Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, June 25, 1871.

As Brother Smith and myself, with others, will take our leave of this place tomorrow morning for a preaching tour through the northern settlements, we wish to say a few words. My remarks will be for all, both Saint and sinner; those who are Saints, those who wish to be, and those who wish not to be. I will read the fifth paragraph of the seventh section of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. On referring to that place you will find the following words:

“And they who are not sanctified through the law which I have given unto you, even the law of Christ, must inherit another kingdom, even that of a terrestrial kingdom, or that of a telestial kingdom. For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom, cannot abide a celestial glory; and he who cannot abide the law of a terrestrial kingdom cannot abide a terrestrial glory; he who cannot abide the law of a telestial kingdom, cannot abide a telestial glory; therefore he is not meet for a kingdom of glory. Therefore he must abide a kingdom which is not a kingdom of glory.”

These words set forth the fact to which Jesus referred when he said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” How many I am not prepared to say; but here are three distinctly spoken of; the celestial, the highest; the terrestrial, the next below it; and the telestial, the third. If we were to take the pains to read what the Lord has said to his people in the latter days, we should find that he has made provision for all the inhabitants of the earth; every creature who desires, and who strives in the least, to overcome evil and subdue iniquity within himself or herself, and to live worthy of a glory, will possess one. But, “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” says the Savior; he has prepared places for his children; but the Saints, we who have received the fullness of the Gospel of the Son of God, or the kingdom of heaven that has come to earth, are in possession of those laws, ordinances, commandments and revelations that will prepare us, by strict obedience, to inherit the celestial kingdom, to go into the presence of the Father and the Son. While Jesus was here on the earth his followers inquired about his future dwelling place, for they all wanted to be with him. Said they, in effect, “Where thou goest, we want to go; where thou dwellest, we want to dwell;” and they said, “Where shall you live hereafter, and what will be your state and condition?” Said Jesus, in reply, “I am of the Father; I was with him before the foundations of the world were laid; I and my Father are one, we shall live together;” and he said also, “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to the lives,” (it reads in our Bible “Leadeth unto life,” but if it were translated correctly it would be, “Leadeth to the lives,”) “and few there be that find it.”

Jesus traveled and preached, worked miracles, and labored diligently by day and by night, and when he had finished how many were there to stand by him? How many were there to believe and confess him before the scribes and Pharisees? After traveling with him and seeing him feed the multitudes with a few loaves and fishes, heal the sick and open the eyes of the blind, how many friends had he when he came to the cross? How many of his disciples were there to say, We are the disciples of this man whom you are about to crucify? They stepped out of the way. Well might Jesus say, “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to the lives, and few there be that find it.” We may say, and justly too, that the conduct of his disciples was very remarkable; for, as much as they thought of their Master, and as long as they had followed him, there was not a man to stand by him in his trying hour. It was but a few hours before that they had eaten supper with him, when, we are told, “Jesus took the bread, blessed and brake and gave to his disciples, and said, ‘Take and eat ye all of this;’ and he took the cup, saying, ‘Take this and drink ye all of it, this is my body in the New Testament and this is my blood in the New Testament.’” All this was a few hours before his crucifixion; and when his death drew near every single man, to a man, forsook him. During his trial, probably you all, even to the children, have read the story a great many times, when Peter was accused of being one of his dis– ciples by a damsel who sat or stood by, he denied it, saying, “It is not so, I am not one of his disciples;” and when a second time he was accused of being one of his disciples, he said, “No, it is not so, I firmly deny it, I am not one of his disciples.” And when a third time the same accusation was made he cursed and swore about it.

Now I make an application of this right here. As much as we think of that ancient name and character—the Savior, which age and antiquity have rendered so sacred to the Christian world that they profess to revere them, compare the course his immediate followers took, with the course taken by the followers of Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the latter days, as much as he is despised and his name ridiculed. There is scarcely any, no matter how high socially, who can speak of him with sufficient respect to call him “Mr.” or “Joseph” Smith, but they generally refer to him as “Joe” Smith; yet, much as he is scorned and despised, he had hundreds and thousands who would have gone to the death with him when he went to death, but Jesus found not a man. Joseph Smith, though he spent only fourteen years in presiding over this people, organizing the Church, proclaiming the Gospel and receiving revelations, yet had hundreds and thousands of men and women who were ready to go to the death with him.

I wish now to look at my subject a little more, and will refer to the present condition and future prospects of the inhabitants of the earth. If we had time to read we could show to you, Latter-day Saints, that the Lord is more merciful to the people than we are. He has compassion on the works of his hands, while we, through the fall, have a disposition, in common with all mankind, that is revengeful, and apt to give way to passion, wrath, malice, anger, bickering, contentions, hateful feelings and unbecoming words. All men are subject to this; but the Latter-day Saints should be above it; and I wish to caution them, and to inform them that if they expect to enter the celestial kingdom they must overcome this weakness and the wicked dispositions they have inherited through the fall; they must subdue, and become masters of them in the name of Jesus, and become compassionate to all. I have traveled a great deal in the world; and though, through the evil that is within me, it is natural for me to contend, and if I am opposed to oppose in return, and if a sharp word is spoken to me to give a sharp word back, I have done so but rarely. It is wrong, and we must subdue the inclination.

It has been mentioned here about the Saints leaving their homes and being persecuted. They may be again for aught I know; and if in the providence of God it is permitted to chasten us for our wickedness and for yielding to sin, I hope we shall be able to bear it patiently; but if the Latter-day Saints will live their religion and exercise faith in the name of Jesus, they will be able to overcome every besetting sin within themselves; and then we shall be able to overcome every foe without, and we will live and outlive all the slander, falsehood and prejudice now heaped mountain high against and around us by many individuals in the nations. We will live it down, live it into oblivion. But shall we turn away from the holy commandments of the Lord and join hands with the wicked and ungodly to make our faith popular? No, God forbid. I am happy in believing, in knowing and in proclaiming, that the Lord Almighty has so organized his king– dom on the earth and he so rules it that no man will have the privilege of coming into and abiding in it, and receiving a fullness of its blessings through covetousness, selfishness or any spirit of idolatry. In the contemplation of this I rejoice, and I am exceedingly glad that the Lord has so ordered it that no man can be saved in his sins and in his iniquity. All will have to come to the Lord and be sanctified through the grace of Christ by faith in his name; without this, I am happy to say, that none can be purified, sanctified and prepared to inherit eternal glory.

Well, Latter-day Saints, will you live your religion? Sometimes I do not know about this. I see and realize so much with regard to the power of Satan on the earth, the evil propensities of mankind and the weakness of human nature, that I do not know whether the Latter-day Saints are going to abide all that will come upon them. Whip them and they will acknowledge the Lord, abuse them and they will be Saints. Have we any ensamples? We have. You take plenty of these who are around here, who have been in this Tabernacle, and some probably who are here today, and when they were in their own country, poor, distressed, with not enough to eat, scanty clothing, no house of their own to live in, not any property, not worth a chicken, and the finger of scorn pointed at them from Monday morning until Saturday night, and they would go weeping through the streets bearing precious seed, and declare that “the Gospel is true, Jesus has spoken from the heavens, the angel has flown through the midst of heaven and delivered the Gospel to the children of men, the kingdom of God is set up, the word of the Lord is within me and I am ready to declare it to the people;” and they would go weeping week after week, month after month, and year after year, in their poverty and wretchedness; but bring them here and put them in a condition to gather around them a few hundreds or thousands, and they will lift their heel against the Almighty; and when I think of this I do not know how many of the Latter-day Saints will apostatize. Let us be in a condition now, if we could step forward directly into a position in which we should be equal with our neighbors, equal with the corruptions of this world, equal with the wicked, and we should have praise and popularity. I am glad it is not so. If we could have the favor of the wicked world, and have the blessings heaped upon us and be fostered as other people, communities and territories are, probably it would lead away a great many. It is all right now. If we will bear all these things and be patient, and live our religion whether we have enough to eat or half enough; whether we have a good house to dwell in, or we live in tents, wagons, or in dens and caves, and love the Lord and delight to do his will and walk humbly before him, and overcome every passion and evil propensity, and subdue the old man within us that Christ may live within us—the new man to his glory, we will inherit celestial glory. But no person will be sanctified without the law—the law which the Lord has given, will be observed by few comparatively, when we take into account the vast numbers who have lived on the face of the earth. There is no prospect whatever of multitudes of them being sanctified by the law of Christ. What we shall do for them in the Millennium it is not for me to say altogether. We shall do a great deal, there is no question about it. It is a matter of great rejoicing, and should bring forth gratitude from the hearts of the whole world of mankind, that the Lord has promised a day of rest. The day will come when Jesus will rule King of nations, as he now does King of Saints, and this glorious rest that the Saints have been looking for for thousands and thousands of years, from the days of Adam until now, will arrive. They have been looking for the absent body, just as John the Revelator says, He saw the souls under the altar crying, “How long, O Lord?” We are waiting for the absent body, how long shall we look for it? It will come again by and by, and the spirit and the body will be reunited; but how many will be prepared to enter the celestial kingdom unless they are officiated for it is not for me to say. But if we preserve ourselves in the truth and live so that we shall be worthy of the celestial kingdom, by and by we can officiate for those who have died without law—the honest, honorable, good, truthful, virtuous and pure. By and by it will be said unto us, “Go ye forth and be baptized for them, and receive the ordinances for them;” and the hearts of the children will be turned to the fathers who have slept in their graves, and they will secure to them eternal life. This must be, lest the Lord come and smite the earth with a curse. The children will go forth and revive this law for those who have slept for thousands of years who died without the law. Jesus will prepare a way to bring them up into his presence. But were it not for the few who will be prepared here on the earth to officiate when the Lord shall come to reign King of nations, what would be the condition of the world? They would sleep and sleep on; but the way is prepared for their redemption.

Now, those who cannot abide the law of the celestial kingdom cannot abide the glory of a celestial kingdom. All Christians are looking for celestial glory, but can they abide it? They cannot; it would consume them, for “our God is a consuming fire.” They think they could abide a celestial kingdom; but they could not. They will have to abide another kingdom and another glory, according to the lives they lead and the knowledge they possess here. When we look at it, we should have compassion and we should be charitable. I want to say: a great many priests have been here and I have spoken before them; if there be any here today I say to them and to every priest on the face of the earth, I do not care whether they be Christian, Pagan or Mahommedan, you should live according to the best light you have; and if you do you will receive all the glory you ever anticipated. We should not be prejudiced against you in the least; even if you are against us and declare falsehoods about us we should not retaliate. But how prone we are to rebuke if we are rebuked, or if we receive a sharp word to return one. The Latter-day Saints have to overcome this; and the world may cry out and say all manner of evil against us, but, my brethren and sisters, let us so live that it will be said falsely. If we do this, happy are we; but if truthful, woe be to the Latter-day Saints! Let all evil spoken of the people called Latter-day Saints be falsely spoken, as some that I heard a week tonight. Shall I mention it? How quickly “old Adam” rose within me, when the gentleman speaking pointed his finger, and said, “You murderers!” And I thought, “Will you not prove it?” I did not say a word; I thought about it a minute, and concluded that it was not worth noticing. He did not say you “Latter-day Saints,” but his congregation was mainly composed of Latter-day Saints, and said he, “You murderers!” Could he prove this? No, no, he could not. Could any man prove it? Not that man that lives on the face of the earth; it cannot be proved. Why? Because the Saints are free and clear from the crime, that is the reason. Let the evil they speak of us be just as false as that was when they were going to bring us all to judgment!

I believe I will venture to say a little further. The gentleman said all would be brought to judgment, and said he, “You who have two wives will be there!” I thought to myself, “Glory, alleluia, we shall be along with you father Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and with Moses and the prophets.” I do not wish to say one word to cast a reflection whatever; but pity, pity! Open the Bible and read from Genesis to Revelation, and the whole amount of the Christian religion, and all that they can teach and tell is, “Come to Christ, come to Christ!” Why, certainly, that is right. Come to Christ, and with it forsake our sins, and when we do this, keep the commandments of Christ and fulfill the law just as he did. Said he, “I come not to destroy the law but to fulfill it;” and he declared that every jot and tittle thereof should be fulfilled. Now pardon me, but if I am a Saint my heart would be filled with pity, oh, how pitiful, and yet I could say, and with justice and truth, though it might sound harshly to the ears of some, “O, fools and slow of heart to believe” all that is written of Jesus and the prophets, of the latter-day work, of the Millennium, of the coming forth of the kingdom of God upon the earth, of the cleansing and revolutionizing of the inhabitants of the earth, and preparing them for the coming of the Son of Man! I could say to the whole Christian world, justly, “O fools and slow of heart to believe what is written in the Bible and other books concerning these things.”

I say “other books,” for we believe in other books as well as the Bible; but do we on that account believe in an untruth? No. I heard something this morning about our religion being vulgarly called “Mormonism.” I say not vulgarly called so. Mormon was a good man, and he is in heaven, or in a good place at any rate; and the Book of Mormon is named after him, and we believe it. What does the word mormon mean? In the strict sense, and as it was translated by the ancients, it means more good. Mormon, more good; and “Mormonism” embraces all the truth that there is in heaven and on the earth; and if there is any in hell it belongs to us. Every truth in the sciences and in the arts, and all the knowledge that God has given to man in mechanism, and in fact on the earth, which is but a small speck among the creations of God, and the whole universe, all is incorporated in and constitutes what the world call “Mormonism.” If we have errors, and seeing that we are just like other people, it is natural to suppose that we are not free from them, they should be overcome. There is no other people on the face of the earth that have the law of God as the Latter-day Saints have it. They believe in the ordinances of the house of God, they believe in the laws that the Lord has revealed for the salvation of the children of men. All these holy ordinances are embraced in our faith. We try to live according to them, and that too strictly; and when aught is said against us I only ask my brethren and sisters to live so that it will be said falsely—live so as to be guiltless—be innocent, full of faith, good works, charity, love, long-suffering, patience, godliness and brotherly kindness. If we fill up our lives with these good works, happy are we, no matter where other people go or what they say or do; or whether they ever give us our rights according to their estimation or according to ours. If we do this God will give us our rights. We live in peace and prosper, and live in hope; and if we do our duty we shall live down every obstacle, every opposing foe, every opposite spirit and influence that is raised against us as a nation or as nations; and live, as I hope will be our constant aim, so as to glorify God. Not to gain the flatteries and fellowship of the world, for I would not give a snap of my finger for them; for as the world is I want not their fellowship. I should have their good feelings! Why? Because I do nothing only to do them good. There is not a professed Christian on the face of the earth but what, if he knew what we know, would pray for the Latter-day Saints. Why? Because we have the keys of salvation to the children of men, which have been restored to the earth by the Almighty in these latter days, and we are doing everything we possibly can for their salvation.

Talk about persecution, why that only comes from those who hate the truth. When falsehood is spoken against this people, no matter by whom, whether priest or people, it comes from a foul, wicked heart. Some say we are all wicked. Yes, we are all wicked; but we should not allow our tongues to utter forth many things that are uttered. We are not pure enough yet; we are not holy, we are not sanctified; no, the Latter-day Saints are not sanctified, and if any person thinks that we, as a people, are a pattern for the human family, we would just refer him and all mankind to the commandments and revelations which the Lord has given for the salvation of his crea– tures; they are perfect, but we are imperfect. We are trying to be perfect, and trying to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, and to honor his name, character and laws, and to spread them as far as we possibly can to the east, west, north and south, and to gather up all that will be gathered into the celestial kingdom; but to shake hands with the world and fellowship them, no, no! In the first place they will not fellowship us, and in the next place we cannot fellowship them. We will fellowship every good word and every good thought and every good deed; but we cannot fellowship them in rebelling against the truth.

Speaking of persecutions, neglects, slights and insults, was it an insult for the President of the United States, after calling upon our men to redeem this land from a foreign government, which we did, so far as the whole of Upper California is concerned, for it was acquired by the Latter-day Saints from the Mexican Government; and over it we hoisted the American flag, and have maintained it ever since; and then for our Chief Magistrate to make war upon the people who had actually added so much to the public domain and placed it under the banner and flag of their Government, to send an army to waste us away and destroy us, was it generous? Did it evince brotherly kindness? Was it according to Christian light? Was it according to the New Testament, the sayings of the Savior, or the acts of the wise and the good? We leave everybody to judge. Still they did not do it, no, nor they will not do it either.

What did we do when we came here? A few words upon this. Did we manifest to the world that we knew how to take care of ourselves? What did we bring with us? Five times have I been broken up and left a fine property behind. I never looked after it, for I knew that the earth was the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, and that he could give me what he pleased, hence I never looked behind, but marched forward, right ahead five times. What did we bring here? Nothing; we came here comparatively, as the old saying is, naked and barefoot. We have lived here twenty-four years, and now we are told that if we can convince the people of the United States that we can actually govern, control and sustain ourselves, why, we can have a State Government, so as to get us a little land to school our children and help ourselves a little. I suppose from this that they wish to imply that up to this time we have not proved that we can sustain and govern ourselves. What is necessary, judging by the standard of civilization, to prove this? What does it take to constitute a people capable of governing and controlling themselves? Now, mark, in the estimation of civilization it requires a settlement, territory and subjects for this territory; and then it requires certain ingredients within this community, to constitute civilization. Where shall we begin? We will build a grogshop, that will be the first thing, and have a few groceries; and we will bring on the liquor. The description of an outfit to the mines in early days will answer to illustrate and fill up the picture. The first thing was a barrel of whiskey, then ten pounds of dried beef, and a box of crackers; what next? A ten gallon keg of whiskey and four pounds of cheese, ten of butter, then another barrel of whiskey, next ten pounds of dried beef, two sacks of flour, and so on. Now, after we get a parcel of grogshops and can see, every Saturday, men drinking in the streets, hurrahing, running their horses, having children run over, and perhaps get to fighting and somebody’s head broken, or some one shot down, and have some gambling saloons, then we are ready for a meetinghouse, and here comes the priest through the streets mourning over the sins of the people, crying, “Oh what a wretched place this is.” That is civilization. You will excuse me, this is no overdrawn picture, but is a representation of what is misnamed civilization. But is it so in the eyes of Heaven? No, it is civilization in the eyes of filth and corruption, that is what it is.

To call this civilization is like saying to a kind, judicious and loving mother, “You are not capable of taking care of your children, we will put them out.” What is the matter, mother? And the mother says, “Why, my children obey me. I make no request of them but what they comply with; and they are willing and obedient. I teach them morning and evening to pray; I teach them to read the Bible, to be good, not to tell falsehoods, but to be truthful and honest, and not to take a pin’s worth from their neighbors; not to contend with each other about their toys.” And this mother is kind, loving and agreeable, and her children love her, and in the morning run with open arms and salute her with, “Mamma, how glad I am to see you, are you well?” And at night when going to bed the mother says, “Good night, my darlings, come and let me give you a kiss.” But this mother is not worthy of her children, and they must be taken from her and put out; she is too kind to them, and has perfect control over them. That is what they are afraid of. And the father, when he comes from his work, his store or, mechanics’ shop, is met with smiling faces, and “good evening, father, or papa,” and he has a kiss for each of them, and has a kind good night for all, and perfect love and peace reign in their midst. But that mother and father are unworthy of those children; the way they have trained them is not civilization. Whip them, teach them to quarrel, fight, knock each other down, and finally kick them out of doors! That is civilization according to the notion of the world. This is a comparison and it may be a strong one; but lay it in the balance and see how it will weigh. Will they among whom such manners and principles prevail be prepared for the celestial kingdom, or for a terrestrial or telestial kingdom, no matter who they are? I think not. They will have to abide a kingdom where there is no glory.

Well now, why not take this family and let papa and mamma train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and teach them every good moral principle, and faith in the name of Jesus? To my certain knowledge children in our community, when mamma has been sick, have said, “Mamma, are you not better?” “Why do you ask my little dear?” “Why,” says the little girl, “I have prayed for you; are you better?” “Yes, my dear.” I have witnessed many and many a time children praying for the father or for the mother, and that mother or father would be healed through the faith of the child. But this is not civilization. No; hence you Latter-day Saints must not have any lands to make use of to school your children. You must be tied up, you must be ruled over; you are not capable of governing and controlling yourselves. And yet thousands and thousands of them who say this will admit that we have the best organization and are the best governed community they have ever seen. But what is the matter when they get away? Why papa and mamma kiss the children, and the children kiss papa and mamma, and this will not do, it is not civilization. Kick, cuff and scold from morning to night must be the story, “then we are ready to receive you!” Shame on such conduct! Shame on such statesmanship!

“Well, I don’t like your peculiar institutions!” We have never been driven yet for our peculiar institutions which they talk about, and if we can beat them in peculiar conduct I am mistaken! I have seen men come here, who moved in the highest society on the American continent, and “Who have you got with you?” “My wife,” he says, and by and by you find out it is not his wife, but a woman he has hired to come here. In one instance a judge came here with a woman who had been turned off by a Congressman, and she sat on the judgment seat with him and claimed him for husband; but when he had got through with her, “You can go now, I do not want you any more.” Will a “Mormon” do this? No, never, if he does he will be damned; and any man who does will go to hell, now mark my word for it. And this is civilization!

Can they inherit these glories? No, the Lord has revealed the fact that the people must be sanctified; and if they cannot abide and be sanctified by a celestial law, they cannot inherit this glory; and they must abide and be sanctified by a terrestrial law and inherit a terrestrial glory. But we will pick every man and every woman on the face of the earth that we can possibly save and give them life and salvation through obedience to the requirements of Heaven. That is the way it is given, obtained and enjoyed. The spirit of the Gospel comes by obedience to the Gospel.

I want to say a few things to the Latter-day Saints, for I have not half freed my mind. Will you live so as to make your calling and election sure? You have a work to do, and it requires a holy life to prepare you to do it. Now I charge you again, and I charge myself not to get angry. Never let anger arise in your hearts. No, Brigham, never let anger arise in your heart, never, never! Although you may be called upon to chastise and to speak to the people sharply, do not let anger arise in you, no, never! Let us sanctify the Lord God in our hearts and live to his honor and glory and all is right with us; and by and by we shall see what comes to those who say to us, “You can’t have your rights.”

I will just say to the nation in which I live, and which gave me birth: The Lord God Almighty has a controversy with you and he will bring you to judgment, and no power can hinder it. It is the decree of the Almighty in the heavens, and will be so. Let us prepare for it, Saint and sinner. This life is but a moment, and is only preparatory to a higher state of glory. We are in darkness and ignorance here; but it is to give us an experience that we can step into a higher state of knowledge, understanding, light and intelligence. That we may come up higher and higher, and not be reduced when we enter the next state of existence, I say to the inhabitants of the earth, for God’s sake and for your own sakes, do take that course that when you step into another room, or lay down this mortal tabernacle, you will be prepared for a higher state of glory. It will not be present civilization that will prepare you for that; but strict obedience to the requirements of heaven in all honesty, sincerity, purity, lowliness of heart and faithfulness to our God. May he help us to do it. Amen!

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, June 18, 1871.

Let me call the attention of this congregation to a portion of the Word of God contained in the 46th and 47th verses of the last chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke—

“And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

These are the words of our Savior to his disciples after his resurrection, and just before he was received up into heaven. The Apostles who heard these words had gone forth among the Jewish nation and preached in their numerous cities, towns and villages the Gospel of the kingdom, declaring that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. They had gone forth crying repentance in the midst of the people, and had pointed them to Jesus as the Messiah, and now, after the resurrection, when Christ, in fulfillment of the prophets, had been sacrificed for the sins of the world, a new commission seems to have been given them. Jesus said unto them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature;” and in another place—the last chapter of Matthew, the commission reads: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

These Apostles received a divine commission to preach the Gospel of the Son of God to every people under the whole heavens, first to the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem. They were to commence there to fulfill this great commission; they were not permitted to go forth and begin the great proclamation, to open the door of the kingdom in all its fullness and glory, until qualified; but were commanded to tarry, as it is recorded by one of the evangelists, at Jerusalem until they were endowed with power from on high. Then they were to go forth to all the world and proclaim repentance and remission of sins, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus in its fullness, Jerusalem was to be the tarrying point, until then.

