Discourse by Elder John Morgan, delivered in the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, January 20th, 1884.

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

“Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

I have read the first and second verses of the 6th chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews.

Having been requested to occupy a portion of the time allotted to our afternoon service, I desire an interest in your faith and prayers and confidence, that I may be enabled to say those things which will be acceptable to our common Father and God in the heavens, and will be for our good.

The Latter-day Saints who have congregated together this afternoon for religious worship, come for a particular specified object, having in view the strengthening of their spiritual natures, the receiving of light, intelligence and knowledge from on high on matters that pertain unto eternal life. To enable us to accomplish this object, it is necessary that we draw in our minds from the things by which we are surrounded, and endeavor to concentrate our faith upon the duties which devolve upon us in religious worship. And it is no meaningless phrase when an Elder of Israel asks the faith and prayers of Israel in his behalf, that he may be clothed upon by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to say those things that will be for the good of the people.

We have laid down here certain principles of the Gospel that Paul taught to the Hebrews nearly 2,000 years ago, but principles that were not new even in that day; on the contrary, principles of eternal truth which have always existed, that always will exist, which cannot be changed in their form, cannot be annihilated through the unbelief of the human family; for they are self-existent and do not depend upon the belief or unbelief of men for their sustenance or for their destruction. In this consists their greatness, that they are not dependent upon the arm of flesh for their existence; for they were just as true when rejected by the Hebrews in days of old as they were in times before that, as they are today—accepted by a few of the human family, but rejected by the great mass. The Latter-day Saints, then, feel to congratulate themselves upon this point—that they have built their faith upon a rock which cannot be destroyed, and that will exist not only through the ages of time, but throughout all the endless ages of eternity. Having existed in eternity in the past, it exists today, and will exist in the eternities to come.

These principles are plain and simple, so plain and so simple that a wayfaring man though a fool need not err therein; on the contrary they are suited to the capacity of the whole human family, the unlearned as well as the learned. There was this peculiar feature about these principles when they were promulgated in the days of Jesus: as a rule it was the unlearned of the human family that were willing to yield obedience to them; it was the common people who heard him gladly. The teachers of the Jews, they who had control of the synagogues, who stood in the foremost places in the nation, rejected the lowly Nazarene and His teachings, while fishermen from the shores of the Sea of Galilee heard and received Him gladly. That peculiar feature to a greater or less extent adheres to those principles today. Gathered from the middle walks of life, from the various nations of the earth, coming from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, for the Gospel’s sake; gathered together in these valleys of the mountains, the Latter-day Saints are willing to sacrifice the good opinion of the world; willing to sacrifice all that man holds near and dear to him for the sake of the truth; willing to forsake kindred and home, the graves of our ancestors, and those associations that bind themselves round the heart—coming here for the sole purpose of being instrumental in the hands of God in establishing His Kingdom, in bringing to pass His purposes, in proclaiming the glad tidings of the Gospel—tidings that were proclaimed to the shepherds upon the plains of Bethlehem 1,800 years ago, “On earth peace, good will toward men;” bringing with us a broad charity and philanthropy for the world, desiring to better the human family, and allowing our charity to go out broader than that even—reaching behind the veil, taking hold upon the things pertaining not only to this life, but redeeming those who have preceded us into the spirit world—allowing our charity to go out so broad that we give a possible salvation to every son and daughter of Adam that ever came upon the face of the earth, or that shall come.

Paul calls those principles that I have read over, “the doctrine of Christ.” He calls one of those principles the doctrine of repentance. The Latter-day Saints who have gathered from the nations of the earth will bear me out when I say that the doctrine of repentance as believed in by them is different in many respects to the doctrine of repentance as it existed in the lands from whence they came. As the Latter-day Saints understand the doctrine of repentance, it is to turn from that which is wrong; to forsake evil and cleave unto that which is good. If a man has been a wrongdoer, let him be a wrongdoer no longer; let him conform his life to the principles of integrity and righteousness and honor; let him keep the commandments of God in their letter and in their spirit. I care not what the professions of a man may be; I care not with what air of sanctity he may be clothed; without the observance of this law in its true sense, it is not repentance.

Paul speaks of another principle which he calls faith; and in the 11th chapter of his epistle to the Hebrews, he gives some information in regard to its nature and character. He says: “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight. Women received their dead raised to life again,” etc. Faith certainly is a most important principle, and without it, I ask the Latter-day Saints how long could we exist as a body? I have often heard the remark made by those unacquainted with the Gospel, those who knew not the truth, but yet who were willing to look dispassionately, yea, even kindly upon the errors and fallacies as they termed them and believed them to be that we are indulging in—the question has been asked by this class of persons: “How does it come, by what process is it that the Latter-day Saints, surrounded as they have been, surrounded as they are today, environed around about upon every side by difficulties that seem insurmountable, difficulties and obstacles that might cause, apparently, the stoutest heart to quake and the firmest knees to tremble—that in their hour of trial and tribulation they always had confidence that in the outcome, it would all be well with Israel, that no matter what might be done, it would in the end prove for the good of the Kingdom of God, until, the motto, ‘They can do nothing against, but only for us,’ has become a household word in the midst of the Saints?” Why, when the powers and influences of the world are brought to bear upon the Latter-day Saints, whether collectively or in an individual capacity, they cling to this principle of faith; they believe in the promises of the God of Israel; they believe that God will not falsify His word; they believe that God will establish His Kingdom, and bring to pass His purposes in the earth. The faith of the Latter-day Saints is a living principle. A Latter-day Saint devoid of the principle of faith, would be an anomaly—in fact such an one could not be a Latter-day Saint; for it requires faith in the God of Israel to stand the tests that they are called upon to pass through. Yet calmly and quietly, deliberately, with full confidence in Jehovah, they can go forth in the discharge of their duties as they understand them, believing that in the outcome God will be their friend and protector in the future as He has been in the past; as He has brought them through the trials and tribulations of days gone by, so will he do in the future. This principle of faith, therefore, that Paul taught to the Hebrews, was certainly a most important one, and it is one without which it would be impossible for the Latter-day Saints to have succeeded.

Paul also speaks of the doctrine of baptisms; not in the singular, but in the plural, apparently, as though there were two baptisms. “The doctrine of baptisms,” he says. We find, following after the principles of faith and repentance, the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins, as John the forerunner of Jesus taught, as Paul taught, and as Jesus himself taught. It is upon record here that they taught baptism for the remission of sins, of those who would submit to the ordinance of baptism. Or, in other words, to more clearly explain what I wish to, the sins of human beings up till the age at which they are baptized are recorded against them. If they are willing to submit to the ordinance of baptism by immersion, having faith in God, repenting of their sins, by one having authority, God gives them His promise that He will remit their sins; that all that have been committed in the past shall be blotted out from the book of His remembrance, and from that day forth they are free from the sins of the past. The ordinance of baptism, then, is not an ordinance to us of mere form, or something that is submitted to simply because it is an ordinance of the Church. On the contrary, it is positively essential to the salvation of the human family. Nicodemus, in times of old, came to Jesus upon this subject, and apparently asked Him the question, If there was some other possibly better method whereby man could enter the Kingdom of God, and he was told by the Redeemer, that “no man could enter the Kingdom of God, except he had been born of the water and of the Spirit.” This is the law as it is laid down. If there is any difference of opinion upon the part of any single individual on this subject, it is not with me, but it is with the word of God, as given through His Son Jesus Christ—that except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he can in no wise enter the Kingdom of God. The Latter-day Saints believe this, and act accordingly—that except a man be born again he could not even see the Kingdom of God, let alone enter therein. The ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins is, then, to Latter-day Saints a very important ordinance.

Paul speaks of another ordinance that he terms the “laying on of hands.” I have found in traveling in the midst of the Christian world, that very often Christian people would agree with me in relation to the principles of which I have spoken. They would say: “Yes, we believe that idea of faith is correct; we believe that idea of repentance is correct; we believe that idea of baptism even is correct; but they were not strong enough apparently to believe in this principle called the “laying on of hands,” which Paul terms one of the doctrines of Christ. We find that this principle is practiced in the midst of the Latter-day Saints as also an essential ordinance—that except a man be baptized in water and born of the Spirit, by the laying on of hands, he can in no wise enter the Kingdom of God. This is the light, we are told, that is given to every soul that comes upon the earth; not to the Latter-day Saints alone, not to the former-day Saints alone, not to those alone who were baptized, but to every soul that cometh upon the earth. The ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins being essential, so is the ordinance of the laying on of hands, that men may receive the Holy Spirit; or, in other words, the laying on of hands is the medium that God has instituted for His children to be placed in communication with Himself, that they may receive the Spirit that leads and guides and directs unto all truth, that brings things past to our remembrance, that shows us things to come, that opens up the visions of heaven and makes known unto us the mind and will of God. I remember one minister with whom I had the privilege of conversing upon this principle. He stated that it looked reasonable; that he did not know really but what it was correct, and doubtless had been neglected in times gone by. Well, he got to thinking over the matter, and he read, “He will show you things to come.” He came to me with some questions. One was, “Do you mean to say the Holy Spirit will show a man things to come?” “Yes.” “Well, of course if it shewed me things to come I could tell of it?” “Yes.” “Would not that constitute me a prophet?” “It would.” “Well,” said he, “this generation will not endure this thing; it is too strong doctrine.” I replied that no generation that I had ever read or heard of had endured it; but that in all the ages gone by when God had placed men here upon the earth with authority to confer this gift, they had invariably been rejected of men. This principle is believed in and practiced by the Latter-day Saints. We read in one instance, that is doubtless fresh in the minds of many of the Latter-day Saints—as contained in the 8th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles—where certain men had been baptized; but they had to send for the Apostles to go into the portion of country where those baptisms had occurred, and we read: “Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost.” The Latter-day Saints believe that not only was that principle efficacious in that direction in that day, but that it is true today as then. The Latter-day Saints bear testimony of its truth; that having repented of their sins, having faith in God, having been baptized, having received the laying on of hands, they have received the Holy Spirit, they have received knowledge, light and intelligence from on high, that God has revealed to them certain principles of truth and righteousness. If this is the case, I ask, how can we unlearn these things? How can we unknow them at the dictation of the world. Will fines and imprisonment take this knowledge away from us? Will disfranchisement take this knowledge away from us? Will death itself take this knowledge away from us? No, verily, I say to you, it will not. It is with us here today; it will be and abide with us when we go hence. The knowledge I have in relation to this principle—of which I bear my testimony to you this day—that I received through the laying of hands, I expect to retain with me so long as I live in accordance with the laws and principles of truth and righteousness. When I turn away from these, there may be a veil of darkness drawn over my mind; but I can never free myself from the fact that I had once a knowledge of the things of God.

These four principles are termed the first principles of the Gospel of the Son of God. These principles the Latter-day Saints believe in. These were the principles that were enunciated by Joseph Smith, 50 years ago. These were the principles, and about the only principles at that time—very nearly the only principles—in the original organization of the Church—that were taught to the world.

