Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, February 11, 1872.

It is quite unexpected to me to be called upon this afternoon to address this congregation; but inasmuch as I have been solicited so to do I cheerfully comply with the request. It has also been suggested that there would be several strangers present this afternoon who would desire to hear some of the evidences in relation to the Book of Mormon, and although it is a subject on which we have spoken during the week just passed, and have set forth many evidences in support of the divine authenticity of this book, still it may not be amiss to repeat some of these evidences and give some reasons to those who are present why this people receive this book as a part and portion of the revelations of the Most High. Our traditions, which we received from our fathers, have naturally inclined us to reject all revelations, or all pretended Scripture except that which happened to be compiled in the Old and New Testament. I had this tradition in common with the rest of mankind who profess to believe the Bible; but when I came to examine this tradition which I, as well as millions, had imbibed, I found it to be only tradition and without any substantial foundation. I cannot possibly imagine how to reconcile the supreme goodness, wisdom and mercy of the Almighty with the idea that a few of the inhabitants of our globe, dwelling in one small region called Palestine, should be the favored few to whom revelation should be vouchsafed. I cannot reconcile this idea with the view that we take of the character of the great Being whom we worship and serve. When I contemplate the vast number of millions that must have swarmed over this great western hemisphere in times of old, building large cities, towns and villages, and spreading themselves forth from shore to shore from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the frozen regions of the north to the uttermost extremity of South America—when I contemplate all these people as human beings, beings that have immortal souls and form part of the brotherhood of all nations, descending from the same parents, created by the same Creator, I cannot believe that all these nations have been left in darkness, deprived of the light of revela– tion from Heaven, and having no knowledge concerning God; but I must believe that God, who is an impartial Being and presiding over all the inhabitants of the earth, would have respect to the people of ancient America as well as of ancient Asia. Consequently, in accordance with the views that we would naturally entertain concerning the attributes of the Great Jehovah, we believe that he has in these latter times, in the generation in which we are permitted to live, condescended to bring to the knowledge of the people another book, another divine revelation containing the history of his dealings with the generations that are past and gone on this western hemisphere. The book which I hold in my hand (the Book of Mormon) contains nearly as much information as the Old Testament. It is a book of five or six hundred closely printed pages. This book, the Latter-day Saints believe to be the Bible of the western hemisphere; a compilation of sacred books, books delivered by divine inspiration in ancient times to prophets, revelators and inspired men who dwelt upon this continent, both in North and South America. We believe that it was written, mostly by a branch of the house of Israel, a part and portion of the chosen seed, the descendants of Abraham who were led forth to this continent some six hundred years before Christ from the city of Jerusalem, brought by the special providence, miracles and goodness of the Almighty. A colony with whom there were several prophets; a colony of Israelites who believed in the law of Moses, and to whom the Lord manifested himself in a peculiar manner. They were brought forth from the land of Jerusalem in the first year of Zedekiah, King of Judah, six hundred years before the birth of our Lord and Savior. By revelation from the Lord they traveled southwest from the city of Jerusalem, and after reaching the Red Sea they continued along its eastern borders and afterwards bent their course eastward, arriving at the Indian Ocean. There they were commanded by the Almighty to build a vessel, the pattern of which was given to them by revelation, building it as Noah built the Ark—under the direction of the Almighty. On board this vessel they embarked, and were guided by the Almighty across the great Indian Ocean. Passing among the islands, how far south of Japan I do not know, they came round our globe, crossing not only the Indian Ocean, but what we term the great Pacific Ocean, landing on the western coast of what is now called South America. As near as we can judge from the description of the country contained in this record the first landing place was in Chile, not far from where the city of Valparaiso now stands.

After landing on the western coast of South America, they divided into two colonies, one colony called Lamanites, the other called Nephites. These names originated from two brothers, the name of one being Laman, the name of the other Nephi. The Lamanites became a very wicked and corrupt people. The Nephites believed in the law of Moses, in God, in the spirit of revelation and prophecy; they believed in visions, in the ministration of angels, and they sought to serve the Lord with all their hearts, and they were exceedingly persecuted by the Lamanites. The Nephites, by the command of the Almighty, made sacred records on gold plates, and on these plates they were commanded to engrave their history, their prophecies, the dealings of the Lord with them from generation to generation.

Being so severely persecuted by the Lamanites, the Nephites were commanded of the Lord to depart from their midst, that is to leave the first place of colonization in the country which the Spanish now call Chile. They came northward from their first landing place traveling, according to the record, as near as I can judge, some two thousand miles. The Lamanites remained in possession of the country on the South. The Nephites formed a colony not far from the head waters of the river Amazon, and they dwelt there some four centuries, increasing and spreading forth in the land. The Lamanites, in the South and in the middle portions of South America, also spread forth and multiplied, and became a very strong and powerful nation. Many wars existed between the two nations, in which hundreds of thousands were destroyed. Finally, in the course of generations, the Nephites fell into wickedness; they departed in a great measure from the law of Moses and from the precepts of truth which had been taught to them by the prophets in their midst. A certain portion of them who still believed were commanded of the Lord to leave their brethren in consequence of their wickedness; they did so, and those who still remained faithful, under the guidance of prophets and revelators, came still further northward, emigrating from the head waters of what we now term the river Amazon, upon the western coast, or not far from the western coast, until they came on the waters of the river which we call the Magdalena. On this river, not a great distance from the mouth thereof, in what is now termed the United States of Columbia, they built their great capital city. They also discovered another nation that already possessed that country called the people of Zarahemla. They also were a branch of Israel who came out from the city of Jerusalem five hundred and eighty-nine years before the coming of Christ, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, at the time he was taken captive, and the Jews were carried into Babylon. One of the sons of Zedekiah, King of Judah, being commanded of the Lord, left the city of Jerusalem with a colony, who were brought forth and landed north of the Isthmus and journeyed southward, passed through the narrow neck of land which we term the Isthmus into the United States of Columbia, and formed their settlements there, and when discovered by the Nephites had dwelt there near four hundred years.

The Nephites and the people of Zarahemla united together and formed a great and powerful nation, occupying the lands south of the Isthmus for many hundreds of miles, and also from the Pacific on the west to the Atlantic on the east, spreading all through the country. The Lamanites about this time also occupied South America, the middle or southern portion of it, and were exceedingly numerous. I will here observe, that from the time the Nephites consolidated themselves with the people of Zarahemla, they had numerous wars with the great nation of the Lamanites, in which many hundreds of thousands perished on both sides.

About fifty-four years before Christ, five thousand four hundred men, with their wives and children, left the northern portion of South America, passed through the Isthmus, came into this north country, the north wing of the continent, and began to settle up North America, and from that time a great emigration of the Nephites and the people of Zarahemla took place year by year. I will here mention one thing which perhaps may be startling to indivi– duals who are unacquainted with the antiquities of this country, that the Nephite nation about this time commenced the art of shipbuilding. They built many ships, launching them forth into the western ocean. The place of the building of these ships was near the Isthmus of Darien. Scores of thousands entered these ships year after year, and passed along on the western coast northward, and began to settle the western coast on the north wing of the continent. I will observe another thing—when they came into North America they found all this country covered with the ruins of cities, villages and towns, the inhabitants having been cut off and destroyed. The timber had also been cut off, insomuch that in many places there was no timber by which they could construct their dwellings, hence the Nephites and the people of Zarahemla had to build their houses of cement, others had to dwell in tents. Vast quantities of timber were shipped from the south to the people on the western coast, enabling them to build many towns, cities and villages. The latter also planted groves of timber, and in process of time they raised great quantities, which furnished them with sufficient for building and other purposes. Forty-five years before the coming of Christ there was a vast colony came out of South America, and it is said in the Book of Mormon that they went an exceeding great distance, until they came to large bodies of water and to many rivers and fountains, and when we come to read more fully the description of the country it answers to the great Mississippi Valley. There they formed a colony. We know that to be the region of country from the fact that these plates were taken from a hill in the interior of the State of New York, being the descendants of those same colonists that settled in the valley of the Mississippi. When we speak of the valley of the Mississippi, let me say a few words to inform the minds of my brethren and sisters from foreign countries who may not be so fully acquainted with the geography of our land. The valley of the Mississippi does not mean a small valley like these valleys here in the Rocky Mountains, but it means a vast area of territory some fifteen hundred thousand square miles in extent, enough to accommodate several hundred millions of inhabitants, almost a world of itself. There the Nephites became a great and powerful people. In process of time they spread forth on the right and on the left, and the whole face of the North American continent was covered by cities, towns and villages and population.

But we will hasten on. They having kept the law of Moses, I mean the Nephites, looked forward, according to the testimony of their law, for the coming of the Messiah, that is the great Prophet of Israel which Moses had told them the Lord would raise up unto them. They looked for that great Prophet to come and shed his blood, for their sacrifices and burnt offerings pointed to a great and last sacrifice, the sacrifice of the Son of God. The Nephite nation, therefore, had a testimony given to them concerning that future Messiah that was to come; a sign was given to them on this American continent that they might know the very day on which he was born. The night before Jesus was born this continent had no darkness. There was one day, and then a night and then a day without any darkness at all—it was as light as day during the period which is generally called night. This was prophesied or predicted by their Prophets as a sign that they might no longer be in sus– pense about the coming of their great Prophet. After the birth of Christ there were signs given to the people concerning his crucifixion. The inhabitants of this land were not in ignorance about the great atonement that was wrought out on Mount Calvary. It was not in vain that they kept the law of Moses, and offered up their burnt offerings and the shedding of the blood of beasts and fowls, pointing forward to the atoning blood of Jesus, they knew when the great and last sacrifice was offered here on this land. However, it was a day of sorrow to them, for most of the people at that time had become very wicked. They had stoned and killed the Prophets and persecuted them exceedingly, and had become so corrupt and had deviated so far from the law of Moses and from the prophecies that God had given to them, and the righteous precepts that had been taught them by their Prophets, that the Lord in his anger destroyed many hundreds of thousands of the people at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus. The Prophets told the people that when Jesus should be hung on the cross there should be a terrible convulsion and great earthquake on this continent, that many of their towns, cities and villages should be totally destroyed, some of their cities should be sunk and buried in the depths of the earth, that mountains should rise up and come over and fall on certain cities, that other cities should be sunk and waters come up in the place thereof, that other cities should be destroyed by tempest and whirlwind, that others should be burned by fire. Another great sign was given to them concerning the period during which Jesus was to remain in the tomb—that from the period of the crucifixion until the time of the resurrection thick darkness should spread over all the face of this continent, darkness like that of Egypt, that could be felt by the people. No sun, nor moon, nor stars were permitted to shine on that occasion, not a glimmer of light, three days and three nights of darkness.

All this took place at the crucifixion of Christ. The judgments came as predicted by the prophets. The rocks upon nearly all the face of this continent, prior to that event, were not found disrupted as at the present day. Those who have traveled through these mountainous regions and looked at the various strata of rocks find many of them turned up edgeways. This must have been caused by some terrible convulsion. You will see it on every hand in these mountains. It is not something peculiar to our vicinity, but the same thing occurs throughout all the vast region called the Rocky Mountains. From the frozen regions of the north until you penetrate through the Isthmus into the Andes, and then on to the end of this continent in the south, we find these disruptions, seams and cracks among the various strata of rock. Before the coming of Christ this was not so. Many mountains existed after the crucifixion where there were deep valleys before, and the whole face of the land was changed. No wonder then that our miners here in these rocky regions, and in various portions of Montana, California, and Nevada, occasionally, after digging several hundred feet, find remains of human arts. They find these things, and they have published descriptions of them in the papers in California and elsewhere, and in consequence of these discoveries they begin to calculate that the earth must be so many hundred thousand years old, and some of them conclude that it must be millions, in order to account for the phenomena which have been observed. But geologists should leave these things out of the question and should begin to inquire what has produced these terrible convulsions of nature, what has thrown up these vast ridges of mountains, what has sunk down valleys? What is it that has disrupted and apparently thrown the western continent into such terrible convulsion as to place the rocks on edge and rend them asunder? If they would inquire into these things it would be no marvel to them to find the remains of the ancient arts of men sunk far beneath the surface of the earth. I would say to them that, peradventure, they may yet find, when the Lord shall again convulse this continent, as he assuredly will do, throwing down the mountains and raising up the valleys, at the time of his second coming, for then, says the prophet Isaiah, the mountains shall flow down at his presence. Then, says the prophet David, the hills and the mountains shall melt like wax before the presence of the Lord. I say when this great and terrible convulsion shall come we may find cities rising, as it were, from the bowels of the earth, disgorged and brought to the surface. It need not surprise the inhabitants who then live to see cities brought up from the depths of the lakes and from the depths of great waters; to see mountains removed from their places and uncovering ancient cities that have been covered up for generations. All it needs then is a convulsion, a terrible catastrophe of nature to produce the effects that are sometimes ascribed to long ages of the slow working of the elements. But to go back to the history.

At the time of the crucifixion the Nephites dwelt in North America and also occupied a portion of South America; and after that event, the more righteous portion of those among them who were spared and also those among the Lamanites who had not altogether forsaken the truth, began to remember the prophecies, recorded upon their plates of gold, that after the crucifixion, and after all these terrible judgments had come upon them, their Messiah, of whom Moses had spoken, should render himself visible to the inhabitants of this continent. They tell us that they assembled themselves around a certain temple that the Lord had preserved in the northern part of South America, and were wondering about the great convulsions of nature that had taken place.

While they were thus conversing, pointing out and explaining to each other what had taken place, both in the north and in the south as far as they had explored, while they were thus conversing in all humility about Jesus, who had been crucified in the land of their fathers, they heard a voice coming out of the heavens. At first they could not comprehend it; but it excited their attention—the attention of about twenty-five hundred men, women and children, and they all gazed steadfastly towards the heavens, and while they were thus engaged the voice spoke again the second time and the third time, saying unto them,” Behold my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” and they saw Jesus descending out of the heavens clothed in a white robe, and he came and stood in the midst of that large assembly of people and he said unto them, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and the earth, the God of the whole earth.” After he had thus spoken to them he told them how he had come in the land of their fathers, and how he had been crucified by the Jewish nation. He then called the multitude to come and see the wounds in his hands, in his feet and in his side, and they saw these wounds, and heard the voice of their Redeemer, and they knew of a surety that he was the Son of God, of whom their prophets had so long prophesied. Jesus commanded them no longer to kill sacrifices and shed the blood of beasts and fowls, for he himself had been offered as a last final sacrifice according to the types that were given in the law of Moses, and that he had shed his blood for the remission of sins; and then he introduced among them the gospel in all its fulness and plainness. Oftentimes has my heart been filled with joy inexpressible when I have read the words of Jesus on that occasion, declaring to them his gospel, and unfolding to them that they must have faith in him as the only Redeemer, as the only being who could atone for the sins of mankind; that they must repent of their sins and become as little children, and be baptized by immersion for the remission of their sins; that if they would do this they should be baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and when they should receive the Holy Ghost it should impart unto them special gifts in order that they, through the exercise of these gifts, might be perfected and prepared to return into the presence of their Father and their God.

Jesus chose twelve disciples on the American continent. They are not called apostles in the Book of Mormon, but disciples. I have no doubt, however, in my own mind, that they held the office of the apostleship, for they exercised all the functions of apostles. They had power not only to baptize with water, but to lay on hands for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which latter was one of the functions granted, in ancient days, unto the office of an apostle. These twelve Nephites who were called by the personal ministry of Jesus, were commanded to go forth and preach the Gospel on all the face of the North and South American continent. They were to build up his Church; they were to teach the people that they should no more worship God by the ordinances of the law of Moses, but according to the words which that prophet had delivered to them, even Jesus who appeared in their midst.

After Jesus had administered unto them the first day he withdrew and ascended into heaven, saying unto the people, “Behold I will visit you again on the morrow.” The people who were present on that occasion spread the news of the Savior’s visit as far as they possibly could during the remainder of the day and through the night, and people gathered from all quarters as far as they possibly could, so as to be at the place where Jesus should appear to them. On the next day he came again, and the next day the disciples separated the vast multitudes that came together into twelve bodies, and they taught them, for they could not be assembled in one body and all be able to hear the sound of one man’s voice. For this reason they were separated into twelve bodies and the Twelve taught them. They taught them the words of Jesus about being baptized by immersion for the remission of sins, and about the gift or reception of fire and the Holy Ghost. After they had taught the people the Twelve went forth, being commissioned of the Almighty, into the water and baptized great numbers. After this Jesus came again and ministered to them and blessed them, and taught them still further concerning his doctrines, and also prophesied many things that should take place during that generation, and for many generations to come. Many times after this Jesus showed himself to the Nephite nation. These twelve disciples went forth, according to the commandment of the Lord and ordained others, and these ministers thus ordained went forth on all the face of the continent, and so great were the witnesses, so powerful the manifestations of healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind and the power that was displayed among the American Israelites that the greater portion of both Nephites and Lamanites were converted, indeed—in process of time they were all converted—and they dwelt in righteousness nearly three centuries. We have but a very short history, however, in the Book of Mormon of the righteousness of the Nephites and Lamanites during those three centuries. We are merely informed that they had all their property in common, that there were no rich nor poor among them, during all that period of time, that they were a humble people and worshiped the Lord their God in the name of Jesus, and they were a people who sought diligently to comply with every commandment and revelation from heaven. After about three generations had passed away they began to apostatize, not to dwindle in unbelief, but to reject, willfully, the principles that had been revealed to them, which were very great indeed; for during that period of time, according to the little information that we have, the Lord gave them many precious revelations, which were recorded on their plates which were not permitted to come forth in this record, being too great for us or for any people to receive who dwell not in righteousness. But the people began to apostatize and turn away from such great light, and their condemnation, of course, was greater than that which would have come upon them if they had been in darkness and ignorance. Sinning against so great light they speedily ripened themselves for destruction. They began to separate again into Lamanites and Nephites, and they made two great, grand divisions.

About three hundred and seventy-five years after the birth of Christ, the Nephites occupying North America, the Lamanites South America, and wars having existed between them for nearly fifty years, the Lamanites began to overpower the Nephites, and they drove them northward from the narrow neck of land which we call the Isthmus of Darien, burning, destroying and desolating every city, town and village through which they passed. The Nephites continued to flee before their conquerors until they came into the interior of the State of New York. There, the king or commander of the Nephites wrote an epistle to the Lamanites and requested an armistice for four years, for the purpose of gathering in all the Nephite nation into that one place. The king of the Lamanites granted this armistice, and during these four years they had no battles, but were occupied very diligently in gathering the whole Nephite nation into that one region, and the Lamanites gathering the whole Lamanite nation into the same region of country. Many millions on both sides were here gathered together, and when the four years had expired, hostilities were renewed, many battles were fought and the Nephites were overpowered, men, women and children being hewn down. The great and last battle, in which several hundred thousand Nephites perished was on the hill Cumorah, the same hill from which the plates were taken by Joseph Smith, the boy about whom I spoke to you the other evening. A few Nephites dissented over to the Lamanites and joined them, and a few escaped into the south country. Mormon, one of the prophets of the Nephites, who had the records in his possession, be– ing commanded of the Lord, hid up the records in the hill Cumorah before the battles commenced. I mean all the records except an abridgment. The gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was taken are only an abridgment from vast numbers of other plates which were hidden up by Mormon in that hill. This abridgment, reserved and not hid up by Mormon, he gave to his son Moroni. He and Moroni both surveyed the destruction of their nation; they fell, wounded among the vast numbers on that hill, but their wounds were not fatal and they survived and for a short time kept themselves hid. Mormon, however, was afterwards discovered and destroyed by the Lamanites. Moroni continued from three hundred and eighty-four years, the date of the destruction of his nation, until four hundred and twenty years after Christ, that is the last date given in this record. Moroni tells us, as a prophet of God, that he was commanded of the Lord to hide up these records in the hill Cumorah, not in the same place where the other records had been hidden by his father Mormon, but in another place, for the Lord had promised the prophet Moroni that he would bring these records to light in the latter days, when he should bring forth a great and powerful nation upon this land. The Lord showed all these things to these ancient prophets, and they understood our history and wrote about it before ever Columbus discovered America. Moroni informs us that after the Lord should establish in the latter days a great and powerful nation of the Gentiles on the face of this land, and should deliver them by his power out of the hands of all other nations, then the Lord would bring forth this abridgment, these plates which Moroni was commanded to hide up; that the records should be revealed, that the individual who should discover them should, by the aid of the Urim and Thummim, be able to translate the records from the language in which they were written into our language, that these records should be brought forth expressly to accomplish the great purposes of the Lord in the last days in regard to warning all the nations of the Gentiles first, and that they might have the Gospel preached unto them in its ancient purity, as it was preached on this great western hemisphere, in order that the fulness of the Gentiles might be brought in, then their times should be fulfilled. After the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled by the coming forth of these records, the prophet informs us that the records should be sent to all the scattered remnants of the house of Israel in the four quarters of the earth, and that then the Lord would set his hand in power to deliver his people Israel from all the nations and kingdoms under the whole heaven, and that he would bring them back to the land of their fathers.

But before Israel can be gathered, these records, according to the predictions contained in them, must be sounded abroad, not only to the great and powerful nation, the Republic of the United States, and the Canadas, but to all the nations of the Gentiles, that all may be left without excuse. Already the time has far gone by for this warning to the Gentiles. Forty-two years out of the generation has already passed, and the same generation to whom these records were revealed shall not pass away until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. When that period shall arrive, as I said in my lecture during the week, there will come a day of the Lord’s especial power, the day of power spoken of by the psalmist David where he addresses the Lord, saying: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.” Israel have never been willing to receive Jesus from the day that they were cut off as bitter branches that brought forth no good fruit, until the present period. Generation after generation has passed away, and they still remain in unbelief, and they still remain in their scattered condition among all the nations and countries of the earth. But when the day of the Lord’s power shall come, when he shall send forth his servants with the power of the priesthood and apostleship to the nations and to the scattered remnants of the house of Israel that dwell in the islands of the sea afar off, he will show forth his power in that day in such a conspicuous manner that all Israel, as it were, will be saved. As it is written by the Apostle Paul, “Blindness in part hath happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved.” All Israel in that day will hear the voice of the Lord and the voice of his servants; all Israel, in that day, will see the arm of the Lord made bare in signs and mighty wonders in effecting the restoration of his chosen people to their own land. Then will be fulfilled that which is spoken of in the 20th chapter of Ezekiel concerning their restoration: “For with a mighty hand, saith the Lord, and with fury poured out will I rule over you, and I will gather you out of the nations and from the countries wherein you were driven with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.” That has never been fulfilled, but it will be fulfilled when scattered Israel return to their own land. A similar scenery is to be enacted to that which was enacted when Israel were brought forth out of the land of Egypt, while they were in the wilderness. Go back to that period and behold the Lord descending upon Mount Sinai, speaking with the voice of a trump in the ears of twenty-five hundred thousand people, the thunders rolling, the lightnings flashing and the voice of Jehovah heard by a whole nation. You marvel at this, it was great and wonderful; but another day is to come when those sceneries enacted in the wilderness of the land of Egypt will be almost entirely forgotten, swallowed up in the greater manifestations of his power, not alone on Mount Sinai, but among all the nations of the earth. Wherever Israel is scattered there will the servants of God be, and his power working wonders, signs and miracles for the gathering of that people and restoring them to their own land. And when they are gathered together in a vast body the Lord intends to take that multitude into the wilderness before he permits them to go into the land of their fathers, and when he gets them into that wilderness, he says, “I will plead with you face to face, like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt.” Yet we are told by the present generation there is to be no more revelation, no more miracles, no more manifestations of the power of the Almighty, no more the voice of God speaking from the heavens, no more of the manifestations of his glory, or the showing of himself personally to his people. How wonderfully this generation of Christendom will be mistaken in that day when Israel will go again to their own land, and when the Lord God shall stretch forth his hand to the nations of the Gentiles, saying, “Your times are fulfilled, my servants have been sent forth in your midst, they have declared the word of the Lord to you all the day long, but you would not hear or receive their testimony, now the summer is ended and your times are fulfilled. Now will I gather my people Israel from the four quarters of the earth.”

