Remarks by Elder John Taylor, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Jan. 18, 1865.

We have gathered out from the people of the world into these valleys to be distinct and separate from them as a Church and a people. If I can answer the desires of my mind, in relation to this matter, I should like to show you in what respect that separation consists; what relation we sustain to God, to his Church and kingdom, and to the world. It is a very broad and comprehensive subject, and one that requires our consideration. A good deal has been said lately about our associations with the world, and our being separate from the world, and about many of us being entangled with the world. It is well for us, as events transpire, to try, if we can, to comprehend the position that we occupy in relation to these matters. We are really a peculiar people, that is, our views differ from those of the rest of the world generally, and that is not confined alone to our religion, but to our social system, to our politics, and to most of the affairs associated with human life. As a people, we present today a strange anomaly among the nations of the world. Unlike the rest of the nations, we have come out here to be separate from all other people, and we have notions and principles of a religious nature, differing very materially from all the rest of mankind.

The continental nations of Europe are very differently constituted to what we are; they are generally a distinct people, but they have more or less become amalgamated years ago, and at present have assumed a degree of nationality, having their own peculiar theories, customs, and ideas of religion and politics, and their own notions and standards of a social system. Their systems have been codified to a certain extent—have been taught in their schools, their lyceums, and their churches, and been discussed in their legislative assemblies, and form what is generally termed ideas nationale—they have been written about, thought about, lectured about, and preached about. There are certain mediums through which the ideas of those nations flow generally, which differ according to the position they occupy politically and religiously, and the kind of government which they are under. These theories and systems are peculiarly influenced and modified by the peculiar languages through which their ideas are conveyed. Those nations are organized under strictly political principles or systems—their organizations are almost exclusively of a political nature, although they have arrangements pertaining to church government which regulate and control in many instances the consciences of their subjects. They have a certain kind of religion in which they generally are, no doubt, conscientious, and which is sustained by law.

The United States differ from them; for, although organized on political principles, yet, they have no religion which they acknowledge as such, nationally, leaving the people free to worship as they please.

We differ from all the rest. We have come together simply upon religious principles; we believe that God has spoken, that the heavens have been opened, that a connection has been formed between the heavens and the earth in our day. We believe that God has commenced to establish his kingdom upon the earth, and to teach mankind those principles that are calculated to bless and exalt them in time and in eternity. For this reason we have assembled together, and for this reason we build temples and administer ordinances in those temples which have been revealed unto us from the Most High. Now, as there are no other people anywhere under the heavens that have these ideas but ourselves, we may, indeed, be called a peculiar people—a people separate and distinct from all others. We are not composed of one particular family of the human race; we cannot be called Germans, we cannot be called English, we cannot be called Americans, or French, or Italians, Swiss, Portuguese, or Scandinavians. You cannot call us by any nationality, in particular, for we are composed of the whole. The nationality we are now in possession of is brought about simply, in the first place, as I have already stated, upon religious grounds.

The Elders of this Church have gone forth to those different nations and have preached the words of life, and have made known unto the people of those nations the things which the Lord hath communicated unto them, and the people in those nations who have received the principles of truth preached to them, all who could have gathered themselves together as we find ourselves today in this Territory, a distinct, religious brotherhood—if you please, a distinct nationality, differing from all others. True, we are associated with what is called the United States of America, in a territorial capacity, and acknowledge that authority and submit to its rule; we are really under the constitution of the United States. We have among us Federal officers who represent the United States government, and in this respect, so far as submission to law is concerned, and so far as the constitution of the United States is concerned, we are really associated with them, and form part and parcel of that government, and, at the same time, are just as loyal, and just as patriotic as any other portion of the United States; and we are bound always to admit another great fact, which is, that we are under the constitution of the law of Heaven.

There is a theory which has prevailed to a great extent in the United States lately, among what is called the dominant party of the present day, which is denominated the “higher law.” Whether they understand anything about that higher law or not I am not prepared to say; but there is a law that we are placed under that is really and emphatically a higher law. The higher law, of which those parties speak, refers particularly to the liberation of the negro, wherein they conceive that that is paramount to everything else, and that to it all barriers and obstacles, whether of constitution or law, shall give way; but that is a question which I shall not discuss here this afternoon, but leave it to other parties.

The position that we are placed in is very different; we are gathered together here, as I have stated before, on religious principles, which was the first inducement to our gathering ourselves together. We furthermore believe, that being gathered together, it is our right to worship God according to the dictates of our consciences; we believe other things, also, that have been communicated unto us, that have been spoken and written about very plainly and extensively, viz., that God will establish his kingdom upon the earth, irrespective of what my opinion may be, or yours, or what the opinions of the government of France, of the United States, or any nation of the earth may be; we believe this is a deed that will actually be accomplished, and that God will introduce a rule and government of his own upon this earth, and that all nations, all rule, all power, all government, all authority, will have to submit to that rule, that government, and that authority; that is, this government will spread and extend until “all nations (to use a very familiar expression among all parties) shall bow to the scepter of King Emmanuel.” That expression is very commonly used, and very little understood; still, at the same time, it is in common use throughout the religious world generally. We believe it; we believe, too, that it will be literally fulfilled; that all nations will be overthrown; that these kingdoms, and governments, and powers, and authorities that exist on the earth, will be broken and destroyed, and that God will introduce a government and rule and dominion of his own.

These are some of our views. There are many people that have believed in these things, many religious parties have written about them; they have expected them, and believed in them; they have been part and parcel of their faith: there is nothing, remarkable, therefore, about this. But when we go a little further and say, we believe that we are the people, then it places things in another position.

Theory is one thing in relation to these matters, and the practical part is another thing. We do believe it, and we honestly acknowledge that this is that kingdom which the Lord has commenced to establish upon the earth, and that it will not only govern all people in a religious capacity, but also in a political capacity. “Well,” say some, “is not that treason?” I do not know that it is; it is not treason against the Lord, and I do not know that it is treason against the government of the United States, or any other government. I have yet to learn that I, or any other person, or nation have power or authority to control the Almighty in his acts. I think that when he has a mind to, he will turn and overturn, and revolutionize, and bring to pass his purposes without asking me or any other person or power on the earth any odds, and we cannot help ourselves. It is merely a matter of faith with me and others, and it may be of knowledge also in regard to the designs and purposes of God in relation to this earth, and in relation to this people associated with him; but who do we interfere with politically, whose rights are proscribed by us, or what law is broken? None. We respect, honor, and obey the Constitution and laws of the nation with which we are associated. This is simply our faith or knowledge, as the case may be; it is the faith of this community that this is that kingdom that the Lord has commenced to establish upon the earth. The way that he has brought us together is, as stated before, by preaching the Gospel unto us through his servants, repentance and the remission of sins through baptism in water in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and the laying on of hands for the impartation of the Holy Ghost.

I remember some years ago being in the city of Paris, in France; there were a great many reformers there, as well as refugees from different parts of Europe. I had a long conversation with a Mr. Krolikeski, a gentleman from Poland, about the Gospel. He then was associated with a certain portion of the red republican party in France, with that particular branch of them that embraced the doctrines that those people professed that came to Nauvoo when we left—the followers of Mr. Cabot. After talking with him for some time on the principles of the Gospel, and what was calculated to be brought about in the earth, he turned to me and said, “Mr. Taylor, do you propose to bring about a revolution in the earth, and to introduce another state of things through the principle of repentance, of faith, and baptism, etc.?” “Yes, sir, that is the way we understand it.” “Well, I wish you every success, but I am afraid you will not be able to accomplish anything.”

I suppose he thought that the gate was very straight, and the road there too narrow to accomplish any national purposes, and, as Jesus said, “that few there were that found it.”

Said I to him, you are trying to bring in a great reformation and you think you are going to accomplish something; we will compare notes. It is a number of years now since we left the city of Nauvoo; it was a large city then, and surrounded by a rich country, that we cultivated. In consequence of our religious views we could not stay there; we were persecuted and driven, and had to go into the wilderness, had to carry with us our husbandry utensils, seed, grain, tools of every kind, and provisions, a distance of over thirteen hundred miles by land, with ox-teams, into an unknown and unexplored country, among the savages of the desert. You and your people came to our vacated city, lived in our houses already built for you; you came to gardens and fields, already in a state of cultivation; you had every facility for improvement and progression. Now, sir, what is the difference between the two people? In reading your communications from Nauvoo, which I frequently read, every time you issue your paper you call for more money and means to help them to carry out their plans, and to progress in building up their city. On the other hand, our people, situated far away among the red skins of the forest, are sending out hundreds and thousands of dollars to help to gather the poor there. Now, which is progressing the most, you or they? “Well,” says he, “I have nothing to say.” I think he will have still less to say today than then.

We expect still to continue to progress and to advance in religious intelligence, in political intelligence; in religious power, and in political power; we are still expecting to carry out our social principles, which differ very materially from others. Our marriage system is different from that of others—of that which is called the religious world at the present time—the Christian world, if you please; and this marriage system of ours, at the first sight, appears to them as it did to us at first sight, the most revolting, perhaps, of anything that could be conceived of. Whatever others may have thought about it, I know what was thought about it by those who first embarked in it. If they could have plowed around the log, according to a facetious remark of President Lincoln, or burned it, or done anything else, they would have done it, rather than have entered into it; but they could not, and they had to take it up as the word of the Lord. It was not a matter of their own choice; it was the will and the commandment of the Almighty, for the guidance of his people. In this we differ materially from others; they think that they are right in their views, we know that we are right in ours, and therefore we are satisfied. We expect, then, that these principles that we have received, and principles that will continue to be imparted unto us by our Heavenly Father, will spread, and increase, and go forth, and obtain the pre-eminence and a position among the nations of the earth. We do not expect that we shall ever be converted to any of their religious systems, or to any of their social systems. We know what we have received emanates from God; and knowing that, we stand upon it, and cleave to it as the rock of ages, knowing that no power under the heavens is able to overturn it, therefore we stand secure. The Lord has a design to speak, to instruct, to guide, to direct us in all our affairs, whether it relates to this world or to the world that is to come, and we are desirous to be taught of Him, and being taught of Him, we are then desirous to communicate the intelligence we receive unto others.

Some people will say, “You are harsh, you are exclusive, you do not wish to associate and to mix with others.” To a certain extent we do, and to a certain extent we do not. To a very great extent we feel very much interested in the welfare and happiness of the human family. I very much question whether greater philanthropy has been developed among any other people under the face of the heavens than among this people. I am at the defiance of any body, or class of men, or nation, to show that greater sacrifices, so to speak, have been made anywhere than have been made among the Elders of this Church to promulge among the people that dwell upon all the earth the things that God has revealed unto them. Can you point out another people who have exhibited the same degree of intelligence, earnestness, and zeal in traveling from nation to nation, from city to city, by land and sea, over mighty oceans and desert wastes, even to the ends of the earth in order to promote the happiness and well-being of their fellow men? There are no philanthropical societies existing in the world, that have done what the Elders of this Church have done, they cannot be produced. Are we misanthropists? No, We are cosmopolitans, citizens of the world, and have implanted in our bosoms the spirit of the living God, which prompts us to seek for the welfare and happiness of all the human family. All this, and more, we have done, and I very much question whether you can find anybody that would dispute it. They would say we are in error: that they have a right to say, and to think, if they please; but there is not one who can say in truth that we have not done all we claim to have done. We believe that God has spoken, and that he has organized his church and kingdom upon the earth; that he has and does communicate his will to his church; and believing that, we went forth as heralds of life and salvation to proclaim to the nations of the earth the things God has communicated unto us. Did we go to preach to the people for their gold, for their silver, and for their precious things; for their clothing, or for anything they possess; for honor or for fame? No; but we were pointed at as speckled birds, we were opposed and persecuted in every town where we set our feet, and nothing but the power of God and the power of truth could have sustained the Elders in promulging those principles God gave them to communicate to the world. They had with them the power of God and the power of truth, which prevailed, so far as we see it this day—so far as it has had its influence, and so far as it has operated upon the human mind—so far as it has gathered the Saints of God, and so far as it has preserved them in the position they now occupy.

This being the case, then, we cannot be charged with being narrow and contracted in our views—we cannot be charged with seeking to injure any class of men, for we have sought to benefit everybody that would be benefited by us, we have sought to benefit them every way in regard to their circumstances—in regard to their faith—in regard to their politics, and in regard to their bodies, to their souls, in regard to time and to eternity. There are thousands in this Territory today that are now well off that never would have owned one foot of land in the world anywhere else. What have we done besides? We have helped one another, sent out our teams by the hundreds and by the thousands, and our means, to assist those who could not assist themselves. Why? Because they were desirous to come, and we were willing to help them to come. Millions of dollars have been expended in this thing alone among the people. Can we in justice be called niggardly and contracted in our feelings? Can it be said that we have not shown liberality? It would be folly and madness to talk so; and, to say the least of it, it would show a lack of knowledge of the history of this church and people, and the position they occupy. I say, further, that if this nation had listened to the voice of Joseph Smith in a political capacity, they would have been saved this war that has now overtaken them: but they would not be saved; and I have sometimes been reminded of the position that Jerusalem occupied on a certain occasion when Jesus Christ spake by the spirit of revelation prophesying the events about to take place, he said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate,” etc. He then went on to tell them that Jerusalem should be overthrown and not one stone should be left standing upon another, that it should be trodden down of the Gentiles, etc. Could Joseph Smith or Jesus Christ help being the communicators of such tidings? They could not. Could Jesus Christ prevent the wrath of God overtaking the Jews and plunging them into irrevocable ruin? No. Could Joseph Smith, or this people, have hindered anything that has overtaken the nation of the United States? They could not. They have had warning of the approaching evil for the last thirty years, and they had the opportunity of knowing what would have saved them, but they would not be saved. Is it wrong, cruel, and oppressive to try and save a people when you see that people or nation rushing headlong to the brink of a precipice? Is it wrong to tell them to hold on or they will be destroyed? You would rather call it the voice of a friend; all good men would, and, as far as bad men are concerned, we care little about them.

Now, we are here, and those events spoken of are transpiring and will transpire, and we cannot help it, and President Brigham Young cannot help it; these judgments are the decrees of fate, they will roll on—they have got to come and we cannot hinder them. What are we aiming at now? We want to save ourselves if we can, we want to know how to save ourselves as rational independent beings that have got souls to save—beings that are eternal. We want to know how to save ourselves and how to save our families, and, if possible, save our progenitors, and lay a foundation to save our posterity after us, and also to save all that can be saved of the world—all that are in the reach of salvation, and, if possible, root out the chaos and confusion that everywhere exist in the political world; form and establish correct principles that shall emanate from the great Eloheim, and that shall elevate the nations of the earth from the degradation in which they are wallowing today, and exalt them on high, that they may be prepared to receive teachings and instructions from God, and, if possible, be saved in his kingdom. These are things that we are trying to accomplish; our hearts are full of blessings, full of kindness, full of consideration, full of long-suffering, full of a desire to save, bless, and exalt all that are within the reach of salvation. That is the worst injury that we ever did to any of the human family, and these are the worst desires that we ever had towards any of them. What do we wish to do for ourselves? We wish to purify ourselves from every kind of corruption—from all the leaven of gentilism, so to speak (I make use of that term, because it is generally comprehended among us to mean the leaven of the world of corruption and of evil of every kind), and to try to save ourselves and purify ourselves in our spirits, in our bodies, in our feelings, and to seek for intelligence from God, and from all correct sources, that we may be of a truth representatives of God upon the earth. This is what we are aiming at, and we wish, if we can, so to conduct ourselves that God will not be ashamed of us, that holy angels will not be ashamed to associate with us, and that all our communications, doings, and associations may be of that nature that will at all times secure the smile and the approbation of our Heavenly Father, that when we get done with this work, and the world and the affairs of the world, so far as this present existence is concerned, we can say as Paul said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” I have done my duty, honored my calling, and now there is a crown laid up for me, and for all who love the appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

These are some of the feelings that throb in our bosoms, and these are the things we wish to accomplish for ourselves and for others. Is there any lack of philanthropy in this, any lack of good feelings towards any of the human family? No. “Then why do you not associate with everybody? Why do you not receive everybody into your houses? Why do you not let everybody do as they please, etc. Why do you not allow everybody to corrupt themselves if they wish to, and corrupt you if they please, and introduce their corruptions among your people?” The reason why we do not do these things is, because we have not a mind to. We think there is a very great distinction between the one and the other—we think there is a great difference between building up the kingdom of God and submitting to the power of the devil; we think there is a very material difference between associating with the Saints of God, or honorable men of the earth, than with the opposite class of persons. We think we have a perfect right always to choose what kind of company we keep and who we associate with. “But Bishop Woolley denounces the Gentiles sometimes;” perhaps he has good reason to. I do not know whether ever he denounces any of the folks called Mormons or not; but I know one thing, if he did his duty he would denounce them. I know that there are a great many, both among those that are called Gentiles and those that are called Mormons, that do not act as gentle– men ought to act, much less as Saints of the Most High.

I wish this people to understand one thing, that there is a very material difference between treating men with courtesy and kindness, acting in a spirit of civilization, and trying to introduce correct principles among them, and permitting them to introduce their devilism among us; there are rules of etiquette among other nations and peoples, just as much as there are here. I have seen things practiced here by men, both by saints and sinners, that would not be tolerated in any other nation more than they would be here. I have seen acts in public, and I was going to say in private—although I do not enter much into the private acts of men, and do not wish to—but I have seen acts in public that would not be tolerated upon any consideration in any decent society; but persons committing such acts would be promptly turned out of that society. It is not because a man has a few dollars in his pocket, anywhere that I have been, that he is allowed to push himself and crowd himself into anybody’s family he thinks proper, and seek to corrupt that family; no such things are tolerated anywhere among people who profess to be guided by correct principles, and shall we tolerate them here? No. It is usual in other countries, before a man can be received into society, that he must bring with him a reputation from reputable men; he is expected to have introductory letters before he can be introduced to them and associate with them, and not because he is in the shape of a man and walks on two legs. Why, baboons do that. Before I should allow strangers to come into my family and mix with my wives and daughters, I should want to know who they were, where they came from, what their instincts were, and what was their moral and religious character. As a head of a family, I have a right to know these things; I have a right to know what influences are brought in and around my house, what spirits predominate there, and I have a right to know what a man’s religion is.

“But do you not allow liberty of conscience?” Yes. You can worship what you please—a donkey or a red dog—but you must not bring that worship into my house; I do not believe in your gods, I believe in the God of Israel, in the Holy Ghost, in the spirit of truth and intelligence, and all good principles; and if you want to worship your gods, worship them somewhere else, and if anybody else wants to worship them, they can do so: you can go on to one of those mountains and worship your gods, or if you are living in a house here, you can be a worshipper of Buddha if you please; but I do not want it in my house, and I do not want the spirit that you have—the spirit of those gods, visible or invisible; I do not want their teachings, spirit, nor influences.

Who does not know that the world is corrupted? Who does not know that it has been recommended by the authorities in the city of Washington, and unblushingly published in the public prints, to send to Utah a lot of nice young men to prostitute our young women? Shame on such a nation, yet such things have been published and proclaimed here. You may see people come here smiling and bowing, and very polite, and “won’t you let me take your daughter to a party?” No, nor yourself either, not unless I have a mind to; I will have a say in that, for I want to know who dances with my wives and daughters, and whether they have a reputation or not, and if they have a reputation, what kind of people they are. This I have a right to do in a social capacity, independent of all religion, and I mean to do it. I will now turn the tables another way round. Did you ever see any of the Elders of this Church out abroad among the nations try to crowd themselves upon any people, and seek to go into their balls and assemblies, or families, contrary to rule and to the principles laid down? No, never. Did you ever hear of them wanting to take their daughters to balls and parties, etc? No, never. We claim the same kind of treatment from you; if we want your company we will ask it; if we do not ask it, you may consider that you are not wanted. We know and understand the spirit of the times to a certain extent.

“Do you mean to say that all the Gentiles are bad men?” Not by any means; there are a great many good, honorable, high-minded men; we have met with many such abroad; we have met with gentlemanly, courteous treatment from strangers—I have, and so have others—and we have met with such here. We would not be behind any gentleman in reciprocating gentlemanly and courteous behavior; we wish to treat all good men as brothers, and no gentleman will object to what I now say. But I am sorry to say, that a great many are not of this class. Let us look at our position for a little while if you please. We are here in the midst of the mountains; there is a dreadful war raging in the east, and all kinds of characters are flocking here from that war, good and bad, and who knows who they are? We know one thing; vigilant committees in neighboring mining settlements are cutting the throats of some and hanging others. How do we know who we have here? Very likely cutthroats, blacklegs, gamblers, guerillas, and murderers, all gathered here together; and here is an honest, industrious people, and we do not choose to associate with strangers until we know who they are, and we think we are perfectly right in so doing.

