involved the destiny of the whole human family. It is just so to-day. The Gospel has been offered to the world now for over forty years, in its purity, plainness and clearness, according to the ancient order of things, and the Elders of Israel have promised the world that if they would receive their testimony and be baptized for the remission of their sins, they should receive the Holy Ghost. When a man receives the Holy Ghost he has a testimony that can not deceive him or anybody else. In the days of Moses and Pharaoh the magicians could work as many miracles as Moses, almost; and you may go into our theatre here, or any other, and you may see and hear that which will deceive your eyes and ears, and all the senses you have; but get the Holy Ghost and you have a testimony that cannot deceive you. It never deceived any man, and it never will. It is by this power and principle that the Elders of Israel have been sustained from the first day they commenced their labors until to-day. It was this power which sustained Joseph Smith from his boyhood up, in all his labors until he planted the kingdom of God on the earth to be thrown down no more for ever. He lived until he accomplished all that God raised him up to do here in the flesh, then he went to the other side of the vail to fill his place and mission there. His works will follow him there, and he and his brethren will labor for the accomplishment of the purposes of God there, as we are doing here. The Lord raised up President Young to be our leader and lawgiver, and he has been so from the day that Joseph was taken away. His works are before the world and before the heavens; they show for themselves. The tree is known by the fruit it brings forth. The Lord has revealed in this day every key that was ever held by any Patriarch or Prophet from the days of Father Adam, in the Garden of Eden, down to the days of Joseph Smith, that was necessary for the salvation of the sons of men. They have been sealed on the head of Brigham Young and other servants of God, and they will be held on the earth until this scene is wound up. What a glorious thing it is that we, like the ancient Saints, can be baptized for the dead, and thus open the prison doors and set the prisoners free! The Lord is no respecter of persons, and the fifty thousand millions of human beings who are supposed to have lived on the earth from the days the ancient servants of God were put to death, to the restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith, never having had the privilege of hearing the Gospel, are not going to remain in the eternal world without the privilege of hearing the Gospel; but they will be preached to by Joseph Smith and the Prophets, Patriarchs and Elders who have received the Priesthood on the earth in these latter days. Many of them will receive their testimony, but somebody must administer for them in the flesh, that they may be judged according to men in the spirit, and have part in the first resurrection, just the same as though they had heard the Gospel in the flesh. The Lord has revealed this to us, and commanded us to attend to this duty, the same as Jesus, while his body was in the grave, preached three days and nights to the spirits in prison who were rebellious during the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah. They lay in prison until Jesus went and preached to them.

This and every other principle which the Elders of this Church preach and teach are from heaven—the Lord has revealed them. They are before the world, and all who hear them will investigate if they are wise. If there is a man on the face of the earth who has got a true principle that we have not, will he please let us have it? As President Young has said many a time, we will change a dozen errors for one truth, and thank God for it. We are after light and truth. We are not afraid of the doctrines of the inhabitants of the earth being presented before us or our children. We have truth, we have been called to present it to the world. We have done it. If they have truths that we have not we would like to obtain them.

I will say by way of conclusion that I thank God for the privilege of attending these Conferences for so many years, and for seeing the increase and progress of his work. Here we meet from every nation under heaven, just as the Prophets said. We have been gathered by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I had the privilege, last night and this morning, of meeting with Father Kington, the old patriarch whom I met with over in Herefordshire, England, where, like John the Baptist, he was a fore-runner of the Gospel of Christ. Through his administrations the people in that county had been prepared to receive the Gospel, and when we went and preached to them, he and all his flock but one, numbering six hundred, entered into the kingdom, and that opened a door which enabled us to baptize eighteen hundred in about seven months’ labor. I never expected to see him again in this city, but he came to my house last night, and he came to meeting to-day, and I felt more pride and joy in meeting him than I should if it had been the Emperor of Russia. I thank God that I have the privilege of meeting with the Saints with whom I ate and drank in foreign lands, who have listened to the voices of the Elders of Israel, have received their testimonies, have been baptized for the remission of sins, and received the testimony of the Holy Ghost.

Brethren and sisters, we are in the school of the Saints. Let us progress, and try to improve and set our hearts on the things of God and truth, and carry out and do the work of righteousness for Jesus’ sake, Amen.

Unbelief, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden, Sunday afternoon, May 18, 1873.

The teaching of grown people is the same as teaching the children. We receive impressions when very young, and grow up to further knowledge; it is the same in receiving the Gospel. When we talk to persons who have not previously heard the Gospel, we have to reason with them on the propriety of receiving the truth. We also have to reason with and persuade the Latter-day Saints, and it is to them I wish principally to talk this afternoon. When the Gospel is preached to the honest in heart they receive it by faith, but when they obey it labor is required. To practice the Gospel requires time, faith, the heart’s affections and a great deal of labor. Here many stop. They hear and believe, but before they go on to practice they begin to think that they were mistaken, and unbelief enters into their hearts. There has been unbelief since the beginning of the world. Have you not read the sayings of Moses in regard to our mother Eve? She had heard the voice of the Lord and understood it, saying concerning the fruit of a certain tree, “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” When her husband was in another part of the garden, a certain character came along and commenced to reason with her. “That is very fine fruit: I understand the Lord says you must not partake of it.” “Yes, for in the day we eat of it he says we shall die.” “Well,” says he, “that is not so. You must not believe all that is told you, but think for yourself. Now I will tell you something. If you eat of that fruit your eyes will be opened, and you will see as the Gods.” He hands her a little of the fruit, just to try—no matter whether it was an apple, a grape, or what it was—she tastes of it, and does not die, and likes it so well that when Adam comes along she says, “Husband, this fruit is delightful; I have tasted it, and it is desirable to make one wise; take some.” “No,” says he, “I shall not, the Lord has commanded us not to eat of it.” But just as it is with other husbands, she coaxes and persuades, and finally he gives way and partakes of the forbidden fruit. Now do you see how unbelief entered into the world in the beginning? We have to reason with mankind to persuade them to receive the truth of God. A declaratory statement is sufficient for those who are prepared to receive the spirit of revelation for themselves, but with the most of the human family we have to reason and explain. A really pure person is very scarce; but when the heart is truly pure, the Lord can write upon it, and the truth is received without argument, or doubt, or disputation. If we talk with the Latter-day Saints, we have to reason with them, particularly on temporal matters. Now I could show, by sound argument and logic, the necessity for the people to live and labor for the good of all. Anybody ought to be able to see that when one member of a family is pulling away from the others, and living for self alone, it injures himself or herself as well as the whole family. The necessity and beauty of union cannot be better illustrated than by the example of the chief who called his sons together just previous to his death, and, taking a bundle of arrows, asked them each to break it. This they were unable to do. “Now,” said he, “unloose the bundle.” They did so, and could take the arrows singly, one by one, and break them with ease. This will give us as good a proof as we can desire, that when we are bound together as a unit, we are strong and powerful, but when we are divided we are weak, and our enemies can obtain power over us. Take our financial affairs, and they will show the same principle. But we are prone to unbelief, and have to learn by the childish principle—a little to-day and a little more tomorrow, and after a while perhaps we will become truly Latter-day Saints. We profess to be so now. But to be a Saint in the full sense of the word, is to be something very nearly perfect. If, however, we are striving to the utmost of the ability God has given us to prove that we are willing to serve him and perform our duties, we are justified. We have the kingdom of God to build up, Zion to redeem; we have to sanctify ourselves so that we may be prepared to be caught up with the Church of the First Born, and if we improve every day and hour, then if we die we shall be found justified. But if we continue to live, we must become Saints in very deed, or come short of the fullness of the glory of God that is to be revealed. To lead the Saints in this direction we have to reason with them, and show the necessity for their observing this precept and that law, this doctrine and that principle, that they may be persuaded to do the will of God.

When Joseph Smith first learned from God the principle of baptism for the remission of sins, he undoubtedly thought that he had learned something great and wonderful; so, also, when he received his ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood under the hands of John the Baptist. But he did not fly off at a tangent, and think he had it all, but was willing and anxious to be taught further. After receiving this authority, he baptized his friends. When he organized the Church, he received the higher Priesthood, after the order of Melchisedec, which gave him authority not only to baptize for the remission of sins, but to confirm by the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. The Aaronic Priesthood holds power to baptize, but not to lay on hands to confer the Holy Ghost. When Joseph Smith received this higher power, he did not throw away the first, but received additions to it. He learned of and administered the Sacrament, then went to preaching a year or two, and received the High Priesthood, which he imparted to others, and then obtained other communications and powers, until he received the full pattern and authority to build up the kingdom of God, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man, which also he imparted to others. There are men here who heard him say: “We have added to our faith and knowledge, and have received keys and authority, until I do not know of anything necessary to build up and establish the kingdom of God on the earth, but what I have received and bestowed upon you.” He received his knowledge of the things of God by degrees, until he obtained the last blessing needful to bestow on his brethren.

The Latter-day Saints need talking to a great deal—they need continual preaching and instruction upon almost everything. I am happy to say there is an improvement, still I hear of strife, brother going to law with brother, contention in families and in the community. This should not be. Have we not learned yet to be meek and lowly? Are we not willing to receive and abide the providences of God with patience? How many are willing to do this as they should? But very few. That disposition that came from the fall is planted in our hearts, and will occasionally arise in the bosom. Will we ever get experience enough so that we can overcome these temptations that arise in the heart, so that we can say good-bye to the fashions and follies of the world, and instead of them imbibe good and wholesome principles? Certainly we will; this is what we are after. The Latter-day Saints must learn to be one in Christ. We are one in the ordinances and doctrines; one in the ordinances of baptism, the laying on of hands, the administration of the sacrament, the blessing of children, the ordinations of the Priesthood, the endowment; also in the baptism for the dead, though this was a trial for some at the first. When God revealed to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon that there was a place prepared for all, according to the light they had received and their rejection of evil and practice of good, it was a great trial to many, and some apostatized because God was not going to send to everlasting punishment heathens and infants, but had a place of salvation, in due time, for all, and would bless the honest and virtuous and truthful, whether they ever belonged to any church or not. It was a new doctrine to this generation, and many stumbled at it, but Joseph continued to receive revelation upon revelation, ordinance upon ordinance, truth upon truth, until he obtained all that was necessary for the salvation of the human family. All the inhabitants of the earth are called of God; they are called to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. When I first came into the church it was a subject of considerable thought to me why people whom I knew to be as good and moral as they could be, should have to repent. But I could see afterwards that if they had nothing else to repent of they could and ought to repent of their false religions, of their narrow, contracted creeds in which they were bound, of the ordinances of men, and get something better. These narrow, contracted religions have spread infidelity in the world. They should repent of these and take hold of the things of God and receive the truths of heaven. “Well,” say the ministers, “we have lived according to the light we have received.” We say, are you willing to receive more? If so, here is more for you. So far as your faith in Christ goes, and your morality, we say, amen. But here is something more. “Ah,” say they, “we have got enough, we don’t want any of your Mormonism.” Well, now they do, if they only knew it. I had a conversation recently with a prominent minister of a church in the East and he said, I do not agree with you in your peculiar views. I answered, are you not for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? If you are, so am I. How is it possible to get up an argument? I will make a bargain. I will compare my religion with yours. We will start out with the Bible alone taking it as the standard. All that the Bible teaches for doctrine and practice we will take for our guide. If I have an error I will part with it. Will you do the same? If you can find that you have a truth that I have not, and that I have an error, I will trade ten errors if I have them for one truth. Take the religion of Christ from the foundation up, and it is all true and for the benefit of mankind. Take the whole world with their contentions and strife, the kings and potentates who make war and murder the people by thousands, those who shoot and kill, who rob the poor, who set at naught the counsel of God, bring them together, read to them the precepts of Jesus, the principles of the everlasting Gospel and see if there is one principle that would injure them or the world of mankind in the least. Will they injure a person, a family, a neighborhood? All would join, if they spoke the truth, in saying no, not one; but if we lived up to them, they would make the best condition of society possible. Let the whole world take the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the writings and counsels of this Church, and see if there is anything calculated in the least degree, in any of their requirements, to injure one individual on earth. I will say to these few Latter-day Saints, and if all were here I would say the same, you, brethren and sisters, take counsel of your Presidents, those who are set to give you counsel; and so far as your President is concerned as an individual, if you would say in your hearts, “we will take his counsel,”—and I can say before God he desires this people would live their religion—there would be no contentions, no stealing, no cheating, no drunkenness, no lying; wrong-doing would cease, the hand of mercy would be extended to the poor, kindness and love would be spread abroad, and you would never hear another jar in the land. I can say that I deserve more obedience to counsel than I get. Can any man, woman or child bring up one thing that I have counseled that would injure anybody or bring the least stain upon the kingdom of God upon the earth? No, they cannot. Why can’t we be of one heart and of one mind? Why is it that my brethren allow themselves to be stirred up to strife with their neighbors? Perhaps some neighbor has let down your bars, and the cattle have got in, and you are injured in your feelings and allow anger to enter into your hearts. Perhaps some neighbor has borrowed your plow and broken it, or done something else in which you are aggrieved; you set it down that that person is no Saint. Perhaps if your own faults were portrayed you would show as many as he has, but you set it down for a fact that he is no Saint, or he would not do thus and so. Now cease this. When you think your brother has injured you, go straight and learn the intention of his heart, and judge according to that, and not according to the outward appearances.

Do you say your prayers? How many houses of High Priests, if I crept into them like a mouse, could I find where they do not pray with their families, do not ask God to bless their labors, to bless their fields and farms, their brethren and the kingdom of God on the earth? How many Elders, Seventies and Bishops would I find in the same condition? The Bishops should be a perfect example to their wards in all things. How many are there who are strictly honest and fair in their deal? I have experienced so much on that subject that I had better say little upon it. But I say to you, deal justly, act mercifully and eschew evil. Do good to all men. We say sometimes, “I will not do any favor for that man, he is unworthy of assistance.” I will give you a piece of counsel. Do good to all. It is better to feed nine unworthy persons than to let one worthy person—the tenth, go hungry. Follow this rule and you will be apt to be found on the right side of doing good.

Suppose we look around here How many of you sisters have donated fifty cents to help gather the poor this season? Don’t say you have no money. Have you not had fifty cents to buy a ribbon? How about that ten dollars to buy hair from somebody else’s head when you have plenty on your own? Take the brethren, too, who wear needless clothing, smoke cigars, &c. Take all the money that is spent for tea and coffee and squandered in waste and how much could we get? Why enough to send for the poor, who are begging and pleading to come, by the scores of thousands. We got a purse of some four thousand dollars at the late Conference. I put in one thousand dollars, brother Hooper put in one thousand dollars. That makes about half the amount I spoke when I was here, about two years ago, about Elders who had borrowed money of poor Saints in the old country and never paid them. I said then such men should be cut off from the Church.

How much tithing do you pay? The professing Christians, apostates and others have a great deal to say about the Saints paying tithing. Now let us compare notes. The Elders of this Church travel, and preach without purse or scrip, and labor at home as Bishops, Presidents, High Counselors, and Ministers, free of charge. Now take the Christians, how many of their Ministers preach without pay? Go to their meetings, in their churches, halls, schoolhouses, or any of their public gatherings, and you have a box, a plate, or a hat put under your face, and it is, ‘Give me a sixpence, give me a sixpence, give me a sixpence!” Show me the Elder of this Church that does this? We preach the Gospel without purse or scrip and work for our own bread and butter. Yet the Christian world whine about our paying tithing. The Saints should pay the tenth of their income with glad and thankful hearts, and help to bring home the poor. We have supported and helped the poor to the amount of millions. We have picked up those who were poor and brought them here and taught them how to work and take care of themselves, and some of them ride in their carriages as proud as the lords of the old world from whence they came.

In regard to this whining of the world about Brigham’s handling the tithing, I can say that he has put in ten dollars where he has taken one out of the treasury, and he has paid more tithing than any other man in the Church. Everybody should pay their tenth. A poor woman ought to pay her tenth chicken, if she has to draw out ten times its value for her support. It is all the Lord’s and we are only his stewards.

The Latter-day Saints want persuading. What for? Their own good. Some people talk of how long they have served the Lord, and now they want to do something for themselves. The moment they begin to feel and act like this, they commence to serve the devil. There are two powers on earth, God and Satan, and we must serve one or the other. God requires obedience to his laws. If I do this I do nothing more than I do to the United States. We have enlisted to serve the King of Kings; He has laws, rules, regulations, &c. Why should we not be as willing to pay taxes to Him as to the United States. We believe in obeying the laws of the land, we should also obey the laws of God.

People have found out that we believe in a plurality of wives. The people of this Government say we shall not have a plurality of wives. Why not say: “a plurality of women,” and we shan’t have any objection to it. Because this would strike at men in high places. Their idea is, “If you want women, illegally, and then thrust them into the street when you have done with them, we care nothing about it; but if God has revealed anything about plurality of wives, to marry and provide for them, as he did in the days of the Patriarchs, we don’t want any of it.” If I have wives given to me of the Lord, I do not break any constitutional law of the land. But enough of that.

I want to persuade the Latter-day Saints to be Latter-day Saints. Bro. Woodruff was talking about the necessity of making our own clothing. I say if we go on as we have been doing, and calculate to continue to purchase from abroad most of what we wear, and a great deal of what we eat, we shall be left without. Do you know that Babylon is going to fall? Her merchants will cry out, “there is no one to buy our merchandise.” And if you and I do not learn how to take care of ourselves, and raise and manufacture what we consume, we shall have to go without. If you do not know how, go to work and learn how to knit, sew, weave, make ribbons, raise silk and make up and manufacture your own wearing apparel and all you need.

Now, on another subject. There is a God who lives, and who framed and fashioned this earth, and who brought forth that which is on the face thereof. He has laws, Everything is controlled by law. The actions of men, however, are left free; they are agents to themselves and must act freely on that agency, or else how could they be judged for their actions? But God reserves the right to himself to control the results of their acts, and this no man can hinder. Who of the Christian divines know anything about the God we serve? I never saw any one, until I met Joseph Smith, who could tell me anything about the character personality and dwelling-place of God, or anything satisfactory about angels, or the relationship of man to his Maker. Yet I was as diligent as any man need to be to try and find out these things. We know more about God and the heavens than we care to tell. And if we introduce a principle and try to reduce it to the comprehension of the people, there will be some even among the Latter-day Saints who would be hard to understand. Where is the divine who knows the least thing about that Being who is the Father of our Spirits and the author of our bodies? If we know something about him is there any harm in it? Not a bit. The world of mankind are infidels. We should all be infidel to every false principle. I am infidel in regard to many things, but to the truth, wherever found, I am no infidel. The Christian world is infidel to the truth in a great degree. Why? Because they know so little of the mind and will of God. Step outside of this kingdom, and who can tell us the first process towards covering the earth with the knowledge of God? Who is there that can tell us anything about that angel whom John saw coming with the everlasting Gospel as recorded in John’s Revelations? I never found any one who could till I saw Joseph Smith. He could tell me what I had so much desired to learn. What do the Christian divines know about it even at the present day? If they do know anything about it I wish they would tell us. But if they do not know, and will not receive the things of God from those who do know, does not this make them infidels to the truth?

My testimony is the positive. I know that there are such cities as London, Paris, and New York—from my own experience or from that of others; I know that the sun shines, I know that I exist and have a being, and I testify that there is a God, and that Jesus Christ lives, and that he is the Savior of the world. Have you been to heaven and learned to the contrary? I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and that he had many revelations. Who can disprove this testimony? Any one may dispute it, but there is no one in the world who can disprove it. I have had many revelations; I have seen and heard for myself, and know these things are true, and nobody on earth can disprove them. The eye, the ear, the hand, all the senses may be deceived, but the Spirit of God cannot be deceived; and when inspired with that Spirit, the whole man is filled with knowledge, he can see with a spiritual eye, and he knows that which is beyond the power of man to controvert. What I know concerning God, concerning the earth, concerning government, I have received from the heavens, not alone through my natural ability, and I give God the glory and the praise. Men talk about what has been accomplished under my direction, and attribute it to my wisdom and ability; but it is all by the power of God, and by intelligence received from him. I say to the whole world, receive the truth, no matter who presents it to you.

Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter-day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test. We preach the Gospel, gather the people of God from all nations tongues and people, and build up the kingdom of God on the earth, and this calls for manual labor, the affections of the heart, and the devotion of all our powers. God bless you. Amen.

Meeting of Adam With His Posterity in the Valley of Adam-Ondi-Ahman, etc.

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden, Sunday morning, May 18, 1873. Reported by James Taylor.

Having been requested to speak this forenoon, and to continue the subject upon which we were addressed yesterday afternoon, I cheerfully do so, hoping that I may have the attention of the congregation, as far as possible, that I may be able to make all hear.

The subject upon which brother Taylor addressed the congregation yesterday afternoon, and upon which a few words were said by those who followed him, is one of very great importance in its bearings upon the present generation; for all things that have once been revealed, and which are now lost, will be revealed anew, in order to fulfill that passage of Scripture recorded in the 11th chap. of Isaiah and 9th verse, “The knowledge of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.” Things of all former dispensations will be made manifest and revealed anew in the great dispensation of the fullness of times. And in order to understand more clearly the things that are to be revealed and made manifest again to the inhabitants of the earth, it may not be amiss for me to refer to some of the past records of antiquity that were revealed from heaven for the benefit of past generations. The first one that occurs to my mind will be found in the Book of Covenants, page 79, paragraph 29:

“And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation, and notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation. These things were all written in the Book of Enoch, and are to be testified of in due time.”

Adam was the first personage placed on the earth, in the Garden of Eden, and having transgressed, and having been cast out of the Garden of Eden, and having fulfilled a long probation, amounting to almost a thousand years, he concluded to gather together his children, which he did three years previously to his death. As recorded on the same page, he gathered Seth, Enos, Cainaan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch and Methuselah, who were successive descendants, making eight generations in all, including himself, into the valley of Adam-ondi-ahman. This was nearly a thousand years after Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden, seven generations of his children, or the righteous portion thereof, were gathered together in that valley. And here it may not be amiss for me to say a few words in relation to the location of that interesting meeting or conference.

The valley of Adam-ondi-ahman, according to the views and belief of the Latter-day Saints, was located on the western hemisphere of our globe. (I would here say, that as the greater portion of this congregation are Latter-day Saints, the proofs and evidences which I shall bring forth, in relation to the matters before me, will be selected from those books which are believed by them, which may not be particular evidence to strangers, but to the Latter-day Saints they will be undisputed evidence.) Adam-ondi-ahman, the Valley of God, where Adam dwelt, was located about fifty miles north of Jackson County, in the State of Missouri. The Lord has revealed to us that Adam dwelt there towards the latter period of his probation. Whether he had lived in that region of country from the earliest period of his existence on the earth, we know not. He might have lived thousands of miles distant, in his early days. It might have been upon what we now term the great eastern hemisphere, for in those days the eastern and Western hemispheres were one, and were not divided asunder till the days of Peleg. Adam might have migrated from the great east, gathered up with the people of God in connection with the Church of Enoch, and formed a location in the western boundaries of Missouri. This is not revealed.

The object of this grand meeting of our great ancestors, was that Adam might bestow a great Patriarchal blessing upon his descendants. Hence the righteous of his posterity were gathered on that occasion. He pronounced upon them his last blessing. They were favored on that occasion, for the Lord appeared unto them. This meeting was very interesting in its nature, and the Lord was very much interested, as well as the people. He appeared to this vast congregation, and imparted comfort to Adam in his old age. And Adam was filled with the Holy Ghost. Notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being filled with the Holy Ghost, he predicted what should come to pass among his posterity to the latest generations. Hence he must have spoken concerning all the following dispensations, that were to be revealed from time to time to the children of men. He must have spoken concerning the spreading of his posterity after the days of Noah, and of the great work of God being established on the earth in the latter days, and concerning the second advent of the Son of God, concerning the great day of rest, the period when Satan should be bound. All these things were written in the Book of Enoch, who was present on that occasion. And this book is to be testified of, in due time, to the Saints of the last days. This will be one of the means by which God will fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah, that “the knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the great deep.”

Saying nothing about the prophecies of Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel and Jared, we will next come down to the days of Enoch. Enoch prophecied of all things, as well as his great ancestor, Adam. A few of his words are translated, and brought to light by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and published in the various publications of this Church—in the “Evening and Morning Star,” the “Pearl of Great Price,” etc. This prophecy, though very short, as far as it has been revealed, unfolds marvelous principles, showing that his eyes were opened to see things that were past, and things in the future, all of which were recorded in the Book of Enoch, which is to be brought to light and revealed in the latter times. Among the things revealed to Enoch was the knowledge of the flood, which was to take place. And the Lord made a covenant with Enoch, that He would set His bow in the clouds—just as it afterwards was given to Noah—not as a mere token alone that the Lord would no more drown the world, but as a token of the new and everlasting covenant that the Lord made with Enoch. The words of this covenant I will repeat, as far as my memory will serve: “I will set my bow in the clouds, and I will look upon it, and remember the everlasting covenant I have made with you. That in the latter days, when men shall keep all my commandments, Zion shall look upwards and the Heavens shall look downwards,” etc. The bow that was set in the clouds was to be a token, between God and the inhabitants of the earth, of the bringing again of Zion, and of the assembling of the Saints of all dispensations. Therefore, when I have seen the bow in the clouds, it causes me to remember the covenant that God made in those early ages, and which is soon to be fulfilled in the last dispensation of the fulness of times. How great and how important is this covenant with the Zion which was built up by Enoch, which was to be taken up into heaven and remain sanctified as a place of the Lord’s abode forever! where he should dwell in the midst of his people, and where he should behold their faces, and they should behold his face. That this ancient Zion, and all the inhabitants thereof, should come from heaven and reign on the earth, and that Jesus should come with them. And for fear that the Saints should forget this, a beautiful bow was placed in the clouds, that they might remember that the Lord was looking upon them, and that he would remember his covenant with Enoch in regard to bringing his Zion again. This we find in the periodicals of the Church. When this time shall come that the Lord will bring again ancient Zion, this will assist in filling the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the great deep; and will serve to put us in possession of the history of Zion, of the order of that ancient people, when they walked in righteousness three hundred and sixty-five years before they were prepared for a translation to heaven.

When we come to converse with Enoch and his city face to face, and hear from their own mouths the declaration of their own history, and the preaching of the Gospel in that age of the world, it will unfold a vast amount of knowledge in regard to the events before the flood.

We come down to the days of Noah. He was a righteous man, and called of God to preach the Gospel among the nations as it was revealed to his forefathers, and before the days of the flood, so great was the faith of many of the people, after the days that Enoch’s city was caught up, that the Holy Ghost fell upon them, and they were caught up by the power of heaven into the midst of Zion—the Zion of Enoch. Thus we have further knowledge revealed to us.

Noah, after having preached the Gospel and published glad tidings among the nations, was commanded to build an ark. He had a Urim and Thummim by which he was enabled to discern all things pertaining to the ark, and its pattern. He was a great Prophet, and predicted many things, and his records, no doubt, were hidden up, and will come forth in due time, when the Lord shall cover the earth with his knowledge as the waters cover the great deep.

Many people have supposed that Moses was the first man, and the people of his day the first generation that knew anything about written characters, and that all the people, from the days of Adam down to Moses, did not know how to put their thoughts in the form of writing; but let me inform you how writing commenced. We read in the Book of Enoch, in the “Pearl of Great Price,” that the Lord taught Adam how to write records by the inspiration of his Spirit. And it was given him concerning the mode of placing his thoughts in the form of writing. This is recorded in the Book of Enoch, and the “Pearl of Great Price.”

The people before the flood did not lose the art of writing, but they wrote their revelations, visions, etc., in the language of Adam—the first language given to man. This knowledge was retained through the flood.

We come down to the days of the building of the Tower of Babel, soon after the flood. About the time of Abraham the Tower of Babel was built. The people being of one language, gathered together to build a tower to reach, as they supposed, the crystalized heavens. They thought that the City of Enoch was caught up a little ways from the earth, and that the city was within the first sphere above the earth; and that if they could get a tower high enough, they might get to heaven, where the City of Enoch and the inhabitants thereof were located. They went to work and built a tower. They had this tradition, that there had been a translation of people from the earth, and they were anxious to become acquainted with them; but the Lord saw that they were one, and that they all had one language, and that nothing would be restrained from them which they imagined to do; and, as a curse, he sent a variety of tongues—took from them their own mother-tongue. The language of Adam was all forgotten in a moment; and independently of taking away from them the knowledge of their own tongue, he gave them a multitude of other tongues, so that they could not understand one another. In those days there were a few righteous individuals living at the Tower, among whom was Jared, a very good man, and his brother. When they understood, by the spirit of prophecy, that the Lord was about to scatter the people to the four corners of the earth, the brother of Jared called upon the Lord, by the request of Jared, that the Lord might lead them to a choice land. Did they come upon this great western hemisphere without a knowledge of God? No. Without any written record? No. Read the Book of Mormon, page 530, or, in other words, the Book of Ether, and you will find there recorded, several generations after the Israelites came from the Tower of Babel and landed upon this continent, that there was a certain woman, the daughter of one of the ancient men of note, that referred her father to those records which their fathers brought from the Tower of Babel; told her father what was recorded in them. “Hath my father not read the record which our fathers brought across the great deep? Behold, is there not an account concerning them of old; that they, by their secret plans did obtain kingdoms and great glory.” She put it in the heart of her father, Jared, to follow those wicked acts which were entered into by Cain. It shows that the Jaredites did not come here without a record of the things from the days of Adam, down; they had it with them. They kept it with them, and multiplied copies in the midst of their nation. But you may ask, how do we know about this first colony that came to this continent? How came we in possession of this knowledge? It was by the records which they themselves kept. The Jaredites, acquainted with the art of writing, kept their records. And among the host of records kept by them, were twenty-four plates of pure gold, which were kept by the Prophet Ether, some 1600 or 1800 years after their colony came to this land, from the Tower of Babel. He kept a record. These records were carried by Ether from the hill Ramah, afterwards called Cumorah, where the Jaredites were destroyed, as well as the Nephites. He carried them forth towards South America, and placed them in a position north of the Isthmus, where a portion of the people of King Limhi, about one hundred years before Christ, found them. I will read you a little description of their being found. On page 161, Book of Mormon, it appears that the people of Limhi were a certain colony that had left the main body of the Nephites, and had settled in the land where Nephi built and located his little colony, soon after their landing on the western coast of South America. After landing, and after the death of his father Lehi, Nephi was commanded of God to take those who would believe in the Most High, and flee out from his brethren. And they traveled many days’ journey to the northward, and located in a land which they called the Land of Nephi, and dwelt there some four hundred years. And then because of the wickedness of the people they were threatened with a great destruction. The Lord led Mosiah out of the Land of Nephi, and led him still further north, some twenty days’ journey, and they located on the River Sidon, now called Magdalena, which runs from the south to the north. And there they found a people called the people of Zarahemla. And some of the Nephites desired to return to the Land of Nephi, which they did. In about a century afterwards, there being no communication between the colonies, they sent out a number of men to see if they could find the people of Zarahemla. And they were lost, and came to a part of a country covered with bones. This is what I am going to read. And as a testimony that these things were true they brought twenty-four plates of gold, and breast-plates of brass and copper, and swords, &c.

Book of Mormon, page 161:

“And it came to pass that after King Limhi had made an end of speaking to his people, for he spake many things unto them, and only a few of them have I written in this Book, he told his people all the things concerning their brethren who were in the land of Zarahemla, and he caused that Ammon should stand up before the multitude, and rehearse unto them all that had happened unto their brethren from the time that Zeniff went up out of the land. And he also rehearsed unto them the last words which King Benjamin had taught them, and explained them to the people of King Limhi, so that they might understand all the words which he spake. And it came to pass that after he had done all this, that King Limhi dismissed the multitude, and caused that they should return, every one unto his own house.”

“And it came to pass that he caused that the plates which contained the record of his people, from the time that they left the land of Zarahemla should be brought before Ammon, that he might read them. Now, as soon as Ammon had read the record, the king inquired of him to know if he could interpret languages, and Ammon told him that he could not. And the king said unto him, being grieved for the afflictions of my people, I caused that forty and three of my people should take a journey into the wilderness, that thereby they might find the land of Zarahemla, that we might appeal unto our brethren to deliver us out of bondage; and they were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla, but returned to this land, having traveled in a land among many waters; having discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, &c., and was also covered with the ruins of buildings of every kind; having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel. And for a testimony that the things that they have said are true, they have brought twenty-four plates which are filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold. And behold, also, they have brought breast plates, which are large, and they are of brass and of copper, and are perfectly sound. And again, they have brought swords, the hilts thereof have perished, and the blades thereof were cankered with rust; and there is no one in the land that is able to interpret the language or the engravings that are on the plates. Therefore I said unto thee canst thou translate? And I say unto thee again, knowest thou of any one that can translate? for I am desirous that these records should be translated into our language; for, perhaps, they will give us a knowledge of a remnant of the people, who have been destroyed, from whence these records came; or perhaps they will give us a knowledge of this very people who have been destroyed; and I am desirous to know the cause of their destruction.”

“Now Ammon said unto him, I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can translate the records; for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called interpreters, and no man can look in them except he be commanded lest he should look for that he ought not, and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in them is called seer. And behold, the king of the people, who is in the land of Zarahemla is the man who is commanded to do these things, and who has this high gift from God.”

I have read this to give you an idea how the Israelites that inhabited this continent, before the days of Christ, came to the knowledge of the first colony that came from the Tower of Babel. This company, that was lost in the wilderness, brought these plates, with breast plates and swords, the hilts thereof having perished, and the blades thereof having cankered with rust.

Now Mosiah, the king, that dwelt in the land of Zarahemla, was the man that was called of God to translate. He had the gift and power given to him to translate these twenty-four plates. We have an account, on another page of the Book of Mormon, of his translating these plates; and that it gave an account of the people from the days of Adam down to the flood—to the days of the Tower of Babel, and down to the days they were destroyed.

Now will this record ever be brought to light to help fill the earth with the knowledge of God? Let me refer you to what is recorded in the Book of Ether, page 516—

“And now I, Moroni, proceed to give an account of those ancient inhabitants who were destroyed by the hand of the Lord upon the face of this north country. And I take mine account from the twenty and four plates which were found by the people of Limhi, which is called the Book of Ether. And as I suppose that the first part of this record, which speaks concerning the creation of the world, and also of Adam, and an account from that time even to the great Tower, and whatsoever things transpired among the children of men until that time, is had among the Jews, therefore I do not write those things which transpired from the days of Adam until that time;” (Now notice the next sentence;) “but they are had upon the plates; and whoso findeth them, the same will have power that he may get the full account.”

They are not yet found. We have the Book of Ether, that is not one-hundredth part of the contents of those twenty-four plates. But a very short account. Whose findeth these twenty-four plates will have power to get the full account; for they give a history from the days of Adam through the various generations to the days of the flood, from the days of the flood down to the days of Peleg, and from the days of Peleg to the Tower, which was very nearly contemporary with Peleg. And from that time for some sixteen or eighteen centuries after they landed on this continent. The prophecies of their Prophets in different generations, who published glad tidings of joy upon the face of all the northern portion of this continent. Their records and doings are all to come to light, and these will help to fulfill the words of our text that the knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the great deep.

But we will pass along and come to the second colony, that the Lord brought out of Jerusalem, six hundred years before Christ. Did they bring any records with them? Had they the art of writing? Yes. When they lived among the Jews the art of writing was extensively known among the Jews. It was their art to write in the Egyptian language, as Nephi testifies on the first page of the Book of Mormon. “Therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days; yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.” A language which their forefathers learned, while they dwelt in Egypt, and which they were familiar with, but probably lost it in some measure, but still retained a portion of it, and wrote their records in the same.

Now if you will appeal to Biblical history you will find that the Israelites did write their records, in ancient times, upon metallic plates, and that these plates were connected together, with rings, passing through the leaves. Through the whole a stick was placed for carrying the record. This description we have given by those who have deeply studied concerning the Scriptures and the ancient doings of the Israelites. When Lehi left Jerusalem, there was a certain man that lived in Jerusalem, that had kept records upon brass plates. And these records, we are informed had been handed down from the early ages of the Israelites, until Lehi left Jerusalem. They contained a copy of the genealogy of the tribe of Joseph in the land of Palestine. Laban being a descendent of Joseph, the records had fallen into his hands. Lehi was commanded to send his sons to obtain these records; for he had pitched his tent on the eastern borders of the Red Sea. The history of his obtaining them you will find recorded in the Book of Mormon. On the 10th page it reads—“And it came to pass, that they did rejoice exceedingly, and did offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto the Lord; and they gave thanks unto the God of Israel. And after they had given thanks unto the God of Israel my father Lehi took the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, and he did search them from the beginning. And he beheld that they did contain the five books of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, who were our first parents; and also a record of the Jews from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah; and also the prophecies of the holy Prophets, from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, and also many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah.”

“And it came to pass that my father Lehi also found upon the plates of brass, a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph; yea, even that Joseph who was the Son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt, and who was preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he might preserve his father Jacob and all his household from perishing with famine. And they were also led out of captivity and out of the land of Egypt, by that same God who had preserved them. And thus my father Lehi did discover the genealogy of his fathers. And Laban also was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his fathers had kept the records.”

“And now when my father saw all these things, he was filled with the spirit, and began to prophecy concerning his seed; that these plates of brass should go forth unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people who were of his seed. Wherefore he said that these plates of brass should never perish, neither should they be dimmed any more by time. And he prophecied many things concerning his seed.”

I have read this in order to come to another thing that has a bearing upon our text. These plates of brass, contained the prophecies of all the holy Prophets from the beginning—from the days of Adam; hence they must have contained the prophecies of Enoch, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph in Egypt. The prophecies of Isaiah and many others of the holy Prophets were contained upon these plates of brass. Notwithstanding brass is a metallic substance capable of being dissolved and crumbling back, in a few years to the elements, yet there was a miracle wrought upon these plates of brass. The Prophet said that these plates of brass should not be dimmed by time, that God would preserve them to the latest generations. What for? In order that they might come forth and their contents be translated by the Urim and Thummim, that these contents might be declared to all nations, and kindreds, and tongues, and people, who were the descendants of Lehi upon the face of all this continent, from the frozen regions of the north to the very utmost extremities of South America. That all these nations should come to a knowledge of the things contained on those plates of brass.

Now the Lord did many things of this kind in ancient days. If there should be any strangers present let me show you how the Lord can do many wonderful things. Let me refer you to the pot of manna the substance of which would not keep over twenty-four hours, except on Sunday, and then it was preserved from becoming nauseous. But on a certain occasion the children of Israel were to collect a pot of this manna, and it was placed in the Tabernacle of the congregation, and instead of becoming nauseous, it remained just as fresh in future generations, as on the morning it was gleaned up.

Certain rods were gathered up to represent the twelve tribes of Israel, and Aaron’s rod budded and blossomed in one night; and that was handed down from generation to generation. And hence we see that God did work miracles for his people on the eastern continent. Is it any more marvelous that he should preserve the brass plates from being dimmed by time? No. They exist, and in the own due time of the Lord, he will inspire a mighty seer, and give him the Urim and Thummim, and enable him to bring forth these sacred scriptures.

Now, to show you the value of the scripture of the brass plates, over the Jewish records, translated by King James, let me refer you to the Book of Mormon. On the 24th page, speaking of the coming forth of these records, the angel said to Nephi, “The book that thou beholdest is a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy Prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there are not so many.” That is, there are not so many prophecies and revelations contained in the Jewish Bible of our day as there were upon the plates of brass. Nevertheless they contained the covenants of the Lord, which he has made with the House of Israel; therefore they are of great worth unto the children of men.

If you will turn to the Book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon, page 122, you will find a lengthy prophecy, or parable of the olive tree, quoted from the brass plates, by which the house of Israel is represented—a parable of their being planted in the Lord’s vineyard; a parable of the great work of the Lord in the last days, when his servants should be called to labor and gather these young branches and graft them into their own olive tree. This parable was revealed to the Prophet Zenos, and gives great instruction. We could also refer you to some four or five other places where Zenos and Zenock prophecied concerning the restoration of all the house of Israel in the latter days; and concerning the descendants of Joseph. And Lehi, being of the seed of Joseph, was interested in relation to his future generations, and therefore understood the whole history of these remnants of Joseph, and prophecied concerning them; a few quotations being given in the Book of Mormon. They understood concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus in the flesh, his crucifixion and resurrection from the dead; and the signs shown forth to the remnants of Israel scattered to the four corners of the earth and the islands of the sea; and the great destruction which should come upon the people because of their wickedness.

I will refer you to the prophecies of Joseph in Egypt. In order to show you what is said concerning him, as a Prophet, I will refer you to page 62, Book of Mormon. “And now, I, Nephi, speak concerning the prophecies of which my father hath spoken, concerning Joseph, who was carried into Egypt. For behold he truly prophecied concerning all his seed, and the prophecies which he wrote, there are not many greater. And he prophecied concerning us, and our future generations; and they are written upon the plates of brass.”

Search all the records you can find, and you will find that Joseph has prophecied concerning as great things as any other prophet that ever lived. Now these plates of brass were handed down. We have an account of them by Alma, the Prophet. And concerning the Urim and Thummim, they were also handed down.

But we will now come down to the days of Jesus. From the time that Lehi left Jerusalem to the days of Jesus, there were a great many records kept by the remnant of Joseph, upon this land. The book of Mormon does not contain one hundredth part of the records of these prophets. Now did they keep all of them on plates, or did they multiply them by thousands of copies on this land? Let me refer you to page 388, of the Book of Mormon. “And now behold all those engravings which were in the possession of Helaman, were written and sent forth among the children of men throughout all the land, save it were those parts which had been commanded by Alma should not go forth. Nevertheless these things were to be kept sacred, and handed down from one generation to another.” What period of time was this? Only fifty-two years before the birth of Christ. Fifty-four years before Christ as we find on page 387, (Book of Mormon), there was a large company of men, 5,400 with their wives and children, went out of the land of Zarahemla, to the land northward, and in a few years afterwards, as you will find on pages 393 and 394, they went forth by thousands, and also sent forth colonies by sea, and timber to build cities; and they built houses of cement; and many cities of timber. And the people became very numerous. Now to confine the sacred records in one place, and to keep the people in ignorance in regard to their contents, would not be reasonable. Hence we are informed that they were written and sent forth throughout all the land, and this will account for the extracts from the Scriptures written in ancient Hebrew, discovered in the mounds that have been opened in Ohio, among which were the ten commandments. The people of this land were well acquainted with the Scriptures.

Go to the City of Amonihah in the northern part of South America. They had become wicked, yet they had the Holy Scriptures; and they brought them forth and burned them with fire, and all that believed in them were burned in the fire. (See Book of Mormon, page 249.) Showing that the people had many copies of the Scriptures. And, again we find that the Nephite missionaries who went among the Lamanites, carried with them copies of the Scriptures; and that by the means of these copies they convinced the Lamanites of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers.

When Jesus came to this continent he taught the people several days. And these things were written upon the plates of Nephi. But Mormon made an abridgement of these writings, and he states, on page 484: “And now there cannot be written in this book even a hundredth part of the things which Jesus did truly teach unto the people; but behold the plates of Nephi do contain the more part of the things which he taught the people; and these things have I written, which are a lesser part of the things which he taught the people, and I have written them to the intent that they may be brought again unto this people, from the Gentiles, according to the words which Jesus hath spoken. And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it so be that they shall believe these things, then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them. And if it so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be withheld from them, unto their condemnation. Behold I was about to write them all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbid it, saying, I will try the faith of my people; therefore I, Mormon, do write the things which have been commanded me of the Lord. And now I, Mormon, make an end of my sayings, and proceed to write the things that have been commanded me; therefore I would that ye should behold that the Lord did truly teach the people, for the space of three days; and after that, he did show himself unto them oft, and did break bread oft, and bless it, and give it unto them.”

Thus we perceive that we have not the one-hundredth part of the teachings of the greatest of all prophets, even our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—the words that he delivered to the ancient Nephites. The Nephites understood all these marvelous things. No doubt there were many instructions—a vast amount of instructions—in regard to their property; for they had all things common, both in North and South America, among the millions of this land, for one hundred and sixty-seven years. After which, in the year two hundred and one after the birth of Christ, they began to withdraw from this order, and began to be divided into different classes, &c. Now, if we had all the teachings of Jesus, we would find the order of things that preserved equality upon this continent during all that period of time; which would give us a vast amount of knowledge concerning the things which we must enter into.

But will these things be brought to light? Yes. The records, now slumbering in the hill Cumorah, will be brought forth by the power of God, to fulfill the words of our text, that “the knowledge of God shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the great deep.”

Again, Jesus, on the last visit to the Nephites, called up his twelve disciples and pronounced a certain blessing upon them, and especially upon three of them. Mormon says, concerning these three that were to tarry, that great works shall be wrought by them before the great day of the Lord shall come. Then he says, that if you had all the Scriptures, you would know that these things would be fulfilled. We would know a great many things if we only had these Scriptures and revelations. They are to be revealed to fill our earth with the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the great deep.

Not only the records of the ancient inhabitants of this land are to come forth, but the records of those who slept on the eastern hemisphere. The records of John, him who baptized the Lamb of God, are yet to be revealed. We are informed in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, page 245, that the fullness of the record of John, is to be revealed to the Latter-day Saints.

But shall we stop with these records? No. Let me repeat to you the words of the Lord. The Lord said to Nephi, speaking of the latter days, that the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews, and the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews; and I will gather the people from the four quarters of the earth; and my words shall be gathered in one, (See Book of Mormon, page 108), the records of the Nephites upon this land. And the numerous people that have been planted on the islands of the sea, are to be gathered in one; for they were righteous in some of their earlier generations; and that knowledge is yet to be brought forth; and when these islands shall deliver up their people, their records shall be gathered in one.

And again, concerning what the people say, “we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible.” “Know ye not that I am the same God, yesterday and forever; and it shall come to pass, that I shall speak to the Jews, and they shall write it. I shall speak to the lost tribes of Israel, and they shall write it. I will speak to all the nations of the earth, and they shall write it. And by my words that are spoken, shall the children of men be judged according to their deeds. All these things shall come forth to fill the earth with the knowledge of God.

We go to the book of Doctrine and Covenants, where we find that the Lord is to reveal many of his great and marvelous purposes, that have been kept hid from the foundation of the world; and things that have not been revealed to any former generation. It is not enough that these different records referred to should be revealed, and that the islands of the sea should deliver up their knowledge, but it is necessary that the heavens should give the knowledge which was before our earth was created. And you are students in this great university, which God has established, to study concerning God, and get a knowledge of things in the heavens and things that are past and present, and things that are to come—a knowledge that comes through the power and inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

But this is not all; God has said that he “will pour out his Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophecy.” Young men and old men shall receive knowledge from the heavens. Again, it is written in Isaiah: “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” It will not be necessary for one man to say to his neighbor, know ye the Lord, for all shall know him. Then it will not be necessary for us to preach so much, because the Lord our God will teach them from on high. Old and young, male and female, will receive knowledge; and our little children will utter forth their voices, and speak forth that which is not now lawful to utter, but it will be uttered to the human family by the mouths of babes and sucklings. Amen.

Improved Circumstances of the Saints in Utah, etc.

Franklin D. Richards

Discourse by Elder Franklin D. Richards, delivered at Logan, Cache County, Saturday morning, June 28, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

We used to sing and hear a song entitled: “There is a good time coming, wait a little longer.” It appears to me that we are now enjoying one of the good times in these meetings. I realize that it is so, for one, and I doubt not that the good Saints of Cache Valley also appreciate the same. If we can only preserve in ourselves that freedom of spirit which will enable us to comprehend the present, as it really is, we may rejoice indeed in knowing that the good time has overtaken us. It is not with us now as it has been, when scantiness and even hunger have been in our habitations. At present, so far as the comforts of life are concerned, the people are enjoying a competency of food and raiment, house and home, kindred and friends. While these things have come forward to us, the means of advancement in every sphere of usefulness are in reach. The implements to accomplish more labor are in our hands. They have overtaken us and are overtaking us, and will continue to do so, by means of which the amount of good which the Saints have been enabled to do in any given time in the past, is very small compared with the measure of good which they will be enabled to accomplish in the future. A little while ago it was not oftener than once in six months that we heard from the States. It is only a little while since it took us three and four months to travel from the States to this place, now it is only a matter of as many days. Once it took all of six months to hear from the old countries, say London; now we hear that “yesterday, President George A. Smith attended Conference with the Saints in London.”

By these things we can see that we have come upon times when, if we are up to the scratch, we live very fast. It is no vain, untrue or humorous saying that we are living in a fast age. In matters of intelligence and business transactions we live weeks in a day, if we wisely direct our time and energy, when compared with those who have preceded us.

When we contemplate this, and the rapidity with which Divine Providence is rolling on the events of the latter dispensation, crowding upon our attention the great labors and considerations of this latter-day work, it certainly does seem necessary that we preserve in ourselves that life and activity that we can come up to the standard of his readiness to direct and dispose of us, that we may be able to receive his word and the counsels of his servants and execute and carry them out. I am very sure that the good people of this county do not think they are likely to get out of business since President Young told them, yesterday, that they might soon see a Temple close by here on the bench. The good work seems to be advancing upon the hands of the Saints, mills, railroads and telegraphs, are coming to our relief and aid.

I should like to say a few words upon the subject of Tithing, and I believe I will just touch upon it. It is a subject that was talked about yesterday with some emphasis and importance, and one that has seemed to present features of more than ordinary interest to my mind for some time back. People of all denominations are very ready to say that the “earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” and I do not suppose we could find a Saint in all Israel, or in these valleys of the mountains at any rate, but what would after that sentiment and think he did it with real good Christian cordiality. But when we come to consider the matter as it really is, we find that our feelings and actions do not after all exactly coincide with this expression. I heard a man say, but a few days ago, “I bought such a piece of land—I paid for it and it is mine.” I wonder if that man, just then, thought the earth was the Lord’s? I do not think he thought that particular patch was. It is one thing for us to acknowledge with our lips and to consider in our hearts, that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, but it is quite another thing for us to realize it, and to place ourselves in a true and proper attitude on that question, dealing with the Lord our God in relation to it with the justice, sincerity and propriety that we would with each other here on the earth.

If a man has obtained possession of a piece of land and put up a house thereon, and he rents that to another person, he actually does expect that that person will pay him the rent due for the use of it. It is one of the plainest business transactions of life; and the man who occupies that house and land can hardly feel to say—“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof;” instead of saying that, he says—“This house and piece of land belong to that man, and I have to pay him rent for it.” These things make us realize our bearing and position one with the other in regard to business transactions.

But who is it that has placed the earth and its surrounding elements subject to the powers, governments and inhabitants of the earth? It is he who created them, and he it is who says that the earth and its fullness are his; and when we look at this matter and consider it carefully there is something about the subject of Tithing that commends itself strongly to our attention; and if we will be honest with ourselves and honest, with our God we must look at it in a very differ[e]nt light from what many do.

When the Bishop or his clerk goes round to settle up Tithing, he finds a class of persons who act as though they felt it their bounden duty to get the figure of their Tithing down to the lowest possible scratch; and when they have done this they feel thankful that they have got, off with paying so little, without any regard whatever to the figure they should have paid. Well, it, is not given to the Bishops exactly to tell a man—“You must pay so much.” There is the greatest possible liberality manifested, so as to give every man an opportunity to act upon his own agency in saying what he has made and what he has done with the means which have been placed in his hands, and what he ought to pay as interest or Tithing, so that when the Lord brings these matters to adjudication, we shall be judged out of our own mouths.

The matter of Tithing is one that the churches of the world have taken up as well as the Saints, even the Church of England has an idea that its members should pay Tithing. They have learned this from the Church of the living God. The institution of Tithing is one which is emphatically binding upon us, and is as essential to our salvation and exaltation in the kingdom of God, so far as temporal things are concerned, as the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost are in the spiritual part of the Gospel. Take it into account and consider it when and how you may, and you will find that the man or men, who consider Tithing of no moment, and who think they have obtained a blessing in shirking the payment thereof, will dry up and taper off in their faith, and before they know it they and their household will be suffering in the darkness of the world, in sin and transgression.

The law of Tithing is an obligation laid upon all the people of God. It has been so in every age, and we have no account of the prosperity and progress of God’s people without Tithing being a standing law in their midst, which they continually observed. That is not all, my brethren. The Church of the Lord had this among them before ever the Gentiles knew what it was to assess and collect taxes, and it is from this that they learned to do so. The law of Tithing was in the household of faith, the Church of God on the earth, before the old Babylonish nations were founded, and they as well as the sectarians have learned pretty much all they know from the people of God at one time or another. Tithing is an institution which has prevailed from the beginning, and it looks to me as though it was the consideration required by the Lord—the Creator of the earth, from men who dwell upon it, as a material something by which they may acknowledge to him, in deed and in truth, that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, and by means of which they can restore to him, in the order of his appointment that which is his.

The brethren sometimes say—“I pay my Tithing, This is mine. I have given so much.” Yours, is it? How is it yours? Was it not read here to us yesterday—“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.” If we have witthheld [withheld] and kept back any portion of our Tithing, then have we robbed God, for that full tenth is not ours in any sense of the word, it is the Lord’s, and if we keep it from him we rob him of that which is his. We should keep correctly in our minds and understandings that which is ours and that which is the Lord’s. When the sons of God shouted, and the morning stars sang together for joy at having the earth prepared to come and dwell upon, to pass through this state of existence, did we not then realize that it was being prepared for us, but that it was his, and that we were coming to dwell upon it as his? Shall we forget this obligation and position? Let us be careful not to do so.

President Smith alluded to the potency of this law of Tithing, and the terrible consequences of disobeying it as illustrated in the present condition of scattered Israel, who prospered as a nation when they brought their tithes and offerings into the storehouse of the Lord. And how terribly and emphatically did President Young portray the readiness with which, at his will and pleasure, the Lord could turn these streams, for the watering of our beautiful valleys, into the earth, and cause these delightful hills and plains to become as barren as Judea. I think we ought to look at this subject more carefully, and if possible in its true light. The more I see and think of it the more there is about it new to me, and the more there is to make me feel that therein lies an obligation between us and our God that we should consider and be careful to discharge.

If there is any man amongst you who wants to take a wife, does he not have to obtain a certificate from his Bishop that he pays his Tithing? If any of you want to be baptized in the font in the house of the Lord for the generations of your dead, do you not need a certificate from your Bishop that you pay your Tithing? And if we want any of the blessings necessary for our exaltation we shall find it so, and more so as we advance in the future. We fathers in Israel, we heads of families, looking towards the patriarchal office and desiring to stand at the head of our generations forever, ought to think, not only about ourselves, but about those who will come after us. If our record shows that we have been faithful in all things, and have never forgotten to pay our Tithing, our posterity can come to the house of the Lord and ask, as a right, for the blessings they need for themselves or their dead.

I think if we will all consider this matter in the light in which the Scriptures, the revelations of divine truth hold it, and the light in which modern revelation and the teachings of the Priesthood hold it, we shall discover in the law of Tithing an immense and eternal weight of blessing and glory, and instead of wishing to avoid, shirk and narrow it down to the least admissible figure, we shall desire to add to and enlarge it, that it may be for us and our children a source of honor, exaltation and blessing forever.

Brethren and sisters I rejoice with you, more and more, all the day long in the principles of the Gospel. I desire to be more and more useful in helping to promulgate them in the earth. I have pleasure in the labors of the Church. I rejoice exceedingly in the advancement of the cause of truth, and realize that we have to be wide awake in order to keep track of, and along with, the purposes, plans, devices and providences of God, that we may work with him, that he may work with and through us in bringing to pass his purposes, and the great and glorious events connected with his work in the last days.

That we may so live as to be able and pliant instruments in his hands, ready to do every good word and work, in bringing again Zion, establishing righteousness and truth in the earth, and hastening the day for the return thereto of the presence and glory of God, is my desire in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Extension of the Utah Northern Railroad, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Logan City, Saturday afternoon, June 28, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I have a little temporal matter which I wish to lay before the brethren—something pertaining to our work here for the benefit of the inhabitants of this valley and other places. It is concerning this railroad. I wish to speak of this to-day. We should pass it over, probably, if it were left till to-morrow. I wish the brethren to take into consideration the benefits that are now and which will be derived by the building of this railroad. Another item I wish to lay before the brethren is the putting a road through what is called Bear River Kanyon, this side of Cottonwood, where the railroad will go. If this could be crowded through, I am told it would be a saving of about fifteen miles of travel and climbing some very severe points of the mountains. If the brethren will take hold, under the direction of some one who may be appointed or who is already appointed, of the grading of the road, it would be quite an accommodation to the travel from here to Soda Springs. Get the railroad graded as far and as fast as possible to carry us on. We would like very much to hold some meetings north, and we would rather get into a car and go where we wish than to be traveling along through the dust day after day, consequently we wish to hurry up this matter as speedily as possible. The arrangements will be entered into by those who have the railroad in charge, but I thought I would ask the brethren, inasmuch as they wish to travel north, occasionally, to do themselves and the rest of us the kindness to get a ride upon a pretty good track. We with to go to Bear Lake Valley, over into Rich County, but how shall we go? I understand that this road up the Logan is impassable, and that the dugway road is very bad. We have some settlements already on the Soda Springs route, and shall probably have more, and if we could have the accommodation of traveling on a pretty fair level road we should be very thankful. I shall leave this and other matters with you, but I would urge the necessity of building the railroad as far north as the iron can be obtained. I understand there is enough now coming to go from here to Franklin, and perhaps a few miles beyond. When this is completed, the traveling and freighting to the north will probably go over this line, and the business of the people here will be increased and the value of the property will be enhanced, and you will advance in proportion to the abundance of your improvement.

Another item which I wish to urge upon the people is the building of this meeting house. We have a bowery here, which is very comfortable to meet in this warm weather, but when it is windy, stormy, cold or wet, the people should certainly have a house to meet in, instead of being out of doors. This, of course, will require labor. If we were to go into details wish regard to labor I think we could show very clearly that the time that is given to us here is not altogether well spent. We might make a great many improvements to benefit ourselves, and be none the poorer, but it would increase our wealth. I think this is apparent to every reflecting mind. Every improvement that we make not only adds to our comfort but to our wealth. I wish the brethren to consider this. Not that I wish to take anything from the minds of the people of the good things that we have heard since we have been together, and especially from brother Taylor, who has just spoken. I would not like to take a thought or reflection from the minds of the people concerning those good things pertaining to the kingdom of God. But recollect that brother Taylor, in his remarks, brought the spiritual and the temporal together. They always have been and always will be together, and by our labor we show to the heavens that we are willing and obedient servants and handmaids. This gives us a claim to the blessings which our Father in heaven delights to bestow upon the faithful. By our works our faith is made manifest, and by them shall we be judged, and justified or condemned. Then let our works be such as will justify us and tend to the building up of the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. If we do this, brethren and sisters, we shall prosper and increase.

We were talking yesterday about the blessings of the people. It appears to me that they have little idea of the blessings which are in their possession. Still I am sensible that a great many realize and are very thankful for them, and they wish to improve their time to the best advantage. But take us as a people and how strange is the course we pursue! How inconsistent, inconsiderate and vain are the acts of the Elders of Israel. Is this the fact? Yes, co-operation was referred to by brother Taylor. The man or woman who is opposed to this is opposed to God. So said brother Taylor. I say that they who are opposed to co-operation are opposed to heaven, to their own welfare, to the welfare of their neighbors, to truth and to everything that is good. The least thought or act of an individual who is or can be called a Saint, that militates against a oneness of feeling and action amongst the Saints is opposed to everything that is heavenly and good. We do not wish to co-operate in mercantile affairs only, but we wish to bring the minds of the people to consider the benefit of uniting and laboring together, to make this long and strong pull all together, of which brother Taylor spoke. This is an expression that Brother Joseph Smith frequently used concerning the oneness of the people. If the Latter-day Saints were to take a course to alienate their fellowship and feelings one from another, each one saying, “This is my pile, and I am working to increase it,” we should then be in the position, referred to by brother Franklin D. Richards this morning, of the man who said that all the world belonged to the Lord, excepting the little piece of land he had bought and paid for. How inconsiderate, inconsistent and unwise, is such a course as this! If we are not one, we are not the Lord’s. We can not do his will, nor be his disciples unless we are one. We must have the same faith and feelings for the building up of the kingdom of God, and for the salvation of ourselves and others, jointly, together, or we shall fail in our attempts to accomplish the work which the Lord has given us to do. We should consider all these matters. Now take hold with union and bring the rock, lumber, and all other material that is necessary, and let the mechanics go to work and put up this meeting house.

I do not know who has charge of the building of this store here, but I am very sorry it does not loom up a little faster. I would like to see this store finished, the meeting house built, the railroad completed through here, our roads built through the mountains; I would like to see your farms fenced up, and to see good buildings in this and other towns. Improvement belongs to the spirit and plan of the heavens. To improve in our minds, to increase in wisdom, knowledge and understanding, to gather every item of knowledge that we can in mechanism and in science of every description, respecting the earth, the object of the organization of the earth, the heavens, the heavenly bodies—all this is of Heaven, it is from God; but when a person or a people begin to dwindle, to lessen and to take the downward course, they are going from heaven and heavenly things. You have seen this illustrated in those who leave this Church. You have known men who, while in the Church, were active, quick and full of intelligence; but after they have left the Church, they have become contracted in their understandings, they have become darkened in their minds, and everything has become a mystery to them, and in regard to the things of God, they have become like the rest of the world, who think, hope and pray that such and such things may be so, but they do not know the least about it. This is precisely the position of those who leave this Church: they go into the dark, they are not able to judge, conceive or comprehend things as they are. They are like the drunken man—he thinks that everybody is the worse for liquor but himself, and he is the only sober man in the neighborhood. The apostates think that everybody is wrong but themselves.

Follow the spirit of improvement and labor. All the capital there is upon the earth is the bone and sinew of working men and women. Were it not for that, the gold and the silver and the precious stones would remain in the mountains, upon the plains and in the valleys, and never would be gathered or brought into use. The timber would continue to grow, but none of it would be brought into service, and the earth would remain as it is; but it is the activity and labor of the inhabitants of the earth that bring forth the wealth. Labor builds our meeting houses, temples, court houses, fine halls for music and fine school houses; it is labor that teaches our children, and makes them acquainted with the various branches of education, that makes them proficient in their own language and in other languages, and in every branch of knowledge understood by the children of men; and all this enhances the wealth and the glory and the comfort of any people on the earth. But take the other course, and they become like our savages—they soon forget what they have learned, have no taste for acquiring knowledge, and lose all their ambition and desire for improvement. For instance, look at the Jewish nation. Here are the tribe of Judah in our midst. Do you ever recollect any of them building a house? Think of it, look around now, and try if you can find any of the sons of Judah so lost to themselves as to be guilty of making any improvements. I speak ironically. They will bring something to you and sell it to you, and get your money if they can, for they are every one of them merchants; but can you find one of them that tills an acre of ground? Search the world over, and you will find but few Jewish agriculturists, although there are millions of Jews scattered through the earth, and many of them occupying important positions in the learned world; but they are not producers, they are all consumers. The land of Judea has fallen into disrepute, and it has become a desert, just through the apostacy of those who once inhabited it, who had the oracles of God among them. This is the fact. Let the Latter-day Saints neglect their labor, and they will soon find that they are declining in their feelings, tastes and judgment for improving the elements of the earth; hence we say, improve, be industrious, prudent, faithful, make good farms, gardens and orchards, good public and private buildings, have the best schools, &c. The world give us the credit of being the most industrious people on the face of the earth; they say that the Latter-day Saints in Utah have done more than any other people ever were known to do in the same time. It is the little union that we have in our midst that has given this impetus to our prosperity. But we have not enough union, we have not enough of the spirit of improvement amongst us. You will see men occasionally here who, so far as the spirit of improvement goes, are like some old “Mormons” who lived in the days of Joseph. That is, their bodies breathe, and they move and have a being; but they died when Joseph died. There has been no spirit of progress or improvement in them since. As far as regards gathering and organizing the elements, and making the earth beautiful, these old “Mormons” have no taste for it, and they see nothing, hear nothing, and know nothing, only they knew Joseph. Say they, “Oh, I was acquainted with Joseph, I knew brother Joseph.” Ask them, “Are you going to build a house?” “Well, I don’t know; I don’t know as I care anything about having any better house.” “Well but your house is full of bed bugs.” “I know it is pretty bad, but still it is as good as I am, and I don’t think I shall try to build.” They died when Joseph died.

I heard it mentioned here, I think, this morning, that we all knew the character of the Latter-day Saints, and the difficulties and persecutions they have passed through. It came into my mind at that moment to ask this congregation how many of them knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet, just to show what “Mormonism” has accomplished in twenty-eight years. I believe I will do myself the favor, and gratify myself so far as to ask those of my brethren and sisters now present, who were personally acquainted with Joseph Smith, to raise their right hands. (A very few hands up.) There is a few, but very few, not above one to twenty, and perhaps not more than one to fifty in this congregation who ever saw Joseph Smith. Now if I were to ask the boys and girls, and all the young folks present, although your Sunday schools are not here, who were born in these valleys, to raise their right hands, I will venture to say that we should find that more than half this congregation have been born in these mountains. What do they know about what we passed through in Illinois, Missouri, Kirtland, or New York State? I will give you one item. I lived close by where these plates were found. I knew that Joseph found them, from outward circumstances that transpired at the time. I shall not take time to relate but a little of the delicate, kind, benevolent, Christian-like, I will say anti-Godlike feelings of the priests and of the people who professed Christianity at the time that Joseph organized this Church. The very first thing that was circulated was this—“Did you hear that Joe Smith and his followers got together last night, blew out the light, stripped themselves stark naked, and there they had the holy roll?” This was the story started by the priests in the neighborhood where the plates were found. In the Branch where I lived, we had not met together three times before our beloved, kind, anti-Godlike Baptist priests and people declared that we made a practice of meeting together, stripping stark naked, and there having the “holy roll.” A great many of you do not understand this term. It came from the shaking Quakers. I shall not attempt to relate here the conduct attributed to them, but from that sprang the peculiar phrase I have mentioned in your hearing this afternoon. In a very short time we were all thieves in the estimation of our so-called Christian neighbors. Said the priest to a beloved sister—“Sister, did you hear of such a man, he was a member of our church a few days since, but he has joined old Joe Smith?” Joseph was then twenty-one or twenty-two years of age, but it was “old Joe Smith.” “Sister, did you hear that such a brother stole a lot of chickens last night?” Says the sister, “No, can it be possible? “Well, they say so,” says the priest, and he himself had fabricated the entire story. This sister would tell it to another, and it would go all through the neighborhood that such a man, who only a few days before had been considered by them as good a brother as they had in their church had become a chicken thief. But you cannot mention any crime that this people called Latter-day Saints have not been accused of committing by their so-called Christian neighbors; and these stories would generally commence by the priests whispering to some sister—“Did you hear of such and such a thing?” That was enough, all that was wanted it became a solemn fact by the time it passed the third mouth. Now what do the great majority of Saints know of these things? Nothing, for they have been born since our arrival here. I need not relate much of my experience in this work, although I have had a pretty large one. But it is not particularly profitable to me or to anybody else to relate it. Sometimes it is very well to relate circumstances that have transpired, to show to the rising generation what we have passed through and what we have had to contend with.

Now, if the brethren will take hold and perform the labors devolving upon them, they shall be blessed in them. They will increase in health and in wealth. The Lord will bless the people in proportion as they bless themselves. If they are faithful in following every requirement, they will be blessed in their families, and no other people on the earth that we know anything about are blessed in their families and posterity as the Latter-day Saints are now. Visit town after town in this Territory and let the Saints turn out their children neat and clean and what can be said of them? The Lord blesses them in their families. Let them drive up their flocks, and what will be said of them? The Lord blesses their flocks in their folds. See them upon the plains, they are blessed there more than any other people. Then look at their harvests and their gardens and orchards, and they are blessed therein more than any people we know anything about. They are blessed in everything they put their hand to. The climate of these valleys has been modified and mollified for their sakes. When we first came here, neither an apple nor an ear of wheat could have been raised in this valley. But is there a finer valley than this now in these mountains? No. Is there a finer place for people to live in on this continent? No. There is not.

If the people take a course to bring the blessings of heaven upon them, they will increase in everything. If they refuse obedience to the holy Priesthood, they will dwindle and go into unbelief and apostacy; they will be contracted in their views and feelings; the fruit trees will begin to refuse to bear fruit; our flocks will begin to refuse their increase, and our fields will refuse to bring forth their crops. I will just make this statement with regard to the country the plates were taken from, from which the Book of Mormon was translated. I have helped to harvest wheat there, that yielded fifty bushels to the acre, or from twenty-five to sixty bushels. For thirty years past, they have not raised twenty bushels to the acre; for twenty years past they have not raised fifteen bushels to the acre, and now, in that country, which once was not surpassed by any portion of the globe for raising fruit and wheat, not an apple is raised without a worm in the centre. They have been so for twenty or thirty years. Their apples are good for nothing. Send them to England as they did forty or fifty years ago, and they are not marketable; they will bear no price in comparison to good fruit. Five to ten bushels of wheat to an acre now. Their peaches have gone, their apples have gone, their plums and their pears have gone, and that land eventually, unless this government and the people of the government take a different course towards the Gospel, that the Lord has revealed in the latter days, will become desolate, forlorn and forsaken. That is the country I was brought up in, and with regard to its products, I know about as much as any man that lives.

Now, brethren and sisters, if we wish the blessings of heaven upon us, let us be faithful to our covenants and callings, faithful in paying Tithing, in keeping the word of wisdom and in building Temples. The Tithing is for the building of Temples. Suppose we build this meeting house here with Tithing. If the people will give us one-tenth part of that which is due on their Tithing, we shall have all we need to build their meetinghouses, schoolhouses, and Temples. This may seem strange to some, and perhaps I look at Tithing different from others, and consider the law of Tithing different from what others would look at and construe the meaning of the words concerning the Tithing that the Lord requires in the latter days. I will sum it up and tell you what my views are. Here is a character—a man—that God has created, organized, fashioned and made—every part and particle of my system from the top of my head to the soles of my feet, has been produced by my Father in heaven; and he requires one-tenth part of my brain, heart, nerve, muscle, sinew, flesh, bone, and of my whole system, for the building of Temples, for the ministry, for sustaining missionaries and missionaries’ families, for feeding the poor, the aged, the halt and blind, and for gathering them home from the nations and taking care of them after they are gathered. He has said, “My son, devote one-tenth of yourself to the good and wholesome work of taking care of your fellow-beings, preaching the Gospel, bringing people into the kingdom; lay your plans to take care of those who can not take care of themselves; direct the labors of those who are able to labor; and one-tenth part is all-sufficient if it is devoted properly, carefully and judiciously for the advancement of my kingdom on the earth.”

What little wealth I have got, I have obtained since I have been in this Church. What I had when I came into the Church I gave away to my friends. I had no family except two children. I can hardly say that either, for when I came into the Church I had a wife, but in a very few months after I was baptized I lost her, and she left me two little girls. I gave away what I had, and I started to preach the Gospel. I was obliged to do it, for I felt as though my bones would consume within me if I did not, consequently I devoted my time to preaching. I traveled, toiled, labored and preached continually. My own brother Joseph, and myself, were together a good deal of the time, until we went to Kirtland, to see the Prophet, and the next year moved up. This is the way I commenced, and when I gathered with the Saints I was about as destitute as any man that ever gathered to the gathering place; and that summer brother Joseph called the Elders together and gave them the word of the Lord never to do another day’s work to build up a Gentile city. I have never done a day’s work, nor an hour’s work, from that time to this, to build up a Gentile city, but I have labored continually to build up the cities of Zion. God has blessed me with means, and he has blessed me with a family. I made a statement yesterday, which I can make again with all propriety—that in my judgment it would take more than I have got to pay my back Tithing, and I have got as much, probably, as any man in the Church. The Lord has blessed me; he has always blessed me; from the time I commenced to build up Zion, I have been extremely blessed. I could relate circumstances of so extraordinary a character in regard to the providences of God to me, that my brethren and sisters would say in their hearts, “I can hardly give credence to this.” But my heart has been set in me to do the will of God, to build up his kingdom on the earth, to establish Zion and its laws, and to save the people; and I can say truly and honestly that the thought never came into my mind, in all my labors, what my reward will be, or whether my crown would be large or small, or any crown at all, a small possession, a large possession, or no possession. I do not know that I shall have a wife or child in the resurrection. I have never had any thoughts or reflections upon this, or cared the first thing about it. All that I have had in my mind has been that it was my duty to do the will of God, and to labor to establish his kingdom on the earth. I do not love, serve or fear the Lord for the sake of getting rid of being damned, nor for the sake of getting some great gift or blessing in eternity, but purely because the principles which God has revealed for the salvation of the inhabitants of the earth are pure, holy and exalting in their nature. In them there is honor and eternal increase, they lead on from light to light, strength to strength, glory to glory, knowledge to knowledge, and power to power; and the opposite reduces any individual or any nation on the earth to imbecility, ignorance, slothfulness, and to the loathsome state of degradation in which we see some of the inhabitants of the earth now. It is purely for the love of holy principles, that will exalt the people, that we may receive and gain more and more, and keep receiving for ever and ever, that I serve the Lord, and try to build up his kingdom.

And when we get through this state of being, to the next room, I may call it, we are not going to stop there. We shall still go on, doing all the good we can, administering and officiating for all whom we are permitted to administer and officiate for, and then go on to the next, and to the next, until the Lord shall crown all who have been faithful on this earth, and the work pertaining to the earth is finished, and the Savior, whom we have been helping, has completed his task, and the earth, with all things pertaining to it, is presented to the Father. Then these faithful ones will receive their blessings and crowns, and their inheritances will be set off to them and he given to them, and they will then go on, worlds upon worlds, increasing for ever and ever.

Now, brethren, what do you say, will you do as I want you to? Will you take hold and build this meeting-house, get this road through and make a little more improvement, and say we will have no idlers in our midst, but that every day, every week, every month, shall be devoted to something that is useful to ourselves and to others? If this is our feeling and our determination we shall be blessed. I feel to bless you. I pray for you continually. I never cease to pray for the Saints. I pray the Lord to inspire the hearts of his people, so that the good may not fall away, but that they may be preserved in the truth, and that they may learn and understand it more and more, until their affections are so wedded to God and his kingdom on the earth, that the revelations of Jesus Christ may be in them like a well of water springing up to everlasting life.

Now, I can say, God bless you, and I pray that you may be blessed; but I pray you to bless yourselves. Brethren and sisters, let us bless ourselves, by doing the will of God, then we are right.

Ignorance of the World Concerning Our Faith, etc.

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, May 25, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I have a few remarks to make to those who do not understand the doctrine of the Latter-day Saints. Forty-three years have passed away since this Church was organized in Fayette, Seneca County, in the State of New York; and for over one forty years, according to the ability which God has given me, I have traveled and preached enough to extend this Gospel to the door of every hamlet on this continent if the people had been willing to receive it; yea more—I have taught the Gospel of life and salvation to the human family sufficiently, if all had been honest to receive it and willing to carry it to their neighbors, to evangelize the whole earth, and there need not have been, to-day, one person, heathen or Christian, ignorant of its principles. But now, I learn from day to day, from week to week and from time to time, that very many people in our own land do not understand our doctrines, and I am frequently asked the question, while conversing with people, “Do you believe the Bible?” “Do you receive the Bible as the word of the Lord?” “Then, you acknowledge the Bible?” &c. This astonishes me, and the cause of such questions being asked I leave every person to judge for himself, just as I do with regard to the course of the children of men in other matters, such as truth, error, religion, politics, &c. If we were to inquire of strangers, who have lived twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or sixty years on the continent of America, and even in the United States, how it is that they do not know better than to suppose that the Latter-day Saints reject and do not believe in the Bible, they would reply, “We do not know, only we have heard so.” If you go to the professed infidel, of any class, and ask him, “Do the ‘Mormons’ believe in the Bible?”—“Why yes, I have heard them preach, and they believe the Bible more than the whole Christian world do.” Well, where and through whom does this influence come, which leads people to believe to the contrary? I will not spend time to answer this, but I will say, that the Latter-day Saints believe more of the Bible than any other people that live on the face of the earth that we have any knowledge of.

What does the Bible teach us with regard to the Christian religion, faith in God, and in his Son Jesus Christ, who was sent in the meridian of time to redeem the earth, and all things pertaining to it? I will not take up the negative side of the question, or tell what others believe; but let me tell what we believe. In the first place, I will take up the sayings of Jesus to his disciples on a certain occasion. Said he, “Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned.” I shall not attempt to go into the meaning of this saying in every particular—time will not permit—but suffice it to say that he that believeth and is baptized will be saved, and he that believeth not will be cast off. What promise did Jesus give to his disciples when he sent them out, two by two, to preach? What inducement was there, when the Savior was upon the earth, to believe in him and his doctrine? We can all read; it would take too much time to tell. His disciples went out and preached without purse and scrip, and when they returned, they testified to Jesus that they had lacked for nothing. Jesus promised to those who believed, powers and advantages which unbelievers could not enjoy. We read of certain men and women in Samaria, who had been taught the Gospel under the authority of John the Baptist, but they had not received the Holy Ghost; and we are told that certain Apostles went down from Jerusalem to lay their hands on these Samaritan believers. There was a man called Simon, a sorcerer, who had bewitched the people, and seeing that the power which the Apostles bestowed upon them, by the laying on of hands, was far above his power—although he could deceive, betray and frighten the people, and do many things just as the magicians of Pharoah’s court did when Moses went to deliver the children of Israel; said he, “I will give you money if you will bestow that power on me.” The Apostles said to him, “You and your money perish together.” The Apostles laid their hands upon those persons who had been baptized to John’s baptism, and they received the Holy Ghost. Believers in those days had the power which Jesus promised. They might take up serpents, and they would not bite them; if they drank any deadly thing it would not hurt them; if they laid hands on the sick, the sick would recover. They spake with tongues, they prophecied, they had the discernment of spirits, and all the various gifts of the Gospel of Christ; and all of these were beyond the reach of the sorcerer, yet he was far in advance of the common people in powers of deception. But Jesus promised his disciples more than any man could possess by the spirit of divination. When we consider this and realize, if we can realize, that, through the restoration of the Gospel in our day, all these gifts can be again enjoyed, it is worthy the attention of every person on the face of the earth who is capable of receiving truth for truth, light for light, and intelligence upon intelligence.

Let me hasten along, and refer to the organization of the ancient Church. According to the testimony of the Apostle, God set in the Church, firstly, Apostles, secondly Prophets, thirdly Teachers, then Pastors, and so forth. You strangers may ask your divines, when you return home, what they believe about God setting in the Church Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers, Helps, gifts, divers kinds of tongues, and so on, for the perfecting of the Saints, and for the edifying of the body of Christ, until all come to a unity of faith and knowledge in Christ Jesus our Lord; and let them answer the question, then you can judge who it is that throws dust into the eyes of the people, and is continually telling them that “the Latter-day Saints deny the Bible;” “the Latter-day Saints are a bad people;” “the Latter-day Saints are aliens to the government;” “the Latter-day Saints are rebellious.” Ask the divines, “Do you believe in prophecying, do you believe in Apostles, in baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and in the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost? Do you believe in breaking bread continually, as Jesus commanded his disciples at the last supper, when he brake the bread and blessed it, and blessed the wine and gave it to all to eat and drink, saying, ‘Do this until I come again, for I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom?’” What do the world—Christian, Jew and Pagan—believe about these things? Inquire for yourselves. We Latter-day Saints believe in Apostles and Prophets. We believe in the Melchisedec Priesthood and in the Aaronic Priesthood, which God bestowed upon his servants long ago. Moses had all these doctrines and both these Priesthoods in his possession, and also the organization of the Church; and with all his power he strove to bring the children of Israel to a knowledge of the Gospel, but they would not have Christ.

I pause here. I was brought up a Christian, very strictly, and was taught to read the Bible, consequently it is natural for me to believe it—it is according to my traditions, and also from the spirit of revelation from God unto myself. In all my teachings, I have taught the Gospel from the Old and New Testaments. I found therein every doctrine, and the proof of every doctrine, the Latter-day Saints believe in, as far as I know, therefore I do not refer to the Book of Mormon as often as I otherwise should. There may be some doctrines about which little is said in the Bible, but they are all couched therein, and I believe the doctrines because they are true, and I have taught them because they are calculated to save the children of men.

It is said by the Christian world, by governments, philosophers, statesmen, politicians and ministers, that there is no harm in believing anything if we do not practice it. But let me ask how can we believe in Jesus Christ—taking his own words for it—unless we do the works that he did? Go and read his words for yourselves—“He that believeth in me will do the works that I do.” Did he not say this? How then can we believe in him without doing his works? Did he inspire his Apostles? Did be inspire him whom we call St. Paul? Did he inspire John upon the Isle of Patmos? The Christian world will not deny that he did. While John was upon Patmos, he had many visions and revelations. He compiled these after he returned from the island, and left them in the possession of his friends; and the Council which compiled this book—the Bible—brought his revelations into the catalogue of sacred books. If you will read the Book of Revelations, you will find that John predicts many things regarding these latter days. He saw the conduct and doings of the seven angels; and then he says, “I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth, saying, ‘Fear God and give glory to him who made the heavens, the earth, the seas and the fountains of water.’”

By reading the Bible we find that the Gospel is contained not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old. Moses and the Prophets saw and predicted the apostacy of the Church. They saw that the Lord would strive with the children of men from time to time, that he would deliver to them the truth and the Priesthood; they also saw that through the wickedness of the people they would change his ordinances, break the covenants, and transgress his laws, until the Priesthood would be taken from the earth, and its inhabitants be left in apostacy and darkness.

But how are we to understand this angel referred to by John, when he comes along? This is an important question. How, in the language of Scripture, are we to know the voice of the Good Shepherd from the voice of a stranger? Can any person answer this question? I can, it is very easy. To every philosopher upon the earth, I say, “Your eye can be deceived, so can mine; your ear can be deceived, so can mine; the touch of your hand can be deceived, so can mine; but the Spirit of God filling the creature with revelation and the light of eternity, cannot be mistaken—the revelation which comes from God is never mistaken. It is the spirit of truth, and it testifies of Jesus, of his Father, of the things which God has done for the children of men, and that which he is now doing. No man upon the earth can be mistaken when he sees by the eye of revelation, when Jesus shines upon his understanding by the light of his Spirit. Now, then, how are we going to know the voice of the Good Shepherd from the voice of a stranger? Take the words of Jesus. He says, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me, a stranger they will not follow.” Why? Because they know not the voice of a stranger. When an individual, filled with the Spirit of God, declares the truth of heaven, the sheep hear that, the Spirit of the Lord pierces their inmost souls and sinks deep into their hearts; by the testimony of the Holy Ghost light springs up within them, and they see and understand for themselves. This is the way the Gospel should be preached by every Elder in Israel, and by this power every hearer should hear; and if we would know the voice of the Good Shepherd, we must live so that the Spirit of the Lord can find its way to our hearts. I have said to the Latter-day Saints, many and many a time, and I say to them now, live your religion, that the Spirit of God may be within you like a well of water springing up to everlasting life. Suppose I were to give way to the spirit of the enemy and leave the spirit of the Gospel, then, if you were not prepared to judge between the voice of the Good Shepherd and the voice of the stranger, I could lead you to ruin. Be prepared that you may know the voice when it comes through the servants of God, then you can declare for yourselves. “This is the word of the Lord.” My caution and counsel to the Latter-day Saints, and to all the inhabitants of the earth is—“Live so that you will know truth from error.

But do all the Latter-day Saints live so? Oh no, they do not. Many fall into error and finally leave the Church. They are led away far from the truth. They become subject to the ten thousand spirits that have gone forth into the world, and they are deceived in this, that and the other thing, and like the rest of the world, they do not know how to govern themselves. They are deceived in their own organization and with regard to themselves; and there is no man that can know himself unless be knows God, and he can not know God unless he knows himself. The children of men give heed to the deceiving spirits that are abroad, and that is the cause of the ten thousand errors, wrongs, sins and divisions which are in the world, and for this reason the multitude are unable to distinguish between the voice of the Good Shepherd and the voice of the stranger. But I will say that if the Lord has not sent that angel of which John speaks, he will send him as surely as we live.

Let me refer to another saying of John: After telling about the angel flying through the midst of heaven with the everlasting Gospel to be restored to the children of men, he tells us in his eighteenth chapter and 4th verse—“And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.’” This was a proclamation to God’s people. Israel is dispersed among all the nations of the earth; the blood of Ephraim is mixed with the blood of all the earth. Abraham’s seed is mingled with the rebellious seed through the whole world of mankind, and John saw that a command would go forth warning the righteous to flee from Babylon, and that command was, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not other plagues, for her sins have reached to heaven,” and so forth. This is a stumbling block to the religious world of Christendom. They cannot see the necessity of the gathering, they claim that believers in Jesus can live their religion and serve the Lord as well scattered as gathered, and that, in time, by the preaching of the various sects, the world will be evangelized. The Latter-day Saints believe that all their efforts in this direction, in the future, will be as they have been in the past—useless; and that the so-called Christian religion is a failure, so far as evangelizing the world is concerned. Let the world of mankind look at Jerusalem for an illustration of its effects. In that city various Christian sects have their places of worship, and many make yearly pilgrimages to the places made sacred by the life, death and burial of the Redeemer. Do these Christians in Jerusalem manifest that love, meekness and forbearance toward each other which always characterize the true servants and followers of the Lord Jesus? No, for if it were not for the Turkish soldiers they would massacre each other every day. That is the effect the principles which they profess have upon them. And everywhere, throughout the Christian world, it amounts to little more. Its leaders and professors cry, “Come to Jesus, Come to the Lord,” and do this and do that, but where do we find such things taught in the New Testament? They are not there. Who among the writers of the Scriptures declares that God has taken Apostles and Prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers governments and helps from his Church? Not one. Is there any declaration or revelation in modern times to the effect that God has taken the gifts out of his Church? No. Men have left them, they have wandered from and forsaken the fold of Christ, they have transgressed the laws and they have changed the ordinances of his kingdom for the laws and ordinances of men; and they have broken the everlasting covenant which God, in early ages, made with his creatures.

Let me say to my hearers, not that I wish to take up the subject of Celestial Marriage, that if you will search the Scriptures, you will find that the first curse which came upon the children of Israel, as recorded in the writings of Moses, was for marrying out of their own families; and then the Lord, after seeing the hardness of their hearts in despising his law and his covenants, gave to them a law of carnal commandments, and told them whom they might not marry. By reading the Scriptures you will find that the Lord commanded the children of Israel to live by themselves, and not to mix their seed with the unholy, ungovernable and rebellious seed of the world. The Lord used to give wives to the children of men, but the people say, “We do not know about that now, we hardly think it will answer.”

How are we going to build up the kingdom of God on the earth. Do you think it is a manual labor? Do you think it will become a political kingdom? Ask the kings on their thrones, ask potentates and statesmen if they believe the Bible. If they do, they must believe that the day will come in which God will revolutionize the earth, to that degree that the “kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ.” If they ever do, there must be a heavy labor to perform, and that labor is upon the Saints of God, and they must enter into it with heart and soul. It will be both a manual and a political labor, for all will be brought, into subjection to the law of Christ, that he may come and reign on the earth, king of nations, as he does king of Saints.

These subjects could be taken up one by one, and it could be shown from the Scriptures, precisely the position that will be taken and the course that must be pursued. I have labored faithfully over forty years to convince the children of men that God rules in the heavens and that he will rule upon the earth. Suppose that he ruled to-day, would society be the worse for it? What think ye? Is there a heaven? Is there a heaven of heavens? Is there a dwelling place for the Gods and the angels? Do you think they have their political quarrels there? Do you think they get up different ones whom they will run for their king, governor, or president? Do you think there is an opposition ticket there? What do the political, financial and Christian world think about these things? Do you think that a few capitalists lock up all the means there and make hard times, so that the people cannot get a dollar? Do you think there is any backbiting and false swearing there? Do you think they have courts with unjust judges and packed juries there? No, every person who believes in the Old and New Testaments, will say that it is a place of perfection, a place where all have their rights; a place where there is perfect peace and happiness, and all join with one heart and voice in ascribing honor, praise and glory to him who sits on the throne, and the Lamb. This is the effect of God’s rule and government. Would the inhabitants of the world be in a worse condition than they are now if the Lord were ruler of all the earth? Oh, no. All will join in wishing for perfection, and in desiring a state of society in which there would be no jars, no contentions, no poverty, no poor, but all prepared to go into the highest and most refined society. This is the belief and doctrine of the Latter-day Saints. Learn everything that the children of men know, and be prepared for the most refined society upon the face of the earth, then improve upon this until we are prepared and permitted to enter the society of the blessed—the holy angels that dwell in the presence of God, for our God, because of his purity, is a consuming fire.

I have spoken longer than the time allotted to me. I can say God bless you. I pray the people—Saints and sinners upon the face of the whole earth—to hearken to the truth. Open your hearts to the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon you. I pray that you who have received the truth may live in it and abide by it, that you may enjoy the blessings of it and be prepared for the fullness of the glory of God, that will yet be revealed. I exhort those who do not believe, to listen to and receive, little by little, the instructions which God will give, until all the inhabitants of the earth are prepared for Jesus to come and reign in their midst.

God bless you, Amen.

The Rise of Zion in the Last Days

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, June 15, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I will call your attention to the first two lines in the first hymn that was sung this afternoon—

“Arise, O glorious Zion, Thou joy of latter days.

In connection with these two lines, I will cite the attention of the congregation to the first verse of the 60th chapter of Isaiah—

“Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee.”

The passage which I have quoted from Isaiah has reference to the latter-day Zion, about which the choir sang at the opening of the meeting. That there may be no misunderstanding about the people to whom the Prophet had reference, I will read some other passages connected with it—“And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.” The Zion that is here spoken of is called upon to “arise and shine, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” There is no one thing more fully revealed in the Scriptures of eternal truth, than the rise of the Zion of our God in the latter days, clothed upon with the glory of God from the heavens—a Zion that will attract the attention of all the nations and kindreds of the whole earth. It will not be something that takes place in a corner on some distant island of the sea, or away among some obscure people; but it will be something that will call forth the attention of all people and nations upon the face of the whole earth. The rise of Zion, the latter-day Zion. What are we to understand by the meaning of Zion? What I understand, and what the Scriptures have portrayed in regard to the meaning of Zion is, a people who shall receive the law of God, and who shall be acknowledged of the Lord as his people—a people who shall be gathered together from the nations of the earth, and build a house to the name of the Lord in the latter-days. A people who shall have their abiding place in the mountains, and who shall build a city that shall be called Zion. All these things are clearly portrayed in prophecy. The people of God must be a people who give the most diligent heed to his word; they will be guided by revelation from him, and among them his power will be made conspicuously manifest. These are characteristics concerning this latter-day Zion, spoken of by the ancient Prophets, which, if the Spirit of the Lord will enable me to clearly comprehend the subject, I will endeavor, this afternoon, in my simple language and in my simple manner, to lay before this congregation.

We find, in the 40th chapter of the prophecies of Isaiah, that the people of Zion are to be raised up preparatory to the second advent of the Son of God. Isaiah uses an exclamation something like this—“O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain.” It seems by this, that the people called Zion, wherever they might be, were to be removed from the regions they originally inhabited, and were to be located in a high mountain, or in a very elevated region. If you wish to know the time which this prophetic exhortation to the people of Zion had reference to, read the whole of the 40th chapter of Isaiah, and you will find that, at that period, the glory of God is to be revealed and all flesh is to see it together, evidently referring to the great day when the Son of God shall come in his glory, when every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him, and all people, nations and tongues under heaven, who are spared unto that day, shall behold him descend in power and majesty to this earth. In his 40th chapter, the Prophet Isaiah has told us that then the mountains shall be broken down, the valleys exalted, the rough places made smooth, the glory of the Lord revealed and all flesh see it together. Then the iniquities of ancient Israel will have been sufficiently punished, for the Lord will have rewarded them double for all their sins. When that time arrives the people called Zion will be required to go into the high mountains, and they shall bring good tidings unto the inhabitants of the earth.

Those who have heard the proclamation of the Latter-day Saints, can judge whether we have brought good tidings to this generation or not. We were called upon by the Almighty and his holy angels to go forth and declare to the nations of the earth, that God had again spoken from the heavens, and that by holy angels sent down from heaven, he had again revealed the everlasting Gospel in all its fullness, and for forty years past we have declared this to the world. We have also testified that many of the servants of God have been ordained by holy angels and sent forth to publish these tidings among the inhabitants of the earth, and that others have been ordained by those who received their ordination from heavenly messengers.

What greater or more glorious tidings could be proclaimest to the fallen sons and daughters of men than the everlasting Gospel—the same Gospel that was proclaimed anciently by Jesus and his Apostles? In the sixth verse of the 14th chapter of the revelations of St. John, we read of the Gospel being revealed by an angel, and that, after it was revealed, it should be published to all people, nations and tongues under the whole heavens, saying that the hour of God’s judgment was come, showing clearly that the day in which the angel should be sent forth with the everlasting Gospel, should be specially characterized by terrible judgments poured out upon the nations of the wicked.

When the Prophet said, O Zion, thou that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain, he no doubt beheld in vision the great work of gathering the children of Zion, from the various nations of the earth, into a mountainous or elevated region upon our globe.

Prior to the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord predicted through him that this people should be gathered out from all the nations under heaven, and should be established in the mountains, or elevated regions of this continent; and two or three years after his death—twenty-six years ago, this coming season—this prediction began to be fulfilled, for in the year 1847, the pioneers made a journey of 1,400 miles from the Mississippi river, and, by the inspiration of the Spirit of the living God, they rested upon this mountainous, and then wild and desolate region. They commenced a settlement where the site of this city now stands, and since that time this people gathered from every nation by the preaching of the everlasting Gospel, revealed in these latter days through the Prophet Joseph, have extended their borders, and have built towns and cities over an area many hundred miles in extent. In obedience to the command of the Almighty, this people left their native countries and the graves of their ancestors, and came forth by thousands each succeeding year, and peopled this high and elevated region of our country. We came here because modern Prophets opened their mouths by the spirit of revelation and declared these mountains to be the abiding place of the latter-day Zion. We came to fulfill modern prophecies as well as the predictions of the ancient Prophets. Have you not read, Latter-day Saints and strangers, in this good old book, a prediction, uttered some twenty-five hundred years ago, by the mouth of Isaiah, concerning the house of the Lord that was to be built in the latter days in the tops of the mountains? I presume that you have read it many a time; indeed I have heard Christian denominations of almost every sect, in their psalms and anthems, refer to this prophecy. They have spoken of the mountain of the house of the Lord, that should be established in the latter days upon the mountains.

Let me now refer you to that prophecy, which is recorded in the second chapter of Isaiah, and which reads thus—“And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exhalted [exalted] above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it; and many people shall go and say, ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.’”

It seems, then, that the people who would build this house of God in the latter days in the mountains, are called Zion, and from them should go forth the law. What law? Does this mean the civil law of the country, to govern all people? No. The people of this American republic, by their representatives in Congress, have enacted civil laws and formed a great and free government upon the face of this continent, by which the people in a civil capacity are governed. This, therefore, must have reference to the law of the Gospel, that God would reveal in the latter days unto Zion. From Zion shall go forth the law, says the Prophet, and then, to show more fully the nature of this great latter-day work, be exclaims in the next verse—“And he shall judge the nations, and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

It is very evident from this last prediction which I have read, that a very great and important work should be done in the last days upon the mountains. The Lord has to prepare or build a house in the mountains. Will it not be a marvelous work and a wonder for the Lord to have a house in the latter days upon the earth? I think it will, especially when we remember that the earth has been without a house of God for a great many generations. If there had always been a house of God on the earth, the Prophet would never have uttered this prophecy; but for the last 1,600 years we might have gone from east to west, and from north to south, in the four quarters of the earth, and then into the islands of the sea, seeking for a house of God, and we could not have found one. What I mean by a house of God, is one which God himself commanded to be built. I know that there are many houses built in all the great cities of this Republic, as well as in Europe, by the different religious sects, many of them supurb [superb] buildings, and you will find written upon them generally, “The house of the Lord,” “The house of God,” “The church of Jesus,” the house of God called “St. Paul’s church,” the house of God called “St. Peter’s church,” or “St. John’s church.” We can find plenty of them in New York, and in all the great cities and towns of our nation, also in Great Britain, and all the Christian nations of Europe, very grand, superb edifices, which have cost an immense amount of money. Did God command the building of any of these houses? If he did not, then they are not his houses, and they are nicknamed houses of the Lord by the builders or proprietors, while he, really, has nothing to do with them. Did he ever send an angel into any of these houses? No. When did he ever appear in his glory in these houses? Never. Did he ever say to the people, “You have built them according to the pattern which I gave unto you, and I now accept them.” No such declaration was ever heard among all these Christian nations. The Lord has had no house on the earth for a great many centuries, and for that very reason the Prophet Isaiah was wrought upon by the Spirit of revelation to declare that such a great event as the Lord having a house on the earth in the latter days should be accomplished, and its location should be in the mountains. From this we may draw the conclusion that it must be in a very elevated region, when compared with the general level or surface of the country whereon it will be built.

