Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, July 18th, 1880.

I will call the attention of the congregation to a portion of the word of God, that was given unto Moses before he delivered the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. It may be well for me to mention, before reading, that Moses received many communications, by visions and by revelation, before he was sent from the land of Midian to visit his brethren who were in bondage in Egypt. He beheld, in these visions, many great and important events, some of which took place in the spirit world. Among other things which he saw was the pre-existence of the children of men, and also the rebellion that took place among the great family of spirits before the world was made; and in this vision the Lord thus speaks to him:

“And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore, give me thine honor. But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power, by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice. And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which I, the Lord God, had made. And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world. And he said unto the woman: Yea, hath God said—Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden? (And he spake by the mouth of the serpent.) And the woman said unto the serpent: We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; But of the fruit of the tree which thou beholdest in the midst of the garden, God hath said—Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman: Ye shall not surely die; For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

These few words which I have read from the “Pearl of Great Price,” were suggested to my mind immediately before rising to my feet. The short history that is here given, by new revelation to Joseph the Prophet, contains a vast amount of information for so few words. It shows the origin of evil, pertaining to the inhabitants of this creation. I do not suppose that this was the first origin of evil. We do not consider that this creation on which we dwell was the first one that was made. We do not consider that the rebellion which took place in heaven prior to this creation was the first rebellion that had ever existed. We do not consider that those beings who rebelled were the first ones that ever had their agency; but we believe that God has always been at work, from all eternity; and that the creations which he has made are innumerable unto men. No man is capable of conceiving of the number. And those creations were made to be inhabited by rational, intelligent beings, having their agency. But this seems to be the origin of evil so far as the inhabitants intended for this earth, and who were then living in heaven, were concerned. They had their agency; and when I speak of the inhabitants that dwell in heaven, pertaining to this creation, I mean the spirits of men and women. I have no reference to the mortal tabernacles which we have received here, but I have reference to those beings who dwell within these tabernacles, who are intelligent, who have their agency, who had a pre-existence, who lived before the world was made. The inhabitants of heaven, who were selected to come on this creation, were agents, just as much as we are. They had a law given to them, just as much as we have. They had penalties affixed to that law, just the same as we have. They could keep that law given to them in heaven, just as well as we could keep a law given to us. They could rebel against that law, because of their agency, the same as we rebel against the laws of heaven.

We have an account given here of a personage called Satan, who stood up in heaven, being an angel of light, an holy angel, prior to that time—who stood up before the Father and the Son, and made a proposition concerning the new creation that was to be made. “Behold,” said he to the Father, “send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.” This was the language, according to this revelation which I have just read, made use of by this angel who stood in the presence of God. But the Only Begotten of the Father, the Firstborn of this great and numerous family in heaven, said unto his Father: “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.” Then we have an account that the Lord, because Satan thus transgressed, and because he sought to destroy the agency of man, and to redeem all mankind, that not a soul should be lost, was displeased with the proposition. And why should he not be? An agency was given to all intelligent beings; and without a proper agency, intelligent beings could not receive glory and honor, and a reward and a fullness of happiness in the celestial kingdom. There must be an agency wherever intelligence exists, and without agency no intelligent beings could exist; and because Satan sought to destroy this, and to frustrate the great and eternal plan of Jehovah, the Lord was displeased with him. He did not repent of his rebellion, nor of the wicked proposition; but he sought to turn away the family of heaven—the family of spirits that were in the presence of God—he sought to turn them away and convert them to his plan. But he did not succeed. He did succeed in leading away about one-third part of that great family of spirits, because of their agency. They hearkened to his proposition; they thought it would be a very great and important thing to destroy the agency of man in the future creation that was about to be made, and to redeem them all in their sins, and consequently they joined with this rebellious character; hence came the fallen angels. What became of them? They were thrust down from the presence of God and the Lamb after this creation was made, and they were permitted to dwell in this creation. Finally, one of those spirits who kept their first estate was placed in a body upon this creation, and likewise a woman; and Satan came before the woman in the Garden of Eden, and tempted her. What was his object in tempting this woman? He did not succeed in overcoming her in the first estate—I mean he did not succeed in turning her away from God’s commands; but inasmuch as they were now placed under different circumstances—placed in bodies of flesh and bones—placed in the Garden of Eden, he thought that he would assault them with a new temptation, to see if he could possibly overcome them. He succeeded in overcoming Eve, the woman that was given to this first man, and prevailed upon her to transgress the law of heaven, to partake of the forbidden fruit, and she succeeded in leading her husband to transgress the same law. Now, here arises a question. Did Adam partake of this forbidden fruit, being deceived as Eve was deceived? Or did he partake of it knowingly and understandingly? I will give you my views upon this subject. Adam very well knew that his wife Eve, after she had partaken of the forbidden fruit, having transgressed the law of God, must die. He knew this; he knew that she would have to be cast out of the garden of Eden, from the presence of her husband; she could no longer be permitted to dwell with him. Hence, inasmuch as there was a great separation threatened between husband and wife—the wife having transgressed—he concluded that he would not be separated from the woman, and hence he was not deceived, but the woman was deceived; he partook of the forbidden fruit to prevent a separation between the two, and fell, even as the woman fell, and both were cast out together. If one only had transgressed and been cast out, the great command that had been given prior to that time—to multiply and replenish the earth—could not have been fulfilled, because of the separation. In order, therefore, that the command first given might be fulfilled, Adam, though not deceived, partook of the forbidden fruit, was cast out with Eve, and hence began, as far as possible, to fulfil the command, and to multiply his species upon this earth. There is one very important item, right here, to be understood, and should be thoroughly understood by every person desirous of knowing the truth, and that is, that when Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden, before this transgression took place, they were not subject to death; they were not subject to any kind of pain, or disease, or sickness, or any of the afflictions of mortality. Now, perhaps those who are not in the habit of reflecting upon this matter, may suppose that when Adam was placed on the earth, and Eve, his wife, they were mortal, like unto us; but that was not so. God did not make a mortal being. It would be contrary to this great goodness to make a man mortal, subject to pain, subject to sickness, subject to death. When he made this creation, and when he made these two intelligent beings and placed them upon this creation, he made them after his own likeness and his own image. He did not make them mortal, but he made them immortal, like unto himself. If he had made them mortal, and subject to pain, there would have been some cause, among intelligent beings, to say that the Lord subjected man, without a cause, to afflictions, sorrows, death and mortality. But he could not do this; it was contrary to the nature of his attributes, contrary to the nature of that infinite goodness which dwells in the bosom of the Father and the Son, to make a being subject to any kind of pain. At the time of the creation, all things that proceeded forth from his hands were considered very good. How came, then, Adam to be mortal? How came Adam to be filled with pain and affliction and with great sorrow? It was in consequence of transgression. Hence, the Apostle Paul, in speaking upon this subject, said, that by transgression sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Death, then, instead of being something that the Lord created, instead of being something that he sent into the world, and by sin; the Lord suffered it to come upon Adam in consequence of transgression. Two immortal beings, then, were placed in the garden of Eden, male and female. Was there any commandment given to those two immortal beings before the fall? There was one commandment, namely: “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.” What! Did the Lord command two immortal beings to multiply their species? He did. In meditating upon this great command given to these two immortal beings, it opens to us a field of reflection, of knowledge, concerning the great designs of the Almighty. It imparts to us a knowledge that the Lord our God intended that immortal beings should multiply their species. Can you find any place in the book of Genesis where our first parents were commanded to multiply after the fall? I do not remember any such scripture. I have read the scriptures very diligently; I do not remember any such command. Yet they did so, and the consequences were that children of mortality were born—mortal beings came upon the earth. Why? Because after the fall, Adam and Eve became mortal, and their species, of course, were after the order of the world, mortal in their nature. As the parents were subject to death, subject to pain, and sorrow, and distress, and all kinds of evil, so were all their posterity. It was contrary to the law of God for mortal beings to bring forth children of immortality; it was contrary to the order of heaven for mortal beings to multiply their species in the form of immortal beings. But may we not suppose that it was really necessary, notwithstanding there was no command given, that the children of mortality should multiply their species? Notwithstanding the Lord said nothing to Adam and Eve upon this subject after the fall, so far as it was written, yet we may suppose it was according to his purpose and design that they should multiply children of mortality, even though he gave them no command after their fall to this effect. They have continued to do so, and their children after them, in all of their generations, until the present time, and will continue to do so in future generations, until the earth has filled the measure of its creation, according to the number of souls that existed before the world was organized, in the family of the two-thirds who kept their first estate.

But will the time come in the endless duration of the future, when our first parents will fulfill that command which was given to them while they were yet children of immortality? In other words will the time ever come when Adam and Eve will become immortal and carry out the command that was given to them in the days of their first immortality? I answer, yes; without this, the command of God never could be, in all respects, fulfilled. Though there should be hundreds of thousands of millions, or more, of the descendants of those mortal beings come here upon the earth, the command is not fully complied with; though he may have begotten sons and daughters, Cain, Abel, Seth and many others for some nine hundred years and upwards, yet all the sons and daughters he begat while he was mortal here upon the earth did not, in all respects, fulfill the command given to him while an immortal being. That has to be fulfilled after Adam and Eve are resurrected from the grave. Have they yet been resurrected? I think so. There were a great many that were resurrected at the time of the resurrection of Christ. Christ was the firstfruits of the resurrection, and then there were a great many Saints who came forth out of their graves and were resurrected, and permitted to enter into the celestial glory and dwell at his right hand. Among the number, I have no doubt but what our first parents, Adam and Eve, were permitted to come forth and enter into celestial glory; and I have no doubt but what they have been fulfilling the commandment given to them before they fell. Nearly two thousand years have passed since the first resurrection of the Saints. I cannot believe that Adam and Eve, during these nineteen centuries, have been in idleness. I cannot believe that they alone constitute their whole family; but I believe that during this time they have been fulfilling literally the commandment that was given to them in the morn of creation and as immortal beings have brought forth immortal sons and daughters since their resurrection. Thus the commandment of the Most High was not made void, but is in process of fulfillment.