But let us reflect in relation to the record and history of that day. Men tell us that a certain doctrine we believe in today—a doctrine that has been taught and revealed at more recent date—is the cause of our difficulty. But I ask you, were not difficulties met by the Latter-day Saints, in the early history of the Church, such as we meet today? Were they not driven and tossed to and fro? Were they not subject to persecution and death, to fines and imprisonment? Were they not cast out from the Christian world in that day before this obnoxious—as they term it—principle was revealed? Were they not cast out for the doctrine of faith in the God of Israel, for the doctrine of repentance, turning from wrongdoing, for the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins, for the doctrine of the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands? Were the Saints persecuted formerly? So they are today; and doubtless this will continue until one or the other power is vanquished; for it is not a struggle between a few people, citizens of the United States, who live here in the Territory of Utah, and in the surrounding States and Territories, to the number of 150,000 or 200,000 people, and the people of the world. It is not a contest between these two parties, by any means, no more than it was a contest between Luther, when, at the Diet at Worms, he exclaimed: “Here I take my stand. I can do no more and no less.” It was not a contest between him individually and the priests, but it was a contest between truth and error, right and wrong. It was a contest between the advancement of the human family and their retrogression. This conflict today cannot be narrowed down to the few people who live in the Territory of Utah. But running out from here as veins and arteries from the human heart, it penetrates and permeates the whole universe, going from the rivers to the ends thereof, and to all the nations of the human family. This struggle which we are engaged in today, the struggle that Joseph Smith was engaged in 50 years ago, in the infancy of this work; the clash of opinion and the conflict of ideas that existed in the days of Nauvoo, that exists today; all this does not pertain alone to the Latter-day Saints, my friends, but, on the contrary, to the good, to the salvation and to the redemption of the whole human family—broader in its scope, mightier in its influence than it is generally acknowledged to be. Then, can this conflict cease at the command of men? Can laws be passed to stop this struggle? Is it in the power of kingdoms and principalities and governments to stay the onward march and progress of the principles of truth? No more than it was in times gone by when the march of thought in its onward progress was sought to be stayed by the hand of the mother church from Rome. No more today than it could in the days when the Puritans in England, when the Huguenots in France, asked the privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of their own conscience; and almost as a parody on human nature, when these very same Puritans came to the land of America, they in turn could turn upon the Quakers and persecute them for religion’s sake, bore holes through the tongues of the people that did not agree with them in religious matters. But what did all this accomplish? The world looks back—the Christian world looks back with shame upon this record of their ancestors, and yet in turn they do the very same thing today, to be followed in a generation or two by people whose faces will mantle with the blush of shame, that in this free land of America, under a government established for the freedom of the human family, where the religious exile, the exile for thought and ideas, from the nations of the earth could come to for protection; that in this land dedicated to freedom and equality to all men there should have found footing the idea that men must be persecuted for religion’s sake, for belief’s sake. Let the Latter-day Saints then, understand and comprehend that this struggle which we are engaged in, broadens out and extends itself not to us alone, but to the nations of the earth, to the whole human family. I imagine I hear someone say, “But is not that a contradiction?” You asserted a few moments ago that baptism was essential to the salvation of the human family, and as there has been but a very few of the human family baptized, how is it with the rest who have not had the privilege of this ordinance? Paul very correctly wrote, and the translators very correctly translated this passage that I read, wherein he refers to the doctrine of baptisms, for there is more than one baptism. We read of the baptism of water for the remission of sin. We read of another baptism; for as I have already quoted, except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God. Then we ask ourselves the question, What shall become of the untold millions of the human family who have not heard the sound of the Gospel? What shall we do with those who have not even heard anything relative to the plan of salvation? Our Christian friends, for instance, devote many thousands of dollars and pounds sterling to the conversion of the heathen as they are pleased to call them, and to carry the Bible to those who are unacquainted with it. This is certainly very commendable; this certainly shows a most philanthropic spirit upon their part; this is an evidence of goodwill to the human family, and it is to be commended. But inasmuch as they reach but a very few, we ask ourselves the question, What shall become of the rest? To the Latter-day Saints this is a solved problem. We assert this not simply with the words of our lips; we assert this not simply in editorials and pamphlets written; but we prove our faith by our works. Almost within the sound of my voice here, there is a magnificent temple being erected at the expense of many hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the town of St. George in the south, at the expense of nearly half a million; at Manti, in Sanpete County; at Logan, in Cache; we have four temples either completed or nearly so. At Nauvoo, when the Saints were storm-tossed with persecution, surrounded about by mobs, and every influence that fiendish vindictiveness could think of, was brought to bear upon them, they built themselves a magnificent temple there. At Kirtland, in the days of their infancy, when the labors which they performed were very arduous in comparison with the labors the Latter-day Saints have to perform today in the building of these temples, they built another temple. What are these temples for? There is an object in their being built. We prove our faith in these things by our works, seeking not only to redeem ourselves, seeking not only salvation for our own household, but extending its influence beyond and reaching out to those of our progenitors who have gone before us into the spirit world and are there, becoming acquainted with the principles of eternal life; for as recorded in the 3rd Chapter of the Epistle of Peter, “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” Or as we find it still further recorded in the 4th chapter of the same epistle: “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” We also find a question asked of our Savior, as recorded in the account of His crucifixion in the book of Saint Luke. One of the thieves who was crucified alongside of our Savior, said to Him: “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Jesus could not consistently do this; for He had told Nicodemus previous to that, that except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he could not enter into His Kingdom; and this thief, acknowledging that he was worthy of death, was, consequently, an unrepentant, unbaptized sinner. Jesus, however, turned to him and said: “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.” The Christian world have made the mistake of imagining, believing and teaching that Jesus and the thief on the cross went back to the bosom of our Father and God in heaven. But we find, after the resurrection of our Savior, when He stood by the open door of the sepulchre, Mary came, and recognizing Him, put out her hands to touch Him. But Jesus said: “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father in heaven: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” During the three days that the body of Jesus lay in the tomb, then, where was the spirit that formerly inhabited the body? According to the testimony of Peter, as recorded in the 3rd Chapter of the first epistle of Peter, it was preaching to the spirits in prison; and Isaiah tells us that it was for this that Jesus was to come; it was to loose the bonds of the prisoners; it was to open the prison door. Men who had lived in days gone by, who had failed to obey the commandments of God, who had passed into the spirit world, according to the accepted idea of a few years ago—Christian ideas change about these things, you know—these people were eternally lost. There was no possible chance for their redemption; but having closed their eyes in death as sinners in the sight of God, they were under condemnation to all eternity. A strange parody indeed upon the idea of God’s love and mercy for His children! God is love, we are told, and yet in the short space of one man’s life, that man’s sins and errors—nay, more than that, he might have lived honorably and honestly; he might have sought to do as best he knew how; he might have been a good citizen, a good father, a good husband; he might have filled all these duties acceptably, yet if he is outside the pale of the Church and death overtakes him in that condition, he was eternally lost according to the Christian idea of a few years ago. Leading thinkers of today, in the Christian world are changing their views very materially in relation to this matter, as within the past few years I heard the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher declare, that, if his God reigned in the next world, every man and woman who did not learn the truth here, should have the privilege there. Then we find also Dr. Thomas, of Chicago, a leading light in the religious world, and very many who are distinguished in the religious world, are today changing their ideas and theories in relation to this matter. One of the peculiar features connected with the Gospel in days gone by is often presented to my mind in this wise: Jesus taught some of His doctrines in the midst of the Pharisees and Scribes. They found that certain of His doctrines were popular; they found that certain of His doctrines were very pleasant; they found that certain of His doctrines were very agreeable. And so they did what He told them they were doing. They poured new wine into their old Pharisee bottles; they endeavored to patch their Sadducee coat with a new piece of cloth; but they were told that they would burst their bottles, and make a larger rent in their coat than there was. So it is today. When Mr. Beecher introduces to the Christian world the idea that there is a redemption beyond the grave, he shakes the pillars of so called Christianity; he gives them a mightier blow than could be given by an Elder advocating the same doctrine; and when Dr. Thomas, of Chicago, advanced that idea to his intelligent audience, it went like wild fire over the land that so distinguished a theologian as Dr. Thomas, had declared that there was a chance for redemption after the grave. This new wine, revealed from heaven in this day and age of the world, through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith, a man who was despised by the world, is being taken by the wise men and poured into their sectarian bottles, and in the end the result will be as it was with the Pharisees in times gone by.

But this doctrine has more of a meaning to the Latter-day Saints than simply preaching to the spirits in prison. We read here in the old Bible where God, speaking through the mouth of one of His Prophets, said certain things should transpire in the last days. “Behold,” says the Lord through His Prophet Malachi, “I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” So today the Latter-day Saints testify that God having sent the Prophet Elijah to the earth to reveal this principle, or rather to give the key for the administration of this principle, the hearts of the children here upon the earth are being turned to the fathers behind the veil, and the hearts of the fathers behind the veil are being turned to their children here upon the earth, the one feeling after the other for their redemption; for without them we cannot be perfect, neither can they without us. This plan of salvation that the Latter-day Saints believe in is broad, indeed it reaches out to the whole human family, present, past and future. We read in the 15th Chapter of 1st Corinthians, an explanation of this expression of Paul’s in regard to the two baptisms. In the 29th verse of that Chapter he says: “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?” Or as Paul expresses it in the 19th verse of the same chapter: “If in this life only, we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” Paul in preaching to the Corinthians said that very few of them took hold of the Gospel. The great mass rejected Paul. Paul, however, with that broad philanthropy of heart, lit up by the light that first came to him on his way to Damascus, would have been miserable indeed had he not learned of this great principle that in the spirit world these Corinthians would be preached to and taught. So the Latter-day Saints today would be of all men the most miserable if they did not recognize this principle of preaching to spirits in prison and baptism for the dead. The Latter-day Saints are fulfilling the Scripture, which says that there shall be gathered home to Zion, “one of a city and two of a family.” In many instances one person of an entire lineage is all there is in the Church and Kingdom of God. That being the case, what of the fathers and the mothers, the brothers and the sisters, the relatives near and dear, who have not had the opportunity of accepting the Gospel? How glorious, how grand a work it is that swells the hearts of Israel to know that we can enter into the temples of the living God and redeem our dead and become in truth and in deed saviors upon Mount Zion! Certainly no nobler, no grander, no mightier principle has ever been revealed to the human family than this. And though we may have doctrines that are obnoxious to the world; though we may have principles that innovate upon established ideas; though we may have ideas that conflict with those of the honest and the good, and those who love the principles of integrity and righteousness; though we may have all these, yet when we come to reflect in regard to this one principle, that of itself alone should be sufficient to recommend the Latter-day Saints to the whole civilized world; that of itself should blot out from their remembrance those other matters that seem to disagree with and are unpleasant to them. That principle that is reaching out for the salvation of the untold myriads of the human family—the very possibility of it should cause the hearts of the whole human family to rejoice, should cause them to think, to feel and to act kindly towards a people who are seeking to carry out this principle. But human nature is very strong in relation to these matters, and as it has been in the past doubtless it will be in the future—that through much tribulation shall they come up who shall be clothed in robes of white, and that it is through trial and tribulation God shall have a tried people. The Latter-day Saints do not lay to themselves the flattering unction that there shall be peace, peace, peace, to us just yet; but that on the contrary this work and this struggle will continue; the nations of the earth will be brought to the knowledge of the truth; the honest of the blood of Israel will be gathered home; the kingdom of God will be built up; temples will be erected and the Saints will enter into them and redeem their dead, and cause the hearts of our fathers and our mothers who have gone before us into the spirit world to rejoice; and we shall join hands with the Prophets and Apostles of days gone by, with those of today who have preceded us behind the veil; with the good and the true of all ages; with our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, and with God our Eternal Father in the heavens—all linked together in one mighty phalanx in this great and glorious work of the latter days.