There is one thing that will characterize the Zion of the latter days: its people will not only be commanded to get up into the high mountain, but they will also be commanded to build unto the Lord a house in the mountains, the pattern of that house being given by inspiration, everything pertaining to it being dictated by the power of prophecy by the servants of the Most High God; and when the house is built, if no unclean thing is suffered to enter therein to defile it, God will come into his tabernacle; but if there be any unclean thing come into that house and defile it, he will not enter, for he dwells not in unholy temples, and he will not accept such a house, as an offering at the hands of his Saints. But we read that in the latter days God will accept the house that shall be built, and not only the house erected to his name, but also the dwelling-houses of his people, showing that they must be a very pure people, or he would not accept of their private dwellings.

In order to prove this, I will refer you now to the 4th chapter of Isaiah. There we read—“And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place in Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, and upon all the glory shall be for a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle in the day time for a shade from the heat and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” I believe this building is called a Tabernacle, and it will accommodate from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand persons, and it is a tolerably cool place for the people in the heat of summer, especially to be a shade in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge and a covert from storm and from rain and tempest. I do not think that storms or tempests would affect a congregation that might be assembled in the Lord’s Tabernacle; but I wish particularly to call your attention to the preceding verse—“The Lord shall create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon all her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flame or pillar of fire by night.” I do not see any cloud covering this house, or the congregation that is before me. What is the reason? The time has not yet come. The time is to come when God will meet with all the congregation of his Saints, and to show his approval, and that he does love them, he will work a miracle by covering them in the cloud of his glory. I do not mean something that is invisible, but I mean that same order of things which once existed on the earth so far as the tabernacle of Moses was concerned, which was carried in the midst of the children of Israel as they journeyed in the wilderness. Did God manifest himself in that tabernacle that was built according to the pattern which he gave unto his servant Moses? He did. In what way? In the day time a cloud filled that tabernacle. The Lord intended his people to be covered with the cloud continually, and he intended to reveal himself unto them, and to show forth his glory more fully amongst them; but they sinned so much in his sight that he declared—“My presence shall not go up with this people, lest I should break forth upon them in my fury and consume them in a moment.” Because of their wickedness he withdrew his presence, and his glory in a great measure was taken from them; but still Moses was permitted to enter the tabernacle, and to behold the glory of God, and it is said that he talked with the Lord face to face—a blessing which God did intend to bestow upon all Israel had they kept his law and had not hardened their hearts against him. But in the latter days there will be a people so pure in Mount Zion, with a house established upon the tops of the mountains, that God will manifest himself, not only in their Temple and upon all their assemblies, with a visible cloud during the day, but when the night shall come, if they shall be assembled for worship, God will meet with them by his pillar of fire; and when they retire to their habitations, behold each habitation will be lighted up by the glory of God—a pillar of flaming fire by night.

Did you ever hear of any city that was thus favored and blessed since the day that Isaiah delivered this prophecy? No, it is a latter-day work, one that God must consummate in the latter times when he begins to reveal himself, and show forth his power among the nations. This is what the words of our text mean, the first verse of the 60th chapter of Isaiah—“Arise and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.”

Now, to show you that this is not some spiritual thing, something that will be invisible to and not discerned by the Saints of the latter days, or by the inhabitants of the earth generally, let me refer you further to the 60th chapter of Isaiah. The Prophet, in the first verse, uses the words of our text, “Arise, shine, for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee; and in the following verse he says—“For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” It will be something that will be discernible. And now, to show that it will be discernible by all people on the earth, when they come to visit Zion, read the next verse—“And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising;” showing clearly, and plainly that the Gentiles, and even the kings of the earth, will in that day be excited by the glory of God, that will shine forth upon Zion, which will be as a city set on a hill whose light cannot be hid.

We will go back again to the second verse of the second chapter of Isaiah. When the Lord shall fulfill the words that the Prophet has spoken, by causing a house to be built to his name in the tops of the mountains, he says, “Many people shall go and say, ‘Come ye, let us go up into the mountains of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths!’” What causes this great excitement among the nations of the earth of that day? They will hear of the glory and power of God, as manifested among his Saints in Zion. The Lord for a score or two of years has been working in order to establish among, men, facilities for conveying knowledge to the uttermost corners of the earth. Within the memory of many now living, the discovery of the electric telegraph has been made, by means of which news of the doings of men in any country can be sent round the earth in less than twenty-four hours. And, if there was no intervention the electric fluid would carry news from any one point to the most distant nations in one second of time, and now, the earth is almost covered with a great network of wire to facilitate expeditious communication among the various nations. What is all this for? Is it simply to satisfy the greed of men in their commercial affairs? No, the Lord had a grander object in view. Men use the telegraph for the purpose I have named, and in many respects it is used to good advantage, and it has been the means of bringing the nations into much closer relationship than formerly, and of extending among them a knowledge of the arts and sciences; but the great object which the Lord had in view when this great invention or discovery was brought forth, was to enable knowledge to be sent from the mountain tops, from the midst of Zion, when his glory should begin to be manifested in the midst of his people in the latter days. The inquiry, will then be, among the distant nations, “What news from Zion;” “What is the Lord doing among that people?” Do you suppose they will hear with unconcern about a city which, with every dwelling-place it contains, will be lighted up with a supernatural light? No; this is one of the things which will make the people afar off, and their kings, say, “Let us go up to Zion,” “let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.” What for? “That he may teach us of his ways, and that we may walk in his paths.” They will begin to discern the difference then between God’s house and houses made by men, between that which God is doing in the earth and that which will be done by the wisdom of men.

Some people have supposed that the manifestation of the glory of God in the latter-days would not take place until Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven; but that is a mistake, it will take place before that time. Before the second advent of the Redeemer, the people of Zion will be acknowledged by God, as the great latter-day Church, that will be prepared for his coming, and they will hold the keys of power to teach mankind in the ways of the Lord. What will the rest of the people be doing? Says Isaiah, “Behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.” That will be the distinction between Zion and the rest of the nations. The Lord will arise upon Zion, and his glory shall be seen in her midst, and Isaiah says—“The Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes around about and see: all they gather themselves, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.” “Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?” Sure enough we come with great speed. As Isaiah has said in the fifth chapter—the Lord should hiss unto thee from the ends of the earth, he should lift up an ensign for the nations, and they should come with speed swiftly; just as you emigrants do when you get on board of these railroads, when, instead of being ninety or a hundred days coming to this elevated region, as was the case for several years, you come in two or three days. “They shall come with speed swiftly, and he shall lift up an ensign from afar.” Not in Palestine, where the Prophet was delivering his prediction, that would have been near by. Not an ensign that was to be raised up in Jerusalem, or anywhere in that land; but, God was to begin the great latter-day work afar off from Jerusalem. This ensign is spoken of in the 18th chapter of Isaiah, which I will now refer to. The third verse of that chapter says: “All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see ye when he lifts up an ensign on the mountains, and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.” That was not a proclamation to a few thousand people assembled on some small tract of country, but all ye inhabitants of the earth. Nobody escapes this proclamation, but all ye inhabitants of the earth, see ye when he lifts up an ensign. Where? Upon the mountains. There is the place where Zion is to be reared when the standard of truth is revealed from heaven in the last days.

As this ensign was to be lifted from afar, as is predicted in the 5th chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy, let us inquire now where it is to be located, and what kind of a country it is in which it is to be reared. It is a land afar off from Jerusalem recollect, and in order to ascertain something about the character of the country, we will read the first verse of the 18th chapter—“Woe to the land shadowing with wings which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.” Where are the rivers of Ethiopia? South-west of Palestine, where Isaiah delivered this prophecy. Supposing that you had the map of North and South America, and of the whole world spread out before you, and then imagine yourself alongside the Prophet, in Palestine, when he said, “Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,” and you should cast your eyes, if you had power to do so, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, what kind of a land would you behold, if you could grasp in your vision the land of North and South America? You would see a land that looked like the two wings of a bird. I seldom look at it, as laid down on our maps, without being reminded of the two wings of a great bird. A land shadowing with wings—in other words, having the appearance of wings; A land afar off, away beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, there, in that land, shall the ensign be raised for the nations; not for a few individuals, but for all nations. No wonder that the Prophet said the proclamation should be universal”All ye inhabitants of the world, all ye dwellers upon the earth, see ye when he lifteth up this ensign.”

That the Lord intends it to be for the benefit of the Gentiles as well as of Israel, let me refer you to the 22nd verse of the 49th chapter of Isaiah. “Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and I will set up my standard to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms and their daughters shall be carried on their shoulders, and kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers,” &c.

This is a great latter-day work also for the gathering of the house of Israel—a work which shall commence among the Gentiles. In ancient days the Lord commenced his work among Israel. The kingdom of heaven was preached among the Jews, but they proved themselves unworthy, and says Paul, “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles,” and the kingdom was taken from the Jews and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. The natural branches of Israel were broken off, and the branches of the wild olive tree—the Gentiles—were grafted in. But the Gentiles, since they were grafted in, 1800 years ago, have fallen after the same example of unbelief that the ancient Jews did, and they have lost the power and authority which they once possessed; and for many centuries they have had no apostles, no prophets, no angels from heaven, no power of godliness made manifest among them, and nothing but the teachings and precepts of uninspired men. But in the great latter-day work, the Lord begins where he left off—,”the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.” As the Jews, in ancient days were first, and the Gentiles last, so in the great latter-day work, the Gentiles will be first and Israel will be last. Hence the Prophet says, “Behold, thus saith the Lord God, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters upon their shoulders, and I will lift up my standard to the Gentiles.”

What is a standard? The same as an ensign—an ensign that is to be lifted up upon the mountains, upon a land afar off. It is the standard of the Almighty, the same standard that was spoken of in connection with the great highway that was to be cast up over this continent. I will not turn to it, but I will endeavor to repeat the substance of the prophecy in relation to it. Isaiah in speaking of this great highway, or railway, says, “Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way of the people. Cast up, cast up a highway, gather out the stones, lift up a standard for the people.” The same work that God intended to perform in the mountains, and he wanted a highway cast up, that the people might go with speed swiftly to that land.

But says one, “what does the Prophet mean when he says, go through the gates?” I think if I had been Isaiah, and had had the vision of my mind opened to see the railroad and the great trains of cars without any apparent animal life attached to them, going with speed swiftly, if I had seen them dart into the mountain and, after watching a few minutes, had seen them come out on the other side, and then wished to describe what I had seen in words, I do not think I could have found any more applicable than those used by the ancient Prophet—“Go through, go through the gates, cast up, cast up a highway, gather out the stones, and lift up a standard for the people.” Then, to show that this standard and highway were connected, the Prophet, in the very next verse, says: “Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed to the ends of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh, and his reward is with him. Behold, they shall be called a holy people, the redeemed of the Lord; and they shall be called, sought out, a city not forsaken.” The people of Zion will not be an unholy people. The world look upon the Latter-day Saints as the most corrupt of all people on the face of the earth. But according to the words of the Prophet, the people who dwell in the mountains where the standard is to be raised, are to be a holy people. “Behold, thy Redeemer cometh, behold, the Lord shall come.” This has been the proclamation of the people of Zion, ever since we commenced, about forty years ago, to declare that God was about to come in his glory, power and majesty, in the greatness of his strength, with all his holy angels with him, in the clouds of heaven, to reign upon the earth. This proclamation will go to the ends of the earth, all people will be invited up to these mountains, and they will flock here as clouds, and as doves to their windows.

This will fulfill Daniel’s prophecy. Read the second chapter of Daniel if you want to know about the latter-day kingdom. Study it thoroughly. I do not know that I have time to dwell upon it, but I will refer you to some few things in relation to the latter-day kingdom. Daniel, in interpreting the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, describes the various kingdoms of the earth from his day down, as long as there should be any human kingdoms on the earth, under the form of a great image, with the head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet part iron and part of potter’s clay. They represented the several kingdoms of the world, and more especially the four great kingdoms that should hold universal dominion. After seeing this image in all its completeness, from the gold down to the last remnants of the nations of the earth, represented by the feet and toes of the image, he then sees a kingdom and a government entirely distinct from and forming no part or portion of the image, but it was entirely separate therefrom. It was represented as a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and it rolled forth, and before the power of this new kingdom all the kingdoms of the earth were broken in pieces by the power of the Almighty. What became of them? They were to be as the chaff of the summer threshing floor—the wind carried them away and there was no place found for them.

You can draw your own conclusions about all human governments. Daniel says this kingdom that was to come out of the mountain, should be the kingdom of God, which God himself should set up in the latter days, and it should stand for ever and ever, it should never be broken in pieces, neither should it be given to any other people, while all these earthly kingdoms should pass away and be forgotten like the chaff blown away before a tremendous tempest, and no place found for them.

The former-day kingdom of God, set up in the days of the Apostles, was overcome, in fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. He saw that the powers of this world would make war upon and overcome the kingdom that was set up then. John, the Revelator, also predicted that a certain power should arise and make war with the Saints and overcome them. That is the reason that kingdom did not continue on the earth: it was overcome and every vestige of it destroyed. No prophets, revelators or inspired apostles were left to build up the kingdom; not an inspired man among all the nations, but after a long time had passed away; God would send an angel from heaven with the everlasting Gospel. What for? To organize his kingdom again on the earth; and when God should set it up in the latter days, after the toes and feet of the great image were formed, then there should be no breaking in pieces of that little stone, but as it rolled it should gather strength and become greater and greater, as Daniel has said, until it became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. And the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens should be given into the hands of the Saints of the Most High God.

That kingdom is called Zion—the latter-day Zion, about which our choir sang in their first hymn this afternoon. Amen.

An Account of His Journey to Palestine

George A. Smith

Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, June 22, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

Brethren and sisters, I am exceedingly thankful, through the blessings of the Lord and your faith and prayers, that I have been permitted to perform a lengthy journey and to return and associate with you again, to behold your faces, and to lift my voice and bear testimony to the things of the kingdom of God in this Tabernacle. I feel exceedingly thankful to my heavenly Father for his preserving mercy, and to my brethren and sisters for their prayers and faith, and for their kind assistance, which was bountifully rendered to me, enabling me to bear the cost of a lengthy and expensive journey. The principal object of that journey was to visit the lands in which the events recorded in the Bible transpired. Incidentally we visited many countries, and had an opportunity of acquiring information and extending acquaintances into lands which heretofore have been barred against visits from our Elders, as the Elders, when they went abroad went expressly to preach, and were frequently prohibited from entering these countries, or if permitted to enter were not allowed to speak of the Gospel. We, having means to travel, of course passed along as other travelers, for not being on a mission for preaching we were not interrupted, and this enabled us to acquire a knowledge of the laws and customs of the various countries we visited, and a variety of information that we had heretofore only got by reading; and I understand very clearly that a person may read almost any subject and yet a personal inspection will give better and perhaps more extended or different ideas from those gleaned solely from reading. In reading books, you learn the views, thoughts and reflections of the individuals who wrote them, modified more or less by a great desire in the human heart to make books readable, in order that they may sell. It is really true that a great share of the books in the world are written more to be read than to communicate facts. It is said that when Henry the Fourth was on his sick bed, his son, knowing his father had always been very fond of history, proposed to read a little history to him. “Oh,” said the dying king, “I am too far gone to bother my brains with romance.” That showed his opinion of history.

As soon as we reached Rome we began to find the localities referred to in Scripture. It was in the reign of Augustus Caesar, that Christ was born. At that time Judea was a tributary kingdom to Rome, its king being Herod. The decree which went forth from Augustus Caesar, that all the world should be taxed, of course included Jerusalem and the entire kingdom of Judea, which at that time was of considerable extent. Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to be taxed with the house of David, and there being no room in the inn, they took up their quarters in a stable, and there the Savior was born.

Some years after the ascension of Jesus, St. Paul went to Rome, in order to get a hearing before Caesar, on an appeal case, which had been adjourned from time to time before the authorities in Cesarea Phillippi, in consequence of his refusal, it seems from the reading of the Book of Acts to furnish the “backsheesh.” Thinking that Paul’s friends would pay liberally for his relief his judges had kept him bound in prison; but as the expected bribe was not forthcoming he was eventually sent to Rome on his own appeal; and while we were at “Rome we were shown places where he was said to have been imprisoned, and one room where they said he used to hold meetings, and a variety of places and incidents connected either directly or indirectly with the mission of the Apostles in the first century.

In the cathedrals of almost all the countries which we visited we were shown relics that had been brought from Palestine. At Pisa there is a burying yard, probably an acre and a quarter in extent, nine feet of earth having been brought from Palestine as a covering for this burial place. It takes a permit from the Pope to be buried in that sacred soil. In the cathedral of San Lorenzo, in Genoa, they showed us the chain with which John the Baptist was bound, and the casket which they said contained his head, and a variety of other relics. In the church of St. Mark, in Venice, they showed us the coffin of St. Mark, and while there they showed us a casket said to contain the remains of St. John the Baptist, also the marble slab on which his head fell when he was executed. I ascertained, however, to my satisfaction, that this was a local saint, carried by the Venetians, seven or eight hundred years ago, from Marsaba, in Palestine, where he was recognized as St. John of Damascus. There is so much relic worship, that it has been overdone; but we commenced, when we got to Rome, to tread the ground where the Apostles labored. We visited a prison in which it is said St. Peter was imprisoned. We saw the spot where he is said to have escaped from his enemies, and was about to flee, but the Savior called to him and asked him if he was afraid to die, so says tradition. They show the print that Peter’s foot made when he heard the Savior’s voice. That is on a spot outside of Rome. They built a church on that place and it contains a statue of St. Peter, the toes of one of the feet have been worn off, we were told, by kissing, and their place supplied with bronze. They showed us the stairs, brought from Jerusalem, which they say led up to Pilate’s judgment seat. We saw a great many people crawling up and down them on their knees, weeping and wailing and kissing every step.

As we steamed towards the east, we passed the Isle of Candia, the crete of Scripture, and were reminded by various places that we saw, of the incidents of St. Paul’s shipwreck.

Before leaving London we made arrangements with the firm of Thomas Cook & Son, to supply us with railroad facilities, hotel coupons, steamboat conveyance and transportation from London to Palestine, for one hundred and thirty days, terminating at Trieste, in Austria, via Constantinople and Athens. By this means much of the annoyance of traveling in countries where we did not understand the languages and manners and customs was avoided.

We reached Egypt and landed at Alexandria on February 6th. We were met on board our steamer by Mr. Alexander Howard, a dragoman of Messrs. Cooke & Co. He took charge of our effects, assisted us in passing the custom house, and conducted us to the Hotel d’Europe, giving us choice rooms, where we had a magnificent view, and furnishing us all the information necessary to make our sojourn in Egypt pleasant and profitable.

In Egypt we were still on Scriptural ground. Egypt, after the days of Constantine, until those of the Saracens, was a Christian country. In the seventh century it was conquered by the Saracens or Mahomedans. Alexandria is supposed to have contained 600,000 inhabitants when it was conquered by Amru. All the world has been horrified by the decision of Omar, Caliph of Medina, that the library of Alexandria—said to be the largest collection of books and manuscripts in the world—should be consigned to the flames.

“After a siege of fourteen months Amru, also called Amer, took it, and in his letter to the Caliph Omar, he informed him of the conquest he had made, saying that he had found there 4,000 palaces, a like number of baths, 400 places of amusement, and 12,000 gardens, and that one quarter alone was occupied by 40,000 Jews.” It is said that the books and manuscripts of that library furnished fuel for warming those baths for some four months.

There is in Egypt a sect of Christians called Copts, or the Coptic church. They are descendants of the inhabitants of Egypt that were conquered by the Saracens. At Cairo we visited one of their churches, and were shown the place where they said the Savior, his mother and Joseph resided during their stay there, when they fled from the wrath of Herod, and the basin they washed in, and we saw many persons who had come there to be healed in consequence of the holiness of this place. This class of Christians—the Copts—have maintained their identity through the reign of Mahommetan power, Turkish and Arabic, down to the present time. There is probably a million of them, perhaps more, in Egypt and Abyssinia. There is also the Oriental Greek Church in Egypt; they showed us some traditionary holy places.

We went to visit Heliopolis, or the City of On. I have taken a great interest in family matters, believing in the doctrine of baptism for the dead, and I went to Heliopolis because I had good reason to believe that Joseph who was sold into Egypt, married his wife there, Asenath, daughter of Potiphar, priest of On. Heliopolis is believed to be the On of that day, and was the great college at which all the leading men of Egypt were educated. Probably Moses received his education there. There is a needle or obelisk, some sixty feet out of the ground, at Heliopolis, containing inscriptions from top to bottom. How far it goes into the ground I know not, but the inscriptions on that needle, if rightly interpreted by Egyptian scholars, indicate that it was probably there when Joseph went to Egypt. The city and all its temples have gone to decay. Other needles of the same kind, which were there, have been carried away, one of them stands in Constantinople. The ground is in a state of cultivation though the ruins of the city of On are to be seen scattered about, and when we were there, there was on the ground a luxuriant crop of sugar cane, showing that the soil was very rich.

Everything that grows in Egypt has to be irrigated from the river Nile. There is little, in fact no other, water, except that which comes from the Nile. I say there is no other water, but a little below the city of On, there is a very old tree—a sycamore I believe, under which the Copts believe that Joseph, Mary and Jesus camped while they remained in Egypt, during their flight from Herod. A great number of the branches have been carried away, and portions of the tree, but its boughs are still very wide spread. The owner of the tree has put around it a very decent picket fence of pine lumber—I do not know where he got it—and any man who will give him a franc, he will lend him a knife and he may cut his name on the fence, but if he will not give him a franc, he must not do that, and he must not carry away any of the tree. I did not care about cutting my name on the fence, so I saved my franc. But there was a spring or well close by, and the water was drawn up by a mute on a kind of rudely constructed wheel, with a number of earthen vessels tied to the ends of its arms. They told me that the spring was in ancient times brackish and unfit to drink, but when Mary came there she bathed in it and it became sweet and good. I drank some of the water and found it so, tasting very much like the big spring at St. George. I remarked to the man I really wished she had made it cold while she was about it, for a drink of cold water would have been very refreshing just then. This cost me one franc.

I am not designing, however, to follow the incidents of my journey any further than they relate, more or less, to the history of those countries mentioned either directly or by tradition in the Bible. In Cairo we were shown Joseph’s well, and we were told by our guides that it was made by and called after Joseph who was sold into Egypt. But on investigation we found that when Saladin, Caliph of Egypt, undertook to select a place for a citadel in his new city of Cairo, he hung up meat in different parts around, and he found that fresh meat would keep longer at that point than any other in the neighborhood, and he came to the conclusion that that was the healthiest place, and he had the ground cleared for a citadel, and in doing that they discovered a well filled with sand. The sand was cleared out, and as one of the names of the Caliphs was Yoosef, it was called Joseph’s well, so it may be that Joseph who was sold into Egypt made it, and it may not. Its present name, however, I believe, comes from the Sultan Yoosef Salah-ed-deen, Caliph of Egypt in the 12th century, a man known to fame. The water of the well is brackish, and is chiefly used for laying the dust.

We all felt more or less interest in the locality anciently called the land of Goshen, but as nobody could tell precisely where the land of Goshen was, it was necessarily a matter of guess-work. But the streams of water must run now somewhere near the same as they did then, and we followed the course of a fresh water canal, which has recently been turned from the Nile, and which is some one hundred and fifty miles in length, to Suez and the Red Sea. This canal passes near Zagazig, which is probably in the vicinity of the land of Goshen; and when the children of Israel started for Canaan, they had to follow this route in order to secure themselves the necessary amount of water from that old fresh water canal, which is now known and identified as having run very nearly on the same ground as the present one, which has been made within a few years, and which the railroad follows.

There is a good deal of speculation as to where the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, but the most reasonable conclusion I can arrive at, so far as I have been able to investigate the matter, is that they followed this fresh water canal, and that they camped near its terminus on the Red Sea, and crossed over to the peninsula of Sinai, after which they were miraculously supplied with water, food and clothing through the deserts of Arabia.

We passed over that portion of the Suez canal, between Ismaila and Port Said. The Suez canal is certainly a very grand enterprise. Port Said receives its fresh water from the Nile. It has got pipes over fifty miles in length to bring that water from the canal at Ismaila to supply the town. Port Said is considerable of a place, and there is a good deal of enterprise there.

On the evening of February 22nd, we sailed from Port Said on the Vesta, one of the steamers belonging to the Austrian Lloyd’s. The next morning we came in sight of Jaffa, the Joppa of the Scriptures. Jaffa is a kind of promontory or headland, projecting into the sea. The anchorage is simply an open roadstead, and landing is sometimes very difficult. If we had had an unfavorable wind and been carried by that port, it would have cost us considerable time and expense; but when we reached there the day was pleasant and the sea smooth, and we landed without difficulty.

At Jaffa we were met by the before-named Mr. Howard, who conducted us to the Turkish customhouse officer, who, I believe, examined only one passport, and passed us, and we went directly to our tents, which were pitched not far from the seaside, near the burial-place. They were very nice wall tents, well carpeted, with all the outfit necessary ready for use, and we at once commenced keeping house.

This Joppa is the place where King Solomon landed the cedars that he got from Hiram, King of Tyre, for the building of his Temple. I am of the opinion that the place has undergone some physical changes since that time, although I, of course, could not determine to what extent. In the vicinity of this city is a colony of about six hundred Germans, under the presidency of D. V. Christopher Hoffman, who consider themselves the spiritual temple of Christ. They have bought some land and have put it under cultivation, and they say the rains have increased there very much within the last few years, and the lands are very productive. They raise wheat and a variety of grains without irrigation. They say their gardens and orange groves require irrigation. I think the olives do not. The most beautiful orange groves that we saw, perhaps, on our entire journey, were at Jaffa. We visited this German colony. The American vice-consul, Mr. Hardegg, met us and treated us with courtesy. He is a German by birth, never was in America, speaks English. We also saw a number of persons who were connected with the scheme of one George J. Adams, and who, after its failure, were left in that country, one of whom, Mr. Floyd, is now a dragoman. They built some houses, but they have been purchased by this German colony. We attended a meeting of a missionary, and heard a Methodist sermon. It seemed to be a very difficult thing to get together people enough to have a meeting.

I believe the only place of particular Scriptural import which they pretend to have identified in Joppa is the house of Simon the tanner, by the seaside. Some were so critical as to doubt whether it was the identical house in which Peter lodged when the messengers of Cornelius came; but then, there are the tan vats, and it is right by the seaside, and the Bible says that Simon was a tanner, and that he lived by the seaside. They showed us the flat roof on which they say Peter was sleeping. In one end of the house—the end towards Mecca—there was a recess, such as the Mahometans have in their mosques to pray in. We inquired of the man in charge of the house whether Simon was a Mussulman? He said, “Yes, and there was where he prayed.”

It is not important, of course, whether that building is the identical one or not, yet it has been visited by thousands, and is a source of revenue. It was in this neighborhood that the Lord revealed to Peter that what God hath cleansed should not be called common or unclean, and that it was proper for him to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, and from that place he went to visit Cornelius, and administered the Gospel to those not of the seed of Israel.

Having obtained our horses and saddles, Monday morning, Feb. 24th, we started for Jerusalem. I could not obtain a Syrian saddle large enough for me to ride on, and I was compelled to ride on an English saddle. This made a great difference in my comfort. If I had carried a Spanish saddle from home, I should have been much more comfortable on my journey. I was constantly afraid that the fastenings of my English saddle would give way. I did not think they were strong enough, and then its construction and shape were not comfortable and convenient, and in those particulars it was nothing to be compared with a Spanish, or even with a Syrian saddle. I am pretty heavy, and had not been on horseback for fifteen years.

Travelers in Palestine suffer greatly from the sun, but we were early in the season—two weeks earlier than travelers generally set out for Jerusalem. Mr. Cook was fitting out several parties; but they were two weeks after us, and we were comparatively alone, though some few travelers fell in with us incidentally. At noon, we halted at what was called the Martyr’s Tower, in Ramleh. Ramleh has a history relating particularly to the crusades. It is in the vicinity of the country anciently occupied by the Philistines, and from its tower, which we climbed, and which is probably a hundred feet high, we could see a portion of their country. There is at this place a monastery of monks, who, it is said, feed travelers of all denominations, and they are spoken of by all travelers as being very kind. They are Roman Catholics. Of course we had no need to test their hospitality, for we had everything within our reach that was necessary to supply our wants, carrying it right along with us.

In the evening we camped on a very nice stream at the entrance of the Valley of Ajalon. Our Sunday school children will recollect this very well, from the fact that Joshua said to the sun, “Stand thou still upon Gibson, and thou, moon, in the Valley of Ajalon.” I ought to explain that in Palestine what we call a ravine is called a valley, and wider valleys they call plains.

Before reaching Ramleh we passed through the plains of Sharon, where a kind of red flower, called the rose of Sharon, grows abundantly, and the land appears to be very fertile. We were rather surprised, having heard such accounts of the sterility of Palestine, to find on our entrance into it that the land was apparently fruitful; though we were told that if we had come later it would have looked more barren.

Miss E. R. Snow and Miss Clara Little had a tent; Elder Paul A. Schettler and myself occupied another, over which floated the “Stars and Stripes.” Elders Lorenzo Snow, Albert Carrington, Feramorz Little and Thos. Jennings occupied another. My tent was used as our dining-room. Our dragoman and cook had each his tent, and we had another for convenience sake. We were supplied with good camp stools; we had iron-framed bedsteads, with good mattresses, and good, clean nice blankets and sheets. All the difficulty about it with me was that my bedstead was too small for me. I have always had a horror of being buried in a coffin not big enough, and I have always desired that my friends—whoever might live to put me in a coffin, would have it at least two inches bigger every way than I was. I have always felt annoyed at the idea of being buried in a cramped-up coffin. It often made me think of it when stretched out upon that bedstead, or in the berths of the ships which I have had to stay in so many days on this journey, for generally they have been too small for me. Our dragoman, Aushonny Makloof, of Beyrout, supplied us very well with provisions. We had our Arab cook and our Turkish muleteers. Only one of them all could speak a little English, and really, to this day, I never could tell how many there were, although on some days we had more and some less, for as we passed through the country we sometimes hired a sheik and one or two attendants, to go along with us, paying them for it, so that he need not, help himself to our movables without our consent. Our muleteers took down our tents and tent poles, and tied up tents, baggage and everything and put it all on to the backs of the mules. We had to ride out, or spend our time someway, looking at the country or waiting, as we chose, in the evening for these tents all to be pitched; but it was generally so arranged that, in our seeing the country, our muleteers would get, on the ground and get the tents pitched and everything ready, so that when we went there we could go right in and sit down to the tables or do anything we pleased.

The second day we had our noon halt on the brook, which they told us King David got, the stones out of, with one of which he killed the giant of Gath, and that the battle between the Philistines and King Saul took place along the two sides of this stream. It is called a valley, but it was simply a ravine. We saw a considerable number of sheep of various colors there, and some boys tending them, which, of course reminded us of the fact that King David was tending his father’s sheep when Samuel went, to his father’s house to anoint one of the sons of Jesse to be king. King David, it will be remembered, was the junior of the boys, and he was small of stature compared with the others. He was sent, out to look after the sheep. When Samuel came to the house of Jesse and told him that one of his sons had to be king, and he wanted to pick the one, Jesse brought, in six tall boys, one at a time, to each of which Samuel said, “That, is not the one.” When the sixth had been refused, said Jesse, “I believe that is all.” “Have you not another?” “O yes, little David, he is out with the sheep.” They sent for him and he was anointed king, and it was he who slew the giant Goliath; and I suppose if I had enquired of the monks I might have brought home the identical stone with which he did it, but I did not take the trouble. The place where we had our meal was not far from Kirjath-Jearim where the ark is said to have rested, not the ark of Noah, but the ark of the Lord, for a considerable time after it fell into the hands of the Philistines.

We again got into the saddle and started for Jerusalem across the mountain, for that country is one immense limestone quarry. If there ever was any soil it has blown away until very little remains. What there is left is evidently very rich where they can get the water to it: but as we crossed over and got a view of Jerusalem, a feeling of disappointment was evident on the countenances of every one of the party, or else I was disappointed and they were not, one or the other. But the whole thing presented itself to us in a different light from what we had anticipated, and I then understood why Dr. Burns, in his “Guide,” recommends people to pass round Jerusalem by another route, and come in from the east and get a first view from the eastern side. It is because the view from the Mount of Olives—on the eastern side—is a very great deal better than when you go from the west. It is said that there is a great deal in first impressions.

The Russians have built some monasteries in and about Jerusalem, and the Latins have got some, and within the last few years there have been a number of good new buildings put up. Sir Moses Monteilore has built a block outside, and not far from the wall. The venerable Abraham Askenasi, the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, with the contributions of his friends throughout the world, has erected a considerable number of rooms as a home for widows and orphans. At first view we could pick out the mosque of Omar—the place where Solomon’s temple stood; we could also see the church of the Holy Sepulchre—the place where the Savior was crucified. We pitched our tent in the valley of Hinnom, near the Jaffa gate—the gate at which most of the business in Jerusalem is done. While our tents were pitching we passed in at the gate, and saw a good many beggars, some of them lepers, also quite a number of women dressed in white, some of whom were hired mourners and were wailing. As we passed along we found, not far from the gate, an old man lying in the street, almost naked and moaning piteously. He begged of us to give him something. When we got in we called at the banker’s in Jerusalem, and were told that the old man who lay there in the street begging, whom we had probably noticed, owned six hundred olive trees, a garden containing quite a number of fig trees, and an orange grove—that the banker had known him for years, and he came every year to Jerusalem, and lay on the street almost naked, howling and moaning piteously, begging from the pilgrims, while he was in reality one of the wealthy men of the country.

It is not easy to describe that city, nor, so far as I have seen, any of those Asiatic cities. The streets, if they can be called streets, are very narrow, and many of them are so crowded with camels, donkeys and pack-horses, that they, can only pass each other at certain places. The houses are rudely built, of a kind of concrete, or of rock and mortar. They are low and small and the roof flat generally covered with cement. There are many buildings in Jerusalem that go to show it, off—mosques and churches, with their minarets, towers and rotundas. The principal business street in Jerusalem is Christian street, which is fifteen feet wide. It leads up from the street that we enter from Jaffa’s gate, and has an avenue that leads off to the entrance of the church of the Holy Sepulchre. In front of that church is a little open space filled with beggars, and men with articles for sale—beads, photographs, jewelry of different kinds, and relics of all kinds. We could get almost anything in the way of relics we wanted there, and be assured that they were genuine.

President Carrington remained at Jerusalem while we went to the Dead Sea. He wanted to do some business connected with the Liverpool office; and he is not very fond of horseback riding. As you are aware he has been afflicted with rheumatism considerably, so he remained in the Mediterranean Hotel while we went to the Dead Sea and the Jordan. That gave him more time to pass around, and through and over Jerusalem, than any of us. He had several days, and he declared that he could never make up his mind as to what induced King David to locate his capital there. The chief rabbi told me that, anciently, Jerusalem was well supplied with water; but at the present time there was really no living water there. The pool of Hezekiah, and other pools were filled in the rainy season, but in a month from the time we were there a quart bottle of water would cost a farthing, and sometimes pretty hard to get. If the aqueducts from the pools of Solomon were repaired, they would not bring in sufficient water to supply the city, but in the days of Israel’s prosperity, there was abundance of water there, and he believed there would be again.

I had a letter of introduction, procured by Mr. James Linforth, from the Rabbi of the Jewish congregation at San Francisco, to Rabbi Askenasi. He is a very venerable-looking man—tall, heavy set and a good supply of beard, like the Apostles in the picture. He seemed very much pleased with my visit, treated me with courtesy, showed me their synagogue and the building they were erecting, and returned the visit, accompanied by several of the Jewish elders, at my tent, where we had a very pleasant interview. But there is no infidel on the face of the earth who can disbelieve the mission of the Savior more than they do. He says the condition of the Jews is much improved of late years. Now they can purchase, and if they have only the money to do it with, and the amount they can buy is only limited by their want of money. They have also a title from the Turkish government for the ground upon which they are erecting their home for widows and orphans. This gentleman told me that no Jew had been inside the enclosure of the Mosque of Omar, although he believed it stands on the sight of Solomon’s temple, though not in the centre of it.

In looking around Jerusalem, I did not regard it in the same light as President Carrington did. Kingdoms, in those days, were small and densely populated, and it was necessary for a ruler, in locating a capital, to have it so that it could be easily defended; and until the time when modern arms were invented, Jerusalem could be easily defended. Its siege and capture by the Romans proved, to all intents and purposes, that it was a very difficult city to take, for though it was surrounded by several walls, fortified with strong towers, and naturally defended by its mountainous position and the ravines around it, each one of these walls was occupied by rival parties, for it will be remembered by readers of the destruction of Jerusalem, that there were three separate leaders, and that when the Jews were not fighting the Romans, they were fighting each other; and it is even doubtful to this day that, if either John or Simon had had absolute command in their city and the confidence of the people, whether the Romans could have taken the place at all or not. An old proverb says that whom the Gods would destroy they first make mad. It was so with these Jews. They had slain the Savior, they had violated the commands of God, and they had brought upon their heads the curses pronounced upon them in the 27th chapter of Deuteronomy and in a great many other places, if they did not abide in the law of the Lord; and notwithstanding their strong city and their numbers, they were so divided among themselves that they could not make a successful defence. Speaking of this destruction of Jerusalem carries me back to Rome and the Arch of Titus, erected to commemorate his victories, on which is engraved a representation of the seven branched candlestick, and a great variety of the treasures brought by him from Jerusalem.

King David had learned the strength of Jerusalem by the difficulty he encountered in taking it from the Jebusites; and it is more than probable that God commanded him to locate the city there.

Rabbi Askenasi, speaking of the ten tribes, said he had no idea where they were, but he believed they were preserved, and that their posterity would return, and the time would come when God would bless Israel, and when water would be abundant in Jerusalem. We read in the 47th chap. of Ezekiel, that living waters were to come out from Jerusalem, and that they should run toward the east; and that the Prophet saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. He measured a thousand cubits, and the water was to his ankles; he measured another thousand, and it was to his knees; another thousand, and it was to his loins; another thousand, and it was a river with waters to swim in, that could not be passed over. He goes on and describes this as something that should take place at Jerusalem. I could but reflect, when standing on the Mount of Olives, on the saying concerning it in the last chapter of Zechariah, where, in speaking of the coming of the Savior, it says his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem to the east, and the mount shall cleave in the midst thereof, half going toward the north, and half toward the south. There shall be a very great valley, and the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, and shall be lifted up, and men shall dwell on it. The same Prophet tells us that living waters shall come out of Jerusalem, half toward the former sea, and half toward the hinder sea, and that in summer and in winter shall it be.

The convent at Mar Saba is situated on the can[y]on, which is the outlet of the brook Kedron; but it was perfectly dry when we were there, not a drop of water running in it. There are seasons of the year, I suppose, when waters run there, but these prophecies declare that living waters shall run out of Jerusalem in summer and winter, and I am foolish enough to believe that they will be literally fulfilled. I agreed with Rabbi Askenasi in the belief that God would restore that land to Israel, and that Jerusalem would again be supplied with abundance of water and be a glorious and happy city. I saw many Christians of different denominations there who had no such faith. One man came into our tent, and assured us that baptism by immersion was impossible, there never had been water enough in that country to immerse people. He had believed in immersion, he said, but since he had traveled through the country and had seen so little water, he was satisfied that they would all have to go to Jordan to be baptized. This is the way people look at it. The country is dry and barren, the rains have ceased upon it for many generations, though they have had occasional rains.

In going to the Dead Sea from Jerusalem, we visited a number of points of interest. One was the tomb of Rachel, another the pools of Solomon—three immense pools constructed to receive the waters of a spring and hold them in reserve, and the old aqueduct is still in repair almost to Bethlehem. We visited Bethlehem, and were shown the caves—called stables—in which the Savior was born, and the churches and ornaments. There was a great variety of people there, many begging and many trying to sell you relics. The country is without fences. There are a good many spots where there is an opportunity for the Bedouins to come along and scratch the ground with a kind of shovel plough they have, hitch some calves or very small cattle, and raise some barley. We purchased barley all the time for feeding our animals.

At the place which we supposed is called in Scripture the wilderness, or the border of the wilderness next to the Dead Sea, where John the Baptist commenced his preaching, is an immense convent. It was founded by a man named Saba. “Mar” in the Syrian language means saint, and when we speak of Mar Saba, it means saint Saba. This is the name of the convent. This man lived to be some ninety-four years old. He concealed himself from his enemies a considerable time in caves, but his power increased with the number of his friends, for he gathered around him a good many thousand monks, and they built this immense convent, which was strongly fortified for those times. They allow no women to enter, and no person can go into their building without a permit from the Greek Patriarch at Jerusalem. We had a permit to enter that convent, but sister Snow and sister Little, of course, had to go to the camp. It would probably have been considered an outrage for them to have come in sight of the gates. Having sent up our permit, we were admitted and passed through the building. There were sixty-five monks there, some of whom had been there thirty-seven years. A man has to be exceedingly holy to be permitted to go there. I looked at them, and wondered what could induce men to adopt such a life. They showed us one room filled with skulls. They said there were fifteen hundred of them, and they were the skulls of their brethren who had been killed by the Saracens at different times. They had taken great pains to preserve the skulls, with their names and registers. They have a spring of water which has a miraculous history, and they have one palm tree growing, which they say was planted by Saint Saba himself. They seem to have an eye to business. They had canes for sale, made from willows which they get the Arabs to bring from the Jordan. None of them are allowed to go out, and they are compelled to have everything brought to them. They had a number of fancy articles of their own manufacture for sale. I bought a small string of shells, which they said were brought from the Dead Sea. They gather a few francs from every party of travelers in this way. There was another party of Americans near by who wanted to visit the monastery, but they had no permit; and a message was sent to us by them, saying, that if we would delay a little while we could all pass in with our permit. We had met the party and knew them to be nice, intelligent gentlemen. We stayed about an hour to accommodate these friends, and they passed in with us, otherwise they would have had to go clear back to Jerusalem for a permit. These persons—four gentlemen and two ladies—finding that we were going down to the Dead Sea, went along with us, and made the journey safe and pleasant. We went down to the Dead Sea the day following our visit to the monastery. I have seen a good many rough roads in Utah in the mountains, but of all the rough horseback riding I ever did see, I think that Palestine has the premium. Being pretty heavy, it was difficult for me to get on and off my horse, but because of the rough roads in some places, I dismounted and led my animal. I found, however, that he could stand better than I could, so I rode him, and I believe that some of the Saints here at home must have had faith hold that animal up, or he would have stumbled. I rode him four hundred miles, three hundred of which there was no road with any right to the name, and he never slipped or stumbled.

Some of the party went into the Dead Sea and had a swim. I did not. Some of them inquired for Lot’s wife—the “pillar of salt.” I expect she was at the other end of the sea, for we did not see her. The Dead Sea is a remarkable body of water. According to scientific observations, as read in the report of Lieutenant Lynch and others, it is 1350 feet lower than the Mediterranean. It is probably one of the deepest holes in the world. It is perhaps eight or ten miles wide and about forty long. It occupies the site of the cities of the plain—Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboim, upon which, in consequence of their wickedness, we are told that God rained fire and brimstone and destroyed them. The probability is that they were buried by a volcanic eruption, and that they and most of the valley of the Jordan were sunk at the same time. The probability is that that the Jordan ran through these cities, and that this deep basin being formed, the Jordan forms the Dead Sea, which has no outlet, much like our Salt Lake. There is a wonderful similarity between that country and this, only this, of course, is on a grander scale. Our Salt Lake answers very well to the Dead Sea; our Utah Lake answers very well to the Sea of Galilee, and some of the streams that run into Utah Lake answer very well to the upper streams of the Jordan. It hardly seems credible to me, but all the guide books assert that the Sea of Galilee is 650 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. The country is subject to earthquakes, and bears the evident marks of many of them. In 1837, Tiberium, the Tiberias of ancient times, was very severely damaged by an earthquake, the effects of which are visible to any one who visits it. I have wondered how the Lord would restore that country. I thought he had got to have some kind of a process to hoist the waters of the Dead Sea above the level of the ocean, so that a stream could run out of it in order for it to be healed. Prophecy says that the waters that should run out of Jerusalem should run down to the east sea, and the waters of the east sea were to be healed, and there was to be a multitude of fishes, but now no living thing can exists in the Dead Sea. But if these prophecies are fulfilled, and I have not any doubt that they will be, these waters are to be healed, and I believe that the Lord will use natural means to bring it about.

We returned by way of Jordan. The stream is not so large as our Jordan here, but quite a nice river. The Arabs were very much afraid when we went into it, that we would go beyond our depth. It was safe to go as far as certain rapids, but it was not safe to go beyond them. They said that some zealous fellows got in so far that they could not get out, and one or two were lost, and they had some difficulty to fish the others out. Some willows and different kinds of timber grow along its banks.

We were supposed to be at the place where the Savior was baptized, and also at the place where Elijah smote the waters with his mantle, and he and Elisha crossed over dry-shod, and Elijah then went to heaven in a chariot of fire, after which Elisha passed back in the same manner. We saw the place where it is supposed the children of Israel, under Joshua, crossed over the river dry-shod. There is good reason to suppose that they crossed in harvest time, and that the waters were high. They say the waters of the Jordan are highest in harvest time. We had a ride across the plain probably seven or eight miles. That plain could be watered by irrigation. I was often asked if we were going to settle in Palestine. I replied that we were not, but I could take a thousand “Mormons;” go up the Jordan, put in a dam to take out the water, and irrigate several thousand acres. But there is little, however at present inviting about the country, but it would no doubt be productive if irrigated. The valleys near the source of the Jordan would be much the best for cultivation, and the climate would be more agreeable.

Jericho, or rather the old site of that city, has a good many mounds. Men have dug into many of them, but we were told that no valuables had been found. We camped that night at Aines-Sultain, generally called the fountain of Elisha, because tradition says that, on his return after Elijah had ascended to heaven, he healed the waters of this fountain. Before then they were salt, but by a miracle he made them sweet. They are now delicious, and after our hard day’s ride in the heat and dust, we found the waters of the fountain of Elisha very palatable.

That night there was a company of Bedouins came and danced and sang for us. They had a sham fight, and I think it requires a man of pretty good nerve to sit and look at them and not be afraid that they would whip some of their crooked scimeters through his body. Each one of our party paid them something like two francs, which satisfied them. I believe a ticket at our theatre here in Salt Lake would cost more than that, and take it as a whole their performance was not very expensive. They went off in a very fine humor. I could not understand their songs, but our dragoman interpreted the chorus of one of them to be, “May the ladies’ eyes be like the moon.”

From that place to Jerusalem the route is very rough. Some years ago a Russian lady, a very pious woman, went on a pilgrimage to the Jordan, and while riding over some of these rough ways she was thrown from her horse and had her arm broken and was badly hurt. She expended her money in improving a portion of the way, and on this account one of the kanyons was much easier to go through than before that time.

We passed by other ancient sites, spoken of in the Bible as having been large cities, and no doubt they were; but we must bear always in mind that that was an age when Israel paid their tithes and offerings, and God blessed the land. At noon we stopped at a place called Christ’s Hotel, all of us very much fatigued. Our luggage train went ahead. In the afternoon we passed by Bethany, where Christ raised Lazarus, and saw what was pointed out to us as the house of Mary and Martha, and also the tomb of Lazarus. In the evening we camped again at Jaffa’s gate at Jerusalem, finding our tents pitched and everything comfortable. We used to sing about the flowery banks of Jordan, but it takes off the romance to go and see them; yet when irrigation and industry and the blessing of the Lord prevailed along them, I have no doubt they were as beautiful as any places in the world.

I made two careful visits to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and one to the Mosque of Omar and the grounds connected with it. I also visited many other places of interest about Jerusalem, but in giving you a detailed account of what we saw and passed through, in such a scattering way, I cannot communicate to so large an audience, to any extent, the impressions I felt at the time. I had no doubt that I passed over the grounds where the Savior and his Apostles, and the Prophets, kings and nobles of Israel had lived, although I did not believe a great deal about the identical spots set down by the monks, yet I was satisfied that I was in the localities in which the great events recorded in Scripture took place. But now little remains on the top of the ground that can be identified beyond the period of the occupation of the Crusaders or the Romans. We certainly saw the top of Mount Moriah, on which stands the Mosque of Omar. There are the rocks and the caves in them. The rocks have not been made by men. The Valley of Jehosophat is there. Learned men have dug deeply under Jerusalem in search of evidence to determine its original site, but an alarm was created that the monkery of the place might be spoiled by determining that certain localities were not where they are now represented, and the Turkish government was moved, so I was informed by some gentlemen, to stop the investigations and to close up the excavations, and we were not permitted to enter them.

President Lorenzo Snow’s correspondence to the Deseret News, Elder Paul A. Sehettler’s correspondence to the Salt Lake Herald, and Miss E. R. Snow’s communications and poems to the Woman’s Exponent, with other published letters, all composed under circumstances of great labor and fatigue, give a very correct idea of our visit to Jerusalem and journeyings generally. Elder Paul A. Schettler speaks six languages, and in attending to the financial business of the party, he had to make exchanges and was compelled to keep accounts in the currency of a dozen different nations, and even among the Arabs he could generally find some one who could speak in some one of the languages with which he was acquainted.

God has preserved me. Our party of eight went through the entire journey without an accident. We never missed a connection that amounted to any difficulty. We were in no manner injured; we had no sickness, except, peradventure, a little cold or a pinch of rheumatism now and again for a day or two. Our minds were clear, we saw more, I believe, in the eight months, than ordinary travelers see in two years. We visited a number of places in Holland, Belgium and France. We crossed three times over Italy. We visited the Ionian isles, Egypt, Palestine and Syria, Turkey in Europe, Greece, Bavaria, Austria and Prussia, and other parts of Germany. We spent eleven days in examining the mysteries of Rome. I paid four Italians to carry me to the crater of Mount Vesuvius. I think they earned their money, at any rate I was well satisfied with them. I had an idea in my own mind of how the crater looked, but I am now satisfied that I could form no correct opinion without seeing it. To reach the crater you have to mount about 1,500 feet perpendicular in height above where we could ride on horseback, in loose volcanic sand, and every time a man’s foot was placed in it, it would slip back about twice the length of his foot. I could not stand the walk, these Italians wanted the contract, and I gave it to them.

My time is exhausted. I thank God for the privilege, of seeing you. When on the Mount of Olives, with our faces bowed toward Jerusalem, we lifted our prayers to God that he would preserve you and confound your enemies. We felt in our hearts that Zion was onward and upward, and that no power could stay her progress; that the day was not far distant when Israel would gather, and those lands would begin to teem with a people who would worship God and keep his commandments; that plenty and the blessings of eternity would be poured out bounteously upon that desert land, and that all the prophecies concerning the restoration of the house of Israel would be fulfilled. God has commenced his work by revealing the everlasting Gospel to the Latter-day Saints, and may we all be faithful and fulfill our part is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Obedience, etc.

George A. Smith

Discourse by President George A. Smith, delivered in the Bowery, Logan City, Friday morning, June 27, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

Good morning, brethren and sisters! I am very happy to meet with you. We have the privilege of coming here occasionally and seeing you. We would like to give every one of you a hearty shake of the hand, but we desire to do it in a wholesale way, and we wish you to consider yourselves heartily shaken hands with (and suiting the action to the word); God bless you all for ever. We have come here to bear testimony of the things of the kingdom of God, and to stir you up to diligence in performing your duties, and to perform the duties of our callings as ministers of the Gospel of Peace. We feel a little annoyed, necessarily, at the slow progress which is being made, yet we have a great many things to be thankful for, and a great many reasons to rejoice. We have very little reason to fear our enemies, provided that we, as Latter-day Saints, do our duty, but if we fail to obey the commandments of God, and the revelations which he has given for our salvation and guidance we have reason to fear, for unless we take such a course as to make God our friend and protector we are likely to fall into the hands of our enemies. King David Was requested, once to take his choice of three years’ famine, three days’ pestilence, or be driven three months before his enemies. David said he preferred to fall into the hands of the Lord; and when the scourge came David plead with the Lord to let the blow fall upon him and his house, and to spare Jerusalem. God heard his prayer and turned away the scourge, though it is written seventy thousand persons fell with the plague between Dan and Beersheba. In all ages of the world in which the Lord reveals himself to the children of men, he requires obedience, and promises them great blessings on rendering the same; but if they are not obedient he has invariably promised and poured out curses upon them.

Since I was here last, I have visited the Land of Palestine, on which God revealed himself to Abraham. Isaac and Jacob. He promised that land to them and their seed for ever. It was to this land that Moses led the children of Israel, and upon which God promised them very great blessings if they would live in obedience to his laws and commandments. Any one who will attentively read the 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th chapters of Deuteronomy, will see foreshadowed, in plain language, the entire history of the children of Israel from the days of Moses to the present time; and in Palestine he will see the fulfillment of many of the prophecies contained in those chapters, with a minutiae that is really astonishing. Some men say they are infidels because that country is barren, sterile, rocky—a vast limestone quarry, and could never have sustained such a population as the Bible represents it to have done. Others are infidel because they believe that so many kingdoms that are said to have once existed on that land could not have existed in so small a compass. But these querists and unbelievers do not realize that the barrenness, desolation, scanty population and condition of affairs which now exist there is a fulfillment, to the very letter, of the prophecies of Moses, the holy Prophets and of Jesus and the Apostles. God required certain things of Israel. If they complied it was all right with them; if they failed the catalogue of curses contained in the chapters I have referred to was pronounced upon their heads. Read the Bible and you will find that when they were obedient they were blessed, their lands were blessed, their armies were blessed, they were a great nation, they were able to resist the power of neighboring nations, they were courted, they were looked up to, neighboring nations paid them tribute. But when they refused to do that which the law of God required at their hands they lost this power—they fell into the hands of their enemies, they quarrelled among themselves, they fell into darkness, married the daughters of aliens, worshiped strange gods, and they were finally broken up. Many of them were sold as slaves, some of them were compelled to eat their own children to save them from starvation, in the midst of the straits and sieges to which they were forced by their enemies. They were scattered to the four winds of heaven, they were sold in the slave market of Egypt, until they could not be bought, that is, there was no man to buy them. All these terrible judgments fell upon the Jewish nation, yet they were not utterly destroyed, a remnant was all the time preserved, and to-day, in every nation under heaven is found a remnant of the seed of Israel, retaining the Hebrew language, many of their ancient manners and customs, their old law written on parchment, which is read in their synagogues every Sabbath day. In nearly all the countries in which they have been scattered they have been subject to the most extreme abuse. They have been in constant fear, they have been permitted to reside only in certain quarters, and have had imposed upon them the most fearful exactions. You take for instance, the persecution of the Jews in Spain, under Ferdinand and Isabella—a very pious couple. Probably half a million of Jews were either banished from their homes, put to death, or compelled to accept the Catholic religion, and great numbers of their children were taken from them and placed under the charge of the Catholics, that, as the Queen believed, their souls might be saved. The Crusaders, while on their way to Jerusalem, plundered and killed thousands of the Hebrew race and yet, notwithstanding all the oppression that has been heaped upon them continuously from generation to generation, they still maintain their identity as the seed of Abraham.

Where are the inhabitants of Babylon and Nineveh? The city of Babylon was fifteen miles square, sixty in circuit. According to Herodotus, it was surrounded with a wall three hundred and fifty feet high, and eighty-seven thick, flanked with over two hundred towers, and contained palaces and hanging gardens that were the wonder of the world. It is almost doubtful now, where this once famous city stood, and the vicinity in which it is believed to have stood, is a vast marsh, rendering it difficult of access to any who may wish to visit it. And the Babylonians, where are they? Their descendants are so mixed up with the rest of the world, that none of them can be identified. You may trace other great nations of antiquity, and they have gone in the same way. But the Jews are still a distinct race, and they are a living record of the truth of the revelations of God.

There are a few thousand Jews in Jerusalem. They have synagogues, and they are permitted to go to a portion of the old wall, which they suppose to be a remnant of the outside enclosure of Solomon’s temple, and wail. A great many people who visit Jerusalem, go to witness their wailing. These Jews are graciously accorded the privilege, by the rulers of that country—the Turks—to wail over the desolation of Israel, provided they do not make so much noise as to disturb the neighborhood.

There are several other places, such as Mount Gerizim, a place in Samaria, considered holy, where a small sect of the ancient Samaritans meet annually. And in Tiberium, on the Lake of Galilee, two or three thousand Jews live. It is the Tiberius of Herod the Tetrarch; they consider that a holy place. The Jews are broken up into sects and parties, and in almost every town in Palestine, you find a few of them, oppressed, poor and despised, there, as elsewhere, living monuments of the fulfillment of prophecy.

At the last General Conference of the Church, during my absence, I was elected Trustee-in-Trust. It consequently became my duty to return home and look after the interests of the Church, directing the means for the building of Temples and other public works. This was certainly very unexpected to me; but the General Conference saw proper to confer this duty upon me, and as soon as I got the Conference minutes at Berlin, I started for home.

While I was passing through Palestine, I had some very serious reflections as to the causes which had operated to reduce the country to its present barren condition, and why the descendants of Jacob were so oppressed, and, as an independent nation, blotted out. In an interview with the venerable Chief Rabbi, Abram Askenasi, I enquired for the ten tribes. Said he, “We have no idea where they are, but we believe they will be found, and will return and inherit their land.” While traveling in Palestine I reflected a good deal on the fate of Israeli I asked myself, why they were persecuted, scattered, peeled and hidden from the face of men, and why were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin still scattered? Some of them can go to Jerusalem occasionally and visit, but only a very few thousand live, in a scattered condition, in the lard of their fathers, and they are in bondage, under tutors, governors, and rulers, and have in reality no power of themselves. Rabbi Askenasi said they had more liberty than heretofore. The Christian Powers have recently taken a course which has modified the action of the Turks toward them. They were now permitted to buy land, but they were poor and could buy but little, and he wished the Jews of all nations to contribute to enable the Jews of Jerusalem to extend the area of their possessions. They had purchased a piece of land in Jerusalem, and were building on it a home for widows and orphans.

Now I saw this degradation with which Israel are visited. Where did it begin? It was simply because the children of Israel failed to obey the law of God. If we search the Bible, we shall find many references by the Prophets to this subject, which are very plain and clear. In the third chapter of Malachi, and eighth verse, the Prophet, speaking of the condition of Israel in his day, uses this singular language, or rather the Lord, speaking through the Prophet, says—“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.”

Now, God required of Israel Tithes and offerings. He blessed them with land and with abundant rains. He made their land exceedingly fertile; he blessed them with flocks, with herds, and with everything on the face of the earth seemingly that they could desire. He gave them wealth in every direction; he gave them power over their neighbors—they were the head and not the tail. In return for all this, what did he require of them? He required them to pay Tithes and make offerings. Tithes meant one-tenth of all their increase. One-tenth of all this the Lord required them to place in the hands of the Levites and those whom he had selected to look after the general welfare. In addition to this tenth he also required certain offerings. You may trace the history of the Jewish nation through and you will find that when the people paid their Tithes and offerings, and thereby acknowledged their dependence upon and allegiance to the God of heaven, they were prospered and blessed continually. While they did this they were not running after other gods, making golden calves, setting up idols, or worshiping the gods of their heathen neighbors.

What does the Lord want with Tithes and offerings? He has plenty. And he has shown that he could do without them from that day to the present; but he promised his people blessings on certain conditions. Some of those conditions were that they should pay Tithes and make offerings. The Pharisees paid Tithes of mint, anise and cumin, but omitted their money. “Ye pay tithes of mint, anise and cumin, but omit the weightier matters of the law—judgment, mercy and faith. These things ye ought to have done and not left the others undone.” This was the principle.

I rode over the plains and hills of Palestine and saw their desolation. What is the reason of it? God gave that country to Israel; he blessed it and sent rains upon it, and made it fruitful above all lands, and in return he required of them one-tenth of their increase and some offerings; but they would not give him Tithes, they robbed him of Tithes and offerings, hence he cursed the whole nation with a curse. After seeing the condition of that country, I came home with a determination to preach the law of Tithing, for God has required of us, as he did of ancient Israel, obedience to that law, and he also requires that we should pay in our offerings; and he will do with us precisely as he did with Israel, if we fail to observe the law of Tithing and offerings, of course remembering the principles of judgment, mercy and faith, for these things we ought to do and not leave the other undone. My traveling over that country was not without its moral lesson to us at home. God has given us a good country. The world hate us. “Marvel not,” says the Savior, “if the world hate you.” The world will speak evil of us. Marvel not at that, we have nothing to fear from men in authority. We have nothing to fear from any source on the face of the earth, but from our own neglect. God himself is our protector and our ruler, and if we observe faithfully and truly, with all our hearts, the law that is required of us, we have nothing to fear from any other source; but if we neglect, if we have the effrontery to be baptized for the remission of our sins, and to step forward and receive the ordinances of the house of God, and then coolly and deliberately rob God of what is required of us, we may expect that he, in return, will send upon us in their time and season a long list of curses and afflictions, annoyance and distress, just as he sent them upon the nations of antiquity to whom he revealed himself and who refused to obey his law.

The Prophet Malachi, wished to reclaim Israel from the condition into which their unfaithfulness had reduced them, or rather the Lord wished to do so, and he used this exhortation—“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 shall not be room enough to receive it. 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. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.”

We profess to believe a great deal, but do our acts correspond with our belief? Are we as critical, careful, fixed and determined in obeying this law of Tithing as we ought to be? Or do we feel that it is a burden? God does not want our Tithes at all unless we want to pay them, but we have no right to ask his favors, blessings and protection and the ordinances of the Priesthood, unless we render our acknowledgement. The conditions are before us. In every age of the world when any people have received revelation from God, directly or indirectly, if they did abide this law they were prospered, blessed and protected; they were powerful and strong. God watched over them. If they neglected it, he cursed them with a curse, even the whole nation. We have nothing to expect but the very same justice from the hand of God, if we, to use his expression, “rob” him. Now, I have just that kind of faith, if a man has a sum of money come into his possession, whether by the manufacture of lumber, or the selling of merchandise, or by any other means, if he will pay his tenth strictly, according to the law, he has the blessing of God upon the balance, and if he will keep a strict, straightforward account with all his increase, whatever it may be, and strictly observe the law of Tithing, he will have blessings upon his head, upon his property, upon his wives, children and posterity. If, on the other hand, he pursues the opposite policy, the Prophet says, “Ye are cursed with a curse.”

Now, brethren and sisters, think of these things. If we have the truth—the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which a great many of you testify you have, and I know we have, do not let a little neglect, folly and covetousness, and a little-disposition to rob our Father of what be has justly claimed at our hands as his Saints, place us in darkness. It is the very stepping stone to and beginning of apostacy, it is the foundation of wickedness and corruption. I see the results, I have realized them. I have wandered over hills and valleys that once teemed with their millions of inhabitants, and now they are a desert. God has cursed them. He has for many generations made “the rain of their land powder and dust,” the sun has smitten them and the water has dried up. Rabbi Askenasi told me in Jerusalem there really was no living water. The time was when there was an abundance. They preserve it in the rainy season in tanks, but we were told that in about a month from the time we were there they would have to purchase it; and I really felt relieved when I got from Jerusalem, for the water I drank while there was not very good, it did not seem to be very clean.

Continued Obedience to the Laws of God is Necessary to Insure a Complete Salvation to the Latter-Day Saints, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Logan City, Friday afternoon, June 27, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I am very much gratified for the privilege of coming to this place to see the faces of the Saints, to speak to them and to greet them as a brother and a friend. If we could see and understand things as they are, if we could have the vail withdrawn from our eyes and behold the things of eternity, and the connection and relationship that we sustain to the eternal worlds, and to heavenly things, our minds would be very much inspired to speak, sing, pray, listen attentively, meditate upon and contemplate the wonderful things of God. A great deal is said to the Latter-day Saints concerning our religion, which does in reality incorporate and circumscribe the whole life of man. We need teaching. We are like children with regard to learning. If we could understand the effects of the fall or of sin upon intelligence, we would see that its tendency is downward, that it is retrograde in its nature. The things pertaining to life are of the opposite character—they are exalting, increasing, multiplying, gaining, receiving a little here and a little there—our minds and understandings expanding by that which we learn by reading, by the seeing of the eye and the hearing of the ear.

The Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the revelations which the Lord has given to his people in the latter days, contain a great deal about the kingdom of God on the earth. We have also histories of the kingdoms established by the children of men. From these we learn that a great many changes have taken place owing to the revolutions that have occurred in the past and which are still in progress. From our own conclusions on these matters there is one fact of which we are sensible, and understand to a certainty—namely, that purity preserves, sustains and increases, while sin and ignorance, in all their horrid forms, have just the opposite effect. We need only look at the nations of the earth for confirmation of these ideas. We need not go far; we may look at the aborigines of our own country. Why are they in their present condition? There are reasons for this. They, just as much as we, belong to the human family—the highest class of intelligence there is upon the face of the earth. Why are they in their present degradation? We see them as they are, we see the nations as they are. Take the Jewish nation, why are they as they are? Is there a cause for it? There certainly is. We have had a short account from brother George A. Smith about the land of their fathers; we can draw our own conclusions as to the causes which have brought about the present condition of that land and of the descendants of the ancient worthies to whom it was given. In the nations of the earth at the present day we see imbecility, slothfulness, and I will say ignorance with all its attendant crimes and debauchery, prevailing among the masses of the people. There is a reason for all this. The time was when nations, now unknown, which once flourished upon the eastern continent, were intelligent and full of the spirit of thrift and industry. Who can tell us why they have passed away and are forgotten. Brother George A. told us this morning, that the place where the great city of Babylon stood, or where it is supposed to have stood, is now an inaccessible swamp and a desert. Where is the Babylonish nation? We know nothing about it. Where are the nations of Israel? We hardly know anything about them, with the exception of the tribe of Judah and the half tribe of Benjamin, which remain scattered among the nations of the earth, desolate and forlorn. They have been hunted down with dogs, and the time has been when it was perfectly lawful in some nations for every Christian child who was disposed to do so to, stone a Jew while passing through the streets; and it is not long since they were not permitted to own a foot of land in any of the Gentile nations. This is not so now. But what was the cause of all this? Their history is not lost, neither are they, and the simple reason they are not is because they were the chosen of the Lord, they were to be held in remembrance by our heavenly Father. A remnant of the people of Israel are to be saved, and they will yet be gathered together. But other nations that existed before the flood, and many before the days of Jesus, where are they? Who knows anything about them? They are lost as far as history is concerned; and many people since the days of the Savior have been blotted from the remembrance of man.

Here are a people dwelling in these mountains who profess to be the Saints of the Most High, the beloved of the Lord. They have received his Priesthood and its keys, the keys of Government, and the plan of the government of the heavenly hosts, as far as man is capable of receiving this divine, celestial and holy law. When we contemplate the course of the Latter-day Saints, we are almost led to inquire what will be their future history. It is true that we have hopes different from those who have lived before us, but let this people, called Latter-day Saints, be blessed for twenty years to come as they have been for twenty years past, and the Lord not take them in hand, but let them take their own cour[s]e as they have done, and as they are now doing, although we consider ourselves quite obedient and willing, and we like to know the mind and will of the Lord, but let us, I say, go on for twenty years to come, in the same ratio as for twenty years past, and who among us would hearken to the counsel of God? Let the old stock—those who have lived in Babylon and who have had their trials in the wicked world, pass away, let them he taken out of the midst of the Latter-day Saints, and the young growth that know nothing of the world be left to themselves, to follow the promptings of their own wills, and what would be their condition? Would we not see Babylon to perfection? Would we not have all that the wicked world could desire in our midst, and we delighting therein? Think of this, and draw your own conclusions. Still we say, without boasting a bit, that we are the best people there is. This is my decision. I say that we are the best people there is upon the earth, and we have nothing to boast of, not the least in the world. Who is there that hearkens to the will of God, or heeds his voice? Who is there, on the face of the whole earth, outside of this people, who know the mind and will of God, or that seek to do his will? It may be said that the whole Christian world are trying to serve the Lord. It is true that many of them confess him with their mouths, and draw near to him with their lips, but what is their true condition? Are their hearts bent on doing the will of the Lord, or are they far from him? Suppose that Peter, whom the Christian world think so much of, and whose history is contained in the Bible; or James, or John, or either one of the eight who have written and testified to the New Testament, or either one of the twelve Apostles chosen by the Savior, or Jesus himself, were to come to the Christian world, and were to go into their synagogues, or into the places of worship they have erected, and which they call after St. James, St. Mark, St. Paul or St. Peter, do you think that any of these personages would be permitted to proclaim their doctrines in those buildings? No, not one, and if there were a priest or divine who, after hearing the doctrine of Jesus proclaimed, should say, “I see no harm in this doctrine, it is Bible doctrine,” the majority of the people would say, “We do not want you for our public servant if you permit this man to enter the pulpit and proclaim his doctrine.” This is all the proof necessary that they would not receive Jesus and his Apostles in this day, with all their boasted professions of love for his name and doctrine. If they would receive Jesus they would receive an Elder of this Church when sent to preach the Gospel to them; if they had been willing to receive an apostle of Jesus Christ, they would have received your humble servant. But this we need not talk about.

What will be the history of the nations of the earth now existing? Just as fast as time and circumstances will permit they will be blotted out of existence, and will be forgotten and known no more on the face of the earth. This • would be the fate of the Latter-day Saints if they were to persist in following the inclinations of their own hearts, for according to that which they now make manifest, pride, arrogance and covetousness are increasing in their midst; and any people or nation that gives way to these evils curtails the measure of its existence, and will soon be blotted out, and will be known no more for ever, Can we believe all this? Read the history of the world and you will find that when God has blessed a people and placed his name upon them, and they afterwards became disobedient, the whole catalogue of curses pronounced by him upon his unworthy children, have come upon them and they have been blotted out. Those who do not profess to know anything of the Lord are far better off than we are, unless we live our religion, for we who know our Master’s will and do it not, will be beaten with many stripes; while they who do not know the Master’s will and do it not will be beaten with few stripes. This is perfectly reasonable. We cannot chastise a child for doing that which is contrary to our wills, if he knows no better; but when our children are taught better and know what is required of them, if they then rebel, of course, they expect to be chastised, and it is perfectly right that they should be.

Brother George A. gave us a little this morning with regard to the law of Tithing. What was the cause of the first, or one of the first, curses that came upon Israel? I will tell you. One of the first transgressions of the family called Israel, was their going to other families or other nations to select partners. This was one of the great mistakes made by the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for they would go and marry with other families, although the Lord had forbidden them to do so, and had given them a very strict and stringent law on the subject. He commanded them not to marry among the Gentiles, but they did and would do it. Inasmuch as they would not do what be required of them, then he gave them what I call a portion of the law of carnal commandments. This law told them what they might and whom they might not marry. It was referred to by the Savior and his Apostles, and it was a grievous yoke to place on the necks of any people; but as the children of this family would run after Babylon, and after the pride and the vanity and evils of the world, and seek to introduce them into Israel, the Lord saw fit to place this burden upon them. And another great neglect and infring[e]ment of the law of God by the children of Israel was in relation to their Tithes and offerings. The law of Tithing was revealed in very early times to the people of God; but they failed to observe it, and the Prophets whom God sent to Israel declared that they had transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant. Covenants were made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but their descendants broke them. They would not observe but they would transgress the laws which God gave unto them, and they continued to do so down to the days of Malachi. The Lord, through this Prophet, declared—“This whole nation have robbed me.”’ I also declare that this whole people, called the Latter-day Saints, are guilty of the same sin—they have robbed the Lord in their Tithes and in their offerings. What would the people like? Do they want to know what is done with the Tithing. If the Lord requires one-tenth of my ability to be devoted to building temples, meeting-houses, school-houses, to schooling our children, gathering the poor from the nations of the earth, bringing home the aged, lame, halt and blind, and building houses for them to live in, that they may be comfortable when they reach Zion, and to sustaining the Priesthood, it is not my prerogative to question the authority of the Almighty in this, nor of his servants who have charge of it. If I am required to pay my Tithing, it is my duty to pay it. If the question is asked—“Brother Brigham, do you pay your Tithing?” I can answer with all propriety in the negative. I have never paid my Tithing, and if I turn to the right, left, front and rear, I shall seek in vain for a man in this Church who has paid his Tithing strictly. There is no man who has paid his Tithing. I have watched the thing closely, and according to my understanding of the literal meaning, spirit and intent of the term, I am compelled to come to the conclusion that there is not a man or woman in this Church who has paid his or her Tithing; and I do not know of an individual in this Church who has means enough to pay his back Tithing if it were required of him. I have not; it would require more means than I have now in my possession for me to do it. Perhaps I may be asked what is my excuse. I do not know that I have any. I can say, that in the days of Joseph, when my circumstances were very straitened, I never had $500, $100, one dollar, fifty cents or twenty-five cents, but what, if it were wanted, it went, as free as a cup of water from a well—Joseph was welcome to it. Was I tried in this? Yes, for many and many has been the time in my poverty, when if I had a dollar or fifty cents in my possession I have thought, “I can buy a pint or a half pint of molasses for my children to sop their bread in,” but it was called for, and it went as free as the water of the river here would be to a thirsty person. And as for my time, from the day that I entered this Church until now, I have paid no attention to any business except that of building up this kingdom. The question may be asked, “Do you not attend to your own private affairs and business?” Yes, when I can, but I do not know that I have ever spent one minute in attending to business belonging to Brigham Young, when the business of the Church and kingdom of God on the earth required his attention. Yet I would not say that this is any excuse for not strictly paying my Tithing. I have paid a great deal of Tithing, more perhaps than any other man, or any other ten men who were ever in the Church, and yet my Tithing is not paid. But I pay Tithing, and when the grain upon my Farm is ripened, or the cattle upon it are matured, I say to my men, “Be sure and pay the Tithing on whatever we have raised.” But in some instances I have found that it was neglected.

Suppose we were to say to this people, “Will you pay a little Tithing?” “Yes, we will pay a little Tithing.” How much would you be willing to pay? Will you pay one dollar to a thousand that you owe of back Tithing? If you will, we shall almost have more than we know what to do with. If you pay up a little of this back Tithing, I am going to make a proposition. Take the people of this one valley, and they are far better able to build a Temple than the whole of the Saints were when they lived in the Eastern States. The Saints did not begin to be as able to build a Temple then as the people of this single valley are now. My proposition is, if you will go to work and pay up some of your back Tithing, we will build a Temple up here on the hill; we can select a beautiful site for one there. We calculate to build many Temples, and we will have one here if you agree to my proposition.

If we had a few score thousands of dollars now, we should like to send for the poor. I am sent to from this town, Mendon, Hyrum, Wellsville, and from almost every settlement in these mountains, by parties who have friends in the old country, saying, “Brother Brigham, can you send for my friends? I will send a hundred dollars; will you put four hundred to that and send for my friends, there are only five of them?” This may appear strange, but people dwelling in almost every town in this Territory, are beseeching me continually to send for their friends. I tell them I will send for all I can. My general practice has been to pay two thousand dollars a year to help the poor. I gave only one thousand this year; but if the people, every year, will give in proportion to what I give, we can bring the scattered Saints here by scores of thousands. I do not ask the Latter-day Saints to do that which I do not do, I never did, and as old as I am now, I expect that if I should see a wagon in the mud, my shoulder would be first to the wheel to lift it out. When money, goods or time has been wanted to help to roll forth the work, I have taken the lead all the time and said, “Come, brethren, do as I do.”

But with regard to Tithing, this people will be cursed unless they stop their nonsense, unless they cease running after the fashions and folly of Babylon, and put as Tithing that means which is uselessly spent. How long would it take the Lord to cause the waters of every stream that runs into this valley to sink down into the earth, and to make the valley as dry as the Holy Land is to-day. It would take him but a very short time. He could open up the veins of the earth—the earth is full of them, and it would want only a little change to open them, and cause the water of every stream in this valley to sink deep into the bowels of the earth. How long would it take him to pass is word, and for his angels to come here and say to the clouds—“Gather no more moisture to shed forth the dews and the rains on the face of the earth?” All he would have to do would be to send an angel to perform a little meteorological and chemical change, and the clouds would gather no more moisture, and no more rain would fall on the earth. Where would your trees be then? What would become of your gardens? What would become of the forage on the mountains that our cattle and sheep feed upon? It would be dried up, become dust, and be blown into some other country, and the rocks would be left bare, as they are in some of the eastern lands. All this could be done very easily. Now we are in plenty, in the very heart of the luxuries of the world. There is no place in the world where they are enjoyed in greater profusion than they are here. Go into boasted France, with its forty millions of people, and out of this large number not more than eight millions enjoy the luxury of eating meat; thirty-two millions out of the forty, it is said, never taste it from year’s end to year’s end. Go into Italy, and the proportion of those who never taste meat is far greater than it is in France. Compare the condition of the people in some of the German States, and in any nation on the face of the earth that we know anything about, with that of the people in this Territory, and I will say that the people of these mountains wallow and revel in luxury, wealth and independence more than any other people on the face of the earth, and yet we have not a dollar to pay Tithing! We have to pay the public hands now a certain proportion of money, and store pay, which is money, but ask the people to pay us a little money Tithing, and they tell us, “We haven’t got any.” The cry from Cache Valley is, “We have no money.” It is not so. I will venture to say that if a fine circus were to come into this town, and stay four nights, they would take away from five to ten thousand dollars in cash, and go to the next town it would be the same. I am now telling the hard side of the question, painting the evil side of the Latter-day Saints. I recollect, a few years ago, there was a fine circus came to Salt Lake City. I took it into my head, a few days before it arrived, to say to some of the Bishops—“Can you raise us so much money on Tithing? Can not you pay something, Bishop?” Said one, “I have not a dollar in the world.” I would meet another, and ask him the same question, and I asked them in a way that they would not mistrust me, but they could not raise a dollar, and I suppose that they would have been willing to have laid their hands on the Bible and sworn that they had not a dollar in the world. On the day when the circus came on to the Eighth Ward square, I took the liberty of going there, and I watched who came, and I found that some of these very men who said that they had not a dollar in the world, paid out ten, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five dollars to let their families into that circus. They lied before God, holy angels and the whole heavens, before the servants of God, and unless they repent they will have their portion in hell. You need not wonder to see men apostatizing who have been in the Church thirty or thirty-five years. They have been in the habit of lying to God, to angels, to themselves, and to their holy religion. Ask them for a little Tithing, and their answer is”No, we have not anything.” What do you suppose the Lord thinks about such men? He thinks they will have their portion with the disobedient. This is the unfavorable side of the picture. Not but what there is a great many, and in fact, the greater portion of this people, if they can know the mind and will of God, will do it. They are told it from day to day and from time to time on a great many subjects. Both here and throughout all the settlements of the Saints we have preached the Word of Wisdom, and the necessity of letting the fashions of the world alone. We give you the truth of heaven on the subject—we give it to you just as it is in heaven, or as it is written there concerning the Saints on earth. With regard to Tithing, we give you the truth just as it is written in heaven, and just as you will find it by and by. What object have I in saying to the Latter-day Saints, do this, that or the other? It is for my own benefit, it is for your benefit; it is for my own wealth and happiness, and for your wealth and happiness that we pay Tithing and render obedience to any requirement of Heaven. We can not add anything to the Lord by doing these things. Tell about making sacrifices for the kingdom of heaven. There is no man who ever made a sacrifice on this earth for the kingdom of heaven, that I know anything about, except the Savior. He drank the bitter cup to the dregs, and tasted for every man and for every woman, and redeemed the earth and all things upon it. But he was God in the flesh, or he could not have endured it. “But we suffer, we sacrifice, we give something, we have preached so long.” What for? “Why, for the Lord.” I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for the man who feels that he is making sacrifices for God. We are doing this for our own happiness, welfare and exaltation, and for nobody else’s. This is the fact, and what we do we do for the salvation of the inhabitants of the earth, not for the salvation of the heavens, the angels, or the Gods.

These are a few of my thoughts, and a few items for the people to receive and hearken to. We have come here to talk to and instruct you, and to put our faith and our work with yours. Our united purpose is to labor to build up the kingdom of heaven on the earth, and to overcome every sin, all wickedness, and the power of Satan, until the earth is renovated, purified, sanctified and glorified. Amen.

Altered Circumstances of Gathered Israel, etc.

George Q. Cannon

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Bowery, Logan City, Sunday morning, June 29, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

The instructions which we have had in these meetings, I look upon as most important. I think they will be attended with most excellent results to those who have heard them, and that these meetings should be attended is also exceedingly important to the Latter-day Saints. Probably there never has been a time since the organization of this Church when the Latter-day Saints needed pointed, plain, emphatic instruction more than they do to-day. We have reached a point in our history when an increase of power seems to be required by us as Elders and Saints in all the relationships of life, to enable us to endure and resist the trials with which we are brought in contact. For myself, I can bear testimony that I never felt as I do to-day and as I have done of late, the exceeding necessity of being alive to the work of God, and of having the spirit and power of the religion of Jesus Christ resting down upon me. I took around and see the circumstances which surround my brethren and sisters. I see the great change which has taken place within the past two or three years. These valleys, that were once so secluded and isolated, and so seldom visited by the stranger, but were almost wholly occupied by the Saints of God, have changed in many respects. We are no longer the secluded people that we were five years ago. Railroads have penetrated our valleys, so-called civilization assails us in all our settlements and cities, vice stalks through our streets, and injustice and wrong are to be found in places where justice and righteousness should reign supreme, and in many respects we have things to encounter which we never before had to contend with since our organization as a people.

We are now becoming a numerous people. Since our arrival in these valleys, thousands of children have grown from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood and womanhood, who are unacquainted with the ways of the world, and who are unfamiliar with the temptations, trials and evils which abound in society outside of our mountain home. This numerous class of our community is now brought face to face with a new order of things. Wealth is increasing around us, and those who resisted its influence in former days, perhaps weakened by some cause, are exposed anew to its temptations, and in some instances, those thus weakened, fall victims to its power. These circumstances inspire serious reflections. No man or woman of thought can contemplate the present condition of Zion without having serious thoughts, and without feeling that if “Mormonism” and “Mormon” institutions never have been upon their trial before, they certainly are now. However, they have always been upon their trial and we, as a people, have been upon our trial too. But, the thought arises, How shall we best fortify ourselves against the encroachments of the wicked? How shall we best entrench ourselves so that wickedness shall not prevail over us, that our posterity may be preserved in the purity of the holy faith, and that through them we may be able to transmit to future generations the priceless heritage of truth which God has given unto us.

This is a question which presents itself to all our minds, and, if we do as we should, the first thought with each of us is, what course shall we pursue to enable us most efficiently to discharge the duties devolving upon us? The servants of God have pointed out, during these meetings, in exceeding great plainness, the path which lies before us. If we allow ourselves to be overcome by the love of the world, then farewell to our future—farewell to the glorious prospect afforded us in the revelations of Jesus Christ. But I entertain different thoughts, feelings and hopes concerning the future of this people. Doubtless, as in the past, there will be those who will deny the faith, rebel against the Priesthood, be overcome by the deceitfulness of riches, and who will transgress the laws of God, and fall victims to apostacy; but I feel assured, and can bear testimony this morning, that the bulk of this people will stand firm and steadfast, and maintain their integrity till Zion is fully established and redeemed upon the earth. But there is needed on our part a devotion to the principles of the Gospel. We must truly and sincerely repent of every thought and feeling that are contrary to the mind and will of God our heavenly Father. We must obey the holy Priesthood, which he has placed in our midst, at the cost of everything if it be required, and not allow any sordid or self-aggrandizing feeling to enter into our hearts or to have place therein. I cannot conceive of any man being able to attain unto celestial glory who is not willing to sacrifice everything that he has for the cause of God. If I have a piece of land, house, money, cattle, horses, carriages, or powers of mind and body, and am not willing to devote any or all of these to the rolling forth of the work of God, as they may be required by him, I can not conceive that it will be possible for me to enter into the celestial kingdom of God our heavenly Father.

Do you understand, do you comprehend, that everything we have is required by God our Father, to be laid upon the altar? Is there anything that is nearer your heart than the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is there anything that stands between you and obedience, perfect obedience, to the will of God, as revealed unto you through the Holy Priesthood? If there is, you must get rid of it. We must humble ourselves before the Lord to that extent that we shall have a greater love of his work, a greater degree of obedience in our hearts to the Holy Priesthood than we now have for the things we so highly value. In no other way can we expect to become the people that God designs we shall be. Every day, it seems to me, the circumstances of the people make more and more apparent the necessity for a complete change in our temporal circumstances. We read in the Book of Mormon that when the ancient Nephites began to increase in means and become rich, as we are now increasing, the Spirit of God began to decrease in their midst. There were some who had property and could clothe and educate their children better than their neighbors. The wealthy could have carriages, horses and fine raiment and other comforts and advantages which their poorer brethren and sisters could not have. In consequence of these things they became divided into classes. The rich were raised up in their feelings above the poor. The poor were humble and meek and sought unto the Lord, in many instances at least. Divisions into classes prevailed, and all the attendant evils connected therewith. They became puffed up in pride, and the Lord suffered the Lamanites to come upon and scourge them, and after wars had wasted away their strength and the magnitude of the destructions which overtook them had abused them, they would begin again to feel after and to humble themselves before the Lord, and to seek for his Holy Spirit to dwell in their hearts.

We are now exposed to precisely the same influences as they were. We are increasing in wealth, and if we allow our hearts to be placed upon it, we shall have to undergo or to pass through difficulties similar in character to those which they had to endure. The Lord will not suffer us to become alienated from his work without scourging us. He will let our enemies upon us, or do something else to punish us, to bring us down and make us humble before him. He has provided a way by which we can escape all these evils, and I wish this morning, in the few remarks I may make, to call your attention to this subject, because it rests upon my mind, and seems to be the uppermost thought in my heart.

In the early days of this Church God revealed unto his people a system for them to live in accordance with. It is known by us as the Order of Enoch; and it seems to me, every day, that events are so crowding upon us as to compel us to reflect upon and to prepare our hearts to enter upon the practice of this order; and that, unless we do enter upon it, sooner or later, as God shall direct through his servant Brigham, we shall be subjected to all the disasters and evil consequences which have attended the present system of things, under which all men seem to live and labor for self only, and few, very few, think about the good of the whole.

In the Book of Mormon we read that after Jesus came, the Nephites had all things in common, or, to use the language of the book, that “they had all things in common among them, therefore they were not rich and poor,” regulated, of course, by the revelations he gave unto them. They entered upon the practice of this order, according to the account, in the thirty-sixth year of our era, that is, within two years after the appearance of Jesus. It is probable, however, from the reading, that they entered upon it immediately after the appearance of Jesus in their midst. They were then in good circumstances to enter upon it. The wicked had been killed off, and the land cleansed of their presence. Cities had been sunk, and water had risen in the place thereof. Mountains had fallen upon other cities, and great destructions had been accomplished in the land, and the remnant that were left were a comparatively pure people. For 165 years afterwards, or until 167 years after the appearance of Christ, that is, until about the year 201 of our era, the Nephites dwelt under this order. They spread abroad throughout all the land of North and South America. They dwelt in righteousness, so much so that Jesus, in speaking about them by the spirit of prophecy, said that not one soul of those generations should be lost. It was a millennium, so far as peace and truth and virtue and righteousness and brotherly kindness were concerned. Of course it was not a thousand years, but they dwelt together as one family for 167 years. No divisions, no strife, no enmity, no classification, no rich and no poor, but all partaking of the heavenly gift alike, and God has said in his revelations unto us, “If ye would be equal in heavenly things, ye must be equal in earthly things.” They were equal in earthly things, and they were equal also in heavenly things.

To read about that period, brief as is the account that is given to us, makes one almost wish that he could have lived in such a day and dwelt among such a people. The Lord foresaw and predicted through his servants the Prophets, that there would be a time in the fourth generation when the adversary would again regain his power over the hearts of the children of men, and they would be led astray and go into evil. And what was the first thing they did to prepare the way for the fulfillment of this terrible prediction? It was to reject this system or order, and begin again to classify themselves into rich and poor. They began to build churches to themselves, they began to separate themselves from their brethren, and to create distinctions of classes, and this prepared the way for the final destruction of the Nephite nation.

I doubt not, my brethren and sisters, that this will be the way in which Satan will regain his power over the hearts of the children of men at the end of the thousand years of which we read. I believe that the thousand years of millennial glory will be ushered in by the practice of this system by the Latter-day Saints. When that system is practiced the hearts of the children of men can be devoted to God to an extent that would be impossible under the present organization of affairs. Now we are tempted and tried and exposed to evils which we should know nothing about if we lived under the order I have referred to. I do not believe that, if we were to live as we now are for a thousand years, Satan could ever be bound in our midst so that he could not have power over our hearts. There must be a change in our temporal affairs, there must be a foundation laid which will knit us together and make us one. How is it with us now? If a man have a horse and he should want to sell it to his brother, he tries to get the most he possibly can for it. If he have a wagon or any other piece of property, and he wants to sell it, does he consult his brother’s interest? Perhaps he may do so, but it is not always that men do so; he gets the best price he can for that article, regardless of his brother’s welfare and benefit. There is a constant appeal to selfishness under the present system, there is a constant temptation for a man to do the best he can for himself at the expense of his fellowmen, and there is no remedying it to its full extent; in fact there is a constant struggle as we are at the present time to keep down within us the desire to profit at the expense of our fellow-men.

There is something unnatural in this condition of affairs, something opposed to God. Why should we be subjected to these things, and have to struggle with them continually? Many Latter-day Saints have refrained from taking hold of merchandising and other branches, because by so doing they would have exposed themselves to hazards that were very dangerous for them to encounter. There was the temptation to make immense profits out of the necessities of their brethren and sisters. Under the Order of Enoch men would not be thus tempted. Individual benefit would not then be the aim and object of men’s lives and labors. God did not create us for the purpose of striving for self alone; and when we are rightly situated; under a proper system, our desires will flow naturally along, and we will find room for the exercise of every faculty of mind and body without endangering the salvation of our souls. We can then trade and exchange, sell and buy, and enter upon business without being surrounded with these evils we now have to contend with.

God has revealed the plan, and it is a very simple one; but it will require faith on the part of the Saints to enter upon it. There are a great many evils which would be stricken out of existence were that system practiced. Why are men tempted, to be thieves? Why do they steal—take property that does not belong to them? Would they do this if society was properly constituted? No, they would not be tempted to do it. The temptations that we are exposed to are the result, in a great degree, of the false organization of society. I believe there are thousands of men in the Christian world, who are adulterers to-day, who would not be adulterers if they knew more and could practice the system of marriage which God has revealed. They are adulterers because of the false state of things that exists in the world. And when I speak of this practice, I might extend it to a great many more. The devil has set up every means in his power to hamper the children of men, to throw around them barriers to prevent their carrying out the will of God. And when we obey the commandments of God, we will defeat the adversary of our souls. When we carry out the purposes and the revelations which God has given and made known unto us, we gain immensely. We gain power and strength, and in a little while the adversary will be bound in our midst, so that he will not have power to tempt us, and this will be brought about by our obeying the commandments of God and the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ. I also believe that when Satan is loosed again for a little while, when the thousand years shall be ended, it will be through mankind departing from the practice of those principles which God has revealed, and this Order of Enoch probably among the rest. He can, in no better way, obtain power over the hearts of the children of men, than by appealing to their cupidity, avarice, and low, selfish desires. This is a fruitful cause of difficulty. You can handle men better in any other way than when you come to their money, and all these temporal things they are surrounded with. I hope to see a change in this respect, I pray for it, I am willing to labor for it. I hope you will give this subject your attention, and seek by all the faith in your power to prepare yourselves for it, and to prepare your children for it, so that when it is deemed wisdom by the servants of God to enter upon this system, we shall be prepared.

There has been some allusion, which you have heard, to the setting apart of a district of land in this valley for that purpose. If I lived here I should hail such an enterprise with joy, while I might fear and tremble on my own account lest through some weakness I might not be able to bear or pass through or practice it as it should be. Nevertheless I should hail it, if I lived here, with joy, for it matters not what may become of me, it matters not what may become of any of us individually, only so far as we, individually, are concerned, if the work of God is only rolled forth, if his purposes are only consummated, and the salvation of the earth and its inhabitants is brought about. I feel that it matters not what my fate may be if this is only accomplished and God’s glory brought to pass on the earth, and the reign of righteousness and truth be ushered in.

I expect that God will do a greater work in our midst, when that shall be brought to pass, than we can yet conceive of. We have thought that the Lord God delays his coming. We have now been forty-three years organized as a Church, and sometimes we feel as if the Work of God is not making that progress which it should. There are reasons for it. It is not stopped or delayed; on the contrary, it is progressing, although probably not with the rapidity that it will progress when we get more faith, and are more perfect in our practices. I have had my thoughts attracted, in consequence of a visit which brother Brigham, Jun., and myself made to the hill Cumorah about three weeks ago, to the three Nephites who have been upon this land, and I have been greatly comforted at reading the promises of God concerning their labors and the work that should be accomplished by them among the Gentiles and among the Jews, also before the coming of the Lord Jesus. I doubt not that they are laboring to-day in the great cause on the earth. There are agencies laboring for the accomplishment of the purposes of God and for the fulfillment of the predictions of the holy Prophets, of which we have but little conception at the present time. We are engrossed by our own labors. You in Cache Valley have your thoughts centred on the labors that devolve upon you. We in Salt Lake and elsewhere have ours upon the work that immediately attracts our attention; and while we, or all amongst us who are faithful, shall no doubt be instrumental in the hands of God, in bringing to pass his purposes and accomplishing the work he has predicted in connection with the ten tribes, the Lamanites, the Jews, and the Gentile nations, we need not think that these things depend upon us alone. There are powers engaged in preparing the earth for the events that await it and fulfilling all the great predictions concerning it, which we know nothing of, and we need not think that it depends upon us Latter-day Saints alone, and that we are the only agents in the hands of God in bringing these things to pass. The powers of heaven are engaged with us in this work.

This earth is the heritage of the children of God. It has been given to the faithful who have lived before us, as well as to us, they are watching our labors with intense anxiety, and they are laboring in their sphere for the accomplishment of the same great and glorious results. They have dwelt here, and they are singing the song mentioned by John the Revelator—“Thou hast made us Kings and Priests unto God, and we shall reign on the earth,” and the souls of them who have suffered martyrdom are crying from beneath the altar, “How long, Oh God, wilt thou not avenge our blood upon them that dwell on the earth?” They are eager for the redemption of Zion, the accomplishment of God’s purposes, and the establishment of his universal kingdom upon the face of this earth of ours. But if we do not our duty, God will take away from us that inheritance which he has promised unto us, and the crowns that we would otherwise have will be taken and given to others. We shall lose these unless we do that which God requires at our hands with perfect willingness and joy, for there is no joy that any human being experiences that approaches the joy of serving God and keeping his commandments. It is sweeter than the sweetest honey, and it is more desirable than all the joy of the earth besides. You Latter-day Saints know this by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, by the gift of the precious Spirit which you have received, that has rested down upon you by night and by day, and that has caused your hearts to be softened and your eyes to weep tears of joy for the goodness of God unto you. And yet we are indolent, and yet we think about a little property, and yet we would risk our salvation because we are afraid to do something which God requires at our hands. Oh foolish people! How shall we stand before the bar of our God and answer for the use we have made of the inestimable blessings which he has bestowed upon us? How shall we stand before that terrible bar, if we are not faithful? How can we justify ourselves for our unfaithfulness? We cannot do it, but we shall feel to shrink from the presence of our Almighty Judge when we are thus brought face to face with him.

That we may be faithful to the end, that we may love the Lord better than we love everything else on the earth, that we may devote ourselves to his service all our days, and bequeath truth as a precious legacy to our children after us, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Order of Enoch

Brigham Young

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Logan City, Sunday morning, June 29, 1873.Reported by David W. Evans.