We accordingly find, as is recorded in the first and second chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, that they did tarry in that city, waiting for the power that was needful to enable them to carry out the commission which had been given to them. They could not fulfill the duties of that great mission without power from the heavens; they needed something more than human power; they needed that Spirit from on high which was promised them just before the crucifixion of Christ. Said he, “It is expedient for me that I go to the Father for your sakes, for if I go not to the Father the Comforter will not come; but if I go to the Father I will send him unto you.” Without this Comforter it was impossible for them to accomplish the duties of that great and solemn commission that was given them by our Lord himself. They needed the Comforter for various purposes. Jesus had told them that it should take the things of the Father and show them unto them; and that it should lead them into all truth and show them things to come. That is, it should make prophets and revelators of them, and inspire them to deliver the word of God to the inhabitants of the earth. Without this they could not magnify and honor the office of the Apostleship, which was the ministry to which they had been ordained. They needed the spirit of revelation, they needed power to commune with the heavenly hosts, with God the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, that they might be able to impart their will to the inhabitants of the earth, according to the heed and diligence which mankind might be disposed to give unto them.

On the Day of Pentecost, a great feast which had been observed by the Jewish nation for many generations, there were gathered at Jerusalem, not only the Twelve Apostles, but also all the disciples of Jesus who had not apostatized, to the number of about a hundred and twenty souls—those of the ministry, the Seventies as well as the Twelve. They were gathered together in one place, in an upper room of the Temple; and they were engaged in fervent prayer and supplication before the Lord. What for? For the endowments and qualifications necessary to assist them in the work of the ministry. While they were thus assembled, praying and exercising faith with one accord, in the Lord and in his promises, they heard a sound as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared to them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them—that is, upon the hundred and twenty souls that were present, and they were filled with the Spirit of God, baptized with the Comforter, with the Holy Ghost and with fire; they were immersed in it, really baptized by immersion.

After having received the Holy Ghost or Comforter it immediately began to make manifest a supernatural power upon those men of God. They were unlearned men, most of them, or most of the principal ones, at any rate, were unlearned; they had been engaged, as we heard this forenoon, at the business of fishing, and no doubt had lacked the opportunities for the acquisition of learning which many of the scribes, pharisees, high priests and religious people of that day enjoyed. The Apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus were not doctors of law and divinity, they had not been educated and qualified for the ministry in any theological school, seminary or university, but they received the Spirit of God, which manifested unto them the will of Heaven, and though they understood only their mother tongue, the power of the Spirit bestowed upon them enabled them to speak in the various languages and tongues of the earth, and to declare the things of God therein on that occasion.

There was then assembled a very great company of Jews, also proselytes, who had come from the surrounding nations to Jerusalem to keep the feast of Pentecost, according to their usual custom, and they heard of the marvelous work that was transpiring in the midst of this little company, and they heard unlearned men declaring, in the several tongues in which they were born, the wonderful works of God. This was marvelous; it was not the result of human power, but it was by the operation of the Holy Ghost. However, in that large congregation there were some who were disposed to accuse the disciples of folly. The followers of Jesus did not belong to the popular orders of the day. They were not high priests; they did not belong to the learned scribes or pharisees, but it was known that, as a general thing, they were illiterate men, and when the people saw this extraordinary manifestation of the power of God through them many ascribed it to the effects of new wine; said they, “It cannot be anything else,” and they accused them of being actuated on that occasion with the spirit of intoxication or drunkenness. But Peter, with the Eleven, stood up in the midst of the thousands there assembled, and opened the proclamation of the Gospel at Jerusalem according to the commission they had received, and what we wish to understand this afternoon is how, or in what manner, did he preach on that occasion? In other words, what was the plan of salvation he declared to the thousands of the children of men then gathered together? If we can find this out, we can ascertain what the Gospel is.

When they were accused of being under the influence of new wine, Peter, holding the keys of the kingdom, stood up and said, “This is not the effect of new wine, as ye suppose;” and as an argument to prove that they were not intoxicated he informed them that it was only the third hour of the day. In those days, probably, people did not get drunk at all hours, as they do in these, and according to the custom then, the third hour was too soon. Well, if the effects now made manifest to the people are not the results of drinking new wine, to what do you ascribe them? Said Peter, “This is that which was spoken of by the Prophet Joel, who says, ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and upon my servants and handmaidens will I pour out of my Spirit, in those days, and they shall prophesy; and I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapour of smoke; the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall be turned into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord shall come.’” Here, then, was a prophecy repeated by the Apostle Peter to prove what was the cause of the effects manifested on that occasion.

There is one thing in relation to this quotation from the prophecies of Joel to which I wish to call your special attention. Peter did not say, this is the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, for we all know that it was not then fulfilled. The Spirit was not poured out upon all flesh; all men and women were not made prophets on that occasion, consequently the prophecy was not fulfilled. Peter said, “These cloven tongues of fire, and this Spirit that has been poured out upon these hundred and twenty individuals is the same Spirit which Joel said should be poured out in the last days upon all flesh.” That promise, down to the nineteenth century, has never been fulfilled; the Spirit has never yet been poured out upon all flesh, making all men and women living, prophets, seers, revelators, &c. The work was begun on the Day of Pentecost; but the sun was not darkened on that occasion, nor the moon turned into blood; the signs that were to precede the second coming of the Son of God were not then shown forth, and consequently the prophecy was not fulfilled. It yet remains to be fulfilled. I would like to ask what are we going to do with the whole Christian world which declare that there are to be no more prophets, revelators or inspired men, when the word of the Lord through Joel says all flesh are to become prophets—that is, all who are spared on the earth, for there will be a tremendous destruction before that is fulfilled? The wicked will be swept from the earth, and all who remain will become revelators, prophets and inspired men, getting visions and revelations and foretelling the future. What shall we do with the sayings that have gone forth and been inculcated and promulgated by numerous sects and parties, that the day of visions, revelations and prophecies has passed? But we will pass on.

After having quoted this prophecy, to show that the Spirit that man should receive under the Gospel dispensation was to give them revelation and prophecy, and to show that the Spirit then being poured out was that spoken of by Joel, the Apostle refers to what David the psalmist said about Jesus, and about his sufferings, death and resurrection; and having quoted what the prophets—witnesses that were dead, had to say about the Holy One, they, as living persons, the oracles of God then in the midst of the people, bore witness that Jesus was the very Christ, and that the Jews had put to death the Holy One; these combined testimonies convinced many that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. This was not a popular doctrine in those days, as it is now. There are millions at the present day with whom it is popular to believe in Christ; they do so traditionally, and because it is customary in the nations where they were born; they believe it because they have had millions of copies of the word of God published in their midst, and spread broadcast over the nations of Christendom. But in those days very few believed it, the very great majority of the people believed him to be a wicked impostor, and regarded him as the offscouring of all things, the friend of publicans and sinners; and they said that he cast out devils by the power of Beelzebub; they called him a Sabbath breaker, a wicked man, and so on; and the most religious people of those days were his greatest persecutors, and as they had influence over the rest it was very unpopular indeed to believe that he was the true Messiah. But the arguments brought forth in the first Christian sermon after the resurrection of Christ were sufficient to send conviction into the hearts of many thousands of people. They believed or professed to believe in their ancient prophets, and when they were quoted in relation to Jesus, and the testimony of living witnesses was borne they cried out, in the anguish of their hearts, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” As much as to say, we see that our nation has crucified Jesus, the Christ; we thought he was an impostor and that he ought to die, but now we are convinced that he is the Holy One, and that he has indeed risen from the dead; and is there any salvation for our nation, seeing that it has put Jesus to death? These were the feelings of sincere, sin-convicted persons on that occasion, and they cried, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

I sometimes think that if they had lived in our day they would have had so many ways pointed out to obtain the forgiveness of their sins that they would not have known which way to turn, and perhaps would not have had much confidence in what was said to them on the subject. But these men, being under the influence of the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, knew precisely what these convicted sinners should do in order to obtain the pardon of their sins. Now mark the answer, and see if it agree with the ways taught by the Christian sects. Peter said unto these inquiring souls, who believed and were pricked in their hearts, for belief comes before repentance, for a person who did not believe would not repent. Peter said, “Repent.” What more? “Come to the mourner’s bench?” Oh no, that is not written there. Come here to the “mercy seat, and be prayed for?” Oh no, nothing of that kind was said. Then what else were they to do besides repent? Said Peter, “Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost.” What do you mean, Peter, by the Holy Ghost? Do you mean that same Holy Spirit—the Comforter that you have just received, and that has rested upon the hundred and twenty individuals who are followers of Christ? Yes, for he had just told them that it was the effects of the Holy Spirit which they had been witnessing, and they, no doubt, felt anxious to receive the same, for the Holy Spirit was that which would enable them to prophesy, see visions, dream dreams, and guide them into all truth, reveal unto them the things of the Father, and show them things to come, hence it was a Spirit greatly to be desired, and they wished to know how they might obtain it; and here was the path. It is very plain and very simple. Can it be wondered at, then, that so few in Salt Lake City wanted to go to the “Mourner’s bench,” at the Methodist camp meeting, after having heard and obeyed these principles. No. They have heard these principles for years and years, and having tested them, the fables of sectarianism possess no charms for them.

Seeing then that the pardon of sins is what the penitent soul desires, how is he to obtain it? By being baptized. What? Do you mean to say that sinners can obtain pardon by being baptized in water? “What effect,” inquires one, “has water in washing away sins?” It would have no effect whatever if God had instituted some other way; but, seeing that he has not, but has commanded sinners, first to believe that Jesus is the Christ; second, to repent of their sins; and third, to be baptized for the remission of their sins in his name, that is the right way; and though the water, independent of the blood and atonement of Christ and the commandment of God, has no efficacy whatever to wash away sins, yet it has great power because of these things, for the man that complies with this ordinance witnesses to God that he believes in Jesus and his Gospel and is willing to comply with its requirements. But if men should say, “There is no efficacy in water, and we will take some other way to obtain the pardon of our sins; the water is only to answer a good conscience towards God, and is not particularly essential,” do you think they would obtain the pardon of their sins, after hearing the Gospel preached in its purity and fullness by a man having authority from God? They might pray until they were as old as Methuselah, “Lord pardon, forgive and blot out our sins,” but do you think the Lord would hear them. Not at all. Why not? “Is it not written,” says a person of this class, “that the Lord is more willing to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children?” Yes, but it must be remembered that this is written of those who have believed, repented, and obeyed the Gospel; it was not written concerning unbelievers and the disobedient. When they have once believed in Jesus Christ and have been baptized for the remission of their sins, they can call upon God in all confidence and he is more willing to give his Holy Spirit unto them than earthly parents are to give good gifts unto their children, and you know how willing they are to do that, for they like to see their children joyful and happy. So it is with our Heavenly Father. He likes to see his children who have repented and obeyed his Gospel joyful and happy, and he is willing to give good gifts unto them; but he never can to those who do not keep his commandments. They may pray until they are greyheaded and they are about to fall into their graves and their sins would not be pardoned.

But again. Peter informs the inquiring believers on the Day of Pentecost that if they would repent and be baptized they should not only receive the remission of their sins, but they should also receive the Holy Ghost. Was this promise only to the people then present? No, for if we read the next verse we find that “the promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Is not that promise universal—to every people, nation, kindred and tongue, Jew and Gentile, bond and free? Yes, the promise is to all the Lord our God shall call; not only to the three thousand baptized on that occasion, but to all afar off. Does not that scope in all languages, nations, kindred and ton– gues? Yes. What! Shall they all receive the Holy Ghost? Yes, if they will comply with these conditions. Shall they all be pardoned if they will repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of their sins? Yes. Now, what effect would that vast multitude expect to follow the reception of the Holy Ghost by them? Supposing this congregation had been present eighteen centuries ago at Jerusalem at the first Gospel sermon preached after the ascension of Christ, and that, in the anguish of your hearts you had inquired what you must do to receive the pardon of your sins and how you could obtain the Holy Ghost, and what effects that Holy Ghost would have had upon you, would you not have expected to receive something precisely similar to what the hundred and twenty had received upon whom it was poured out? Could you have expected anything else? No. But it is very different with the Christian sects today; they think the Holy Ghost will perform everything ascribed to it except the supernatural powers and effects; but when it comes to revelation, prophecy, dreaming dreams, foretelling future events, casting out devils, healing the sick, discerning of spirits, speaking in and interpreting other languages and tongues, they boldly declare, as I heard in my boyhood, and again during the past week, that these wonderful and miraculous gifts were only intended for that day and age of the world. All the other effects are to continue, but they are to cease. The Spirit is to purify, sanctify, justify, to give love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, hope, and all these great and glorious effects that are promised in the word of God; but when it comes to these other effects, they are all to be done away. By whom? By Christendom, by those professing to be the teachers and leaders of the people. By what authority do they do these things away? Can they find within the lids of this Holy Bible, from beginning to end, that a period should ever arrive, so long as there was one soul on the earth to be saved or pardoned of its sins, that these miraculous effects should cease. No, they have taken this responsibility upon themselves, and it is a very fearful responsibility indeed to say that they are done away. I would not dare to do it, I should be afraid of fulfilling that prophecy delivered by Paul, when he says that, “In the last days perilous times shall come; men shall be lovers of their own selves, proud, boasters, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, incontinent, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” I do not, want to come under the declaration of Paul; I do not want to be numbered with those who fulfil this prediction that he uttered about the people of the latter days. He was not speaking altogether of the wicked world that made no profession of religion. He was not referring to atheists and deists, and those who did not profess Christianity; but of professed religionists, people who profess to believe in the Bible and in Jesus, having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.

If you can tell me any way by which the power of godliness can be more effectually denied than to do away the effects of the Holy Spirit as they were manifested on the Day of Pentecost and in all the Christian churches so long as there were any on the earth; I say if there is any more effectual way of denying the power of godliness than to do away with this power and say it is not necessary, I do not comprehend it. I, myself, should not know how to deny the power of godliness any more effectually than to say these things were done away. And yet when I was a youth, before I was nineteen years of age, I used to attend Methodist meetings mostly, though I never joined any society; and I heard these ideas advanced from their pulpits; there was to be no such thing as healing the sick in the name of Jesus; no such thing as foretelling future events; no such thing as obtaining new revelation, for the canon of Scripture was closed; no such thing as receiving the gift of discerning of spirits, or beholding angels and ministering spirits; no such thing as speaking in other tongues or languages by the Spirit of God. I heard all these things preached then, and I heard them again last week at the Methodist camp meeting here in this city. I did not know but spiritualism, so-called, had made a change in the world during the last forty-one years; but I find that the same old story still exists as in the days of my youth. They still cry, “All these things are done away, they are not necessary in this age of the Christian world.”

Who told you they were not necessary? Has God spoken anew and told you that revelation had ceased to exist? Why, no, that would be a contradiction in terms, that would be a new revelation, if he had spoken anew. How did you find out, then, that they were not necessary? I cannot find it in the Scriptures, indeed I find directly to the contrary—that they are necessary; and here let me quote a passage that was quoted this forenoon, in the 4th chapter of Ephesians. Speaking of the gifts that Jesus gave, the Apostle says when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. I have already repeated the gifts he did give through the inspiration and power of the Holy Ghost, that was made manifest upon those who obeyed the Gospel. He gave, says the Apostle in this fourth chapter, some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, pastors and teachers besides all these other miraculous gifts I have named.

Now let us see if we can ascertain from the following verses how long these gifts were to continue in the Christian Church. That will settle the question. They were given, said he, for the perfecting of the Saints. Before we proceed to the other reasons for which they were given, let us examine this first for a moment: “They were given for the perfecting of the Saints.” I have heard Christian ministers, that ought to know better, misleading the world and their congregations, by declaring that these gifts were given to convince the world of mankind who were unbelievers in ancient days, and to establish Christianity in the earth, and the latter once done on a firm foundation, they were no longer needed.

We will now see what Paul says. “They were given for the perfecting of the Saints.” Indeed! Are there Saints in these days in New York, in the New England States, in the Southern and in the Northern States, in Great Britain and in the nations of Europe, and among all the nations of what is termed modern Christendom? “Oh, yes,” says one, “we have over two hundred millions of Christians among all these nations.” Indeed, then you have these gifts, I suppose; for remember they were given for the perfecting of the Saints. Do you mean to tell me that there are Saints, and they have all become perfect? “Oh, no,” says one, “we do not pretend to say that the Roman Catholic, the Greek Church, and all the various denominations of the Protestant Churches have become perfect yet.” Very well, these gifts were given for the perfecting of the Saints, and if you are Saints where are your gifts? For does it not follow that if you have no gifts you are either perfect Saints or not Saints at all? For if you are not perfect Saints these gifts must be among you. Do you know any way to perfect Saints independent of these gifts? I do not. If the Bible has taught any other way I have never happened to find it. I know of no way in which Saints can be perfected without inspired Apostles and prophets and the gifts here named. But see the inconsistency I am now about to point out! Here are five gifts named that Jesus gave when he ascended up on high. The first one is an Apostle, the second is a prophet; then come evangelists, pastors and teachers; and we might go on and enumerate eight or ten more gifts that were given. Now, why split these verses in two? I ask all Christendom why do they separate these verses in two, and say, “We will believe that pastors and teachers and evangelists are necessary in all ages of Christendom to perfect the Saints, but when it comes to the other two gifts—Apostles and prophets, they are not necessary?” Why? Because it involves a miraculous power. An Apostle must have revelation and the power of inspiration to get more Scripture; and if this were allowed it would overturn their creeds, and the power of godliness would again be upon the earth, and the Christian sects cannot bear the idea that there should be any such thing as the power of revelation or vision, or the power to understand the future; no, that is all done away. Has Jesus told you to make this separation in the gifts, to retain some of them and say the others are done away? Is there any more right, in the nineteenth century, than of a preceding period, for the head, in the human body, to say to the hand, “I have no need of thee?” No, the hand is just as necessary now as in the first century of the Christian era; hence evangelists, pastors and teachers, which are still believed in as being necessary to perfect the Saints, have no right to say to the Apostle or the prophet, “We have no need of thee in the Church.”

But the gifts of the Spirit were not only given for the perfecting of the Saints; there was another object in view—they were for the work of the ministry. Now I presume that the two hundred millions of Christians will not pretend to deny that the work of the ministry is needed; and if the work of the ministry is needed then are inspired Apostles and prophets needed, for they were given for the work of the ministry as well as to perfect the Saints; so long, therefore, as the work of the ministry is needed there should be inspired prophets and Apostles on the earth.

A third object for which they were given was the edifying of the body of Christ. Now I really believe that the body of Christ, if it can be found on the earth, needs edifying, unless its members have come to that perfect day that is spoken of in the 13th chapter of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians. Let me refer to that chapter, for it furnishes an additional proof that these gifts were to continue in the true Church; not, of course, among apostate Christendom, among those who have no authority. Speaking of charity, the Apostle says—

“Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

“For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

“But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

“For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

Now, here is proof positive; this shows how long these spiritual gifts would be needed. Now we know in part and prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away. As much as to say that while the Church remains in this mortal state we are but children in Christ Jesus. Here we only know in part and prophesy in part; we speak in tongues, and so on; but when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away. Now can anyone tell me whether that day of perfection has come for the Church or not? If it has, these gifts should be done away; but if not, they should still remain. Can we find any clue in the words I have quoted to the nature of the period when the Saints shall come to perfection! Yes. Here in this life, we only know in part, we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away. Now we see through a glass darkly, that is while the Church is in this mortal state; but when that which is perfect is come we shall see face to face. This shows that we shall be in our immortal state before these gifts are done away—I mean in the true Church, of course they will not be in false churches; but in the true Church they will always exist, until we know even as we are known; when we come into the presence of the Almighty, when the veil is rent asunder, and we look upon the face of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. We shall not know in part in that day, nor prophesy in part; neither shall we heal the sick there; there will be no gift of healing needed, for there will be no one to be healed. Neither shall we speak in tongues then; tongues will cease; for the Lord will turn unto his people a pure language. They will have the language of angels, the language of God the Father, and will all understand one another and will have no need of the gift of tongues.

Here, then, are evidences that the Christian world cannot get rid of; here are testimonies that condemn the whole of them; not only those of this generation, but all who have lived during seventeen centuries that are passed who have had the wickedness in their hearts to say, “The power of godliness is not needed in our day,” and that the canon of Scripture is closed, and there must be no more prophets to receive new Scripture.

The gifts which I have been describing are the effects of the Holy Ghost. Now we hear almost every society praying the Lord to send the Holy Ghost. Their cry is, “Let the Holy Ghost come down upon us now; let it be with us this very moment; let us have its influence and enjoy its operations now.” But they know nothing about it; they have never received the Holy Ghost, neither can they until they comply with the Gospel ordinances—repent of their sins and be baptized for their remission. “But,” says one, “do not you remember good old Cornelius? Was he baptized?” No, He received the Holy Ghost before baptism. But had he any promise of it before? No. The Lord, on that occasion, had a special object in view, which is named in the history of the transaction. Cornelius seems to have been the first Gentile, whom the Apostle Peter, in opening the door of the Gospel to the Gentiles, was commanded to visit. The Jewish nation was exceedingly prejudiced against the Gentiles. Peter happened to have six proselytes from the Jewish nation with him on that occasion. Oh, how bitter they were against the Gentiles! They thought the Gentiles had no part or lot in the matter; and notwithstanding the commission that the Lord had given to the Apostles, he had to work a miracle to convince Peter, so strong were the prejudices of the Jews that the Holy Ghost and the Gospel blessings were not for the Gentiles. You recollect Peter’s vision, in which the Lord let down a sheet by the four corners, full of all manner of beasts, clean and unclean, and Peter being commanded to arise, slay and eat; and his not being willing to do it because it was contrary to the law of Moses. But he was told that the Lord had cleansed the contents of the sheet, and he was forbidden on that account to call it common or unclean. You recollect that the Lord sent an angel, as he always does when he has a Church on the earth, to a certain man called Cornelius. This man had been praying, he wanted to know how to be saved. The Lord had heard his prayers, and had sent an angel to him, and the angel said to him, “Cornelius, thy prayers are heard, and have come up before the Lord as a memorial. Now send to Joppa for one Simon, whose surname is Peter, and he will tell you words whereby you and your house will be saved.” What! Cornelius not in a state of salvation, and he a praying man? No doubt he was in a state of salvation, so far as he understood; but he was ignorant and did not understand how to get into the celestial kingdom. He knew nothing about the birth of the water and of the Spirit, that we heard about this forenoon, without which no man can enter into the kingdom of God. Yet he had given much alms, and his prayers had come up as a memorial before God, and the Lord had pity on his ignorance and sent an angel to him. But the angel did not see proper to tell him what to do to get into a more full state of conversion; he simply told him to send for Peter—a man of God, promising him that he would tell him how to be saved. Peter, being warned beforehand, by the vision, went down to the house of Cornelius, nothing doubting, taking these six Jewish converts with him, full of all their Jewish prejudices. When Cornelius had given an account of the visit of the angel to him, Peter began to preach Christ and him crucified, and while he was speaking the Holy Ghost fell on Cornelius and his household, and they spake with tongues and magnified God.