May God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by Elder John Morgan, delivered in the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, December 18, 1881.

It is a very pleasant thought that we, as Elders, have when traveling abroad preaching the Gospel, to look forward to the time when we shall have the privilege of again meeting with our friends and loved ones in the valleys of the mountains, to again share their love and to partake of the spirit of those who compose the body of this Church.

During the past summer and until a few days I have been engaged in missionary labor, chiefly in the Southern States. Our labors there have been, as have been the labors of the Elders in other missions, crowned with a certain degree of success. We have realized the blessings of God upon us in all our labors in the midst of the people, for which we feel to rejoice and give thanks and praise to him. The brethren who have gone from the different parts of the Territory to labor in the mission have as a general thing, enjoyed good health; and they are feeling well, as a rule, temporally and spiritually; and especially the younger brethren who have gone forth bearing the glad tidings of salvation. There has been evinced a feeling that certainly is most praiseworthy, a desire to emulate the example set by their fathers in preaching the principles of eternal truth, often under unpleasant circumstances. Because, however much the work of God may progress and be received abroad there is, as there has been, and doubtless will be, a spirit of opposition which has to be met by every Elder in the performance of his duty. It is true our young brethren have the benefit of the experience of their fathers and of men prominent in the Church, to encourage them, and which is highly appreciated by them, but after all they have to get the experience for themselves, in order that they may know what their fathers know, and that they may be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. I have scarcely found an exception among the scores of young men who have been called from the different avocations of life to go forth and proclaim the Gospel, but what they were worthy bearers of glad tidings.

There is an idea entertained by the pious world, whose sympathy for fallen humanity is so great as to be exercised towards us, that the old and grayheaded of the “Mormon” people, “you can do nothing with, they having become fossilized in their religious ideas and petrified in their faith; but the young may be induced to depart from the faith of their fathers.” This, however, has not been the experience we have had in the Southern States mission with our young Elders. On the contrary, we have found their faces set like flint toward the building up of the kingdom of God, and the proclaiming of the principles of truth. It often occurs in our missionary labors that Elders are called upon to pass through trying circumstances, but I do not remember of a single instance in which a young Elder flinched from the performance of his duty. They have always been ready and willing to add to the extent of their ability and strength in carrying out any measures thought necessary for the good of the cause, even to the risking of their lives. And I am led to believe from what I have witnessed in the young men who have come under my observation, that the great majority of our young people, growing up in these mountains have planted in their hearts the principles of truth, by which they will be governed in their lives. And in this connection there is this peculiarity. In our travels in the South we often meet with families who were once members of the Church, who during the trying times of Missouri and Illinois, or at some other time in the history of the Church, had stopped by the wayside—and where they stopped temporally they stopped spiritually; the cessation of their temporal work was the milestone that marked their spiritual resting place—but notwithstanding this falling away on the part of the parents, we found, as a general thing, that in the hearts of their children there was a love for the principles of eternal truth; and that if an elder was known to be in their vicinity they would send for him and make themselves known to him, and open their doors to him, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred they would ask to be baptized. This being true of the children of such families, who are isolated from the body of the Church, we might reasonably expect that the youth of Zion will be found true and faithful to the precepts of truth taught to them, through the force and benefit of example they receive from their parents who are members of the Church.

In our labors we at times meet with considerable opposition, but we notice that it, in the long run, in– stead of working to our injury, results in good. And what is true in the South in this respect is doubtless the case elsewhere. That which our enemies inflict upon us in the hope of breaking us up or weakening our position is, through an overruling providence, turned to result in good by bringing the honest in heart, the Israel of God, to a knowledge of the truth. The widespread feeling of opposition that exists toward us throughout the United States, arguing from past experiences, may be set down as a good omen for the future. But notwithstanding this general hubbub which the people seemingly have to indulge in semi-occasionally, we find in traveling and moving among the people very many upright noble men and women, and we find them belonging to various churches and religious bodies; and then we meet with others who are not connected with any sect or denomination, and who are seeking for truth let it come from where it may. And this class, in my opinion, is not small throughout the United States; in fact, I might with safety say, that there are thousands of such people who have not heard the sound of the everlasting Gospel, there being vast districts of country occupied by hundreds of thousands of peoples who do not know whether the Latter-day Saints believe in God or not, whether they accept the Bible or reject it, people who are totally ignorant in regard to our views; and among these there are many thousands of the honest in heart. We find that the spirit of opposition that we have to meet, as a rule, culminates in violence; and that the more success we have in baptizing people, the more bitter the feeling manifested toward us by our opponents.

We are, doubtless, traveling in the Southern States Mission, by way of making converts as fast as it would be prudent. If our labors should be crowned with any greater success, that is, to any considerable extent, the opposition would be correspondingly more ripe, and the consequence would be, we would have a bigger row on our hands than we would care to face.

We find a great many prominent, leading men in our travels who are willing to act fairly and honorably by us; men who use their influence with their friends in our behalf by endeavoring to place in their minds correct ideas in relation to us and our situation. To illustrate this idea, I will relate an incident that occurred during the summer. The Legislative Assembly of one of the States, Missouri—whose members had been urged on by sectarian bigotry, had a bill introduced that it was supposed would act against the “Mormons” in that State. Some of the distinguished citizens, honorable, fair-minded people, said to certain of the legislators: “You pass that bill and one-half of the State will become Mormons; that will evidently be the result. Why? Because the moment you adopt such measures you are in the wrong, let them be what they may.” There are many men of that way of thinking who have moral courage sufficient to speak their minds; and the influence of such men is felt for good. And here let me say to the credit of the press that, bitter as the opposition is, we scarcely ever find a daily newspaper of any prominence but what will open its columns for us to vindicate our course. And in addition to what I have said in alluding to the class of people who are liberal and cosmopolitan in their views, we find such people ever ready and even anxious to learn in regard to our religious belief. And notwithstanding the fact that among this class are found men of learning and deep research, men who are looked up to by their fellow men, strange as it may seem to a people who keep pace with the age, we find the great majority of them much astonished when they learn that we believe in the Bible, and that we take the teachings of that Book to substantiate our doctrines. Among this class who are so uninformed as to our theological status are Congressman, governors, legislators and others of distinction and character.

We find also in the ordinary walks of life honest-hearted people. We find them in the churches and out of the pale of the church. We meet with men belonging to the sects of the day who say, “If we have not got the truth, we wish to obtain it.” And we meet with others who do not belong to any religious denomination who say, We have examined the doctrines taught by the different churches; they will not do. Now we are willing to investigate what you teach. But, then, we cannot help but notice this kind of expression in their faces: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Can any good come out of Utah? This of course, is owing to the widespread misunderstanding in regard to our religious views.

The newspapers today are teeming with articles in regard to the Latter-day Saints. We are written about by editors and special correspondents; local editors gather up items respecting us and our labors among the people of their vicinity; reporters appear to be greedy for an interview with a “Mormon;” ministers preach about us from their stands, and lawyers have to allude to us from the forum; and to such an extent is this spirit and feeling indulged by the people of all grades and classes, that today “Mormonism” is a living question in the United States. Recently some politicians endeavored to work up an issue, and make a live question out of the tariff, and it was rather amusing to witness after their exertions how slow the public were to take the bait. And especially amusing did such efforts appear to those who watch with a lively interest the progress of this latter-day work called “Mormonism,” in view of the fact that if a couple of “Mormon” Elders go into a town, almost without any effort on their part to make themselves known, the whole town is stirred up. In my opinion the “Mormon” iron is red hot, and it is a proper time for the Elders to beat it into shape.

We observe changes taking place in the minds of the people continually. Indeed, I can notice marked changes in the people of the United States during the past six years. For instance, quite recently I listened to a sermon preached by one of the distinguished ministers of the United States, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and was very much surprised to hear him enunciate an idea like this: “What shall be done with all the thousands and millions of the human family who knew not, even of the existence of the Bible. Shall they perish?” “No,” said he, “not if my God reigns in the next world.” But, continued he, “what shall be done? They will have the Gospel preached to them in the spirit world.” Another minister, the Rev. Dr. Thomas, of Chicago, of the Methodist Church, made similar assertions; but he was not as strong as Mr. Beecher, and they therefore excommunicated him from the church. But Beecher could make it, and no one dare say nay. So we find religious ideas undergoing a change, until there is scarcely a religious denomination today but what has done what the Pharisees of old did—put new wine into their old sectarian bottles, and the probable result will be, as Jesus said, their bottles will burst. They are endeavoring to patch their old sectarian clothes with pieces of new cloth, and the result will be that they will be obliged to keep patching in order to keep the garment together. And thus their religious ideas are drifting to and fro.

And what is true with regard to their religious views is also true with regard to their political ideas. I had an excellent opportunity recently to witness a remarkable change in public sentiment. Public sentiment, you know, is a very strong argument in the minds of some people. “Why, public sentiment is against you,” they say. I remember listening to Gov. Bross, of Illinois, who spoke in front of the Townsend House, one night, some years ago. The foundation of his argument was that thirty-five millions of people in the United States were opposed to us; that in short, public sentiment was opposed to us. I had my mind directed to the fickle nature of public sentiment quite recently in Nashville, Tennessee. Some 25 years ago a certain race of people were held in slavery there. Slavery was an adjudicated question at that time. But it was claimed by the opponents of slavery that if a negro and his wife could be taken out of Missouri through Illinois, that they were entitled to their freedom because they were then upon free soil. It was, however, decided in the Supreme Court of the United States, by Chief Justice Roger B. Tanney, that black men had no rights that a white man was bound to respect, that, in fact, they were chattel property. And the people of the United States almost en masse applauded the decision, a few only dissenting, they being what were called abolitionists. Wendell Phillips, a distinguished orator, undertook to lecture in Boston against slavery, and learned as Boston was, educated as Boston was, the noted lecturer was egged off the platform, having to make his escape from the mob.

Twenty-five years have gone by since Phillips was mobbed, and now for the contrast. Some four or five weeks ago I boarded a through passenger car at Nashville, Tenn., to Cincinnati, there were seated in the car some 25 ladies and gentlemen. After I got comfortably seated alongside a person who proved to be a Christian minister of the Campbellite persuasion, and an editor, we perceived a little difficulty as the car door. On investigation we learned that a negro woman held a first-class ticket, and demanded admittance to a seat in this, a first-class car. She was entitled to a seat there, having procured a ticket, according to the provisions of the civil rights bill; but the rules of the railroad company would not permit it. The manager was sent for, and after some conversation with the colored woman, addressing himself to the passengers already seated in the car, he said: Ladies and gentlemen, will you please take seats in the car to the rear. We did so. It proved to be a smoking second-class car. He then admitted the old negro woman, who occupied our car. After we had taken in the situation and were reseated, addressing myself to the gentleman whose acquaintance I formed on entering the car, I said, “Mr. Editor, twenty-five years ago, had a man dared to do what this negro woman has done, you would have hung him to a lamppost. Now, I will dare say, there is not a paper in the city of Nashville that will venture to write one line, in condemnation of this piece of impudence.” He acknowledged there was not. And why this change? Public sentiment had revolutionized in a quarter of a century. The negro slave of Phillip’s day is the sovereign citizen of today.