I say to the Latter-day Saints, that the only reason why we do not take up the subject and enter into the organization of Enoch, or a city of Enoch, is simply because we have not yet been able to find every item of law bearing upon this matter, so as to organize in a way that apostates cannot trouble us. This is the only reason. It is a matter that I am paying particular attention to, with some of my brethren, to see if we have skill enough to get up an organization and draw up papers to bind ourselves together under the laws of the United States, so that we can put our means and labor together and join as one family. As soon as we can accomplish this, and get an instrument that lawyers cannot pick to pieces and destroy, and apostates cannot afflict us, we expect to get up this institution, and enter most firmly into it.

Yesterday and the day before I had considerable to say to the Latter-day Saints, reading the dark side of the page. I will say here, I am not discouraged with regard to this latter-day work, I am not discouraged with regard to the Latter-day Saints. If we were to pick and choose to-day, we should find a large majority of the people called Latter-day Saints, who are ready and willing, with open hands and pure hearts, to enter into the Order of Enoch, and to live and die in this Order. This is my faith concerning the people at large, consequently I am not discouraged. But there are some who need chastening. We cannot call names, this will not answer. We cannot tell a man that he is going to apostatize, but we can chasten him as a member of the Church, not as an individual. In this capacity, while in public, we do not take the liberty of chastening an individual. But we can say to the brethren and sisters, we are encouraged. “Mormonism” is onward and upward, the Gospel that the Lord Jesus has introduced in the latter days is enjoyed by many, and it is our life, our joy, our peace, our glory, our happiness, our all; and when we come to the trying scene, as some call it, of sacrificing our property, and putting it together for the good of the community, I do not expect the brethren will receive any more trials than they have heretofore, I do know whether the sisters will.

Brother George Q. Cannon says the sisters have borne a great deal. So they have, but if they could only stand in the shoes of their husbands who are good, true and faithful, they would know that they are by no means free from perplexities. Just fancy a man with two, three, or half a dozen of his beloved wives catching him on one side, and before he can take three steps more, catching him on the other, and “I want this,” “I want that,” and “this is not right,” and “that is not right,” and so on; their minds just pulled to pieces. I say if the hair is spared on their heads they may consider that they have got blessed good wives. I have as many wives as many other men, and I keep my hair yet. But as to trials, why bless your hearts, the man or woman who enjoys the spirit of our religion has no trials; but the man or woman who tries to live according to the Gospel of the Son of God, and at the same time clings to the spirit of the world, has trials and sorrows acute and keen, and that, too, continually.

This is the deciding point, the dividing line. They who love and serve God with all their hearts rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks; but they who try to serve God and still cling to the spirit of the world, have got on two yokes—the yoke of Jesus and the yoke of the devil, and they will have plenty to do. They will have a warfare inside and outside, and the labor will be very galling, for they are directly in opposition one to the other. Cast off the yoke of the enemy, and put on the yoke of Christ, and you will say that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. This I know by experience.

God bless you.

Purpose of God in Creating Man, etc.

Daniel H. Wells

Discourse by President Daniel H. Wells, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Saturday afternoon, August 9, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I feel to bear my testimony, my brethren and sisters, to the doctrines and principles of the holy Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which, we read in the Scriptures, is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe and obey the same. It has been stated here that we are a peculiar people, and that we have a mission to perform on the earth. This is true. Our Father in heaven has a work to perform on the earth, and we have been called to be co-workers with him in bringing to pass his purposes among the children of men. This is a blessed privilege for us. If his purposes could have been advanced and established upon the earth without his having revealed himself, we would not have been called, and the angel would not have come and restored the everlasting Gospel in our day. We may go further back, and say, that if it would have been as well for us to remain with our Father in the spirit world, and not to come forth into this world, to pass through the ordeals which await us, we should not have been sent. But we have been sent for a purpose, and that purpose is, that we may accomplish the full measure of our creation, which we could not do without an earthly probation.—This was necessary to our advancement, as intelligent beings, and for the progress of the kingdom and glory of God. We had a pre-existence in the spirit world, and we kept our first estate there, or we should not have been privileged to come and take bodies and, by living according to the principles of the holy Gospel, prepare ourselves for salvation and exaltation, and to return again into the presence of our Father and partake of his glory. In this connection come in the principles of redemption and of the resurrection, through the power of which our bodies and spirits, after they have passed the ordeal of death, will be re-united and clothed with immortality and endowed with eternal life. I say, if it would have been as well for us to remain in the spirit world, we should not have been sent forth to be tested with the misery, woe, sorrow, corruptions, evils and death so prevalent on earth; but it was in kindness to us, his children, that our Father sent us to this earth, that we may show whether we will be faithful in all respects to the principles of truth and righteousness, and to the commandments of God when in the midst of evil. All the requirements of our Father conduce to the blessing and benefit of those who observe them while they live here, as well as ensuring to them the blessings at the end of the race.

The Lord our God never did, and he never will, reveal a principle, give a commandment, or make a requirement of his children on the earth, but what if it is carried out will prove a blessing to every one, for it will enable us to work out our salvation and exaltation by establishing the principles of truth, virtue and honor upon the earth, and these principles, in the very nature of things, must purify and elevate those who live and govern their actions by them. These are the only principles which will endure and stand for ever; while that which is of an opposite character will pass away. Herein is the warfare in which we are engaged, and which we shall continue to wage, as long as we live on the earth. For the evil one is ready, if we will listen to him, to lead us astray and to cause us to make shipwreck of our most holy faith; he will cause light to appear as darkness, and darkness as light, and he will lead us down to destruction if we are not continually on our guard against his wiles and suggestions. But if we observe the principles of the Gospel and the commandments of the Lord our God, they will bring us peace in the life that now is as well as in that which is to come. Some people seem to think that the pursuits so prevalent in the world are all that are worth living for, and that they will find joy and happiness therein. But such pleasures are neither solid nor lasting, and there is nothing that can be considered real, genuine joy and pleasure within the reach of the human family, but what is to be found within the purview of the everlasting Gospel. The Gospel makes men and women free—free from sin—the greatest of all tyrants; and there is no greater slave on the earth than the man who is under the control of his own passions, and who is subject to the dictation of the spirit of evil which is so prevalent in the world. The acts of all such persons bring their own punishment, and it is swift and certain; while those who are controlled by the principles of the Gospel have a joy and peace, under whatever circumstances in life they may be placed, which the world knows nothing of, and which it can neither give nor take away, for they have an inward consciousness that their course secures to them the confidence of the Lord our God.

We are placed here on the earth that we may be tested. We are very independent beings, we have our agency, and can choose the road to life or the road to death, just as we please. If we would secure eternal life we shall have to take a course to command the confidence of our Father in heaven, and to accomplish this, we must not be weary in well doing, for it is said that only they who endure will receive the reward. Endure what? Why, the trials temptations and difficulties that we may have to encounter in the path which the Gospel marks out. Our path, as followers of the Savior, is beset with evil on every side, and with influences which, if yielded to, will bring us under the power of the oppressor. They may seem alluring, to a greater or less extent, and so they are, for the power of evil has great influence in the earth. The wealth of the earth has long been control[l]ed by the evil one, and he has bestowed it upon whomsoever he has seen fit. Perhaps this has been ordered so in the economy of our Father for the benefit of his children. We must learn to trust in God. As was said here this morning, we must live by faith. What is a man good for who, just as soon as an obstacle presents itself before him, flies the track and says, “I will have no more to do with this or with that. It is true it purports to come from our Father in heaven, but I can not see the benefit that will accrue to me in observing it, and I will seize that which offers present benefit, regardless of the consequences.”—That man proves to all that he is not worthy to receive eternal riches. A Latter-day Saint should live so that he can bear the scrutinizing eye of the Almighty, in secret as well as in public. This should be his course all the days of his life; then when the day comes in which the wicked will call upon the rocks to hide them from the face of the Lord, he will rejoice in meeting his Father, and will join in rendering praise and thanksgiving to his name, for the privilege of again beholding him. This will be the lot of the righteous—those who have served God in their actions as well as with their lips; but sad indeed will be the fate of those who have been hypocritical, who have professed with their lips, but have not possessed in their hearts. They will dread to meet the face of the Lord, they have a certain fearful looking for of the fiery indignation of the Father.

Now, it is true, that while in the flesh we are subjected to many trials and temptations; but we are not like those without hope. The Apostle says we are subjected in hope. In hope of what? Latter-day Saints who faithfully live their religion have the hope of a glorious resurrection and eternal life. It is part of the experience of Latter-day Saints to be subjected to trial, in some things perhaps more than the wicked, that they may gain the ascendency over their own passions and all the evils which beset them. Our passions are given us for a good and wise purpose. They underlie our existence. They give us nerve and energy, and power to execute and carry out; but they are not given to be our masters. Those heaven-given gifts—reason and intellect, should reign and bring passion into complete subjection, and they will do so if inspired and directed by the Spirit of God.

We have been gathered from the nations of the earth that we may be taught the ways of the Lord. It was remarked here this morning that there was need of a reformation in the world. If it were not so the Lord would not have undertaken it, and things would have been permitted to go along as usual. But the Lord saw the necessity for a change. All had departed from the path of life. The authority of the Holy Priesthood had been taken back into the heavens for a wise purpose, and also for the advantage of the children of, men upon the earth. Better for them to be without it, than to possess and not to obey its high behests; but when the set time was come for the Lord to establish his kingdom, he again sent forth the Gospel to the children of men, knowing that it would find many honest-hearted people who would be willing to receive instruction from heaven, and stand in the day of his power. The Gospel is to go forth to all nations and tongues on the earth, that all may have an opportunity of being coworkers with God in establishing his kingdom on the earth, which is destined to stand for ever and to absorb all other kingdoms. This is inevitable and will come to pass in the Lord’s own due time. The Elders of Israel are going to the nations and gathering therefrom the honest in heart, and through them the Lord is revealing his purposes to the children of men, and the institutions of high heaven.

This is the mission of the Latter-day Saints, and every one of them who is faithful to his calling is a co-worker with the Lord in the establishment of his purposes, and he will find his reward here and hereafter. Is it not glorious to know that we are engaged with our Father and God, and with holy beings who have gone behind the vail, in carrying on this great reformation which the Lord has commenced on the earth? I say it will never be confounded, never, no never. The principles of the holy Gospel will last for ever, and they will exalt all whose lives and actions are controlled thereby, and who will live by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. Such persons will never be prevailed against in time and in eternity. There is nothing surer than this, because this Gospel will go on from conquering to conquer, until all nations, kindreds, tongues and people will come under the sceptre of Immanuel, and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ. Evil will work out its own overthrow. The wicked will prey upon each other to their own destruction, and in the Lord’s own due time the earth will be rid of evil-doers, whereas those who are based upon the Rock of Ages will endure for ever. This is just as natural as any principle of philosophy that exists, and it is bound to come to pass. Our Father has passed through these ordeals, and has trodden the paths we are treading. He kept his second estate, and has attained to his exaltation. We have the privilege of following in his footsteps. It has been revealed in our day who we are, and the relationship we hold to God. We have learned that God is our Father, and that we are his children, bona fide his children. Not in a spiritual sense alone, but when we say, “Our Father who art in heaven,” we mean just what we say.

We have not only learned who we are, but the purpose of our creation and our future destiny. I have not given myself a great deal of uneasiness about the future. I have felt that, if I could act my part, properly as I pass along through life, whether I attained to anything hereafter or not I should be content. The peace and happiness which I have day by day in my inmost soul is its own reward; and I have long been satisfied that there is nothing worth having outside the purview of the holy Gospel, and the peace, satisfaction and joy which it brings me I would not exchange for all that this world can bestow. As for the future, I am satisfied that it will be altogether satisfactory and will bring all that I can ask for and more than I can now comprehend, if my course day by day now is what it should be. I have no fears that my exaltation will not be as full and complete as I shall be capacitated to enjoy. And whether it is or not I have an inward peace through taking this course that, of itself, is a continual feast, which sustains and buoys me up under every difficulty and obstacle which presents itself before me.

I think this should be attraction enough to entice every son and daughter of Adam. I think that the children of our Father can not afford to throw away these blessings. I think that we can not afford to take the name of God in vain. We can not afford to drown our reason in ardent spirits. We can not afford to sin against God and to violate his commandments. These practices cost too much. No man or woman can afford to walk in the paths that lead to death. They are beset with misery, envy, jealousy, and with everything that produces discomfort, and at the end thereof death, and misery both before and after death. Said Jesus—Fear not him who has power only to destroy this body, but fear Him who can cast both soul and body into hell. Let us take the course, then, that will save us here and hereafter. Let the body go, if necessary, if it intervenes between us and the faith of the holy Gospel and our duty to God. If we are brought into a position in which the life of the body imperils our faith in the Gospel, let the body go cheerfully and willingly. We should pour out our blood as freely as the water that runs, rather than violate our fidelity to the principles of eternal life, or our most holy covenants before the Lord, or rather than deny the word after having tasted the powers of the world to come. To know God and Jesus whom he has sent is eternal life, and rather than deny them and turn again to the things of the world, like a sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire, let this poor body go. It will go sooner or later anyhow, and we should esteem it a privilege to lay down our lives in defence of the principles of the everlasting Gospel. We should not rashly run into danger, but we should take a wise course and, at any cost, determine to rise above the evils that are in the world and be faithful to the truth, holding on to the iron rod, without swerving to the right hand or to the left; and if there is no other alternative, rather than swerve, let the body go. It will be a happy exchange, and we will receive it again crowned with glory, immortality and eternal life.

Now Latter-day Saints, are you willing to do this? Oh yes, hundreds and thousands would, if necessary, walk up to the cannon’s mouth, in defence of the truth and Priesthood, who will not live their religion. Such persons will suffer loss if they are not careful. We cannot afford to neglect our duties. We want to attain to celestial glory. We do not feel as though we could be satisfied with anything short of that. No Latter-day Saint, who has ever reflected upon these things, feels that he can be satisfied short of celestial glory. We could not be satisfied with a telestial nor even with a terrestrial glory. We want to attain to the highest of all. We have set out for that, it is the goal for which we are bound, and we feel that nothing short of that will satisfy us. How many will come short of it I do not know, but I know that in order to attain to it we must be careful to observe all the duties which are incumbent upon us. We have no promise of that glory unless we do. The revelations of the Lord, through his servant Joseph, tell us that whosoever can not abide a celestial law will not inherit the glory of the celestial kingdom. There are many called Latter-day Saints who are anxious to obtain their endowments, washings, sealings and anointings, and baptisms for themselves and their dead, and who would think they were deprived of very great blessings if they could not have these privileges; and yet they act as though if they could only snatch these blessings from the hands of the servants of the Lord they would be all right, and they could do in other respects just as they please. They could neglect to pay their Tithing and the observance of the commands of the Lord generally, and walk after their own vain imaginations all the days of their lives. What a fatal mistake is here! By your own works ye shall be judged, whether they be good or evil. A man may attain to all these ordinances, he may keep his path hidden in iniquity for a season, but the time will come when every evil doer will stand before the Lord in his own naked deformity, he will be stripped of his hypocrisy and subterfuge of lies. The gigantic superstructure of Satan, that has so long wielded influence in the earth, will be swept away, and in that day all who stand will do so by their own virtue and integrity. No man can afford to do an evil act. If it is unseen by his fellows, he himself knows it, and the Lord knows it, and that is two too many—two witnesses to establish his guilt, and he can not dodge it, it will be known, as it were, on the housetops. Therefore, brethren and sisters, let us be diligent in all things, even in what are considered the small things, though there are no small things connected with our duties and callings as Saints. We can not afford to live without paying our Tithing, because it is a law of heaven, one of the requirements the Lord has made at our hands for our own benefit. Covetousness is idolatry. We can not afford to have anything intervening between us and the Lord our God. We must serve the Lord with a perfect heart and a willing mind. If we are so covetous that we cannot pay our Tithing, there is an obstacle in the way, and we have become lukewarm and indifferent in the cause of God. It is no matter how poor we may be, if we have ever done anything in the line of our duty in the kingdom of God, it has brought with it peace and salvation. We are never sorry for it afterwards, unless we turn away from the truth. If we neglect any duty, Tithing or any other, we feel under condemnation. No matter how poor we may be we should pay our Tithing, if we have to receive it back again at the hands of the Bishops, it is a blessing and a benefit to us. As Joseph F. Smith remarked at Tooele, that poor widow who pays her Tithing, will receive from one to five hundredfold. She is sure to do it, and so with every individual.

But it is not the poor, as a general thing, who neglect their Tithing. It is oftener the wealthy than the poor. The man who has a hundred dollars can give his ten. If he has only ten, he can give one easier than another man can give ten. If he has ten thousand, it is harder for him to give a thousand, and the more he has the more difficult it is for him to pay his Tithing. It has always been so, I apprehend; anyhow, it is so at the present time. We can not afford this. If we expect to attain to celestial glory, we must abide the law of the celestial kingdom. There is no obstacle in our path that we can not overcome. If we are determined the Lord will help us. He does and has done so all the time, and he will continue to do so.

How many times have we been benefited by pursuing the course which the God of heaven has marked out for us to walk in? How often has he delivered his Saints in times past? How many times has he rebuked, under the administration of his servants, the sickness of a child or the member of a family? Should we not then have an increased confidence to come again, and to put our dependence in him, knowing and realizing that he is faithful in performing that which he has promised? Having paid our Tithing once, and received the blessing, should we not approach the altar again with renewed confidence and zeal, relying and trusting in God for the future, without fearing any disaster coming upon us? I think this is good philosophy, it brings its own reward in the very nature of things. Then why not feel encouraged in going to meeting and in attending to the duties required at our hands, partake of the sacrament, put away evil feelings one against another, and come to the table of the Lord with pure hearts and clean hands, to commemorate the sufferings and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? One great reason why the Sacrament was instituted was, that we might not forget him, nor our Father in heaven, who sent him. Said Jesus, “Do this until I come.” He will come again, most assuredly, in power and great glory. Who will be prepared to receive him? Where are the people who will be able to stand at his second coming, when he will take the reins of power into his own hands?

Is it reasonable to suppose that Jesus will send his messengers to warn the world, that all people may have an opportunity to obey the Gospel and to be prepared for his coming? I think it is reasonable to suppose that he will commence a preparatory work on the earth before he makes his descent. This is the work, brethren and sisters, in which we are engaged—preparing for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that when he comes he may have a people zealous of good works, ready to do his bidding, instead of crucifying him as they did before. Then let us go to with our might, devoting ourselves, and whatever the Lord gives unto us, to him and his kingdom. Let us not sift our ways to strangers, but let us be diligent and faithful in sustaining every righteous principle. This is our duty and privilege. Let us divest ourselves of the evils so prevalent in the world, otherwise we are not gathered out from the world. The Apostle said—“Come out of her, O my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not of her plagues.” If we, after being gathered to Zion, still practice the vices and follies of the world, we might as well have stayed there, for these sins bring with them their punishment. The judgments of the Almighty follow sin as naturally as cause and effect in anything else, and the wicked nations of the world will feel retribution for the sins they commit, just as certain as they have an existence on the earth. There is no escape, except by forsaking their sins and obeying the commands of the Lord. We can not escape the plagues threatened to the sinner, even here in Zion, unless we refrain from sin and walk in the paths that the Lord marks out for us to walk in.

The Lord foreknew that many of the spirits which were reserved to come forth in our day and generation would receive his Gospel, and stand faithful. All have the privilege of doing so. The Lord has extended the invitation to all his children here on the earth. Says he—“Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways, for why will ye die?” “Take upon you my yoke, for it is easy, and my burden, for it is light.” “Come, drink of the waters of life freely, without money and without price.” This is the invitation which is given to all nations, by the servants of the Lord, who do not go forth proclaiming it for hire, but because they have received the testimony of Jesus, and can foretell that the evils which are so prevalent among men are bound to bring destruction upon them. The earth is defiled by the sins of its inhabitants, and destruction will certainly overtake them unless they forsake their evil ways, for the Lord will not suffer this thing to continue forever. This is not in the economy of heaven—none would be saved if it were permitted to be so. Satan would gain the ascendency, and would dethrone the Almighty, if it could be suffered to go on. There must be a turning point—that has arrived, and the way of escape is made plain to the children of men. The God of heaven has revealed it in our day. We are the recipients of his mercy and of the principles of truth, and by complying strictly with the principles of the everlasting Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, we shall be preserved in the day of God’s power; but we must observe the law of high heaven. If a man will persistently walk in the path of danger, or into the fire, he will be burned and he knows it. Then why not take a different path? When the Lord points out the path of safety, his Saints must walk therein, or they will suffer the consequences. Some of us are captives to our own passions. We think we know best, and we oftentimes imagine that the Lord is far away, and that we are left to govern ourselves, and we yield to this and to that for the sake of a little transient pleasure, and we think that all will be well hereafter. We do not care particularly about the future, if we can only take care of ourselves to-day. We perhaps give way to some alluring spirit, in some quiet nook or corner, thinking we will be shielded if we do give way to some evil once in a while. There is a way to be shielded, but it is not by persisting in evil doing. We must turn from every evil way, then we have the assurance that God will forgive us. Men and women may do evil, but if they repent they can be forgiven and receive the administration of the ordinances of the house of God, for the authority has been restored to administer all the ordinances of salvation. Men may have their sins remitted by having the ordinance of baptism administered. Is there any other way by which that blessing can be obtained? Not that we know of; if there is, the Lord has not revealed it, and that is sufficient. All we have to do to secure the remission of sins, is to repent and to comply with the ordinance of baptism.

We have been called from Babylon by the command of high heaven, and our duty now is to stand shoulder to shoulder for God and his kingdom, and for every holy and righteous principle, no matter what opposition we may meet with. What could a man do, isolated, in the midst of a wicked nation? He could live for God if he had a mind to; but what influence, could he wield under such circumstances for the kingdom of God? None that would be acknowledged. He might bear his testimony, and tell those around him of their evils, and that would condemn those who heard him, if they did not heed his sayings. But when there is a concentration of such faith and power by the uniting together of people in communities, as we see here in the valleys of the mountains, a more formidable barrier is presented to the progress and advance of evil, and such unity and concentration will bring down to the earth an increase of power from the Lord in favor of virtue and truth.

What does the so-called Christianity of the day do to check the torrent of corruption that is now sweeping over the face of the whole earth? Comparatively nothing. I say this in all charity, because there are a great many who are doing their utmost to check the progress of evil; but it still grows, and so-called Christianity is powerless to check it. It is greater to-day, than it was yesterday, greater yesterday than last week, and greater last week than a month ago, and it is incalculably greater now than it was a hundred years ago.

It is time the Lord set his hand to gather his people, that he may secure a foothold on the earth, where righteousness may predominate, and where the majority of the people will be for him and his kingdom. The Lord has set his hand and commenced his work to bring about his great purposes.

Let me bear my testimony to my brethren and sisters and all good friends. The Lord has spoken from the heavens, and has commenced this work in which we are now engaged in the tops of the mountains The Prophet, in looking forward, saw that the work of God would be in the tops of the mountains in the latter days. We testify that this is what he saw, here in the vales of Utah, Idaho, Arizona and all the surrounding Territories. The kingdom of God is with us to-day, not in its fullness, but it is growing. It is here to test the children of men, to see what they will do with it. Brother Heber used to say this was the threshing floor. We go out to the nations of the earth and preach the Gospel, a good many receive it and gather to Zion. But their trials begin when they get here, for this is the threshing floor. Here a people will be prepared for the coming of Jesus, that when he does come he may find a place whereon to lay his head, and some, at least, who sustain heavenly principles. If we are not the people, some others will be gathered for that purpose. We bear testimony that we are that people. True, we are in a very imperfect state, but we hope we are progressing, that we are a little better than we have been. Many Latter-day Saints can look back on their past lives and conscientiously bear testimony before heaven that they are better men and women to-day than they were one, two, or ten years ago. This is a guarantee that the work is onward and upward. It must have its commencement in the souls and hearts of men and women, or its fruits will not appear. But this work is bringing forth its fruits, they can be seen by all. None are so blind but what they can see them if they will divest themselves of prejudice. The work now commenced here will extend, and just as fast as the people prepare themselves to receive it, they may participate therein, for it will increase and spread until in its greatness, power and glory, it absorbs all kindreds, nations and tongues, and all will bow to King Immanuel’s sway, and he will rule king of nations as he does King of Saints. Prophets have foretold this, and we believe it, and we bear testimony that we are that people, and that the Lord did reveal himself to Joseph Smith, and called him to commence this work. In calling him the Lord made no mistake. He knew that Joseph would rather swap his life away, than quail under persecution or deny the faith. Joseph did this, he proved that sooner than swerve from his integrity to God he would die. Who can gainsay this? No man, in time or eternity. Joseph’s martyrdom is a monument that will endure forever, that he preferred death to forsaking the principles of the holy Gospel and the institutions of heaven. They killed him for that, and nothing else. His death is a testimony against this wicked and adulterous generation, that they will have to meet. We as a community, are his witnesses, and a monument that all people may look upon and, if they have a mind to, they can comprehend that God has commenced his latter-day work.

These are the last days, and God will surely bring his purposes to pass. His work is established, and all are invited to help to build it up. We have received the principles of eternal life and we offer them to all. We are none of your hirelings. Freely we have received, freely we give, and ask nothing for it. We bear the glad tidings of salvation across the plains, rivers and oceans, and proclaim them on all suitable occasions at home and in distant climes. No day or hour passes without this testimony being borne by the servants of the Lord, and this has been so now for more than forty years, and during that time the work of the Lord has been continually increasing and gaining strength, taking root downward and bearing fruit upward. It is greater to-day than it was yesterday, and will be greater to-morrow than to-day, and it will continue so, no matter what may be brought to bear against it. We may be driven again as we have been in the past, but that would only increase our significance, our power, numbers and influence. It is vain to undertake to stop this work. Latter-day Saints may apostatize, their leading men may go overboard, but it will make no difference—the Lord is at the helm, and his work is upward and onward continually. Some may stop by the way side, but the cars will roll over and crush them. It is our interest to keep aboard the ship Zion, and to continue our efforts to bring ourselves into subjection to the law of the Lord, that we may be the honored instruments in his hands of aiding to build up his kingdom on the earth. We can only do this by being faithful to the counsels of the servants of the Lord who are inspired to teach and lead us. He has placed them in his Church and kingdom to guide and direct us. We have not chosen these men—He has chosen them. They may be our selection too, it is very true, but the Lord has chosen them, and he is responsible. But we need not pin our faith to any man’s sleeve. No, we can go to the Bible, to the revelations of Jesus given in our day; and listen to the whisperings of the Spirit in our own hearts for the testimony of this being the work of God. The Lord will reveal to any faithful individual all that is necessary to convince him that this work is true. None need depend for that testimony upon others; all can have it for themselves, and that will be like a well of water within them, springing up to everlasting life, revealing to them the things of God, and all that is needful to make them wise unto salvation. They need not depend upon my testimony, or upon that of President Young or President Smith, nor upon anybody but God. He will direct the course of all who try to serve him with full purpose of heart. He will show them whether we are placed here properly, or whether any mistake was made concerning the calling of Joseph Smith. The testimony of the Lord will tell whether we teach things of ourselves or of the Lord; that testimony will tell its possessors whether the servants of God who stand here tell the truth about this work or not. They need be dependent upon none but themselves and the Lord for this knowledge, for the Lord is willing to give liberally to all, and he upbraids not. All the world may learn to know the Lord our Father, who is in heaven, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent, if they will but take the course the Lord has marked out.

Latter-day Saints, as I said before, we cannot afford to do wickedly. That young man, or that old man, who goes into the kanyon, can not afford to take the name of the Lord in vain, neither in the streets nor saloons of the city, and for that matter Latter-day Saints can not afford to go to saloons at all, because the associations are evil. We would to God we could entirely abolish every such place for there vice is seen in its most alluring colors. Drinking saloons and gaming tables should be banished from the face of the earth, because they engender vice. They lead the young, middle-aged and old into the practice of those things that are evil. The Latter-day Saints cannot afford to patronize them. They had better keep away from them. They had better not take the name of the Lord in vain, they can not afford to offend the Lord. They had better keep his commandments and not do anything that is offensive in his sight. The Lord will not make a man an offender for a word, by any manner of means. He looks with compassion on all his children, and overlooks a great many of their weaknesses and follies if he finds that they have a desire to serve him. But still, the Latter-day Saint who has had the whisperings of the Spirit, and yet becomes so negligent as to indulge in these things, proves to the Lord that he has not learned his lesson well—that he has not learned to honor the Lord as he should do, and in consequence thereof he is not so much the recipient of his grace as he might be, and if he persists in evil the time will come when the issues will be barred so that the Spirit will not flow to him, and he will be darkened in the counsel of his mind, and there will be ten chances to one that he makes shipwreck of his most holy faith.

No man can afford to set an example of this kind before his children, and no young man can afford to lose the good influence that he otherwise might retain from his youth to manhood and old age, it is too expensive. Blessed is the boy or girl who has the privilege, as all have in Zion, of growing up without sin unto salvation. They can do it if they have a mind to, if they will be governed by the principles of the everlasting Gospel, and will make them their text—book and guide by day and by night, and always be afraid of sin and fear to walk in the paths of degradation. All have this privilege in the valleys of the mountains. We are here that we may be saved from the sins of the world, and the children of Zion may come up without sin unto salvation. Oh, that they would consider and feel a greater responsibility, and never lose the purity of their childhood! If they could do this what an influence they could exercise before the heavens! What power might they not bring down for the salvation of Israel in the day of trial, tribulation and difficulty! The faith of an army of young men of this kind would be enough to withstand every foe, and I expect the time will come when it will do so.

May God help us to continue faithful, and to be more diligent and heedful to the teachings that we receive. We are taught in his ways that we may walk in his paths. Then why not be diligent and faithful in walking therein? They are the paths of peace and joy, and lead to eternal life hereafter. That we may all attain to that, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Necessity of Miracles—Belief of the Latter-Day Saints

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday morning, July 13, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

We have heard, this forenoon, some excellent instructions in regard to the plan of life and salvation—instructions which agree in every respect with that plan as it was revealed in times of old. It has truly been remarked by the speaker who has addressed you, that the same causes will produce the same effects, that is, when they operate under like circumstances. I can see no difference, in my own mind, between the circumstances which surround us and the circumstances which surrounded the people in the days of our Savior and his Apostles. We are fallen creatures, so were they; we are very imperfect beings and have need to be saved; the same was true with regard to them. We have sick among us in this day, and so had they. God then ordained the laying on of hands for the benefit of the sick. Why not ordain the same principle for the same reason in our day? Would it not benefit the sick to be healed by the laying on of hands now just as much as in those days? What is the difference? Are there not as many sick now as there were then? Would it not be as great a blessing to the inhabitants of the earth to be healed now through this simple ordinance as it was then? When the circumstances and conditions of the people now and then are compared, no reason can be assigned why this gift should be withheld from the people now. The world say that in those days it was necessary for God to manifest his power • in healing the sick and in various other ways, in order to convince the inhabitants of the earth concerning the plan of salvation that was offered to them. Why not convince the inhabitants of the earth in our day? Is there not as much necessity now as there was then? Is not a soul just as precious in the sight of God now as then? If it was needful for unbelief to be done away by miracles then, why not now? Or were miracles given to do away unbelief? This is a question worthy of investigation. We find that miracles were wrought in ancient times according to the faith and belief of the children of men. We might suppose, to hear some of the learned divines of our day converse, that the greater the unbelief the greater must be the miracles in order to do it away. But let us see how the Lord did operate and perform miracles in ancient times.

We read that he went to his own native country, where he was born, among his neighbors and acquaintances on a certain occasion, and that he could not do many mighty miracles there because of their unbelief. What a great pity it was that Jesus had not some of the learned divines of the present day to instruct him! They would no doubt have told Jesus that because of the greatness of the unbelief in his own neighborhood and among his acquaintances he must perform some greater miracles among them than he did anywhere else. That would have been consistent with the present ideas of theologians. But in those days Jesus operated among the people according to their faith, and the greater the unbelief, the less the miracles.

We find the same principle existing long before Jesus came to the earth. Jesus himself testifies that in the days of Elisha the Prophet, there were a great many lepers in Israel. You know that is a very loathsome disease, and that people would naturally be very glad to be healed. But none of them were healed in Elisha’s day, says Jesus, except a man, not of Israel, but a foreigner—Naaman the Syrian. What was the reason? Their unbelief. How came this Naaman the Syrian to have faith? He believed in the testimony of a Jewish maiden, who had been taken captive by the Syrian army and carried into a far country, and while conversing with the people there she told them about a great Prophet in Israel, Elisha by name. “Would to God,” said she, “that my master could see this Prophet and be healed!” She seemed to have faith, and when the report of her conversation came to her master’s ears he took great riches and started out for the express purpose of going to visit this Prophet in Israel. When he reached the region of Palestine in which the Prophet lived he presented himself first before the king; but he being filled to a great extent with the spirit of unbelief, thought that Naaman had come to seek some occasion for war. “Am I God,” said the king, “that I should perform this work?” The Lord revealed to his servant the Prophet, that this man had come, and the purpose of his visit, and Naaman and his servant found out Elisha and went to his dwelling-place. But Elisha, instead of being very polite, and welcoming Naaman into his house, sent a message to him, telling him to go and dip himself seven times in Jordan and he should be healed. This did not seem to be in accordance with the mind of Naaman. He perhaps thought that, as he had come a long journey in great grandeur and with great gifts, the Prophet would be exceedingly respectful to him, and he was very wrathy in his mind, and said—“Are not the waters of Syria just as good as the waters of your Jordan?” and he turned away in a great rage. Finally, one of his servants said unto him—“If the Prophet had required thee to do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he said to thee, ‘Wash and be clean?” “Yes,” said Naaman, “I expected he would come out to me, place his hand upon my head and rebuke the leprosy, and I should be healed; but he has told me to go and dip myself seven times in Jordan, and he sent this message by a servant instead of coming to see me himself.” But he was finally prevailed upon by his servant to go and do as the Prophet said, and he went and dipped himself seven times in Jordan and immediately his flesh came anew upon him like the flesh of a little child. All the rest of the lepers, throughout Israel, remained unhealed, but this foreigner was cleansed and made whole.

Now, why this partiality? Why not do some wonderful miracles in healing all the lepers in Israel? It was because of their unbelief. But says the divine of to-day—“The greater the unbelief the more necessity for the miracle, and consequently, in order to do away with this unbelief, the Prophet ought to have healed all the lepers in Israel.” The Lord, however, has his own way, and when he finds a very unbelieving generation, he does not satisfy their carnal curiosity, nor manifest his power to any great extent in the midst of the wicked; but he always shows forth his power to those who are humble and meek, and lowly in heart. He has done that in all dispensations, not only in the days of Jesus and the Apostles, but in every dispensation, and the power manifested has been in accordance with the faith of the people.

In regard to the gift of prophecy, a great many suppose that it was necessary in former times, in the dark ages; but when the Gospel was fully established on the earth, and great power and signs were made manifest, there was no more need of prophecy, revelations, etc., and they quote a passage from Paul’s writings, or rather a part of a passage, instead of the whole, in order to prove their position. In the 13th chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul says—“Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” Prophecying and tongues, were to cease: “Now,” says the learned divine, of the present day, “here is a plain and pointed testimony that these gifts were only intended for the early ages of the world, and were to be done away and cease.” But why not quote the following verses? Why quote half a sentence or idea and then leave it? Why not give the whole, and find out the time when these miracles, such as prophecy, healing the sick; speaking with tongues, etc., were to cease? If the divines of this day would read a little further, they would know the time and the circumstances that were to transpire, when these things should be done away. Says Paul, in the following verses—“For we know in part, and we prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” “For now, we see through a glass, darkly; but then, face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” Here, then, it is clearly foretold that when there will be no more need of prophecy, healing, speaking in tongues, etc., the day of perfection will have arrived; in other words, when the Church of God shall have overcome and be perfected, when the Church of God shall need no more Prophets, when it shall have no more sick, (for if all its members become immortal, there will be no sick to be healed, hence healing will be done away, when the Church of God all speak one language—the pure language, the language spoken by angels, restored to the earth by the Lord), there will be no need of speaking with tongues. But until that day of perfection comes, all these gifts will be necessary.

This agrees with what Paul has said in his first chapter to the Ephesians. He there informs us that these miraculous powers and gifts, which Jesus gave when he ascended up on high and led captivity captive, were given for a special purpose. He gave some Apostles, some Prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, gifts, healing; all were given for a special purpose. What was that purpose? The perfecting of the Saints.

I would ask the learned divines of the present day, have the Saints need, in this age, of anything to perfect them? Or are they already sufficiently perfected to enter into the presence of the Father? If they need perfecting, and none can deny that they do, then Apostles are needed now, Prophets are needed now, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are needed now. “Well,” says one, “we will allow that evangelists, pastors and teachers are needed now; we have not done them away, we have abundance of teachers and pastors, but we do not believe in Apostles and Prophets now.” Why not? Did not the same Apostle tell us in the same verse, that Apostles and Prophets, as well as evangelists, pastors and teachers, were given, when Jesus ascended on high, for the perfecting of the Saints? Why, then, do you separate them, and say, that the two first-named are not now necessary, and that the other three are so? Why do you do this? In order to be consistent with the unreasonableness of this generation, and to comply with their traditions. You have not got Apostles, you have not got Prophets, and you must have some excuse in order to do them away, and your excuse is, that they are not needed now. Prove it, you cannot, it is beyond your power. You have no evidence, no testimony whatever by which you can prove it. With all the testimony in favor of your position which you can bring forward, I can prove that pastors, evangelists, teachers, Bishops, deacons, Elders and every other officer of the Church of Christ, which you believe in are not needed now, as easily as you can prove that Apostles and Prophets are not needed now. Just as much evidence can be adduced in favor of one position as the other; and the fact is, there is no evidence for either. They were all given for the perfecting of the Saints and the work of the ministry, and they were to continue until the day of perfection arrived; and the moment you say they are not necessary, you virtually say the work of the ministry is not necessary; and why, then, do you administer? They were given not only for the perfecting of the Saints and the work of the ministry, but for the edifying of the body of Christ, which is the Church. Take away Apostles, inspired of God, take away Prophets who foretell future events, and you take away the means which God has ordained for the edification of his body—his Church, and that body or Church can not be perfected.

Another object, Paul informs us, for which these gifts were given, was that the Saints might come to the unity of the faith, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Take away these gifts, and what is your condition? You are in the same condition which Paul speaks of in the very next verse—“carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of man, by cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait, to deceive.” The gifts were given to prevent the people from being carried about by every wind of doctrine. Take away these gifts—the gift of revelation, prophecy and miracles, which were enjoyed by the Saints in ancient days, and the people are liable to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine that may be sounded in their ears. Why? Because they are entirely governed by the opinions of men. One man has his opinion, and he tries to substantiate it by his learning; another man has an opposite opinion and he tries to substantiate it, and as neither of them is inspired by the power of the Holy Ghost, neither having the gift of prophecy or revelation, each, so far as he can, gains influence and power over his neighbors, and gathers together a body of people and pronounces them the Church of Christ. But God has nothing to do with them. He never called them the Church of Christ, he never spoke to them, never sent an angel to them, never gave them a vision, never sent a Prophet or an Apostle to them—he has nothing to do with them—they are not his Church, never were nor ever can be, only by repentance and turning to the Lord, and receiving the Holy Ghost, which is the spirit of prophecy. He that has the testimony of Jesus, has the spirit of prophecy. Paul has declared to us that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. A man may have the tradition that Jesus is the Lord, but he does not know the fact except by the power of the Holy Ghost, and the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy—it makes a Prophet of him who has it.

This is what the Latter-day Saints believe. We have no new gospel to offer to the world. We have come forth, sent by the Almighty, to testify against the new gospels that have been introduced, which have only the form of godliness, and deny the power that was manifested in the ancient Church. We have come to testify against false doctrines; we are sent for this express purpose, and also to testify boldly against the wickedness and abominations of the professed Christian world, as well as of those who make no profession. God has commanded us to lift up our voices and spare not, to bear testimony against all their wickedness and their false doctrines, which we have endeavored to do, without asking any favor of the children of men. God has not sent us to bow and cringe to the traditions and false ideas of the children of men, he sent us to bear down, in plain testimony, against their wickedness and the corruptions which they are all the time practicing, and have been for generations, before high heaven and the whole world.

We then say, to all the world, that if they will repent of their sins, humble themselves, become as little children in the sight of God; if they will turn away from their false doctrines, and believe in Jesus, who was crucified in ancient days, with all their hearts, and receive his Gospel, they shall not only receive the remission of their sins, but the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the signs, anciently promised to the believers, shall follow them. Every creature in all the world who will obey the Gospel, will enjoy more or less of the gifts which God has promised. If all do not enjoy them, they may know that they are unbelievers, for Jesus has said that these signs shall follow them that believe, and he did not mean the; Apostles alone. Let us quote the language, that you may see that he meant every believer in all the world. He said to the eleven Apostles—“Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,”—every creature, recollect—“he that believeth,”—that is, every creature, in all the world, that believeth, “and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall he damned.”

Here was the division line. Mark the next promise—“These signs shall follow them that believe.” They were not to follow a few individuals in Jerusalem, not the Apostles to whom he was then speaking alone, but them that believe in all the world. “I give unto them a promise that they shall be saved; and I not only promise them salvation, but certain signs shall follow them—in my name they”—these believers—“shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.”

Here is the way by which every person may find out whether he is a believer in Christ or not. The whole Christian world can test themselves, and find out whether they are believers in Christ or not. If these signs follow, they are believers; if these signs do not follow, they are not believers, neither are the Latter-day Saints. None of us are believers unless these signs follow us; for Jesus promised them to every creature in all the world who believes; hence the promise includes people now alive, as well as those who lived in former ages. And woe be to all the inhabitants of the earth, because of their unbelief; because they have done away the power of godliness; because they have done away the power of the ancient Gospel, and have turned aside after the doctrines of men; and yet hypocritically—perhaps some of them sincerely—call themselves the Church of Christ, and believers. Shame on the world! Amen.

The Authority to Preach, etc.

George Q. Cannon

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, August 10, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

A great many duties delvolve [devolve] upon us, of which we have to be constantly reminded. There are no people within the range of my acquaintance, to whom so much instruction has been imparted concerning the various duties devolving upon them, as to the Latter-day Saints. The best talent of the community is at their service. All the wisdom which God has given has been freely bestowed upon the people without money and without price; and, as has been remarked upon this Stand repeatedly, there is an independence about the Elders of this Church in preaching the Gospel unto the Saints and unto the world, that is not to be witnessed among the ministers of any other denomination. The reason of this is, that the ministers of the Latter-day Saints do not live upon the people, and are not dependent upon their favor for salaries to sustain them, and there is a consequent freedom in discussing measures of a monetary character, for the general good, when, under other circumstances, a delicacy might be felt.

We read in the Scriptures that Jesus Christ, in speaking with his disciples, asked them whom he, the Son of Man, was. Peter answered him that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus then said to Peter, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father, who is in heaven. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Here was great power and authority given unto a man. It might be said that this was one-man power, Peter having the authority to bind on earth and it should be bound in heaven, to loose on earth and it should be loosed in heaven; but yet, these are the words of the Son of God unto one of his Apostles.

Now, what did this authority consist of? Can anybody tell outside the Church of Jesus Christ? Can anybody outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints understand the saying of Malachi, where he predicts that, “The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple?” Do they understand why Temples are built now, or for what purpose they were built in ancient days? Can they tell how the authority, which was conferred upon Peter, was exercised by him, or in what way it could be exercised by any man who might possess it? All these things are mysteries to the so-called Christian world, but God, in his mercy and condescension, has revealed them again, and as we frequently say to the Latter-day Saints, and not to them alone, for this is no monopoly of knowledge, God has not created a monopoly in organizing this Church, he is willing to extend this knowledge unto all the inhabitants of the earth, without money and without price. It is this which causes the Latter-day Saints to be so firmly united, and which makes them willing, if necessary, to suffer persecution when it overtakes them. It was this knowledge which bound the ancient Saints together, and which caused them to endure martyrdom gladly and joyfully in view of the blessings which they knew were in store for the faithful.

While brother George A. Smith was speaking, I could not help but think of the wonderful work that is being wrought in this generation among the children of men, in consequence of the power that has been wielded through the erection and completion of Temples and the administration of ordinances therein. Men wonder how it is that the Latter-day Saints are so united. They say this is a most wonderful phenomenon. They attribute it all to President Young. They say that he has a wonderful intellect, that he is a good organizer, that he possesses great executive ability and administrative power, and that through the gifts and endowments which he possesses, the works which we see and the union that is everywhere manifest among the Latter-day Saints are produced. But we who are connected with the Church, while we do not wish to detract in the least from the merit which is due to him as a servant of God and a faithful laborer in his cause through all the years of his life since he first became acquainted with the truth; while we do not wish to lessen the merit of these labors, or to detract in the least degree from them, we understand principle better than to give the glory to man. It is God who originated and who has preserved this work, and who has built it up, and developed in the hearts of the children of men this long dormant and long lost principle which binds them one to another as we are bound together; and there is no people on the face of the earth before whom there is so bright and glorious a prospect for this life and also for the life which is to come, as the Latter-day Saints, through the blessings of the Gospel which God has revealed.

We live in a different day to the ancients. They had before them the prospect of martyrdom and the overthrow of the work with which they were connected. But in these days God has given unto us different promises. These are the last days, and he has said that his kingdom shall triumph in the last days; it shall not be overthrown or go into the hands of another people. Our Prophets have been slain, the blood of Saints has been shed, but these scenes shall not long continue. There may be other blood shed; there may be other sacrifices offered, and other requirements of this kind made, or rather the Adversary may have power to effect bloody results of this character, but they will be short-lived. The days of the triumph of the wicked are numbered. They can not prevail over this work for any length of time. It will grow and increase and spread abroad until it fills the whole earth, and we and our children after us will enjoy the earth and all the blessings thereof, according to the predictions of the holy Prophets.

The prospect, then, before us, concerning this life is a different one from that which presented itself before others who have preceded us. And the prospects for eternity are as bright and glorious as any that were ever presented to any of the children of men. We are sent here, for what purpose? To eat and drink, to clothe ourselves and to build houses, and to live and die like the beasts? Is that the object for which God has sent us here? By no means. This is a low view to take of existence. God has revealed to us, to a certain extent, the object of our existence.—We are his children—the children of Deity, with deity and godlike aspirations within us. We have these aspirations in common with all his children, and it is right and proper that we should have them. Every man has a desire to rule, govern and control; some men, to gratify their ambition in this respect, have trod bloody paths and have trampled down their fellow men in their march to power, and when attained it has been of short continuance. But God has revealed to us a principle by which we can attain to dominion and power without having to do as they have done. He has revealed to us the Gospel, which tells us that if we are faithful here over a few things he will make us ruler over many.

Many men wonder how it is that we can believe in celestial marriage. We believe in it because it lies at the foundation of all future greatness. If a man rule in heaven he will rule over his own posterity. The Apostle John, said that they sang a new song in heaven—“And hast made us unto our God kings and Priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” Reign on the earth! This was the song. Over whom were they to reign? Over whom more properly than their families? The authority to seal wives to husbands for time and all eternity is the authority that is restored by the everlasting Priesthood, and this is the authority that was given to Peter, by which children can be sealed and joined to their parents for time and for all eternity until they realize the blessing that was pronounced upon Abraham, when the Lord said unto him that, as the stars of heaven were countless for multitude, or the sands on the sea shore could not be numbered, so his seed should be and he should rule over them. This was the blessing which was pronounced upon him, and it is the blessing that has been pronounced upon every faithful man who has lived in a day when the Priesthood was upon the earth. Why wonder, then, at Latter-day Saints having this view, this anticipation? Why should they hesitate one moment to contribute all their means to build Temples, and to accomplish the work of God? We should be thankful all the day long for the blessings which God has bestowed upon us, and should be willing to use all our means for the accomplishment of his work upon the earth, no matter what enterprises. we may be called upon to support, whether it be to build Temples, send for the poor, or any thing else.

Arizona has been mentioned. The President, in his remarks this morning, alluded to Arizona, and to the labors of our pioneering brethren in that Territory. I was very much pleased to hear what he said in relation to that. I am thankful to see that, in his remarks, there was no disposition to let up, or to say, “I am in years now, and I will lay back and take my ease and leave the burden of this work to younger men, who ought to step forward and shoulder it.” He has the spirit of the pioneer in him as much to-day, probably, as he ever had. I am thankful that God fills him with this zeal and strength. I believe it was a true remark, that if he had been in Arizona, there would have been good places found for settlement. I have no doubt there will be yet. But there is one thing that we must understand, that with our present surroundings, and at least while in the circumstances in which we are at present placed, good countries are not for us. The worst places in the land we can probably get, and we must develop them. If we were to find a good country, how long would it be before the wicked would want it, and seek to strip us of our possessions? If there be deserts in Arizona, thank God for the deserts. If there be a wilderness, there, thank God for the wilderness, as we thanked him for these mighty ramparts and those extensive plains which we had to cross when we came here. We thanked him for them, because a mob could not come, as they did from Carthage, and take away our Prophet and the Saints and hail them to prison and destroy them as they did then. When we came here I thanked God for the isolation of these mountains; I thanked him for the grandeur of the hills and bulwarks which he had reared around us. I thanked him for the deserts and waste places of this land: and we have all, doubtless, thanked Him many times therefor[e], and when we go hence to extend our borders, we must not expect to find a land of orange or lemon groves, a land where walnut trees and hard timber abound; where bees are wild and turkeys can be had for the shooting. It is vain for us to expect to settle in such a land at the present time. But if we find a little oasis in the desert where a few can settle, thank God for the oasis, and thank him for the almost interminable road that lies between that oasis and so-called civilization.

We expect there will be settlements made through all that country. The time must come when the Latter-day Saints, and when I say Latter-day Saints, I include all the honest who will yet embrace the Gospel, when the Latter-day Saints will extend throughout all North and South America, and we shall establish the rule of righteousness and good order throughout all these new countries.

The President is desirous that a hundred men, supplied with provisions sufficient to last the winter, should go down to the southern country, and bestow their labors on building the Temple at St. George. If there could not be good places found in Arizona for settlements, there was a good opportunity to stay and help to build that Temple; and it is to be regretted that the brethren, although so eager to come back, did not stay until word could have been sent that they might stop and help the people of the South. If they had done this they might have done a good work, they would have been on hand for anything further that might have been required of them. Suppose we all were to allow ourselves to be deterred from accomplishing missions by apparent difficulties, how long would it be before the influence and prestige which ought to attend the efforts of the Elders would be lost? We have had a reputation, heretofore, of accomplishing everything of this kind that we undertook. But let us be faint-hearted and we lose our influence and power both with God and man. All our labors have to be works of faith. When we are told to do a thing, we should go to work believing, as Nephi says, that God never gives a commandment unto the children of men save he prepares a way whereby they shall fulfill that commandment. He never yet sent a man to do a work without giving him power to accomplish it. We can do these things if we will. We can build up the kingdom of God on the earth, and we can train our children in the love of this work, and we can surround them by a wall that no power can surmount or break down. I am thankful that we are thus situated, although to some the prospects appear gloomy. Many of our enemies say that “Mormonism” is in its last ditch, and it will soon be overthrown I am willing that every one should have that opinion who wishes to entertain it. If they wish to delude themselves with such ideas, all right. But I say to the Latter-day Saints, we have not yet reached the last ditch; neither shall we if we will do what we ought to do, and obey the counsel that has been given unto us during these two day’s meetings, and that is given to us every Sunday and at all our meetings. There is no power on the face of the earth that can withstand our efforts, or that can prevail against us. We have truth, unity, temperance and virtue; we have the power of God; we have the promises of the Almighty in our behalf, and there is no power that can prevail against a people who will practice the principles which are taught unto us.

But I will tell you what causes me, as an individual, to fear—when I see fifty, a hundred or two hundred persons come to meeting; when I see men who ought to be at meeting attending to their duties, going off into the country on excursions; when I hear of their doing something that will detain them from meeting, and see the meetings neglected, and the idea growing up—“Well, it is a day of rest, I am tired and weary”—as though they could not obtain rest in coming to the house of the Lord and serving him on the Lord’s day. These acts, this negligence, causes fear sometimes to come into my heart, and I expect it has the same effect on our brethren. I deplored, in my feelings, the suspension of our forenoon meetings. I think it is a bad sign. We had a School of the Prophets here, to which most of the Elders were invited, and which they attended. That had to be suspended. These meetings on the Sunday morning had to be suspended. What more will have to be suspended or withdrawn? I have thought, unless the people of this city arouse themselves, change their course and are more diligent, that it might not be long until the presiding Priesthood would be prompted to move from this city; not that the authority of the Priesthood will be withdrawn. These things are painful in the chief city of Zion, and they are not such indications as I like to witness. Yesterday there was a meeting appointed; but instead of attending it, the brethren were engaged in haying and every kind of labor. They can do this, of course, if they wish; but it does not look very well when a meeting is appointed, and the Apostles suspend their labors and come here to teach you, for you to stay away, thinking your employments are of such importance that you cannot spend time at meeting. Men and women who entertain this feeling and take this course ought to be ashamed of themselves! It is treating the men who preside over you with disrespect, for which, if you could realize, you would be ready to apologize.

You cannot be too careful in relation to our duties. This is a day when every one should be diligent in the performance of duties, and should attend to them strictly. You should invoke the blessing of God upon your habitation, and upon your children, that they may grow up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Every boy in this community should feel that he would rather lay down his life than sacrifice his virtue or indulge in unvirtuous actions. We have to guard against the bad examples seen around us. Mothers, teach your girls the value of virtue and chastity. Inquire into their movements, and guard them as you would the most precious jewels which God could give unto you. Fathers, talk with your sons, and fortify them against temptation. Let them flee lust, for I tell you that, as true as we live, the words of God will be fulfilled, that he that looks upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith unless he repents. We know that this is so. I know it, by seeing young men grow up from boyhood in this Church until the present time. I think about numbers I was acquainted with in my boyhood. Where are they? They have lost the faith. Elders have lost the faith who have taken a course of this kind. It is a damning sin, and wherever indulged in it banishes the Spirit of God. No man can retain the faith without the Holy Ghost, and no man can retain the Holy Ghost who takes a course of this kind. Be warned of these things, if you wish to hold on in the faith and to sit down with the fathers in the kingdom of God.

Then abstain from lust, and everything which would lead thereto. No matter how wild and rowdy our boys may be, and many of them are so, I do not care for such rowdiness and wildness, if it is not associated with unvirtuous actions. A man may be as nice, to all appearance, as a human being can be, so far as externals are concerned, and yet, if he lack virtue, he is like a whited sepulchre. God is not with such a man, and God will damn this generation for the course they take in relation to women. That is their crying, damning sin.

Let us guard against it. Let us watch our children. Let us prevent the ingress of crime. Let us guard our own hearts, and endeavor to secure the portals of the hearts of our children that evil suggestions, from whatever source, may never take root therein.

That God may bless and preserve us, and deliver Zion from all her enemies, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Manifestations of God’s Power, in Behalf of His People in Modern Times, Are Different From Those of Former Ages, etc.

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden, Saturday morning, August 16, 1873.Reported by James Taylor.

I have been called upon, but a few minutes ago, to address the congregation who are here assembled, which I desire to do through your united faith and prayers in my behalf. Without the assistance of the Spirit of the Lord it is impossible for any person, in a religious capacity, to edify and instruct his fellow-beings. But, if we have the Spirit of the Lord, however imperfect our abilities may be, we are sure to edify and enlighten the people, and the person also who speaks will be edified; for it is written in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, “He that speaketh, as well as those who hear, will be mutually edified together,” if the Spirit of the Lord is poured out from on high upon us. It is said in another revelation that “the Spirit of the Lord is given by the prayer of faith.” Faith is required on the part of the people to obtain all blessings of a spiritual nature. And in order to have faith it is important that we should do the will of God, otherwise our faith will be very weak indeed. He that doeth his master’s will, and has within him the desire to work righteousness, can approach the Lord in faith; but if we do not keep his commandments, and have not this desire, and do not do his will, our faith becomes exceedingly small indeed.

It is, in my estimation, very similar to what we see transpire here on the earth, between parents and children. When children become rebellious, and do not perform the will of their parents, it is with a very small degree of confidence that they come before their parents and seek for any kind of favor or blessing. They come trembling, doubting. They know that their conduct has been such as to prevent them from receiving favors which they especially desire. Sometimes, perhaps, the father will grant the petition of a rebellious son, when he has sufficient confidence to offer up a petition to his parent. But if that rebellious son has so far strayed from the parent that he has no confidence to approach him, and does not offer up any petition to the parent, it is very doubtful about the parent’s taking into consideration his wants, in some respects, and bestowing the favors which he really desires. So it is between us and our heavenly Father.

Sometimes people, through their transgressions, through their disobedience, through their rebellion to the principles that God has revealed, may have lost their faith to that degree that they will not go before their Father, will not pretend to ask him for a favor, thinking that their transgressions are too great, and that the Lord will not favor them. In this condition it is doubtful indeed if the Lord takes into consideration their peculiar wants, and the especial blessings which they would be glad to receive.

How many are the commandments and instructions which God has given to this people? We have been blest in this generation with an abundance of the manifestations of the spiritual blessings of the kingdom. Perhaps there never was a people since the world began that have had as much information, in so short a period of time, from their organization, as what the Church of the Latter-day Saints have had. When we take into consideration this one book, the Book of Mormon, which God has, in mercy, brought forth, and the information that is contained therein, and combine this information with the Jewish record of the Old and New Testament, and then in connection with these two books, the revelations that are contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; all the information that is, and that has been given from time to time in that book. Then, in addition to these three books, all the revelations that, God has delivered to us by the mouths of his servants from time to time, some of which have been published, others have not been published, but are still considered by this people as sacred as the things that are published. I say when we take into consideration this flood of light and intelligence that has burst forth upon the world, in the period of about forty years, we may say that we have been blest so far as light and information are concerned, far beyond any other people with whom we are acquainted. It is true we have not the full history of all the various dispensations, and all the manifestations of the mercy and goodness and power of God among those different peoples and nations in ages past. We could not say of a certainty how much information God may have imparted in those dispensations. We read in some revelations what God has given about the organization of ancient Zion. In the seventh generation from the creation—from the days of Adam—we read about the preaching of Enoch. How he went forth and prophesied to the nations. How he built up the Church among the various nations. How they built up Zion. In the history of this ancient Zion, we find that Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness, three hundred and sixty-five years, before Zion was prepared for a translation. How much was revealed during that time we do not know, no doubt much was given; but I doubt whether there was one hundredth part of the information communicated, during the first forty years of the existence of ancient Zion, which has been communicated to us, as a people, in our day.

Sometimes we find it to be the case, that God manifests his goodness and mercy to a people, not in the way of revelation, but in the way of power, without much information. We find this to be the case among ancient Israel. They had been slaves in Egypt for a long period. They had been taught, from their childhood up, to work mortar and make brick, and toil and labor for the Egyptians—their taskmasters. During this period of time they had not the opportunity of learning much. There must be a little leisure granted that the mind may be taught, instructed and educated; but it seems that their whole education for two or three generations, or for a long time after they were brought into bondage, was given to them by their task-masters—how to form bricks or adobies, or whatever it might be—hard labor. If they had a little leisure, instead of using it in treasuring up the knowledge of God, they needed it to recuperate their physical systems, that they might rest from their labors, and go again and drudge on the morrow.

This seems to have been the condition of Israel in the land of Goshen, in Egypt. Consequently, when Moses went down to Egypt, he found an ignorant people. It is true they kept up the form of the Priesthood among them. Before the Priesthood of Aaron was confined to that particular tribe, we have an account of this Priesthood being in existence. After they were led through the Red Sea, before the Lord set apart Aaron and his sons, before he confined the Priesthood to Levi, when the children of Israel came and camped before Mount Sinai, we recollect that there was a strict law given. The Lord told them that he was about to descend on Mount Sinai, and he charged the people that they should not break over certain bounds lest they should perish, for if any person or beast should touch the Mount, they should be stoned to death. The people, being ignorant and not fully acquainted with the strictness of the commandments of the Most High, a curiosity was excited, and some of the congregation, when Moses went up to Mount Sinai, wanted to draw near, and the Lord sent Moses down to charge the people again a second time. And the Priests were commanded that they should not break through lest they should perish. What Priesthood? Not a Priesthood that was confined to Levi, or to the descendants of Aaron, or to Aaron himself; but it was a Priesthood that existed among Israel. That same Priesthood that is mentioned in one of the revelations in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, where in speaking of the two Priesthoods, it says that they continue together in the Church of God, in all generations, when God has a people upon the face of the earth; not confined to any special lineage, so far as the Priesthood is concerned. Go down and charge the PRIESTS, that they do not break through. This organization may have existed through all the period of the slavery of the children of Israel, for several generations, although we cannot suppose that they had been fully instructed. They had no printed records as we have. They had not a large collection of books, in the form of Jewish Bibles, to which to refer for information. They had not a large collection of books similar to the Book of Mormon, for printing was not then known. If any of their scribes found a little leisure to write off some of the revelations, it would be only a stray copy or two that would be in the hands of the children of Israel. We can therefore see the difference between them and the Latter-day Saints. They were permitted to enjoy, in a special manner, the power of the Almighty in their midst. This shows that in some of the dealings of God, he manifests his power, if he does not manifest his revelations.

There is a great deal of danger when the people see a great deal of power existing in their midst. For the want of experience and information, for the want of more knowledge, there is a liability to sin against all of this power that may be made manifest in their midst; and this would bring sudden destruction. This is no doubt the reason why God did, in so short a time, send forth such swift judgments upon the heads of the children of Israel. They had seen the manifestations of his power while they were in Egypt; they passed through the Red Sea, and then beheld the glory of God upon Mount Sinai. If they would suffer themselves to reject this power thus made manifest, it brought speedy destruction upon them.

When Moses was on the Mount, they made a golden calf. We no doubt are led to wonder why it was, while the glory of God rested on the Mount, and while the Lord was thus showing forth his omnipotent power—we are led to wonder why it was—that they should build golden calves, and fall down and worship them. It was because of their ignorance. This glory appeared to them on the Mount like a natural phenomenon. Some natural cause, perhaps, was assigned. They saw the clouds as we see clouds upon our mountains. They might have thought that there was a volcanic eruption on the Mount, and concluded there was no God in it; and therefore, that they needed to make gods of their own finger rings, and fall down and worship them.

The consequence was that the Lord sent Moses down out of the Mount again. And he threatened that he would destroy the whole nation, and make of Moses a great nation. But Moses quoted the promises that the Lord had made to their fathers, and the Lord concluded to hearken to the words of Moses and spare the people. Moses went down, and as he drew near, he heard a great noise, and he saw them dancing around a golden calf, and they were stripped naked. And thus they had turned their hearts away from the Lord.

Now instead of bearing all this, the Lord inspired Moses to say to the people, let those who are on the Lord’s side come forth; put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. On this occasion great destruction came on them, because of their transgression. It was among a people that had been enlightened only by miracles, signs and wonders. We find this to be the case throughout all the sojourn of the children of Israel in the wilderness. They would become rebellious; and the Lord had to send forth judgments, miraculous judgments upon them from time to time. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness. Sometimes a terrible plague would break out, and the only way that Aaron could stay the plague was to get between them and the plague, and offer up sacrifices. The flying serpents that infested that great wilderness would destroy them, and the only way there was to be healed, was to look upon a brazen serpent. And, after all, what was their information? What was their knowledge concerning the things of the kingdom of God? The very knowledge that they had when they came forth out of Egypt, the knowledge of the Gospel, of its first principles—even that knowledge seems to have been taken from them, and a law of carnal commandments given to them instead.

The Lord, in this dispensation, is beginning to operate a little differently from what he has done in former ages. In the first place he performs some small miracles, such as unstopping the ears of the deaf, and causing the lame to walk, the dumb to speak, some fevers to be rebuked, some plagues to be stayed, and devils and unclean spirits to be cast out. Instead of coming down upon a mountain, and causing the earth to shake by his power; and instead of showing forth a pillar of fire by night, and a cloud by day, he has taken a different course: “First, give the people knowledge, give them understanding, show unto them the principles of my Gospel, the principles of my law, make them strong in the knowledge of God, and show forth but very little power in their midst.” This seems to be wisdom, that we may have knowledge proportionate to the power that is made manifest, that when he does show forth his power, we may turn not our hearts away from him. In the beginning of this work it seemed to be necessary that certain persons should be raised up to bear witness to the Book of Mormon—of its divinity, that the work might be commenced. But did the Lord continue to send forth his angels? Oh, no. After he had raised up three witnesses in 1829, angels’ visits became more scarce, because the people were not prepared for them. Even these three witnesses were not prepared for a day of trial; for they turned from the Lord, and fell into transgression, and did not keep the commandments of God. What was the matter with them? They had greater power made manifest in their midst, than they had knowledge to keep them in the faith. If they had had more knowledge, it would not have overthrown them. We find that Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris beheld the plates that were translated, and heard the voice of the Lord out of heaven, proclaiming in their ears that the translation had been performed by the gift and power of God. And they put their testimony in writing, and it went forth. But this was too great a power for the little knowledge that they had. And the consequences were that they had trials, and these trials overpowered them. But we never have heard that these witnesses have denied their testimony. Because they were not all the time beholding the power of God made manifest, they fell away. Now this should be a lesson to the Latter-day Saints, that when we do see some small miracles wrought, we should strive to strengthen ourselves up in the spirit of our religion, with light and knowledge and information—to gain all that we possibly can, that we may be spiritually strengthened; a miracle is external to the senses, and has only an exciting effect upon the mind. Unless it is accompanied by the Spirit of the living God in the heart, what are we benefitted? We are able to bear testimony to what our eyes have seen, but where are we benefitted, unless the Holy Ghost is shed forth in our hearts?

Moreover, God has determined that in our day he will manifest his power again. When I say our day, I ought to say in the days of this last dispensation of the fullness of times. Before it closes up, it will turn out to be one of the most magnificent eras ever manifested to the world, so far as power is concerned. The Lord has taken this method for forty years past, to prepare us for what is coming. And if we will treasure up what the Lord has given, and suffer his will to be written in our hearts, and printed on our thoughts, and give heed to the teachings and counsel of the living oracles in our own midst, we will be prepared, that when the day of power does come, we shall not be overthrown.

Now, that there is a day of power coming, every Latter-day Saint, who is acquainted with the predictions of the Prophets, is certain. He is expecting that it will come in the time specified in those revelations. God has said to us, in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, then cometh the day of my power. “Thy people will be willing,” says one of the ancient Prophets, “in the day of thy power.” The Elders of this Church have gone forth among many nations. They rejoice in the power that is made manifest, in some measure. God has said that they should go and preach the Gospel to all nations of the earth; and that signs should follow them that believe. In my name they shall do many wonderful works. In my name they shall cast out devils, speak in other tongues; and the eyes of the blind shall be opened. The Elders have found this to be true. As far as the people have had faith, they have seen this power, in some measure, displayed. But this can not be said, comparatively, to be the day of his power. When the day of the power of the Lord shall come, then will be a time when not only the sick, the lame and the blind, but also the very elements will be wrought upon by the power of God, as the Lord has spoken, and be subservient to the commands of his servants. Will the waters be divided? O yes. We are told, in the prophecies of Isaiah,’ that when the house of Israel shall return to their own country, he will strike the river Nile, in the seven great channels, by which it enters into the Mediterranean Sea. Instead of taking them above these seven different channels, he will make a road through the seven channels of the river Nile; and the people of Israel will go again dry shod, as they did anciently. In the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, and the 15th verse, we read that “the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea,” not the main body of the sea. Those who are acquainted with the north portion of the Red Sea know there are two prongs, one is called the tongue of the Egyptian Sea; and the children of Israel shall go through dry shod, and through the seven channels of the river Nile, as did Israel in the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.

Here will be a miracle wrought greater than that of speaking in tongues or the healing of the sick—more convincing in its nature. When this is done together with many other things, the children of Israel will no longer feel themselves under the necessity of referring to the day when the Lord wrought wonders as they came up out of the land of Egypt. You know it has been a saying with the Jews some thousands of years, that the God of Israel lives. “We do not worship the kind of god which you heathens worship. We worship that God that divided the waters, that came down on Mount Sinai.” They always refer back to miracles four thousand years old, that their God is a God of miracles. This ancient proverb is to be done away, in modern Israel. Instead of referring back to ancient miracles, it will be said, “The Lord liveth that brought the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from the countries he has driven them to the land of their fathers.” That will be the time when Israel will be willing. All Israel will be willing to acknowledge the power and glory of that God whom they serve. It seems that the Lord is going to enact over again, a thing that he did after they came through the Red Sea. After they came through the Red Sea, the Lord brought the children of Israel into the wilderness, and kept them there forty years, so that all the people perished except Joshua and Caleb. When the Lord brings the people of the House of Israel, in the latter-days, instead of taking them direct to the land of Palestine, he brings them forth into the wilderness again, which you will find recorded in the 20th chap. Ezekiel. “I will bring you into the wilderness, and plead with you face to face.” Now if the Lord did plead with them face to face in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, and gave them revelations there, if his presence, at first was with them, and was not taken from them at the first, so will he do again—he will plead with them face to face.

I do not think, however, that they will, in the latter days, so far transgress, as to bring upon themselves the curse that came on their fathers, in ancient times; for then he took from them the glories of the covenant of the Gospel, and introduced another covenant, the covenant of the law. The first tables of stone, we are informed by the inspired translator, contained, not only many instructions for the government of the people, but revelations containing the Gospel of the Son of God; the principles of the higher law, that were calculated to cause all who obeyed the same, to enter into his rest, which rest was the fullness of his glory. These tables were broken to pieces, because of the worship of a golden calf. The first covenant was broken. And when Moses went into the mount a second time, the ten commandments were the only things that were contained on the second tables, that were on the first. But in addition to that, was added the law of carnal commandments. Hence the Gospel was taken away. Its higher ordinances were withheld. The higher Priesthood was withheld. The system that was intended to make them a kingdom of Priests was withheld. And they were left with the law of carnal commandments. A law by which they could not live. Statutes which were not good, and judgments whereby they could not live. But in the latter days we have reason to believe that the children of Israel will never experience such a curse as this. That the presence of the Lord will not be withdrawn from them as it was then. But coming again to the 20th chapter of Ezekiel, we find that after the Lord has brought them into the wilderness, we are informed that “he will bring them into the bonds of the covenant, not the law of carnal commandments, but into the bonds of the new and everlasting Covenant” that will be renewed for them. That will be something binding. “I will bring them into the covenant, and purge out the rebellious that shall be among you. They shall not enter into the land of promise, he will not let them get in. God did these things in ancient times, and foretold what he would do in the latter days.

We have been brought here as the beginning of the great latter-day kingdom—brought from the nations—established in these lofty regions of our continent—in these mountain valleys. We have been brought here, and instructed, and taught for many years. In what? Not in a law of carnal commandments. I think I will take a portion of that back. I will say that we have been instructed in the law, the principles of the new and everlasting covenant, which has not as yet been taken from us; but in addition to that, because of the hardness of our hearts, we are deprived of some blessings that pertain to this new and everlasting covenant. Do you wish to know what blessings have been withheld from us, that pertain to the higher law? I will tell you. In the year 1831, soon after God first established this Church, when he took his servant, Joseph, the Prophet, and many of the first Elders of this Church, and brought them together in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and pointed out to them where the city of the New Jerusalem should be built, and when the Temple should be located, certain laws were revealed. These laws, if adopted, were calculated to make this people of one heart and mind, not in doctrine alone, not in some spiritual things alone, not in a few outward ordinances alone, but to make them one in regard to their property. God pointed out certain laws in 1831, and which were more fully revealed in 1832, and in 1833, he told us what the order of the kingdom was, in regard to our property. Now what was the law? The Lord ordained that every man who came up from the churches abroad to that choice land, where the Zion of God is to be built in the latter days should consecrate all his properties. In what way? How consecrate it? In what form? Now in this Territory we have had a form of consecration, some have complied with that form, but where is there a man who has been called upon to comply with it in reality. The law was, consecrate all of your properties, whether it be gold, or silver, or mules, or wagons, or carriages, or store goods, or anything that had any wealth in it—all was to be consecrated, to come to the Lord’s store house. Agents were appointed to receive these consecrations. Not consecrate to any man, or to these agents, but consecrate to the Lord, for his storehouse. Now, I ask, did not that make us all equal? Supposing that a man came to Jackson County, with five hundred thousand dollars, and another came with five dollars. If both of these persons consecrated all that they had, would they not stand on a platform of equality? Both of them worth nothing at all. So far as property is concerned they were equal. Now after this consecration, what then? We were not counted really worthy to receive bonafide inheritances immediately, but I will tell you what we were counted worthy of, we were worthy of being the Lord’s stewards, as you will read in many places in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. What is a steward? Is he a bona-fide owner of property? No. If I were called upon to be a steward over a certain farm or factory, the business is not my own, I am only as an agent or steward to take charge of the concern, and act upon it, as a wise steward, and to render up my account to somebody. The Book of Covenants informs us that it is required at the hand of every steward to render an account of his stewardship, both in time and in eternity. To whom? To those whom God selects and appoints. If it be the first presidency of the Church in connection with the Bishop; then these are the proper agents to whom a strict account of that stewardship must be rendered. But how do we become stewards? Let us inquire into this. How were the people, after they have consecrated as the law required—how were they to become stewards? The Lord’s agents, the Bishops, that had a knowledge of the things of God, were to purchase lands by this consecrated property, from the General Government, or from individuals, as the case might be. They were to purchase wagons, mules, and all that was requisite to carry on mechanical business, and stores, according to the amount of property consecrated and put into their hands. This was to be done by the Lord’s agents, and those whom they should call upon to assist. When all this land, and tools and machinery, and horses, and sheep, and so forth, are procured out of the Lord’s money; what then? Does every man receive an exact equality, or amount of this property? No. Why not? Because some men have more ability for managing a stewardship than other men. Some men perhaps all their lifetime have been accustomed to carrying on great establishments and know how to conduct great establishments. Is it to be supposed that such a man would be limited to the same amount of stewardship as the man who has fifty acres of land? It may require twenty, or a hundred times the amount of stewardship to be placed in the hands of such a man, than what is required of other stewards who manage farming only. Does. not that make them unequal? No. They are all stewards. The property belongs to the Lord. But, inquires one, does not this man of great capability have more of the luxuries of life? No. Because he has to give an account of his steward. ship to the Bishop, and if this man of high capability has made at the end of the year a hundred thousand dollars, he is required to hand in an account to the Bishop, at the end of the year, and if there have been made a hundred thousand dollars, clear gain, does the man own it? No. It is brought to the Lord’s store house. The poor man that has gained fifty dollars extra from his farm hands in his fifty dollars and an account of his stewardship. If the man that has handled a five hundred thousand dollar stewardship has used it improperly, the account will show. “I have done thus and so. I have purchased such and such machinery.” If he has laid out his stewardship for self-aggrandizement or unwise purposes, another man is placed in his stead. And the poor man who has gained his fifty dollars, if he has purchased any thing that is unwise and unnecessary, and he has limited himself to that fifty dollars as clear gain, he will be moved out of his stewardship; At the end of the first year all these stewardships are made equal again; it is all consecrated unto the Lord’s storehouse, they are all on an equal footing again. Then, again, during the year before these accounts are rendered up, if they are wise stewards there will be no advantage, each one will be on his guard all the time lest his stewardship is not approved of.

That is the order of heaven. That is the ancient order, and it was the order instituted in the year 1831. What did the Lord say about those who would not comply with his order? Some of our eastern farmers, when they left their homes in Vermont, or in the State of New York, and came up and saw the beauty of that land, and the depth of the soil, and the beautiful timber in Jackson County, they forgot that they were to be the Lord’s stewards, and began to think that they could use their own property, instead of complying with the law of consecration. “What a blessing it will be, said they, if I can buy up this land at a dollar and a quarter, per acre; for I can sell it out for a hundred times as much and make myself a rich man; I will not sacrifice my property.” These were some of the feelings that filled the hearts of some. But the Lord sent up a revelation, given through his servant Joseph, in Kirtland, warning the Saints against their receiving their stewardship without complying with this law of consecration. That if they would not comply with it, their names should be blotted out, and the names of their children; their names should not be had on the book of the law of the Lord. That they should perish, &c. We find that the people did not comply, and hence the Lord, in about two years and four or five months, suffered our enemies to be stirred up against us, and the Saints were driven from the land. They were driven forth, in the bleak cold month of November, to wander whithersoever they could for protection. What was the reason? The Lord tells us, he suffered this, because of our transgressions. The Lord informed us, that there was covetousness in our midst, and “for this reason I have suffered them to be removed.” The Lord commanded us to purchase all of that land, but instead of doing this, many were holding fast to their dollars, and thought that the Lord intended to cheat them out of their property, and they said—“We’ll see what the Lord will do for his people. If he will show forth his power, by and by, when all gets to be pleasant, we will take our property and go and settle down among the Saints.” They did not believe what the Lord required, hence they were scattered from synagogue to synagogue. In one of the revelations, says the Lord, “I will remember them in the day of my power, when the time shall come, but they shall suffer tribulation for a little season. And when they have been sufficiently chastened, they who remain shall return with their children to build up the waste places of Zion.”

I have related these things that we may understand wherein we have once had the privilege of complying with the celestial law in regard to our property, and wherein a great principle has been put out in our midst. In all of our wanderings the celestial law has never been put in practice, as regards our property. But the Lord has not left us any more than he did the children of Israel, when they were rebellious. Instead of entirely casting them away, and denouncing them and rejecting them as his people, he still gave ancient Israel a law. Instead of entirely rejecting us, he gave us another law. One inferior to the celestial law, called the law of Enoch. The law of Enoch is so named in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, but in other words, it is the law given by Joseph Smith, Jr. The word Enoch did not exist in the original copy; neither did some other names. The names that were incorporated when it was printed, did not exist there when the manuscript revelations were given, for I saw them myself. Some of them I copied. And when the Lord was about to have the Book of Covenants given to the world it was thought wisdom, in consequence of the persecutions of our enemies in Kirtland and some of the regions around, that some of the names should be changed, and Joseph was called Baurak Ale, which was a Hebrew word; meaning God bless you. He was also called Gazelum, being a person to whom the Lord had given the Urim and Thummim. He was also called Enoch. Sidney Rigdon was called Baneemy. And the revelation where it read so many dollars into the treasury was changed to talents. And the City of New York was changed to Cainhannoch. Therefore when I speak of the Order of Enoch, I do not mean the order of ancient Enoch I mean the Order that was given to Joseph Smith in 1832-3-4, which is a law inferior to the celestial law, because the celestial law required the consecration of all that a man had. The law of Enoch only required a part. The law of consecration in full required that all the people should consecrate everything that they had; and none were exempt. The law of Enoch called upon certain men only to consecrate.

Now did the people keep this second law—inferior to the first? The Lord picked out some of the best men in the Church, and tried them if they would keep it. “Now I will,” says he, “try the best men I have in the Church, not with the celestial law, but they shall consecrate in part, and have a common stock property among them.” And in order to stir them up to diligence, he fixed certain penalties to this law, such as, He shall be delivered up to the buffeting of Satan; sins that have been remitted shall return to him and be answered upon his head. How did they get along then? The Lord tells us that the covenant had been broken. And consequently it remained with him to do with them as seemed to him good. Many have apostatized since that day. Sidney Rigdon for one, Oliver Cowdery for another, and John Johnson for another. Why have they apostatized? They did not comply with the covenant that they made in regard to the law given to Joseph Smith, that was afterwards called the law of Enoch.

Did the Lord forsake us then? No, he had compassion upon us—still looked upon us as the latter-day kingdom—did not take the kingdom from our midst, but continued to plead with us and bear with the infirmities of the people. “Now I will, says he, “try them with another law.” So in the year 1838, he gave us another law, called the law of Tithing. Let me name now some of the conditions of Tithing, according to that law. The Lord gave a commandment that the people that came up—gathered with the Saints—should consecrate, not all their property, but all their surplus property, and after they had consecrated all their surplus property, there should be a certain portion, not called surplus, which they should retain; and out of this that is not called surplus property, they should try to make an income, and if they could make an income, they should consecrate one-tenth part of that income.

Now of you who have been in this Territory for twenty or twenty-six years, how many have complied with this law of Tithing? How many have had surplus property, over and above one-tenth part? How many would come here with fifteen or twenty thousand dollars’ worth of property, and pay one-tenth, as though this was surplus. Is that the law of Tithing? If it is, I do not understand it. If I understand the law of Tithing, it requires a man who has fifteen, or twenty, or fifty thousand dollars, when he comes up to Zion, to go up to the Lord’s agent, the Bishop, and say, “I have so much money, and so much of a family; now tell me, Bishop, how much of this is surplus property? Oh, says one, that ought; to be left to our own judgment. Our own judgment! Who in the world among all the Latter-day Saints would have any surplus property if it is left to his own judgment? How many in Ogden have given surplus property to-day? Go throughout all this town and ask them if they have surplus property. “Oh, no, I have not quite enough to carry on my business according to my own mind. I have a manufacturing establishment here, I wish I had a few thousand dollars more than I have to put in it. I want twenty thousand dollars more. I have no surplus property.” Some man starts another business, and he has no surplus property. And you may go through all the towns and villages and not find a man who has surplus property. He could not be found. Then I should judge, that the men to determine what is surplus property, and what is not, are those men whom God has ordained to this power, namely, the Bishops, who have a knowledge of these things by the power of the Holy Ghost, and by virtue of their calling. The President of this Church will be prepared to say whether a man has surplus property or not, and let him specify, and the man be satisfied. This is the law of Tithing, inferior to the full law of consecration, and also inferior to the law of Enoch.

Now for the other portion of the law of Tithing. Say a man comes here with fifty thousand dollars and it is judged by proper authority that forty thousand is surplus. He goes to work with the remaining ten thousand and gets him a farm and home, and enters into some other business, and makes not only a sufficiency for support, but finds at the year’s end that he has made a thousand dollars: he has to pay one-tenth of that, that is a hundred dollars. This is really the meaning of the word Tithing. But the surplus property, the forty thousand dollars, are consecrated as is required in the former part of the first paragraph of the revelation on Tithing.

How many of the Latter-day Saints have complied with even the least thing that God has given in property matters? Perhaps a few, and no doubt many have done well; and others have been careless; not feeling to rebel against God, but a little too careless or indifferent about paying one-tenth of their income. Now is this right? Can we be prospered as a people? Ought we not to be ashamed if we cannot comply with one of the lesser laws? It seems to be the last law, in regard to property, that God has given to save this people. We ought to ask ourselves, “Am I fulfilling this law? Am I preparing myself for the day when God shall require me to enter into the higher law?” I will say that the day will come, and is not far distant, when this higher law will be carried into effect, not only in theory but in practice. At present, God has eased up on the law in part, that is there is a revelation given in the year 1834, on Fishing River, in which the Lord says, “Let those commandments which I have given, concerning Zion and her law, be executed and fulfilled after her redemption.” That is as much as to say, “You are not prepared to keep them. If I do not now relieve you in some measure from the responsibility, they will bring you under great condemnation.” The revelation does not say that we shall not enter into that order, but we are not bound by penalties so to do. Now I believe that before the redemption of Zion, there will be a voluntary feeling to carry out the celestial law. I found my belief on the prophecies that are given in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord has said that before Zion is redeemed she shall be as fair as the sun, clear as the moon, and her banners shall be a terror to all nations. And that it is needful that Zion should be built up according to the law of the celestial kingdom, or I cannot receive her unto myself. He cannot receive her only as she is built up according to the full law of consecration. All the Zions that have ever been redeemed, from all the creations that God has made, have been redeemed upon that principle. And God has told us in the revelation given to ancient Enoch, “I have taken Zion to mine own bosom out of all the creations that I have made.” Now if he has done this—if he has selected Zions, he has done it from the different worlds, by the celestial law; and they are sanctified by the same law, and they dwell in his bosom—that is under his council and watch care, in the presence of his glory, exalted before him, all redeemed by the same law, hence partakers of the glory, the same exaltation, the same fullness in the eternal worlds. Therefore if the latter-day Zion would be counted worthy to mingle with the ancient Zion of Enoch, caught up before the flood, if they would be counted worthy, when the Zion of Enoch comes, to be caught up to meet them, and to fall upon their necks and they to fall upon the necks of the Latter-day Saints, and if they would enjoy the same glory, the same exaltation with ancient Zion, they must comply with the same law. “I can not receive Zion to myself,” saith the Lord, “unless built up by this law.”

There will be a great preparation before the redemption of Zion. Supposing we should all be returned, say this fall, or next year, to Jackson County. Say a large majority should be returned to the land of our inheritances, in Missouri, and in the regions round about, and it should be said to us, “Go ye my sons and build up Zion according to the celestial law, through the consecration of the property of my Church, as I have commanded,” would you be prepared to do this work? Have you an experience in it? Have you learned the lesson by experience? No, no; years after years have passed away since that law was given, the then middle-aged are now tottering to their graves; the youth have grown to be men, and the law has not been practiced in our midst. We have the mere letter of the law. The theory has been in existence, but who has practiced upon it? Will you take us in our ignorant state? While we have been every man for himself, and accumulating all that he could grasp, and almost neglecting the lesser law of Tithing, could it be expected that the Lord would say to a people thus situated, and without experience in these things, go back to Jackson County? There must be a preparation here; and it would not surprise me, if the Spirit of the Lord should come upon the Presidency of this people, and we should be told to enter into the higher law pertaining to our property. The Lord wishes to put it out of the power of every man to be lifted up above his brother or his sister, so far as wealth or property is concerned, by making his people equal, keeping them equal; not by a division of property, but upon the principle of stewardships. That keeps them equal. There is no chance of their becoming unequal. It is out of their power to be unequal. If a man loses all that he has by fire, and all his stock should die, the fact is, he is just as rich as all the others, because he is a steward. He owns nothing, neither do they. “But,” inquires one, “shall we never become bona fide possessors?” Yes. As we now see, children may be acting for their father, but still they are considered in the mind of the father as being the inheritors of his property at a certain time; so with the Latter-day Saints. They may be made stewards, but the time will come when they shall be bona fide inheritors. The revelation tells us when that time shall come. That when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, and after the people have proved themselves in their stewardships, and when Jesus comes in his glory, they shall be made possessors, and be made equal with him. Consequently, when the Lord promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the land of Canaan, it was no testimony that they should enter in possession of that land the next day after the promise was made. They had to wander about in it, and prove their worthiness until the time should come when they should come forth from their graves, and the earth should be transfigured and cleansed from the curse, then they should be made possessors. So with the Latter-day Saints. The Lord said on the 2nd of January, 1831, “I design to give to you a land of promise upon which there shall be no curse, when the Lord shall come: behold this is my covenant with you, that you shall receive it for an inheritance, while the earth shall stand, and possess it again in eternity, no more to pass away.” This did not mean that we should come in possession at that time, or in 1831; but when we had proved ourselves as wise stewards, and had rendered up the account of our stewardship, and had been accepted, then we should receive an inheritance, not only in time, but while eternity should endure. Amen.

The Gospel Incorporates All Truth, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, at Paris, Oneida County, Idaho, Sunday, August 31, 1873. Reported by John Q. Cannon.

The Gospel of life and salvation that we have embraced in our faith, and that we profess to carry out in our lives, incorporates all truth. We frequently testify to each other that we know that this Gospel is true; and as I have a great many times said to those that listen to my conversation, upon the principles of life and salvation, I believe this work, I believe this Gospel, I believe this doctrine, that is brought to us through the Prophet Joseph, in these the latter days, in this our time, for the simplest, plainest and most palpable reason that can be given. “What is it?” Why, because it is true. The Gospel that I have embraced comprehends all truth. “How much of it is true?” All of it. “How much does it embrace?” All the truth that there is in the heavens, on the earth, under the earth; and if there is any truth in hell, this doctrine claims it. It is all the truth of heaven, the truth of God, the life of those that live forever, the law by which worlds were, are, and will be brought into existence, and pass from one degree or one state of being to another, pertaining to the exaltation of intelligence from the lowest to the highest state. This is the doctrine that the Latter-day Saints believe, whether they realize it or not. Well, now, upon apostacy. What have the Latter-day Saints got to apostatize from? Everything that there is good, pure, holy, god-like, exalting, ennobling, extending the ideas, the capacities of the intelligent beings that our heavenly Father has brought forth upon this earth. What will they receive in exchange? I can comprehend it in a very few words. These would be the words that I should use: death, hell and the grave. That is what they will get in exchange. We may go into the particulars of that which they experience. They experience darkness, ignorance, doubt, pain, sorrow, grief, mourning, unhappiness; no person to condole with in the hour of trouble, no arm to lean upon in the day of calamity, no eye to pity when they are forlorn and cast down; and I comprehend it by saying: death, hell and the grave. This is, what they will get: in exchange for their apostacy from the Gospel of the Son of God. This is their reward, and it is foolishness, not merely nonsense; a person can have a little nonsense and pass it over; but this is foolishness. There is not a particle of good sense about it; no light, no intelligence, nothing that is ennobling, elevating, cheering, comforting, consoling, that produces friends, or anything of this kind. I call it foolism; I do it this time, consequently we will not talk anything about apostacy.

When people receive this Gospel, what do they sacrifice? Why, death for life. This is what they give: darkness for light, error for truth, doubt and unbelief for knowledge and the certainty of the things of God, consequently I consider it to be the biggest piece of foolism that can be hatched up, imagined or entertained, or followed out by any human being, to leave this Gospel for what they will receive in exchange. So much for apostacy.

Now a few words, my brethren and sisters, with regard to our position. There are many in this Church who have been with it a long time. This Church has been traveling for many years. The time that this Church has been traveling exceeds the time of the children of Israel in the wilderness.

[At this point the water for the Sacrament was blessed.]

I will give you a word of counsel here with regard to consecrating the bread and the water, which I want the Saints to remember. When you [addressing the Bishops and Elders] administer the Sacrament, take this book [the Book of Doctrine and Covenants] and read this prayer. Take the opportunity to read this prayer until you can remember it. You cannot get up anything that is better, and not even equal to it; and when you read it, read it so that the people can hear you. This is what I wish of you; it is what is right, and that which the Spirit will manifest to you if you inquire; and if you cannot commit this prayer to memory, the one that is given by revelation expressly for consecrating the bread and the wine, or water, if the latter be used, take the book and read until you can remember. If I were to come here next Sabbath, and see you breaking bread, would this, that I am now mentioning, be thought of? The people have various ideas with regard to this prayer. They sometimes cannot hear six feet from the one who is praying, and in whose prayer, perhaps, there are not three words of the prayer that is in this book, that the Lord tells us that we should use. This is pretty hard on the Elders, is it not? If they could remember one thousandth part of that which they have heard, it would have sanctified them years and years ago; but it goes in at one ear and out at the other—it is like the weaver’s shuttle passing through the web.

Now I am going to tell you some more things, and how long will you remember them? Until you get home? Perhaps there area few who will remember a few words of counsel that I shall give to you. I am here to give this people, called Latter-day Saints, counsel to direct them in the path of life. I am here to answer; I shall be on hand to answer when I am called upon, for all the counsel and for all the instruction that I have given to this people. If there is an Elder here, or any member of this Church, called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who can bring up the first idea, the first sentence that I have delivered to the people as counsel that is wrong, I really wish they would do it; but they cannot do it, for the simple reason that I have never given counsel that is wrong; this is the reason. This people, called Latter-day Saints, have been laboring now over forty years. Forty-three years last April, the sixth day, this Church was organized. People have been coming into it, many have gone out of it many have died in the faith; but there is quite a number in it that are now living who have held on to it from the beginning, and they have been striving to increase in their knowledge, to enlarge their faith and their comprehension of the principles of eternal life; but it is slow progress. I wonder if there are any particular sisters here who have lived humble and faithful, to whom the Spirit has manifested that their progress and advancement are slow: “That by the Spirit that I receive from the Lord, the Spirit that is given to me at times, I can see that we are far in the rear of what we should be, and we have not come up to that status of perfection and purity that the Latter-day Saints should reach.” Are there any sisters who have experienced any such thing? Are there any Elders who can bear witness to these things? I expect there are. I expect there is any number of sisters in this Church who can bear witness to this, and testify that the people called Latter-day Saints are very tardy in the practice of the things of God.

Now with regard to the blessings. There are blessings that the Lord proffers to his people. Has he any conditions? This is the question. The blessings that the Lord wishes to bestow upon his people in the latter days, as he did upon them in former days, are they proffered to the people on any conditions whatever, or is it the voluntary act upon the involuntary people? Are they given to us whether we want them or not? whether we will enjoy them or not? or whether we will profit by them or not? How is this, Latter-day Saints? Is this the way the Lord does? You and I understand this. Every blessing the Lord proffers to his people is on conditions. These conditions are: “Obey my law, keep my commandments, walk in my ordinances, observe my statutes, love mercy, preserve the law that I have given to you inviolate, keep yourselves pure in the law, and then you are entitled to these blessings, and not until then.” Now, is this not the fact? I leave it to you. You have the Old and the New Testament, from which we can learn doctrine. You have the Book of Mormon to read, from which we can learn doctrine. You have the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which is more especially necessary to this generation. It does not contain different doctrine to the Book of Mormon and Testaments. It is explanatory of these three books, corroborates the doctrine that is taught in them, and points out the path for this people to walk in to-day, so that we may not err, but know how to order our lives from morning till evening, from evening till morning, from Sunday morning till Sunday morning again, from New Year to New Year, and every day of our lives. The doctrine that the Lord has taught us and given to us through his servant Joseph, points out the path for us to walk in, and, while walking in this path, we do not lose sight of one iota of the Gospel, but you must hold it secure, and always keep it before you by preserving those laws and ordinances, and continuing to hold them precious. If the Saints will do this, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Spirit of our Father and God will enlighten their minds and bring to their remembrance things that transpired in the past, and things to come to pass in the future, and they may lay a foundation for everlasting life and eternal lives in the celestial kingdom of our God. You may obtain these blessings by keeping in mind and observing the principles, doctrine, and the laws and statutes that are delivered to the people of God for their edification, for their perfection, for their comfort and consolation, to prepare them for entering into the celestial kingdom. If any profess to live in the observance of these principles, and do not enjoy the spirit of revelation, they deceive themselves. No person deceives the Lord. Every individual that lives according to the laws that the Lord has given to his people, and has received the blessings that he has in store for the faithful, should be able to know the things of God from the things which are not of God, the light from the darkness, that which comes from heaven and that which comes from somewhere else. This is the satisfaction and the consolation that the Latter-day Saints enjoy by living their religion; this is the knowledge which every one who thus lives possesses.

These are the books, the Old and New Testament, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and we take all that has been said to us by the Spirit of Truth, bring it together, live to it, and this brings us into a condition that we have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, and the people of Christ are cleansed from all sin, walk in the light and no more in darkness. We have received in the first place the first ordinances pertaining to the Gospel that Jesus introduced, that have been sent to the earth for the salvation of the children of men. Before the ordinances are performed, however, the people hear the name of Christ declared; Jesus is preached to the people; faith springs up in the hearts of the people. We the people believe. The Spirit of Truth bears witness to our spirits that this is correct. This is the Christ; he is the Savior of the world; and we begin to have faith in him; and when we begin to have faith in him, and believe on him, and the Father who sent him, we begin to look around ourselves and say: “Why is it that we saw nothing so familiar and perfect years ago? All this is so familiar and plain and simple. How is this? They that declare Christ to us, are they ready to teach us.” “Yes, certainly.” “Do you believe?” “Yes.” Do you wish to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ?” “Yes.” “Do you wish to enter into his family?” “Yes.” “Do you wish to belong to this quorum of disciples?” “Yes.” “Is there anything for me to do to get there?” says the candidate. “Yes, certainly,” says the Elder. “Well, what is it?” “To go down into the waters of baptism, this is the first ordinance, and be baptized by one having authority.”

Well, now, this people have received all this. They have been convicted of the truth, they have believed the truth, they have repented of their sins, they have received baptism for the remission of their sins, and the next ordinance or blessing—the laying on of hands, so that they may receive the Holy Ghost. What accompanies this Holy Ghost? I have been telling you: it brings to our remembrance things past, present, and future, and dwells upon the things of God. Here are the ordinances, and we have commenced to obey them. We have the promise of receiving blessings if we hold on to the faith, and not turn away from this principle; and although temptation may present itself to us, we will resist it, and we will cling to the things of God, and believe on his promises, and will ask the Father in the name of Jesus to help us to overcome these temptations, and we will free ourselves from this darkness; we will break the chain of doubt and unbelief, and we will emerge into the full faith of the Lord Jesus. When temptations come to you, be humble and faithful, and determined that you will overcome, and you will receive a deliverance, and continue faithful, having the promise of receiving blessings. What are these blessings?

