Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Sept. 7, 1873.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Sept. 7, 1873.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at Franklin, Cache County, Thursday Evening, September 4, 1873.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, August 31, 1873.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some may say, “Perhaps they only extend to baptism. We believe that baptism for the dead is true, because the Scriptures speak very plainly about that in the 15th chapter of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, in which, in arguing about the resurrection of the dead, the Apostle says—’Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why then are they baptized for the dead?’” Sure enough, it would have been useless for those Corinthians to have been baptized for the dead, if there had been no resurrection. But Paul very well knew that the Corinthians understood that they should be baptized for their dead; and that they were actually practicing that ordinance, that their ancestors, who had been dead for generations, might have the privilege of coming forth in the resurrection. Baptism was typical of their burial and resurrection, and hence Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, used it as an argument in support of the principle of the resurrection.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden, Saturday Morning, August 16, 1873.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, August 10, 1873.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse by President Daniel H. Wells, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Saturday Afternoon, August 9, 1873.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, July, 13, 1873.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Bowery, Logan City, Sunday Morning, June 29, 1873.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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