These are revolutions that are occurring among the children of men that are of a serious nature. And what is true in a political sense, is true in a religious sense. It is a very common observation among the people everywhere that we are not taught religiously what we were twenty-five years ago, or ten years ago. They are drifting to and fro religiously as well as politically.

Another feature associated with this: About forty years ago a number of our Elders traveled through the Southern States—it may have been in 1844. And as they journeyed along, they scattered all over the country tracts and books, setting forth our faith and doctrines. And today it is not infrequent, on our going into a neighborhood and talking to the people, that they will say, “Our minister has been preaching that.” Ah, indeed. Well, can we see him? “O, yes; we will ask him to come and see you.” On our conversing with him, we have found that he has a Voice of Warning hidden away in his saddle pockets, which he had been reading, and believing some of its pages, he had been preaching some of the principles of the Gospel to his own congregation, which they would believe, and receive without even “a grain of salt.” This willingness on the part of the people to receive principle, good or bad, from the lips of their own minister, reminds one of the same state of things that existed in the days of the Savior, as indicated by these words: “Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”

It is a self-evident fact; it is a truth patent to the most casual observer that the teachings of Joseph Smith have revolutionized the religious world. And the spirit that is working this change is growing and extending, until today there is inquiry upon the right hand and the left.

As a general thing those who receive the Gospel in the Southern States are to be from what are termed the middle classes, people who are the owners of small possessions which, when sold, realize them sufficient to provide themselves a suitable outfit and take them to their emigrating point. There have been some instances, however, when their possessions have been sold, even where they possessed good homes, that the proceeds of the sale have been insufficient to emigrate them. This has been due, in part, to the peculiar circumstances by which they have been surrounded. In the first place a terrible war devastated their country; and since that time they have been under carpetbag rule. And the consequence is, in many places property has depreciated, life has been insecure, laws have been trampled under foot, and little progress has been made.

The people living in Utah can scarcely sense the true situation of the Southern States people. There has been a dreadful drouth this summer. I suppose the majority—I may say the entire South has not raised sufficient grain to bread themselves to the first of April. The corn yield will not, it is said, exceed four bushels to the acre, and the cotton crop may be a little rising of one-third the usual harvest. The result will be more or less suffering among the poorer people this winter. Wages are very low. A man can be employed, a strong, able-bodied man, either white or colored, for from $6 to $8 per month including board; and from $10 to $12 when they board themselves. Flour is 5 dollars per 100 pounds, and other provisions in proportion. I noticed that dry goods were as high in Nashville as they were in our settlements in Colorado. Wages are at such a low figure that it seems almost impossible for the people to live, when they depend upon day’s wages for a living. In addition to this there seems to be a wasting away of the earth, a weakening in its strength, affecting its ability to produce abundantly. Fields that a few years ago yielded good crops, are bordering on sterility today. There are hundreds and thousands of acres of land that formerly were very prolific have today become “commons,” covered with edge grass and sassafras bushes. And it is talked about by the landowners, and commented upon by the people generally; and they believe that something is wrong, but what it is or where it is, they do not know.

Monopolies and corporations have also a tight grip upon the people. Where there are iron works, where there are railroads, where there are factories, they are owned by a few men, and these few men hold such power, that the people cannot make any move and succeed in it, that would be opposed to the in– terest of the monopolists. And today, it is one of the strongest points of opposition that we have to meet in that mission in preaching the Gospel. Laboring men say, If I take you to my house and receive you as my guest, these men who own this property will turn me out; these men who employ me in their factory will drive me away, my family will suffer, as I have nothing laid up. Under the circumstances, they have not the faith sufficient to meet the issue; and consequently our labors are not crowned with that success, as they evidently would be if the people enjoyed their liberty. But even under these circumstances, many do receive us and proclaim openly their faith.

In addition to this, all experience that opposition which is as old, doubtless, as the preaching of the truth; and this comes from the clergy. And here let me say, that the opposition we meet with from that quarter, to a great extent, has its foundation in Salt Lake City. There walk the streets of our city men who produce and feed the flame of prejudice that exists today in the United States; men who profess to be the friends of their fellow men; men who come here with a smile on their faces pretending to do us good, pretended followers of the meek and lowly Savior. These are the characters that send these infamous lies abroad in regard to the Latter-day Saints. They are prejudicing the mind of the people of the United States against our missionaries and against the truth. When I have visited the cities where these men came from who have come to Utah as reformers, I have been deeply impressed, and deeply moved at the condition of their society contrasted with that of this people.

Some time last summer I had business in Louisville, Kentucky, connected with our emigration, and was detained there two or three days, having nothing particular to do but to walk around the city and see what was to be seen of interest. And in walking the streets of that city I thought that in all my travels I had never before seen such evidences of wickedness, corruption and degradation. There are portions of that city that seem to have become corrupted to such an extent, that Sodom and Gomorrah would have blushed at the mention thereof. Men and women could be seen in the most beastly state of drunkenness, and little children, bearing the marks of the lowest degradation—waifs of society, growing up as hoodlums, with no sense of the difference between right and wrong excepting that which nature itself has planted there, to furnish future material for the gallows. I thought in contemplating the scene that presented itself in the streets of the city of Louisville, ay, even at noonday, to say nothing of that which the recording angels are obliged to look upon in the darkness of the night—I thought of the reformers who come to Utah fresh from such haunts of vice and corruption, and then I thought of you, my brethren and sisters; and you can better imagine my feelings than I can describe them.

I went to one of their hospitals and sought an introduction to one of the physicians; on learning who I was he expressed himself pleased to meet me, and proffered his own services to accompany me over the building, which I gladly accepted. On passing through the different wards I saw sights that I trust my eyes shall never be called to look upon again. He opened his book in which was recorded the names of the patients who had been admitted during the past twelve months, and I had the curiosity to ask him to tell me the nature and character of the disease of these people. He informed me that three-fourths of all cases were, what is termed venereal disease. This is not hearsay; these are facts that exist of which the records testify. And from the windows of this hospital, this living monument of the morals of Louisville, Kentucky, was pointed out to me the residence of one of these “reformers” of the Latter-day Saints. And in conversation with one of these “reformers” who had been here, whose acquaintance I had formed when he was here—he recognizing me while traveling in a railway car, and came and shook hands with me, and sat down alongside of me—he asked me “how our friends were getting along in Utah.” “Whom do you mean,” said I, “by our friends?” I mean the ministers who have gone there,” he replied. They are, I think, getting along in their way pretty well. What have they done? They have established whiskey shops! They have imported houses of prostitution, and they have brought hoodlums into our midst, and they thrive under their spiritual care. They have caused sorrow on the hearts of fathers and mothers, by ruining the prospects of sons and daughters whom they have led astray from the paths of honor and credit. Now is not that glorious work to be engaged in! Do you not congratulate yourselves in having been connected with men whose object and labor has been to turn men and women from the truth, from bearing the fruits of morality and righteousness, and failing in that to join hand in hand, heart and soul, with those whose mission is to introduce into our midst the seeds of ruin and decay, to deprive and demoralize your fellow men. Certainly it is a noble calling to be engaged in. Think of it! Latter-day Saints. Here are men engaged in the work of trying to lead our sons and daughters astray, and they are bold enough to publish boastfully to the world that they would rather see our young people frequent dens of iniquity, saloons, gambling houses, and houses of prostitution, than that they should adhere to the “Mormon” faith. Strange as it may seem, with all the enlightenment of this the Nineteenth Century, with our glorious constitution, and our declaration of the rights of man, and the boasted civilization of today, officials of the government of the United States will back men up in this damnable work. It may be that an Elder abroad devoting his time and ability to the conversion of souls would feel this more keenly than those who are in the midst of it every day.

These are some of my meditations as and Elder in the missionary field.

Our brethren and sisters who have emigrated to the State of Colorado, are succeeding fairly well; they have their fields fenced in and they harvested a pretty fair crop this year. The Railroad Companies have been kindly disposed to them, offering them assistance in various ways, by way chiefly of affording them employment at remunerative wages, and seeking after them, in fact to do their work in preference to others. They have their organizations—the Seventies, Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons’ quorums; they have their young people’s Mutual Improvement Societies organized; and I had the pleasure of attending one of their meetings in the meetinghouse which the people built two and a half years ago. I remember attending one of the first meetings that was held in that house, and there were present not more than 27 all told, and said to them that in the course of four or five years this same house will not hold the people; and today it is entirely too small, in fact it would not comfortably seat the young people of Manassa. The first location was made there in the spring of 1878. Since then some two or three settlements have been organized besides; our brethren in that quarter are spreading out and wresting from the barren wastes comparatively comfortable homes. Their associations with the Mexicans are cordial. While they have been kindly disposed towards our people, our brethren have acted honorably towards them, and hence mutual good feelings exist between them. I also spent a few days with our brethren who are locating Sunset, Brigham City and St. Joseph. They have had rather a bad year, as to crops, on account of high waters, the Little Colorado flooding the valleys, and destroying to a great extent their crops. But the building of the railroad in their borders has, through Brother John W. Young, the contractor, furnished them with labor, and it will continue, I understand, for some 12 or 18 months yet, so they will not suffer so much as they otherwise would, in consequence of the loss of their crops.

As Elders traveling without purse or scrip, proclaiming the principles of eternal truth, we need the faith and prayers of the Saints in our behalf, for the devil, it would seem, is even more determined now than ever to put it into the hearts of wicked and bigoted men to oppose and, if possible, hinder us in the performance of our duty. And one item that comes to my mind I will mention. I have noticed when abroad that if anything in the world would cheer and encourage an Elder when far from home, it is to receive word from his family that they were cared for, and did not want for the necessaries of life. And there is nothing that will weaken an Elder so effectually and so discourage him in his labor as to receive word from those whom he holds near and dear, to the effect that they are in need of the necessaries of life, that they are unpleasantly situated, that the house they live in does not afford them sufficient protection from the inclemencies of the weather. In one or two instances Elders have come to me to relieve their minds of such a burden, and, as I say, there is nothing that I have witnessed that so effectually unfits a man for missionary labor as the receipt of such intelligence. Therefore, in behalf of those who have left their all to proclaim to their fellow men the principles of eternal truth, let me solicit the good offices of their friends at home, in behalf of such families who may not be so well prepared to live during the absence of husband and father. Any little attention shown them under such circumstances not only does good to the family, but is appreciated by him whom duty has called elsewhere; and often, under trying circumstances, the knowledge of such kindnesses, cheers and encourages him, and makes comparatively easy labors that would otherwise be hard to bear. Amen.

Discourse by Elder John Morgan, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, May 23rd, 1880.

I am pleased to have once more the privilege of meeting with the Latter-day Saints, and I trust that while I shall endeavor to address you I shall have an interest in your faith and prayers, that what I may say may be in accordance with the mind and will of our Father in heaven and for our mutual good and benefit.