But let us enquire still further concerning this matter; for this seems to open up another field before our minds. The children of immortality are obliged to multiply, in order to fulfill this commandment. Hence, there is more contained in the Gospel in all its fulness and glory than what this world ever dreamt of. The Christian world, so called, have not looked forth unto the great future; they have not recognized the great law which God ordained for immortal beings to bring forth their species; for if our first parents must do this, in order to obey the commandment that was given before the fall, so must their children, or else ever be transgressors, one or the other. Their children, I say, never can fulfill the object of the commandment, that was given to immortal beings, unless they, as immortal beings, so multiply their species; and for this reason, we find incorporated in the Gospel that Paul preached this great saying, “Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” What! Can I, can you, can the inhabitants of the earth really not be in the Lord, and yet not be united together in the holy covenant of marriage, the male with the female? So Paul says. It is a very curious kind of saying, however, in the case of this generation, who have lost the knowledge of God though the apostasy of their fathers. They have all the time supposed that they could enter into a fulness of the glory of the celestial world without being united in the bonds of eternal union. But it is not so; it was not so in the beginning. The very first marriage that was ever known in this creation, was not a marriage between the children of mortality, but was a marriage consummated by divine authority, by divine power. It was a marriage between two immortal beings. No other marriage could be so important, so essentially necessary, to the inhabitants of this creation, as the first one celebrated in the beginning. What do you think, Christians of the nineteenth century, who belong to the various denominations?—What are your views in regard to marriage? Your looks inform us. Your articles of faith inform us. The disciplines that you have, for the government of your churches, inform us that when marriage is performed among you, it is between two mortal beings, and they are only married till death shall separate and part them. Oh! how different from the first marriage on record between two immortal personages, whose days, inasmuch as they keep the commandments of God, were never to end, but their lives were to be endless or eternal. The Latter-day Saints have a different form of marriage from these sectarians. We have a marriage in our church, between the male and female, which reaches forward to the endless ages of eternity; we do not consider a marriage of very great importance, unless is takes hold of eternity. We do not believe in these marriages which are to remain in force barely while this mortal thread of existence continues; we do not believe in a marriage that must be broken up, dissolved and divorced by that tyrant called death. Death has nothing to do with dissolving marriages—I mean those marriages that are performed according to the mind and will of God. Death may come in and separate the two for a short season, but it does not dissolve the marriage ties. If Eve dies before her husband, Adam, she is not divorced from him, neither is he divorced from her, but she considers, while dwelling in a celestial paradise, that she has legally and lawfully a husband in the flesh on the earth. Adam, if he still continues to live on the earth, while Eve has taken her flight to the eternal world, considers that he has a wife in heaven, though separated for a short time from her. She still is his wife, and will be his, until he himself shall fall into the grave, and even that does not dissolve the marriage tie. The great redemption wrought out through the only begotten Son—the great redemption that reclaims Adam and Eve from their graves, restores them also from this short period of separation that has taken place by reason of death; it restores them again to each other’s society, as husband and wife; and they will remain in that relationship while eternity shall endure.

But here arises another question—one of the greatest importance to the children of men of all generations, and that is, are there any marriages that God will recognize which he is not the author of? In other words, supposing that two persons in the Roman Catholic church, in the Greek church, in any Protestant church, or two persons that do not belong to any religious denomination, are married by a minister, by a justice of the peace, by any person professing to have authority among men, to celebrate the marriage ceremony—have they any claim upon each other when death separates them? According to their own covenants they do not. The minister only married them till death should them part. When death comes along and separates these two persons their marriage covenant has expired; it has run out, it is at an end. But inquires one, will not the Lord permit them to live together as husband and wife, after the resurrection? Why should he? If he had joined them together, according to the marriage ceremony that was administered to the first pair of immortality, then they could claim each other, after the resurrection; but inasmuch as the ceremony was performed by an uninspired man, not sent of God, and having no power to seal on earth that it should be sealed in heaven, of course their marriage covenant expires, that is the eternal end of their association. Now, the Latter-day Saints are not willing to go according to the tradition of the sectarian denominations of the earth; but we desire this great, this important ceremony to be performed so that it may be enduring, so that it never shall have an end, but last while eternal ages shall last.

How came we to obtain any knowledge upon this subject? Not of our own wisdom, not by searching the scriptures of truth. If God had not revealed himself, had not given instructions upon this important point, we should be in ignorance, the same as all the rest of the world; and our marriages, like them, would only be for time.

Another important question arises right here, in relation to those mar– riages administered without authority; it is this. Many of you Latter-day Saints when you embraced this Gospel in Great Britain, in Scandinavia, in various parts of the United States, and among the various nations—were men having families, wives and children; you were married by the laws of the respective nations among whom you dwelt; you were married till death should separate you; you were not married for eternity. When you came up here to this land you began to inquire more fully into the nature of the marriage covenant. You found that there should be an eternal covenant, an eternal union. The question then arises, will your former marriage be sufficient? Not at all. You would have no wife in the morning of the resurrection, no children that would be yours legally and lawfully. Why? Because your marriage was not legal, only legal so far as the laws of the land were concerned, only legal according to the traditions of men. What should you do, then, in order that you may be legally married, in order that your marriage may stand the test in the judgment day, in order that you may have claim upon your families after the resurrection? You should have the ceremony performed again. Every couple that was married abroad, among the nations, must be re-married, not by man’s authority, but by divine authority. Your covenants should be eternal, and sealed by divine authority, and then you will have a claim upon each other. But what about your children, that were begotten while you were yet among the nations? Can you claim them in the morning of the resurrection? No: you cannot, unless they are sealed to you by proper authority—your sons and your daughters must be sealed to you, by one having authority from God; otherwise you have no claim upon them. Why? Because they were begotten under a marriage with which the Lord had nothing to do, only to suffer it; he suffered it for a wise purpose, that the human species might not be destroyed, or come to an end upon the earth; but as for commanding them he had nothing to do with that; consequently, not only your husbands and wives have to be re-married, by divine authority, but all of your children, that were born to you, under the old marriage, must be sealed to you in order that you may claim them in the morning of the resurrection.

But this opens up another field. I am talking to some who have a second wife. You lost your first wife, did you not, and you re-married according to the laws of the nations? What about these two wives? One living and the other dead; perhaps the dead one was just as good as the living; perhaps the person that died, before you gathered here to these mountains, was morally as good as any Latter-day Saint, lived up to all the light and knowledge which she was in possession of, yet she was not married to you by divine authority—what of her? Must she stand aside in the resurrection? And the second wife, because she happens to live and to receive the Gospel, and to gather up from among the nations, into the mountains, where the authority to administer these ordinances is revealed—must she supplant the first one that happened to fall into her grave before she heard these things? Must the first one remain without her family, without her children, according to the order that exists in the eternal world, while the second one enjoys all these things because she happened to live a little longer? What do you think about it? Are there no provisions made for the first wife that has fallen asleep just as much as there is for the second? For God is without respect of persons, so far as people are honest and obedient; and though people may fail to receive the fulness of the blessings pertaining to the Gospel, because it might not be sent to them and they fall asleep, yet God was not so shortsighted, in laying of the plan of salvation, that he made no provisions for them. He did make provisions for them; and in what way? That the living shall act for the dead; this is the provision. Hence, we read concerning one of the sacred and holy ordinances, called baptism, that the saints in the Corinthian church, in ancient times, were baptized for those that were dead. What was the object of this? The object was that eternal blessings might be bestowed upon those who were dead; because of the actions of the living in their behalf, providing that the dead would receive what was done for them by the living. “The same great Being that ordained the principle of baptism for and in behalf of the dead, also ordained eternal union through other sacred ordinances referring to the man and the woman; not only for the living but also for the dead, that they might be benefited not only by the actions of the living in baptism, but also by the acts of the living in relation to the marriage covenant; one is just as consistent as the other. If there is any great principle that has a bearing upon the eternal welfare of the human family, any great ordinance necessary to be attended to that will give them a right and title to eternal blessings, it matters not whether it be baptism, or the laying on of hands, or any other ordinance which God has instituted, it will be recognized in the eternal heavens. Well did the Apostle say, “Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in Lord.” He understood the principle.

But shall we carry this one step further? I have spoken of these two women, one dying without hearing the Gospel, the other having all the privileges of the Gospel, pertaining to every blessing relating to eternity. Now if the living can act for the dead, by proxy, in other words, if the Lord our God gives a commandment, to his living Saints, to administer in all of these ordinances for and in behalf of the dead, then the dead will have claim upon these sealing powers and ordinances, the same as though they were living. But, says one, I see one difficulty here. What is it? Why, if these two women come forth in the resurrection, and these ordinances are recognized in heaven, the man would have two wives at once in the eternal world, and that would shock our consciences very much! Well, the Lord is not particularly anxious that your consciences should not be shocked. He is not going to swerve from the principles of eternal truth in order that your consciences or traditions may not be in the least degree disturbed. He is not going to vary from this law, he ordained from before the foundation of the world, in order to suit, yours or anybody else’s conscience. But, says one, that would be preaching up plurality, for those that are brought forth in the eternal world. Two women would go into the same family, and be wives for all eternity; and as you have said that the Lord commanded this multiplication to take place, when they were immortal beings, then, of course, both of these wives would raise up posterity in all ages of eternity, being immortal personages, and thus fulfil the great and first commandment. Now, says one, these are the consequences that grow out of the doctrines you are teaching. I admit they are; perhaps you may be willing to admit the truth of this, so far as eternity is concerned, and those that have left here without hearing the Gospel. But let me ask a question here—Is it any more right for two women to claim the same husband, after they come forth from the grave, than it is for two women, here in time living on this earth, to claim a man as their husband? If one is right, the other is right also; and if the latter is not right, then the first doctrine that I have named is not right.