Our object is to serve God and keep his commandments, and let the right, and the might, and the truth bear rule, and that right, by the help of God, we will maintain. We do not choose such associates, we want to know who it is we are talking to. I would dislike very much to have a murderer to sit down at my table and be placed under the disagreeable necessity of dragging him out by the neck. We have a right to know these things, and we mean to know them. We mean to take care of ourselves and pursue a course that is right in the sight of God. We mean to purify ourselves as far as we have power, and by the help of God, and cleave to the right and maintain it. May God help us to do it, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Jan. 8, 1865.

I am more and more convinced of the inability of man to receive intelligence to any great amount at any one time. Some have an understanding of what they commit to the keeping of their memories, while others commit to repeat again, and that is the end of it. Some can remember things for years that have been told them, and still not understand what was told them; while others can receive more into their understandings, and retain more in their memories, than others can, and still not be qualified to repeat that which they can remember and understand. Why I make these remarks is, because that I see around me, and feel within me, the defects which are occasioned by the weakness which is in man through the fall. I would not, however, say that a person entirely free from the effects of the fall of man could learn knowledge to any great amount at one time, though he might be able to learn more than a man would who is under the influence of the fall.

I will make a few remarks, in the first place, in regard to the ordinance of administering bread and wine, which ordinance we attend to every first day of the week. This is a very solemn ordinance. The Christian world accepts it, in preference to any other, as one of the ordinances of the house of God. With some, this ordinance is the first and the last; and with others this ordinance is not thought to be of sufficient importance to be attended to. I wish to say to the Latter-day Saints, and also to those who do not believe in the fulness of the Gospel, that this ordinance, which we are now attending to this afternoon, is, in reality, no more sacred than any other ordinance of the house of God in the eyes of Him who has instituted the same. The validity of one divine law is the same as the validity of another with our Father and God. We partake of bread and water to witness that we remember Jesus Christ, who gave his life a ransom for us, and that we are willing to keep His commandments. He has said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” when He ate His last supper with His disciples; and He also said, “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” We should desire to remember Him in all sincerity, and when we partake of these emblems, do it with an eye single to His glory, and to the building up of His kingdom, also for our own perfection, salvation, and glorification therein. In like manner we should receive and obey all the ordinances of the house of God; and I hope and trust that we shall live to our profession so strictly, and so closely adhere to the commandments of the Lord, that we shall never hear the painful sound that Saints and sinners are one; this I should abhor. I pray that the Latter-day Saints will live so that God, Jesus Christ, and the angels will love them, and the devil and all his hosts will hate them. I have never yet been able to discover in all my researches in sacred history that a Gospel hater, a Jesus Christ hater, and a God hater ever spoke well of Saints, either in the former or in the latter days, but have ever sought occasion against them from the most trifling circumstances. We have an instance of this, when the disciples of Jesus, in passing through the cornfield, being hungry, began to pluck the ears of corn, and eat; the Pharisees, seeing this, said to Jesus, “Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.” You may read at your leisure the answer of the Savior. This was a trick of the devil to bring evil upon Jesus and his disciples. Satan and his followers think no better of the Saints now than they did in the life time of the Savior, and I hope never to see the day when they will find favor in the eyes of the wicked. It is true, some will backslide, leave the Church of Jesus Christ, and receive the spirit of the world and the love of it, and, finally, be lost; but the great body of the Saints, I most fervently believe, will never amalgamate with Baal.

I will now say a few words relating to the subject which was presented to the people this morning. Inquiries were made by the speaker, why we have not seen God; why we are subject to sin; why we are in this fallen world? I will briefly answer these queries. If our Father and God should be disposed to walk through one of these aisles, we should not know him from one of the congregation. You would see a man, and that is all you would know about him; you would merely know Him as a stranger from some neighboring city or country. This is the character of Him whom we worship and acknowledge as our Father and God: when He is disposed to visit a house, a neighborhood, or a congregation, He does it at His pleasure; and although He may be seen by mortals in this character, yet no man can see Him in His glory and live. When the Lord sends an angel to visit men, He gives him power and authority to appear to the people as a man, and not as an angel in his glory; for we could not endure the presence even of an angel in his glory. No mortal man has ever seen God in His glory at any time and lived. We may have seen the Lord and angels many times, and did not know it. I will be satisfied with seeing and associating with His children whom I now behold, for there is not a son or daughter of Adam and Eve before me today but what is the offspring of that God we worship. He is our Heavenly Father; He is also our God, and the Maker and upholder of all things in heaven and on earth. He sends forth His counsels and extends His providences to all living. He is the Supreme Controller of the universe. At His rebuke the sea is dried up, and the rivers become a wilderness. He measures the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meteth out heaven with a span, and comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure, and weigheth the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance; the nations to Him are as a drop in a bucket, and He taketh up the isles as a very little thing; the hairs of our heads are numbered by Him, and not a sparrow falleth to the ground without our Father; and He knoweth every thought and intent of the hearts of all living, for He is everywhere present by the power of His Spirit—His minister the Holy Ghost. He is the Father of all, is above all, through all, and in you all; He knoweth all things pertaining to this earth, and He knows all things pertaining to millions of earths like this.

The Lord Jesus Christ might come among us and we would not know Him; and if he were to come in our midst and speak unto us today, we might suppose Him to be one of our returned missionaries; and if He was to make himself known unto us, some might say to Him, as it was said by one of old, “Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” He would simply say, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” It is written of Jesus, that, besides His being the brightness of His Father’s glory, He is also “the express image of his person.” The knowledge of the character of the Only Begotten of the Father comes to us through the testimony, not of disinterested witnesses, but of His friends, those who were most especially and deeply interested for their own welfare, and the welfare of their brethren. We have no testimony concerning the Savior’s character and works, only from those who were thus interested in His welfare and success, and in the building up of His kingdom. It has been often said, if a disinterested witness would testify that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, many might believe his testimony; but no person could be believed, by any intelligent person, who would testify to a matter of such importance, and who would still view it as a thing in which he had no interest. But they who are interested, who know the worth of that man and understand the spirit and the power of his mission, and the character of the Being that sent and ordained him, are the proper persons to testify of the truth of his mission, and they are the most interested of any living upon the earth. So it was with those who bore witness of the Savior, and of His mission on the earth.

If Jesus should veil His glory and appear before you as a man, and witness of himself as being the image of his Father, would you believe that he was really Jesus Christ and that he told you the truth? And if you believed His words, would you not wonder exceedingly to hear that our Father and God is an organized being after the fashion of man’s organization in every respect? Such, however, is the case. One of the prophets describes the Father of us all, saying, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame,” etc. The prophet further says, “thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him,” etc. Again, “and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.” Now, who is this Ancient of days? You may answer this question at your pleasure, I have already told the people. But the Savior would answer the question as to the appearance of the Father of us all, by saying, “Look at me, for I am the very express image of my Father.” Then if the Father is precisely like his Son Jesus Christ, where is the man here in the flesh that is precisely like the Savior? We have not seen Him in person, but there are men on the earth who have seen Him in vision. As to whether the Savior has got a body or not is no question with those who possess the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, and are endowed with the Holy Priesthood; they know that he was a man in the flesh, and is now a man in the heavens; He was a man subject to sin, to temptation, and to weaknesses; but He is now a man that is above all this—a man in perfection.

And what shall we say of our Heavenly Father? He is also a man in perfection, and the father of the man Jesus Christ, and the father of our spirits; He lives far above the influence and power of sin, and holds in his hands the destinies of all. We have not seen the person of the Father, neither have we seen that of the Son; but we have seen the children of the Father, and the brethren of the Savior, who are in every way like them in physical appearance and organization. Although mankind of the same color look alike, yet there exist expressions of the features by which one person can be distinguished from another. The human family all resemble one another in the main characteristics of humanity, and all resemble the Savior who died for us; and could we see him in the flesh, as he appeared to the ancients, we should very likely find that some men are more like him than others in feature and form, as we often see men who are more like Joseph Smith than others are. God is our Father, Jesus Christ is our Elder Brother, and we are all brethren, and of one family, and our Heavenly Father is subjecting us to sin, misery, pain, and death for the exquisite enjoyment of an exaltation. This will answer my mind for the present with regard to the character of our Father and our God, and with regard to our Savior.

The reason of our being made subject to sin and misery, pain, woe, and death, is, that we may become acquainted with the opposites of happiness and pleasure. The absence of light brings darkness, and darkness an appreciation of light; pain an appreciation of ease and comfort; and ignorance, falsehood, folly, and sin, in comparison with wisdom, knowledge, righteousness, and truth, make the latter the more desirable to mankind. Facts are made apparent to the human mind by their opposites. We find ourselves surrounded in this mortality by an almost endless combination of opposites, through which we must pass to gain experience and information to fit us for an eternal progression. Those who are enlightened by the spirit of truth, have no difficulty in seeing the propriety and the benefit to us of this state of things. Like heavenly beings, we are endowed with the power of free volition; for God has given to mankind their agency, making them amenable to him for their sins, and entitling them to blessings and rewards for the good they do, and according to their faith in him. It is the wish of our Heavenly Father to bring all his children back into his presence. The spirits of all the human family dwelt with him before they took tabernacles of flesh and became subject to the fall and to sin. He is their spiritual Father, and has sent them here to be clothed with flesh, and to be subject, with their tabernacles, to the ills that afflict fallen humanity. When they have proved themselves faithful in all things, and worthy before Him, they can then have the privilege of returning again to his presence, with their bodies, to dwell in the abodes of the blessed. If man could have been made perfect, in his double capacity of body and spirit, without passing through the ordeals of mortality, there would have been no necessity of our coming into this state of trial and suffering. Could the Lord have glorified his children in spirit, without a body like his own, he no doubt would have done so.

We read that there is nothing impossible with God. In a broad sense there is not; but in another sense there are things he never attempted and never will. He will not exalt a spirit to thrones, to immortality, and eternal lives, unless that spirit is first clothed in mortal flesh, and with it, passes through a mortal probation, and overcomes the world, the flesh, and the devil through the atonement made by Jesus Christ and the power of the Gospel. The spirit must be clothed as He is, or it never can be glorified with him. He must of necessity subject his children to the same, through a strict observance of the ordinances and rules of salvation. To attain to this glory, it is required that we love and honor his name, reverence his character and the ordi– nances of his house, and never speak lightly of him, of his Son Jesus Christ, or of those who bear His Priesthood; never speaking evil of dignities, who are clothed with the authority of Heaven; for to all such it will be said, “Depart from me, ye cursed,” etc. I say to all, honor God and his Holy Priesthood, which he bestows upon mankind expressly for the purpose of bringing them again into his presence, with their resurrected and renewed tabernacles, for exaltation and glory.

I cannot on the present occasion say all that I would on these matters. The riches of eternity and the marrow of life are embraced in them; they are full of life to all who desire life, they will increase life to those who live, and give life to those who seem to have no life. It is as easy to understand these principles when the mind is opened by the Spirit of the Almighty, as it is to understand one of the simple lessons in the child’s first reader. Here are some of the twelve apostles listening to what I have to say; they have heard me speak at length upon these doctrines, and they have been taught from time to time for years past. The speaker this morning possessed a sweet, loving spirit, and gave us a lovely discourse, but did not think of these things which have been told him time and time again. I would exhort my brethren to read the Scriptures, and seek earnestly for the Spirit of the Almighty to understand them; and this great subject, at which I have merely glanced, will appear to them in all its simplicity and grandeur. Let each man so live that he may know these things for himself, and be always ready to give a reason of the hope within him to all who may ask it. I am trying to be a Latter-day Saint, and I think I shall conquer. I may come short in a thousand things; but I think I shall receive my reward as a faithful servant of God, which I hope to do, and I also hope you will. Let us live so that we may still add to our present stock of knowledge, and have the disposition within us to do even better than we have hitherto done; although I do not know that I could do better than I have done since I have been in this kingdom: if I were to live my life over again, I should be afraid to try it, lest I might make the matter worse instead of better. Let us live so that the oracles of truth, the words of life, and the power of God shall dwell within us constantly. You will not hold these remarks long in your memories, and although they are printed and you can read them at your leisure, yet they may lie upon the bookshelf neglected, and the mind remain barren of the true information they contain.

The whole world has gone after Lucifer; they follow the lusts of their eyes and the wicked desires of their depraved minds; they have all gone after sin, except a few, and all hell seems bent on making those few apostatize from the truth; but they cannot destroy the kingdom of God. Some few will be dazzled by the tinsel show and fair pretensions of the world, and be led away from the truth by the silken cords of the enemy of all righteousness; but they do not know the misery of the world. When they get into hell, they would be willing to be preached to, that they might get out, if they could. It would be well for all who wish to apostatize to do so, and give your room for others who want it. We are told that we must be tried in all things; there may yet remain a few things in which we have not yet been tried, and in some things we have been tried pretty well.

Who is for God and his kingdom? I can tell you truly that there are more for the kingdom of God than there are against it. This is a pleasing reflection. We have on former occasions made known to the people the state of the wicked after death; if they will not listen to the testimony of the servants of God, let them taste of the sufferings of the damned and drink of the bitter cup to the dregs, and then they will very likely call for mercy. May the pure in heart ever be enabled, through the mercy of the Lord, to shun suffering, and not be obliged to pass through the great misery that many will who have turned away from the truth, forsaken the principles of life and salvation, and their God, until they are destroyed. This we cannot help. Let the pure in heart, and all those who desire the truth, magnify their calling, and they will have all the sorrow and misery they want. Still, the faithful servants and handmaidens of the Almighty never have, nor never will, suffer like the wicked have and will. The Latter-day Saints, in all their drivings, and persecutions, and sufferings in consequence thereof, have not begun to suffer the distress, the heart wringing, the great woe and slaughter that now spread gloom over our once happy land. If we could behold at one glance the suffering that is endured in one day through the war which is now depopulating some of the fairest portions of the land, we should become sick at heart and cry to God to close the vision. It is the kingdom of God or nothing with us, and by the help of the Almighty we shall bear it off triumphantly to all nations, gather Israel, build up Zion, redeem Israel, and Jesus Christ will triumph, and we shall reign with him on the earth, and possess it and all its fulness with him. May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George Q. Cannon, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Jan. 1, 1865.

My prayer and desire is that while I shall attempt to speak unto you this afternoon, I may be led and dictated by the Spirit of God, and I presume that this is the desire of all the Saints who have assembled themselves together for the purpose of worshipping our Father and God this afternoon in this tabernacle.

There is one point that was alluded to this morning by Brother Lorenzo Snow, in his remarks, which struck me with a great deal of force. It was in relation to the Saints entertaining a feeling of gratitude to God for the blessings he has bestowed upon us—that the Lord loves those who entertain such feelings, and who appreciate the blessings and kindness he bestows upon them.

This truth accounts for the frequency with which the Elders, when led by the Spirit of God and speaking unto the people, dwell upon the many blessings, and privileges, and favors we have received since our obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To many persons, such frequent allusions to the blessings and favors that we enjoy, and the privileges that have been bestowed on us as a people, seem unnecessary, and in the ears of some not acquainted with us and our character, and with the principles we have espoused, sound like egotism; but I can, myself, recognize a great propriety in this style of preaching or exhortation. I can see that there is a necessity for it; that we should be continually stirred up to remember the Lord our God and the favors which he has bestowed upon us from the time we embraced the Gospel until now; and not only from that time, but from the earliest period of our infancy to this time, because his kindness, and providence, and long-suffering have not been extended to us alone since we have embraced the Gospel, but from the time of our birth until now.

The Lord has said that he is angry with none except those who acknowledge not his hand in all things. He is angry with those who do not acknowledge his hand in the various dispensations of providence meted out to man.

It is right that we, as a people and as individuals, should be continually grateful to God for what he has done for us. Unless we appreciate these blessings, it is not likely they will be increased upon us—it is not reasonable that greater blessings than those already received will be bestowed upon us; but if we are humble, meek, and filled with thanksgiving and gratitude to our Father and God under all circumstances, appreciating and putting a high value on the mercies he extends unto us, it is more than probable that those blessings and mercies will be increased upon us according to our wants and necessities, and we shall still have increased cause for gratitude and thanksgiving before him.

While the brethren were blessing the bread, it struck me how grateful we ought to be for the blessings which God has guaranteed unto us—the great and the inestimable blessings—through the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How grateful we ought to be every day that we live, that our Father and our God has provided a way and means of salvation for us, that before we were born and took upon us the form of mortal men and women, the Lord in his mercy, and in his wisdom and kindness, had provided a way whereby we should be redeemed from the power of Satan, from the power of death, and be brought back into his presence, and be clothed with immortality and all the blessings which attend such a condition. Every time we partake of the sacrament, our hearts should swell with thanksgiving and gratitude for God’s mercy unto us in this respect; yet it is too frequently the case with these blessings, as with many other blessings which God has bestowed upon us, their being so widespread prevents us from appreciating them as we should were they confined to a few of us and were not bestowed upon all the family of man. The blessings of air, of water, of the earth—the blessings that all the family of man enjoy in common one with another—because they are so widely spread and so universally enjoyed, are not appreciated as are other blessings which are more confined in their application and in the result which attends them to the children of men. The blessings of the air we breathe, the earth upon which we tread, of the water which courses down in crystal streams to satisfy our wants, and all the blessings that are so bountifully bestowed upon us, ought to be as much the cause of thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father as though they were confined to a few families only. And so, also, the great blessings of that salvation, which is extended universally, through Christ, to all the children of men who will be obedient to his requirements, ought to be appreciated just as much as though confined to us alone, to a few families, or to a small portion of the community which occupies these valleys.

The Lord has truly provided for us a plan of salvation that is as wide as eternity, that is Godlike in its nature and in its origin; it is intended to exalt us, his children, and bring us back into his presence. For this purpose our Lord and Savior came in the meridian of time. His blood was shed that an expiation might be made by which the plan of salvation could be completed, that we, whose bodies would otherwise continue subject to an everlasting sleep in the grave, might have our mortal tabernacles resurrected and brought into the presence of our Father and God, there to dwell eternally.

It should be a subject of thanksgiving and gratitude to us that we have the privilege of comprehending the truth sufficiently to derive the full benefit of the salvation which is offered unto us through the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; because we are assured in the word of God that there is a class, who through their sinfulness and neglect of the privileges and opportunities granted unto them, and their disobedience to the requirements of God, are cut off from the full benefits of that salvation which they would enjoy were they more obedient. But unto us is offered the salvation in its fulness, extended through the death of Jesus. After we have done with this mortal life we are promised a glorious resurrection in the first resurrection, and that our bodies shall not sleep in the tomb any length of time, only so long as is actually necessary to fulfil the requirements of the Lord.

Through the revelations of the truth, which have been made unto us, we are promised all that men and women could ask. All that God has ever promised to his faithful children we will receive, even every blessing that is necessary for our eternal happiness in the presence of God, if we will live subject to the requirements he has made of us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This should be a constant theme of thanksgiving in our hearts, and I believe it is so; I really believe that the Latter-day Saints are the most grateful people upon the face of the earth; I believe they give evidence of it in their actions. There is, however, room continually given unto us for improvement in this respect. We cannot be too grateful; we cannot get to a point where there is a necessity for us to slacken in this respect; and the more we comprehend of the purposes of our God, the more grateful and more full of thanksgiving we will be. I notice that among those who are not as fully acquainted as they should be with the principles of the Gospel, there is more ingratitude and a greater disposition to murmur, and a greater lack of thankfulness, than among those who are educated—educated, I mean, in the knowledge of the truth, in the principles of life and salvation. I notice that among those who have the most experience, and have made the greatest advancement in the things of God, there is the greatest disposition to be thankful and grateful, and to pour out their souls in prayer before God; and I notice as the Saints increase in the knowledge of the truth, and the comprehension of the principles of life and salvation, their disposition in this direction increases with their knowledge.

Looking at it with the world’s view, we have abundant cause to be thankful; but to look at it through the light of the Spirit of God, our gratitude and thanksgiving should be unbounded to God; there should be no limit to it in our hearts every time we reflect on our position and on the blessings that have been bestowed upon us. What people on the face of the earth today can compare with us in temporal blessings? And when we look at the blessings we enjoy, as Saints of the Most High, from the standpoint from which the Latter-day Saints should view this work, how can we limit the feelings which should animate our hearts continually with praise to our Father and God?