To an elder returning home from missionary labors the privilege of meeting with the assemblies of the Saints in their Sabbath day meetings is one that is very highly prized. We feel to rejoice in the privilege of returning to these peaceful valleys of the mountains, and of listening to the voice of the servants of God teaching the principles of the kingdom of God, and explaining the mind and will of our common Father and God in the heavens. I have often thought and meditated in regard to this privilege when away from home traveling in the midst of strangers, that when here we scarcely prize and realize the value of it. And doubtless this is true in regard to very many of the great and glorious principles of the Gospel. We must see the opposite, come in contact with the opposite; we have to taste the bitter before we can appreciate the sweet; we have to see and experience the condition in which the world is today to appreciate the situation the Latter-day Saints are in.

During the past year, since last I had the privilege of meeting with you here, I have been engaged in preaching the principles of the Gospel in the United States, more particularly in the Southern States. Our labors there have, to a greater or less extent, been crowned with success. The Lord has opened up our way. We have been enabled to reach many of the honest in heart, and the principles of the Gospel have been spread by the preaching of the elders, and by the distribution of books and pamphlets, until many thousands of people in that section of the country today are becoming acquainted with the principles of the Gospel, who, twelve months ago, although possibly aware that there were such a people as the Latter-day Saints in the valleys of the mountains, were ignorant in regard to the doctrines that they professed to believe in. I find that within the past twelve months quite a change has taken place in the senti– ments and minds of the people in the Southern States relative to the principles that we promulgate. I form my judgment in regard to this from their actions, and it is said they speak louder than words. Something like twelve months ago a spirit of persecution and mobocracy was prevalent throughout a great portion of the South, brought about, to a great extent, by inflammatory articles in the newspapers, misrepresenting us and our objects, and the denunciations hurled at us from the pulpit and from almost all directions, which resulted in the mobbing of a number of the elders and the driving from their homes of quite a number of families who had embraced the Gospel in their native land. In one particular instance an entire branch of the Church was driven from their homes, lost their property and their means and were forced to rely upon the generosity of the Latter-day Saints already gathered to the valleys of the mountains here to enable them to emigrate to where they could live in peace and safety. This character of opposition was very violent, very unpleasant to meet with, very unpleasant to have to deal with, but by the blessing of God and the perseverance of the elders, the obstacles were overcome, our work was pushed forward, and very many right-thinking, honorable men and women, while not conceding with us in a religious sense, came out and refused to endorse the action of men who were using violence, came out in the press, in private conversation, in public speech, and stated that while the Latter-day Saints might be wrong, the course that was being taken was undoubtedly wrong, that whatever the nature and character of their doctrines might be, mob violence, persecution, and unauthorized, ille– gal prosecution was not a proper means of overcoming the difficulty. Even the editors of many of the Southern papers conceded that the course that was being pursued was most unwise, and would have a tendency to bring dozens of converts to the “Mormon” doctrines where there had been one before, which proved true, as our labors have continually increased and grown, our numbers have been added to, and the spirit of emigration to gather out to where they could be protected in their religious belief has grown stronger day by day, until we scarcely need to preach in the Southern States the principle of emigration, so anxious are the people to escape from their surroundings.

The elders who have been engaged in the Southern States Mission have, almost without exception, proven themselves worthy of the trust that was reposed in them. They have endeavored to perform the duties devolving upon them as men and as the servants of God, not counting privation, slander, exposure, contumely as anything in comparison to the great work in which they were engaged.

The Southern people are naturally a kindhearted, hospitable, noble class of people, with the finer instincts of nature more fully developed than possibly among some other classes of people. They recognize the labors of our elders, and while they may not coincide with our views, yet they give us credit for the determination with which we press forward, and the earnestness and zeal displayed by our young elders in preaching the principles of the Gospel. Especially was this noteworthy in connection with the very many young elders who had never been upon missions before— young men who had been called from the various mutual improvement associations, unlearned in regard to the condition of the world, unacquainted with its customs, manners and habits—especially with this class was a deep impression made upon the minds of the people. That feeling of kindness, which is characteristic of the people there, seemed to feel after those boys, beardless boys as they were, as they stood up in their places, where they could obtain a church or a schoolhouse, to preach, and where they could not obtain a place, in the open air, by the road side, or wherever they found a man ready to stop and listen to them in proclaiming the things they had been sent to declare. It made a deep impression on the minds of the people, and, in a number of instances, while the violent feelings of men were raised against them, there were those who said, “We have boys of our own, and if our boys were in the place of these, separated from their homes and their kindred by thousands of miles, and there were those seeking to do them violence, we would feel to bless the hand that protected them.” And, as a general thing, there came a division, and the two contending parties were left to get through the struggle as best they could.

The Southern States Mission at the present time is divided into conferences, with a president over each conference, and traveling elders at appointed places laboring in the districts. Yet, with all that we can do, there are localities in the Southern States today, that have been asking for elders for some considerable length of time, which we have not yet been able to supply, owing to a deficiency in our numbers. I discover, in coming in contact with the people of the United States, that, notwithstanding the nation numbers forty millions of people—a vast innumerable multitude almost, compared to the Latter-day Saints who dwell in these distant valleys of the mountains—yet, if a company of eight, ten, twelve or fifteen elders should happen to pass through any of the large cities, en route to their fields of labor, they are visited by reporters, they are interviewed, and the interview is published far and near, causing considerable excitement in regard to this small company of elders going to their fields of labor; in fact two elders, going into a locality where the people are unacquainted with the teachings of the Latter-day Saints, and announcing themselves as Mormon elders, will create a really more genuine sensation than almost any other incident that could happen, and it is, doubtless, well that some of us, who are possibly a little more zealous than wise, should be restrained in regard to our anxiety to push the work forward. There is, however, an abundance of room for elders to labor throughout the entire Southern States. We scarcely ever preached in a place where we could not obtain a hearing. We scarcely ever visited a neighborhood—I do not recollect of any now—in the Southern States where I desired a hearing, but what I could both obtain a place to preach in and a good sized audience to hear what I had to say.

Many of the leading men of the Southern States, having visited Salt Lake City and been treated kindly by our people—having observed the thrift, enterprise and peacefulness of our homes, extended to us many kindnesses and many courtesies, notwithstanding that, with the mass of the people, it was quite unpopular to do so. The Governor of one of the leading States of the South, offered the use of the Senate Chamber—the representative hall of his State—to preach in, if I was prepared to use it, extending any courtesy I desired. Their leading papers freely noticed our meetings and published thousands of handbills to be distributed among the people, refusing any compensation whatever. Many of these incidents that come to my mind in regard to the courtesy and kindness of the people that we have been preaching the Gospel to, warms our hearts as elders of Israel, and we feel to do them good, to bless them, and benefit them all that we can.

During the past year, a little over 400 Saints have been gathered from the Southern States Mission. The principal part of these have emigrated to the neighboring State of Colorado, in San Luis Valley, 250 miles south and a little to the west of Denver, where the Saints have found a good valley, most excellent land and timber, water, grass, and all that is necessary to enable them to build up a settlement and locate themselves. I had the privilege of visiting them in their homes a number of times, and while they have had the privations that are incidental to the formation of a new settlement everywhere, yet they have been blessed and prospered. The people of the State of Colorado have, as a rule, treated them kindly, have welcomed them to their borders, have endeavored to benefit them, and assisted them in forming their settlements all they could. The railroad, that has been in process of construction for the past two years, runs down the center of the valley, within three to five miles of our line of settlement, so that we have easy railroad communication. Our rates for emigration are exceedingly low. The rail– road companies have extended to us many courtesies and kindnesses, and have sought to do what they could—apparently being moved upon by the right Spirit—to enable us to gather those who were unable to gather themselves, and to assist those who were but little able to gather. In the location of the settlement in the State of Colorado, there are now, I believe, 500 Latter-day Saints from the Southern States, which will possibly be augmented by 300 more this season, if deemed prudent to do so. In the first town that was located, all the lots have been taken up. Another location of similar dimensions is being occupied, while still another will be occupied some few miles distant from the first two in the course of the next two or three months.

The health of the Saints has not been as good as could have been desired, principally owing to the fact that in emigrating from the Southern States—a malarious district to those great, dry altitudes—the changes thus brought to bear upon them were calculated to produce sickness to a greater or less extent. The scourge of measles passed through the settlement in the month of April; some 160 cases. Our neighbors, at a railroad town nearby, where there were about an equal number of inhabitants that we had, with all the appliances of physicians and drug stores, lost quite a large percentage of their cases of sickness. In the town of Alamosa, some twenty miles distant from our settlement, where there were almost an equal number of cases, there was quite a large percentage of deaths. In about 165 to 170 cases that occurred in our settlement, I think there were but three or four deaths from measles. When I was talking to the Mayor of Alamosa, he called my attention to the disparity of deaths in that town in comparison with those that had occurred in our settlement, and asked me if I thought the location of the town of Alamosa unhealthy. I replied I thought not, that it was equally healthy with our settlement. He asked me to what I attributed the number of deaths. I replied that I believed they were attributable to the number of drug stores and physicians they had in it, that that was the cause, as I earnestly believed, to a greater or less extent, of the disparity of the number of deaths. With some 500 inhabitants in our settlement with quite a number of cases, some of them very serious, there has never been a physician called to prescribe one single prescription to any of these people, and I have an idea that if we were to look at them today we would find them equally healthy with those of the adjacent town where there are several physicians with two drug stores to draw their supplies from.

The people in the settlements are satisfied with their location. I heard but very little complaint, and what complaints I did hear were, I thought, almost entirely due to the inconvenience incident to emigration, to breaking up their homes, to disposing of their property, to riding distances upon railroads, landing at their destination wearied, to not being so carefully housed and protected for a limited length of time after their arrival, and to their being unacquainted with the country. I believe, however, that out of the 500 souls emigrated there have been but four turned back from the work and returned to their former homes. I heard no expression of a desire to return on the part of anyone when I was there. Wishing to test this as I was returning back to the States, I publicly made the offer that if there were any persons who desired to return back to their old homes, to lay down the principles of the Gospel and forego the gathering, I would see and accompany them back, and if there were any unable to go back with their own means, a fund would be raised for the purpose if desired. I received no applications, hence I was led to believe that the people as a rule were satisfied with their situation and surroundings.