But I have not got through with this subject. There are other points to be considered. I have only spoken of two women. Now, says one, here is a woman who survives her husband and marries a second husband. The second husband receives the Gospel and comes into the Church; the first husband died without ever hearing it. What are you going to do with him? Do you suppose that God, in laying down the great plan of salvation would forget to make any laws, provisions, or conditions, in regard to these matters? Not at all. He has ordained that every man who is worthy shall have a family of his own; but he never did ordain, neither before the foundation of the world nor during any of the dispensations that have existed on the earth, that a woman should have two husbands living at the same time. He did ordain that a man should have two or more wives, and did acknowledge it, sanction it, did bless those that entered into his order of marriage in ancient times; but we have no account of his ever approbating the contrary. Well, inquires one, what will become of this good man that happened to be in this condition? There are provisions ordained from before the foundation of the world, which take into consideration all these cases; namely, that all the human family who have died without the law or between the dispensations, when there was no divine authority on the earth, shall have a proper chance, by the living acting for the dead; and as there are innumerable females who have died and who never had wives, provisions are made for them all providing that they embrace, in the spirit world the great plan of salvation in all its fulness,

We might say much more upon this subject. We might set forth before this congregation a case something like this: Here is a young man. He goes forth into the community, and seeks out a wife. He goes before those holding divine authority—power to bind on earth, and it shall be bound in heaven—and he is married to her for time and all eternity. By and by she dies. Perhaps she may have had one or two children, perhaps she may not have had any children, as the case may be. She dies, leaves her husband still in his youth. Must this youth, this good man, the man that has kept the commandments of God and been obedient to the Gospel of the Son of God—must he remain all the days of his life, perhaps 50 or 60 years longer, without having the privilege of taking another wife, his first wife having died? Oh, says one, the law does not forbid, when a man’s wife dies, his taking another. Suppose he takes another, what then? If he could have only one wife after the resurrection from the dead, what would his second wife do? Would she not be apt to say, “No, sir, you have a wife, she is in her grave, she was married to you for time and all eternity, now I desire a husband for all eternity myself. Is there any provision made for me if I go in as the second wife?” Why, yes. The provision is that both may be sealed to him for time and all eternity and not violate the law of God.

All these principles that I have treated upon, pertaining to eternal marriage, the very moment that they are admitted to be true, it brings in plurality of marriage, and if plurality of marriage is not true or in other words, if a man has no divine right to marry two wives or more in this world, then marriage for eternity is not true, and your faith is all vain, and all the sealing ordinances and powers, pertaining to marriages for eternity are vain, worthless, good for nothing; for as sure as one is true the other also must be true. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, at the Priesthood Meeting, Sunday Evening, July 4th, 1880.

As this is the priesthood meeting of the elders of Israel and those bearing the priesthood, I feel I would like to say a few words in connection with what Brother Taylor has said. I look upon our condition or our position, as a people, that we are called to a certain work. When we send men upon missions, or to perform any branch of business or labor, of course we expect them to perform it, and the Lord expects them to do the same. Now I look upon the elders of Israel here tonight, and in this Church and kingdom, as upon a mission. We have been ordained to a mission, and we have our time set to do it and to perform it. Not that I know exactly how many days or years we are going to spend in it. But this mission is required at our hands, not at the hands of Brother Taylor, Brother Joseph, or Brother Brigham alone, but it is required at our hands by the God of heaven, and we are performing a work and laying a foundation which we have got to meet on the other side of the veil. It does not make any difference to what position we are called or or– dained. If we are called to the office of a bishop we should fulfill the duties pertaining to that office. I know it has been considered a very hard office, and one to which a good deal of time has to be devoted. Yet there are a great many bishops who don’t spend much time in it, while others are true to their calling. A bishop’s calling is an important one. He is called to be a father to the people of his ward. And when labor is laid upon us to perform we should not ignore that labor or lay it aside. There is an account kept, whether we keep one or not. There are a good many revelations which show us that this is the case. Your history goes before you. All of you will find it when you get to the other side of the veil. Every man’s history—his acts—are written, whether he has kept a record here or not. This is plainly manifested in the revelation known as the “Olive Leaf.”

As I view it, we are not placed here as elders of Israel, apostles, or bishops, merely to get rich in gold and silver, and the things of this world. We have a labor laid upon our shoulders. Joseph Smith had, Brigham Young had, the Twelve Apostles have, we all have, and we will be condemned if we do not fulfill it. We shall find it out when we get to the other side of the veil. It is through this neglect of duty that so many have left this Church and kingdom of God. There is hardly a tithe of the people who have been baptized in water for the remission of sins that have died in the faith. In the United States there are tens of thousands of apostate Mormons. Many a time in my reflections I have wished I could fully comprehend the responsibility I am under to God, and the responsibility every man is under who bears the priesthood in this generation. But I tell you, brethren, I think our hearts are set too much upon the things of this world. We do not appreciate, as men bearing the holy priesthood in this generation should, the mighty responsibility we are under to God and high heaven, as well as to the earth. I think we are too far from the Lord. I do not think we live our religion as we ought to. I do not think our hearts are set upon building up this kingdom as they should be as Latter-day Saints. Now, do not think I am your enemy because I tell you these things. I feel we have an important work to perform, and others will continue the work when we have passed away. I look around and view the work of time. I look around and find that eight of the Twelve Apostles have passed into the world of spirits since we came into this valley; I expect to go there myself, I expect my brethren will; we shall all go there before many years are over. I do not look for anything else; and I will say that for the last year or two in my reflections I have felt that I have no other business on this earth but to try to build up this kingdom. I do not feel that I am justified in settling my heart upon the things of this world to the neglect of any duty that God requires at my hands. And another thing, when I look at this generation, when I think of over twelve hundred millions of people who dwell in the flesh, many of them ripening for the judgments of God, a generation that is ready to receive the wrath of God upon their heads—when I consider these things, I know that if I neglect to bear my testimony before them, if I neglect to bear my testimony to this generation when I have an opportunity, I shall feel sorry for it when I go into the spirit world.

That is the way I feel with regard to this work. God requires that we bear record of it to this generation; and when I think of the extent of this generation, the greatness of it, when I consider that this is a generation and dispensation when God has set his hand to establish a kingdom, the great and last kingdom, and the only kingdom that the Lord ever did establish in any age of the world, to remain on the earth through the millennium, when I think of these things I can realize the greatness of this work. The Lord never had prophets in any age of the world who could stand in the flesh and live, and build up the kingdom of God. The world has always made war upon them and destroyed them, with the exception of Enoch who was taken up to heaven with his city. Now, if we could realize that we have the kingdom of God upon the earth today, with the promise of God our Father, that it will stay upon the earth until the coming of the Son of Man—if we could realize this and realize our responsibility, it seems to me that we would all have a desire to magnify our calling.

As I was going to say, with a generation like this, with the nations of the earth as they are today, having the power to build up the kingdom of God to stay here, having the power to rear temples to the Most High God, against the wrath and indignation of a thousand million people—I say, having this power, and being sustained by the Lord, we certainly ought to be willing to do our part of the work. We have borne testimony—I have, my brethren have, the elders of Israel have—to this generation for many years. We have borne testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of the Book of Mormon and of the prophets of God who has been raised in this our own time, and those testimonies will rise up in judgment against this generation and will condemn those who reject them.

This kingdom is in our hands to bear it off. The God of heaven is with us. He has sustained us. He turns away the wrath of man. He binds the hands of our enemies and breaks every weapon that is formed against Zion. He has established his people in these valleys of the mountains.

I would say to bishops, and to all men in authority, we should have an interest in carrying on this work. We should labor to get the Spirit of God. It is our right, our privilege, and our duty to call upon the Lord, that the vision of our mind may be opened, so that we may see and understand the day and age in which we are living. It is your privilege, and mine too, to know the mind and will of the Lord concerning our duties, and if we fail to seek after this, we neglect to magnify our calling.

As Brother Taylor has said, here we are at headquarters. We are an ensample for all the other Stakes to look at. We should not consider anything we are called to perform a labor. Anything we are called upon to do we should do with a will. I look back to the days of our early missions. Brother Taylor, Brother Brigham, myself and others, had to go our ways sick with fever, ague, and the power of death surrounding us; had to leave our wives and children without food, without raiment, and go without purse and scrip to preach the Gospel. We were commanded of God to do it, and if we had not done it we should not have been here today. But having done these things, God has blessed us. He has sustained the faithful elders of this Church and kingdom, and he will continue to do so until we get through.

I wanted to express my feelings in relation to these matters. I reflect upon our position. I realize that we have a testimony to bear, and that we shall be held responsible for the manner in which we perform our duties. As apostles, seventies, elders, priests, etc., we are accountable to the Most High God. If we do our duty, then our skirts will be clean. We are watchmen upon the walls of Zion. It is our duty to warn the inhabitants of the earth of the things that are to come, and if they reject our testimony, then their blood will be upon their own heads. When the judgments of God overtake the wicked they cannot say they have not been warned. My garments, and the garments of thousands of others, are clean of the people of this generation, as also the garments of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and those of the elders of Israel who have died in the faith. We have borne our testimony, and when the judgments of God come, men cannot say they have not been warned. I consider our position before this generation is of vast im– portance to us and them. I do not want, when I go into the spirit world, to have this generation rise up and condemn me, and say I have not done my duty.

There never was a generation like this. There has never been a people like this. There has never been a work like this since God made the world. True, there have been men who have preached the Gospel; but in the fulness of times the Lord has set his hand to establish his kingdom. This is the last dispensation. He has raised up men and women to carry on his work, and as I have often said, many of us have been held in the spirit world from the organization of this world, until the generation in which we live. Our lives have been hid with Christ in God, and the devil has sought to kill us from the day we were born until the present hour. But the Lord has preserved us. He has given us the priesthood, he has given us the kingdom and the keys thereof. Shall we disappoint our heavenly Father? Shall we disappoint the ancient prophets and apostles who looked forward to this day? Shall we disappoint Joseph Smith, and those brethren who have gone before, who laid the foundation of this work and left us to labor after them? Brethren, for God’s sake do not let us set our hearts on the things of this world to the neglect of the things of eternal life. Do not let the bishops feel it is a hard matter to carry out any of the counsels given by those who are called to direct all these things. Bless your souls, if you lived here in the flesh a thousand years, as long as Father Adam, and lived and labored all your life in poverty, and when you got through, if, by your acts, you could secure your wives and children in the morning of the first resurrection, to dwell with you in the presence of God, that one thing would amply pay you for the labors of a thousand years. What is anything we can do or suffer, to be compared with the multiplicity of kingdoms, thrones and principalities that God has revealed to us?