When unprejudiced strangers look upon us, they see our temporal advantages, and they think we are a blessed and happy people; but there are other blessings that we enjoy. We enjoy promises which are extended unto us, of which strangers know nothing—of which they have not the least conception; blessings and promises which no man can comprehend, except they who have received the Spirit of God. We have blessings, we have favors, we have causes of peace, of which the human family know nothing. While our hearts are burning with joy, with happiness and with peace; while the Spirit of God is descending upon us and we are filled therewith, they who look upon us cannot see or comprehend the spirit that we are of—they cannot understand the feelings that animate our hearts, they only see us as natural men and women; they know not that power which has been communicated unto us and been poured out upon us. While we feel as though we could sing Hosannah to God and the Lamb, they cannot see anything to cause us to have such feelings, because they have not access to that power—to that fountain of knowledge, of light, and wisdom, which our God has opened unto us as a people. We have, then, in addition to the temporal advantages which God has bestowed upon us, abundant cause for gratitude on other points.

There will be no time in the vast future when our cause for thanksgiving and for gratitude will cease; for the more we know and the more we comprehend the purposes of God, the more gratitude we will have. The angels who surround his throne indulge in thanksgiving and praise to God and the Lamb to a greater extent than we can do, because their causes for thanksgiving are greater; they have attained to a glorious exaltation, and they bask in the sunshine of the presence of the great Eternal. Although they are there, they still have cause to sing Hosannah to God and the Lamb; though they are in possession of such great blessings, dwelling as they do in a state of immortality, and freed from the power of Satan, sin, and death, they, nevertheless, see causes for thanksgiving to God our Father; and the nearer we approximate to them and to their perfection, the more we shall have of this feeling in our hearts, the more causes of thanksgiving we will perceive, and the more frequently we will express these feelings.

There is no time that we can conceive of throughout the vast ages of eternity, if we continue our onward progress, when we will become cloyed in our religion and in our worship of God; it will not be a matter of form with us, a duty that will be wearying and onerous upon us; on the contrary, it will increase in its pleasures. These are reflections connected with the truth as revealed to us, which are cheering. If we will let our imaginations stretch into the future, there will be no time when we will arrive at such a condition that we will, through weariness, relax our efforts and our exertions, and cease to feel thanksgiving and gratitude; but there will be increased causes contributed continually to prompt us to indulge in these feelings more and more, and take pleasure in their indulgence.

There never was a people on the face of the earth to whom the same promises have been given as to us. Others, who have preceded us in the enjoyment of the blessings of the Gospel, have looked forward to the time of their decease, and have seen that after they should pass away, the work they then were engaged in would disappear from the earth; they saw that the power of the adversary would be again wielded to great effect among men, and that their labors would be comparatively lost sight of through the evil that would prevail upon the earth. But this is not the case with us; unto us are extended promises which have never been extended to any other people who have lived upon the earth from the days of Adam to this time; unto us a promise is given that this kingdom shall stand forever, that it shall not be given into the hands of another people, that it shall roll forth, increase, and spread abroad until it fills the whole earth—until all the inhabitants of the earth can dwell in peace and safety under its shadow, being freed from misrule, oppression, and every evil that exists among the inhabitants of the earth; that a reign of truth and righteousness shall be inaugurated, the reign of God and of his Son Jesus Christ on the face of the earth.

This is the promise which has been extended unto us, and the work is committed unto us and to the dispensation in which we live. Such a promise was not extended unto Enoch, unto Noah, unto Abraham, or unto any of the prophets who succeeded them down to the days of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When the apostles asked the Lord Jesus about the restoration of the kingdom, he parried their question; it was not for the people who lived in that dispensation to participate, while in the flesh, in the blessings of the restoration of the kingdom of God on the earth and its final establishment in the latter days. It was reserved for the great and last dispensation of the fulness of times, that great dispensation in which we now live, when the Gospel should be restored to the earth in its fulness, and the eternal Priesthood be revealed; when every angel and every prophet who have lived upon our earth should revisit the earth again, and bestow every key and all power and authority which they held on the man who was elected to stand at the head of this dispensation.

We live in this day, and our posterity will participate in the blessings of this dispensation, if we and they should be faithful. In looking forward to our future generations for the next thousand years, we are not under the necessity of beholding, in vision, our posterity straying into darkness in such a manner as to close the heavens and shut off the communication between God and man. God has taught us differently: he has taught us that instead of the heavens becoming more closed, and communications less frequent and seldom received, truth will be more abundantly bestowed on man; instead of angels ceasing to communicate with man, angels will communicate with him more and more until man shall bask in the full light of eternity.

These are the prospects that are extended to us as individuals and as a people. Hence, I have said that we have greater cause than any other people that ever lived to be thankful to our Father and God for what he has done for us and promised unto us; yet, do we understand it, do we appreciate it? When we have the Spirit of God resting upon us, and our minds are enlightened by it, I presume we do to some extent; we feel then that we would constantly witness unto God by our acts that we really appreciate his kindness in permitting us to come forth at such a time and be associated with such a people. But when the counsels of God come to us through his servants, and they are contrary to our prepossessed notions, we forget that the inspiration of the Almighty is with our brethren, that the power of the Highest is with them, and, as Brother Snow alluded to Jonah this morning, if we do not go to Tarshish, we frequently go somewhere else to avoid doing the things that God requires at our hands.

Now, the day has come when we, as a people, will have to listen to the voice of the servants of God, to the instructions of the Almighty through his servants, and obey them as implicitly as though God was in our midst. Yet, how often is it the case that, when we have counsel imparted unto us, we feel as though we had some suggestions to make that would make that counsel better and more applicable to us. I have seen the Spirit of God grieved, and the understanding of the man of God beclouded by men taking such a course as this. When the servant of God has been under the inspiration of the Almighty to counsel a certain course, somebody has stepped forward and suggested something different, and by that means the counsel of God has been darkened, the spirit of revelation has been grieved, and the benefit which otherwise would be, has not been received.

I have seen this under various circumstances, and I have looked upon it as an evil and something we should never do. When the counsel of God comes through his servants to us, we should bow to that, no matter how much it may come in contact with our preconceived ideas; submit to it as though God spoke it, and feel such a reverence towards it as though we believed that the servant of God had the inspiration of the Almighty resting upon him. While many are willing to admit that the servants of God understand everything connected with the work of God, and with the various departments of it on the earth, they think there are some kinds of knowledge which they possess in a superior degree to them who preside over us. They will admit that the servants of God may possess all the knowledge that is needed to spread the Gospel and have it carried to the remotest regions, to build up Zion; but there is something connected with their particular calling that, they think, they understand to a far greater extent than he or they who are appointed to preside over them.

This feeling is not infrequently manifested. The persons who exhibit it would be reluctant to say in words that this is their feeling, but they express it in their actions. This causes an interference with the Spirit of God, and frequently counsel is darkened by men taking this course. I know that if we follow implicitly the counsel of God’s servants when they are inspired to give counsel, even if they may not know everything about the matter, we will be blessed if we bow to it, and God will overrule everything for good, and it will result as God wishes it.

It is a great thing for us to have the counsel and instruction of the Almighty in our midst. The servants of God are inspired by the power of the Holy Ghost, and the revelations of Jesus are within them; and if we follow their counsels strictly, we shall be led into the presence of God, and I know that they are the only men on the earth who have this power, authority, and knowledge. If we take a course of this kind, you can readily perceive how harmoniously everything connected with the work of God will roll forth; beauty and order will be witnessed in all the ramifications of the kingdom of God at home and abroad, and salvation will be extended unto us.

My prayer and desires are, that the Lord will bless you, and that we may have the Spirit and the power of God resting upon us. Which may God grant, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday, Dec. 11, 1864.

We are so organized that we can learn but little at a time, and the little we do learn should be that kind of knowledge which will bring to us as individuals and as a community, temporal and eternal salvation. If men were to live until the number of their days should be one hundred years, they still would be but children in the knowledge of this life, and would only be commencing to learn the things which pertain to their temporal life, health and comfort, and how to live hereafter. Very few of the inhabitants of the earth have the time and privilege of making themselves comfortable in a temporal point of view, before they are called to return to their mother earth.

We have had excellent instruc– tions today. They have been edifying, comforting and strengthening to the Saints. I will take the liberty of referring to a few things the brethren have dwelt upon in their remarks. In relation to the contest between Jesus and the power of Satan that is upon the earth, brother George Q. Cannon has said he is ready to commence the contest anew today against sin, and the effects of it which have often tried to overthrow us as a people. I have been engaged in a contest against the devil and his rule, for the last thirty three years this present winter. It is that many years since I took the Book of Mormon, and went into His Britannic Majesty’s realms to teach the Gospel of life and salvation. From that day to this I have been contending against the powers of evil, according to the little ability God has given me. The kingdom of God is reestablished upon the earth; and the Gospel of life and salvation must be preached in all the world, that all may be judged thereby. Every nation, kindred, tongue and people must be warned before the Lord can come out of his hiding place, and waste away the wicked who have rejected his warning message. We have contended against sin in high places; we still contend against it in our own bosoms; for we should seek earnestly to gain the victory over sin in ourselves, before we can reasonably expect to gain the conquest over sin in others. Until we can subdue our own passions, and bring every human feeling and aspiration into subjection to the will of God, we are not really capable of guiding and dictating others to the full possession of victory in the Kingdom of God. To conquer and subdue, and school ourselves until we bring everything into subjection to the law of Christ, is our work.

Our Heavenly Father does not always reveal to his children the secret workings of his providences, nor does he show them the end from the beginning; for they have to learn to trust in him who has promised to fight our battles, and crown us with victory, if we are faithful as was faithful Abraham. The contest which we have now on hand is chiefly against sin in ourselves. “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” Then let us contend against sin in our families, in our neighbors and friends, and strive to restore to the inhabitants of the earth and to all the creatures which God has made to dwell upon it, that which was lost by the fall of man. Our labor will not end until this is accomplished, our work completed, and the kingdom is the Lord’s. “Know ye not that they which run a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.” Then let us fight on, “For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” He has commenced it with this, our once happy nation, and he will continue until Jesus shall rule and reign triumphantly in the midst of his Saints, over sin, death, and hell. The Lord is gracious and is waiting for us to purify ourselves, and thus be better prepared to receive the providences of God when he arises to shake terribly the earth, and bring to pass the perfect deliverance of his people. “For the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” For we are made nigh unto Christ by his blood. “But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.” The Lord is here with us, not in person, but his angels are around us, and he takes cognizance of every act of the children of men, as individuals and as nations. He is here ready by his agents, the angels, and by the power of his Holy Spirit and Priesthood, which he has restored in these last days, to bring most perfect and absolute deliverance unto all who put their trust in Him, when they are ready to receive it; and, until they are ready, the work of preparation must be vigorously progressed in, while at the same time we in patience must possess our souls. For what scholar can at once make himself acquainted thoroughly with the beginning and the end of a finished education? It is a work of time. The Lord is gracious and full of kindness to his children, and has given them this probation to prepare themselves for his coming, and to dwell with him in mansions of glory.

I wish my brethren and sisters to understand that the contest between themselves and the power of Satan is now, today, and has been ever since the Lord Almighty bestowed his Holy Priesthood upon his servant Joseph. When holy angels where sent from heaven to call and ordain Joseph Smith, and he to ordain others, the war commenced against sin and the power of it, and will continue until the earth shall be cleansed from it, and shall be made a fit habitation for Saints and angels. The Holy Priesthood has been restored expressly for this purpose. There is nothing that the Saints can ask, or pray for, that will aid them in their progress to the attainment of all the freedom, liberty, power, and conquest, that they are capable of desiring and making a good use of, that will not be granted unto them, if they will only patiently struggle on. I am happy in saying that the Lord is doing his work most admirably. Are we progressing as fast as the work of the Lord is progressing? He has pled with the people by the voice of his Spirit, by the voice of angels, and by the voice of his servants; but their ears are heavy. He is pleading now with the sword, as well as with the voice of his servants, and he will plead with them by tempest and storm, and soon will plead with them by famine and by pestilence. The Savior has said: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

The men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom, will find that they must battle with the enemy of all righteousness every day. “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplica– tion in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” Thus let every Saint protect and guard his little castle against every effort of the enemy to assail, and secure a foothold therein. Let us see to it that we are ready for the enemy, to baffle him at every point, contending bravely against him until he is successfully repulsed.

With regard to the obedience of heavenly beings, to which reference has been made today; they live pure and holy, and they have attained unto this power through suffering. Many of them have drank of the bitter cup even to the dregs. They have learned that righteousness will prevail, that truth is the foundation of their very existence. They have learned that their Father and God never commits an evil, that he never proposes an evil, and that whatever he dictates is for their good. When an angel is appointed to perform a duty, to go to the earth to preach the Gospel, or to do anything for the advancement of his Father’s kingdom in any part of the great domain of heaven, the vision of that angel is opened to see and understand the magnitude of the work that is expected of him to perform, and the grand results which will grow out of it. That is the reason why the angels are of one heart and of one mind, in their faithfulness and obedience to the requirements of their Father and God. They can desire and ask for nothing that will make them happy, good and great that is withheld from them; and life eternal is theirs. Why, then, should they not be of one heart and of one mind? They see alike, understand alike, and know alike, and all things are before them, and, as far as their knowledge and experience extend, they see the propriety of all the works of God, and the harmony and beauty thereof.

Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, in Joseph the Prophet, or in the Book of Mormon, in short, all who do not believe as we do, or who are out side of this Church and kingdom, love health, wealth, joy, peace, light, intelligence, power, eloquence, and elegance; they want all these blessings which the righteous live for; but they will not live for them. They do not pursue the course to put themselves in possession of the very things they most desire; they are aiming entirely in the opposite direction, and manage always to be too late in obtaining them. Not so with the Latter-day Saints, or the Former-day Saints: they were, are and will be always just in time to secure the blessings they live for. The Saints have their trials, to be sure, to prove their faithfulness before God, and they have the experience and blessings which spring from them. It is thought by many that the possession of gold and silver will produce for them happiness, and, hence, thousands hunt the mountains for the precious metals; in this they are mistaken. The possession of wealth alone does not produce happiness, although it will produce comfort, when it can be exchanged for the essentials and luxuries of life. When wealth is obtained by purloining, or in any other unfair and dishonorable way, fear of detection and punishment robs the possessor of all human happiness. When wealth is honorably obtained by men, still the possession of it is embittered by the thought that death will soon strip them of it and others will possess it. What hopes have they in the future, after they get through with this sorrowful world? They know nothing about the future; they see nothing but death and hell. Solid comfort and unalloyed joy are unknown to them. When the faithful Latter-day Saints come to the end of their earthly existence, “we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The faithful Latter-day Saint knows that the dissolution of this mortal house will introduce his immortal spirit to freedom from death and punishment, and to the enjoyment of the society of the spirits of just men made perfect. To a person who has such a glorious hope everything is bright and beautiful. If he has but little, he enjoys that little with a thankful heart to his Heavenly Father; if he possesses much, he is still thankful, not worshipping, or placing his heart upon the filthy lucre God has placed in his power to do good with. In poverty he feels blest and happy; in riches he feels blest and happy; for his hope is in God, and his wealth consists in eternal riches, having laid up treasures in heaven where moth doth not destroy, nor rust corrode, nor thief break through nor steal. The Latter-day Saints have been driven from their homes, and their goods have been spoiled; but they esteem this as nothing. What do we care for houses and lands and possessions? The whole earth is before us and all the fulness thereof. The Latter-day Saints are living in the expectation of redeeming Zion, when the law shall go forth from Zion, and when Jesus will reign king of nations, as he now reigns king of Saints.

Remarks have been made as to our staying here. I will tell you how long we shall stay here. If we live our religion, we shall stay here in these mountains forever and forever, worlds without end, and a portion of the Priesthood will go and redeem and build up the Center Stake of Zion. If we leave here, where shall we go to? Has anyone discovered where we can again pitch our tents, when we leave this country? In the days of Joseph we have sat many hours at a time conversing about this very country. Joseph has often said, “If I were only in the Rocky Mountains with a hundred faithful men, I would then be happy, and ask no odds of mobocrats.” And neither do I. Who are going to pull up stakes and leave here? If we forsake our God and our religion, then woe to us; for then we shall be all apostates together, and under such circumstances we have no promise of God for our protection; but, if we live in the faith of the Son of God, we have the heavens, the power of God and of angels on our side. I can tell you, as truly as Elisha said to his servant, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them,” (our enemies.) For, “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”

Satan has great power upon the earth, which he will exercise against Christ and his kingdom, and we have so to live as to gain power to triumph over him, and successfully drive him and his adherents from the earth, and introduce everlasting righteousness and peace; and we will do it in the name of Israel’s God. The Lord being my helper, I will never give up the ship; I will never leave it, as long as there is an inch of plank left; and it will live in wilder seas than have yet assailed it, and come out unharmed; in short, it will endure forever. We may apostatize from the faith, and go out of the Church and Kingdom of God, and be lost; but this will have no effect upon the progress of the Lord’s Work, neither can all the powers of hell combined accomplish aught against it. The Lord God of Israel has led this people from the beginning, and every effort the enemy has made to destroy them has only added renewed strength and vigor to the cause of truth, although at the time of our great afflictions, and while in the straits in which we have been placed, we could, naturally speaking, see nothing but death and suffering. The Lord has suffered all these things for the perfecting of the righteous and the good of his people, and that the wicked may be left without excuse. There is not another nation under heaven but this, in whose midst the Book of Mormon could have been brought forth. The Lord has been operating for centuries to prepare the way for the coming forth of the contents of that Book from the bowels of the earth, to be published to the world, to show to the inhabitants thereof that he still lives, and that he will, in the latter days, gather his elect from the four corners of the earth. It was the Lord who directed the discovery of this land to the nations of the old world, and its settlement, and the war for independence, and the final victory of the colonies, and the unprecedented prosperity of the American nation, up to the calling of Joseph the Prophet. The Lord has dictated and directed the whole of this, for the bringing forth, and establishing of his Kingdom in the last days. On one occasion, when the Prophet was imprisoned, Sidney Rigdon exhorted the Saints to scatter and every man do the best he could for himself; “for,” said he, “this work of the gathering of the Saints we shall not accomplish, these Saints will never be gathered again.” I took the liberty of saying to him that it was my opinion that we should be gathered again, and that, by and by, we should have Joseph with us. Some thought it impossible; but we had Joseph again and we gathered. The Lord thus proved his people, and tried them whether they would apostatize and give themselves up to the power of Satan, or be faithful to their calling and to their God under every circumstance. The Lord will try this people in all things, as he tried Abraham of old, to prove whether they will forsake him, or cling to the faith of the Holy Gospel. I have been in this Kingdom almost from the beginning; and I have not yet seen anything I would call a trial, that I could not willingly and joyfully endure; for, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him.” The Lord has thrown his people on several occasions, into circumstances of destitution and dependence, to try the leaders of the nation, and has thus said unto them, what will you now do for my poor and afflicted people; and their reply has been, “We will destroy them, if we can.” They think they will destroy us yet. In this, however, they are mistaken, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Shall we still cling to the faith of Christ, or will we forsake the Lord our God, and seek “the friendship of the world which is enmity against God?” Before we were driven out of Missouri I had a vision, if I would dare to say that I had a vision, and saw that the people would go to the east, to the north and to the west; but we should go back to Jackson County from the west. When this people return to the Center Stake of Zion, they will go from the west. The Lord has used every means to save the nation. He has called upon them by night and by day, through His servants whom he has sent among them; but they are bent on their own destruction. When we were driven from Nauvoo, our Elders went to the East to lay our case before the judges, governors, and rulers of the different States to ask for an asylum; but none was offered us. We sent men through the Eastern country to try and raise some means for the destitute women and children, whose husbands, fathers and brothers had gone into the Mexican war at the call of the General Government, leaving their wives and children and aged fathers and mothers upon the open prairies without home or shelter, and the brethren who went East hardly got enough to bear their expenses. The great men of the nation were asked if they would do anything for the Lord’s people. No; not a thing would they do, but hoped they would perish in the wilderness. “Therefore,” saith the Lord, “Behold, the destroyer I have sent forth to destroy and lay waste mine enemies; and not many years hence they shall not be left to pollute mine heritage, and to blaspheme my name upon the lands which I have consecrated for the gathering together of my saints.” In the year 1845 I addressed letters to all the Governors of States and Territories in the Union, asking them for an asylum, within their borders, for the Latter-day Saints. We were refused such privilege, either by silent contempt or a flat denial in every instance. They all agreed that we could not come within the limits of their Territory or State. Three members of Congress came to negotiate with us to leave the confines of the United States, and of the public domain. It was understood that we were going to Vancouver Island; but we had our eye on Mexico, and here we are located in the midst of what was then northern Mexico. Fears have been entertained that we shall again be meddled with; but you will find that the enemies of the cause of God will have plenty of business besides digging gold and silver and fighting the Saints, and I trust Utah will be left as unnoticed as it is in the President’s message. I thank them for what they have done and for what they have not done. I thank the Lord that he has led this people, and suffered them to be driven from place to place. I thank the Lord that we have the words of eternal life; and if we live by them, our feet are as sure and as fast as these everlasting hills. I know where the Saints will dwell.