Adjacent to our settlement there is a large number of Mexicans who live in plazas, as they term them, which are capable of accommodating from ten to fifty families in a plaza. These people have had rather an unpleasant and checkered history in the Territory of New Mexico and the State of Colorado. They have been looked upon to a certain extent as legal and lawful prey by the Christians surrounding, who have, to a greater or less degree, taken advantage of their innocence and of their ignorance in regard to the rules of business. To illustrate this, one man, a merchant with whom we deal, a man that I have always looked upon as in every sense trustworthy, made this statement to me. In speaking of the Mexican people, said he: “We cannot trade with them as we do with other people. They have been deceived and cheated until they come here and ask how many pounds of sugar we give for a dollar. We would not dare to tell them the exact number of pounds. If it is six, we have to tell them ten.” “Well,” I said “do you weigh out the ten pounds?” “Not much; we weigh them six or five and a half pounds as the case might be.” Such is the character of the dealings the Mexican people have had to contend with until today they have no confidence whatever in the white people by whom they are surrounded, and it is something almost unknown in their history, it is something strange for them to be placed in a position whereby they would be dealt with honorably and uprightly by white people. Said one of their leading citizens to me, Mr. Valdez, who was formerly a Judge in Old Mexico, a leading citizen in the State of Colorado, a Representative in the Legislature, and a man of considerable ability—said he to me, “The white people we have come in contact with heretofore, have endeavored to take every advantage of us, and when your people came here we expected they would treat us the same way. Last season we could have furnished you land to plow, teams and seed; but we were afraid that you would repeat the history of some other portions of our possessions, where we have furnished seed, land, teams and plows, and rented these things upon shares to people who came into our midst, and when the fall season came they not only claimed the land and crops, but our teams and plows, and we have failed to obtain any redress whatever; consequently we were afraid of your people.” But after some short acquaintance with us, after coming in contact with us a limited length of time, they learned to think better of us, and by their votes elected one of our brethren magistrate over a considerable portion of the county of Conejas, in which they lived. This brother told me he had been magistrate for eight months, had gained the confidence of the people, until today people outside of the precinct where he lives will bring their cases to him to arbitrate and adjudicate upon, and the people almost universally are willing to submit to his decisions. There is a kindly feeling between them and the Latter-day Saints. They are naturally a kind-hearted people. I noticed when our people were living in their plazas, as some of them did for a season, that when any of them took sick, the Mexicans were on hand to nurse them and to do what they could for their comfort. The Saints rejoice at the privilege of gathering where they can live in peace and quietness, and receive the instructions of the elders, and have their children taught. I believe about the first thing they did in the first town they started was to build a comfortable schoolhouse, and during the past winter they have had a school in session the entire winter, expecting that as soon as circumstances would permit a summer school would be commenced. A Sabbath School is in session regularly each Sabbath, and some six home missionaries visit the surrounding country where the Latter-day Saints are located, and instruct the Mexicans who desire to hear the principles of the Gospel.

In laboring in the States, we can see that there is a rapid change taking place. It may not be observable by the masses of the people. However, this change can be seen on the right hand and on the left. We hear men remark in regard to the change that is occurring politically, religiously and socially. We cannot blind our eyes to the fact that affairs in the United States are traveling at a rapid rate. We sometimes hear an elder, on returning home from his mission, ask one of the brethren, “How is everything moving?” His reply is, “very slowly.” He does not see with the eyes of the elder who is abroad preaching the Gospel. To my mind, the seeds of dissolution have been sown in the midst of the people, and they are springing up to an abundant growth. Men are fulfilling the Scriptures—“their hearts are failing them for fear of the things that are coming upon them.” The people of the United States are in doubt in regard to what is in store for our government. We hear quite loud expressions every hour of the day by men of all classes—governors, senators, congressmen and clergymen. I think one of the most eloquent sermons—eloquent for the sound of its words, not particularly for the principle it contained, but more particularly for its sound of words—I ever heard, was one in which the minister portrayed the condition of the United States, the fearful condition in which the government was today, the condition in which political affairs were, and strange as it may seem, after telling the people that there was not a political party in the United States that would receive Jesus of Nazareth. After telling the people of St. Louis (the city in which this sermon was preached) that if Jesus were to come to one of their wards and run for Alderman, they would outvote him by a large majority—after telling them all these things, he then commenced upon the other hand to portray the glorious spread of Christianity! It sounded strange to my ears, for one was a direct contradiction of the other; if one was true the other was false. Certainly Christianity could not grow and increase and spread and be engrafted into the minds of the people, and at the same time he who stood at the head of Christianity be rejected from the head to the foot of the whole body.

The situation to my mind as I have observed it—and I have tried to do so calmly and deliberately and without prejudice—is anything but agreeable. Men have ceased to try to hide this; and the present poli– tical contest that is waged so hotly even for the nomination of the man who shall fill the presidential chair is stirring up the people as I have never seen an election stir them up before. It seems as though they are not content with dividing into parties, but these parties are divided into fragments, the one contending against the other. A few years ago it was the Democratic party on the one side and the Republican party on the other. Today it has changed and materially altered in the Republican party. It is the anti-third term men, the Blaine men, Sherman men, etc., struggling one against the other in their own party until it seems as if the shadow is cast, of the time when every man’s hand shall be raised against his neighbor. Certainly these are indications of it—and we see the fulfillment of prophecy in these things. It is a most unpleasant report for a person to make of the situation of their country. We are not aliens to our kind. We love and revere and respect the constitution of our common country. We have a love for the old flag that floats over it, and it is with feelings of mortification, chagrin, and pain that we have to report back to the Saints here in the valleys of the mountains the fearful condition in which matters are today. One instance comes to my mind in connection with a matter in which the Latter-day Saints are interested. During the trial of the men—or one of them at least—who assassinated Elder Joseph Standing, I was astonished and surprised to listen to the testimony of the witnesses. The court would commence its session at eight o’clock and run till twelve and then adjourn for an hour and run till candle light, and when night came we would hear the bells ringing across the street calling the peo– ple to a revival meeting. I noticed that those men who had been upon the witness stand would pass over to the meeting, and for two weeks the revival was kept up calling men and women to Jesus after dark, and in the daytime came into that court and testified to things they knew were utterly false, and that they knew the people in the courtroom were satisfied were false. The thing was a talk and a laughing stock on the streets of Dalton. It seemed strange to me, and after I had had several days experience I asked the attorney General, a man that I looked upon as an honorable man, a man who sought to do his duty in that trial to the best of his ability—I asked, “how many men are there that came upon this stand that you can rely upon to testify to the truth?” His reply was, “If I get one in ten I am doing very well.” I thought that a strange comment indeed upon this boasted land of freedom, of free schools, churches, libraries, lecture associations and yet hold ourselves up before the world as a representative government for all other governments to copy after, for all civilization to follow, and for all Christians to model themselves from. It looks strange to me, and I scarcely could have believed it had not mine own ears heard and mine own eyes beheld it.

The sentiment and feeling of the better class of people in the South, and I may say the people of the United States are in favor of letting the Latter-day Saints alone, of letting them work out their own problem, and but for the religious influence that is brought to bear there would be but little said in relation to the work the Latter-day Saints are doing. But this religious influence has not changed in the least. The same influence that fought and contended against the Latter-day Saints in the State of Missouri, and that drove them to the valleys of the mountains; the same influence that cried out nearly 2,000 years ago, “crucify him, crucify him,” is still abroad in the land, and I think the worst treatment I have ever received at the hands of any class of men has been from men who can pray the longest prayers, preach the loudest sermons, and wear the longest face, and who profess to be going back to Abraham’s bosom. This class of men have always contended against the elders. They have sought to bring persecution upon them, and to vilify them upon every hand, and if we have difficulties they are to a greater or less extent caused by those who profess to believe in this Bible, and who preach, “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will towards men.” But this, perchance, is but history repeating itself. Notwithstanding the difficulties and obstacles the elders have had to contend with in this and other directions, they have been blessed and prospered. They rejoice in the privilege of going forth to proclaim the principles of the Gospel, to bring Israel to a knowledge of the truth, and to gather the honest in heart home, that Zion may be built up and the kingdom of God established on the earth. The elders rejoice in this privilege. Our young elders who go abroad with fear and trembling in regard to their own ability are willing to pass through all kinds of difficulties, are willing to endure anything and everything that they may be instruments in the hands of God in proclaiming the principles of the Gospel. I heard but very few complaints from the elders. It is true that sometimes they are not situated as pleasantly as they would desire to be, but I heard very few complaints. They express very great surprise at the situation of affairs abroad. They say, “why, we did not dream that matters were as bad as they are. We did not dream that the world was so corrupt as it is both politically, religiously, and socially.” They seemed surprised, when walking through the streets of the religious St. Louis—whose editors, you know, write long homilies in the shape of editorials in regard to the terrible situation of affairs in Utah—to see, on a Sunday, just close by where these articles are published, saloons open, men and women drinking, and business going on just as though it were any other day in the week. “Why,” say these young elders, “in reading these articles back in Utah we were led to believe that these places here were really religious. But we find that such is not the case. We find they are allowing their charity to play leapfrog over their own wrongdoings, and in place of looking to the affairs of Utah, they had better attend to their own.” These things look strange to the young elders when they first come in contact with the world. In speaking with one of the officers of the State of Colorado, said he to me, “we trust that you people will assimilate with our people, that they will adopt our habits and customs and become one with us.” I told him we did not wish to make any rash promises about that, for, said I, “we would not wish to have drinking saloons on the corner of each block.” We would not like to have all kind of wrongdoings in our midst, and certainly here in this city of Denver, we would not wish to copy after the morals of this or your adjoining city of Leadville.

Some people seem to have an idea that the Latter-day Saints gathered here in the valleys of the mountains are samples of all that is wrong, all that is iniquitous, and I have sometimes been amazed at the situation we have been placed in. In one neighborhood where we stopped overnight, and had some talk with the folks in regard to the social conditions with which they were surrounded, one sanctimonious person, the next day, refused us the privilege of meeting in a log cabin schoolhouse, for fear we should corrupt the morals of the people! In another instance, a large number of people had gathered together in a meetinghouse to hear one of the elders preach. When he got through preaching he asked a gentleman who had been induced to come to the stand to tell the people what he thought of the doctrine that had been advanced. He very reluctantly did so in about these words: “I have listened with great attention to my young friend. I believe he is honest. I believe he has tried to tell the truth, and in fact he has told you the truth. He has read from the Scriptures;” but at this stage he drew up (evidently realizing that he had gone too far to please his friends) and concluded by saying: “but my dear, dying friends, I do not believe one word of it.” Notwithstanding that he had just told the people that the young man had told them the truth, and that he had preached according to the Bible. It sounded strange, even to his own people. Yet there is a class of people who, when we come down to the real facts of the case, will not, do not believe in the Bible, however much they pretend to do so. They believe certain parts of it, and disbelieve other parts. This spirit of unbelief is growing in the minds of the people, until in the United States today there are thousands of people who openly repudiate their belief in the Bible. Ingersoll, and various men of that stamp who are lecturing throughout the United States, take for texts the mistakes found in the books of Moses, and otherwise ridicule the word of Scripture. By this means they are undermining the faith and belief of the people in the Bible, and are creating infidels by thousands. We meet them on the railroads, we hear them from the lecture stand, we find them among all classes of people, lawyers, doctors, etc., and as I told one of them, a leading citizen of St. Louis, with whom I traveled a couple of days, I can understand opposition to preaching and praying from those who do not believe in this book, but it savors of hypocrisy coming from those who profess to believe in the teachings of Jesus and his apostles.

Well, these are some of the reflections that pass through our minds as elders in preaching the Gospel. We pray that the blessing of Israel’s God may rest upon his work, and upon the elders who are abroad preaching the Gospel, that they also may be permitted to return in peace, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder John Morgan, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, on Sunday Afternoon, Aug. 17th, 1879.