Well, we have got the kingdom, and we must bear it off. It won’t pay you nor me to apostatize. But then there is this danger, you know. Brother Joseph used to counsel us in this wise: “The moment you permit yourselves to lay aside any duty that God calls you to perform, to gratify your own desires; the moment you permit yourselves to become careless, you lay a foundation for apostasy: Be careful; understand you are called to a work, and when God requires you to do that work do it.” Another thing he said: “In all your trials, tribulations and sickness, in all your sufferings, even unto death, be careful you don’t betray God, be careful you don’t betray the priesthood, be careful you don’t apostatize; because if you do, you will be sorry for it.” We received a great deal of that kind of counsel, and I have remembered it from that day until the present.

But I do not wish to detain you. I felt to back up the testimony Brother Taylor has given. I take it to myself. I can make nothing by neglecting any duty. I have never committed a sin in this Church and kingdom, but what it has cost me a thousand times more than it was worth. We cannot sin with impunity; we cannot neglect any counsel with impunity, but what it will bring sorrow; and the only safe way is to round up our shoulders and do our duty, and thus bear off the kingdom. None of us have a long time to stay here. When I look around and reflect upon my brethren that are gone, I ask, Where are they? Where are they gone? Here is Brother Taylor, myself and others who form part of the early organization of this quorum, who have traveled with the Church for a great many years; but Brother Joseph Smith and others have been gone for a long time—gone into the spirit world. While I reflect upon these things I often ask, What are their views toward us? How does the Lord look upon us as a people? I consider the Lord and the heavenly hosts are watching us. I know they manifest great interest in our welfare and in the course we pursue. I do not want to miss salvation. I want to go where Brother Joseph is. I want to go to my heavenly Father, and to his Son Jesus Christ, and to the old prophets who lived in their generations.

Let us try to live our religion. Let us seek for the Holy Spirit, that it may dwell in our bosoms day by day. Bless your souls, we have all we want of this world’s goods. Who ever saw a people so well off as the people of Utah in these valleys of the mountains? Who has given us these things? Our heavenly Father. He has blessed the land for our use. This donation that has been made, some may call it a sacrifice; but Brother Taylor had a desire to stretch out the hand of kindness to the oppressed of the Latter-day Saints. We want them to have the benefit of this. We should therefore labor with a will. No matter how long you are a bishop, your work will be closed in the flesh by and by. Where are many of the bishops of this Church and kingdom who held office thirty years ago? Gone; and the bishops who are here tonight, others will supply their places by and by. We will all pass away in our turn, and the faithful will come forth at the coming of the Son of Man, which is but a little while.

I feel anxious that we may not forget God; I feel anxious that we may not forget the position we occupy before him; for I will say this concerning myself: if ever I had any satisfaction or happiness, I have had it in “Mormonism.” If there is anything to me or about me, it has been given to me in “Mormonism.” If I have ever received any blessings; if I have ever had power to testify of the things of God, and been the means of bringing any into the Church and kingdom of God, it has been by the power of God, or by that which is termed “Mormonism,” the Gospel of Christ. I know it is the power of God that has accomplished these things. It has been by the power of God that we have received all we are in possession of—our riches, our gifts, our wives and our children. How many of you have had sealed upon your heads kingdoms, powers and principalities in the world to come? Who can compare these blessings with gold and silver and the things of this world? Or what is to be compared with the gift of eternal life?

I pray God, our heavenly Father, to bless you, to bless all those who bear the holy priesthood; that the blessings of God may be over you. I feel that we as a people have got to rise up and clothe ourselves with the power of God. There must be a reformation, or a change, in our midst. There is too much evil among us. The devil has got too much power over us. A good many that bear the name of Christ and the holy priesthood, are getting cold in the things of God. We must wake up; we must trim our lamps, and be prepared for the coming of the Son of Man. May God bless you. May he guide and direct us all. May he keep us in the hollow of his hand. May he sanctify us and prepare us to inherit eternal life, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, at the Semi-Annual Conference, of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, Saturday Afternoon, July 3rd, 1880.

I have listened to the instructions given here this afternoon by my brethren, as well as the remarks of Brother Cannon, this forenoon, with feelings of a great deal of interest. When we talk of our duties as Latter-day Saints, I think many times some of us, perhaps all of us, more or less, fall short of comprehending and understanding the responsibilities which we are under to God. I believe there never was a dispensation or a generation of men in any age of the world that ever had a greater work to perform, or ever were under greater responsibility to God, than the Latter-day Saints. The kingdom of God has been put into our hands. We have been raised up as sons and daughters of the Lord to take this kingdom, to lay the foundation of it, to build upon it, to carry it out in its various branches until it becomes perfected before the heavens and before the earth as God has foreordained it should be. And those principles which have been referred to by the brethren in regard to our duties, we cannot safely ignore them nor turn aside from them. I will say as one of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, from the time I was first acquainted with this organization until today, we have never felt ourselves at liberty to stay away from our meetings unless we were sick or circumstances hindered us in some way or other. I can say that for myself, and I believe I can say the same for my brethren. We have always felt duty bound to attend our meetings, and if we do not attend the question might arise, what has become of the Twelve Apostles? Where are they that they do not attend their meetings? It would be a very proper question to ask. And if this responsibility rests upon us in the capacity which we occupy, does it not rest upon other men? I think it does. I do not believe the Lord ever required Joseph Smith or Brigham Young or any of their counselors to undertake to build up this kingdom alone. He never required them to build these Temples alone. They were required to perform their duties, that is true. Joseph Smith was called of God, inspired of God, raised up of the Lord, ordained of God long before he was born, to stand in the flesh, as much as Jeremiah or any of the ancient prophets, to lay the foundation of this Church and kingdom. He performed his work faithfully. He labored faithfully while he tabernacled in the flesh, and sealed his testimony with his blood. Other men were called also to build upon the foundation which he laid.

We have in days that are past and gone been under the necessity of going forth to preach the Gospel in the world. We have had this to do. We have been called to do it. We have been ordained to do it. We have been commanded of God to do it, and so have hundreds of thousands of the elders of this Church and kingdom. We have all some responsibility, more or less, resting upon us, whether as regards going on missions or anything else. I remember Brother Joseph Smith visited myself, Brother Taylor, Brother Brigham Young and several other missionaries, when we were about to take our mission to England. We were sick and afflicted many of us. At the same time we felt to go. The Prophet blessed us as also our wives and families; and I was reading a day or two ago his instructions from my journal. He taught us some very important principles, some of which I here name. Brother Taylor, myself, George A. Smith, John E. Page and others had been called to fill the place of those who had fallen away. Brother Joseph laid before us the cause of those men’s turning away from the commandments of God. He hoped we would learn wisdom by what we saw with the eye and heard with the ear, and that we would be able to discern the spirits of other men without being compelled to learn by sad experience. He then remarked that any man, any elder in this Church and kingdom—who pursued a course whereby he would ignore or in other words refuse to obey any known law or commandment or duty—whenever a man did this, neglected any duty God required at his hand in attending meetings, filling missions, or obeying counsel, he laid a foundation to lead him to apostasy and this was the reason those men had fallen. They had misused the priesthood sealed upon their heads. They had neglected to magnify their callings as apostles, as elders. They had used that priesthood to attempt to build themselves up and to perform some other work besides the building up of the kingdom of God. And not only did he give us the counsel, but the same is given in the revelation of God to us. I have ever read with a great deal of interest that revelation given to Joseph Smith in answer to his prayer in Liberty jail. I have ever looked upon that revelation of God to that man, considering the few sentences it includes, as containing as much principle as any revelation God ever gave to man. He gave Joseph to understand that he held the priesthood, which priesthood was after the order of God, after the order of Melchizedek, the same priesthood by which God himself performed all his works in the heavens and in the earth, and any man who bore that priesthood had the same power. That priesthood had communication with the heavens, power to move the heavens, power to perform the work of the heavens, and wherever any man magnified that calling, God gave his angels charge concerning him and his ministrations were of power and force both in this world and the world to come; but let that man use that priesthood for any other purpose than the building up of the kingdom of God, for which purpose it was given, and the heavens withdraw themselves, the power of the priesthood departs, and he is left to walk in darkness and not in light, and this is the key to apostasy of all men whether in this generation or any other.

Our responsibilities before the Lord are great. We have no right to break any law that God has given unto us. The more we do so the less power we have before God, before heaven and before the earth, and the nearer we live to God, the closer we obey his laws and keep his commandments, the more power we will have, and the greater will be our desire for the building up of the kingdom of God while we dwell here in the flesh.

We have no right to break the Sabbath. We have no right to neglect our meetings to attend to our labors. I do not believe that any man, who has ever belonged to this Church and kingdom, since its organization, has made anything by attending to his farm on the Sabbath: but if your ox falls into a pit get him out; to work in that way is all just and right, but for us to go farming to the neglect of our meetings and other duties devolving upon us, is something we have no right to do. The Spirit of God does not like it, it withdraws itself from us, and we make no money by it. We should keep the Sabbath holy. We should attend our meetings.

This kingdom is advancing. It has got to advance, and somebody has got to build it up. Somebody has got to labor in it. The God of heaven has had a people prepared before the world was made for this dispensation. He had a people prepared to stand in the flesh to take this kingdom and bear it off; and the very spirit of the prophets and apostles, who have gone before us, has been manifested in the lives of faithful men and women from the organization of this Church until today, and will continue until the coming of the Lord, as there are a great many men and women who will live their religion and carry out the purposes of God on the earth.

It is our duty as apostles, as elders and as Latter-day Saints, to contemplate, to reflect, to read the word of God, and to try to comprehend our condition, our position, and our responsibility before the Lord. If our eyes were opened, if the veil were lifted, and we could see our condition, our responsibility, and could comprehend the feelings of God our heavenly Father, and the heavenly hosts, and the justified spirits made perfect, in their watchcare over us, in their anxiety about us in our labors here in the flesh; we would all feel that we have no time to waste in folly or anything else which brings to pass no good. All of us, as elders of Israel and as Latter-day Saints, bear some portion of the holy priesthood, either the Melchizedek or Aaronic. It is a kingdom of priests, and there is work enough for this people to magnify their calling. The Lord has agreed to sustain us, and to break every weapon that is formed against us. He has promised to sustain Zion, and when the Prophet saw this Zion of God in the mountains, his soul was filled with joy and he cried, “Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.” Again the prophet says, “Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Zion has been before the face of the Lord since the creation of the world! Our heavenly Father has protected this people. We have been favored from the day we set our feet in the valleys of the mountains, notwithstanding the tribulation and opposition we have had to contend with. All the designs of the wicked and ungodly to stop this work have been thwarted. The hand of God is over Zion. He is our Comforter. He sustains us, and we have every encouragement on the face of the earth, as Latter-day Saints, to be true and faithful unto him the little time we spend in the flesh.