Here let me say again, according to the Book of Mormon, many of those great islands that are found in the Indian Ocean, also in the great Pacific Sea, have been planted with colonies of Israelites. Do they not resemble each other? Go to the Sandwich Islands, to the South Sea Islands, to Japan—go to the various islands of the Pacific Ocean, and you find a general resemblance in the characters and countenances of the people. Who are they? According to the Book of Mormon, Israelites were scattered forth from time to time, and colonies planted on these islands of the ocean. In that day the isles will sing with joy; in that day the isles of the sea will wait for the Lord’s law; in that day the isles of the sea will rejoice, for they will give up their inhabitants, and they will be wafted in ships to their promised land, and God will show forth his power and gather millions of people from these numerous isles of the ocean, and he will bring them back to the land of their fathers. These poor degraded Lamanites, or American Indians, that are now so far sunk beneath humanity, are to be lifted up by the power of the Almighty when the day shall come for Israel to be restored, for God will not forget them. They are descendants of the tribe of Joseph, and consequently they are numbered with the people of the covenant. God will remember the covenant which he made with our ancient fathers. These Lamanites, these American Indians, will come to the knowledge of the cove– nant, and they will arise and will build upon the face of this land a magnificent city called Jerusalem after the pattern and in the same manner that the Jews will build old Jerusalem. That is what the Lamanites will do, and we will go and help them too, for it is predicted in the Book of Mormon that when this work should come forth, when the time fully arrives for the redemption of this small remnant of the house of Joseph, “As many of the Gentiles as will believe, they shall assist my people, who are a remnant of the house of Israel, that they may build up on the face of this land a city that shall be called the New Jerusalem, and then, behold, the powers of heaven shall come down and be in the midst of this people, and I also will be in your midst.”

That is what the Lord intends to fulfil on this land. Jesus is coming here as well as to many other places. When the New Jerusalem is built on this land, Jesus will visit that city. His glory will be upon its dwelling places. Isaiah the Prophet has declared that upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion there shall be a cloud and smoke by day, and a shining, flaming fire by night. This will not only be on the New Jerusalem, but on the Holy City that is built up on the land of Palestine; and when the people have repented and become sufficiently righteous, and made preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus, he will come, and they will behold the Shepherd that is promised to them.

Did you not know that the house of Joseph had a Shepherd promised them? He was promised by the old Patriarch Jacob, as you will find in the blessing which he pronounced on his twelve sons. He called them up one by one, beginning with the firstborn, and blessed each one in his turn, until he came to Joseph, upon whom he pronounced a special blessing. “Joseph,” said Jacob, “is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, shot at him, hated him, but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence is the Shepherd or Stone of Israel.”

Notice now, Jesus was not born of the tribe of Joseph, he was a descendant of Judah according to the flesh, but still the promise of a Shepherd or stone of Israel is from the house of Joseph. The same Jesus that was born of the tribe of Judah is to come, in the latter days, in the capacity of a Shepherd for the restoration of the remnants of the tribe of Joseph. This agrees with what is contained in one of the Psalms of David: “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock. Stir up thy strength and come and save us.” Yes he will come and save them, and he will come in the character of a Shepherd too. “I also will be in your midst.” The powers of heaven shall come down then, and be in the midst of this people. This agrees with what I have already quoted, only I did not quote it in full: “Blindness in part hath happened to Israel, until the times of the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, Behold the Deliverer shall come out of Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”

Did Jesus, when he came of the tribe of Judah, turn ungodliness away from Jacob? He tried to do so, but they would not hear him, and instead of turning them away from their ungodliness they put him to death, and brought upon themselves and their children for many generations the curse of the Almighty. Not so when this prophecy of Paul is fulfilled, when in the latter days, after the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, the Redeemer comes in the character of a Shepherd, he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for so great will be his power and so wonderful his administration in that day, that Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad, and the Lord will bring forth deliverance, as he says in the Psalms of David, out of the midst of Zion. “Oh,” says David, “that the salvation of Israel was come out of Zion, when he bringeth back the captivity of his people! When he shall do this, Israel shall be glad and Jacob shall rejoice.” He will accomplish this work in his own way, in his own time, and according to his own purposes, fulfilling every jot and tittle of that which has been spoken by the mouths of his ancient Prophets.

I thought when I rose to my feet I would bring forth some of the evidences of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, but I have been led otherwise, and I find I have not time to do so this afternoon. I have given you a statement, however, of the arrival on this great continent of a colony of Israelites, and have given you a very brief outline of their history from six hundred years before Christ to four hundred and twenty years after him. I have told you that they worshiped according to the law of Moses until they were taught and received the Gospel. I have told you concerning three generations of righteousness, concerning the destruction of the Nephite nation in the interior of the State of New York. I have told you a few of the purposes that God designs to fulfil and accomplish by bringing forth this record. I have told you that it must go forth to the Gentiles, and fulfil their times and bring in their fulness. I have told you that the servants of God would then be sent forth to the islands of the sea, and bring Israel from the four quarters of the earth. I have told you that that would be a day of the Lord’s special power, in which he would plead with Israel as he pleaded with their fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt. All these great events must come to pass, according to the predictions of the prophets, in order to prepare the way for the glorious advent of the Son of God from the heavens.

If time would permit, we would be glad to enter into the evidences of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon; but, no doubt opportunities to dwell upon this subject will present themselves hereafter. In the meantime, may the blessing of the Almighty God rest upon all the Latter-day Saints throughout these mountain vales, and throughout the whole earth! And shall we confine our blessing to the Latter-day Saints? No. May the blessing of Almighty God rest upon the honest-hearted among all nations, kindreds, tongues and people upon the two great continents of our globe, and the four quarters of our earth, that they may come to the knowledge of the truth and be prepared for the great and wonderful events that are to take place in the last days, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man. Amen.

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

I will call the attention of this congregation to a portion of prophecy which will be found in the 44th and 45th verses of the 2nd chapter of the book of Daniel:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let us now say a few words in regard to this stone which shall be cut out of the mountain without hands. Now there must be something very peculiar in regard to the organization of the latter-day kingdom that is never to be destroyed. All these other governments that I have named have been the production of human hands, that is, of human ingenuity, human wisdom; the power of uninspired men has been exerted to the uttermost in the establishment of human governments, consequently all has been done by human ingenuity and power. Not so with the little stone. Man has nothing to do with the organization of that kingdom. Hear what the Prophet has said: “In the days of these kings the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom.” It is not to be done by human means or power, or by the wisdom of man, neither by mighty conquests by the sword; but it is to be done by him that rules on high, who is King of kings and Lord of lords; by him that suffered and died upon the cross that we might live; by him whose right it is to reign and govern the nations of the earth. He it is that will give laws; he it is that will give commandment; he it is that will organize that kingdom, and it will be done according to the pattern in all things. Has there been any such kingdom organized since the day that the Prophet Daniel delivered this prophecy? I know that there are some who believe that the kingdom spoken of under the name of the “little stone” was organized 1,800 years ago by our Savior and his Apostles. I do not know why they believe this, unless because it is fashionable. There is no evidence to prove any such thing. Indeed that kingdom that was organized 1,800 years ago was organized altogether too soon to accomplish the prophecies that are here given. The two legs of iron, and the feet and toes were not yet formed, and remember that the stone is not cut out of the mountain without hands, until this great image is complete, not only the head, breast, arms and the legs, but the feet and the toes also; they all become complete before the kingdom called the “stone” is made manifest. Now the feet did not exist, and did not begin to exist until many centuries after the days of Christ. What did that kingdom do that was built up by our Savior and his Apostles? Did it break in pieces any part of that great image? No. What, did that image do to that kingdom? It accomplished the prophecies of Daniel—made war with the Saints and overcame them. Very different from the latter-day kingdom! The powers of this world, under the name of the great image, made war with Jesus, with the Apostles, with the former-day Saints, with the kingdom that was then established and overcame them, not only in fulfilment of what is declared by the Prophet Daniel, but also what is declared by John the Revelator; and those powers obtained dominion over all people, nations and tongues, and made them drink of the wine of the wrath of the fornication of Great Babylon, and they became drunken with her abominations. Instead of the kingdom of God then being built up in fulfilment of the prophecy of Daniel 1,800 years ago, the nations of the earth overcame it and rooted it out of the earth. But mark the words of the text: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.” Very different from the former-day kingdom; “and the kingdom shall not be left to other people.” All these human governments have been changing hands, and have been left to some other people. The Babylonish kingdom was left to the Medes and Persians, the Medo-Persian kingdom to the Macedonian, the Macedonian to the Roman; but the latter-day kingdom shall not be left to another people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. “Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountains without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, fire clay, the silver and the gold; and the great God hath made known unto thee what shall come to pass hereafter; and the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure.”

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

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

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

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

No inspired men among them and no additional Scriptures by Prophets and Revelators.

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

If we had the time we would examine the doctrines of the kingdom, to see whether the doctrines that were brought by the angel in these latter times agree with the doctrines that were taught 1,800 years ago; but we have not time to do that on this occasion. Suffice it to say that if the former-day Saints taught faith in God, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, the reception of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands; if they taught these things in former days, be it known unto all people, nations, and tongues that the angel has commissioned his servants to preach the same things in these days. If the former-day Saints taught the necessity of having the various gifts of the Gospel, such as the gifts of vision, the ministration of angels, prophecy, revelation, healing the sick, speaking with tongues, the interpretation of tongues, and all the various gifts mentioned in the New Testament; if they taught these things in former days, the Latter-day Saints have been commissioned to teach the same things in our day, consequently there is no difference so far as doctrines, ordinances and the gifts are concerned.

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

May God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, January 14, 1872.

I take pleasure, this afternoon, in making a few remarks to the Latter-day Saints, as well as to any strangers that may be in our midst. I never designed to be a preacher; it was only a sense of positive duty that induced me to occupy the position as a preacher of the Gospel for, I may say, nearly thirty-five years an understanding, given through the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the principles that we, the Latter-day Saints have espoused, has induced me to travel through the world bearing testimony of those things which I assuredly do know pertaining to the Gospel of life and salvation revealed in this our day. The relation that we sustain to the Lord our God, and the blessings and privileges to be acquired through the system of life which we have received, are worthy of our deepest consideration; and it is no less necessary that we understand the duties the performance of which is requisite on our part, for the attainment of those blessings and privileges, and to keep ourselves in the path on which we may secure the highest advantages which the system of religion we have received is, in its nature, capable of giving.

The relationship which we sustain to God our Father, as well as to the world at large, if properly understood and appreciated, is calculated to wake us up to the performance of the duties required of us as Latter-day Saints. We ought to understand that we have espoused a system of religion that is calculated in its nature to increase within us wisdom and knowledge; that we have entered upon a path that is progressive, that will increase our spiritual, intellectual and physical advantages, and everything pertaining to our own happiness and the well-being of the world at large. We believe that we are the offspring of our Father in heaven, and that we possess in our spiritual organizations the same capabilities, powers and faculties that our Father possesses, although in an infantile state, requiring to pass through a certain course or ordeal by which they will be developed and improved according to the heed we give to the principles we have received. We believe that God is no respecter of persons, but that he confers blessings upon all his children in proportion to the light they have, or in proportion as they proceed according to the light and knowledge they possess in the different circumstances of life that may surround them. We believe that the spirit which enlightens the human family proceeds from the presence of the Almighty, that it spreads throughout all space, that it is the light and life of all things, and that every honest heart possesses it in proportion to his virtue, integrity, and his desire to know the truth and do good to his fellow men.

We see the providences of God in all things; we see them in raising up different communities and establishments in the world for the general and universal benefit of mankind. We see the providences of God in raising up a Luther and a John Wesley; we see the providences of God in all the Christian organizations and communities; we trace the hand of the Almighty in framing the constitution of our land, and believe that the Lord raised up men purposely for the accomplishment of this object, raised them up and inspired them to frame the constitution of the United States. We trace the hand of God, his Spirit, his workings upon and among all classes of people, whether Christian or heathen, that his providences may be carried out, and that his designs, formed before the morning stars sang together or the foundations of the earth were laid, may be ultimately fulfilled. He slackens not his hand, he gives not up his designs nor his purposes; but his work is one eternal round. We trace the hand of the Almighty and we see his Spirit moving in all communities for their good, restraining and encouraging, establishing governments and nations, inspiring men to take a course that shall most advance his purposes until the set time shall come when he shall work more fully and effectually for the accomplishment of his designs, and when sorrow, wickedness, evil, crime, bitter disappointments, vexation, distress and poverty shall cease and be no more known, and the salvation and happiness of his children be secured, when the earth shall be rolled back into its pristine purity and the inhabitants thereof dwell upon it in perfect peace and happiness.

If there is any class of people in the world that have reason to be more liberal and generous towards their fellow creatures, it is the Latter-day Saints; and if our liberality and generosity are not shown more than they are, it is in consequence of the pressure of circumstances with which we are surrounded restraining us from the exercise thereof; yet we expect to be, hereafter, in circumstances when we will have the privilege and opportunity of doing as we desire in these respects. However, in regard to this matter, whether circumstances shall so change or not, we know that we have obeyed a system of progression. We might speak in reference to the increase of knowledge to any individual who may receive and obey the doctrines we teach; but that which is most interesting to us is the progression of the Latter-day Saints themselves in the system they have received. Our faith, views and the principles we have obeyed all coincide perfectly with those of former-day Saints, which we read about in this book (the Bible). Were ministers at the present day to stand up in their pulpits and announce doctrines in reference to the progression of Saints, as they were preached in former days, the doctrines would be considered, at least, very startling, and a committee of investigation would undoubtedly be required at once by their congregations to ascertain whether or not they had seceded from their previously avowed principles. For instance, let a Methodist, Presbyterian or Baptist minister rise in his pulpit, and suggest to his congregation, as Paul did on a certain occasion: “Let this same mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus, who, having the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,” it would be considered a startling announcement; so also would the doctrine of John the Revelator on a certain occasion, when he says: “We are now, the sons of God, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he (that is Christ) shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; and every man that has this hope in him purifies himself even as God is pure.” That would be a startling announcement of doctrine. Did anyone present, acquainted with the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian or Episcopalian societies, ever hear suggestions or doctrines like these? I never did, and I was formerly well acquainted with these societies. “Let this same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who, finding himself in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God;” and “He that has this hope in him, purifies himself even as God is pure;” and again: “When he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

We were born in the image of God our Father; he begot us like unto himself. There is the nature of deity in the composition of our spiritual organization; in our spiritual birth our Father transmitted to us the capabilities, powers and faculties which he himself possessed, as much so as the child on its mother’s bosom possesses, although in an undeveloped state, the faculties, powers and susceptibilities of its parent.

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, we are told, were placed in former days in the Church for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, “until we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto the perfect man.” What is meant by this, “The perfect man?” And again, “Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ?” A system of things was had in those days through which a Saint could come up and be a perfect man in the Lord Jesus—a system by which Saints could advance in the knowledge of the things of God, to an understanding of his purposes, of their own natures and characters, of their relationship to the Almighty, and of the ordeals it was necessary for them to pass through that they might be perfected, as the Son of God was perfect.

This system of things, taught by Christ and his apostles, was not then first introduced; it was known ages before, and was established before the foundations of the earth were laid. I will quote a passage from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which will be found on page 85, section 4, paragraph 6—

“He that receiveth me (saith the Lord) receiveth my Father; And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him. And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood. Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved. But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come.”

This is a revelation that has been given to the Latter-day Saints, and so far as respects its provisions in reference to those who receive it, it is precisely in keeping with those passages I have quoted from the New Testament; they were the burden of the teachings of the apostles in former days; but were they presented now to the Christian world by their ministers and religious teachers, they would be considered startling. This system of things was well known to Adam after he was expelled from the Garden of Eden; it was well known to Noah, and he preached it to the Antediluvians for one hundred and twenty years; it was also known in the days of Moses. He preached it to the Israelites on the banks of the Red Sea. “I would not have you ignorant,” says the apostle, in reference to this point, “how that our fathers all passed through the sea, were all under the cloud, all ate the same spiritual meat, all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock which followed, and that rock was Christ.” It is evident from this that the Gospel of life was known and practiced there; but we are told that, in consequence of wickedness and unbelief, the Gospel was taken from the people in the days of Moses, because it did not profit them, and in the place thereof was introduced a system which was called the schoolmaster, to bring them to Christ. On account of their wickedness and hardness of heart they refused to avail themselves of the privileges within their reach, for when the Lord proposed to come down into their midst and talk with them face to face as he did with Moses, they requested Moses to officiate for them and speak with the Almighty; and being filled with unbelief and unwillingness to become acquainted with God, their Father, the Gospel and all its privileges were withdrawn. But this Gospel has been introduced at various times into the world. It was known by the Prophets. They understood plainly and distinctly that Jesus was the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world; and that in due season he would manifest himself to the children of men, that he would die for their sins, and be crucified in order to complete the plan of salvation. The Prophets had the Gospel and its advantages in their midst; and the Holy Spirit that is ever connected with it, was poured out upon them in its fulness.

There was a certain blessing connected only with obedience to the Gospel, that was the gift of the Holy Ghost. When people received the ordinances of the Gospel they were promised that they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Savior who undoubtedly knew best about the nature and character of this gift, said it should lead all who received it into all truth and show them things to come. It should be more than that spirit which proceeds from God, filling the immensity of space and enlightening every man that comes into the world, the gift of the Holy Ghost should lead into all truth, and show them things to come. Furthermore, in speaking of its effects, the apostle says: “The spirit is given to every man to profit withal. To one is given faith.” Not a common, ordinary faith, which some people pretend to at the present day; but a faith which enables its possessors to be sawn asunder, to be cast into dens of lions, fiery furnaces, and to undergo tortures of every description. This was the kind of faith that the Holy Ghost conferred upon those who possessed it, enabling its possessor to stand in the midst of every difficulty, defy every opposition and lay down his life, if necessary, for the cause that he had espoused. There was an almighty inspiring power in this faith, given by the Lord through the Holy Ghost, which no other principle could communicate. To one was given faith, to another knowledge, not that which is gained by reading books merely, but knowledge from the Almighty. A self-inspiring principle was upon them, which was tangible, giving them a knowledge of the cause they had espoused. They knew by revelation from God that the cause they had obeyed was true, it was revealed to them in a manner they could not dispute, and they knew for themselves. They were then established, as we heard this morning, upon the rock of revelation.

There is a great difference between the possession of the Holy Ghost and the mere possession of the Spirit of God. Everybody has the Spirit of God, that is, the honest hearted, those who are living according to the best light they have. All Christian Churches have it, those who seek truth and righteousness. The Baptists, if they are honest, have it; so have the Presbyterians and the Methodists; so also have all Christian and heathen nations. You go to China, and all honest hearted people there have the Spirit of God; in fact we are told that this is the light that lights every man that comes into the world; but to say that all have the Holy Ghost, the gift that was promised to those who obeyed the Gospel, it is not so. We can trace the providences of the Almighty in raising up certain individuals to establish religious organizations, and we see in these things the workings of the Spirit of God for the general interest of the human family. We look upon George Washington, the father of our country, as an inspired instrument of the Almighty; we can see the all-inspiring Spirit operating upon him. And upon his co-workers in resisting oppression, and in establishing the thirteen colonies as a confederacy; and then again the workings of the same Spirit upon those men who established the constitution of the Uni– ted States. In a revelation contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants the Lord says: “And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land by the hands of wise men, whom I raised up unto this very purpose.” We see the hand of the Lord in these things. The Christian Churches will not acknowledge that which we acknowledge and most firmly believe in regard to the workings of Providence and the operations of the Spirit of the Lord upon the hearts of the human family. We can see not only what the Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, Shakers, Presbyterians, and Campbellites see—the hand of the Lord working with them, but we can see the hand of the Almighty establishing a kingdom spoken of in ages long past by Daniel the Prophet—a kingdom which shall grow and spread until it fills the whole earth, when light and intelligence shall be so generally diffused that it shall no longer be necessary for any man to say to his fellows, “Know ye the Lord,” but all shall know him, from the least unto the greatest; and when the Spirit of the Lord shall be poured out upon all flesh to such a degree that their sons and their daughters shall prophesy, their old men shall dream dreams, their young men see visions, and when there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all the holy mountain of the Lord.

There are some other considerations connected with this subject worthy of our attention. We have seen what has been promised, and what encouragement was given or suggestions made in regard to our progression, as contemplated by the Prophets, in their writings in the Old and New Testaments. We see what God has said to us in his revelations direct, and we might bring up passage after passage from the New Testament, Book of Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon in regard to the progression and happiness of his people. But there are some considerations connected with this to which I will call your attention. The revelations of the Lord, given in these latter days, say that all things shall be given to those who receive the priesthood; but in connection with this promise there are certain obligations which have to be fulfilled on our part. That same God and Father who tells us what great things await the faithful, says: “Whoso layeth down his life for my cause and for my name’s sake shall receive it again, even life eternal; therefore fear not your enemies, for I the Lord have decreed in my heart that I will prove you in all things whether you will abide in my covenant even unto death, for he that will not abide in my covenant is not worthy of me.”