Do you suppose that the Holy Spirit could have been retained by Cornelius supposing he had refused to obey the ordinances of the Gospel? No, it was only given as a witness and testimony to convince the Jewish brethren, who were with Peter, that the Gentiles might have salvation as well as the Jews; for when they began to speak in tongues, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, Peter turned to his Jewish brethren, and said, “Who can forbid water that these should not be baptized?” And he commanded them, in the name of the Lord Jesus, to be baptized. What, a command? Yes. Had Peter the right to give that command? Yes; for the angel of the Lord had said to Cornelius, “He shall tell you words whereby you and your house shall be saved,” and his command to them to be baptized was some of his words unto them.

Supposing that Cornelius had said, “Oh, baptism is not essential, it is not among the fundamental principles of salvation; it is one of the nonessential, outward ordinances, etc., and is of no consequence. I have received the Holy Ghost, I am a Christian, I believe in your words; I have offered my alms to the poor, and they have come up before the Lord; I am good enough, there is no need for me to be baptized,” how long would the Holy Ghost have remained with him? Just the moment that he had refused to obey this commandment the Holy Ghost would have fled from him and his house. The only way for him to retain the gift that comes through obedience was to be baptized, though on that occasion it was given without promise, and without baptism. Baptism, recollect, is for the remission of sins, and the Holy Ghost comes afterwards; but on this occasion it was given before it; but he could not have retained it, it would have left him, and he would have been in seven-fold greater darkness than before had he refused to obey the words of this inspired messenger. The Jewish brethren could not forbid water after the manifestation of the power of God on that occasion; their prejudices were done away by a miracle.

Now, because the Lord varied on that one occasion and gave the Holy Ghost before baptism, how many there are who want to do away with baptism, and to seek some other way for those who are convicted and laboring under a feeling of sorrow and mourning for their sins; but there is an ordinance connected with the receiving of the Holy Ghost. If there is an ordinance connected with the baptism of water, so there is in relation to the higher baptism; and the Lord made his servants, the Apostles, ministers not only of the word, but also of the Spirit. They were able ministers of the Spirit; that is, they had authority to administer the Spirit. They could not do it of themselves; but when God calls a man and gives him authority by revelation and sends him to preach his Gospel, and people listen to that Gospel and are willing to be baptized, that man has the right to baptize them; and if he is ordained to the Apostleship or to those offices that have the power to administer the higher ordinance of the laying on of hands, and he lays hands on, God will acknowledge that ordinance. He will acknowledge baptism by giving remission of sins; and he will acknowledge the laying on of hands by sending from heaven the gift of the Holy Ghost. Indeed, in ancient days, when Paul went to Ephesus he found certain persons there who had been baptized. They thought, no doubt, they were very pious, and perhaps concluded that they were in a state of salvation. They had heard of and received what was called John’s baptism, but when Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Ghost since believing they said they had not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. Then Paul perceived that they had been taught by some impostor—some person who had no authority, who pretended to be preaching John’s doctrine, who had told them nothing about the Holy Ghost. John, when he baptized the people, told them there was one coming after him mightier than he who baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire; but these Ephesians had been taught by some person who had no authority, and who had left out a part of the doctrine of salvation, as preached by John, just as the Christian sects do at the present day. Paul saw that their baptism was illegal, and he preached unto them Jesus Christ, and when they had heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them the Holy Ghost fell upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

Again, when Philip went to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to the people, he had no right to administer the higher ordinances of the laying on of hands; he had not been ordained to the power. He had the right to baptize them in water and he baptized a large number of men and women among them; and when the Apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they came down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost, for as yet he was fallen on none of them; and they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

Do you not see that this higher blessing of the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost comes through the laying on of hands, which is an ordinance just as much as baptism by water, both of which have to be administered by a man called of God, or the Lord will have nothing to do with it.

We have thus pointed out to sinners, this day, how they may be converted. How do you like it? Is it according to Scripture? If it is not reject it; but it is the same doctrine that we have taught for forty-one years in this Church. It is the same doctrine that has been published by the Latter-day Saints throughout the length and breadth of our Union; it is the same doctrine that we have carried to the nations afar off; it is the same doctrine that the Lord sent an holy angel to deliver to Joseph Smith—a youth, and commanded him to preach, and ordained him to the Apostleship, commanding him, by revelation, to ordain others; it is the same doctrine that tens of thousands have received. Do they receive the promises? Is the Holy Ghost given? If it is, all these gifts are given; and if the Latter-day Saints are not in possession of these gifts, they are not in possession of the Gospel, and are no better off than the Baptists, Methodists or Presbyterians, and we all know they have not the Gospel; we all know they have not the power of God among them. They do not believe in it, they say it is done away. We all understand this. Well, Latter-day Saints, you are no better if you have not these gifts. But you have had forty-one years’ experience, and I think you know whether you have them or not. If you have, blessed are ye; but if you have them not, it is time you waked up and began to hunt around for the Gospel if it can be found on the earth. If you have not these gifts, then the angel has not come with the Gospel according to promise; but if you have, the angel of God has flown through the midst of heaven and committed the everlasting Gospel to the children of men, and you have been the receivers of it. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, June 11, 1871.

The circumstances which surround us at the present time are of a very peculiar character; probably at no period of our history has the work of the Last Days attracted the attention and the curiosity of the people generally to the extent that it does today. There are several reasons for this, but that which, more than anything else at this time, has directed the minds of the world to Utah is the discoveries of mineral in our Territory. This has undoubtedly added greatly to the interest which has ever been felt in this strange land, and in the strange people who inhabit it. The best method of disposing of us and our system has given rise to much controversy and discussion in years past. That we ought to be disposed of in some manner has been a very general opinion and feeling in certain quarters; there has seemed to be a disposition manifested by some persons to do something so as to effectually dispose of the system called “Mormonism.” They have apparently felt that it was in the way and ought to be removed, or that something should be done to retard its growth and progress, and the influence which it is exercising in the world. Did we not know through our own bitter experience in the past that this feeling is entertained by a great many people, it would be difficult for us to imagine that such is the case, for an examination of our principles, and an understanding of their bearing, operation and effects would certainly not lead to conclusions of this character. So far as I myself am concerned, if this matter were submitted to me without my knowledge and past experience in relation to it, I should say that the principles and doctrines believed in and practiced by the Latter-day Saints, and the results which have been wrought out by their operation would not have had the effect of creating animosity or ill will, or any feeling other than kind, brotherly and affectionate.

What is there about this system called “Mormonism” that should evoke the terrible amount of animosity and hatred which have been displayed at various times? The Latter-day Saints believe in Jesus Christ, they believe that he is the Savior of the world; that he died for man’s redemption; that, through his death, we may, by obedience, be brought into the presence of the Father, and made heirs of eternal glory. The Latter-day Saints believe that mankind should repent of and forsake all sins, and be baptized in the name of Jesus for their remission; the Latter-day Saints believe that they should not only be baptized for the remission of their sins, but that baptism should be administered by those only who have authority. Not vague or ill-defined authority, based upon a commission given to others centuries ago; but an authority proceeding from God that will be recognized on earth and in heaven. The Latter-day Saints believe that, having repented of sin and been baptized for the remission of it, they who have complied thus far with the Gospel requirements, should have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and that they who thus lay on hands should have authority from God to officiate in this ordinance.

Is there anything about or connected with this faith that should excite opposition, create ill feeling and arouse hatred? Certainly, when we look at this dispassionately, we must admit that there is not.

Is there anything connected with this faith, or the principles to which I have referred, that does not harmonize with the Scriptures? Peter, who preached the first sermon of which we have any account after the resurrection of Jesus, declared precisely the same principles which I have alluded to as being part of our belief. The other Apostles taught the same principles, and enforced them upon the people to the extent of their ability and power. I know that there are difficulties and contentions in the religious world as to the mode and efficacy of baptism; some assert that immersion is not the true mode; but we are willing to stand by the Scriptures and to abide by their decision, feeling assured that, if they be taken literally, those who read them will have a perfect conviction that immersion is the only true mode. But even should there be a difference of opinion on this point, it is not of such a character as to stir men up in deadly hostility towards us.

There may also be a difference of opinion in relation to the laying on of hands. Some may say this is only necessary where men are ordained, and that it is not right or proper for all the members of the Church of Christ to receive the imposition of hands. But as I have said in reference to baptism so I say of this ordinance: it is clearly revealed in the Scriptures and can readily be substantiated from them that the members of the Church of Christ in ancient days had hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and that it was the ordinance and the only ordinance instituted in God’s economy for the bestowal and the reception of that gift.

Well, is this all the Latter-day Saints believe in? No. I do not expect to be able to tell all we believe in, or to allude to every principle this afternoon; but these are the first principles which we have proclaimed to the world. In addition to these there is another—namely, the gathering together of the people of God. Wherever the Elders of this Church have gone they have said, and testified to the people, that the time in which we live is the gathering dispensation alluded to by the ancient prophets, when God’s people should be gathered from the various nations of the earth to one place, according to the predictions of John the Revelator, David the psalmist, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all other prophets whose writings we have in this book. They, in simplicity, have called upon the people everywhere to repent, and to gather together; and these, in substance, are the principles which the Elders of this Church have declared unto the people wherever they have traveled; and it is because of these principles and their proclamation that so much persecution has been stirred up.

I know very well the feelings of the world, and perhaps of some who are listening today to this brief enunciation of our principles and the causes of our persecutions. Say they, “If these were the only principles taught by the Latter-day Saints we cannot think they would have been persecuted, there must be something behind this. It cannot be possible that, in this enlightened age, men and women should be persecuted and reviled and their names cast out as evil for believing these doctrines?” A prevalent idea has been that this prejudice against us owes its origin and continuation to our belief in a plurality of wives; but when it is recollected that the mobbings, drivings and expulsion from cities, counties and states which we have endured, and our exodus to these mountains all took place before the revelation of that doctrine was publicly known, it will be seen at once that our belief in it has not been the cause of persecution. I have an idea on this point in relation to this much-talked-of and much-abused doctrine, and it is this: I believe that from the day it was taught to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and embraced in the faith and lives of its members we have risen in power and grown in influence; we have gained favor with and enjoyed the protection of the Heavens such as we never possessed before. All the prosperity, seemingly, that we enjoy today has been bestowed upon us since the proclamation of that principle and its adoption by us into our faith and practice. There has been an almighty power hedging us round about and encircling us from that day until the present time; and though men have plotted and schemed and have devised mischief, and formed machinations and combinations against the Latter-day Saints, their schemes have fallen to the ground; their combinations have proved unavailing, and we have been delivered time and time again since we came to these valleys.

There is good reason why this is so. If this principle be from God, as we solemnly testify it is, surely God would stretch forth his arm to defend and deliver a people who would be so valiant and trustful as to go forth in the face of so-called civilization and popular prejudice in the nineteenth century, and embrace and practice that doctrine, and assume all the consequences which its practice involves! Surely God, who would reveal such a principle to his people and call upon them to obey it, would defend those who had the courage to sacrifice themselves if it were necessary to carry out what they believed to be God’s behest! He would stretch forth his arm, exert his power and fulfill his promises to deliver those who would thus go forth in humility and meekness and carry out a principle that he had revealed unto them!

This is the view which I take of this matter. Instead of our being left to the power of our persecutors to a greater extent since its revelation and practice, we have had greater freedom and security, and have been blessed as we never were before. It was not on account of our belief in this that we have been hated. Joseph and Hyrum Smith were slain in Carthage jail, and hundreds of persons were persecuted to the death previous to the Church having any knowledge of this doctrine. What then was the cause of the persecutions of the people, and why should they have been singled out and made so remarkable above other people, many of whom believe in several of the principles that they believed in. There is not a religious denomination in Christendom which does not believe in Jesus Christ; I do not know of one that does not believe in repenting of sin and also in some form of baptism. They may differ in opinion as to the mode, efficacy and necessity of the ordinance; some may and do call it essential, while others regard it as nonessential, but it is generally believed in; and there are also denominations which believe in the laying on of hands. I do not know of one that believes in the gathering of the people together, still there are people or communities who do gather together, besides the Latter-day Saints. What is it then that makes us so marked? I will explain it in a few words, as I understand it. It is because the Latter-day Saints believe that God has restored from the heavens the everlasting Priesthood—that eternal authority by which man acts upon the earth as the ambassador of God. It is because we have testified that God has restored this once more to earth and we have received it, and that by virtue of it we act as Apostles, members of the seventies, high priests, elders, bishops, priests, teachers and deacons, and in the several offices God has placed in his Church. This is the secret, my brethren and sisters and friends, of the opposition that is and has been waged against the Church of God. We might go forth and preach belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, and baptism for the remission of sins, as Alexander Campbell did; we might say, as some of the sects do, that it is necessary to lay on hands; we might gather the people together, and do any or all of these things, but if we did not have the right to exercise heaven-bestowed authority there would be no particular opposition to us. Of course, the nearer a man draws to God, and the more he lives according to the plan which God has prescribed, the more opposition he meets with. Satan will stir up strife, animosity and hatred against him. On this account Luther, Calvin, John Wesley and other reformers have been persecuted. The nearer they came to the truth, and the more zealous they were in proclaiming it, the more opposition they met with. Men, in reasoning upon this subject, say that every sect, at the commencement of its career, is persecuted because men are not familiar with its doctrines; but, when they become known, opposition and persecution cease. They predict this about the Latter-day Saints; but the truth of the matter is this: if every new sect is persecuted, it is because it fearlessly denounces the sins, follies and vices of the age, and so long as they continue this, so long are they persecuted; but the moment they assimilate to the world, gloss over its follies and go with the stream and float with the popular current, opposition ceases. This has been the case, more or less, with every sect; but when men predict this of the Latter-day Saints they do not understand the nature of the work in which we are engaged; they do not comprehend the nature of the claims that we make; they have no understanding of the authority that we exercise. The distinction, to which I have referred, between us and others is that we claim to have the Holy Priesthood.

“But,” says one, “has not this authority always been on the earth? Why, ministers have gone forth and preached now for centuries, authorized by the divine commission of the Apostles—’Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.’ On the strength of this commission they have gone forth for centuries, and why do you Latter-day Saints claim additional authority? Has the authority not existed ever since the days of the Apostles?”

If it has, where are its fruits, where are its powers, and where is the proper exercise thereof exhibited? Shall we go to the Church of Rome and inquire of it? It claims to have uninterrupted Apostolic descent from Peter, down through the ages until we reach our own day. Say the Episcopalians, Lutherans, Calvinists, and all Protestant sects, “No, she is the mother of harlots, she has defiled herself; that church is false, and God has taken from her the authority she once had. If we go back to the middle ages you will find that her popes have been corrupt, and there have been times when there were more than one pope, and if history can be relied on a woman once occupied the papal chair; therefore we Protestants abhor her and call her the mother of harlots; we have come out of her and have renounced her and her wickedness. Neither she nor her priests have any authority.”

But the Catholic, on the other hand, maintains that his church and his alone has the authority, which Protestant Christendom declares she has lost. And here a question arises in my mind, for as the Protestant churches say that the Catholic Church is the mother of harlots, I turn to the mother and ask who and where are her daughters. Is Lutheranism a daughter of hers? Is Calvinism a daughter of hers? Is the Church of England, founded by Henry VIII., a daughter of hers? If they are not, where are her daughters? Where shall we look for them, if not in the midst of the Protestant churches? If I go to the Episcopalians and ask them for their authority, what reply do they give me? “We exercise that which has come down to us from the Catholic Church. We came out of that church because of her impurity, but we brought with us authority to build another church, and ours is the Church of God.”

But, says the Catholic Church, “We have severed you from us;” and I, as a Latter-day Saint, say to the Episcopalians: If the Catholic Church had authority to give you the priesthood, and you derived it by imposition of hands from the Catholic clergy, then it had power to deprive you of that authority; if it had power to bestow authority it had power to withdraw that authority; and the Catholic Church did excommunicate Henry VIII., Latimer, Cranmer, and all who took part in that defection, and branded them as apostates, and, if they had any authority, deprived them of all they possessed. The same is true of the Lutheran and Calvinist churches, and all others who descended from her.

But there is another view to be taken of this matter. Jesus said to his Apostles: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils,” &c.

Now, my Protestant brethren, if you take one part of this commission, why not take the whole of it? You say that by virtue of this authority which Jesus gave unto his Apostles, you go forth and preach the Gospel; but if you take this part of the commission, why not take the whole, and have the signs following them that believe your teachings, and have devils cast out, the sick healed, &c.

In asking these questions I do not wish to be harsh or to reflect on any sect, but only, in honesty, to place the truth before you from my standpoint. Say the so-called Christians, in answer to the above questions: “We do not believe in these things; this power has been withheld, it was only bestowed in the Apostolic age, and was necessary then for the establishment of the Gospel.”

If that is so, where do you find authority for making the assertion? If you take part of this commission given by Christ to his Apostles, what right have you to reject the remainder? Why not reject the whole? I say that, by a parity of reasoning, if you take a part you ought to take the whole. You cannot consistently take one portion of Scripture and say, “This applies to me, or is mine, and I have a right to act by the authority it confers;” and then to say of the other, “I dismiss it, and want nothing to do with it.” That is mutilating the word of God, and wherever you find men who have authority from God to act in his name, you will find these gifts and blessings attending their administrations, just as in ancient days.

Suppose a descendant of John Adams, the first minister of this government to the Court of St. James, should find an old document that had been given to him by the Continental Congress authorizing him to go and act as its minister. He reads this document in which his ancestor’s name is mentioned and in which he is duly empowered to act as ambassador for the United States, and he says, “Here is a document, I have it, the original that was given to my great ancestor. I do not see why I should not go and act as ambassador. This document was not given to me, it is true, but I want to act in this capacity.” He goes across the water, travels to London, goes to Court, and presents his document and says, “I am empowered to act. I am sent over by the United States as ambassador to the Court of Great Britain.” “Where is your commission?” “Here.” “Why, this is an old document, it was given to John Adams. Is that your name, and are you the man?” “Oh no, I am not the man, but I am a descendant of his.” This would be just as consistent as for a minister of religion in this day to claim authority because he has a record of the commission which Jesus gave to his disciples. If one case is consistent, so is the other; if one is not, then the other is not.

My brethren, sisters and friends, you now, probably, begin to see the reasons why the Latter-day Saints claim that God has restored the authority and the everlasting priesthood; you now, probably, begin to see some reasons why God should send his holy angels from heaven to earth again.

“But,” says one, “I thought there were going to be no more angels, prophecies or revelations. I have been taught that the canon of Scripture was full, and that it was not necessary for God to speak again to man on the earth.”

Oh, this delusive idea! This damnable doctrine which has been preached until Christendom is completely filled with unbelief, so that the man who believes in revelation and that there is a necessity for it is set down as one who is unworthy the society of his fellows! Oh, the dreadful effects which have followed the proclamation of this fallacy for so long a period! What are the effects, resulting from it, that we see today? Christendom rent asunder, divided into sects and parties, the name of Jesus derided and sneered at, and the pure Gospel lost because of the propagation, for centuries, by so-called Christian ministers, of the soul-destroying and damnable heresy that God cannot or will not speak to man again from the heavens; that God will not reveal his will, send his angels, or exercise his power in the affairs of earth as much as he did in ancient days. Look at the effects of this! Travel in all our cities of the Atlantic and Pacific, and what do you see? Men and women professing to be followers of Jesus Christ, and yet all divided and split asunder, and quarrelling and contending—even members of the same church divided asunder. The Methodist Church North, and the Methodist Church South; the Presbyterian Church North, and the Presbyterian Church South; the Baptist Church North, and the Baptist Church South, and thus the religious world is divided and split asunder, and there is no authority to say what is truth or who shall proclaim it; there are none to say in the midst of the people, “Thus saith the Lord,” or “Here is the path, walk ye in it;” and if a man comes forward claiming that he has this authority he is met with the accusations:

“You are deluded, you are an impostor, you preach false doctrine, we will have none of your teaching. Men who believe in prophesy and revelation are liable to be deceived, and we are afraid of you, we do not know but you will deceive us. Jesus said there should be false prophets, we believe you are one of them.”

And thus they fortify and encase themselves in their unbelief and reject the word of God, and if Paul or Peter were to rise from the dead, and go amongst them and proclaim the principles they taught anciently, they would close their churches and chapels, and would say, “We will have none of you, you will deceive us, you are one of the false prophets spoken of,” forgetting that, if there are false prophets, there will, in all probability, also be true ones; and that it would be inconsistent to talk about false prophets if there were no true ones. There never is a counterfeit, bogus or imitation without a true one to copy after! Can you wonder, brethren and sisters, that the world is in the condition that it is, when unbelief has been handed down for generations, until it permeates the minds of all, both priest and people, even the children learn it in the Sunday schools, until every fiber of their minds becomes indoctrinated with the idea? The present condition of the Christian world is not to be wondered at, the wonder is that belief and faith exist to the extent they do. There are a few things more I would like to say in connection with this subject while I am upon it. One is that a perusal of the Scriptures will clear up one point in our minds respecting the principle of revelation and communication between God and man. There is not a servant of God of whom we have any account, from Genesis to Revelation, who did not receive revelation. Can any person point out a man who was one of God’s servants, of whom we have any account in the Scriptures, that did not receive revelation? Not one. It may be said, and is argued, “Why is it, if it be God’s will that man should have revelation from him, that the world has been so long without it?” This is very easily explained. You recollect that Jesus, on one occasion, went into a certain place, and it is said concerning him that he could not do many mighty works there because of the people’s unbelief. Unbelief, therefore, has a tendency to prevent the communication of God’s will to man by closing the channel of communication. And another very good reason is that when men were on the earth who did have these communications they were not allowed to live. Every such man was hunted and persecuted, and his life was sought after until there was not one left who had the power, authority and great gift and blessing to say to the people, “Thus saith the Lord;” and revelation and the spirit of revelation were withdrawn from man, and the whole earth fell into unbelief and darkness, and gross darkness prevailed over the hearts of the people. It is a very excellent reason why revelation should cease when the earth was drenched with the blood of Heaven’s messengers, and that blood was crying for vengeance on those who had slain them.

But there was a time predicted by the Prophets—John saw it, and has said in his revelations, “I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come.’” Now the testimony of the Latter-day Saints is that God has sent this angel, and has actually restored the Holy Priesthood—that authority which was held by the Apostles and Jesus in ancient days, and by Joseph Smith, an humble, unlearned, but Godfearing boy, in our day. Joseph sought the Lord diligently and earnestly to know which was the right way; his mind was distracted by the various claims set forth by one sect and another, and he was determined to seek unto the Lord for wisdom, for he had read in the Epistle of James, that if any lacked wisdom and would ask of God, he would give liberally and upbraid not. He did so, and the Lord communicated to him that in his own time he would establish his Church, on the earth. He also told him not to join any of the churches then in existence, for all had departed from the right way. Eventually he was ordained; but in the first place, anxious to be baptized, he sought the Lord to know in what way he should obtain the ordinance of baptism, and the Lord sent an angel—John the Baptist, him who held this authority in ancient days and who baptized Jesus, and he laid his hands on the head of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and ordained them to this authority. “Well,” says one, “I cannot believe this; if they could have got it from Peter Waldo, from the Catholic Church or the Baptist Church, I might have believed it; but to think that an angel came, shocks me, and it is more than I can believe. It is fanatical, and none but fanatics believe angels come to earth; there is deception in the idea.”