Our responsibilities are great; our work is great. We not only have the Gospel to preach to the nations of the earth, but we have to fill these valleys, towns, cities, etc., and we have, among other important things, to rear temples unto the name of the Lord before the coming of Christ. We have got to enter into those temples and redeem our dead—not only the dead of our own family, but the dead of the whole spirit world. This is part of the great work of the Latter-day Saints. We shall build these temples and, if we do our duty, there is no power that can hinder this work, because the Lord is with us; and certainly our aim is high! As a people we aim at celestial glory; we aim at the establishment of the kingdom of God. We have been raised up for the purpose of warning the world; to preach the Gospel; to go to the meek of the earth and bring them to these valleys of the mountains, that they may be delivered from the power of sin and Satan. Our numbers are many compared with former dispensations. Nevertheless, our numbers are few when compared with the twelve or fourteen hundred millions of inhab– itants who dwell in the flesh. Still, with the help of God, we have power to redeem the world. This is our work. We are obliged to labor and to continue to while we are here, and when we have finished our work, our sons, the rising generation, have got to take this kingdom and bear it off.

Eight of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are in the spirit world today who were in the flesh when we came here, and so they pass away, one after another, when they finish their work. Do you suppose that in their minds and feelings they realized they had done too much? I think not. Just so with those who remain in the flesh. There is no time to throw away, and I would to God that the elders of Israel could fully realize and comprehend the great work that God has put upon their shoulders—the building up of his kingdom.

This kingdom has continued to increase and spread. When we came here thirty-three years ago we found this place a barren desert. There was no mark of the white man here. It was a desert indeed, hardly a green thing to meet the eye. You can see today for yourselves. The inhabitants of Zion are a marvel and a wonder to the world. They occupy these valleys of the mountains from Idaho to Arizona. The valleys, as it were, are filled with Latter-day Saints. And who are these Latter-day Saints? They are the people whom the God of heaven has raised up in fulfillment of promise and revelation. He has carefully gathered them together by the power of the Gospel, by the power of revelation, and placed them here in the valleys of the mountains. Has there ever been any power formed against this people that has been successful? Nay; and this people will never see the day when our enemies shall prevail, for the very reason that God had decreed that Zion shall be built up; the kingdom that Daniel saw shall roll forth, until the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall fill the whole earth. The people of God shall be prepared in the latter days to carry out the great program of the Almighty, and all the powers of the earth and hell combined cannot prevent them. When I see the view that the world takes in regard to this great latter-day work; when I hear it questioned as to whether God has anything to do with it; when I see the feeling of hatred that is manifested towards us, to me it is the strongest evidence that this is the work of God. Why? Because we have been chosen out of the world and therefore the world hates us. This is a testimony that Jew and Gentile and the whole world look at. Then if this is the work of God what is the world going to do about it? What can this nation or the combined nations of the earth do about it? Can any power beneath the heavens stay the progress of the work of God? I tell you nay, it cannot be done. I do not boast of these things as the work of man; it is the work of the Almighty; it is not the work of man. The Lord has called men to labor in his kingdom, and I wish the elders would look upon this subject as it is and realize our position before the Lord. Here we are a handful of people chosen out of some twelve or fourteen hundred millions of people; and my faith in regard to this matter is that before we were born, before Joseph Smith was born, before Brigham was born—my faith is that we were chosen to come forth in this day and generation and do the work which God has designed should be done. That is my view in regard to the Latter-day Saints, and that is the reason why the apostles and elders in the early days of this Church had power to go forth without purse or scrip and preach the Gospel of Christ and bear record of his kingdom. Had it not been for that power we could not have performed the work. We have had to be sustained by the hand of God until today, and we shall be sustained until we get through, if we keep the commandments of God, and, if we do not, we shall fall, and the Lord will raise up other men to take our place. Therefore, I look upon it that we had a work assigned to us before we were born. With regard to the faithful leaders of this Church and kingdom, beginning with Joseph Smith, how many times have I heard men say in my travels—Why did God choose Joseph Smith, why did he choose that boy to open up this dispensation and lay the foundation of this Church? Why didn’t he choose some great man, such as Henry Ward Beecher? I have had but one answer in my life to give to such a question, namely, that the Lord Almighty could not do anything with them, he could not humble them. They were not the class of men that were chosen for a work of this kind in any age of the world. The Lord Almighty chose the weak things of this world. He could handle them. He therefore chose Joseph Smith because he was weak, and he had sense enough to know it. He had the ministration of angels out of heaven. He had also the ministration of the Father and the Son and of the holy men who once dwelt in the flesh.

We have been obliged to acknowledge the hand of God. From out of the pit have we been dug. We have been taken from the plough, the bench, the various occupations of life, having limited knowledge of what the world calls learning. The Lord has called this class of men as elders, and inspired by the power of God they have gone forth and warned the world, and those of this generation who reject the testimony of these elders will be under condemnation, for the elders will rise up in judgment and condemn them. The building up of this kingdom rests upon our shoulders—not upon the shoulders of Brother Taylor and the Twelve Apostles alone, but every man and every woman who has heard this Gospel and gone into the waters of baptism will be held responsible for the light and knowledge they received.

This is my testimony to you today. You have got the kingdom of God here. It has grown and increased, and will continue to grow and increase. I look at this building; I look at the tabernacle here; I look at the temples that are being built; I see what is going on in the mountains of Israel, and I ask what is it? It is the work of God. I acknowledge his hand in it. This is the reason why we are inspired to build these temples. Why we labor to build them is because the day has come when they are needed. Joseph Smith went into the spirit world to unlock the prison doors in this dispensation or generation. He stayed here long enough to lay the foundation of this kingdom and obtain the keys belonging to it. The last time he ever met with the quorum of the Twelve was when he gave them their endowments, and when they left him he had a presentiment that it was the last time they would ever meet. He had something to do on the other side of the veil. He had a thousand to preach to there, where you and I have one in the flesh. And this is the great work of the last dispensation—the redemption of the living and the dead.

We ought not, as elders of Israel, to treat lightly the blessings we enjoy. We ought not to treat lightly the holy priesthood, or attempt to use it for any other purpose under the whole heavens other than to build up the Zion of God. The counsel that has been given this forenoon upon this matter we should lay to heart. The eyes of all the heavenly hosts are over this people. They are watching us with the deepest anxiety. They understand things better than we do, for our veil is our bodies, and when our spirits leave them we will not have a great way to get into the spirit world. They know the warfare we have with wicked spirits and with a wicked world, but what encouragement we have when we read the revelations! We live in a generation when the Lord has decreed that his kingdom shall be preserved. The prophets of every other dispensation have been called to seal their testimony with their blood. My faith is that those of this dispensation will not be called to do this. Joseph and Hyrum, it is true, were called to lay down their lives. Why? I believe myself it was necessary to seal a dispensation of this almighty magnitude with the blood of the testator for one thing, and for another thing the people were worthy that put him to death, and will have the bill to pay as the Jews had to pay for the blood of the Messiah; but as far as the leaders of this people and the people generally are concerned, I think the Lord intends we should live at peace. With regard to Brigham Young, we all know the disposition there was on the part of his enemies to take his life. I never believed, however, that he would die a violent death. Neither do I believe that we shall be required to go forth and stain our swords in the blood of our fellow men in our defense. It has been decreed that the wicked shall slay the wicked. Now, I give you my views regarding these things. I speak the sentiments of my own heart and what I believe. The judgments of our God will be poured forth, but the elders of Israel will not be called upon to slay the wicked. The wicked will slay the wicked. When I read the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, I feel that it is with us as with the generation that lived in the days of Ezekiel. In those days the Lord told the prophet to tell the people that what he said he meant to fulfil. And so it is in the day and age in which we live. All things will be fulfilled. The judgments of Almighty God will be poured out upon the wicked. The harvest is ripe, and I know the farmer has got to cut his crops when they are ripe, otherwise they will go back into the ground and rot.

When I see the wickedness and abomination that prevail in Babylon, covering the earth, as it were, like a mighty sea—when I see these things I feel to ask myself the question, how long can these things rise up in the sight of heaven and not have their reward? In my own mind I can see a change at our door. In the face of the revelations I cannot see how it can be otherwise. The signs of heaven and earth all indicate the near coming of the Son of Man. You read the 9th, 10th and 11th chapters of the last Book of Nephi, and see what the Lord has said will take place in this generation, when the Gospel of Christ has again been offered to the inhabitants of the earth. The Lord did not reveal the day of the coming of the Son of Man, but he revealed the generation. That generation is upon us. The signs of heaven and earth predict the fulfillment of these things, and they will come to pass.

Therefore, let us try to live our religion. We have the kingdom of God. There is no question about this. There was none with Joseph Smith when the angels of God ministered unto him, and we had a living testimony of this work from that day to this. What is the greatest testimony any man or woman can have as to this being the work of God? I will tell you what is the greatest testimony I have ever had, the most sure testimony, that is the testimony of the Holy Ghost, the testimony of the Father and the Son. We may have the ministration of angels; we may be wrapt in the visions of heaven—these things as testimonies are very good, but when you receive the Holy Ghost, when you receive the testimony of the Father and the Son, it is a true principle to every man on earth, it deceives no man, and by that principle you can learn and understand the mind of God. Revelation has been looked upon by this Church, as well as by the world, as something very marvelous. What is revelation? The testimony of the Father and Son. How many of you have had revelation? How many of you have had the Spirit of God whisper unto you—the still small voice. I would have been in the spirit world a great many years ago, if I had not followed the promptings of the still small voice. These were the revelations of Jesus Christ, the strongest testimony a man or a woman can have. I have had many testimonies since I have been connected with this Church and kingdom. I have been blessed at times with certain gifts and graces, certain revelations and ministrations; but with them all I have never found anything that I could place more dependence upon than the still small voice of the Holy Ghost.