There is a variety of blessings; a different blessing being probably given to one, two, three or four of this congregation. Thus, one will have faith to lay hands upon the sick and rebuke disease, and drive it from the person afflicted. Many may receive this blessing of faith, the gift of healing. Some may receive faith to the discerning of spirits; they can discern the spirit of a person, whether it is good or evil. They have such power, that when a person enters this congregation they can tell the spirit of such person; then they have received the gift of discerning of spirits. Some may receive the gift of tongues, that they will get up and speak in tongues, and speak in many other languages beside their mother tongue, the language that they were brought up in, that they were first taught, and be able to proclaim the Gospel of life and salvation that all men could understand it. These are the blessings; but others might receive the gift of prophecy, get up and prophecy what is to befall this nation, what will befall this or that individual, and what will befall the different nations of the earth, etc. Now, after naming some of the blessings, I want to come to something else, and draw a line for the Latter-day Saints to walk up to.

Suppose that we hear the name of the Savior declared to us, that he is the Savior of the world, and by his death atoned for the sins of every man, and we believe that this is the fact; but instead of inquiring, “Is there anything for me to do? is there any labor for me to perform?” when we get home we sing and we say, “I thank God, and I am satisfied.” When the Elder says, “You must be baptized for the remission of sins,” and we say, “Oh no, we have received the Spirit of Truth, there is no need of baptism. We have received all that is necessary. The Spirit of Truth is given to us; we acknowledge the Savior, and we rejoice in him, and we will not be baptized for the remission of sins;” are we entitled to have hands laid upon us for the reception of the Holy Ghost? No; every one comes to this conclusion. Suppose that we make ourselves satisfied with what we have received, and we can say that Jesus is the Christ—“Yes, I believe he is the Christ; but I don’t see the use of any of these ordinances,” are we entitled to the Holy Ghost? No. Are we entitled to faith to heal the sick? No. Are we entitled to receive the spirit of prophecy? No. Are we entitled to the gift of speaking in, or the gift of the interpretation of tongues? No. Are we entitled to the gift of the discerning of spirits? No. Are we entitled to any power or blessing that the Lord has promised to his disciples: that if anybody administered poison to them, it should not harm them, and if their pathway were marked in the midst of serpents, they could take up serpents and they should not hurt them? Are we entitled to this protection? What is the answer of the Latter-day Saints? My brethren and sisters, answer this question in your own minds. Are we entitled to the blessings of the holy Gospel unless we obey the ordinances thereof, and all the commandments and laws and requirements that are laid down for us to obey? Now I know that every Latter-day Saint will come to the same conclusion that I do—that if we did not obey, we would not be entitled to any of these blessings from our Father. There is not a Latter-day Saint but who comes to the same conclusion as myself—that we would not merit, we would not be entitled to, we could not claim at the hand of our God those blessings that he has promised through obedience to his Word. Could we be called the people of God? We would be in the path of disobedience. We would be in the path that leads to death. We would be in the broad road that millions are walking in to death. Now, every one of us comes to this conclusion.

This people I say are very tardy. I will ask you a question, and I will let you answer it in your own minds, for you know, and I am satisfied that the answer I shall give will satisfy the Saints. Can we stand still, receive so much pertaining to the blessings of the kingdom of God, receive so much knowledge, just so much wisdom, just so much power, and then stop and receive no more? How is this, Latter-day Saints? Your answer will be precisely like mine—I can answer with you all. This people must go forward, or they will go backward. Will all answer this question the same way? Will the same conclusion be in the mind of every Latter-day Saint, that this work is a progressive work, this doctrine that is taught the Latter-day Saints in its nature is exalting, increasing, expanding and extending broader and broader until we can know as we are known, see as we are seen? That is the answer of the Latter-day Saints.

We will say we have received a great deal; very much instruction have we received. But there are keys to open up other ordinances which I will mention. Do you recollect that in about the year 1840-41, Joseph had a revelation concerning the dead? He had been asked the question a good many times; “What is the condition of the dead, those that lived and died without the Gospel?” It was a matter of inquiry with him. He considered this question not only for himself, but for the brethren and the Church, “What is the condition of the dead? What will be their fate? Is there no way to-day by which they can receive their blessings as there was in the days of the Apostles, and when the Gospel was preached upon the earth in ancient days?” When Joseph received the revelation that we have in our possession concerning the dead, the subject was opened to him, not in full but in part, and he kept on receiving. When he had first received the knowledge by the spirit of revelation how the dead could be officiated for, there are brethren and sisters here, I can see quite a number here who were in Nauvoo, and you recollect that when this doctrine was first revealed, and in hurrying in the administration of baptism for the dead, that sisters were baptized for their male friends, were were baptized for their fathers, their grandfathers, their mothers and their grandmothers, &c. I just mention this so that you will come to understanding, that as we knew nothing about this matter at first, the old Saints recollect, there was little by little given, and the subject was made plain, but little was given at once. Consequently, in the first place people were baptized for their friends and no record was kept. Joseph afterwards kept a record, &c. Then women were baptized for men and men for women, &c. It would be very strange, you know, to the eyes of the wise and they that understood the things pertaining to eternity, if we were called upon to commence a work that we could not finish. This, therefore, was regulated and all set in order; for it was revealed that if a woman was baptized for a man, she could not be ordained for him, neither could she be made an Apostle or a Patriarch for the man, consequently the sisters are to be baptized for their own sex only.

This doctrine of baptism for the dead is a great doctrine, one of the most glorious doctrines that was ever revealed to the human family; and there are light, power, glory, honor and immortality in it. After this doctrine was received, Joseph received a revelation on celestial marriage. You will recollect, brethren and sisters, that it was in July, 1843, that he received this revelation concerning celestial marriage. This doctrine was explained and many received it as far as they could understand it. Some apostatized on account of it; but others did not, and received it in their faith. This, also, is a great and noble doctrine. I have not time to give you many items upon the subject, but there are a few hints that I can throw in here that perhaps may be interesting. As far as this pertains to our natural lives here, there are some who say it is very hard. They say, “This is rather a hard business; I don’t like my husband to take a plurality of wives in the flesh.” Just a few words upon this. We would believe this doctrine entirely different from what it is presented to us, if we could do so. If we could make every man upon the earth get him a wife, live righteously and serve God, we would not be under the necessity, perhaps, of taking more than one wife. But they will not do this; the people of God, therefore, have been commanded to take more wives. The women are entitled to salvation if they live according to the word that is given to them; and if their husbands are good men, and they are obedient to them, they are entitled to certain blessings, and they will have the privilege of receiving certain blessings that they cannot receive unless they are sealed to men who will be exalted. Now, where a man in this Church says, “I don’t want but one wife, I will live my religion with one,” he will perhaps be saved in the celestial kingdom; but when he gets there he will not find himself in possession of any wife at all. He has had a talent that he has hid up. He will come forward and say, “Here is that which thou gavest me, I have not wasted it, and here is the one talent,” and he will not enjoy it, but it will be taken and given to those who have improved the talents they received, and he will find himself without any wife, and he will remain single for ever and ever. But if the woman is determined not to enter into a plural-marriage, that woman when she comes forth will have the privilege of living in single blessedness through all eternity. Well, that is very good, a very nice place to be a minister to the wants of others. I recollect a sister conversing with Joseph Smith on this subject. She told him: “Now, don’t talk to me; when I get into the celestial kingdom, if I ever do get there, I shall request the privilege of being a ministering angel; that is the labor that I wish to perform. I don’t want any companion in that world; and if the Lord will make me a ministering angel, it is all I want.” Joseph said, “Sister, you talk very foolishly, you do not know what you will want.” He then said to me: “Here, brother Brigham, you seal this lady to me.” I sealed her to him. This was my own sister according to the flesh. Now, sisters, do not say, “I do not want a husband when I get up in the resurrection.” You do not know what you will want. I tell this so that you can get the idea. If in the resurrection you really want to be single and alone, and live so forever and ever, and be made servants, while others receive the highest order of intelligence and are bringing worlds into existence, you can have the privilege. They who will be exalted cannot perform all the labor, they must have servants and you can be servants to them.

The female portion of the human family have blessings promised to them if they are faithful. I do not know what the Lord could have put upon women worse than he did upon Mother Eve, where he told her: “Thy desire shall be to thy husband.” Continually wanting the husband. “If you go to work, my eyes follow you; if you go away in the carriage, my eyes follow you, and I like you and I love you; I delight in you, and I desire you should have nobody else.” I do not know that the Lord could have put upon women anything worse than this, I do not blame them for having these feelings. I would be glad if it were otherwise. Says a woman of faith and knowledge, “I will make the best of it; it is a law that man shall rule over me; his word is my law, and I must obey him; he must rule over me; this is upon me and I will submit to it,” and by so doing she has promises that others do not have.

The world of mankind, the world of man, not of woman, is full of iniquity. What are they doing? They are destroying every truth that they can; they are destroying all innocence that they can. Priest and people, governors, magistrates, kings, potentates, presidents, the political world and the religious world, are on the highroad to eternal misery. There are exceptions. There are honest persons wherever there is an honest principle. If the men of the world would be honest and full of good works, you would not see them living as they do. And the women are entitled to the kingdom, they are entitled to the glory, they are entitled to exaltation if they are obedient to the Priesthood, and they will be crowned with those that are crowned.

When Father Adam came to assist in organizing the earth out of the crude material that was found, an earth was made upon which the children of men could live. After the earth was prepared Father Adam came and stayed here, and there was a woman brought to him. Now I am telling you something that many of you know, it has been told to you, and the brethren and sisters should understand it. There was a certain woman brought to Father Adam whose name was Eve, because she was the first woman, and she was given to him to be his wife; I am not disposed to give any further knowledge concerning her at present. There is no doubt but that he left many companions. The great and glorious doctrine that pertains to this I have not time to dwell upon; neither should I at present if I had time. He understood this whole machinery or system before he came to this earth; and I hope my brethren and sisters will profit by what I have told them.

Now we have been administering the sacrament here to the people, the bread and the water. It is to refresh our minds and bring to our understanding the death and sufferings of our Savior. Is there any commandment with regard to this matter? Yes, there are laws concerning it. You take this Book [the Book of Doctrine and Covenants] and you will read here that the Saints are to meet together on the Sabbath day. It is what we call the first day of the week. No matter whether it is the Jewish Sabbath or not. I do not think there is anybody who can bring facts to prove which is the seventh day, or when Adam was put in the garden, or the day about which the Lord spoke to Moses. This matter is not very well known, so we call the day on which we rest and worship God, the first day of the week. This people called Latter-day Saints, are required by the revelations that the Lord has given, to assemble themselves together on this day. How many go riding or visiting, or go anywhere but to meeting, on the Sabbath day. It is probably not so here, but in Salt Lake City, as a general thing, Sunday is made a holiday for riding and visiting, &c. In this commandment we are required to come together and repent of our sins and confess our sins and partake of the bread and of the wine; or water, in commemoration of the death and sufferings of our Lord and Savior. I will ask the Latter-day Saints if you are entitled to these blessings unless you keep the Sabbath day. Now, what do you say? Why, every Latter-day Saint would answer we are not entitled to the blessing of partaking of the emblems, or symbols, of the body and the blood of Christ unless we observe his law. All the Latter-day Saints will answer this question with me, just as I do, because it is right. There is a great deal delivered to this people; they have received a great deal—those blessings pertaining to being baptized for the dead, celestial marriage and many others, and they should value them, and live so as to enjoy them.

There has been considerable said here with regard to the law of Tithing that we received years and years ago. Now, I venture to say, that if we except some very poor men and very poor women in the Church, who think they have paid their mites promptly and punctually, there is not a man that has paid his Tithing. Now, this may sound strange; for some think they have paid pretty well. To draw this matter out and show you how I feel upon the subject of Tithing, I have not time. But I will say a few words about some things that have been alluded to by my brethren who have spoken to you. The Lord requires one-tenth of that which he has given me; it is for me to pay the one-tenth of the increase of my flocks and of all that I have, and all the people should do the same. The question may arise, “What is to be done with the Tithing?” It is for the building of Temples to God; for the enlarging of the borders of Zion; sending Elders on missions to preach the Gospel and taking care of their families. By and by we shall have some Temples to go into, and we will receive our blessings, the blessings of heaven, by obedience to the doctrine of Tithing. We shall have Temples built throughout these mountains in the valleys of this Territory and the valleys of the next Territory, and finally, all through these mountains. We expect to build Temples in a great many valleys. We go to the endowment house, and before going, we get a recommendation from our Bishop that we have paid our Tithing. We wish it was so. I do not want to accuse the brethren; but if your consciences and my conscience does not accuse us, why, I will not accuse you. When you give a certificate or letter for a man to have a woman sealed to him, and he full of sin and iniquity, is not such a certificate false? If we inquire of such, “Do you want to have another wife sealed to you?” “Yes.” “Where is your wife?” “Why, she has left me.” “Why? Because you are so full of the devil that she cannot live with you, and the Bishop will give a certificate for you to get another. They also want to be baptized for their dead friends when they have not paid their Tithing. I do not want to accuse anybody; but I do not think this to be right. If the Lord will receive the people, if the Lord will accept of their labors, and will honor and bless them, and say that their officiating for their dead friends shall be sealed in the heavens and it shall be recorded by his angel, and in the day of the resurrection it shall be accounted unto them for righteousness, I am willing, I have not a word to say against it.

Now, then, we have received these ordinances, the doctrine the Lord has revealed for the salvation of the dead; the doctrine that we have received for the exaltation of men and women, which I could tell you a great deal about if I had time; but there is only a little time and I want to say a few things to bring your minds directly to our present condition. You read in the Doctrine and Covenants with regard to the building up of the kingdom of God, the order of Enoch, &c. I am anxious in my feelings to get the Latter-day Saints to begin where the Lord wanted them to begin, when he commenced to build up this kingdom; that is that we are to submit ourselves to the direction of our Bishops, or men who shall be appointed, who shall dictate them in the things pertaining to life, so that they may be the means in the hands of the Lord of accomplishing the work that he requires at our hands. I had it in my mind to ask if we are not a slow, tardy people; but I would like to see the order of Enoch introduced. If I had the privilege that was legal, the legal right, I should have had some of the brethren and sisters organized together and bound with bonds that cannot be broken; but I cannot do this at present; for we desire to commence this on a foundation that cannot be broken up and destroyed.

Brethren, if you will start here and operate together in farming, in making cheese, in herding sheep and cattle and every other kind of work, and get a factory here and a co-operative store—I have been told there is no co-operative store here—get a good co-operative store, and operate together in sheep-raising, store-keeping, manufacturing and everything else, no matter what it is, by and by, when we can plant ourselves upon a foundation that we cannot be broken up, we shall then proceed to arrange a family organization for which we are not yet quite prepared. You now, right here in this place, commence to carry on your business in a co-operative capacity. In every instance I could show every one of you what a great advantage would be gained in working together; I could reason it out here just how much advantage there is in cooperation in your lumbering and in your herding. You have men here, I suppose, who have had an arm shot off; they cannot go into the canyons and get out wood. Another, perhaps, has had a leg cut off; he cannot run here and there like some of you; but he can do something; he will make a first-rate shopman, and at keeping books, perhaps, he will be one of the best. He cannot take the scythe and mow; he cannot attend to a threshing machine; he cannot go into the woods lumbering; he could not herd well—but he could go into the factory, and he can do many things. Well, we can do this and keep up co-operation, and, by and by, when we can, we will build up a city after the order of Enoch. And I will tell you, women will not be let into that city with Babylon upon their backs, nor men either. But we will make our own clothing, we will make our own fashions, we will do our own work. I can take fifty men who have not a cent, and if they would do as I would wish them to do, they would soon be worth their thousands, every one of them. We desire to go into this order. In it we would not lack means, we would always have something to sell, but seldom want to buy. This will be the case if we make our own clothes, &c.

Another thing I want you to observe in all these settlements, and it is one of the simplest things in nature; I want you to be united. If we should build up and organize a community, we would have to do it on the principle of oneness, and it is one of the simplest things I know of. A city of one hundred thousand or a million of people could be united into a perfect family, and they would work together as beautifully as the different parts of the carding machine work together. Why, we could organize millions into a family under the order of Enoch. Will you go into the co-operative system? Will you pay your Tithes? Will you take care of your hay? Bishops, will you take care of the Tithes? I have scarcely seen a good stack of Tithing hay until within the last two years. Is this right, to let hay that is brought in as Tithing go to waste? “Well, but,” says one, “I don’t know what to do with it.” Go to work, and put it into a shape that it will last one year, five years, ten years; it will be wanted by and by. There is about sixteen thousand dollars, I learn from the trustees, of unpaid Tithing, in this valley. Go to work and build a meeting-house, and then school-houses. Go to work and start some schools, and instead of going to parties to dance and indulge in this nonsense, go to school and study; have the girls go, and teach them chemistry, so that they can take any of these rocks and analyze them—tell the properties and what they are. I don’t suppose there is a man here who can tell these properties. The sciences can be learned without much difficulty. Instead of going “right and left, balance all, promenade,” go to work and teach yourselves something. Instead of having this folly, I want to have schools and entertain the minds of the people and draw them out to learn the arts and sciences. Send the old children to school and the young ones also; there is nothing I would like better than to learn chemistry, botany, geology, and mineralogy, so that I could tell what I walk on, the properties of the air I breathe, what I drink, &c.

I will say to you, my brethren and sisters, I bless you. I bless you according to the Priesthood that I hold and the keys thereof. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ. Now will you live your religion? We had some talk yesterday about your President; I pray you, Mr. President, under brother Rich, to live your religion; and I pray the Saints to live their religion, and I do ask from day to day, in the name of Jesus Christ, and I direct the Latter-day Saints, to live their religion, and I pray you in Christ’s stead to live your religion so as to enjoy the spirit of it.—Amen.

Marriage

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, August 31, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I will read a portion of the Word of God found in the 19th chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, commencing at the 3rd verse:—

The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning, made them male and female,

And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

That portion of these sayings of Jesus to which I wish more especially to call your attention, is contained in the 6th verse—“Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” There are some few things which transpire in our world in which the hand of God is specially manifest. We might name some things ordained of God, and which he himself has given to the children of men for their observance. Such are the ordinance of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, now being administered to the Saints in this congregation, and the ordinance of confirmation by the laying on of hands for the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost. These ordinances have been ordained of God; he is their Author, and he confers authority upon his servants to officiate therein, and without authority from God to do so, all such administrations are illegal. In addition to these we might name a variety of other ordinances, such as ordinations to the ministry—ordaining a person to officiate in the office and calling of an Apostle, and in the offices and callings of Elders, Priests, Teachers, &c., without which no man can perform the duties of these several offices so as to be acceptable in the sight of God.

But, to be brief, we will come to the point more fully. God has appointed marriage, and it is as much a sacred and religious ordinance as baptism for the remission of sins, confirmation, ordination to the ministry, or the administration of the Lord’s Supper. There is no distinction with regard to the divinity of these ordinances—one is just as much divine as the other, one is a religious ordinance as much as the other, and, therefore, people of all sects and parties in this great Republic, should be left free to administer them according to the dictates of their own consciences. In other words, Congress should not assume to be the dictator of my conscience nor of yours. What I mean by this is, that if I am a minister, Congress, or the President of the United States, has no right, by virtue of the Constitution, to say how I shall administer the ordinance of marriage to any couple who may come to me for that purpose; because I have a conscience in regard to this matter. It is an ordinance appointed of God; it is a religious ordinance; hence Congress should not enact a law prescribing, for the people in any part of the Republic, a certain form in which the ordinance of marriage shall be administered. Why should they not do this? Because it is a violation of religious principles, and of that, great fundamental principle in the Constitution of our country which provides that Congress shall make no law in regard to religious matters that would, in the least degree, infringe upon the rights of any man or woman in this Republic in regard to the form of their religion.

Perhaps some may make the inquiry—“What shall we do with those who make no profession of religion, some of whom are infidels, or what may be termed ‘nothingarians,’ believing in no particular religious principle or creed? They want to enter the state of matrimony, and, in addition to religious authority, should there not be a civil authority for the solemnization of marriage among these non-religionists?” Yes; we will admit that, inasmuch as marriage is an important institution, it is the right and privilege of the Legislatures of States and Territories to frame certain laws, so that all people may have the privilege of selecting civil or religious authority, according to the dictates of their consciences. If a Methodist wishes to be married according to the Methodist creed and institutions, Congress should make no law infringing upon the rights of that body of religionists, but they should have the privilege of officiating just as their consciences dictate. The same argument will apply to the Presbyterians, Quakers, Baptists, and every religious denomination to be found in this Republic, not excepting the Latter-day Saints. Then, as regards the non-religionist, if he wishes to become a married person, and does not wish to have his marriage solemnized according to the form used by any religious denomination, it should be left open to him to comply with such forms as the Legislature may prescribe. This is leaving it to the choice of the individual, and this is as it ought to be, and as it is guaranteed to us, so far as other ordinances are concerned. For instance, Congress would never think of making a law in regard to the form of baptism, or of appointing a Federal officer to go into one of the Territories of this Union, and decree that he only should be authorized to administer the ordinance of baptism. Do we not know that the whole people of this Republic would cry out against such an infringement of the Constitution of our country? Every man and every woman who knows the least about the great principles of religious liberty would at once say, “Let the various religious bodies of the Territory choose for themselves in regard to the mode of baptism; a Federal officer is not the person to prescribe the mode or to administer the ordinance of baptism.”

Why not this reasoning apply to marriage as well as to baptism? Can you make a distinction so far as the divinity of the two ordinances is concerned? I can not. I read here in the last verse of my text “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” It will be perceived from this sentence, that God has something to do in the joining together of male and female; that is, when it is done according to His mind and will: we will make that a condition. But we will say that, in all cases under the whole heavens, where a couple are joined together, and God has anything to do with it, he does not ask Congress to make a law, nor the President of the United States to appoint a form, and he will sanction it. No, he claims the right, and his children claim that God has the privilege, to prescribe the form or ceremony, and the words to be used; and when that ceremony is performed by divine authority, we may then say, in the fullest sense of the term, that they are joined together divinely, and not by some civil law.

The union of male and female I consider to be one of the most important ordinances which God has established; and if its solemnization had been left entirely to the whims and notions of men, we might have had as many different ways of performing the matrimonial rite, as we have of administering the ordinance of baptism. You know that in the performance of the baptismal rite, some believe in sprinkling, and some in pouring; some societies believe in immersion after they have obtained the remission of sins; others, like Alexander Campbell and his followers, believe that immersion is to be administered for the remission of sins. Another class believe in being immersed face foremost; others, again, believe in being immersed three times—once in the name of the Father, once in the name of the Son, and once in the name of the Holy Ghost. Taking all these classes as churches, they are no doubt sincere; they have been instructed by their teachers, until they sincerely believe in these several forms of baptism.

Now, if Congress, or the legislative assemblies in the different States and Territories, were permitted to make laws regulating this they would perhaps have many other forms besides those I have named, which they would force the people under heavy penalties to comply with. And so in regard to marriage. If Congress should undertake to make a law to govern the Methodists, for instance, in the solemnization of marriage, they would not like it, neither would the Presbyterians, nor Baptists. A man belonging to either of these denominations would say,” Here is a law which prohibits me from exercising my religious faith, and compels me to be married by a justice of the peace, or a federal officer, or some person who, perhaps, does not believe in God, and who has no respect for the ordinances of heaven. I am compelled by the laws of the land to have him officiate and pronounce me and my ‘intended,’ husband and wife, or to remain unmarried.” The Constitution does not contemplate this forcing of the human mind in regard to that which is ordained of God. If I, believing in God and in the ordinances which he has instituted, am forced to be married by an unbeliever, perhaps a drunkard and an immoral man, or I do not care if he is a believer in some kind of a creed, if I am satisfied that he has not authority to officiate in the union of the sexes, and I am compelled to be married by him, would it answer my conscience? Could I consider myself joined together by the Lord? It is inconsistent to suppose that I could feel so, and in the very nature of things the solemnization of the marriage ceremony, as well as all other religious ordinances, are matters which should be left for all persons to act in as they feel disposed.

But we will pass on; we must not dwell too long on this subject. My reason, however, for making these few remarks is to prove that the ordinance of marriage is divine—that God has ordained it. I want it particularly understood by this congregation that, in order to be joined together of the Lord, so that no man has the right to put you asunder, the Lord must have a hand in relation to the marriage, the same as he has in relation to baptism.

Now I inquire if any of the religious societies on the earth, with the exception of the Latter-day Saints, have received any special form in relation to the marriage ceremony? If they have, from what source have they received it? Did they invent it themselves? Did a learned body of priests get together in conference and, by their own wisdom, without any revelation from heaven, make up a certain form by which the male and the female should be joined in marriage? Or how they have come in possession of it? They have invented it themselves, as you can find by reading the disciplines, creeds and articles of faith, which almost every religious society possesses, and which some of them have possessed for a long period of time. If we go back for several hundred years, we shall find some of these forms in existence. In the Roman Catholic church the ritual of marriage has existed for many generations. The same is true with the Greek church, a numerous branch of the Catholics who broke off from the church established at Rome, a few centuries after Christ. Martin Luther also had his views in relation to the marriage ordinance. He was a polygamist in principle, as you will find in his published writings. We have an account of him, in connection with six or seven others, ministers of his faith, advising a certain prince in Europe to take unto himself a second wife, his first wife being still alive, Luther and these ministers saying that it was not contrary to the Scriptures. John Calvin had his notions on the subject, but each and all of the ceremonies of marriage in use among the various Christian churches, the Catholics as well as Protestants, from the days of the first Reformation, several hundred in number, down to our own day, are the inventions of men; for, amongst them all, where can you find one which claims that God has said anything to them about marriage, or anything else pertaining to their officiations as ministers in his cause? Not one; the whole of them claim that the Bible contains the last revelation that was ever given from heaven. Hence, if their claim be true, God never said a word to Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, or any other reformer, about their ministry, the order of marriage, baptism, or anything else. If their claim be true—that the last revelation God ever gave was to John on the Isle of Patmos, what conclusion must we come to in regard to them? We must conclude that all their administrations are illegal. If I have been baptized by the Presbyterians, Church of England, Roman Catholics, Greek church, Wesleyans, or by any other religious denomination which denies any later revelation than the Bible my baptism is good for nothing, God has had nothing to do with it, never having spoken to or called the minister who officiated, as Aaron was called, that is, by new revelation.

“Well,” says one, “that is un-christianizing the world.” I know, according to the views contained in the Bible, that it is unchristianizing it in one of the most fundamental points—it shows that all the ordinances and ceremonies of the Christian world, being administered in the name of the Trinity, without new revelation, are illegal and of none effect, and that God does not record them in the heavens, though they may be recorded by man on the earth. But when a man is called by new revelation, it alters the case. When God speaks or sends an angel, and a man is called and ordained, not by uninspired men who deny new revelation, but by divine authority, when he administers baptism, or any other ordinance of the Gospel, it is legal, and what is legal and sealed on earth is legal and sealed in heaven, and when such an administration is recorded here on the earth, it is also recorded in the archives of heaven: and in the great judgment day, when mankind are brought before the bar of Jehovah, the Great Judge of the quick and dead, to give an account of the deeds done in the body, it will then be known whether an individual has officiated in or received ordinances by divine appointment: and if not, such administration being illegal, will be rejected of God.

“Oh but,” says one, “such a person, officiating or being administered to, may have been sincere.” Yes, I admit that. Sincerity is a good thing, and without it there can be no real Christians; but sincerity does not make a person a true child of God; it requires something more than that. If sincerity alone where sufficient to make a person a child of God, then the heathens, when they wash in the Ganges, worship crocodiles, the sun, moon, stars, or graven images, or when they fall down and are crushed beneath the cars of Juggernaut, would be children of God; for in these various acts, they certainly give proof of their sincerity, and if, according to the ideas of some persons, that only were necessary to make them God’s children, they would certainly be right. But it is not so. Sincerity undoubtedly shows the existence of a good principle in the heart of either heathen or sectarian, but it does not show that its possessor is right, or that he has received the true doctrine; it only shows that he is sincere.

Let us come back again to the subject of the administration of ordinances by divine appointment. I said their baptisms are illegal. Now let me go a little farther, and say that the ordinance of marriage is illegal among all people, nations and tongues, unless administered by a man appointed by new revelation from God to join the male and female as husband and wife. Says one—“You do not mean to say that all our marriages are also illegal, as well as our baptisms?” Yes, I do, so far as God is concerned. That is taking a very broad standpoint; but I am telling you that which is my belief; and I presume, so far as I am acquainted, it is the belief of the Latter-day Saints throughout the world, that all the marriages of our forefathers, for many long generations past, have been illegal in the sight of God. They have been legal in the sight of men; for men have framed the laws regulating marriage, not by revelation, but by their own judgment; and our progenitors were married according to these laws, and hence their marriages were legal, and their children were legitimate, so far as the civil law was concerned; and this is as true of our own day as of the past; but in the sight of heaven these marriages are illegal, and the children illegitimate.

“Well,” says one, “how are you going to make these marriages legal? Here are a man and woman, who were married, according to the civil law, before they ever heard of your doctrines; but they have come to an understanding of them, and now is there any possible way to make their marriage legitimate, in the sight of heaven?” Yes, How? By having them re-married by a man who has authority from God, to do it. This has been done in almost numberless instances; and it is the same with baptism. Has any person, baptized by the Methodists, Church of England, Baptists or Presbyterians, been admitted into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on his old baptism? Never. Not one among the hundreds of thousands who have joined this Church, since its rise in 1830, has been admitted on his or her old baptism. Why not? Because we do not believe in their old baptisms. The Lord has commanded his servants to go forth and preach the Gospel, and to baptize all who come unto them for baptism. If we find a sincere man, who has gone through a correct form of baptism—and many have, such as the Campbellites and the Baptists—we tell him that, if he believes in our doctrine, he must he baptized over again, because his former baptism was administered by a man who denied new revelation, and who did not believe that any had been given, later than that contained in the New Testament. It is the same in regard to marriages.

The people are very anxious that their children should be legitimate, and that their marriages should be so solemnized that God will recognize them in the eternal worlds; and hence we say to all the thousands and scores of thousands who come here from foreign lands—“Come forward and be married according to divine appointment, that you may be legally husband and wife in the sight of heaven.”

Now let us go a little further. Having explained to you the authority necessary to join men and women in the Lord, we will now explain the nature of marriage it-self—whether it is a limited condition, to terminate with what we call “time;” or whether it is a union which will exist throughout all the ages of eternity. This is an important question. So far as the ordinance of baptism is concerned, we know that does not relate to time alone. It must be administered in time, or during our existence in mortal life; but its results reach beyond death, and the burial in, and coming forth out of, the water are typical of the death and resurrection of our Savior. When we come forth out of the water, we rise to a newness of life, and it is declared to all people who witness the performance of the ordinance, that the candidates thus receiving baptism, expect to come forth from the tomb, that their bodies will be resurrected, bone coming to its bone, flesh and skin coming upon them, and the skin covering them; that if they are faithful to the end they will come forth immortal beings, and will inherit celestial glory. Thus you see that baptism points forward to eternity, its effects reaching beyond the grave. So in regard to marriage.

Marriage, when God has a hand in it, extends to all the future ages of eternity. The Latter-day Saints never marry a man and a woman for time alone, unless under certain circumstances. Certain circumstances would permit this, as in a case where a woman, for instance, is married to all eternity to a husband, a good faithful man, and he dies. After his death, she may be married to a living man, for time alone, that is until death shall separate her from her second husband. Under such circumstances, marriage for time is legal. But when it comes to marriage pertaining to a couple, neither of whom has ever been married before, the Lord has ordained that that marriage, if performed according to his law, by divine authority and appointment, shall have effect after the resurrection from the dead, and shall continue in force from that time throughout all the ages of eternity.

Says one—“What are you going to do with that Scripture which says that in the resurrection, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage?” I am going to let it stand precisely as it is, without the least alteration. A man who is so foolish as to neglect the divine ordinance of marriage for eternity, here in this world, and does not secure to himself a wife for all eternity, will not have the opportunity of doing so in the resurrection; for Jesus says, that after the resurrection there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage. It is an ordinance that pertains to this world, and here it must be attended to; and parties neglecting it wilfully, here in this life, deprive themselves of the blessings of that union for ever in the world to come. It is so with regard to baptism. We are bringing up these two divine ordinances to show you how they harmonize. A man who, in this life, hears the Gospel and knows that it is his duty to be baptized in order that he may come forth in the morning of the resurrection with a celestial, glorified body, like unto that of our Lord Jesus Christ, and neglects baptism and dies without attending to the ordinance, can not be baptized himself after the resurrection of the dead, any more than he can be married after the resurrection of the dead. Why not? Because God has appointed that both marriage and baptism shall be attended to in the flesh, and if neglected here, the blessings are forfeited.

We read, in our text, something about the first marriage which took place on our earth. Much has been said in relation to this event, and inasmuch as God ordained this sacred rite, I feel disposed to bring it up as a type of all future marriages. The first pair of whose marriage we have any account, on this earth, were immortal beings. “What! you do not mean to say that immortal beings marry, do you?” Yes, that is the first example we have on record. Inquires one—“Do you mean to say that Adam was an immortal being?” What is the nature of an immortal being? It is one who has not had the curse of death pronounced upon him. Had Adam the curse of death pronounced upon him, when the Lord brought Eve—the woman—and gave her to him? No, he had not. Had the Lord pronounced the curse of death upon Eve at the time he brought her to Adam? He had not. Why not? Because neither of them had transgressed. It is said in the New Testament that death entered into this world by transgression, and in no other way. If Adam and Eve had never transgressed the law of God, would they not be living now? They certainly would; and they would continue to live on millions of years hence. Can you, by stretching your thoughts into the ages of futurity, imagine a point of time, wherein Adam and Eve would have been mortal and subject to death if it had not been for their transgression? No, you can not. Well, then, were they not immortal? They were to all intents and purposes two immortal beings, male and female, joined together in marriage in the beginning. Was that marriage for eternity, or until death should separate them? I remember attending some weddings when I was a youth, and this sentence has generally been incorporated in all the marriage ceremonies I have seen performed by civil authority—“I pronounce you husband and wife, until death shall you separate.” A very short contract, is it not? Only lasts for a little time, perhaps death might come to-morrow or next day, and that would be a very short period to be married, very different from the marriage instituted in the beginning; between the two immortal beings. Death was not taken into consideration in their case; it had never been pronounced. The Lord had said nothing about death, but he had united them together, with the intention of that union continuing through all the ages of eternity.

Inquires one, “Did they not forfeit this by eating the forbidden fruit?” We have no account that they did; but supposing they did, can you show me one thing that our first parents forfeited by the Fall that was not restored by the atonement of Jesus? Not a thing. If they forfeited the life of their bodies, the atonement of Christ and his victory over the grave by the resurrection restored to Adam and Eve that immortality they possessed before they transgressed; and whatever they lost or forfeited by the Fall was restored by Jesus Christ. But we have no account that Adam and Eve forfeited the privilege of their eternal union by their transgression; hence, when they, by virtue of the atonement of Christ, come forth from the grave (if they did not come forth at the resurrection of Christ), they will have immortal bodies, and they will have all the characteristics, so far as their bodies are concerned, that they possessed before the Fall. They will rise from the grave male and female, immortal in their natures, and the union which was instituted between them before they became mortal will be restored, and, as they were married when immortal beings, they will continue to be husband and wife throughout all the future ages of eternity.

It may be inquired, “What is the object of that? Marriage, we supposed, was instituted principally, that this world might be filled with inhabitants, and if that was the object, when the earth has received its full measure of creation, what is the use of this eternal union in marriage, continuing after the resurrection?”

Have you never read the first great commandment given in the Bible? God said, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Did he give this commandment to mortal beings? No, he gave it to two immortal beings. ‘What! do you mean to say that immortal beings can multiply, as well as be married for all eternity?” I do. God gave the command to these two immortal personages, before the Fall, showing clearly and plainly that immortal beings had that capacity, or else God would never have given it to them. I will admit that they had no power to beget children of mortality; it required a fall to enable them to do that, and without that no mortal beings could have been produced. But we see what has been entailed upon the children of Adam, by the Fall. Instead of his offspring being immortal, they come forth into this world and partake of all that fallen nature that Adam and Eve had after they fell; and they have also inherited the death of the body. If we are to be restored to immortality with them, we must be restored to that heavenly union of marriage, or else we lose something. If they had the power to multiply children of immortality, and if the command was given to them to do so before they became mortal, if their children are ever restored to what was lost by the Fall, they must be restored to that also. Here then is a sufficient object why multiplication should continue after the resurrection.

“But,” inquires some one, “will not this world be sufficiently full, without resurrected beings bringing forth children through all ages of eternity?” We must recollect that this world is not the only one that God has made. He has been engaged from all eternity in the formation of worlds; that is, there have been worlds upon worlds created by those who have held the power, and authority, and the right to create; and an endless chain of worlds has thus been created, and there never was a period in past duration, but what there were worlds. The idea of a first world is out of the question, just as much as the idea of a first foot of space, or the first foot in endless line. Take an endless line and undertake to find the first foot, yard or mile of it. It can not be done, any more than you can find out the first minute, hour or year of endless duration. There is no first minute, hour or year in endless duration, and there is no first in an endless chain of worlds, and God has been at work from all eternity in their formation. What for? Is it merely to see his power exercised? No: it is that they might be peopled. Peopled by whom? By those who have the power to multiply their species. There never will be a time that there will be a final stop to the making of worlds; their increase will continue from this time henceforth and for ever; and as the number of worlds will be endless, so will be the number of the offspring of each faithful pair. They will be like the stars in the sky or the sands upon the sea shore; and worlds will be filled up by the posterity of those who are counted worthy to come forth, united with that heavenly and eternal form of marriage which was administered to Adam and Eve in the beginning.

“But you told us a little while ago, that our marriages were illegal, and now how can our species be multiplied after the resurrection? It cannot be, there is no marrying nor giving in marriage then. What then will become of the people, unless there is some provision, ordained by the Lord, whereby the living can act for the dead?” Take away that principle, and amen to all those who have not been married for eternity, as well as time, so far as the multiplication of their species is concerned; for you cannot get married there. But if there is a provision, by which those who are living here in the flesh, may officiate in sacred and holy ordinances, for and in behalf of the dead, then the question will arise, How far do these ordinances extend?

Some may say, “perhaps they only extend to baptism. We believe that baptism for the dead is true, because the Scriptures speak very plainly about that in the 15th chapter of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, in which, in arguing about the resurrection of the dead, the Apostle says—‘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?’” Sure enough, it would have been useless for those Corinthians to have been baptized for the dead, if there had been no resurrection: But Paul very well knew that the Corinthians understood that they should be baptized for their dead; and that they were actually practicing that ordinance, that their ancestors, who had been dead for generations, might have the privilege of coming forth in the resurrection. Baptism was typical of their burial and resurrection, and hence Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, used it as an argument in support of the principle of the resurrection.

But is there any inconsistency, in supposing that other ordinances may be officiated in, for, and in behalf of the dead? Or shall we say, that God has merely selected the one ordinance of baptism, and told the living to officiate in that for the dead, and to neglect all others? If, however, we believe that God is a God of order and of justice, it is reasonable to suppose that if, by his permission and ordination, the living can do anything for the dead, they can do everything for them, so far as ordinances are concerned. That is, if they can be baptized for and in behalf of the dead, they can be confirmed, and can also officiate in the ordinance of marriage for them. Why be so inconsistent, as to suppose that God should ordain a law by which the living can be baptized for the dead, and do no more for them? God is more merciful and consistent than that; and when he spoke in our day and revealed the plan of salvation, he, as far as we were ready to receive it, gave us a system, by which the dead who have died without the opportunity of hearing and obeying the Gospel, may be officiated for in all respects, and redeemed to the uttermost and saved with a full salvation; and hence, Latter-day Saints, there is hope for our generations who have lived on the earth, from our day back to the falling away of the church—some sixteen or seventeen centuries ago. You can reach back to that day and pick up all your generations—the hearts of the children searching after the fathers from generation to generation; and the ancient fathers looking down to their children, to do something for them, just as the Lord promised in the last chapter of Malachi. There is a promise that before the great day of the Lord should come, it should burn as an oven, and all the proud and they that do wickedly should become as stubble. But before that terrible day should come God would send Elijah the Prophet to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children, lest the Lord should come and smite the earth with a curse. As much as to say, that the children would perish as well as the fathers, if this turning of their hearts towards each other did not take place. Paul, in speaking about their forefathers, to those who lived in his day, said—“They without us can not be made perfect, neither can we be made perfect without them.” There must be a union between ancient and modern generations, between us and our ancestry. To say that God would be kind and merciful to a certain generation, and reveal his Gospel through a holy angel for their special benefit, and leave all other generations without hope, is inconsistent. When God begins a work, it is worthy of himself—God-like in its nature, soaring into high heaven, and penetrating the regions of darkness, for those who are shut up in their prison house, that liberty may be proclaimed to the captives; a plan that not only pertains to the present, but reaches back into the past, and saves to the uttermost all who are entitled to, and are willing to receive his preferred mercy. But these ordinances must be attended to here, in this world and probation. This is the law of the Great Jehovah. In the resurrection these things can not be done.

Having explained marriage for eternity, let me explain another portion of my text—“Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

There seems to have been, in the beginning, so far as we have any account in the Bible, two personages, one man and one woman—Adam and Eve, united for all eternity. They had power to multiply their species, and their posterity will become so numerous that, in the coming ages of eternity, they will be innumerable. Some, perhaps, may argue that, inasmuch as in the beginning of this creation God saw proper to place only one pair to begin the work of peopling the world, there could not be such a thing, divinely ordained and appointed, as a man having two wives living at the same time. In answer to this let me ask, Was there no man of God in ancient days, to whom the Lord revealed himself, who had two or more wives living with him at the same time? Without devoting much time to the discussion of this subject, I will refer to the special instance, recorded in the Book of Genesis, of Jacob, afterwards surnamed Israel, because of his mighty faith in, and power with God. He had four living wives. Was his practice in this respect sanctioned by the Almighty? Read about Jacob, when he was a youth, before he was married at all, and see what peculiar favors the Lord bestowed upon him. He, upon one occasion, fled from the country where his forefathers, Abraham and Isaac, had sojourned, to escape from his brother Esau, and he laid himself down on the earth, having a rock for his pillow. He prayed to the Lord, and the Lord heard his prayer, and the visions of heaven were opened to his mind. He saw a ladder ascending from the place where he was sleeping, that reached into the heavens; he saw the angels of God ascending and descending upon that ladder; he heard the voice of the Lord proclaiming to him what a great and powerful man he should become, that the Lord would multiply him, &c., and his seed should be as numerous as the stars of heaven, and Jacob worshiped the Lord from that time forth. He went down into Syria, and there he entered the service of one Laban, as a herder of sheep. In process of time he married one of the daughters of Laban, whose name was Leah. Shortly afterwards he married a second daughter of this Laban, whose name was Rachel. In a very short period of time he married another woman, who lived in the household of Laban, named Bilhah, and in a little time after that he married a fourth woman, whose name was Zilpah. Here were four women married to Jacob, and in the book of Genesis they are called his wives. Now, did the Lord sanction, or did he not sanction the marriage of Jacob with these four wives? And did he, after Jacob had married them, condescend to hear Jacob’s prayers? We find Jacob continually receiving revelation after this, and that is pretty conclusive proof that he was not rejected of the Lord because of his having more than one wife.

When the children of Jacob and his four wives became numerous, he resolved to leave that foreign country, and returned to the land where Abraham, and his father, Isaac, had lived. He reached the brook Jabbok, and then sent his company on before him, and he began to wrestle in prayer with God. He felt some alarm in consequence of the enmity of his brother Esau, who lived in the country to which he was going, and he wrestled and plead with the Lord. The Lord sent an angel down in order to try the faith of Jacob, and to see whether he would give up wrestling and praying or not. The angel undertook to get away from him, but Jacob caught hold of him and said, “I will not let thee go until thou bless me.” The angel, of course, did not exercise supernatural power all at once, but he continued to wrestle with Jacob as though he desired to get away from him, and they struggled there all night long, and at last, finding that the only way he could overpower him was to perform a miracle, the angel touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, and caused the sinew to shrink, producing lameness. Here, then, was a man with mighty faith. He wrestled all night with one whom he had reason to believe was a divine personage, and he would not let him go without receiving a blessing from him. The Lord finally blessed him, and said that, as a man who would take no denial, as a prince, he had prevailed with God, and received blessings at his hands.

Some people suppose that this was Jacob’s first conversion, and that he got his wives before his conversion. But we will trace the history of Jacob a little further. The day after he had wrestled with the angel, he went across the brook, and expecting Esau to meet him with a great army of men, he felt a little fearful. So he took one wife with her children, and sent them ahead; behind her he set another wife with her children; still behind her he set the third wife and her children, and, last of all, the fourth wife and her children. By and by Esau came along, having passed by the flocks and herds which Jacob had sent ahead as a present to him, and he meets the wife and children placed first in the row Probably he looked at them, and wondered who they could all be. He passed the second and third company, and finally he came to Jacob and the fourth company, and, said he, “Jacob, who are all these?” The answer was—“These are they whom the Lord my God has graciously given to thy servant.” What! a man who, according to Dr. Newman, was converted only the night previous, telling his brother that the Lord had given him four wives and a great many children? Yes, and it was all right, too.

“But,” says one, “How are you going to reconcile this with that portion of your text, also a quotation from the forepart of Genesis, which says—‘and they twain shall be one flesh?’” Are they one flesh, or at least are they one personage? No, the Lord did not say that they should be, but they twain should be one flesh. In what respect? Says one, “I suppose in respect to their children, as the flesh of both man and wife is incorporated in their children, and they thus become one flesh.” Let us look at it in this light. When the first child of Jacob’s first wife was born, if it had reference to the children, they twain were one flesh, then. By and by Rachel brings forth a son, and if the “one flesh” had reference to the children, Jacob and Rachel were one flesh in that child. By and by Jacob and Bilhah become parents, and they are also one flesh in the child born unto them; and lastly Zilpah has a child, and she and Jacob are also one flesh therein.”

“Well,” says one,” If it does not refer to the children, perhaps it may refer to that oneness of mind which should exist between husband and wife.” Very well, let us look at it in this light. Can there be a union between two individuals so far as the mind is concerned? Let us see what Jesus said. “Father, I pray not for these alone”—meaning the Twelve Apostles—“whom thou hast given me out of the world, but I pray for all them that shall believe on me through their words, that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they may be one in us.” What! more than two be in one? Yes. It matters not if there were two thousand that believed on Jesus through the Apostles’ words, they were to be one in their affections, desires, &c., and it might include and would include all the members of the Church of God that ever did live in any dispensation, and remained faithful to the end, for they all will be one as Jesus and the Father are one.

“They twain shall be one flesh.” If it means in regard to mental qualities and faculties it may incorporate the four wives of Jacob, as well as one. Take it any way you please and we find that God did acknowledge it, for he blessed these four wives and all their children. Look at their posterity, for instance. God so honored the twelve sons of Jacob’s four wives, that he made them the heads, the patriarchs of the whole twelve tribes of Israel. The land was named after them—the land Reuben, the land Simeon, the land Judah, etc.; and these tribes acknowledged these polygamist children as their fathers and patriarchs.

We may go beyond this life, to the next, and we shall find that the honors conferred by God upon these twelve sons are continued there. Christians believe that there will be a holy Jerusalem come down from God out of heaven, which will be prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This holy city which will descend from God out of heaven, will have a wall round it, and in this wall there will be a certain number of the most beautiful gates—three on the north, three on the south, three on the east and three on the west. Each of these gates will be made of one pearl—a precious stone most beautiful to look upon. On each of these gates there will be a certain name—one will have inscribed upon it the name of Judah, another Levi, another Simeon, and so on until the whole twelve gates will be named after the twelve sons of Jacob and his four polygamic wives; thus we see that, instead of the Lord calling them bastards; and forbidding them to enter the congregation of the Lord until the tenth generation, he honors them above all people, making them the most conspicuous in the holy city, having their names written on its very gates.

Of course, everybody who enters therein must be very holy, or the city could not be holy, for without the city, we are told, there will be dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, adulterers, murderers and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, but all within will be holy and righteous—such men as Abraham and a great many others, who have had more than one wife. If Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are to be saved in the kingdom of God in that holy city, will not monogamists, who only believe in having one wife, be honored if they have the privilege of entering there? We are told that many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, ancient polygamists, the latter with his four wives, and will be counted worthy to be saved therein; while many who profess to be the children of the kingdom, will be cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. This is what Jesus says, consequently I do not think that those who have formed the idea that only the monogamic system of marriage is accepted of the Almighty, will feel in those days as they do now. I do not think that class of persons will be ashamed, if they have the privilege of coming forth in the morning of the first resurrection, of entering into that holy city, even if they see the names of Jacob’s polygamic children upon its gates. There may be some so delicate in their feelings as to say—“O, no, Lord, I don’t want to go in at that gate, the people are polygamists, I would like you to take me to some other place.” They go to the next gate, and the next, until they have been to each one, and they all are polygamic. Then the inquiry may be—“Is there not some other city where the people are not polygamists?” “Oh yes, there are plenty of places, but outside of this city there are dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, adulterers, and whosever loveth and maketh a lie. Do you want to associate with them?” “Well, I think their society will be a little more pleasant than that of those old polygamists?”

Will this be the way people will reason, when they come before this holy city? No, I think they will be very glad to get into Abraham’s bosom if he has more than one wife. You remember poor Lazarus the beggar, who died seeking a crumb from the rich man’s table. After his death he was carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom. By and by the rich man died, and he, being in torment, lifted up his eyes and saw Lazarus afar off in Abraham’s bosom, that is, associating with the polygamist Abraham. How this rich man did plead! “Oh, father Abraham, send Lazarus to me!” “What do you want?” “Let him come and dip the tip of his finger in water and touch my burning tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.” “Oh, no,” says Abraham, “there is a great gulf between you and me, you must stay where you are. Lazarus is in my bosom, and he can’t be sent on such an errand as that.” ‘Well, then, father Abraham, if you cannot send Lazarus to perform this act of mercy on my behalf, do send him to my brethren who are living on the earth, and warn them, that they come not to this place.” He did not want anybody else to go there, he was so tormented himself. “No,” said Abraham, “they have Moses and the Prophets; they have the revelations of God before them; if they will not believe them, they would not though Lazarus or anybody else should be sent to them from the dead.”

That is the case with this generation also. If they will not believe what is testified to and spoken of in the Bible, in regard to marriage, the holy ordinance ordained of God, they would not believe though Lazarus or anybody else were sent from the eternal worlds to preach these things unto them. They would ridicule then as they do now, and their cry, then as now, would be, “Congress, oh Congress, can’t you do something to stop that awful corruption with which we are afflicted away up in the mountains? Can’t you pass some laws that shall restrict those ‘Mormons’ and compel them to be married by some Federal officer who shall be sent into their Territory, and do away with that part of their religion? Oh Congress, do something to destroy this corruption out of our land. There is a people up in yonder mountains, who profess to believe just as the Bible teaches in many places, and we can’t endure it. They believe in the Old Testament as well as the New, and it must be blasphemy.”

Who said so? Did our forefathers, when they framed the Constitution, say that all who believed in the New Testament should have religious liberty, and that all who undertook to believe in the Old Testament should be turned out of this government, and be afflicted with some terrible penalty and law that should be passed by Congress? I think we have the privilege of believing in the Old Testament as well as the New. Amen.

Ordinances that Can Only Be Administered in the Temple, etc.

Brigham Young

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at Franklin, Cache County, Thursday evening, September 4, 1873. Reported by John Q. Cannon.

We have taken you a little by surprise, brethren and sisters, in coming in to your town to-day. This is in consequence of its being so stormy where we have been, and we thought we would not venture to drive from Soda Springs through to Logan in two days. By taking more time, we thought we would have an opportunity of stopping in the settlements and having meetings. I will talk to you a few moments, then I will retire to my rest, and not stay here during the meeting. I feel very wearied; but I was quite unwell when I left home, and our journey has been quite fatiguing.

The remarks that I shall make to you this evening will be upon the salvation of the people. There are a few ideas that I will relate to you, that the brethren and sisters should understand. There are many of the ordinances of the house of God that must be performed in a Temple that is erected expressly for the purpose. There are other ordinances that we can administer without a Temple. You know that there are some which you have received—baptism, the laying on of hands, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, such as the speaking in and interpretation of tongues, prophecying, healing, discerning of spirits, etc., and many blessings bestowed upon the people, we have the privilege of receiving without a Temple. There are other blessings that will not be received, and ordinances that will not be performed according to the law that the Lord has revealed, without their being done in a Temple prepared for that purpose. We can, at the present time, go into the Endowment House and be baptized for the dead, receive our washings and anointing, etc., for there we have a font that has been erected, dedicated expressly for baptizing people for the remission of sins, for their health and for their dead friends; in this the Saints have the privilege of being baptized for their friends. We also have the privilege of sealing women to men, without a Temple. This we can do in the Endowment House; but when we come to other sealing ordinances, ordinances pertaining to the holy Priesthood, to connect the chain of the Priesthood from father Adam until now, by sealing children to their parents, being sealed for our forefathers, etc., they cannot be done without a Temple. But we can seal women to men, but not men to men, without a Temple. When the ordinances are carried out in the Temples that will be erected, men will be sealed to their fathers, and those who have slept clear up to father Adam. This will have to be done, because of the chain of the Priesthood being broken upon the earth. The Priesthood has left the people, but in the first place the people left the Priesthood. They transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and broke the everlasting covenant, and the Priesthood left them; but not until they had left the Priesthood. This Priesthood has been restored again, and by its authority we shall be connected with our fathers, by the ordinance of sealing, until we shall form a perfect chain from father Adam down to the closing up scene. This ordinance will not be performed anywhere but in a Temple; neither will children be sealed to their living parents in any other place than a Temple. For instance, a man and his wife come into the Church, and they have a family of children. These children have been begotten out of the covenant, because the marriages of their parents are not recognized by the Lord as performed by his authority; they have, therefore, to be sealed to their parents, or else they cannot claim them in eternity; they will be distributed according to the wisdom of the Lord, who does all things right. When we had a Temple prepared in Nauvoo, many of the brethren had their children who were out of the covenant sealed to them, and endowments were given. Then parents, after receiving their endowments, and being sealed for time and all eternity, and they have other children, they are begotten and born under the covenant, and they are the rightful heirs to the kingdom, they possess the keys of the kingdom. Children born unto parents before the latter enter into the fullness of the covenants, have to be sealed to them in a Temple to become legal heirs of the Priesthood. It is true they can receive the ordinances, they can receive their endowments and be blessed in common with their parents; but still the parents cannot claim them legally and lawfully in eternity unless they are sealed to them. Yet the chain would not be complete without this sealing ordinance being performed.

Now, to illustrate this, I will refer to my own father’s family. My father died before the endowments were given. None of his children have been sealed to him. If you recollect, you that were in Nauvoo, we were very much hurried in the little time we spent there after the Temple was built. The mob was there ready to destroy us; they were ready to burn our houses, they had been doing it for a long time; but we finished the Temple according to the commandment that was given to Joseph, and then took our departure. Our time, therefore, was short, and we had no time to attend to this. My father’s children, consequently, have not been sealed to him. Perhaps all of his sons may go into eternity, into the spirit world, before this can be attended to; but this will make no difference; the heirs of the family will attend to this if it is not for a hundred years.

It will have to be done sometime. If, however, we get a Temple prepared before the sons of my father shall all have gone into the spirit world, if there are any of them remaining, they will attend to this, and as heirs be permitted to receive the ordinances for our father and mother. This is only one case, and, to illustrate this subject perfectly, I might have to refer to hundreds of examples for each case.

With regard to the heirship, I can not enter into all the matter tonight. The subject would require a good deal of explaining to the people, consequently, I will pass over it at present. I can merely say this, however, that we see that the Lord makes his selection according to his own mind and will with regard to his ministers. Brother Joseph Smith, instead of being the first born, was the third son of his father’s family who came to maturity, yet he is actually the heir of the family; he is the heir of his father’s house. It seems to us that the oldest son would be the natural heir; but we see that the Lord makes his own selection. There are some inquiries now with regard to officiating in ordinances, which I wish to answer. Some brethren here are anxious to know whether they can receive endowments for their sons or for their daughters. No, they cannot until we have a Temple; but they can officiate in the ordinances so far as baptism and sealing are concerned. A man can be baptized for a son who died before hearing the Gospel. A woman can be baptized for her daughter, who died without the Gospel. Suppose that the father of a dead son wishes to have a wife sealed to his son; if the young woman desired as a wife is dead and have a mother or other female relative in the Church, such mother is the heir, and she can act in the sealing ordinances in the stead of her daughter. But if the young woman desired as a wife have no relative in the Church, to act in her behalf, then the mother of the young man can be baptized for her, and act as proxy for her in the sealing ordinances. We can attend to these ordinances now before the Temple is built here; but no one can receive endowments for another, until a Temple is prepared in which to administer them. We administer just so far as the law permits us to do. In reality we should have performed all these ordinances long ago, if we had been obedient; we should have had Temples in which we could attend to all these ordinances. Now, the brethren have the privilege of being baptized for their dead friends—when I say the brethren, I mean the brethren and sisters—and these friends can be sealed.

For instance, a man and his wife come into the Church; he says, “My father and mother were good people; I would like to officiate for them.” “Well, have you any other friends in the Church?” “Nobody but myself and my wife.” Well, now, the wife is not a blood relation, consequently she is not in reality the proper person, but she can be appointed the heir if there are no other relatives—if there are no sisters, this wife of his can officiate for the mother; but if the man has a sister in the Church, it is the privilege and place of the sister of this man, the daughter of those parents that are dead, to go and officiate—be baptized, to go and be sealed with her brother for her father and mother. If this man and woman have a daughter old enough to officiate for her grandmother, she is a blood relation, and is the heir, and can act; but if there is no daughter, the man’s wife can be appointed as the heir.

I want to say a few words with regard to other operations. In the law that the Lord has revealed he requires obedience. I do not know of one ordinance but what there are laws connected with it, and they cannot be disregarded by the Saints and they be blessed as though the laws were observed. We are required to believe in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior; we are required to repent of our sins; then we have the privilege of entering in through the door of baptism and going into the house of God. There is another commandment that the Lord has given—it is that they must have hands laid on them that they may receive the Holy Ghost and the gifts and graces that the Lord has for his children; but if we are not baptized, we are not entitled to the other blessings. If we do not believe in the first ordinance we cannot receive the second. If we do not go forth and be baptized for the remission of sins, we are not entitled to the Holy Ghost and its blessings through the law or the requirements of heaven to the children of our Father. Now, as to the requirements, we will ask, “Do you know the law? Should you keep the law?” Yes, certainly you do know by the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which is for us, and the New and Old Testament; these are a foundation and contain the first laws that have been given. We have them now in our possession. Then the Book of Mormon contains the same. The Book of Mormon contains the same plan of salvation that the Lord requires the world to listen to, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants is given for the Latter-day Saints expressly for their everyday walk and actions. Now, for instance, the Latter-day Saints are required to go to meeting on Sunday. How many are there that come to these meetings and repent of their sins, confess their sins and partake of the Sacrament of our Savior and testify by these acts that they are actual believers? Do we keep the Sabbath, brethren and sisters? Do we deal justly one with another? Those things are required of us. Do we walk humbly before our God? Do we permit ourselves to speak evil of the anointed of the Lord. Do we permit ourselves, brethren, to take the name of the Lord in vain? It is certainly written that we should not do it; that we should not falsify, lie, cheat, etc. Now all these requirements are made of us. We are required to pay Tithing, we are required to deal justly one with another and be honest in our dealing; and all these requirements which I need not repeat over to you, you read and you understand them. Now are we entitled to the blessings of the house of God if we keep the commandments he has given to us? Yes. If we observe, his precepts and do them, are we entitled to these blessings? Yes Are we entitled to them if we do not keep the commandments? No, we are not. Brethren go and get their endowments, and they get a recommendation so as to go into the house of the Lord. Now you go to the Bishop and enquire strictly as to some of these brethren: Does such a brother pay his Tithing.? Is he faithful and industrious?” “Well, no.” “Is he honest in his dealings?” “Well, I guess he means to do right.” Does he always speak the truth?” “Well, I cannot say that he does exactly.” “Does he drink liquor?” “Well, yes, sometimes he does. Yes, I think he does, although I never saw him drank.” “Does he take the name of the Lord in vain?” “Well, I don’t know, I have heard that he does swear sometimes.” “Does he quarrel with his wife?” “I don’t know; I understand, however, they do not live very happily together. This man probably wants another wife. Is he entitled to these blessings? He pays a little Tithing, perhaps, but he says he is going to pay it in full; and the Bishop says: “He has been teasing me a long time for a recommendation.” “But why did you give it, to him?” I will answer this. “I had to give it to him to get rid of him, so that he won’t tease me any more.” This is the answer. Now ask yourselves, my brethren and sisters, is he entitled to the blessings that the Lord has for his faithful children?

Be faithful and obedient to the few words that I have said to you, with regard to the ordinances, etc., and what we can do and what we cannot do. I said but a few words, but they are enough.

I will say to you, may the Lord bless you—peace be to you. I am glad that I am able to be here; there are other’s here who will speak to you. I will tell you honestly I do not feel well; I do not feel pleased; it is not gratifying to me when I hear of those who profess to be Latter-day Saints, living short of their privileges and duties; but when I hear of men and women living up to the privileges that the Lord has for them, it endears them to me, and I delight in them; and I can say that I continually pray for the Latter-day Saints, that the Lord will bless and preserve us, that we may be saved in the kingdom of God. This is my constant prayer, and I say God bless you. Amen.

Visit of the Presidency to the Northern Settlements

George A. Smith

Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, sept. 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

For the past two weeks it has been my privilege, in company with President Young, and Elders John Taylor, Cannon, and Woodruff and others, to travel among and visit the Saints in some of the settlements in the northern valleys of this Territory and the southern portions of Idaho. Considering the short time since the settlements north of Ogden were formed, especially those of Cache Valley and Bear Lake, it seems that great progress has been made in building towns and villages, preparing places of worship, providing the necessaries of life, and constructing mills, roads and bridges, so that in a very few years the country has been turned from a desert, uninhabited region, to one of thrift and plenty.

While at Logan, a two days’ meeting was held, on Saturday and Sunday, two weeks ago to-day. The people of the valley were in the midst of a very abundant harvest, and their grain had so ripened that the harvest came upon them all at once; yet the attendance at our meetings was very large, larger, in fact, than it had ever been my pleasure to witness in that place before. The Spirit of the Almighty seemed to be striving with the people, and though they were pressed with the labors of an abundant harvest, they were on hand, alive and awake, to attend meetings and to perform their duties.

The changes which have come over this land, since we first settled in it, seem wonderful. The first visitors to Cache Valley pronounced it too cold a country for the cultivation of grain. Frost occurred almost every week during the summer, and the winters were very severe. Early explorers of that valley found the thermometer so low in the summer as to deprive us even of a hope of successful cultivation. But settlements were commenced and farming was attempted, and finally it was concluded that wheat could be grown there. It seems, however, that the brooding of the Spirit of the Lord over that land has softened the climate, and large crops of many varieties of fruit, including the apricot and peach, are raised there now.

I believe it is the case universally where the Latter-day Saints have settled in these valleys, and commenced their work with faith, trusting in the Lord, that he has softened the elements and tempered the climate, until they are now favorable, and year after year more tender vegetation has been introduced. I have noticed this in the settlements in the Sevier Valley and in Iron County. I commenced a settlement in Iron County in January, 1851. For nine years I attempted to raise peaches in Parowan, but they were killed to the ground every year. Now Iron County has become quite a peach growing country. I attribute this to the blessings of the Almighty upon the elements, and from this cause the cultivation of grain and fruits has progressed from year to year in greater altitudes, until now it is successful in many localities in the Territory where it was formerly impossible.

Two years ago I visited the valley of Bear River. The Bear Lake country had then been devastated by grasshoppers, and it presented a scene of utter desolation. The grain and grass crops and all the produce of the vegetable kingdom had been destroyed within a few days by an arrival of grasshoppers. This season we passed into Bear Lake, going part of the way by the new road recently constructed at a cost of $7,000, by the enterprise of Bishop O. J. Liljenquist and the citizens of Hyrum, by the stream known as Blacksmith’s Fork. We followed up this road until we attained an altitude of 5,400 feet above the level of the sea. Then we struck the old Huntsville road and went by that to Laketown, at the head of Bear Lake. This place is probably as delightfully and romantically situated as any in the Territory. It is very near the Territorial line, and contains about sixty families. The waters of the lake are clear and contain abundance of fish; and the meadows around the head of the lake and in its vicinity are very fine. “The summits of the mountains are well covered with timber, which is not very difficult of access. We had two meetings at that place and found the people enjoying themselves well.

We then followed along the west shores of Bear Lake, some thirty miles, visiting some small places and making a stop at the fine settlement of St. Charles, where we also had two meetings. The purity of the water there; the great altitude and the cool climate will, when more known, render that locality a favorite place of resort to travelers and pleasure seekers in the short summer season. The settlers there raise excellent wheat, rye, barley, oats, and heavy crops of potatoes and garden vegetables. They have to watch pretty closely to get their crops in between the spring and fall frosts. The country is covered with a heavy growth of rich grasses. The winters are cold there. The settlement forms part of Oneida County, Idaho, the survey of the Territorial line having cut it off from Utah, in which it was formerly included.

St. Charles has sixty or seventy families, and wants more settlers. It is watered by a stream called Big Creek, the largest affluent of Bear Lake, a very fine stream, something larger than our Big Cottonwood, and furnishing abundance of water to the settlement. The grazing and farming facilities are excellent there, and the people seemed to be enjoying themselves exceedingly well, and had all they could do to take care of the crops and other temporal comforts with which they were surrounded.

Bear Lake is about twenty-six miles long and about ten miles wide. It is, in a manner, two lakes, the north end of it, about six miles, being cut off by a kind of embankment or beach, the two lakes being connected by a small stream only a few yards in width. The south part of the lake is very deep and the water pure. It has many streams entering into it, and many springs about it, and is a nursery for an immense amount of fish; large quantities of which, very fine trout and other choice varieties, are caught in their seasons.

The stream which leads out of Bear Lake, I think, is nine or ten miles long, to where it empties into Bear River. The lake has generally been called Bear River Lake, from the supposition that Bear River ran through it, but this is not the case. In this respect Bear Lake is unlike the Sea of Galilee and the river Jordan. The Jordan runs into one end of the Sea of Galilee and out at the other, passing right through it, but Bear Lake is at the head of a short stream which empties into Bear River. Along this stream and along Bear River is a large tract of fine grazing country, excellent meadow land, which our people are turning to good account.

There is a very fine town called Bloomington, on Twin Creeks, containing probably a hundred families; and about two and half miles from Bloomington in the principal town in the valley, called Paris. At Paris we held three days’ meetings, in a shade or grove, which had been prepared for that purpose. A large congregation assembled there and gave strict attention, and we enjoyed ourselves exceedingly well, all seeming very glad to see us.

After spending these three days at Paris, we visited some of the neighboring settlements. We had meeting at Montpelier, and passing through Bennington, Georgetown, Ovid, and some other small settlements, we visited Soda Springs, where we remained a day and a half, having two meetings with the people. We then resumed our journey, following down Bear River, camping out on our route, until we reached the settlement of Franklin, and thence on to Richmond, Smithfield and Hyde Park, holding meetings in each. Yesterday, we started for Logan, and reached home in four hours and twelve minutes in special trains. We had been gone two weeks and one day, having traveled two hundred miles by carriages through the mountains, and two hundred miles by railroad. The Elders of our party scattered among the settlements and held twenty-six meetings. We visited the Sunday schools and different organizations, and found them all alive to their several duties.

In almost every town we visited we were saluted on our arrival by a body of our Sunday school children, who turned out by hundreds. It almost seemed impossible that there could be so many children in the country as came out to meet us.

President Young was suffering on this journey from an attack of rheumatism, which rendered him uncomfortable. But still he preached a number of long and excellent sermons, sometimes speaking an hour and twenty minutes. He addressed all the large meetings, and did it in more than his usual energetic, eloquent and interesting style, and returned from the journey; but he accomplished it, and returned improved. For a man of his years, performing continually, as he does, a vast amount of labor of both mind and body, it seems almost miraculous that he could take this journey, attend so many meetings and councils, and endure the riding over a country as rough as the one we passed over. We were sometimes seven or eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, frequently six thousand, and then down to four thousand five hundred, and so on, up and down, through valleys and hills, the roads sidling in many places, rendering traveling difficult and unpleasant. Though after I had traveled through Palestine, where there are really no roads, I thought the country we had just passed over remarkable for its fine roads.

We bore testimony to the Saints of the everlasting Gospel, the plan of salvation which was revealed, through Joseph Smith, to this generation. We found them generally living in obedience to the principles of the Gospel, and rejoicing in the truth. There was a marked improvement, since I traveled through those northern regions before, in the condition of the roads, bridges, and private residences, and in some settlements a large number of barns have been erected. It seems, in the making of the settlements in these valleys, that it has been a difficult matter for the farmers to provide themselves with sufficient barns and store-houses, they are wanting almost everywhere, but some of these northern settlements are becoming very well supplied with these out-door conveniences.

I am pleased to have the privilege of meeting with you again. I wish to bear my testimony to the interesting discourse which has been delivered to you this afternoon by Elder John Taylor, and I pray that the blessing of the Almighty may be upon us all. I feel that his blessing is over all the valleys where the Saints dwell, and inasmuch as they will abide in their holy faith, the faith of the holy Gospel, live in accordance with the principles of truth and the law which God has revealed for their salvation, the Lord will be their protector.

From the time that Joseph Smith took the plates of Mormon from the hill Cumorah, to the present moment, the enemy of all righteousness has been howling, and exercising every means in his power to destroy those who believe in the Book of Mormon, and who are willing to follow the instructions and counsels which God has given for the upbuilding of his kingdom in the last days. But they who have been humble, and have walked in accordance with their professions, have been upheld and protected, and the blessing of the Almighty has been continually upon them.

I pray the Lord that his blessings may rest upon you, and that you may rejoice therein, that we may all be able to walk humbly before him, keep his commandments, have power to overcome, and with the faithful be prepared to dwell in his kingdom, through Jesus our Redeemer. Amen.

The Knowledge of God and Mode of Worshiping Him

John Taylor

Discourses by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, Sept. 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I always take pleasure in speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and to the interest and happiness of my fellow-men, if I think that I can be of service or advantage to those to whom I address myself. In meeting together, as we are met to-day, from time to time, we do so to reverence and worship, according to the intelligence and understanding we possess, Almighty God, the giver of our lives and the supporter of all things. A feeling of reverence and respect for Deity prevails in some form or other amongst all the human family. It assumes, it is true, a variety of forms, and there are many different ideas and opinions among men as to the proper mode of worshiping and rendering ourselves acceptable to our heavenly Father. All mankind believe, more or less, in a Being who rules and governs the universe, and controls the destinies of the human family; and whatever form of worship may be followed, it is accompanied by feelings of reverence and respect for God. There is something very singular about this, and it is different from anything else that exists on the face of the earth. We have our theories about science; we have principles and laws which govern mechanism; there are certain known laws which govern the elements by which we are surrounded; there are certain sciences which men can master by studying the laws which govern them; but in regard to the worship of God, it seems to differ materially from anything else that we have cognizance of. He is a Being that mankind generally do not have a knowledge of, they do not have access to his presence, and unless he communicates it, there is no known law by which we can approach unto him.

The ideas of men seem to be vague and uncertain in relation to the worship of the Almighty, and they have always been more or less so. When Paul stood up in Athens, some eighteen hundred years ago, in speaking upon God, he says, “I saw an altar on which was inscribed—‘To the unknown God.’” The Athenians had a variety of gods which they professed to know, or that represented certain ideas, theories and principles which obtained among them; but there was one whom they described as the “Unknown God.” Paul makes a most remarkable statement concerning this matter. He says—“Him, therefore, whom ye ignorantly worship, declare I unto you;” the God who made the heavens, the earth, the seas and the fountains of waters.

The idolaters who lived long prior to the time when Paul preached Christ and him crucified to the people of Athens, had some idea of the “unknown God.” We read that a dream was given to Nebuchadnezzar, unfolding to him certain things that were to take place in the future; and he called• together the magicians, astrologers and soothsayers—the men of science of those days, and who professed to have a knowledge of the future, and he told them he wanted them to reveal unto him his dream, and then to give him the interpretation. They told him that his request was very unreasonable; it was beyond their power to comply with, and was a thing not commonly asked or required of men of their profession; but if he would give them the dream, they had rules and principles whereby they could interpret it. He still insisted upon the dream and the interpretation. They then told the king that no being but the “unknown God,” who dwelt in the heavens, was able to reveal such a secret as he demanded at their hands. We find that, among the Babylonians and Chaldeans, behind their ideas, theories and mythology, they had ideas of a Supreme Being who governed the universe who alone could reveal the secret acts of men, and who held their destinies in his hands; and unless there is some plan or law by which men can have access to him who, in Scriptures as well as by men at the present time, is termed the unknown God, we must remain ignorant of him, his attributes, designs and purposes, and of our relationship to him.

Paul also tells us that life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel; hence it would seem that that is a principle whereby men can be brought into communication with God. There are other Scriptures that are rather remarkable on this point. The Apostle tells us—“Now are we the sons of God, but it does not yet appear what we shall be; but when he who is our life shall appear, then shall we be like unto him, for we shall see him as he is!”

It would seem from this, and other Scriptures of a similar kind, that man did once possess a knowledge of God and the future, and a certainty in relation to the mode of worshiping him. Paul says that life and immorality are brought to light by the Gospel. The question necessarily arises in our minds, how and by what means are these. things accomplished? In what way are men to be put in possession of this light and this immortality? And then, men who have not been in the habit of reflecting, or if of reflecting, not of judging correctly, not being in possession of true principles, think, and their thoughts go back, and they say—“Well, what of those who lived before there was a Gospel?” For my part, I do not know of any such time, I do not read of any such time, and I am not in possession of any information in relation to any such time. I should as soon think of asking—What of the people who lived before there was a sun, moon, stars or earth, or before there was anything to eat or drink, or any other impossible thing that we could reflect upon. Thoughts and ideas of this kind can not have foundation in fact; they never did exist. If life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel, then, whenever and wherever men had a knowledge of life and immortality, whenever and wherever God revealed himself to the human family, he made known unto them his will, and drew aside the curtain of futurity, unfolded his purposes, and developed those principles which we find recorded in Sacred Writ. Wherever men had a knowledge of these things, they had a knowledge of the Gospel; hence it is called in Scripture, “the everlasting Gospel;” and hence John, while on the Isle of Patmos, wrapped in prophetic vision, beholding a succession of marvelous events that should transpire in after ages, declared, among other things—“I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, crying with a loud voice, ‘fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come.’”

The Gospel, then, in its nature and in its principles, is everlasting in other words, it is God’s method of saving the human family; and hence Christ, of whom we hear and read so much in the Scriptures of divine truth, was “the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.” He was believed in, long before he made his appearance, both on the Asiatic and American continent, and God gave unto his ancient Prophets many visions, manifestations and revelations of his coming to take away the sins of the world by the sacrifice of himself.

In speaking of the Gospel, Paul talks of it being known as far back as the days of Abraham, for he tells us that “God, foreseeing that he would justify the heathen through faith, preached before, the Gospel unto Abraham.” The same Apostle tells us concerning Moses and the children of Israel having the Gospel. Says he—“We have the Gospel preached unto us as well as they; but the word preached unto them did not profit, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it; wherefore the law was added because of transgression;” and when Jesus Christ came, he came to do away with the law and to re-instate the Gospel as it had heretofore existed; the everlasting Gospel; that Gospel which brings life and immortality to light, and wherever and whenever a a knowledge of God was had among the human family, it was through the instrumentality of the Gospel.

When Jesus was upon the earth, he made this principle very plain to the people on the Asiatic continent; and, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, he made it plain to the people on the American continent, revealing to them the same principles, truth, light and intelligence; organized the churches in the same way; implanted his Spirit among them, and imparted to all who were obedient to his law a knowledge of God and of their own future destiny, and this result always followed a knowledge of the Gospel among men.

The reason there is so much confusion and disorder among men, today, in the Christian world is—“they have forsaken God, the fountain of living waters, they have hewn out to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that will hold no water.” There were certain principles laid down by Jesus and his disciples, and also by Moses, and by Nephi, Alma and others on this continent, in a very plain, clear and pointed manner, in fact, although a mystery to men of the world, to believers they are as the Scriptures say—so plain that a wayfaring man though a fool need not err therein; and they are strictly logical, and philosophical and easy of comprehension.

There are laws which govern nature, and the principles of matter with which we are surrounded, with which many of us are familiar. These laws are as unchangeable as the revolution of the earth upon its axis, or as the rising and setting of the sun. These laws are perfectly reliable; they cannot be disregarded with impunity, for if disregarded, the results desired will not follow. The truths of the Gospel, and the principles of the plan of salvation are as immutable as the laws of nature. Men of God in different ages have been in possession of certain philosophical truth in relation to God, the heavens, the past, the present and the future. This has been the case not only with men of God on the Asiatic continent; but also on this continent; and however men of the present day may affect to despise revelation, as many do, as visionary, wild and fanatical, it is to that we are indebted for all the knowledge we have of God, our own destiny, and of rewards and punishments, exaltations or degradations hereafter. Lay aside this revelation, do away with this principle, and the world to-day is a blank in regard to God, heaven and eternity; they know nothing about them.

I have heard some people say—“If God revealed himself to men in other days, why not reveal himself to us?” I say, why not, indeed, to us? Why should not men in this day be put in possession of the same light, truth and intelligence, and the same means of acquiring a knowledge of God as men in other ages and eras have enjoyed? Why should they not? Who can answer the question? Who can solve the problem? Who can tell why these things should not exist to-day, as much as in any other day? If God is God and men are men, if God has a design in relation to the earth on which we live, and in relation to the eternities that are to come; if men have had a knowledge of God in days past, why not in this day? What good reason is there why it should not be so? Say some—“Oh, we are so enlightened and intelligent now. In former ages, when the people were degraded and in darkness, it was necessary that he should communicate intelligence to the human family; but we live in the blaze of Gospel day, in an age of light and intelligence.” Perhaps we do; I rather doubt it. I have a great many misgivings about the intelligence that men boast so much of in this enlightened day. There were men in those dark ages who could • commune with God, and who, by the power of faith, could draw aside the curtain of eternity and gaze upon the invisible world. There were men who could tell the destiny of the human family, and the events which would transpire throughout every subsequent period of time until the final winding-up scene. There were men who could gaze upon the face of God, have the ministering of angels, and unfold the future destinies of the world. If those were dark ages I pray God to give me a little darkness, and deliver me from the light and intelligence that prevail in our day; for as a rational, intelligent, immortal being who has to do with time and eternity, I consider it one of the greatest acquirements for men to become acquainted with their God and with their future destiny. These are my thoughts and reflections in relation to these matters.

Life and immortality, we are told, were brought to light by the Gospel. And how is that? Why, it is a very simple thing, a very simple thing indeed. When Jesus was upon the earth he, we are told, came to introduce the Gospel. He appeared on this continent as on the continent of Asia for that purpose; and in so doing he made known unto men certain principles pertaining to their being and origin, and their relationship to God; pertaining to the earth on which we live, and to the heavens with which we expect to be associated; pertaining to the beings who have existed and those who will exist; pertaining to the resurrection of the dead and the life and glory of the world to come. This is what the Gospel unfolds. It is not taught in any of our schools of philosophy, they do not comprehend it. It is a law and a principle laid down by the Almighty; and although a very simple one it is more subtle in its operations than any of the principles of nature with which we are acquainted; and many of them have, for generations, being unknown in their action and properties to the human family. It is not long since we became acquainted with the power of steam. That power has always existed, but why did not men make it available for useful purposes? Because they were unacquainted with its principles. It is not long since men became acquainted with the properties of gas. I can remember, in my young days, walking along the streets when they were lighted with oil lamps; and the light was so dim that it only made darkness visible. It is not long since the laws of electricity were discovered, and now they are made available for telegraphy and other purposes. These principles always existed; but they eluded the research and intelligence of men for ages; but finally they were made known. Doubtless there are thousands of other principles in Nature, with which we are unacquainted to-day, formed by the Great I Am, the Great Ruler and Governor of the universe, and placed under certain laws, just as much as the principles with which we have already been made acquainted by the operation of the Spirit of God on the spirit of man.

We read a good deal about the soul of man, and the body of man. Will anybody tell me where the body commences and where the spirit leaves off, and how they are united, and what forms the compact? Can anybody tell about the principle of life in man? We have had philosopher after philosopher in all the various European as well as American schools, trying to solve this problem. They can not do it, it is yet a mystery. But because a thing is a mystery, are we to say that it does not exist? We see man, perfect in his form, in possession of his faculties and clothed with intelligence. One day he is walking around, and the next be lies a lifeless corpse; with the same body, the same bones, nerves and muscles and every faculty of his body, apparently, as complete as the day before, but he is dead, inanimate, inactive, without a spirit or soul, if you please. What brings about this change, or who possesses the power to resuscitate that man and implant in him again the principle of life? Where is the man, the intelligence or the science that can do it? We do not find it among mortals. If some of these things are mysteries why not others?

God says that no man knows the things of man, but by the spirit of man that is in him; so no man knows the things of God but by the Spirit of God. How is that Spirit imparted and to whom? Through what medium are we to get in possession of these principles? Will any of our savants answer? Will our philosophers tell us upon what principle these things can be communicated to man, so as to bring him into relationship to God, and to enable him to comprehend things which men in former times comprehended? There are unquestionably certain laws and principles governing these matters, as legitimate as those governing any other branch of science or knowledge. If man knows the things of God only by the Spirit of God, how are we to obtain that Spirit? One of the old Apostles, in talking on this subject in former times, told the people to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins, and they should receive the Holy Ghost. What should that Spirit do? It should take of the things of God, and show them to those who received it. Says the Apostle—“Ye have received an unction from the Holy One, whereby ye are enabled to know all things; and ye need not that any man should teach you save the anointing that is within you, which is true and no lie. Ye are our witnesses, as also is the Holy Ghost, which bears witness of us.” Another one says—“Ye are in possession of a hope that has entered within the vail, whither Christ, our fore-runner, has gone, and where he ever lives to make intercession for us.”

This light and intelligence was communicated to men in the dark ages. This treasure, says the Apostle, we have in earthen vessels. This was what Jesus referred to when he said to the woman of Samaria—“If thou hadst asked of me I would have given thee water which would have been in thee a well springing up to everlasting life.” There was a principle of that kind among men in those days, and it bloomed with immortality, and put its possessors in possession of certainty, intelligence, and knowledge, in relation to God, whereby they were enabled to cry—“Abba, Father,” and to approach him in the name of his Son, and receive from him the gift of the Holy Ghost, which Jesus said would impart a knowledge of God and his purposes, and whereby they eventually might be exalted in his celestial kingdom.

This is the kind of thing that they had in that day. This is the Gospel that we have to proclaim to you. Its laws are just, strict and equitable to those who embrace it. Those who do not, of course, they cannot understand it, Why? Jesus said to Nicodemus—“Except a man be born of water, he cannot see the kingdom of God; and except he be born of the water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God,” that is, he cannot know anything about it unless he obeys its initiatory ordinances. Then, to the Saints, if they do not live their religion and keep their covenants, the light that is within them will become dark, and how great will be that darkness. This light, truth and intelligence can only be obtained, in the first place, by obedience to the laws of God; and, in the second place, it can only be retained, by continued faithfulness, purity, virtue and holiness.

I pray that God may, by his Spirit, lead us in the way of peace, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Ancient Prophecy, Relating to the Time of the Restitution of All Things, to Be Fulfilled

Erastus Snow

Discourse by Elder Erastus Snow, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, Sept. 14, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

“And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

“And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

“But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.

“For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.

“In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted.

“And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over• them in mount Zion from henceforth, even forever.”—Micah iv, 1-7.

I have read this Scripture in the • hearing of the congregation, believing, as I do, that it is a prophecy having direct reference to the latter times, and to the day and age now ushered in upon the earth. There are many things in the Jewish Scriptures, the fulfillment of which has become a matter of history. There are many other things which have been spoken by the mouth of God through his servants the Prophets, which remain yet to be fulfilled. It is a matter of great importance, to my mind, to be able to discern those things pertaining to the future, which God has revealed, which have yet to come to pass. He revealed, beforehand, to the antediluvian world, the approach of the deluge, and gave them a timely warning, sending his servants amongst them, calling upon them to repent of their sins and to prepare for that which was coming upon the earth. He foretold to Abraham the bondage which his seed would have to endure in the land of Egypt, their final deliverance by the hand of Moses, and their establishment in the promised land of Canaan. Moses, and other Prophets raised up after him, foretold the blessings which, through faith and obedience, should be poured upon Israel, and the scourges and judgments which should fall upon them through unbelief and disobedience. Whoever will read the prophecies of Moses contained in Deuteronomy, from the 28th to the 33rd chapter, will perceive there clearly foreshadowed the great events in the history of the seed of Abraham, from that time until the time of their restoration to their promised inheritance, which is referred to in the chapter from which I have quoted in Micah. All these great events have been the subjects of prophecy, and have been very clearly pointed out, and perhaps by none more plainly and clearly than by Moses himself, while he was the leader of Israel.

The dealings of God with the human family have been the subjects of prophecy and revelation, and more especially with the descendants of Shem, the offspring of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and not only the Chosen People, but the nations with which they were identified, and with whom they were more or less connected and allied in a national capacity. All these things have been the subjects of prophecy; but the burden of prophecy, from the beginning of the world down to the present time, seems to centre upon our day—the time of the restitution of all things spoken of so frequently by the Prophets of God. By reference to the 3rd chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we find that the Apostle Peter, talking to the wondering Jews assembled together gazing upon him and his brother John, at the time he healed the lame man at the beautiful gate of the Temple, and told them concerning Jesus, whom they had crucified, and whom the Father had raised from the dead, of which they were his witnesses, told them that this same Jesus had been taken up into heaven, and would remain at the right hand of God until the time of the restitution of all things spoken of by all the Prophets since the world began. Then he, Jesus, will descend again. From this Scripture we understand that Peter and his brother Apostles comprehended the doctrine of the restitution of all things, and that it should take place in the latter days preparatory to the second advent of the Savior.

This was also a theme for angels as well as prophets. We read in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, that Jesus led his disciples out to the Mount of Olives, and there lifted up his hands and blessed them; and while in the act of giving them their last commission—to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, a cloud overshadowed him, and he ascended from their sight; and as they stood gazing up into heaven after him, two angels stood by them, clothed in white apparel, and they said unto them—“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye thus gazing up into heaven? Behold, this same Jesus, which you now see go up into heaven: shall so come again in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

The time of the restitution of all things has not only been the theme of angels, Prophets and Apostles, but of all Saints whose understandings have been enlightened by the Spirit of revelation from on high. The chapter which I have read from, in Micah, brings it down to the last days, and is perhaps a little more explicit than some other prophecies. It says that “in the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it.” “The mountain of the Lord’s house”—this is a peculiar phrase, and was probably used by the Prophet because it was a common mode of expression in Israel in the days of David and many of the Prophets several hundred years after him, for, in speaking of Mount Moriah, on which the Temple of Solomon was built, they spoke of it as the mountain of the Lord’s house. Moriah is a hill in the city of Jerusalem, on which David located the site of the Temple, and on which his son Solomon built it, and it was called the mountain of the house of the Lord. This Temple suffered spoliation at the hands of the Gentiles, who made inroads on Israel from time to time, but it was repaired and kept intact until the days of the Savior. While he was on the earth he predicted its total destruction, because of the unbelief of the people. He said, Matthew xxiv, 2, the time should come when not one stone of that Temple should be left on another. The Prophet Micah predicted the same in the chapter preceding the one which I have read from. He says—“Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, you that abhor judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us, none evil can come upon us? Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.”

This last prediction has been literally fulfilled. It has become a matter of history that Jerusalem has become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the house of the Lord has become as the high places of the forest, and has been ploughed as a field. It is a matter of history that the very site of that wonderful Temple was ploughed as a field, and its destruction was rendered so complete that every foundation stone was raised; and that there might be no vestige of it left, around which the Jews might cling, the Roman Emperor caused that it should be ploughed up as a field, thus literally fulfilling the words of the Prophet and the words of the Savior. This woe and destruction was predicted and overtook that people, and they were eventually scattered, because of their wickedness, and because of the corruptions of their princes, judges and rulers. But it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord through Micah, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. Here is a promise around which the house of Israel may cling, and to which they may fasten their faith, for God will not forever hide his face from his people; but he will make choice of a place or places named, and there he will build his house, and people from all nations will flow unto it.

This mountain of the Lord’s house, which is to be established in the tops of the mountains, seems to be, in the mind of the Prophet, located in a different place from the former house, which was located upon that hill in Jerusalem. This, in the latter days, the Prophet says, “shall be in the tops of the mountains.” Mark the expression, not on the top of a mountain, nor in the tops of the highest mountain, but in the “tops of the mountains”—the plural number is used; in other words, in the midst of the high places of the earth. Not on the borders of the sea shore, for the only reason that we speak of mountains on the surface of the earth is because of their elevation above the general level of the ocean.

The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains in the last days, and people from all nations shall flow unto it. And wherefore? What will be their object and purpose in fleeing from all nations? They will say—“Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths, for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Here we learn the object of the people in fleeing from all nations to the mountain of the Lord’s house: it is that they may learn of his ways and walk in his paths. “The Lord shall judge among many people,” says Micah, “and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. I will assemble her that halteth, gather her that is driven out, her that I have afflicted, even the chosen seed of Abraham, the house of Israel that has been scattered and peeled and driven. I will gather her that was scattered, and her that was cast afar off I will make a strong nation, and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion, from henceforth, even forever.”

Isaiah has used nearly the same language in the second chapter of his prophecies. Ezekiel, in the 37th chapter has used similar language, predicting the time of the restoration of the house of Israel and the gathering together of the people of God, and that the Lord shall reign over them and that a reign of peace shall be established on the earth.

That this and other prophecies of a similar character remain yet to be fulfilled, must appear evident to every reflecting mind, for since these prophecies were delivered there has never been a time in which the nations have beaten their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning hooks, lived at perfect peace with each other, and walked in the ways of the Lord. But it has been predicted by the Prophets that such a period will arrive. The same thing was also foretold by the Savior, and by the angels who promised his second coming. Mark the object of the gathering—the nations shall say, “Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, for he will teach us of his ways and we will learn to walk in his paths.” How will this be brought about? Because the law shall go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. How can this be unless God shall begin to reveal himself to his people and minister in their midst as in ancient days, by his own voice, the voice of Prophets, the Spirit of revelation and the ministration of angels?

I am aware that many people of our time attempt to place some mystical and illusive construction upon the prophecies in the Bible, and there is a disposition to ignore the plain and obvious meaning of the declarations of the Prophets, and to give to them some private interpretation. But the Apostle Peter, in the first chapter of his second epistle, in writing to his brethren on this subject, says that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, but holy men of old spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost. In order that they might be able to understand these prophecies, the Apostle counseled his brethren to give heed unto them as unto a light shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arose in their hearts.

It is true that the Prophets have told us of dreams and visions which they have had, and in some instances the Lord has explained or interpreted them, and as such we are to receive them. But where he has not deigned to give the interpretation we must wait until he does, for it does not belong to men to give their own private interpretation thereto. It is written, “Interpretations belong to God,” and where it has pleased him to interpret it behooves us to accept it, and where it has not pleased him to do so it becomes us to wait until he does, and not attempt to obtrude upon mankind our private interpretation of what God has revealed. Where plain predictions are uttered, we are to receive them as we would the writings of any other author—according to the plain and obvious meaning of the language.

How then, I ask, can these prophecies be fulfilled, in the last days, except God shall again speak from heaven? Where shall the mountain of the Lord’s house be established in the tops of the mountains, except God shall make manifest where he will build his house and establish his Zion in the last days? How shall the law go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem in the last days, inducing people to flow unto it from all nations, unless God shall speak again from heaven, as he did in ancient days?

As Latter-day Saints we accept the words of the ancient Prophets and believe that they will be fulfilled literally. Has Jerusalem become a heap of ruins literally? Were the seed of Abraham in bondage and oppressed by the Egyptians literally? Were they delivered and brought out of that land with a high hand and with great power literally? Did God bring them literally into the land of Canaan, which he promised to Abraham? Have they been broken up and scattered from that land literally? Did the Savior come, born of a virgin, as the Prophets predicted, literally? Did he suffer for our sins and endure all that the Prophets had spoken of him literally? Did his enemies cast lots for his vesture and divide his garments among themselves literally? Were “the shepherd smitten and the sheep scattered” when Jesus was crucified literally? Yes, in all these particulars, history records, with the greatest minutiae, the literal fulfillment of prophecy. Was the house of the Lord thrown down and the very foundation thereof ploughed as a field, literally? Yes, then what reason have we to expect other than a literal fulfillment of the next part of the same prophecy, which foretells the establishment of the Lord’s house in the tops of the mountains, the gathering of people from all nations thereunto, that the Lord will rebuke strong nations afar off, and that the nations will beat their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning hooks, that they will live at peace and learn war no more, and the Lord will reign over them, from henceforth, even forever?

Such a mighty revolution as is here indicated by the Prophet can never be effected upon the earth without the voice of God, without Prophets and Apostles, and the power of the Holy Ghost working mightily among the sons of men; and when that period arrives it will be the one referred to by the Prophet Joel, who says—“It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and then your sons and your daughters shall prophecy; your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and upon my servants and handmaidens will I pour out my spirit in those days, saith God.” Thus will Moses realize the wish that he expressed at the time God took the spirit that was upon him and placed it upon the seventy Elders of Israel and they all began to prophecy. When two of these seventy who remained in the congregation felt the same spirit resting upon them and began to prophecy, Moses’ servant came running to him at the tabernacle and said—“Eldad and Medad do prophecy in the camp, my lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, “Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them.”

Joel predicts the coming of a time when the Lord’s people will all become Prophets, even the servants and handmaids will receive the Spirit and they will prophecy. Jeremiah speaks of a similar time, but he uses a little different language. He says—“I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and then no one shall say unto his neighbor, Know ye the Lord, for all shall know him, from the least unto the greatest, and they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” Here the Prophet Jeremiah predicts, as does Micah, a time when the Lord shall bring again Zion, and says that when he brings again Zion they shall see eye to eye and they shall no more use the proverb that the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge, but every man shall die for his own iniquity, and the teeth of him that eateth sour grapes shall be set on edge, and every man will have the opportunity of knowing the Lord, learning his ways, and walking in his paths.

Are we to understand by these sayings of Scripture, that God will pour out the Holy Ghost upon the ungodly, the workers of iniquity—murderers, sorcerers, whoremongers, adulterers, false swearers, deceivers and liars? I do not so understand the Prophets, the Savior and his Apostles. I understand in the language of the Apostle, that the Holy Ghost dwelleth not in unholy Temples; and that if his Spirit is poured out upon the people so generally, it will be because their hearts are prepared to receive it, because their ears have been opened to the word of God, and faith has been begotten in them. They have listened to the call of the Almighty, and have received the message of salvation sent unto them.

But shall all people be thus converted unto the Lord? Shall the king upon the throne, the judges who have judged for reward, the Prophets who have divined for money, the priests who have taught for hire, the murderer, the idolater, the abominable, those who have oppressed and ruled mankind with a rod of iron, who have said to the souls of men, “Bow down, that we may walk over you?” Shall all these be converted unto the Lord of hosts and receive of these blessings? Would to God that it were possible! But the Prophets have not so predicted. They and the Savior and the Apostles have all predicted that “he will punish the kings of the earth upon the earth, and the hosts of high ones that are on high, and they shall be gathered together into the pit.” They have predicted that judgments shall fall fast upon the ungodly who will not repent, and they shall be cut off and shall perish out of the land; and sore and terrible judgments shall come upon the nations who repent not, and who will not listen to the voice of God.