Oh, foolish generation! How could the power of God be restored from heaven, how could the world be united again, how could men be brought into one fold, and how could these dissensions and divisions be healed and removed unless God exerted his power? When the Lord does exercise power it is in his own way. If he chooses to send an angel, he will do so, and will not ask you or me whether we will accept and are suited with it or not. He sent an angel on this occasion to restore to earth the authority to baptize for the remission of sins, and that messenger laid his hands on the heads of Joseph and Oliver and gave them that authority, and they commenced to baptize.

But there was the authority to baptize with the Holy Ghost, or laying on of the hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, yet remaining to be restored. All of you who are familiar with the experience of Philip who baptized the eunuch, and who went to Samaria and preached the Gospel, know that we have no account of him laying on hands for the Holy Ghost. When the Apostles at Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had been baptized by Philip, they sent two of their number to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. These two had authority to baptize, and they also had authority to lay on hands; and when they came to Samaria they laid hands on the baptized believers, and they received the Holy Ghost, and they spake with tongues and prophesied. Philip had the same authority as John had—namely, the authority to baptize; but it appears from the record that he had not authority to lay on hands. This was the position of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery after having been ordained to this priesthood. They had authority to baptize, but there was something still lacking. They were men who would not run before they were sent; they would not claim authority that had not been bestowed upon them. They waited the good pleasure of the Lord and he sent to them Peter, James and John. You recollect that Jesus, on one occasion, asked Peter whom men said he, the Son of Man, was. They said some said one thing and some another. Then said Jesus to them, “But whom say ye that I am?” and Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” That is, he had not received that knowledge from man, but from God; and said Jesus, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” What rock? “Oh,” says the Catholic, “upon Peter, he was a rock, and the Church was built upon him.” “No,” Say the Protestants, “not upon Peter, but upon Jesus.” “Now,” says Jesus, “upon this rock.” What rock? The rock of revelation—the principle upon which he was talking. He had spoken to Peter and told him that flesh and blood had not imparted to him certain knowledge which he possessed, but “my Father which is in heaven; and upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” They never can prevail against a Church built on the rock of revelation. “Upon this rock will I build my Church, and I will give unto thee, Peter, the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Now this Peter, who held this authority when it was withdrawn from the earth, still held it as an angel in the presence of God. What messengers better adapted to the exigencies of the case than Peter, with his two associates, James and John, to come and lay hands upon Joseph Smith and ordain him to the authority to preach the Gospel and to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost? It is the exercise of this authority, thus bestowed, which has gained the thousands from the various nations of the earth that people these mountain valleys! It is this authority which has enabled the Elders of this Church to traverse remote continents and islands of the sea without purse or scrip, and, in the name of Jesus Christ, proclaim his Gospel in its ancient simplicity, God confirming the word by signs following—the very same work and the very same results that followed the preaching of it in the days of Peter and his fellow Apostles.

How very singular, is it not, that Joseph Smith should have claimed to receive the authority from John the Baptist! How very singular that he should claim authority from the ordination of Peter, James and John—that is, if it were not true! How very singular! And then, to add to the singularity of the whole case and to the remarkable features of it, to think that the Elders of this Church have accomplished a work precisely similar in many respects to that which the ancient Apostles accomplished! Wherever they went and the people received their testimony they were of one heart and mind. And has it not been so in our day? We find in this Territory men representing nearly every country. They have come here by thousands from remote continents and isles of the sea, and they are united, not so much as they should be, or as they will be; but still there is amongst them a remarkable amount of union, peace, love, and goodwill, and an absence of litigation, drunkenness, theft, and the evils and vices that prevail in the world. The people are united, and from every hamlet, and every habitation over all this extended country, from north to south, their united prayers ascend morning, noon and night to God, to bless his servants and to bear off the Holy Priesthood and Apostleship. Yes, in all this land, and throughout the earth wherever the servants of God have gone, these same principles prevail and are observed by those who have received their testimony. The Saints are united; they sustain the authority which God has restored; for be it known there is an authority now on the earth by which men can declare to the people, “Thus saith the Lord,” just as we might suppose a servant of God would do anciently.

Do I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet because it was told to me in my childhood? Do I believe that Brigham Young is an Apostle and prophet because it has been told to me? Partly, but more from the fact that God has borne testimony to me by the revelations of the Holy Spirit; and I have grown in the belief and knowledge, and I know that Joseph was a prophet; I know that he was ordained of God; I know that he had the authority which he professed to have, and that it is in the Church; and I know, too, that the same signs follow the believers as did anciently, and the Church will grow and increase and spread abroad. It is on this account, my brethren and sisters and friends, that we are so hated, for the adversary knows it, and hence this persecution which seems so causeless.

May God bless us, help us to keep his commandments, to discern the truth, and to cleave to it all our days, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden City, June 4, 1871.

It is a great work to instruct ourselves and each other; and to bring ourselves into perfect subjection and to an understanding of principle. We know what it is to meet with obstructions, difficulties and contradictions of various kinds; and this people know pretty well what it is to have to contend with the influences of the wicked world; but we have reason to rejoice and be exceeding glad that we are not in the same circumstances now that we have been heretofore. We have peace here in these mountains, and since we arrived in these valleys we have been free from those obstructions with which our pathway was constantly strewn before. It is frequently asked me why we left the States and the society of our Christian brethren. My reply has invariably been, “We stayed with you just as long as you would let us, and when you would let us stay no longer we had to hunt up some other place, and we came to the valleys not out of choice but out of necessity.” It is true that we have had some little things to contend with here, but it amounts to no more than a war of words. Our religion will bear investigation, and we invite the Christian world to investigate and to exchange ideas concerning faith and principles.

Brother Wells has been telling you about some of the influences that we had to contend with in Illinois. This gentleman was not a “Mormon” when we went from Missouri to Illinois, neither was he when we left that State, and he was in a position to know what the feelings of the people were; his neighbors composed the band that slew Joseph and Hyrum in the jail at Carthage. He is acquainted with the circumstances. He says he has put them from his mind as much as possible, and does not think of them. I am happy to hear it. I wish we may never be under the necessity of again referring to what we have passed through; but we shall be, there is no question; and if we have to meet with influences of another character now, all that we have to do is to be prepared for them; and if the Lord brings us into circumstances in which we shall be as willing to live our religion and pray as some are to fight, it will be much better for us. We have many Elders in Israel who would much rather fight for their religion than pray. As for a person being saved in the celestial kingdom of God without being prepared to dwell in a pure and holy place, it is all nonsense and ridiculous; and if there be any who think they can gain the presence of the Father and the Son by fighting for instead of living their religion, they will be mistaken, consequently the quicker we make up our minds to live our religion the better it will be for us. If we live so as to enjoy the spirit of the faith that we have embraced there is no danger of our being deceived.

To those of our Christian brethren who have come here, not to join a mob to kill or persecute the Saints, but to see how many of those who have obeyed the Gospel they can induce to forsake the holy commandments of the Lord Jesus and to follow after phantoms, I say the quicker this war of words commences and the fiercer it is carried on the better it will be for the Saints. So we say come, brethren, come with your big tents, your meetinghouses, your arguments and all the philosophy you are in possession of, for we have a religion that we would like the inhabitants of the earth to understand. We have nothing in the dark, nothing but what is good for man; and we would say to all try our religion. We have tried and we understand the religions of the world; and in some remarks I made yesterday I ventured to say that our youth know more of heavenly things than old men do in the Christian world. If any doubt this, just take our children and question them, and if they have the courage and boldness, see how quickly they will lead members of the sectarian world into waters so deep that they cannot see the shore. But if a war of argument is desired or intended, I do not mean contention, but an exchange of ideas, we are willing to give to all who want them the principles of the Gospel of life and salvation, and they can give to us all they know of the Gospel as they have embraced it, which is no more nor less than a system of morals or ethics, and is excellent as far as it goes. But the Gospel that we have embraced includes every principle of morality and virtue that is taught by any person on the earth, whether he does or does not know or profess to know Christ.

If we are brought into circumstances where we have the privilege of telling strangers what we believe in we are very willing to do so; but the first thing with them is, “Oh, your strange doctrine, your peculiar doctrine!” How often this is said to me in my office. I say to them, “What peculiar doctrine? Will you please to name it?” The reply is, “Well, you know you have a peculiar doctrine;” and the ladies stand anxiously waiting for somebody or other to give it a name. I sometimes say, “Is it plurality of wives you mean?” “Yes, yes, that is the doctrine.” If I were to answer my own feelings to such parties, I would answer them and say, “That is nothing; so far as a plurality of women goes, you men, if you will allow me this vulgar expression, ‘knock the hind sights off the Mormons.’” But that is vulgar, and so let it pass.

“But,” say they, “what of your peculiar doctrine? What did you come to the mountains for? What did you leave us for? We suppose it was on account of your peculiar doctrine.” I reply, “Pause! Wait a moment! When we left the confines of what is called civilization the doctrine of plurality of wives was not known by the world, and was not taught by us, and was known only to a very few members of our Church; but since we have declared this revelation we have dwelt in peace and safety, so we were not persecuted for that, sure. We did not leave Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, or any other State or neighborhood within the confines of civilization for believing in the doctrine of a plurality of wives.” I say this to all who hear me. I want our young folks to understand this, or they may perhaps grow up with the idea that we were driven from our homes in consequence of our belief in celestial marriage. I want all our young, and all who believe the Gospel and all who do not believe it, to know that we were driven for believing in the Old and New Testament; not for believing in the Book of Mormon, but in the Bible, and then practicing it in our lives. This, and this only, is what we were driven for. It is now called the “one-man power;” then it was “the ‘Mormons’ clan together;” and this was the rock of offense or seemingly so; but in reality it was the same then as now and now as then—we as a people believe in the Scriptures of divine truth, and we are united in endeavoring to live according to the precepts thereof.

When Brother Wells was speaking he said the Christian religion had failed. I will say just what he meant to say—namely, that professing the Christian religion has failed to bring the world into subjection to moral laws. I would not say that Christianity has failed; the religion of Christ has not failed, but those professing this religion have failed to bring the world into subjection to good and wholesome laws. You may take up politics, for instance, and in our own country there are a great many parties who differ in their views and opinions with regard to governing a nation, and on every hand they are contending against each other. This division exists even among the professing Christians. The Catholics and Quakers are probably less divided than others, but they are far from being one in politics; and the same is true to a greater extent of the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists, and so on. When we see a religion, and one which is claimed to be the religion of Christ, and it will not govern men in their politics, it is a very poor religion, it is very feeble, very taint in its effects, hardly perceptible in the life of a person. The religion that the Lord has revealed from heaven unites the hearts of the people, and when they gather together, no matter where they are from, they are of one heart and one mind. Those who have no idea of the effects of the Gospel attribute the oneness it produces to the influence of individuals now living on the earth, instead of giving God the glory, praise and honor.

The religion of heaven unites the hearts of the people and makes them one. You may gather a people together, and no matter how widely they differ in politics, the Gospel of Jesus Christ will make them one, even if among them were found members of all the political parties in the country, I do not know how many different political parties now exist in the country. There used to be only Federals and Democrats, then Whigs, Republicans, Locofocos, Barn-burners, and Free-soilers. Then the “Know Nothings” sprang into existence. I believe the Ku-Klux is a new political organization; and I have heard that, in the City of Washington, the Anti-Ku-Klux, another political party, has recently been organized. If members of all these various organizations were to obey the Gospel and gather together, the religion of heaven would clear their hearts of all political rubbish and make them one in voting for principles and measures, instead of men, and I think that any religion that will not do this is very feeble in its effects. The Christian religion, or what is called so, has failed to subdue the world; but what will the Gospel of Jesus Christ do? If the Gospel that we preach, and which we are trying to set before priest and people—for we want all to know and understand it—if it does not have the effect of convincing men and women of the truth sufficiently to induce them to yield obedience to its ordinances and to embrace the doctrine of life and salvation, and accept the overtures of mercy, learn Christ and obey him, it will drive them to the wall of infidelity. Do we believe this? It must be so. Do others believe it? No, they do not. The Christian world do not know that they are infidels in their belief in regard to the character of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Priesthood and its laws and requirements. If a man does not believe that he ought to be baptized for the remission of his sins, he is an infidel to baptism. My definition of the term infidel is that if any principle or doctrine is set before me, and I say I disbelieve it, I am neither more nor less than an infidel to that principle or doctrine. Are the sectarian world infidels according to this definition? Yes, and if we had time we would take some passages of Scripture and prove it. Take, for instance, the character of the Savior, and the sectarian world are infidel on this point. What do they believe about it? I do not know what they believe, and they do not know themselves. Many of them do not know that they believe anything. They would he glad to believe if they knew what to believe. But not knowing what to believe, they say, “We do not know, we do not understand, we cannot tell. We understand some things by reading the Scriptures; but the ministers tell us they have a spiritual meaning.” Now what does this favorite saying of the ministers—“a spiritual meaning”—convey to the mind? Something or other that you and I do not understand, that is all. Well, then, partially, I will say, to a certain degree, it leaves us in infidelity. This is the situation of the sectarian world today—they do not know what to believe, and consequently they are full of unbelief and doubt, and we say that our children ought to know enough to teach the whole world with regard to these things. The divines of the day, when, they have graduated from the schools, seminaries and colleges, so far as their knowledge of heavenly things goes, are a bundle of trash and ignorance. I meet with some occasionally, however, who are very religious. I met with a gentleman in my office last Friday evening, who was very tenacious on some points touching morality. He put me in mind of a great many I have met in my travels—strong, staunch Christians. What did the religion of that individual consist of? I told you yesterday—ignorance and impudence—that is about the amount of it. Such men would be Christians if they knew how, they would like to be. But will they receive the truth? Our doctrine and practice is, and I have made it mine through life—to receive truth no matter where it comes from. Is there truth in heaven? Yes, it dwells there, it is the foundation of the heavens. Is there truth on earth and beneath the earth? There is. Is there truth in the words of a good man? Yes. In the words of a wicked man? Yes, sometimes; and there is truth in the words of an angel, and in the words of the devil, and when the devil speaks the truth I should have the spirit to discriminate between the truth and the error, and should receive the former and reject the latter. For example, you read in Genesis about the formation of the earth and the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden. By and by the devil comes along and tempts Eve, by offering her the fruit of a certain tree, assuring her at the same time that the very day she ate of it her eyes would be open and she would see like the Gods. Did the devil tell the truth? He did. Did he tell a lie? Yes, and how many of them he told to one truth I have not taken pains to examine. You take a wicked person, an opposer of the truth, one of our apostates, for instance, and he will tell you a little truth and mix it up with a great deal of error; but we should know enough to understand and receive the truth; that will do us good, and if we reject the error it will do us no harm.

This is our position, and we say to all Christians come and investigate our religion. Do we understand Methodism, Presbyterianism, Quakerism, Shakerism and the various other isms of the Christian world? Yes. I learned these, as far as their creeds go, many years ago. That which they could not tell and did not understand, I never did learn. My objection to their creeds and systems was that they talked about things they did not understand and could not tell a word about; consequently I was called an infidel. We say, give us the truth; but when strangers come to see me their first reflection is, “I would like to ask him a question if I dare.” What is it? It is all about wives. My conscience! What a generation of gentlemen and ladies we have! Their thoughts and reflections are continually about wives and husbands. Why the mind of a pure Saint and Christian is above such things. If it is necessary to take a wife, take one; if it is necessary to have a husband, have one. If it is necessary to have two wives, take them. If it is right, reasonable and proper and the Lord permits a man to take half a dozen wives, take them; but if the Lord says let them alone, let them alone. How long? Until we go down to the grave, if the Lord demand it. If he require an Elder or Elders to take their valise and travel and preach the Gospel until the day of their death, they should do it; and if they are not happy in so doing, it would prove that they do not possess the spirit of their religion.

This gentleman to whom I was speaking on Friday was tenacious with regard to the Sabbath; that was his whole theme. He commenced about our running cars here on the Sabbath Day. I told him in as few words as I could, that my feelings were not to do it, and if I had the management of railroads I would stop it. Why? Because the Lord has said that it is not good for us to work the seven days; it is good to work six and rest the seventh. Our system requires rest after six days’ labor, and consequently he has set the seventh apart for that purpose. But I told him I could not control that matter; the people want to run from Salt Lake to Ogden and back again to Salt Lake on Sundays, and consequently, as it is a matter of necessity, we run the cars on the Sabbath. Said he, “How can you reconcile this?” Said I, “It ought to be done, that is how I reconcile it.” Know whether you ought to do a thing or not, and if you ought to do it, do it; and if you ought not, let it alone. That is the way to live. You cannot read anything in the Bible about a railroad from Salt Lake City to Ogden, nor from the Atlantic to the Pacific; you cannot read anything about telegraph wires, nor whether they should work on a Sunday or lie still; nor anything about running a railroad, or a stage, or about the labor of the people who live now. By reading the Bible we can learn something about the way the ancients regulated their labors as far as the Lord told them what to do. It is one of the most simple things in the world for people to understand what course they should take; what a pity they do not all understand it! If men would live and humble themselves like children God could dwell within them and could dictate every heart. But to enjoy this we must live before the Lord, so that our minds would be like a sheet of white paper such as our reporters here are writing on, then the Lord could and would dictate all our movements. Live with a conscience void of offense towards God and man and the spirit of inspiration would indite matter on every such well regulated conscience. But our consciences are made by our parents and teachers; and just as we are taught by others are our consciences dictated. But we should all live so that the spirit of revelation could dictate and write on the heart and tell us what we should do, instead of the traditions of our parents and teachers. But to do this we must become like little children; and Jesus says if we do not we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. How simple it is! Live free from envy, malice, wrath, strife, bitter feelings, and evil speaking in our families and about our neighbors and friends, and all the inhabitants of the earth, wherever we meet them. Live so that our consciences are free, clean and clear. This is as simple as anything can be, and yet it is one of the hardest things to get people to understand, or rather to practice; for you may get them to understand it, but the great difficulty is to get them to practice it. If we, both priest and people, will practice this, the Spirit of the Lord can dictate and tell us our duty, and when that is presented before us we will go and do it.

But, instead of such principles as these occupying people’s minds now-a-days, it is, “How many wives have you, Mr. Young? Oh, I do want to ask Mr. Young how many wives he has.” Ladies who come into my office very frequently say, “I wonder if it would hurt his feelings if I were to ask him how many wives he has?” Let me say to all creation that I would as lief they should ask me that question as any other; but I would rather see them anxious to learn about the Gospel. Having wives is a secondary consideration; it is within the pale of duty, and consequently, it is all right. But to preach the Gospel, save the children of men, build up the kingdom of God, produce righteousness in the midst of the people; govern and control ourselves and our families and all we have influence over; make us of one heart and one mind; to clear the world from wickedness—this fighting and slaying, this mischievous spirit now so general, and to subdue and drive it from the face of the earth, and to usher in and establish the reign of universal peace, is our business, no matter how many wives a man has got, that makes no difference here or there. I want to say, and I wish you to publish it, that I would as soon be asked how many wives I have got as any other question, just as soon; but I would rather see something else in their minds, instead of all the time thinking “How many wives have you; or I wonder whom he slept with last night.” I can tell those who are curious on this point. I slept with all that slept, and we slept on one universal bed—the bosom of our mother earth, and we slept together. “Did you have anybody in bed with you?” “Yes.” “Who was it?” It was my wife, it was not your wife, nor your daughter nor sister, unless she was my wife, and that too legally. I can say that to all creation, and every honest man can say the same; but it is not all who are professed Christians who can say it, and I will say, and I am sorry to say it, not all professed “Mormons” can say this. Live so that your heart is pure and holy, and if the Lord Almighty gives you a wife take good care of her, and do not be like many of our brethren. I heard a contention this morning between an old man and his family, I am ashamed to say it; as I said to the brethren, “It is bad enough to see young fools, but worse to see old fools.” You only meet with a man occasionally who knows enough about human nature to govern his own family. Men, as a general thing, do not know the dispositions of their wives and children, nor how to govern and control them; and it is certainly a pretty close, intricate point. I have had some people ask me how I manage and control the people. I do it by telling them the truth and letting them do just as they have a mind to. I control my wives by telling them the truth and letting them do as they like. Will I quarrel with them? No, I will not. Some of them may have felt a little discouraged at this. I do not know, however, that they had a disposition to quarrel; if they have had, they are sick of it, for they have found out that they cannot raise the breeze. Devils, pigs, dogs and the brute creation quarrel. Do intelligent men quarrel? Yes, and men and women will quarrel, and sometimes they quarrel with their neighbors. I meet with some occasionally who need chastening, but as for quarrelling I do not think that I am guilty of it.

With these few remarks it is about time to close. We shall meet again, this afternoon. To satisfy my feelings I should have to say a good deal. I say to you who want to govern your wives, set them an example, continually, that is good. Let them say, “There is my husband, does he do anything that he should not do? No, he does not. He prays, he is faithful, humble, meek, full of kindness and of good words and works, I see nothing wrong in him.” If a man lives like this his wife will say, “I should be ashamed to get up a quarrel, I think I had better do as he says, I think he knows better than I do, I will yield my spirit to his.” If a man pursue this straightforward, manly, godlike course he will find woman in her place by his side following him. He is leading her, she is not leading him. When we find an Elder of Israel do this we find plenty of women who will go along with him. And this is the principle on which to govern a neighborhood or nation as well as a wife or children. When a king, ruler, president, governor or legislative assembly take this course, the people knew they are looking after the welfare of the governed instead of their own aggrandizement, and they will always be glad to have them in office, and they will not wish for a change. When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people mourn. This is the secret of it; if we govern ourselves we can govern others.

May the Lord bless us. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden City, June 3, 1871.

I am aware that Brother Franklin D. Richards’ request to the children to come to meeting this afternoon has produced a little excitement; but we are very happy to see the people together. My remarks will be to parents as well as to children. I will commence by saying that if each and every one of us who are parents will reflect upon the responsibilities devolving upon us we shall come to the conclusion that we should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish them to imitate. Do we realize this? How often we see parents demand obedience, good behavior, kind words, pleasant looks, a sweet voice and a bright eye from a child or children when they themselves are full of bitterness and scolding! How inconsistent and unreasonable this is! If we wish our children to look pleasant we should look pleasant at them; and if we wish them to speak kind words to each other, let us speak kind words to them. We need not go into detail, but we should carry out this principle from year to year in our whole lives, and do as we wish our children to do. I say this with regard to our morals and our faith in our religion.

Now let me call the attention of parents to another subject worthy of their notice—that is, the use of proper language. Take us as a people and we are not overstocked with language; there are very few highly educated men in the Church to which we belong. We have a few learned men and a few good scholars among the women, but they are scarce. Now, parents, and I wish you to remember this, should never permit themselves to speak improperly before a child, or to use language that would not be commendable in an orator. If you have not such language at your command, then use the best you have. It is true that to use that which we are in possession of to advantage is a peculiar gift. We see some who can use language, apparently, to their entire satisfaction, and yet they have no great store of language at their command; but still they have the happy faculty of conveying their ideas with greater propriety than others who are literary in their tastes and have been highly educated. There is considerable in making choice of words. For instance, if we were to address a man who had been disobedient and needed chastisement we would use very different language from that which would be used if addressing a child or a lady. If you wish to impress on the minds of individuals or an audience anything that you desire them to remember, you will have to use language accordingly. I have heard it observed that language should be used according to the merits or demerits of the case under consideration; this will do under some circumstances. I wish to impress upon myself, as well as upon my brethren and sisters, the propriety of never using language to a child that we should dislike to hear them use in refined society. If we have a choice set of words at our command we should always use them when speaking to our children, even from the time they commence to talk. If we do this, the effect will be very pleasing in after years, for when our children enter into polite and refined society, instead of being mortified and having to call them to one side to correct their unrefined language, the elegance and propriety of their mode of expression will be a source of gratification and pleasure. If a child has to be corrected for the use of improper or inelegant language, it might reply, “Mother, or father, I am using words that you taught me.”