I know this is the work of God. I know God is with this people. I am anxious for them. I am anxious for the rising generation, for the young men and young women, for I know this kingdom has got to rest upon their shoulders. When I see the evils that exist in Salt Lake City, I realize they are in danger. Our responsibilities as parents are great. We have not only to set an example ourselves, but we must pray for them, and counsel them, and I am satisfied that the Lord will prepare our young men and young maidens, the sons and daughters of this people, so that they will take this kingdom and bear it off. The kingdom will never be thrown down or given to another people.

I thank God I live in this day and age of the world. I thank God that I heard the Gospel. I thank the Lord I have been made partaker of the holy priesthood in connection with the Gospel, and all the fears I have had have been about myself and friends. I never had any fears about the kingdom of God. I do not have any today. I realize and understand, as well as I know any– thing, that this kingdom is ordained to stand. It will grow and increase. Zion will arise and put on her beautiful garments. The only fears that I have are with regard to myself, my family, my wives and my children. We are surrounded with temptations which have a tendency to lead us away. We have got to guard against them; we have got to increase our faith and live nearer and nearer to the Lord.

I pray God to bless you and bless this people, and bless those who are called to watch over us. We have to watch as well as pray. We have to guard the Church and kingdom of God. By and by our mission will close. We will soon pass away and shall reap our reward. We are living in the last dispensation. Joseph Smith, I expect, will sound the sixth trumpet. He will be at the head of this dispensation; or, if he does not blow the trumpet of this dispensation, I do not know who will. Somebody has got to do it, and it must be somebody holding the keys of the various dispensations of the world. No other angels are coming from any other world to administer in this dispensation; those men will minister who dwelt here in the flesh.

May God bless us and help us to keep his commandments, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 20th, 1880.

I will call the attention of the congregation to a few verses, contained in the 50th Psalm, and the first six verses: “The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfec– tion of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints to– gether unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself.” It is very evident that the Psalmist, when writing these words, must have been inspired of the living God; for the events, here foretold, are clearly set forth in many other parts of the sacred scriptures. Two very important events are announced here; one is, the gathering of the Saints—those who have made a covenant with the Lord by sacrifice—and another is the coming of the Lord, not his first coming, but his second advent, when a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him; when he shall, in other words, come in his majesty, in his power, in great glory, or, as the apostle Paul expresses it in one of his epistles to the Thessalonians, “he shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There seems to be connected with this advent of the Lord from the heavens, great power; his arm is to be made manifest before all people. Preparatory to this great event, there will be a universal gathering of the Saints from the four quarters of the earth. It is one of the signs preceding the second advent. It is clearly foretold by many of the prophets. David alludes to it, not only in this Psalm, but in many parts of his Psalms. The Spirit of God seems to have moved upon him to portray more or less the great work of the gathering of the Saints in the last days. Many suppose that he will come and find the Saints scattered all over the world, not gathered into any special country, but it is evident that those who have taken this view of the subject don’t understand the Scripture writings. Nothing is plainer in all the sacred Scriptures than the gathering of the people of God. The apostle Paul, in the first chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians, prophesies “that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.” It seems to be a new dispensation, a dispensation that is characterized by the words “fulness of times.” When these times shall be fulfilled: when the day shall come for this great preparatory work to take place, the Lord will signify it by speaking from the heavens; or, as it is here stated, in the fourth verse of this Psalm which I have just read, “he shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me: those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” From this we draw the conclusion, that when the dispensation shall be fully ushered in: when the time for the great preparatory work shall take place, the heavens will no longer be sealed up, but the Lord will again speak, will call to the heavens, call upon his angels, call upon the ancient prophets who have died and gone the way of the whole earth, and are dwelling in the heavens, to do the work assigned to them, in the great and last dispensation of the fulness of times, in bringing about the gathering and restitution of his people upon the face of the earth. David, in the 107th Psalm, has very clearly portrayed this wonderful and great event. Perhaps it may be well for us to read the exact words. He commences the Psalm thus: “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” Now notice the gathering—“And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.” It seems to be a gathering from the four points of the compass, out of all lands. You might inquire if the prophets have said anything special in relation to the country where these Saints, or people of God are to be gathered. Let us read the next verse. After gathering them out of the different countries and lands, from the east, west, north and south, the Psalmist says, “They wandered in a wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way,” etc. Now this cannot refer to any former dispensation of gathering. When the children of Israel in ancient days were collected together as a body, they were not taken from the east, west, north and south, but they were taken from one little country—the land of Goshen in Egypt. From there this handful of people, about twenty-five hundred thousand were taken, and in the course of time were permitted to inhabit the land of Canaan. But this gathering that is here spoken of informs us that they are to be gathered out of all lands. Who? The redeemed of the Lord—people who have heard the message of redemption, obeyed the ordinances of redemption, received the Gospel of redemption, and were the people of God, the people of Christ; they were the ones that were to wander in the wilderness, after they were thus gathered, and that wilderness would be a solitary way. Now, in gathering from Egypt to the land of Canaan, they wandered, it is true, in a small wilderness, on the east side of the Red Sea, but instead of bringing them forth where there was no city or habitation, he brought them forth to large and populous cities. The first city that they came to, after crossing from the east side of Jordan to the land on the west side, was the great city of Jericho, which the Lord delivered into their hands; and then there were numerous other cities that are mentioned in the Book of Joshua, which were delivered into the hands of the people. The children of Israel gathered out of one land; but this latter-day gathering was to be a people called “the redeemed of the Lord;” they were to go into a wilderness country. They were called, in many parts of the Scripture writings, “the people of Zion,” and “the Zion of the latter days.” The Lord calls them by this special name in the 51st chapter of Isaiah, and these are the words that are used: “For the Lord shall comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.”

When I was a boy. I was inclined to attend very frequently the meetings that were held by the different denominations in the State of New York, my native State. I often heard this prophecy of Isaiah sung, by those who were singing anthems of praise to the Lord, “The Lord shall comfort Zion,” etc., but little did I know, in my boyhood or youth, what was meant by these predictions of Isaiah. It seems that the people of Zion are to be gathered out from all lands, from every nation under heaven, from the four points of the compass, and are to be brought into a solitary place, a wilderness, and when they arrive in that solitary place or wilderness, they will, at first, be greatly afflicted, sorely distressed, so much so that they will be under the necessity of crying unto the Lord, and he will deliver them from their distress. “They found no city to dwell in,” says David. Now, this was the case with the Latter-day Saints, whom the Lord commanded to gather together. When we started forth over the great desert plain, where there were no settlements, no cities, no towns, traveling hundreds of miles without any track to guide us, it was a “solitary way,” and rendered more terrible by the wild beasts that roamed over the plains. We could hear the sound of the wolf in his howlings; we could hear the sounds of the buffalos in their bellowings, but the sound of the human voice, from any village, or town, or settlement was unknown for hundreds of miles.

We commenced this journey in the year 1846, leaving the great Mississippi River in the cold month of February. After a portion of us had crossed the river in boats, the river was frozen over, and the rest of the company crossed in wagons on the ice. We had no grass to sustain our teams. Our teams depended upon the cottonwoods, and barks of trees, and a little corn that we could occasionally get by sending down to the settlements, and purchasing it for that purpose. We wandered in the wilderness “in a solitary way,” and when we had traveled some fourteen hundred miles, we found no city to dwell in, just precisely as the Psalmist said would be the case. We entered this valley in the month of July, 1847, having been detained during the winter, by sending over 500 of our people—young and middle-aged men—to help the United States in their war against Mexico. That detained us during the winter, so that we could not journey any further than Council Bluffs, or the regions a little above Omaha, where we built up a temporary residence. The next spring we started off, traveling over the plains “in a solitary way,” and entered this valley just about where Fort Douglass is now established on the bench; we called it Emigration Canyon. We came down here upon this plot of ground in the month of July, and commenced planting a few potatoes. It was very late to put in any corn, but we wished to try the soil to see whether there was any virtue in it. We found it, however, like an ash heap. It seemed as though there had been no rain upon the land for years. We could dig down a great depth in many places, where this city now stands, without finding scarcely any moisture, but we succeeded by taking the water from the creek—City Creek we call it—in flooding a small portion of ground, and put in our potatoes, and planted corn, a few beans, garden seeds, etc., to see if there was any virtue in the soil. What were the results of our first crop? We found that there was fruitfulness in the soil; but of course it was too late for anything to be matured. The same fall, or autumn of 1847, several thousand of the Latter-day Saints followed up our track. They came upon the land in the fall of the year, bringing with them a little breadstuffs to sustain them during the winter, and also our farm utensils, and everything in the shape of wearing apparel that could be brought. We had not much to bring, for we had already been driven four or five times in the United States, from our houses and from our lands; much of our bedding was burnt; our stores torn down, and the goods carried into the streets and destroyed. Hence, we had not much to bring with us: but we came trusting in our God, and we found that the Lord really fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, and made the wilderness to blossom as the rose, made the desert to bloom like the Garden of Eden—literally fulfilling that which our Gentile religious denominations had been singing in my ears, when I was a youth. Very pleasant song to those who did not understand it, but much more pleasant to those who do understand and are fulfilling it. We made great calculations in laying off this city. We did not lay it off merely one square mile, as if we were doubtful as to whether there would be any inhabitants to occupy it, nor two miles square, but we laid it off, covering an area of about five square miles. We expected that there would be a great emigration. Upon what did we found our expectation? Was it upon our own natural judgment? No; we founded our expectation upon that which God had spoken in the modern revelations which he had given to us as a people. He told us, by revelation, before our prophet was martyred, that we would have to leave the United States: go beyond the Rocky Mountains, and seek our home in the wilderness, and that we would have a great people gather with us. We believed his words; we laid out this city accordingly; and now all that remains for us or strangers to do, in regard to the fulfillment of these expectations, is to ride from one end of this city to the other, and see if there is much spare ground: see if the lots are not pretty generally occupied, and the city pretty well filled with inhabitants. “And he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein.” At first, before the joy and gladness came, this other prophecy was fulfilled: “Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them,” then they cried unto the Lord in their afflictions, and the Lord heard them, and delivered them out of their distress. It is not necessary for me to enumerate all our privations, such as the shortness of provisions, and how many had to live on the roots that sprang out of the ground; how many had to boil up the hides of their cattle that had transported them across the plains; it is not necessary to enter into all these particulars. I do not know that it is necessary for us even to speak of a great trial of our faith, that we had after we had been here many months. We planted our crops in the spring, and they came up, and were looking nicely, and we were cheered with the hopes of having a very abundant harvest. But alas! it very soon appeared as if our crops were going to be swallowed up by a vast horde of crickets, that came down from these mountains—crickets very different to what I used to be acquainted with in the State of New York. They were crickets nearly as large as a man’s thumb. They came in immense droves, so that men and women with brush could make no head way against them; but we cried unto the Lord in our afflictions, and the Lord heard us, and sent thousands and tens of thousands of a small white bird. I have not seen any of them lately. Many called them gulls, although they were different from the seagulls that live on the Atlantic coast. And what did they do for us? They went to work, and by thousands and tens of thousands, began to devour them up, and still we thought that even they could not prevail against so large and mighty an army. But we noticed, that when they had apparently filled themselves with these crickets, they would go and vomit them up, and again go to work and fill themselves, and so they continued to do, until the land was cleared of crickets, and our crops were saved. There are those who will say that this was one of the natural courses of events, that there was no miracle in it. Let that be as it may, we esteemed it as a blessing from the hand of God; miracle or no miracle, we believe that God had a hand in it, and it does not matter particularly whether strangers believe or not.