Malachi, in his last chapter, says, “But the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and the proud and they who do wickedly shall be stubble. The day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you who fear my name, saith the Lord, shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall, and shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts.”

Thus we learn, my friends, that the warning voice of God will go forth among the nations, and he will warn them by his servants; and by thunder, by lightning, by earthquake, by great hailstorms and by devouring fire; by the voice of judgment and by the voice of mercy; by the voice of angels and by the voice of his servants the Prophets; he will warn them by gathering out the righteous from among the wicked, and those who will not heed these warnings will be visited with sore judgments until the earth is swept as with the besom of destruction; and those who remain, in all the nations, tongues and kingdoms of the world, will heed the voice of warning and will accept the salvation sent unto them by the Lord through his servants. The law of the Lord will go forth to all such from Zion, and judges will go forth among them from Zion; and all who are willing will be taught the ways of the Lord, and they will be baptized for the remission of their sins and they will receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands of the servants of God. Great and glorious will be that day. The old men will dream dreams, the young men will see visions, and even the servants and handmaids will prophecy, and out of the mouths of babes and sucklings will the Lord perfect his praise.

We are not the only people who believe in these things, and look forward with anxious expectation for the glorious reign of righteousness and peace upon the earth. It has been the faith and the hope of all the righteous upon the earth, the theme of their prophecies and of the songs of the inspired songsters of Israel. It is the hope of these things, and the faith which is begotten in our hearts, that the Lord has set his hand a second time to recover the remnants of the house of Israel, and to fulfill the glorious things which he has foretold through the mouths of his Prophets, that has brought us together in these mountains. It was the faith and hope that induced the pioneers, twenty-six years ago, to face the savages and to penetrate through a trackless, howling desert. To make the roads through the mountains, to bridge the streams, and to endure all the perils of establishing the people of Zion in the Rocky Mountains, when there were no human beings but the untutored savage for a thousand miles or more from them, when it was a thousand miles on the west, a thousand on the north, a thousand to the south, and thirteen hundred to the east to the nearest settlement. It was this faith in the latter-day work, the assurance we had received that God had spoken from the heavens, which prompted us to this great work. It was because God had spoken from the heavens by his own voice to his servant Joseph Smith, by the voice of his Son, and by the voice of angels, calling his people to gather from the nations into the heart of the mountains, that we are here to-day. I can place my eyes upon many in this congregation, and I know of many more throughout this Territory, who heard these things from the mouth of the Prophet Joseph Smith. When the pioneers left the confines of civilization, we were not seeking a country on the Pacific Coast, neither a country to the north or south; we were seeking a country which had been pointed out by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, in the interior of the great North American continent. When the leader of that noble band of pioneers set out with his little company from the Missouri River, they went, as did Abram, when he left his father’s house—knowing not whither he went—only God had said, Go out from your father’s house unto a land which I will show you. That band of pioneers went out, not knowing whither they went, only they knew that God had commanded them to go into a land which he would show them. And whenever the Prophet Brigham Young, the leader of that band of pioneers, was asked the question—“Whither goest thou?” the only answer he could give was—“I will show you when we come to it.” The prayers of that band of pioneers, offered up day and night, continually unto God, was to lead us, as he had promised, unto a land which, by the mouth of his servant Joseph, he had declared he would give us for an inheritance. Said the Prophet Brigham—“I have seen it, I have seen it, in vision, and when my natural eyes behold it, I shall know it.” They, therefore, like Abram of old, journeying by faith, knowing not whither they went, only they knew that God had called them to go out from among their brethren, who had hated, despised and persecuted them, and driven them from their possessions, and would not that they should dwell among them. And when they reached this land the Prophet Brigham said—“This is the place where I, in vision, saw the ark of the Lord resting; this is the place whereon we will plant the soles of our feet, and where the Lord will place his name amongst his people.” And he said to that band of pioneers—“Organize your exploring parties, one to go south, another north, and another to go to the west, and search out the land, in the length and the breadth thereof, learn the facilities for settlement, for grazing, water, timber, soil and climate, that we may be able to report to our brethren when we return;” and when the parties were organized, said he unto them—“You will find many excellent places for settlement. On every hand in these mountains are locations where the people of God may dwell, but when you return from the south, west and north to this place, you will say with me, “this is the place which the Lord has chosen for us to commence our settlements, and from this place we shall spread abroad and possess the land.’”

It is this faith which has brought the multitude who have followed to this land, year after year, from then until the present time. This is the work and the mission that is upon the Latter-day Saints. “Come out of Babylon, O my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not of her plagues. Gather yourselves into the midst of the mountains, where the Lord will establish his house and place his name, and teach you his ways, and where you will learn to walk in his paths.” We are not called to be of the world, to partake of the spirit and follow after the fashions of the world, the lusts of the eye and the pride of life. We are not called to set our hearts upon the world and the things thereof—upon the gold, upon the silver in the mountains, upon the precious things that are in the earth, the cattle upon a thousand hills, nor upon houses or lands, or aught else that pertains to the earth. We are called to set our hearts upon the living God, who has called us to be his people, and to worship him with full purpose of heart. If he gives us houses and lands, goods and chattels, gold and silver and the precious things of the earth, receive them with thanksgiving, and hallow and sanctify them and dedicate and consecrate them to the building up of Zion, the house of our God, the gathering together of his Saints, the preaching of his Gospel to the ends of the earth, and the accomplishment of the great work, whereunto God has called us in the latter days.

Blessed are all those who remember the high calling of God whereunto they are called. Blessed are those who seek to learn the ways of the Lord and walk in his paths. Blessed are those who seek to magnify the high calling of God which is upon them as Elders of Israel, to bear witness of the truth, and exemplify it in their lives and conduct; who deal justly, love mercy, walk humbly before their God, visit the fatherless and the widow in their affliction, and keep themselves unspotted from the world. Blessed are all such of the sons and daughters of Zion, for they shall prosper and their children after them. They shall become saviors upon Mount Zion, and they shall be found worthy to stand when he appears, and their names and their generations after them shall be had in honorable remembrance in the Temples of the Lord our God. But woe unto the hypocrites in Zion, and to the proud and haughty, and those who love the world, set their hearts upon it, and worship houses and lands, gold and silver, goods and chattels and the things of this world! Woe unto those who refuse to tithe themselves and thus to sanctify unto the Lord this land, which he has given them for an inheritance! Woe unto those who pollute the land of Zion by their whoredoms, murders, thefts and working of iniquity, who refuse to consecrate of their substance unto the God of the whole earth, and to render to him the tenth which he requires as the interest of their stewardship!

May the peace of God rest upon the righteous! May the ignorant, come to understanding! May the foolish learn wisdom! May the power of God rest upon those who have assumed the high callings of ministers and judges in Israel! May grace abound unto all the Israel of God, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Evidences, Relating to the Divine Authenticity of the Bible and Book of Mormon, Compared

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, Sept. 28, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

It is written somewhere in this book—the Bible—that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” These words were recorded in the law of Moses, and referred to by our Savior, but in what part of the Evangelists they are recorded I do not remember. They occurred to my mind just as I rose to my feet. It seems to have been the method in which God has dealt with the children of men, ever since they have had an existence on the earth, to reveal certain principles, and to confirm them by as many witnesses as seemed proper to him.

Our Father, the Creator of this earth, has power, if he saw proper to do so, to give a vast amount of evidence to the children of men, concerning the divinity of a message which he might at any time offer to them. It would be a very easy matter, if he saw proper to do so, to inscribe, in the very heavens, in letters of light, testimony and evidence which would be so conspicuous, and powerful, and plain, and easy to be understood, that all the nations, languages, kindreds and tongues upon our globe would know the truth at once, and have no misgivings about the matter. But the Lord has not seen proper thus to deal with the human family. He seems to require, in the first place, faith on good, sound, substantial evidence, instead of imparting knowledge at once.

There is a great difference between faith and knowledge. I am told that there is such a country as China on the eastern borders of Asia; but I never have been there; I never have seen that country; I cannot say, most positively, that such a country exists, only on the testimony of others I am informed that such is the case. I believe that testimony, but it is not a perfect knowledge to my own mind, obtained by my own experience. And so in regard to ten thousand other facts or events. We are in many, indeed in almost all, instances required to believe without a knowledge. The judge who sits in a court of justice to decide upon the liberties and lives of his fellow-beings, does not decide from a knowledge; but from the testimony and evidence presented before him he pronounces sentence of imprisonment or death, because the evidence is sufficient to bear him out in pausing such a sentence.

A person can not be a witness to that which he merely believes. God requires mankind, or certain individuals among mankind, to be witnesses for him—witnesses of his existence—so that they can bear testimony to others. It is important and necessary that they should have a knowledge of the things whereof this testimony is given; hence, in some few cases among the inhabitants of our globe, there have been men raised up to whom there has been a knowledge imparted almost immediately, and they knew, most perfectly, concerning the things which they were to communicate to their fellow-beings. They were true witnesses, and on their evidence and testimony the world have been condemned, and will be judged in the great judgment day. For instance, the Lord our God has revealed a system or plan of salvation to the human family, requiring all men to repent of their sins, turn away from everything that is evil, reform their lives, and to believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, who died to atone for the sins of mankind; to believe in his Father as the great Supreme Being, the Creator of all things; to believe in that which God has ordained, pertaining to the Gospel, that is intended for the salvation of mankind, such as the ordinances of baptism, and confirmation by the laying on of hands, and the administration of the Lord’s Supper. All these are principles and ordinances which God has revealed to the children of men, making known to certain individuals that these are divine, and commanding them to go and bear testimony thereof unto others. Now, when a man stands up before an audience and says, with all boldness and with all humility, that God exists, the question might arise—“How do you know that he exists?” In reply, he says to his audience, “He exists because the Bible speaks of it, the works of Nature declare that there must be a Supreme Being, the wisdom that is manifested in the works of creation show forth his attributes—his goodness, his wisdom, and the adaptation of the various principles in nature to other principles, show that there must have been an all-wise Designer.” “But,” inquires an individual, of the speaker, “do you know anything about this being of whom you say the works of nature declare his attributes, and can you tell us whether he is a personal being, or a widely diffused spirit that exists throughout all nature?” If he can not bear any other testimony than this, merely referring to the Bible or the works of Nature, his hearers can say, “We have the same evidence ourselves, and your testimony is no better than ours.” But if he stands forth as a servant of the Most High God, and declares that he knows God exists, because he has received a revelation to that effect, God has spoken to him, and his eyes have been opened to behold his person and his glory, and that he has heard his voice, then that man’s testimony is greater than the testimony of those who depend merely upon what God has said in past ages, written in the Bible, and greater than that which arises from beholding the beauty, glory, simplicity and wisdom that characterize the works of Nature. Such a testimony, as I have named, where a person can bear testimony to what his eyes have seen, and to what his ears have heard, concerning the Almighty, to what God has revealed to him, will condemn the world. Persons may pretend to be God’s witnesses, and preach fifty, sixty, or four score years in the ears of the people; but if they have never received this testimony, their evidence will be of no effect in the day of judgment. I have heard, in the course of my life, a great many Christian ministers of different denominations, many of them no doubt sincere, say to their congregations, “I will be a swift witness against you in the day of judgment.” Ask these Christian ministers, “Have you ever received a revelation from God yourself?” “Oh no.” “Has God ever spoken to you?” “Oh no.” “Have you ever had a heavenly vision?” “Oh no.” ” Has the Holy Ghost given you a new revelation?” “Not at all.” “When did God last speak to the human family?” Says the Christian minister, “He has said nothing for about eighteen hundred years; the last he said or spoke to the human family is recorded in the New Testament.” Such a minister might preach all the days of his life, and so far as his evidence or testimony is concerned, it would not condemn a solitary individual. Such men are not witnesses for God. He never sent them, he never spoke to or revealed anything through them; they have never seen his face or heard his voice, consequently they know no more about him than the people in the congregation to whom they are speaking. When, therefore, we speak, in the language of our text, that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established;” when these witnesses are divine witnesses, sent forth to bear testimony of divine things, they must have a knowledge of those things; not merely a faith, not a speculative idea or opinion, but they must know, just as well as they know concerning their own existence, of the things about which they speak, and of which they bear testimony to the people. Then in the great judgment day God will say to that people, “Did I not declare my words unto you by my messengers whom I sent unto you, to whom I revealed myself, and who had a knowledge of the things they bore testimony of?” And that will condemn the people.

In order to apply this to one particular subject, which now occurs to my mind, I will take the Book of Mormon, for instance. This book professes to be a divine revelation; it professes to be the writings of a succession of ancient Prophets, the same as the Bible contains the revelations and writings given in different ages to inspired men; and while the Bible contains the writings of inspired men who lived on the eastern hemisphere, the Book of Mormon professes to be the writings of inspired men who lived in ancient times on the western hemisphere. One is called, if we may so speak, the Bible of the East; the other may be termed, with great propriety, the Bible of the West, both of them being of the highest antiquity.

Now, if these books are divine, what evidence is necessary to convince us of that fact? If the Book of Mormon is really a divine revelation, containing the writings of ancient Prophets who dwelt on this American continent before and after Christ, it is important that every man and woman in the four quarters of the earth should understand this; for if it be the word of the Lord, we shall be judged out of the Book of Mormon as much as out of the eastern Bible. If it be not a divine record and not the word of the Lord, it is absolutely necessary that we should know it, in order that we may reject it, and reject it understandingly. Take it either way, then, whether it is or is not a revelation from God, it is equally important that we should know it.

Now what evidence have we that the Book of Mormon is a divine revelation? I will bring forth some evidence upon this subject. Before this book was permitted to be presented to the inhabitants of the earth, the Lord raised up witnesses. Before it was printed, in the year 1829, three witnesses were raised up to bear testimony to it. Now, how could these witnesses get a knowledge that this book was divine? Were they merely told that it was so by the Prophet Joseph Smith, who translated the book from the metallic plates that were taken out of a certain hill in the State of New York? Was this all the information they had before they commenced bearing testimony to the world of the divinity of the book? If this was all, then all who knew Joseph Smith might be witnesses. But we are told in the forepart of the book the nature of their evidence and testimony. We are told that David Whitmer, Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery, in the year 1829, before this book was published, saw an angel of God come down from heaven, and take the plates from which it was translated, and he exhibited them before the eyes of these three men, turning them over leaf after leaf. They saw the angel descend; they saw his glorious personage; they beheld the light and glory of his countenance; they saw the plates in his hands, and they saw the engravings upon the pages of these plates. While the angel was doing this before them, they heard a voice in the heavens, declaring unto them that the plates had been translated correctly, and commanding them to bear testimony of it to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people to whom this work should be sent. They accordingly have prefixed their testimony to this book, which those who obtain the book can read at their leisure; we have not time on this occasion to read it.

What greater testimony concerning the ministering of angels has any person ever given to the human family, than the one I have named? We read about angels ministering in ancient times on various occasions, and for certain purposes—sometimes appearing in great glory, and sometimes withholding their glory. Hence it is written by one of the Apostles—“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for some, in so doing, have entertained angels unawares,” showing that angels have sometimes withheld their glory, and appeared like common men, and that they have been entertained as such. In other instances their glory was exhibited before those to whom they revealed themselves, and they bore testimony to the things they heard from the mouths of their divine visitants.

A question arises here, Is there any testimony in the Old or New Testament any more worthy of being received than that of these three modern witnesses? Do angels live at the present day as they did in ancient times? Every one will say that they still live. Are they the messengers of the Most High now as they were in ancient times? Yes. Says one, “We suppose they are subject to the command of God now as they were in ancient times Is there anything in the Bible that indicates that a period or day would come when the ministration of angels would no longer be necessary? No, not one syllable in all the Bible that indicates any such thing. To the contrary, we find that the Apostle Paul, in speaking of angels, says—“Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation?” Now, if there be any heirs of salvation on the earth in the 19th century, why not those ministering spirits be sent forth to minister for them? And if sent forth, why should they withhold their glory and their personal presence from those to whom they administer? Why not reveal themselves as they did in ancient times, personally and bodily, so that the eye of the individual to whom they administer may behold them? We can see nothing whatsoever that indicates, in the least degree, that these privileges are to be withheld from the children of men. Many, at the present period, believe the testimony recorded in the Scriptures concerning the ancient ministrations of beings called angels. They know not why they believe this, only because it is popular, and it is recorded in the Bible that they did appear. Ask these persons if they believe in the ministration of angels at the present time and they will tell you “no.” They cannot give you any reason why they disbelieve in their ministration now, only it is unpopular. It is popular to believe in the ministration of angels, anciently, but unpopular to believe in such a thing in modern times, consequently people go along with the popular mind and believe in former-day administrations of those heavenly messengers, but latter-day administrations of the same nature they reject.

If persons raised up in ancient times had a knowledge, by the ministration of angels, concerning the message which they communicated to the human family, and their testimony condemned the generation to whom they were sent, I ask, will not the same knowledge, communicated in the same manner, in our day, condemn this generation, inasmuch as the message is not received? Judge this for yourselves.

When the Book of Mormon was printed, early in the year 1830, with these witnesses’ names attached to it and presented to the human family, they had the testimony, not only of these three witnesses, but also the testimony of Joseph Smith, the translator, to the ministration of angels, and concerning the existence of these plates. Here then was the mouth of four witnesses, at least, that God gave to this generation. Besides these four, we have it recorded here that eight other men, men with whom I am, or was, well acquainted, some of them are now dead. Eight other persons besides these four, knew of the existence of the metallic plates, from which the Book of Mormon was translated. Their testimony is also prefixed to this work their names given. They testify that they saw these plates, that they handled them with their own hands, that they saw the engravings upon the plates; that they took them in their hands, and that they knew of a surety of the existence of those plates. They did not bear testimony that they had seen an angel, but they bore testimony to that which they did know, namely, the existence of the plates, that Joseph Smith, the translator, was the person who exhibited the plates to them, and that the characters or letters contained upon the plates had the appearance of ancient work and of curious workmanship, and they bear their testimony in the most positive manner to this thing, declaring in the closing sentence that they bear testimony of these things, and “we lie not, God bearing witness of it.” Here then is the testimony of twelve witnesses, four of whom saw an angel of God. Is not this sufficient to justify the children of men in having faith in the Book of Mormon? Faith is not a knowledge, but faith is the evidence of things not seen. Now, I may not have seen the plates, you may not have seen the plates, but we have the evidence or testimony of things not seen, by a great number of witnesses who did see them.

“But,” says one, “suppose that these witnesses were interested persons, and they wished to combine together to deceive the children of men.” The same supposition might be made concerning ancient witnesses, the Twelve Apostles for instance. They were chosen by the Lord to bear testimony of the Gospel unto all nations, and, with the exception of Judas, there was not a disinterested person among them, not even the one appointed to fill the place of Judas; and these men bore testimony to the most important truths that were ever revealed to the human family. They did this with a perfect knowledge. The infidel world will say they were interested witnesses, just the same as the world say concerning the witnesses of the Book of Mormon. I would not give much for a witness who was not interested; I would not give much for the testimony of an individual who would come and say, “I have seen an angel from God, but yet I am not interested in any thing that he said to me.” No, let that man who receives a communication from the Almighty, and who knows of a surety of the things that he brings forth and bears testimony of to the world, let him be interested in his testimony and show to the world by his works that he is an interested witness.

Says one, “We have some disinterested witnesses with regard to the truth of the Bible.” I deny it, you have not one. You have eight writers in the New Testament, but were they not all interested witnesses? Yes. “But,” says one, “were there not a great many not connected with the ancient Church who saw the miracles of Jesus?” If they did, we have not their testimony, not one. We find it recorded in the Acts of the Apostles that when Peter and John healed the lame man who sat at the beautiful gate of the Temple, there was a great multitude around about who saw this miracle, but have you the testimony and evidence of any one of that multitude? No, you have not, no such evidence or testimony has been handed down to our day. But we have the testimony of the writer of the Acts of the Apostles that such was the case. He says so, and we have to believe it on his testimony. So in regard to the five hundred who saw Jesus after his resurrection. Paul declares that he was seen of five hundred of the brethren at once. But has one of those five hundred brethren handed down his testimony to the 19th century? Not one: it all depends upon the testimony of one writer. That writer says that five hundred men saw Jesus after his resurrection. So in regard to all the miracles that are recorded, said to be wrought by our Lord and Savior; so in regard to all the miracles, wrought after his ascension into heaven, by his servants and those who believed in his name. We have only the testimony of eight witnesses for the truth of the New Testament, and they were all interested.

Again. We know that there have been persons who have combined together to deceive their fellow men, and how are we to know whether these witnesses to the Book of Mormon were men of that class, or whether they were really witnesses of the things of God? We can not know it at first; it is impossible for you and me to know that fact, unless we obtain our knowledge from heaven. We can believe it, or their testimony, but we can not know it, or their testimony. Now the way I would do, if I were an outsider and really desired to know whether the Book of Mormon was a divine revelation or not, I should examine the nature of this evidence which I have referred to, and then I should examine the contents of the book. If I found the book contradictory in its history, prophecies or doctrines, I should set down these twelve witnesses, whose names are pre-fixed to the book, as impostors; but if, after a careful perusal of this book, I found no contradictions or inconsistencies in the prophecies interspersed through its different parts, if I found that the doctrine was plain and simple and easy to be understood, and not contradictory, then the next thing with me would be to compare these prophecies with those in the Bible, and the doctrines of the Book of Mormon with those of Jesus and his Apostles. If I found no contradictions between the two records, but that the same Gospel is taught in both, and that both contain the same great chain of prophecy in regard to the events of the latter days, only more fully exemplified and illustrated, perhaps in different language, in the Book of Mormon from what it is in the Bible, I should have no evidence whatever to condemn the book, or the witnesses contained in it.

Furthermore, if I found certain promises in the Book of Mormon, to the effect that all persons, in all the world, who would receive it, and the message that God has sent forth by the administration of his servants, and would repent of their sins, and be baptized by immersion for the remission of their sins, and have hands laid upon them in confirmation, should receive the Holy Ghost; inasmuch as I could find no testimony against the book, but all these things in favor of it, if I should repent of my sins, there would certainly be no harm in it. If I should reform my life from every evil, according to the requirements of the book, there would be no harm in that; if I should go forth and be baptized, by those having authority, for the remission of sins, I see no harm in that. If I should have hands laid upon, my head, by those messengers, for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, I should see no harm in this outward performance. If I did not receive the forgiveness of my sins, and did not receive the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, I should think there was no divinity in the book, or else that there was some fault on my part, one or the other. And if I examined myself and found that I had sincerely repented of my sins, that I had lacked nothing on my part, and did really receive the manifestations of the Holy Ghost, as they did in ancient days, then I should have a testimony for myself, independently of these twelve witnesses, and independently of the correctness of the doctrine contained in the book, as compared with the Bible: independently of these external evidences, I should have a testimony from God myself, by the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, that the book was true.

“But,” inquires one, “how are we to know when we receive the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost?” I think that every person may know this, for there are certain manifestations that accompany the Holy Ghost, that are of such a nature that they can not be mistaken. I will mention some of them. I do not mean those manifestations we sometimes hear of under the name of “spirit rappers,” “table turners,” “writing mediums,” &c., but I mean those genuine, real manifestations, as recorded in the Bible. To one is given, says Paul to the Corinthians, the word of Wisdom by the Spirit, to another is given the word of Knowledge by the Spirit, to another is given the discerning of spirits by the same Spirit; to another is given the working of miracles, to another is given the gift of prophecy, to another is given the healing of the sick, speaking with tongues, the interpretation of tongues, &c. All these come by the selfsame Spirit, being given to every man, not to one or two, not merely to the witnesses, but to every man in the Church, according as the Spirit will.

Now then, if I receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, or if my brethren receive it, I should expect that we would receive the manifestations of these gifts, one receiving one gift and another another, according to the Bible pattern. If we did not receive these gifts, then we might doubt that we had received the Holy Spirit. We are commanded in the Scriptures to try the spirits, for there are many spirits who are gone abroad into the world who are false spirits. Try them: by what rule? Try them by the written word, and see if we have the gifts as recorded in the New Testament. If we have them, we may be assured that the Holy Ghost has been given to us. For instance, if a person receives the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, and the heavens are opened to him he is not mistaken. If the Lord inspires him to lay hands upon a sick child or a sick person, and he commands the disease to be removed, he knows that God is with him, and that he hearkens to the supplications and prayers which he offers in the name of Jesus in behalf of the sick. If a person has the vision of his mind opened to behold the future and to know that which will shortly come to pass, and he sees these things fulfilled, from time to time, he has every reason to believe that he has really received the Holy Ghost. So in regard to speaking in tongues. If an illiterate, uneducated man, who never understood any language but his mother tongue, is inspired at the very moment to rise and testify in an unknown tongue and to proclaim the wonderful works of God, he knows whether his tongue has been used by a supernatural power, or whether it is merely gibberish out of his own heart. He knows it very well for himself; and so we might continue throughout all the gifts mentioned in the Bible. If he beholds angels, and they descend before him in their glory, and he hears the sound of their voices, beholds the light of their countenances and the glory that radiates from their personages, he knows for himself, consequently this constitutes him a witness as well as those who proclaimed this Gospel before him.

I will ask the Latter-day Saints—those now sitting before me throughout this large audience, how did you know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God when you dwelt in England and had never seen the man? How did you know in Sweden, in Denmark, in Norway, Switzerland, Italy, Australia and in the various parts of the earth from which you emigrated? How did you know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God before you crossed the mighty ocean and came to this land? You learned this fact by a knowledge imparted to you by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost in your own native countries. There you have been healed, and have seen the manifestation of the power of God in healing the sick from time to time. There you have had the vision of your minds opened to behold heavenly things. There you have heard the voice of the Almighty speaking to you by revelation and testifying to you of the things of heaven. Many of you have experienced those great and blessed gifts, that are mentioned in the New Testament, before you emigrated to this land. You came here then, not to obtain a knowledge of the truth of this work, but because you already had a knowledge of it, and to be more thoroughly perfected in the ways of God, and to be taught more fully in the things pertaining to eternal life and happiness, than you could be in your own lands. Hence you are not dependent now upon the testimony of two or three witnesses, or upon the twelve witnesses in the Book of Mormon; but we have a vast cloud of witnesses raised up among all nations, and kindreds, and tongues, and people to whom this work has been sent. They are flocking from the ends of the earth to these mountains, as doves to the windows, all bearing the same testimony—that God has spoken and that the Book of Mormon is true, for the Lord has revealed it to them. Moreover, in the early rise of this Church, the Lord said to his servants—“Go forth and bear testimony to the Book of Mormon and the doctrines contained therein, and I will back up your testimony by signs, by the gifts,” etc. Supposing this promise had not been fulfilled, would there be any tabernacle in this desert to-day? Not any at all. Would this desert be inhabited now by a hundred or a hundred and fifty thousand people? Not at all. Would there now be a great highway cast up across this continent from ocean to ocean? Not at all. It is because God has confirmed the promise that he made to us in the early rise of this Church, that these great events have been accomplished. No people would have had the fortitude, courage and enterprise to come fourteen hundred miles from civilization, so-called, to these mountain wastes and deserts, to cultivate the land and perform the work that has been wrought by this people, unless they had a knowledge from heaven, concerning the truth of this great work. God fulfilled his promise when he said to his servants—“In the name of Jesus you shall heal the sick, you shall open the eyes of the blind, you shall unstop the ears of the deaf.” It is because of the fulfillment of this promise, that you have been gathered and accomplished the work that has been wrought out herein this country, and because of this stepping stone between the two great oceans, a half-way house as it were, others have ventured to come into these mountain wilds, and the Territory and regions round about are beginning to be settled. Through these facilities no doubt the railroad has been constructed something like a quarter of a century sooner than it would have been otherwise.

When we contrast the evidence which we have concerning the divinity of the Book of Mormon, with the evidence which this generation have of the Bible, we discern that the Book of Mormon contains a vast amount of evidence, thousands and thousands of witnesses of its divinity to where the Christian world have one of the divinity of the Bible. “How so?” you may inquire. These very Elders and missionaries who have gone to the nations have kept their journals, and have recorded the miracles which God has wrought by their hands. These are living witnesses. Those who saw these miracles are still alive. Now, how many witnesses have you that miracles were wrought in the days of our Savior or in the days of his Apostles who succeeded him? You have no person outside the Church only those who, like Josephus, bore their testimony from hearsay. Within the Church you have six witnesses. There are eight writers in the New Testament, but only six of these eight have borne any testimony concerning the performing of miracles, but you believe it on their testimony. The Book of Mormon, I presume, has more than six thousand, if not sixty thousand witnesses to its divinity and to the miracles that have been wrought in these latter-days. Which is the greatest? Has any one you have ever seen at the present day had an angel sent to him, who held up before him the tables on which the law of Moses was written, commanding him to hear testimony to the divinity of that law? No: no one in the Christian world makes any pretension to anything of this kind. Then is not the testimony in favor of the Book of Mormon superior to that which you possess in favor of the law of Moses? Yes. We can show you witnesses, men still living, to whom an angel appeared and told them that the Book of Mormon was a divine record. The Christian world have no such evidence as this in favor of the Bible, and they can not, by any living witness, substantiate the divinity of the Bible. Moreover, we have another advantage; the Book of Mormon was translated directly from the original. Now, have you, either in the Old or New Testaments, a book that was translated directly from the original? Not one. Is there one that was translated from a second-hand copy even? Not, one. I presume there is not a book compiled in the Bible but what went through many hundreds of transformations before it fell into the hands of King James’s translators. How do you know that these copyists copied correctly? You have no access to the originals. It is true that you have Hebrew Bibles, but they are not originals; they are only copies. They were multiplied, before the art of printing was invented, for many generations, and the copies that were in possession of King James’s translators had perhaps been handed down through a thousand other copies of older date, and how can you be sure that they were correct? We are told by some of our archbishops and learned men, who have spent their whole lives in collecting copies of ancient manuscripts from which to translate the Bible, that they at last despaired of obtaining a correct copy of the work. One archbishop, mentioned in the Encyclopedias, had collected a vast number of copies of the Bible in Hebrew; as ancient as he could possibly get hold of them. But when he came to compare them he found about thirty thousand different readings. Almost every text would read different in one copy from what it would in another. Finally, he gave up the idea of making a translation at all, none of his copies being original; and consequently when the translators of the English Bible performed that work they did it according to the best judgment they had, and they no doubt did it well as far as human wisdom could, under the circumstances. Now, then, the difference between the Bible of the West—the Book of Mormon—and the Bible of the East—the Old and New Testament, is that one was taken directly from the original, the other from a multitude of manuscripts which differed almost in every text. It would seem, then, that when God saw the human family in this great state of uncertainty and darkness with regard to divine revelation, it would be nothing more than consistent to suppose that he would bring forth, by his own power, as he has done, revelation suited and adapted to the circumstances, revelation on which we could depend, being substantiated by witnesses raised up especially to bear testimony thereto, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses or as many as seemed him good, every word might be established, that the children of men might have no excuse in relation to these matters.

We might continue this subject and show you the fulfillment of many of the prophecies in the Book of Mormon. It has been printed now for upwards of forty-three years. During this time very many of the prophecies it contains have been fulfilled; prophecies, too, that no human sagacity could have perceived beforehand. Whoever would have thought that, in this very country of ours, under American institutions, where religious freedom has prevailed from one end of the country to the other; who would have thought, when the Book of Mormon was printed, that the blood of the Saints would cry from the ground of this free American soil, because of their persecutors? And yet it was all foretold in the Book of Mormon. Other sects had risen and multiplied by hundreds on the face of this land, some of whom experienced a little persecution; but who ever heard of their being butchered in cold blood as scores and scores of this people have been since the Book of Mormon was printed? We were told by revelation, forty-three years ago, when this Church was organized, that its members would be persecuted, and hunted from city to city and from synagogue to synagogue, and that the blood of the Saints would cry from the ground for vengeance upon the heads of their murderers. Has it come to pass? It has. We were told in the Book of Mormon, which was printed many years before it came to pass, that, if this nation would not receive this divine message when God should bring it forth in the latter days, he would bring the fullness of his Gospel and his Priesthood from among the nation. We did not know how this would be fulfilled, during the first seventeen years after the book was printed. We could read the prophecy, but how God would ever bring it to pass, we did not know, until the time of its accomplishment had arrived, then it was revealed that this people should flee and leave the nation to whom they had delivered their testimony for many years. When we came here the prophecy was literally fulfilled. Thus we might go on and relate prophecy after prophecy that has been fulfilled in confirmation of the divinity of this latter—day work. The same testimony accompanies the Bible. We believe it to be true because of the prophecies therein that have been fulfilled.

Many other prophecies contained tin the Book of Mormon, hereafter to be fulfilled, are as great and marvelous as any that have been fulfilled. One of the prophecies contained in the Book of Mormon, delivered before there was a Latter-day Saint Church in existence, which has been remarkably fulfilled, was that the servants of God should go forth with this book to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, and gather out from among those nations a great people. That has been fulfilled, and the inhabitants of this Territory are a witness to the truth of this prediction or prophecy. If Joseph Smith was an impostor, how did he know this work would go beyond his own neighborhood? How did he know it would ever live to be proclaimed to the different parts of the State where it originated, or where the plates were found? How did he know that it would be preached to the inhabitants of this great government, and then cross the waters, to other nations, kindreds, peoples and tongues. Such a prophecy uttered by an impostor, would be very unlikely to come to pass. Yet such a prophecy was uttered; such a prophecy has been fulfilled, and the nations of the earth, as well as the Latter-day Saints, are witnesses to its fulfillment. We have seen this people come forth year after year, crossing the ocean, first in sailing vessels, then in steamers, by hundreds and by thousands, until they are now almost a little nation here in the tops of the mountains. Amen.

A Word of Exhortation

George A. Smith

Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-Annual Conference, October 6, 1873. Reported by David Evans.

Last October Conference I asked permission to take a journey to visit the land of Palestine, and some other portions of the old world, expecting that I should be absent, probably, about eleven months. I was accompanied on that journey by President Lorenzo Snow and several others; the party including eight. We visited Palestine and many other countries, a portion of us calling at the Fair in Vienna. But in consequence of my selection, by the Conference last April, to do the duties of trustee-in-trust, I returned home a little sooner than I anticipated, though we were all well satisfied with our journey and visit, and with every interview we had on the entire journey, and were very thankful to our heavenly Father that we had the means given us, through his mercy, and I, individually, through the kindness of my friends, to make such a journey. We feel that the results will be felt and realized hereafter, as having done much good. I feel, individually, to return my thanks and blessings to all those who contributed to aid me on that journey, and to all those who desired to, but had not the means. I feel that the blessing of the Lord, which we invoked on the Mount of Olives, will rest upon his people, and that the time is not very far distant when God will fulfill his promises concerning Israel; though, so far as we saw of the remnants of Judah, their hearts are very hard, and it will require the exercise of great power on his part to soften them. But as his word will not fail, and his promises are sure, we look forward to their fulfillment with regard to Israel. In the meantime we, with all our hearts, might, mind and strength, should take warning by the example of Israel, and not fall into the same snares. They neglected their Tithes and offerings, violated the Sabbath, forgot their prayers and worshiped other gods, and for these things God cursed them and scattered them to the four winds of heaven, and the curses rest on the land, and, as was predicted by the Prophet, the rain has been turned into dust.

We, as Latter-day Saints, having had revelation from the Lord, and the fullness of the Priesthood revealed unto us, should be exceeding careful that we do not neglect the Gospel, turn from our duties neglect our Tithes and offerings, Sabbaths and prayers, forsake the Lord and go astray after other gods, lest peradventure the curse of the Almighty fall upon us, and the kingdom be rent from us and given to another people. I feel that the desolation, waste and barrenness of Palestine, and the degradation of its people should be a lasting and permanent lesson to us in all things, to keep the faith and obey the commandments, to remember our Tithes and offerings, to be friends to the poor, to remember our prayers, to remember the faith which God has revealed unto us, and to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints, that we may have and enjoy all its blessings.

We have had a glorious season, an abundant harvest and a good time to gather it. The weather has been fine and agreeable, and now, brethren and sisters, let us gather together a few days to talk with and strengthen each other upon the principles of the Gospel of peace. The Elders can bear testimony, for I know that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that God has revealed it to us for our salvation; and our covetousness, and disposition to make a display in the world should not interfere in any way whatever, with us in devoting our time, talents, energies and our all to the upbuilding of his kingdom, for that is the greatest interest and glory, and the grandest speculation there is on the face of the earth.

These are my sentiments and views. I wish all persons in the congregation, when they see a man rise to speak, to lift up their hearts to the Lord in prayer that the Lord will have mercy upon us and fill that man with the power of the Spirit, that he may speak to us directly by revelation from heaven, that every voice that is elevated may be elevated by the power of the Almighty.

The Importance of Living Up to the Knowledge Possessed By, and the Requirements Made of, the Latter-Day Saints, Through the Living Oracles of God

David McKenzie

Remarks by Elder David Mckenzie, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-Annual Conference, October 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I feel very thankful for the privilege of standing before this congregation this morning, notwithstanding it is with some degree of diffidence; yet, in common with my brethren, I have reason to rest assured that when an Elder stands up before a congregation with a desire to bless them with a portion of the good news that emanates from the eternal throne, I say I have reason to believe that that Being whom we serve and worship will not be unmindful of us, inasmuch as we draw near unto him with confidence and with prayerful hearts. I rejoiced exceedingly at the words of our beloved President, President George A. Smith, when he requested the congregation to lift up their hearts in silent player to Jehovah, that the Elders might receive the words of life to give unto the people. This is our privilege, brethren and sisters, and it is one that I esteem of the greatest value; and when I come to a meeting to listen to the words of truth, I make it an invariable rule to lift up my heart in silent prayer that the Lord will administer to us, for without his aid and assistance our words are of very little value to the Saints.

I realize, this morning, that I am addressing a congregation of Latter-day Saints. If I were speaking to the people of the world, who know nothing about our holy religion, I might be directed to admonish them to be baptized for the remission of their sins. But I realize that I am talking to a people who are already acquainted with the first principles of the Gospel. I see before me those who have left all that was near and dear to them—forsaken their homes, the graves of their fathers, the associations of their friends, and have gathered here to serve the true and living God—that Being who has revealed himself in this, the dispensation of the fullness of times, for the winding up of the affairs of this earth, according to the programme that was made before the world was. Inasmuch as we have done this, and have covenanted with God, the Eternal Father, that we would serve him and keep his commandments, if I can give you a word of comfort, or of exhortation, I pray that it may be so given to me from God that it may do you good.

We have had some very excellent instructions given to us during the Conference. President Young brought the Gospel before us, as it were in a nutshell, when he told us that if there was anything good or beautiful, anything that savored of virtue and righteousness, anything that tended to true happiness, it was a portion of the creed of the Latter-day Saints. I use the term “creed.” It is of itself a word that circumscribes, a word that limits, but there is no limit to our creed. It is unbounded, it comprehends all truth that is, was or is to be. Whatsoever is good and noble, whatsoever tends to the salvation of the children of men and to happify their being here and hereafter, to bring up, to improve, to increase according to the order of the Gods, that is the religion of the Latter-day Saints, that is what constitutes their religion.

It is fashionable to designate that as education which gives the young, an acquaintance with letters, numbers, science and philosophy; while that which tends to a future state, to happify hereafter and to prepare us for the presence of God is called by the world religion. With the Latter-day Saints it is all education, or it is all religion, just as you please. That which prepares us to live and enables us to provide for ourselves the necessaries and comforts of life, as well as that which prepares us for the presence of God our heavenly father, that we may dwell with him through all eternity with us is all education or all religion. We know not where to draw the dividing line, bearing this fact in mind, that whatsoever is good comes from God, and that whatsoever is evil comes from an evil source.

I trust that we are awake to these things, that we do not let the time pass by unimproved, for to us is committed a great and important work—not only our own salvation but the keys for the redemption of the children of men from the earliest ages to the winding-up scene. That is the work the Latter-day Saints have before them. It is well to have this continually in our minds, that we may not trifle away the time, but that we may be awake to the signs that are looming up on every hand, and pointing out, as with the finger of Jehovah, that the time is drawing near when he whose right it is to reign will come and take the kingdom. Men have had it a long time their own way. When I read and reflect upon the history of the past I am led to believe that the Lord has let men take things into their own hands to a certain degree, to see what they would do for themselves. You all remember the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which Daniel interpreted, wherein he saw a great image, the head of which was of fine gold, the breast and arms of silver, &c. Images are the work of men’s hands. To Nebuchadnezzar was given dominion over all the earth, a kingdom which was comparatively pure, and which was compared to fine gold; but in process of time the kingdom degenerated, and was weakened and sub-divided, as represented by the feet of the image—which were part of iron and part of miry clay. But in the last days the God of heaven was to set up a kingdom. A kingdom that was not a part of the image, it was not the work of man, it was the work of God, and was likened to a stone cut out of the mountain without hands. Mark the phrase—“with out hands,” it was not the work of men, it was a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, that is, a kingdom set up by God, which was to smite this image—the work of men, and an order of things was to be instituted in accordance with the mind and will of Jehovah.

I bear testimony to you this day, brethren and sisters, that God has set up his kingdom; that it has been revealed to me, to my understanding, to my most positive conviction, so that it is no longer a matter of doubt of uncertainty; but it is as substantial and real to me as the assurance that I am. And there are hundreds, yes, thousands in this congregation, who could bear the same testimony were they called upon.

Do we as Latter-day Saints act up to this knowledge? Do we bear in mind that we have made certain covenants with God, and that we are responsible whether we keep them or neglect them? I am afraid, brethren and sisters, that, although the majority of the Latter-day Saints are doing very well, there are many men with talents, gifts and abilities given them by God, who might be bright and shining instruments in his hands, who are negligent and who are wandering after idols, and are worshiping idols just as much as the heathen who prostrate themselves before things of wood and stone. What are they doing? Forgetful of the great aim and object which they should have in view as Latter-day Saints, they wander off after the things of this world, they seek to heap to themselves riches, and spend their time as if there were nothing beyond the vail. This course is not wise, even so far as this world is concerned, for what is the condition of such persons to-day? Their ideal does not give them that true lasting happiness that comes from God. It brings care and anxiety, and increases the lust for gain, and what they seek to obtain flees further from them. The acquisition of wealth entails greater responsibility as to what use they will make of it to acquire still more. Looking at it in this light it seems to me a self-evident fact, that although we are ostensibly engaged in seeking for and promoting our happiness, we are on the wrong track when we take a course of this kind. There is a proper course for us to pursue in order to increase our happiness. We have been thrown together on this planet, in pretty much the same circumstances in many respects. We are sensitive to pleasure and to pain, we have a desire to increase our enjoyments, and there are many things I might mention wherein we are all very much alike. Now don’t you think that the Being who created you and me knew of a certain plan which, if we would adopt, a certain course which, if we would pursue, would give us the greatest among of happiness? It is a very reasonable conclusion.

What course is that likely to be? The same course that our Father in heaven has taken before us. How shall we get to know what that is? Let us read the revelations, let us refer to our beloved Savior when he was upon the earth. What course did he pursue? He went about doing good. His admonition was to do good to all, to love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and to do unto others as you would have them do to you. These were some of the principles laid down by our Savior and Redeemer. He said he came not to do his own will, but the will of his Father. Don’t you think, brethren and sisters, that if we were to follow these golden rules we should see a very different state of things to what we now see? What would be the result if they were observed? Every man would be as willing to promote the welfare and advantage of his neighbor as he would his own. When two went to trade together it would not be—“Now let us see who will get the best of the bargain,” or, “I don’t care what you get, I want to get as much as I can.” The desire would be that each should be satisfied. In a state of society in which these golden rules were observed by all, there would be no grinding the face of the poor that the rich might pile unto themselves wealth, which is a cankerworm; no, but we would be able to enter into the Order of Enoch, and live it, so that we might intensify our faith in God and receive and understand more of his will concerning us, and we should see a state of things, which you and I have never dreamed of, if we would overcome these feelings of selfishness which proceed from a power that is evil and that is opposed to our growth, and to the progress of the kingdom of God.

Is it within our power to inaugurate and bring to pass such a condition of things? We have the priesthood of the Son of God bequeathed to us for this very purpose. Is it in the mind and will of Jehovah to pour out blessings upon His people, to increase upon them everything that is calculated to happify them here and hereafter. He has designed to make a nation of kings and priests, according to His promises made to Abraham. That promise has yet to be fulfilled, and will as assuredly be fulfilled as that the heavens are above us. He would pour out blessings on His people, but if they are not able to receive them, alas! they would prove curses. He has given us laws, and with every law given there are conditions. If we magnify them, blessings are promised, of which we are as sure to be the recipients as that we live. Why are we required to pay Tithing? What does the Lord want with a tenth of our substance? I will tell you what He wants with it. He wants you and me to manifest by this thing that we are His servants, that we respect his commandments, that we do not wholly set our hearts on filthy lucre, but that we do willingly, cheerfully and understandingly bring forth one-tenth of our substance, and say—“Here am I, O Father, ready and willing to lay down what Thou hast required of me, that I may manifest to Thee my integrity and prove that I am fit to receive more of Thy blessings.” That is the law of Tithing as I understand it. That is the condition, that is the reward, if you please, which attends a person who pays it.

Many times the Saints wonder why we do not progress faster than we do, and sometimes it creates a feeling of regret; but I realize that there is an abundance of things before the people which they do not live up to. We have the oracles of God in our midst. I may sit down and read the Scriptures of the past, the commandments given to the children of Israel engraven on the tables of stone, or the carnal commandments, but they benefit me comparatively little. What you and I want to-day is the word of the Lord to ourselves. Are we not His children as much as were the children of Israel in the days of Moses? Most assuredly. We want the word of the Lord to-day, and we require to walk up to it when we get it. As I said, we have the living oracles in our midst, and if we receive from them admonition, counsel, and commandments if you please, that is as much the word of the Lord to this people as is the doctrine of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.

We all look forward to the time when the Order of Enoch will be established on the earth. But in our present condition, with our feelings of selfishness, lusting after the things of the world, and craving after Babylon, we cannot expect that the Lord would have so little regard for his people as to require us to live this law, when it would be likely to prove our condemnation. But the servants of God who stand at the head of this people, with hearts yearning for their prosperity, with constant prayers ascending to God, for the advancement of his kingdom upon the earth, have seen fit to propose that we enter into a system of co-operation, as a step towards establishing this order that we contemplate will exist at no distant day. What should be our feelings at hearing of the organization of such a thing? We should give thanks and praise to Almighty God that there is a chance—a door opened—by which we may take a step towards establishing the Order of Enoch. It is a step in the right direction, and if we understood our true interests we would step forth in that direction, we would make everything bend to it, we would centre our faith upon it, we would give our might and our means for the advancement of this institution called the Co-operative Institution. It should be as the apple of our eye. The support of this co-operative system is just as much a commandment of God, as I said before, as the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins. What makes it so? Because it has been revealed to us as such by the living oracles. And what do we care for the printed word, as compared with the living oracles? Is it not of more importance to you and me to know what we should do to-day? Most assuredly. We live in the present, we live to-day, and if we live right to-day, we are ready for to-morrow. It is of the utmost importance that we should know how to regulate our conduct to-day, because we are not only living ourselves to-day, but we have our families to train, instruct and educate, that they, in turn, in their day, may be enabled to carry out the mind and will of God. If we understood our true interests as a people we would know that we had not a single individual interest outside the kingdom of God. If this fact is not apparent to our minds it is because we are more or less in the dark. What do we seem to possess here? I say seem to possess advisedly, because we have no control in and of ourselves. Who can guarantee himself one hour of existence? Who is assured of it? Even the very ability we have to gather around us the necessaries and comforts of life comes from God. Who of us has an inheritance? As President Smith remarked, not a soul of us on the earth has received an inheritance that we can call our own; and when we as a people have an opportunity given to us to unite our faith and energies in any one given direction, we should hail it as one of the greatest blessings that can be bestowed upon us.

It is in that light I look upon the Perpetual Emigrating Fund for the gathering of the poor—it is a God-send to us because we are permitted to concentrate our faith and energies and means in one direction to accomplish a great and a good work. It is in that light I rejoice in the establishment of the Co-operative Institution, because, we are privileged to unite our energies and faith as a people in one direction, for a beneficial result. It is the same in the paying of Tithing; and what would we have to-day without these institutions? Have you any idea to what extent Tithing has been the means of bringing to pass the many improvements that have grown up around us? Many have not, but I am fortunate enough to be thrown into that position where I am able to see and understand and be acquainted with the figures and I know the use that Tithing is applied to, and that it is first and foremost in all improvements for the advancement of the cause of truth upon the earth, and setting an example for others to follow in the same wake, and one of the great sources of the prosperity of this people is due to the fact that there is at least a certain portion of Tithing paid into the Lord’s storehouse.

It has been remarked here that Salt Lake City is, as it were, a battle-field between the powers of light and the powers of darkness. I never, as an individual, felt better in my life in this Church than I do to-day. I care nothing about the outside pressure so far as I am individually concerned, and I notice with the Saints who are awake, that the greater the opposition the stronger they get in the things of God. It is very true the young are growing up around us, and they have not had the experience of those of riper years, and are liable to be led astray. There is a great responsibility resting upon the parents of the young that they set their children wise and prudent examples; that they admonish them of the evils that are extant and that are encroaching upon the people to-day. When we see Babylonish fashions coming in amongst us we should be very careful that we avoid setting our children the example of patterning after them. If we find that our young folks must run after fashions, let us go to work and set them some good examples, create fashions for ourselves that they may pattern after. Just reflect, sisters, for one moment, who is it that inaugurate the fashions which some of our so-called ladies patronize on the streets of Salt Lake City to-day? Where do those fashions come from? Would you like to be looked upon in the light those poor creatures are who inaugurated those fashions? If you must pattern after something, pattern after the good, righteous and pure, and shun the very appearance of evil. I will tell you one thing that we may pattern after profitably. A savings bank has been opened in this city. It is gotten up for a wise purpose, the people may therein throw their means together, and peradventure if they want to send for friends and relatives abroad, when the day rolls round to do so they will have something they can use for this laudable purpose. There is something to pattern after, involving a principle of saving, husbanding your resources. By putting your pennies together by and by they become a pound. It is like the units of the actions of this people—when they are all aggregated together they amount to a mighty effort. Save your pennies instead of throwing them away on these foolish trifling vanities. It is the case with some of my brethren and sisters, they can not allow a dollar to stay in their pockets a minute. They want to go to some of the stores to lay it out on some trash, for it is a fact, patent to all, that this is a day of humbuggery, and the things you get in the stores are more or less counterfeit and sham, outside show and gingerbread gilt instead of sound, substantial things that we ought to seek after. For instance, the cloth that we wear, you go to a store and buy an article of wearing apparel, how rare it is that you can get the thing that is represented. No, you get a sham, a counterfeit, an imitation of the genuine stuff, and that is just what the world is rapidly coming to. By and by there will be nothing among them but sham and counterfeit. Let us prefer, rather, that which is good and substantial, that which we can use and which will be a benefit to us rather than that which is only for display. Let us seek, brethren and sisters, after those things which will benefit and improve our condition to-day, and leave Babylon alone.

I tell you that if we would keep ourselves to ourselves, you would see very few of those institutions flourishing in Salt Lake City that are springing up around us that are now getting the patronage, I am afraid, of some of the Latter-day Saints. Let me beseech you, for your own sakes, and for the sake of Israel abroad to quit patronizing Gentile institutions and abominations, and turn your attention to building up the kingdom of God, for therein are all the interests you have on the earth for time and for eternity.

May God bless us and help us so to do is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Affairs in Sanpete County—“One-man Power”—Unity Required Among the People

Orson Hyde

Discourse by President Orson Hyde, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday morning, October 5, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

As this day’s services may be considered introductory to our Conference, which will commence to-morrow, I have been requested to make a few remarks. I cannot say whether they will be few or many, but let this be as the good Spirit of the Lord will. I am very happy to meet with my brethren in Salt Lake City, and from the adjoining settlements, and I presume, ere our Conference shall come to a close, all the Branches of Zion throughout the Territory will be duly represented here.

I have come from a point about one hundred and forty miles south-east of here. The people of my immediate field of labor, I am pleased to say, are generally healthy. There is some little sickness among our children, and some of them have been called away; but as a general thing, among the adult population, there is good health. We have had a peculiar season, yet very passable crops, and a most beautiful time to gather them. This year, so far, we have had peace with the Indians, for the first time for quite a number of years, and I do assure you that it is a relief to us. The Indians had an idea that they could do with us as seemed them good—prey upon our substance and murder our men, women and children whenever they felt like it, and the military of the Government would wink at it, because they thought the Government wanted to get rid of us; anyhow, they seemed to entertain little fear with regard to the consequences of the crimes which they committed amongst us. But last year, when General Morrow and a few companies stationed here at Camp Douglas, came and paid us a visit, it rather led the Indians to think that it was not altogether as they had considered it, and though there was no fighting done, from the fact that the Indians retreated, and hid themselves, yet the presence of the soldiers was a protection to us while we gathered the most abundant harvest that ever crowned the labors of our people in that section, and it was a very good thing, and the Indians begin to think, perhaps, that the soldiers would chastise them if they did not behave well. But from the sudden and unexpected recall of the troops from our county and the apparently [apparent] unwillingness of the Government to grant us any compensation for years of military service rendered in the defence of our settlements, in which time, nearly one hundred of our men, women and children, were mercilessly slain by the red-skins, besides hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock driven off by them—some of our people were foolish enough to think that the Indians were more than half right in their views. Be this as it may, it is all in a lifetime, and will come out right in the end. I feel thankful that we have had peace with the red-men, and that no particular depredations have been committed by them since, with the exception of a dozen or twenty horses which they have stolen.

We are not mining in Sanpete County. I do not know whether there are any mines there or not; we do not trouble ourselves a great deal about that, and consequently we are not afflicted with people who will dabble with mining, some of whom, when disappointed, will resort to stealing and other crimes. We have not that class amongst us, and I am glad of it, yet the more men who come amongst us with good and honest hearts, the better. It matters little whether they are Jews or Gentiles, if they possess honest hearts, we are apt to convert them and bring them into the Church. That has been the case up to the present time, and the consequence is, there are very few outsiders there.

The Co-operative stores established in our various settlements are a great blessing to us. They bring whatever we want, right to our doors, and although the dividends are not very great in favor of the stockholders, the benefits resulting from the establishment of these institutions afford us ample renumeration for the advance of the capital necessary to commence the business. We do not increase rapidly in wealth, but we increase a little all the time, especially when the Indians let our stock alone. Our Co-operative Institutions are doing a very safe and good business. I do not think that any of them in Sanpete County are very much in debt to the parent institution in this city. I have cautioned them against it, and advised them to pay fairly and squarely, and not to trust their goods out, but to do a close, safe and secure business, that every person may be accommodated with what he wants; and if they should not happen to have what we need in every store at the time, they will kindly bring us whatever we sent for, especially when we give them the money to operate with. This is all that we can expect. Our books are open, and have never been closed against the admission of capital. Stock is for sale in every institution in Sanpete County, from twenty-five cents and upwards, and our little boys and girls, taking advantage of the opportunity thus presented, put in two bits once in a while, and by and bye it gets up to five, seven, eight or ten dollars; and they can get a share, and there is quite an effectual door open for our youngsters to begin and show their financial accommodation to the people.

Well, brethren and sisters, I will say nothing further about the part of the county from which I came, but I will make a few remarks upon the idea of our being a peculiar people. You know that we are regarded as such, and if we look upon ourselves from a proper point of view, we shall readily admit that in this respect outsiders have given us an appropriate name; for we are a peculiar people whom God has chosen to serve and honor him. But the form of government of this people a great many have taken serious exceptions to: they think that one man is armed with too much power, and sways an influence over so many that it becomes a dangerous power and should be suppressed. I was reading, a few weeks ago, a statement made by a reverend gentleman living in Provo, and the most serious thing he had to complain of—and he complained of a great many things—was the one-man power which exists, and is tolerated and sustained in Utah.

I wish to speak a few words in relation to the one-man power, and in the first place I will say that it is what every aspirant, politician and statesman labors to acquire. I do believe that Mr. Grant, as good a man and as brave a soldier as he is, if he could get the hearts of all the people so that they would rally round his standard and sustain and uphold him, it would be the pride and joy of his heart. But if any man is thwarted in the desires of his heart in this respect, that is no reason why he should oppose others in gaining influence over his fellow-men. All men love money, you know, more or less, hence they are digging here in the mines to obtain it. I have no fault to find or censure to bestow upon them for this operation; they are anxious to obtain money. Some only get a little, very little, while others, perhaps, make their millions. Now let me ask, Should the few who are fortunate and gain their millions be cast out and crushed because of their financial power, because they have struck a good lead and have been successful, by the many who have gained only a few dollars, or who, perhaps, have lost instead of gained? If then, this principle is to be tolerated in financial matters, why not when applied to influence and power in general?

I read that, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It seemed to be a kind of one-man power that was engaged in the very act of rolling creation into existence. I do not know how much of Democracy or of Republicanism there was in the beginning, I was not there that I know of, or if I was it is so long since that I have forgotten it. Judging by the accounts we have of matters then, the government was a kind of one-man power; and if we look at things as they really are, we shall find that sin entered the world, and death by sin and that was by one man. Oh, that was grievous! That drew a veil of gloom over the face of creation. That was one-man power. By and bye we read of another one-man power that came along and counteracted this, and that was the Lord from glory—another kind of one-man power.

Now, while I compare these things with the present order of things which exists throughout our world, I do not wish to be understood as depreciating our own government, for it is the best earthly government in existence upon the face of the earth. It was ordained, organized and suffered for a wise purpose in God our heavenly Father, which, perhaps, I may be able to exhibit to you ere my remarks shall come to a close; but be this as the Lord will, I do not wish to say one word against our government; it is a good government, it answers the times and fills a vacuum that perhaps nothing else could. But I am looking at matters as they were from the beginning.

You know Jesus, when the Jews asked him about divorce and marriage, told them that Moses permitted them, for certain causes, to put away their wives; but he also told them that it was because of the hardness of their hearts that Moses permitted this, but that from the beginning it was not so. Now whether it was because of the hardness of men’s hearts, or because of the softness of them, I am not going to say, but I want to show the order of things as they were in the beginning, and as they emanated from the bosom of the Almighty. That which was first must be last, and that which was last must be first—a similar order of things, redeemed, rescued and brought out of chaos, and returned to the Father as they came from him, for he will accept nothing unless it be what he gave; for, said the Savior, “Every plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” Hence, he will receive nothing only what he gave, He gave us immortal spirits, he sent them down here to be tabernacled in the flesh, and he expects that they will return to him, and they all will, in some grade, return to him who gave them.

Well, the Savior of the world came to counteract the acts of the first Adam. And what was the nature of the work he had to do? Why, to bring life and immortality to light, to resurrect the dead, and to implant a hope of eternal life in those who trusted in him; and this, be it known to you, was accomplished by one-man power. Ye Roman soldiers who guard the tomb, ye Jews, who had a temporary triumph by the death of him whom ye crucified, know that the angel of God descends, the stone is rolled away from the door of the sepulcher, the Lord of glory rises, the dark curtain of death is rolled away and gives place to life and immortality, which dawn upon the world, in the person of the resurrected Savior. This was produced by one-man power. Said this one man in view of the responsibilities that were upon him, and smarting under the pangs that he endured—“Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” Why did not that one-man power resist the mind of his Father and say—“Do you think I am going to lay down my life, to sacrifice my existence to please you? No, I have an independent mind and will and I am resolved to gratify them.” That would have been in accordance with the ideas of our day, but it did not correspond with the programme of the Eternal Father, and the object of his only begotten Son in coming to this world was to accomplish and carry out his part of that programme, “Not my will, by thine be done.” This should be the feeling of the Latter-day Saints in relation to the requirements of heaven upon them. “Not my will, by thine, Oh God, be done.” If the world reproach you for submission to the will of God, refer them to the Savior, whose motto was, “Not my will, by thine be done.” How much honor and glory does the Savior of the world enjoy at the present time? It is beyond the conception of mortal man. But how much would he have enjoyed, and who among us would have had salvation had he faltered in his hour of trial and said—“I will not submit to this sacrifice?” Despise not this one-man power, for before I come to a close I shall endeavor to show to you that every son and daughter of Adam will be compelled to bow to it, and the more they fight against it, the harder it will be for them to submit to it in the end. Take it kind of moderately, then and look at it in its true light.

Now my friends and brethren, I want to tell you that our country is a republic, and not a despotism, although some say it is rapidly approaching to that. I cannot tell how that is, I am not much of a politician, and do not give myself a great deal of concern about it. But I comfort myself with the idea that the Lord rules anyhow, and that he will, in time, have all things as he designs to have them, and hence I take little interest in politics. But one thing I will say, that is, that when the Government of the United States, although it is republican, has any very difficult task to perform, in which the interests of the country are largely at stake, it casts off republicanism and adopts despotism. Perhaps you may think that is slander, by I will suppose a case to illustrate the truth of my proposition. For instance, the fate of the nation is suspended upon an important battle about to be fought. Now, what kind of a government prevails in that army? The most vital consequences hang upon the issue of the battle, and that issue depends, to a very great extent, upon the orders of the commanding General being carried out. He issues his orders, and his subalterns are required to carry them out rigidly. The soldiers who constitute the army must submit in every respect, they have not the right, by virtue of their own opinion, to file off and deviate, in the least degree, from the orders of the commander. The same is true of the subaltern officers, and if any of them should adopt such a course they are subject to be tried by court-martial and possibly to be executed. Where is the republicanism or democracy in this? I tell you that when it come to a vital point republicanism has to be laid aside, and the one-man power has to be strictly obeyed.

Go, if you please, on board the ships of war of the United States, and what kind of government will you find there? There again the one-man power is absolute. I recollect reading an anecdote of General Jackson, when defending New Orleans against the British. He put the city under martial law, and in so doing some said he exceeded the bounds of his authority. I can not say whether he did or not, I do not care whether he did or not; any way he saved the city and obtained a victory. But in preparing for defense he took cotton bales out of the warehouses and made a breastwork of them. A certain planter came to New Orleans at that time, and hearing that his cotton bales had been taken by the General, he made a terrible ado about them, and finally went to the commander-in-chief of the American forces and requested that they be returned. Said General Jackson—“Have you any cotton bales in our breastworks?” “Yes, sir, I have so many, and they have been taken from the place where they were deposited without my permission.” The General turned to an officer standing by, and said he—“Sergeant, furnish this man a musket and an outfit.” The articles were brought. “Now, sir,” said General Jackson, “if you have any cotton bales here, step into the ranks and defend them.” That was one-man power, and it was a noble exercise of it, it showed that the commanding general had the interest of the country at hear. You see, whenever there is a vital question at stake, and matters of life and death are involved, the one-man power has to be introduced in spite of everything, and that is all right.

Well, we expect that the work of God in the last days will be more important and will involve more vital questions than any other that has ever been undertaken or accomplished on the earth, and consequently the one-man power will be most loudly called for in connection with it, and Heaven seeing this has given power and influence to his servants. Have they got it by the sword or by oppression? No, but they secure it just as the sun secures its votaries. In the cool or cold season of the year, the reptiles and many animals seek protection in dens and caves and they are not allured therefrom by the lightning’s flash or the thunders of heaven, but when the rays of the glorious sun again warm and revivify the face of nature, these animals and reptiles again come forth to bask in his enlivening rays. So it is with the servants of the living God. They do not obtain influence over the hearts of the children of men by the sword or musket, but it is the light of truth, distilling like the dews of heaven, and warming the hearts of those who love truth that gives this influence, and you and I like to be under it. When I have been in the cold shade and chilling winds, I like to come out to the friendly sunshine, it is just as natural for me as it is to live, and this is the reason why the Latter-day Saints rally under the influence of the one-man power. There is the light: there are the rays that warm the heart, cheer the affections, open up prospects for the future, and make life agreeable.

Now I want to show you that we have all got to obey it. If you can get rid of death and scale the walls of eternity without passing through the dark valley of the shadow of death, then perhaps you may escape this one-man power; but if you cannot do that, you can not escape it. I will quote you Scripture to show that such is the case. In the last day, the Lord will gather the inhabitants of the earth, just as a shepherd gathers his sheep; and in the process of gathering some will be gathered who may be likened to goats, while those who love to do the Master’s will may be called the sheep. A separation will take place between the sheep and the goats, the sheep will be put on the right hand, and the goats on the left. It may be said that goats are very good, their skins are useful and their flesh is fit for food, but still they are goats, they are not sheep, they do not produce wool, and they are separated from the sheep. So the people of the whole world will be separated, and the righteous, or the sheep, will be placed on the right, and the wicked, or the goats, on the left. When that separation time comes, we will see who will obey and who will not obey the one-man power. Says the Lord, the Righteous Judge, to those on the right hand—“Come ye blessed of my Father, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Do you think they will need any urging to obey? I do not think they will. I hope I shall be among them, I shall be happy to see you there too. “Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.” Oh joyful invitation! A heavenly influence rests upon us, and the light of joy beams upon our countenances. He now turns to the goats, and instead of saying to them, “Come, ye blessed of my Father,” they hear the dread sentence, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting punishment, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Do you think they will go? I am inclined to think they will be compelled to go; I think they will have to obey this one-man power.

Now, do not be displeased, jealous, or angry, because God has selected men and placed them in the front rank to plead the cause of Zion. Let God have his own way, and it will be better for you and better for us all. The old Prophets were very singular men, they liked to have things their own way, because they had their commissions from heaven, and they liked to execute them, and God bore them out in it.

The other day I sent a note, a friendly warning to the New York Sun. It was published and, I believe, copied in to some of the papers published in this city, and yesterday I was reading the objections to it in one of them. I will tell you what their reasoning made me think of. When I was between six and seven years old, fatherless and motherless, I was kicked and cuffed about the world, and grew up a good deal like a wild plant, with very small opportunity for cultivation, except that which I have accomplished by my own efforts. When I was a little fellow, I recollect there was a man by the name of Michael Hughes, who professed that, on a certain day, some six weeks from that time, the world would come to an end. It disturbed me, for I was only six years old, and I turned every way to get comfort and consolation; there was quite an excitement among grown people upon the subject. There was a certain lady teaching school in the neighborhood, by the name of Miss Pindison, and I remember I sat down to reckon in my own mind whether her school would be out by the time this man said the world would come to an end, and I came to the conclusion that it would not come to an end because Miss P—‘s school would not be out. And when I read the wonderful arguments in this city paper about railroad communication and the interests which the same would call into action, and the influence they would have in overturning “Mormonism,” I could not help thinking about my childish conclusions in regard to the end of the world and the lady’s school. The Lord does not care so much about railroads; I do not think he will delay the accomplishment of his purposes to accommodate any railroad institution, but he will do all he desired regardless of this, that or the other.

Now, my brethren and sisters, in the midst of all the conflicting scenes that transpire around us, the mining operations, speculations and worldly pride and vanity which are multiplying on every hand, remember the words of the Savior—“Except ye are one ye are not mine.” No doubt some of you have had vessels containing a little oil, and you may have dropped in, by accident or design, a few drops of water, and then, in the same vessel, you have had oil and water, but no matter how much you shook them, they would not unite. Why? Are they not both liquids? Yes, but they will not unite, because they are dissimilar in their natures, and there can be no chemical union between them. I have heard men say, and correctly too, no doubt, that they were thankful they had a name and a standing in the church of the living God. I am thankful for the same to-day. But is that all? I want to show you that here is a man, for instance, who is required to pay his Tithing, and says he—“I will pay just enough to save my skin, to save my name and character, I will not pay a full Tithing, but just enough to whip the devil round the stump.” Here is another man who comes up and pays a full Tithing of everything that he has. Let those two men sit down and talk Tithing matters over together, and will their spirits run together? Are they not in the same vessel—the same Church? Yes. Well, do their hearts, spirits and interests unite? No, they are like the oil and the water in the same vessel—they are distinct and they will not amalgamate. This will serve to illustrate a great many other things which, for want of time, I am not disposed to follow out. But one thing I will name, and that is in regard to plural marriage. A great many men say—“Oh, well, I can get along, I can live, and I believe I shall only have one wife.” Well, that is your privilege, nobody compels you to take more than one; but with the commandment of the Lord before us like a blaze of light, can we disregard it and serve him acceptably? If we can, then why not retain those laws and commandments in heaven, and not send them down here to earth? These commandments are sent for our good, for our salvation and exaltation. Here is a woman who, in speaking of celestial marriage says, “It will do very well for others, but it will not do in my house;” “it may do very well for somebody else, because her feelings are not quite so fine as mine she has been differently raised from what I have.” I do not know that the Lord will pay any particular respect as to how we are raised, and how fine and delicate our feelings may be, or how coarse and uncultivated they may be. I believe that if we submit to the law of heaven, that law has power to refine us and to fit us for immortality and eternal life. That is my opinion. Now hear this good sister, she says—“It will not do for me, I am not going to submit to it.” Another sister says—“I am willing to submit to the law of Christ.” Let these two sisters come together and talk over the law of marriage, and see whether their spirits will run together. They will no more run together than water and oil will unite.

Says Jesus, “Except ye are one, ye are not mine.” Here is a black man and a white man, raised in the same house, but is that any argument that they are both white or both black? No, it is no argument whatever. Under the sound of my voice to-day there may be the best men that ever lived, and there may be, for aught I know, just as bad as ever lived. I hope not. But then, because we are within the walls of this house, does that signify that we are blended together in heart and spirit? No, no more than it proves that oil and water will unite. If I understand it correctly, we have to be blended together, united together completely in heart and spirit. I recollect once a man coming to me with a water melon in his hand. It looked so green, good and fine, thought I—“We will have a feast on this water melon.” But as he came near I caught a glimpse of it somehow discovered that it had been plugged and the inside taken out, so that instead of a water melon, he was bringing a mere shell. There was the appearance of a water melon, but, alas! there was no meat in it, it had all been dug out. Now, it is not the form of the union that the Savior wants among his people; that will not suffice; it is the marrow, the fatness we want, and then we can be melted into one, and this is what the Savior meant when he said, “Except ye are one ye are not mine.” But tares will grow in the same field with the wheat, yet remember that tares are not wheat, neither is water oil. Come what will life or death, or whatever it may be, never mind, trust in God, and he will bring you out all right.

I am thankful for this privilege of saying a few words. I hope I have done no harm, and that I have not said anything that is contrary to the will of God, or to the feelings of the pure in heart, for they are just as sacred to me as the law of God, and I do not want to unnecessarily offend the ungodly; but I am not so particular to spare or shield them. I want to tell the truth, and bear a faithful testimony. I have been in this Church about forty-three years—almost from the beginning, for I was baptized the 31st of October, 1831, and ordained the same day and sent to preach the Gospel, and more or less, most of the time since, I have been engaged in that work. I used to be very active and spry, but now I have got to be old and clumsy, and I cannot travel about much. I have to be very careful of myself and keep rather moderate and still. I yet enjoy life, and have very good health, but an inclination of blood to the head causes a flush on my countenance, which some may regard as an indication of better health than I enjoy. But you know all men try to put the best side out, and the women too; and if nature, in her operations, has caused a flush of health to bloom on my countenance, it is only following the fashions of the day—putting the best side out. God be thanked that it is as well as it is.

Heaven bless you, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Word of Wisdom—Education

George A. Smith

Discourse by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-Annual Conference, October 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I feel a deep interest in the subjects which have been brought before us this morning by the Elders who have spoken, as well as in every discourse that has been uttered since the commencement of the Conference, and I hope that the impressions which have been made will be lasting. In relation to intemperance, we, all of us, as Latter-day Saints, should observe the Word of Wisdom; and if we do not observe it, we lay a foundation to weaken ourselves. You will see young persons come to the table in the morning, and they want some tea, or coffee, or a cup of good, strong, warm drink. A habit of this kind has, perhaps, already been acquired by them, and it is likely to continue until they become slaves to it. In a little while it affects the complexion, it weakens the mind and the body throughout, and lays the foundation for a weaker generation to follow. Of course it is no use to talk to men about tobacco. It takes a man of energy to quit chewing tobacco, a man who has a mind and independence; boys who undertake it seldom accomplish it, though they are very foolish ever to indulge in the habit.

I feel like exhorting my brethren and sisters to abstain from everything prohibited in the Word of Wisdom, and to live in accordance with its principles as near as our climate and the productions of our country will permit. So far as intoxicating drinks are concerned, it is worse than madness and folly for men to indulge in them. There is something comparatively innocent in tea, coffee or tobacco when compared with intoxicating drinks. Of course a man who uses tobacco freely for years gets an appetite for liquor; he lays a foundation for an appetite for liquor, and after a while he craves it and must have it. He should let tobacco alone in the start; but yet tobacco does not make a man insane in a minute. Some of our most promising business men, who have come to Salt Lake City at different periods, have carried themselves to untimely graves by indulging in intoxicating drink. Men whose voices have been heard in the Tabernacle, men who have rendered service in the offices, and who have been honored, have died like a dog in a ditch, or in a most degraded manner, in consequence of indulging in intoxicating drinks. A man says to another—“Come, take a drink.” “No, I don’t wish any.” “Oh, don’t be so pious, come and take a drink with us, don’t be a coward;” and so, for fear of being a coward, he takes the drink. Shame on such a man! Why not quietly say—“No, I do not need it;” and if the invitation is repeated, say—“No more of that, gentlemen,” and be man enough to let it alone, rather than yield and let a habit creep upon him that will destroy him. I have heard men say—“I can drink, or let it alone;” then let it alone; but some of those who can “drink or let it alone” will get drunk every day. They have sold themselves to the cursed alcohol. Let the Elders of Israel cease this habit and learn wisdom. When you come to meet the presence of your Father in heaven, when you wish for the rewards of your Priesthood, you who have not obeyed the Word of Wisdom will wail at the loss you have sustained in consequence of your folly. Think of these things, continue to think of them, pray over them, and set an example before your children that is worthy of imitation. If an old lady of seventy comes to my house at Conference, and I get her a cup of tea, if there is a girl there of fifteen, she will want to drink with grandma, and she will think she must have it because grandma does. This has been my experience in times past. I do not have it now; I do not get tea for people, unless they pretend to be sick, then I tell my folks to make them a tin cup full of good, strong catnip tea. That is a rule I have prescribed. I do not know how my folks keep it. I certainly do not intend to place any restrictions on them any further than their own wisdom dictates. But if they use these things they do it in violation of my advice and run their own risks, and so do all others.

I say, brethren and sisters, let us observe the Word of Wisdom. We are doing a great business in the tea, coffee and tobacco in the Co-operative Store. When we first established it we thought we would not sell tobacco at all; but pretty soon the Superintendent asked the Directors if he might not bring in some poor kind of tobacco to kill the ticks on the sheep. It was very soon discovered that unless they sold tobacco, so many Latter-day Saints used it, that a successful opposition could be run against them on the tobacco trade alone, and they had to commence it, I believe, under the plea that it was brought on to kill the ticks on sheep. Shame on such Latter-day Saints, so far as tobacco is concerned.

I will say a word in relation to the colleges which brother Jesse N. Smith spoke about. As he said, we have struggled against many difficulties as far as education is concerned, and our university and our colleges, so far, have simply been schools for the education of teachers in the primary branches. We have sometimes employed professors and taught many different branches. But a great effort has been made to educate teachers for primary schools, and some of them have taken great pains to inform themselves. They have held associations and got up a normal and training class, have given lectures, and this summer they spent six weeks voluntarily to instruct each other.

It has been the uniform custom of the General Government to give the different States public lands and money to a liberal extent for educational purposes. None of this has ever been made available for Utah; we have had to carry everything by our own individual effort. Now that there are many young men and women among us who wish to study more advanced branches than we have, as yet, been able to organize, they would like to go to famous seats of learning in distant parts of the country for that purpose. A co-operative effort is now required on the part of the people, as a matter of domestic economy, to establish schools of a higher order, and to provide the professors and apparatus necessary to impart instruction in the higher branches of learning, that our young people may be able to obtain the education they desire at home; for while they would go away and spend five or six hundred dollars a year each, the same amount expended here would establish schools for the higher branches, and cut off a large proportion of the expense in all time to come. We would like to have all the Wards and settlements consider these questions, and make it a matter of real interest to bring about an organization and to supply the means necessary for this object.

In the foundation of a country it is necessary, of course, to look well to its primary schools; we have tried to do this, we are still doing it, and, I believe considering their circumstances, the people of Utah have done more for education than the people of any other Territory.

May the blessing of Israel’s God be upon us in all our efforts to guide our children, in all our efforts to maintain the principles of temperance, to observe the Word of Wisdom and keep the commandments of God, and to establish such schools and colleges as shall enable us to advance in all branches that are useful, for our religion includes every good and true principle. There is no principle on the face of the earth or in heaven that is true, but what belongs to “Mormonism.” May God enable us to do these things as we should, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Saving Ordinances of the Gospel

Daniel H. Wells

Discourse by President Daniel H. Wells, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-Annual Conference, Oct. 6, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

It is with great pleasure I rise to bear testimony to the great truths that have been announced here this morning. The President has given some reasons for the testimony that he has borne, and the testimony that the servants of God bear to the truths of the everlasting Gospel. I, too, can say that I know this to be the Gospel of the Son of God, which is the power of God unto salvation. The great plan of salvation, devised by our heavenly Father before the world was organized, when it is said the stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy, has again been revealed in accordance with the prophecies of the servant of God. The Lord made his own selection, he chose from among the children of men whom he would, and Joseph Smith was the favored individual who received the visit of the angel bearing to this generation the Gospel of salvation to be preached unto those who dwelt on earth. It was taken away in fulfillment of prophecy. If it had not been taken away what necessity would there have been to restore it? If it had not been taken away the Apostle could not have seen in the future the angel flying through the midst of heaven, bringing it back to earth to preach to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people. We bear testimony that it has been restored. It is not a new Gospel—it is that which existed from the beginning, and which was devised before the world was made for the salvation of those who should come to dwell upon the face of the earth.

It is true that the terms of the Gospel are inexorable. Every son and daughter of Adam will have to bend the knee to this plan of salvation, either here or somewhere else. The ordinances of the Gospel pertain to this existence, and they have to be attended to in the flesh or by those in this state of existence. Except a man is born of water he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. There is no getting around this, it is the declaration of the Savior, the Son of the living God, and I count that this is pretty high authority. Every man and every woman, including those who have died and passed behind the veil without hearing the Gospel, before they can enter heaven, will have to render obedience to the Gospel ordinances, and as they cannot be administered to in the spirit, those in the flesh will have to administer for those in the spirit. You cannot grapple a spirit to baptize it, neither can you perform the sealing ordinance in the spirit, hence the Savior said there was neither marrying nor giving in marriage in the resurrection. It is an ordinance pertaining to this state of existence, and by those dwelling in the flesh upon the earth have all these ordinances to be performed. If they are not by ourselves during this life they must be done by some one acting for and in our behalf still existing in the flesh, and in the authority of the holy Priesthood, which has come down from heaven.

The acts and ordinations of that Priesthood are just as legitimate here as in any other state of existence. It is the same authority as exists in the heavens. Through the authority of the everlasting Priesthood, channels have been opened up between the heavens and the earth, by which we may seal upon earth, and it is sealed in heaven. This is the same authority that has always existed in the Church and kingdom of God when it has been upon the earth. Why? Because it is the same authority that exists in the heavens; it is the authority by which the Gods are governed, and by which the worlds are organized and held in existence. It has been conferred from time to time upon the servants of God in the flesh, to enable them to perform the ordinances which pertain to this state of existence, and reach back again within the vail.

Having been called of God we stand ready to administer the ordinances of the Gospel and of the house of God to the children of men; we stand ready to bear off this Gospel to the nations of the earth, this great plan of salvation devised by our Father. There has never been any other, and there never will be. Men have tinkered at it; but their efforts do not change God’s plan, it is like its author—the same yesterday, to-day and forever. God is the fountain of truth, righteousness and grace. All true science and every good thing emanate from him. It is from this heavenly source we draw our information and our inspiration, and, and as a matter of course, it comprehends everything good and worth having. Within the kingdom of God is everything enjoyable that is lasting. If we do not build upon this basis, then are we lost, because it is the only foundation that will stand. Everything else will be swept away in the due time of the Lord. The people are suffered to go their own way, to walk after the imaginations of their own hearts, to do this and do that, because they are agents unto themselves, to do as they please. We can accept these principles or reject them; it makes no difference in regard to their truth. They are true, whether we receive or reject them, and they are calculated to save all the children of men. The plan is ample and will save all who will let it; and if we are not saved by this, we shall be condemned.

Now may God help us and all the nations of the earth to see the light, that we may all come to a knowledge of the truth and be saved in his kingdom, is my prayer for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Character of the Church of Christ, etc.

George Q. Cannon

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-annual Conference, October 6, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

The subjects that have been dwelt upon this morning are such as must interest every one who has a desire to comprehend the principles of salvation, as believed in and practiced by the Latter-day Saints. To my mind there has been an evidence of their truth accompanying every word that has been spoken. The Spirit of God bears testimony to the things of God, and there would be no difficulty in convincing the inhabitants of the earth of the truth of the principles believed in by the Latter-day Saints, were it not for tradition and the prejudices which exist in men’s minds in relation to the truth. Let a man start out with the Bible in his hand, determined to receive the truth wherever it may be found, and commence examining the various institutions and churches that exist among men, and he would, if he believed the Bible, and were not prejudiced by tradition and education, expect to find, when he found the Church of Christ, a Church organized in every respect like that of which the New Testament gives us an account. He would expect to find Apostles and Prophets, and the ordinances of baptism, and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost in that Church; he would expect to find the gifts of prophecy, revelation, tongues, the interpretation of tongues, healing, wisdom, the discernment of spirits, and all the gifts that existed in the Church of Christ in ancient days. He would look for just such a church as this, and if he did not find it he would conclude that that church had been withdrawn from the earth. The evidences that abound in the Scriptures all go to prove that this was the character of the Church of Christ in ancient days, and that there should be no change, for the Scriptures tell us that God is the same to-day, yesterday and for ever, and that if men, in this day do the same things—exercising the same faith as they did in ancient days—the same blessings will follow their obedience. If we examine the Bible there is nothing to sustain the idea that there should be any change in any of these things; and when men hear it proclaimed that God has restored the everlasting Gospel, and they have a desire in their hearts to comprehend the truth, there is a spirit accompanies the testimony of the servants of God which bears witness to their spirit that these things are true. But immediately another spirit steps in, and the reflection arises in the minds of many—What will my parents, relatives or friends say? What will the world say if I believe this doctrine? There is ignominy associated with belief in these doctrines. There is shame to be encountered if I go forward and join a people so despised as these. What will men say of me? In what light, shall I be viewed? These reflections arise, and the testimony of the truth is extinguished in the hearts of many. It requires, therefore, on the part of people now, as in ancient days, great strength of mind, great moral courage, and great love of the truth, an overpowering desire to obtain salvation, and the Spirit of God to aid them, in order to enable people to receive the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence it is that so few, comparatively speaking, in every age have received the truth. It requires courage to sustain men when opposed by every kind of treachery and of violence. It required courage to enable men to go forth to the stake, to be cast into dens of wild beasts, or fiery furnaces, to be crucified, beheaded, sawn asunder, or to be exiled as was John the Revelator. It required, in ancient days, and it requires it in our days, this kind of sublime courage to enable men and women to receive the truth; and in view of all this, we can see and comprehend the truth of the words of the Savior when he said—“Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,” and “wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” It has been so easy for men to reject the truth and flow with the current; it has been so easy for men to spread their sails, catch the popular breeze and glide before it; and it has been so difficult for men to stem the tide of opposition which they have always had to contend with when they have embraced the truth, that it requires on our part, brethren and sisters, devotion to the work which God has restored. Every man and woman who has entered this church, however ignorant and illiterate, and has been humble and truly repented, has received a testimony from God that this is the truth. God bestows his holy Spirit upon those who obey his Gospel as he bestows light upon the earth. There have not been a privileged few, there has been no hierarchy, there has been no monopoly of knowledge, for some exclusive set to receive while the rest would be destitute; but it has been diffused like the blessing of air—it has been to all who have believed it, and every man and woman has received a testimony for himself and herself respecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been revealed and taught in these last days. Hence you travel from one end of this Territory to the other and you find all the people bearing testimony, when called upon, that they know this is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, restored in its ancient purity and simplicity. You go to foreign lands, and they bear the same testimony everywhere. Illiterate, humble, uneducated, weak men have gone forth, and proclaimed this truth, authorized by God, and God has condescended to confirm the truth of their testimony and administrations among the people, and we are now brought together in this land. We are surrounded by peculiar circumstances, we are in a place to be tried and tested, as we never have been before. There are many tests, temptations and trials now assailing the Latter-day Saints, with which they never had to contend before. We have had mobs, expulsion from our lands, from the temple of God that we reared, and from the pleasant homes which we had created, from the graves of our friends and kindred whom we buried after they had fallen victims to the land which we had redeemed from the condition in which we found it. We have passed through these scenes and there has been but little faltering considering the circumstances we have had to contend with. Men have bravely stood all these things, and feeble women have been filled with courage and strength to pass through these privations without their faith failing them.

I hope that we shall not have such scenes to endure again. I pray that we may be delivered from the violence of our enemies, that they may not have power over us again as they have had in the past. But we must make calculations on having trials and difficulties to contend with, and having tests for our faith to be endured and passed through. We can not expect to accomplish the work that God has laid upon us without being tested and proved. Men and women need not expect that they will attain unto the glory which God has in store for the faithful without being tested in all things. If we have a weakness, or anything about us that is not thoroughly sound, we may expect that sooner or later, that weak spot in our nature will be found, and we will be tested to the very uttermost. If we expect to sit down with Jesus and the Apostles and those who have fought the good fight of faith, and who have laid down their lives for the truth in past ages, or in our age, we must expect, like them, to be proved and tried in all things, until everything in our nature that is drossy shall be purified, and we be cleansed and made fit to sit down with them, pure and holy—their peers.

Can I then, or can you, give way to lust? Can you love the world, and the things of the world more than you do the things of God? Here is the danger that is before us as a people—it is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the lust of wealth, the fondness for worldly ease and comfort. We are being assailed by these trials. As a people we are increasing in wealth. Wealth is multiplying upon us on every hand. I know of no people, to-day, who are prospering as the Latter-day Saints through these valleys are. God has blessed our land, rendered it fertile, and made it most productive. He has placed us, in the centre of the continent. We occupy the key position, and may be termed the keystone Territory or State of the West. Wealth is pouring into our lap, and we can not help being wealthy, that is, if we follow the course that has been indicated to us. We are as sure to be a wealthy people as that the sun shines. It is the inevitable consequence of our position, habits, union, &c.

There are more dangers in wealth than in mobocracy. There is more danger in having abundance of money, houses, lands, comforts, carriages, horses and fine raiment, than in all the mobs that ever arrayed themselves against us as a people from the beginning until we came here. We should realize this, and there is only one way that we can escape the evil consequences thereof. Wealth has ruined and corrupted every people almost that ever lived and attained unto power. It has sapped the foundation and vitality of the most powerful peoples and nations that ever existed on the face of the earth. We are human as they were; we are exposed to the same trials and temptations as they were, and we are liable to be overcome as they were; and the only safeguard for us is to hold everything that we have subject to the counsel and will of God our heavenly Father, until a different order of things shall be instituted among us as a people.

I see young men growing up, and in their growth is the love of wealth, the love of ease and worldly comfort, and the desire and greed for money. I will tell you that the man who has the greed or hunger for money within him, and does not repress it, can not be a Latter-day Saint. A woman who has the love of finery and of earthly ease and comfort within her, and that is the paramount feeling in her heart, can not be a Latter-day Saint. No man can be a Latter-day Saint in truth and in deed who does not hunger after righteousness and the things of God more than he does after everything else upon the face of the earth; and whenever you see or feel this money hunger, this dress hunger, this hunger for worldly ease and comfort, in yourselves or others, you may know that the love of God is being withdrawn from you or them, and sooner or later it will be extinguished, and the love of the world will grow until it becomes predominant. I do not know anything more corrupting than this greed, hunger and lust for the things of this life, or anything more degrading and debasing in its effects, except it be the love or lust for women. As a people we believe that lust for women is, next to murder, shedding innocent blood, the most deadly of all sins. Committing whoredom or adultery destroys the man who indulges in it, and next to that, in my estimation, is the love of wealth—the lusting after the things of this life; and there ought to be, and is in every rightly constituted nature, a constant warfare against this evil. We have this to contend with. We should watch it in our children and in ourselves, and we should endeavor to govern and bring all our feelings and desires into such a position that they can be control[l]ed by the love of the truth.

God has most wisely designed, in my humble view and opinion, that, as a people, we should be called upon from time to time to make sacrifices in order that we may be weaned from the love of the things of this life, that our love may be concentrated upon Him and upon the salvation of our fellow-men, for the mission that is entrusted to us is to save the inhabitants of the earth. And what a glorious field spreads out before us in this direction, when we see the thousands of poor, perishing souls who are dying for the want of the blessings that we enjoy. We build Temples, we organize emigration societies, and expend our means that we may be the instruments in the hands of God of saving and bringing salvation to the inhabitants of the earth—our brethren and our sisters.

God required Abraham to sacrifice that which was most dear to him, and he will also require at our hands that which is most dear to us. If you have wealth, and are increasing in wealth, one of the best things, under such circumstances, is to be always particular in doing that which God requires of us. He requires of us one-tenth of all that we have. Let us be liberal in this. He requires that we shall pay means for the emigration of the poor from the distant nations of the earth. Let us be liberal in this also. Then, if he requires our time and talents and all that we have, let us be willing to devote ourselves to his Work, for he blesses us with everything that our hearts desire. There is nothing we have ever desired as individuals or as a people, that has been good for us, and proper that we should have, that he has withheld from us. On the contrary, he has multipli[e]d blessings upon us, and he will make us wealthy if we will only be devoted to him. There is no danger that we shall not become wealthy, the danger is that we shall become wealthy and not be willing to use our means to his glory and for the advancement of his kingdom. That is the danger with which we are threatened.

God bless you, my brethren and sisters, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Instructions Given Are Intended for All the Saints, etc.

Joseph F. Smith

Discourse by Elder Joseph F. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-Annual Conference, October 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

To say I have been very much interested in the instructions that we have had at this Conference is but faintly to express my feelings. We have had much very excellent teaching, which we will do well to give heed to. I can not believe that the congregations that have attended this Conference will cast lightly aside these teachings. Certain it is that all the preaching that can be done by those who are most competent, and most richly endowed with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, will not benefit the people in the least, unless they will receive it, and will realize that the counsels which are given are designed expressly for themselves. It is not for us to say, “that does not mean me,” and” that applies to my neighbor;” or “that has reference to the doings of so and so.” We should each feel that the instructions given have direct reference to ourselves individually; that counsel or that commandment is for me, and it is for me, as a individual, to put it into practice. This is the only course that will benefit, and fit us for the responsibilities that will devolve upon us in the future. It will not do for us to say—“If brother so and so, or sister so and so, will observe and carry out that counsel, I shall be satisfied to remain as I am.” We can not obtain blessings from God by taking this course; the only way to secure them is by diligence on our own part. When we are prepared, by our own works and diligence, to receive the blessings that God has in store for the faithful; then, and not till then, shall we receive them. It will not do for us to be satisfied for our brother to prepare himself to receive the blessings God has promised to his children, and to rest content, with seeing him receive the light of truth, the blessings of the Gospel, and manifest a willingness to work righteousness in the earth. That will not reach us, only so far as we adopt his course and follow his example.

This is how I look at the requirements which God has made upon his people collectively and individually, and I do believe that I have no claim upon God or upon my brethren for blessing, favor, confidence or love, unless, by my works, I prove that I am worthy thereof, and I never expect to receive blessings that I do not merit. Who does? I do not know that anybody does, yet if we were to judge by the actions of some, we must come to the conclusion that they are satisfied by seeing others live their religion.

I love the society of the good, honorable and pure, of those who love virtue and work righteousness. To associate and be numbered with such and to have my portion and my lot with them in this life, and to live so that I can secure that association in the life to come, throughout the countless ages of eternity. I take no pleasure in the society of the wicked, for this reason—the pleasures of the wicked will cease and be forgotten, and the wicked will die and will not be regretted, their names will be cast out from the presence of God and from the things of the righteous for ever and ever. I, therefore, want no part with them, but I want to cast my lot with those who are securing to themselves eternal riches and happiness. To obtain these blessings I must be found walking in their footsteps and following their examples, otherwise I shall come short.

This is how I understand the principles of the Gospel and the work we are engaged in. It is an individual work. You and I must secure the blessings of eternal lives for ourselves, through obedience and the mercy of God. We have the volition of our own wills and we can choose evil or good, the society of the wicked or that of the good; we can enlist under the banner of Christ, or under that of Belial. We have this option, and can do whichever we choose. Therefore we must look well to our ways, and see that we choose the right course, and build upon a foundation that will not wash away. We have got to learn to stand or fall for ourselves, male and female. It is true that we are taught in the principles of the Gospel that man is the head of the woman, and Christ is the head of the man; and according to the order that is established in the kingdom of God, it is the duty of the man to follow Christ, and it is the duty of the woman to follow the man in Christ, not out of him.

But has not a woman the same volition that the man has? Can she not follow or disobey the man as he can follow or disobey Christ? Certainly she can, she is responsible for her acts, and must answer for them. She is endowed with intelligence and judgment, and will stand upon her own merits as much so as the man. That is why the brethren, during this Conference, have been teaching the sisters that they must refrain from the fashions of Babylon. They must use their own judgment and agency as to whether they will obey this counsel or not. If they will not obey it, they will be responsible as much as the men are responsible for their acts. The man is responsible for the woman only so far as she is influenced by, or is obedient to, his counsels. Christ is responsible for the man so far as the man walks in obedience to the laws and commandments he has given, but no further, and so far will his atoning blood redeem and cleanse from sin; so far as they obey them will the principles of eternal life revealed in the Gospel have effect upon the souls of men, so also with women. So sisters, do not flatter yourselves that you have nothing to answer for so long as you may have a good husband. You must be obedient. Obedience is the first law of heaven. Without it the elements could not be control[l]ed. Without it neither the earth nor those who dwell upon it could be control[l]ed. The angels in heaven would not be control[l]ed without it, and in fact without obedience there could be no union or order, and chaos and confusion would prevail. When we are obedient we may be guided to the accomplishment of all that is required of us by our heavenly Father, for it is on this principle that the designs and purposes of God are accomplished. The elements are obedient to his word. He said “Let there be light and there was light.” He commanded the land and the waters to be divided, and it was so. When Christ commanded the storm to be still, and the sea to be calm the elements were obedient to him. The earth, and all the worlds which God has made are obedient to the laws of their creation, for this reason there are peace, harmony, union, increase, power, glory and dominion, which could not exist without obedience. For the lack of obedience the whole world to-day lies in sin, for except, the little existing among this people, obedience can not be found on the face of the earth. Go to the religions of the day, do you find obedience manifested by the people? No, but you find man everywhere self-willed and untractable, therefore confusion and anarchy reign. It is said in the Scriptures that all things are possible with God; but he only works in accordance with the principles by which he himself is governed; and hence he can not convince nations of the truth against their will. As the poet says—

Know this, that every soul is free, To choose his life and what he’ll be; For this eternal truth is given, That God will force no man to heaven.

He’ll call, persuade, direct aright—Bless him with wisdom, love and light—In nameless ways be good and kind, But never force the human mind.

That is the way that God deals with man, therefore I say, he cannot work with this generation. They have set him aside and made themselves supreme. They have fulfilled the words of the prophet Paul when he said that “In the last days perilous times should come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affections, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof,” &c.

No one could better describe the condition of this generation, and yet light has come into the world, but it is rejected, and for this reason the world lies in sin, and under condemnation. The people of God lie under condemnation too, so far as they are disobedient to the counsels of God’s servants. We talk of obedience, but do we require any man or woman to ignorantly obey the counsels that are given? Do the first Presidency require it? No, never. What do they desire? That we may have our minds opened and our understandings enlarged, that we may comprehend all true principles for ourselves; then we will be easily governed thereby, we shall yield obedience with our eyes open, and it will he a pleasure for us to do so.

The Lord does not accept obedience from men except that which they render cheerfully and gladly in their hearts, and that is all that is desired by his servants. That is the obedience we ought to render, and if we do not we are under condemnation.

What matters what the world say in regard to us? Nothing. What do I care? Have I spent thirty years of life, with the opportunities that have been afforded me, and am yet ignorant of the way of eternal life. If I have, then I am to be pitied. “Why then,” says the blasphemer, “do you yield obedience to the servants of God?” Because it is meat and drink to me to do so. Because it is for my safety and for my best good. I ask no odds of the world. I have learned that it is the very best thing that I can do, and I should be a fool indeed not to do that which is for my best good I intend to do it, and I do not care what the world say about me.