In the mind of God there is no such a thing as dividing spiritual from temporal, or temporal from spiritual; for they are one in the Lord. There was nothing of a temporal or spiritual nature suggested by Joseph Smith in his day, for the action of the Latter-day Saints that would not have been beneficial for them, if they had, with one heart and mind, performed all he desired them to do. We have proposed many things with regard to our temporal affairs in these valleys, which, when strictly obeyed, have been attended with great benefits. Our action touching our grain has greatly benefited this community; it has resulted in replenishing the wardrobes of the people throughout the Territory, and placed in their possession many thousands of dollars. If you have a few hundred pounds of flour to sell, keep it by you; by-and-by, you will be offered a good price for it in gold. Do not be tempted to sell your breadstuff for a ribbon, or a frill, or for some useless trapping; for herein we are exposed to danger, when we treat as a light thing the blessings of the Lord, and squander them as a thing of naught. Those men and women who barter away their breadstuff for naught, trifle with the blessings which the heavens have bestowed on them.

There are brethren who have studied law; but where is there a man in our midst now that is worth anything by studying law? Where is there a merchant among us who has, year after year, continued in the love of the world, that cares anything about the kingdom of God? Look out, ye men of Israel, and be careful that you love not the world or the things of the world in their present state, and in your loftiness and pride, forget the Lord your God. We ought to care no more for the silver and the gold, and the property that is so much sought for by the wicked world, than for the soil or the gravel upon which we tread: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” I will refer to our merchants, I mean our “Mormon merchants” particularly. What do they say about their goods? They do not ask what their goods are worth, or what they paid for them, but what will the people give for them? That is the price. It is not what their goods are really worth, but “how many greenbacks will it take to buy me another stock of goods?” It will take a good many. What their goods are worth is not a question with them, but what they can get. They will get sorrow—the most of them will be damned, there is no doubt of it, unless they repent. You will excuse me for talking thus of my brethren, but what else can I say about them? I am not speaking about my individual feelings towards them, but upon principle. My individual feelings are nothing but good towards them. They are kind to me, and I have no fault to find with them in their dealings with me; but I see the danger they are in. Ye merchants, and lawyers, and doctors and speculators, be careful that you secure to yourselves eternal life in the kingdom of God, in preference to doing anything else. That perfect union, which must ultimately be enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints, can only be brought about by every man and woman living so as to keep their minds pure and unspotted like a piece of clean white paper, being constantly free from the love of the world, that the spirit of revelation may easily indite upon the heart whatever is the mind and will of the Lord. We cannot be truly the members of Christ’s mystical body without living in this way, that the Spirit may indite as easily upon the heart the things of God, as these brethren, our reporters, can write with ink on paper. In this way you have the witness within yourself, and “need that no man teach you: only as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” May the Lord bless the righteous. Amen.

Remarks by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, on Sunday, Dec. 11, 1864.

We meet together, as intelligent beings, desirous of understanding something of our common origin, our present existence, and our future destiny. We meet to find out something in relation to our Heavenly Father, in relation to His providential dealings with the human family, in relation to His policy and designs pertaining to us, and in relation to the object of our creation; and to know something, if possible, pertaining to that world that lies beyond our present scene of action. These are some things among the many that we are desirous to know, to comprehend, to find out if possible. We further wish to pursue a course that shall be acceptable to our God and Father; having partaken of a portion of His Holy Spirit we are desirous to be taught more perfectly the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, we are desirous of cultivating His Holy Spirit, and to draw from the fountain of light and intelligence; from the spirit of revelation that flows from God; and the spirit that dwells in us, comfort, consolation, and intelligence; that we may feel that we are the sons and daughters of God, that we are walking in the light of His countenance, that we are doing the things that are pleasing and acceptable in His sight, that our own consciences are producing satisfactory evidence to our minds that our conduct and acts are acceptable before the Lord, and that the Holy Ghost also bears testimony to us that we are His children, doing His will, walking in the light of His countenance, helping to establish His kingdom on the earth, and to fulfil the varied duties we are placed here upon the earth to attend to. These are some of the ideas and feelings which all good men and women entertain in relation to the past, the present, and the future. Notwithstanding, we have many weaknesses, infirmities, follies, and foibles; yet, at the same time, when we are filled with the spirit which flows from the Lord our Heavenly Father, these are generally the feelings which we entertain. We feel a spirit of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the blessings that we have received from His hands; and when we look upon things as they exist around us, in our nation, and in other nations, we certainly have great cause to cultivate feelings of thankfulness when we reflect upon the position of the world, and view the darkness, ignorance, folly, superstition, wickedness, corruption and evil that is spread abroad, and which prevails over the face of the earth. When we reflect that light and intelligence have beamed forth from the heavens, that God in his mercy has made manifest His will to the human family; that in the plenitude of His mercy and goodness He has restored the Holy Priesthood, and placed us in communication with Himself; that he has taught us not only how to pray but how to approach unto him for the forgiveness of our sins, for the reception of the Holy Ghost, for instruction and guidance in relation to all matters pertaining to our fathers, relative to this world and to the world that is to come, we certainly have great cause of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the many mercies and blessings He has conferred upon us. Wherever we turn our attention we can find cause of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the blessings that we enjoy, and we can truly say, as was said by a certain person of old, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” The Lord has revealed unto us the principles of eternal truth, so “That” (unlike the world) “we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” But our feet are established upon the rock of eternal truth which has been revealed from the heavens, for the benefit, blessing, and exaltation of the human family, in time and in eternity. How very different is our position in relation to this from what it was before we heard the Gospel. Then we were surrounded with ten thousand influences, notions, and ideas which might be right, or which might be wrong; we had no test, no rule, no principle whereby to guide our lives or our conduct; we could not find any person on the earth that knew anything about the principles of eternity; we never heard anything further than opinion before we embraced this doctrine; we had the opinion of commentators, of divines, philosophers, and politicians, nothing but opinion without certainty to guide our erring feet. We were desirous, perhaps as much so as we are today, to do right, we were perhaps as zealous then as we are now in pursuing the course that we thought might be satisfactory to our Heavenly Father; but we knew not what would please Him. The world of mankind today are just in the position that we were then in, they have no more certainty, evidence, or knowledge than we had before we embraced the principles of eternal truth—and, in fact, the truth does not exist in the world, or, if it does exist, it is unknown to the men of the world; they are unable to discern between truth and error, light and darkness, between the things of God and the things of man.

The Lord has revealed to us the principles of eternal life. It is not a matter of mere thought, of mere opinion; our principles are not ideal, but they are facts, not notions; they are truths, not opinions; they are certainties—things that we know and comprehend for ourselves. Nothing can be more forcible, nothing can be a stronger evidence, if we want any evidence, than the testimony or evidence which the Lord has communicated unto us individually.

Paul said when he was speaking to the people, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Again, “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” Every person who embraced the gospel in that day enjoyed an evident testimony of which the world were ignorant. They received an inspiring intelligent assurance which was imparted by the Holy Ghost unto all those who receive the gospel both in former and in latter times, and hence they that believe have the witness in themselves.

When the Elders were sent to preach the gospel, they were told to call upon the people to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and they should receive the Holy Ghost. This was told to the people in ancient days, and no stronger testimony than this could be given to the heart of man; nothing is greater evidence that the Lord is with His Elders that go forth bearing the precious seeds of eternal life than this. An Elder is the minister of God, His representative on the earth; he acts by His authority, in His name, and God sanctions his acts, and proves to him and to those who receive the gospel, that he is the messenger of God. The Lord has told him to go and preach baptism for the remission of sins, and that when people repented and were baptized for the remission of sins, and had hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, that they should receive the Holy Ghost, and have evidence for themselves, as they received and knew formerly under the administration of the ancient apostles. Thus every person so baptized and administered to has evidence undoubted within himself, and every Elder has a testimony that God is with him and sanctions his acts; and as an Elder could not impart the Holy Ghost without the authority and power of God, so the person receiving the Holy Ghost could not partake of it without the Lord’s administration through the Elder.

You may use the reasoning of men, you may bring into requisition the strongest oratorial powers, and all this will fail to convince any man, without the Spirit of God. You may bring the brightest talent to bear, and collect the strongest evidence it is possible for man to produce, but in the absence of the Holy Ghost all this will pass away like an idle dream, or with passing remarks such as, “That man is a very eloquent man, the principles he advances are evident, plain, and reasonable, but then it don’t concern us at all, we are not interested in the matter,” etc.; but when the Spirit of eternal truth, emanating from God operates upon our spirits, which are a part of deity, if you please, when there is a union formed, and an intercourse opened, and intelligence communicated, then the persons who possess this intelligence, this knowledge, this comforting influence, this strong assurance that is imparted, and can be imparted only from spirit to spirit; when persons receive this, they then have for themselves an assurance that no earthly argument or philosophical demonstration can possibly impart. We are a part of deity, that is, our spirits are a part, as it were, of the Great Jehovah, that have been struck from His eternal blaze—eternal intelligence and light and life.

When the light that is in heaven communicates with the light within us; when the Spirit that dwells in the bosom of the Almighty dwells in ours, and an intercourse is opened between heaven and us, we are then placed in a position to understand that which it would be impossible to comprehend upon any natural principle known to us, and hence it is written, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” In order that men may indeed become the children of God, He has introduced in the first principles of the gospel the means of their becoming possessed of His Spirit through baptism and laying on of hands by those having authority, being sent and ordained and authorized by Him that they may receive the Holy Ghost. What can be a stronger evidence to any man than an evidence of this kind? It is not something that affects the outward ear alone; it is not something that affects simply his judgment, but it affects his inner man; it affects the spirit that dwells within him; it is a part of God imparted unto man, if you please, giving him an assurance that God lives. This is a thing of very great importance, more so, perhaps, than many people imagine. A man receives an assurance that God lives, and not only that God lives, but that he is a son of God, because he feels that he has partaken of His spirit, the spirit of adoption; and hence it was said concerning the Saints of old, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”

The Saints of old received a spirit whereby they were enabled to say Abba, Father, or, my Father. Now, reflecting upon this, what strong confidence is imparted unto the Saints of God, giving them an assurance that no person has, and that no person can have, unless they adopt the same means, in order to partake of the same blessings or to be administered to in the same way, and receive through the same medium, that same spirit of intelligence which nothing but the Holy Ghost can impart. When persons receive this they are enabled to say, my Father. What were they enabled to say before? Did they know anything about their Father or about their God? Did they know anything about their origin, or did they know anything really in relation to the future?

What can you find among the world like this anywhere, among the most pious, best, the most honorable, pure, and virtuous, what can you find among them? Only, simply, “we try to do the best that we can, and we hope it will be well with us hereafter; we hope our great Heavenly Father will be merciful to us.” They can make no further advances than that, without the gift and blessing of the Holy Ghost. They hope certain things, they believe in certain things, they pray for certain things, they desire certain things, but they have no assurance in relation to them. Nothing but the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son can impart unto us that intelligence which is necessary to place the Church and Kingdom of God upon a sure and firm basis. The Lord has introduced this among us. It is no matter what language a man may speak, or what country he lives in, no matter what his former profession or circumstances, here is the Gospel of eternal life and truth proclaimed by the weakest of God’s Elders, which he has chosen and set apart to preach the words of eternal life in all the world. Wherever people receive the words of truth that that Elder has preached unto them and obey them by baptism, and have hands laid on them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, they all feel alike, no matter what country they were born in, what their religion, politics, social ideas, or anything else; whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free, they are all one in Christ Jesus.

We have people gathered together in this Territory from all parts of the earth; they have all been baptized into one baptism, and all have par– taken of one spirit, and that one spirit proceeds from the fountain of light and truth. It would be impossible, under any other circumstances, to unite people together as our people in the mountains are united. It would be impossible for all the reasoning powers of man to bring about any such result; nothing but the power and Spirit of God could accomplish it.

We all feel alike in regard to the great principles of eternal truth. Why do we feel alike? Because we have all partaken of one spirit, which proceeds from our Heavenly Father, it is the Holy Ghost. How does it affect us? It affects our spirits. And although we do not understand, sometimes, one another’s speech, and are ignorant of the ideas entertained by one another; and although the habits, customs, and manners are diverse and various among the different nations from which we have come, we still are one in sentiment, one in faith and in confidence, and one in assurance.

I have heard men in the United States thank God with their whole heart for the spirit imparted to them and for the blessings of the everlasting Gospel; I have heard them do the same in France and in Germany, and I have heard them do the same among other nations whose language I was not acquainted with. The same spirit inspires the whole—it is the spirit of God, imparted through obedience to his laws, and through the administration of the Gospel through the Holy Priesthood, or by means of the Elders he has sent forth, and whose acts He sanctions by imparting the Holy Ghost on whom they lay their hands; and hence we are one, having been baptized into one baptism, and partaken of the same spirit, and hence we have assurance, and are constituted as no other people are under the heavens. We possess that evidence and assurance which the world cannot give, neither can the world take it away; and hence, we go forth with a steady unerring aim with regard to the future. We know, individually and collectively, what we are doing, and if there be those among us who do not comprehend all things, yet we do know that we have partaken of the Holy Ghost. We feel like the man that was born blind, who was healed by the Savior. The Pharisees said to the healed man, “Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.” He answered and said: “Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

All the sons and daughters of God who are living their religion, and faithfully keeping the commandments of God, can render a reason for the hope that is within them, and can answer the whys and the wherefores for the movements of the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth. They may not know what is going to be the result of this, that and the other; but they do know that they have received the Holy Ghost, and that God lives—that they have received a principle, whereby they are enabled to say, Abba Father—My Father. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Hence we have partaken of a portion of eternal lives, and have begun to live forever. It was upon this principle that Jesus spake to the woman of Samaria, when he asked her for a drink. Now there was a strong enmity existing between the Jews and the Samaritans, and she thought it singular when Jesus asked her for a drink of water. “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Did the world know who these Elders are that go forth among them bearing the precious seed of eternal life; could they comprehend and realize it, they would ask of them, and they would give them water which would be in them a well springing up into eternal life; for they are the representatives of God on the earth, going forth with authority from Him to impart unto the world the Holy Ghost, and lead them into the paths of life. We have partaken of this Holy Spirit, and hence there is confidence manifested in all our movements and actions as a people.

Who among the true saints of God ever doubts as to the destiny of this kingdom? Who that has the spirit of revelation—the spirit of truth—ever dreams that this kingdom will ever be overthrown? They quake in the north, and in the south; they wonder what the end will be—whether they will gain that victory or lose that battle; whether we are going to be divided into two separate nations, be consolidated in one, or divided into a great many. These are matters that puzzle the wisest of our statesmen. If we have any wise men in the United States, and in the nations of Europe or the earth, let them manifest their wisdom and put the world right.

The Latter-day Saints have no wonder what is going to become of them, it never enters into our minds that anything will transpire that will overthrow the Church and kingdom of God on the earth. What man that is a Saint and has in his possession the gift of the Holy Ghost, that does not know that the kingdom of God is onward? We know that we shall overcome every opposing power. No matter what transpires, what effect has it on us? None at all. It only affects the weak and vacillating, that have not lived their religion and followed the light of the Holy Spirit in them, they may fear; but the men and women of God, those who live in the light of the countenance of the Lord, and cherish the Holy Spirit in their bosoms, having no other feeling but the final triumph of the kingdom of God on the earth, they know nothing else.

What inspired the ancient prophets to know that the time would come when the Saints of God should take the kingdom, and the greatness of it under the whole heavens should be given to them and He whose right it is, should rule and reign, and have dominion? The same Spirit that dwells in us proceeds from the same God that inspired the prophets of old, developing the same truths, making manifest the same things, and unfolding the same principles. We have confidence in relation to these matters; and hence men that understand this, who live their religion, feel perfectly satisfied in regard to any or all the events that shall transpire on the earth.

We were driven out of Missouri—we were driven from one place to another in Missouri, before we were driven out altogether; then we were driven from Illinois to this Territory. But what of that? I know some men who thought the work was at an end. I remember a remark made by Sidney Rigdon—I suppose he did not live his religion—I do not think he did—his knees began to shake in Missouri, and on one occasion he said, “Brethren, every one of you take your own way, for the work seems as though it had come to an end.” Brigham Young encouraged the peo– ple, and Joseph Smith told them to be firm and maintain their integrity, for God would be with his people and deliver them. I never saw a time that the Saints enjoyed themselves better than when they, apparently, were wading through the deepest troubles; I never saw them more full of the Holy Ghost, and take more joyfully the spoiling of their goods. Why was this? Because they had that spirit within them of which we are speaking, and they knew what would be the result of all these things. When we left Nauvoo, we sang joyfully—

“On the way to California, In the spring we’ll take our journey; Far above Arkansas fountains, Pass between the Rocky Mountains.”

When it was asked us, “Where are you going?” our reply would be, “We hardly know; we are going somewhere, and God will protect us, and all is right and well in Zion, and all is peace, and all will be peace to those who will love God and keep his commandments; because his kingdom is established upon the rock of ages, and it is God’s business to take care of his Saints, and all is well.”

And when the nation with which we are associated is shaken to its center and crumbles to pieces (it is pretty well shaken now, notwithstanding what our President seems to say about it, that everything is very prosperous, and that we have more men now than before the war), notwithstanding all this, it is crumbling and falling, and it will continue to fall and to crumble, until it is no more, and by and by there will be an end of it. Not so with the kingdom of God; it will stand, and continue to exist and spread and go forth, and correct principles—principles of eternal truth and light and revelation from God—will be unfolded, and intelligence that dwells with the gods will continue to be imparted to this people, and God will be their God, and they will be His people, and He will continue to lead them on from strength to strength and from knowledge to knowledge, until they understand all correct principles that can be known on the earth, until they are enabled to redeem themselves and their posterity, and then establish the kingdom of God on the earth until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and forever. And to this end God has imparted unto us the spirit of intelligence and wisdom that is unfaltering, unwavering, and unchanging, and that will live and abide forever. Have we not cause to be grateful to God our heavenly Father? I think we have. We enjoy peace, we enjoy happiness, we enjoy the Holy Ghost, we enjoy communication with our heavenly Father, we enjoy an association with the holy Priesthood, we have the revelation of God in us, and God has undertaken to lead His people on from strength to strength, from intelligence to intelligence, from knowledge to knowledge, until they are able to see as they are seen, and know as they are known. And He is going to establish a reign of righteousness and introduce a correct form of government, even the government of God, the laws of God, the revelations of God to guide and direct in all things: He will be our guide in philosophy, in politics, in agriculture, in science, in art, and in everything that is calculated to enlighten and impart intelligence, and give knowledge of the laws of nations, of the laws of nature, of matter, and of all laws that regulate all things pertaining to time and to eternity. He will continue to instruct and to make manifest, and to put us in possession of those principles that will exalt us and prepare us to dwell with the Gods. We look on the future; we looked on it years ago, and we knew that the kingdom of God would roll on, and we know so today, only our faith and knowledge is becoming more stable, more established. We know that this kingdom will continue to spread and to increase. Who can deprive us of that knowledge? No earthly influence or power, or reasoning can do it; hence, we are perfectly satisfied in relation to these things. And while we know this is taking place and that a reign of righteousness will be introduced that will be calculated to exalt and ennoble the human family, and make the earth a paradise and to blossom as the rose, and make the wilderness and desolate places glad, and the government and kingdom of God exist from the rivers to the ends of the earth; whilst we are attending to these things, we are also attending to other things, we are securing to ourselves an everlasting exaltation, we are learning God and His laws, and the whisperings of His Spirit, whereby we can be saved and exalted and be brought to a closer union and connection with Him by covenants and ordinances, and anointings, and endowments, and blessings, that He is revealing and unfolding. We are learning to build temples where we can receive instruction, and revelation, and ordinances to be performed both for the living and the dead, for ourselves, progenitors, and posterity, and bless the human family throughout, that we may be saviors on Mount Zion and the kingdom be the Lord’s. We are learning to secure for ourselves mansions with our heavenly Father, that where He is we may be also. Jesus said, “I go away; but if I go, I will come and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also,” &c. We are preparing ourselves for those mansions, and others are helping to prepare mansions for us who are behind the veil. We shall operate for those who are there, and they for us; for they, without us, cannot be made perfect, nor we without them. We are forming an alliance, a union, a connection, with those that are behind the veil, and they are forming a union and connection with us; and while we are living here, we are preparing to live hereafter, and laying a foundation for this in the celestial kingdom of God. Ought we not to call upon our souls, and upon all that is within us, to bless the name of the God of Israel, and to forget not all His mercies? Ought we not to be seeking continually to glorify God in our bodies and spirits, which are His? Ought we not to be seeking to have our passions and desires and appetites in obedience and subjection to the will of God? Ought we not to be seeking to control our will and desires, and have everything yielding obedience to that Spirit which emanates from our heavenly Father? Ought we not to be seeking to promote a union with every godlike principle, with everything that is lovely and amiable, and divest ourselves of all our evil passions and propensities, and follies and waywardness, and seek to draw near unto God ourselves, and also to draw our families near unto Him, and seek to cultivate the Holy Ghost, that it may be in us a well of water springing up into everlasting life, that we may be worthy to be citizens of the kingdom of God; and that hereafter we may enjoy an immortality of happiness with our progenitors and our posterity, and with our God in the eternal world, even in this world, when it shall be redeemed and sanctified and be made new?