Carry out this principle, not only in language, but in all the affairs of life; and let us always set an example before our children that is worthy of their imitation and highest admiration. If we do this, we shall have occasion to rejoice and be exceeding glad, for we shall have influence over them and they will not forsake us.

There is a passage in this good book (the Bible) said to have been written by a very wise man, which says—

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

To make a community thoroughly understand these words, a great deal of explanation would be necessary. To illustrate, I ask myself, am I capable of bringing up a child in the way that he should go? The answer is right here—I am not. Why not? Because I have not that light and intelligence in my possession and that command over myself to give to a child a suitable impression under every circumstance and in every place, when I address him or require anything of him. I would not speak discouragingly of myself or of my brethren and sisters. We know a great deal, but when we compare our knowledge with the fountain of knowledge it is very small; when our light is compared with the fountain of light it is very small, and consequently I can say that I am not prepared to bring up a child in the way he should go; and yet I probably come as near to it as any person that lives. How is it with my brethren and sisters? They are capable of bringing up their children a great deal better than they do, that is certain. If we do as well as we know how—use all the faith and intelligence in our possession, and seek to gain more, we will be able to bring up our children in such a way that very few of them will ever depart from the right path. I want you to remember this. If we will do just as well as we know how, never missing an opportunity of giving a word, a look or a principle that will do good to the rising generation, never permitting ourselves to be overtaken in fault, but preserving ourselves in the integrity and patience of our souls, there are very few of the rising generation with us that will depart from the words of life. As for those who are old amongst us, their traditions and prepossessed notions, imbibed in childhood, cling to them like a garment, or like something glued to them; and they govern them to a great extent, and it is almost an impossibility for old people to get rid of their traditions; but it will be very different with our children if we train them according to the will of God that has been revealed to us as a people. We have the Old and New Testaments; the Book of Mormon, giving an account of the aborigines of our country, the visit of the Savior to and the organization of his Church on this continent, the same as to his brethren on the land of Palestine. Then we have the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; in addition to these three books, we have the history, discourses and sayings of the Prophet Joseph, and the history, sayings and discourses of the Elders of Israel, and also the experience we have gained in this Church. Combine these, and I think we cannot come to the conclusion that we are ignorant and do not know anything; although I say that, in comparison with the fountain of all knowledge, our knowledge is small and trifling. But if we will do as well as we know how, we will be able to teach our children sufficient doctrine, truth and principle, that they will actually grow up into Christ, our living head.

Now let us say a few words with regard to human nature and its proneness to wander into evil. You go, for instance, to the river and commence to throw sticks and shavings into the water, and they will go downstream; and a great effort or a very powerful wind will be required to make a small boat, vessel, bark, or even a board that the children play with, go upstream. The same is true of small streams. Cast anything into them, and it goes downstream. We are taught in these books that, through the Fall, we have partaken so much of the nature of the enemy—he has so much influence in the flesh of every person, that we have to enter into a warfare, and we have to summon all our force and to use every effort to propel our bark upstream, or to put down iniquity in our own hearts and inclinations. I will pause right here, and refer to what brother George Q. Cannon was saying this morning to the children. Said he, “My boys, do not chew tobacco because you see others do it; do not smoke a cigar because you see others do it; my little girls, do not drink tea because you see mamma do it.” Now let me give you a comparison. Ask these little boys, if they saw two parties, one on the right hand praying to the Father in the name of Jesus, and the other on the left with a cigar in his mouth, puffing away as vigorously as possible, which they would be most inclined to imitate, and you will find they will instantly choose that which is evil. They are not inclined to pray; there seems to be a kind of a dread or terror about it, and they say, “We do not know how to ask the Father for blessings, and we do not think we could pray, but give us a cigar and we can puff as well as anybody.” This is only a comparison, but it furnishes a correct illustration of the facility with which evil habits are acquired, and how quick children as well as parents are to go astray, how quick their feet are to run into by and forbidden paths. But if parents will continually set before their children examples worthy of their imitation and the approval of our Father in heaven, they will turn the current, and the tide of feelings of their children, and they, eventually, will desire righteousness more than evil. This disposition will not be acquired in one day, week or year; but let parents spend their lives in teaching good, in good words and good looks and in the continual exercise of their faith in God, and their children will finally feel that they would rather be Christians than sinners.

Have we any proof of this? Yes. We have brethren here who have traveled a good deal, and who have been in the Church a good many years. If they could only think of them they could count over people by the hundred and the thousand who have left this Church; but you now see many of their children coming to Zion; and get into conversation with them and you will hear them say, “I have come to see what you, Latter-day Saints, are doing. My father was formerly a member of your Church; but he left and died in Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, or somewhere else. My parents taught me to believe the Gospel, and, although they were cut off from the Church, it has never left me. When I read the Bible I find that they taught me the truth. If I go to meeting among the sectarians, I gain neither light nor knowledge; but what my parents taught me has had an influence upon me through my life from my childhood up, and now I have come to see what you, Latter-day Saints, are doing.” And the children and grandchildren of those who apostatized years and years ago, will come up to Zion by hundreds and thousands, impelled by what their parents taught them in childhood.

This is another comparison. We are not quite all going to apostatize; a great many have died in the faith, and a great many have apostatized, but their posterity will come to Zion and believe the truth. Our children will have the love of the truth, if we but live our religion. Parents should take that course that their children can say, “I never knew my father to deceive or take advantage of a neighbor; I never knew my father take to himself that which did not belong to him, never, never! No, but he said, ‘Son, or daughter, be honest, true, virtuous, kind, industrious, prudent and full of good works.’” Such teachings from parents to their children will abide with them forever, unless they sin against the Holy Ghost, and some few, perhaps, will do this.

If you should have visits here from those professing to be Christians, and they intimate a desire to preach to you, by all means invite them to do so. Accord to every reputable person who may visit you, and who may wish to occupy the stands of your meetinghouses to preach to you, the privilege of doing so, no matter whether he be a Catholic, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Baptist, Freewill Baptist, Methodist, or whatever he may be; and if he wishes to speak to your children let him do so. Of course you have the power to correct whatever false teachings or impressions, if any, your children may hear or receive. I say to parents, place your children, as far as you have an opportunity to do so, in a position or situation to learn everything in the world that is worth learning. You will probably have what is called a Christian Church here; they will not admit that we are Christians, but they cannot think us further from the plan of salvation as revealed from heaven than we know them to be, so we are even on that ground, as far as it goes. But, as I was saying, you may have professing Christians come here to take up their residences in your midst; and I want to say to parents and children, that, so far as the Christian nations are concerned, I will take America, for instance, and on the score of morals—honesty, integrity, truthfulness and virtue, you will find people by hundreds of thousands just as good as any Latter-day Saints, as far as they know. They are the ones we are after. The Lord told us to go and preach the Gospel without purse and scrip. What for? To hunt up the honest ones who are now mixed up with all the nations of the earth and gather them together; and we have done so, as far as we have had the opportunity and privilege. And after we are gathered we are none too honest, any more than the inhabitants of the world generally are, and they hardly know the meaning of the term. Still, according to the light they possess, I mean the Christian world, thousands and millions of them are honest, virtuous and true, and I fellowship them as far as they do right. Is this strange? No, it is not. I wish that all the Latter-day Saints were as good, according to the knowledge they possess, as thousands and millions of the sectarian world are; and I will not skip even the heathen world, for many of them are as good and honest, according to the light they possess, as men and women know how to be.

Now, then, if our brethren of the Presbyterians, Methodists or any others visit here and want to preach to you, certainly let them preach, and have your children hear them. They will tell you to keep the Sabbath and to love your father and mother; they will tell you to be true, honest, industrious, to be faithful to your studies, to read the Bible and all good books, to study the sciences, &c., which is all good, and as far as such teaching goes just as good as it can be. If they want to come and teach your children in the Sunday school, I say let them do so, most certainly. We have scores of thousands of their books distributed among the Sunday schools throughout our Territory. Some Latter-day Saints think they are not exactly what they ought to be; but we are using them in our schools Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from one year’s end to another.

I say, parents, do not be afraid of having your children learn everything that is worth learning. I can pick hundreds and thousands of children in this Church whom I could teach with greater ease, and so could a man from college, than their parents could be taught. I can get at their senses better; they are quick and apprehensive and can learn sooner. And if any of our Christian brethren want to go into our Sabbath schools to teach our children, let them do so. They will not teach them anything immoral in the presence of those who are in charge of the schools; they wait until they get behind the door in the dark before they commit immoral acts, and very few of them will, even then. But in their Sunday schools they teach as good morals as you and I can teach.

I want to say that we are for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; we are pursuing the path of truth, and by and by we expect to possess a great deal more than we do now; but to say that we shall ever possess all truth, I pause, I do not know when. We receive light and truth from the fountain of light and truth, but I am not at liberty to say, and do not know that we shall ever see the time when we shall possess all truth. But we will receive truth from any source, wherever we can obtain it.

Next week the great camp meeting that has been so long contemplated is to commence in the city of Salt Lake, where, I have heard it whispered, there are so many of the “Mormons” to be converted. I am going to permit every one of my children to go and hear what they have to say. When we come to the sciences of the day the knowledge of the sectarian world is very extensive; the same is true of their morality; but when we come to read out of the Book of Life the words of the Almighty to the people, and compare them with the knowledge of the sectarian world, I am reminded of the words of Geo. Francis Train concerning a certain gentleman. Said he, “I want you to sit down and tell me all you know in five minutes.” They can tell all they know about God, godliness, heaven, earth, and the exaltation of man to the Godhead in five minutes, for they do not know anything. Our children can see this, and I want them to see it. If there is any man among them that does know anything about the plan of the Almighty for the redemption and exaltation of man, I hope and pray that I may have the privilege of seeing him. I recollect when I was young going to hear Lorenzo Dow preach. He was esteemed a very great man by the religious folks. I, although young in years and lacking experience, had thought a great many times that I would like to hear some man who could tell me something, when he opened the Bible, about the Son of God, the will of God, what the ancients did and received, saw and heard and knew pertaining to God and heaven. So I went to hear Lorenzo Dow. He stood up some of the time, and he sat down some of the time; he was in this position and in that position, and talked two or three hours, and when he got through I asked myself, “What have you learned from Lorenzo Dow?” and my answer was, “Nothing, nothing but morals.” He could tell the people they should not work on the Sabbath day; they should not lie, swear, steal, commit adultery, &c., but when he came to teaching the things of God he was as dark as midnight. And so I lived until, finally, I made a profession of religion. I thought to myself I would try to break off my sins and lead a better life and be as moral as I possibly could; for I was pretty sure that I should not stay here always. Where I was going to I did not know, but I would like to be as good as I know how while here, rather than run the risk of being full of evil. I had heard a good deal about religion, and what a good nice place heaven was, and how good the Lord was, and I thought I would try to live a pretty good life. But when I reached the years of, I will say, courage, I think that is the best term, I would ask questions. I would say, “Elder, or Minister, I read so and so in the Bible, how do you understand it?” Then I would go and hear them preach on the divinity of the Son, and the character of the Father and the Holy Ghost and their divinity, and, I will say, the divinity of the soul of man; what we are here for, and various kindred topics. But after asking questions and going to hear them preach year after year, What did I learn? Nothing. I would as lief go into a swamp at midnight to learn how to paint a picture and then define its colors when there is neither moon nor stars visible and profound darkness prevails, as to go to the religious world to learn about God, heaven, hell or the faith of a Christian. But they can explain our duty as rational, moral beings, and that is good, excellent as far as it goes.

This has been my experience in the Christian world, and I want our children to go and hear all there is to hear, for the whole sum of it will be wound up as I once heard one of the finest speakers America has ever produced say, when speaking on the soul of man. After laboring long on the subject, he straightened himself up—he was a fine looking man—and said he, “My brethren and sisters, I must come to the conclusion that the soul of man is an immaterial substance.” Said I, “Bah!” There was no more sense in his discourse than in the bleating of a sheep or the grunting of a pig. I palliated the facts partially, however, so far as he was concerned, by attributing my lack of comprehension to my own ignorance. This reminds me that I once heard Mr. Lansing preach a most elaborate discourse. It was in the morning, and when the meeting was dismissed and the people had come out, Deacon Brown says to Deacon Taylor, “What a sermon we have had!” Deacon Taylor says, “Yes, yes!” Deacon Brown says, “That is one of the most profound discourses I ever heard Mr. Lansing deliver;” and so they continued talking until one of them said at last, “I did not understand a word of it.” The other Deacon replied, “Neither did I.” Their verdict was a just one, for the discourse consisted of fine, beautiful words and nothing else, I saw and heard nothing to give me the least clue to anything pertaining to God, heaven, or the designs of the Creator with regard to the earth and its inhabitants. But as I did not understand a word of it, I supposed that was on account of my ignorance, until I heard the Deacons say that they did not, and then I concluded that I knew as much as they did. For this reason I say, go and learn all they know. Their catechisms are good; but if you come to the things of God I will be bound that we have children who, if they dare open their mouths and converse, would place them in water they could not fathom. Yet I say, go and see and hear them and learn what they know, then you can discriminate and discern, and will be able to understand why the Lord called upon Joseph Smith to come out and declare his will, and why he bestowed upon Joseph the Priesthood and its keys and powers. You will then learn, my little boys and girls, that the world of mankind scarcely know anything about the Bible. Ask them concerning the character of the Savior and they will expatiate and expound hour after hour, but they will tell absolutely nothing. I presume that there are sisters here who have asked ministers what a certain Scripture meant, and in reply they have talked, talked, talked, and wound up by saying, “Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. Sister, I cannot tell you.” Have you ever heard sisters and children ask questions of this kind? Yes, and so have I many times, but they have failed to obtain one particle of knowledge from their religious teachers. Why? Because they did not possess it. They did not know that Jesus was the express image of his Father, although they had read it in the Bible; they did not know that man was made in the image of his God, although they have read it hundreds of times in the book they profess to reverence and believe in so much. They cannot realize it. When and how will they realize it? When they submit themselves to the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus to give them revelation by the Holy Ghost. No man can call Jesus the Christ except it be revealed from heaven to him.

I will say to my young friends, my little brothers and sisters, go and learn everything you can. I say to parents, do not be afraid one particle! These children will learn something that we as parents know and understand already, and it is very grievous for us to realize that it is the truth. Joseph, our Prophet, was hunted and driven, arrested and persecuted, and although no law was ever made in these United States that would bear against him, for he never broke a law, yet to my certain knowledge he was defendant in forty-six lawsuits, and every time Mr. Priest was at the head of and led the band or mob who hunted and persecuted him. And when Joseph and Hyrum were slain in Carthage jail the mob, painted like Indians, was led by a preacher. And now they follow us up and want us to learn of them, when, so far as the characters of God and Jesus are concerned and the errand of Jesus into the world, our youth know better than the whole sectarian world. In coming to Utah to teach the “Mormons” the way of life, the Christians are but carrying coals to Newcastle. What is the use of going to “Mormon” settlements to teach the people temperance and sobriety, or to teach them the Bible? No more use than in going to Newcastle to sell coal. There is no other people in the world that believe in and practice the Bible as strictly as the Latter-day Saints. None but the Latter-day Saints properly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; no other people acknowledge him and keep his commandments; and yet they follow us up, their object, professedly, being to convert us to Christianity, but in reality it is to induce us to apostatize until they get the upper hand, that the Priesthood may again be destroyed from the earth. But never mind, let them go ahead, we shall see whether Christ or Baal will be king of the earth, and whether Baal will reign several thousand years longer. We shall find it out by and by.

I am saying this to parents, to those who have been in the midst of Christendom and have seen its workings; to women who have sat up night after night, for hundreds of nights, to watch their houses and keep the mob, led by priests, from slaughtering their husbands and families and destroying their property. Perhaps I ought to keep silent rather than say these things, but that would not be justice. Facts are facts and we cannot help it. I hope they will prove a little different in time to come. But with the exception of the infidel portion of it, the sectarian world has hewn out to itself broken cisterns that will hold no water; the priests have got their creeds, systems, and organizations, they live on the people, and they are afraid that, if truth be proclaimed, their craft will fall. Go to the infidel portion of the world and we are all right; for if they refuse to receive our doctrines they will talk and reason like men of intelligence. But with many of those professing to be Christian teachers it is very different, and in my secret estimate of the characters and attainments of many of them I have come to the conclusion that their forte is ignorance and impudence.

I will take another turn in my remarks, and will say if we were known by the world as we are, truly and honestly, I will not except the Christians nor their priests; if we were known by them as we know them, there is not a priest but would pray for the Latter-day Saints. The infidel world would also pray for us, and so would the political and moral world. But they do not know what the Lord is doing through us; they are ignorant, and in their ignorance they lift themselves up against God and his Anointed, for they have no eyes to see, ears to hear, nor hearts to understand. But some are becoming acquainted with us, and this has its influence. What is the object of the Lord Almighty in calling this people as he has done? This question may be answered in a very few words—it is nothing short of restoring to the midst of the children of men every truth, every good, all knowledge and everything lovely and beautiful for time and eternity, saving all that will or can be saved and exalting his children to thrones, and to crown them with crowns of glory, immortality and eternal lives. Do you see what is going to be the result of the course the Lord is pursuing with this people and with the world? You see some who formerly obeyed the Gospel leaving us occasionally. Where are they going? Is there anything else that will satisfy them? Not on this earth; they either remain faithful to the Gospel or go to infidelity. This is the fact. When men go from this Church they become infidels. They can say they believe in this, that or the other; they may turn to Spiritualism, bogusism, Emmaism or anything else; no matter what, but they must be infidels or else acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ.

The doctrine that we preach is the doctrine of the Bible, it is the doctrine the Lord has revealed for the salvation of the children of God, and when men, who have once obeyed it, deny it, they deny it with their eyes wide open, and knowing that they deny the truth and set at naught the counsels of the Almighty.

I have spoken quite awhile to you, my brethren and sisters. I have been teaching parents some things with regard to their children; now I wish to say to the children, obey your parents, be good, never suffer yourselves to do that which will mortify you through life, and that will cause you to look back with regret. While you are pure and spotless preserve yourselves in the integrity of your souls. Although you are young you know good from evil, and live so that you can look back on your lives and thank the Lord that he has preserved you, or has enabled you to preserve yourselves, so that you have no misconduct to regret or mourn over. Take this course and you will secure to yourselves an honorable name on earth among the good and the pure; you will maintain your integrity before heaven, and prove yourselves worthy of a high state of glory when you get through with this world.

God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, March 26, 1871.

I will call the attention of this congregation to a portion of the word of the Lord contained in the first five verses of the fortieth chapter of the prophecies of Isaiah—

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

“Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

“Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

“And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

These are the words of the inspired Prophet Isaiah, most of which remain to be fulfilled. The first two verses contain a prediction not yet fulfilled: ‘“Comfort ye my people, saith your God; speak comfortably to Jerusalem, cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

Every person who is acquainted with the history of the inhabitants of Jerusalem very well knows that this prediction has never received a fulfillment. In consequence of the wickedness of that people, and the great transgressions that they committed in the sight of heaven in rejecting the Lord, their true Messiah, great and severe calamities and judgments came upon them, and have continued upon them and their posterity until this age of the world. In other words, all those curses which are pronounced in the Book of Deuteronomy upon the head of Israel have literally been fulfilled during the past eighteen hundred years. I have no need to enter into particulars with regard to that devoted race; but I will state, very briefly, some of the judgments that they have endured.

After the Prophet Isaiah had delivered this prophecy they suffered severely at the hands of the Babylonians, who, about six centuries before Christ, came against the Jews and Jerusalem and destroyed many of their nation, and carried the remnant of them into captivity to Babylon, where they remained some seventy years. They then returned and rebuilt their city and temple, and were chastened at various times from that period until their Messiah came, in fulfillment of the prophecies and predictions of Isaiah concerning the first advent of the Redeemer. He came, as he, himself, expressed it, to his own, but his own received him not. They looked upon him as a base impostor, as a Sabbath breaker, a gluttonous man and a winebibber. Instead of being a moral character, in their estimation, he was a friend of publicans and sinners, and associated with them instead of with those who professed to be religious. They persecuted, hated and reviled him; and finally succeeded, in fulfillment of prophecy, in crucifying him.

Jesus, before he was crucified, said unto the Jews, “I say unto you that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a people who shall bring forth the fruits thereof.” As much as to say, “You once enjoyed the fruits of the kingdom; you once had in your midst inspired men, prophets, great and holy men who spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost; you once enjoyed all the blessings and gifts of the kingdom of God; in the days of your righteousness you enjoyed these fruits in abundance. But, alas! You have departed from the laws of that kingdom; you have forsaken the religion of your fathers; you have turned your hearts away, you have apostatized from the truth, and the fruits that were enjoyed by your fathers no longer exist among you. Your fathers were in possession of all the miraculous fruits and blessings and gifts of the kingdom. They could prophesy and see visions; they could hear the voice of the Lord speaking to them; they could enjoy the power and gift of the Holy Spirit; work miracles in the name of the Lord; heal the sick; cast out devils and perform all these miracles that are recorded in the Old Testament; and these were the fruits of that kingdom which you, the Jewish nation, once enjoyed; but because you have rejected your Messiah, rejected the testimony of the prophets concerning him; rejected the testimony given in the law of Moses, and those great types pointing to the Messiah, you, in turn, shall be rejected, the kingdom shall be taken from you, and it shall be given to a nation who shall bring forth the fruits thereof.”

Again, Jesus says, before he was crucified, when looking upon Jerusalem, the capital city of the Jews, “O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but ye would not.”

Again, after enumerating their wickednesses, pointing out their apostasy, and pronouncing a great variety of woes upon them, he finally delivers a prediction of this nature upon the heads of this devoted people, “There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people; they shall be destroyed by the edge of the sword; they shall be carried away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

This was literally fulfilled upon their heads. Titus, the Roman general, laid siege to that city and overcame the Jews, eleven hundred thousand of whom were killed, and ninety-seven thousand taken into captivity, many of the latter being afterwards persecuted and killed by their enemies; thus a poor, miserable remnant were scattered abroad among all the various nations and kingdoms of the earth. Jerusalem, their beloved city, where their temple was built, where the name of the Lord was placed, and from which they had been warned by the mouth of the prophets, where the voice of inspiration had been heard; where Jesus himself, who spake as never man spake, ministered for many months. That city was delivered up to the Gentiles, and overcome by them; the stones of their beautiful temple were torn down to the very foundation, and the city passed into the hands of the Gentiles, and has remained in their possession from that day until the present time, which, I think, is now precisely 18 centuries since that people were scattered and became a hiss and a by-word among all nations. It was said this morning that they invoked the curse of the Almighty on their heads when they said, at the crucifixion of the Savior, “Let his blood be upon us and upon our children.” The Lord took them at their word, and his blood has been answered upon their heads, and upon the heads of their children, and their children’s children, until eighteen long centuries have rolled away.

When will the time come for this great curse to be removed from the Jewish nation? When shall it be said that “her iniquity is pardoned, she has received at the Lord’s hand double for all her sins?” When shall the message go forth, in the words of our text, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God? Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received at the Lord’s hand double for her sins.” I ask the question; where shall we get the reply? In what way will this comforting message be delivered to the inhabitants or the earth? When shall this glorious cry go forth concerning this persecuted, downtrodden people? When shall Jerusalem be rebuilt in all its beauty and glory by the hand of the people who have been so long scattered among the nations? When shall that beautiful and holy temple be again reared upon its former foundations, and the glory of the Lord be manifested in it? There is such a proclamation to be made manifest, such a message to go forth by Divine authority and power, and to be delivered to the children of men, comforting the inhabitants of Jerusalem and declaring that her warfare is accomplished.