I am sorry to say that there are some of those who profess to be Latter-day Saints, who meet with the Saints on the Sabbath and partake of the Sacrament, witnessing that they are willing to take upon them the name of Christ, and to follow him through evil as well as good report, and yet in their hearts they oppose the plans and projects of those whom they pretend to upheld and sustain. I know and could call the names of some of these men. Shame on them! I say, in the name of manhood, come out and show your colors! Say you will not be obedient, and cease to be hypocrites, cease lying in the presence of God, and trying to deceive yourselves and your brethren. Tell us what you are, take your stand where you belong, and do not deceive the unwary. You can not deceive those who have the Spirit of God, for they can discern your hearts.

I love the cause of the Gospel. I love this people, because, of all others on the face of the earth they have enlisted under the banner of King Emanuel. They have covenanted with God to keep his commandments, and they are the most willing of any on the face of the earth to hearken to God’s inspired servants. I love them for this reason, and I want to be identified with them, not only in time but throughout eternity. Without them I would have no home, no friends, I want none without them.

Let us keep the commandments and counsels that have been given to us, let us not be hearers of the word only, but let us be doers of it as well as hearers. Let us put away the foolish fashions of the world, live up to the truth, and seek to find out God, whom to know is life eternal. The road to this knowledge is obedience to his laws and to the whisperings of the still small voice in our own hearts. That will lead us into truth if we will hearken, and do not blunt the monitor that is within us. Let us do our duty, and be for God and his kingdom. Let our motto be—“The kingdom of God or nothing.” Because in the kingdom there is everything, and outside of it nothing at all. We heard here, the other day, from the President, that the Gospel embraces every thing that is good and true or desirable to the pure in heart. I have said that outside the kingdom of God there is nothing, but there is something. What is it? Disappointment, sorrow, anguish and death, and everything that will make us miserable; while everything that is good, desirable and worth possessing eternally is to be found only in the Gospel of Christ.

Says one, “Do not people who are not Latter-day Saints have a great many blessings and enjoy a great many good things? Certainly they do, they enjoy gold, silver and worldly honors—they have a plentitude of greenbacks, houses, lands, carriages, horses, luxury and ease; Dives had all these, in this world, while Lazarus crawled at his feet and begged for the crumbs that fell from his table; but afterward Dives lifted up his eyes in hell and saw Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom enjoying the good things that he had formerly possessed in the world, and he begged Abraham to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to alleviate his parching tongue. But even this poor boon was denied him, he being informed that there was an impassable gulf between them; and said Abraham to Dives—(in effect,) “When you were in the flesh you had Moses and the Prophets, you had the Gospel preached to you, but you rejected and refused to obey it. You had your good portion and your enjoyments in the world, now you are denied them, they are given to Lazarus.” How long do the honors, wealth, and pleasures of the worldling last? Until death claims him for its own, then he ceases to enjoy them, because he has failed to secure his title to them, they have not been sealed upon him by the authority of the Priesthood of the Son of God, which has power to bind on earth and it is bound in heaven. If they have wives and children, when death calls them they are no longer theirs, because they have not been sealed unto them by the power of God. They do not obey the truth, they do not receive the ministrations of the Priesthood, and consequently they are deprived, not only of their wealth, but of their wives and children.

We are not living only for the few miserable years that we spend on this earth, but for that life which is interminable; and we desire to enjoy every blessing throughout these countless ages of eternity, but unless they are secured to us by that sealing power which was given to the Apostle Peter by the Son of God, we cannot possess them. Unless we secure them on that principle, in the life to come we shall have neither father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children, nor friends, nor wealth nor honor, for all earthly “contracts, covenants, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, connections, and associations,” are dissolved in the grave, except those sealed and ratified by the power of God. It is said in the Scriptures that the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s, and that they are to be given to the Saints of the Most High God, and they are to possess them for ever and ever.

You know that those who have not faith in the Gospel call us exclusive and uncharitable; they say—“You cast out all except those of your faith.” Then enroll yourselves under the banner of King Emanuel, to whom the earth and its fullness belong, and when it shall be given to the Saints of the Most High God, you will come in for your share, and only in that way can you do so. Obedience to the Gospel of Christ is the only way to secure blessings for the life that now is, or that which is to come. We are not talking in parables, neither are we ignorantly repeating the words of the ancient Apostles. Our declarations are founded upon modern revelation and inspiration, and we know whereof we speak. We know that angels have come to earth and that God has spoken in our day, that he has raised up Apostles and Prophets, restored the holy Priesthood, and shown himself to man and revealed his truth to those who dwell on earth. We know these things, it is this that makes us bold to declare it to the world. We are not ashamed of it, because we know it is the power of God unto salvation.

May God help us, and all who love the truth, to keep an eye single to his glory and to the building up of his kingdom on the earth, that we may be among those who shall be counted worthy to possess the earth and its fullness for ever and ever, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Temples to Be Built to the Name of the Lord, etc.

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-Annual Conference, Oct. 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I will call the attention of the congregation to a portion of the word of God contained in the third chapter of Malachi—“Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple; even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts, but who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth, for he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.”

I have read these words, because of the peculiar prophecy which is contained therein, of what the Lord will perform about the time of his coming. A prophecy that the Lord would come, and the nature of that coming should be such that but a few comparatively will be prepared to endure that day; that when he does come, he will have a Temple on the earth, to which he will come. A part of the programme which was read yesterday morning, if I recollect right, for the Elders to speak upon during Conference, was in relation to building Temples. The building of Temples of the Lord is promised in his word, for there we read that in the latter days he would have a house built on the earth. I know that in the ears of this generation it will sound very strangely to talk about the Lord having a house built on this globe of ours; yet we have such a promise, strange as it may be, and that when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, and shall sit as a refiner’s fire and as fuller’s soap on the sons of Levi, to purify them as gold and silver, he will, in that day, come to his Temple, and come very suddenly. That shows, at once, that he must have a Temple on the earth in the latter time.

There are two other Prophets, besides Malachi, who have spoken of the house of the Lord. Isaiah, in his second chapter, refers to the building of the Lord’s house in the latter days. I will repeat the passage—“It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and nations shall flow unto it. Many nations shall say, ‘Come, let us go up unto the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob and he shall teach us of his ways and we shall walk in his paths;” and “the Lord shall rebuke strong nations afar off”—meaning nations at a great distance from Jerusalem, where the Prophet delivered the prophecy. “He shall rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The fourth chapter of Micah contains a similar prediction, which it is not necessary for me to repeat, as it reads, almost word for word, like that in the second chapter of Isaiah, showing plainly and clearly that in the latter days God would have a house built on the earth.

Perhaps there may be objections by our Christian friends to the Latter-day Saints proclaiming in the midst of Christendom that the Lord intends to have a house built on the earth. They will probably say—“He has hundreds of them, and has had for many generations. God has houses scattered here and there throughout all the Christian nations, and there never has been a time since the days of the Apostles but what the Lord has had a house, either at Corinth, Athens, or somewhere else; and you can read the inscriptions upon them as you pass through the towns and cities of Christendom.” These houses are called the houses of God, or Jesus, the church of St. John, St Peter, St. Paul, St. Mark and others, and all of them are considered the houses of God. Would to God that this were true! Would to God that he had given some directions concerning the building of some of these houses! But alas! When we come to inquire concerning their origin, we find that they were built by uninspired men, that the architecture and everything pertaining to them has been devised by the cunning and wisdom of men. Ask them if God commanded them to select the particular location on which one of these houses stands? They will say—“No, God does not direct now-a-days. There was a time when the Lord did direct in such matters, but now we have wise men, we have bodies of learned men who have studied theology. We do not need the Lord to interfere in our day; he don’t speak anything to the people in the age in which we live; these houses were constructed according to the best plans and architecture we were acquainted with by our wisdom, without any commandment or revelation from the heavens.” Very well, then the Lord has nothing to do with them. What I understand by the building of a house of God, is to build one after the pattern that he shall give. I do not mean a pattern that was given in ancient times, but one given to the very people to whom the revelation comes to build a house to his name. Has such been the case with the houses of worship throughout the Christian nations? Not in one instance. You may travel all through this great Republic, from one end thereof to the other, and among all the Christian denominations who deny new revelation, is there one house which God commanded to be built? Indeed these very prophecies would seem to indicate that, in the day when they should begin to be fulfilled, there should be no house of the Lord on the earth. Is it not a peculiar kind of a saying that in the latter days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and be exalted above the hills? It shows that for a long period prior to the erection of the house of God in the mountains, no such thing could be found on the face of the whole earth, and it was needful for the Lord, in the latter days, to begin a work of that kind. No place for Jesus to come to. He is to come in the clouds of heaven, in flaming fire, in power and great glory, clothed upon with all the brightness of the celestial heavens; his face will outshine the sun, and cause it to withhold its light in shame. No place for this glorious personage to come to—no Temple prepared into which he can come. When he does come, however, this work will have been accomplished—he will come to his Temple suddenly. It will not be like his first coming. Then, instead of coming to his Temple suddenly, we find him born in a very low condition, not even in the common mansions or dwelling-places of the inhabitants of Palestine, but in a stable or manger. When he visited the great Temple at Jerusalem, when about twelve years old, and also after he began his ministry, when about thirty years old, instead of sitting upon the sons of Levi and purifying them as gold and silver in a furnace of fire, that they might offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness, who was it who rejected the Son of God in that day? The sons of Levi. They cried out against and persecuted him; they were his greatest enemies; they crucified him. They were not purged and prepared to offer in the Temple of the Lord an offering in righteousness. The glory of God did not appear in their midst, and their offerings were not acceptable in that Temple before the Lord, but he found his house, in that day, a den of thieves, occupied by money-changers and brokers, speculation going on in the midst of the house of God, and he was under the necessity of making a small scourge and driving them out by whipping them. Not so in the latter times, when he comes to his Temple. In that day, when the mountain of the house of the Lord is established in the tops of the mountains, it will be an indication of a great period of peace, a period which is so often spoken of by the mouths of the ancient Prophets, in which nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, when they shall no longer have use for firearms or weapons of war, or anything that is calculated to destroy life; but these deadly implements will be converted into useful articles of husbandry. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more. That time has not come, and such a period was never known on the earth.

There is another thing connected with the building of the Temple in the latter-days. When it is built, on the place, and according to the pattern that the Lord shall designate, it will be so strange to the nations, that they will actually come up from all parts of our globe. Many of them will say one to another—“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the house of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.” “What do you want to go up there for? Why do you want to travel several thousand miles across land and sea to go to the mountain of the house of the Lord?” “That he may teach us of his ways, that we may walk in his paths?’ “Can you not be taught in his ways in your own chapels, which you have built in England, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Austria, or wherever you may have resided? Can you not worship in your own chapels?” “Oh, no, there is no house of the Lord, we have no teachers authorized of God, no Prophets and Apostles inspired by and called of God to officiate like the ancient Apostles; no one to say to us ‘Thus saith the Lord God,’ by new revelation; no visions are manifested among us; no angels have honored our houses of worship with their presence; no glory, no fire descending from heaven to light up these chapels and sanctuaries which we have built, and we have lost all confidence in our teachers, consequently let us go up to yonder mountain on which God’s house has been built, and when we get there, he will teach us in his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” “Is the only object you have in going to the mountain of the house of the Lord to receive teachings?” No, there are other things to be attended to in the house of God or in Temples that may be built in the tops of the mountains besides teaching. We have a great many important duties to perform pertaining to the house of God, duties that can not be performed anywhere else acceptably in his sight.

Would you like to know some of the uses of these Temples or houses of God? I will read a little from one of our modern revelations, given through Joseph Smith, in Nauvoo, on the 19th day of January, 1841. I have not time to read the whole of the revelation, but; will select a few sections. Speaking of building a house to his name, the Lord says—“Verily I say unto you, let all my saints come from afar”—this we have fulfilled so far as the gathering is concerned.

“And again, verily I say unto you, let all my Saints come from afar; and send ye swift messengers, yea chosen messengers, and say unto them, Come ye, with all your gold and your silver, and your precious stones, and with all your antiquities; and with all who have knowledge of antiquities, that will come, may come, and bring the box tree, and the fir tree, and the pine tree, together with all the precious trees of the earth; and with iron, with copper, and with brass, and with zinc, and with all your precious things of the earth, and build a house to my name, for the Most High to dwell therein; for there is not a place found on earth that he may come and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fullness of the Priesthood; for a baptismal font there is not upon the earth, that they, my Saints, may be baptized for those who are dead; for this ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be acceptable to me, only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me. But I command you all, ye my Saints, to build a house unto me; and I grant unto you a sufficient time to build a house unto me, and during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me.”

I want this Conference to understand that it is not only the Saints who are here assembled, but all in this Territory, and wherever our settlements extend, all who have entered into covenant with the Lord are under this command. I will read further.

“But behold, at the end of this appointment, your baptisms for your dead shall not be acceptable unto me; and if you do not these things at the end of the appointment, ye shall be rejected as a Church, with your dead, saith the Lord your God. For verily I say unto you that after you have had sufficient time to build a house to me, wherein the ordinance of baptizing for the dead belongeth, and for which the same was instituted from before the foundation of the world, your baptisms for your dead cannot be acceptable unto me, for therein are the keys of the holy Priesthood, ordained that you may receive honor and glory. And after this time, your baptisms for the dead, by those who are scattered abroad, are not acceptable unto me, saith the Lord; for it is ordained that in Zion, and in her stakes, and in Jerusalem, those places which I have appointed for refuge, shall be places for your baptisms for your dead.

“And again, verily I say unto you, how shall your washings be acceptable unto me, except ye perform them in a house which you have built to my name? For, for this cause I commanded Moses that he should build a tabernacle, that they should bear it with them in the wilderness, and to build a house in the land of promise, that those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was; therefore verily I say unto you, that your anointings, and your washings, and your baptisms for the dead, and your solemn assemblies, and your memorials for your sacrifices, by the sons of Levi, and for your oracles in your most holy places, wherein you receive conversations, and your statutes and judgments, for the beginning of revelations and foundation of Zion, and for the glory, honor, and endowment of all her municipals, are ordained by the ordinance of my holy house which my people are always commanded to build unto my holy name.”

It seems to be a standing command to the Saints, wherever they may be located, to build a house unto the Lord, wherever there is a stronghold pointed out for the gathering of the Saints, such as Kirtland, Nauvoo, Jackson County, Mo., and other places which are mentioned in revelation. The Lord has commanded his Saints in all these places to do a work, which will be effectually accomplished in due time. They are always commanded to build a house unto the Lord.

We have been here twenty-six years and have only a foundation and a few tier of rock laid towards a house of the Lord. It is true we have a large tabernacle which will contain some fifteen thousand persons when they are closely seated, and the standing room also occupied. But this is not a Temple of the Lord. We meet here to sing praises, and to be instructed in our duties as Saints, but this is not a house of ordinances; it is not a house for the baptism of the dead, or in which the Saints receive their washings and anointings; it is not a house in which you will receive statutes, and judgments, and laws pertaining to the kingdom of God. God has ordained a building of a different pattern wherein laws, statutes, judgments, and ordinances are to be revealed for the benefit of his people. “And verily I say unto you, let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people; for I deign to reveal unto my Church things which have been kept hid from the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fullness of times.”

I think that portion of this revelation which I have read, will give you a general idea of the sacredness of the house of the Lord, which is to be built in the latter times, a place wherein the angels may come and visit, as they did in the ancient Temple; a place wherein you can receive all those ordinances which the Lord has revealed, and which he will, hereafter reveal, from time to time, preparatory to the great day of the coming of the Lord.

Now let me mention over some few things which should be administered in the Temple of the Most High. Marriage, for instance, is an ordinance of God. We know it to be not only an ordinance administered among the various nations according to their civil laws, but know also that it is a religious ordinance, administered by authority from God. If any one wants any proof on this point let him read the 6th verse of the 19th chapter of Matthew. “What God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” It seems, then, that in marriage there is such a principle as the Lord officiating through his servants, in joining persons in this sacred and holy ordinance. There are a great many marriages that may answer the requirements of the civil law of different countries and nations, and there are some marriages performed even in our Territory, but the Lord has not directed them, neither has he directed his servants in their administration. He has not particularly forbidden these marriages, he permits and suffers them, but he has no particular hand in their performance. Do you wish me to explain this matter? I will. For instance, in the distant settlements of the Territory oftentimes a young man and woman desire to be married. They go and find a justice of the peace, or an Elder of the Church, as the case may be, and he officiates in the ceremony and marries them, somewhat similar to what people are married among the various nations. Does God really accept of this marriage, or does he merely suffer it to be so, for the time being? Has he joined them together, or has the justice of the peace, by virtue of his civil office? “How is it?” Says one—“I suppose it must be a legal marriage.” It is legal so far as the laws of the Territory are concerned. If a young man and woman in any part of this Territory wish to be married, there is nothing illegal in a justice of the peace performing the ceremony, he has a right to do it, according to the laws of the Territory. But is it legal in the sight of heaven? No, it is not. Why not? Because God has appointed a place in which this sacred ordinance should be administered, and he has appointed certain authority to officiate in its solemnization, and a certain form, when it is done in the place and by the authority he has ordained. It is then legal in the sight of heaven, then they are married or joined together, not for time alone, but the union is to exist throughout all the ages of eternity. This is the real order of marriage. This is one of the purposes for which God has commanded us to build a house, that our young people may have the privilege of entering into that sacred union not only for time, or until they are parted by death, but that they may have a legal claim, by virtue of the marriage covenant, upon each other after the resurrection.

Some may say—“I think I will wait until after the resurrection and then I will secure me a wife for eternity; or perhaps I will merely marry a women here for time, and put off the eternal part, until after the resurrection.” What says Jesus on this subject? “In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage.” Why not? Because that is an ordinance, like baptism, that must be administered by those in the flesh. If, while in the flesh, we fail to secure to ourselves the remission of our, sins, and the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost by going down into the water and being baptized for the remission of our sins, by one having authority to administer this ordinance, we can not attend to it in our own persons after the resurrection. That is an ordinance that cannot be administered after the resurrection; if it is not done until then, it must be done by some person still living in the flesh, for and in behalf of the one who has gone into the spirit world. Those in the spirit world have no claim upon blessings for eternity, unless they are secured while in the flesh. It is so with all the ordinances pertaining to eternity, they must be performed in the flesh, and not in the next life. Hence if an individual is so unfortunate that he fights against a principle, or becomes careless and indifferent; or if he goes to a justice of the peace, thinking that he will secure to himself a wife for eternity, he is grandly mistaken; and if he dies, having been married according to this form, he has no promise whatsoever that, after the resurrection, he will have a wife; for in that world, this sacred ordinance cannot be attended to.

Another thing which I wish to explain is, that, in the sight of heaven, their children are illegitimate. Of course they are legit[i]mate according to the laws of the country. Such children can claim the property of their parents, they are the legal heirs to the property descending from parents to children by virtue of the laws of the country. But when I say illegitimate I mean in the sight of heaven. Now, all you young people who have been married in this Territory or abroad, by justices of the peace, or even by Elders of the Church only for time, when you have the opportunity of coming up here to the house of God, and receiving these ordinances, and do not, your children are illegitimate in the sight of heaven.

Perhaps you may enquire, “What is there to be inherited in eternity that makes it really necessary that our children should be legitimate, so far as divine authority is concerned?” The Lord our God is a God of law, his house is a house of order; and all blessings, and honor, and glory, and inheritance, that are to be received in the eternal worlds must be according to divine law and divine ordinances, and whosoever complies with the law of heaven has a legal claim in eternity. That which is performed by man, without divine law, however perfect human law may be, has no bearing upon eternity. Man’s works are one thing and God’s works another. A blessing bestowed upon men, such as the legitimate heirship to the property of their parents is one thing, and a blessing bestowed by the Eternal Father in the heavens is another. He performs all of his works by law, and he bestows blessings upon his children, by ordinances and by law. It must be secured here in this life, if we secure it at all in our own persons.

It may be said, “I do not understand this principle. What will become of our good fathers and mothers who have gathered up from the nations that were married before they heard this Gospel?” “Indeed, were they married?” “Yes.” “How?” “According to the laws of their respective nations. Their offspring are legitimate, so far as the civil laws of their native countries are concerned, but they are not husbands and wives for eternity in the sight of heaven.” “How are you going to remedy this?” asks the enquirer. “In the house of God. Temples or houses of God must be built to remedy this thing.” “How can it be remedied there?” They must be married over again, not according to the laws of men or nations, but according to the laws and institutions of heaven.” “Will that make their marriage legitimate?” “Of course.” “But they have many children before they gather up here; you tell us they are illegitimate: how are you going to remedy this?” God has provided a remedy for all children born out of the covenant.” “What do you mean by that?” enquires one. “I mean the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, that has a bearing upon eternity as well as time. All who are born before their parents enter that new and everlasting covenant have to be made legitimate heirs.” “In what way?” “According to the ordinance and law of adoption.” I may be asked—“Is this important?” “Yes, it matters a great deal. If there are family regulations, to preserve good order, in this world, you will find that God is more strict, in such regulations, in regard to the world to come. If patents hold certain authority over their children in this life, you will find that such authority, though in higher perfection, is transferred to the eternal worlds, and in that world there is a certain jurisdiction which parents hold over their children through all future ages of eternity. But in order that parents may have their children legitimately under their control, it is necessary that the ordinance of adoption in the house of God should be performed in regard to the children born before their parents entered into the eternal covenant of marriage. This shows the use or necessity of a Temple.

Then again, we heard on Sunday afternoon considerable on the subject of baptism for the dead; it is not necessary, therefore, that I should dwell upon this subject. It is one thoroughly understood by the Latter-day Saints, and has been long preached to them, and they know that this, as well as the ordinance of marriage, pertains to the house of God. To be acceptable to him there must be a font, the same as there was in the Temple of Solomon. You recollect there was a brazen sea, a large place in the basement of the Temple of Solomon, underneath which were twelve oxen, their heads pointing to the four points of the compass—three to each point. This great brazen sea, standing upon these oxen, was a place intended for baptisms for the dead. As was said last Sabbath, it was underneath those courts, where the living, from time to time, assembled to attend to their worship; thus representing those that were in their graves, underneath the living. That was the reason it was placed in that position; and as that was intended for sacred and holy purposes, the administration of holy ordinances, so God has commanded, in these latter days, that there should be a baptismal font, and the ordinance of baptism for the dead must be performed in the place that God designates, in order to be legal and acceptable in his sight.

We are told in the revelations which God has given, through his servant Joseph Smith, something about the pattern of this sacred and holy ordinance. We are told that the living are not only to be baptized for and in behalf of the dead, by being immersed in water in their respective names, but that they are also to receive the ordinance of confirmation by the laying on of hands, not for themselves, but for the dead, as far back as they can trace them. Hundreds of millions of people died before God gave this revelation, in these latter times, and they had not the opportunity of being married for time and all eternity, no man on the earth, in their day, having the authority to unite them. Would you deprive them of the blessings of this eternal union, because they did not happen to live in a day when God revealed and restored anew, from the heavens; these ordinances? No. God is a consistent being, and to say that people who die in ignorance, without having an opportunity of attending to the ordinances of the house of God, should not be made partakers of the blessings thereof, would be imputing injustice to the great Jehovah. To say that our fathers and mothers, who were only married for time, must be deprived of a union in the eternal worlds, because of their ignorance of these things, because there was no person having authority to administer to them, would be apparently unjust, and would almost seem to impeach the attributes of Jehovah, if we could suppose such partiality was his design. But we cannot suppose that God is an inconsistent Being. And if we have the opportunity of attending to the ordinance of marriage in the house of the Lord, and of securing certain eternal blessings for ourselves, our ancestors, who are dead, must have a plan devised, adapted to their condition, by which they also may be exalted to the same blessings. But it must be done by law. No haphazard work, no work of chance or confusion, but everything must be accomplished by the laws, ordinances and commandments of the Great Jehovah; then, what is done by his servants here on the earth, being sealed here is sealed in the heavens, and hence, we not only keep a record of all the names of the dead, but of all the ordinances attended to for and in their behalf; and in the great judgment day, when the books are opened, it will be found that such and such parties have been baptized for, confirmed for, and administered for, in the marriage ordinance, and that these various ordinances were recorded in the presence of witnesses.

The records kept by authority here, will agree with the records kept in heaven, for they keep records there, as well as we; and the books on earth, when they are kept by divine authority, will agree with the records in heaven. When there is divine authority in the administration of an ordinance here on the earth, that ordinance is sacred and holy, and is recorded here and in the heavens, and the records of heaven will agree with the records of earth; and by these records and books will mankind be judged. The dead will be judged according to men in the flesh, or, in other words, as we shall be judged according to our works in the flesh. When we have been baptized, and it is recorded on the earth, it is for ourselves, and we will be judged by that, and if we are faithful, we shall receive the blessings and glories which the Lord has in store for those who are baptized here and are faithful to the end. So will the dead be judged according to the works which are done for them; and when the books are opened, and it is found that they have been officiated for, by those works will they be judged. Why? Because they have their agency in the spirit world, to reject what has been done for them, or to receive it, the same as we have the agency while living here to reject or to receive what Jesus did through the atonement of his blood. We have that agency here; it also exists among those in the spirit world. You need not suppose that their agency is destroyed because they are baptized for, and because ordinances are administered for and in their behalf; you need not suppose that this will be a security to them that they cannot resist. They will have the same freedom there to resist, that we have here.

If the Latter-day Saints want some evidence or proof in relation to the agency of spirits that are in prison, or in the spirit world, let me refer them to the prophecy of Enoch, with which they are familiar, though strangers may not be acquainted therewith. Enoch saw the people that should perish in the flood; he saw that there was a prison-house prepared for them, and that they dwelt there for a long period of time, until the Son of God was manifested, crucified and rose from the dead; and he saw, when that event should take place, that as many of the spirits in prison of the antediluvian world who perished in the flood, as repented, came forth and stood on the right hand of God.” As many as repented had this privilege. Does not this show that there were some who probably would not repent? Indeed, the very next sentence says that those who did not repent “were reserved in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day.” Hence, the agency of spirits, as well as the agency of men here in the flesh.

A Temple is needed for the Saints who come from abroad, that their marriages may be recorded on the earth and in the heavens, that they may not only be for time, but for all eternity; that when they come forth, male and female, in the morning of the first resurrection, they may embrace each other as husband and wife by virtue of the covenant they entered into in the Temple of the Lord, while they were in the flesh.

Strangers will, perhaps, think that this is rather a partial doctrine, on one account. They may say, “Your fathers, whom you speak of, are not known; their names, in general, can not be obtained for more than two or three generations back; in a very few instances, perhaps, they may be found eight or ten generations back; but what will be done with all the generations, nations, and ages, that have lived since the Priesthood of God was upon the earth, and since those holy ordinances were administered in ancient times? How are they going to receive any of the benefits from this baptism for the dead, seeing that the very names of the nations, to say nothing of the individuals, are lost?” Here comes in, again, the use of a Temple of the Lord. The Most High says—“I deign to reveal unto you hidden things, things that have been kept hid from the foundation of the world.” Among these hidden things that are to be revealed are the books of genealogy, tracing individuals and nations among all people, back to ancient times.

It may be inquired—“How can all this be done?” We answer, by the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord God has ordained to be used in the midst of his holy house, in his Temple. You may inquire—“What is the Urim and Thummim?” We reply, it is a divine instrument, prepared in ancient times, by which he who possessed it could call upon the name of the Lord, and receive from him answers to all matters it was necessary that he should know. Aaron, the chief Priest in the midst of Israel, had this instrument in his breast plate, in the midst of rows of stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel; and when he passed certain judgments, he did not do it by his own wisdom, but he inquired of the Lord and received the same, by this sacred instrument. When that instrument is restored to the house of God, to the Temple of the Most High, our ancestry, that is, the ancestry of all the faithful in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be made manifest. Not all at once, but by degrees. Just as fast as we are able to administer for them, so will the Lord God make manifest, by the manifestation of holy angels in his house, and by the Urim and Thummim, those names that are necessary, of our ancient kindred and friends, that they may be traced back to the time when the Priesthood was on the earth in ancient days.

If they could not be traced back, there would be a great chasm, a broken chain in the genealogies, and it would not be perfect, but when the Lord God comes suddenly to his Temple, he will come to a people who have made themselves perfect by obedience to his commandments. They have sought after the redemption of their dead from generation to generation, until they can link on all those who were not officiated for in ancient times, and thus carry it back from one dispensation to another, until it reaches to our father Adam in the Garden of Eden, and then, the saying of Scripture will be accomplished—“The hearts of the children will be turned to their fathers,” and the hearts of all those ancient fathers, who lived thousands of years ago, will be “turned to their children, lest the Lord should come,” as the Prophet Malachi says, “and smite the earth with a curse.”

Why smite it with a curse? Because the people are careless and do not look after the salvation of their dead, do not let their hearts be drawn out after their ancestry, do not seek to perform those ordinances that are necessary for their redemption, that they may be redeemed by law. If we would not be smitten by a curse, let us seek after the redemption of our fathers, as well as of ourselves, for says the Apostle Paul, “they without us can not be made perfect, neither can we without them be made perfect.” We may do all that we please for ourselves, and yet if we, through our carelessness and indifference, neglect to seek after the salvation of the dead, the responsibility will be upon our own heads; and the sins of the dead will be answered upon us, because we had the power to act for them, and we were careless and indifferent about using it.

Many more things might be said in relation to the dead, and what is necessary to be done in Temples. It was asked, by one of the speakers, in relation to inheritances, “What man or woman among the Latter-day Saints has an inheritance sealed to them?” What man among all this people can determine the very spot of ground that the Lord intends that he should inherit for an everlasting possession? Not one of us. The Lord has told us that he intends to give a certain land to his people, for an everlasting possession. He told the ancients, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the same thing; but they wandered as strangers and pilgrims in their day; and the martyr Stephen said they had not as much as to set their foot upon. Yet they had a promise which secured it to them after the resurrection, and also to their seed, and that personally, for an everlasting possession. Have you got any such promise? You have, as far as the great mass is concerned, the promise of a great region of country. We know where it is, God has pointed it out. But is there an individual among us who knows what portion of that great, country he shall receive for his future inheritance, to possess either before or after the resurrection, and after this earth shall have passed away, and all things are made new? No. Why have we not got it? Because we have no house of the Lord built. When we have a house built, whether there be property, or inheritance, or union for eternity, or blessings for ourselves, or washings or anointing, or anything that pertains to eternity, it will be given to us by the ordinances of God’s holy house, according to law. No wonder then, that the nations afar off will say—“Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us of his ways, that we may walk in his paths” He has a great many ways to teach the people, pertaining to the salvation of the dead, many ordinances, many principles and laws, statutes and judgments, and the law will go forth from Zion, and he will rebuke strong nations afar off, and fulfill and accomplish that which he has spoken; and wisdom, and knowledge, and glory and intelligence, the laws of the Most High, and the ministrations of angels will be unfolded to the Latter-day Saints, just as fast as they are prepared to receive them.

Wake up, then, Latter-day Saints, and prepare yourselves Temples in the places that shall be designated, by the oracles of the Most High God, so that your aged fathers that are in the southern part of the Territory may not be under the necessity of traveling some six hundred miles, back and forth, to attend to the ordinance of baptism for the dead. They must have a Temple there, wherein these ordinances may be administered; another here, another in the northern part of the Territory, and multiply them according to the wants of the people; for the work is becoming continually greater and greater, and the Latter-day Saints must wake up to these principles, and not have their minds absorbed with the things of this world, forgetting the great plan of salvation revealed from heaven.

May God bless the Saints, and wake up their minds to these important duties. Amen.

Unchangeableness of the Gospel, etc.

Wilford Woodruff

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-Annual Conference, October 8, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I am called upon to occupy a little time this morning, and I realize that I and my brethren are all dependent upon the Spirit of God to guide, dictate and direct us in all our public teachings, as well as in all other acts we are called upon to perform in the kingdom of God. The Apostle says there is no prophecy of the Scripture which is of any private interpretation, but holy men of old spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost. The Lord has told us in some of the revelations which he has given in our day, that all of his messengers or servants, his Elders who are sent forth to teach, should speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and when they follow this counsel, what they say, the Lord says, is Scripture, it is the mind and will of the Lord, it is the word of the Lord, and it is the power of God unto salvation. “And this is an ensample unto you, even all my servants who go forth to declare the words of life unto the inhabitants of the earth.”

Again, the Lord has said that it matters not whether it be by my own voice out of the heavens, whether it be by the administering of angels, or whether it be by the voice of my servants, it is all the same, and their words shall be fulfilled though the heavens and the earth pass away. This is the position which the Prophets, Apostles and Patriarchs have occupied upon the earth in every age and dispensation. They have had to be governed by the Spirit of God; and when men are sent with a message, and they speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost, their words are the words of the Lord, and they will be fulfilled.

We have had a good deal of teaching during this Conference from the servants of God, teachings given by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. We occupy a very peculiar position on the earth, a position differing in many respects from any other dispensation of men. Paul says—“Though we or an angel from heaven preach unto you any other Gospel than that which we have preached, let him be accursed.” All the teachings of the Patriarchs and Prophets have shown us but one Gospel. There is but one Gospel, there never was but one and there never will be. The Gospel revealed for the salvation of man is the same in every age of the world. Adam, our first great progenitor and father, after the fall, received this Gospel, and he received the holy Priesthood in all its power, and its keys and ordinances. He sealed these blessings upon his sons—Seth, Enos, Jared, Cainan, Mahaleel, Enoch and Methusaleh. All these men received this high and holy Priesthood. They all professed to give revelation. They all had inspiration and left their record on the earth; and not one of them but what saw and prophecied about the great Zion of God in the latter-days. And when we say this of them, we say it of every Apostle and Prophet who ever lived upon the earth. Their revelations and prophecies all point to our day and that great kingdom of God which was spoken of by Daniel, that great Zion of God spoken of by Isaiah and Jeremiah, and that great gathering of the house of Israel spoken of by Ezekiel and Malachi and many of the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets.

When the Lord has attempted to perform a work on the earth there has been one peculiarity with him, and that is, the instruments which he has made use of have occupied a peculiar position in the world. He has generally chosen the weak things of the world to confound the wise, and things that were nought to bring to pass things which were. When he wanted a man to deliver Israel, he called Moses, who was in an ark of bulrushes among the crocodiles and al[l]igators of the river Nile, put there by his mother, a Hebrew woman, because Moses was her first born, and all the first born of the Hebrews had to be slain. The daughter of Pharaoh, through the providence of God, preserved Moses, and by her he was given to his mother to raise. When called to deliver Israel, Moses told the Lord that he was a man slow of speech. He did not feel qualified to perform so great a work, yet the Lord chose him, and he performed the work the Lord assigned him.

So when the Lord wanted a king for Israel and the lot fell upon the family of Jesse. The Prophet went and called for the sons of Jesse to pick out this king. All the boys were brought before him except David. He was the smallest of the flock, and was out taking care of the sheep. Jesse never thought of him at all. He brought his other sons, who had been trained in all the arts, sciences and learning of the day, and when they came in Samuel could not see the one he wanted. He asked Jesse if he had not any more sons. Yes, he had a boy taking care of the sheep. “Let’s see him,” said the Prophet; and when he came he was anointed king.

Jesus himself was born in a stable and cradled in a manger and traveled in poverty all the way through his life. When he chose his disciples he did not take the great, learned, rich and noble of that generation, but he chose fishermen, the most illiterate men and, in one sense of the word, we may say, almost the lowest calling among men in that day. They were the ones the Lord made use of to go forth to preach his Gospel and to build up his kingdom on the earth.

How is it in our day, in this great and last dispensation? The Lord required an instrument who would take hold and work with him. He required some one to lay the foundation of this great Church and kingdom who would be willing to step forth and be led in the channel that was according to the mind and will of God; a man who could not be swayed by the traditions and religions of the day. Whom did the Lord call? The Patriarchs and Prophets not only pointed out the Zion of God and the manner in which his Church and kingdom should be established and built up, but they even called the name of the man who should be called to establish this work, and I do not know but the name of his father. His name was to be Joseph and he was to be a lineal descendant of ancient Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, separated from his brethren. The record or stick of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim, which Ezekiel speaks of, which was to be put with the record of the Jews in the last days, was to be an instrument in the hands of God of performing this great work of laying the foundation of this Church, and the gathering of the twelve tribes of the house of Israel. In that record the man’s name was pointed out as well as the work he was to do. Joseph Smith knew nothing of all this until after he was administered to by the angel of God; he had no knowledge of this when he brought forth that record to the world, and until he translated it, by the Urim and Thummim, into the English language. He had no knowledge whatever of this; but here was that great band, as strong as iron, that surrounded him by the revelations of God, for the last six thousand years, by every man who spoke of the work of God in the last days. These prophecies, revelations, and decrees of the Almighty, as it were, surrounded that man, and he had to be taught, not by man nor by the will of man, but he required the angels of God to come forth and teach him; it required the revelations of God to teach him, and he was taught for years by visions and revelations, and by holy angels sent from God out of heaven to teach and instruct him and prepare him to lay the foundation of this Church.

As I before remarked, these prophecies surrounded him, forming, in one sense of the word, a band and a power he could not get out of. Why? Because no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, but holy men of old spoke as they were moved upon by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and when any of those Prophets and Patriarchs for the last six thousand years spoke, when wrapped in prophetic vision, of the Zion of God being established in the last dispensation, those decrees had to be fulfilled to the very letter.

When Joseph Smith received these revelations he was an illiterate boy, like David among the sheep. The Lord, in this day, did not choose one from among the great, mighty, rich or noble, but he choose one prepared from before the foundation of the world, to come forth in the last days, through the loins of ancient Joseph who, in the hands of God, was the savior of the house of Israel and of the Egyptians in his day. This man was raised up in his proper time, and came forth into the world, and the Lord began to feel after him and to prepare him; but he, himself, did not know even when he laid the foundation of this work. The Lord told him—“you will lay the foundation of a great work, but you know it not.” Joseph himself could not comprehend, unless he was wrapped in the visions of eternity; the importance of the work the foundation of which he had laid. When his mind was opened he could understand, in many respects, the designs of God; and these revelations were around him and they guided his footsteps. They could not fail of fulfillment, they had to be accomplished in the earth. The servant of God came forth and he received the Book of Mormon—the record or stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim. He brought forth that record according to the dictation of Moroni, Nephi and Lehi, the angels of God who administered to him, and he translated it into the English language before he laid the foundation of this Church. Joseph Smith did not call upon any man to ordain or to baptize him, but he waited until the Lord sent forth his servants to administer unto him. He was commanded of the Lord to go forth and be baptized, but not until he had received the Priesthood. Where did he get it, and in fact what is the Priesthood? It is the authority of God in heaven to the sons of men to administer in any of the ordinances of his house. There never was a man and never will be a man, in this or any other age of the world, who has power and authority to administer in one of the ordinances of the house of God, unless he is called of God as was Aaron, unless he has the holy Priesthood and is administered to by those holding that authority.

There was no man on the face of the earth, nor had not been for the last seventeen centuries, who had power and authority from God to go forth and administer in one of the ordinances of the house of God. What did he do then? Why, the Lord sent unto him John the Baptist, who, when upon the earth, held the Aaronic Priesthood, who was beheaded for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. He laid his hands upon the head of Joseph Smith and ordained him to the Aaronic Priesthood, and he never attempted to act in any authority of the Gospel until he received this Priesthood. Joseph was then qualified to baptize for the remission of sins, but he had not the authority to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and he never attempted to administer in this ordinance until Peter, James and John, two of whom—Peter and James—were also martyred for the testimony of Jesus and the word of God. These three men were the last who held the keys of the Apostleship in its fullness and power previous to this dispensation. They laid their hands upon the head of Joseph Smith, and sealed upon him every power, principle, ordinance and key belonging to the Apostleship, and until he received this ordination he was not qualified and had no right to administer in the ordinances of the house of God, but he did this after he received the Priesthood, and on the 6th day of April, 1830, he organized this Church with six members, which was the foundation of what we see to-day in this Tabernacle, and for six hundred miles through this American desert. This has all come from that small seed—the foundation of the great kingdom of our God upon the earth.

What did Joseph Smith do after having received this Priesthood and its ordinances? I will tell you what he did. He did that which seventeen centuries and fifty generations, that have passed and gone, of all the clergy and religions of Christendom, and the whole world combined were not able to do—he, although an illiterate youth, presented to the world the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness, plainness and simplicity, as taught by its Author and his Apostles; he presented the Church of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God perfect in their organization, as Paul represents them—with head and feet, arms and hands, every member of the body perfect before heaven and earth. How could he, an illiterate boy, do that which the whole of the learning of the Christian world for seventeen centuries failed to do? Because he was moved upon by the power of God, he was instructed by those men who, when in the flesh, had preached the same Gospel themselves, and in doing this he fulfilled that which Father Adam, Enoch, Moses, Elias, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Jesus and his Apostles all prophecied about. Well might Paul say—“I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believes.” So may the Latter-day Saints say—“We are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.” I am not ashamed to say that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God; I am not ashamed to bear record that he was called of God, and laid the foundation of this Church and kingdom on the earth, for this is true, and any man or woman who is inspired by the Holy Ghost can see and understand these things.

My brethren and sisters and friends, here is laid the foundation of the fulfillment of that mighty flood of prophecy delivered since the days of Father Adam down to the last Prophet who breathed the breath of life. There has been more prophecy fulfilled in the last forty-three years upon the face of the earth, than in two thousand years before. These mighty prophecies, as I said before, like a band of iron, governed and control[l]ed Joseph Smith in his labors while he lived on the earth. He lived until he received every key, ordinance and law ever given to any man on the earth, from Father Adam down, touching this dispensation. He received powers and keys from under the hands of Moses for gathering the house of Israel in the last days; he received under the hands of Elias the keys of sealing the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers; he received under the hands of Peter, James and John, the Apostleship, and everything belonging thereto; he received under the hands of Moroni all the keys and powers required of the stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim; he received under the hand of John the Baptist the Aaronic Priesthood, with all its keys and powers, and every other key and power belonging to this dispensation, and I am not ashamed to say that he was a Prophet of God, and he laid the foundation of the greatest work and dispensation that has ever been established on the earth.

Joseph Smith lived until he gave his testament to the world, and when he had sealed all these keys, powers and blessings upon the head of Brigham Young and his brethren; when he had planted these keys on the earth so that they should be removed no more forever; when he had done this, and brought forth that record, that book of revelation, the proclamation of which involved the destiny of this whole generation—Jew, Gentile, Zion and Babylon, all the nations of the earth, he sealed that testimony with his blood in Carthage jail, where his life and that of his brother Hyrum were taken by the hands of wicked and ungodly men. Why was his life taken? Why were not John Taylor and Willard Richards, the only two of the Twelve at that time in Nauvoo and with him, also sacrificed? Why did Willard Richards, the largest man in the prison, stand in the midst of that shower of balls and escape without a hole in his robe or garment, or clothing? Because these things were all governed and control[l]ed by the revelations of God and the word of the Lord. The Lord took whom he would take, and he preserved whom he would preserve, and he has done this all the way through. Why has Brigham Young been preserved, when he has stood as much chance to lay down his life in defence of this cause, and run as many dangers in one position and another as anybody else? Because the Lord has had a hand and a meaning in this, and he has preserved him for a certain purpose, and other men have been preserved by the same power. The whole of it has been the work of God on the earth. The revelations of God have surrounded Brigham Young. The revelations of God in ancient days affect him and the Apostles, and the Elders of Israel, as much as they have affected any people in any generation.

I will speak of another branch of this subject. We have the kingdom organized, the prophecies have been fulfilled, the Church has been planted in the earth, and now there are other portions of these revelations which must be fulfilled. We were settled in Jackson County, Clay County, Caldwell County, in Kirtland and finally in Nauvoo. We were driven from one place to another until we settled Nauvoo, and at last we were driven from Nauvoo into the wilderness and to this land, led here by President Brigham Young, under the inspiration of Almighty God. Some felt their faith tried that we had to leave our lovely Nauvoo and go into the wilderness. Bless your souls, there would have been a flood of revelation unfulfilled if these things had not been so. Isaiah speaks of the foundation of this great Zion, and writes the whole of her history and travels up to the present day, and from this time on until the winding-up scene. If we had not been driven from Nauvoo we would never have come up the Platte river, where, Isaiah says, he saw the Saints going by the river of water wherein went no galley with oars; a great company of women with child and her that travailed with child would never have come here to the mountains of Israel if we had not been driven from that land, and a whole flood of prophecy would have remained unfulfilled, with regard to our making this desert blossom as the rose, the waters coming forth out of the barren desert, our building the house of God on the tops of the mountains, lifting up a standard for these nations to flee to; all this and much more would have remained unfulfilled had we not been guided and led by the strong arm of Jehovah, whose words must be fulfilled though the heavens and the earth pass away.

Having been brought to Zion, another subject presents itself to our consideration—namely, the position which President Young occupies in regard to us to-day. He calls upon us to build Temples, cities, towns and villages, and to do a great deal of temporal work. Strangers and the Christian world marvel at the “Mormons” talking about temporal things. Bless your souls, two-thirds of all the revelations given in this world rest upon the accomplishment of this temporal work. We have it to do, we can’t build up Zion sitting on a hemlock slab singing ourselves away to everlasting bliss; we have to cultivate the earth, to take the rocks and elements out of the mountains and rear Temples to the Most High God; and this temporal work is demanded at our hands by the God of heaven, as much as he required Christ to die to redeem the world, or as much as the Savior required Peter, James and John to go and preach the Gospel to the nations of the earth. This is the great dispensation in which the Zion of God must be built up, and we as Latter-day Saints have it to build. People think it strange because so much is said with regard to this. I will tell you Latter-day Saints, and the Christian world too, our work will fall short, we will come short of our duties, and we never shall perform the work that God Almighty has decreed we shall perform unless we enter into these temporal things. We are obliged to build cities, towns and villages, and we are obliged to gather the people from every nation under heaven to the Zion of God, that they may be taught in the ways of the Lord. We have only just begun to prepare for the celestial law when we are baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

There has been a good deal said here with regard to baptism for the dead. When Joseph Smith had laid the foundation of this work he was taken away. There are good reasons why it was so. Jesus sealed his testimony with his blood. Joseph Smith did the same, and from the day he died his testimony has been in force upon the whole world. He has gone into the spirit world and organized this dispensation on that side of the vail; he is gathering together the Elders of Israel and the Saints of God in the spirit world, for they have a work to do there as well as here. Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Father Smith, David Patten and the other Elders who have been called to the other side of the vail have fifty times as many people to preach to as we have on the earth. There they have all the spirits who have lived on the earth in seventeen centuries—fifty generations, fifty thousand millions of persons who lived and died here without having seen a Prophet or Apostle, and without having the word of the Lord sent unto them. They are shut up in prison, awaiting the message of the Elders of Israel. We have only about a thousand millions of people on the earth, but in the spirit world they have fifty thousand millions; and there is not a single revelation which gives us any reason to believe that any man who enters the spirit world preached the Gospel there to those who lived after him; but they all preach to men who were in the flesh before they were. Jesus himself preached to the antediluvian world, who had been in prison for thousands of years. So with Joseph Smith and the Elders—they will have to preach to the inhabitants of the earth who have died during the last seventeen centuries; and when they hear the testimony of the Elders and accept it there should be somebody on the earth, as we have been told, to attend to the ordinances of the house of God for them, that they may be judged according to men in the flesh and come forth in the morning of the first resurrection and have a part therein with us.

These are eternal principles of the Gospel of Christ. We have been commanded and have been under the necessity of going forth and declaring it to the sons of men. I will ask by what power have these Apostles and Elders taken their knapsacks on their backs, wading swamps and rivers, and preaching without purse and scrip, as they have done for years and years past and gone. What power has sustained them? As I have said before, these revelations of God, these great commandments and prophecies that have been given for the last six thousand years. They have been inspired by the Spirit and power of God, they have been commanded to go forth and warn this generation by preaching the Gospel to them. Here is President Brigham Young has traveled, as poor as any man could be, tens of thousand miles, without purse and scrip, to preach the Gospel to the sons of men. So have his brethren. They have been sustained by the hand of the Almighty, and if they had not done it they would have been under condemnation. Why? The angel of God, who restored the everlasting Gospel to earth, said it must be preached to every nation, kindred, tongue and people under the whole heaven, for the hour of God’s judgement had come. The hour of God’s judgment is at the door of this nation and the Christian world. Brother Erastus Snow here, a week last Sunday, told us about preaching to the dead, and the judgments that awaited the nations. Other Elders have referred to the same subject. But seventeen hundred years have passed without Prophets, Apostles and Patriarchs. The judgments of God did not rest upon the nations of the earth during that time as they will after the proclamation of this Gospel. This message that Joseph Smith brought to the world involves the destinies of this whole generation, not only of this nation, but the whole Christian and Jewish world, Zion and Babylon, the whole of it. They now stand, as it were, warned of the Lord. The Gospel has had to go to them. We have been obliged to go abroad to preach the Gospel to the nations; we should have been condemned, and smitten by the arm of Jehovah; if we had failed to fulfill the revelations given unto us. It is by that power that President Young, Joseph Smith, the Twelve Apostles, and the thousands of Elders of Israel have been moved upon to go forth and do the work of God.

Now then, my friends, are we going to stop here? Are the rest of the prophecies not to be fulfilled? Is the Lord going to cut his work in two, or let the rest go unfulfilled? I tell you nay, the word of the Lord is going to be fulfilled, and the Lord is not going to give this kingdom to another people. The Lord has raised up a set of men and women, and he will inspire and move upon them to carry out this great work, and we have got it to do. Zion is going to rise and shine, and to put on her beautiful garments; she will be clothed with the glory of God, and for brass she will have gold; for iron silver and for stone iron. All these revelations touching the last days have got to be fulfilled. President Young is moved upon to call upon Zion to do her duty. Why is he thus moved upon? Because the power of revelation surrounds him and crowds upon him to magnify his calling and do his duty among the sons of men. The power of God rests upon him, and he will never hold his peace until Zion is built up and perfected, the house of Israel gathered and the work of God performed under his administration as long as he dwells in the flesh. He is as much under the power of God and the revelations of Jesus Christ as any man that ever breathed the breath of life.

We have got to build this Temple. The Lord requires it at our hands. We have to pay our Tithing the Lord requires it at our hands. The Lord has never said by any revelation that Brigham Young should build a Temple alone, that his counsellors, or that the Apostles or Bishops should do it alone. This responsibility rests upon every man and woman who has entered into covenant with the Lord in these latter days; and if we do not discharge it we shall suffer, the Lord will chastise us. He is not going to leave us, and he is not going to take this kingdom away from the Latter-day Saints and give it to anybody else, for they are the Saints, and although mixed like corn in a sieve among the Gentile nations they have been prepared from the foundation of the world to come forth as the sons of Jacob in these latter days, to build up the Zion of God on the earth. We have got to come to it. We must give our earnest support to co-operation, for it is a step in advance towards establishing the Order of Enoch and the building up of the Zion of God. The servant of God is moved upon to call upon us to perform this work, and we have it to do.

There are some prophecies pertaining to these latter days that are unpleasant to contemplate. President Young has been calling upon the daughters of Zion day after day, now, for years, to lay aside these Babylonish fashions. I have been reading the third chapter of Isaiah, and I have been hoping, all the days of my ministry, that the sayings contained in that chapter would never apply to the daughters of Zion in our day; but I believe they will, and inasmuch as they will not listen to President Young and to the Prophets, Apostles and Elders of Israel with regard to throwing off these nonsensical things, I hope they will hasten the lengthening out of their skirts and drag them in the streets; that they will increase their round tires like the moon, increase their hoops, and their headbands, increase their Grecian bends at once and carry it out until they get through with it, so that we can turn to the Lord as a people. Some of the daughters of Zion do not seem willing to forsake the fashions of Babylon. I to such would say hasten it, and let the woe that is threatened on this account come, that we may get through with it, then we can go on and build up the Zion of God on the earth. But in spite of the follies that some among us delight in, we are going to build up Zion. We are going to fill these mountains with the cities and people of God. The weapons formed against Zion will be broken, and the nations of the Gentiles will visit her and their kings will, come to the brightness of her rising. I often think when I see gentlemen and ladies sitting in our Tabernacles, who have come over this great highway that has been cast up, whether they realize that they are fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah. I think this many times in my own mind. I am satisfied that they do not realize it, but they are fulfilling the revelations of God. The Gentiles are coming to the light of Zion and kings to the brightness of her rising. All these things have been spoken of and will be fulfilled; and by and by, when we are sanctified and made perfect, when we are chastised and humbled before the Lord, when we have got our eyes opened, and our hearts set upon building up the kingdom of God, then will we return and rebuild the waste places of Zion. We have got this to fulfill in our day and generation. Then think not, ye Elders of Israel, ye sons and daughters of Zion, that we are going to live after the order of Babylon always. We are not. We shall be chastised and afflicted, and shall feel the chastening rod of the Almighty, unless we serve the Lord our God, and build up his kingdom, for he has given us all power; yes, all power is given into our hands to perform this work.

Where is the man or the woman on the face of the earth who cannot see the hand of God in our deliverance until to-day? Every weapon has been broken that has ever been formed against us. Point me out an individual or a people who have ever taken a stand against Joseph Smith or Brigham Young, the Zion of God or the Elders of Israel, and who have sought to overthrow this work, but what the curse of God has rested upon them. Show me one of that class who has not gone down to the dust, and as it has been in days past so it will be in days to come. Woe to that nation, kindred, tongue and people under the whole heavens who war against Zion in the latter-days; every weapon shall be broken that is formed against her, and that nation that will not serve her shall be utterly wasted away saith the Lord of hosts. These things are true, and I would warn Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner and all the world to be careful what they do as touching them.

A few words more to the Latter-day Saints. I want to say to the brethren and to the sisters, let us cease finding fault one with another; let us not say that this man or this woman does wrong, this family does wrong, this person or the other sets a bad example; let us realize that we ourselves are held responsible for what we do. It will do me no good if I apostatize because somebody’s family follows the fashions of Babylon, or because some man or woman or some set of men and women do wrong. Let us cease this kind of work, and all of us look to ourselves. It will do me no good if I apostatize because I think somebody else does not do right. We should lay aside this, there is too much of it in the Zion of God today, and has been a good while, finding fault with this, that and the other, instead of looking at home. Let us all look at home, and each one try to govern his own family and set his own house in order, and do that which is required of us, realizing that each one is held responsible before the Lord for his or her individual actions only.

I pray God, my heavenly Father that he will pour out his Spirit upon the daughters of Zion, upon the mothers in Zion, upon the Elders, and upon all her inhabitants, that we may listen to the counsels of the servants of God, that we may be justified in the sight of God, that we may be preserved in the faith, that we may have power to build Temples, build up Zion, redeem our dead, and be redeemed ourselves, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Our Temporal Interests to Be Directed for the Work of the Lord, etc.

Lorenzo Snow

Discourse by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-Annual Conference, Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 7, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

The position we profess to occupy as a religious body, is a subject for profound reflection. We testify to having received a knowledge, through the revelations of heaven, concerning the restoration of the ancient Gospel and holy Priesthood, whereby we have been authorized to preach by inspiration, and administer to the world the principles of life and salvation. All profess to have experienced some understanding or knowledge of this wonderful work, through divine blessing or peculiar manifestation. In consequence of these divine intimations which have followed the administration of this restored Gospel, this vast audience of over twelve thousand people, are here assembled, having gathered from many climes and nations. The Latter-day Saints did not gather to these valleys for the purpose of knowing this Work to be of God, but in consequence of having previously obtained this inspired knowledge through the administrations of the Gospel in their native lands. And having come to a knowledge of these important facts, it certainly becomes us to be devoted to the work in which we are engaged, and do our best to promote its interest. In building up the kingdom of God, which is the work assigned us, our whole attention and highest efforts are demanded, that we may be qualified, through the Holy Spirit, to properly magnify our respective callings in the holy Priesthood.

I wish this afternoon to confine my observations to the subject of our temporal interests and obligations. Before we are prepared to return to Jackson County, to build up the centre Stake of Zion, I believe that a system or order of things will be introduced for our practice, requiring more faith and devotion than, I fear, some of us possess at the present moment. This will call forth a perfect submission in respect to our temporal affairs, equal to that in which we now yield ourselves in spiritual matters. This principle of devotion and obedience in temporal affairs, as being connected with the plan of eternal life, is fully illustrated in the conversation between the Savior and the young man who applied for information on the subject of salvation, recorded in the New Testament. On being questioned by this young man what was required of him in order to inherit eternal life, the Savior replied, “Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The answer was, that all these duties had been performed from his earliest youth. But, still one thing was lacking to make him perfect in the sight of the Savior, viz., to allow his means and property to be control[l]ed in the cause of God, and by the will of God. “Sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and follow me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. In all other duties he had been faithful and blameless, but in this, his selfishness and love of riches held complete control, which called forth the remark of the Savior, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” This saying created great amazement among the disciples, who asked, with astonishment, “Who then can be saved?”

This principle of submission, and being control[l]ed in property matters, is a doctrine which belongs to the Gospel and the building up of the kingdom of God. It was preached and practiced in the Apostolic dispensation, also by the Nephites upon this continent, after the introduction among them of the Gospel in its fullness, as recorded in the Book of Mormon. It was also a doctrine introduced to us, over forty years ago, which we find set forth in various revelations contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.

This consecration, or yielding our temporal interests to be directed for the work of the Lord, as being a fundamental element in the work of salvation, and in the union and perfecting of the Saints, is very clearly shown in the second and fourth chapters of the Acts of the Apostles: “And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. Neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands, or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the Apostles’ feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as be had need.” Ananias, and Sapphira his wife, also sold their possessions, but fearing, perhaps, that this scheme of things might not operate altogether successfully, they therefore concealed a portion of their means, and made a false report, but were fearfully punished for their duplicity and hypocrisy, showing that this principle of consecration was acknowledged of the Lord, and that he regarded disobedience with the utmost displeasure.

When the Church was established among the Nephites, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, this doctrine was preached by them, and practiced nearly two hundred years, resulting in peace, union, great prosperity, and miraculous blessings, greater than were ever experienced by any people of whom we have record. The most remarkable miracles were constantly wrought among them; their sick were healed, and in some instances their dead restored to life. These extraordinary manifestations of the approbation of God continued so long as they remained one in their temporal interest, or were control[l]ed in their financial matters according to the Order of Enoch. At the close of two hundred years they began to separate their interests, and each one to control his own financial affairs to suit his individual and selfish purposes. Upon this change, strife and divisions arose in every quarter, wars ensued, and misery and total destruction followed. The first starting point of these people in wickedness and apostacy, appeared to be a disregard of this heavenly system of holding property in common, and refusing to be control[l]ed in temporal matters.

In the first instance referred to, in the case of the young man, he cut himself off from the blessings of eternal life by refusing submission to the Savior’s counsels in reference to his possessions. In the case of Ananias and his wife Sapphira, sudden destruction visited them, in consequence of dishonesty and hypocrisy in those matters. Also in the case of the Nephites, as we have seen, the whole were destroyed by the judgment of God, after having ignored these principles. But, we have an example in our own time, of the judgments of God falling suddenly upon a people, because of refusing to comply with this order of consecration.

In the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 18, page 146, the Lord says: “And now I give unto you further directions concerning this land. It is wisdom in me that my servant Martin Harris should be an example unto the Church, in laying his moneys before the Bishop of the Church; and also this is a law unto every man that cometh into this land to receive an inheritance; and he shall do with his moneys according as the law directs.” Again, the Lord says, sec. 13, page 125: “If thou lovest me, thou shalt serve me, and keep all my commandments. And behold thou will remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support, that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant, and a deed which cannot be broken,” &c. Again, on page 235, the Lord says: “Verily I say unto you, the time is 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 land of 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 bonds 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?’ Again, on page 288, the Lord says: “Behold, all these properties are mine, or else your faith is vain, and ye are found hypocrites, and the covenants which ye have made unto me are broken; and if the properties are mine, then ye are stewards, otherwise ye are no stewards.”

But we learn that the Saints in that early period of our history, refused to be governed in those matters. The Lord says, page 284: “Therefore, inasmuch as some of my servants have not kept the commandment, but have broken the covenant by covetousness, and with feigned words, I have cursed them with a very sore and grievous curse; for I the Lord have decreed in my heart that, inasmuch as man belonging to the order shall be found a transgressor, or in other words, shall break the covenant with which ye are bound, he shall be cursed in his life, and shall be trodden down by whom I will, for I the Lord am not to be mocked in these things.” Also on page 295, the Lord says—“Behold, I say unto you, were it not for the transgressions of my people, speaking concerning the Church and not individuals, they might have been redeemed even now, but, behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I require at their hands, but are full of all manners 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 be chastened until they learn obedience, if it must needs be by the things which they suffer. Therefore, in consequence of the transgression of my people, it is expedient in me that my Elders should wait for a little season, for the redemption of Zion, that they themselves may be prepared, and that my people may be taught more perfectly, and have experience, and know more perfectly concerning their duty, and the things which I require at their hands.”

Hence we learn that the Saints in Jackson County and other localities, refused to comply with the order of consecration, consequently they were allowed to be driven from their inheritances; and should not return until they were better prepared to keep the law of God, by being more perfectly taught in reference to their duties, and learn through experience the necessity of obedience. And I think we are not justified in anticipating the privilege of returning to build up the center stake of Zion, until we shall have shown obedience to the law of consecration. One thing, however, is certain, we shall not be permitted to enter the land from whence we were expelled, till our hearts are prepared to honor this law, and we become sanctified through the practice of the truth.

The Lord required that those lands in Missouri should be obtained, not by force, but by purchase, through the consecrations of the properties of the Saints; and the manner was pointed out how these consecrations should be made, but it was disregarded. I mention these points, partly in view of their being intimately connected with the principles of Co-operation, which is now strongly recommended by our President to the attention of the Latter-day Saints in the various settlements of the Territory.

I view co-operation, when properly understood and practiced, as being a stepping-stone to the Order of Enoch, and will enable the Saints who receive it in a proper spirit, to gradually prepare themselves to enter, in due time, more fully into the practice of principles necessary to accomplish the building up of the kingdom of our God. We must have experience in order to properly understand how to sustain temporal institutions, and manage financial concerns, and wisely use concentrated means. Co-operation is of little benefit unless the people understand, appreciate, and feel disposed to sustain it; and in order for this we must be taught and instructed in regard to its object and advantages. “Wait a little season, for the redemption of Zion, that my people may be taught more perfectly, and have experience, and know more perfectly concerning their duty and the things which I require at their hands. For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfill, I will fight your battles.” But this he does require of us, that we attain to a devotion of heart and sanctification of feeling, that we be willing that all our substance be control[l]ed by counsel for the advancement of the kingdom of God. It is more than forty years since the Order of Enoch was introduced, and rejected. One would naturally think, that it is now about time to begin to honor it, and that we had gained sufficient knowledge and experience in the Lord’s dealings with us, to prepare us with faith and devotion to cheerfully comply with all its principles and requirements. But how many of us, upon such a requisition, would follow the example of the young man referred to—turn away sorrowfully?

I notice the great interest which is now being taken by the Saints in the various settlements in establishing co-operative institutions. These embrace the great principles, in connection with the Order of Enoch, which are intended to join together our hearts, feelings and interests, and effectually build up the kingdom of God and redeem the earth.

The people of Brigham City have been operating a number of years upon these principles, and are beginning to derive therefrom various financial advantages, as well as many spiritual blessings. The hearts and feelings of the people are being considerably united through practicing this system of co-operating in our temporal interest.

Honesty, ability and devotedness are required in order that co-operation may be successfully carried out, and the Spirit and wisdom of the Lord are necessary, as much so as proclaiming the Gospel or administering in its holy ordinances. Some Elders are very devoted and whole-hearted in going on missions and in most everything that pertains to the advancement of the spiritual interests of the kingdom of God, and almost blameless, and seemingly without fault, but, strange to say, in temporal affairs they are highly remiss, if not dishonest. When Saints feel like this they cannot act to advantage or with profit in co-operation; they cannot inspire confidence nor exercise a proper influence. In temporal administration, the same as in spiritual, one should exhibit in his labors a self-sacrificing principle when necessary, that is, he should show that he labors for the interests of the people rather than for building up himself. With this spirit one will be very sure to maintain an influence, and instill into others the same character of feelings.

When one goes into co-operation with proper spirit and proper views, to superintend or operate in any of its departments, he has a lawful claim to the Spirit of inspiration, to aid him in his calling. We read that Jacob, through his honesty of purpose, fair-dealing, and freedom from selfishness, was assisted by an holy Angel with information how to increase and multiply his flocks. It is far better to build up the kingdom of God, in its temporal interests, by the Spirit of God and the wisdom of God, than by the spirit of man and the wisdom of man; on the latter principle we shall always fail, but on the former the results will always be successful.

Our Co-operative Institution, at present, in Brigham City, comprises eight distinct departments, and is generally very well sustained by the people. It embraces a mercantile department, a tannery, a butcher shop, a boot and shoe shop, a woolen factory, a farm, a sheep herd, a cattle herd, and a dairy. These branches aid in sustaining one another. The profits of the mercantile department help to furnish the necessary cash to carry on other industries—to purchase hides, dye stuffs, cotton warps, &c., &c. The tannery supplies our boot and shoe shop with what leather is required, and our sheep herd, in part, with wool for our factory. A considerable share of our clothing is now furnished at our factory, and our boots and shoes at the shoe shop, and a sufficient supply of meat at the butcher shop, all of which can be obtained on dividends, labor, or exchange of products. This is a great blessing to the people, especially at the present time of scarcity of money. Many of our manufactured articles are nearly as fine as, and much more substantial than, the same class of imported articles.

I engaged a suit of clothes, last fall, of a tailor in Brigham City, the material of which was made at our woolen factory. I wore this as a traveling suit through Europe and Palestine, and felt rather proud in exhibiting it as a specimen of “Mormon” industry, amid the vales of the Great West. While in France, we had an interview with President. Thiers and his cabinet; this was at Versailles, and it so happened I then was dressed in this home-made suit, my aristocratic one being locked in my trunk at Paris, twelve miles distant. It was agreed by our party that I looked sufficiently respectable in my home product boots and suit, to appear with them in the presence of the President of the French Republic. I respected their judgment and honored their decision. I was received by the President as cordially, and I believe he shook hands with me as warmly and fervently, as though I had been arrayed in superb broadcloth. In several other instances, in our interviews with consuls and American ministers, and men of rank and station, my reserved suit was not come-at-able, so I had an opportunity of showing a specimen of what we are doing here in the mountains, which was an occasion of both surprise and commendation. On my return to London, this suit was nearly as good as when I left Brigham City. I made a present of it to President Wells’ son, one of our missionaries now preaching in London.

Lest some of my friends in this audience, may imagine that I have apostatized from these humble practices of sustaining home institutions, permit me to say, that this suit I now wear, is not imported broadcloth, as you probably imagine, but was made and manufactured in Brigham City, and the boots I have on are those worn through my Palestine tour, and nearly as good as when first put on in Brigham City. We manufacture, per annum, over thirty thousand dollars worth of various kinds of cloth, which is principally used by the people of Brigham City, and in the adjacent towns and settlements. This year we shall manufacture probably over fifteen thousand dollars’ worth of boots and shoes, which will be used in the same localities, and in our dairy we will make over thirty thousand pounds of cheese, equal in quality to any that can be imported.

Our Co-operative cattle herd, together with our sheep herd, and hogs kept at the dairy, supply our butcher shop, and partially our tannery with hides, and our woolen factory with the raw material. All these, together with other branches of industry, working in union, afford us important advent[a]ges in the present financial crisis, and supply, in a great measure, our real wants in a way that is easily come-at-able by the very poorest in the community.

The Bishops and presiding Elders, no doubt, many of them, will lead out in co-operation, in view of which, I will simply say, much prudence, carefulness, wisdom, patience and perseverance, aided by the Spirit of God, will be necessary in operating upon these principles. They need to enter upon this business with their whole heart and soul, as upon a sacred mission. The people must be taught and led in all kindness, and not forced into measures which they do not comprehend and have no heart or willingness to enter. Move gradually, take one thing at a time, make each, at least partially, successful, before introducing another, in order that the advantages and object of what we are doing may be felt and understood. The difficulty in obtaining means to establish cooperation is not so great, perhaps, as that of finding men of ability, wisdom and devotedness to manage in a proper manner such means when gathered, and get the people up to that standard of proper feeling and knowledge, to be comparatively satisfied when their means are justly and wisely managed.

May the Lord bless us with his Holy Spirit, that we may be wise and devoted in all our thoughts and administration, spiritual and temporal. Amen.

Means Required to Build the Temples, etc.

George A. Smith

Discourse by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, at the Semi-Annual Conference, October 8, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

Before the brethren and sisters disperse, we wish to say a few words to them in relation to building the Temples that are in progress. I think it was in 1852 that we broke the ground for this Temple. We have met with a great many obstacles in the way of its progress. After the foundation was level with the ground, we commenced to use granite, which had to be hauled some eighteen miles, and we hauled it with oxen and mules. Whenever oppression from our enemies or other causes did not prevent, we progressed with this great work. The building is nearly 200 feet long and about 120 feet wide. The foundation of the side walls is sixteen feet wide, while that of the towers at each end has a proportionately broad footing. When completed, the pinnacles will be 112 feet high, while the main tower will be 225 feet high, The building will be a majestic one, and will creditably compare with any large building in the world. We have now gained an advantage that we never had before—that is, railway communication directly with the granite quarry. It is true that we have to change from narrow to broad guage [gauge], causing a little trouble; we bring from two to four car-loads a day of this granite on to the Temple Block. There are some eighty men cutting these stones, and there is a party of men now engaged in laying them. I invite all the brethren from a distance to go on to the ground when the men are at work, and see how beautifully they handle these large stones, and how accurately they place them in their position, for I hope that every Latter-day Saint feels enough interest in the building of the Temple to lift his heart in prayer to the Most High that he will enable us to build the Temples which we have commenced, that we may continue the work of salvation for ourselves and our dead.

We are employing a considerable force of men in the stone quarry, and have been increasing the number of late. Our hope in doing so is to get a quantity of stone quarried before the winter sets in, that we may continue the work of stone cutting through the winter. As it is now, when only two car loads a day arrive, some of the stone cutters on the block will be idle, for it requires nearly three car loads a day to supply them. We are very glad that we are able to move the Temple forward, but you must be aware that all this takes means. The mining companies in the mountains pay, or promise to pay, high wages; and we have to pay a pretty liberal price in order to satisfy the brethren who work on the Temple. A portion of this is paid in the staple products of the country, and the residue in money, or merchandize, which is the same thing as money to us, for we have to pay money for it. We accordingly appeal to the brethren, both here and throughout the world, to remember their duties and their offerings for the Temple. Remember that the ordinances by which we gain exaltation for ourselves and our relatives, who have gone before us, are only administered in a holy house, which has been built in the name of, and dedicated to, the Most High God, according to his laws and commandments.

It would seem that in Salt Lake City and vicinity, there should be abundance of Tithes and offerings to carry on the work on the Temple; yet we are suffered to go behind, get into debt and incur responsibilities. It is the duty of our brethren and sisters, Bishops, teachers and all, to wake up to this subject, and remembering what is required of them by the law of the Lord, to contribute of their mites and of their abundance, that when this great building shall be dedicated, they can come forward knowing it is their offering to the Most High; that their tenths have been expended upon it, and that they have the right to the privilege of entering its basement and receiving the ordinances of baptism for their dead, to pass through the various ordinances of the Priesthood, and have the necessary sealings duly recorded, for themselves and their ancestors, and bequeath to their posterity the blessings which are there sealed upon them for ever. I exhort the brethren to consider these things.

It is said that in judging the conduct of others we should be merciful. This is a kind of proverb or select sentence. But it goes on further to say, that in criticising ourselves we should be exact and severe. Now when we come to judge our Tithing, and the interests we invest in the Temples of the Lord, let us do it conscientiously, each one for himself or herself.

I spoke here, the other day, a little in relation to the Word of Wisdom, and I again appeal to my brethren and my sisters to observe it, for I know that if they neglect to do so, before they pass behind the vail they will mourn, wail and weep in their hearts, for it will have a tendency to shorten their days, decrease their strength and lessen their glory. To those brethren who indulge in intoxicating drinks I say, Cease this folly. Brethren, I appeal to you in the name of humanity, in mercy to your wives and children, in the name of my Father in heaven and in the name of his Son, and say, Waste not your strength and your life with folly of this kind. Let intoxicating drinks alone, entirely alone.

We are looking forward to the day when we shall return to Jackson County. The time will come when the Latter-day Saints will build, in Independence, Mo., a holy city. That will one day be the centre stake of Zion, the centre spot of the New Jerusalem which God is to build on this land. We can only be prepared for that work by being united. Can we not unite a little in building a Temple, in contributing a tenth of all our substance to that work? Can we not unite a little in erecting a factory, in establishing a store? Can we not learn, step by step, the principles of unity, which will enable us to be the people of God, like the Zion of Enoch, and prepare us for a dwelling with the blest? Let us consider these things, and sustain with all our powers all the efforts that are made to bring about a unity among the Saints. Every step we take of this kind is in the right direction. Sustain our Cooperative stores, and cease to sustain those who do not build up Zion. The Elders of Israel have traversed the earth and gathered you from distant nations, and you have come here to serve the Lord; but if you expend your energies and means in sustaining those who would destroy the Saints, you are only laying the foundation of your own degradation, for as the Lord God lives, the man who will not sustain Zion will be cut off.

Remember these things, brethren and sisters, and sustain the servant of God and the institutions of heaven. Pray for those who are in authority, sustain the organizations that are established for the welfare of Zion, and cease to sustain her enemies. Circulate among the people our publications. Let the sermons of the Presidency and of the Apostles, that are published in the Deseret News, be read in every habitation. Circulate the publications of the Church wherever you can, and supply your families with Bibles and Testaments. Sustain and maintain Sabbath schools, and encourage all the children, and as many grown people as may be necessary, to attend, that these schools may prosper, and be useful.

I thought, in the start, of a great many subjects that I wished to talk about. In the Sunday School Union, which met last evening, eighteen thousand children were represented, who were regular attendants at the Sabbath schools in this Territory. This is not what it should be. It is very extensive I will admit, but at the same time there is a school population in this Territory of about thirty-five thousand. The State of Nevada has for years received very large means in various ways from the United States for sustaining schools; but the whole population of that State is probably not equal to the number of school children in this Territory, and yet they have had all the resources usually given by the national government to States to sustain schools The State of Nebraska was admitted into the Union when it had but a small population, but it received the same liberal school bequest, and it is reported that the Governor stole the outfit, and was impeached and dismissed from office for so doing. Whether they recovered the money or not I do not know. At any rate they disgraced him. The idea among many of these public officers is that if they can only steal skillfully enough not to be caught and brought to justice, it is all right. But the Governor of Nebraska was a little clumsy, and consequently they impeached him. There is said to be a great deal of swindling among these public officers, and in Nebraska it was the school fund that was assailed.

We have never had in this Territory national aid for schools to the amount of a dollar, or from any other source than our own pockets, and I am proud of the achievements of the Territory with regard to schools. We should not relax our efforts. Our Sunday School Union should be able to bring out more Sunday school scholars than now attend.

I want to say to my brethren that our journeyings in the Holy Land had a tendency to inform us with regard to many things we did not understand, and we now know much better than before our visit how to establish missions in those countries, which will be done at a proper time as the Lord opens the way. They are, however, fearfully tied up with ignorance, superstition and oppressive laws. &c. But we found more bigotry, narrow-mindedness and disposition to proscribe each other among those professing Christianity than among any other class of people in the Turkish Empire.

In Jerusalem there was an attempt made by certain men of science to search for the old foundations of the city. They sank down some hundred and seventy feet, and they found that the old foundation was built among the mountains, and little valleys running between them. Mount Moriah, Mount Zion, Mount Calvary, the Mount of Olives and others are all in the neighborhood, and there were anciently deep ravines between, and the city was originally built with terraces, one street rising above another. It is said that some of the Christians feared that this investigation would result in proving that the holy places, which are so much worshiped and adored, were not the true holy places, so they, I was told by some respectable Jews who were anxious to have the investigation go on, exercised an influence with the Turkish government to stop it, on the ground that the excavation were likely to undermine Jerusalem. At any rate the investigation was stopped. The Greek, Latin, Coptic and Armenian sects were said to have been principally interested in this matter.

The American minister to the Turkish empire assured me that he had greater difficulty in promoting peace among the different Christian sects toward each other than he had among the Mohammedans and Christians, and in most cases the Christians were far less tolerant towards each other than the Mohammedans were towards them. When we find Elders who have the spirit of such a mission and wish to labor in the work of the Lord, and to go into those countries and learn the languages, we shall send some of them there to make an attempt to introduce the Gospel. President Joseph Smith laid us under obligations to preach the Gospel or send it to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, and wherever the way has opened we have exerted ourselves to the utmost to do this. We have a Territory here hundreds of miles in extent, occupied by a thriving population. Where did they come from? They have been gathered from the nations wherever the Elders of Israel have been permitted to preach. A great many of the Christian nations are locked up. A man could now preach in Italy, but the traditions of the people are so strong that it would be a dangerous experiment probably to undertake it. While conversing with some Greek members of parliament they said to us—“We are Christians already, why not go among the heathens and teach them Christ? We know something about Christ now, and that is enough.” The constitution of Greece provides that all sects may be tolerated, but proselytism is prohibited from the Oriential [Oriental] Greek church, so you may think as you have a mind to, but if you get any of the people to believe in the Gospel and they are baptized you are subject to a penalty.

I wish to bear my testimony to the truths of the Gospel, to express my gratitude to the Conference for the attendance and attention, and to return my heartfelt thank to our brethren and sisters who have made us music. I am gratified at the attendance of the singers from the various settlements. I feel that the blessing of Israel’s God will be upon them. I hope the brethren and sisters will treasure up what they have heard and profit by it. Every man who has spoken has seemed to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. At the opening of the Conference I requested that the prayer of faith should ascend on high that the Spirit of the Almighty might dictate and control those who spoke, that we might be edified by the power of the Almighty. Our prayer has been heard, and we can now go away from this Conference to the different parts of the Territory, or to our several missions abroad, wherever we are called, with a united faith and confidence that we shall be better men, and that we shall more truly and faithfully perform our duties than we have done before.

The blessings of Israel’s God be upon you all, and may we all be faithful in the performance of our several duties, exercising faith before God to deliver us from our enemies, and cause that the Lamanites may be peaceable in our midst; for I will assure you, brethren, that if you want the Lamanites to be peaceable towards you, you must cultivate peaceable feelings in your hearts towards them, and never desire to shed their blood.

The peace of God be upon you all, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Distinguishing Characteristics Between the Latter-Day Saints and the Various Religious Denominations of Christendom

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Thirteenth Ward Meeting House, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, Nov. 2, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

According to our usual custom we have assembled on this, the first day of the week, to partake of the Sacrament, as a witness before God and angels, and as a testimony one to another, that we are determined to keep the commandments of the Most High, and to obey his laws, and the institutions and ordinances of his kingdom. The order of things we are now celebrating we have endeavored to observe from the organization of this Church. It has been our practice, when circumstances would permit, to assemble every Sabbath day for this purpose, and also to express one to another our desires and to bear our testimonies concerning the truth, and also to preach when we felt the spirit to do so.

I feel, this afternoon, to investigate before this assembly some of the distinguishing characteristics between this people and the various religious denominations of Christendom I do not do this particularly for the edification and benefit of the Saints; but, as there are probably many now present who never have had the opportunity of learning the difference which exists between the faith of the Latter-day Saints and that of other religious denominations, I presume that it would be interesting to them to have some of these things spoken of on the present occasion. We differ in our religious faith and notions in some things which I consider to be of essential importance to the salvation of the children of men; in some points of our doctrine and faith we do not differ so much with religious people generally as might be supposed.

To begin, then, we believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, our heavenly Father; we believe also in the existence of his Son, Jesus Christ, as the Savior of the world, and that he, through the shedding of his blood, has opened a way by which the fallen sons and daughters of the children of men may be saved. I believe that almost every Christian denomination has the same views in regard to the atonement of Christ, and that they, as well as we, believe in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. We also believe that it is important and necessary that all mankind should repent of and forsake their sins, and that they should forsake everything that is contrary to the law of God, and that is in violation of his institutions; everything immoral and unholy that we have been in the habit of practicing; that we should repent of these things, not merely in word, but absolutely repent of and put them away. I believe that all denominations who believe in Christ also believe in repentance; hence, so far as faith in God the Father, and in his Son Jesus Christ, and repentance and reformation are concerned, there are few distinguishing characteristics between us and the outside world. We also believe that it is important for every person who wishes to obtain the forgiveness of his sins to be baptized in water—immersed—in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, for their remission. In this we differ with most of the religious world. I believe that the sect which is generally called Campbellites believe in being baptized in water for the remission of sins. The Church of England also believe in baptism for the remission of sins, but they do not administer that ordinance by immersion. We also believe that when a person has repented, and has been baptized for the remission of his sins, by one having authority to administer this ordinance, his sins will be forgiven. Not but what the Lord has, in some instances on record, forgiven the sins of parties before baptism. We have some account, in both ancient and modern times, of the Lord having done this. The Prophet Joseph obtained a forgiveness of his sins, before baptism, and also the gift of the Holy Ghost; but the reason, probably, was that there was no Church that had been organized after the ancient pattern at the time he received the administration of the angels, and there being no minister authorized to administer baptism and the laying on of hands, the Lord in that instance dispensed with the forms and ordinances recorded for that purpose in the New Testament, and granted unto him both these blessings—the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Before he was baptized he translated the greater part of the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, through the aid of the Urim and Thummim. We have an account of at least one instance, in ancient times, where the Holy Ghost was given before baptism, that is the case of Cornelius. The Holy Ghost was poured out upon him, and upon his household, before they were baptized. It was contrary to the ordinance and the form that had been laid down in the Gospel; but on that occasion it was evidently given for a special purpose, namely, to convince the brethren who accompanied Peter to the place where Cornelius lived, that their traditions concerning the Gentiles were incorrect; and to prove to them that the Gentiles were heirs of salvation as well as the Jews, the Lord condescended, while Peter was speaking to Cornelius and his house, to bestow upon them the Holy Ghost, and they spake with tongues and prophecied, before they were baptized. When Peter saw that the Holy Ghost had been bestowed upon them, he turned to the Jewish brethren, and said, “Who can forbid water that these should be baptized, seeing they have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?”

On the Day of Pentecost, when we are told, three thousand were pricked in their hearts, and desired to know what they should do; the answer given was that they should repent of their sins. They already believed, before they repented, the testimony of Peter and the rest of the Apostles that Jesus was the very Christ; they believed these Old Testament Scriptures that related to him, which were quoted by the Apostle Peter on that occasion: and they were pricked in their hearts, If they had not believed that Jesus was the Christ, they would not have been pricked in their hearts and convicted of sin; but they believed, and the answer of Peter to their inquiry about what they should do to be saved was—“Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost.” Can not every person, who reflects a moment on this passage, see that the remission of sins and the Holy Ghost, were two blessings promised after repentance and faith, and baptism for the remission of sins? When the people of Samaria heard the preaching of Philip, they also believed and repented, and they were baptized, and there was great joy in that city. No doubt their sins were then remitted, an event which would cause joy and satisfaction among the Samaritans. But there was not one soul of all those converts in Samaria, neither man nor woman, who had received the Holy Ghost, they had only believed in Christ and received the forgiveness of sins, but none of them were as yet born of the Spirit. When the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, which Philip had preached unto them, they sent Peter and John, and they came down to Samaria and knelt down and prayed for these baptized Samaritans, that they might receive the Holy Ghost; for as yet,” says the Scripture, “he had not fallen upon any of them, only they had been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; and when they had prayed for them, they laid their hands upon them and they received the Holy Ghost.”

Now they must have received on that occasion, something that was powerful and miraculous, so much so that it made itself manifest even to bystanders. The reason which I have for believing this is in consequence of what Simon Magus said and did on that occasion. He came to the Apostle Peter and offering money to him, said—“Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay my hands he may receive the Holy Ghost.” He was evidently convinced that there was a power made manifest on that occasion, and as he had been a sorcerer, and had deluded and deceived the people in former times, and had evidently come into the Church with a corrupt heart, he no doubt wished to obtain this increased power to aid him in his future operations. But Peter answered—“Let thy money perish with thee, I perceive that thy heart is not right in the sight of God.”

Here then was a sacred ordinance which I wish to call your attention to, namely, the laying on of hands. The Samaritans had, no doubt, believed as firmly as ever persons could believe; they had repented as much as any persons could repent; they had complied with the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins, and were justified and filled with great joy in consequence of the forgiveness of their sins; but with all this, why did they not receive the Holy Ghost? Why was it not sent down from heaven as it was on Cornelius? Because there were none present on that occasion that needed to be convinced, as in the case of the household of Cornelius; no Jewish brethren there to forbid water; no ones there to have their traditions corrected, and consequently the Lord did not give a sign to them. But when they were confirmed, he sent upon them the Holy Ghost through the sacred ordinance of the laying on of hands. That is as much an ordinance as baptism.

Here then is one instance wherein we differ from the main portions of the religious world. It is true the Church of England practices confirmation—their lay hands upon those who are sprinkled; but we have no account of the gifts following this administration among the members of that church such as the gift of tongues, healing and the various gifts of the Spirit. They are withheld. We differ, then, from the outside religious world in this one ordinance. No person comes into this Church and is acknowledged to be in full fellowship as a member of the Church, unless one or more of the servants of God have administered the sacred ordinance of the laying on of hands expressly for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. I do not know why it was that the Lord established this ordinance. He seems to have, in all ages, bestowed blessings upon the children of men through simple ordinances, and he seldom gave blessings, unless those ordinances were complied with. When the angel came to Cornelius and told him that his prayers and his alms had ascended up before God as a memorial, he did not see proper on that occasion to tell exactly what he should do in order to be saved; but he told him to send for Peter, and he would tell him words whereby he and his house should be saved. Cornelius had faith enough in that angel to actually send for Peter. There was something required on the part of Cornelius to manifest his faith before God. There was something required of the children of Israel when they were to take the City of Jericho. It would have been an easy matter for God to have thrown down the walls of Jericho in an instant without making any requirement of the children of Israel; but he determined to try their faith, so they were commanded to pass round the walls of the city once a day for seven days, and on each day when they encompassed the walls they were to blow rams’ horns. On the seventh day they were to go round the walls of the city seven times, and when they had completed their last circuit on the seventh day they were to give a certain blast with the horns, and all the people were to give a shout, then the walls were to fall down. Now, could not the Lord have done it without going through all that process? O, yes, but he did not see proper to do so, he wanted to try the faith of that people, to see whether they would be obedient to that which he required of them. When they had shown their faith by their works, then the power of God was made manifest.

It is so in relation to baptism. When we have shown that we have faith in God and in the ordinances and institutions of his kingdom; when we prove our belief in the principle of baptism by rendering obedience thereto, we then obtain the remission of our sins. When we have faith enough to have hands laid upon us for the reception of the Holy Ghost, after being baptized, the Lord sees that we are complying with the institutions of his kingdom, and he is willing to bestow the blessing of the Holy Ghost. When we have faith enough to go to the house of worship on the first day of the week and offer up our sacrament before the Lord, according to his commandments, we witness before him that we are willing to keep his commandments; but when, without excuse, we neglect this week after week, we show that we are careless and indifferent, and the influence of the Holy Spirit, which we would otherwise enjoy as Latter-day Saints, is withheld from us.

Let none experiment on this, let no Latter-day Saints neglect to come to meeting, when it is their privilege to do so, and also neglect this divine ordinance which the Lord has instituted in commemoration of the death and sufferings of his Son; for if they continue to do this without any reasonable excuse, they will soon begin to be darkened in their minds. Hence you see, that all these ordinances, however simple in their nature, are instituted of the Lord, and if we have not faith sufficient to comply with them, it proves that we have not much faith in God. The Apostle James speaks upon the subject of faith very plainly: he says—“Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” Faith without works is dead, being alone. Men may profess ever so much faith in Christ, but if they do not attend to the ordinances of heaven, we know that their faith is a dead faith and will not obtain the blessings which the Lord has promised. We will pass on, however, in taking up the distinguishing characteristics, between the Latter-day Saints and other religious denominations. We shall, however, have to dwell briefly on the different points, for there are many things wherein we differ.

When the baptized believer has received the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, the question is, What will be its manifestations, &c., and how are we, as Latter-day Saints, to know that we have received the Holy Ghost? This is a very important question for us to decide in our own minds. How are believers in Christ to know that they are believers, such as the Lord will acknowledge? They are to know it by the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon them. How am I to know when the Holy Ghost is poured out upon me, or how are you to know? We would not know only by comparing with the Scriptures, or by some revelation to our own minds, which would give us this knowledge. For instance, suppose we should receive a spirit that would cause us to fall down on the ground, or cause us to be cramped up into an ill kind of a shape, or that would take away our strength and all our memory and understanding, should we not know at once that no such spirit was acceptable in the sight of God? And, after reading about the gifts of the Holy Ghost to man, should we not know, that it does not operate thus? When the Holy Ghost rests upon the servants and handmaidens of the Lord, it imparts a variety of gifts, not all to one man, and not the same to every individual; but it gives to one, one gift, and to another, another. For instance it gives to some the gift of wisdom. Now, what is it to receive the word of wisdom? When a person receives, by the power of the Holy Ghost, the word or gift of wisdom, he receives revelation. Herein, then, is another point in which we differ from the religious world generally. They do not believe in any later revelation than the New Testament, that is, they did not when this Church arose; but of late years, since the rise of this Church, many of them have begun to believe in revelation later than the New Testament.

When the Holy Ghost falls upon some it gives them the word of wisdom, that is, it imparts to them an understanding of things that are wise. The Spirit may whisper, “It is wise for you to do this thing,”—“it is wise for you to do that thing,”—“it is wise for you to take such a course, and to do thus and so.” This is what might be termed the word of wisdom. A person may have great wisdom and yet not have much knowledge; he may have great wisdom given by revelation to know how to exercise that degree of knowledge which he may be in possession of. Then again there are others who may receive the gift of knowledge from God and yet they may have very little wisdom; and they do not know how to turn their knowledge to the best advantage. Here is the distinction then between a revelation which gives wisdom, and a revelation which gives knowledge.

To another is given, by the Spirit, the gift of healing. Some may say that the gift of healing was only intended for ancient times, to establish the Gospel; that the people in those days needed some miraculous power and evidence to convince them of the truth of the Gospel; but I find that the gift of healing was given for the benefit of all who had faith to be healed. This was the way that the Lord administered in ancient times, and there is just as much necessity in our day that the sick should be healed, as there was eighteen centuries ago; and the Lord is just as willing, inasmuch as we will exercise faith in him, to bestow the gift of healing now as he was in ancient times. This seems to be a kind of common gift, not limited altogether to a few individuals, as we find recorded in the last chapter of Mark. Jesus said on that occasion, speaking to his Apostles—“Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believes”—that is every creature in all the world who believes—“and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe,” that is, every creature in all the world that believes, showing that the believers generally might have the gift of healing, although, perhaps, to some it is given more fully than it is to others. “These signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

It seems that the gifts here named are general gifts, intended more or less for the whole Church; not only for those in the Priesthood, but for those out of the Priesthood, for males and for females. For instance, children are often taken sick, and it is the privilege of their parents, whether they have the Priesthood or not, by virtue of this promise, to lay their hands on their sick children, and ask the Lord, in the name of Jesus, to heal them. Suppose that the father, the head of the family, is absent, has the mother the right to lay her hands upon her sick child? We say that, by virtue of this promise which the Lord has made, she may lay her hands upon her child or children, and ask God to heal it or them. How many scores and scores of cases have there been in this Church, every year since it was organized, where the parents, both brethren and sisters, have had power over disease, through the Spirit of God being poured out upon them, and their children have been healed through the laying on of their hands? Here, then, is another point wherein we differ from the religious world. Go and ask them if they will come and visit a sick person. “Oh yes,” says the minister, “I will visit the sick.” When he arrives, the sick person or his friends request him to pray. That is all right and in accordance with the Gospel. They kneel down, and the minister prays that the Lord will look in mercy upon the sick person, and, if it please him, heal and restore him. But do they lay on hands or anoint with oil as the Scriptures direct? The Scriptures say—“If any one among you is sick, let him send for the Elders of the Church, and let them pray for him”—it is all right to pray—“and let them anoint the sick in the name of the Lord.” Now, when they do this they are complying with the requisitions of the Gospel of the Son of God, and why not follow this ordinance of laying on of hands on the sick, and anointing them with oil, just as well as following the praying part? No wonder that they do not have power over sickness and disease, for they only attend to half their duties—they pray, but neglect the other part. Inquires one, “Can not the Lord hear prayer and heal the sick just as well without laying on of hands and anointing with oil as with?” He could have thrown down the walls of Jericho without the children of Israel walking around them and blowing rams’ horns; but the Lord has a form, then why not comply with it, and leave the event with him. It requires faith on the part of the sick in order to be healed; they ought to have faith as well as their friends. When an infant child is sick, it, of course, is not required to exercise faith; but its parents and friends can exercise faith on its behalf, as was done in ancient times. Sometimes sickness will deprive an adult person of his senses, in that case his friends may exercise faith for him. But where there is no faith in God, as in the case of infants, his servants may prevail, and heal the sick, but this is not always the case. For instance, as great a man as Paul was, a person who had the gift of healing to such a degree that even by carrying a handkerchief, or some little article from him to those who were sick, devils would flee and the sick would be healed; I say that as great a man as he was obliged on a certain occasion to leave one of his fellow-laborers in the ministry sick at Miletus. Why? Because he had not faith. People may sometimes have faith, and at other times they do not exercise it; sometimes people are appointed unto death, and in such cases the administrations of the Elders are not likely to be effectual. If believers could always exercise faith to be healed of disease, all the ancient Saints might be living now, eighteen hundred years after they were born. But the Lord heals the sick when it seems good unto him, and he gives us, inasmuch as we are not appointed unto death, the privilege of calling upon his name, and of having the administrations of his servants in our behalf. This has been practiced ever since this Church was organized—forty-three years since—and if it had done no good, if there had been no healings in that time, do you suppose the Latter-day Saints would continue to be members of the Church? No, the Church would have quickly broken up, it would not have lasted more than two or three years if its members had not found the promises verified, according to the word of the Lord; but they have found that the Lord really does stretch forth his hand to heal the sick, and that he does raise them up from the very point of death, and restore them, almost instantly, to health and strength. Knowing this to be the case, the afflicted Saints have faith in the ordinances, and they continue sending for the Elders, and God blesses their administrations.

Then, if I received a spirit by which, in the name of Jesus Christ, I was enabled to rebuke sickness, and that sickness was rebuked, and the persons were raised up, should I not have reason to believe that I had received that true Spirit of the Gospel, called the Holy Ghost? I certainly should. If I received a revelation telling me what would be the best course for me to pursue under certain circumstances, should I not know that it was a revelation from God? I think I should know, just as well as the ancient Prophets knew when they received a revelation. If I received knowledge by revelation concerning this, that or the other thing or principle, would not that be a testimony to me that I had received the Holy Ghost? Again, if I was sick and afflicted and in great pain, and I sent for the Elders of the Church to come and pray for me and to rebuke the disease which was afflicting me, and, in the name of Jesus, command it to depart, and it was done, would not this be a testimony unto me that the Lord had heard the prayers of his servants, and that he had really and truly verified his promise? Certainly.

To another is given the gift of prophecy, or foretelling future events. Among the ancient Saints this was regarded as a very important gift, much more so than the gift of speaking in tongues. Paul, in addressing the Corinthians, says—“Seek earnestly the best gifts, and forbid not to speak with tongues,” &c. And again, he says, “Greater is he that prophecies than he that speaketh with tongues” Again, in the same chapter, he says—“How is it then, brethren? When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation? Let the prophets speak, two or three, and let the other judge. If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophecy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.”