Here we have, on one hand, those extraordinary and wonderful blessings; and, on the other, if we renounce the doctrine we have received, or if we are unwilling to stand up to the point, even of death, in fulfilling the will of our Father in the accomplishment of his work, we shall be counted unworthy of the blessings that are promised.

Now, you take a man, no matter from what country, if he be a man of integrity, when he receives a knowledge of the truth, he will stand to that knowledge; you cannot persecute it out of him by imprisoning him, or taking away his property or by destroying every source of his happiness. Do what you can to annoy and oppress him he will still stand firm in his adherence to the principles which he knows are true. If we, as Latter-day Saints, are not honest, we are certainly in a very bad condition. When the Gospel reached us in the different nations whence we came, the Spirit of the Lord gave us convictions of its truth, and, in the honesty of our hearts, we received it, and its blessings, otherwise we would have stayed at our several homes. It was promised us by the several Elders who proclaimed the Gospel unto us, that if we would do the will of God, if we would obey the Gospel, we should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; they said, as Peter said on the Day of Pentecost, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost. Then, when they spoke of the operations of the Holy Ghost, they described them as Jesus, Paul, John and the Saints who received it, testified in regard to it, from the effects it had produced upon them. Therefore, when the Gospel was received under circumstances of this nature, those who were its recipients expected superior and extraordinary blessings, blessings that they could not reach in any other religious society. They were promised such blessings as the religious societies said did not, nor ever would exist, and could not be received in the future. They would acknowledge that such blessings had been formerly received through the Gospel, but they said could not be received now hence if those who obeyed the Gospel as taught by the Elders of this Church did not receive the blessings promised, why do I see them before me here today by thousands? Why, when traveling through the length and breadth of this country, do I see people that have gathered, comparatively, from almost every nation under the sun? If they received not the blessings promised, why are they here in this Territory, in these valleys of the mountains? They had better stayed at home. It is the most inconsistent thing imaginable to suppose that people, after being deceived, should leave their country, homes and friends and cross the wide ocean, and vast deserts into a land they knew nothing of. When Abraham received the word to leave his home and kindred he obeyed the mandates of the Almighty, and the fact that thousands are now here, settled through this long strip of country, over hills, valleys and mountains, proves that they have done the same; they have shown by their acts that they have received the all-inspiring power of the Holy Ghost which was promised them, which revealed to them that the Lord had fulfilled the prophecy of his servant Daniel—that without hands he had cut a stone from the mountains and that it had commenced to move and roll, and would continue on its course until it had fulfilled the destiny predicted by the prophet.

If the people here have not received the miraculous blessings promised in connection with their obedience to the Gospel, they are acting most inconsistently, for they are perpetuating upon their children and their children’s children and upon future generations a system that is entirely false, binding a yoke of tradition upon them which, in its consequence, is beyond the power of language to express. The people are guilty of the most gross offense before the Almighty, for they are not only injuring themselves, but they are destroying the happiness of unborn generations. But the fact that the work still continues, and increases, and that the last words of the dying Saints to their children and friends, are: “I know by the revelations of God that this work is true,” is strong presumptive proof of the absolute truth of this work.

If you Saints here do not know this work is the work of God, it is your duty to rise up and declare you have been deceived, acknowledge that the Spirit of God has not been given you, and that the declaration of the Elder who promised it is entirely false, and thus try and correct the error which you have been guilty of propagating. At once, leave the Mormon Church and you would assume a position that would be more consistent; then get a testimony from the Almighty that some other Church possesses the system of salvation; get a testimony from the Almighty that the Book of Mormon, and Book of Doctrine and Covenants are false, and just the moment you get that testimony where are you? Where are the words of the Apostle Peter: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost?” Where are the words of the Lord Jesus? He says, “It (the Holy Ghost) shall lead you into all truth and show you things to come.” Where are the words of the Apostle Paul: “Let this same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who, finding himself in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God?” Where are the words of John: “We know that we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he (Jesus) shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; and every man that hath this mind in him purifies himself, even as God is pure?” Throw these doctrines aside, let them pass; and go to a Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, Quaker or Shaker, then where is your Bible.

I testify before this assembly, as I have testified before the people throughout the different States of the Union, and throughout England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Switzerland, and France, that God Almighty, through my obedience to the Gospel of Jesus, has revealed to me, tangibly, that this is the work of God, that this is his Gospel, that this is his kingdom which Daniel prophesied should be set up in the last days. I prophesy that any man who will be humble before the Lord, any man who will, with childlike simplicity, be baptized for the remission of his sins, shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which shall lead him into all truth and show him things to come; he shall receive a knowledge from the Almighty that his kingdom has been established in these latter days; and that it shall never be thrown down or be left to another people.

In saying this, I say no more than every man could say and has said who had a dispensation of the Gospel. I would not be here today, I would not have traveled over the face of the earth as I have for the last thirty-five years unless God had revealed this unto me. I have already said nothing but absolute duty ever inspired me to travel and preach this Gospel; but I received a dispensation from the Almighty, and I could say and do say now, as the Apostle Paul said: “I received not this Gospel from man, but I received it by revelation from the Almighty.” I say that any man who will humble himself before God and will be immersed in water, after repentance, for the remission of his sins, shall receive, through the laying on of hands, the gift of the Holy Ghost. Can I give this to him? No, I, simply as a messenger of the Almighty, to whom has been delegated authority, administer immersion for the remission of sins; I simply immerse him in water, having authority so to do. I simply lay my hands upon him for the reception of the Holy Ghost, then God, from his presence, acknowledges my authority, acknowledges that I am his messenger, and confers the Holy Ghost upon the individual. Well, this is the Gospel; this is what makes a man a savior of life unto life, as Jesus told his disciples they were.

Now talk about this kingdom being destroyed! Talk about, reason upon, lay plans here and there by the combined wisdom of Governments to destroy the kingdom of God; why, you might as well try to pluck the stars from the firmament or the moon or the sun from its orbit! It can never be accomplished, for it is the work of the Almighty. I advise every man who has a disposition to put forth his hand against this work, to hold on and consider. Take the advice of Gamaliel the lawyer. Said he: “If this is the work of God, ye can do nothing against it; if it is not, it will come to naught.”

Well, now, they say that the Mormons are fanatical. Well, it is very good fanaticism. We have philosophy, science, truth, the power of God, and the testimony of good men on our side. I can pick out twelve men, with whom I have been acquainted for the last twenty-five, thirty or thirty-five years. I have known them under varied circumstances in which their hearts have been proved, their feelings tried, and their honesty and integrity tested. Have I confidence in such men? I have, just as much as I have when I read in the New Testament about Twelve Apostles. I know nothing about Peter, James, or the rest of the Apostles; but these men I know something about; I have seen their honor and integrity tried under various circumstances in life. Have I not a right to believe in their testimony? Most assuredly I have, and I will prophesy of them, no, excuse me, I am not in the habit of prophesying, I will predict, I will say here, that in generations to come, the doings of these men will be read, the account of their works in preaching the Gospel to the nations of the earth, what they have suffered for the cause of God; the imprisonment, contumely, drivings from Ohio, Missouri, Jackson County, and the northern counties in Missouri, and from Illinois, and how they have passed through all this and everything by way of suffering that can be imagined, and have still adhered to and borne their testimony to the truth; their works will be read and in generations to come people will have just as much confidence in these men as they now have in the Twelve Apostles whose doings are recorded in the New Testament. They are just as good men I have every reason to believe. As to the truth of what these Apostles said, that I read about here in the New Testament, I know nothing about that at all, only what I experience, through having observed the same system they preached. They received the blessings pertaining to it, so have I received the blessings which they promised should be conferred upon those who received that system. Therefore I and my brethren, who have received a like experience, are the only witnesses in regard to the truth of what those Apostles said; we are the only witnesses in regard to the truth of what Jesus said. Jesus said, He that will do the will of my Father shall know of the doctrine. We are witnesses that Jesus told the truth. The Apostles say that those who receive the Gospel by baptism for the remission of sins, shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. We are witnesses that they told the truth. Can the Methodist or Presbyterian ministers witness to these facts? No, they know nothing about them. They received their certificates and endowments at college, they trust in the wisdom of man, to the knowledge of the sciences, we trust to the power of the Almighty. Perhaps it may be said to us: “For ye see your calling, brethren; how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But, God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are.”

Well, I do not feel materially concerned about anything that respects the advancement and prosperity of the kingdom of God. It is a matter that I have not contrived, nor my brethren; it is the Lord’s affair. He has done this work. We never came to these valleys through our own designs and wishes; the Lord God Almighty brought us here, and when he wants us to leave these valleys, we are just as well prepared to leave as we were to come. We simply do what the Lord our God commands us. God loves his offspring, the human family. His design is not simply to furnish happiness to the few here, called Latter-day Saints. The plan and scheme that he is now carrying out is for universal salvation; not only for the salvation of the Latter-day Saints, but for the salvation of every man and woman on the face of the earth, for those also in the spirit world, and for those who may hereafter come upon the face of the earth. It is for the salvation of every son and daughter of Adam. They are the offspring of the Almighty, he loves them all and his plans are for the salvation of the whole, and he will bring all up into that position in which they will be as happy and as comfortable as they are willing to be. Our mission is to the world, and not simply to carry the Gospel to the people, but to establish plans and lay schemes for their temporal salvation. Our object is the temporal salvation of the people as much as it is for their spiritual salvation. By and by the nations will be broken up on account of their wickedness; the Latter-day Saints are not going to move upon them with their little army, they will destroy themselves with their wickedness and immorality. They will contend and quarrel one with another, state after state and nation after nation, until they are broken up, and thousands, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands will undoubtedly come and seek protection at the hands of the servants of God, as much so as in the days of Joseph when he was called uphill to lay a plan for the salvation of the house of Israel.

We have received revelation and, accordingly, we are here in these mountain valleys, and we are going to stay here. We shall cultivate our farms, and lay foundation for a time when the nations shall be broken up. Multitudes will then flee to these valleys of the mountains for safety, and we shall extend protection to them. You may say, shall you require them to be baptized and to become Latter-day Saints? Not by any means. I meet with gentlemen from time to time, from different portions of the Union. I never offer them my religious views unless they seek them. I am not anxious to push my religious views upon any man. I will do them all the good I can. If a gentleman comes into my neighborhood, a stranger, I will say, “Will you have something to eat? Is there anything I can do for you?” I am not anxious to make a “Mormon” of him, not by any means; we extend the hand of charity just as far as people are willing to allow us; but when, as I said at the beginning, people are crowding upon us, persons who are determined to destroy us and have not the principles of humanity in their bosoms, we cannot exercise that charity in their behalf that we desire.

Well, we expect to do good; it is our duty, as the servants and ministers of God upon the earth, to do good to his offspring. This is our mission, and it is as much our duty to do good to those who do not receive the Gospel, as it is to do good to ourselves; and God will give us the opportunity, just according to our desires, despite the efforts of evil-minded men. Our business is to save, not to destroy, and as we improve and advance, and develop the attributes of deity within us God will remove from our path the impediments and obstacles to our progress that are found therein; and the bitter branches, as they increase or manifest themselves, will be removed one after another, until the people of God have all the opportunity they desire to do good to the world.

I have occupied time sufficient. God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 17, 1871.

In rising to address you this afternoon I feel as I always do, on like occasions—the necessity of the influence and direction of the spirit of the Lord. We, as a people, believe emphatically in the sustaining hand of the Almighty, and in our speaking and in our hearing in the assemblies of the Saints we always feel that it is a matter of the greatest importance to us. We realize that God is near to us, that we are acting under his guidance and direction, that we are his children and require his aid, and that while we seek unto him for guidance and direction we shall always have his Holy Spirit to lead us in the paths of truth. In this respect as well as many others we differ from the people of the generation in which we live. We came out from among them years ago, because we believed in certain revelations that God had made to the human family; and believing in these principles we have assembled ourselves together as we are found, in these valleys of the mountains, in the Territory of Utah. We have come here, ostensibly and in reality, not to do our own will, but the will of our heavenly Father; not to follow our own pursuits, but to try and pursue that path which he should dictate in all things, temporal and spiritual, pertaining to this world and the world to come; and hence we, as a people, feel and realize our dependence upon the Almighty. We conceive, as the old apostle did in generations past, that “in him we live and move and from him we have our being;” and we conceive that we derive all the enjoyments of life from him. Our religion emanated from him, if it did not we have none, for it certainly is not founded upon any principles that were extant in the world when it was revealed. If he had not revealed his will and we had not believed in that revelation we should not have been here; but believing in that, we are assembled as we are today, here, and as we are through the valleys of these mountains. We did not obtain our religion from anybody else, we did not learn it in the colleges of the day nor from any system of theology, nor any religious academy, neither in any theological school. We are not trained, or brought up, or educated, or informed by any intelligence that they have; the religion that we have we received “not of man, neither by man, but by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the position that we occupy today in regard to our religious feelings, and if this is a fiction, then our religion is a fiction altogether, for we have none. We claim no affinity, no relationship, no association with any sect, any party, any religionists that exist on the face of the wide earth; therefore they cannot say, as some profess to do, that we have borrowed certain parts of our religion from others. We have neither adopted the opinions of Socrates, Mahommed, Paine, Luther, or the Hindoos; nor are we indebted to Roman Catholicism, the Greek Church, Episcopalianism, or to Knox, Calvin, Whitfield, Wesley, Campbell, Miller, or any other sects; our religion in its entirety came from God, and we give to him, and not to any man or any set of men, the glory.

In relation to our political position it is precisely the same. There is an inherent principle of right planted in the human bosom, which God has placed there, and which man never could, cannot now, nor ever will uproot; principles of inherent right which all intelligent men, when they have sought for the truth, with unbiased mind, and desired sincerely to know, have invariably found. Governed by the principles of right, and uninfluenced by party power or wealth there have always been men inspired by an infallible divine afflatus, who have recognized an innate, inalienable principle of justice and equity, in every age and among all nations, and the records of the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks, Romans and more modern nations bear ample testimony to this fact. The principle of right is implanted in the human bosom and inherent in the human family, among all governments that have ever existed, and men of virtue, honor and truth have always arrived at the same conclusions that we have. The founders of our government, under the inspiration of the Almighty, and goaded by an oppressive power, discovered the same elements, the same principles, the same ideas that we have, and enunciated those eternal principles and made them known to the world—“that all men are born free and equal and have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The founders of the French Republic, about the same time, made a declaration almost verbatim. It is the violation of the natural rights of man that has deluged the earth with blood in all ages. These principles were enunciated also by Joseph Smith, he believed in them, so do we, in the right to think, in the right to speak, in the right to act, in the right to do all things that are right and good and proper, but not in the right to interfere with any other man’s rights, any other man’s religion, any other man’s principles. These are our views. God has planted them in our bosom, they will remain there eternally, for they are principles that dwell in the bosom of God. He is not circumscribed or sectarian in his views, “he causes his sun to shine on the evil and the good, and sends his rain on the just and unjust.” We certainly are not indebted for these principles to those who come among us here, but God has implanted them in our bosoms, and they will grow there and take root and spread and prevail, and the worst wish we have to the human family is that the principles enunciated in our Constitution may reverberate over the wide earth, and spread from shore to shore until all mankind shall be free.

These are the things that we are struggling for, these are the things for which we stand condemned at the present day, by the would-be republicans and democracy of this corrupt generation with which we are associated. Nevertheless, we have clung to them and shall cling to them. Do any men come among us with religions that we consider false? All right, let them worship as they please. Let them rant and roar and pray and halloo to their God, who seems to be deaf and can’t hear them, and let them take what course they please but let us alone. We will let them alone. They may halloo until they crack their throats, it will make no difference to us. We care nothing about their opinions and dogmas, we have left their follies and nonsense and cant and hypocrisy years ago, we want nothing to do with it. If they want it they can take it, they can hug it to themselves as a sweet morsel, and take their own course, but let us alone. We are indebted to God for the blessings we enjoy, and this nation, whether they know it or not, are indebted to the same source for all those pure, patriotic, liberal, exalted notions that the wise, enlightened and honest statesmen, inducted into our government years ago, and which those who are not disfranchised among us, experience today. But God has nothing to do with the corruption, fraud, hypocrisy and cant that exist, whether among religionists or politicians. He is not the author of it, it proceeds from beneath, from the father of lies. No good man will seek to oppress the good, the pure, the virtuous, nor lend himself as a tool for that purpose. We are seeking for those things that tend to exalt, ennoble and purify the human family. We say to others, get out of our way; let us alone. Hug your creeds! Hug your tyranny! Hug your corruptions and lies to your bosoms, but let us alone. That is all we ask and mean to have it, for the right and the might, and virtue and truth will prevail; and iniquity, error, tyranny and oppression will by and by be laid low, and Zion will rise and triumph, while the wicked and corrupt are writhing and weltering in the results of their own acts.

They would sympathize with us! We don’t ask their sympathy; reserve it for yourselves. They would purify us! What by? By their whoredoms here right in our midst! By their drunkenness, by their gambling, by their hells of infamy which they have introduced, and which are sustained by legal authority here. That is the course they are taking. “My soul, enter not thou into their secret; my honor, with them be not thou united!” Talk about our ladies here associating with such wretches as they! No never! No never!! No never!!! They will not mingle with harlots, they have come of another stock, they are inspired by other feelings, motives and views; they can’t bow to it. Let them take their rottenness to their own dens and wallow in it, we want nothing to do with it! They can take their pity and everything else they have got and stuff themselves with it, and I hope that our sisters here, both young and aged, have enough respect for themselves to keep out of the company and society of such corrupt wretches. I don’t think it is necessary to say so, but these are my feelings and I tell them.

The Lord has given us a work to do, and by his help we shall do it. He has placed the Gospel of life and salvation in our hands, and we have carried it from the rivers to the end of the earth without begging all over the world for a little help and charity. We can go trusting in God. The elders of this church, whom I see around me, have wandered over this wide world, trusting in the Almighty for their support, and he has been with them, and they don’t need to cringe and bow, and lie, and misrepresent to get somebody to give them a little money to help them on with their religion.

We believe in the great truths which God has revealed for the salvation of the human family; we are engaged in building up and establish– ing the Kingdom of God on the earth. The great Eloheim is our father, friend and benefactor; we lean upon his arm, and we know that he will guide and direct, influence and control the affairs of his people, therefore we rely upon him. We have engaged in nothing but what we have been directed by the Almighty in, except some of us who have got aside into transgression. We are married to our wives and don’t want any other associations. We respect and honor them, we cleave unto them, and we will do so in time and throughout all eternity (Congregation said “amen.”). Some of our miserable apostates may shake and tremble in their boots when somebody at the East tells them what is going to come. They may break their covenants with God and their wives, and forsake them. We are not afraid of these things, we have learned a lesson, not in their school. We can’t forsake those whom God has given to us, but we will cleave to them forever and forever, worlds without end. That is our view; that is mine. I have no covenants to violate, nobody to forsake. This people’s God is my God, their religion is my religion, where they go I hope to be found, where they live I wish to live, where they die I want to be buried. I want to be associated with them in time and in eternity. I don’t believe in the God of the religions of this world, nor in their heaven, nor in anything pertaining to it. I don’t want to go to a heaven “beyond the bounds of time and space.” I don’t want to worship a God “without body, parts or passions.” I have no reverence for him. I don’t want anything to do with him. They can worship him and go to their own heaven, and let us alone.

I will tell you what we have to do as Latter-day Saints—live our re– ligion, keep the commandments of God and be virtuous. Do not mingle with these abominations that have been imported into your midst, keep away from them and let them alone, and let the wicked and corrupt wallow in their wickedness and corruption. Have nothing to do with it. Don’t go to their balls, assemblies or associations, keep apart from them and let them alone, they are not worthy of your association. We live in a purer atmosphere, we breathe a purer air, we worship another God, we have another religion, one that is very willing and liberal enough to extend to all the rights that all men want, but we will not associate with them in their corruption and infamy. They may wallow on “Whiskey” St. and have their whore houses if they like, and be sustained if they so choose by judicial authority, but God deliver us from them! We want nothing to do with them. I am ashamed of such things, and did think once there was some decency among men, but I am changing my opinion. Let us cleave to our religion and humble ourselves before God, pray to him, keep his commandments, and be virtuous and pure and holy! Remember your prayers; be true and faithful to each other and to your covenants, keep the commandments of the Almighty, and the blessings of Israel’s God will rest upon you, and no power this side of hell or the other side either shall harm you. It is our duty to serve God; it is God’s duty to take care of his Saints, and he will say to all powers that may be arrayed against you, as he did to the mighty swelling flood, “Hitherto shall thou go and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.”

We are in the hands of God, and our enemies are in the hands of God, we are all in the hands of the Almighty, and he will sustain the right, and Israel shall be victorious, therefore you need not trouble about what this man or the other man, or this combination or the other combination can do, they can do nothing but what God will let them; for the God we serve is not dead, he lives yet, and he hears the prayers of his servants, and he will stand by and save and deliver them, and Israel shall rejoice and truth shall prevail, and the kingdom of God will roll onward, and the purposes of God will be accomplished. The potsherds of the earth may strive with the potsherds of the earth; but in interfering with righteousness and virtue they may run against the fierce bosses of Jehovah’s buckler, and he will tell them by and by to: “Stand back, touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm!” He will deliver Israel and his Saints shall be joyful in him.

Brethren, God bless Israel! I thought I would like to say a few words to you. Be not timid, any of you, for God is on the side of right, and he will protect his people; and let their enemies look out! Don’t fight! You need not think anything about that. Fear God and keep your powder dry, but don’t shoot anybody. Be ready always. Watch everybody in all their operations. Be quick, lively and energetic, but you need not fear. We want no vigilant societies here, nor bloodtubs, nor “Pluguglies,” nor Ku-Klux, nor John Brown raids, nor Jayhawkers, as they frequently have down east and west and south. We don’t want any secret organizations of any kind, nor any infractions of law.

Let others be breakers of the law, and us the keepers of it, let others trample under foot human rights, and us maintain them. If we were in Russia we would take all the liberty they would give to us, and we will take all we can get here, and the remainder we will contend for, and we will keep contending for it until honor and honesty and truth can hold up their heads unabashed before the world, and until all that love honor, truth, integrity, pure and correct principles and equal rights shall be exalted and the wicked be put down.