Before this great message for the redemption and salvation of the Jewish nation can ever go forth, there is a certain work to be performed on the earth, certain purposes to be fulfilled, and until that is fulfilled and accomplished, Jerusalem can never be rebuilt, and the Jews can never return as a nation. A decree has gone forth by the mouth of the Son of God himself, that that city should be in the possession of the Gentiles, and that it should be trodden down by them, and that the Jews should be scattered among the nations until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Who, among all the inhabitants of the earth, can tell us how the Lord will bring about the fulfillment of this prediction in regard to the Gentiles? Who is able to declare when the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled? Who knows anything about it, unless it be revealed from heaven? We might pore over the pages of the Bible, understand many of the prophecies that have been fulfilled, and be able to treasure up in our hearts and commit to memory all the predictions of the prophets, and yet, without new revelation, no person would be able to decide when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. We might, of course, by carefully searching the prophecies, judge of the particular period of age of the world in which that would take place; but to come to the exact year is out of the power of human wisdom, it cannot comprehend it; nothing but new revelation can put us in possession of this important knowledge. In vain may attempts be made, by the organization of societies, for the amelioration of the condition of the Jews; in vain will societies be organized for their restoration to their own land and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, until the Lord’s time arrive.

It may not be amiss to declare, in a very few words, the belief of the Latter-day Saints, in regard to the fulfilling of the times of the Gentiles; that is, what we understand by the fulfilling of their times. We believe, as was said this morning, that before the times of the Gentiles can possibly be fulfilled, a proclamation must come from heaven and be sounded in their ears—namely, that an angel must come from heaven and bring the everlasting Gospel, not for the Jews, the descendants of Israel, alone, but for every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Gentiles and Jews, all must hear it, for the prediction is that when the angel comes forth with that message from heaven, it is to be preached to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people. This, of course, includes Gentiles as well as Jews. We cannot, therefore, suppose that the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled until after that event takes place. When the angel comes, when the servants of God are sent forth by Divine authority with a proclamation, and have fulfilled that prediction by declaring the everlasting Gospel to all the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles, then their times will be fulfilled, and not before.

What would be the use of sending the Gospel to the Gentiles if their times were fulfilled and there was no hope or chance for them to receive salvation? The very declaration—that an angel shall come forth with the Gospel in the latter days before the destruction of the wicked, and that that Gospel is to be preached to Gentiles as well as Jews, is proof and evidence to every reflecting mind that believes the Bible that the Gentiles will have an opportunity, until that message is delivered and the prediction concerning it fulfilled. When that is done the law is bound, the testimony is sealed, so far as they are concerned.

When the Almighty, in the present century, sent forth an angel from heaven, as we heard this forenoon, and restored the Gospel and the authority and power to preach it and administer its ordinances, and organized this Church on the earth, and sent forth his servants to all nations so far as they would open their doors to receive them, they were fulfilling the commands of the Most High given by the angel. We have been forty years, since the angel came, fulfilling that prediction; how many more years the Lord may bear with the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles before they are cut off I do not know. How many more years will pass over our heads that we will have the privilege of declaring the fullness of the everlasting Gospel among the nations of the Gentiles is not revealed. All that we know on the subject is what the Lord told us some forty years ago, that the times of the Gentiles would be fulfilled in the generation in which he established his Church, that is, that before the generation living forty years ago have all passed away the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled. And what then? The prediction of Isaiah, in another place, will be literally fulfilled—the “law will be bound up and the testimony sealed” so far as sending the Gospel to the Gentile nations is concerned.

What will be the next work to be performed? The Jews will then come in remembrance before the Lord. That is, the set time for their deliverance and restoration will have come, the period predicted by the mouth of the ancient prophet in which the Gospel shall be proclaimed to them. In testimony of this let me refer you to the eleventh chapter of Romans, in which the Apostle Paul has touched upon this subject very plainly. We will read a few passages, commencing at the 13th verse:

“For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

“If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.”

Again he says, speaking of Israel—

“And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

“Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

“Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”

Thus the kingdom was taken from Israel and given to them (the Gentiles) and they brought forth the fruits of it. Says Paul again—

“Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

“For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.”

A great warning to the Gentiles—the house of Israel—the branches of the tame olive tree were broken off because they ceased to bring forth the fruits of the kingdom of God. As much as to say, Because they ceased to bring forth the fruit that pertains to the tame olive tree, they were broken off through unbelief, therefore you Gentiles, who are now grafted in, being branches of the wild olive tree, take heed and beware lest you fall after the same example of unbelief. If thou standest by faith, boast not against the branches, etc.

Paul says—

“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou shalt be cut off.”

Now, here is a definite prediction: if ye continue in his goodness, the goodness of God will be extended to you, though you are Gentiles, though you are grafted, contrary to nature, into the tame olive tree, but if you do not continue in his goodness, if you lose your faith, as the house of Israel lost it; if you cease to bring forth the fruits of the kingdom, as they have done, you also shall be cut off. And they also; that is, the Jews, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again; but if they were cut out of an olive tree, wild by nature, and were grafted, contrary to nature, into a good olive tree, how much more shall those which be the natural branches (meaning the scattered Jews), be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in—

“And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”

You see, the Lord has a blessing in store for Jacob—the literal seed of Israel; but we cannot go to them until the Gentile fullness has come in, until their times are fulfilled, then all Israel will be saved, by a Deliverer sent out of Zion; in other words, there will be a Zion again on the earth. The earth has been destitute of a Zion for about sixteen centuries. No Church of God, no prophets, no inspired Apostles, no voice of God from the heavens, no ministration of angels; none of the ancient powers and gifts, all the fruits of the kingdom of God that existed in the first century of the Christian era banished from among the Gentile nations, and the cry among them all is, “That the power of godliness, as manifested in the first century of the Christian era, is no longer necessary.” They have a form of godliness without the power thereof. The power then manifested, say they, is not to be enjoyed by the people of our day and age.

Having, then, lost their faith and ceased to bring forth the fruits of the kingdom, the prediction has gone forth that they also shall be cut off. But when? Not until the Lord sends that angel from heaven with the everlasting Gospel, and sends forth his servants by Divine authority to preach the Gospel to all the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles. When that has been done it brings condemnation wherever the sound of it goes and the people reject it. But a few will receive it; a few will gather together and they will build up Zion, and out of that Zion will come a Deliverer who will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

Who will be that Deliverer? Certainly Jesus, when he came eighteen centuries ago, did not turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for they then were filling up their cup with iniquity. They have remained in unbelief from that day to this; hence, there did not come a Deliverer out of Zion eighteen centuries ago. But the Zion of the last days, that Zion that is so frequently and so fully spoken of by the ancient prophets, especially by Isaiah, is the Church and kingdom of God; and out of that Church or kingdom or Zion is to come a Deliverer, who will turn away ungodliness from Jacob after the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Paul further says—

“As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes.”

Again he says, in the 30th verse—

“For as ye in times past, believed not God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these,” meaning Israel, “also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.”

This shows that the proclamation which goes to Israel must come through the Gentile nations; that is, through those whom God may select among the Gentiles, that through the mercy and kindness of the Gentiles, or those who receive the message in the latter days, the house of Israel may be saved.

This is what the Lord has in store for his servants. You young men who sit here on these seats will live to see the times of the Gentiles fulfilled; you will live to see the time when the Lord will give you a direct command from on high to no more go into the cities of the Gentiles to preach unto them, the law having been bound, the testimony sealed; and the mission which you will receive, young men, will be to go to the scattered remnants of the house of Israel among all the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles. To search them out and proclaim to them the message restored by the angel, that it may be preached to Israel, as well as to the Gentiles. That is your destiny; that, young men, is what the Lord will require at your hands. We have labored, in the midst of persecution, for forty years past in trying to establish Zion among the Gentiles.

Will the Gentiles be entirely cut off? Oh no, there will be a great many, even when Israel are gathering, who will come along and say, “Let us be numbered with Israel, and be made partakers of the same blessings with them; let us enter into the same covenant and be gathered with them and with the people of God.” Though the testimony is bound, and though the law is sealed up, yet there will be an opening for you to come in. But you will have to come of your own accord, there will be no message sent to you, no ministration of the servants of God expressly directed to you. When the times of the Gentiles are filled, through the mercy of the believing Gentiles, the house of Israel must obtain mercy; that is, through the messengers that will then go forth and fulfill the first verses of my text—“Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God.”

Individuals are now sitting in this Tabernacle who will carry this message. The young among us will go forth to the ends of the earth and declare to the scattered remnants of Israel, wherever found, the comforting words that, “The times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, that the day is come for the covenant which God made with the ancient fathers of Israel to be fulfilled;” and you will have the pleasure of gathering them up by thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, from the islands of the sea and from all quarters of the earth; for that will be a day of power far more than it is while the Gospel continues among the Gentiles.

“But,” inquires one, “have you any testimony from the Scriptures to prove that that day will be a day of power?” Hear what the Lord says by the mouth of the Psalmist David, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.” They are not willing now and have not been willing for eighteen centuries past. But when the day of his power comes they will be willing to hearken, they will gather up to their promised land, for it will be the day of the Lord’s power. In what respect will there be power manifested then? As power was manifested when the Lord brought Israel from the Egyptian nation into the wilderness of Sinai and spoke to them by his own voice, so will the power of Almighty God be made manifest among all the nations of the earth when he brings about the redemption and restoration of his people Israel; or, in other words, the former display of power will be eclipsed, for that which was done in one land, among the Israelites and Egyptians in the wilderness, will be performed among all nations. So says the prophet. Let us quote prophecy to show what the day of the Lord’s power means, when the people of Israel will be willing. The first to which I will call your attention will be found recorded in the 20th chapter of Ezekiel, commencing at the 33rd verse—

“As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:

“And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

“And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.

“Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.”

This will be when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, and you Elders of Zion are sent to the house of Israel. You will go in the Lord’s power, and so great will be that power that you will have influence over them. You will tell them that their warfare is accomplished, that their iniquity is pardoned, and that they have received at the Lord’s hand double for all their sin; and the Lord will bear witness of this by his mighty power, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm will the Lord do this, and with fury poured out. Poured out upon whom? Upon all the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles who will not receive the truth, their times being fulfilled. It will be expressly the day of the Lord’s judgment, or, in other words, the hour of the Lord’s judgment, that is spoken of in the 14th chapter of Revelation, when the angel brings the Gospel.

It is not only a Gospel to be preached to all the nations of the earth, but in connection with it you will have to make proclamation connected with it, to all people, to fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come. And as these judgments come, kingdoms and thrones will be cast down and overturned. Empire will war with empire, kingdom with kingdom, and city with city, and there will be one general revolution throughout the earth, the Jews fleeing to their own country, desolation coming upon the wicked, with the swiftness of whirlwinds and fury poured out, recollect, as it was poured out on the Egyptians.

Let us read the 35th verse—

“And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.”

“No more miracles,” say this Christian generation; “no more power to be made manifest; we have a form of godliness, but we don’t need this display of power.” This is their cry, with all these prophecies staring them in the face.

“I will bring you into the wilderness.”

Bring whom? The house of Israel which are gathered from all these various nations. “I will bring you into the wilderness, and there I will plead with you face to face as I plead with your fathers in the wilderness, in the land of Egypt.” How did he plead with them there? He plead with them by his power, by splendid miracles, by his own voice he caused Mount Sinai to tremble under the sound and power of his voice, while lightnings and thunders were made manifest before all the congregation of Israel. He spoke to them by the voice of a trumpet which, when the twenty-five hundred thousand of the hosts of Israel heard, they fled, and stood afar off—they were afraid and fearful, because the Lord had descended upon Mount Sinai. So will he plead with Israel in the latter days, and show forth his mighty hand and power, when he gathers them from the nations; and he will give revelation as he did to their fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt.

But as a still further testimony of the power that will be made manifest in the restitution of Israel, let me refer you to another passage, which is contained in the 11th chapter of Isaiah, “He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Here is a declaration that the two great kingdoms of Israel—its “outcasts,” the ten tribes, scattered seven hundred and twenty years before Christ, and the “dispersed of Judah,” dispersed among all nations, shall be gathered. But before he gathers them he will set up an ensign—an ensign is to be raised in the latter days especially for the gathering of Israel.

Again, says the Prophet, “And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea.” How? “With his mighty power shall he shake his hand over the river and shall smite it in the seven streams and make men go over dry-shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” The same thing, not a spiritual, but a literal transaction, as the Lord smote the tongue of the Egyptian sea in ancient days, and caused his people to go through on a highway in the midst of those mighty waters which stood like walls on each side of the assembly of Israel. So in the latter days he will not only cut off the tongue of the Egyptian sea, but the river in its seven streams will also be divided and men will go through dry-shod. This is the testimony of the prophets concerning the events that are to take place when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

But in regard to this ensign, the Lord has never said that he will lift it up before the time comes to gather Israel. And now let us inquire where will it be lifted up; in what part of the earth will he commence the great work? He must begin it among the Gentiles, as I have already said, and as Isaiah tells us in the 49th chapter—a standard or ensign, to which the people will gather, will be reared among the Gentiles. Recollect this is something to be commenced among the Gentiles, not among the Jewish nation, not away yonder in Palestine or Jerusalem. “Thus saith the Lord God, behold I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles and set up my standard to the people”—the same ensign that Isaiah speaks of in the eleventh chapter—for a standard and an ensign are synonymous terms.

Now, notice what follows, as soon as this standard is raised among the Gentiles, “They shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;” that is, those who receive that standard, or who embrace the work and gather to the standard, “shall bring thy sons in their arms and thy daughters on their shoulders.” Will the kings of the earth help on this work? Yes, for the prophet says, “And kings shall be their nursing fathers and their queens thy nursing mothers.” What more about the Gentiles? “And they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet.” Israel is to be honored: the Lord will require even the kings of the Gentiles—their great men, lords, nobles and rulers to bow down and lick up the dust of their feet, for he intends to make Israel the head and not the tail.

To show still more fully the place where this ensign or standard is to be raised, let me refer you to the 18th chapter of Isaiah, wherein you will find these words, “Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.” In the 3rd verse of that chapter, after uttering the prediction concerning the judgment to come upon that land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia from Palestine—a land that has the appearance of shadowing with wings, like North and South America, the prophet says, “All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains, and when he bloweth with a trumpet, hear ye”—something that the Lord considered worthy of the attention of all the people of the earth. It was not to be sounded to one nation alone, not a work like that of ancient days—to be done among the Egyptian nation alone, but “all ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifts up an ensign on the mountains, and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.”

Now Webster and other lexicographers in their definitions of the word “standard” say it is something to which the people rally and around which they gather, as you Latter-day Saints have rallied to these mountains from all the various nations and kingdoms of Europe; from Australia, Southern Africa, Hindostan and other parts of the earth. Here the “standard” has been lifted up, the “ensign” has been raised; the angel has come, the voice of inspiration is again heard; the Church of the living God is again reared; Zion is rising in the earth; the times of the Gentiles will soon be fulfilled, and when that epoch arrives all the inhabitants of the earth will be required to see, understand and listen to that which God is doing in the midst of the mountains. He is raising up a people there that are called his Church, his kingdom, that never is to be destroyed, but is to continue forever.

This agrees with the testimony of the Prophet Daniel. In his second chapter we are informed that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, had a dream in which it was revealed to him concerning the kingdoms of this world, down to the latter days. Daniel came forth before the king, related the dream and gave the interpretation thereof. Said he—

“Thou, O king, sawest, and beheld a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

“This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

“His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

“Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”

The mountain referred to by Daniel is the place where the standard is to be raised and the ensign is to be reared; the same place whence the proclamation was to go to all the dwellers on the face of the earth requiring them to listen to the same, and to see the stone that was cut out of the mountains that was eventually to fill the whole earth; while the great image representing all human governments was to become like the chaff of the summer threshingfloor.

Are there any statesmen in this congregation, among the strangers who are visiting in our midst, who are desirous to know the future destiny of the nations, kingdoms and governments of our globe? Read the prophecies; there you will find portrayed the destiny of all governments organized by human wisdom; they are to become like the chaff of the summer threshingfloor—the wind is to carry them away, and no place is to be found for them, from the head of gold to the feet and toes of iron and clay, all are to be broken to pieces together. And what is to remain in their stead? A stone cut out of the mountains without hands—little in its beginning, insignificant in the estimation of the great and powerful kingdoms of the world; but it is to roll forth, become a great mountain and fill the whole earth and to continue forever. Hear what the prophet has said—

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

The kingdom that was set up eighteen hundred years ago by our Savior and his Apostles was destroyed out of the earth in fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel and John the Revelator. They said that the powers of the world would make war with that kingdom and overcome it. That has been fulfilled to the very letter. The kingdom of God, with its inspired prophets and Apostles, was rooted out of the earth, also the Priesthood with all its powers; and instead thereof churches, creeds and governments have been reared and built up by human wisdom; but the kingdom of God that is to be established in these last days, instead of being overcome and destroyed out of the earth, is to stand forever; it was not to be delivered to another people, that is, it is never to change hands, but once established, once organized on the earth, it is to continue from that time henceforth and forever, while the kingdoms of this world will vanish away like the dream of a night vision.

Now we begin to understand the latter part of our text. Not only is Israel to be saved; but “prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert an highway for our God.” What do we want with an highway in the desert? We have already read about the highway through the Red Sea, and through the seven streams of the river of Egypt that is to be cast up like it was in ancient days; but what need have we for a highway in the desert? It is for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over. What ransomed of the Lord? Those who are ransomed from among the nations, by the proclamation of the everlasting Gospel, those who listen to the angelic message that comes from heaven; they who have toiled with ox teams, mule teams and handcarts and wheelbarrows to get themselves here, to lay a foundation of the work of God in the midst of this desert. They need a highway here, that the balance who are to come hereafter, and they will come by hundreds of thousands, may come swiftly, and more speedily than by handcart conveyances. And this puts me in mind of another passage in regard to the highway connected with the proclamation of the Gospel to all the world.

Isaiah says, “Cast up, cast up an highway, gather out the stones, lift up a standard for the people, prepare ye the way of the people, for behold the Lord hath proclaimed unto the ends of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold thy salvation cometh; behold his reward is with him and his work is before him. They shall call them a holy people, the redeemed of the Lord; and they shall be called, sought out, a city not forsaken.” What a curious work to take place in the latter days! A highway to be made, and the stones to be gathered out! When these men, sitting here on these seats, were working out in these rugged mountains for some two or three hundred miles fulfilling these prophecies, did you blast out the rocks and gather out the stones?

Another thing connected with the prophecy says, “Go through, go through the gates; cast up an highway,” etc., I have no doubt that the prophet saw the construction of this highway in vision, in fact he must have seen it or he could not have predicted it to such a nicety. He must also have seen these trains crossing this great continent, “dodging” into what seemed to be holes in the mountains, and after watching a little while see them come out at the opposite side. He did not call them tunnels in those days, but said, “Go through the gates,” etc.

In order to show how swiftly the people would come on this highway in the latter days let me refer you to the 5th chapter of Isaiah and the 26th verse, “He will lift up his ensign to the nations from afar, and will hiss unto them from the ends of the earth; and behold they shall come with speed swiftly.” Not with handcarts and ox teams as we did for many years; but they are to come from the ends of the earth swiftly. But he tells us that an ensign is to be lifted up. All these predictions center in one: The standard, the ensign, the proclamation, the casting up of the highway, and the coming with speed swiftly, all concentrate, as it were, into one, to fulfil the great purposes of Jehovah in the latter days.

“Lift up an ensign to the nations from afar!” Where was Isaiah when he delivered this prophecy? In Palestine. Do you think you could get much further from Palestine and have an ensign raised up from afar? It is not an ensign that is to be raised up in the land of Palestine, right where the prophet predicted it; but he saw from afar, from a great distance, the great work God would perform in the latter day. “Lift up an ensign for the nations;” not for one nation, not for a few people; but it was a work that was general in its nature—an ensign or standard the raising of which was to affect all the inhabitants of the earth. And when this is accomplished an highway was to be built and be made straight in the desert—an highway for our God. Why? Because, says our text, the glory of the Lord was to be revealed and all flesh was to see it together. This does not refer to the first coming of the Messiah, but to that great advent spoken of by all the prophets when he shall come in his glory and power, when the mountains and hills that are on the east, west, north and south of this valley will be leveled; when the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and when the glory of the Lord will be revealed; and, instead of a few seeing it, as they did in ancient times, “all flesh will see it together;” for every eye shall see him when he comes in his glory and power to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 21, 1871.

If my friends will have patience with me I will say a few words. To the Latter-day Saints I say, I do pray you to prove the words of Brother Cannon true with regard to being obedient to your President in all things, and doing as he tells you. I pray you to hearken to this counsel; if you do, contention and sin will cease, and we shall not see men going to the canyon or riding out for pleasure on the Sabbath day, instead of coming here to meeting; we shall hear no more of their taking advantage of each other, stirring up strife, going to law, bearing false witness, or pilfering a little the one from the other. I pray you to take this counsel, and cease your wickedness, Latter-day Saints, and do as your President tells you. I feel to say this; and if you will be patient with me I will say a little more.

There are strangers here, and to them I will say we have traveled the earth over, and where we could not go we have sent by Elders and by proclamation. We have asked the inhabitants of the earth to become acquainted with our doctrine. Would they read it? No. Would they go to hear an Elder preach? No, as a general thing they would not. If we had been let alone while with the Christians we would have been there now proclaiming the Gospel. But I wish to say to strangers that we were not persecuted because we believed in having many wives, for that principle was not known to our persecutors until we came to these mountains, although the revelation was received by Joseph Smith and written a year before his death. Since this doctrine has been proclaimed we have lived in peace.

The inquiry among many, and especially among our political friends, is, “What are you going to do? Are you going to observe the law against plurality of wives, or are you going to obey the revelation?” We have obeyed the revelation thus far, and still live; that I can say, and perhaps that is enough. What do we say about the lawmakers? Go to, ye legislators, and make a law that every man in this government shall have one wife. You have just as good a right to do that as to say that we shall not have two. Let every man have his wife, raise his family, live virtuously and keep his vows, and our difficulty is at an end. We say to Congressmen and Presidents, have your wife; and we also say to every political and financial man the world over, marry the women and take care of them and save us the trouble. If you do not, we will gather them up, just as sure as the world. Many destroy life; we save it; and as we have said, years and years ago, we say now to all, the day that you will be virtuous and cease your unlawful connections with the sex and every man have his wife, and all the inhabitants of this government observe this rule, we shall have then but one wife apiece; but we shall save all we can save. The men are the lords of the earth, and they are more inclined to reject the Gospel than the women. The women are a great deal more inclined to believe the truth than the men; they comprehend it more quickly, and they are submissive and easy to teach, and if we cannot save the men, let us save the women for God’s sake, and do not find fault with us.

Again, a gentleman said to me, the other day, “What are you going to do with the anti-polygamy law?” I replied, “Nothing at all, we mind our own business, and I hope everybody else will. We have not meddled with it, and do not expect to; but we expect to live.”