Here, then, we see that the Saints in ancient times prophecied by revelation. If persons come together in a religious capacity, as this assembly has done this afternoon, and God should reveal to some present something pertaining to the future, it is not necessary for them to rise up while any other person is speaking, and make confusion, but let all the Prophets who have any revelation, wait until the person speaking gets through, and then let them rise, one by one, and declare what God has revealed to them. This was the way the ancient Christians worshiped, and these were the gifts by which they were distinguished from those who were not Christians, and those also were the distinguishing characteristics between the general world of mankind and the real, true-hearted Christians in ancient times. Why not have the same distinguishing characteristics now? Has God ever said that these gifts should be unnecessary in the Church?

We find a great many gifts besides those I have mentioned. The gift of tongues, the interpretation of tongues, the discerning of spirits, and the beholding of angels, were all given in ancient times by the Spirit, and the Church possessing them was compared to the body of Christ; and the Apostle Paul, in order to show the necessity of all these gifts, when comparing them to the body of a man, says, the whole system is necessary, the eye cannot say to the hand “I have no need of you” in the body, for it is absolutely necessary there; neither can the head say to the feet “I have no need of you;” no, the feet are necessary; and even the most imperfect, or simplest member of the human system could not be dispensed with without making a schism in the body. Says Paul, speaking to the Church—“You are the body of Christ, and members in particular. God has set in the church, first apostles, second prophets, after that teachers, workers of miracles, speakers with tongues, interpreters of tongues.” All these different ones are members of the body of Christ. Now, have we any right to say to the lowest of these members, “We have no need of you in the body?” Supposing the teacher should say to the speaker in tongues—“I have no need of you, now in the body, the Lord has a different kind of a body on the earth from what he had eighteen hundred years ago, and we do not need you now.” Another says to the interpreter of tongues—“We have persons who have studied all these languages, and we do not need a person to interpret tongues, by the Spirit, now; we can dispense with this principle from the body of Christ.” Another minister arises and he says to the member possessing the gift of healing—“We do not need such a member in the church now, we can do without it in the body; it is true it makes a kind of a schism in the body, and it looks different from what the New Testament has taught; but we are enlightened in this day, we are living in such a blaze of Gospel liberty that we do not need the same kind of members now to compose the body of Christ as they did in ancient days,” and he passes him by. The worker of miracles comes along, and another minister says—“We have no need of you in the body;” the discerner of spirits comes along and he says—“I have beheld spirits, I have seen angels.” Says the modern religionionst—“We have no need of you now in the church, we are sufficiently enlightened to do without you.” An Apostle comes along and declares his mission and calling, and he is greeted with the customary salutation—“We do not need Apostles now. God set those officers in his church at first, but we can dispense with them now.” I say, if you can dispense with these officers, what have you left? Says one—“We have teachers left.” “Well, why do you not do away with the office of teacher? Have you not the same authority to do away with the member of the body of, Christ called a teacher, that you have to do away with the Apostle, the Prophet, the gift of healing, the discerning of spirits? Yes, you have the same right to do away with one officer as with another. If you have only teachers left, I ask, Does that constitute the Church of God? No, for you have done away with the most prominent officer, the Apostle, the one first set in the Church, which is like taking a man’s head from his body and then saying “Live, live.”

Now the very fact that all these officers have been done away, shows that the Church of God has been rooted out of the earth. No wonder, then, that the Lord had to send an angel from heaven with the everlasting Gospel, to be preached to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, because there was no nation, people, kindred or tongue upon the face of the whole earth that had that Gospel, and a Church organized in accordance with it. The various sects of religionists in Christendom have lost all authority; they have neither Apostles nor Prophets, no one who can have heavenly visions, who can discern spirits or have the ministrations of angels; no one to heal the sick or to speak with tongues. They have done away with all gifts and members and have blotted out the ancient Church, having merely a dead form left. No wonder then that the Lord sent an angel, in fulfillment of the revelations of St. John, to restore the Gospel to earth, and to prepare for the re-organization of his Church among men according to the ancient pattern. It was absolutely necessary that the Gospel should be restored, together with the authority to administer its ordinances, baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost; authority to build up the Church and kingdom on the earth, that the Holy Ghost might again be poured out as in ancient times, that the people might receive the gifts thereof, and that they might know of a surety, when they had received the Holy Spirit. All this the Lord has done, hence you see the distinguishing characteristics, so far as the organization of the Church and the administration of its ordinances are concerned, between the Latter-day Saints and the rest of the religious world.

But suppose we speak still further on one principle, and that is the authority to baptize. I might be baptized by a person whom the Lord had neither called nor sent, and that baptism would never be acknowledged in the eternal worlds. I might be ever so sincere, and I might receive the ordinance from the hands of a man who, I really supposed, had the authority and who was a good, moral, upright man, and yet that baptism would not be acceptable in the sight of God, unless he did truly have divine authority.

How am I to know whether a man has divine authority or not? It is one of the easiest things in the world to know. I will tell you how you may know a man who has divine authority from one who has not. If you find a man who, though he may profess to be a Christian minister, says he does not believe in any later revelations than those given to St. John the Divine, and that he was the last to whom the Lord revealed himself, you may know that that man has no authority from God. Why not? Because the Bible says—“No man taketh this honor unto himself”—speaking of the Priesthood—“Save he be called of God as was Aaron.” Now, turn to the Bible and see how Aaron was called, see if he was not called by name, by new revelation: that is, it was a new revelation to him. See if he was not called through Moses, the servant of God, who received a revelation commanding him to set apart his brother Aaron to the Priest’s office, directing him what ordinance to use, how to set him apart, and giving all the particulars of his calling and ordination to the ministry, and what his duties were to be after ordination. All this was given by new revelation. No man can receive the Priesthood, neither officiate in its ordinances acceptably, unless he is called of God as was Aaron. If Aaron was called by new revelation, then all others who have this authority must be called in the same way, or their authority is not valid, and all ordinances under it are good for nothing.

This is the reason why the Lord commanded this people—the Latter-day Saints—to re-baptize all persons who come to them professing to have been baptized before. In the early days of this Church there were certain persons, belonging to the Baptist denomination, very moral and no doubt as good people as you could find anywhere, who came, saying they believed in the Book of Mormon, and that they had been baptized into the Baptist Church, and they wished to come into our Church. The Prophet Joseph had not, at that time, particularly inquired in relation to this matter, but he did inquire, and received a revelation from the Lord something like this—that although a man had been baptized a hundred times under these old institutions, it would avail him nothing; that this was the New and Everlasting Covenant, even the same that was in the beginning, and that they who administered its ordinances must have authority from God, or their administrations were illegal. These Baptists had to be re-baptized: there was no other way to get into this Church. There is not a person now in full fellowship with this, people, but what has come in by baptism, whether he formerly belonged to the Baptist or any other Church. Indeed it would be impossible for a Church to be re-organized upon the earth, unless God had bestowed the authority upon men to act in his name, that is, had spoken from on high and called them by revelation.

I will come still closer. Here is is the Book of Mormon. When Joseph Smith obtained the plates from which this book was translated, when he came to the history of how baptism was administered among the Israelites of ancient America, and learned that it was by immersion, he felt very anxious to be baptized, not having been baptized in any Church in existence, and not understanding fully about this matter, he and a young man, who was acting as his scribe, went out and called upon the Lord, desiring to know what they should do in relation to their baptism. They read that those who dwelt on this Continent eighteen hundred years ago were baptized by immersion and that the ordinance had to be administered by men holding the authority to do so from God. In answer to their prayers, the Lord sent an angel to them on the 15th day of May, 1829, nearly a year before the Church was organized, and this angel laid his hands upon the heads of these two individuals, and ordained them to the holy Priesthood, that is, the Priesthood which John the Baptist held, which had the right to baptize, but not to confirm by the laying on of hands; and when he had ordained them he commanded them to baptize each other, and they did so. Here then was a commencement of the restoration of authority to the earth. Prior to that time, for hundreds and hundreds of years, no man had authority to baptize, from the very fact that they all denied new revelation, and hence none of them could have been called as Aaron was.

After Joseph and his scribe had been baptized for the remission of their sins, they sought after authority in order that they might have hands laid upon them for the Holy Ghost. The lesser Priesthood could not do this, the Priesthood that John the Baptist held was not authorized to lay on hands; he could only baptize believers in water. But John, when upon the earth, said there was one coming after him mightier than he, who held a greater Priesthood and authority than he—the Priesthood after the order of Melchizedeck—and he would bestow upon them the higher baptism—the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery sought after this higher authority, and the Lord gave it to them, before the rise of this Church, sending to them Peter, James and John. What for? To bestow upon them the Apostleship. Now, who would be likely to have better authority than Peter, James and John, the three foremost of the ancient Apostles when they died? When Peter was crucified with his head downwards, and James was martyred, their Priesthood was not taken from them; their Priesthood remained with them after their bodies were laid in the tomb, and they will hold it until their bodies are resurrected; and when they reign on the earth, they will reign as kings and Priests; and, as we read in the New Testament, these twelve Apostles will eat and drink at the table, and in the presence of, God—and will rule over the twelve tribes of Israel.

Now, who would be better qualified to administer the sacred office of the Apostleship than the three men who held it while they were here on the earth? There are a great many in heaven who have not the right to ordain Apostles, a great many who, though they are exalted and have glory and great authority, yet do not hold the Apostleship, and therefore they have no right to come as angels from heaven and lay their hands upon any individual and ordain him to the Apostleship. It has to be a man who holds authority in heaven that can bestow it here on the earth; and such men were Peter, James and John, who restored that authority to the earth in our day, by bestowing it upon Joseph Smith. When this authority was restored, the Church was organized, on the 6th day of April, 1830, consisting of six members, and then there was power in existence, not only to baptize, but to confirm by the laying on of hands for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost; and from the authority then sent down afresh from heaven has this Church been enabled to pass along, and receive the great blessings which the Lord has bestowed upon it. But I will pass along.

I was saying, a little while ago, that there is nothing in the New Testament to prove that the gifts which were given to and enjoyed by the ancient Saints, should ever cease from among the true people of God; and whenever there has been a Church of Christ on the earth there have been all its members, including Apostles, Prophets, speakers in tongues, interpreters of tongues, discerners of spirits, those having the gift of healing, &c.; and whenever these things have disappeared the Church of Christ has disappeared from the earth, and then authority, revelation, prophecy, and the ministration of angels have ceased. But we have a declaration in the 13th chapter of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, that these gifts should be continued in the true Church, until that which is perfect is come. Now we see, know, and understand in part; we see through a glass darkly here in this world, but when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away. Now we have certain blessings bestowed upon us, but the time will come when tongues will cease and prophecy will fail; that time will be, when the Church has become perfect in the eternal world. After we pass through this state of existence and are exalted, we shall no longer see through a glass darkly. Here while the Church remains in this world, we only prophesy in part. We have some gifts, but we do not possess them in their fullness; but when we receive our resurrected bodies, and that which is perfect is come, we shall have no need of the gift of healing, because there will be none sick, for all will be immortal. There will be no need in those days of prophecy in part, because everything will be open and understood by the minds of the Saints of God, and prophecying in part will be done away, and they will see as they are seen and know as they are known. All these things prove to us, that so long as the true Church remained on the earth, so long should all these various gifts remain.

The object of these gifts is not merely to convince the world, but Paul informs us in another chapter that they were intended not only for the unbeliever but also for the believer. When Jesus ascended up on high, Paul says that he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. He gave some Apostles, some Prophets, some evangelists, pastors, and teachers, besides all these other gifts I have named. What for? Paul informs us that he gave these gifts for the perfecting of the Saints. Do you not see then, that they were not given merely to convince unbelievers and to establish the Gospel, but for the perfecting of the Saints? Now, do you know, does any one know, how the Saints of God can be made perfect without these gifts? How can the members of a Church, which has not any inspired Apostles and inspired Prophets, be made perfect? “Oh, but,” says one, “we have some of these gifts.” “What are they?” “Why, he mentions pastors and teachers; we have them.” What right have you to claim them, and do away with the other gifts mentioned in the same verse? Is there any consistency in that? Is it right, can we feel justified before the heavens in taking a verse and claiming one or two gifts mentioned there, and doing away with all the rest? The Scriptures say that he gave Apostles, Prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers; the modern Christians claim two or three of these and do away with all the rest. The Latter-day Saints will not do this; they have been traditionated to do so in times of old, but now they have learned better; and they now say—“Give us all these gifts. If we have a Church, let us have inspired Apostles and Prophets in that Church, for without them the Saints cannot be made perfect.”

They are given, also says Paul, not only for the perfecting of the Saints, but for the work of the ministry. How can the work of the ministry proceed without Apostles and Prophets? It cannot proceed. They are given for the edifying of the body of Christ, says the Apostle. How can the body of Christ be edified without Apostles and Prophets, and the gifts mentioned? And again, he says, They are given in order that the Church may become perfect, that is, that its members may grow up into perfect men, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Without these gifts the Church never can grow up, it has nothing to edify or perfect it, nothing to do the Saints any good, but with these gifts they may be perfected, and grow to the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Another grand object specified in the giving of these gifts, as mentioned in the next verse, is, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, and by the cunning craftiness and slight of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Now, you take a Church that has no Apostles, no Prophets, no gifts, such as those that are named in the New Testament, and that Church is all the time liable to be carried away with every foolish doctrine that may come along. But when you see a Church organized with Apostles, having power to receive revelations from heaven, and having Prophets who can foretell future events through the Holy Ghost resting upon them, it is not carried away with every cunning plan and device of false doctrines; but its members know for themselves, by the power of the Holy Ghost, by the gifts that are given to them, and by the revelations which they receive, and hence they are not carried about as the religious world have been, during the past seventeen centuries. What is the reason of all the confusion, jars, and discords that have troubled the religious world during that time? The grand reason is, that they have lost that which would have held them together—the gifts of the Spirit, and hence there are hundreds and hundreds of denominations following this doctrine and that doctrine, having no voice of God, no angels, no visions to guide their footsteps. Not so with the Latter-day Saints. Go throughout the whole of this Territory, and wherever you find true-hearted Latter-day Saints you will find those who are guided by the Spirit of revelation, and who enjoy those gifts that were made manifest in ancient times.

I will mention some few more of the characteristics wherein we differ from the world. We believe in that doctrine which is enunciated in the fifteenth chapter of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, namely, baptism for the dead—“Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?” This shows plainly and clearly that, in ancient times, the people called Corinthians, organized into the Church of God, did practice the ordinance of baptism for the dead. They understood it, Paul was not writing to them about a new doctrine, but about one which they understood and practiced, and he tried to prove to them the nature of the resurrection and that such a principle as the resurrection was true, from the very fact that they were practicing baptism for those who were dead, in order that they might receive a more glorious resurrection. This doctrine has been revealed anew to this Church. Of course, in the first rise of the Church, we did not understand this any more than the sectarian world, but as soon as the Lord laid it open, and taught us why he had instituted it, it was very plain.

I have not time to dwell long upon this principle, but I will try, briefly, to explain to you its necessity and consistency, and the bearing it will have upon our ancestors. We all have many friends, behind the vail, who lived on this earth when the true Gospel was not known. Many of them were just as good as we are, and some perhaps a little better; but they lived when the world was in darkness and confusion. They had the history of the ancient Church and Gospel, but they had no one to administer its ordinances. The religious sects and ministers were contending one against another, having neither the power nor gifts of the Holy Ghost. Under these conditions our progenitors fell asleep. Now must they go down to everlasting destruction, be damned to all ages of eternity because they did not happen to live in an age, when there were none authorized by heaven to administer the ordinances of the Gospel? No, that would be inconsistent. God judges men according to the circumstances in which they are placed, and he does not condemn the people for not obeying his message, when it is not sent to them. Now, if a man comes to me that has never been called of God, and pretends to bring to me the Gospel, and has no divine authority to administer its ordinances, I am not bound to obey his message, for that requires a man that is authorized to administer it. Our fathers have gone down to the grave without having had such a man to administer the Gospel to them; the Lord is no respecter of persons. It is written, in the Scriptures, that except a man be born of water and of the spirit he can in no wise enter into the kingdom of God. If that is so, and our fathers have gone down to the grave and have not had an opportunity to be baptized in water for the remission of their sins by men having authority, must they be shut out forever from the kingdom of God? Jesus says that unless they are born of water, as well as of the spirit, they can in no wise enter into his kingdom. The purpose then for which baptism for the dead was instituted, was that we might be baptized for our ancestors who died without having the privilege of hearing and obeying the Gospel in the flesh, that, though in the spirit, they may have the same chance of eternal life as we have. Jesus was very merciful to the antediluvians who perished before the flood. A host who lived in those days perished in the flood and were shut up in prison; and while the body of Jesus was sleeping in the tomb his spirit went and preached to them that were disobedient in the days of Noah. They probably did not have a good opportunity in the days of Noah. There were only four persons to warn them, and they were multiplied by millions and millions in all parts of the earth, and all except Noah and his family were swept off by the flood and cast into prison, and they were kept there some two thousand years, then Jesus went to preach the Gospel to them, as it is written in the fourth chapter of the first epistle of Peter—“For, for this cause was the Gospel preached them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, and live according to God in the Spirit.” Now, if the Gospel was preached to those who were dead, to the old antediluvians who perished over two thousand years before Jesus was put to death, for what purpose was it preached? That they might have the same privilege of hearing and obeying the Gospel that those have who are in the flesh, and of being judged thereby. “But,” says one, “they cannot obey it in the spirit world.” They can in part, they can obey it so far as believing in Jesus is concerned, and repenting of their sins; for repentance and faith are both acts of the mind; but when it comes to baptism, being born of or immersed in water, they can not do it; God has ordained that men, here in the flesh, shall be baptized for those who are dead, in order that they may commemorate the death, sufferings, and burial of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that as he rose to newness of life, so may they, for whom the ordinance of baptism is administered, by those in the flesh, have a claim to a more glorious resurrection.

“But,” says one, “how do you know that they who are in the spirit world can repent and believe?” Because agency always accompanies intelligence, and intelligence is not blotted out by death. The spirits of men and women who leave this world are intelligent, and intelligence is founded upon free agency, and hence, inasmuch as they who are in the spirit world are agents, they can exercise that agency in believing; when they have a testimony they can exercise that agency in repenting of sins of which they have been guilty. But they cannot exercise that agency in attending to an ordinance ordained for the body; and therefore God has instituted baptism for the dead, that our fathers may have the same chance that we have. What for? In order that, when they come up in the resurrection with us, if they will receive what is done for them, they may be perfected with us, that there may be no broken chain in the matter, no links left out of the chain, but that all persons who will comply may be united in the grand chain of genealogy, back even to the commencement. Therefore the ordinance of baptism was ordained by the Lord from the beginning of the world down until the days of Christ, and from the days of Christ down to the end, that in the dispensation of the Gospel, when the plan of salvation should be administered to the human family, they should look after the fathers—their ancestors; and this is specially spoken of by the Prophet Malachi, or rather the Lord through the Prophet says—“Behold I will send 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;” as much as to say, that before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come, unless the children shall seek after the salvation of their fathers, who are dead and gone, by being baptized for them, and attending to every ordinance which God has ordained for them and in their behalf, he will smite the whole earth with a curse, and no people would be prepared to behold the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

It is for this reason, that this people are, building Temples. We do not build Temples to be places of preaching altogether; we have tabernacles that will accommodate many thousands, wherein we preach to the people; but Temples are built by the commandment of the Most High God, constructed after the pattern that he gives, in order that the people may be baptized for their dead, as the Corinthians and the Christians of ancient times did, leaving it with those in the eternal worlds, whether they will receive what is done for them or not, the same as Jesus, who died for all men and all women, leaves it with all men and all women to act upon their own agency, and say whether they will or will not receive that which he has purchased for them; if they will not, their condemnation is just. So in relation to our dead—if we officiate for them, we have done our duty; if they will not repent in the spirit world, and obey the principles that God has ordained for their exaltation, their condemnation will rest upon their own heads, and not upon ours. But if we do not do our duty in relation to the fathers, they will testify against us in the judgment day, saying—“Lord, you sent an angel from heaven; you communicated the everlasting Gospel after I was dead; you gave the Apostleship, by sending Peter, James and John, and your servants went forth armed with authority and power to preach the Gospel to the nations of the earth, and many received it. You did not give me the privilege, Lord, of hearing and obeying the Gospel when I was upon the earth.” Then the Lord might reply—“But I gave the privilege to the people on the earth to be baptized for their dead, and I gave you the privilege of availing yourself of their administrations, the same as the antediluvians had.” Then you see, if we have attended to the duties devolving upon us in their behalf, the condemnation fails upon them; if we neglect this, it may be that some other person, not a blood relation, will be appointed by the Lord, and the condemnation will fall upon the blood relations, and they will be rejected, while those whom they have neglected will be saved. “They without us cannot be made perfect,” says the New Testament, “neither we without them.” You need not think that God is so partial that he is going to save the children in the latter days, and reject all their ancestors. He is not going to do any such thing. If we would be saved we shall have to look after the salvation of the generations which are past and gone.

“But,” says one, “I can not trace my forefathers, I can only go back to my grandfather or great grandfather, what shall I do? Were not my ancestors, ten or fifteen generations further back, as worthy of salvation as they Were?” “Yes.” “Then how are you going to manage that?” That same God who has ordained baptism for the dead, and who has commanded the believers in this generation to be baptized for them, will in due time, when we have done all we can in searching out our genealogies, reveal to us the chain so that we shall find our fathers, no matter how many generations, until we get back to the time when the Priesthood and authority were on the earth; and then, if they have not attended to their duties, we will have to go back still further, for the Lord has determined that, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, everything pertaining to former dispensations shall be perfected, whether it was in a dispensation before the flood, in the days of Enoch, Abraham, Moses, or the Prophets, it matters not, if there is anything that has been left undone pertaining to the dead in any former dispensation, it must all be fulfilled in that great and last dispensation spoken of by Paul, wherein all things in heaven and on earth, that are in Christ Jesus, shall be gathered in one. Everything must be made perfect and prepared for the great day of rest of a thousand years, during which Jesus will reign on the earth with all the resurrected Saints. If we would have our fathers and our ancient ancestry reign with us, we must do that for them which the Lord has required, and they and we shall be blessed; but if we neglect it, the whole earth will be smitten with a curse before the great day of his coming.

Has the Lord, according to his promise, sent the Prophet Elijah? He has, you have the record of it, you know where and to whom he appeared, and the keys that were given in relation to these matters. They are on record, and the Lord has fulfilled his promise, and now it is required of us to fulfill the duties devolving upon us. I feel very thankful that the Lord is moving upon our friends in the New England States and in various parts of the East to get up their genealogies. They do not know why they are doing so, or why they are so anxious to find out the ancient generations who settled this continent. We understand it; we know that God is working with them, we know that many of those early settlers who have gone down to their graves, were just as pure and upright as men could be. God is going to remember them, and hence, there are now some four hundred records of different families that have been gotten up in the East, and they are still extending their researches, and hunting out all the ancient pilgrim fathers, and their ancestry in the old countries. The genealogy of my forefathers has been sought out by them for some eleven generations. Have I been baptized for any of them? Yes. Has my brother Parley’s family been baptized for any of them? Yes, we have been baptized for something like three thousand of our ancestors, and we have been confirmed for them, and have done for them that which they could not do for themselves.

Well, this is a peculiarity wherein we differ from the rest of the world. I do not know but I am getting into too many peculiarities. I think I have not time to follow out this subject any further on the present occasion. I would like to talk a little about our marriage relations, but we shall have to defer that to some other time. Amen.

Honesty of Purpose Should Actuate All True Believers, etc.

John Taylor

Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, Nov. 16, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

In rising to make a few remarks this afternoon I shall not attempt to take any text, or to confine myself to any particular subject. My impression about this is, that both speaker and hearer ought to be under the guidance and direction of the Almighty, for unless a man speaks by the dictation of the Spirit of the Lord, his discourse will be of very little benefit to those who hear; and unless those who hear also hear by the Spirit, and are prepared to receive correct instructions, no matter how eloquent the discourse may be, or how forcible and powerful the truths which are enunciated, it amounts to very little. It is not the hearer of the word, we are told, who is benefited, but he that doeth it. And Jesus says that many will say in that day, “Lord, have we not spoken in thy name, and prophecied in thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful works?” Yet he will say unto them—“Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I never knew you;” or I suppose, in other words, “I never approved of you.”

There is one great principle by which, I think, we all of us ought to be actuated in our worship, above everything else that we are associated with in life, and that is honesty of purpose. The Scriptures say—“If the truth shall make you free, then shall you be free indeed, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” We are told again that God requires truth in the inward parts. It is proper that men should be honest with themselves, that they should be honest with each other in all their words, dealings, intercourse, intercommunication, business arrangements and everything else; they ought to be governed by truthfulness, honesty and integrity, and that man is very foolish indeed who would not be true to himself, true to his convictions and feelings in regard to religious matters. We may deceive one another, and, in some circumstances, as counterfeit coin passes for that which is considered true and valuable among men. But God searches the hearts and tries the reins of the children of men. He knows our thoughts and comprehends our desires and feelings; he knows our acts and the motives which prompt us to perform them. He is acquainted with all the doings and operations of the human family, and all the secret thoughts and acts of the children of men are open and naked before him, and for them he will bring them to judgment. These ideas are believed in by men generally, who, with very few exceptions, whatever their general conduct or ideas on religious matters may be, believe in an All-seeing eye which penetrates and is enabled to weigh the actions and motives of the children of men. This is an idea that will not be disputed by any race of men now existing upon the earth, nor perhaps by any who have existed heretofore, for whatever may have been the theories or notions of men in former times, they have generally had a reverence for, and a belief in, an Allwise, Supreme, Omnipotent Being, who, they supposed, was greater than all of them, and who governed and control[l]ed all their actions. A feeling of this kind is frequently made manifest in the Scriptures, and it is nothing new in our age to believe in a God of this character.

When Paul was preaching at Ephesus he said, among other things, that he saw an altar to an unknown God. Among the variety of gods which they worshiped there was an altar to an unknown God. “Him,” said he, “whom ye ignorantly worship declare I unto you, the God who made the heavens, the earth, the seas and the fountains of water.” If we examine the pages, either of sacred or profane history, we find the same ideas prevailing to a greater or less extent in former times. Even Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of the great empire of Babylon, had a knowledge, or an idea of a certain Being who ruled and governed the universe, who was superior to, and ruled over all other influences and powers; and was more intelligent than any of them; and when the magicians and the soothsayers, the astrologers and wise men were called upon to tell him the dream and its interpretation, they were unable to do so, and they told him that it was beyond their science, and that there was nothing connected with their systems that would unfold anything pertaining to such things as those referred to; but they said that if he would tell them the dream they had rules whereby they could interpret it. He insisted upon the interpretation. Said they—“that is unreasonable, O King—there is no being but that God whose dwelling is not with flesh, who can reveal those things that thou speakest of.” They had their gods which they worshiped, their deities in whom they had confidence; but they declared that there was no God but that Being whose dwelling was not with flesh, who could unravel those mysteries that he desired them to make known to him. Hence, in those days we find the same principle existing, and you can trace it out in various examples in holy writ, men had their theories and ideas about God, generally speaking; but very few of them understood anything about the true God whose dwelling was not with flesh.

Our Bible purports to be the account given us of him by men who were inspired by him, for we are told that, “holy men of old spake as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost.” It is related within the lids of this sacred volume that a great many of the ancients had dreams, visions, the ministering of angels and revelations; and the accounts of those visions, ministrations of angels and manifestations of the power of God, together with a little history, is what this sacred volume is composed of. Hence Jesus said to the people in his day—“Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me;” they are they which unfold many things concerning my mission, the circumstances with which I am surrounded, and events which will transpire in connection with my ministry. Holy men of God in former times had prophecied of him. Isaiah, for instance, had said—“Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted, is ‘God with us.’” It is said of him that he came to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and a great many things were said and written of him in the holy Scriptures, before he came, while he lived upon the earth and after he left it and ascended up to his Father in heaven.

There is very little difference among mankind in relation to many of these facts; men, generally, view these things alike—I mean in the Christian world—especially the nation in which we live, the British and French nations, the empire of Austria, Russia, Prussia, the inhabitants of Scandinavia and most of the European nations; and some of the Asiatic nations also have faith in what we term the word of God, and hold its truths in reverence, according to the ideas they entertain and the creeds they profess. There is little or no difference among the men of these various nations in regard to the existence of a Supreme Being, who rules and controls the destinies of nations, as well as of individuals; and there was no difference, in former times, between the magicians, and Daniel and those associated with him in his faith relative to the true God. They all believed in him, no matter what deities of an inferior nature they might have. But there were very few who knew how to worship the true God; hence they made to themselves all sorts of gods, some of wood, stone, ivory, gold, silver, brass, iron, &c. They had deities of every imaginable kind, and through these various forms and mediums they wished or thought to propitiate the Deity, and to secure to themselves some kind of happiness in the life hereafter.

We, in this generation, are a good deal like them. We think we are very superior in intelligence and in religion. Men, everywhere, are egotistical, they always think they are the smartest and most intelligent that ever lived; and it must be confessed that in many respects the generation in which we live are very far in advance of many others, and in regard to the arts and sciences, and certain branches of literature and mechanism, but how vague and uncertain are the ideas entertained by men in general, about the Deity! Are we intellectual in this? I think not. We have our bodies of divinity, our schools of theology, our religious seminaries, and places where ministers are manufactured and prepared to perform certain work which they call preaching the Gospel, and these ministers, as well as the people, have different ideas about the Deity and the proper modes of worshiping him. Does the incongruity of this state of things ever strike the minds of reflecting men, men of science, who are accustomed to weigh the force of an argument and to solve knotty problems? When I was a little boy I used to wonder, if there was a God who created man, and who ruled and dictated the affairs of heaven and earth, why he had pointed out so many different modes of worship. I think so still. I know, and so do you, according to the principles of science, that the laws which govern the operations of universal Nature are true to themselves nine hundred and ninety-nine times, and then the thousandth time; they are always true in all the various phases of Nature’s works. This is so under the most severe tests which scientific criticism can apply; with every known principle in nature, whether we refer to light, heat, the gases, or any and all of the elements of which the earth is composed or by which we are surrounded. In their operations they are governed and control[l]ed by eternal, unchangeable laws, and you can not violate any one of those laws in any particular without producing the inevitable result of such violation. In the motions of the starry heavens, the sun, moon, earth, day and night, summer and winter, and the various seasons as they pass along, the wisdom, intelligence, prescience and power of a God are manifested; and the same is true of the organization and operations of all the myriads of organisms that exist upon the earth—symmetry, beauty, order and law pervade and control all their operations, all manifesting the wisdom, intelligence and power of God. You do not find one man differing from another, only in certain respects, a little in stature or strength. One is a little stronger than another, one has a more beautiful face, perhaps; may be more exquisitely formed than another; but all bear the same impress; all are governed by the same laws, all possess the same properties, powers and faculties to a certain extent, so far as the body is concerned, according to the strength or weakness of the individual. You do not find men with four arms, six eyes, ten heads, or fifteen feet or legs; they are alike, and there is a uniformity in relation to their general organism. So when you come to examine the properties of water, caloric or fire, earth, air, the different gases, electric fluid, or any substance or matter you please, you will find that they are governed by certain specific laws, and those laws are universal in their application; and furthermore that all the elements with which we are surrounded are control[l]ed by certain eternal and unchangeable laws which can not be departed from.

Now, what can God think of a people, placed here on the earth, the most intelligent of his creations, possessed of reasoning faculties, who, in many instances, have investigated and understand the laws of Nature, I say, what can he think of men who set up every form, notion and theory, every species of absurdity that can be imagined, and call it the worship of God? Suppose we were to put ourselves in his place for a little while, we should think there was something a little strange in relation to these matters. He might reasonably say, these men exhibit wisdom and intelligence in many respects. So far as discovering the operations of Nature, and examining and testing the laws thereof, they all agree, but in religious matters they exhibit imbecility and weakness, in that there is no union. A philosopher in America, France, Germany, England, Spain, Italy, Russia, Prussia, or any other nation, will arrive at the same conclusions, precisely, that all other men or scientists of all other nations do; that is, when they examine the laws of nature and operate in the actual sciences. No matter where they are, or in what language they may convey their ideas—for words are merely the signs of ideas—whenever correct ideas exist, and these ideas are properly explained, whenever submitted to scientific analysis and proper tests, they all arrive at the same conclusions, no matter what nation it is you are among or where you live. This reasoning is correct, and in regard to nature and its laws, the world and the elements with which we are surrounded, and the laws operating in the world with which we are acquainted, all men arrive at the same conclusions, and there is no difference, unless we come to theorizing, and then there is always difficulty. Well, in regard to all these things we all think alike, because our thoughts are based on correct principles. But when we come to religious matters, we discover that, though men are naturally intelligent, they act like fools; they do not use their common judgment, reason or intelligence. “Well,” say they, “you know we are governed by the Bible.” Now that is exactly what we do not know, and therefore I doubt it. “But our divines tell us we are.” Oh, do they? Well, suppose somebody was to tell you the result of some scientific analysis, you would be very likely to say—“I believe you in part, but I would like to test it for myself; when I have done that I shall know it. Yet strange as it is, you are willing to take anybody’s ipse dixit in relation to religious matters, in relation to things of the most vital importance, things pertaining to the immortal part of man, we act like the veriest babies or consummate fools, while in regard to the affairs of this life we act intelligently.

Is there a way of arriving at a knowledge of the things which pertain to man’s eternal welfare? Why yes, we are inclined to think there is. God, we are told, “is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness shall be accepted of him.” Is that true? Yes. God “has made of one blood all the families of the earth,” we are told. There seemed to be an idea of this kind prevailing in ancient days, according to the sayings of some of the inspired men mentioned in the Scriptures. We are in the habit of going along like flocks of sheep—following our leader, no matter where he goes. I have seen sheep sometimes, and perhaps you have, running along a road, and one thought there was an obstacle—perhaps there was not anything—and it would make a leap, and when the others reached the same place they would all make the same leap; if one leaps they all leap. It is so apparently among men.

If we would examine Christianity there is something peculiar about that. We call ourselves Christians, that is, we Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians and “Mormons,” we all call ourselves Christians. Well, perhaps we are, and then, perhaps we are not; it is a matter that would bear investigation, I think; and, then, I think, too, that it is very proper, as I said at the commencement, that we should be honest with ourselves about all things, and especially in religion and the service and worship of God. “Well, but my father was a Methodist, and I am one;” “my father was a Presbyterian, and I am one;” my father was a ‘Jumper,” and I am one;” “my father was a Mohammedan, and I am one;” “my father was a worshiper of Bhudda [Buddha], and I am one;” and among us Christians we are Episcopalians, Wesleyans, Presbyterians, and members of the various professional phases descended from that remarkable man, Martin Luther or Catholics or Greeks. Let us examine these things for a little while or, at least, try to go to the foundation. Believing in the Bible, we will not go at once into these outside systems, but examine our own for a little while, and see how it stands and how we stand in relation to it.

Jesus, we are told, “brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel.” There was something peculiar about it—it gave men who lived up to and honored its principles in their lives and actions, a knowledge of life and immortality. They were not dependent upon the sayings or doings of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi or any of the Prophets; but the Gospel brought a knowledge of life and immortality to all who obeyed it and lived according to its precepts. It informed all such that they were immortal beings; that they would exist after they had got through with time; if they died they should live again; if they were buried they should burst the barriers of the tomb and come forth to immortality.

Seeing, then, that man is both a mortal and an immortal being, having to do with eternity as well as time, it is proper that he should become acquainted with those principles that are so nearly concerned with his happiness and well-being in time and in eternity. We will let John Wesley, Luther, Calvin, Melancthon, Henry the Eighth, and any other organizer of religion go, and we will come to the Scriptures of truth and see what they say about it. Christ, we are told, brought life and immortality to light, and he did it through the medium of the Gospel. And what course did he pursue in doing this? The Scriptures inform us that when Jesus commenced to preach the Gospel he called men from the various avocations of life, among others from the occupation of fishing; he called twelve men, whom he ordained as Apostles. He inspired these men with the gift of revelation and with a knowledge of God; he placed them in communication with God, so that they had revelation from him and were enabled to teach the laws of life; he breathed upon them and said—“Receive ye the Holy Ghost;” and they received it, and that Holy Ghost took of the things of God and showed them unto them, it drew aside the curtains of futurity, whereby they were enabled to penetrate into the invisible world and comprehend the things of God. This was the position they occupied and the kind of Gospel they had.

Well, how did they operate with it? Jesus told them to go out and preach it; and he called seventy men and inspired them too; and told them to go out and heal the sick, cast out devils, and preach the Gospel, they were furthermore to go without purse and scrip, he saying unto them—“Freely ye have received, freely give.” They went out in this kind of a way, without purse and scrip, to preach the Gospel. By and by a number of them returned, and he asked them how they had fared. They told him they had been preaching, and healing the sick, and even devils were subject to them in his name. Said he—“Rejoice, not that devils are subject to you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven,” that you are the Lord’s, that God is your friend; rejoice that you have been brought into communication with God, and that you have received the everlasting Gospel, which brings life and immortality to light. This was their position, and they listened to the teachings of Jesus, and we all—that is all these various parties of which I have spoken—believe that Jesus was the Son of God; we all believe that he was the Anointed, elect and sent of God. And speaking of himself he said—“I and the Father are one,” and “he who has seen me has seen the Father.” He taught them a great many things pertaining to their present happiness and future exaltation, and he spoke of a time that should come when the Saints should inherit the earth. When he was about to be crucified, to be offered as a sacrifice to do the will of his heavenly Father, and to open up the way of life and salvation, that man might attain to exaltation in the kingdom of God, he told his disciples that it behooved Christ to suffer, and to be raised from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.

Now let us examine the position of those disciples. I believe a good deal in first principles. I want to examine things candidly and honestly, and to see what kind of a position they occupied in those days. When Jesus was about to leave his disciples he told them that it was necessary that he should go away; for said he, “If I go not away the Comforter will not come.” There was something remarkable about this expression. “If I go not away the Comforter will not come; but if I go away I will send you the Comforter.” What was that Comforter? It is important that we should understand this. That Comforter was the Spirit of Truth. What should it do to them? It should “bring things past to their remembrance, lead them into all truth and show them things to come;” in other words it should bring life and immortality to light; it should open the heavens to its possessors, enable them to understand the designs of God and lead them into all truth, not into one little truth or two little truths; but into all truth. What a privilege, what a blessing, what a rich legacy to impart unto his followers! Only think of men being in possession of a principle which should enable them, under all circumstances, to discriminate between truth and error, virtue and vice; between those principles which would ennoble and elevate, and those which would overthrow and destroy, and which should make them acquainted with God and the principles of eternal life.

I pause here, and ask, will this principle or spirit lead one man to be a Methodist, another to be a Presbyterian, another to be an Episcopalian, another to be a “Mormon,” another a Quaker, another something else, passing through all the various phases, notions, theories and ideas that prevail in the Christian world? Is this the spirit that Jesus promised to impart unto his people, or is it confusion and darkness? Scientifically it is not true, philosophically it is not true, religiously it is not true. The spirit that Jesus promised to impart to his disciples was to lead them into all truth, and to enable them to comprehend all correct principles; and it is said—“As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God,” and says one, “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye have received a spirit whereby you are enabled to cry, ‘Abba Father, or my Father, my Lord and my God.’” They had received a principle of that kind~ and there was nothing uncertain, conflicting or evanescent about it; nothing tending to error, confusion or doubt, but everything tending to certainty, life, light and intelligence; to the blessing and happiness of the human family, and to a knowledge of all things necessary for their welfare in time, and in all eternity. Said he—“If I go away I will send you the Comforter, which is the Spirit of truth, and it shall bring things past to your remembrance, it shall lead you into all truth and show you things to come;” in other words—“You, man, who are made in the image of God, shall be brought into your proper relationship with him That spirit of intelligence which dwells in you shall be associated with God—the God who dwells in eternity, communication shall be opened up between you and him, you shall be placed en rapport with him, and you shall realize and comprehend all things pertaining to your well-being. It shall bring things past to your remembrance, it shall lead you into all truth, and show you things to come. If there is anything behind the vail that is mysterious; if there is anything that the Prophets saw when the visions of eternity were unfolded to their view; if there are principles of life and salvation; if there is anything tending to exalt man in time and eternity, anything pertaining to eternal rewards and everlasting exaltation, you are now in possession of a principle which will unfold and develop these principles to your mind.”

That was the kind of Gospel they had then. And did they see, enjoy and possess these things? Yes, for says Paul—“Whether in the spirit or out of the spirit I do not know; but I was caught up into the third heavens, and I saw things that were unlawful to utter.” We read that John, while on the Isle of Patmos, banished for his faith in God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, was in the spirit on the Lord’s day and the visions of eternity were unfolded, he gazed upon all things as they existed then, and as they would exist in after ages, and until the final winding-up scene. He saw and comprehended the position of the various churches, and told them that unless they repented and did their first works over again and obeyed the behests of the Almighty, their candlestick would be removed out of its place. He saw that Great Mystery Babylon, who “made all the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication.” He saw her fall like a millstone that was cast into the sea and rise no more for ever. He saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it, and from before whose face the heavens and the earth fled away; he saw the dead, small and great, arise and stand before him, brought to judgment; he saw a new Jerusalem, descending, as a bride adorned for her husband; he saw events that should transpire throughout every subsequent period of time until the final winding-up scene, and comprehended the whole matter. Why was this? He had the Gospel that brought life and immortality to light. He had received that Comforter that Jesus spoke of, which should bring things past to their remembrance, lead them into all truth and show them things to come.

Well, there was something interesting about that. It was not a kind of lullaby story that we hear now-a-days—“Hush-a-by-baby on the tree top, when the wind blows the cradle will rock”—It was nothing of that kind. There was something intellectual about it, something tangible, and satisfactory to the human mind, and calculated to meet the capacious desires thereof, and to make a man feel that he was an inheritor of eternal life. It implanted within him a hope blooming with immortality and eternal life. It produced a certainty in his mind and made him feel that everything else was as dung and dross in comparison with the life and light and power and intelligence which the Gospel imparted.

What kind of ordinances did they have? They were very simple and straightforward. We read that when the disciples were met together, on a certain occasion in an upper room, the Spirit of God descended upon them as a mighty rushing wind, and rested upon them as in cloven tongues of fire; and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit of God gave them utterance. There were people there from the surrounding nations who heard the Apostles speak, in their own tongues, the wonderful works of God. They did not know what it meant? Said they—“These men are drunk.” Peter answered—“Oh, no, that is a slight mistake you have made, they are not drunk, it is only nine o’clock, the third hour of the day—people do not get drunk so early.” “Well’, what is it then?” Said Peter—“This is that which was spoken of by the Prophet Joel—‘It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions, and upon my servants and handmaidens will I pour out, in those days, of my Spirit, and they shall prophecy;’” that is it shall place them in communion with God and enable them to have dreams and visions, to prophecy and see things to come; in other words, it will make them Prophets. This is the kind of religion they had in that day.

I sometimes reflect and wonder whether the same effects would follow if we had that religion to-day, or whether truth has turned into fiction, or has falsehood turned into truth. How is it, if that was the Gospel then, and God is the same yesterday, to-day and forever, and, as they say in the Church of England—“As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, worlds without end, amen?” If that is true, then we ought to expect the same things today as they had then, that is, if we profess the same Gospel. This is the way I reason, I cannot get at it any other way, I cannot arrive at any other conclusion. It is reasonable, rational and philosophical; it agrees with every principle of science, with every principle of intelligence that God has communicated to man.

Well having noticed a little of the results of the Gospel in ancient days, let us inquire into the principles taught in those days. We have a very remarkable account of affairs on the Day of Pentecost. The Apostles had been waiting at Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Ghost. They had been promised it by Jesus and they expected it. Neither the Church nor the Apostles had had time, from the ascension of Jesus, to get corrupted, nor to introduce any false principles. They were the recipients of the favor of God, and his Spirit finally rested upon them as in cloven tongues of fire and when the people of the various nations assembled at Jerusalem heard them declare the wonderful works of God, many of them were pricked in their hearts, and they cried out—“Men and brethren, what shall we do? We believe the statement you have made; we believe that the Messiah, promised by our ancient Prophets, has been taken by wicked hands and crucified and slain; we believe what you say concerning his resurrection, and that although he was placed in the tomb he has burst its barriers and has ascended to the right hand of his Father; we believe all these things, now what shall we do?” Said Peter—“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive, the Holy Ghost.” Who were they whom he told to repent and be baptized? The Jews and the Gentiles, the Pharisees, doctors, lawyers, rabbies [rabbis], and all men of every creed, profession and nation, “Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins.” “What, we doctors?” “Yes.” “We lawyers?” “Yes.” “We divines?” “Yes, all of you.” “What shall we receive if we do?” “The Holy Ghost.” “What is that?” “Just what you have seen here.” “Shall we all have it if we do this?” “Yes.” And they went forth and were baptized, and three thousand were added to the Church the same day. The Apostle did not tell them to come to any class meeting, mourning bench or anything of that kind There was not anything of that sort in the programme. They were not so well educated in sectarianism then as we are now, and had not invented so many systems of religion or bodies of divinity then as now. In those days they had to take things as God gave them, that was, to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and they should receive the Holy Ghost.

Will obedience to that Gospel do the same thing for us? Yes. Why? Peter said, “The promise is unto you and your children, and to all who are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” This thing was not confined to one, two, three, twelve or seventy individuals, but said Peter, “It extends to you”—the vast concourse then before him—“to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” If you can show me a people that the Lord our God does not call, I will show you a people to whom this promise does not apply.

Here are things that are very simple and straightforward. Why can’t we investigate them. The same cause will produce the same effect now as then. It is in vain for us to deny those things; we have no right to do so until we have complied with the requisitions made and applied the tests. If we were using any chemical tests, for scientific analysis, we should go strictly by the rules laid down; why should we not do the same with regard to the Gospel of life and salvation? Here is the law laid down, plain and straightforward, in the word of God, for it is in the Christian’s Bible that these things are contained. It is this very Jesus that they all believe in who talks about these things, and his twelve Apostles bear him out, and bear testimony to the same things. Here is a religious law plainly indicated, which we have no more right to ignore than we have any scientific formula in relation to earthly things.

But to proceed. We find his disciples baptizing; and after Jesus rose from the dead he appeared to them, and he told them to go forth and preach, not the theories and opinions of men, but the Gospel that brought life and immortality to light. Said he—“Go and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them that believe, &c.” They went forth and proclaimed his word, in his name and by his authority, and whatever they did they did in his name and by his authority. Jesus said unto them, “Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Some may say, “That is Catholicism.” Well, then, so far, I am a Catholic, for I believe in everything contained in the Scriptures pertaining to these matters.” “Don’t you think this is a great heresy?” I think it would be greater heresy to disbelieve it. I do not believe that everybody has this authority and power; but only those whom God calls and sets apart in the way here spoken of. They had power “to bind on earth and to bind in heaven—to loose on earth and to loose in heaven.” That is Catholicism, is it? Well, let us see a little further how it goes. “Peter, how did you forgive sins? Did you have power to forgive sins?” “Yes.” “How did you exercise it?” “I called upon the people to repent and to be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and promised them that they should receive the Holy Ghost. That is the way that I forgave sins. And then I laid on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and when men received this Holy Ghost it took of the things of God and showed them unto them.”

These are some of the leading principles of the Gospel of Christ. I might talk for hours on the subject. These are the kind of things God has revealed to us. People say we are fanatics. Perhaps we are, but if we are, Peter, James, John and Paul were fanatics, for they believed in the very principles that I have been laying before you to-day; and when God restored this Gospel, he simply restored what is called “the everlasting Gospel.” John said, “I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth.” What do you mean by the everlasting Gospel? Why the Gospel that Adam had, the Gospel that Noah, Abraham and the Prophets had; the Gospel that Jesus brought—the everlasting Gospel, the Gospel that existed from eternity to eternity, the system or medium through which God saves the human family—the Gospel which brings life and immortality to light. Why, say some, “I thought nobody had the Gospel until Jesus came.” You thought very foolishly if you thought that, for Jesus, speaking of Abraham said—“Abraham saw my day and was glad.” He had communication with God and revelation from him. And how did he have it? Through the Gospel. How do you know it? Paul tells us so; your Paul, you know, that you believe in, he tells us so. What, that Abraham had the Gospel? Yes, he says, “God, foreseeing that he would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham.” Did he have it? Yes, it was through that medium that life and immortality were brought to light. And Moses, in the wilderness, had the Gospel, and preached it to the people. “What, Moses?” Yes. “Well, I thought there was no Gospel until Jesus came.” You thought, I say again, very foolishly. “We,” says the apostle, “have the Gospel preached unto us as well as they; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it; wherefore the law was added, because of transgression.” Added to what? Why, to the Gospel which they had before. What was the law? The law of carnal commandments and ordinances which the Apostle says—“neither we nor our fathers were able to bear.” How long did the law continue? Until Christ came. Who was Christ? A priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who was Melchisedec? A greater, than Abraham, for he had the Gospel and blessed Abraham. All of those ancient worthies had a knowledge of the Gospel, and of life and immortality through the Gospel.

This is the same thing that is communicated unto us. It is our privilege, it is the privilege of all men who yield obedience to the Gospel. It is your privilege, you Latter-day Saints, to live in the enjoyment of this light and immortality. According to your faithfulness you have experienced more or less of this spirit of revelation, light and truth, and the power of God, and by living your religion you can go on from strength to strength, intelligence to intelligence, from revelation to revelation, until you can “see as you are seen, and know as you are known.” Having commenced in the principles of truth and obtained the Spirit of light and intelligence that flows from God through obedience to the Gospel, it is for us to “purify ourselves even as God is pure,” and purge from ourselves all corruption, iniquity, fraud, lying and evil of every kind, all adultery, fornication, seduction and lasciviousness; and everything that would corrupt and destroy the human family, and seek after everything that is high, noble, exciting and praiseworthy among men, and among the Gods, that when we get through with this world we may obtain an everlasting inheritance in the celestial kingdom.

The Creation—the Seventh Thousand Years, and Events Which Are to Follow the Period of the Millennium

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Sixteenth Ward Meeting Rooms, Nov. 22, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

I will read the first ten verses of the 20th chapter of the Revelations given to St. John, the “beloved disciple,” while on the Isle of Patmos:

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

“And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

“And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

“And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

In the words which I have read, we have perhaps as much revealed in regard to the Millennium, as we will find in any of the revelations which God has given to man. We can understand from these words that a time is to come in which the devil will have no power to tempt the children of men, and this happy period will last for one thousand years. There never has been a period since the creation, but what the devil has had more or less power or influence over the inhabitants of our world. Such has been the case from the day that he came before our first parents in the Garden of Eden, until the present. We have an account, however, of a period of time when he had not much dominion, that was in the days of the flood. After the wicked were destroyed, there were eight persons in the ark, sailing upon the waters, over whom, I presume, Satan had very little power. With the exception of this short period, in which the earth was submerged and the ark was sailing upon the waters, the devil has exercised power over the hearts of the children of men in all ages and countries. There seems to be a very great amount of evil in existence at the present time, for people are being continually stirred up to commit all manner of abomination—robbery, murder, blaspheming the name of the Deity, and the violation of every command that he has ever given. There is a time, however, to come, when this earth will be depopulated of the wicked to the same extent as it once was by the waters of the flood. The waters then made an entire sweep of the wicked, they were laid low, and the earth was cleansed. We might, in other words, call it a baptism of the earth by water, or a cleansing of it from sin. You know that baptism is intended for the remission of sins; it is the ordinance through which our heavenly Father forgives the sins of those who believe in his Son Jesus Christ. The promise of forgiveness, however, is on condition that we believe in the atonement made by the Savior, that we repent of our sins, and that we are baptized or immersed in water for the remission thereof. That was the way with our earth. Some eighteen hundred or two thousand years after the fall our earth was immersed in water, and every sin was swept from the face of it, the same as your sins were forgiven when you acknowledged your belief in the atonement of the Son of God, and were baptized by immersion in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. There seems to be a similarity, then, so far as these ordinances are concerned, between the inhabitants of the earth who are saved and the earth itself; there is also a similarity, in the process of creation, between the earth and its inhabitants. The earth when created, according to the accounts we have, was covered with a flood of waters; no dry land, in fact no land at all, appeared, but a flood of waters seemed to encompass it. By and by, in the providence of God, in what way we know not, this flood of waters was gathered together into one place, and the dry land appeared, emerging from the waters. This was the birth of creation, the same as we are born here into this world, from one element into another. After, having been brought forth from the element of water, the process of creation, or the further development of the earth continued. It did not come forth perfect in every respect at the time of birth, it had to undergo other processes necessary to prepare it for the abode of man. It seems, from the account contained in the first of Genesis, that the earth was not only immersed in a flood of waters, but that darkness was upon the face of the earth, that is, the earth seemed to be enclosed or enveloped in darkness. The cause of this darkness, in King James’ translation, is not fully revealed. There is a translation, however, that was given by inspiration, which makes the subject more clear and plain, and more easy to be understood, than the uninspired translation that is generally called King James’ translation of the Bible. This inspired translation by the Prophet Joseph Smith, says—“I the Lord God created darkness upon the face of the great deep, and I, God, said let there be light, and there was light, and the evening and the morning were the first day.” This makes it very plain compared with the old uninspired translation. I will repeat the quotation, “I, the Lord God, created darkness upon the face of the great deep.”

It would seem, that light had been shining previous to this time. The universe, probably was lighted up, so far as it existed, and that light shone forth over the face of this embryo creation. Where that light came from or how it was produced is not mentioned; but the Lord was obliged to create darkness in order to envelop the earth therein. There are many ways in which this might have been accomplished. The sun was not permitted to shine forth on the first, second, or third day of creation, but on the fourth day it was permitted to give its light to the earth. Whether the sun shone upon the face of this creation, before the Lord created darkness, is not for me to say. If it did, it would be an easy matter for him to withhold the rays of that bright luminary in such a manner as seemed good in his sight, the same as he did among the ancient Nephites who dwelt on this continent at the time of the crucifixion. During the three days and three nights that our Savior was in the tomb, thick darkness covered the face of this land, so that there was no light of the sun, neither of the moon, nor stars; and so great was the darkness during that period, that the inhabitants who had not fallen could feel it. The Lord had some method by which he created or produced that darkness by shading the earth from the rays of the sun; but by and by he said, “Let there be light,” and light was again restored.

Now these two states of being in which our earth existed are called first, the evening, and second, the morning—and the evening and the morning were the first day. Whether the day here mentioned was a period such as the one to which we now apply that term, we are not informed in the Bible, but from what has been revealed to the Latter-day Saints we have great reason to believe that it was a very long period of time, and that this darkness existed over the face of the great deep for a long time. It might have been for many centuries, we have no definite information on this point. We find that, after the dry land appeared by the gathering together of the waters in one place, God created a firmament, dividing the waters from the waters—the waters that were above the firmament from the waters that were beneath. We do not exactly understand the meaning of this. If we had the process of creation unfolded to us, we should probably find that many of the materials of our globe once existed in a dispersed or scattered form, in a state of chaos, and that the Lord, in collecting them together, brought them from a distance in the solar system, and that in so doing, he took his own time and way, and wrought according to his own laws, for, as far as we are acquainted, the Lord works by law, and why not create by law? I do not mean make out of nothing. I hope that none of my audience will suppose for a moment that I believe in such an absurdity as this. There is not a hint in all the Bible that God created this or any other world out of nothing. The work of creation was to take the materials that existed from all eternity, that never were created or made out of nothing, to take these self-existent materials and organize them into a world. This is called creation. There is, however, a declaration made by many religious people, that “God created all things out of nothing.” They even teach it in their Sunday schools; but they have never been able to prove any such thing. It is one of those ideas which have got into the minds of people through the teachings of uninspired men. The ancients—those who lived many centuries before Christ, did not believe this doctrine; but since the days of Christ, and since the days of the great apostacy, they have got up the idea that God made all things out of nothing, and they have incorporated it into their disciplines, catechisms, Sunday school books, and various works which they have published. The Scriptures say—“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The word “create” does not mean make out of nothing. For instance, when he says—“I created darkness and I created light,” what does he do? Does he absolutely form light out of nothing? No, he causes the light that existed from all eternity to shine where darkness existed, and it is light creating light, the same as you, when you attend meeting, lock up your house and blow out the lights. When you return, supposing you say in your own hearts, or to your wife, daughter, or son, “Let there be light.” Do you create it out of nothing? No, you look for a match, or for some means by which you can start the light and cause it to be exhibited, where darkness was before. So when God creates light he calls forth and makes to shine that light which has existed from all eternity. We read that God is light. Was there ever a time that God did not exist? No, and if he is light there never was a time when light did not exist, one being as eternal as the other.

In order to prove that light did exist long before this world was called forth from the womb of the great waters, long before God said, “Let there be light,” so far as this earth was concerned, I will refer you to some discoveries that have been made by philosophers and astronomers of the present day. They have invented telescopes that are of such penetrating power that they have discovered systems of worlds at such an immense distance in space, that they calculate their light would take six hundred thousand years to reach our system. Very well then, how long must it have been on the journey when the Lord said—“Let there be light,” so far as this creation is concerned? I answer, that light was traveling five hundred and ninety-four thousand years before that time; consequently light must have existed, at least, half a million years before the Lord said—“Let there be light,” so far as this globe was concerned.

In gathering together the materials that were scattered in space, the firmament that I was speaking of seems to have been one of the parts of creation, necessary in the grand process of collecting and condensing the constituents of our globe; and in doing this I do not know but what some portions of the atmospheric materials collected together helped to form some other worlds. At any rate the firmament was placed in such a manner as to divide the waters beneath it from those which were above it. According to the theory which is accepted by some as being true, the planets of our system are supposed to have been originally formed by a rotation on its axis of a nebulous fluid, that was expanded far beyond the bounds of our present solar system; that by rotation and condensation nebulous masses were thrown off or detached from the great parent body, and that the orbits assumed by the parent mass and its detached masses, are the necessary results of their respective directions and velocities at the instant of detachment, combined with the laws of gravitation, and the relative positions of their respective centres of gravity. That in like manner, a still further operation of similar laws finally formed secondary planets or moons. This nebulous fluid, extending for millions of miles, might indeed be called a firmament, containing the constituents of water, both above and beneath, as recorded in Genesis.

But what I wish to more fully explain, on this occasion, is the length of the days of creation—the days mentioned in which God performed certain portions of his work. It is said, that in six days he formed this world of ours, and that on the fourth day he formed the sun and the moon and the stars. What I understand by the formation of these celestial luminaries, is that he then caused them to shed forth their light. I can not suppose that it would take the Lord six days to form such a little speck of a world as ours, and then for him on the fourth day to form a globe fourteen hundred thousand times larger than the earth. This does not look consistent to me. If it took six days to form a small world like ours, we might certainly suppose that it would require more than one day to form the sun, which contains a quantity of matter sufficient to make some three hundred and fifty-four thousand worlds like this, and whose actual size or magnitude is fourteen hundred thousand times larger than our globe; consequently I understand by the formation of the sun and of the moon and stars, and setting them in the firmament of the heavens, that he merely suffered their light to shine on the fourth day, to regulate the evenings and mornings that were produced prior to that time, probably by some other cause. The Lord wanted, by these luminaries, to divide the day from the night, and he set them for times and for seasons in the firmament of the heavens.

These six days in which the Lord performed this work, I do not believe, were each limited to twenty-four hours, as are the periods which we now call day; indeed, when we come to new revelation, we find some light on this subject. In the Book of Abraham, as well as in the inspired translation of the Scriptures, given through Joseph Smith, the Lord says, in speaking of the work of creating this earth, that he was governed by celestial time. According to this new revelation, there is a certain great world, called Kolob, placed near one of the celestial kingdoms, whose diurnal rotation takes place once in a thousand of our years; and that celestial time was measured by those celestial beings, by the rotations of Kolob, hence one day with the Lord was a thousand of our years. If this was the case, the six days of the creation of our earth, the six days during which it was being prepared as a habitation for man, must have been six thousand of our years. When the Lord spoke to Adam, after having placed him in the Garden of Eden, concerning the forbidden fruit, saying—“In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die!” we can not suppose that the day there referred to meant a day of twenty-four hours. It could not have meant that, for history informs us that Adam lived almost one thousand years from the time of the Fall; but before the day of a thousand years had wholly passed away his death did take place.

The book of Abraham, translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith, also contains an account of the creation and the fall of man; but the word translated “day” in Genesis is translated in the Book of Abraham “time”—“in the time that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” In the next sentence the same book says, speaking of time—“The reckoning of time was not yet given to man,” that is, the Lord had reckoned previous to that period by the diurnal rotations of Kolob, and that, without doubt, was the day referred to in which our first parents should die, if they ate of the forbidden fruit.

We will now come to the seventh period of creation—the seventh thousand years; that is called in Scripture a day of rest, that is supposing that what were called days in the beginning were a thousand years. The Lord rested from his labors the seventh day. What particular period of time within that day Adam fell I do not know; but one thing is certain, that in the morning of the seventh day the Garden of Eden was planted and he was placed therein, and during that morning a great many things transpired pertaining to this temporal creation. In the preceding six days was completed the formation or creation of the earth, after the spiritual order that man was formed or born in the heavens. All men, male and female, that ever have lived, or that ever will live on this earth, had a pre-existence before the formation of the earth commenced; and during our pre-existence in the heavens, the earth was undergoing this formation.

After man and woman were placed in the Garden of Eden, we find that they were tempted. By whom? By a being or beings who once dwelt in the presence of God, in his celestial kingdom. They once were angels of light and truth, having authority in the presence of the Father. But they rebelled against God; and one of those angels, named Lucifer, when they were talking over the great plan of redemption and salvation for the inhabitants of the future creation, proposed a plan by which he would redeem all mankind, that not one soul should be lost. But his plan was rejected, because it destroyed the agency of man, being contrary to God’s plan; for he desires that all intelligent beings shall be free in the exercise of their agency. Because his plan was rejected, Lucifer rebelled, and a third part of the hosts of heaven joined him, and they were all cast down, and it was this being who entered into a beast, called a serpent and tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, and that was the beginning of his power on this earth.

The events of this creation, the formation of the earth, the different day’s work, &c., and finally the great day of rest after the six days were ended, were all typical, the latter especially, typifying what should take place in regard to the future existence of this creation. After six thousand years should pass away, during which Satan should have more or less dominion over the inhabitants of this world, he, in the seventh period, or the seventh thousand years, should be bound, should have no dominion over the earth or its inhabitants.

In order to show you this type still further, we will pass along over the flood, which was merely a type of the baptism of redemption, and we will come down to the day when this great period shall arrive, when Satan shall be bound and wickedness be swept from the face of the earth. This is to be done by a variety of judgments, the last of which is called fire. The Prophet Malachi says—“The day shall come that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud and they who do wickedly shall become as stubble, and the day that comes shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch, but unto them who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and they shall go forth and grow up like calves of the stall, and they shall tread down the wicked, and they shall be ashes under the soles of their feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts.”

Here then is a declaration how this earth is to be cleansed the second time from wickedness, namely, by fire, which is a more powerful element than water. The earth is to be cleansed by fire; in other words, the elements are to be melted with fervent heat. This is the declaration of several of the prophets. David, in speaking of this period, in one of his psalms, says, the mountains shall melt like wax before the presence of the Lord when he shall come. You know how wax melts when exposed to the influence of heat. So, when the Lord comes, will the elements melt and the mountains flow down at his presence with fervent heat. This will cleanse the earth as it was cleansed in the days of Noah, only by another element called fire. This is typical of the cleansing of those who embrace the plan of salvation. After you have been immersed, as this earth was, in the water, and been cleansed and received the remission of your sins, you also have the promise of baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, by which you are purified, as well justified and sanctified from all your evil affections, and you feel to love God and that which is just and true, and to hate that which is sinful and evil. Why? Because of this sanctifying, purifying principle that comes upon you, by the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. So must this earth be baptised by fire, it must be cleansed from all sin and impurity. Will it be filled with the Holy Ghost? Yes. These elements that melt like wax before the presence of the Lord will again be filled with his Spirit and will be renewed, and the earth itself will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the channels of the great deep. It will enter into the elements of creation, so that the curse which came in consequence of the fall of man will be removed from the earth, and the elements will be cleansed, not only by fire but by the Spirit of the living God, which will mingle with and purify them. Satan, that arch-deceiver, will be bound, and a seal will be set upon him, and King James’ translation of the Scriptures tells us that he will be cast into the bottomless pit. But in the inspired translation I have referred to, it reads, if I remember correctly, “the lower-most pit,” which, to my mind is more consistent than a pit that has no bottom. Satan is to be cast into this pit, and a seal set upon him, and he is to be bound with a chain, and will have no power or dominion upon this earth. He and all the fallen angels with him, are to be kept in that pit until the thousand years are ended.

Now, then, all the inhabitants who are spared from this fire—those who are not proud, and who do not do wickedly, will be cleansed more fully and filled with the glory of God. A partial change will be wrought upon them, not a change to immortality, like that which all the Saints will undergo when they are changed in the twinkling of an eye, from mortality to immortality; but so great will be the change then wrought that the children who are born into the world will grow up without sin unto salvation. Why will this be so? Because that fallen nature, introduced by the fall, and transferred from parents to children, from generation to generation, will be, in a measure, eradicated by this change. Then the righteous will go forth, and grow up like calves of the stall; and one revelation says, their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation. Satan having no power to tempt them, these children will not sin.

The question may arise here—“Will it be possible for men to sin during the Millennium?” Yes. Why? Because they have not lost their agency. Agency always continues wherever intelligent beings are, whether in heaven, on the earth, or among any of the creations that God has made; wherever you find intelligent beings, there you will find an agency, not to the same extent perhaps, under all circumstances, but yet there is always the exercise of agency where there is intelligence. For instance, when Satan is bound and a seal set upon him in this lowermost pit, his agency is partially destroyed in some things. He will not have power to come out of that pit; now he has that power; then he will not have power to tempt the children of men, now he has that power; consequently his agency then will be measurably destroyed or taken away, but not in full. The Lord will not destroy the agency of the people during the Millennium, therefore there will be a possibility of their sinning during that time. But if they who live then do sin it will not be because of the power of the devil to tempt them, for he will have no power over them, and they will sin merely because they choose to do so of their own free will.

To show you that such will be the case, let me quote some Scripture. After Jesus comes with all his Saints with him, and stands on the Mount of Olives, we find that the Lord will require all the nations round about Jerusalem, to go up and worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles, and that there shall be one Lord and his name one. There will be no heathen gods in those days, but during the Millennium he will require all the people to go to Jerusalem, the headquarters on that continent, to worship him. Now, will it be possible for the people in that day to sin? Yes; for we read, in the same chapter, if the people go not up, that upon all such nations there shall no rain descend during the time of their transgression. It seems then by this that there will be a chance for the people, during that happy period, to refuse to comply with the commands of the Most High, and thus bring upon themselves speedy destruction, by famine, through the rain being withheld. And in the case of the people of Egypt, where the withholding of rain does not now affect them, they being supplied by water from the Nile, the Lord has prepared a special judgment. If they will not come up to Jerusalem, year by year, we are told that their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their flesh fall from their bones. Then again, we read in the sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah that—“There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old, but the sinner, being a hundred years old, shall be accursed,” showing that, when that day shall come, the people will have their lives prolonged on the earth to the age of a tree, growing up to be a hundred years old, then if they sin they shall be accursed, proving that there is a possibility of sinning.

In regard to this partial change that will be wrought upon the people in those days, let no one suppose that this is inconsistent with the dealings of the Lord, for we have on record in the Book of Mormon, that he did accomplish a work similar to this upon the bodies of at least four men who once lived upon this globe, three of whom belonged to the twelve disciples which Jesus, personally, chose to minister on this western continent. They had a desire to live while the world should stand, for the purpose of bringing souls unto Jesus, and the Lord granted unto them their desire. But first the heavens were opened, and they were caught up, and they saw and heard unspeakable things, things that were not lawful to be uttered, and which they were forbidden to utter, and it seemed to them like unto a transfiguration. They, nevertheless, came down again out of heaven, after having had this great feast, and they went forth upon the face of this land in connection with nine others of their quorum, and ministered among the people, and so great was their faith, that when their enemies shut them in prisons, the prisons were rent in twain, and they came forth from their confinement. Again, when they dug pits in the earth, however deep, and cast them down into them, they smote the earth by the word of God, and were delivered out of the pits and came forth unharmed. Again, when they cast them three times into furnaces of fire, they came forth unharmed; and when they cast them into dens of wild beasts, they played with them as a child would play with a suckling lamb, and came forth unharmed, and they performed mighty miracles, and signs, and wonders in connection with the other members of the Twelve. They also built up the Church of God upon all the face of this land, and all the inhabitants thereof were converted and brought to a knowledge of the truth.

These three men tarried among the Nephites until between three and four hundred years after Christ, and until the wickedness of the people became so great that the Lord took them out of their midst. Mormon, in speaking of these three men, inquired of the Lord, whether they did receive a change to immortality at the time they were caught up into heaven. The Lord answered and told him, that they did not receive a full change, but only so much that Satan had no power over them, and sickness had no power over their bodies. This partial change, then, was sufficient to preserve them to live without pain and sickness, and without Satan having power to tempt them and lead them astray, and they would have no sorrow in relation to themselves, but only in regard to the sins of the world, and on this account they sorrowed considerably.

It seems then, that if God did, in ancient times, so show forth his power, as to operate upon three men on this American Continent, and one on the Eastern Continent, namely, John the Revelator, so that the power of death could not be exercised over them, that they could tarry and live here on the earth for eighteen hundred or two thousand years, as the case may be, he can perform the same in regard to the Latter-day Saints, that they also shall live; and inasmuch as they are permitted to dwell here in the presence of Jesus, it is reasonable to believe that they will ask, and desire, and seek unto him to receive this partial change. And will he grant it? Yes. But yet there is to be a falling asleep; notwithstanding this partial change, they will fall asleep, when they have come to full maturity, or the full age of man. But they will not be deposited in the grave—this is what the Lord has told us—they will be raised again immediately after having fallen asleep, raised again to immortality and eternal life, instead of being buried and seeing corruption. Those persons, therefore, who die under these circumstances, have not the experience of a long absence from their bodies, their spirits are only separated for a moment, as it were, and then they are permitted to come forth in the beauty of immortality and eternal life.

The same revelation that speaks of the Saints being raised after falling asleep, in the twinkle of an eye, says they shall be caught up, and their rest shall be glorious. Now, if all the immortal, resurrected Saints are to be here on the earth, and Jesus himself here, where will they, who live and die, and are resurrected during the Millennium, go to when they are caught up? They go away from Jesus, if Jesus is to be here all the time, and they will also go away from the rest of the resurrected Saints, who reign on the earth, if the latter are wholly limited to this earth. But the idea is that they are caught up and have the privilege of beholding the heavens, the celestial paradise, the celestial mansions; and then, whenever it is wisdom and necessary to come down here on the earth to reign as kings and priests, the same as Jesus, and the Twelve Apostles will have their thrones, and eat and drink at the Lord’s table here on the earth, and judge the twelve tribes of Israel; so will all those other Saints reign on earth who are counted worthy to receive kingdoms and thrones.

When the period called the Millennium has passed away, Satan will again be loosed. Now the query arises, Will Satan have power to deceive those who have lived on the earth, and have fallen asleep for a moment, and have received their immortal bodies? No, he will not. When they have passed through their probation, and have received their immortal bodies, Satan will have no power over them. Thus generation after generation will pass away, during the Millennium, but by and by, at the close of that period, unnumbered millions of the posterity of those who lived during the Millennium will be scattered in the four quarters of the earth, and Satan will be loosed, and will go forth and tempt them, and overcome some of them, so that they will rebel against God; not rebel in ignorance or dwindle in unbelief, as the Lamanites did; but they will sin wilfully against the law of heaven, and so great will the power of Satan be over them, that he will gather them together against the Saints and against the beloved city, and fire will come down out of heaven and consume them.

After this shall have taken place, a great white throne will appear, on which the Divine Judge will be seated, from before whose face the heaven and earth shall flee away, and no place will be found for them. This change in the earth is very different from the one I have spoken of, wrought by the baptism of fire. One is a sanctification and cleansing of the earth, the other is a complete dissolution and passing away thereof. When the earth is thus dissolved and passes away, where will it go to? Will it go out of existence? No, not one particle of material that now enters into all the creations which God has made ever had a beginning, or will ever have an end. The materials exist co-eternally with God. The materials of which the earth is composed may be dispersed, and the earth may pass away as an organized globe, before the face of him who sits upon the throne, and this may be accomplished by fire, which not only melts the elements, but causes them to be separated and scattered in space.

Before this takes place the last trump will sound. All the Saints that are on the earth, in the camp, and in the beloved city, around about the old and new Jerusalems, when Satan’s army is consumed and this trump shall sound, will be caught up, and those who have not undergone their full change from mortality to immortality will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. As Paul said to the Corinthians—“We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye.” At what time? When the last trump shall sound, after the thousand years are ended, they shall be changed and caught up. Where are they taken to? Up into the celestial heavens, to those invisible creations that are in space, which have passed through their ordeals, and been sanctified, glorified and made celestial. What will they be caught up for? That they may not pass away, when the earth passes away. What becomes of the wicked, those who were consumed to ashes, who lived before the Millennium? They are called forth by the sound of the last trump, and caught up also to be judged; and they who are filthy will be filthy still, and they who are unholy will remain unholy still, they who are happy will be happy still; both small and great in that day, will stand before God, and be judged out of the things written in the books, every man according to his works.

We might say considerable in relation to these books, as they are revealed in the Book of Mormon and elsewhere, but we will pass along. By and by it will be needful to have a new earth. Now how does the Lord make this new earth? He makes it out of the materials of the old one. This very earth on which we dwell, whose elements are to be melted and sanctified with fervent heat, in order that the Saints may reign upon it for a thousand years; this very earth that will pass away and no place be found for it as an organized earth, will be resurrected, the elements thereof will be brought together again, as they were in the beginning, and they will be sanctified and purified, and made holy and celestial, and become like a sea of glass, and then, after all things are made new, and old things have passed away, the two Jerusalems will come down from God out of heaven, and will rest upon the new earth, the new Jerusalem standing upon this continent, and the old Jerusalem brought again to where it formerly stood. Then God himself will be with them, and he will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more sorrow, nor mourning, neither any more death, for the former things will have passed away, and all things will have become new. This land or hemisphere will be the abiding place of the New Jerusalem for ever and ever.

Now, do you not see that there is a similarity in regard to God’s dealings with the earth and with the inhabitants who dwell upon its face? The earth has to undergo a change as well as our bodies. As our bodies may be burned at the stake and the ashes blown to the four winds of heaven, so will the earth be burned and pass away; and in the same manner as our bodies are renewed out of the elements which once entered into their composition, or at least a sufficient quantity thereof to make a new body, so will the earth have to be renewed again and resurrected, redeemed and made immortal from the elements of which it was formerly composed, so that those immortal beings who are brought forth from the grave will have an immortal earth to dwell upon. There is a type of this thing also in regard to our first parents. When this earth issued from the hands of the Almighty it was intended for an eternal duration; in other words, it was an immortal earth or creation, all things being pronounced very good. But man brought a curse upon the earth, he brought death into the world, he brought a curse upon the waters and upon all the materials of our globe, and hence, as man has to be sanctified and to pass through the several ordeals necessary for that purpose, so does the earth; and when man has got through with these ordeals and becomes immortal, so will his abiding place become immortal, and he will inherit it for ever and ever. Our first parents were not mortal when they were placed on this earth, but they were as immortal as those who are resurrected in the presence of God, Death came into the world by their transgression, they produced mortality; hence this will be a complete restoration, of which I am speaking.

We are living, Latter-day Saints, near the close of the sixth thousand years from the fall of man; how near I do not know, and there is a great change about to take place. Inquires one—“Is there not some way by which we can fix the time, and arrive at a certainty in regard to the age of our globe since the fall of man?” I do not know of any way except by new revelation, for chronology is so imperfect that many hundreds who have spent their lives and fortunes in studying it, differ from each other in their conclusions. One has one date for the age of the world, and another has another. Let me give to you a few specimens. We will take one of the oldest eras—the Alexandrian—computed by Julius Africanus. In this Alexandrian era, the time from the creation to the birth of Christ is set down at 5,500 years; in the Antioch era, computed by Pannerus, it is set down at 5,493 years; in the Constantinople, or Greek era, it is set down at 5,509 years; you take Scaliger, another great chronologist [chronologist], and he, by a comparison of the text of various ancient manuscripts, makes the age of the world, from the creation to the coming of Christ, 3,950 years. Then you take another celebrated man, Father Pezron, and he makes it 5,873 years from the creation to Christ. Then you take the one who has given the chronology to the Bible, Archbishop Usher, and he makes it 4,004, years from the creation to Christ. Another chronologist, Josephus, makes it 4,163 years; and you take some other Jewish chronologists, and they make it as high as 6,524 years from the creation to Christ. How are you going to judge? You may take over two hundred other chronologists, whose names are given, and they all have their special dates; consequently, you see, we are utterly at a loss, and without new revelation, we are no more sure that Archbishop Usher’s chronology, contained in King James’s Bible, is correct, than we have to suppose that that many of those others are correct. What shall we do, then? The best thing for us to do is to depend upon what God reveals. If he gives us any knowledge regarding chronology, depend upon it; and he has given us a great deal of information with regard to the signs of the times. If he has not given us the age of the world, he has given us that whereby we may know that we live in the generation in which the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled. He informed us, in the rise of this Church, that that generation should not pass away until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. And then we have other revelations, showing that when their times are fulfilled there is a speedy and short work to be accomplished in the gathering of the house of Israel from the four quarters of the earth. They are to be brought out of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. We are told that God will then perform wonders, miracles and signs, greater than ever have been performed since the creation of the world; that he will bring back his covenant people. After the Jews have rebuilt Jerusalem, and after the Temple is erected, the Lord Jesus will come.

How much of this work will be performed, after the sixth thousand years have passed away, I do not know. Inquires one—“Don’t you think it will all be completed before the last day of the six thousand years from creation?” No, I do not; the Lord has told us differently. Read the key to John’s revelations, published in the “Pearl of Great Price,” and you will find that there is a very great work to be performed, after the seventh thousand years, called the Millennium, has commenced. You will find that the seven trumpets are to sound, preparatory to the beginning and finishing of his work in the morning of the seventh thousand years, just as the Lord performed a work in the seventh day of creation, when he planted the Garden of Eden and placed the man Adam therein. He performed quite a temporal work in the process of creation on the morning of the seventh day; and so he will perform a work at the beginning of the seventh thousand years, after the seventh millennium shall open; and the nature of the work, which will then be performed, was typified by that which God performed in the beginning. In the beginning of the seventh day or “time” of creation he placed man in the Garden of Eden, free from the curse, and, says the key to John’s revelations, in the morning of the seventh thousand years will he sanctify the earth, redeem man from the grave, and seal all things to the end of all things; and the sounding of these trumpets, and the work which is to be performed, as each trumpet shall sound in its turn, will accomplish that which is necessary as a preparation for the sealing up of all things to the end of all things before he comes. Some have supposed that during the Millennium a great work would be performed for and in behalf of the dead. This may be; but this revelation would seem to indicate that everything will be prepared before the Savior comes, everything sealed to its position, everything reduced to its standard and to its sphere; that there will be no links in the chain but what will be completely welded, and everything completely prepared by the sounding of these trumpets.

Then again, after the six thousand years have ended, before the Lord shall come while these trumpets are sounding, or about that time, we find that there is to be a great work among the nations—which will probably take place in the morning of the seventh thousand years. The ten tribes will have to come forth and come to this land, to be crowned with glory in the midst of Zion by the hands of the servants of God, even the Children of Ephraim; and twelve thousand High Priests will be elected from each of these ten tribes, as well as from the scattered tribes, and sealed in their foreheads, and will be ordained and receive power to gather out of all nations, kindreds, tongues and people as many as will come unto the general assemblage of the Church of the first-born. Will not that be a great work? Imagine one hundred and forty-four thousand High Priests going forth among the nations, and gathering out as many as will come to the Church of the first-born. All that will be done, probably, in the morning of the seventh thousand years. The work is of great magnitude, Latter-day Saints, and we are living almost upon the eve of it. Six thousand years have nearly gone by, the world is getting aged, and Satan has accomplished almost all that the Lord intends that he shall accomplish, before the day of rest. With a work of such magnitude before them, the Latter-day Saints should be wide awake, and should not have their minds engaged in those fooleries in which many indulge at the present time. We should put these things away, and our inquiry should be—“Lord, how can we prepare the way before thy coming? How can we prepare ourselves to perform the great work which must be performed in this greatest of dispensations, the dispensation of the fullness of times? How can we be prepared to behold the Saints who lived on the earth in former dispensations, and take them by the hand and fall upon their necks and they fall upon ours, and we embrace each other? How can we be prepared for this?” How can all things that are in Christ Jesus, both which are in heaven and on the earth, be assembled in one grand assembly, without we are wide awake?

May God bless you. Amen.

Revelation on the Judgments of the Lord, etc.

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the First Ward School-House, Sunday afternoon, Dec. 28, 1873. Reported by David W. Evans.

We will commence our discourse by reading a part of the 25th, and the 26th and 27th sections of a revelation, given December 27, 1832, contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.

“And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying, prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come: behold, and lo! the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out, to meet him.

“And immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together. And another angel shall sound his trump, saying, that great church, the mother of abominations, that made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, that persecuteth the Saints of God, that shed their blood; her who sitteth upon many waters, and upon the islands of the sea; behold, she is the tares of the earth, she is bound in bundles, her bands are made strong, no man can loose them; therefore, she is ready to be burned. And he shall sound his trump both long and loud, and all nations shall hear it.

“And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour, and immediately after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled; and the Saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened, and be caught up to meet him. And they who have slept in their graves shall come forth; for their graves shall be opened, and they also shall be caught up to meet him in the midst of the pillar of heaven: they are Christ’s, the first fruits: they who shall descend with him first, and they who are on the earth and in their graves, who are first caught up to meet him; and all this by the voice of the sounding of the trump of the angel of God.”

This revelation was given through our Prophet, and Seer, and Revelator, Joseph Smith, who was one of the greatest men who ever lived in this probation, one of the greatest Prophets, with the exception of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ever sent to our earth. I think it is forty-one years yesterday since this revelation was given. In it are revealed many things pertaining to the salvation of the children of men, and pertaining to the great and eventful works of the Lord which are about to take place on the earth. In the sections preceding those which I have read, we have an account of certain great events that have not yet transpired, namely, that after the testimonies of the servants of God among the nations comes the testimony of many judgments, which will be poured upon the nations, such as earthquakes, wars, the sea heaving beyond its bounds, and a variety of calamities which shall make the hearts of all the wicked fail them for fear. After these great judgments are poured upon the nations of the earth, then will be fulfilled the words which I have read, “and angels will fly through the midst of heaven sounding the trump of God, saying prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth, for the judgment of our God is come, behold and lo! the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.” After these angels have flown through the midst of heaven calling upon the inhabitants of the earth to prepare for the coming of the Bridegroom, seven more angels are to sound their trumps. The first one sounds, and his proclamation is concerning great Babylon, “who has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, concerning her who sits upon many waters, who has her dominion among many nations, kindreds, tongues and people, behold she is the tares of all the earth, she is bound in bundles, her bands are made strong, no man can loose them, therefore she is ready to be burned, and he shall sound his trump both long and loud, and all nations shall hear it.”

There must be something connected with the sounding of this trump that is miraculous in order that all nations may hear it. Any sound that can be produced by mortal man does not reach, generally speaking, over about thirty miles from where it originates, which is a very small space indeed. But there will be something connected with the sounding of the trump of the first of the seven angels which will manifest a power which we know nothing of. The sound of that trump will be heard by all people, nations, kindreds and tongues in the four quarters of our globe. I do not know that the sound will be so much louder than some we have heard, but it will be carried by some miraculous power so that all people will hear it.

“Immediately after the sounding of this trump, there will be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour.” Whether the half hour here spoken of is according to our reckoning—thirty minutes, or whether it be according to the reckoning of the Lord we do not know. We know that the word hour is used in some portions of the Scriptures to represent quite a lengthy period of time. For instance, we, the Latter-day Saints, are living in the eleventh hour, that is in the eleventh period of time; and for aught we know the half hour during which silence is to prevail in heaven may be quite an extensive period of time. During the period of silence all things are perfectly still; no angels flying during that half hour; no trumpets sounding; no noise in the heavens above; but immediately after this great silence the curtain of heaven shall be unfolded as a scroll is unfolded. School children, who are in the habit of seeing maps hung up on the wall, know that they have rollers upon which they are rolled up, and that to expose the face of the maps they are let down. So will the curtain of heaven be unrolled so that the people may gaze upon those celestial beings who will make their appearance in the clouds. The face of the Lord will be unveiled, and those who are alive will be quickened, and they will be caught up; and the Saints who are in their graves, will come forth and be caught up, together with those who are quickened, and they will be taken into the heavens into the midst of those celestial beings who will make their appearance at that time. These are the ones who are the first fruits, that is, the first fruits at the time of his coming.

There was a period some eighteen centuries ago, when the Saints arose from their graves, after the resurrection of Christ, he being the first fruits. That is called in the Book of Mormon the first resurrection; it took place about the time, or a little after the resurrection of Jesus. But when he comes the second time, the first fruits of the resurrection will be the Saints who come out of their graves. They, in connection with the Saints of all ages, will be the Church of the first-born, and they will descend with the Savior when he comes.

There are some who suppose, when these Saints are thus resurrected and taken up into heaven, that this will be the precise period when Jesus will descend on the earth; but I wish to correct this idea by the aid of both old and new revelation. Instead of Jesus immediately descending to the earth, when these Saints are thus taken into heaven, he will stay until the seven angels have sounded their trumps. There will be quite a lapse of time between the sounding of each of these seven; some months will intervene; they do not all follow directly one after the other or in the course of a few hours time; but there will be a period between in which certain great and marvelous events will take place. For instance, if we read the revelations of St. John, we find that when the fifth angel shall sound his trump, the bottomless pit shall be opened, and there shall come forth a great smoke, and a cloud of locusts, so great that the sun and air shall be darkened; and these locusts shall have power to torment men five months before the sounding or the sixth trump. This shows that there will be a period of at least five months, between the sounding of the trumps of the fifth and sixth angels. Read also concerning the sounding of the sixth trump, and you will find that there is a great work to be accomplished before the seventh angel shall sound, for in the time intervening between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumps the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates are to be loosed, and they are to gather together a very great army. If I recollect aright, that army is to consist of two hundred millions of people, who are to ride on some kind of beasts or animals which the Lord, probably by some supernatural means, will prepare for the occasion. These personages who come forth riding upon these beasts are prepared for an hour, for a day, for a month, and for a year; and their work is to slay a third part of the hosts of men then existing upon the earth, and as they are prepared for an hour, a day, a month, and a year, it shows there will be quite a lapse of time between the sounding of the trump of the sixth and seventh angel.

We might bring up, also, the declaration of John in relation to the two witnesses who are to prophecy about that period. They are to prophecy three and a half years, and their field of labor will be Jerusalem, after it shall have been rebuilt by the Jews. By means of their prophecies and the power of God attending them, the nations who are gathered together against Jerusalem will be kept at bay, these Prophets will hold them in check by their faith and power. By and by these nations overcome the two witnesses and, having finished their mission, they are slain, and their bodies will lie three days and a half in the streets of the city. Then a great earthquake will take place, and these two witnesses will be caught up to heaven.

All this takes place after these trumps begin to sound; and if these two witnesses are to fulfill a mission of three and a half years, it shows that the sounding of the trumpets does not take place, as many have supposed, in rapid succession, but certain events have to be accomplished between their respective soundings. By and by the whole seven will have sounded, and then they commence to sound a second time. According to the revelation from which I have read, the second sounding of the trumpets is not to prudence destruction among the nations, but the sound of the first one will reveal the secret acts of God, his purposes and doings on the earth during the first thousand years; the sounding of the second will reveal the doings and purposes of the Great Jehovah during the second thousand years, and so on, until the seventh shall sound the second time, and pronounce the work of God finished, so far as the great preparation needful for his second coming is concerned.

Notice, now, that it is the first sounding of the first of these seven, when the first resurrection takes place; and all these great works are to be performed on the earth, and years elapse before Jesus descends with all his Saints; that, is, if we understand these things correctly, by what little is revealed upon the subject. There are many things which I would like to dwell upon in connection with the resurrection of the Saints and their being caught up into the heavens. The subject of the resurrection is one that we all are very much interested in; it is something which concerns all mankind, more or less, but especially the Latter-day Saints who are now living on the earth. We all see that our brethren and sisters, as well as the wicked, are passing away, leaving us; they are called upon to lay aside these bodies, which are deposited in the grave. They are passing off by scores, by hundreds and by thousands, and we expect to follow them, that is the most of us. Perhaps some may live until the coming of the Son of Man, or the sounding of the first trump; but inasmuch as most of us expect to lay our bodies down to sleep, it must be interesting to every Latter-day Saint to know something about the resurrection.

What can we know about it? Nothing except what the Lord has revealed, and let me here say that perhaps no subject pertaining to salvation was ever so fully revealed to the inhabitants of the earth as that of the resurrection of the body. Many people have thought that very little has been revealed on this subject; but if I am not mistaken we have an abundance, although there are many things in regard to it about which we are still in the dark, because they have not been revealed. But if we will carefully search the revelations that have been given, we may learn many things in regard to this great event which will be satisfying to our minds.

When we carry our friends to the grave yard we feel sorrowful, because we have to leave them, and because they are separated from us, for a short time. All that kindness and sociability which existed are no more experienced, and we no longer have the privilege of their society as we had formerly, and consequently we mourn. But what a consolation it is to realize that, when our friends are laid down, we are not separated from them forever, if they have died in the faith, and if we, ourselves, endure faithful to the end; for if we keep the commandments of God as we should, we have an assurance and a hope within us which can not be shaken that we shall rise again, and that our bodies will come forth from the grave.

Now let us try to understand how much is revealed upon this subject; and in order to understand it, let me refer you to some things that are contained in the Book of Mormon. On page 240 of that book we find something on the subject of the resurrection. That which I am about to read was spoken by the Prophet Amulek, in the city of Ammonihah, to a very wicked people, who were shortly afterwards totally destroyed because of their wickedness.

“Now there is a death which is called a temporal death: and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death; the spirit and the body shall be re-united again in its perfect form: both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt. Now this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but all things shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now or in the body, and shall be brought, and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil.”

Thus we see that there will be no limbs lacking. If a person has lost his arm, his leg, or his eyes, they will be restored, and will stand before God perfect, and the wicked will have a bright recollection of all their guilt. The Prophet Amulek was trying to explain all this to a people who were full of guilt, having disobeyed the commandments of heaven, until they were almost ripened for destruction. He informed them that they should have a perfect knowledge of all their guilt. In this life there are many things that people, whether righteous or wicked, forget. Our memories are so weak that many things done in years passed are obliterated; but when they come forth in the morning of the resurrection, the wicked as well as the righteous, their memories will be restored, so that every act of their lives, whether good or evil, will be perfectly remembered, and the wicked will have a perfect knowledge of all their guilt. Will not this be sufficient to create an unquenchable fire in their breasts, and with this recollection, to behold the face of the Lord? Will not this cause them to shrink from his presence? I think it will. The Prophet Moroni, speaking on this subject, and addressing himself to the unbelieving who should live on the earth at the time the Book of Mormon should come forth, says—“You would be more miserable to dwell in the presence of that holy and pure Being than you would to dwell with the damned souls in hell.” That is perfectly reasonable; for a wicked person in the presence of God would be a place not adapted to his evil, corrupt, carnal nature. There must be a place of filthiness prepared for that which is filthy, that those who are filthy, wicked and corrupt may be placed in circumstances adapted to their condition. Such persons, when in the presence of God, would be glad for the rocks and mountains to fall upon and hide them, for the recollection of their iniquities will smite them, and kindle within them a flame like an unquenchable fire, for their consciences will have a bright recollection of all their guilt.

Now this restoration will come to all, both old and young, bond and free, male and female, righteous and wicked, and there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost. Many persons, when they advance in years, lose their hair, and become baldheaded. Will they rise in the resurrection without hair, because they have been laid in the grave in that condition? No, that would be imperfection, and we have a statement in the Book of Mormon that not so much as one hair shall be lost. Again the Prophet Amulek says—“But all things shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, and shall be arraigned before the bar of Christ, the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good, or whether they be evil. Now, behold I have spoken unto you concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the immortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death, unto life, that they can die no more.” What this means is this—there can be no further dissolution between the spirit and the body; they can not be separated, and they can die no more. This seems to make it plain that their spirits unite with their bodies never to be separated again, and return to dust, as in the first death, and thus becoming spiritual and immortal, “they can no more see corruption.”

We will now turn to what the Prophet Alma said to his son Corianton, not only concerning the resurrection, but also concerning the condition or state of the spirit of man, between the time of death and the resurrection. This is on page 318 of the Book of Mormon.

“And now I would inquire what becometh of the souls of men from this time of death, to the time appointed for the resurrection? Now whether there is more than one time appointed for men to rise, it mattereth not; for all do not die at once, and this mattereth not; all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men, therefore there is a time appointed unto men, that they shall rise from the dead; and there is a space of time between the time of death and the resurrection. And now concerning this space of time. What becometh of the souls of men, is the thing which I have inquired diligently of the Lord to know; and this is the thing of which I do know. And when the time cometh when all shall rise, then shall they know that God knoweth all times which are appointed unto man. Now concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection. Behold, it has been made known unto me, by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body; yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. And then shall it come to pass the spirits of those who are righteous, are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise; a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles, and from all care and sorrow, &c.

“And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil; for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they choose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house; and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; and this because of their own iniquity; being led captive by the will of the devil. Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked; yea, in darkness, and in a state of awful, fearful, looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection.”

There is an idea prevalent, I do not know how prevalent, among the Saints, that we do not go directly home to God, when our spirits leave these bodies, but that there is a kind of intermediate state where we have to go through further preparations; but if I can understand the language contained in this declaration of Alma, it seems that the spirits of all men, whether wicked or righteous, as soon as they leave this mortal body, “go home to that God who gave them life,” that is, they return to the place and position that they occupied while they were in the eternal worlds. It is called “home,” because they once had their abiding place there, and they have been absent from home, while here in the body; but as soon as they are separated from the body, they all return to that ancient home, into the presence of the Lord.

After they get back there, they are completely redeemed, so far as the original sin is concerned. The original sin shut them out from the presence of God; did it not? Every one will say yes. The redemption made by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ redeems mankind from the penalty of the original sin, fully and completely and the wicked and the righteous, without any respect of persons, are brought back into his presence, the same as they were before they came from his presence into these fallen bodies. This makes the redemption universal. No person, however wicked, if he be as corrupt a man as ever lived on the earth even a son of perdition, can avoid being brought back into the presence of God, that his redemption may be complete, so far as the original sin is concerned. Anything short of this would be a failure in the redemption of man from the fall. The righteous, after death, are received into a state of rest, peace, and happiness, in Paradise. There they will be free from all care and sorrow, and Satan will have no power over them. If they should be sent on a mission from Paradise to any part of the dominion of the Almighty to administer, as Jesus administered while his body was in the tomb, evil powers and spirits and fallen angels are subject to their command, and they are not in the least subject to these evil beings. Herein is the freedom of the righteous, and the victory they obtain, for in the name of Jesus they can command these fallen angels, and they are compelled to yield obedience. But how is it with the wicked? They have not learned to command these evil powers, they have not placed themselves in a position here in this life to do so; they can not cast out devils. Why? Because they are wicked and corrupt, and when they meet with the devil or any of the fallen angels, they are immediately enslaved and brought into captivity to them, and that is the worst kind of slavery; and according to what I have read here, the spirit of the devil enters into their house. What house? The spiritual house, for they have not got bodies of flesh and bones yet, the resurrection has not taken place yet, and that spirit, that spiritual body, becomes subject to the devil, and he enters their house, and they are cast out into outer darkness, and are in captivity to the devil, and are his slaves, until the resurrection, when their bodies and spirits will be reunited.