These are the things we are contending for, and we will keep contending for them as long as we live, and we will instruct our children after us to contend for them. If others want to play the part of tyrants let them do so and they will find the tyrant’s end. It is for us to keep the commandments of God, and in doing that we need not break the laws of the land. Why, bless your souls, we can live anything that anybody else can! We profess to be governed by a higher law, let us move in a higher atmosphere; and let these miserable dogs take their course, pursue their own path and do as they please. We can submit to anything that they can. Don’t be troubled, you need not be hurt. We do not propose to leave here; they are not able to rob us of all. They may do a little stealing. They have laid out great plans, but they will accomplish very little. We can stand it if they can. I would rather be the man that was robbed than the robber; I would rather be stolen from than be the thief; I would rather be the oppressed than the oppressor; I would rather suffer wrong than do wrong. And if they can stand these things we can, and let us do it manfully and womanfully.

I am glad there is a little spirit among our sisters, and that they dare say their souls are their own. I don’t like to see people sneaking about with their heads down, and fretting about every little wind that blows. It will be all right with us, never fear. We will live so far above them that they can’t touch us; and their infamies will be so plain that they will be proclaimed on the housetops, and everybody will be ashamed of them as we are today. May God help us to do right and to be faithful in keeping his commandments, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 10, 1871.

There is a large assembly of people now seated in this Tabernacle, and it will require a good deal of attention and stillness on the part of so large a congregation in order to hear distinctly and to understand what may be advanced. I have been in the habit for a few months past of selecting a text from the Scriptures. I do not do so this afternoon, for the reason that no particular text has presented itself to my mind; nevertheless I shall endeavor by the assistance of the Spirit of the Lord to speak upon subjects as they may be presented to me at the very moment. What they will be I know not. It is my earnest desire, however, that I may be favored with the faith and prayers of all good people who may be present, that peradventure the Lord may be merciful to us and shed forth a great abundance of His Holy Spirit to assist us on this occasion.

It is a strange thing to the greater part of the civilized world to see, or rather to contemplate, so many scores of thousands of people gathering together in the interior portions of North America, in the Rocky Mountains or vicinity, all of one religious faith. It is a marvel, and produces a great deal of wonderment among the people, to understand what is the cause of this great assembling or gathering together, what it means, what the object is, what purpose is to be accomplished, what the designs of the people are and so forth. It is attracting the attention not only of our own nation but of many other nations—this fleeing out, this gathering together of a people from so many parts of the world and coming together in the interior of this new world, in a country which, to all human appearance, was one of the most difficult countries in the known world to be settled. They wonder how it is that an influence can be exercised over the minds of so many people, among so many nations, to get them to leave the homes of their fathers, their native countries, their associates and friends, and go forth for thousands of miles upon railroad conveyance, and cross the ocean, and then pursue their journey for thousands of miles still further into the heart of a desert. This is a curious thing when we reflect upon it. I will here observe, however, that it is not the influence of man that has brought this great event about; man is not the origin of this great gathering which you see in the Territory of Utah. If you do not believe what I say, let any other society, I don’t care how much talent they may have, how much human wisdom they may possess; let them attempt to accomplish a similar thing and see whether they can succeed. Take all the learning that is in the world, combine it together, send forth the most learned and talented orators among the nations, exercise all the human power and influence that God has given you, and attempt to accomplish a work similar to the one which is now before your eyes, and see if you can succeed. It can’t be done; it never has been done, to my knowledge, since the days of our Savior. We have no account in history of any religious society gathering out from so many nations into one region of country since the days of the Savior.

Do you wish to know the secret of this great gathering? Do you wish to know why it is that this influence has been exercised over the minds of the people? I will tell you: it is because God, who is in yonder heavens, has spoken in our day, this is the secret. It is because he has sent forth angels, messengers from heaven, who have appeared to men here on the earth, and have conversed with them. It is because God, by angels, and by his own voice, has sent forth messengers again unto the human family with an important message, a message more important, in one sense of the word, than any which has before been delivered to man—a message to prepare the way before the face and coming of his Son from the heavens.

Strangers may inquire, what has this great gathering to do with preparing the way before the coming of his Son? Could you not all remain scattered abroad among the nations and be prepared just as well? I answer, that if God had commanded us to remain among the nations in our scattered condition, that would have been right, and acceptable before him; but on the other hand, if God has spoken, as we declare that he has, and his voice has been heard, and messengers have been called and sent forth by divine command, and revelation has been given, not only for the people to obey the gospel but also to gather out and assemble themselves in one, then we could not be prepared for his coming without obeying the divine command. It all rests, therefore, on this point: has God spoken concerning this matter? Has he really instituted this thing? Has he given divine revelation in the 19th century? Has he sent forth his angels? If he has, then the work that is before you is the preparatory work for the coming of the Son of God. If he has not spoken, as we declare that he has, then a similar work will have to be performed in the future by some other people; for the very work which you now perceive—the gathering together of so many thousands, is clearly predicted by the ancient prophets; and if we are not the people fulfilling these predictions, then another people must rise hereafter under similar circumstances to fulfil them, before the Son of God will come from the heavens, to reign here as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Much has been said about the coming of our Lord to reign here on the earth for a thousand years. We have now in the United States and in Great Britain, and other parts of the world, those who call themselves Second Adventists, who say they are going forth in order to prepare the way before the coming of the Lord. But are they fulfilling the predictions of the ancient prophets contained in this Bible? By no means. The first predic– tion to which I will refer you, upon this subject, that now occurs to my mind, is one that has been often repeated, for some forty-one years, by this people; but it is of so much importance and interests this generation to that degree, that I never feel tired of repeating it. It will be found in that prophecy that was delivered to John on the Island of Patmos. He saw in vision, as represented in the 14th chapter of his prophecy, the Son of Man sitting on a cloud with a sharp sickle in his hands, clothed in glory and in power, and he saw angels at the same time, and one of them cried unto him that had the sharp sickle in his hands, that he should go forth and reap down the earth; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. Here was a view of the coming of the Son of Man. But before this, there was a preparatory work to perform, the nature of which is explained in the same chapter. This preparatory work is what I wish to call your special attention to on this occasion.

It was no less than a messenger that was to fly through the midst of heaven—an holy angel, not something to be spiritualized, or that we can interpret according to our own views, not some great and renowned man that was to be raised up here on the earth, but an angel. “I saw another angel,” says John, before the coming of Christ, before he saw that personage sitting on the cloud. “I saw another angel flying through the midst of heaven.” Not a person raised up to go and preach here, and fly among the inhabitants of the earth, but flying through the midst of heaven. What particular message had this angel to convey, and to whom was he to convey it? John says, that this angel whom he saw flying through the midst of heaven had the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth. To show how extensively it was to be preached, mark the next sentence: “To be preached unto them that dwell on the earth, unto every nation, kindred, tongue and people.” Does not this include all? Does not the prediction take within its scope all mankind in the four quarters of the earth? It verily does. What was connected with this everlasting gospel that the angel should have to be thus extensively preached among the inhabitants of the earth? What other prediction was uttered on that occasion? The angel proclaimed that the hour of God’s judgment had come. He had the gospel to restore, however, before that judgment would fall on the nations. They must first hear it, they must first be warned, they must first receive the opportunity and privilege of receiving the message, after which, if they do not receive it, the angel said that the hour of God’s judgment has come. Consequently we learn from these predictions some three or four very important things. First: that when the gospel is again committed to the inhabitants of the earth it is to be by an angel. Second: that when it is thus committed, it must be preached to all people under the whole heavens, without any exception of tongues or languages or races. Third: we learn that the hour of God’s judgment was immediately to follow this preaching of the everlasting gospel.

Now mark what is predicted in the next verse. This was the first message; but John says: “I saw another angel follow him.” There were two angels then, the first one with a message of the gospel of peace, proclaiming peace to the inhabitants of the earth, and then judgment immediately to follow. The second angel had no message of peace, but this was his proclamation; “Behold, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” We learn that a certain power, under the name of Great Babylon, is to meet with a total downfall after the gospel had been preached, that was to be brought by an angel. A third angel followed, and declared that all who would not receive the message of truth should be cast down, and should be punished, and the smoke of their torment should rise up forever and forever. After having predicted the coming of these three angels he then proclaims the coming of the Son of God sitting on a cloud, of which I have spoken.

Now we have this important message to testify, and we testify it in all boldness, we testify it before the heavens, we testify it before the earth, we testify it in the name of the Lord God who has sent us, in the name of Jesus Christ who has redeemed us, that that angel has already come, that the 19th century is the favored century in which God has fulfilled this ancient prediction, uttered by the mouth of his ancient servant. God has indeed sent that angel, and when he came he revealed the everlasting gospel.

But I know what now rises in your hearts, I know what the strangers who are before me will say in their hearts, what they now think. Some of you now say in your hearts, we have the everlasting gospel contained here in this book, the New Testament, and we have had it for some eighteen centuries or more, and consequently what was the use of another angel having the same everlasting gospel to commit to the children of men when we already had it? Now was not that in your hearts? I will venture to say that there were some in this congregation who were thinking of something very similar to this. Let me say in answer to this query that God has revealed the everlasting gospel anew. But what reason or purpose had he in so doing, say some, have we not sufficient written on the subject in the Bible? Have we not the Gospel in great plainness, and why should he reveal it anew? I will tell you why. What is written in the New Testament in relation to the everlasting Gospel is not as it was when it was first revealed; and as a testimony that it is not very plain, let me refer you to some five or six hundred different religious views, all founded on this same book, which you say contains the everlasting Gospel. Why all these views, why all this distraction of faith? Why, for instance, does one sect believe in sprinkling, another in pouring, another in immersion, another rejecting baptism entirely, another baptizing those who profess to have obtained forgiveness of sins? Another class baptizing expressly for the remission of sins? Why is it that all these sentiments and religious notions prevail? Do not all these classes profess to found their faith on the New Testament, which they say contains the everlasting Gospel? O yes. It shows clearly and plainly that there is something lacking. There are just as many sincere people, no doubt, who believe that sprinkling infants is the correct mode of baptism, as there are who believe in baptizing adults by immersion. One class is just as sincere as the other; one professes to believe and have confidence in the New Testament as well as the other. Now there must be something that is not quite so clear in the New Testament, or there would not be so great a diversity of opinion and sentiment.

We again refer to the everlasting Gospel that the angel should bring! What might we expect when the angel comes? Could we not reasonably expect that when God sends an angel from heaven with the ever– lasting Gospel he will make it so plain that there can be no misunderstanding in regard to any ordinance or any principle that is connected with it? That is what I should expect. The causes why these things are not so plain now in the New Testament, are these: the New Testament has been handed down, or its manuscripts, for a great many centuries, transcribed by the scribes of different generations. No doubt many of these were sincere and good men; but they have made, in the course of so many centuries, many great perversions in the text, in the original word I mean, in the Greek text, and also in the Hebrew so far as the Old Testament is concerned. I am not referring to the English manuscripts, but to the text written in what is termed the original Greek or Hebrew. These Greek and Hebrew manuscripts being transmitted from generation to generation, and transcribed and altered more or less, have fallen at length into the hands of the people of latter times in a state wherein they very much contradict each other. It is declared by the most learned archbishops and bishops, and men of great learning who have gathered together thousands of these ancient manuscripts and compared them one with another, that there are thirty thousand different readings of the original text. Not merely a different reading in one or two phrases, but of the original text, taking the Old and New Testament as a whole. When King James, in his day, set a great number of learned men apart to translate the Bible into the English language, they gathered together such manuscripts as they could get hold of. By examining them they of course did not know which was correct. They found them differing one with another in thousands of instances. Which were the most correct they, without inspiration, never could learn; but they did the very best they knew how. They are not to blame for those errors. They were men of integrity; they collected, according to the best of their understanding and knowledge, the manuscripts in existence and translated them according to the best information they had concerning the original languages. Hence originated this present English Bible, King James’ translation. I am astonished when I look at this Bible, to find it so correct; I am astonished, and it has been a mystery to me that it can be so correct with such an abundance of contradictions in the original manuscripts. As a general thing the meaning has not been altered much, but it has been altered sufficiently to produce all the confusion at present existing throughout Christendom. All these different denominations have arisen, founded on the same Bible and on the same text. What may we expect then when God sends an angel? Must we expect that he will give us a confused mass of something that we cannot understand? Or may we not rather expect that he will impart to us the plainness and simplicity of his word, and call that the gospel, and call upon the nations of the earth to receive it? I answer that so far as reason is concerned, and good sound judgment, that is, so far as I can judge concerning reason, reason would say that the God of truth would communicate a message in perfect plainness, that could not be misunderstood by those who desired to know the right way.

Well, such was the fact. I hold in my hand a record containing more writing than the New Testament; and this book, from the beginning to the end, was written by divine revelation, comprising history, prophecies and the Gospel. It was written by an ancient people, a portion of the house of Israel, who dwelt in ancient America. Prophets and inspired men wrote this record on plates of gold. They inform us that Jesus administered on this American continent in person, as well as on the little land of Palestine. They inform us that after his resurrection and ascension from the land of Jerusalem to his Father, he descended on this American continent, that he taught them here at different times, appearing to them often, delivering to them his everlasting Gospel in plainness and simplicity. He commanded them to write that Gospel upon the plates that they kept their records on at that time, and which had been already handed down among them for about six hundred years. This book also informs us concerning the preaching of the Gospel among the ancient Americans—the ancient inhabitants of this country; that twelve men were called, not apostles, or rather that they were not called apostles, but disciples. Twelve disciples were chosen in ancient America and preached the Gospel that the Son of God revealed to them in person. They proclaimed that Gospel in the four quarters of this Western hemisphere, in other words, on what we call South and North America; they built up the Church and Kingdom of God in this land, and millions of the people received the Gospel. They kept a record of this fact three hundred and eighty-four years after the coming of Christ. Mormon, who had charge of the records, after making an abridgment on other plates, in consequence of the apostasy of his portion of the nation, delivered the abridgment or the plates that contained it, into the hands of his son Moroni, a faithful prophet and servant of God, but the other plates he hid up in a hill in what we now call the State of New York. Moroni beheld the downfall of his nation, their destruction by the hands of another branch of the house of Israel, a powerful nation on this continent. The nation that kept these records was destroyed. Moroni, who was the last prophet entrusted with the plates, had to flee from place to place and hide up in dens and caves in order to preserve his own life. These records, four hundred and twenty years after the birth of Christ, were hidden up, at least that was the last date given on them. With them was deposited a sacred instrument that was possessed by the people on this continent, called the Urim and Thummim. Many predictions were uttered, not only by Moroni, but by many previous prophets, that these records in the last days, should be brought to light by the ministration of holy messengers; that God would bring them forth in order to prepare the way before the coming of his Son from the heavens. This, therefore, is the book that that angel whom John saw flying through the midst of heaven has revealed to the inhabitants of the earth. This is the sacred book that contains the everlasting Gospel revealed by the angel. This is the sacred book which God has commanded his servants to publish to the four quarters of the globe as a witness unto all nations before the Son of Man comes. This is the sacred book that contains the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he appeared on this American continent. This is the sacred book that will go forth, warning all people, nations and tongues before the Son of Man appears in his glory. If they receive it they will be blest, if they receive it not, then will be fulfilled that which was spoken by the mouth of John the Revelator concerning the hour of God’s judgment coming upon them.

Does this book do away with those differences that exist in regard to many points of the doctrine of Jesus? Does it make it plain so that there is no chance of building up two different denominations from the doctrines it contains? I answer yes, there cannot be established two different denominations founding their ideas on the doctrines of this book. Why? Because the doctrine is so plain in every point that it is impossible for any person with common sense not to understand it just as it is delivered and revealed. Hence you perceive that, that which we would naturally expect and reasonably hope for when the angel came is realized, namely, a doctrine so plain that all the learning and wisdom of man could not wrest and twist and turn it and make it appear two different things. For instance, let us take the simple ordinance of baptism, what does the Book of Mormon say in regard to that one ordinance? Jesus, when he came to the American continent, they not having seen the true order of baptism in the same light that the Jews had in Palestine, condescended to point out to them how they should be baptized. He says, first, you must believe in me and repent of your sins and become as a little child and go forth and be baptized for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the Holy Ghost; and then, to show how this ordinance was to be performed, he says that inasmuch as anyone shall come forth desiring the ordinance of baptism, having repented of his sins, having believed in me, even Jesus Christ, you shall go down into the water and you shall baptize him in my name; you shall immerse him in the water, and come forth out of the water, and then he shall receive the Holy Ghost. Showing the ordinance also through which and by which the Holy Ghost should be given, namely, the laying on of hands. Now I ask, is there any possibility, with words penned as plain as these words are recorded, to build up two different denominations in regard to the mode of baptism? No, they could not do it; there could not be one sprinkling, another pouring and another baptizing by immersion; neither could there be those who would require individuals to first experience religion and then be baptized; but “be baptized in my name for the remission of their sins, and then they shall receive the Holy Ghost.”

Perhaps the strangers will say, that is plain enough, we admit your argument that, if that be a revelation from God, there could not be two different denominations built up on that. I will say further that in regard to a great many other points of doctrine this book is just as plain and just as simple. Supposing you could grant all this, supposing you should say, strangers, we will admit that it is very plain in the Book of Mormon; but the great question with us is, is the Book of Mormon a divine revelation? That is the question that we want answered. The plainness we don’t dispute, we know that it is so plain that a wayfaring man though a fool need not err therein; all that we want to know in regard to the matter is, has God given that book, or is it an invention of man? What evidence have you to offer, inquires the stranger, to prove the divine authenticity of your book? You have the testimony of Joseph Smith. He says that an angel came and revealed to him the Book of Mormon, and that he was commanded by the Lord Almighty to go and get the plates, according to the vision that was shown to him at the time the angel came and conversed with him, that he obtained the plates, and he says he translated them by the Urim and Thummim. This all rests, perhaps you may think, upon his testimony alone. Well, supposing it did, has God ever condemned the world for not obeying one servant when he only had one witness? I answer yes, in some instances. He was going to condemn the great city of Nineveh on a certain occasion through the testimony of one man called Jonah. “In forty days this great city shall be destroyed,” says Jonah. Jonah finding that the Lord sent but one witness with such an important message felt almost discouraged, and when he was on his way to deliver it to a great people and city, he felt that he would almost rather die than go as a single and solitary witness with a message of so much importance, and he besought the people to throw him overboard. They did so, the Lord having produced a furious wind, frightened the people, and they, according to their old traditions, thought somebody was on board that ought not to be there. Jonah told them that he had rejected the commandment of the Lord, and if they would throw him overboard the winds would cease. They did so, and the wind did cease. A fish was prepared and it swallowed up Jonah, and the fish was commanded of the Lord to go and vomit up Jonah on the land, which he did. Very obedient, much more so than many people are now-a-days, or have been in former times. This fish was obedient to the command of the Lord and went and did what the Lord commanded, and Jonah was thrown up. The word of the Lord came to him to go and fulfil his mission. He went and preached to the great city of Nineveh, and told the people what the Lord intended to do, and the people repented in sackcloth and ashes, from the king on his throne down to the least of them; they all turned and repented of their sins, and the Lord had compassion and did not execute the judgment on them because of their repentance. Now, what would have been the consequence if they had rejected this one man’s testimony? The consequence would have been their overthrow. Jonah might have told them that God had sent him, and he might have preached to them that he had been swallowed up by a whale, and that God had given commandment to the fish to vomit him up on dry ground! What would they care about that? They would have said, “Jonah is crazy, insane, he must be insane,” and they might have rejected his testimony, and brought death and destruction on the whole city, consequently God may send but one witness.

But he sometimes condescends to give more. We have four witnesses who have written and whose writings have descended to our day, concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ—one of the most important events that has ever happened in our world. Four men who saw Jesus after his resurrection have testified in the New Testament to his resurrection. “Oh, but,” says one, “we have more than four men.” I think not, I can’t find but four who have written. No women have written, for we have not any women’s epistles or writings in the New Testament. “But,” says one, “do you mean to say that the twelve apostles have not handed down their testimony? I do say so. I have no doubt but what they did testify of his resurrection, but they have given us no account. Four of the eight writers of the New Testament saw Jesus after his resurrection, and all the Christian world at the present day believe that Jesus rose from the dead because those four men testified that he did so. But does not Paul say that he was seen by him, and afterwards on a certain occasion after his resurrection by five hundred of his brethren? Yes, we suppose that he said so, because the writer of the Acts of the Apostles says that Paul said so; but it all rests on the writer of those Acts, whose name is supposed to be Luke. Luke says that Paul saw Jesus; Luke says that he was seen by five hundred, or at least he says that Paul says that he was seen by five hundred. Well now, such a great and important fact as the resurrection of the Son of God rests upon the testimony of four witnesses, and they are dead. You cannot cross-question them, you can’t ask them if their testimony is true, you can’t go to them and enquire about the particulars in relation to it; but you have to take the testimony of four witnesses who are dead and have been for eighteen hundred years; yet you believe the great fact, I do, and so do the Latter-day Saints, on their testimony.

Again, we find that it is written in the New Testament, the words of Jesus on the same subject, that in the mouths of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. Indeed, is that so? Are two or three witnesses sufficient to condemn the whole world of mankind, and to leave them without excuse? Jesus says so: every word shall be established in the mouths of two or three witnesses. This is in accordance with what took place in the days of the flood. Noah, Shem, Ham and Japhet were the only witnesses that went forth to warn that generation of a terrible judgment that was to come on all flesh if they did not repent. They did not receive the testimony of those four men and consequently they were overthrown by the flood. God does therefore condemn the children of men by the number of witnesses that seems to him good to communicate, or through whom to communicate, a message to them.

Now then, let us come back again. Here was Joseph Smith, a boy, his very youth ought to testify in his favor, for when the Lord first revealed himself to that little boy, he was only between fourteen and fifteen years of age. Now, can we imagine or suppose that a great impostor could be made out of a youth of that age, and one that could reveal the doctrine of Christ as he has revealed it to this generation? Would he stand forth and bear testimony that he had seen with his own eyes a messenger of light and glory, and that he heard the words of his mouth as they dropped from his lips and had received a message from the Most High, at that early age? And then, after having declared it, to have the finger of scorn pointed at him, with exclamations, “There goes the visionary boy! No visions in our day, no angels come in our day, no more revelation to be given in our day! Why he is deluded, he is a fanatic;” and to have this scorn and derision and still continue to testify, in the face and eyes of all this, while hated and derided by his neighbors, that God had sent his angel from heaven. Can you imagine that a youth would do this? Select out some of our little boys here, fourteen years of age, can you imagine it to be possible for them to be impositions of this description? I think not. The very youth, then, of this first witness that I have named, testifies in his favor! Did God send forth servants to publish this Book of Mormon, containing the everlasting Gospel, to all the nations and kingdoms of the earth without giving more witnesses than this one I have named? No, he was more merciful to this generation than he was to the city of Nineveh; he sent more than one. He would not even permit this book to go forth as a divine revelation to this generation until he had raised up three other men—Martin Harris, David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery, besides Joseph Smith. “But,” says one, “perhaps they were deceived, while Joseph Smith was the impostor, they might have been sincere men!” Let us see whether they could be deceived men, and yet their testimony be given as it is here recorded. They have testified to all nations, kindred, tongues and people unto whom this work shall come, that, “we, through the grace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, and we testify with words of soberness that God sent forth an holy angel from heaven, and he showed unto us the plates from which this record was taken, and he commanded us to bear record of the same and to be obedient unto the commandment of God. We bear testimony of these things, and we do know if we are faithful in Christ we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men,” and so forth. I have repeated to you part of the testimony of these three men.