I will read within your hearing this afternoon the 19th, 20th and 21st verses of the 3rd chapter of the Acts of the Apostles—

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

“And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

“Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

In endeavoring to address those who are present this afternoon, I desire that I may have an interest in the faith and prayers of my hearers, that such things may be said, such principles brought forth, as will be for our mutual good and benefit, and acceptable to our Father and God. I have often thought in connection with our services here in the Tabernacle, that it should be a testimony, not only to the Latter-day Saints, but to strangers who may visit us, in regard to the work in which we are engaged, the manner in which our preaching is done. Elders come into the congregation with no anticipation whatever of being called upon to address the people. During the week they have possibly been engaged in their various avocations as farmers, as artisans, as mechanics of various grades and kinds, as merchants, and in the dif– ferent walks of life, and they possibly come to the meeting and into the congregation with their minds filled with the business of the previous week, when they are called upon to stand before a congregation of one, two, three, five, or ten thousand people, and preach to them the words of eternal life. A congregation of that size elsewhere in the Christian world, to edify, to instruct them, would require considerable preparation upon the part of the minister. But it is not so with us as a people. Elders are called to the stand without a moment’s warning, or time to prepare what they may have to say, or what they may be expected to say; and it looked strange to me when I first entered a congregation of the Saints and saw this manner of procedure. It doubtless looks strange to many today who visit us. But we rely on the promises of our Savior, though made many hundreds of years ago. We consider these promises still good and in force, and that in the hour we are called upon to proclaim the words of eternal life he will give unto us words to speak; we shall speak by the inspiration of that spirit which leads, guides and directs us unto all truth.

In the passages that I have just read, especially in the 21st verse, reference is made to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who had come forth in the day and age in which these words were spoken, in a lowly manner, from the city of Nazareth, proclaiming certain principles, certain ideas, and certain doctrines. As it happened, these principles, ideas and doctrines were not popular in the section of country in which he was preaching at that particular time. He taught certain doctrines to the people, which the mass of mankind by whom he was surrounded did not receive, did not accept, and did not believe. On the contrary, they used every means in their power to thwart the carrying out of the designs of the Savior, the bringing forth of the principles and the promulgation of the ideas and doctrines that Jesus and those by whom he was immediately surrounded proclaimed. As the result of this opposition, which lasted a considerable length of time, this man, Jesus of Nazareth, was taken by the populace, and by the Scribes and Pharisees and ministers and high priests of that day, and crucified; and said they, “Let his blood be upon our heads and the heads of our children;” considering it better that one man should perish than that the whole nation should be led away. They considered that if they allowed this man to go on, the whole world would follow after him; therefore, this heresy, this delusion, this gigantic wrong, that had sprung up, must be done away with, and the only way to do it was to kill Jesus, whom they looked upon as an impostor. As a result they crucified him, doubtless anticipating that that act would stop the work that he had started; that from the day of his crucifixion, his followers, would dwindle and fall away, and that the delusion he had been preaching would no longer be heard on the face of the earth. Well, to a certain extent they were correct in this. Peter, doubtless, as prophet, seer, and revelator, saw this feature in the future. In telling them that they had crucified the Christ, the Savior of the world, he reminded them that the heavens must receive this man. He could no longer dwell with them in the flesh. He had come forth and was born upon the earth; was baptized; the Holy Ghost came upon him in the bodily form of a dove; he was crucified, buried and resurrected, and had ascended into heaven. Naturally his friends and followers would ask the question, How long is he to remain there, throughout all the ages of eternity? Oh, no, for at the time of his ascension, when his disciples stood looking at him ascending on high, there stood two angels by their side, who said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” They had the promise given unto them from the lips of holy angels, that in like manner as he had ascended in a body of flesh and bone, in like manner should he return to the earth. Peter then informs us how long he is going to remain from the earth, informs us what length of time he is to abide in the heavens, “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things.”

It must be, then, that something would have to be taken from the earth to enable the bringing about of a restitution. As, for instance, it would be impossible for a man to restore back to me something I had never been in possession of. It would be impossible to return back to the earth something that the earth had never possessed. It would be impossible to restore back to the human family that which they had never possessed. Then, to make a restitution, it must be that there would be restored back to the earth certain things, certain principles, certain doctrines, certain ideas, that had once been extant on the face of the earth. Others of the apostles and prophets, seers and revelators of the Lord Jesus Christ in their day and age looked forward to this time. Isaiah tells us that the time should come when the earth should mourn and fade away and languish. Why? “Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant.”

Certain principles were advanced when Jesus was upon the earth. They were advanced by him and by his followers, the disciples, and those who believed in his mission. Prominent among these principles that were advanced was the principle that he advanced in regard to himself. He spoke of his having come from the Father; and Peter, in speaking of this matter in one of his epistles, says: “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” Going further back into history, as we have it here in holy writ, we find that God had spoken to some of the prophets in times of old in regard to the same principle. Said he to Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Again, we find in the writings of Job, speaking of the organization of the world, that “the sons of God shouted for joy when the foundation of the earth was laid.” Again, one of the writers in holy writ, in speaking on this subject, said: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” I take it as a logical consequence, that it would be impossible to return to a place where we had never been; that it would be impossible to return to God, if we had not been in his presence.

I find in the passages that I have quoted an allusion to the pre-existence we have had, similar to that which Jesus taught of himself when he was upon the earth. As he and his disciples passed along the road they found a man who had been blind from his birth. The disciples referred to Jesus and asked, “Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” If the result of the blindness was the sin of the man, certainly that sin must have been committed before the birth in the flesh. It is scarcely possible that a man would have to be punished in this way in the expectation of his committing a sin. That idea is reserved for men in the nineteenth century. We as a people know that men, in hundreds and thousands of cases are judged and condemned before they are proven guilty. That idea, however, is not promulgated by divine authority. I find, then, in these passages, a proof of the pre-existence of these spirits of ours which inhabit our tabernacles, those that I see before me this afternoon, as well as my own. I find in all parts of the world that we have any knowledge of, or wherever I have had the privilege of coming in contact with the children of men, that there is what we call death comes to them; and I find that they almost universally agree—although Sadduceeism does to a certain extent exist in the Christian world today—that when we bring this body of flesh and bone, this outward covering of the spirit, there is a spirit that has inhabited that body that goes somewhere, if you please; that when it leaves this earth it exists as a spirit, or has an existence outside of this body of flesh and bone. And I also find, as a general thing, that the human family recognize that that spirit has intelligence, and I moreover find that the great mass of the Christian world believe that that spirit has not only intelligence, but that it can suffer pain, and can enjoy pleasure. As, for instance, we hear people speak in regard to those of their household who have passed away from their midst. They have buried the body of flesh and bone, and it may molder away in the grave, yet they feel to say, “The spirit has gone behind the veil, and when we go there we expect to meet.” We also find that the so-called followers of the Lord Jesus Christ today, in talking on this subject, assert that the spirit has gone to a place of punishment, where it is punished, or that it has gone to a place of enjoyment, where it can enjoy. In other words that this spirit within us is something that is tangible, something that can reason, something that can sense and feel pain or enjoy pleasure. In other words, when we come to examine this matter, when we come to ascertain the truth in relation to it, we find that the spirit that inhabits this body, the spirits that inhabit the bodies of the human family, is the intelligent part of them—it is the part that receives light and knowledge; it is the part that was created before the foundations of the earth were laid, and which has come upon the earth to tabernacle in the flesh, and when we have done with this body of flesh and bone, the spirit, as far as light and knowledge is concerned, retains its identity and its knowledge. One very erroneous idea that has crept into the minds of the human family, and one that we find traditioned in the minds of our children, is this: A kind of vague, indistinct impression that when we lay down this body of flesh and bone we lay down the frailties and imperfections of this life. Not if the words of this book (the Bible) are true, for we find that those spirits, after having gone behind the veil, according to the Apostle Peter, had to be preached to: “For for this cause,” says he, “was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” They needed to be preached to, to enable them to live according to the Spirit of God, and as we find in the preceding chapter, Peter says, “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” And I often think that, in connection with this matter, if many of our men in Israel would stop and reflect for a few moments in regard to this point it would be a benefit to them; that if they would but understand and comprehend that the habits and the weaknesses in which they indulge, the frailties to which they become accustomed, and that are not right, that they go with them into the spirit world, there to be repented of, or turned from, they would hesitate before becoming addicted to many of the things they do, seeing that the habits they have contracted will remain eternally with them, unless they are repented of. But repentance here or repentance there must come before progress or exaltation will ever reach them, worlds without end. All the thoughts and the acts we indulge in here, the ideas that we obtain, the principles that we become partakers of, are eternal in their nature, and they will stay and abide with us throughout the eternities to come, for good or for evil. There are certain laws, certain rules, a certain system of order, which controls, leads and guides all this great plan. These principles were taught by the Savior when he was upon the earth. They were not popular, however, because they did not chime in with the ideas of that day and age of the world. Said these wise men of the Pharisees and Sadducees, “Why, these doctrines clash with our particular, or peculiar ideas, and if we admit them for one moment, the fabric we have built up here will tumble to the ground; we cannot stand it.” It is true they could not contend with Jesus and his apostles in argument; and I have always said that any man, any set of men, any government, I care not who they are, or what they are, who resort to brutal force to convince their opponents that they are wrong—I say that those who do so are almost certain to be in error. They have run out of argument, and any government that will force men in regard to belief, political or religious, I consider that that government, or the people who engage in such a thing, are out of argument on their side, they have no longer any argument to sustain themselves, and resort to force to carry their point. In that day and age of the world, those men who opposed Jesus and his apostles ran out of argument, and as a result they say, “We will take the life of this man.”

We find other principles that were taught by our Savior when he was upon the earth. One of these was faith, a very important principle in the plan of salvation. Another was the principle of repentance, and I have often thought, in coming in contact with the human family, that one of the reasons today of the discord and confusion that reign in the midst of the children of men is because they have not truly repented. It is trite, there is a form of repentance indulged in by many millions of the human family—a kind of repentance that moans and groans and cries and laments over the sins that they have committed, but they go and do the same thing tomorrow. That is the kind of repentance that Paul meant when he said: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” There is a kind of sorrow that needs not to be repented of, and which consists in turning away from all that is evil, from all that is wrong or incorrect in the sight of God and of holy angels and of all good men.

Jesus taught also the principle of baptism, and I have no doubt in my own mind that he foresaw the fact that the time would come when the principle of baptism as he taught it would be perverted and changed. Paul undoubtedly foresaw that time, for says he, “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” We find many fables in the world today in regard to the principle of baptism. The baptism that Peter taught was widely different to the baptism taught by the Christian world today. Said he, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you.” What for? “For the remission of sins.” Today baptism is not practiced with that object in view, by any means, by those who profess to have the Gospel of Christ. They baptize for a form, for the answering of a good conscience. I find that the baptism that Peter taught, that John taught, had for its object the remission of sin, and another very important principle was to follow this baptism, for said Peter emphatically, “Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” And for fear that there would be those who would pervert and change and turn away from this principle, he told the thousands of Judea that were listening to him, that “the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” The promise was unto those that were afar off. It makes no difference in regard to nationality, kindred, or race, and today, if God calls any man to obey him and keep his commandments by going into the waters of baptism, this promise is just as good as it was on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was poured out so mightily upon the apostles. We find an instance in connection with this ordinance in the Acts of the Apostles. The Apostles, when at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received the word of God, and that Philip had been attending to the ordinance of baptism, after the people had repented—but by repentance they did not receive the Holy Ghost. You know repentance in the Christian world today brings the gift of the Holy Ghost. Peter and John went down to Samaria and prayed that they might receive the Holy Ghost. But did praying bring it? No. “Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.” This was an ordinance instituted by our Lord and Master, taught and preached by him and his apostles, for the reception of the Holy Ghost. But that ordinance today, in the midst of the Christian world, is obsolete; it is no longer considered necessary. I suppose that in this day of enlightenment of the nineteenth century, with their wisdom in regard to mechanism, in regard to discovery, in regard to invention, they have found out some shortcut method whereby they can work out their salvation without the help of the Lord, and consequently have taken upon themselves to do away with this principle of the Gospel.