Let us enquire, for a few moments, concerning the nature of these spiritual bodies which are thus restored back into the presence of God. A great many people have supposed that the spirit which exists in the tabernacle, for instance, of an infant, is of the same size as the infant tabernacle when it enters therein; No one will dispute that it is of the same size when it is enclosed therein; but how large was the spirit before it entered the tabernacle? Was it a full grown male or female spirit, or was it a little infant spirit in its pre-existent state? We have no account that I know of, in any revelation which God has given, of any infant spirit coming from the eternal worlds to take infant bodies; but we have an opposite account in the revelations which God has given; for if we turn to the Book of Ether we shall find that the Lord Jesus, who was one of these spirits, and the first-born of the whole family, was a personage like unto a man, without flesh, blood or bones, but a full-grown spirit, thousands of years before he came to take his infant tabernacle. Is it so recorded in the Book of Ether? Yes. You will no doubt recollect the words of the brother of Jared, at the time that he prayed unto the Lord, when he carried in his hand sixteen small transparent stones, and went to the top of Mount Shelem. He said—“Lord, stretch forth thine hand and touch these stones with thy finger one by one, that they may shine forth and give light unto us in the vessels which thou hast commanded us to prepare, and suffer not that thy people shall cross this great deep in darkness? Behold, O Lord, then canst do these things,” &c. The Lord, in answer to his prayer, stretched forth his hand and touched these stones one by one, sixteen of them. Eight vessels were prepared, and the Prophet wanted one in each end of each vessel; and because of the faith of the brother of Jared the Lord could not hide his finger from him, and hence the vail was taken from before his eyes, and he saw the finger of the Lord, and it was like unto the finger of a man, and not like an infant, which when the brother of Jared saw he fell, through fear, lest the Lord should smite him, it being the first time he had ever seen any part or portion of the spiritual body of Jesus. The Lord said unto him—“Arise, why hast thou fallen? And the brother of Jared said, “I saw the finger of the Lord, and I knew not the Lord had flesh and blood.” The Lord said—“Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so, ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this? And he answered, nay; Lord, shew thyself unto me. And the Lord said unto him, Believest thou the words which I shall speak? And he answered, yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth and canst not lie. And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord shewed himself unto him, and said, Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore, ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I shew myself unto you.”

Here was the redemption of a man restored back again into the presence of the Lord while yet in the flesh; he saw with his eyes what he had before seen by faith. Then the Lord said—“Behold I am Jesus Christ, I am the Father and the Son, and in me shall all mankind have light, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name. Behold, this body which you now see is the body of my spirit, and all men in the beginning have I created after the body of my spirit.” Notice now, they were created after the same form and fashion, and no doubt attain by growth to similar dimensions as the body of his spirit, without flesh and bones. The expression is, “All men in the beginning”—you were there, all this creation were there; all the inhabitants of the earth who now live, all that have lived, and all that will live in times to come, were all created after the body of his spirit in the beginning before this world was made.

When all these spirits were sent forth from the eternal worlds, they were, no doubt, not infants; but when they entered the infant tabernacle, they were under the necessity, the same as our Lord and Savior, of being compressed, or diminished in size so that their spirits could be enclosed in infant tabernacles. If their bodies die in infancy, do their spirits remain infants in stature between death and the resurrection of the body? I think not. Why not? Because the redemption must restore everything to its natural order. If they were of the size and stature of manhood or womanhood before they entered into the tabernacle would the redemption be complete, when they came out of that tabernacle, unless they were restored to their former dimensions? I think not; there would not be a full restoration, and consequently, there would seem to be an imperfection in the plan. There are some of our brethren and sisters, perhaps, who are very anxious to see their little children after they depart this life. The Lord sometimes gives them a vision of their departed little ones, not of their spirits, but as they will appear in the morning of the resurrection, in order that they may know and recognize them. But supposing that he should show them the spirits of their little children as they are after leaving their infant tabernacles, would they be satisfied? I think not. Why? Because I think they would not recognize them, for I am of the opinion that the spirits of children who die here regain their former dimensions of manhood or womanhood, and hence if you were to see them you would perhaps be disappointed. But by and by the resurrection will come, then these full grown spirits, who have died in infancy here, will again enter into the infant tabernacle, and they will come forth as infants, as they were at the time they laid down their bodies; then their parents will have no difficulty in recognizing them.

There is quite an anxiety at the present time, about one thing, connected with the resurrection, and that is, will those spirits, whose bodies died here in infancy, when reunited with their infant bodies, remain of that stature through all the ages of eternity? There is a sermon of the Prophet Joseph Smith, reported by long-hand reporters, in which it is stated that resurrected infants will for ever remain infants. But I doubt very much in my own mind if those who reported that sermon got the full idea on this subject; and if they did, I very much doubt whether the Prophet Joseph, at the time he preached that sermon, had been fully instructed by revelation on that point, for the Lord has revealed a great many things to Prophets and revelators, and among them to Joseph Smith, the fullness of which is not at first given. For instance, in baptism for the dead, in Joseph’s day women were baptised for men, and men for women as well as for men. The Lord had at first revealed a few things to him, showing that baptism for the dead was a true principle, without giving him all the particulars at once. But he continued to enquire of the Lord, and he received more and more in regard to this principle. So in regard to the resurrection, there may have been many things revealed to him that were true, and others upon which, without having revelation, he would draw his own conclusions, until it should please the Lord to give further revelation. There is no revelation given that gives us a full knowledge upon that point—but I will give you my reasons, merely as reasons, to show that they who die here in infancy will grow up to the full stature of manhood or womanhood, after the resurrection. I do not say that it is so, but my reasons for believing that they do are these: How could they be restored completely to all that perfection of manhood and have a perfect tabernacle, adapted to the dimensions of the spirit as it existed, before it came here, unless their bodies should grow up from a state of infancy, and be sufficiently enlarged to become a perfect house for the fullgrown spirit, whether man or woman? I have heard, whether it be true or not I do not know, that before Joseph was martyred, he had obtained further light and information on this subject, to the effect that there would be a growth after the resurrection. How this may be I do not know, and it does not particularly matter; still it is something that we have the right and the privilege of reflecting upon, for there is no harm for any man or woman letting the mind expand to lay hold upon all that God has revealed, and to ponder upon it, as the ancient children of God did. Nephi says—“I ponder upon the things of God continually which he has revealed unto me,” and there is no harm for us to do the same. We should not get into that old sectarian notion, that we have no right to know anything about this, that or the other, and that we must not pry into this, that or the other. That is an old sectarian notion, which we have fought against all the day long, and we do not want it to creep into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the privilege of its members to let their minds expand, and to ponder upon the things of God, and to enquire of him, and by and by, when we have prepared ourselves by getting all the knowledge we possibly can from that which is written, God will give us more.

There are many other things I would like to touch upon in regard the resurrection. We often reflect in our minds upon the capacity and power we shall have after the resurrection, when we are quickened by the celestial spirit? To dwell upon this subject would take up another discourse, and I see I have not time for that, for I have to be at another meeting soon after 4 o’clock. But I will just mention a few things which we shall enjoy after the resurrection that we do not have here. For instance, we are limited in our vision here, we can see only a few things round about us, and they must be in the immediate neighborhood. We can not see away off to England, or the European countries, and we can not see anything unless it reflects the natural light of the sun or some other luminous body, and sends the light into our eye, and by that means the mind is informed concerning objects outside of us. But how very limited this sight of ours is! Do you suppose that the sight of the immortal body will be thus limited to the natural light that shines? No, there are a great many kinds of light besides the light which shines from the sun, moon or stars, or for some artificial light that may be created on the earth. There is, for instance, the light of the Spirit of God, by which the elements are controlled and governed; that is in all the elements, it matters not whether beneath or above the surface of the earth. Now, there may be a perfect organization in the resurrection, wherein this other kind of light, associated with the elements, will be permitted to affect the eye of the immortal body, so that it can see into, the earth as well as on its surface. I do not wish you to take my statement only in regard to this, but the revelations of God inform us that there have been men here in mortality who have had their eyes quickened by this other species of light so that they could see things under the earth as well as things on its surface. Moses was one of these men, and we have an account, in the Pearl of Great Price, of the great vision he had concerning this earth. Before the Lord revealed to him the history of its creation Moses beheld every particle of the earth, and the account says there was not a particle that he did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God. One of the revelations says, that whatsoever is light is spirit, and there are degrees of this spiritual influence that will affect the natural or mortal eye; then there are other degrees more refined, perhaps, which do not affect the mortal eye, but will affect the immortal eye, yet the Lord would be able to touch the eyes of a man like unto Moses or any other man of God, so as to show him every particle of the earth, inside and outside.

Now, if the mortal man can see this, as Moses certainly did, why should we suppose that we will be limited in that state of immortality which all Latter-day Saints expect to enjoy? It is more probable that we shall be able to discern, not only everything pertaining to this little speck of creation which we now inhabit, but also other worlds and what takes place thereon, as easily as that which takes place on our own. We have revelations also in regard to this. When Enoch was expressing his mind about the greatness of the creations of the Almighty, he said that if a man could number millions of earths like this, and all the separate particles which enter into their composition, it would not be a beginning of those creations, yet, said he to the Lord—“Thou art here, thy bosom is here;” and the Lord said unto Enoch—“I can stretch forth mine hand and hold all the creations that I have made, and mine eye can pierce them also.” By what power can his eye pierce them? By the same power that quickened the eyes of Moses while yet a mortal man; that same power can quicken the eyes of immortality to behold all the creations that the Lord has made, and hence there will be an enlargement of vision in the resurrection.

We might dwell on the enlargement of hearing as well as of vision. Do you suppose that immortal beings depend, for sound, upon the mere vibrations of an atmosphere like ours? This atmosphere only extends about forty-five miles above the surface of the earth. How could beings, away above this atmosphere of ours, communicate sounds to us here? There are other principles and elements of a more refined nature that intervene between these creations that God has made, and these elements may be brought into perfection, and by their vibratory powers they may communicate sounds from one world to another, just the same as light is communicated from world to world, and the immortal ear would be adapted to this.

We have not time to dwell upon this, I merely mention it as one of the great blessings of immortality.

We might mention too, concerning sleep. We have to sleep away about one-third part of our time here; will immortal beings be obliged to do the same, and spend one-third of the eternal millions on millions of the ages to come in dormancy? I do not think any such thing. Inquires one—“Are not things here typical of things hereafter?” Some are not. We die here, but that is not typical of any death that will come on the righteous hereafter, and there are a great many things which we pass through here that are not typical of things hereafter. All physical imperfections will be done away with hereafter, and we shall enjoy a greater fullness and power, and I can not see that it will be necessary for the immortal body to be vivified or quickened and refreshed by sleep. They will no doubt eat and drink in an immortal state, but whether it will be necessary to do this is another question entirely. The Twelve Apostle, Jesus said, “shall eat and drink at my table, and shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” showing that the Lord will have a table, and that he will have food upon it, and that they will eat and drink at that table, though they are immortal; but whether it will be necessary in order that their immortality may endure is another question, and we have not time to dwell upon it. Suffice it to say that, even children of mortality, when quickened by the Spirit of God, have often lived for quite a period of time without eating or drinking. Moses, for instance, on two occasions, passed forty days and forty nights in Mount Sinai, and neither did eat nor drink during that time.

We might go on and speak of other enlargements that we will have that we do not have here, besides eating, drinking, hearing, seeing, &c. We might mention the perfection of locomotion, passing to and fro from world to world, and the power of rising contrary to the principle of gravitation, showing that man will have superior power, even as Jesus did, when he ascended heavenward, contrary to the laws of gravitation. We might speak of the velocity of locomotion; but it will not do for me to dwell upon these subjects at the present time. But I pray that the Lord God will pour out his Spirit upon the Latter-day Saints throughout all the earth, and quicken our minds and understandings, and every power and faculty that he has given us, that we may search after knowledge, and be obedient to all that the Lord requires at our hands. If we do this the time will come, by and by, when we will have faith in God, even as the brother of Jared had; and when we possess faith like unto his, we are promised in the Book of Mormon that all the great things which he saw shall be revealed unto us. But we shall have to obtain them as he obtained them—by faithfulness. By the quickening power which was bestowed upon him, the brother of Jared beheld all the inhabitants of the earth that had been before his day, all who existed when he existed, and all who would exist even unto the end of the world. The power of God rested upon him and enlarged his vision, enabling him to see all these objects. Amen.

The Stick of Joseph and of Judah—Times of the Gentiles, etc.

Orson Pratt

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, Jan. 25, 1874. Reported by David W. Evans.

I will read a portion of a prophecy, written in the Book of Mormon, in the second chapter of the second book of Nephi. The Prophet who spoke the words I am about to read, and who also quoted the words of another Prophet, was named Lehi; he lived about six hundred years before Christ.

“For behold, thou art the fruit of my loins; and I am a descendant of Joseph, who was carried captive into Egypt. And great were the covenants of the Lord, which he made unto Joseph; wherefore Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off; nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord, that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the Spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light; yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.

For Joseph truly testified, saying: A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins. Yea, Joseph truly said, thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment, that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers. And I will give unto him a commandment, that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work. And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel. And Moses will I raise up, to deliver thy people out of the land of Egypt, But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins; and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them. Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines, and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days; and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord. And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.

And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him, shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise. And his name shall be called after me, and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation; yea, thus prophesied Joseph, I am sure of this thing, even as I am sure of the promise of Moses, for the Lord hath said unto me, I will preserve thy seed for ever. And the Lord hath said, I will raise up a Moses; and I will give power unto him in a rod; and I will give judgement unto him in writing. Yet I will not loose his tongue, that he shall speak much, for I will not make him mighty in speaking. But I will write unto him my law, by the finger of mine own hand; and I will make a spokesman for him. And the Lord said unto me also, I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And I, behold, I will give unto him, that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it. And the words which he shall write, shall be the words which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith. And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them. And it shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their words. Because of their faith, their words shall proceed forth out of my mouth unto their brethren who are the fruit of thy loins; and the weakness of their words will I make strong in their faith, unto the remembering of my covenant which I made unto thy fathers.”

Corresponding with this prophecy, I will read a few verses in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel, commencing at the 15th verse.

“The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

“And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thy hand.

“And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?

“Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

“And 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, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

“And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:”

I have read these two prophecies; one, recorded in the Book of Mormon, delivered by Joseph in Egypt, written upon brass plates and brought by the descendants of Joseph from the city of Jerusalem, about six hundred years before Christ, with their colony that came from Palestine and were located on the western coast of South America, having crossed the mighty waters under the direction of the Almighty; the other, and corresponding prophecy, was written by Ezekiel the Prophet, a short time after this colony left the city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel informs us in this chapter, that prior to the great restitution of the House of Israel, never to be scattered or divided into two nations again, the Lord would bring forth the stick of Joseph, written upon for the tribe of Joseph, and the other, written upon for Judah, and cause them to grow together in His hand, and when this great event should take place, it should be the period when he would take Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and gather them on every side, and bring them into their own lands, and when he had accomplished this work, he would make them one nation upon the mountains of Israel, and they should no more become two nations, neither should they, from that time forward, be two kingdoms any more at all.

It is very evident to every person who believes in the Scriptures of truth that, so far as the gathering of Israel and their becoming one nation in their own land are concerned, this prophecy has never yet been fulfilled, it is therefore among those great events which the Lord has decreed and determined to bring to pass in a period of time yet in the future; and he has pointed out, in this chapter of Ezekiel, the manner and method in which he will commence the great work of the restitution of Israel. A great deal has been done by the religious world, so far as dollars and cents, and the formation of societies are concerned, for the amelioration of the condition of the scattered Jews. But what are the results of all the labors of the various Christian sects in this direction? Have they succeeded in gathering the Jews from the nations of the earth? Not at all. A very few Jews at the present time are residents of Palestine, and they are not converted to the truth. They believe in the religion of their ancient fathers, and all of them who dwell there are very poor, many of them are what may be termed beggars, being sustained principally by the charity of travelers and other visitors to that land, and by donations from charitable Christians and Jews abroad. But all the Jews dwelling in Palestine are but a very small handful, compared with the immense numbers of their brethren who are scattered to the four winds of heaven. Then, besides the Jews thus scattered, there are the ten tribes, who are not called Jews, who were led away out of the land of Palestine about seven hundred and twenty years before Christ, and who have never dwelt in that land since. They were taken captive by the king of Assyria and taken to his dominions, and never since the day of their captivity, now almost twenty-six centuries, have they or their descendants had a residence in the Promised Land.

Prior to their captivity the House of Israel were divided into two kingdoms; one, called the Ten Tribes, who had their capital city in Samaria, north of Jerusalem. Numerous kings reigned over them, from the days of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, until the time of their captivity. They were a separate and distinct nation from the Jewish nation, which consisted of the tribes of Judah and Levi, a very few of the remnants of Joseph, and a portion of the tribe of Benjamin, who were not taken away with the ten tribes. About a hundred and thirty years after the ten tribes were taken from Palestine, the Jewish nation were taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and they dwelt in Babylon seventy years, after which they returned to Palestine, rebuilt their capital city and its walls, and re-established their Temple, and continued to dwell in the land of their fathers until the coming of Christ, and for about seventy years after his coming; and then, in fulfillment of a certain prophecy, the Jewish nation were scattered by the Roman army under Titus. About eleven hundred thousand Jews perished by the sword, and, according to history, about ninety-seven thousand were dispersed among the nations.

This great calamity happened to the Jewish nation in fulfillment of many prophecies, among which I will quote one by our Savior, recorded in the 21st chapter of Luke. Says our Savior—“For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and they shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” That portion of this prophecy, concerning the Jews perishing by the edge of the sword, and their being scattered among all nations, and Jerusalem being trodden down under the feet of the Gentiles, has had a literal fulfillment; but there is one saying of our Savior that has not yet been fulfilled—“Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” That the times of the Gentiles are not yet fulfilled is proven by the fact that Jerusalem is still in possession of the Gentiles, and under their control. When the time shall have arrived for the fulfillment of the prophecy recorded by Ezekiel the Prophet, when the Jews and the ten tribes shall return and they shall no more be divided into two kingdoms, Jerusalem will be redeemed from the hands of the Gentiles, and it will be again inhabited by the Jews as a nation; not by a poor miserable remnant, dependent upon the charity of foreign nations for subsistence, but hundreds of thousands of the twelve tribes will return to Palestine, and their capital city will be Jerusalem, not Samaria.

This fulfillment of the times of the Gentiles is something to which I wish to call the special attention of my hearers this afternoon. In what manner will the Lord fulfill this work among the Gentiles, that the fullness of their times may come in? We have a little information on this subject, recorded in the eleventh chapter of Romans, which makes the subject very plain in regard to the two great classes of people—the Jews and the Gentiles. They are spoken of in that chapter under the figure of two olive trees, one—the house of Israel—being represented by a tame olive tree, and the other—the Gentiles—by a wild olive tree. Paul, in speaking of the branches of Israel, says—“If some of the branches be broken off and thou, (the Gentiles) being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou (that is the Gentiles) wilt say then, the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded but fear, for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them (meaning Israel) which feel severity; but towards thee (the Gentiles) goodness if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also (the house of Israel) if they abide not in unbelief shall be grafted in again, for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou (the Gentiles) were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election they are beloved for the fathers’ sake.” Again he says in the 30th and 31st verses—“For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, even so have these now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.”

We can see from the instructions that Paul has given, in this chapter, that the Gentiles were grafted in instead of the House of Israel; in other words, the Jews were broken off, as our Savior predicted to them. Said he—“Therefore say I unto you that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” That is, it should be taken from the Israelites, and delivered over into the hands of the Gentiles. The kingdom that was thus rent from the Jews and transferred to the Gentiles may be called a spiritual kingdom, inasmuch as the Saints, to whom the kingdom was given in that day, did not form any particular constituent, portion of the nations of the earth, but here was a branch, and there was a branch, one in one place and another in another; having received the blessings of the fullness of the Gospel, the blessings of that spiritual kingdom which was built up in their midst, they partook of the fatness of the olive tree, though they, were wild branches. But by and by we find the Gentiles following after the same example of unbelief; they to whom the kingdom had been transferred from Israel got into darkness, unbelief and apostacy, the same as the Jews had done before them. Paul further warns them in this chapter not to boast. Says he—“Boast not against the branches, but if thou boast thou bearest not the root but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Take heed, therefore, lest you also shall fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Have they taken heed? No, they have not. Where is that kingdom that was transferred to the Gentiles, that had inspired Apostles and Prophets in it? That kingdom upon which the Lord shed forth the Holy Ghost and all its gifts—the gift of revelation, discerning of spirits, seeing angels, healing the sick, foretelling future events, visions and all the other gifts which came through the operation of his Spirit upon the wild branches of the olive tree, after they were grafted, through obedience to the Gospel, and became partakers of the root and fatness of the tame olive? Where is that kingdom? In other words, where is the church? It is said by some that the church has continued from the Apostolic period down until the present century of the Christian era. But if it has, I cannot find it, the researches I have made give me no indication of the existence of the kingdom that was transferred to the hands of the Gentiles. I know of no way to distinguish the church of God, only by comparing it with the pattern given in the New Testament. Can I find among any of the Gentile nations a church with inspired Apostles in it? If I cannot, I have no authority to pronounce any such church the church of God. Its members may believe in the Bible, and they may be honest, we do not dispute the honesty of men; but unless they have this distinguishing characteristic of the church of the living God, we have no right to suppose them to be the real, true Christian church. Let us hear what Paul says in the 12th chapter of Corinthians in relation to the organization of the church of Christ. We there find that the church have placed within it, first, Apostles, secondarily, Prophets, thirdly, Teachers, after that working of miracles, healing the sick, speaking with divers tongues, interpretation of tongues, &c., and all these were helps, governments, gifts, blessings, authorities and powers that served to characterize the true kingdom or church of God from all those that were destitute of this power and authority. Did this authority, these gifts and blessings exist towards the close of the second century of the Christian era? No. What had become of them? The people had entirely apostatized from that ancient order of things. There were no doubt many who were very zealous and who professed Christianity, and claimed to be the church of God, but where were their Apostles? Nowhere to be found among men. Where were the Prophets in what was called the Christian church towards the latter part of the second century? Nowhere upon the face of the earth; the spirit of prophecy was entirely rooted out, and the Gentiles, through apostacy and unbelief, had fallen as the Jews had done before them.

Again, where were the healing of the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping deaf ears, and the lame leaping like a hart? Where were all those ancient gifts, such as speaking with tongues, interpretation of tongues, beholding angels, discerning spirits and the things of God as did the church of Christ in the first century? Nowhere to be found; but instead of this we find the people called Christians, spreading and increasing in the second, third, fourth and fifth centuries, but destitute of the spirit, power and gifts which characterized the ancient church, so much so that they even denied that there could be any more revelation, and instead of there being Prophets to give revelation day by day, week by week and year after year from one generation to another, they were obliged, at the Council of Carthage, held at the close of the fourth century of the Christian era, to gather up such fragments of the ancient revelations as they could find, here and there, scattered in manuscript among the various nations, sit in judgment upon them, without any spirit of revelation to designate to them whether they were true or false; and they compiled them together, and pronounced the canon of Scripture full.

Now, if they had had the ancient Christian church, there would have been revelations during all of the second century as well as the first, and there would have been revelations in the third century, and in the fourth century, and in all the subsequent centuries down to the present period of time, and there would have been no such doctrine promulgated among the children of men as the canon of Scripture being full. It is one of the most false doctrines ever advanced among the children of men. God never yet had a people on the face of the earth in any age of the world from the creation down through all the dispensations, without having inspired men among them, who could call upon God and receive revelations, and their revelations were just as sacred as those which had preceded them, and that had been bound into volumes; hence the canon of Scripture would have been enlarged every century down to the present time had the Church of God continued on the earth. But like the ancient Jews, the Christians of the second and following centuries had apostatized, and were entirely destitute of the Spirit of God. The Jews had apostatized before Jesus came among them to that degree, that there were sects and parties among them, just as we find in the Christian world since; and these Jewish sects were destitute of the spirit of prophecy which their ancient fathers had; they were destitute of the ministration of angels, and scarcely one feature existed which was among their fathers in the days of their righteousness. It was because of this that the Jews were broken off, and the Gentiles were grafted in, and were made partakers of the riches, blessings and glories formerly enjoyed by the ancient Jews.

“Well,” says one, “am I to understand from your remarks that there has been no real Christian Church on the earth, for a great many centuries that are passed?” These are my views, and these are the views of the Latter-day Saints—we believe that, so far as the eastern hemisphere is concerned, there has been no true Christian Church for some seventeen centuries past. I say the eastern hemisphere, for we believe that there was a true Christian Church on this continent, which continued for nearly four centuries after Christ; but so far as the eastern hemisphere is concerned, it existed in name only, with some few of the ordinances administered by persons without authority. We read in the works of the early Christian fathers, so called, when they found themselves destitute of all power to get new revelation from God, that they tried to persuade, and did finally persuade, the people that the canon of Scripture was full, and that God did not design to give his people any more revelation, and that wicked delusion continued for a great many generations. It was necessary to form some excuse, for those few among the people who had the privilege of reading the Bible would naturally see the distinguishing characteristics between the ancient Church and that with which they were connected, and unless there had been something to quiet their consciences they would have been continually asking the question—“Why do we not have Apostles? Why do we not have Prophets? Why do we not have the gifts which characterized the ancient Church?” and hence the religious teachers of those days, as in ours, were compelled to tell the people that the canon of Scripture was full, and that the ancient Scriptures and the traditions of the Church were their only guides.

Perhaps you may think I am misrepresenting this matter; if you do, go and read the works of the Roman Catholic Church written before there were any Protestant seceders from it, and you will find that this doctrine is universally inculcated therein. I should like to know, and I will ask the question, how it would be possible to transfer the Christian ministry from generation to generation, and from one century to another, without revelation? It could not be done; it would be an utter impossibility. A true Christian ministry must be called of God as Aaron was called, so says the Apostle Paul in writing to the Hebrews. He declares that “no man taketh this honor unto himself, save he be called of God as was Aaron.” If we turn to the fore part of the Bible, we shall find that Aaron was called, not by revelation given to his ancient fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not to Joseph in Egypt, to Noah or to Enoch, who lived before the flood; none of the revelations given to those ancient servants of God called Aaron to the ministry, but he was called by new revelation, direct from heaven to Moses, his brother, commanding Moses to set apart Aaron to the ministry; giving him directions respecting his duty; and God spake to both Moses and Aaron. That was the way Aaron was called. Now look at the ministry from the first century down to the present time. All its members have denied new revelation, and have declared that the canon of Scripture was full. Who, among the whole of them, was ever called by new revelation? Why, if a man made any such pretence he was excommunicated from the Church unless he repented of the sin, as they called it. To believe that God would again speak and call men by new revelation, as Aaron was called, was in their idea a heresy, and they were not to believe in anything except it was bound in their ancient books. We will take, for instance, the highest authority in the Church of Rome. The members of that church say that the right to sit in the papal chair has been handed down in unbroken succession from the Apostle Peter. Now, take away new revelation, and how could you choose from among the millions who professed Christianity the one that should sit in that chair? There is no means whatsoever of distinguishing him, unless he was called of God as was Aaron, and this would introduce new revelation, and hence, when it ceased, the real authority ceased, and the Pope had no more authority than a heathen priest, neither could he confer authority upon a second man, neither could the church itself give authority without new revelation from God. The Bible could not give this authority, for there is not a word said in all the Old or New Testament that such and such a man, by such a name and at such a period in the future, should occupy the chair of St. Peter; hence, without new revelation, the selection of the successive Popes would be mere guess work.

How is it with the Protestants? Let us come down to the Waldenses, to Luther, Calvin, Henry the Eighth, and those who dissented from the Catholic Church; have they authority? Let us inquire a little into their belief and views. Did those I have named believe there was any later revelation than that which was given on the Isle of Patmos? No, in this respect the Protestants followed after the same heresy as the mother church; she had taught for many generations that the canon of Scripture was full, and those who dissented and came out from her declared the same thing, and the people believed it, and finally the Church of England incorporated it into their thirty-nine articles of faith, and no person, according to their creed, was to receive anything as a part of his religious faith, except that which was contained in the books they called the canon of Scripture, which they said was full and complete. They never have found, in any revelation which God has given, that no more revelation or Scripture was to be given so long as there was a Christian Church on the face of the earth. These Protestants, then, were excommunicated from the mother church, were they not? I have heard some say, when asked about their authority to baptize and preach, and to administer the Lord’s Supper, “We do it by the authority of our priesthood and of the office we hold.” “Who gave you that office and authority?” “Such a man.” “Where did he get it?” “He got it from another, who preceded him.” “And, pray, how far back can you trace your priesthood?” “We can run it back to Martin Luther, John Calvin, Henry the Eighth,” or some of those reformers who came out from the Roman Catholic Church,” “Where did the first ones whom you call reformers get their priesthood from, inasmuch as they denied new revelation, and were not called of God as Aaron was?” “Oh, they got it from the mother church, the Roman Catholic Church.” “But what do you Protestants say about the Roman Catholic Church?” “Why, we say that she is that great and abominable power that is called the mother of harlots and Mystery Babylon the Great, that she is one of the most corrupt powers on the face of the earth, hence the Protestants, who could not endure all this corruption, came out from her.” “And yet you get your priesthood from this source.” Do you not see, at once, the dilemma into which they fall, when they attempt to run their priesthood back? In one of the homilies of the Church of England, it is stated that for eight centuries the whole Christian world, every man, woman and child therein, were in the depths of idolatry, so that there was no individual, during that long period, who had any authority whatever. But supposing that you grant that the Roman Catholic Church, which the Protestants denounced as so corrupt, had power to hand down authority, and that, by the authority which they held they ordained Martin Luther, John Calvin and others of those early reformers they had power to take their priesthood from them, had they not? Certainly, if they could bestow authority they could take it away again. Did they do that? Yes. Read the declarations of the Roman Catholic Church respecting these Protestant leaders, and see if they did not cut them off from everything that was ever conferred upon them in that church, every office, every authority and all power, and then denounced them to the very lowest abyss of hell; consequently, if you should even pretend that authority could be transferred to the Protestants, it was taken from them. Says one, “Do you mean to unchristianize not only the Roman Catholic and Greek Churches, but also all those Protestant denominations who have sprung from them?” Certainly I do, and it is in fulfillment of that which was spoken of by Paul in the 11th chapter of Romans, where he declares that if they do not continue in the goodness of God, they also shall be cut off, that is, cut off from all those blessed privileges and spiritual gifts which characterized the Church of Christ whilst it was on the earth.

This being the condition of things no wonder that God has left on record, in this good old book, that in the latter days he would again restore the kingdom to the earth; as there has been no Christian Church, with divine authority, in the four quarters of the globe for many centuries past, it is no wonder that the ancient Prophets saw a period of time when God would restore to the earth the true Church. Hence, we find, in the 14th chapter of the revelations of St. John, that among the things which he saw, which were to transpire in the future, was the restoration of the everlasting Gospel to earth by an angel flying through the midst of heaven. It seems then, that, at the eleventh hour, the last period of time, God would again visit the inhabitants of the earth by sending a messenger from the courts above with glad tidings of great joy, not for a few people dwelling in some particular corner of the earth, but for all people—every nation, kindred and tongue upon the four quarters of our globe. Go and ask any of these fallen churches—go to the oldest among them, the Roman Catholic, or the Greek church, and ask them if God has sent another angel with the everlasting Gospel to be preached to all nations, and has committed it to them, and they will tell you no, they do not believe it is ever to be sent in that manner, but that it has continued on the earth from the time it was introduced by the Savior, and consequently there is no need of any such restitution, there is no need of any angel coming to restore it, for they have it already. They will tell you that they have the good word of God, which already contains the everlasting Gospel; but if they have the word of God, I think I have proved to my hearers this afternoon, that they have not the authority to administer it, and that makes all the difference. They may have the word, but the Bible itself says that the letter killeth. The word is not calculated to save unless we can obey it. Can I be baptized if there is no man on the earth authorized to baptize me? No. He that is not born of the water and of the spirit can in no wise enter into the kingdom of God. How can I partake of the emblems of, the broken body and shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, unless there is some man on earth authorized to administer that ordinance? I can not do it. How can I receive the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost if there be no person on the earth who has the authority to lay on hands in the name of the Lord Jesus to confer that blessing, the same as the apostles did in ancient times? How can I obey any institution that belongs to the Christian Church, wherein authority is necessary, unless such authority be on the earth? Consequently if they, in their zeal towards God, say that they have the Gospel, I will admit it so far as the letter of the word is concerned, but they have not the authority to administer its ordinances, having lost it, because they have lost the power of revelation, and the power of the Priesthood.

Well then, what are we to look for and expect? We are to look for the Lord to restore it. In what manner? Just as he has predicted through the mouths of his servants. If Joseph Smith had received the Book of Mormon without the ministration of an angel, and pretended that it was a revelation from God, every person acquainted with the Scriptures would have known that he was an imposter. How would they have known it? Because the Bible says that when the everlasting Gospel is restored it shall be by sending another angel flying through the midst of heaven, with the joyful message to be preached to all the inhabitants of the earth, to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people; therefore, if Joseph Smith had come pretending that no angel had revealed this to him, but that he was inspired from on high to bring forth the records called the Book of Mormon, we should have set him down at once as one of the basest of impostors, because it would have been contrary to the Scriptures.

Again, supposing that Joseph Smith had neglected to organize the Church of Latter-day Saints according to the ancient pattern, leaving out Apostles and inspired Prophets, as all the sects have done, all sensible men who believe in the Bible would have been compelled to come to the conclusion that in its organization this Church was defective, and did not agree with the ancient pattern, and they might have said—“You have no Prophets, you have no Apostles, and hence we reject you Joseph Smith, and your Book of Mormon; for if you were an inspired man, sent of God to raise up and establish his latter-day Church and kingdom upon the earth, you would have among you inspired Apostles and Prophets, and your Church would have agreed in all respects with the ancient pattern.” But although Joseph Smith was but a farmer’s boy, and had but a very limited education when the Lord called him, we find nothing lacking in the organization of the Church, we find that it agrees in every respect with the Church as organized anciently by the Savior. God even told him the very day on which it should be organized, and also named the various offices that should be contained therein, and he also gave him revelation concerning the names of the individuals who should be ordained, from time to time, until there were twelve Apostles and until the Priesthood was restored in all its branches. And when we compare the Gospel taught by this young man we find that it agrees in every particular with the ancient Gospel, as recorded in the New Testament. He preached faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, just as the ancients did, also repentance of all sins, as the ancients did; be baptized by immersion in water for the remission of sins in the name of Jesus Christ, just as the ancients did; God commanded him to lay hands upon those who believed, repented and were baptized for the remission of their sins, that the baptism of the Holy Ghost might be given to them, just as the ancients did. God promised, in this last dispensation, that the Saints should enjoy all the gifts enjoyed by his people in ancient days—that they should lay hands upon the sick and they should recover; that in the name of Jesus they should cast out devils, open the eyes of the blind, unstop deaf ears, cause the lame to walk, and that through them, God would show forth his power in this latter-day Church and kingdom as he did in the former-day Church and kingdom. These promises were made to the believers in our day; and moreover Joseph Smith declared that when he obtained the plates of the Book of Mormon, it was by an angel flying through the midst of heaven, who directed him by vision to the place where these plates were deposited—the hill Cumorah in the State of New York. He was also commanded of the Almighty to translate the contents of these plates by the aid of the Urim and Thummim, which were found deposited with the plates, and he translated them according to God’s command.

God raised up, before this Church was organized, three other witnesses and they beheld an angel in his glory and power; they saw him descend from the heavens, and heard his voice, and they heard the voice of the Lord testify unto them that the translation by this young man, from these plates, had been given by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and they were commanded to bear record to all people, nations and tongues to whom this work should be sent. In all of these respects, there is a perfect correspondence between this latter-day work of God and the Bible.

Now let us come to those passages of Scripture which I read at the commencement of my discourse. The thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel informs us that before God should restore the House of Israel to their own lands he would bring forth the stick of Joseph, written upon for Joseph, and put it with the stick of Judah, written upon for Judah, and that he would make these two records one in his own hands; and then, for fear the children of Israel would not understand what Esekiel meant by writing upon one stick for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and then writing upon the second stick for Judah, he was required to hold up these two sticks, after having joined them in one before the children of Israel, and then says the Lord—“When the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these two sticks, written upon for these two tribes, say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will take the stick of Ephraim, the stick of Joseph, and I will put it with the stick of Judah, and they shall become one in mine hands; but the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hands before their eyes;” showing that that which was in Ezekiel’s hands was to typify that which the Lord said should be in his own hands.

Now you see that this record of the tribe of Joseph, called the Book of Mormon, agrees in all its particulars, so far as doctrine is concerned, with the record of the tribe of Judah; hence the testimony of two nations should be a witness to all people, nations and tongues respecting the truth of Christianity: and instead of doing away with Christianity, the Book of Mormon—the record or stick of Joseph, is an additional testimony to the great and important truths contained in the Bible; it is a testimony against the corruptions that have been introduced into the world under the name of Christianity.

Had we time we might refer you to many other prophecies that have been given and written in the Jewish record concerning the coming forth of the record of Joseph in the latter days, just prior to the gathering of the House of Israel. The Christian world may use all the exertions they are capable of, and spend all the money they please, to bring about the gathering of the Jews in the land of Palestine, never to be divided again, but they cannot accomplish it. Why? Because God has his own way to fulfill and bring about his purposes, and they must be accomplished as he has decreed in order that the prophecies may be fulfilled. Read the 29th chapter of Isaiah. Nearly the whole chapter speaks of future events, declaring how another book should come forth, and that before it was translated the words of the book, not the book itself, should be delivered to the learned, saying, “Read this, I pray thee;” and he replied, that it was a sealed book, and he could not read it. Then the book is delivered to him that is not learned, and he is requested to read it, but he replies, “I am not learned.” The next passage says—“Forasmuch as this people”—the people to whom the book is revealed—“draw near to me with their mouth, do honor me with their lips, and their hearts are removed far from me, and the fear of the Lord is taught to them by the precepts of men, behold I will proceed to do a marvelous work, even a marvelous work and a wonder; the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”

All this was fulfilled when the Lord brought forth the Book of Mormon. According to the prediction of Isaiah, a copy of some of the words or characters on the plates was sent, by him who found them, to the city of New York, and were presented to the learned for translation, but they could not translate them. They were the inscriptions of the ancient fathers of the Indians, and the learned knew nothing about them; they were as a sealed book to them. Then the Lord commanded this young man to translate the book, not by learning, but by inspiration, and in that respect the wisdom of the wise and learned did perish, and a marvelous work even a wonder was accomplished. In the same chapter it says that, “in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book.” What book? Answer, the book that was previously spoken of.” “The eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and darkness, the meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.”

Would you like to know who it is who have settled this Territory, and built up between one and two hundred towns and village’s now existing within its borders? It is the poor among men. The rich and great, the highminded and noble have despised the work of the Lord; but the poor among men, from many nations, have received the message and testimony which God has revealed by the ministration of an angel flying through the midst of heaven. They have left their native countries, and have gathered here, and here they are in the possession of a rich country and they have been made to “rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.”

And then again, what does the Lord say about the gathering of Jacob, when this book shall come forth? Read a little further on in the same chapter and you will find these words—“Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob. Jacob shall no longer be made ashamed, neither shall his face wax pale, 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 shall fear the God of Israel.” No longer be made ashamed! Why? Because the book that Isaiah speaks of, that should come forth, should be the means of gathering them and restoring them to their own land, and they should never become two kingdoms and two nations any more at all. Inquires one—“Why do you not go to the House of Israel, what have you Latter-day Saints been doing for forty years past? Have you gathered Israel?” No, we have not; if we had the Scriptures would not have been fulfilled. Why? Because the times of the Gentiles must first be fulfilled, and Jerusalem must be trodden down by them, until their times are fulfilled. What do you mean by their times being fulfilled, and the fullness of the Gentiles coming in? I mean just what the Lord means, that this Gospel, which God sends by the ministration of “another angel” from heaven, must be preached to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, to the Gentiles first; and when they get through with them, it will go to Israel, for the times of the Gentiles will then be fulfilled; in other words, when God shall speak to his servants, and say unto them—“It is enough, you have been faithful in your ministry, you have warned the nations, kindreds and tongues of the Gentiles sufficiently, now I call you to a still greater work, and will give you a new mission, not to go and preach to the Gentiles, but go to the remnants of the House of Israel wherever they can be found, and let your testimony be to them. Hunt them up from the four quarters of the earth, gather them out with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and bring them back to their own land.” When that time shall come Israel will be gathered and not till then.

Inquires one—“How long will the Gospel still be preached to the Gentiles?” I do not know; I can give you certain limits, but within those limits I cannot decide. God told us in the early days of this Church, by new revelation, that the times of the Gentiles would be fulfilled in the generation then living upon the earth. Forth-three years of that generation have already gone by. How many more years it will be before their times are fulfilled I cannot tell; but I know the day is not far distant when young men, now living in these mountains, will be commissioned to go, not to the Gentiles, for their times will be fulfilled, but the Lord will say to them—“Go forth and fish and hunt up Israel in the four quarters of the earth. Go to the remnants of Joseph that are in South America, and scattered over this vast continent from the frozen regions of the north to Cape Horn in South America; go and teach them the Gospel, for they are a remnant of the tribe of Joseph: and his arm will be made bare in that day in such a manner that they will not reject the truth, and they will be grafted in again into their own olive tree, and become a righteous branch of the house of Israel.

That is the destiny of our Indian tribes. Many may yet suffer and perish, but when the time of their tribulation is past, when the Lord has rewarded unto them double for all the sins that were committed by their ancient fathers in their apostacy, and when he has visited them in judgment according to the prophecies that are contained in this Book of Mormon, and the times of the Gentiles who now occupy this land are fulfilled, then the Lord will make bare his arm, and he will redeem these remnants of Israel, that they may inherit the blessings promised to their ancient fathers.

I do not know that I have time to say anything more on this subject. To those who are unacquainted with the vast amount of testimony in the Scriptures in relation to this work, I say, read the ancient prophecies, Isaiah especially; read the Psalms of David, those which speak of the events which are to precede the second coming of Christ; read the prophecy of Daniel, about the setting up of the latter-day kingdom, whose beginning should be like a little stone cut out of the mountains without hands, rolling forth and becoming a great mountain and filling the whole earth, not like the destiny of the ancient kingdom, to be destroyed out of the earth through apostacy. The latter-day kingdom is to increase in greatness, power and glory, until the kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven shall be given into the hands of the Saints of the Most High, and the wicked shall be entirely swept from the face of the earth. Read all these prophecies, and when you have read and understood them, you will know what the Latter-day Saints believe, and what are their views in relation to the future. Amen.

The Increased Powers and Capacities of Man in His Future State

Orson Pratt

A lecture by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered before the Young Men’s Literary Association, Ogden City, Tuesday evening, January 27, 1874. Reported by David W. Evans.

I have been requested by brother Richards to address the Young Men’s Literary Association, organized here in Ogden, together with such individuals as should be present on the occasion. I do so cheerfully, although, I must say, in the commencement of my remarks, that I have had no time whatever to digest the subject I propose to speak upon this evening; other duties have been so numerous, including those in the Legislative Assembly, that I have scarcely had a moment’s leisure to devote to its consideration. The subject upon which it has been proposed that I should address you is, The Increased Capacities and Powers of Man in his Future State. It is a subject which is theological in its nature, and cannot be treated altogether in a scientific point of view for all that we know concerning the future state of man is by divine revelation, and in no other way; hence we shall be under the necessity, from the very nature of the subject, to appeal to the revelations which God has given, both ancient and modern, in relation to the future state of man, and the capacities with which he will be endowed in the world to come. However, there may be connected with this subject many scientific ideas by way of illustration.

We find ourselves here in this world in the enjoyment of intelligence, light and truth in some measure far above any creatures which God has made. Placed here upon the earth among the myriads of its creatures, man seems to be prominent, in fact the masterpiece of creation, a being endowed with intelligence and reasoning powers, and with more or less power over all other beings and creatures upon the face of the earth. But still, notwithstanding his intellectual powers and faculties, man, in his present condition, is a poor, weak, frail, fallen being, subject to afflictions, pains, accident and sickness, and after a while he passes off from this stage of action.

The inquiry naturally arises among all people, whether this being called man exists after this body crumbles back to its mother earth, and whether the intelligent part of man continues to exist, or whether it dies with the body? There are many reasons to suppose that man will exist in a future state. Those who believe in a Supreme Being, capable of producing man and the earth upon which he dwells, might almost without the aid of revelation, naturally conclude that man, being the workmanship of the hands of that Supreme Being, was not intended to pass away and be forgotten with the termination of this brief existence, but that he was intended to live hereafter. But when we search the sacred records on this subject, we find an abundance of evidence and proof to thoroughly satisfy ourselves that when we lay down these bodies to rest in the grave, if we are Saints, we lay them down with the expectation and with the full assurance and hope that they will be resuscitated and will again live, in a more perfect form than what they exist at the present time. We look for this, we hope for it, we pray for it, we seek with all our hearts to be prepared for this future state of being and the first resurrection.

When we examine divine revelation upon the subject of the resurrection, we find that every part of this mortal tabernacle that is laid down in the grave, so far as needful to constitute a perfect body, will be resurrected. We are informed to this effect in various revelations, but more especially in the Book of Mormon; and I suppose that the young men who organized this Association believe in that sacred and divine record as well as in the Bible, and also in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, therefore I shall address myself to them as to persons who are believers therein.

In the Book of Mormon we find Alma discoursing upon the resurrection of the dead, and also Amulek, and they both testify that the bodies we lay down in the grave will come forth again, that every part will be restored to its perfect frame; both those Prophets declare that every limb and joint will be restored, though the body crumble back to mother earth, and the bones—the most solid portions of the human system, will be dissolved and return again to the dust. They declare that the materials will be brought together and reconstructed that, bone will come to its bone, and that the flesh that now clothes these bones, and the sinews and skin which cover the flesh will also be restored. Ezekiel the Prophet, in the 37th chapter of his prophecy, says that bones and flesh, sinews and skin will all come forth and be made out of the dust into a perfect tabernacle, and everything will be restored to its perfect frame; and so particularly do the Prophets Amulek and Alma discourse upon this subject, that they declare that not even one hair of the head shall be lost.

Some, perhaps, might suppose that, as the human tabernacle is composed of certain familiar elements, such as hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and the various elementary principles that exist around us when the body is dissolved and those various elements are scattered and driven to the four winds, as in the case of the burning of a body, and those elements enter into the composition of vegetables, and the vegetables are eaten by animals, serving to increase their flesh, and again, these animals are eaten by human beings, that these continual transfers of matter from one state and condition to another would preclude the idea of the resurrection of the same body again. But there are several things to be considered in relation to this matter. We have a revelation in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, called “The Olive Leaf,” which says—“Ye which have been quickened by a portion of the celestial glory, shall in that day receive even a fullness, even ye shall receive your bodies, which are the same bodies that you now have.” This seems to be so plain that we are obliged to admit that we shall receive the same bodies.

Now the fact that the particles which compose our bodies undergo so many transmutations after we leave this mortal existence, entering into the flesh of animals, then helping to build up the bodies of human beings would almost seem, especially to the minds of infidels in opposition to the idea of a resurrection; and I do not believe that every particle that is ever incorporated in the systems of human creatures will be resurrected with them, I have no such idea. But a sufficient amount of the particles which have once been incorporated in the system will be used by the Almighty in the resurrection to make perfect and complete tabernacles for celestial spirits to dwell in. The idea that every particle that ever entered into the composition of our mortal bodies will be resurrected is inconsistent [inconsistent]; for who does not know that a man often changes in weight? For instance, when he is an infant he weighs but a few pounds; he continues to increase in flesh through the food that he partakes of, and not only in flesh but also in the size of his bones until he attains perhaps a hundred and ninety pounds in addition to the ten or twelve pounds that he weighed in infancy. Then again he wastes away by some long lingering sickness, and after having been several months brought down he weighs himself and finds that he has lost sixty or seventy pounds of flesh. Where has it gone? Somewhere; it has disappeared. Again he revives from his sickness and he begins to recruit by partaking of various kinds of nourishment, and by and bye he weighs perhaps two hundred pounds. Another fit of sickness overtakes him and he loses fifty or sixty pounds in weight again, and thus in the course of a long life, by intervals of sickness and health, perhaps some twelve or fifteen hundred pounds of matter have departed from his body, and been renewed again through the food that he has eaten.

Then again, we are in the habit of taking knives or rasors and paring our nails every little while, so much so that we can safely say that in the course of a year we cut off or pare from our fingers and toes, as the case may be, perhaps an inch of nail, at this rate, a man who lives to be seventy-two years of age would pare off seventy-two inches of nail, which would be six feet. Now can we suppose than when a man rises from the dead that he will come forth with nails six feet long? (laughter,) I cannot conceive any such thing, and yet this is a portion of the body, and men, in the resurrection, will have nails the same as they have here, but I expect they will be of a reasonable length, and a sufficient portion of the nails of his fingers and toes will be resurrected to make handsome comely nails on the fingers and toes, while all the rest will be surplus and unnecessary.

Then again, we are in the habit of having our hair shingled. This custom is generally commenced in childhood, say three or four years old, and continued through life, and in the course of a year perhaps four or five inches of hair may be cut from the head and cast away. Now, in seventy-two years, if a man did not lose his hair altogether, he would perhaps cut off something like twenty-four feet of hair and beard. Can we suppose that in the resurrection we shall come forth with our hair and beard a rod long? I do not look for any such thing. When, therefore, we read in the Book of Mormon that every hair of the head shall be restored, I do not expect that the whole of the matter that has been incorporated in the hair or in the beard will be restored, but I look for a sufficient quantity of the material once existing in the hair and beard to be restored to make one appear comely, for the hair is an ornament.

It is said by some, whether true or false I shall not pretend to say, that, independent of sickness and losing and regaining our flesh, a robust man once in seven years, throws off the greater portion of the materials of his body; that even the very bones of our bodies give out material which is thrown off, and so much so that when a part of a bone is taken away it is replaced by the ordinary process of partaking of food, &c. This may, or may not be so, I do not pretend to say, although it is generally believed by scientific men, physicians and those who have made experiments that this is the case. Now supposing it is true, a man who lives to be seventy-seven years old would change his entire body eleven times during the course of his life. Do we suppose that, when man comes forth in the resurrection, he will possess all the flesh he has gained and lost by sicknes[s] and regained in health, and all that he has lost and recovered in these septennial changes? If so he would possess one or two tons of matter in his physical system as a tabernacle for the spirit to dwell in. I do not for a moment suppose any such thing, but all this, except the amount really necessary to make a perfect proportionate tabernacle for the spirit to dwell in, will be surplus matter.

What becomes of this surplus matter? The beasts, fowls and fish and all living creatures are to be resurrected, and if man has had incorporated in his system in the course of his mortal life nine-tenths more matter than it needs to make a perfect resurrected body, why not let that surplus matter go where it belongs—to the beasts of the field, to the fowls of the air and the fish of the sea, that they may receive their tabernacles, and be resurrected? It is said by some that there are certain portions of the body which do not dissolve. If there are, I do not know anything about it. The bones dissolve, and the flesh, sinews, skin, teeth and hair, and every part of the human body with which we are acquainted returns to dust. If such be the case there must be a restoration, for if the body did not dissolve, there could not be a restoration.

We will now pass along, and ask, in regard to the condition of the body after its resurrection, will it then be subject to pain, sickness and sorrow? No, we are told in Scripture, upon which we found our arguments, that when the new heavens and the new earth are made, God will make all things new, and there shall be no more sorrow nor pain, neither shall there be any more death, but pain, sorrow, weeping and death will be done away; consequently the immortal body will be free from all those evils that have come by the fall. Let us examine another thing in regard to the immortal body. Will it be absolutely necessary to receive nourishment by food? I do not ask whether immortal beings will partake of food—that is another subject—but will it be necessary to partake of food to sustain and preserve the immortal body? We read that immortal beings have eaten food, that even our first parents, Adam and Eve, before they fell, while they were yet immortal, were permitted to enter into the Garden of Eden, and that they had food to eat of a vegetable nature, that they were permitted to eat of all the fruits of the garden except one. But was that absolutely necessary that they might remain immortal beings? I doubt it very much. Immortality was stamped upon their very systems, and they would have been this day alive had they not transgressed the commandments of God whether they had eaten food or not. In the beginning the beasts of the field fed upon vegetables. In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis we read—“And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life I have given every green herb for meat.” In those days, while Adam and Eve were immortal, the beasts, fowls and fish did not destroy each other, which would indicate immortality. If in those days the lion would eat the lamb, the wolf, the kid, and ravenous beasts would devour their fellow beasts, it would have been an indication that mortality existed then in the earth; but there was no such thing as mortality when man was first placed in the Garden of Eden. Neither beast of the field, fowl of the air nor fish of the sea was then subject to death, but all, like man, were immortal, and yet they partook of food, but their food was of a vegetable nature.

We read that, after Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to his disciples while they were out fishing, and he called them to the shore and said—“Children, have ye any meat?” They soon discovered that it was the Lord who had appeared to them and they came to the shore, and broiled some fish on a fire of coals, and Jesus partook with them, yet he was an immortal being. But whether it was necessary for him to eat in order to sustain himself is another question. But can immortal beings live without food? Yes, even the children of mortality can live without food when the Lord sees proper. For instance, Moses, on two different occasions, when he went up into the mount, was there forty days and forty nights, and the Scripture says, expressly, that he neither ate nor drank during that time. Now, if a person in mortality could be sustained forty days and forty nights, on two occasions, as Moses was, why would it be necessary for an immortal personage to eat to preserve life. I think they eat, perhaps, because it is a pleasure, and, it may have certain beneficial tendencies that we know nothing about; but as they are raised to immortality it scarcely seems probable that that immortality will be dependent upon eating and drinking for its preservation. In the testimony of our Savior to his Apostles, we learn that resurrected beings will eat and drink, for says he—“Ye that have followed me in the regeneration shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and ye shall eat and drink at my table.” When will that be? During the Millennium, after the resurrection of those twelve Apostles, and when Jesus descends from heaven they will descend with him, and when he sits upon his throne in one of the apartments of the Temple, the twelve Apostles will sit upon their thrones, each one having a separate tribe of Israel over whom he will reign; and when dinner is ready, or supper, as the case may be, they will sit down at the Lord’s table, and will eat and drink in his presence. We might say much more in relation to this matter, but if there is anything revealed to prove that immortality is dependant upon eating and drinking, the same as our mortal lives are dependant upon, I am not aware of it.

There is another subject that naturally arises in reflecting upon the future state of man, and his physical and mental capacities in that state, and that is, Will man, after the resurrection, require sleep? I think not. Many, perhaps, will argue that things of this life are typical of those which will take place in the world to come. I deny it in some things. There are many things as they were originally designed and organized, which were typical of things to come or as they will exist hereafter; then there are many things that are not typical of the world to come. For instance, we die here; is that any evidence that we shall die hereafter? Oh no, death is a consequence of the imperfections introduced by the Fall; it was not in the body when our first parents were placed in the Garden of Eden. Man brought death upon himself, and it and other evils introduced by that event will be done away, and hence in a future state will not exist. Sleep refreshes us here in this life, and we spend about one-third part of our time in that condition, and it is absolutely necessary to our existence in mortality; for without it we should soon perish and die. But because that is the case here, shall we say that it will be necessary in a future state? I think not. It looks inconsistent to me, and like an imperfection in the great work of the Creator, to suppose that for about one-third part of all future eternity intelligent beings are to forget even their own existence in slumber, knowing nothing that is transpiring around them in the one-third part of the thousands and millions of ages to come. It does not look reasonable.

Having said this much in regard to the immortal body and its increased powers and faculties, let me inquire still further, Will this tabernacle, after the resurrection, be subject to the same universal laws of nature that now regulates terrestrial things, and not only terrestrial but celestial, that is the heavens and planetary system above us? Will mankind, in other words, be chained down and limited by those laws that now prevail? Will heat burn an immortal being and produce pain as it burns the tabernacle of mortality? I think not. Even here in this world children of mortality have been placed in conditions where they have been subject to the most intense heat, as in the case of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the three Hebrew children, who were placed in a furnace where the fire had been made seven times hotter than it was wont to be; probably the most intense heat they knew how to produce was prepared for these men of God, so great indeed was it that those who cast them into the flames were consumed by it while so doing, but the three Hebrews were not affected by it. Now if children of mortality can so far prevail against the element of fire that it has not power even to scorch a hair of their heads, how much greater will be the power of those who are immortal! Hence, I do not believe that heat will have any tendency to dissolve, destroy, injure or to produce any unpleasant effects upon them, as it has with us here in this world. Here then will be an increase of power and capacity, so far as the body is concerned, over and above that which we have in this life.

Again, we find that here in this life we are chained down by another law, namely the law of gravitation, which has such power and influence over us that with all the exertions we can make with our bodily energies, we can only rise a few feet, by a spring, above the surface of the earth, and by bringing into activity some of the elements of nature, for instance, inflating a balloon with hydrogen gas, or some gas that is much lighter than the common atmosphere that we breathe, a person is enabled to ascend some six or seven miles into the air. But this is in obedience to certain laws with which we are well acquainted, bringing into requisition certain materials lighter than the atmosphere, which it buoys up as it does smoke. Now will the children of immortality be subject to the law of gravitation? When they please to walk upon the earth—an act performed by virtue of the law of gravitation—they can do so. We have an example of this in our Savior walking after his resurrection, with two of his disciples, and conversing with them on many subjects; also when he descended on this American continent and walked around among the Nephites, going a little way and kneeling down upon the ground and praying to his Father, showing that, for the time being, he was subject to the law of gravitation, that is, he permitted it to have power over him. But he had a superior power given to him, by which he could control the law of universal gravitation just as he pleased, as in the case of his ascension from the Mount of Olives contrary to the laws of gravitation, and a cloud receiving him from the sight of his disciples who stood gazing on the scene.

Again, we find that, besides the immortal Savior, mortal men have had power over gravitation, so that they could mount up, as the Prophet Isaiah has said, “on wings as eagles.” We have an instance in the case of Philip, who baptized the eunuch: as soon as he had performed that ordinance he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and he found himself at Azotus. This was no doubt a miracle, which was performed before the celebrated man who had just been baptized to confirm his faith, for in seeing a man thus caught away, he would undoubtedly be convinced that he was a man who had some Godlike powers connected with him.

Again, we have an instance in the case of Nephi, who lived on this continent just before the coming of Christ. He was commanded to go forth and warn the people of the terrible judgments that were about to befall them if they did not repent; and the Lord gave him power that if he should say to this temple—“Be thou rent in twain,” it should be done; and if he should say to this mountain—“Be thou removed,” it should be done; and whatsoever he should seal upon the earth should be sealed in heaven, and whatsoever judgment be pronounced in the name of the Lord upon that people, it should be done even according to his word. He went forth in the midst of the Nephites, from city to city, and so great was their wickedness that they would not repent of their sins, but sought to destroy him; but as often as they gathered in multitudes to rush upon and destroy him, the Spirit of the Lord took him up, and carried him away to another place, that he might warn them also. Now, if a man in a state of mortality can gain such power and influence with God as to prevail against and overcome the law of gravitation, which chains us down to the surface of the earth, how much more power will immortal beings have!

Again we, by the laws which surround us, are limited in our hearing. What man ever heard a sound fifty miles off? There may have been such instances, but as a general thing there are, I presume, very few men on the surface of our globe who ever heard a sound that came thirty miles through our atmosphere; hence the faculty of hearing, through the organs of the mortal tabernacle, through the medium of the atmosphere, which transfers the sound, is extremely limited in its action. But will that faculty be thus limited in the immortal state? I think not. I think there will be facilities for hearing, not only at a greater distance, but also through a more perfect medium, transferring sound with immensely greater velocity than it now travels through our atmosphere. We all know that sound is transferred, at sea level, where the air is dense, about eleven hundred and eighty feet in a second, taking almost five seconds to travel a mile, which is very slow motion, yet, very swift compared with the motion of our railway cars. Experiment has demonstrated that with a more perfect medium for conveying it, sound will travel very rapidly. For instance, place your ear over a tube, the other end of which is under water, and let a bell be struck, stationed under water at some miles distance, and it will be found that the sound will travel through the particles of water much more rapidly than through the atmosphere.

Again, let a succession of timbers be joined, extending one or two miles, and let a sound be made at the end of the wood farthest from you, and you will find that it will reach your ear at a much quicker rate than that at which sound travels through the atmosphere. Again, you take metal rods and connect them together, and let a sound be made at the end remote from you, and it is found that, in some metals, the sound will travel many times faster along the metal rods than it will through the atmosphere; hence you see that the velocity of sound is really dependent upon the nature of the elements or substance through which it is conveyed.

Now how do we know but what the immortal body may be so constructed that there may be certain fluids—fluids, perhaps, with which we are not acquainted—intervening between world and world, and between one star and another—certain thin elastic fluids, so subtle in their nature that we cannot see them with the natural eye, or perceive them by any of the sense of the mortal body, yet the immortal ear may be so constructed that this refined substance would transmit sound with the velocity of light itself. There may be such things in nature; we cannot say they do not exist. We do know, so far as light is concerned, that it is transferred from world to world by the vibrations of the waves of a luminous ether intervening between world and world; consequently, if these waves can proceed forth for thousands and thousands of millions of miles, it proves to us that all space is filled with an ether, which we cannot see, and yet we know it must exist, in order to transfer light.

Now, supposing that this same kind of ether, or some other substance, which might not in all cases affect the eye, but which would yet be susceptible to the impressions of sound, then sounds, voices or noises in one world might be transferred through that medium to the immortal beings in another world. There is nothing inconsistent in this. It may be inconsistent according to our limited ideas; but it is not inconsistent with the power of that Almighty Being who controls all these materials. To prove this to you, let me refer you to that revelation in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants called the “Olive Leaf.” We read there that when the first angel among the seven shall sound his trump, all nations and kindreds and tongues of the earth shall hear it. Will it be so much louder than any sound we now hear, that it will go to all the nations and tongues of the earth and all men hear it? “Every ear,” the revelation says, shall hear the sound of that trump; it will be something that all the kindreds, peoples, tongues and nations upon the face of the whole earth will be able to perceive and understand. Now, there must be some medium through which this sound is transferred, different from our atmosphere; or, in other words, the Lord, by his miraculous power, will cause this sound to proceed forth through the atmosphere in a different manner from what it now proceeds, for if it took the sound of that trump five seconds to go a mile, it would require a long time for it to travel eight, ten or fifteen thousand miles, so as to reach the ears of the different nations of the earth. Does not this prove then, that God will, at that time, either effect the ear of man or act upon some materials in connection with our globe, so that sound will be more rapidly conveyed than it is at the present time? Now, if this change is effected among the children of mortality, what may we not expect among the children of immortality? Is it not reasonable to believe that among them there will not only be enlarged capacities of hearing, but enlarged facilities by which the Lord will communicate with the people of different worlds?

Again, we will take the sense of vision. Although that sense is not limited like hearing, yet it is limited so far as opaque bodies are concerned. What man, of all the children of mortality, without the miraculous power of the Spirit of God resting upon him, is able to see into the depths of our globe? No man living, naturally, can see through anything that is opaque, and no man, naturally, can penetrate with his powers of vision into the interior of the earth. It is not transparent to the visual organs of mortal beings, no light, apparently, proceeds therefrom, and affects the optic nerve of man, so as to produce the sense of seeing. Man, in this state, can only see those objects from which light can be radiated or reflected. Shall we be thus limited in our perceptions when we receive our immortal bodies? By no means. Immortal beings will have their capacity for seeing so much enlarged, that they will be able to see down into the earth just as easily as they can see things around about them, or the bodies that revolve in space. I will refer you to modern revelation to prove that immortal beings will be able to see through opaque bodies, and into materials from which the natural light does not radiate, as is the case here among the children of mortality. You among my hearers who are acquainted with the little work called “The Pearl of Great Price”—a very precious book, because it contains many important ideas given by revelation—will recollect the revelation given to Moses, He inquired of God concerning the creation of this heaven and this earth, and obtained the information now contained in the Book of Genesis respecting the creation of the world. But before this he had a great vision in relation to the earth, the revelation informing us, in substance, as follows: “Moses was again clothed upon with the glory of God, and he beheld every particle of the earth, and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God.” Now, this was a very extended vision. He saw something which you and I have never seen, unless we have had a similar vision. Only think of a man, here in a state of mortality, being permitted to look down into the earth, which is about eight thousand miles in diameter, and seeing not only large portions of its interior, but discerning every particle of it. There was not a particle of it that he did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God.

Now, how do we know but what the Spirit of God which exists in connection with the elements, is able to quicken the sight of an individual so that he can see even to the very centre of the solid earth with all the apparent ease with which he can see objects near him on its surface? Now, for instance, what human being ever saw an ultimate particle of the elements of nature? We can see their compounds; we can see the particles when united in sufficient bulk to affect our vision. We can construct instruments which will magnify a common house fly’s eye and make it appear twelve feet in diameter; we can look into a drop of water and see creatures apparently two or three inches long floating there, while with the naked eye we cannot see anything. If, then, no man living, without the aid of the Spirit of God, has ever been able to detect even one of these elementary atoms or particles of matter, how great must have been the enlargement of the vision of Moses—a man still in mortality—to enable him to discern every particle of the earth, inside as well as on its surface! If a man in a state of mortality could have his vision so enlarged that he could see all these particles at once, what may be expected when we are immortal, and entirely freed from all the defects of mortality? We may expect that the immortal being will have his vision so enlarged that he can, not only look with all ease upon every particle of this earth, but on the particles of millions of worlds like this. I can see nothing that would hinder an immortal being from having his vision enlarged far beyond the enlargement which the mortal Moses received before he obtained a knowledge of this creation.

Another thing occurs to my mind in connection with this. You read in that same “Pearl of Great Price” concerning the vastness of the number of the creations of the Almighty. The language is something like this—“Enoch beheld the Lord and the heavenly hosts weeping over the fallen inhabitants of this world, and he marveled at it, and he said unto the Lord, ‘How is it that thou canst weep, seeing that thou art holy and from all eternity to eternity, and were it possible that man could number all the particles of this earth and millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations, and thy curtains are stretched out still, and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there, and out of all the creations which thou hast made, thou hast taken Zion to thine own bosom.” The Lord gave Enoch a reason why the heavens wept and shed forth their tears like rain on the mountains; he told him that it was in consequence of the wickedness of the inhabitants of the earth. And the Lord said—“Man of Holiness is my name, and Endless is my name, and I can stretch forth mine hand and hold all the creations that I have made, and mine eye can pierce them also.”

Do you not see, then, the increased powers and faculties which the Almighty has? His creations are so numerous that the number of particles composing this earth would not be a beginning to them, yet the Lord’s eye can pierce all these creations, and he can hold them, as it were, in his hand. Not physically, not hold them in the hollow of his hand as we can a ball or an orange; but by the power which he possesses he can hold them and his eye can pierce them. Would not this be a far more extensive vision than that which Moses had, when under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord? Why, yes; he was enabled to see the particles of this one creation, a mere speck among God’s works, while the Lord was able to pierce all these creations which Enoch speaks of. Does it not show an increased capacity in those who are immortal in a future state? In other words, among those who dwell in the celestial worlds? It certainly does.

Now, shall we be made like the Lord, or are we some other species of beings, so far disconnected with him that we never need expect to reach this high standard? How is it? Who, are we? We are told by Divine revelation that we are the sons of God; we are told in the vision received by the Prophet Joseph, concerning these different creations, that “the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.” Indeed! Begotten sons and daughter unto God? The inhabitants of these creations? Yes. This agrees with what the New and Old Testaments, and the various revelations which God has given, clearly declare—that God is the Father of our spirits. A writer in the New Testament says—“Beloved, now are we the sons of God”—that is, in this life—“but it does not yet appear what we shall be, but when he shall appear we shall be like him.” Not unlike him, not so far separated from him that the one will be finite and the other infinite; but “we shall be like him.”

This is consistent and reasonable. Every species of being with which we are acquainted begets its own kind, and the young thereof, whether man, quadrupeds, fowls or fish, finally grow up and become like their parents. This is a universal law of nature, so far as we know; therefore if we are begotten sons and daughters of God, if we are his offspring, he is our Father, and why separate man from all the rest of creation, and say that he can never become like his Father? If all other beings become like their parents, why not we attain to the same? And if our Father and God can pierce all those creations mentioned by Enoch, and his eye discern what is going on in the midst of them all, why may not his children become like him in this respect? This is what the beloved disciple John the Revelator, one of the Apostles of Christ, meant. He says—“Now, we are the Sons of God, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but when he shall appear we shall be like him.” He knew that much, though he did not comprehend all of the perfect capacities of man in this state. Though we are chained down here by the laws of nature, yet realizing that we are the children of that Almighty Being who controls universal nature, and all the worlds that are spoken of, we expect to come up, and that the attributes which our eternal Father possesses will be fully developed in us, and that we also shall be able to penetrate the immensity of space and gaze upon the workmanship of our Father’s hands.

It is said concerning us that we shall be in the presence of God when we become immortal and perfect beings. We are now not in his presence; the Fall has let down a vail between us and our Father and God. This vail does not prevent the eye of the Almighty from seeing and discerning the conduct of his children, but it prevents us, while in this state of mortality, from beholding his presence, unless we rend the vail by our faith and obedience and, like the brother of Jared, are permitted to come back into his presence. But to be in the presence of God is it absolutely necessary that our earth should be wafted away from its present orbit in the solar system and carried off to some immense distance in space? Is this really necessary? What are we to understand by being in the presence of God? Is it necessary, to do so, that we should be in the same vicinity or within a few yards or feet of him? I think not. We are now laboring under the imperfections of the fall, and because of that fall a vail shuts us from his presence; but let the effects of the fall be removed and mankind be able to again look upon the face of their Father and Creator, and they will be in his presence.

Will the spirits of men, before they receive their resurrected body, return into the presence of God? Yes. Read what Alma said to his son Corianton on this subject, describing the state of the spirit between the time of death and the resurrection. He says—“It has been made known to me by an angel that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are dead, whether wicked or righteous, shall return home to that God who gave them life;” that is, they go back into his presence. The wicked, however, are again cast out into outer darkness, the light of the countenance of their Lord is again withdrawn from them, a vail is let down between them and their Father and God. But how is it with the righteous? When they go back and behold the face of their Father they will continue in the light of his countenance, and have the privilege of seeing him. They have returned to their ancient home, to that God who gave them life, to the mansions and familiar places where they dwelt ages and ages before they came here. They have gone back to meet with familiar acquaintances, and their memories will be so increased and perfected after they leave this body that the things of their former state and condition will be fresh to them, and they will look upon this little speck called time, in which they have dwelt seventy, eighty or ninety years, as but a dream or night vision during which the things of former ages were shut from their memories; but when they get back to their ancient home they will have a bright recollection of all these things, and of the familiar countenance of their Father, and the countenance of his only begotten Son, and the countenances of the millions on millions of their brother and sister spirits, with whom they once lived. And the memories of the wicked, after they leave this body, will be so increased that they will have a bright recollection, Alma says, of all their guilt. Here they forget a good many things wherein they have displeased God; but in that condition, even before the resurrection, they will have a bright recollection of all their guilt, which will kindle in them a flame like that of an unquenchable fire, creating in their bosoms a feeling of torment, pain and misery, because they have sinned against their own Father and their own God, and rejected his counsels.

To go back then, into the presence of God, is to be placed in a condition wherein his presence can be seen. It does not mean, in all cases, that people who return into his presence are immediately placed within a few yards or rods, or within a short distance of his person. Is there any revelation to prove this? Yes. I have already quoted what the Lord said in relation to all these creations. He said that from the whole of them which he had made he had taken Zion to his own bosom. Now if he has taken Zion to his own bosom from all these numberless creations, can they all be concentrated in a little spot of a few rods in diameter in order to get into his presence? Why no. If each Zion did not occupy any more space than one particle of our globe, yet inasmuch as the worlds are more numberless than the particles of millions of earths like this, how could they all get into so small a space as to get near to the person of the Lord? They could not do it. But suffice it to say the vail is removed, and no matter how distant a redeemed world may be, it will be in the presence of God.

In order to make it familiar let me bring up an illustration well known among the children of mortality. For instance, we have, within the present century, invented methods of communicating by telegraph, by means of which, with the proper facilities, we in this room in Ogden can converse with the people in London, and they, by means of the wires laid on the bed of the great Atlantic Ocean, can reply in about two seconds. This wonderful invention has, in some measure, diminished the distance between the inhabitants of Ogden and those of London, has it not? The people of the last century and of centuries preceding would have had to wait for a long period of time, before they could get a communication from London; but now a few seconds are all that is necessary. We will suppose that it was within the scope of man’s power—which it is not—to hear as well as to converse through the aid of the telegraph line. Supposing that by such means we could hear the people in London; or that there was a facility for so doing, such as is mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants, when the first angel shall sound, by which the people of all the earth will hear the words that he speaks: I say, supposing there was such a principle brought into operation so that we could actually hear the words spoken by the people in London, would not that also diminish the impressions of distance? Now, supposing still further, that there was a principle differing from our natural light, a principle of light of a more refined nature, that could penetrate from London to this point, so that it would affect our eyes, enabling us to see persons there, then we could both see and hear them at eight or nine thousand miles distant. Would we not be in their presence? Would it be really necessary for us to travel eight or nine thousand miles to get into the same room with them, in order to get into their presence? We should consider ourselves in their presence if we could see them; and if in addition to this we could communicate with and make them hear us, we should feel all that familiarity and sociability that we should if we were within a few steps of them. I look upon the condition of things in this respect in a future state as somewhat similar to that. If you or I lived upon one of the most remote stars that has ever been seen by the most powerful telescopic instruments invented by man, from which it would take light, traveling at the immense rate of one hundred and ninety-two thousand miles every beat of the pulse, six hundred thousand years to reach this planetary system; I say, suppose we were living on one of these very remote bodies, and suppose there was a principle pervading all space that would transmit to the immortal eyes much more swiftly than the natural light, and that 192,000 miles a second would be considered a very slow motion compared with that still more refined light that shines forth from the personage of our Father and God; and supposing that our eyes were so constructed and adapted that we could behold the light of his countenance without traversing this space, or in a time much less than six hundred thousand years, but still taking a certain length of time to go all that distance, would we not be in the presence of God? If every world has got to be removed into his presence one by one, and all the inhabitants thereof, how many millions on millions of ages would it take, before all these successively could enter into his presence so as to be near by him? If each world should roll into his presence successively, and then give place to others, we should be out of his presence almost continually, for all those worlds I have named are not a beginning, not even a beginning to the number of his creations, and yet if they had to come along and be successively rolled into his presence, so as to be near him personally, if each one stayed there only five minutes, there is no man who could calculate or realize anything about the almost infinite duration that would have to elapse before they could come round a second time into his presence. Hence there is something more perfect in the construction of the works of the Almighty that lets man into his presence whatsoever part of the universe he may exist in—we may have the veil removed, and his presence become visible.

Can they converse with him when situated at these immense distances from his person? Yes. How? Through those more perfect faculties which God will give to immortal man. It is as easy for his children when they are perfected and made like him, to converse with him at these immense distances and for their eyes to pierce all these creations as it is for their Father and God to do so.

Thus we see that man is a God in embryo, agreeing with that which the Lord has revealed to us in the vision given to Joseph—“They shall be Gods, even the Sons of God,” growing up like their Father, their bodies fashioned like his glorious body. The attributes and faculties with which man is endowed in a mortal state are Godlike in their nature, but they are weakened and incapable of any very great expansion by being shut up in this frail mortal body; but when we are freed from mortality we have the promise that we shall become like him, and if he can grasp in his comprehension and vision all these numberless creations, so will those who are made like him be able to do the same.

There are many other things that would be profitable to dwell upon in discussing the increased capacities and powers of man in his future state besides the physical qualities I have spoken of. There is his increased knowledge and the proportionate increase of power that will accompany it; the great creative principle, the mechanical work which was performed by our Father and God in constructing creations, and in redeeming and glorifying them; that great, principle of knowledge by which our Father and God can call forth from a shapeless mass of dust an immortal tabernacle, into which enters an immortal spirit. All these principles of wisdom, knowledge and power will be given to his children, and will enable them to organize the elements, form creations, and call forth from the dust intelligent beings, who will be under their charge and control. These things might be spoken of, had we time this evening; indeed it is a subject that is almost inexhaustible in its nature. When we commence to speak upon it, we scarcely know where to begin, and having launched out upon it, we scarcely know where to end, for there is no end to it.

Man is destined for all future duration—destined to act in the capacity of a celestial being. The faculties he now possesses in embryo are but little understood, yet we occasionally see them developed among holy men, as in the case of Enoch, Moses and Abraham, who had the Urim and Thummin, and who were able to behold many of those creations of which I have spoken. Among the many attributes and powers which man will possess in a future state, I will mention that of being able to comprehend more than one thing at a time. Here we are chained down to one thing at a time, and while a man is attending to and trying to comprehend one thing he almost loses sight of everything else, except it be some few things that are very familiar to him. If he undertakes to work a mathematical problem, he can not, at the same time, work out a hundred problems more, and come to a conclusion in regard to them. He has to concentrate his mind on one subject and bring forth the demonstrations step by step in order to arrive at certain conclusions.

Will man in a future state have increased faculties in regard to this? Yes. Our Heavenly Father notices every hair of the heads of the children of men that falls to the ground; not one of your hairs shall fall to the ground, says Jesus, unnoticed by your Father which is in heaven. If he were noticing a hair falling from my head, could he notice at the same time the falling of a hair from your head? Yes; and if the hair were falling from the heads of every individual on the earth at the same instant he could notice the whole of it, for he has this increased faculty by which he can grasp in his vision myriads of things at once.

We might also speak of the faculty of going back into the past ages of eternity, and comprehending works that have been millions of ages in progress, also the faculty of seeing and comprehending that which will take place in the future ages of eternity, for millions of years to come. Here we prophecy in part, and here we have knowledge in part; here we gaze upon one thing at once; here we can comprehend the future in some measure. But we “see through a glass darkly,” then we shall see face to face; then knowledge in part will be done away, for the past, present and future, and millions on millions of creations will come before us and be alike comprehended by the vision of immortal man.

I will not detain you any longer. God bless this Association, and we hope that it may exert a salutary influence not only over the young men of Ogden, but over the young ladies also, and over the middle-aged and old, and that they may seek every opportunity to develop the godlike qualities with which they are endowed, that in a time to come the young men here, being filled with the spirit of wisdom and understanding and the knowledge of God, may be able to bear off His kingdom victoriously, and be prepared for the time when the knowledge and glory of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the great deep. Amen.

What the Gospel Teaches, etc.

John Taylor

Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, Feb. 1, 1874. Reported by David W. Evans.

I have had a note forwarded to me since I came here, by a party who is a stranger to me, requesting that I would speak on our leading doctrines. There are so many great principles developed in the eternal truths of God that we believe in, that it is a somewhat difficult task to attempt, in so short a time, any adequate exposition thereof, and if I touch upon any of these principles, it must be very lightly. The request reminds me of an anecdote which I read a short time ago. A lady met with a gentleman who had traveled very extensively over the world. He was a statesman, a philosopher, and quite a celebrity. He and the lady were going to take dinner together, and some ten or fifteen minutes before dinner was served, the lady said to him—“Mr.—, I am very happy to have the privilege of seeing and speaking with you, and now while they are preparing dinner, we shall have ten or fifteen minutes, will you please tell me all you know and ‘have seen in your travels?’”

In regard to our religion, I will say that it embraces every principle of truth and intelligence pertaining to us as moral, intellectual, mortal and immortal beings, pertaining to this world and the world that is to come. We are open to truth of every kind, no matter whence it comes, where it originates, or who believes in it. Truth, when preceded by the little word “all,” comprises everything that has ever existed or that ever will exist and be known by and among men in time and through the endless ages of eternity; and it is the duty of all intelligent beings who are responsible and amenable to God for their acts, to search after truth, and to permit it to influence them and their acts and general course in life, independent of all bias or pre-conceived notions, however specious and plausible they may be.

We, as Latter-day Saints, believe, first, in the Gospel, and that is a great deal to say, for the Gospel embraces principles that dive deeper, spread wider, and extend further than anything else that we can conceive. The Gospel teaches us in regard to the being and attributes of God; it also teaches us our relationship to that God and the various responsibilities we are under to him as his offspring; it teaches us the various duties and responsibilities that we are under to our families and friends, to the community, to the living and the dead; it unfolds to us principles pertaining to futurity; in fact, according to the saying of one of the old disciples, it “brings life and immortality to light,” brings us into relationship with God, and prepares us for an exaltation in the eternal world. There is something grand, profound and intellectual associated with the principles of the Gospel as it stands connected with the salvation and exaltation of man. A man in search of truth has no peculiar system to sustain, no peculiar dogma to defend or theory to uphold; he embraces all truth, and that truth, like the sun in the firmament, shines forth and spreads its effulgent rays over all creation, and if men will divest themselves of bias and prejudice, and prayerfully and conscientiously search after truth, they will find it wherever they turn their attention. But in regard to the leading principles of the Gospel, there are some distinctive features connected therewith, which, like all the laws of nature and of nature’s God, require implicit obedience and compliance therewith in order to insure a realization of the results which flow therefrom. The earth on which we live, the matter of which it is composed, the elements with which we are surrounded, as well as the planetary system, have certain inscrutable, eternal, unchangeable laws connected with them that can not be departed from.

We talk sometimes about the great discoveries men have made connected with electricity, steam, light and its properties, and a variety of other principles that exist in nature; all those principles are governed by certain specific laws, which are immutable and unchangeable; and all of the great discoveries which men have made, have only developed certain properties that have always existed. They have not created anything, and their discoveries are nothing particularly worth boasting of. A child, in its infancy, possesses certain reasoning faculties, but they are only developed by a long course of training and experience. It possesses arms, legs, feet, a head and body, eyes, ears, nose, &c., but it is unconscious of this; by and by, when its reasoning faculties begin to be developed, it discovers that it has hands. It had them before, but it did not know it. It is a good deal so with us and the generations which have preceded us—we live, and have lived in a world in which from the beginning there have existed principles, organisms and systems—all that are now known or that ever will be discovered, but we have been ignorant of them, and only become aware of their existence by what is called the progress of science and the discoveries of scientific and ingenious men. And as earthly things are governed and controlled by unchanging laws, so it is with heavenly things. In optics certain lenses are needed for the reception and refraction of light; in chemistry a certain combination of elements is necessary to produce magnetism or electricity, and you may have these elements ever so perfect, and without the wire you cannot use them to convey intelligence; and you may have the wire without the necessary combination of chemical elements, and the result is the same. I have a watch; if I wind it up it will tell the time, if I neglect to do that it will stop. You have your steam engine, if you shut up the valve you turn off the steam, and it ceases to move. You have a water wheel possessing certain power, but turn off the water from that wheel and its power ceases. It is just so in regard to all the operations of nature—they are governed by certain laws which are understood by those who study them.

There are laws pertaining to eternal things—the things of God—that are just as immutable and unchangeable as those of which I have been speaking, and to realize the results they are calculated to produce, you must submit to and obey them. God has distinctly told us in his revelations that “no man knows the things of God but by the Spirit of God, even as no man knows the things of man but by the spirit of man that is within him,” then how can men obtain a knowledge of the things of God except they first take the course which he has pointed out? They can not do it. If the laws which govern terrestrial things are immutable, the laws which govern celestial things are certainly not less so, and this brings me to the consideration of some of the first principles of the Gospel which we as a people believe in.

We believe that it is necessary for man to be placed in communication with God; that he should have revelation from Him, and that unless he is placed under the influence of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he can know nothing about the things of God. I do not care how learned a man may be, or how extensively he may have traveled; I do not care what his talent, intellect or genius may be, at what college he may have studied, how comprehensive his views or what his judgment may be on other matters, he cannot understand certain things without the Spirit of God, and that necessarily introduces the principle I before referred to—the necessity of revelation. Not revelation in former times, but present and immediate revelation, which shall lead and guide those who possess it in all the paths of life here, and to eternal life hereafter. A good many people, and those professing Christians, will sneer a good deal at the idea of present revelation. Whoever heard of true religion without communication with God? To me the thing is the most absurd that the human mind could conceive of. I do not wonder, when the people generally reject the principle of present revelation, that skepticism and infidelity prevail to such an alarming extent. I do not wonder that so many men treat religion with contempt, and regard it as something not worth the attention of intelligent beings, for without revelation religion is a mockery and a farce. If I can not have a religion that will lead me to God, and place me en rapport with him, and unfold to my mind the principles of immortality and eternal life, I want nothing to do with it.

The principle of present revelation, then, is the very foundation of our religion. The Christian world reject that, and say the Bible is all-sufficient. I can remember in my younger days searching its contents very diligently. It is a glorious book to study, and I earnestly recommend it to the attention of our young men and young women, and of our old men and old women. “Search the Scriptures,” was the command of Jesus, “for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they that testify of me.” I would not only search the Scriptures that we now have, but I would search also every revelation that God has given, does give, or will give for the guidance and direction of his people, and then I would reverence the Giver, and those also whom he makes use of as his honored instruments to promulgate and make known those principles; and I would seek to be governed by the principles that are contained in that sacred word.

Now then let me look back a little, and examine things as they have existed. What kind of a Gospel was it that Jesus introduced? We are told that it was the Gospel; but what sort of an organization did his Church have? Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers and Evangelists—inspired men—men who had the ministering of angels, the spirit of prophecy, and the principle of revelation; men who had the heavens opened to them, so that they could contemplate the purposes of God as they should roll along throughout every subsequent period of time until the winding up scene. Whence did they obtain this knowledge? They obtained it through obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and hence it is very properly said that “life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel.”

Well, who were the ancient Apostles? They were men chosen and selected by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Who were these Prophets? Men who were in possession of the spirit of prophecy; and you show me a man who is called and inspired of God to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I will show you a Prophet, for we are told that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy;” and if a man has not the spirit of prophecy and revelation he is not the man to teach the things of God, for that is the principle by which all God’s chosen and authorized ministers in every age have been inspired, and by which they have taught the things of eternal life to the children of men.

How was it with Jesus? He said that “he came not to do his own will; but the will of the father who sent him;” and said he—“The words that I speak I speak not of myself; but the Father which dwelleth in me, he doeth the work.” When the disciples went forth to preach the Gospel, Jesus told them to go without purse and scrip, trusting in him; and he told them that when they were brought before kings, rulers and governors, they were not to think beforehand what they should say, for it should be given to them in the self-same hour that they needed it. Paul said that the Gospel that he preached “he received not of man, neither by man;” but he received it of God, and the words that he spake were not his own, for he told the people definitely and distinctly that their words came to them “not in word only, but in power and in the demonstration of the Spirit of God, and with much assurance.” They were under the inspiration of the Almighty.

And where did we get our Bible from? “No Scripture is of any private interpretation,” we are told, “but holy men of old spake as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost,” and while under that inspiration they uttered the word of God, and that word became the Scripture of truth, as we here find it. It was given by dreams, visions and revelations, and that which was thus communicated to man was written, and has become what we call the Bible.

When the inspired revelations which we call the Gospel were given to men there were Apostles and Prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists; and how did Jesus tell his disciples to teach his Gospel? He told them to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” the promise being that “he that believed and was baptized should be saved.” And it was also said that certain signs should follow them that believed: they should cast out devils in the name of Jesus, “they should lay hands on the sick and they should recover,” &c., showing that there was a living, vital, energetic power associated with the Gospel that was enunciated by Jesus Christ and taught by his Apostles. It was not connected alone with the Apostles, as some suppose. It does not read “these signs shall follow the Apostles who believe, or the disciples who believe,” but the signs would follow them that believe wherever the Gospel was preached in all the world. The Gospel and its blessings were not restricted either to time, person or place; but were to be enjoyed in all the world by all who believed.

Paul tells us that Apostles, Prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers were placed in the Church, for what? For the establishing of Christianity? No, it does not read in that way. For the benefit of the Apostles and those immediately surrounding them? No. To convince the pagan Gentiles and unbelieving Jews? No, he tells us they were placed in the Church “for the perfecting of the Saints,” that they who believed in and obeyed the Gospel might go on from strength to strength and be enabled to endure faithful to the end. It was for the perfecting of such persons, that, as immortal beings, they might increase in light, intelligence and truth, and be prepared to dwell with the Gods and the sanctified hosts in the eternal worlds.

These officers were for the perfecting of the Saints then; were they for anything else? Yes, “for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Why? “That they should be no more children, tossed about by divers winds of doctrine and the craft of cunning men whereby they lie in wait to deceive;” but that they might “be built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone:” that they might have a knowledge of the truth of the Gospel for themselves, glowing in characters of living fire written in their hearts, which no man, influence or power could obliterate; but that it might dwell there like a fire upon the altar eternally burning and from thence spread its radiant effulgence glowing, increasing and spreading. This is the kind of Gospel the ancients preached and believed in, and which we, the Latter-day Saints, preach and believe in.

But where is the necessity of a new revelation, some may inquire, to restore this Gospel, seeing that it is the same Gospel that is recorded in the Scriptures? The Catholics would tell us there is no need of it, for they obtained it from God in ancient times, and have retained it, and it has been handed down in regular succession to the present day. I am not going to investigate all these theories to-day, there would not be time, suffice it to say that they are mere fallacies, neither Catholics, Greeks, or Protestants have retained the Gospel and the power to administer it. When we come to the Protestant world there is a great deal of credit due to them for the course they have taken. But has the Gospel been continued among them in its purity from the time that Jesus lived on the earth? Is there any man who has the hardihood to say so? I do not think you can find one. Whence originated these notions, opinions, theories, principles and dogmas that exist among men in the religious world at the present day? Did they originate with God? We are told that “he is not the author of confusion, but of order.” Did he inspire men with all these various dogmas and theories? Certainly not. Who did; where did they come from? Why, men, in various ages, many of them very good men, have tried to stop the flood of evil, false doctrine, error and crime, and in doing so, unaided by inspiration, they have made very great blunders. When the pope, through the instrumentality of Loyola, was selling indulgences in a shameful and disgraceful manner, Martin Luther and other reformers rose up and denounced it as an evil, and they were right in that, for it was an evil, and a crime and an outrage upon society, for it was bartering that for money which God never intended or authorized. Inquires one—“Did not Jesus give to his disciples ‘the keys of the kingdom of heaven,’ and say that ‘whose soever sins they remitted should be remitted, and whose soever sins they retained should be retained?’” “Yes.” “Then why did not others have that power?” They did, if they obtained it legitimately; but not in that kind of a way. Peter never possessed power to sell forgiveness of sins. In the days of the Apostles there was a certain man who saw the power of God made manifest through their administrations, and he offered them money to confer the same power upon him, but he was told that, inasmuch as he had thought the gift of God could be purchased with money, his money should perish with him. “But did not Peter and the other disciples possess the power to forgive sins?” Yes. How did they exercise it? The Scriptures are very plain on that point. Read the account of Peter, on the day of Penticost [Pentecost], addressing thousands of people who were assembled at Jerusalem on that occasion. They cried out to Peter and the rest of the Apostles—“Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved? We believe your statement, we believe we are sinners, we believe we have consented to the death of the Son of God, now what shall we do?” Did he say—“I will forgive you your sins?” No, no such thing. Did he have the power? Yes. How did he exercise it? Said he—“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost,” and they took them and led them down into the water, and baptized them, and their sins were forgiven. That is the way the Apostles forgave sins, it was not by selling indulgences.

Martin Luther introduced some good principles, but did he bring back the Gospel Jesus brought? No, verily no. Did Melancthon? No. Zwingler? No. John Knox? No. Did Calvin? No, none of them brought back the Gospel of Jesus. They went about teaching good principles of morality, and the Gospel as far as they knew it. But God did not impart to them the light of revelation which the ancient Saints enjoyed, and as each of those reformers had his peculiar views and ideas in regard to the Gospel, they were the originators of the multitudes of sects and parties now existing in the Christian world. Luther promulgated his views very extensively in Germany, Calvin, who differed from him in regard to the doctrine of free will, and was a believer in the doctrine of fate, election or reprobation, promulgated his views extensively, and so with others. If they had had the light of revelation this variation would not have existed, the Spirit of God would have led them into all truth and brought them to the unity of the faith, and they would have seen eye to eye, as the Scriptures say men will do “When God brings again Zion, and with their voice together will they sing.”

We will refer to some of these seceding churches, but first for a moment will notice the Greek church. This church seceded from the Latin church, or the Latin from the Greek, I do not care which way you take it. There was a schism between these two bodies, and each pursued its own peculiar course, and that course has been very erratic, foolish and far from the principles of truth. Then there is the Episcopal Church. How did it originate? Through Henry the Eight. How was it that he started a church? History informs us that it was simply on this ground—he was desirous of having a divorce from his wife and the Pope would not grant it. Before this Henry had written a book or pamphlet in defence of popery and in opposition to the Reformation, for which the Pope styled him “Defender of the Faith;” but when the Pope would not consent to grant the English king this divorce he became angry, and determined to start a church of his own; and fortunately or unfortunately he had two pliant tools, ecclesiastics in the Catholic church, and to gratify their sovereign they lent themselves to him to assist in carrying out his plan, and together they started the Church of England, or the Episcopal Church as it is now called. When Henry had got a priesthood of his own he got the divorce he wanted, and went on his way rejoicing I suppose, at least in his way.

We will now come to some others among the reformers. There was John Knox, in Scotland a very zealous and very intolerant man, nothing very pleasant about him, some traits of his character I never admired, and I have read some things in his works that are not very pleasant, gentle or amiable; but he was no doubt a very sincere and zealous Christian in his way, and sought to do good. Then there was Calvin, another tolerably sincere man in my opinion, and judging from what history tells about him, he was desirous of stemming the torrent of evil and advancing good principles as far as he knew how. But who among them brought back the Gospel which Jesus taught? Not one. Leaving Calvin, Knox, Luther and the early reformers we come down to later times, and we find that in the Church of England there were some things which the conscientious portion of its members could not sustain, and a reformation was inaugurated by John and Charles Wesley, and a Mr. Fletcher. They taught many good principles; but they did not bring back the Gospel of Jesus Christ, although they were very zealous and very desirous of doing good, and I think there was something very creditable in their efforts to stem the current of evil and to resist and unmask the corruption that was creeping in under the name of religion and to unmask the hypocricy that existed; but they did not restore the Gospel, and one of them, in singing said he looked forward to and hoped the time would come when—

“From chosen Abraham’s seed The new Apostles choose O’er isles and continents to spread The dead-reviving news.”

They did not have it, however he knew that, and although he was desirous of having such a state of things restored, he was not able to introduce it, for God had not called upon him to perform that work.

There have been various other isms besides those I have mentioned, in some instances arising more from personal pique, prejudice and contradictions and personal interests of men than for the glory of God and for the good of mankind, and I am afraid their originators cared more about preaching the Gospel according to certain men, rather than the Gospel according to Jesus Christ. In such a state of things what is to be done? We are living in a world in which the spirits who have dwelt in the bosom of God are coming into and leaving this state of existence at the rate of about a thousand millions in every thirty-three years; and here are thousands of so-called ministers of religion with an inefficient Gospel, that God never ordained, trying to ameliorate the condition of mankind, and sending what they call the Gospel to the heathen, and they are continually calling for the pecuniary aid of their fellow Christians to assist them in this enterprise. But if they have not the truth themselves how can they impart it to others? How can blind leaders lead people in the way of life and salvation? Was it not necessary, in view of the ignorance and blindness of the people everywhere, in regard to the principles of salvation, that something should be done to ameliorate the condition of a fallen world? The Christian world, by their unbelief, have made the heavens as brass, and wherever they go to declare what they call the Gospel they make confusion worse confounded; but who shall debar God from taking care of his own creation, and saving his creatures? Yet this is the position that many men have taken. But notwithstanding the unbelief so prevalent throughout Christendom, God restored his ancient Gospel to Joseph Smith, giving him revelation, opening the heavens to him, and making him acquainted with the plan of salvation and exaltation of the children of men. I was well acquainted with him, and have carefully examined the revelations given through him, and notwithstanding all the aspersions that have been cast upon him, I believe that, with the exception of Jesus Christ, there never was a greater Prophet upon this wide earth than he; and to the revelations he made known are we indebted for the glorious principles that God has communicated to the world in these last days. We were as much in the dark as other people were about the principles of salvation, and the relationship we hold to God and each other, until these things were made known to us by Joseph Smith. A great deal is said at the present time about the relation of husband and wife; but where is there a man outside of this Church who understands anything about this relationship, as well as that of parents to children? There is not one, and the Latter-day Saints knew nothing about it until it was revealed by Joseph Smith, through the Gospel. It is the Gospel that teaches a woman that she has a claim upon a man, and a man that he has a claim upon a woman in the resurrection; it is the Gospel that teaches them that, when they rise from the tombs in the resurrection, they will again clasp hands, be reunited, and again participate in that glory for which God designed them before the world was.

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