May God help us to keep his commandments, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George Q. Cannon, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, Nov. 27, 1864.

The remarks made by the brethren this afternoon, and all through the day, have been to me exceedingly edifying and instructive. If I could impart to you one tenth of the feelings and reflections that have been awakened in me by them, I would be satisfied. So many points have been touched upon that I think every person present has felt to rejoice for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which we have enjoyed. There is one point in relation to the great work with which we are identified, and its further movements, to which I wish to refer. It has been alluded to this afternoon that some entertain the idea that we may have to leave these upper valleys and retire to the more southern ones before our enemies. For my part, I cannot believe this. I never have believed it. I believe we are in the very place which God designed we should occupy; and I believe with all my heart the words of President Young, when he spoke respecting our movement south and the sacrifice we made of our homes here, which we were willing to put the torch to and burn sooner than our enemies should possess them. He said, when we came back again, that we had begun to return—to retrace our steps in the path we had been compelled to tread by the inhumanity of our enemies, and we would not stop returning until we should re-occupy the lands from which we have been driven. I felt then that it was true, and still feel so; and, to me, it looks like childishness for any of us to cease improving the advantages our Father and God has given us in this valley and in the valleys north, south, east, and west.

The Lord has blessed us to a very great extent. He has constantly poured out upon his servants the spirit of instruction and revelation. There has been no move that it has been necessary for us, as a people, to make that we have not been forewarned of by our leaders; and when they counsel us to take measures for the improvement of our city or the adjacent country, or for doing anything that will make us great and powerful, it is our duty, being the mind and will of God, to adhere to and obey their counsels and instructions; and he who would think by word, or thought, or expression to weaken the effect of that counsel, is an enemy to the Zion of our God—he who would try to weaken the counsels of the Presidency is an enemy in disguise, and unless he drives that spirit from his heart, he will sooner or later be found arrayed in the ranks of the enemies of God and truth. There is but one course that can be pursued in safety, and that is the course pointed out by those who are placed to preside over us. It may seem unnecessary to say so; but it is necessary. It seems, at times, as though we had not sufficiently learned the lesson of obedience, and it requires the servants of God to continually remind us of these things, and impress it upon us that in this path alone can we obtain salvation.

The Lord told us years ago that we were called to lay the foundation of a great work. The Latter-day Saint who looks to his own benefit alone, and does not recognize the extent of the work and its influence upon the people—not only upon the people gathered together here, but upon the nations of the earth, has failed to comprehend the position he occupies as a servant of God; and, unless he changes his course, instead of increasing in the things of God, he will decrease, and the Spirit of the Lord will not be with him to the extent it would be, were he alive to his duties and responsibilities as a servant of God. We are engaged in a work that affects ourselves, our neighbors, our posterity, and progenitors, and all the nations of the earth, and it will not do to be blinded by petty interests; to think in relation to the counsel to bring out the waters of Jordan, for instance, is it going to benefit my farm or my city lot? To reason in this way betrays a narrowness of mind that does not harmonize with the greatness of the work we are engaged in. If we look at matters in this light, we are not worthy to occupy the position we hold.

While Brother Joseph W. Young and Brother Gates were speaking, my mind reverted to the history of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, the progenitor, perhaps, of the greatest portion of this congregation. An axiom came to my mind, that history repeats itself. And the great majority of us who are his descendants are not unlikely to accomplish a work similar to that which he accomplished. You know what has been meted out to us by our brethren. It has been our fortune, like him, to be dreamers. Like him, we related our dreams to our brethren, and they acted towards us as his brethren did towards him. They said, “We will not have this dreamer to rule over us.” They put him into a pit, and afterwards sold him to the Ishmaelites, and he was carried to Egypt, where they thought they would never see him or hear from him again. But God overruled their acts, and the fulfillment of the dreams for which they sold him into slavery was brought about by that very means. So our brethren, instead of owning the truth of our visions, acted towards us as the brethren of Joseph did towards him. They would not own the power of God, nor look upon us as their benefactors, but abused us and treated us cruelly, driving us from their midst; yet out of it God will bring salvation to the remnant which is left of them.

You may depend upon it, we are repeating the history of the past. We will yet have to feed our brethren in the flesh; we will yet be the head and will extend unto them the salvation and deliverance, spiritually and temporally, which they need. We can see plainly that the Lord is overruling circumstances for the accomplishment of this end. Shall we not, then, be willing agents in his hands, and seek with all the energy of our nature to do what he requires of us? I believe this is the feeling of every Latter-day Saint, and those who love righteousness are determined in their hearts to do all that is required of them by the servants of God. There is no one under the sound of my voice today but has felt happiness in doing what has been required of him by the servants of God. This is the secret of the power wielded by President Young over this people. Because they have a living and abiding testi– mony of the Spirit with them when doing their duty, their hearts are filled with joy, thanksgiving, and happiness; but when they take an opposite course, and go contrary to what is required of them by the servants of God, they feel miserable, they know they have taken a wrong course, and, if they are wise, they repent speedily of their sins and are obedient to the counsel given.

I hope to see the day when we will have land and water, food and fruit, and everything that is pleasing and useful, everything that is necessary for the comfort and well-being of man, to enjoy ourselves and share with those who come to us and live with us. And I know the measures taken by our leaders now will be attended with these results, if we abide their counsels. Whenever there has been a failure in carrying out any measure that has been counseled, it has been because of a lack of faith on the part of those to whom the counsel has been given. It is time we should begin to think what we are going to be, and rise above those little petty feelings that are characteristic of the world. We should allow our minds to be filled with the Spirit of God to such an extent that we can have enlarged thoughts and views. We should feel to say that “anything which benefits my brethren and sisters, whether it furthers my interests or not, let it be done; let the community be blessed, whether my personal interests are prospered or not by the course taken.” The person who cherishes this feeling will be sure to receive temporal prosperity.

I know we live in the kingdom of God and serve a liberal Master, and though we may be called upon to make what we may view as sacrifices, if we do so willingly and liberally, God will give to us a liberal reward. “The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand,” was said by one of old, and can be said in truth of the day in which we live. If we act upon this principle, God will deal with us in a similar manner. I know this to be true, and that God will reward us with every blessing we need, as a people, if we take the course that is pointed out. There is no circumstance or difficulty we have to contend with but what is for our good; and will ultimately prove so, if we are faithful. No matter what labor we are required to perform, we are in the very position, and doing the very work, God requires at our hands. It is necessary for our development and increase in the faith of the Lord Jesus. This is a glorious consolation to me.

I know that everything will be overruled for our good if we do right. No matter how difficult circumstances may be to bear at the time, they are for our good, and God watches over us; his angels are round about us all the time. The spirit of prophecy and the angels of God are continually with His servant Brigham; and when the people receive and act upon his counsel, it results in good to them. May God bless us, and fill us with more faith and power, that we may go forth in mighty strength to accomplish the work of our God on the earth. Amen.

Delivered by Elder George A. Smith, in the Tabernacle, Ogden City, on Tuesday, November 15, 1864.

When the Lord appeared to Joseph Smith and manifested unto him a knowledge pertaining to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the work of the last days, Satan came also with his power and tempted Joseph. It is written in the book of Job, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.” In the very commencement of this Work, the Prophet Joseph Smith was called upon to contend face to face with the powers of darkness by spiritual manifestations, and open visions, as well as with men in the flesh, stirred up by the same spirit of the adversary to edge up his way and destroy him from the earth, and annihilate the work which he was about to commence. He thus describes the incident:

“In the spring of 1820, after I had retired into the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who has such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”

It was also peculiar in the history of the age, that just at the time that God was revealing unto his servant Joseph to raise up men to bear testimony of the principles of the Gospel in its fulness and simplicity, Satan was at work stirring up the hearts of the children of men to a species of religious excitement. There were in many parts of the country strange manifestations, great camp and other protracted meetings were assembled together to worship under the various orders denominated Methodists, Campbellites, Presbyterians, Baptists, Unitarians, etc., among whom were manifested the development of a spirit which deprived men of their strength; they would faint away, or, they would manifest a variety of contortions of countenance. There was introduced into the Western States a phenomenon called the jerks; persons under the influence of religious fanaticism would jerk seemingly enough to tear them to pieces.

When the Church was organized, persons came into it bringing along some of these enthusiastic notions, individuals who professed to have revelations on every subject, and who were ready to banish every moral principle under the guidance of false spirits. Joseph the Prophet had also to learn by experience, and to teach the Elders and the early members of the Church, how they should judge of the manifestation of spirits. (Book of Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 17, Par. 7.)

“Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that if you behold a spirit manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that spirit, ye shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus; and if he give not unto you that spirit, then you may know that it is not of God. And it shall be given unto you, power over that spirit; and you shall proclaim against that spirit with a loud voice that it is not of God—Not with railing accusation, that ye be not overcome, neither with boasting nor rejoicing, lest you be seized therewith,” and refers to Hiram Page who began to get revelations through the medium of a black stone, certain characters appearing on that stone which he wrote down.

Notes concerning false revelations, apostasies.

Joseph Smith in his history wrote thus:

“To our great grief, however, we soon found that Satan had been lying in wait to deceive, and seeking whom he might devour. Brother Hiram Page had got in his possession a certain stone, by which he had obtained revelations concerning the upbuilding of Zion, the order of the Church, &c., &c., all of which were entirely at variance with the order of God’s house, as laid down in the New Testament, as well as our late revelations. As a Conference had been appointed for the first day of September, I thought it wisdom not to do much more than to converse with the brethren on the subject, until the Conference should meet. Finding, however, that many, especially the Whitmer family and Oliver Cowdery, were believing much in the things set forth by this stone, we thought best to inquire of the Lord concerning so important a matter; and before Conference convened, we received the revelation to Oliver Cowdery given at Fayette, New York, September, 1830, in the 4th paragraph of which the Lord says: “And again, thou shalt take thy brother, Hyrum Page, between him and thee alone, and tell him that those things which he hath written from that stone are not of me and that Satan deceived him; For, behold, these things have not been appointed unto him, neither shall anything be appointed unto any of this church contrary to the church covenants. For all things must be done in order, and by common consent in the church, by the prayer of faith.”

Joseph’s history continues:

“At length our Conference assembled. The subject of the stone previously mentioned, was discussed, and after considerable investigation, brother Page, as well as the whole Church who were present, renounced the said stone, and all things connected therewith, much to our mutual satisfaction and happiness.”

Some of the Elders journeyed to the westward from the state of New York, and built up Branches in the State of Ohio. Elders Oliver Cowdery and P. P. Pratt visited Sidney Rigdon who resided in Mentor, Geauga County, and was famous in that country as a reformed Baptist minister, more familiarly known as Campbellites. He had preached the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins, the regular Baptist church having a different view of the subject, for they considered “baptism as an outward sign of an inward grace,” and that in order to be a candidate for baptism he must have received a change of heart, changed from a heart of stone to one of flesh; he was required to go into the congregation and formally renounce the world, the flesh and the devil, having given evidence that he was a new creature and was prepared for baptism. But the Reformed Baptists held the doctrine which I believe was first preached in Ohio, by Sidney Rigdon, that a man must reform, that repentance was simply a reformation, and the moment that repentance was resolved upon, the candidate was ready for baptism; and so far their notion appeared to be an improvement upon the general idea entertained, and consonant with the Bible view of it, as it was laid down by the Savior and his Apostles. But here they stopped, and did not administer the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and what was further, they contended there was no need of it, that it was all done away, and that the written word was all the spirit there was.

When the Elders waited on Sidney Rigdon and presented to him the Book of Mormon, teaching him the principle of laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, he received it, as did several hundred members of his church, and members of other churches in that vicinity, who were baptized in a few weeks. In a few days Elders Oliver Cowdery, P. P. Pratt, and Ziba Patterson, passed on westward, as their mission directed them to the western boundaries of the State of Missouri. Sidney Rigdon took a journey to the east, as did Edward Partridge for the purpose of visiting the Prophet, and these strange spirits of which we have already spoken, began to manifest themselves in the churches and Branches which had been built up.

There was at this time in Kirtland, a society that had undertaken to have a community of property; it has sometimes been denominated the Morley family, as there was a number of them located on a farm owned by Captain Isaac Morley. These persons had been baptized, but had not yet been instructed in relation to their duties. A false spirit entered into them, developing their singular, extravagant, and wild ideas. They had a meeting at the farm, and among them was a negro known generally as Black Pete, who became a revelator. Others also manifested wonderful developments; they could see angels, and letters would come down from heaven, they said, and they would be put through wonderful unnatural distortions. Finally on one occasion, Black Pete got sight of one of those revelations carried by a black angel, he started after it, and ran off a steep wash bank twenty-five feet high, passed through a tree top into the Chagrin River beneath. He came out with a few scratches, and his ardor somewhat cooled.

Joseph Smith came to Kirtland, and taught that people in relation to their error. He showed them that the Spirit of God did not bind men nor make them insane, and that the power of the adversary which had been manifested in many instances was visible even from that cause, for persons under its influence became helpless, and were bound hand and foot as in chains, being as immovable as a stick of timber. When Joseph came to instruct these Saints in relation to the true Spirit, and the manner of determining the one from the other, in a short time a number of those who had been influenced by those foul manifestations, apostatized. Among the number was Wycom Clark; he got a revelation that he was to be the prophet—that he was the true revelator; and himself, Northrop Sweet and four other individuals retired from the Church, and organized the “Pure Church of Christ,” as they called it, composed of six members, and commenced having meetings, and preaching, but that was the extent of the growth of this early schism. John Noah, another of this class, assumed to be a prophet, and in consequence thereof was expelled from the church.

Among the early baptisms in Northern Ohio, was a Methodist minister by the name of Ezra Booth. He was present when the Elders first received the ordination of the High Priesthood. They met together in June, 1831, in a log schoolhouse in Kirtland, a room about eighteen feet by twenty. While they were there, the manifestation of the power of God being on Joseph, he set apart some of the Elders to the High Priesthood. Ezra Booth was bound, and his countenance was distorted, and numbers of the brethren looked at him, and thought it was a wonderful manifestation of the power of God, but to their astonishment, Joseph came forward and rebuked the foul spirit, and commanded it to depart, in consequence of which Booth was relieved, and many of the brethren were greatly tried at such a singular treatment by the prophet of these wonderful manifestations of power.

Others had visions. Lyman Wight bore testimony that he saw the face of the Savior.

The Priesthood was conferred on a number of Elders, and thirty were selected to take a mission to the western boundaries of Missouri, and travel and preach two and two by the way, traveling without purse or scrip. They did so, building up churches. Joseph was required to travel by water, or at a more rapid rate to reach there, to meet the brethren and hold a Conference in the land of Zion. It was only a short time after the return from this mission, that Ezra Booth apostatized as did Jacob Scott, Symons Rider, Eli Johnson, and a number of others. The spirit of apostasy was little known, but when these men apostatized they became more violent, more cruel, and manifested a greater spirit of persecution than any other enemies. What seemed singular, Ezra Booth had been brought into the Church through the manifestation of a miracle. The wife of Father John Johnson had been afflicted with the rheumatism, so as to be unable to raise her arm and hand for two years. Her husband had believed the work, and she also was believing. She went to Joseph Smith the Prophet to have him administer to her, Booth accompanied them, for he was well acquainted with the family, and the condition of Mrs. Johnson. When the Elders laid their hands upon her, she was instantly healed, so that she could use her arm and hand as well as ever she could previously. Booth knew this to be an instantaneous cure, and soon after witnessing this miracle, he was baptized, and ordained an Elder. He having formerly been a Methodist minister, commenced preaching the Gospel without purse or scrip, and he did so until he found (using a common expression), it did not pay. Under these circumstances he apostatized. While he was in apostasy he searched his cranium for some means to justify himself and published a series of lying letters in the Ohio Star, a paper printed in Revenna. These nine letters had been republished several times as evidence against “Mormonism;” and his apostasy culminated in collecting a mob who tarred and feathered Joseph Smith, and inflicted upon his family the loss of one of its number at Hyrum, Portage County, Ohio. Joseph Smith was occupying the room of a house brother Johnson was living in, at the same time; it was a two story building, had steps in front. The mob surrounded the house, the twins being afflicted with measles, Joseph was lying upon a trundle bed with one of them. The mob rushed in, gathered up Joseph while in his bed, took him out in his night clothes, and carried him out on to the top of the steps. Joseph got a foot at liberty and kicked one of the men, and knocked him down off the steps, and the print of his head and shoulders were visible on the ground in the morning. Warren Waste, who was the strongest man in the western reserve considered himself perfectly able to handle Joseph alone, but when they got hold of him, Waste cried out, “do not let him touch the ground, or he will run over the whole of us.” Waste suggested in carrying him to cross his legs, for they said that would make it easier for the Prophet, but that was done in consequence of the severe pain it would give to the small of the back. He was daubed with tar, feathered, and choked, and aquafortis poured into his mouth. Dr. Dennison had been employed to perform a surgical operation, but he declined when the time came to operate. The liquid they poured into his mouth was so powerful, that it killed the grass where some of it had been scattered on the ground. Joseph is reported by the mob to have said, be merciful, when they told him to call upon his God for mercy. They immediately, as he began to pray, heard an alarm which made them think they were about to be surprised, and left suddenly. Sidney Rigdon, who resided nearby, had been dragged by the heels out of his bed at the same time, and his body stripped and a coat of tar and feathers applied. The next morning he was crazy, his head greatly inflamed and lacerated. Joseph found his way in from the light of the house, the mob having abandoned him. While he was engaged in getting off the tar by the application of grease, soap, and other materials, Philemon Duzette, the father of our celebrated drummer, came there, and seeing the Prophet in this condition, took it as an evidence of the truth of “Mormonism,” and was baptized. These circumstances exposed the life of the child, the measles struck in and caused its death, and the whole of this persecution was got up through the influence of those apostates; and it made it necessary to keep up a constant watch lest some violence should be repeated. Luke Johnson informed us that Warren Waste was afterwards a cripple, rendered so by weakness in the small of the back, and Dr. Dennison died in the Ohio Penitentiary where he was incarcerated for procuring an abortion, which caused death; Joseph soon after located in Kirtland. In Kirtland there were manifestations of evil spirits in high places, which might have been considered more dangerous than the manifestations in the early establishment of the Church. Sidney Rigdon, on one occasion got up to preach, and commenced by saying that the Church and kingdom was rent from them and given to another people. Joseph was absent, when he came home he found Sidney almost like a mad man. He labored with him and with the Church, and finally succeeded in convincing him that he was under the influence of a false spirit. A man from the State of New York by the name of Hawley, stated that while he was working in his field, barefoot, the word of the Lord came to him, saying that he should start on the instant, and not stop to put on his shoes. He came six hundred miles to Kirtland, and went to Joseph with the message that he had suffered John Noah, a prophet of God, to be cut off from the Church, and that consequently he had lost his office; and he had also suffered the women to wear caps, and the men he allowed to wear cushions on their shoulders, and for these heinous sins he was cut off, and this man had come six hundred miles barefooted to bear the terrible message. You might suppose such an adventurer coming among us would be regarded as a madman by all, but at that time several men were ready to listen to him; a Bishop’s Council was assembled and an investigation had. During the investigation, the subject of women wearing caps and veils and having their heads covered was canvassed, and the Bible ransacked by Oliver Cowdery and others. When the man was expelled from the Church for giving way to the power of false spirits, he rose up in a most solemn manner, and proclaimed to the Council that they had chosen darkness instead of light. This man went through the streets of Kirtland in the night crying in a most doleful voice, woe, woe to this people. I understand that brother Brigham, hearing this nonsense and noise in the street, jumped up out of his bed in the night, took with him a cow hide whip into the street, and told that noisy person if he did not stop his noise he would certainly cowhide him, which caused him to cease to annoy the inhabitants with his folly.