Now is there any chance for deception here? An angel to be sent forth from God, an angel to come down from heaven clothed in glory and brightness! An angel to take these plates and turn them over leaf after leaf and show the engravings thereon! An angel to proclaim to them that they must bear testimony of it to all people, nations and tongues; and at the same time to hear the voice of God out of the heavens proclaiming that it had been translated correctly! Any chance for deception here, so far as they are concerned? Were they deceived? If so, you may as well say that Peter was deceived, that Paul was deceived, that James was deceived, that all the writers of the New Testament were deceived, that all the writers of the Old Testament were deceived, when they testify that they saw angels, for one stands on as good and sound a foundation as the other; and if the very nature of the testimony as recorded by the ancient writers shows the impossibility of their being deceived, so does the nature of the testimony revealed in the last days show the impossibility of these individuals being deceived. Here then were four men before this church had any existence, four special witnesses, raised up to testify to the truth of the divinity of the Book of Mormon.

Were these all the witnesses God gave before the rise of this church? No, no! There are eight other witnesses whose names are recorded, attached to their own testimony, a testimony which they give expressly to go forth in connection with this record, or in all the translations of this record to every people, tongue and nation under the whole heavens. What do they testify? They testify in words of soberness that they have seen the plates from which this record was translated, that they have handled these plates, that they saw the engravings on these plates, that they had the appearance of ancient work and of curious workmanship, and they bear this testimony in words of soberness, and give their names to go forth to the whole world of mankind. I ask if either of these twelve witnesses have denied their testimony from that day to this? Never, in no instance. Neither of these twelve men, whatever has been his circumstances, wherever he has been, has ever denied his testimony from that day to this. Forty-two years and upwards have passed away since those twelve witnesses, four of whom saw the angel, gave their testimony.

What other witnesses have you besides these? On the strength of this testimony other persons believed in the everlasting Gospel and went forth and were baptized, repenting of their sins, for the remission of them. And God commanded his servants whom he had called and ordained to be apostles in this church and kingdom, to lay their hands upon them, and said that they, the candidates, should receive the Holy Ghost through that ordinance. Did they receive the Holy Ghost? They testified that they did. They prophesied—they were filled with joy and light, and with a spirit that they never had experienced before. They testified that they had received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, in fulfillment of the promise. Did God reveal to them anything by this spirit that came upon them through obedience to the Gospel? Yes. What did he reveal? He revealed to them the divinity of this work, the truth of it, and they knew as well as these witnesses whose testimonies are recorded that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. They knew that no human being by human means could confer the baptism of the Holy Ghost, as they testified they had received it, consequently they became witnesses in their turn, and many of them were sent forth as messengers and missionaries to preach to their neighbors, and into the regions round about, to declare what God had commenced to perform and accomplish in the midst of the 19th century.

By and by thousands received the work. Did they receive the Holy Ghost? Yes, every person who repented sincerely before God, who had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and came forth humbly, and was baptized by immersion by those whom the Lord had called and appointed by revelation, did receive the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of the hands of the servants of God. These would constitute thousands of more witnesses in addition to those that I have named.

But let other witnesses speak, besides all these who had received a revelation of the divinity of this work. What other witnesses did God give? He gave the same witnesses to the Church after it was built up that he gave to the ancient Church. What did he give to the ancient Church? He said to his apostles, as recorded in the last chapter of Mark, “Go ye forth and preach the Gospel in all the world 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.” Notice, now, certain signs were to be given not only to the twelve men to whom he was speaking, but all the world that should believe their testimony, making millions and millions of witnesses. “These signs shall follow them that believe: in my name they shall cast out devils.” These believers, not you apostles to whom I am speaking alone, but all that believe the Gospel which you preach, “they shall cast out devils in my name; they shall speak with new tongues, if they shall drink any deadly thing or take up serpents it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands upon the sick and they shall recover.” What glorious signs to follow the Christians, or all believers in Christ! What has become of all the Christians in all the centuries that are past and gone? Where are they? If there have been any they have had these signs following them. What, do you mean, Mr. Pratt, to unchristianize the world? O no, I am only quoting the words of Jesus. If there have been any Christians in the world for the last seventeen centuries, these signs have followed them. They have laid hands on the sick and the sick have recovered; they have cast out devils in the name of Jesus, for recollect the promise is to all believers, not to a few or a part of them.

Notice the two promises: First, salvation—he that believes (that is—all believers throughout the world), and is baptized shall be saved. Will you pretend to say that that promise of salvation was limited to the days of the apostles? “O no,” answer all the Christian sects with one united voice, “the promise of salvation is for all Christians in the first age, in all future ages throughout all the world.” Very well, come to the next verse, “These signs shall follow them that believe.” “Ah,” says the Christians, “that is not for us, that is limited to the days of the apostles; that was not intended for the Christians of the second, third, fourth or fifth century, or for the people in our day. No, all we have to do is to claim the first promise and reject the last.”

Well, we are not so foolish as all this, although taught by our forefathers, and the pretended Christians around us, that these signs would not follow the believer, yet we were just simple enough to believe that Jesus told the truth, and, consequently, when the servants of God went forth and taught the everlasting Gospel that an angel had brought from heaven, the Lord confirmed the word by signs following. To whom? To those who believed. He promised that they should have certain signs, and they got them, and this was a confirmation to them. Every man and every woman might know whether he or she was a believer or not in the Gospel; if they obtained the signs they were believers; if they obtained no gifts or no signs there was lack on their part, they were not Christians in the full sense of the word.

Don’t you think we would have been discouraged after forty years’ trial if God had not fulfilled the promise? I think we should. I do not think you would see this large congregation here in this desert mountainous country, I have no idea you would find such a people here in such a forbidding country as we now occupy, if God had not, in numerous instances among the nations in which you formerly dwelt, fulfilled his promise, and given you the promised blessing. This therefore, is another evidence, besides the evidence and testimony recorded in the Book of Mormon, an evidence which hundreds and thousands enjoy at the present day. Hundreds and thousands have seen with their eyes and have experienced the power of God as manifested in the various gifts.

This is what constitutes the true Christian Church. This is what distinguishes Christianity from all spurious doctrines, and separates the true from spurious Christianity. This is the great distinguishing point, it is the power of God made manifest through the preaching of the everlasting Gospel. It is this which has gathered this people out from among the nations. It is because their sick have been healed in their own country; it is because thousands of this people, now in this Territory, have been healed themselves. It is because God has shed forth his power by the ministrations of his servants and proved to them with testimonies they never can deny that the Lord God of Israel has spoken from the heavens. Blessed be the name of the Lord our God! Praise his name for evermore, that he has again sent the Gospel in its fulness to the earth. We should praise his name because he has not only restored the Gospel, but the power and authority to preach it, and administer its ordinances! Power and authority sent down from heaven and conferred upon weak mortal man to baptize for the remission of sins! Power and authority sent from the eternal heavens to build up his Church here on the earth; and we see divine power and authority accompanying those who he has thus called and to whom he has thus revealed himself. Consequently our Gospel does not come with the cunning craftiness of man’s wisdom. Though we may be poor, illiterate men, taken from our common avocations of life and sent forth by the Lord Almighty to proclaim his Gospel, we have one thing the world has not got. Though we may not be able to proclaim the Gospel in eloquence of language and in the power and wisdom of the world, we have a power that is superior to that—we have the power of the Almighty God. We have his angels to go before our face, his Spirit to dwell richly in our hearts, and his presence to go with us and be with us on our right hand and our left. It is he who performs the work; it is he who proclaims to the inhabitants of the earth by the mouths of his servants, saying, “Repent, and prepare the way for the great day of the coming of the Lord from the heavens.”

Will they hear? No, like the people in the days of the flood, they eat, they drink, they are engaged in merchandise and in the traffic of this world, and the voice of inspiration and the power of Almighty God that are being made manifest among the people will not reach their stubborn and hardened hearts, until the Lord, by and by, by his judgments, will pour out his indignation upon all nations. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, December 3rd, 1871.

I will read a portion of the 3rd chapter of Peter’s first epistle, commencing at the 18th verse:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

In the first chapter of this epistle the same subject is continued. The apostle says:

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.

When I was called upon to speak, these passages suggested themselves to my mind. Whether the Spirit will lead me to dwell upon them at length I do not know, but there are important principles embodied in these verses which I have read in your hearing, principles which, when rightly understood, change the belief of men in relation to the future, that is, the belief of those who receive the commonly accepted creeds of Christianity. For some reason or other, there is an idea prevalent in the Christian world that mankind, when they lay down their mortal lives, are consigned to a condition or place of happiness or pain, there to remain throughout the endless ages of eternity. There may be a few who do not entertain this belief, but it is the general belief of most of the sects which comprise Christendom. There is an idea prevalent that if men do not receive what may be termed a conversion, or change of heart, if they do not obtain a remission of sins through the blood of Jesus, and they die in this condition, their doom is irrevocably fixed, and that they are consigned to eternal, never-ending misery. I believe that I do not misstate the belief, in this respect, of some of the most prominent sects that comprise the Christian world, so-called. I have conversed with ministers of various denominations in relation to the future of the heathen—those who die without a knowledge of the name of Jesus, and of his character as the Redeemer and Savior of the world. I have asked them what they thought the condition of the heathen would be, and where any definite answer was made, the feelings of such persons would lean to the idea that they would be consigned to hell with others, either no definite idea was entertained, or, being more tender in their feelings, the answer would be, they did not know what their future condition would be.

There is an expression of the Savior’s to Nicodemus, which I think I will read; it is found in the 3rd chapter of John’s Gospel. There was a man of the Pharisees, John writes, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

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

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

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

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Now here is a definite doctrine laid down by the Savior, that unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God, and unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; he cannot even see the kingdom without the new birth, and he cannot enter that kingdom without being born of the water and of the Spirit. This doctrine is exceedingly positive, it leaves no room for doubt; there is no chance to evade the fact of this doctrine if there is to be any reliance placed upon the words of Jesus. Then, we are forced to the belief that no man can enter into the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit.

Well, taking these passages into consideration, a large class of people have come to the conclusion that unless a man is born again, or, as they term it, experience a change of heart, he is consigned to endless misery; and there are those who believe that all the heathen who have died in ignorance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are thus punished, and, in fact, there are those who profess to have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, who believe that in hell, that place of torment from which they declare there is no escape, there are infants by scores, and hundreds and thousands, and I may say by millions, enduring inconceivable and endless torment because they have died before receiving the ordinances which they consider necessary to salvation.

I do not thus understand the Scriptures, I do not thus understand the plan of salvation; I do not thus view the character and dealings of God our heavenly Father with his creatures. One of the most prominent attributes which we ascribe to our Father in heaven is mercy. The Scriptures de– clare most emphatically that he is a God of mercy, and a God of love. Can we, even in our degraded condition; consider a being endowed in the least degree with the attributes of love and mercy, or even of justice, who would consign millions of his creatures to endless torment because they do not believe and obey a doctrine which they never heard? Why such an idea is unworthy of intelligent beings. Suppose that any of us who have families should pass a law or prescribe a rule for their government, and at the time it is passed or prescribed, a portion of our children are not within hearing, and while still in ignorance of it, they unconsciously violate it, and because of this the father punishes them. What would you say of such a father? Would you not say that he was unjust, harsh and cruel? Why, certainly this would be our verdict, if we pronounced any, we could not pronounce otherwise. We would be compelled to come to the conclusion that the father who would act in this manner would neither be kind, just or wise. And shall it be said of our heavenly Father, who is the fountain of love, mercy and justice, that he will act with less justice than man, and that he will punish, curse and consign to eternal misery, his children, because they have failed to obey the laws he has never made known to them? Certainly not; and it is on account of these doctrines, which have been propounded and circulated so widely in Christendom, that skeptics are numbered by hundreds of thousands and it may be said by millions. The feelings of the people recoil, humanity revolts at such monstrous doctrines, and the growth of skepticism and infidelity may be traced to the fact that such hideous principles are advocated by those professing to be servants of the living God and the ministers of Jesus Christ. But do the Scriptures, the words of eternal life, as recorded in the Bible, inculcate such ideas? Certainly not. There is in the plan of salvation, which God our heavenly Father has revealed, perfect love, mercy and justice, and every other attribute which pertains to the character of Deity are perfectly illustrated in the plan of salvation which he has revealed for man’s guidance.

The words of Jesus which I have read to you, contain an immutable truth: that except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. It is an immutable truth that, except a man be born of the water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. These words proceeded from the mouth of Jesus, the Son of God, the author of our salvation, the founder of our religion.

He was perfectly acquainted with the laws necessary to be obeyed in order to effect an entrance into his Father’s kingdom; and being thus acquainted, he had the right as well as the knowledge necessary to advance and proclaim this doctrine to the children of men.

While we are upon the subject we may as well make a few remarks upon the nature of this new birth of which Jesus speaks. As I have told you, and as you well know, there is a large class in Christendom who believe that this new birth consists of what they term a change of heart; if the heart undergoes a change they say the creature is born again. Now, I do not so understand the Scriptures, I do not think that the change of heart thus referred to, is the new birth to which the Savior refers; on the contrary, it says here in great plainness, that they must be born of the water as well as of the Spirit. Not for the putting away the filth of the flesh, as I read to you in the passage from Peter, but for the answer of a good conscience towards God. Jesus, as you will recollect, on the occasion when John the Baptist, as he was called, was baptizing in Jordan, went and offered himself to John as a candidate for baptism. John, having received a testimony from the Father that Jesus was his beloved son in whom He was well pleased; knowing also that he, himself, was the forerunner of Jesus spoken of by the Prophets, declined to baptize him, saying, in effect, it is better for me to submit to thee than thee to submit to me. Jesus replied, Suffer it to be so now, to fulfil all righteousness. Then John took Jesus and baptized him.

Here we have an example on the part of our Savior of obedience to a certain ordinance. Some say that in this ordinance Jesus had water poured upon him, others say he was sprinkled, and a great many of the popular pictures represent him standing in the Jordan with his arms folded across his breast and John the Baptist pouring water on his head; but a careful perusal of the writings of those who have described this event will leave but one conclusion on the unprejudiced mind, and that is that Jesus went down into the water and was baptized by John, and came up out of the water; and that if pouring or sprinkling had been the method of administering the ordinance of baptism, there would have been no necessity for John and the people of Jerusalem and the regions round about, to have gone the distance that intervened between the river Jordan and Jerusalem to attend to it, and in fact there are other passages in the Scriptures which go to prove that immersion was the method of baptism, and that John so administered the ordinance. In one passage of Scripture it is said that John was baptizing at a place near Enon, because there was much water there, showing that an abundance of water was necessary for its correct administration. This was the ordinance that Jesus submitted to. He was the Son of God, the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world; He was spotless and sinless in the sight of his Father, yet, he considered it necessary to attend to this ordinance that he might fulfil all righteousness; and it is a remarkable fact that we have no account in the Scriptures of Jesus acting in his ministry until he had attended to this ordinance.

This, as I understand the Scriptures, and as the Latter-day Saints testify, was the new birth. He went down into one element, was buried in that element, and, emerging therefrom, was born again, in other words was born of the water. Can you imagine a new birth more perfectly represented than by this act which I have described, performed by John upon Jesus? After this birth of the water had taken place, the birth of the Spirit followed, for as soon as he came up out of the water, the Holy Ghost, in the likeness of a dove, descended upon him, and a voice was heard from heaven testifying that he was the beloved son in whom the Father was well pleased. Jesus was enveloped in that spiritual element, and was born of the Spirit as he had been born of the water. Thus, in his own case, he illustrated, by his obedience and humility to the will of his Father, the doctrine which he taught to Nicodemus, and which he declared was necessary to prepare not only him but all the children of men to enter into the kingdom of God. Paul, also, in one place, speaks of being buried with Christ in baptism in the likeness of his burial, in the likeness also of his resurrection; the burial in the liquid grave being symbolical of the death and burial of the Son of God, and the coming forth therefrom of his resurrection.

This doctrine is clearly laid down in the Scriptures. You will find it if you trace the preaching and the labors of the Apostles and the men who were immediately connected with the Lord in his ministrations to the people. You will find that in every instance where the records are complete, these ordinances were attended to—the people, if they believed in Jesus Christ and repented of their sins, were baptized, in order that they might be born of the water; and after attending to this ordinance, they were then baptized of the Spirit, or, in other words, had hands laid upon them for the gift of the Holy Ghost. They were enveloped in and born of that Spirit, and became legal heirs of and entitled to an entrance into the kingdom of God. There is not an instance of any other kind found on record in the Scriptures. We often quote the teachings of Peter, himself, on the Day of Pentecost, to prove this, and in passing along I may as well briefly allude to it.

On the Day of Pentecost, after the Jews had been convinced of the fact that Jesus the Nazarene, who had been crucified as a malefactor, was indeed the very Messiah of whom the Prophets had spoken; when they were convinced of this and also of the fact that the men who stood and preached in their midst, and through whom they had seen the power of God manifested, were his Apostles, they cried: “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” They felt that they were sinners; probably, for aught we know, they had consented in their feelings to the death of this holy being, and they gave vent to their anxiety in the expression I have already quoted. Now it is to be presumed that on that occasion Peter declared the Gospel in its fulness and purity, as it existed in the mind of God, and as it had been revealed to him by Jesus. We cannot presume that he taught something he was not warranted in teaching, something that was not the Gospel, for the occasion was one of the most important, probably, that the Church witnessed in that generation. It was, as far as we know, the first proclamation of the Gospel after the death of Jesus, and it was certainly the first time the power of God was manifested to such a wonderful extent. Peter, then, standing up, inspired not only with the greatness of the occasion, but with the sublimity of the manifestations that had been poured out by God, by the fact that he, for the first time, was declaring the Gospel in the ears of the assembled Jews at Jerusalem who had crucified Jesus, also by the spirit and power of his great office, we cannot doubt that he declared the Gospel in simplicity and plainness, and he said, in reply to their very important question, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost.

Now here were the two births of which I have spoken. They already believed that Jesus was the Christ, and they were told to repent, and be baptized for the remission of their sins; not, I repeat again, for the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but for the remission of their sins, that they might be born of the water, that they might become suitable candidates to receive the Holy Spirit. Peter continued: “And ye shall receive the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” And they went and were baptized, and we are told that three thousand were added to the Church on that occasion. This is only an example of what the Apostles afterwards taught. I do not intend, this afternoon, to quote the numerous instances that occur in the Scriptures where this doctrine was taught, where it was obeyed by those unto whom it was taught, and the blessings that followed obedience; but I call attention to the fact that this doctrine was set forth by the Apostles even as Jesus taught it and even as Jesus obeyed it, and that they administered the ordinances as the Lord had taught them.

It may be said, How is it possible for the millions that exist on the face of the earth to obey this doctrine? This question is very frequently asked us, because the Latter-day Saints dwell very considerably upon this part of the Gospel, and upon the necessity of these ordinances being obeyed. The question, very naturally, immediately rises in the minds of men, if it be necessary that all men and women should be born of the water and of the Spirit, then what is to become of the millions who have died and have not had the opportunity? I recollect, on one occasion, when quite a youth, speaking upon this principle of baptism, and dwelling, at some length, upon the necessity of people yielding obedience to it. After I had got through, a gentleman walked up to me, and said he had been very much interested in my remarks, but one difficulty had suggested itself to his mind, and he would like to have me explain. Said he, you doubtless recollect when Jesus was crucified there were two thieves with him, one of whom upbraided and railed at him. This called forth a rebuke from the other thief, who, turning to Jesus, said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Jesus replied in this wise: “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Now, said the gentleman, “if your doctrine be correct, that a man must be born of the water and of the Spirit before he can enter the kingdom of God, I would like to know how that thief entered that kingdom.” Well, looking at this from his standpoint, it was a very plausible question, and it looked as though his position was incontrovertible. But did Jesus enter into the kingdom of God when he was crucified? Did he, when he was crucified, enter upon the glory he afterwards attained unto, and did the thief accompany him? I know that many Christian ministers, so-called, believe this, I know they teach it. In reading the newspapers I frequently see accounts of the execution of vile criminals, whose entire lives have been spent in the commission of revolting crimes. Christian ministers, so-called, attend these criminals while incarcerated in jail, and to the gallows; they pray with them and endeavor to awaken them to a sense of their lost condition, and frequently they are successful, for many influences are brought to bear on the minds of malefactors at such times and their hearts are softened at the near prospect of death. Then, when these ministers accompany them to the scaffold they will pray with them there, and they assure them that through the merits and death of Jesus they will be ushered into the kingdom of heaven as soon as they are executed. This is the invariable assurance given to criminals who will listen to them, by ministers of this description. They believe that the thief on the cross was ushered into the immediate presence of God, there to dwell eternally in peace and felicity. This was the view entertained by this gentleman I have mentioned.

If you will turn and read the account of the resurrection of Jesus, you will find an explanation of this that probably many have not thought of. You recollect that after the death of Jesus, and after he had been placed in the sepulchre, there was great anxiety on the part of the Apostles and those who had been familiar with Jesus, as to his body. They looked for his resurrection, they expected him to come forth, but they were filled with doubt and anxiety, for they had the idea that he would return king of Israel, that the set time had come for the establishment of God’s kingdom on the earth never more to be thrown down. Among others who were very anxious about this, was Mary, one of the women who had attended upon Jesus. She went to the sepulchre and found that the body of her Lord and Master had been taken away, and she could not find it. She turned around, full of grief and anxiety about him whom she loved, and saw a personage standing beside her, whom she supposed to be the gardener, and she inquired of him what they had done with the body of her Lord. It was Jesus to whom she addressed herself, but she did not recognize him at first, and failed to do so until he uttered her name. When he said, “Mary,” then she recognized his voice and person, and, as was very natural under the circumstances, in the excess of her joy, she rushed forward to clasp him; but he stepped back, and forbade her in those remarkable words: “Touch me not, Mary, for I have not yet ascended to my father; but go to my disciples, and tell them that I ascend to my Father and to their Father, to my God and to their God.” This was the third day after his crucifixion, and during this time he had not ascended to his Father, and he did not want to be touched, he did not want mortal hands put upon him. When I quoted this to this gentleman, said he, “Where was he then, during this period? If he did not ascend to his Father, and if the paradise to which the thief went with him, was not heaven, then where was he?” I then quoted to him the words I first read this afternoon, “If Christ also has once suffered for sin, etc.”