We find that one of the blessings that should be given to those who received this great and glorious gift should be the gift of wisdom. If, however, we are to judge the so-called wise men of the present day, we can only conclude that they are certainly not in possession of it; they certainly cannot be in possession of it, or they would not take the course that many of them do. It should give unto them wisdom, but you do not find wisdom in their midst, and no faith in this ordinance of the Gospel. What is the reason today that this nation, for instance, does not go into the waters of baptism? Because they have no faith that God will keep his promise and remit their sins by that ordinance. What is the reason that the sects of the day omit the ordinance of the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost? Because they do not believe that the God of Israel will keep his promise; they have got no faith in him. What is the reason that, in the midst of want and misery that is brought about by sickness, they do not administer to the sick by the laying on of hands as commanded? Because they have no faith to believe that God will keep his promise. Consequently, I am led to believe that in all this there is a lack of wisdom on the part of the people; they have not received the gift of the Holy Ghost, which leads, guides and directs them into all truth. That it does not do this to the wise men of this nation and to all the nations of the earth, is an evident fact from the many blunders they make in their political work, in their financial schemes, for today one scheme is raised up whereby the national debt is to be paid; tomorrow another man comes forth with his ideas; next day some– thing else turns up, and so they are tossed to and fro by every wind of financial doctrine; consequently I am led to believe that they have not received this gift.

I also find that this gift will show unto us things that are to come. Well, it is true we do find people talking about things that are to come. We had a man recently who published a little book in regard to great calamities that are coming. By what authority did he speak? By what privilege did he enunciate these ideas, and where did he obtain them? Did he get credit for them? Yes; the world gives him credit. But did God speak through that man? I should judge not, if we are to take as evidence all the belief and the doctrines of the man. Again, when we go abroad in the midst of this nation and the nations of the earth we ask, “Have you wise men in your midst who can foresee and foretell events that are to come? “No,” say they, “we have nothing of that kind; we do not believe today in any man having that gift,” and I well remember the startled look a gentleman gave me when, in conversation on this principle, I told him that the gift of the Holy Ghost revealed unto man things that were to come. He at first seemed very pleasantly struck with the idea. He was a member of a church and lived in a Christian community in which there were thousands of good Christian people. While talking I asked him, what would be the result if he professed such a thing. “Why,” said he, “I certainly think they would kill me. They would not let me live here a week if I were to profess anything of the kind.” “What?” said I, “in the midst of this Christian community, with Bibles all around, with Bible associations, with ministers of the Gospel calling upon people to be saved, and with the fact that the Savior preached this doctrine, and yet when you follow his instructions they would take your life?” “Yes,” said he, “I verily believe they would.” Well, I can also believe they would, too, from what little experience I have had in the Christian world, consequently I am led to believe that they lack the possession of this principle, that they have not received this gift. And I sometimes liken it in this way in my meditations in regard to it; said John, “That was true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” I understand every person on the face of the earth has this lamp in his possession, but I ask you as reasonable beings, what benefit is this lamp to them unless it is lit up? Would a lamp, in a dark room be of any benefit to a man if he had no means of lighting it, or any means whereby to touch the light to cause it to shine? None whatsoever, he would be just as well without the lamp. It must be lit up, and the difficulty with the world today is they may be in possession of that lamp but it has not been lit up, whereas it was lit up within the prophets of the living God in days gone by, and as Peter could tell these people, comforting them in regard to these matters, “Whom the heavens must receive until the time of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” It was by the lighting up of that lamp within Peter that taught him in regard to this great event that was to come at the restitution of all things. Well, when the day of restitution came, what was the result? When the morning sun of the day of restitution arose and began to make its influence felt on the earth what was the result? History but repeats itself. As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man, in the days of the restitution of all things. And when it came to pass that God raised up his prophet on the face of the earth and sent his angel from the courts of heaven to restore these things to the children of men, these great and glorious principles that had been lost, the same opposition, the same character of opposition came forth. The principle of faith, to a great extent, had been lost from the face of the earth, and when it was restored back it had to be a restoration of the same faith precisely that was had in times of old, the faith that would cause men to obey the principles of the everlasting Gospel despite all the opposition of the powers of darkness, of earth and hell combined, that might be arrayed against them. There was restored back to the earth the correct principle of repentance, of turning away from wrongdoing. There was restored back to the earth the correct principle of baptism for the remission of sins. There was restored back to the earth the ordinance of the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. There was restored back to the earth the authority to act in these different offices, and as John the Baptist held the keys of the office of baptism for the remission of sins he was sent back to the earth in this day and age of the world as a messenger of God to restore this principle to the earth. “But,” says the Christian world, “We don’t believe it.” I wonder what difference that makes? I wonder if it makes any difference? I wonder if that will have any influence upon the fact? If John did really come, though every man and every woman, every soul that exists upon face of the whole earth, should refuse to believe save the one to whom it was sent, yet it is binding upon them so far as the proclamation reaches them. Believe it or not, it still remains a fact, a principle of truth; and when man, vain man, stands up and tells what he believes; what difference does that make? None whatever, with all due respect to their belief whatever that may be; we as a people today know for ourselves that the authority to baptize for the remission of sins has been restored to the earth by the return of the proper personage, and the Latter-day Saints are well versed in regard to these matters. “How do you know these things; how do you obtain this knowledge.” I have had men ask me in coming in contact with strangers to our belief. In replying to that question let us turn back to the sayings of the Savior. Said he, “If any man,” (he did not bind it to a dozen, a hundred, a thousand or ten million) “will do his (the father’s) will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” The Latter-day Saints have gone into the waters of baptism, have received the laying on of hands, and they know for themselves that these principles that I have been speaking to you about this afternoon are true, and I have often looked on the matter in this way: would it not be a very unheard of and peculiar proceeding for say fifty, or 100, or 500 wise men from the east to come here and try and convince us there was no Lake out there, never had been, that it was all a mistake and a myth, that we were deceived in regard to it, and when they had pushed their argument, to such a length as almost to be offen– sive, unpleasant and disagreeable, without convincing us; it would be an unheard of proceeding if they were to say, “Well, we will put you in prison and fine you if you do not acknowledge that there is no lake.” But just as unheard of is the proceeding made against us today, and for years gone by, in regard to these principles we advocate; we know as a people, as well as we know that Salt Lake exists, that God has spoken from the heavens in these the last days. Talk about convincing men to the contrary in regard to these matters! I am sometimes led to marvel at the folly of men in regard to these things, and it looks like presumption on their part to talk and act as they do. I am willing to talk kindly, courteously, and agreeably with any man in regard to these principles, and when he tells me there is such a place as Omaha, and says, “I have passed through it, I know there is such a place, or that there are certain stations on the railroad here,” I am willing to believe him; I do not contradict him and when I tell him that I know for myself of the truth of my religion, I expect he will treat me courteously in regard to that matter. But our expectations in that respect are not always realized. We are often answered very peculiarly; we are often met with very peculiar arguments. I take it for granted, however, that it is no argument to disprove a principle to libel the character of believers in that principle. The after character of Judas did not prove that his evidence of Christ was incorrect. The denial of Peter did not prove that Jesus was not the Christ. The character of a man has nothing to do with the principle that may be advanced. I do not care where truth comes from; I do not care who preaches it; I do not care if the devil himself enunciated a principle of truth, it is truth all the same, and you cannot change or alter it. I do not care how wise the man is, how long the prayer he may make, or how reverend he may look, if he tells a lie, it is a lie, and you cannot change or alter it. Thus it is we as a people look upon the principles of truth, those principles that led to light and knowledge, and it is time that people laid down the foolish idea of striving against such things. Let us sit down for a moment and examine in detail principle after principle, and I will say to you that if any man on the face of the earth will show me that I am in error on any principle, I will leave it that very hour, and no longer claim it as a principle. Will every man do as much to me? Many will, and many will not. I remember the case of a minister who came to visit me. I wished to be fair with him, and I desired that he should be equally so with me. I said, “Now we are alone in the room, there are no witnesses here; but I will make a contract with you. Here is the Bible; we will hunt for truth, and wherever I find truth you are to acknowledge it, and wherever you find truth I shall do the same.” “No,” said he, “I won’t.” “Why not?” said I. “Oh,” said he, “you might spring some trap. We have a certain discipline to go by; we have got a creed of faith and you may try to catch me in some trap.” “But,” said I, “if you are wrong in your creed or faith, don’t you want to be put right?” “Oh,” said he, “it is the faith of my fathers, it is the faith they died by, it is the faith of my grandfather, my great grandfather; for generations back they have lived and died by it, and I cannot afford to make a change.” “’Well,” said I, “there is no use you and I talking if that is the case, that ends the conversation.” Now, I consider such reasoning as the height of foolishness. Let us, as honest men and honest women, lay down all prejudice and malice, and examine the principles of truth and righteousness as they are placed before us, and as the light and intelligence of the Holy Spirit will show them unto us, for they will lead and guide us back to the presence of our Father and God. The truth will hurt no man. The principles of truth the Latter-day Saints preach to the nations of the earth, the principles that the Elders have carried to the nations, are the principles whereby the human family can be saved if they will but hearken to them. These principles are not for a few, the plan God has revealed is for all. These principles are revealed that God’s kingdom may be established on the earth in righteousness, and they shall lead, guide, and control untold millions of the human family that have dwelt and shall yet dwell upon the earth. We as Latter-day Saints should have broad and philanthropic views in regard to these things. What if our names are cast out as evil? What if they do strike us, or contend in regard to these matters? Read the history of the past, and what has been the result? Take individuals, take the men who have contended against the kingdom of God in the last half century, and what has been the result? Take the plans, and the untold thousands of plots and projects that have been brought forth for the overthrow of the Church of Christ, and where are they today? ”Gone glimmering among the things that were A school boy’s tale of other days The wonder of but an hour.“ Gone no longer to be remembered; forgotten from the face of the earth and their projectors with them. How long will men continue in their foolishness, striving against the bucklers of Jehovah? Why, just so long as the Lord lets them, no longer. We as the people of God, recognize the hand of God in relation to these things, and we want to prepare and fit our minds for an exalted view in relation to the workings of the kingdom of God. We want to put away the “penny wise and pound foolish” ideas that many of us have in regard to these things as not becoming us as Latter-day Saints. I am not finding fault; but we want to look upon these principles with great and noble minds; “we want to shape our lives in connection with these things, and as was said in times of old, let us “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” We want to set our faces to the building up of the kingdom of God. To the spreading and promulgation of the principles thereof not only throughout the valleys of the mountains, but throughout the nations of the earth. And will the opposition we have to meet stop it? Not by any means. It will but add fuel to the fire, until the blaze will grow higher and higher until all the nations of the earth shall see it, and Zion shall be set upon a hill, which may God grant in the name of Jesus. Amen.