Another prophet arose by the name of Hoton, he had his headquarters at the forge in Kirtland. He was the president, and a man named Montague was appointed Bishop. They resolved to live precisely in accordance with the principles, as they understood them, spoken of soon after the day of Pentecost, for they had all things common. Their number increased to ten, and they called themselves “the Independent Church.” Persons who had apostatized from the Latter-day Saints could be admitted into their party upon the terms of entering the room, shaking hands with every member and consecrating their pro– perty. This church lasted some two or three months, when a difficulty occurred between the President and the Bishop. The Bishop accused the President of being too familiar with his meat barrel; the President, in turn, accused the Bishop of being too intimate with his sheets. The result was, a split took place between the two chief authorities, and the organization ceased to exist.

There was a prevalent spirit all through the early history of this Church, which prompted the Elders to suppose that they knew more than the Prophet. Elders would tell you that the prophet was going wrong, men who thought they knew all about this work thirty or forty years some of them before the Lord revealed it, tried “to steady the ark.” The Church was constantly afflicted with such a class of men.

I remember well in Zion’s Camp, Levi W. Hancock made a fife, from a joint of sweet elder, Sylvester Smith marched his company to the music of that fife. That fife may be considered almost the introduction of martial music among the “Mormons.” A dog came out and barked, when Sylvester Smith was going to kill the dog. Joseph said he was a good watch dog, Sylvester became wrathy and threatened; finally Joseph reproved him sharply, showing him that such a spirit would not conquer or control the human family, that he must get rid of it, and predicted that if he did not get rid of it, the day would come when a dog would gnaw his flesh, and he not have the power to resist it. Some months after the return to Kirtland, Sylvester Smith preferred a charge against Joseph the Prophet, for having prophesied lies in the name of the Lord, and undertook to substantiate that charge on the ground that the Prophet had said a dog should bite him, if he did not get rid of that spirit, when he had not power to resist. They were three days and parts of nights, with the High Council in Kirtland, in investigating this charge; one person spoke three hours in behalf of the Prophet. Sylvester published a confession which can be seen in the Church History, acknowledging his fault.

The Church in Kirtland were few in number compared with the inhabitants of the city of Ogden. We had High Council upon High Council, Bishop’s trial upon Bishop’s trial; and labor and toil constantly to settle difficulties and get our minds instructed in principle and doctrine, and in the power that we had to contend with. I remember very well the organization of the High Council at Kirtland as a permanent institution, there had been several Councils of twelve High Priests called for special cases, but they organized it permanently on 17th Feb. 1834. On the 19th, the first case that was brought up was that of Elder Curtis Hedge, sen., who while speaking in meeting had gone into a Methodist spasm, shouting and screaming in such a manner as caused one of the Elders to rebuke him. Brother Hedge was brought before the Council for so doing. A great deal of instruction was imparted to the people, who were assembled in a room sixteen feet by eighteen. The decision was, that the charges in the declaration had been fairly sustained by good witnesses, that Elder Hedge ought to have confessed when rebuked by Elder Ezra Thayer; also if he had the spirit of the Lord at the meetings where he halloed, he must have abused it and grieved it away, and all the Council agreed with the decision. The report of this case is in Millennial Star, Vol. 15, page 18, and well worthy of perusal.

In relation to the manifestation of the spirit and a man exercising it, he may be guilty of error of manner as well as error in matter, and these principles in this way were gradually introduced into the minds of the brethren, the Elders being instructed all the while now and then, when falling out by the wayside. The first Council I ever attended where the Prophet was present was at the trial of Doctor P. Hurlburt. This occurred in June, 1833. He had been cut off from the Church by the Bishop’s Council, and a Council of twelve High Priests, was organized to try the case on appeal. Hurlburt did not deny the charge, but begged to be forgiven, made every promise that a man could make that he would from that day live a virtuous life. Finally the Council accepted of his confession, and agreed that he might on public confession be restored to the Church again.

It was at the same Council that Daniel Copley, a timid young man, who had been ordained a Priest, and required to go and preach the Gospel, was called to an account for not going on his mission. The young man said he was too weak to attempt to preach, and the Council cut him off the Church. I wonder what our missionaries now would think of so rigid a discipline as was given at that time thirty one years ago, under the immediate supervision of the Prophet.

As soon as this Council had made this decision upon Hurlburt, Joseph arose, and said to the Council, he is not honest, and what he has promised he will not fulfil; what he has confessed are not the thoughts and intents of his heart, and time will prove it. Hurlburt stated to the Branch in Thompson, Ohio, that he had deceived Joseph Smith’s God or the spirit by which he is actuated, I have proved that Council has no wisdom, I told them I was sorry I confessed and they believed it to be an honest confession, I deceived the whole of them and made them restore me to the Church. Hurlburt was the author of that work known by the name of “Mormonism Unveiled.” Booth’s letters were reprinted by Hurlburt, who is the author of “The Spaulding Story,” a book which he intended to publish; and in delivering lectures he had said he would wash his hands in Joseph Smith’s blood. He was taken before the court and required to give bonds to keep the peace towards all men, and especially towards Joseph Smith. These circumstances had some influence, and his friends arranged that he should not publish the book, but put it into the hands of E. D. Howe, who resided in Painesville, Ohio. He agreed that he would give Hurlburt four hundred copies of the first printed and bound, for the manuscript. Hurlburt went round and got subscribers, to pay him when the book should be delivered, one dollar each for the four hundred. Howe got the books printed and refused to furnish Hurlburt with his share, until by a piece of legerdemain he got hold of his subscription list and got the four hundred dollars, and then he let him have the books. When Hurlburt went to supply his subscribers he found they had already been served. “The Spaulding Story” in that country was considered so ridiculous, that the books could with difficulty be sold at any price; but it has now found its way into the scientific journals of the great world as a true history of the origin of the Book of Mormon, when it is very well known that no statement on this earth could be more incorrect or more untrue. Let “Mormonism” be true or false, “The Spaulding Story” from beginning to end is an unmitigated falsehood. Solomon Spaulding was a Presbyterian minister; he entered into the iron trade in Conneaut, Ohio, but failing in business he took a notion to write a novel; he wrote a book called “The Manuscript Found,” he took his work to Pittsburgh, to a man by the name of Patterson to get it printed, but he failed and never printed it. It was pretended that it fell into the hands of Sidney Rigdon, and that he converted it into the Book of Mormon, and induced Joseph Smith to publish it; whereas it is very well known that there had no connection ever existed between these parties. In the first place, Spaulding never wrote any such work; in the next place, Spaulding never had anything to do with Patterson, and Sidney Rigdon and him were perfect strangers to each other. The first knowledge that Sidney Rigdon had of Joseph Smith was when Parley P. Pratt met him in Ohio, and presented him a printed copy of the Book of Mormon; yet all this has found its way into scientific literature, and you will find it even in the North British Review. Hurlburt’s failure to destroy “Mormonism” was so complete, understanding that he was backed by influential men in Mentor and vicinity, that it ended in their disgrace and discomfiture, and this was so complete, that the story in that country was hardly ever spoken of afterwards. Yet the Spaulding story lives among those who make lies their refuge, and under falsehood hide themselves.

The word of the Lord given in September 1831—see Book of Covenants, Sec. 21, Par. 4—to make Kirtland a strong hold for the space of five years, gave rise to a new development in the feelings and sentiments of the Saints. The Prophet said, purchase lands in the vicinity of Kirtland; men were induced to buy farms, and to go to work and build houses, to quarry rock, and haul them on the ground, to build a Temple. We were not then supplied with reporters and clerks as we are now, and many of the books that were kept have been wrested from the hands of the Church by apostates. The foundation of the Kirtland Temple was laid in 1833, and there is scarcely a scrap of history relating to it to be found, not even the names of the twenty-four Elders in their order who laid the foundation of it. When the Temple was completed there was a great manifestation of power. The brethren gathered together to its dedication. We considered it a very large building. Some nine hundred and sixty could be seated, and there would be room for a few to stand, the congregation was swelled to a little over a thousand persons at the time of the dedication. It was a trial of faith. The Elders from every part of the country had come together. The finishing of the Temple had involved a debt of many thousands, and we all came together to the dedication. The congregation was so large that we could not all get in; and when the house was full, then, of course, the doors were closed, and no more admitted. This caused Elder Frazier Eaton, who had paid seven hundred dollars towards building the house, to apostatize, because he did not get there early enough to the meeting. When the dedication prayer was read by Joseph, it was read from a printed copy. This was a great trial of faith to many. “How can it be that the prophet should read a prayer?” What an awful trial it was, for the Prophet to read a prayer! The service of the dedication being over, it was repeated again on the next day, to accommodate these who had not been able to get in on the first day, and all those who had been there on the first day, excepting the authorities, being required to remain outside, till these who could not get in the day before were seated; the result of this arrangement was two days dedication.

The question has often arisen among us, why it is that we do not see more angels, have more visions, that we do not see greater and more manifestations of power. Any of the brethren that were there could have heard testimonies of manifestations in abundance.

On the first day of the dedication, President Frederick G. Williams, one of the Council of the Prophet, and who occupied the upper pulpit, bore testimony that the Savior, dressed in his vesture without seam, came into the stand and accepted of the dedication of the house, that he saw him, and gave a description of his clothing and all things pertaining to it. That evening there was a collection of Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons, etc., amounting to four hundred and sixteen, gathered in the house; there were great manifestations of power, such as speaking in tongues, seeing visions, administration of angels. Many individuals bore testimony that they saw angels, and David Whitmer bore testimony that, he saw three angels passing up the south aisle, and there came a shock on the house like the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and almost every man in the house arose, and hundreds of them were speaking in tongues, prophesying or declaring visions, almost with one voice.

The question arises, where are those men? A number of them who manifested the greatest gifts, and had the greatest manifestations have fallen out by the way side, you look around among us and they are not here. Many who received the knowledge of the things of God by the power of his spirit, and sought not after signs and wonders, and when the spirit rested upon them seemed to produce no visible demonstration, you look around among the Saints in the valleys of the mountains, and you find they are here with us bearing on high the standard of Zion, or have descended into honorable graves. But where you find men who have turned away, and have got terribly afflicted with self conceit, you will find those, who, on that occasion and similar occasions, received great and powerful manifestations, and when the spirit came on them it seemed to distort the countenance, and caused them to make tremendous efforts in some instances. Sylvester Smith bore testimony of seeing the hosts of heaven and the horsemen. In his exertion and excitement it seemed as though he would jump through the ceiling.

Brother Cannon in speaking on the subject this morning referred to the old adage, soon ripe, soon rotten. God has laid the foundation of his kingdom never to be destroyed, and it appears wisdom in him to develop gradually power and glory and strength. I have always heard it suggested that as the spirit of “Mormonism” gathered together the seed of Abraham—mostly the sons of Abraham that are mixed among the nations; that the Holy Spirit falling upon men, who are not of the pure blood, who had the predominance of other blood in their veins, that the manifestation is greater, and when great manifestations fall on men, great trials immediately follow.

I have been conversant with early Elders, and I am satisfied that a large number of them fell from their positions in the kingdom of God because they yielded to the spirit of adultery; this was the cause of their destruction. There was an Elder named John Smith who lived in Indiana, who was quite popular in that part of the country as a preacher. He apostatized, but he did not know it. In talking about his faith and how firm it was, he said, I have proven the revelation given to Joseph Smith untrue, which says if a man shall commit adultery he shall lose the spirit of God, and deny the faith. I have proven that not to be true, for I have violated that commandment and have not denied the faith. He was so blind that he could not see through the darkness that the spirit of adultery had placed upon his head, the great apostasy which seemed to shake the Church, and tried men’s souls.

Some time after the finishing of the Temple, the brethren under the direction of the Prophet had established a bank in Kirtland, the paper to be redeemed by specie, and secured by real estate. The directors of that bank were members of the Church, and they were determined to sustain the credit of that money. The question has some times been asked, how much has that bank failed for; it did not fail for a single dollar, and yet when it failed there was perhaps a hundred thousand dollars of the bank paper out in circulation. Warren Parrish was the teller of the bank, and a number of other men who apostatized were officers. They took out of its vault, unknown to the President or cashier, a hundred thousand dollars, and sent their agents around among the brethren to purchase their farms, wagons, cattle, horses, and everything they could get hold of. The brethren would gather up this money and put it into the bank, and those traitors would steal it and send it out to buy again, and they continued to do so until the plot was discovered and payment stopped. It was the cursed apostates—their stealing and robberies, and their infernal villainies that prevented that bank being conducted as the Prophet designed. If they had followed the counsel of Joseph, there is not a doubt but that it would have been the leading bank in Ohio, probably of the nation. It was founded upon safe principles, and would have been a safe and lasting institution. Parrish and his coadjutors professed to have discovered that Joseph was not a Prophet, and commenced making a noise about it, and went so far as to organize about thirty of the Elders, into a new church called the Parrish party, many of them had been a long time in the church. That may be considered the time that tried men’s souls; for a man that would stand up in the streets and say he was Joseph’s friend, could not get a greater compliment than being called a lick skillet. Joseph had few friends; but among the leading Elders of the Church, in Kirtland the High Council, one of the members of the first Presidency, some of the seven Presidents of the Seventies, and a great many others were so darkened that they went astray in every direction. They boasted of the talent at their command, and what they would do. Their plan was to take the doctrines of the Church, such as repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, throw aside the Book of Mormon, the Prophet, and Priesthood, and go and unite the whole Christian world under these doctrines. Where are they today? Like a rope of sand that has vanished to the four winds of heaven. Many of them have already in dust and ashes lamented their fate, they have never been able to prosper in any business, or take a leading part in any capacity. This is the result of that apostasy; and yet it was so great that Joseph himself and his friends had to flee from Kirtland. There was a council there when President Young, Brother Brigham as we called him, spoke in favor of Joseph, and Jacob Bump who had been a long time a Pugilist before he came into the Church, said “how on earth can I keep my hands off this man?” Brigham said, lay them on if it will do you any good. The voice seemingly of an individual, was absolutely necessary to say that Joseph had a single friend. You look at times of danger, moral and physical, and you will find that the spirit of determination and strong will in the breast of a single man may save a most terrible panic and disaster. By management it was proved that Joseph had friends, and when he had gone to the state of Missouri, having fled from Kirtland, he was met with coldness by men who were in authority there. All this was the result of apostasy. The public funds were held in their own name, and another battle had there to be fought, not perhaps as severe, but at the same time there was a constant pressure seemed to be necessary to give strength to the growing kingdom; yet the revelations were that the kingdom should continue to prevail. The very fact of the promise of its continuing to prevail, signifies that it should have something more or less severe to prevail against. God has been with this people and has guided them, and dictated them, and is continuing to do so up to the present moment, and will continue so to do until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. May we be prepared to fulfil our share in this great work, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George Q. Cannon, made in Kaysville, Sunday, November 13, 1864.

It is with very peculiar feelings, my brethren and sisters, that I stand before you this morning to address you upon the principles of life and salvation. In rising before you I request your faith and prayers, that I may have the Spirit of the Lord to dictate unto me those thoughts and reflections and instructions, which will be profitable unto us. I feel myself that the Spirit of the Almighty is here; I have enjoyed it very much this morning. While listening to the singing, I felt that the singers had the Spirit of God resting upon them.

We can enjoy ourselves while we are met together today; it is our privilege to have a goodly outpouring of that Spirit which fills our hearts with joy, with peace, light and intelligence. If we concentrate our minds upon the object which has called us together, exercising faith in our Father and God, these meetings will be counted among the most delightful associations of our lives. I do not know that I ever enjoyed myself so happily under any circumstances, as I have in meeting with my brethren and sisters in conferences and in meetings like these that we have had yesterday and today. At these meetings we can throw aside the cares that press us from day to day, and concentrate our minds upon the blessings which pertain to the kingdom of God and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and understand to a greater extent than we can probably on ordinary occasions, how much the Lord our God has favored us in revealing unto us His everlasting Gospel, and in sending unto us His servants, authorized to administer unto us the ordinances thereof. When we are in meetings like the present, we can think about these things and ponder upon them, and our hearts are filled with renewed feelings of thanksgiving and gratitude to God for His abundant mercies to us as individuals and as a people. Since my arrival home from abroad this last time, I think that I never have experienced such a feeling of thanksgiving, joy, and happiness as I have during the last two or three weeks. My feelings have been peculiarly solemn, and I have often felt as though it would be a great luxury to get off in some corner alone and weep for joy for all the blessings God has so bountifully bestowed on us as a people, and upon myself as an individual. The older we grow, and the more the kingdom becomes developed, the more apparent are the blessings heaven bestows upon us. He must be indeed blind who cannot see that we are a people highly favored of God our Father, especially if it should be his lot to go forth among the nations, and come in contact with the evil which abounds in other countries. I believe there is a feeling of gratitude and thanksgiving pervading the breasts of the Saints generally, which causes them to appreciate the kindness of the Lord towards them. This feeling should increase more and more within us every day we live.

The remarks which were made yesterday by the brethren who spoke were to me highly edifying; I rejoiced greatly in them, and I could echo the feeling expressed by Brother Woodruff when he said, we were the most blessed people on the face of the earth, in having a father in our midst who talks unto us in such plainness and simplicity the principles of life and salvation. While Brother Brigham was speaking unto us and dwelling upon the plain and simple principles of the Gospel, and those things necessary for us to observe in order that we may become developed before our heavenly Father, I felt that it requires constant teaching and admonition on the part of the servants of God to keep us in mind of our duty; it requires the servants of God to be stirred up continually to diligence in preaching the plain and simple principles of the Gospel to the people, that they may be duly impressed therewith. Notwithstanding all we have heard, and we have heard a great deal of the principles of righteousness, we still require to be admonished day by day concerning our duty. It seems to be one of the weaknesses of human nature that we are apt to forget the principles of truth and righteousness, and to give way to influences that are not of God. We are placed in this existence for the express purpose of learning to overcome all these things. One of the great objects, as I imagine, which God has in view in sending us here upon the earth, is to give us experience in the influences of the earth that we may contend with them successfully and overcome them, that when we pass beyond the veil we may be in a position to comprehend them to a greater extent than we could had we not come here and felt the influences to which human nature is subject. I have thought that we, as a people and as individuals, do not sufficiently realize the importance of keeping guard upon ourselves, and upon our feelings, and of resisting the influences that surround us.

While the brethren were speaking upon one point, namely, the disposition of some people to imbibe spirituous liquor, it brought some reflections to my mind connected with the influences that prevail throughout the various portions of the earth. I believe there are places and circumstances in which people can be placed, where there are influences of this character brought to bear upon them that are more difficult to resist than there would be under other circumstances and in other places. I have often heard it remarked by the brethren, and I have remarked it myself, that in some places there is a greater disposition entertained by the people to commit adultery and indulge in kindred sins of this description than there is in this country. There seem to be influences in the atmosphere in those lands of such a character, that unless a person is on his guard and constantly watching and resisting them, he will be led down to destruction by them. A spirit and disposition will creep over the people unless they are careful, to lead them astray in the direction which I have named. This is undoubtedly the case. There are spirits in the atmosphere that are filled with that disposition, and who seek to influence those with whom they are brought in contact, impressing those who are in the tabernacle of flesh to indulge in the same sin.

There are influences in the atmosphere that are invisible to us that, while we are here upon the earth, we ought to resist with all our might, mind, and strength—influences which, if we would be led by them, would lead us to destruction—influences that are opposed to the Spirit of God—influences that would bring upon us destruction here and hereafter, if we would yield to them. These influences we have to resist. We have to resist the spirit of adultery, the spirit of whoredom, the spirit of drunkenness, the spirit of theft, and every other evil influence and spirit, that we may continually overcome; and, when we have finished our work on the earth, be prepared to govern and control those influences, and exercise power over them, in the presence of our Father and God. I have no doubt that many of my brethren and sisters have sensibly felt in various places and at various times evil influences around them. Brother Joseph Smith gave an explanation of this. There are places in the Mississippi Valley where the influence or the presence of invisible spirits are very perceptibly felt. He said that numbers had been slain there in war, and that there were evil influences or spirits which affect the spirits of those who have tabernacles on the earth. I myself have felt those influences in other places besides the continent of America; I have felt them on the old battle grounds on the Sandwich Islands. I have come to the conclusion that if our eyes were open to see the spirit world around us, we should feel differently on this subject than we do; we would not be so unguarded and careless, and so indifferent whether we had the spirit and power of God with us or not; but we would be continually watchful and prayerful to our heavenly Father for His Holy Spirit and His holy angels to be around about us to strengthen us overcome every evil influence.