Here Peter gives the explanation, and it is as plain and unmistakable as language can make it. Jesus died on the cross, he was crucified and put to death in the flesh, as the Apostles say, and after being put to death he went and preached to the spirits which were in prison, spirits which were disobedient in the days of Noah, having rejected Noah’s testimony, and they had been incarcerated in prison for some twenty-five hundred years. He was engaged in this labor while his body lay in the tomb, and hence, when Mary saw him after his resurrection, and attempted to embrace him, he said, “Touch me not, Mary, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, etc.”

Now by this I do not mean to infer that after his crucifixion, when his spirit had left his body, he got outside the presence of his Father, for the presence, power and eyes of God are everywhere; but he did not ascend to his immediate personal presence until after his body was resurrected from the tomb. And in further confirmation of the view which I am endeavoring to set forth to you, the Apostle Peter, continuing this subject, as I read to you from the 4th chapter of his first epistle, says, “For for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit.” “Ah,” says one, “dead in sin!” Who told you so? What right has any man to put such an interpretation on the Scriptures? The declaration here is as plain as language can make it, “Gospel was preached also to them that are dead,” &c., confirming what the Apostle had said in the previous chapter, that Jesus was engaged in preaching the Gospel to the spirits in prison while, as I have said, his body slumbered in the tomb.

Now do you see and comprehend anything of the long-suffering and mercy of God unto the millions who have been born and died on our earth in ignorance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you comprehend the great plan of salvation, or a portion of that great plan which God our heavenly Father has devised for the redemption of all his children? Shall we say that God’s work is confined to this short probation of ours, that his labor for the salvation of his children and the plan that he has devised are confined to this brief space that we call time, or shall we say that God’s plan of salvation extends over all his creatures and throughout all his creations, and that if men don’t have opportunities here of understanding it, they will have that opportunity hereafter? This is set forth in these chapters with great plainness, and so as to leave no doubt upon the minds of those who are disposed to accept the Scriptures as they read. Of course, where men have traditions and preconceived views and ideas concerning these matters they are likely to cling to them and reject the truth. They would rather believe that nine-tenths of the human family would be consigned to endless torment than accept the idea that God is a God of mercy, and that the plan of salvation which he has devised is all-sufficient and extends to all grades, conditions and circumstances, in which his creatures are found.

This doctrine was revealed to the Latter-day Saints through the Prophet Joseph Smith. We were as ignorant of it and of the meaning of these passages as anybody else previous to the establishment of this Church. Among other doctrines that were taught to the Prophet Joseph, was this which I have endeavored to set forth briefly before you. I have not dwelt upon it at length, but it was taught in great plainness to the Prophet, and he taught it to the people. The Prophet Malachi, you recollect, predicts that before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, the Lord will send Elijah, the Prophet, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest the Lord come and smite the earth with a curse. You can read this in Malachi; and when the Latter-day Saints heard this Gospel, and became acquainted with the fact that it was necessary for men and women to be baptized for the remission of their sins, their hearts immediately yearned for their ancestors. I have heard hundreds of persons who have joined this Church say, “Oh, that my father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, children, grandfather or grandmother had heard this doctrine as the Elders teach it! How gladly they would have embraced it! How their hearts would have warmed towards this Gospel! They lived in anticipation of some such doctrine as this; they were not satisfied with the creeds of men, or with Christianity as taught. They wanted the gifts, graces and blessings of the Gospel. Oh, that they could have lived and heard the teachings that we now hear, that God has revealed from the heavens, the ancient and pure Gospel, with the Holy Ghost and the gifts thereof! Oh, how their hearts would have been gladdened to have heard these glad tidings! Thus were the hearts of the children turned towards the fathers, and I doubt not the hearts of the fathers were turned towards the children.

There was an anxiety among the people in this church for many years, in relation to what would become of their ancestors and the world at large who were not acquainted with the Gospel, until the Lord condescended to give a revelation in which this doctrine was explained. By turning to the first epistle to the Corinthians, you will find there that the Apostle Paul, in reasoning upon the resurrection, advanced an idea which is not generally understood. In the 15th chapter and 29th verse of that epistle the Apostle uses this language: “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?”

Now, among other arguments which he brought forth to convince the Corinthians that there was such a thing as a resurrection he appeals to the fact that there was such a doctrine as baptism for the dead in the Church and practiced by the former-day Saints, and to enforce the doctrine he uses the words I have read, one of the most powerful arguments that he could adduce in favor of the resurrection. How useless it would be for men and women to be baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all; but the dead do rise, and the Saints are baptized for them. I might paraphrase his words and reason upon them in this way. The dead are baptized, for we are baptized for them, and they do rise or else all our labor would be in vain in going forth and being baptized for them. Now, here is a doctrine that has been hidden. True, it is only a slight allusion, but it is sufficient to show that there was in the ancient Church such a doctrine believed in and practiced by the Saints of God.

“Oh,” but says one, “how can the dead be born of the water and the Spirit; suppose that Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison, and among the rest to the thief who was on the cross when he got to paradise, as you explain the Gospel, how could he, in the spirit world, be born of the water and of the Spirit?” A very serious question, but here is the explanation: those who are alive in the flesh can go forth and be baptized for them. “What! Be baptized for the dead? And will that stand?” I would ask those who object to this, how is it that the death of Jesus, the Son of God, affects our salvation? He acts for us vicariously; by his vicarious atonement he redeems us from the effects of the transgression of our first parents. As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. Death came into the world by Adam. Adam did not die to redeem the world, but Jesus came forward, vicariously, as the Savior of the world, and died to redeem us from Adam’s sin. Through his death Adam’s sin is atoned for. In like manner, Malachi says, in speaking of the Prophet Elijah coming before the great and terrible day of the Lord: “The hearts of the fathers shall be turned to the children.” What for? Because the children can act vicariously for them; “and the hearts of the children shall be turned to the fathers,” because the children will feel after their fathers; they will search for their genealogies, and learn of their ancestors, and they will go forth and perform ordinances in the flesh for their dead, which the dead cannot perform for themselves, and act vicariously for them, and so fulfil the saying of the Prophet Obadiah, where he says, “There shall be saviors in the last days on Mount Zion.” They shall stand as ministers of salvation. There shall be saviors in the last days, acting in a lesser capacity, it is true, but still somewhat in the capacity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for their dead. Not atoning for the original sin, not shedding their blood, but, going forth and being baptized for them and receiving the ordinances of salvation in their behalf.

I know that this doctrine is new, and to many startling; it comes in contact with all their prejudices. But I would ask the Christian world how mankind are to be saved? Can you substitute anything better than this? How are the millions of heathens who have died in ignorance of the name of Jesus to be saved? How are our ancestors to be saved, who, living and dying in the long night of darkness which prevailed through Christendom, never had the privilege of hearing the Gospel in its fulness? “Oh,” says one, “saved by the goodness of God.” Yes, but how shall we elude the words of Jesus where he says, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God;” and “Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God?” It is very easy for men in their traditions to say; “Well, our way suits us, because we have been accustomed to it.” But if we accept these traditions as binding, how shall we set aside the words of him who spoke as never man spake, of him who was without guile and whose words were truth and holiness? How shall we set them aside? We cannot, and rather than attempt to do so I would accept them as true and divine, and practice them, even though it required the sacrifice of my traditions and prejudices. To my mind there is something godlike in the Gospel of salvation. I can see beauty, and the power of God in it. I understand from this that there is a plan of salvation capable of saving all men; that though there is a space between death and the resurrection, during that space the spirits of those who died without the Gospel can be preached to, and can receive the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, though they died in ignorance of it.

A great many have wondered how it is that the Latter-day Saints are so anxious to have temples built. We built a temple in Kirtland, and after we had built it we were compelled to leave it and flee to Missouri. We laid the foundations of two in Missouri, one in Jackson County, the other in Caldwell County. That in Caldwell was not laid until after we were driven from there. A revelation was given through Joseph Smith, I think on the 11th of July, 1838, that on the succeeding 26th of April, the foundation stone of the temple should be laid in Far West; and the Twelve Apostles should take their departure from that cornerstone, and cross the ocean to preach the Gospel in Europe. Now, said the mob, “There being a date fixed to this revelation, if Joseph Smith never was a false prophet before, we will make him one now,” and they turned and drove the Latter-day Saints from Missouri, and made it worth a man’s life to go back there, if he was a Mormon. They drove everyone out of Missouri, under a ban of extermination, in the winter previous to the time set for the fulfillment of this revelation. That was in the winter of 1838-9; and there were but very few left, and they were in peril of their lives all the time. Joseph, Hyrum and several of the leading Elders were in prison, and it seemed as though the words of Joseph would fall to the ground that time, at any rate. President Young was then President of the Twelve Apostles; he with others had to flee to Quincy, and he proposed to his fellow Apostles that they should go up to Missouri, to fulfil that reve– lation. Father Joseph Smith, father of the Prophet, thought that the Lord would take the will for the deed, and it would not be necessary. He felt as though there would be great danger in the undertaking, and that the brethrens’ lives would be in peril. A good many of the other Elders felt the same, but the Spirit rested upon President Young and his brother Apostles, and they determined to go, and they did go, and, according to the revelation, they laid the cornerstone in the town of Far West. They laid it in the midst of their enemies; they sang their songs, ordained two of the Twelve, and if I recollect right, two of the Seventies, and then shook hands with the Saints there, bade them adieu, and took their departure for Europe, thus fulfilling the word of God given nearly a year previously through the Prophet Joseph, and which the enemies of the Kingdom of God said should never be fulfilled.

That foundation stone was laid, and the Saints, as I said, fled into Illinois, and there laid the foundation of a temple at Nauvoo, Illinois, the finest building then in the western country, and the admiration of everybody. The Saints erected it in the midst of poverty, destitution, sickness, death, and, I may say, with the sword or rifle in one hand and the trowel in the other, their enemies surrounding them on every hand. They had slain Joseph and Hyrum, and attempted to destroy others of the servants of God, and they were continually burning and destroying the houses and property of the Saints, and were determined to expel them from the State. But in the midst of these tribulations the Saints continued their labors until that temple was roofed in, and until within its walls they could attend to the ordinances for the living and the dead.

Again they were driven, and again they took up their line of march, and they came out to this desert country, and again we laid the foundation of another temple, a few hundred yards from this building; and this winter we have laid the foundation of another at St. George, in the southern part of this Territory. The masons and laborers are down there endeavoring to push it forward to completion as fast as possible.

Why is it that we are so anxious to build temples? It is that we may attend to ordinances necessary for the salvation of the living and the dead, that we may be baptized for our ancestors who died without having the privilege of hearing and obeying the Gospel. We not only believe that we should be baptized for them, but we also believe that where our fathers and mothers have died, having been married only according to the practice of the world, they should be married for time and eternity; and, in the temples erected by the Saints to the name of the Most High, we shall act for them in this respect also. We believe, not only, that we should be married for time and eternity, but that they should be also. We believe in the eternal nature of the marriage relation, that man and woman are destined, as husband and wife, to dwell together eternally. We believe that we are organized as we are, with all these affections, with all this love for each other, for a definite purpose, something far more lasting than to be extinguished when death shall overtake us. We believe that when a man and woman are united as husband and wife, and they love each other, their hearts and feelings are one, that that love is as enduring as eternity itself, and that when death overtakes them it will neither extinguish nor cool that love, but that it will brighten and kindle it to a purer flame, and that it will endure through eternity; and that if we have offspring they will be with us and our mutual associations will be one of the chief joys of the heaven to which we are hastening. If I have loving wives and children, who could contribute to our happiness so much as we could to each others’, they to mine, I to theirs? Shall we be separated and I be no more to them and they no more to me than strangers? How unnatural the thought! God has restored the everlasting priesthood, by which ties can be formed, consecrated and consummated, which shall be as enduring as we ourselves are enduring, that is, as our spiritual nature; and husbands and wives will be united together, and they and their children will dwell and associate together eternally, and this, as I have said, will constitute one of the chief joys of heaven; and we look forward to it with delightful anticipations.

Brother Woodruff, in his remarks this morning, spoke of the blessing that the Lord promised Abraham, that as the sands on the seashore, or the stars that bespangle the firmament are innumerable, so should his seed be. How is this to be effected? Why, by the eternal union of the sexes, by the eternal union of Abraham with those who were his family in his life. Strange as this doctrine may seem, it is nevertheless amply sustained by these divine Scriptures in which Christendom all profess to believe.

Now we rear Temples in order that we may be baptized in the fonts which will be in those Temples, for our dead, in order that we may go forward and act vicariously for them in the ordinance of baptism and in the laying on of hands for the Holy Ghost, and then in other ordinances, which shall prepare them to dwell with us and us with them eternally in the presence of God.

If you read the 20th chapter of Revelation, you will see that the Lord revealed to John that there shall be a thousand years’ rest, a millennium, or millennial era, when the earth shall rest from wickedness, and when knowledge shall cover it as waters cover the deep, and when one man shall not have to say to another, “Know ye the Lord?” but when, according to the words of the Prophet, “all shall know him, from the least even unto the greatest;” when God’s will shall be written in the hearts of the children of men, and they will understand his law. The Prophets have spoken of such a day, and in the chapter to which I have alluded, the 20th of Revelation, the Lord speaks of it in plainness to his servant John the Revelator, setting forth that there shall be a thousand years’ rest on the earth, during which Christ shall reign in the midst of his Saints, and when there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all the holy mountain of the Lord; when the lamb will lie down with the lion, the cow with the bear, and when the whole animal creation will dwell together in peace, when swords shall be beaten into ploughshares, spears into pruninghooks, and when the nations shall learn war no more, men shall plant and eat the fruit thereof, build and inhabit, and when none shall deprive them of the fruits of their labors.

I quote these passages as they occur to my mind. You are all familiar with them. They will be fulfilled, and there will be a thousand years’ rest, during which period Satan will be bound, and when the seed of the righteous will increase and cover the land. In that glorious period everything on the face of the earth will be beautiful; disease and crime, and all the evils that attend our present state of existence will be banished; and during that period, as God has revealed, the occupation of his people will be to lay a foundation for the redemption of the dead, the unnumbered millions who lived and died on the earth without hearing and obeying the plan of salvation.

We believe, further, that every man who dies belonging to this Church, and having the right to officiate in the Priesthood, will be engaged, while awaiting the resurrection of his body, in a work similar to that in which Jesus was engaged, namely, preaching the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it. He will proclaim the plan of salvation to those in the spirit world who have died in ignorance of the name of Jesus and of the character of his redemption. For, let me tell you, there is no name under heaven whereby men can be saved, except the name of Jesus Christ, and if the dead ever are saved, it must be through the name of Jesus and through the redemption he has worked out. This is the gospel and the plan of salvation as we believe it.

Men say that the Latter-day Saints are exclusive and uncharitable; but they know nothing of the doctrines that we believe in. Our hearts swell with exceeding desire for the salvation of our fellow creatures: we want all saved. We would, if we had arms sufficiently long, enclose them all, and shed around them the halo of love. We desire and yearn for their salvation; we pray for it, and we expect to spend our days, both here and hereafter, in accomplishing it. It is the chief labor that occupies our attention, and we expect to rear temples in which we can attend to the ordinances necessary to work it out. There are men already who spend the chief portion of their time in attending to these ordinances, forgetful of their worldly interests, devoting themselves almost exclusively to these labors, and we expect to save all that will accept the plan of salvation. I say we, I mean God and the authority that he has established and restored to the earth.

Can you wonder that we believe in plural marriage when we have these views? Now, for instance, there is a man who has had a wife, and children by that wife. She has died, and he has married again, and had a family by the second wife. In some instances she has died, and he has married a third time. Now we believe that that man, if he be a good man, will be entitled to these wives in the resurrection. There may be men of this class here today, men who have lost their first wives, by whom they have had children, and who have made their little home a heaven, lavishing upon them all the wealth of their affection; and that woman having passed away, they have taken another wife, and she has been equally true. She has done the best she could. Now in the resurrection which wife shall he put away? Shall he say to the first wife, “I have a second wife, I do not want you to live with me.” Or shall he say to the second wife, “Here is the wife of my youth; the one who engaged my heart’s first affections, and I love her and you must go.” “Oh,” says one, “there will be no wives there, and no necessity of a man saying such things either to first or second wife.” You see the dilemma in which the belief of Christendom forces them. They are compelled by their traditions to reject the idea of the marital relation, and of husband and wife dwelling together for eternity. What is their view? Why, as I have heard it, and I have gleaned it from the best of them, the idea they have of the heaven to which mankind are hasten– ing is that of being clothed in white raiment and with harp in hand, singing praises to God and the Lamb eternally. This is very good employment no doubt, but to think of our being so employed forever and ever does not satisfy the enquiring mind. I could not be happy, as I am now constituted, you could not, without active employment—a field for the exercise of every faculty of mind and body that God has given you. I do not wonder at men dreading death when they have such ideas of heaven and future happiness. My idea of heaven pictures to me a condition of society as much superior to this as heaven is to earth. I picture to myself a state of society that shall be free from every sin, where the adversary can have no entrance, where there will be no gloom, sorrow, pain or death, and where I shall associate with those whom I have loved; whose lives have been spent with me in endeavoring to do good; with the wife or wives and children I have had here, living with them eternally in the presence of God. And as it was said of Jesus: “To the increase of his seed there shall be no end,” so do I hope, after I leave here, the blessing sealed upon Father Abraham, of whose seed I am, that as there should be no end to his increase, there shall be none to mine.

It is this I labor for and look forward to. Heaven looks bright to me; death is robbed of its terror—it has no sting, and, like one of old, I can say, “O grave, where is thy victory: Oh, death, where is thy sting!” There is no sting in death, there is no victory in the grave, for we all expect, who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to be resurrected in glory, with every faculty of body and mind enhanced, purified, enlarged, until we shall be like our Father and God. This is the heaven which we are looking for, and to which I pray we may all attain, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Remarks by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, October 22, 1871.

It is very pleasant for the Saints of God to reflect upon the principles of eternal truth, that have been developed unto them. If there is anything connected with happiness and humanity, if there is anything calculated to expand the views and feelings of the human family, to raise our hopes and aspirations, and to give peace, joy, and confidence; it is the thought that God has revealed unto us the precepts of eternal truth; that He has planted them within our bosoms and given unto us a certainty in regard to those things we profess to believe in, and assuredly do know.

Standing, as we do, before our Heavenly Father, in possession of the principles of eternal life; having had a knowledge of them unfolded unto us by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as mortal and immortal beings, knowing for a certainty the things which God has revealed, for the salvation of the human family, we feel confident, joyous, happy, and contented, and our souls rejoice in the fullness of the blessings of that gospel, of which the world, generally, at the present time are so ignorant. Men generally, although very particular about financial matters, and things pertaining to time; although very careful about the acquisition of wealth and desirous of knowing which is the best way to invest it after they have obtained it; although desirous to obtain honor and fame and wealth; yet in regard to religious matters it seems that they are perfectly willing that anybody should think for them and act for them, and be their dictators and guides; and hence they have a hireling priesthood whom they pay to take care of their souls, just as they pay physicians to take care of their bodies, and lawyers to take care of their property. Religion is not a thing, according to the estimation of a great many, that everybody ought to be dabbling with: it belongs to the priests, teachers, etc., who are paid for teaching their dogmas, theories, creeds, and opinions. I was brought up a member of the Church of England, the same as my friend, the speaker who preceded me. It is customary among the Episcopalians to prepare men for the ministry just the same as they prepare men for doctors, lawyers, or the military profession. In examining their boys to find for what they are the best capacitated, if one is pretty shrewd, he must be a lawyer; if one is full of fire and energy, they try to make a military officer of him; but those who are dull, dumpish, and ignorant are generally made parsons of. These are they who are teachers of religion, and who the great mass of men are ready to follow; and as the scriptures say, when “the blind lead the blind they both fall into the ditch.”

I speak of these things to show the position of the world generally in regard to religion—that which affects their interests for eternity. Men are sometimes a little careful in the organization of governments, and in the passage of laws for the protection of their rights; statesmen, scientists, philosophers, and men of intelligence are brought into requisition, to expand the general judgment about matters wherein individual rights or the rights of a community are concerned; and in fact, in relation to affairs of a temporal or worldly nature, men are generally careful; but on religious matters it is very different.

What are we to think of the religious standard or statutes of the Christian world today? Professing to believe in the Bible, who really believes in or cares for the principles which it advocates? Who has the hardihood to be governed by the laws which it promulgates? Why, I could refer you to judges today, and Christian judges at that, professing to believe the Bible, who would make men guilty and arraign them before their bars for believing the principles contained in that very book. This is the height of intelligence, the summit of all excellence, and the glory of our judiciary today! And look at our religionists—they are fools, and don’t know what they are doing, the position they are placing themselves in, or the ruin they are hurling upon the nation with which they are associated. They do not know that by the introduction of false principles, those principles will spread, and permeate, and will roll back again on their own heads, producing misery, confusion, and bloodshed wherever they go. They do not know this, they have not sense enough to see it—they are poor, miserable, blind fools.

And what do they know about God and eternity? Nothing. They deny the very principles that would bring men into communication with the Almighty. Christian ministers, for ages past, have repudiated all idea of revelation or communication from God. Shut up that principle from me, deprive me of the privilege, shut me out from God, let the heavens be brass so that I could not approach Him, and life has no object. As an immortal being, connected with this world and the next, if I cannot have a knowledge of God, I do not want to exist. I want nothing to do with this world; God knows there is not enough in it to captivate the mind of any intelligent being who is capable of reflecting on the destinies of an immortal soul. Strip us of that, and what have we left? Nothing, simply nothing. I look upon man as the handiwork of God and as an immortal being. I look upon the world we live in as having emanated from Him, and man created and placed here by the wisdom, intelligence, power, and generosity of the All Wise, the Great Eternal I Am; that was, and is, and is to come. I look upon it that men, combining the mortal and immortal, and possessing such intelligence as they possess, ought to be able to approach the fountain of all intelligence in the way which the gospel unfolds; and if the religion that I possess will not bring me to an acquaintance with my Heavenly Father, to a relationship with Him, to a certainty pertaining to the future, as well as the present, I want nothing to do with it. I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for all the religion in the world that would not lead a man to God. I want knowledge, certainty, intelligence; I want principles that have emanated from God; and I want freedom and liberty as an American citizen, and as a citizen of the kingdom of God, as a man who is capable of breathing free air, and living, and enjoying the gifts of God. These things I want, and these, so help me God, I will have so long as God gives breath (congregation said “Amen“), and no man, no set of men shall deprive me of them. They may deprive me of life, but I shall live and soar among the free in the eternal worlds, and rejoice among the Gods, under these blessings and privileges that God has revealed to us here on the earth. These are my feelings in short, and I feel calm, comfortable, pleasant, joyous, and happy in the possession of those principles which God has revealed for the salvation of the human family.