I want to say a word with regard to what are called our former persecutions; though I, for one, will acknowledge that I have never been persecuted. As for what people do with my name, I do not know nor care; they use it for good or for evil, just as they please. The Lord gave a revelation through his servant to me, that my name should be had for good and for evil before the nations of the earth, and if that is the way they use it, all right—either one or both, no matter. Hands off is all I ask, and let us have the privilege of living in peace. But will you hearken to the truth? Will you listen to the words of eternal life? We have traveled the earth over, and have read to the people out of the book of life; but as a general thing they have refused to receive it. It is true that a few have received it in the past, and I hope that many will in the future. We shall gather and save all we can. The rise and cause of our persecutions have been just the same as it has ever been in the experience of the Saints of God. Who were the leaders and foremost in the ranks of the Savior’s persecutors? The Scribes and the Pharisees. Who were foremost in the ranks in persecuting Joseph Smith, even when he had the pledge of the governor of the State of Illinois that he should be preserved, and when not one scratch or law could be found against him? Who led the blackened crew who said that if the law could not reach him, powder and ball should? The priests; they have always led the van, and always will. It is Baal against Christ now, as it always was.

When we were in Missouri the order was issued, “You ‘Mormons’ must leave the State,” and thirty-five hundred men were paraded for battle against about three hundred of the Elders of Israel, but they did not happen to kill us all. They took Joseph, or rather they sent for him and Hyrum, and, they went down to their camp, and General Clark called the brethren together, and, said he, “Give up your arms and every weapon you have;” and the brethren gave them up. I stood there and heard the General declare, “Gentlemen, you are the best and most peaceable community there is in this State; but,” said he, “as for your prophets, bishops, high councils, &c., we shall not permit you to have them any longer. Forsake your religion and abandon your Prophet! We have him, and you will never see him again; forsake this banding together and being one, and live with us and become as we are. You are the very mechanics and farmers we want. You have shown us how to build mills, set out orchards, raise wheat, rear comfortable habitations, school the children, build meetinghouses, and, in short, you have done more to make the country in three years than we have in fifteen. You are good citizens, but you must not clan together, you must disperse among the people; if you do not, remember the militia will be upon you.” We bid them goodbye and left our property; we would not forsake our prophets then, and we are of the same mind yet.

Here we are, though we did not come here because we chose to get out of the way of the Christians. We wanted to stay with our former brethren, to induce them if possible to receive the truth; but they would not hear it. The world of mankind is sunk in ignorance and darkness; but the Lord Almighty has revealed his will from heaven, and we shall declare it to the people, and give them a chance to receive or reject it. The Lord invites all to come, and partake of the benefits of his Gospel, which, we are told in the Scriptures, is the power of God unto salvation; and our experience has proved that it is so, whether taken in a moral, social, political, or financial point of view. We have gathered the poorest class of men to be found on the continent of America, and I was one of them; and we have gathered the same class from Europe, for very few indeed of those who have obeyed the Gospel have ever been the possessors of any wealth. We have taken the poor and the ignorant from the dens and caves of the earth and brought them here, and we have labored day and night, week after week, and year after year, to make ourselves comfortable, and to obtain all the knowledge there is in the world, and the knowledge that comes from God, and we shall continue to do so. We shall take the weak and the feeble and bring them up to the standard that God requires. The Gospel of life and salvation does not reduce those who obey it to beggary; but it takes the poor and the ignorant, makes them wise and happy, and surrounds them with the comforts of life and everything de– sirable, and teaches them to serve God with all their hearts.

This, gentlemen, is our doctrine, faith, and practice; and we wish strangers to understand that we did not come here out of choice, but because we were obliged to go somewhere, and this was the best place we could find. It was impossible for any person to live here unless he labored hard and battled and fought against the elements, but it was a first-rate place to raise Latter-day Saints, and we shall be blessed in living here, and shall yet make it like the Garden of Eden; and the Lord Almighty will hedge about his Saints and will defend and preserve them if they will do his will. The only fear I have is that we will not do right; if we do we will be like a city set on a hill, our light will not be hid. I trust that the time will soon come when, in all things, our conduct will be such that all the world might pattern after us with advantage. I can say that at the present time we are far from that. It is sometimes said by strangers, “We suppose you Latter-day Saints consider yourselves perfect, don’t you?” I answer, not by any means; we are as imperfect as a people ought to be, and a little more so.

I wish that what Brother George Q. said of you was true—that you were all obedient to your President. If you all will be, you will cease sinning, tattling, lying, backbiting, and strife; all will be industrious, prudent, faithful and full of wisdom and good works, and the power of God will be upon us more and more, and we will be able to do more good to the inhabitants of the earth. We have no quarrel with anybody. We exchange ideas, but we will not contend. As I used to say to the ministers, when traveling and preaching, “I will not dispute. If you want the truth I will give it you; and if you have a truth that I have not, I want all you have; but contention is not my calling; it is no part of the Gospel of Christ; that is peace, life, light, and salvation. The Lord has given that to me and you, and you are welcome to it.”

I wanted to say these few words to you. I thank you for your patience. God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, May 21, 1871.

I feel to bear my testimony to the truth as far as we have heard it today, and to all truth. We have been hearing of the Gospel of life and salvation, a subject which should interest the whole human family as soon as they can become acquainted with it. The subject of salvation should occupy the thoughts and reflections of every intelligent being. The salvation and redemption wrought out by the Savior is for us—it was purchased for us. The character we have been hearing of is our Savior and Redeemer—the Savior of the whole world of mankind, and of all creatures pertaining to the earth, and the earth itself, for all will be redeemed by the blood of the Son of God. We should have a part in this, and we can say truly that we have a part in it. Whether it will benefit us as it might, depends upon our own thoughts, reflections and actions—upon our obedience to the requirements of our Father in heaven to secure to us life everlasting. The Father has done all he can do on his part: He has given his only begotten Son; he has sent light into the world; he bestows his Spirit upon the children of men; he lights up the understanding of every person that lives, that ever did or ever will live upon the earth. Christ is the light that lights every man that comes into the world. We have this light, will we improve on it?

In my reflections on the Gospel of life and salvation and the theories of the children of men I have contrasted the various beliefs, faiths, ordinances and operations of the people who profess to worship a Supreme Being. Not only the Christians; for I do not know of any nation on the earth but what has some object which it worships as supreme, and to which it renders adoration. This is the case even with the heathen, although they worship gods which their own hands make. No matter about this, they are ignorant; but that spirit that dwells in the children of men prompts them to worship, adore, to seek after that which will better their condition and make themselves happy. This is the condition of all the inhabitants of the earth, whether Christian or Pagan; although the innate disposition to render homage to some invisible power as the Supreme Ruler is modified and diversified according to their varied traditions. The effects of tradition are as visible among Christians as among heathens; and these traditions, as well as our own superior intelligence, lead us to regard the worship of the heathen as nonsensical, and we may say ridiculous. We can have no faith in this; we see no propriety in bowing down to gods made with our own hands, whether they be gods of gold, silver, wood or stone. This would be folly in the extreme to persons who believe in the New Testament; we say we will worship the Being who has redeemed us, him who created us and all things and who rules and governs all things according to his good pleasure, whether in heaven or on earth. But will we worship according to the directions that He has given? Will we believe the doctrine that Jesus has left on record in the New Testament, or will we believe in something that varies from this?

We see that Christendom is full of religion; in fact the world is full of it, no matter where we go. I have been brought up to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; I am taught to believe in him. Perhaps if I, my parents before me, and the nation in which I was born and brought up had never heard of his name, I would treat it with as much indifference as the heathen do when they hear of it; and yet if men did but understand the light of Christ that is within them it would prompt them, universally, to adore and admire, we will say, the God of nature—him who has created and formed the earth and all things it contains, including us, who, in the image of our Creator, dwell upon and inhabit it. I say that, did we all understand this light of Christ, possessed by every human being when born into the world, it would prompt us to worship the God of nature; and did we heed it as we ought we would not be likely to come to the conclusion that there is no personal God.

Among the remarks made here this morning was one worthy the notice of every intelligent being, and that was that if we do not understand the mysteries of the being of our Creator, shall we deny it? Shall we deny the existence of that which we do not understand? If we do, we would want to keep an iron bedstead to measure every person according to our own measurement and dimensions; and if persons were too long we would cut them off, and if too short draw them out. But we should discard this principle, and our motto should be, we will let every one believe as he pleases and follow out the convictions of his own mind, for all are free to choose or refuse; they are free to serve God or to deny him. We have the Scriptures of divine truth, and we are free to believe or deny them. But we shall be brought to judgment before God for all these things, and shall have to give an account to him who has the right to call us to an account for the deeds done in the body.

What shall we believe, then, when we reflect upon and consider all these things? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Who can object to him? When his character is set forth in its true light what fault can be found with him? I have no question, as an individual, but that the Jews believed they saw a great many defects in the Savior. I would just as soon believe that the ignorant wicked can see no defects in the character of a modern prophet as to believe that the Jews could see none in the Savior. I have had the privilege, in my lifetime, of reading some of the writings which have been preserved and handed down by the Jews, which contained their description of the Savior’s character, and certainly, nothing could be more ridiculous; and I remember that, on one occasion, when talking to the Prophet Joseph about these things, I said to him, “No matter what they say about you, I will defy mortal man to say worse about a modern prophet than the Jews have said about the Savior;” and that the character of the Redeemer presented no defects whatever to the eyes of those among whom he lived, is what I would not say. I may say, however, that men who did not believe in him looked through prejudiced eyes, and hence they were unable to view him in his true light; and no man who has ever lived on the earth was more ridiculed and traduced than he was. But when we, that is, the Christian world, read an account of his character and doings, not the least blemish or defect is seen; it might be different, however, if he were here in our midst. Suppose that he or his Apostles were to walk through Christendom, preaching the Gospel without purse or scrip, do you think that if they tried to gain admission to the pulpits in the churches or places of worship which have been erected in their honor, and called the churches of the Savior, or of St. Matthew, John, Paul, Peter, Bartholomew and so on, that they could gain admittance? Let reason, guided and enlightened by the conduct of the people, answer, and it will give the negative at once to every building of this kind erected in Christendom; so far as my knowledge extends, this would be the result except among the Latter-day Saints. Perhaps some may say that I have too much faith in the prophecies of God, in the latter-day work, and in the administration of individuals that now live and have lived on the earth in our day. Be it so, no matter to me. I am here to testify in the name of the God of Israel that for many years past there have been men traveling through the length and breadth of the earth who possess the same power and authority as that with which Jesus endowed his Apostles when he told them to go into all the world and “preach the Gospel to every creature, and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned, and these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils, heal the sick, speak with new tongues,” &c.

I am a witness here, today, that these sayings and promises have been fulfilled in these latter days as much as they were in the days of the Savior. Have the dead been brought to life? Yes, or those who, to all appearance, were dead, and this is so to my certain knowledge. But were they dead? No, they were not. What did Jesus say to his disciples and those who followed him to the grave of Lazarus, when they were mourning and bewailing, and beseeching him to say the word only and it should be done? Jesus said, “He is not dead, but sleepeth.” So it has been in these latter days. To all appearance life and breath had departed, but they yet lived, and some who, under such circumstances, were restored by the power of God, are still living. The eyes of the blind have been opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped; the lame have been made to leap, and foul spirits have been cast out. Has this been the case in every instance? Not by any means, neither was it in the days of the Savior. They who have faith receive these blessings if they live according to the spirit of the holy Gospel.

Is there any harm in preaching and believing in such doctrines, and realizing the blessings? I often ask myself this question, but I fail to see harm or impropriety therein. I know that some say we can be saved without a Savior. If parties like to believe this, all right; but if we can be saved without, we certainly can with. Some will say we can be saved without believing in baptism; very well, we surely can be then if we do believe in it. Some say we can be saved just as well without having hands laid on for the reception of the Holy Ghost as with; if we can be saved without we certainly can be with. If an Elder of Israel lay his hands upon us and say, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” there is not the least harm in it; it is conferring a blessing. “I desire to bless you,” says the Elder, “and if I had power I would bless you; and according to the faith in me I do dispense the Holy Spirit to you.” It is a blessing pure as the angels in heaven. If I say to the sick, “Be healed and blessed,” or bid foul spirits, pain, fever or any disease whatever, “Depart,” it is a blessing to the patient, and there is not the least harm in it in the world. And now, suppose the Elders of this Church have power to say, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” and the Holy Ghost is given, is there any harm in it? Not the least in the world; and if we can be saved without these things we certainly can with, so we are on sure ground. Suppose that we can be saved without doing precisely as the Savior has told us, we most certainly shall be by observing what he has left on record for our salvation. But he has said that not one jot or tittle of his word or of the law shall pass without being fulfilled; and it is no matter whether he speaks by his own voice, by the voice of an angel, or through his faithful servants here on the earth, all the words of the Lord Almighty will certainly be fulfilled; then if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and comply with all the requirements of his Gospel we are on safe ground.

If it is acceptable in the sight of Heaven for a minister to dip his finger in water contained in a gold, silver or marble vase, and then wet the forehead of the child or the adult, and call this baptism, where can be the harm in going down into the waters of baptism as Jesus did, and as the eunuch did? I say where is the harm in being buried with Christ in baptism? I cannot see the least harm in it. Then if we are safe without baptism for the remission of sins, we are certainly safe with it. If we are safe without having hands laid upon us for the reception of the Holy Ghost, we are certainly safe with it; if we are saved without having the gift of faith to heal the sick or cast out devils, we are assuredly saved with. Then where is the danger of those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and keep his commandments?

The cry of the Christian world is “The Bible, the Bible,” but who will believe it? Who will believe that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Son of God and the express image of his Father? But a few will believe these things, and yet the salvation that Jesus has purchased will reach the whole human family and save, in a kingdom or in some place where they will enjoy to the extent of their capacity, those who reject not the Gospel and despise not the Savior. Those who set at naught the counsels of God are the only ones the Gospel will not reach and save in a kingdom. But who will go into the celestial kingdom? Those who obey the Gospel of the Son of God, and then walk in all humility before the Lord and keep his commandments in all things. They are the ones who will enter in at the strait gate. Jesus said, “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life”—that is our translation; the original is, “that leads to the lives”—“and few there be that find it; while broad is the gate and wide is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat.” Many will there be who will miss receiving the blessings and being caught up with Christ in the air, and being saved in the presence of the Father and the Son, that now anticipate enjoying the glory, excellency and exaltation which God has prepared for the faithful.

The inquiry arises with a great many, “What are you going to do with all the rest of the human family, are you going to send them to hell?” I will answer the question as Joseph once did when a person asked him, “Will everybody be damned except the Latter-day Saints?” “Yes,” said Joseph, “and many of them, unless they take a different course from what they are now taking.” Who will be saved in the celestial kingdom, and go into the presence of the Father and Son? Those only who observe the whole law, who keep the commandments of God—those who walk in newness of life, observe all his precepts and do his will. Are we going to send all the rest to hell? Not the sectarian hell, pardon the expression. The wicked, we are told, will be turned into hell, with all the nations that forget God, and that is very true. But where is hell? Read for yourselves. What is hell? Read for yourselves. You may call it hell, Hades, or the world of spirits. It is where Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison. All who have not received the Gospel, who have not had the advantages resulting from strict obedience to the ordinances, are there subject to the evil power, to the principle of death. There they will reside who have denied the Lord Jesus Christ; but they will be resurrected and will receive their bodies again; but blessed and holy is he on whom the second death hath no power. On many it will have power; but what proportion of the whole human family from the days of Adam to the last born on the earth will become angels of the devil and will reap the wrath of God and endure it forever and ever, it is not for me to say; but none will, save those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost. Who is able to do this? That is the question. I will tell you of one man who could have committed this sin.

We read in the days of the Apostles of a certain man named Cornelius, a devout man and one who worshipped the Lord according to the light he possessed. As he was once praying in his house, the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he and his household rejoiced exceedingly. What was the word of the Lord to Cornelius under these circumstances? Was it “You are saved, you are just right, you can build up churches, you can show the people that they can be saved, and can receive the Holy Ghost without the laying on of hands?” No, the word of the Lord to Cornelius was, “Send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter; he lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside; he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.” Cornelius sent to Joppa, and just before his messengers reached the house at which Simon lodged, he had had a vision in which a sheet descended from heaven, in which were all manner of beasts and creeping things of the earth; and a voice said, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” And the voice said unto him, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” At that time the Gospel had been given to the Jews only, and Peter and his brethren had the idea that it was not for the Gentiles; but this vision was as much as to say, “I want to open your eyes and show you that the Gentiles as well as the Jews are to receive and participate in the blessings of the Gospel. Just as Peter awoke from his vision there came a rap at the door and the messengers of Cornelius inquired for him, and made known to him their errand, and he and some of his brethren went down and conversed with Cornelius, and while doing so the Spirit of God rested on them so powerfully that they glorified God. The Jews who were with Peter commenced, “Take care, Peter, we do not like this; we do not understand that the Gentiles are to have the Gospel. The Savior is the Savior of the Jews; Jesus was the king of the Jews only and not the king of the Gentiles.” Peter commanded them to be still. Said he, “Do you not see the pouring out of the Spirit just as on the Day of Pentecost, these people speaking with new tongues and prophesying;” and said he, seeing that this is the case, “Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we.” Cornelius, if he had rejected the testimony of Peter, would have been led to reject the Holy Ghost, which had fallen upon him, and been lost.

This was an instance in which the Holy Ghost was given before baptism; there may be other cases in these days, but if parties are thus favored of the Lord, the outpouring of his Spirit prompts them to send for an Elder of Israel that they may be baptized for the remission of their sins. I do not know that it is recorded that Cornelius received a remission of sins before baptism. The quotation has been read here from the Scriptures that except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God; and unless he be born of the water and of the Spirit he cannot enter it; that is, no man can see and understand the kingdom of God unless the Spirit reveal it to him. When a person receives the Holy Ghost he begins to read the Bible understandingly. It is a new book to him. Is this fortunate or unfortunate for him? I will say it is fortunate for those who receive the Gospel as preached by the Latter-day Saints, when the Spirit of the Lord rests upon them. Such an individual will say, “The Bible is a new book to me, bless me; I never read the principles understandingly in my life before; I could not understand them. I never read the New Testament, nor comprehended the character of the Savior and his teachings to his disciples as now; although I have read the Scriptures hundreds of times they never were plain before.” The Spirit may rest upon many and reveal to them the wonderful things of God; but when it does it will prompt them to obey the commands of the Lord Jesus. Is this the fact? It is. Well, we will say it is very fortunate for those who receive this Gospel and the spirit of it in their hearts, for it awakes within them a desire to know and understand the things of God more than they ever did before in their lives, and they begin to inquire, read and search, and when they go to the Father in the name of Jesus he will not leave them without a witness.

When we go to the nations we say, “Receive ye the Gospel, treasure it up in your hearts; the Spirit is ready to testify to you at any moment; are you ready to receive the Spirit?” No person need wait; whenever the spirit within him yields obedience to the still small voice that whispers, “This is the way, walk ye in it,” that Spirit is ready in a moment to teach, guide and direct him in the way of life and salvation. If there is darkness, it is the result of our own organization and intelligence being beclouded and far from the things of God. We listen to the continual promptings of the Man of Sin, when he says, “Do not you submit to the Lord, do not inquire of the Lord; do not ask for the Spirit of the Lord; do not go to the Father in the name of Jesus, or if you do go, be very careful how you go. Let reason take the stand with you, let the words of your petitions be dictated by the reason that is within you, then you will be very sure not to ask in the spirit of meekness! No, you should not yield your manhood to any spirit to ask for things you need, or that you may be led, guided and preserved in the way of truth.”

These are the promptings of the devil; but when the spirit in man yields obedience and brings the flesh into subjection the Spirit of the Lord is then ready to whisper to the individual, “This is the way, walk ye in it;” and such individuals can go on their way rejoicing, regardless of those who cry, “Lo! here is Christ,” or “Lo! there is Christ;” for the Spirit will teach them that Jesus is the Christ and that the Bible is true. It may not all have been translated aright, and many precious things may have been rejected in the compilation and translation of the Bible; but we understand, from the writings of one of the Apostles, that if all the sayings and doings of the Savior, had been written, the world could not contain them. I will say that the world could not understand them. They do not understand what we have on record, nor the character of the Savior, as delineated in the Scriptures; and yet it is one of the simplest things in the world, and the Bible, when it is understood, is one of the simplest books in the world, for, as far as it is translated correctly, it is nothing but truth, and in truth there is no mystery save to the ignorant. The revelations of the Lord to his creatures are adapted to the lowest capacity, and they bring life and salvation to all who are willing to receive them. They are so simple that the high-minded and those lifted up in their own estimation will say, “I cannot get down so low as that.” If they pray, they dare not ask for the things they want. I have known a great many individuals who dare not ask God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ if the doctrine we preach is true. They have a conviction within them that it is true, and they say, “If we ask we shall receive the witness we ask for, and then we shall have no excuse whatever for not obeying it.” I have had it said to me, “I am sorry I have learned so much, sorry I have had so much revealed. I wish I was as ignorant as I was a few years ago.” What will be the condition of such individuals? Ignorance will be their portion. Let him that is ignorant remain ignorant still. The Gospel will do them no good; but they who are honest before the Lord, and ask in the name of Jesus, will receive a testimony, and know that Jesus is the Christ. Flesh and blood will not reveal this to them, neither will the sciences of the day; it can only be known by the spirit of revelation. The kingdom of God and its mysteries are and can be known only to him to whom God reveals them, and I hope and pray that we are or may be among that number. It is very customary to pray to the Lord, but in my petitions I pray a great deal to the Latter-day Saints, or those who profess to be. When traveling and preaching I frequently pray the people, in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God, I pray you, my hearers, to ask the Father, in the name of Jesus, whether these things be true or not. I cannot pray the Father that he will compel you to know; it would be no use for the Father to compel you to know the truth. All must be willing to ask for and receive it. The fountain is open, truth is ready, its streams are waiting and desirous to come and testify to every individual on the earth who is willing to be taught that Jesus is the Christ, the Gospel is true, God is true, life and salvation are true. We are here upon this earth—upon this little dark, opaque body; if we were in some of the celestial kingdoms and were to look at this earth it would not appear larger, probably, than just a little speck, a black marble! Who can notice such an insignificant affair? God notices this world. He organized it, and brought forth the inhabitants upon it. We are his children, literally, spiritually, naturally, and in every respect. We are the children of our Father; Jesus is our elder brother, ready to save all who will come to him. By and by the Lord will purify the earth, and it will become pure and holy, like a sea of glass; then it will take its place in the rank of the celestial ones, and be recognized as celestial; but at the present time it is a dark, little speck in space.

I pray the people and all who hear me, be ye reconciled to God, and ask for the things that you want. If you want life and salvation, ask for it in faith, humility and meekness. Be willing to receive the truth let it come from whom it may; no difference, not a particle. Just as soon receive the Gospel from Joseph Smith as from Peter, who lived in the days of Jesus. Receive it from one man as soon as another. If God has called an individual and sent him to preach the Gospel that is enough for me to know; it is no matter who it is, all I want is to know the truth. This should be the feelings and the heartbeatings of every individual that lives on the earth. If we are endowed with intelligence we can know and understand things for ourselves.

You have received the truth, Latter-day Saints; live it. You know it perfectly well. When a Latter-day Saint says, I have sinned, will you forgive me? Did you sin knowingly? Tell the truth and say “Yes,” you sinned, with your eyes wide open. When you commit a wrong, after having been enlightened, you violate your own judgment, and the convictions of the spirit that is within you. Why not live as we should? We should be the best people on the earth; we have more knowledge of the things of God and of his purposes than the rest of the inhabitants of the earth that we have any knowledge of. Then what manner of persons should we be? I do pray you to live your religion, and pray God to bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 14, 1871.