When I see young men indulging in drunkenness and in stealing, I come to the conclusion that they are led captive by the evil spirits around them. We call it the spirit of the evil one; but he has numerous agencies at work, even as the Lord has numerous agencies to assist him in bringing to pass the consummation of His great designs. The adversary has numerous agencies at his command, and he seeks to control and lead to destruction the inhabitants of the earth who will be subject to them. If we could see with our spiritual senses as we now see with our natural senses, we should be greatly shocked at the sight of the influences that prompt us to disobey the counsels of God or the Spirit of the Lord in our hearts. But we cannot see them, for they are spiritually discerned; and he who discerns the most, is the most fully impressed by the Spirit of God; he who does not discern, has not profited by the instructions given to him, and yields to those evil influences in an unguarded moment, and is taken captive in his blindness. He who is imbued with the Spirit of God is sensibly aware when the evil power approaches; but he does not welcome it to his bosom; he resists it with all the might and strength God has given unto him, and he obtains power over it, and it no more troubles him; if it does, its influence is more weakened than previously.

We often talk about and desire to see angels. Every person who has joined this Church has had a desire to have revelations from God our Heavenly Father, and have knowledge poured out upon him as it was poured out in abundance upon the prophets of old. I merely suppose that this is so with everybody else, because I have these feelings myself, and judge others in this respect by myself. But, until we can learn to control and resist those evil influences that are now invisible, I think it would be unprofitable to have the administra– tion of angels personally or visibly unto us. Until we can do this, I do not expect that we can have those other blessings profitably bestowed upon us. I do not expect that in the providence of God we will be favored with those other blessings until we can listen unto and obey the counsels of those appointed to preside over us. I know it is natural for people to be anxious to have some ministering spirit wait on them, and reveal itself unto them. For my own part, my reflections have caused me to view this in a different light than I viewed it in the beginning. I then thought it would be a great blessing to have that favor bestowed upon me. But when I have reflected upon the character and calling of the men whom God has called and sent in this generation—when I have thought of Brother Joseph Smith, and his greatness, his magnanimity, and his faith, I have thought, and still think, it is one of the greatest blessings of God upon me to have been permitted to behold his face and to listen to his teachings. I feel the same now towards the present leaders of Israel. I am satisfied that this generation has been honored by as great prophets as ever stood before God upon the earth, excepting the Lord Jesus Christ; and how could I expect, if I disobeyed Brother Joseph Smith’s counsel, that I could be favored with the presence and instruction of any being farther advanced than he was when he was in the flesh? And so I feel in relation to Brother Brigham, whom we now have with us; he is one of the noblest sons of God, a man whom God has endowed with the wisdom of eternity, with the power in part that is exercised in its fulness by the Gods of eternity. If we disobey his counsel, disregard his warning voice, and are careless respecting his teachings and the teachings of those associated with him, we are indeed unworthy of the presence of personages who have been glorified and who now dwell in the presence of God. I do not expect the day to come when this people will be favored with the administration of angels—with the presence of those holy and immortal beings—until we can learn to appreciate the teachings and instructions of the men of God in our midst. When that day does come that this people will implicitly obey the voice of those whom God has placed over them, and give heed to every instruction imparted to them by the spirit of revelation through the servants of God, then I shall expect visits from holy angels, and the glory and power of God to rest upon us to that extent it has never done hitherto; but I cannot well expect it before that time arrives, because if these blessings were to be bestowed upon us before we are prepared to receive them, I should fear they would turn to our condemnation, as they have done to many in the early history of this Church.

There is nothing that we, as a people, have needed since our settlement in these valleys, and I may say since the organization of the Church, connected with the kingdom of God, in intelligence, in wisdom and counsel, that we have had to wait for. We have had line upon line, precept on precept, here a little and there a little, from the beginning unto the present time, and there never was a day, an hour, a moment, from the organization of this Church unto the present time that we, as a people, have been destitute of the voice of God and the instruction of the Holy Ghost. While this is the case, and we have abundance of teachings poured out upon us, and we should refuse to obey any of them, we need not expect visitations from higher personages, coming down to administer unto us and impart unto us things that we could know, if we would only learn to be obedient to the counsels and instructions we now receive. It is necessary that we should be taught and instructed in the things of the kingdom of God, and that our faith should be developed to such an extent that we will have great confidence in those who labor in our midst and who preside over us. It is for this purpose that the Gospel is sent forth by the hand of the servants of God unto the inhabitants of the earth. The Lord says through his servant Joseph Smith, in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, “Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments; And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets—The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world; That faith also might increase in the earth; That mine everlasting covenant might be established; That the fulness of my Gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers.”

This is the reason of the Gospel being preached, that faith might increase within us, and that the New and Everlasting Covenant might be established in our midst. These things were preached unto us in the beginning, because it is necessary that man should be impressed with the importance of the Gospel and plan of salvation which God has revealed, and that he might have confidence in the words of the servants of God. We have to learn that those who are worthy to be entrusted with our salvation, and with the direction of the affairs of the kingdom of God, are also worthy to be entrusted with the guidance of temporal affairs in the same kingdom. It was a difficult lesson to learn in the beginning. The people of God could not understand, in the beginning, that Brother Joseph had wisdom sufficient to direct them in their temporal affairs as well as in their spiritual affairs. While the Church was in Kirtland it was a lesson they had not learned; they could admit that Joseph was a prophet of God, and chosen of Him to establish His kingdom on the earth, but they would not admit that he had wisdom sufficient to direct them in temporal affairs, and they had to be whipped, scourged, and driven from place to place before they could really believe that the servants of God had this wisdom; but, by-and-by, this knowledge dawned upon them, and they began to see that men, chosen of God to establish righteousness and build up His kingdom, had also wisdom concerning temporal affairs, and that the same God who made the earth so beautiful for the habitation of His saints—He who organized the heavens and controls the movements of the heavenly bodies, that same God had power to give Brother Joseph Smith wisdom to guide them in temporal affairs. This is a lesson that we have had taught unto us from that time until the present; and today I feel as though we were but poor scholars, and that there are many things yet to be impressed upon our understandings connected with this lesson.

We have to learn that, in the first place, the Lord sent His servants forth to preach the principles of the Gospel, to impress upon the inhabitants of the earth the necessity of believing in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, repenting of their sins, and being baptized for the remission of them, and receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and it was hoped and expected that when the Holy Ghost descended upon men and women they would be filled with the spirit of obedience, and that their understandings would be so awakened that they would begin to comprehend the object God had in view in restoring the everlasting Gospel to the earth. It has had that effect, but it has been slowly manifested; it has dawned upon us ray by ray, gradually opening our minds to the comprehension of the great work the Lord has established on the earth; and today, after years of experience, the Church of Christ has barely commenced to comprehend the great work God had in view in establishing His kingdom on the earth. But we are learning it now more rapidly than we have in past years. The knowledge is being brought home to us to a greater extent, because we are in a position where we can be better taught these things than before. We are beginning to understand that there is something, besides that which concerns our spiritual welfare, needed for the upbuilding of the kingdom of God on the earth; we begin to understand that the Lord wishes us to be a people wise in the arts and sciences, full of understanding and wisdom in the building up of cities, in the erection of beautiful habitations and magnificent temples, and in the exhumation of minerals from the bowels of the earth, and their proper application for the beautifying of the cities of Zion and the convenience of God’s people. We begin to understand that the Gospel has been revealed to show unto us the object of our existence, that it affects every action of our lives from birth to the grave, and that we cannot do anything but what is comprehended in the Gospel. We hope our children will learn this lesson better than we have, and to a greater perfection than we have learned it. As I have said, it is necessary in the first place that we should have confidence in the servants of God—in the affairs that pertain unto our eternal salvation, and we would suppose we might trust them with the direction of our temporal affairs, if, indeed, temporal and spiritual can be divided, which really cannot be done.

There is one point we should be guarded against, and the brethren have endeavored to impress it upon our minds, that is, in our seeking to develop the resources of the earth and build up cities and temples and the various works that are incumbent on us, that we should not forget to keep our minds right before the Lord, that we should have his Holy Spirit abiding within us. When the cares of everyday life increase upon us, in the business of forming settlements, pioneering and performing our labors from day to day, we are too apt to forget that we should constantly seek to God with the same fervor and diligence for His aid as we do for spiritual blessings. I find that I have to be careful while engaged in business, for I know that the tendency of my mind is to devote all my thoughts and all my time and attention to the business that is in hand—that happens to occupy my attention at the time. This is the tendency of people generally, and we have to guard against it, and for which we have to be reproved, that we may not yield to it to so great an extent as to drive the Spirit of God from us. There is no necessity for this. If we grieve the Spirit of God when we are performing our temporal duties, it is because we allow the one idea to absorb our attention too much. While we are engaged in these duties, we should have the Spirit of God resting upon us, as if we were engaged in preaching the Gospel.

It is recorded in the Book of Mormon that when the Nephites were oppressed by the Lamanites, who would not suffer them to pray orally unto God, they prayed in their hearts, while engaged in their labors, for the blessings of God to be granted unto them, for His deliverance to be extended to them, and that their enemies might not have power to hold them in bondage; and the word of the Lord came to them and whispered peace, and told them that the day of their deliverance was nigh at hand, the day in which He would emancipate them from the thralldom of their enemies. This is a good example for us to follow. It is possible for us to bring ourselves into such a condition that we can pray unto God in our hearts, no matter what labor we are performing. We are exhorted to pray constantly unto Him, and it is possible for us to concentrate our thoughts on the things of God while we are doing our labor, and our thanksgivings can ascend silently unto God, and they are not unheard by Him, and His blessing can descend upon us, and His joy can fill our hearts, and we can become the happiest and the most blessed people upon all the face of the earth. I know it requires a struggle to concentrate our thoughts on the things of the kingdom of God, while we are engaged in business; but this is one of the things which we have to train ourselves to and to overcome.

I am pleased to see our people developing the resources of the earth as they are. It is gratifying to see them enjoying the blessings of the earth, to see them wearing clothing of home manufacture, and to see their houses carpeted with homemade carpets; to see the sisters wearing beautiful dresses, spun with their own hands, is more pretty to my mind than brocade silk or satin, or fine cloth imported from foreign parts. In these things I can see the independence of our people being gradually secured.

I will bring my remarks to a close, praying God to bless you, my brethren and sisters, and those who may speak unto us, and to fill them with His Holy Spirit, and also those who listen to their sayings, that their hearts may rejoice together with exceeding great joy before Him, which is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Nov. 6, 1864.

I do not wish to draw away the minds of the people in the least, from the excellent instruction and testimonies they have heard today; but I arise to say a few comforting words to the Latter-day Saints, and to strengthen the faith of those, who desire to believe, and obey the truth, all the days of their lives.

You have heard the testimonies of some of our returned missionaries today, from which you can judge that their hearts are greatly comforted. Some of them have expressed their delight, at having the privilege of beholding this congregation of Saints in Zion. It is a great satisfaction, to look upon those who love the Lord with an undivided affection; it is a great satisfaction to speak to them, and to hear them speak; and, were I to have my choice, I would rather hear men testify to the truth by the spirit of truth, than to speak myself. In my reflections I foresee a time, when we shall be able to communicate with each other easier and with much more pleasure and satisfaction than we now do; but we will then use a different language. Although the language we now speak is as good as any language that has yet come to our knowledge, still it is very meager, and limited in its range and power, and though it is a good medium at ordinary times, yet it comes very far short of being such a medium, as man needs to convey thoughts, when he is inspired by the power of God, through the gift of the Holy Ghost, and is full of the revelations of Jesus. It is written, “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” When a man rises up to speak in the name of the Lord, and is filled with the light, and the intelligence and power which cometh from God, his countenance alone will convey more, to those who are inspired by the same spirit, than can possibly be conveyed, by the words of any language now used by mankind.

The brethren have testified today to what they believe, and to what they know. They have traveled, preached, and labored diligently to do good, and have returned home again to their families and friends; and now they wish to hear, to see, and to learn, and enjoy the society of the Saints here at the gathering place; and, as a general thing, they have no desire to say a great deal, while a few like to preach among the Saints at home.

There is one thing I wish to say to the Elders, who have returned from their fields of labor, do not for your own sakes, lay aside the garments of the Priesthood, and think your missions at an end; for have we not enlisted, to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth, and establish truth and righteousness, and is not this the work of a lifetime? It is little matter how successful the Elders are, in bringing the spirit and understanding of the people, to the knowledge of the truth, or how successful they are, in gathering the people of God from the nations, for, there is not one man in all the ranks of Israel, that will ever be able to justly boast, of having done one deed more than his duty. When we have labored faithfully and diligently all our lives, until we have accomplished the full measure of our labor on the earth, not one will be found that has done one act to build up the Kingdom of God, more than his duty required of him; while on the other hand, it will very likely be found in the end, that thousands have come short of performing all their duty; and I think I am safe in saying that there will be but few, if any, who have performed all their duty. I do not know of a man, within the circle of my acquaintance, who has performed every good he has had power, ability and opportunity to perform. If he has not been guilty of sins of commission, he has committed wrongs, through the omission of duties. Then, let not my brethren consider their mission is at an end, if they wish to continue to increase in influence, power, judgment, and truth, in righteousness, and in the knowledge of God, which he may please to constantly reveal unto them through their faithfulness; but let every man be faithful in spirit, striving continually to conquer every passion, and to subdue every wrong feeling, and bring into subjection every unholy aspiration of his being, and be willing for the spirit of truth—the spirit of the Gospel—to lead and guide him from day to day, from hour to hour, and from moment to moment. If we all do this, we shall constantly have in our possession, words of comfort for each other, and be in readiness to act at all times, in the performance of every duty: but let a man neglect his duty in his earthly tabernacle, and he will find, in the end, that he has committed many a wrong, through the sin of omission. Good, and opportunity to do good, is presented to man; but, because of his ignorance, he neglects to do the good he might, and is, in consequence, full of darkness.

There is a peculiar trait in the character of the Kingdom of God, that is diverse from all other kingdoms that have, do, or will exist; and the king we have enlisted to serve is different from all other kings; for he wishes all those over whom he reigns, to share with him the glory of his Kingdom. He is our elder brother, and we are children of the same Great Father. “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together,” when “he hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father.” The king whom we serve, has promised to make all who overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, kings like unto himself. What king, besides the Lord of glory, has made such a promise to his subjects? Not only will the faithful and worthy subjects of the Kingdom of God, become kings: but more; each one will become a king of kings, and lord of lords.

A few words in explanation of this may not be amiss. When the Holy Priesthood, which is after the order of the Son of God, is upon the earth, and its organizations, ordinances, gospel, powers, authorities, and blessings, are enjoyed by the children of men; then by means of sealing powers and keys, and an everlasting covenant, the sons of men become the sons of God by regeneration, and are entitled, every man in his order, to the privileges, exaltations, principalities and powers, kingdoms and thrones, which are held and enjoyed, by the Great Father of our race; and all these are obtained through the law of natural increase, and the saving of that which the Father puts in our power.

“Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all high priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing. And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel. And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him: I have set thee to be at the head; a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever.” So, in like manner, every faithful son of God, becomes, as it were, Adam to the race that springs from his loins, when they are embraced in the covenants and blessings of the Holy Priesthood; and in the lapse of eternity, and in the progress of eternal lives, every true son of God becomes a king of kings, and a lord of lords, and it may also be said of him, as it was written of Jesus Christ, “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”

When death ends the reign of an earthly King, he is stripped of his regal power, which gives place to the habiliments of the tomb; and another wears the crown he wore, sits upon the throne he occupied, and rules over the kingdom he ruled. Not so with the sons of God, when they are crowned and receive their kingdoms; for they have embraced the everlasting Gospel, and have been regenerated, and sanctified through its institutions, purified through the grave, and raised again by the power of the resurrection, to newness of life, as it is written, “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” We have not yet received our kingdoms, neither will we, until we have finished our work on the earth, passed through the ordeals, are brought up by the power of the resurrection, and are crowned with glory and eternal lives. Then he that has overcome and is found worthy, will be made a king of kings, and lord of lords over his own posterity, or in other words: A father of fathers. This latter rendering, is more strictly in accordance with the original text.

While brother Halliday was speaking, in regard to testifying to the truth, I thought of a circumstance that transpired with me in Canada, some thirty-two years ago. Five brothers had embraced the Gospel. Soon one of them lost the spirit, and came to our meetings, to oppose the truth. We always gave him an opportunity to speak in our meetings. When he arose to speak, I would pray that the Lord would give him His Spirit. The result was, that instead of his proclaiming against the truth, he would bear testimony to it, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Lord, and that the Book of Mormon was an inspired record. It is no trouble for any man to bear testimony to the truth, when he is inspired by the spirit of truth. As has been stated here to day, the bands are being made stronger around the lower classes, in the nations of Europe, and there is no doubt a great many honest people would embrace the Gospel, were it not for fear of losing their situations, and their means of getting bread, for themselves and their families. Were it in our power to offer gold and silver to such, to sustain them when they are thrown out of employment, I have no doubt that thousands would join the Church, that now are bound to their old traditions and institutions, for fear of losing their means of subsistence. We cannot do this, and it is perfectly right that we have not power to do it.

Some of the brethren are fearful, that we shall be tried by riches. I speak for myself, when I say, that it is too degrading and too low for men, who are made in the image of God, who understand God and Godliness, to descend to the spirit of the world so far, as to ever become entangled by it. I say to all the Elders of Israel, that we shall possess the riches of the world, for the Kingdom of God will be ours, and the earth, and all things which pertain to it, or else we are not the people of God. I do not say, but what some few individuals will go out of the Church, and others will come into this Kingdom, which the Lord Almighty has established in the latter day. It is established expressly to glorify man, that he may possess all things—all the gold and silver, and every precious metal, and every precious stone, and to own the earth and its fulness, and establish everlasting righteousness and peace, and gather up the House of Israel, and all that will believe the Gospel among the Gentiles, and save and redeem the world of mankind, and redeem the earth and prepare it to return into the presence of God; or else we are not the kingdom of God. We have already explored the very depths of poverty; and you, who have not had poverty enough, hand over what you have, and send it down to the Cotton country, and go to days’ work for a living. We have had poverty enough. I know of brethren and sisters in this community who have not got a wagon, an ox, or a cow, a house, or suitable clothing, to cover them in the cold winter, and they have no stock of provisions and fuel on hand; are not these poor enough? How poor would you have us to be? I do not know but that the people are poor enough now.

The world is before us, Jesus Christ has redeemed it, and it is our business to purify, and remove the curse therefrom, that it may be brought back into his presence. As for riches, I have told these gold-seekers here, that I know where there is plenty of gold in these mountains, and they have run over it, and stubbed their toes against it, fallen down among it, and run their noses into it for aught that I know, and yet could not see it, and I am not going to tell them where it is, and they may help themselves. Our business is not to hunt gold, but to build up the Kingdom of God. If I had the power, and I do not know but that I have, I would have cities without whiskey and gambling saloons. I would not have them in any of the cities of the Saints. But we have wise men and statesmen among us, who believe that it is policy to allow such institutions in our cities; and the Lord yields to such inconsistencies, because of our ignorance and weakness. I do not delight in beholding an intoxicated person, nor do I delight to hear the name of the God I serve blasphemed; although I have not heard an oath for years from the mouth of any man; for, if they know that I am present, I believe they respect me enough to refrain from so low and vile a habit in my presence. It may be policy to have drinking saloons in our cities; but I have failed to see any good in it. Our returned missionaries say they do not like to see such institutions. You like to see them, no less than the Saints here do. We submit to this, some say through policy. When men come with ropes in their hands ready to noose our necks, we give them rope enough to hang themselves. I wish the returned Elders to understand, that they cannot hate wickedness anymore than the Saints at home do. Hear it, ye Elders of Israel, and ye mothers in Israel, and ye daughters of Israel, there is nothing but death, and hell, and the grave, outside of this Kingdom; but, inside the Kingdom of God, all things are for the faithful to inherit and enjoy, and for this purpose has he organized his Kingdom in the latter days, “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.”