I think we read somewhere that “happy is that people whose God is the Lord;” and I say happy is that people who believe in a living God, a God that can hear and see, and who can speak and reveal His will to man. I feel happy at being associated with such a people, and today there is not a king, emperor, potentate, or power on earth with whom I would exchange places. God is my God, my Heavenly Father is my protector, and He is the protector, and friend, and God of Israel, and He will stand by and sustain them in the midst of all events and under all circumstances which may transpire, consequently I feel easy, comfortable and pleasant.

“Well, but,” says one, “perhaps you would not feel so if you had a process resting on your head, as some have.” I do not know, but I think I should. I have known some little of these things before today. I have been mobbed before today for my religion, I have been shot at and hit before today for my religion; and my religion is just the same today as ever. It produces the same joy, confidence, hope, and reliance as in any other day; and these are not only my feelings, but they are also those of my brethren. There is no faltering, no trembling of the knees, no shaking in the feelings with us. God is our God; we are his people. This is the Zion of God; this is the kingdom of God, which our judges tell us the United States is making war against. I wonder if they tell the truth? No matter, I am a member of and an elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I dare acknowledge it before any power there is under the heavens. I belong to that Church; and I thank God, my Heavenly Father, for the privilege of being associated with these brethren and these sisters who are before and around me; and my feelings are today, and ever have been, like one of old, when she said: “This people shall be my people, their God shall be my God; where they live I will live also, where they die there I want to be buried;” and when they rise from and burst the barriers of the tomb and ascend into the presence of Jehovah, I expect to be with them, and to be one with them in time and one in eternity. These are my hopes and my feelings, and I say Hallelujah, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and He will reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet” (Congregation said “Amen”), and this kingdom will go forth and roll onwards, and woe to the man who attempts to stay the progress of Jehovah. He shall wither like grass before the breath of the Lord of Hosts (Congregation said “Amen”), and the principles of eternal truth will be onward, onward, onward, until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ, and He shall rule for ever and ever.”

Men may try to forge chains for us, but we will snap them asunder as Samson did, by the power of God. God being our helper, we will maintain the principles of eternal truth; we will maintain and cherish the principles of freedom and liberty of all kinds, for all men, for every son and daughter of Adam; and we will never rest until the world shall be revolutionized with these principles, until all men everywhere shall proclaim themselves free. It will not be only like the bell they sounded when they proclaimed the Declaration of Independence, and liberty throughout the land; but we will proclaim liberty to the world, salvation to the human family, freedom of thought and free– dom of action, with power to worship God as they please, when they please, and where they please, all over the face of the wide earth. We will never rest until the shackles are knocked off from all men, and all men everywhere are free and equal. These are the designs of God, and God will consummate them, and no power can stop His hand.

I am not strong in body, and cannot talk long; but I feel in my bosom the spirit of God burning like a living fire. I thank my Father for His protecting care and grace over this people; and I feel like exhorting my brethren to live their religion, to keep the commandments of God, and preserve themselves pure. If they do they need ask nothing from these rotten, miserable, stinking wretches with which they are surrounded here at the present time. Preserve yourselves pure, be virtuous, holy, and honorable, and God will bless you and stand by you, and Israel shall be victorious from this time henceforth and forever, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, October 8, 1871.

We are met here in a conference capacity, and have assembled ostensibly, and in reality, to confer together about the general interests of the church and kingdom of God upon the earth. The authorities from the distant settlements are here to represent themselves and their people, and a great many are here from the surrounding settlements to listen to the teachings that may be given, to the business that may be transacted, to the doctrines that may be promulgated, and in general to make themselves acquainted with the spirit of the times, with the obligations that devolve upon them; and the various responsibilities that rest upon all parties.

We meet, then, as I have said, to consult on the general interests of the church and kingdom of God upon the earth, and not upon our own peculiar ideas and notions, to carry out any particular favorite theme or to establish any special dogma of our own devising; nor do we meet here to combine against men; but to seek, by all reasonable and proper means, through the interposition and guidance of the Almighty, and under the influence of His Holy Spirit, to adopt such means and to carry out such measures as will most conduce to our individual happiness; the happiness of the community with which we are associated; to the establishment of correct principles; to the building up of our faith, and strengthening us in the principles of eternal truth; to our advancement and progress in the ways of life and salvation, and to devise such measures and carry out such plans as will best accord with the position and relationship we occupy to God, to the world we live in, and to each other.

So far as the principles of truth are concerned they are like the Author of truth—“the same yesterday, today, and forever.” No change has taken place in the program of the Almighty in regard to His relationship with men, the duties and responsibilities that devolve upon men in general, or upon us, as the elders of Israel and representatives of God upon the earth. Years ago, when we listened to the glad tidings which had been again revealed to man, by the opening of the heavens and by the revelations of God, we rejoiced in the great principles of truth that were then divulged. The gospel that we then obeyed brought peace to our bosoms; for it enlightened the eyes of our understandings and gave us a knowledge of our standing with and relation to the Almighty; made us acquainted with the position we occupy in relation to the living and the dead; opened up a way whereby we might pour blessings on the latter, and, as ancient patriarchs and servants of God did, by which we could confer blessings on unborn generations. That gospel unfolded unto us some of those glorious principles associated with the present position and future destiny of man. The work in which we are engaged is like the Great Jehovah—eternal and unchangeable. It emanated from God, and was imparted to man by revelation. By obedience to that gospel we received the Holy Ghost, which partook of the things of God and showed them unto us. That spirit imparted light, truth, and intelligence, which have continued to be manifested to the church of the living God and to all who are faithful in that church up to the present time.

Men have their ideas and theories and notions, their views of morality, politics, science, and philosophy; we have our ideas in relation to God, to angels, to eternity and to our responsibility to God and to the world; and acting upon that faith we go forth in the name of Israel’s God to accomplish that destiny which God has placed in our hands. God has decreed certain things with regard to the earth and the people who live on it. He has revealed unto His servants, the prophets, certain things that should transpire in connection with the world and its inhabitants, and we are left no longer to the wild chaos of fleeting thought that exists everywhere in the world; for God has placed us under His inspiration, given unto us a knowledge of His law, revealed unto us His purposes, drawn back the curtain that intervenes between man and his heavenly Father, and divulged unto us His will, designs, and purposes concerning us. We know for ourselves of the truth of those principles that God has revealed, and if in former days Paul could say, “Ye are our witnesses, as also is the Holy Ghost who bears witness unto us,” it can be said more emphatically of this day. This assembly now before me have received the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost accompanying that gospel; and every man and woman present who has lived the religion of Jesus Christ has the witness of the truth of the work they have obeyed, and they are ready with one acclaim to pronounce: “We are His witnesses, as is also the Holy Ghost which bears witness unto us.” You, my brethren and sisters, know of the truths of that gospel which you have received, and you are not indebted for that knowledge to any organization that exists under the face of the heavens, other than the one you are now associated with. No philosophy, no religious combination, no school, no doctors of divinity, no priesthood of any order revealed unto you the principles which you are in possession of. The gospel that you received, you received “not of man nor by man, but through the influence of the Spirit of God and the power of the holy priesthood that administered it.” This you know now, and this you then knew. It is no wild phantom, no idle theory, no notion propagated by man; but it is the word of eternal life, the revela– tions of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the principles of eternal truth, which you have received, from the God of truth, through the medium of that priesthood which He has organized on the earth; and this you know, realize, and understand for yourselves. You understood it years ago, and you understand it today. It is the same gospel, the same priesthood, the same principles of truth; it imparts the same hope, fills the bosom with the same joy, disperses that uncertainty and doubt that dwell in the bosoms of unbelievers, and opens to the view of the believer visions of “glory, honor, immortality and eternal lives.” And there is nothing in this world that can change these feelings—no vain philosophy, no political influence, no combinations of any kind that can root out of the mind these principles of eternal truth which are inspired and implanted there by the spirit of the living God. They are written on the tablets of the heart in characters of living fire, and they will burn and extend while time exists or eternity endures. So far then we feel comforted and blessed. If others are satisfied with their views, all right. If a man wants to be a Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Shaker, or Quaker, all right, he can be what he pleases; but let me have my religion. Let me have principles that will draw aside the curtain of futurity and introduce me to those scenes that exist behind the veil. Let me, as an immortal being, know my destiny pertaining to time and eternity, and the destiny of my brethren and friends, and of the earth that I live upon; let me have a religion that will lead me to God, and others may take what they please, it is immaterial to me. I have no quarrel with them. They can have their own ideas and carry out their own views, so far as I am concerned, untrammeled, if they will let me have mine. Let me be surrounded with the panoply of truth, let me have the favor of Jehovah, let me associate with angels and the heavens, and eternity be opened to my view, and be placed in such a relationship with God that He can communicate His will to me, and I ask no more of this world. I have no complaint to make about anybody, I don’t even complain of the devil. I know that he was sent here for a certain purpose—to carry out the purposes of God, and God did not even banish him from His presence when the sons of God met together, for the devil was also among them, and we need not be surprised at anything of that kind now. When the Lord asked him where he came from, said he, “I came from wandering to and fro in the earth.” What did he do in the earth? Not much good, and, I presume, all the evil he could. And I presume it was absolutely necessary that there should be devils, or there would not have been any.

Years and years ago, I preached abroad among the nations of the earth, and I see around me here many of my brethren, the elders, whose heads are now as grey as mine, who did the same. We preached to many of you who are here, and told you that the world would wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Did we not preach this doctrine? I think we did, ten, twenty, thirty, and forty years ago. We told you then that in consequence of the wickedness that would exist upon the earth, thrones would be cast down, empires be demoralized, and that wars and bloodshed would exist upon the face of the earth, and that God would arise and vex the nations and bring them to judgment, because of their iniquities. Is it anything astonishing that these words should be fulfilled? Why, they are the words of truth! They were spoken by the spirit of revelation, and were in accordance with the revelations given to ancient men of God, who spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and who, while rapt in prophetic vision, saw and foretold what should transpire on the earth. God revealed the same things to us that He did to them.

And what other doctrines did you hear the elders proclaim, my friends? You heard them proclaim, “Come out of her, my people.” Why? “That you partake not of her sins and receive not of her plagues.” Didn’t you hear that? I think you did. Did you hear that her sins had reached up to heaven, and that God would remember her iniquities? Yes, you did. Do you believe it today? Yes: you believe just the same principles now that you believed then. Your ideas and views, feelings and theories in these respects have not advanced, as people tell us sometimes, with the intelligence of the age. God save me from such intelligence, the Lord deliver me from their infidelity, corruption, and iniquity, social, moral, political, and of every kind you can mention; and the Lord God deliver this people from it. I don’t want it. I want to know God and the principles of truth. I want, as an immortal being to understand something of my relationship with the other world. I want to know how to save the living and to redeem the dead, and to stand as a savior on Mount Zion, and to bring to pass the purposes of Jehovah in relation to this people and the earth whereon we live. That is what I want to know; that is the kind of intelligence I am after. Then, if there is anything else that we have not got, that is good, virtuous, holy, pure, or intellectual, give it to us, and we will embrace it; but we don’t want your corruptions, debaucheries, and crimes, which everywhere prevail, and which are a stench in the nostrils of God, angels, and all good men; and I would make a prayer here which I used to hear very often when I was an Episcopalian: “From all such things, good Lord deliver us.” We want truth, purity, integrity, and honesty; we want men who live so that they dare face any man, or, even God himself; and to reach this standard is what we are after, and it is our constant aim and desire. I was very much pleased with a song I heard sung yesterday. I don’t know that I can remember it, but it was something like this:

“Hurrah, hurrah, for the mountain brave, No trembling serf is he; Nor earth, nor hell can him enslave— The Gods have set him free.”

There is nothing faltering in the knees of a man of God, you can’t make him quail. God is his friend, and angels and all good men are his friends. He is living for time and eternity, and all is right with him, living or dying.

Well, but don’t you think some folks are very bad? I always thought so; my mind is not changed about that a particle. Well, but don’t you think the folks don’t treat us very well sometimes? I never knew the time they did; I never expect to be well treated by them. I never knew nor read of any men of God that were well treated by the people of the world, and if we were I should not think we were men of God at all. Why men who feared God anciently were generally the most unpopular of men, they were considered a kind of fools, or half crazy, or something the matter with them. The enlightened pagans of former days did not like either the religion or the God of the Hebrews. They thought them a shame and a disgrace, and that Baal and their gods were much better. Men of God, in old times, we are told, had to wander about in sheepskins and goatskins, and to dwell in deserts and in dens and caves of the earth. “They must have been very wicked people in those days,” say you; and they were, and so they are today. There is not much difference, only I think we are a little better situated, for we have our good houses and farms and an extensive territory. We live under our own vine and fig tree, and none can make us afraid. They think they can, but they make a mistake; there is no trembling of the knees here. Fear does not dwell here, and if it did a little more of the principles of that gospel you have received would dispel it. I remember a kind of shaky-kneed fellow in old times, and they were in rather a critical position. There was some Gentiles holding court there. Oh no, it was not that, I forgot; it was another affair, an army was surrounding them. Excuse me for making the mistake! There was an old prophet there, rather a rough sort of a fellow, and very unpopular. His servant was a rather shaky-kneed sort of chap, was in a tremble, and wanted to know what was going to be done. “Why,” says the prophet, “They are more who are for us than those who can be against us.” The servant didn’t understand this exactly, and the prophet prayed that he might get a little more religion. Said he, “O God, open the young man’s eyes,” and the Lord did so, and as soon as his eyes were opened he saw thousands of the heavenly hosts surrounding him, and said he, “The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof.” That inspired him with confidence, and did away with that trembling in the knees. Now if any of you should have had a little trembling of that kind, go to your God, seek for the spirit of revelation that flows from Him; get hold of the light and intelligence which the Holy Ghost imparts, and you will cry, “Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to the God of Israel, for He rules and will rule until He has put all enemies under His feet,” you will cry out, “Zion shall arise and shine, and the glory of God shall rest upon her!” You will cry aloud, “The principles of eternal truth will triumph, not all the powers of earth and hell can stay their progress, for Zion is onward, onward, onward, until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ, and He will rule forever and ever!”

If there is anything the matter with any of you, I don’t think there is much; but if there is, get a little more religion; live your religion, seek for the spirit of revelation, which has led you on to the present time. If you cling to that it will lead you to the portals of eternal life. Talk about the Saints of God quailing, pshaw! The work of God is onward, the kingdom of God is forward, and all that I have to say is, get out of the way, for the chariots of Israel are advancing, the purposes of God are being unfolded, the work of God will roll forth, and woe to that man who lifts his puny arm against it.

But I am not strong in body, rather feeble in health, and I do not feel that my bodily strength is sufficient to talk much longer to this large assembly. I have heard men say they know this is the truth; so do I. I know that God has spoken. If nobody else knows on the earth besides, I know that the truths of God have been revealed; I know that the gospel has been restored; I know that this people will continue to cleave to the truth, that the kingdom of God will progress, and that by and by we will shout victory! victory! victory! now and forever, worlds without end. May God bless Israel and all who bless Israel, and let the curse of God rest upon her enemies, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, at the Funeral Services of Miss Aurelia Spencer, in the 13th Ward Assembly Rooms, Sept. 16, 1871.

There has been considerable said, and well said, with regard to our existence, and I will say this: As for the Gospel of the Son of God, it is here; as for the Priesthood, it is here; as for the keys of Priesthood, they are here and are enjoyed by this people called Latter-day Saints. A few words to my friends. To preach or talk to the dead I have never undertaken to; I talk to the living on such occasions as this. We are assembled this morning to pay our last respects to the remains of a beloved sister, and we meet here with cheerfulness. It is not quite three years since we met in this room to pay our respects to the remains of this young lady’s father. She has now gone to try the realities of another existence—to another department of the life and the lives that God has bestowed upon His children. This life is preparatory to a more exalted state of existence. We have a certain amount of intelligence here, but in the life to come we shall have more. We see the life and growth of the human family, and to those ignorant of the object of our creation, the process presents a very strange phenomenon; but to those who do understand, it is rational, plain and easy to be understood, and in fact they see it is necessary that it should be just as it is. You step into a room and you perhaps see a mother attending a sick child of a few weeks or months old; and helpless and totally dependent upon others as the infant is, it is no more so than we all have been, for every member of the human family passes through the same process that we behold day after day in our own houses and in the houses of our neighbors. An infant, if sick, cannot tell what ails it, cannot make any signs whatever to tell what is the matter or what remedy is necessary in its case. But it grows, and as it does so it increases in intelligence; it learns to talk and can say, “My head aches,” “My eye pains me,” “I have hurt my hand and it pains me,” “I want a drink of water,” or “I want something to eat,” and it goes on step by step, and thus we see the growth and development of the whole human family illustrated through its various stages from infancy to youth, manhood and old age, until we finally drop back again to mother earth, from whence we came. Is it not remarkable? We have all traveled the same road to get here, and we shall all travel the same road to leave this department to get into another one.

What are we here for? To learn to enjoy more, and to increase in knowledge and in experience. We behold the starry heavens, but we know nothing of them comparatively. We behold space, but cannot comprehend it. We have an existence here on the earth, but the generality of mankind do not comprehend the nature or object of it. We, the Latter-day Saints, however, have a little smattering of knowledge respecting the design of our Creator in placing us here. It had been observed that we are in ignorance, and so we are with regard to many things, and especially about the future. It is not wisdom for us to understand the future, unless upon certain principles. Those principles are divine, and when we understand the future and eternity upon divine and holy principles, we are satisfied with our own existence, for we understand the object of it. But take the human family, the great mass of human beings who swarm in creation, and convince them that their state would be better when they step from this to the next world, and let them have no knowledge beyond this and the crime of self-destruction, which has been mentioned here today, would be far more prevalent than it is now, especially among the wicked. How many there are who say, “I wish I was better off, for I am in a sad condition!” Is this the case with most of the human family? It is, and the majority say in their hearts, if not with their tongues, “I wish I was in different circumstances; I am poor, I am afflicted, I am sorrowful, I am without friends and home, and am here on the earth like a lost one and know not what to do;” and make them understand that their condition would be so much better when they pass the veil and many of them would be guilty of self-destruction. The Lord has, therefore, wisely hidden the future from our view.

The Latter-day Saints have some knowledge respecting their future lives and destiny; the Lord has revealed this knowledge. We know the design of our Father in heaven in creating the earth and in peopling it, and bringing forth the myriads of organizations which dwell upon it. We know that all this is for His glory—to swell the eternities that are before Him with intelligent beings who are capable of enjoying the height of glory. But, before we can come in possession of this, we need large experience, and its acquisition is a slow process. Our lives here are for the purpose of acquiring this, and the longer we live the greater it should be. For instance, the experience of a person like our deceased sister here, of twenty or twenty-one years of age, although she knew a good deal, is not equal to that of a person of fifty, sixty, seventy or eighty years of age; but now she has stepped through the door—the partition separating this from the next state of existence, she will continue to labor just as much as she has done the last year or the last five years. Nothing remains here for us but to pay our last respects to that which came from mother earth. It was formed and fashioned and the spirit was put into it, and it has grown and become what it is, and the spirit having departed, the body lies ready to return to the bosom of its mother, there to rest until the morning of the resurrection. But the life and intelligence which once dwelt in that body still live, and Sister Aurelia moves, talks, walks, enjoys and beholds that which we cannot enjoy and behold while we are in these tabernacles of clay. She is in glory; she has passed the ordeals and has reached a position in which the power of Satan has no influence upon her. The advantage of this Priesthood that Brother George A. Smith has been talking about is that when persons yield obedience to it, they secure to themselves the sanction of Him who is its author, and who has bestowed it upon the children of men. His power is around them and defends them; and when they pass into the spirit world they are out of the reach of the power of Satan, and they are not liable to be tempted, hunted, and chased as the wicked are, although the wicked may rest and enjoy far more there than here; but a person who obeys the Priesthood of the Son of God is entirely free from this. Where the pure in heart are the wicked cannot come. This is the state of the spirit world.

I will say to Sister Spencer and the relatives and friends of the deceased—Do not wish her back again. I do not suppose you do; and I will say, further, that if you could talk with her, and she with you, as you could a short time since, you could not prevail upon her to come back, if she had the power to do so. You might say to her, “You have not finished your work, you might do a great deal for your dead relatives,” but her reply would be to this effect: “There are plenty on the earth, if they will believe, to perform all the ordinances necessary.” “Well, but you have not entered upon your womanhood, and have not become a mother in Israel.” “No matter, I see, understand, and know what is before me, and the time will come when, inasmuch as I was faithful to the Priesthood, I shall possess and enjoy all that I now seem to have been deprived of by my death.” This is a consolation, is it not?