We found no city here to dwell in. What did we do? Went to work and began to build a great city. This also was foretold in this same Psalm, “He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.” We found that when we came and began to irrigate the land, and the rains began to descend from the heavens, the earth began to take on a fresh appearance, and the dry ground became like water springs. “And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation.” Now when the Israelites went into Canaan they found cities already prepared, but we had to prepare our own city, “And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.” Now, the Latter-day Saints who have been here, since the arrival of the first companies in the year 1847, can rea– lize how much the Lord has multiplied this people. We are as it were overrun with children. If strangers will take the opportunity of going to some of our oldest towns, and through our various settlements, they will find vast numbers of children, perhaps more children in our country than in any other country in the United States of the same population. This is very clearly spoken of here, “He blessed them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.” Again he says, in the 41st verse, “Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.” Those that are acquainted with some of our poor men, and when they go and look at one man’s family; for this is in the singular number—“he maketh him families like a flock”—when we see one man’s family like a flock, we may know the Lord has fulfilled this prophecy in regard to the gathering of the Saints in the latter days. “The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.” The latter part of the sentence is not yet fulfilled, but the fore part is fulfilled; the righteous hath seen these “families like a flock,” and the people greatly multiplied upon the face of the land. “Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.” That is, they are the children of the light. They can see that the Lord our God is fulfilling that which he had purposed to fulfil, when the day for the gathering of his Saints should commence. They can see that that which has occurred corresponds with that which was predicted. Again, they can see how the righteous prosper and flourish; how their cattle increase, and how the Lord has made this wilderness, this desert, this waste country, like the garden of Eden.

Paul, I have no doubt, saw this dispensation of the “fulness of times,” or he never would have predicted the great gathering that should then take place, namely “all things in Christ”—notice that expression; not those who are out of Christ, not those who have not been baptized into Christ; but “all things in Christ; both which are in heaven and which are on the earth; even in him.”

This forcibly puts me in mind of the parable of our Savior concerning this great latter-day gathering. In the 24th chapter of Matthew he speaks of his second coming “in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory,” and how the Gospel should be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, before he should come in his glory. In the next chapter, in order that his disciples might fully understand his sayings, he goes on to explain that at that particular period the kingdom of heaven should be likened unto ten virgins; not the former kingdom that was to be built up, when he came on the earth in the flesh; that was not likened unto ten virgins; but at the time he should commence the great work of gathering, that wheresoever the main body of the kingdom is gathered together, from the four quarters of the earth, preparatory to his second coming, then, at that time, should the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth—(signifying that they did not remain in their native lands) to meet the Bridegroom. It was a literal gathering out; and after they had gathered out, taking their lamps with them, they began to be sleepy, and it is written, “they all slumbered and slept.” It was a time to sleep, a time of drowsiness; it is called midnight; but when all was silent, and when probably the world outside was not looking for anything very great, was careless and indifferent, a voice was heard in the depth of this silence, saying, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” Then all those virgins awoke, both the wise and the foolish. The wise ones trimmed their lamps, and had some oil left; but the lamps of the foolish had gone out, because there was no oil in them. It seems that they had been so careless, that all the Spirit of God—which may be compared to the oil that gives brightness to the lamps—had gone out of them, and their lamps would not burn. “Well,” said they, “what shall we do? We have been expecting the Bridegroom as well as you that are wise; we believed the Gospel, but really we have been too careless; the spirit has been withdrawn from us; there is no oil in our lamps; cannot you give us some? Won’t you sell us a little?” “Oh, no,” say the wise ones, “we almost fear we have not got enough for ourselves; if you want any, you had better go and buy of those who want to sell.” Hence, five that had gathered were foolish, and five were wise. The wise entered in with the Bridegroom, and the door was shut before the foolish ones could get in. But they afterwards arrived and begged to be admitted; and the question was asked. “Who are ye?” “We have been here among your people for a long time. Have we not cast out devils at a certain time? Have we not been on missions? Have we not healed the sick and done many wonderful works in your name?” What is the reply? “I know you not.” Why? Because they have apostatized; they have lost the oil out of their lamps; they failed to be prepared for the coming of the Savior. Therefore they were bound, as it were, hand and foot, and delivered over to the wicked world, to suffer the same punishment as those that would not receive the truth, and perhaps even greater.

There is another parable concerning this gathering dispensation. You recollect the Savior, in speaking of the end of the wicked world, in a parable, calls it a time of harvest. Before the time of harvest, there seemed to be a gathering together, and by and by, after this gathering, the tares were plucked out from among the wheat, and cast out in bundles, ready to be burned; but those that were not tares, those that were really wheat, were the ones that were prepared to enter in and partake of the blessing of the Lord. This was spoken, not concerning the former dispensation, but that dispensation immediately preceding the end of the world.

In another very plain parable, concerning the gathering in the last days, the kingdom of heaven is compared—that is the kingdom which should exist in the last days—to a net that should be cast into the sea, and gather of all kinds, both good and bad. They are brought up to the shore, not left in their native ocean or native waters, but brought up to the shore. The bad are cast away, and the good were cast into the vessels. Now, this had reference also to the end of the world. This had reference to the great and last dispensation, when the servants of God will go forth, being commissioned of the Lord of Hosts to gather out his Saints, those that have made a covenant with him by sacrifice, and in the gathering out of these Saints from all the lands of the earth, and from the four quarters thereof, they will gather up a great many that are not good, that will not stand the test; but the bad will be cast out, those who have not on the wedding garment, they will be cast away, and bound hand and foot, as it were, until the end shall come, that is, the final judgment, which will be more than a thousand years after the time of the coming of the Savior.

This same great gathering is characterized also by Daniel, as a stone cut out of the mountain without hands. This stone is represented as a kingdom, and its location is represented as a mountain, showing that there is to be a kingdom of God set up in the last days by the gathering together of his people in an elevated region of country, called a mountain. By and by that stone will roll forth, until the kingdoms of this world are broken in pieces, and as the Prophet Daniel said, the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but shall stand forever; all those other earthly kingdoms, that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, will vanish away, like a night vision, or, in other words, become “like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them.” There are many politicians that are trying to foretell the future. They speak of what this government, and that government, and the other government will be, several hundred years hence, or perhaps in ages hence, as though they could see and understand, naturally, the condition of the various governments and kingdoms of the earth, for a long time to come; but Daniel, who was filled with the Spirit of the living God, saw that all these earthly governments—with the setting up of which God had nothing to do particularly, that is, their founders were neither prophets nor revelators so as to found them upon the principles of the everlasting Gospel—were to vanish away, like the chaff of the summer threshingfloor. And you know how that vanishes, especially when the wind blows strongly. So shall it be with all the governments, kingdoms, powers, republics, and empires upon the face of this globe, except one government, namely, that government which the God of heaven shall establish in the latter days upon the mountains. This is the work of God. It is God that causes these kingdoms to vanish away. It is our God that will cleanse the earth from wickedness. “A fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.” He it is that will speak and the wicked shall melt away. He it is that will cause violent whirlwinds to go forth and destroy this, that, or the other city, according to his own will. He it is that will send forth pestilence and plague, and will perform all that has been spoken by the mouth of his prophets, concerning the destruction that is to take place in the latter days.

To prove still more clearly the nature of this great latter-day work of gathering, read the writings of John the Revelator. He saw the introduction of the Gospel in the latter days. He saw “another angel” should bring it. He saw that it should be published to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. He saw that following that angel there would come great and terrible judgments. He saw that after that angel should come with the Gospel, there would come a voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remem– bered her iniquities.” This voice from heaven, this new revelation, that was promised by the mouth of John the Revelator, and the sound to all is: “Come out from among these nations. Come out from the four quarters of the earth. Come out from Great Babylon, ‘Mystery, Babylon the Great,’ that you may escape the desolation and plagues that will soon overtake her.” Read concerning the coming of that angel with the Gospel. Read the declaration that that should be the hour of God’s judgment. When the Gospel is preached, it is the last message to the human family, the last warning voice that they will hear before the coming of the Lord. If they receive it, they will flee out from the nations; if they receive it not, then know assuredly that the hour of God’s judgment is come, and God himself will judge the people, as written in this 50th Psalm.

But we will not detain you longer. May the Lord bless you. May he pour out his Spirit upon all the faithful of the Latter-day Saints, and if there are any unfaithful ones, numbered with the people of God, may the Spirit of the Lord strive with you, until you shall repent of your unfaithfulness, and become pure, upright, virtuous, and holy before the Lord, that you may be entitled to his Holy Spirit. And if there be any strangers present, this afternoon, who desire to know the truth, we would ask them to search the sacred Scriptures, call upon the name of the Most High God, and he will show you whether these Scriptures are true or not; he will reveal to you whether he has sent his angel from heaven or not; he will give you a testimony that is greater than the testimony of men, provided you will go humbly before him, and call upon him, with all your hearts. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 13th, 1880.