Men will continue to seek for, find, and dig gold and silver. I thank them for these services. They are getting out the ore in abundance, and casting it into cannon and mis– siles of death, and their fine steel into weapons of destruction. This is all right. For, the Lord will have use for all this metal by and by; as the Prophet hath said, “And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” That time is not yet; but now, when looking to the East, the religionists on the right hand are praying: “O Lord God, we pray thee to direct the bullets, and the arrows, and the spears, and bayonets to the hearts of those infernal Yankees.” Those on the left hand, while looking in the same direction, are praying: “O Lord, direct the lead, and cast iron, and steel, and every missile of death, direct to the hearts of those infernal slave owners.” I know that we are but a handful of people—Jacob is small, but who can contend with the God of Jacob? He is “a man of war,” and “the prince of peace,” “I am that I am,” no matter who, “I am fully able, to handle the nations of men just as I please.” The Lord whom we serve, exalts and debases men and nations at his pleasure, making one great, and another small, bringing some into note, and burying others in the oblivion of forgetfulness, to subserve his purposes, and consummate his great designs.

May the Lord bless you, Amen.

Remarks by Elder George Q. Cannon, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 23, 1864.

In standing up to address you this morning, I trust I shall have the assistance of your faith and prayers, that my mind may be led to dwell upon those points of doctrine that may be interesting and strengthening to us under the present circumstances. It is with very peculiar feelings that I stand before my brethren and sisters at home. While I was abroad, preaching the Gospel, and mingling with my brother missionaries from this land, and among the Saints in other countries, I felt a degree of freedom and ease in trying to instruct them, in consequence, no doubt, of knowing that it was my calling, which had been laid upon me by the servants of God, to impart to the people such instructions as I might be led to give by the Spirit of God. I have a different feeling when I am at home among my brethren and sisters in Zion. I feel as though there was some need of my sitting still to listen; still I do not feel to shrink in the least degree from the duties and responsibilities God has seen fit to place upon me.

I rejoice exceedingly in the knowledge God has given to me that this is his Work—that he has established it never more to be thrown down, and that it is his mind and will it should roll forth and increase until it fills the whole earth. I know there are a great many views entertained upon this point by the people abroad, and they indulge in a great variety of opinion respecting the Latter-day Saints in the valleys of Utah. A great many opinions have been hazarded in bygone days respecting our future fate. Some have imagined that it needed but a short time to elapse, and a few changes to take place, and all that would remain of this work would be found on the records of the historian: that is, it would fall to pieces, and pass away forever, and there would not be even a remnant left of it. Many of the Saints doubtless recollect what views that were entertained relating to the Prophet Joseph. It was supposed that the whole Kingdom and the stability of it depended upon his life, and that if he could be removed, and his influence destroyed, or his life taken from him, that the system called “Mormonism,” “that gross delusion” as they termed it, would tumble to pieces, and the adherents of the system would scatter abroad throughout the nations no more to trouble them. Acting upon this view they sought his life for years, and at last they were successful in destroying his mortal tabernacle; but they were disappointed, for they soon discovered that it did not accomplish the end they designed; still, the spirit that prompted them to seek his life stirred them up to endeavor to seek the lives of those who had stepped forward and taken his place, and who were seeking with the same diligence which he had manifested to establish the Work of which he had laid the foundation. You know with what perseverance they have striven from the beginning to the present time to do this. It is unnecessary for me to reiterate in your hearing this morning the various attempts that have been made from the days of the Prophet Joseph until now—how unceasingly they have endeavored, and with what ingenuity and craft they have sought to bring their wicked plans and bitter malice to bear against the work of God to sap its foundation that it might cease to increase in the earth. Not only have we had these things to contend with from those who never were associated with us and who knew nothing about our principles, only as they could gain a knowledge of them from casual observation, but we have had to contend with apostates—those who have been numbered with us, who professed to have received a knowledge of the truth as we have received it, who had received and officiated in the Holy Priesthood, who had borne testimony hundreds of times to the great Work which our Father and God has established in the earth. Yes, added to the efforts of those who have never been numbered with us, we have had the efforts of apostates to contend with, we have had their malice to encounter, we have had their deep laid schemes to counteract; and, if there has been anything that has been disagreeable connected with our history from the beginning to the present, it has been more especially found in the opposition that we have had to meet from the hands, mouths, and pens of those who have been once numbered with us. This has been bitter, and most disagreeable to our feelings; at least, I can speak individually for myself in this matter; it has been something that has been exceedingly painful to me to see those who formerly called themselves our brethren opposing the Work of God with all the envenomed hatred that you could imagine an evil spirit to be possessed of, seeking the lives of those men whom they formerly called brethren and associated with on terms of friendship. Every species of slander has been circulated by them, and they not only have sought to lay plans for the overthrow of the Work of God, but they have sought to disseminate erroneous views to destroy in the minds of the people confidence in the authority of those whom God has called to stand at the head of his Church. This list of enemies is a very long one, and they have not been idle; they have arisen one by one, time after time, and have sought with all the ability they possessed to destroy the Work of God. But there is an assurance which those who are living their religion have, and which they ever have had from the beginning until the present time—an assurance of which men cannot deprive us, that God our heavenly Father has decreed that his Work shall stand, and that those who have received his Holy Priesthood, and are endeavoring to magnify the same shall be borne off triumphantly over every opposing obstacle. This is a glorious consolation for those who are living faithfully in Christ Jesus; it is something that is calculated to cheer the feelings of the Saints, and make them feel happy in the midst of the various afflictions and trials and adversities they may have, from time to time, to pass through.

It is interesting for us to contemplate the history of the people of God in the days in which we live. To my mind this subject is full of matter; it is fruitful with suggestions, and with happy thoughts. I love to look back upon the history of our people; I love to contemplate the path that we have trod; I love to reflect upon the many difficulties and the many trials that we have overcome in the past, through the power of our God. I see on every hand a disposition manifested by the enemies of the Kingdom of God to lay snares for the feet of his servants; but it will be as it has been, their efforts will be overthrown. The recollection of the history of the past and the many scenes and trials and difficulties we have had to pass through as a people, and from which we have been delivered by the Almighty arm of our Father and God inspires us with confidence on this point, and encourages us to look forward with renewed assurance to that day, which God has promised, when we shall be delivered entirely from the power of our enemies, when they shall not trouble us; when the glory of the Lord, and the terror also of the Lord, shall be manifested in Zion, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it. The contemplation of these things causes me to look forward with renewed assurance to this glorious day that I know, as well as I know that I stand here, will dawn upon us as a people, and that too before very long.

I have heard, at various times, a great many talk about the difference between the Church now and the days of the Prophet Joseph. There is a class of people who seem to delight continually in dwelling upon the glory and happiness of the past. While I love to dwell upon the past, to reflect upon past scenes and associations and past teachings, and draw lessons therefrom, there is, nevertheless, to my mind, as much happiness to be enjoyed now in the contemplation of the Kingdom of God, in the contemplation of the glorious principles, that are taught unto us from time to time, as there is in the contemplation of the past teachings that we have received from the Servants of God in the days of Joseph. I can see that this people have progressed, and that the Authorities of this Church have progressed from that time until the present. I can see that there has been no standstill with them, nor with the Work of God with which they are identified. Every time I have returned from missions I have seen this growth in my brethren, in President Young, President Kimball, and other brethren who have been associated with them; I have seen it as visible as I have seen the growth of my children when I have been absent and returned. There has been a mental and spiritual growth that has given me an assurance that they are continually advancing in the direction of the celestial Kingdom of God our Father, and I know there is a greater degree of faith in the midst of this people today than in the days of Joseph. I can see it when I visit the Wards. I see a spirit of obedience manifested by the people to the Bishops that was not manifested in the days of Joseph even to him, himself, as the Prophet of God. These things cause my heart to rejoice, because I know that, notwithstanding our numerous frailties and weaknesses, and, notwithstanding our disobedience and hardness of heart, there is nevertheless a growth and development going on in the midst of this people; there is a portion of the people, at any rate, who are diligently striving to keep the commandments of God, and are successfully overcoming the weaknesses of their nature and that want of confidence and faith which exists in consequence of the traditions that have been instilled into our minds by our early education. I recollect upon one occasion, previous to the death of the Prophet Joseph, hearing him make a remark from the stand which made a deep impression upon my mind at the time. He said that if he were to reveal unto the people the principles and the doctrines which God had revealed unto him, there were men upon the stand that would go around the streets of the city seeking to shed his blood. I do not give his exact words; but the idea. I was young at the time, and I immediately began investigating my own feelings to know what doctrines brother Joseph could possibly teach that would have that effect upon my mind. Although I did not fully comprehend his remark, I believed it; for I believed everything he said. Yet not many months elapsed before I comprehended his words; for, soon afterwards one of the men who sat on the stand and heard that declaration, and whose name he mentioned, went about the city plotting to shed his blood. I do not believe it would be necessary for President Young today to be so cautious in advancing doctrines to this people as brother Joseph was at that time; not but what there are principles and doctrines today which he has to be as careful in advancing to this people, in consequence of our unbelief and hardness of heart, as brother Joseph was; but the same doctrines that brother Joseph asserted that if he advanced would lead to the spilling of his blood, can be advanced today, with the most perfect freedom, by the servants of God. The people have advanced sufficiently in faith and in the knowledge of God to be prepared to receive such things from the servants of God; but there is still a necessity for us to exert and arouse ourselves that we may have that faith with God which is necessary to prepare us for the things yet to be revealed to us.

My brethren and sisters, the Lord has not yet revealed to us all that is to be revealed. There are many great and glorious principles and truths pertaining to exaltation in the celestial Kingdom of God which we are not yet prepared to receive. We need only reflect for a few moments upon the doctrine which President Young has advanced already to assure us that there is a necessity for us to arouse on this point, and be diligent and faithful, in order that our faith may increase with God, that the veil of darkness may be rent asunder and that the light of truth in its purity and brilliancy, as it exists in the presence of God, may shine upon us, that we may be prepared to receive the truths God has in store for us. From the day that God established this Church to the present the stream of revelation has continued to flow uninterruptedly. It flows pure for us to drink at until we are filled to repletion; and if we do not drink, it is our own fault. The servants of God are not to blame, for they have been laboring by day and by night, from the beginning, with us, as a people, to prepare us for the great things that are at our very doors, and that God intends to perform in this generation. I feel the importance of this, probably not as much as I ought, and wish to do; nevertheless, when I see the great events that are taking place at this time among the nations—when I view the destiny that awaits us as a people, and the great things God has in store for us, I almost feel as though I was a laggard on the path, and too slow entirely for the great events that are coming upon the earth. The day is near when a Temple shall be reared in the Center Stake of Zion, and the Lord has said his glory shall rest on that House in this generation, that is in the generation in which the revelation was given, which is upwards of thirty years ago. How much are we prepared for this? We talk about it, sing about it, and delight to dwell upon it; but are we prepared for this great manifestation of glory in our midst? I doubt it very much, and it seems to me that we will have to become more diligent, more zealous, and more faithful, humble, and prayerful, than we ever have been to be fully prepared for these great events. I have said that the servants of God are not to blame; they will not be to blame, if we are not prepared for these events. It is not because we have not been taught; it is not because we have not been plead with—not because we have not had good examples set before us by our leaders; the contrary has been the case. The voice of God, through his servants, has been pleading with us from the beginning until now. It still pleads with us; the servants of God still entreat us; their bowels of compassion yearn over us as does those of the Lord; they are filled with great desire to see this people walk up and obey all the laws of God, and nothing grieves them so much as to see the people negligent, careless, and indifferent in the performance of their duties, disobedient to counsel, and disregarding the duties and requirements of their holy religion. Men talk about revelation—I said a few moments ago that men compared the present day with the past, and compare it unfavorably. When I look at what God has done for us up to the present, instead of there being room for unfavorable comparisons between the past and the present, I am pleasingly astonished at what has been and is being done. It has been one constant stream of revelation from that day to this. Read the discourses of the first Presidency and the Twelve, and you will see that they are filled with revelation, with light, with knowledge, with wisdom, and with good counsel unto this people. Have this people ever seen the day when the counsel of God’s servants has not been sufficient to guide them in the midst of difficulties? No; we never have. There has not been a single minute that this people has been left without the voice of God; there has not been a single minute since this Church was founded to this time that the power of God has not been plainly manifested in our midst. I rejoice in this—I rejoice in it exceedingly; because I know that God is still laboring with his people, and that his power has been manifested in the earth for the accomplishment of his great and glorious purposes.

When I look back, and think upon the condition we were in at the time we left Nauvoo and were driven into the wilderness, at the point almost of our enemies’ bayonets, and then notice the path we have trod from that day to this my wonder and astonishment are great, and as I grow older these feelings increase. When I contemplate how we have been led, how the revelations of God have rested upon his servant Brigham, and how he has been enabled to guide this people safely through the difficulties which laid in their path up to this time, I am filled with gratitude to God our Father for raising up Prophets in this our day. Posterity will look with wonder upon the Work which has been accomplished in this day—they will be lost in astonishment in contemplating the mighty Work of God, and will be exceedingly surpri– sed that it could be possible for this generation to witness such mighty works and not have respect to the testimony of the servants of God who led this people. We wonder now how it was possible for the Egyptians to reject the testimony of Moses and Aaron. But, to my mind, the great Work in which we are engaged is far greater than the work that was performed by Moses. I reverence the work Moses performed, I look upon it as a great work. But this Work of the last days is a far greater work—the gathering of the Saints together from the various nations, is a far more stupendous work, to my mind, than the gathering of Israel from Egypt to the land of Canaan. I would not be guilty of undervaluing the work Moses performed, or of attaching to it a light importance, for I value it highly; but with Moses it was different to what it has been with the leaders of Israel in these days. The children of Israel had been taught by their fathers that God would raise up a Prophet that should lead them from the land of bondage, and Joseph left a charge with his descendants that when God visited them they should take his bones with them to bury in the land of his fathers. They had been looking for this for some time; and when Moses came, he came in direct fulfilment of their traditions and the predictions of their fathers. He found the people almost in the condition of a single family—strangers in a strange land, looking upon their place of sojourn as a place of bondage, from which they would be gladly delivered. He had, therefore, only to raise the standard and declare that God had called him to be the deliverer—the messenger of which their fathers had spoken. This is all he had to do, and he led them forth. It was a great Work. But how has it been with the Work of God in the days in which we live? What traditions have we had handed down to prepare us for this Work? What traditions have the people of America, England, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, or France had to prepare them for this great gathering which is being accomplished? All their traditions have tended to fasten them to the homes of their fathers, have bound them to the graves of their ancestors; and the Gospel, which has been preached to them by the servants of God, has come in contact with all their prepossessed notions. Yet God has wrought mightily in the midst of the nations; he has poured out his Spirit upon the American, Englishman, Scotchman, Frenchman, German, Scandinavian, Italian, and Swiss, and they have been led by that Spirit to leave the land of their fathers to gather with the people of God to the place God has appointed. Is it not, therefore, a greater work than that performed in the days of Moses? Does it not appear so? As I have said, it appears a far greater work than has ever been performed upon the face of the earth since the beginning until now. We may think light of it; we may think that we are an insignificant and small people, yet this movement of ours is one of the greatest events that has ever occurred, since our race had a being on the earth. This is my view, and I do not begin to grasp its importance; I can only see glimpses of it as my mind is opened by the spirit of faith. Then I can see it, as it will be developed, grow and increase until it regenerates the earth and its inhabitants, and makes it a fit place for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. How thankful, then, we ought to be that God has again restored His Holy Priesthood, and sent Prophets again upon the earth, and has given them unto us, as a people, to lead and guide us.

I look upon this present time as one of the most critical days that has ever dawned upon us, and hope that in the midst of the temptations which now surround us we will keep our eye upon the mark, that we will continually have before us the object God designed we should accomplish, that we will not allow ourselves to be diverted to the right or to the left, but that we will continually go forth, putting our trust in God, being determined with all the strength and knowledge of God to serve him to the end of our lives. Our Prophets have predicted, that when the time should arrive for this people to be tried with prosperity, than they would be in great danger. I have heard this prediction uttered hundreds of times, until it has almost become like an old story with us. I heard the Prophet Joseph say, when he was living, that the time would come that this people would be tried with abundance; but he warned them to be careful of these things. The Lord has told us, through the revelations which he gave to Joseph, that it must needs be that the riches of the earth were his to give to his people; “but,” he said, “beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old.” This was the warning God gave to us years ago, and it has been repeated in our ears from that time until the present, and still there is a great necessity that we should treasure it up in our hearts, and often reflect upon it. Now that the day of prosperity has dawned upon us, and that we are increasing in material wealth, we should be more and more faithful to our covenants, remembering the promises of the Lord to his people, and keeping humble and meek before him. We have been tried by difficulties; we have been tried by mobs; we have seen the day when we have been compelled to leave our homes; but that banded the Saints together and caused them to be united, and their hearts to be strongly set to serve the Lord. How different it is today! Here we are, and the world are seeking to mingle with us, and they are becoming uncommonly gracious unto us, as a people; they can smile upon us and be kind unto us. They would have us believe that they welcome us warmly to their smiles and friendship. There is danger in this; this is the danger that the Prophets have dreaded. It is an insidious danger that comes creeping like a snake through the grass, and pounces upon us before we are aware of its proximity. But stir us up, as a people, by persecution and abuse, and there is no power on earth we would not unitedly stand against. Through the help of God we have successfully resisted every power that has been arrayed against us. Let the enemy come out against us as an open antagonist, and he finds us an impenetrable phalanx that cannot be moved. Our danger is not in this; but it lies in our being found asleep, and off our watchtower, unsuspecting and unprepared for the enemies’ most subtle attacks. It is in scenes like these that we are required to be the more watchful, and in times like these that we are required the more to have the power of God upon us and the revelations of Jesus Christ in our hearts, or we are sure to be overcome. Probably the danger of which I speak is more apparent to me, through being absent for some time; but there is danger, and there is a necessity for us to be up and have our eyes open to the signs of the times and the danger that menaces us today, and that threaten to ensnare our feet. I have no fears if we will only obey the counsel of God’s servants, if we will only listen diligently to those things which they impart unto us, and honor their teachings and be attentive to our duties. But when I see Saints indifferent about their meetings, passing their Sundays without caring whether they hear instructions or not, and their religion becomes a secondary consideration with them, then I am afraid of such individuals; because they are not in a position to resist the attacks of that tempter, who is continually watching to destroy us and the Work of God from off the face of the earth. The Lord our God is working with us; he is trying us, probably with trials of a new sort that he may approve of us in every respect. If we have set out to obtain Celestial glory, the precious and inestimable gift of eternal lives, there is no trial necessary for our purification and perfection as Saints of God that we will not have to meet, contend with and overcome. Such trials will come in various shapes, on the right hand and on the left, whether they be in having everything move on prosperously, or in adversity, hardship and the laying down of our lives for the truth, until the design is fully accomplished and the dross of our natures is purified and these earthly tabernacles are redeemed from everything that is groveling and low and brought into entire subjection to the mind and will of God.

The Lord has sent us here for a wise purpose. He has given us these glorious tabernacles, complete in all their parts, and given unto us laws which are necessary that we should obey to redeem these bodies and pass safely into his presence, to dwell there in the midst of eternal burnings. This is the mission he has given unto us to perform on the earth, and a more glorious mission could not be given to the sons and daughters of God. The possession of prosperity, boundless wealth in gold and silver, fine raiment, magnificent dwellings, horses and carriages, and all these things attainable on the earth, are but secondary matters compared with it. They are merely auxiliaries to aid us in accomplishing our destiny and are not given unto us to set our hearts upon, or for us to consider our time well spent in looking after them and nothing else. We ought to value riches no more than we do the earth on which we tread, the air we breathe, or the water we drink. The man who seeks after the perishable things of this life and allows his mind to dwell upon them, to the exclusion of the things of God which pertain to his eternal salvation, has failed to comprehend the mission God has assigned him. Let us be taught on these points, and be wise in our day, seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, having our eyes on the mark, being determined that we will build up the Kingdom of God and serve him in spite of hell and every opposing obstacle. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the happiness men and women enjoy in doing the will of God. This the Saints understand. There was no happier people lived than the Saints when in the midst of poverty and destitution and persecution by their enemies; because they knew they were doing the will of God, and their songs of praise and thanksgiving ascended continually to God and the Lamb for the kindness God had manifested to them. My prayer is that we as a people may be obedient to the servants of God, honor and uphold the Priesthood under all circumstances, and cling to the rod of iron which leadeth to the tree of life, that, finally, we may be found at the right hand of our Father and God, and be counted worthy to sit down with Jesus, the holy Prophets and Apostles, having fought the good fight of faith and overcome. This is my prayer for you this morning and for all the people of God throughout the earth, in the name of Jesus Christ: Amen.