I have asked the people of the world sometimes what will become of the infants who die. Take the masses of the human family, and I do not think that any rational person amongst them will, for a moment, admit that they will go to a place of punishment. But whatever opinions may prevail on this subject, the fact is they return to the Father, as Jesus says, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Yes, the children must return to the Father: they came from and were nursed and cherished by Him and the heavenly host, and when they are called to pass the ordeal of death, they go right back into His presence. But what of the ungodly parents of the tabernacles of these children, will they have the privilege of going there? No, where God and Christ are they cannot come. Perhaps some of them may have had an offer of the Gospel and rejected it, then what will become of the children? They swarm in the Courts of Heaven; there are myriads and myriads of them there already, and more are going continually. What are you going to do with them? Perhaps I might say somebody will have the privilege of saying to our young sisters who have died in the faith, “I design so many of these children for you, and so many for you, and they are given you by the law of adoption, and they are yours just as much as though you had borne them on the earth, and your seed shall continue through them forever and ever.” It may be thought by some that when young persons die they will be cut short of the privileges and blessings God designs for His children; but this is not so. The faithful will never miss a blessing through being cut off while here. And let me say to my brethren and sisters, that it is not the design of the Father that the earthly career of any should terminate until they have lived out their days; and the reason that so few do live out their days, is because of the force of sin in the world and the power of death over the human family. To these causes, and not to the design of the Creator, may be attributed the fact that disease stalks abroad, laying low the aged, middle-aged, youth, and infants, and the human family generally by millions. Some think that not one-half of those born live to the age of twelve years; others think that one-half die before reaching fifteen or seventeen years; but, be that as it may, it is not the design of our Father in heaven that it should be so. However, here we are, and we have to meet with these obstacles, and if we are not able to overcome them we have to yield, and this is why we lose our children, our young men and women, and those near and dear to us. We do not know what to do for the sick, and if we send for a doctor he does not know any more than anybody else. No person knows what to do for the sick without revelation. Doctors, by their study of the science of anatomy, and by their experience, by feeling the pulse, and from other circumstances may be able to judge of many things, but they do not know the exact state of the stomach. And again, the operations of disease are alike on no two persons on the face of the earth, any more than the operations of the spirit of God are alike on any two persons. There is as much variation in these respects as there is in the physiognomy of the human family; hence, when disease seizes our systems, we do not know what to do, and death often overcomes us, and we bury our friends. This is hard for us, but what of it? We will follow them, they will not come back to us. The time will come when they will come back, but that will be when Jesus comes. We shall be with them then; but we shall perhaps sleep in the dust long before that time, that is, many of us. Perhaps some in this house will live until Jesus and the Saints come, but I expect to sleep. I have no promise of living until then. I can say with regard to parting with our friends, and going ourselves, that I have been near enough to understand eternity so that I have had to exercise a great deal more faith to desire to live than I ever exercised in my whole life to live. The brightness and glory of the next apartment is inexpressible. It is not encumbered with this clog of dirt we are carrying around here so that when we advance in years we have to be stubbing along and to be careful lest we fall down. We see our youth, even, frequently stubbing their toes and falling down. But yonder, how different! They move with ease and like lightning. If we want to visit Jerusalem, or, this, that, or the other place—and I presume we will be permitted if we desire—there we are, looking at its streets. If we want to behold Jerusalem as it was in the days of the Savior; or if we want to see the Garden of Eden as it was when created, there we are, and we see it as it existed spiritually, for it was created first spiritually and then temporally, and spiritually it still remains. And when there we may behold the earth as at the dawn of creation, or we may visit any city we please that exists upon its surface. If we wish to understand how they are living here on these western islands, or in China, we are there; in fact, we are like the light of the morning, or, I will not say the electric fluid, but its operations on the wires. God has revealed some little things with regard to His movements and power, and the operation and motion of the lightning furnish a fine illustration of the ability and power of the Almighty. If you could stretch a wire from this room around the world until the two ends nearly met here again, and were to apply a battery to one end, if the electrical conditions were perfect, the effect of the touch would pass with such, inconceivable velocity that it would be felt at the other end of the wire at the same moment. This is what the faithful Saints are coming to; they will possess this power, and if they wish to visit different planets, they will be there. If the Lord wish to visit His children here, He is here; if He wish to send one of His angels to the earth to speak to some of His children, he is here.

When we pass into the spirit world we shall possess a measure of this power; not to that degree that we will when resurrected and brought forth in the fullness of glory to inherit the kingdoms prepared for us. The power the faithful will possess then will far exceed that of the spirit world; but that enjoyed in the spirit world is so far beyond this life as to be inconceivable without the Spirit of revelation. Here, we are continually troubled with ills and ailments of various kinds, and our ears are saluted with the expressions, “My head aches,” “My shoulders ache,” “My back aches,” “I am hungry, dry, or tired;” but in the spirit world we are free from all this and enjoy life, glory, and intelligence; and we have the Father to speak to us, Jesus to speak to us, and angels to speak to us, and we shall enjoy the society of the just and the pure who are in the spirit world until the resurrection.

I will say to Sister Spencer and to the relatives and friends of the deceased, Dry up your tears, live your religion; we have nothing to sorrow for here without it is for sinful conduct. I say also to my young brothers and sisters, live your religion, and try to fill up the measure of your creation in usefulness; you have a work to do to prepare for a more exalted sphere than this. Outsiders have a great deal to say about the trials of our females. Are the trials of our females to compare with the sorrows that the wicked world have to pass through? Not by any means. Their sorrow and grief are unto death. Our trials are to make us perfect and to prepare us for the reward of the just. Is there a female here that has had a glimpse of even the glories of the next world. If there is, she rejoices in the labor of love in this world to do good and prepare for her exaltation.

She does not know but she may be there tomorrow morning. We have no lease to our lives. Who knows but some one of us will meet with an accident going from this house and will be in eternity in half an hour from this time? This life is given to prepare for the next. You will not drop off there as here: you will stay there, except those who are destroyed by the second death. Well, then, what is this world? I am sorry to see anyone so enveloped in ignorance as to see nothing else but the enjoyment of this world, or to hear them say, “Oh this is all that I can ask for, I want my riches and finery that I may enjoy the society of the rich and gay, and I want to lavish upon myself and family all that heart can wish.” The whole wicked world is in this condition of mind, no matter who they are, from kings, queens, and emperors on their thrones down to the laborer in his humble cot; but true happiness is unknown amongst them. They do not enjoy themselves, and all their pleasures leave a pang or sting behind. The rich and great may pass a few hours in visiting their friends, or they may glut themselves with the luxury of the earth, but all this leaves a sting behind. The humble, faithful Saints care not for this. They know this earth is not their permanent abiding place, and when they look forward to eternity, the prospect is bright and glorious. “Yes, there is my home, there is my family, there are my friends, there is my heaven, there is my Father, and I am going to dwell with Him to all eternity.” These are the hopes and aspirations of every heart, and the expressions of every faithful Saint; and they will learn more and more and be exalted from one degree of glory to another until they become Gods, even the sons of God. Then what is this earth in its present condition? Nothing but a place in which we may learn the first lesson towards exaltation, and that is obedience to the Gospel of the Son of God.

God bless you, my friends.

Discourse by Elder Joseph F. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, September 3, 1871.

I have been unexpectedly called upon to stand before you to give expression to my feelings, and I trust while so doing that I may be led by the spirit of the Lord. It behooves “Mormon” Elders to be always prepared—“minute men,” for they do not know at what moment they may be called upon to perform some duty connected with their calling. The Savior admonished his apostles and followers, saying, “Be ye always ready,” and he illustrated it by a parable to the effect that if the good man of the house knew the hour the thief would come he would be prepared for him, and his house would not be broken open. So with the Latter-day Saints, and especially those who bear the priesthood, for they are liable, at any time, to be called upon to go and preach the Gospel to foreign nations, or to get up in the midst of the Saints to bear testimony of the truth, to exhort to faithfulness and diligence, and to show forth the light that is in them in persuading their fellow beings to do that which is right in the sight of God. We should be prepared all the day long for any emergency, no matter whether it be life or death. Life is very uncertain with us, we do not know this moment what the next may bring forth; therefore the religions of the day will not answer for the Latter-day Saints any more than they will answer, in reality, for those who profess to believe in them, because they are unsound. It behooves us as the children of God to be always prepared for every duty and for every event that may transpire in life, that we may not be taken unawares, caught off our guard or out of the path that leads to eternal life. The Lord may call us when we little think of it, or require labors at our hands when we are not prepared; which would be an awkward position, and very unpleasant to a person who had any regard for his character, before God, and in the society of his friends. There is no time to lay off the armor of Christ; there is not a moment in the lives of the children of men when they can afford to serve the devil; it is always the best to be on our guard, be honest, and honorable in the sight of God and man, which is the path of safety.

Not because honesty is the best policy, but because it is the duty of every individual on the face of the earth to be so; and because, so far as we the Latter-day Saints are concerned, we have voluntarily covenanted with the Lord to keep his commandments and to forsake sin. We have done this because we have been convinced that this is the only way to find favor with God and to obtain salvation in his presence.

Then there is no time to swear, no time to cheat our neighbor or to take advantage of him, there is no time to waste and fritter away in foolishly decorating our bodies, or to acquire means to devote to that which will grieve the Spirit of the Lord and disqualify us to receive solid blessings from his hands. The Latter-day Saints have no time to drink whiskey, or to waste in following the silly fashions of the world. There is too much to do and too many labors for us to perform to have time for anything of this nature. Yet how often do we see those who profess to be Later-day Saints—who should be the servants and handmaids of God—those who have received the holy priesthood, turning away from the path of rectitude and following after the foolish fashions, frivolities and vices of a corrupt and depraved world? I am sorry to say that this is seen too often! But if there was only a single instance of it among all the Latter-day Saints it would be too often, for, as I have already said, we have no time for anything of the kind. The world is before us, wherein are millions of our fellow beings in darkness, who have never had the privilege of hearing the truth. We are chosen to be ministers of the Gospel unto them. Every man and woman who professes to be a believer in the Gospel revealed in this last dispensation should live so that their light may shine; their character should be such that no one on earth could take exceptions from it. They should live pure, holy, virtuous lives before God. Their acts should speak louder than it is possible to speak with words, their conduct should evince the truth and sincerity of their professions. But when people come into our midst what difference do they see between the conduct of many calling themselves Latter-day Saints, and that of the world at large? Not any. Says the stranger, “I do not see but you ‘Mormons’ are about the same as other people. You can smoke cigars, frequent whiskey and billiard saloons, or perchance gambling places (if any), and take the name of God in vain, the same as anybody else.” And I have been told that if you go into these places you will be almost sure to find there some who are called “Mormons;” young men, and old, sons of the prophets, if you please, and that this practice is increasing in Salt Lake City—the central city of Zion where dwell the priesthood and the authority delegated by heaven for preaching the Gospel and administering the ordinances thereof, for the salvation of the children of men. What difference, then, can they see between these and other folks? For it is this class that they do see, and yet many that are falling into these disreputable habits are men who hold the priesthood—Elders in Israel and their sons; and perhaps strangers who come here have seen and heard some of them preaching the Gospel abroad, and when they come here they find them spending their time and means in whiskey and billiards, and in other foolish and wicked ways—indeed every way but the right way. What do such habits speak for men who indulge in them? Shame and disgrace. I want to tell my brethren and the strangers before me today that we have no fellowship for any such men, no matter who they are. They may call themselves Latter-day Saints, and you may have seen them abroad preaching the Gospel; but when you find them indulging in the course I have indicated they have fallen, dishonored their calling, disgraced themselves; they are no longer Latter-day Saints, but apostates, and we have no fellowship with them, for they are unworthy of the Redeemer’s cause. That cause has for its object the reclaiming of the world from sin; the overturning of everything that tends to degradation and evil and to the shame and degeneracy of the people, and the Saints are the chosen instruments in God’s hands to accomplish this work, and we mean to prosecute it to the uttermost—to fight the good fight of faith, and though many may turn aside, the work is onward and upward, and it will grow and spread until the purposes of God are consummated. He has commenced his great work—his strange work and his wonder, and he will roll it forth with rapidity and will consummate his plans in the day in which he has set his hands to gather his people, and that is this day, the evening of time—the closing moments of the last hour of the seventh day as it were. We are living in that eventful time, and the Lord has set his hand to gather his people. He has called them forth out of Babylon. His voice is calling aloud to the inhabitants of the earth to come out of Babylon that they receive not of her plagues and that they partake not of her sins.

We do not want to bring Babylon here—the gathering place appointed by the Lord for his people; but we want to take every precaution and to adopt every preventive measure in our power to stay the inroads of the evils which characterize Babylon, which are so condemned in the laws of God, and which are so repugnant to the spirit of the gospel. We do not want these things here; but we are not supreme; we cannot govern as we would wish. Not that we desire to rule with an iron hand, oppressively. It would not be oppression to me, for the proper authorities to say—“You shall not take intoxicating liquors; you shall neither manufacture nor drink them, for they are injurious to your body and mind,” nor would it be to any Saint—but what oppression it would be to a certain class! Yet I hope to see the day when, within the pale of the kingdom of God, no man will be allowed to take intoxicating liquor; and make—I was going to say, a beast of himself. But I do not name it, rather to make a degraded man of himself. Beasts would not degrade themselves as men do. The habits of the brutes are decent in the eyes of God and angels when compared with the conduct of drunken, debauched men, who pollute mind and body by the commission of every species of vice and crime. I want to see the day when no man in the midst of this people will be allowed to touch intoxicating drink to become drunken. But if we were to attempt to enforce this rule, what would be the hue and cry? “Tyranny, and oppression;” and armies would be sent here to use up the “Mormons;” and yet if such a rule could be enforced it would be a blessing, and no man can deny it; and if it were enforced it would only be carrying out the principles of “Mormonism.”

Do the “Mormons” drink it? Yes, to their shame, disgrace and the violation of their covenants, some of them do; and while on this subject I will say that no one supposes for a moment that a confirmed and unrepentant drunkard will ever be permitted within the gates of the celestial city. We all understand this, but I want to bear my testimony that those who prostitute mind and body by the debasing use of intoxicating drinks and the crimes and evils to which it leads will never have part in the celestial kingdom. “But,” says one, “did not some of the ancients get ‘boozy’ once in a while?” If they did they had to repent of it. I do not excuse them any more than I would you or myself, for taking a course of this kind. Yet God sees as we can– not see. He takes all things into consideration. He does not judge partially as we are liable to do. When He places a man in the balance He weighs him righteously, but when we judge a man we are apt to judge unrighteously, because we are not omniscient. But what necessity is there for a healthy person to take intoxicating liquor? Does it ever do him any good? No, never. But does it never do any good to use liquor? I do not say that. When it is used for washing the body according to the revelations God has given, and when absolutely necessary if used with wisdom for sickness, it may do good, but when it is used to the extent that it destroys reason and judgment it is never used with impunity. All who thus use it then violate an immutable law, the penalty of which must inevitably follow the transgressor. It is against this practice that I am speaking. If there be any guilty of it here this afternoon, and I have no doubt there are, I wish them to take warning.

Is intemperance the only evil that is making an inroad among the Latter-day Saints? No, I will tell you another. When coming up here to meeting I noticed in the neighborhood of forty boys between my house and this Tabernacle who were sitting in the shade, on the road sides, lounging in groups—hanging around the corners. Who are they? They are boys who have been born in the valleys and their parents claim to be Latter-day Saints. I asked myself, “What is the character of the fathers and mothers of these boys?” And I came to the conclusion that they are hypocrites or apostates, and I can come to no other. Why? If they practiced what they professed to believe they would teach their sons correct principles, and their religious duties—to attend meeting on the Sabbath and use their time in a profitable and Christian-like manner, instead of turning them out to contract habits which will ruin them and make them infidels. Now the parents of these boys have either apostatized and do not care enough about their children to teach them correct principles; or, while professing to be Latter-day Saints, by their acts regard the salvation of the gospel as worthless and therefore they are hypocrites and need to repent in either case.

I would advise my brethren, and I take the advice to myself, to look after their sons as well as their daughters, and see where they are on the Sabbath; see that they do not go a fishing, riding or hunting, or waste their time in idleness, contracting pernicious and injurious habits—habits that will lead them to destruction, so that when we are called upon to answer for the time and talents God has given us we may not be found wanting; and when it is asked, “Did you train your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?” “Did you set an example worthy of imitation, that their blood may not be on your skirts?” and you can answer, “Yes Lord, I did all in my power to teach my children and to rear them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I did all in my power to make men and women of them who would honor the name of God.” If this course be taken by parents very few children will be uncontrollable; or come to the terrible end that awaits them if parents neglect them and show by their course that they had as lief they would go to the devil as not.

I can see where this is tending. It is to unbelief, immorality and abominations of every kind; and I am sorry to see that it is increasing rather than diminishing among us. I preached about this a few months ago, and I will keep the subject before the brethren and sisters, if enabled by the good Spirit, until they will prize their children enough to look after them, and to know where they are and what they are doing, and that the company they keep is such as they ought to keep, and that they attend to their duties, for they have duties to attend to as well as you and I have. If we, as parents, controlled our children as well as many parents in the sectarian world do theirs, they would not only be taught to regard the Sabbath day as holy, and thereby keep the commandment of God, but they would come to meeting and listen to the instructions given, store their minds with knowledge and an understanding of the truth, instead of going in gangs about the streets, using obscene language, throwing rocks at and scuffling with each other, going riding, walking, fishing, hunting, &c., on the Sabbath day, and taking a course which will lead to confirmed idleness, drunkenness, profanity, and even blasphemy and every abomination, for the devil will “find mischief for idle hands to do,” just as sure as you are born, especially among the children.

Now, my brethren and sisters, will you try to take care of your children, and look after them on the Sabbath day, see where they are, bring them to meeting and teach them something they do not know? I recollect, when on my mission in England, I visited a number of my relatives there. They were what we call sectarian; they did not believe the true Gospel; they did not believe that God could or would speak from the heavens in this dispensation, nor that an angel had visited the earth in this day, nor that the Gospel had been restored in its ancient purity and perfection, nor that the priesthood was restored again, and that men were legitimately authorized to officiate in the ordinances of the house of God for the salvation of mankind. But what a great contrast there was between the way they trained their children and the way some of us train ours! They made no pretensions to new revelation or to special acceptance with God, but when the Sabbath day came their children were called in, and if they did not go to meeting, they were taught to take a book and read, and the parents sat down and taught them, and they read by turns and explained passages of Scripture and history, and they talked to and instructed one another, and thus they spent the day, and when evening came the children had learned something, their minds were improved, and they were better than when the day began. The course I am denouncing is not general, but there is far too much of it. If we turn out our children on the Sabbath for a holiday, careless where they are or what they are doing, God will not hold us guiltless. Children are subject to their parents, and the parents are responsible for the conduct of their children until they arrive at years of maturity.

Look after your children, brethren and sisters, and when winter comes, in two or three months from now, see there are not five or six hundred children skating and sliding in the streets on the Sabbath. It was so last winter. This is not the way for Latter-day Saints to train their children; it is not living our religion, and herein we come under condemnation before God, and it is where men and women point the finger of scorn at us. They say, “Here are men and women who profess to have received revelation from God, and they are letting their children go to the devil as fast as they can, and care nothing about them.”

Says one, “These are truths, but they should not be told in public.” If my brethren did not want to hear such things from me they would not call me up to speak. But they do; that is to say, when a man will get up and teach the people the truth, warn them of their follies and of the evil consequences thereof, they rejoice in it, because it is good, it is that which we need. We do not want to be palavered and soft-soaped; we do not want anybody to get up here and tell us how good we are, for the Lord looks at us as we are, and he will judge us according to our works. I want to quote to you a passage of Scripture, the words of Jesus. Said he, “Except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you can in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.” This passage applies right home to us; and unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees of the day in which we live, we will come short of the kingdom of heaven as sure as we live. We cannot expect anything better than what we see from men and women who profess to be Latter-day Saints, who will run after the follies and fashions of the world, and give up everything in the shape of honesty and integrity for the sake of accumulating wealth. If men and women will do this, I do not wonder at their children going at random on the Sabbath day. I am not surprised to hear them curse and swear and profane the name of God. If men and women will run after the follies and fashions of the world—if women will paint and bedizen themselves to attract the gaze of men, they have not the spirit of the Gospel; God is not with them, truth will not abide with them; they will go to hell and be damned unless they repent. You daughters of Israel, born of parents as true to the Gospel as men and women can be on the earth, who are dressing and painting to show yourselves, wasting your time and spending your fathers’ means corruptly and wickedly in the sight of God, he will send a curse on you if you do not desist. I say it in the name of Jesus Christ. I say the same to mothers who encourage their daughters in this kind of conduct, for the responsibility rests more with them than their daughters. They should not allow it. Says one, “I cannot help it.” But I would help it. If a daughter of mine persisted in such a course, I would put a stop to it, or I would cut the tie between us and she should go her own road. She should not take my name, with my sanction, before the world in that course, nor would I be less careful of a son. “But,” says one, “they will do it anyhow.” If so, let the responsibility be on their own heads and not on the parents’. Let us do our duty to our children, train them in the way they should go, give them the benefit of our experience, teach them true principles and do all we can for them, and when they reach years of maturity, if they walk in evil ways, we may mourn and bewail their follies, but we shall be guiltless before God so far as they are concerned.

Teach your children so that they may grow up knowing what “Mormonism” is, and then if they do not like it, let them take what they can find. Let us, at least, discharge our duty to them by teaching them what it is. The Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians and all the sectarian world do it, and why should not we? Can you find a Catholic that will send his children to a Protestant school, or a Protestant who will send his to a Catholic school; they, each, send their children to their own schools, and they take all the pains and use all the means in their power to rear their children in their own faith, being convinced that is the proper course for them to pursue. It is right that they should do so. But some Latter-day Saints are so liberal and unsuspecting that they would just as soon send their children to Mr. Pierce down here as to anybody else. I would not do it. However good a man Mr. Pierce may be, he should not teach one of my children as long as I had wisdom and intelligence to teach him myself, or could find a man of my own faith to do it for me. This is true doctrine, and no man can take any exceptions to it. I am talking to Latter-day Saints, you who have covenanted to keep the commandments of God, professed to receive the Gospel and entered into the Kingdom of God, by baptism; and I have a right to talk to you, we have a right to talk to each other and admonish each other when there is wrong, and we will do it.

Then look after the children, and our own morals and conduct, so that we may be as a light set on a hill and not under a bushel; that we may be the salt of the earth, that has not lost its savor and is good for nothing. If I were once to be seen in a brothel, gambling hell, billiard saloon, or in any disreputable place, would I have the boldness to stand in the position I occupy today? No I would not. Would I have the courage if called, to go and preach the Gospel abroad? No. I would be ashamed to do it, at least until I had made some recompense and restitution for the wrong I had done, and had satisfied God, my brethren and my conscience by renewing my covenants. Suppose that some of you Elders who have fre– quented these whiskey and billiard saloons on Main Street, should be called on missions, and when you go you meet with people who have seen you there! They would be very likely to point the finger and say, “I saw you in a whiskey shop, billiard saloon,” or in some disreputable place, “and now you come to preach the Gospel and set yourselves up as a light unto the world!” That is what many of the so-called Christian ministers of the day are doing all the time, and that is what has brought their Christianity into such disrepute. Ministers may take that course, but what of their Christianity? Nothing; it is all humbug and “bosh,” and the people know it, and the time has come when a man has to be judged by his works, even by his fellow beings. If a man does not bring forth fruits worthy of the profession he makes, do not believe in him nor walk after him; but when you see a man that brings forth good fruit you may know that he derives it from a good fountain that can be relied on.

This is as the Latter-day Saints should live, and when we take into consideration the great labor before us, the frailties and weakness of human nature that we have to overcome, and the obstacles in the path to the accomplishment of God’s work, we have no time to waste in drunkenness, idleness, or in following after the follies and fashions of the world. Our whole time should be occupied in that which is profitable to ourselves and our fellowbeings. May the Lord help us to be faithful in living the religion of Jesus Christ, is my prayer. Amen.