I sometimes ask the Saints a question with regard to our meetings, but I have not done so lately. We come here on Sabbath mornings to this large hall, which will contain a great many people, but only a few, in pro– portion to the number there is in the city who should be here, attend; and I ask myself and have heretofore asked the people why they do not attend? Do they love their meetings, do they love their religion, and do they love to hear the servants of the Lord bear testimony to the truth? How is it? Perhaps many of the brethren and sisters think we are not as interesting in our conversation as we should be. I will say to such, we will give the ground to you at any time you will take the stand, and we will sit and hear. But when we talk to you we give you such ideas as we have, and we clothe them in the best language that is in our possession, according to the ability and the gift and grace that we possess. Whether they are interesting to you or not is not for me to say. It is true the Saints may ask me why I do not attend meetings more strictly than I do. I will say that, in my life, I have been very strict in attending meetings, and when I attend now I feel that the Saints require me to speak to them; that is their desire and their faith; but I have met with and talked to them and the inhabitants of the earth so much that I very frequently feel that my talk is almost finished, it is pretty much gone out of me; not the subjects to talk upon or the ideas, but the strength of my human existence, and in consequence of this during the winter just passed I have stayed at home. I have not asked the Saints to excuse me on this account, for I think that I know my own duty and what I should or should not do better than anybody else; but as I am feeling much better with regard to my stomach and lungs, though I have no complaint to make of my lungs as to the wind chest—I have plenty of strength there; but the organs of speech in this tabernacle are actually worn; but as I am feeling better I expect to meet with you more frequently.

It is my highest delight and pleasure to serve God and keep his commandments; there is great delight in the law of the Lord to me, for the simple reason—it is pure, holy, just, and true; and those principles which the Lord has revealed are the only correct principles that man possesses on the earth. We may imagine to ourselves that we possess a great deal of human wisdom independent of the Lord, but this is a mistake, for every truth that is in the possession of the children of men upon the earth came from God. The sciences understood by man came from God, and when we demonstrate a truth, we demonstrate a portion of the faith, law, or power by which all intelligent beings exist, whether in heaven or on earth, consequently when we have truth in our possession we have so much of the knowledge of God. I delight in this, because truth is calculated to sustain itself; it is based upon eternal facts and will endure, while all else will sooner or later perish.

It was observed here just now that we differ from the Christian world in our religious faith and belief; and so we do very materially. I am not astonished that infidelity prevails to a great extent among the inhabitants of the earth, for the religious teachers of the people advance many ideas and notions for truth which are in opposition to and contradict facts demonstrated by science, and which are generally understood. Says the scientific man, “I do not see your religion to be true; I do not understand the law, light, rules, religion, or whatever you call it, which you say God has revealed; it is confusion to me, and if I submit to and embrace your views and theories I must reject the facts which science demonstrates to me.” This is the position, and the line of demarcation has been plainly drawn, by those who profess Christianity, between the sciences and revealed religion. You take, for instance, our geologists, and they tell us that this earth has been in existence for thousands and millions of years. They think, and they have good reason for their faith, that their researches and investigations enable them to demonstrate that this earth has been in existence as long as they assert it has; and they say, “If the Lord, as religionists declare, made the earth out of nothing in six days, six thousand years ago, our studies are all vain; but by what we can learn from nature and the immutable laws of the Creator as revealed therein, we know that your theories are incorrect and consequently we must reject your religions as false and vain; we must be what you call infidels, with the demonstrated truths of science in our possession; or, rejecting those truths, become enthusiasts in, what you call, Christianity.”

In these respects we differ from the Christian world, for our religion will not clash with or contradict the facts of science in any particular. You may take geology, for instance, and it is a true science; not that I would say for a moment that all the conclusions and deductions of its professors are true, but its leading principles are; they are facts—they are eternal; and to assert that the Lord made this earth out of nothing is preposterous and impossible. God never made something out of nothing; it is not in the economy or law by which the worlds were, are, or will exist. There is an eternity before us, and it is full of matter; and if we but understand enough of the Lord and his ways, we would say that he took of this matter and organized this earth from it. How long it has been organized it is not for me to say, and I do not care anything about it. As for the Bible account of the creation we may say that the Lord gave it to Moses, or rather Moses obtained the history and traditions of the fathers, and from these picked out what he considered necessary, and that account has been handed down from age to age, and we have got it, no matter whether it is correct or not, and whether the Lord found the earth empty and void, whether he made it out of nothing or out of the rude elements; or whether he made it in six days or in as many millions of years, is and will remain a matter of speculation in the minds of men unless he give revelation on the subject. If we understood the process of creation there would be no mystery about it, it would be all reasonable and plain, for there is no mystery except to the ignorant. This we know by what we have learned naturally since we have had a being on the earth. We can now take a hymn book and read its contents; but if we had never learned our letters and knew nothing about type or paper or their uses, and should take up a book and look at it, it would be a great mystery; and still more so would it be to see a person read line after line, and give expression therefrom to the sentiments of himself or others. But this is no mystery to us now, because we have learned our letters, and then learned to place those letters into syllables, the syllables into words, and the words into sentences.

Fifty or a hundred years ago, if anyone had told the people of the East Indies that water could be congealed, and form ice so thick and hard that you could walk on and drive teams over it, they would probably have said, “We do not believe a word of it.” Why? Because they did not know anything about it. A proper reply for all mankind to make under similar circumstances would be, “We do not know anything about what you say, and do not know whether we should have faith in it or not. Perhaps we should, but we have no evidence at present on which to found such a belief.” You go down south here among some of our native Indian tribes, where some of the very best of blankets are made, and you will find them twisting their yarn with their fingers and little sticks, and their loom attached to the limbs of trees for weaving purposes. Show them a loom such as white people use, and it would be a perfect mystery to them. Sixty or seventy years ago a loom worked by water power would have been a mystery to an American, but, there is no mystery in that today, because the process is understood. So it is with the East Indians and ice, for the chemist now, by a chemical process, will congeal the water and make ice of it before their eyes, and it is in this way, by testimony, evidence, and demonstration that ignorance and prejudice are removed, faith implanted and knowledge acquired. It is so with regard to all the facts in existence that we do not understand.

We differ very much with Christendom in regard to the sciences of religion. Our religion embraces all truth and every fact in existence, no matter whether in heaven, earth, or hell. A fact is a fact, all truth issues forth from the Fountain of truth, and the sciences are facts as far as men have proved them. In talking to a gentleman not long ago, I said, “The Lord is one of the most scientific men that ever lived; you have no idea of the knowledge that he has with regard to the sciences. If you did but know it, every truth that you and all men have acquired a knowledge of through study and research, has come from him—he is the fountain whence all truth and wisdom flow; he is the fountain of all knowledge, and of every true principle that exists in heaven or on earth.” The gentleman said that such ideas conflicted with his traditions; but said he, “I like to hear such talk and such principles taught, for we do know, from scientific research and investigation, that certain facts exist in nature which those called Christians discard or throw away; they do not want anything to do with them; they say this has nothing to do with religion; but you talk very different to this.”

Yes, we do differ in these respects from the Christian world; with them it is “glory, hallelujah,” shouting “Praise the Lord,” singing, praying and preaching; and when they are out of meeting they are too apt to enter into the spirit of the world. The religion that we have embraced must last a man from Monday morning until Monday morning, and from Saturday night until Saturday night, and from one new year until another; it must be in all our thoughts and words, in all our ways and dealings. We come here to tell the people how to be saved; we know how, consequently we can tell others. Suppose our calling, tomorrow, is to conduct a railroad, to go into some philosophical business, or no matter what, our minds, our faith or religion, our God and his Spirit are with us; and if we should happen to be found in a room dedicated for purposes of amusement and an accident should occur, and an Elder engaged in the dance is called upon to go and lay hands on the sick, if he is not prepared to exercise his calling and his faith in God as much there as at any other time and in any other place, he never should be found there, for none have a legal right to the amusements which the Lord has ordained for his children except those who acknowledge his hand in all things and keep his commandments. You see from this that our religion differs very much from others.

A gentleman said to me not long since, “You ‘Mormons’ don’t seem to be very religious; I do not make any pretensions to be religious; and I like you very well.” I replied, “That is a mistake, we are the most religious people on the face of the earth. We do not allow ourselves to go into a field to plough without taking our religion with us; we do not go into an office, behind the counter to deal out goods, into a counting house with the books, or anywhere to attend to or transact any business without taking our religion with us. If we are railroading or on a pleasure trip our God and our religion must be with us. We are the most religious people in the world; but we are not so enthusiastic as some are. We have seen plenty of enthusiasm, but we do not care about it.” Said I, “This shouting and singing one’s self away to everlasting bliss, may be all very well in its place; but this alone is folly to me; my religion is to know the will of God and do it.

I will say a few words to the Saints now. Shall I come right out plain to you? I think I will. Suppose I were to get up a party here and say, “You are welcome, I will find music and a good dinner,” do you not think this room would be crowded? Yes, to overflowing, it would not be large enough; but when it is opened for the worship of God how different! O, Saints, all the fear that I have with regard to us as a people, is that we may neglect our God and our religion! We have passed through the narrows, and have run the gauntlet for forty years now and have come out unscathed, and what do you say? Will we serve God?

Latter-day Saints, have your chil– dren come to meeting. Sisters, let your little girls go to Sunday school or come to meeting! Brethren, let your children go to Sunday school, or to meeting, and advise your neighbors to do the same, and let this hall be crowded; and when more want to gain admittance than it will accommodate we will resort to the New Tabernacle, as we intend to do this afternoon. Some of the sisters say it is so warm in here; but let me ask them whether they would go without breakfast rather than cook it because the stove is hot. If there were a breakfast or dinner here, I expect you would come notwithstanding the warmth. I do not fear the scoffs of the world; but, as I have already said, if I fear anything with regard to this people, it is that they will neglect God and their religion.

We have heard something about Joseph Smith this morning. Brother Woodruff has been talking about the Prophet. I can say that if the whole world of mankind had known Joseph Smith and this people as well as we know them, the biggest infidel in the world, or the wickedest man living, if he had not passed the day of redemption and grace, so that the Spirit of the Lord had ceased to operate on his mind, that man would thank God for the Latter-day Saints, for we are for the salvation of all who can be saved, and we calculate to continue until the work is done. Jesus is our captain and leader; Jesus, the Savior of the world—the Christ that we believe in, is the “one-man power” so much talked about; and we calculate to do his will as far as we know it. May God help us to do it! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 7, 1871.

I have a few words to offer to my brethren and sisters, and all who hear me, concerning the experience of the minds of the children of men, especially in their transit from evil to good. We vary very materially in our dispositions, reflections, in the impulses of our minds, and in our perceptive faculties. There is a great variety of operations upon the minds of the inhabitants of the earth, and the people are unacquainted with them, for they do not lay them to heart, contemplate and realize them, consequently they cannot look upon them as they are. These remarks of mine are the result of reflections upon the sayings of our brother who has been speaking to us, and telling his experience when he received the Gospel. He told us that, though his perceptive faculties were so quickened that he could read the Bible understandingly, this did not satisfy him; he must have a storm. I make use of this term to express my idea of what he desired and so earnestly sought for. He must have an experience like a rushing, mighty wind, or he could not be satisfied. In reading the sayings of the ancients, we find that they looked sometimes for the Lord to come in a storm. Sometimes you will see the storm pass, and the Lord is not there. The winds blow terribly, but the Lord is not there. A terrible tempest comes along, in which the lightnings flash and the thunders bellow almost enough to shake the mountains down. Is the Lord there? No, he is not there. But by and by you hear a small, still voice saying, “Peace, peace.” The Lord is there, and this is his voice. It will satisfy some, but others, like our brother, want a testimony like a rushing, mighty wind.

I will give you a little of my experience, not merely at the time that I concluded to forsake sin and embrace peace, and righteousness, but since then. My experience in this kingdom as a man, as an intelligent being, concerning the philosophy of this world and mankind, and all things pertaining to the earth, teaches me a great many little items that are passed over unnoticed by most of the people. My conclusion with regard to a sound religious experience is simply this: If I am convicted of sin I am made sensible of wrong. If this wrong exists within me, my good judgment teaches me that I should take that and put it away from me; turn it out of doors; it would teach me to say, “I do not want you, you are not good for me; you produce sorrow, mourning, affliction, and all manner of grief and pain. Go out of doors, I do not want you, you are evil. I will adopt truth and correct principles and plant them within me instead of that which will destroy me.” Being convinced of all this, what course shall I pursue, if I desire to procure a sound experience—one that is genuine and will endure, and prove to God and all the heavenly host, also to my family and neighbors, that I am sorry for sin? I will forsake it, and will not let it dwell within me, but will do all I can to banish it from me. Would this be a proof? Yes. Then let my actions correspond with the confession of my mouth; and if I have discovered this fountain of evil within me, I must lay a foundation to be free from it. Do I wish to wait until the Lord speaks from heaven to me? No, the Lord has planted within me knowledge and wisdom to distinguish between right and wrong, and if I wait until his voice comes from heaven to tell me that I am a sinner, or until he gives me some particular manifestation of approval on my attempting to forsake evil, I may wait a great while. I do not know how much he thinks of me, nor whether, if I sought such a manifestation, he would come the first night I knelt down to pray, or the second, third, or fourth, or whether I should have to continue a week, two weeks, or for months. I do not know anything about this; but my judgment having convinced me that I am wrong, I do not want the Lord to speak from the heavens. I will ask any intelligent being that dwells on the face of the earth if it is necessary to wait until the Lord comes like a rushing, mighty wind, or like an earthquake or tornado? I do not see any necessity for it. If I find an evil in me today I must try and get rid of it; and if I find another tomorrow I must get rid of it; and how long must I continue to do so? Just as long as God gives me intelligence; not for a day, week, or year, but for my whole life; and if I exist for ninety-nine years, or for nine hundred and ninety-nine, I do not expect there will be an hour in which I will not be under the necessity of endeavoring to put evil from me if I find it within me, and to grow and increase in the principles of truth and righteousness. By taking this course I know, in and of myself, that I am forsaking my sins, and do not want the Lord to manifest it unto me. I know that if the plants of sin and death are permitted to grow within me they will prove my utter destruction, unless I tear them up root and branch, and throw them away. The Lord has bestowed upon me and upon every intelligent being on the earth, wisdom sufficient to comprehend this, and I do not want the Lord to come in the storm, the thunder, lightning, or whirlwind to tell it to me. I know that I must uproot the plants of evil that are within me, and in their place engraft plants of truth and virtue, and these will grow up within me to eternal life. Is not this reasonable? Is this not a true principle? Yes, and the whole of man’s experience, science, and wisdom proves it. I may take, for instance, the beautiful machinery of my watch, and neglect to clean it or wind it up; I may take out the mainspring, the hairspring or the main cog-wheel, and then say, “Keep time for me,” and it would be no more inconsistent than to say, “I have naturally within me, through the fall, the principles of death, and they reign within me, and I seek not to put those principles away from me, but wait for the Lord to manifest to me that I am born of him and he is delighted with me.” I do not care if I live my whole lifetime without a testimony from the Lord; not that he leaves his children thus; he has never been so hardhearted, so austere a master as to leave one of his children with full purpose of heart to serve him and do his will without a witness of his approval. But, suppose he were disposed to do so, I am under obligations, on the principles of right and wrong, to forsake evil, and to plant within me every principle of purity and holiness, whether or not the Lord manifests unto me that I am his son and that he is pleased with me. I am not pleased with myself if I imbibe and cherish death and destruction; but let me cherish life and salvation, that that promotes the happiness of mankind, and life, peace, and tranquility within myself and all around me, and I shall have my own approval and the ap– proval and blessing of the Lord whether he tells me so, in so many words, or not.

I am under obligation to take a course which will sustain life within myself and others, on rational principles, without any special manifestation from God. You can all see this; but some think if they do not receive some special manifestation from God that he has accepted them, they are rejected of him. Do you not all know that you are the sons and daughters of the Almighty? If you do not I will inform you this morning that there is not a man or woman on the earth that is not a son or daughter of Adam and Eve. We all belong to the races which have sprung from father Adam and mother Eve; and every son and daughter of Adam and Eve is a son and daughter of that God we serve, who organized this earth and millions of others, and who holds them in existence by law. Now suppose he does not tell us that he particularly loves us and thinks so much of us; or that he delights in Brother James or William, or in Sister Susan or Nancy more than in any other being on the earth, what of it? I do not know that I shall inquire of the Lord whether he loves me or not. I do not know that I have ever taken pains to ask him. I have professed religion somewhere near fifty years, and I do not know that I ever asked the Lord whether he loved me or not. I want to take a course that I can love purity and holiness. If I do this, then I love the Lord and keep his commandments, and that is enough for me. If he is not disposed to like me as well as he did John, “the beloved disciple,” who leaned upon his breast on a certain occasion, and tells me to sit yonder instead of here, it is all right, I am as satisfied to sit there as here. I want to preserve my identity and to increase in intelligence, and if I can do this I do not know that I care, particularly, with regard to how much, in weight or measure, the Lord loves me or does not love me. There is one fact that I do know, he will love me all he should. If I take a course to love him and keep his commandments I am for life and duration, I am for eternity, for I take that course which will preserve myself.

Many men and women who have obeyed the Gospel, and have not received from the Lord these striking testimonies, will say, “Well, I really do not know that I can tell whether the Gospel is true or not.” To all such I say, then you are no philosopher at all, for upon the rational principles of common philosophy you can tell whether it is true or not. Does it contain the seeds of life? Does it promote the plants and yield the fruits of life, or does it produce the plants and yield the fruits of death? You can ask these questions and readily answer them for yourselves. Not that I wish to make a mere historical convert, or a people who believe historically, mathematically, or philosophically; but I know and understand that the Lord never leaves his children without a witness. Now I will tell you a witness which would be enough for me—I read the Bible, diligently and faithfully, and if I could have found a church and people organized according to the pattern contained in its pages I should have been satisfied that that was God’s Church and people, and that would have been witness enough for me. But I will give you a little of my experience in my early days with regard to the religious sects. From my youth up their cry was, “Lo here is Christ, lo there is Christ;” no, “Yonder is Christ;” “Christ is not there, he is here,” and so on, each claiming that it had the Savior, and that others were wrong. I used to think to myself, “Some one of you may be right, but hold on, wait awhile! When I reach the years of judgment and discretion I can judge for myself; and in the meanwhile take no course either with one party or the other.” When I would make known my views and feelings with regard to their confused state they would call me an infidel. I would say to them, “All right, I am an infidel in a great many things.” I read the Bible, and especially the New Testament, which was given as a pattern for the life of Christians, whether as a church or individuals, and this was my inward inquiry, “Is there a church on the earth organized according to the pattern Jesus left?” No. Is there an Apostle left on the earth? Not one. Is there a prophet, which the Scriptures inform us were placed in the Church for its edification? Not one. Is there an evangelist? No. Is there the gift of healing? We cannot find any such thing, with all their cries of “Lo here, lo there, and lo yonder.” “Are there any who speak with tongues?” No. Any that prophesy? No, we do not believe in prophecy. anyone who has received the Holy Ghost, and speaks and preaches by its influence? “Why the Holy Ghost is not given in these days,” say all those who say, “Lo, here is Christ,” and “Lo, there is Christ!” Well, I used to say, “I am an infidel, for I do not believe anything of this; when you bring me a people built up and believing according to the New Testament I will believe that they are right. When you find such a people you will find the people and Church of God, with all the gifts and graces of the Gospel in their midst; and you will find the kingdom of God on the earth.” They labored with me, but finally declared that I was an infidel, for I could not believe in their doctrines and principles. Yet I have been at many of their meetings and seen their modes of conversion. As I have said to my friends here, in speaking about Spiritualism, I have seen the effects of animal magnetism, or some anomalous sleep, or whatever it may be called, many a time in my youth. I have seen persons lie on the benches, on the floor of the meetinghouse, or on the ground at their camp meetings, for ten, twenty, and thirty minutes, and I do not know but an hour, and not a particle of pulse about them. That was the effect of what I call animal magnetism; they called it the power of God, but no matter what it was. I used to think that I should like to ask such persons what they had seen in their trance or vision; and when I got old enough and dared ask them, I did so. I have said to such persons: “Brother, What have you experienced?” “Nothing.” “What do you know more than before you had this; what do you call it—trance, sleep or dream? Do you know any more now than before you fell to the earth?” “Nothing more.” “Have you seen any person?” “No.” “Then what is the use or utility of your falling down here in the dirt?” I could not see it, and consequently I was an infidel to this. But I said then as I say now—“Show me a church that God has organized, and you will find Apostles to rule, govern, control, dictate, and give counsel. You will find prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, governments, helps, and diversities of tongues. When the Church and kingdom of God is upon the earth you will find all these things and you will also hear prophesying therein.

I will now return again to our experience here. In Christendom the people are taught by the priest, by father, by mother, by president, prince and king, that the Bible is true and that Jesus is the Christ; and they inherit this belief, and if it is a true principle to believe in Jesus, they inherit it without the use of their judgment and reasoning faculties. And when you find a church organized according to the New Testament pattern it does not require any particular manifestation to prove its truth, for we are taught from our youth up to acknowledge the New Testament and we cannot help it. It is interwoven into our very natures; I do not know but it is the warp and the filling, both. In consequence of this we have a holy reverence for and a belief in the Bible, though we may not believe in the actions of all those who profess to believe in it. As it was observed by my brother, “He loved religion;” and for myself I can say that I have always had a holy reverence for the truth. I have had a divine reverence for it from my youth, but, not for the conduct of all those who profess to be Christians.

Well, how can you know when you have passed from death unto life? You had the witness right here from our brother, according to the testimony of the Apostles, “By this ye shall know ye have passed from death unto life, if ye love the brethren.” Our brother said he loved that poor Elder who preached the Gospel to him, although he could not gain admittance into a decent house. Nobody would receive an Elder of Israel, nobody would receive a messenger bearing the words and keys of eternal life and salvation to the nations, but a poor widow on a back street where our brother was ashamed to go. It put me in mind of the harlot Rahab. She alone would receive the spies sent out by Joshua, the servant of God. Do you not think she was blessed? I think so; and I think the poor widow who received and gave an asylum to the Elder referred to by our brother was blessed also, for his words were life, light, and peace; and he said that he loved him, and by this he might have known that he had passed from death unto life.

Now, to our experience again. Suppose you obey the ordinances of the Gospel, and do not speak in tongues today, never mind that. Suppose you do not have the spirit of prophecy, no matter. Suppose you do not receive any particular gift attended by the rushing of a mighty wind, as on the day of Pentecost, there is no particular necessity that you should. On the day of Pentecost there was special need for it, it was a peculiarly trying time. Who believed on Jesus? Look at his poor disciples! When Jesus was on trial, Peter, the chief of the Apostles, dare not own him, and denied him through fear. There was not a man or woman to stand up and say, “This is the Christ; don’t you crucify him. He is Christ, the Savior of the world, be cautious how you handle that man.” There was not one to say anything of this kind. It was a very peculiar time, and some special and powerful manifestation of the power of the Almighty was necessary to open the eyes of the people and let them know that Jesus had paid the debt, and that they had actually crucified him who, by his death, had become the Savior of the world. It required this at that time to convince the people; but when the doctrines of Christianity became popular it was no longer necessary. I do not need this; do you? No. Do you believe the truth? If you do, embrace it in your lives. What next? Prove to the Lord, to all the heavenly host, and to the inhabitants of the earth, that you live according to the law of the holy Gospel that God has revealed for the salvation of the children of men. This will show that you are honest and sincere, and that you are worthy of life eternal in the celestial kingdom of God.

God bless you. Amen.