I shall endeavor to occupy a few moments of time, and perhaps I may continue my remarks until it is time to close the meeting. I wish I enjoyed better health; I should then feel more like speaking. But as it is, I feel willing to exert myself as far as possible, and also to bring my mind to bear upon the great subject of salvation, and the principles that pertain to eternal life and happiness in the world to come. It is difficult, sometimes, for a person who does not feel well in body, to concentrate his mind upon those subjects which will be edifying and instructive to the people.

It gives me great joy and pleasure, at all times, when I have the opportunity to express myself in regard to the great and important work, which our Father in heaven has seen proper to commence in our day. We have been made partakers, in a measure, of the spirit of the living God, pertaining to this last dispensation. This spirit, when received, and when we give it our attention, and bring our minds to bear upon the object of its operations, is calculated to instruct and impart much information and knowledge to both male and female who are in the possession of it. The Spirit of God is a spirit of revelation. It always was a spirit that revealed something to the human family, when mankind were in possession of it. There have been, however, many ages since the commencement of the world, when the children of men have so far wandered from the Almighty, so far departed from his ordinances and precepts, that the spirit of revelation has not had place within them. The world may be considered in a woeful state of darkness and unbelief, whenever this great and glorious gift is withdrawn from the children of men; for without this gift, without this spirit, without revelation from the Most High, it is utterly impossible for the human family to be saved in the celestial kingdom of our Father and God. Perhaps some may think that this is a very broad statement. They will refer back to the last sixteen or seventeen centuries, and will say, that our fathers have not enjoyed the spirit of revelation, during that time, and if your statement, Mr. Pratt, be true, our fathers are not saved in the celestial kingdom of God. I do not say that our fathers will all be sent to an endless hell. I have made no such assertion. I do not say that they will receive no happiness, no glory, no reward in the world to come; I have made no such assertion; but understand my assertion, that if the world have not been in the possession of divine revelation directly to themselves, during this long period of time, then there have none of them been saved in the celestial kingdom of our Father and God. Now I hope that you have understood me. There is quite a difference between being saved in some kingdom, where there is some glory, some happiness, and being saved in the kingdom where our Father resides. There is only one way to obtain this kingdom—the kingdom that is represented, in its glory, by one of the most brilliant luminaries that shines in yonder heavens, namely, the sun. We are told by our Savior that those who obey his commandments shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our Father. The Apostle Paul informs us that there are in the eternal worlds many different kinds of glory. In the 15th chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians, he says that, “there is one glory of the sun; and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.” They do not all rise to the same glory, nor to the same happiness, nor to the same fulness, nor to the same kingdom; but they arise from their graves, and come forth—those who are counted worthy of any kind of glory—to receive that which they are worthy of, all that they have lived for, and nothing more.

Our Father who dwells in yonder heavens, and his Son Jesus Christ, inhabit the highest degree of glory in eternity. They are possessed of all the fullness of glory. They have a fullness of happiness, a fullness of power, a fullness of intelligence, light and truth, and they bear rule over all other kingdoms of inferior glory, of inferior happiness, and of inferior power. Their glory is like that of the sun, or at least, the sun being the most conspicuous body with which we are immediately acquainted, in regard to its glory, it is referred to as being typical of the highest degree of glory in the heavens. The Gospel is intended to exalt the children of men to that same degree of glory, where our Father and where his Son reside. Hence it is said by our Savior, just as he was taking leave of his apostles in ancient times, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” There is a mansion where he dwells. Where this mansion is located in the midst of the vast surrounding space, has not been revealed to us. It may have been revealed in former ages of the world; but to us, as Latter-day Saints, we have no revelation concerning its location. But there is a location, where these two glorious personages dwell. It has a location, just as much as our earth has a location in the solar system. But when I speak of our Father and our God being located in a glorious mansion, or celestial world, I do not wish to be understood that he is confined to that location. Do not misapprehend the subject. He is not confined to that particular locality, in the midst of universal space. He has power which we are not in possession of. He has power to waft himself from that particular locality to other dominions, other worlds, other creations; and to do this with an immense velocity. Of course, to accomplish this must occupy time. There are some, however, so foolish in their ideas that they suppose that it does not require time for the Almighty to go from world to world, or for any celestial messenger to do so. But this is a grand mistake. Time is included in all motion. Time is included between the event of a heavenly being leaving the celestial abode, where he dwells, and going to some other abode at a distance. How great this time may be is not revealed; but I have an idea that it is much swifter than any velocity with which we are familiar; I mean the velocity with which our Father and God can convey himself from the celestial abode where he dwells to some other kingdom. I believe it be much swifter than that of the common light which shines from the heavenly bodies of our system, or from the distant bodies of the stellar system. Now, light travels with immense velocity—185,000 miles in one beat of the pulse, or in about one second of time. We might suppose that that is about as swift as any being would want to be wafted.

But suppose that our Father, in the heavenly world where he dwells, should feel disposed to visit one of the vast dominions of his great creation as far distant as the nearest fixed star. If he could go no faster than light is transmitted through space, it would take him three and a half years to perform the journey. And to go to one that was situated some ten or fifteen times further off, it would take, of course, ten or fifteen times longer. And to go to some which are as far off from him as the distant creations that are just visible through our most powerful telescopes, it would take him six hundred thousand years to perform the journey, provided his velocity was only equal to that of light. I draw the conclusion, therefore, that God is not confined to the velocity of light, or to any other velocity with which we are acquainted—that he can go with immense velocity, perhaps thousands and hundreds of thousands of times swifter than that of light, if he feels disposed so to do. It is out of the question for us to suppose that God does not travel in going from creation to creation. That he could be momentarily and instantaneously in two creations at the same time is something that I never could comprehend, although it is believed in by some of the religious professors of the present day. They believe that God, in his person, can be in infinite space all at the same moment. That is not our doctrine. It is not my doctrine, at least. He may be, by his power, by his intelligence, by his spirit, in infinite space, working throughout all the vast dominions of space, according to laws he has ordained and instituted.

Having said so much, in regard to the locality of our Heavenly Father, and of the celestial beings who dwell in the same abode, or in the same mansions where he resides, let me now say a few words more in regard to his presence being everywhere. I cannot, for a moment suppose, and I do not believe that any intelligent being who exercises his intelligence, independently of the traditions of the children of men, can suppose, that a person can be everywhere present at the same instant. “But,” inquires one, “when a good man dies, passes out of this body of flesh and bones, it is said that he is in the presence of God. Does this mean that he has actually gone from his tabernacle, perhaps millions and millions and unnumbered millions of miles, to the abode or mansion where Jesus is, because he is in the presence of God?” No; I do not look at it in this way, I look at it in this light: if this world in which we dwell had the veil withdrawn from off its face, and the veil taken away from our faces, I consider that we would see the Lord, however far distant he might be; hence we would be in his presence; and on the other hand, those who dwell in his abode, however distant, can see us; for there is no veil over his face, no veil over the celestial abode of our Father and God, and there being no veil over him, nor over the beings that dwell in his abode, they can behold the most distant creations, which they have made. Now, this is my view. I do not say this is the view of the Latter-day Saints, but my own individual views, in regard to these matters. If then we pass out of these bodies of ours, and the veil is taken away, we are in his presence, just as much as we would be if we were wafted to the mansion where he dwells: I have no doubt, but what we will be wafted (if we are worthy) to that mansion, in due time; but I say, that we are in the presence of God, while our spirits are yet here upon the earth; because the veil is removed and our eyes can pierce eternity, and eternal things.

Now, we have some examples of this, Latter-day Saints: and I sometimes wonder, when we have such plain examples as are to be had in this book which I hold in my hand, (The Pearl of Great Price) I sometimes wonder that people should be so limited in their ideas and in their views, concerning the future state of man (I mean the glorified man), as to suppose that he will be confined in his vision to some particular locality, and that he will be something similar to what we are here in this mortal life. Now, even mortal men, before they obtained immortality, have enjoyed this spirit of seeing things that were naturally supposed to be utterly impossible. Who that is acquainted with this book (the Pearl of Great Price) has not read with great and deep interest, the words of that great man, Moses, before he was sent down to Egypt to redeem the Israelites? Who is there among the readers of the Latter-day Saints who cannot comprehend, in some measure, how the vision of that man was enlarged, while he was yet here in a state of mortality? He went up into the Mount to pray to the Lord. The veil was removed. The glory of God rested upon Moses, and great and important things were made manifest to him. All things were not revealed; for he was incapable of receiving all things while yet a mortal being. But the Lord saw proper to reveal some things; and Moses sought to know some other things, but the Lord would not grant it and told him that no man could behold all his works, except he beheld all his glory; and no man could behold all his glory and afterwards remain in the flesh upon the earth; that is, in the state of mortality. But, said he, “Moses, my son, I will show unto thee some of the works of mine hands. I will reveal unto you concerning the heaven that is over your head, and this earth upon which you dwell.” And as the Lord talked with Moses, the Spirit of God being upon him, his eyes were opened, the veil was taken away, and he saw the whole earth, not merely the surface of it, but the interior of it; every particle of it was before the eyes of Moses. This, then, shows that there is within each of these mortal tabernacles a spirit, and this spirit, when lit up by the Holy Spirit from on high, has certain faculties and powers, far beyond that which we are able to develop naturally here upon the earth. We cannot, by our own natural powers, discern one foot underneath the surface of the earth. We cannot discern through anything that is opaque in its nature—anything that will not admit the natural light to be transmitted through is substance. But still, we have the faculties within us; we have the power; there is merely an obstacle, or obstruction, in the way; and when this obstruction is removed it shows the godlike powers that are planted within the tabernacles of men, by which they can behold and pierce those portions of creation that are not discernable by the natural man. This Moses obtained during the few moments that he was thus enwrapt in vision. He obtained more information in those few moments than could be imparted in all the universities and colleges that ever existed, since the creation of the world to the present day. We may study the ponderous volumes that are published by the learned, and it takes a long time to grasp the information that some very learned men have received. But oh, how different is the method of receiving revelation, when it comes from the Most High! In a moment, as it were, those faculties of ours that have been lying dormant ever since we were born into this world—those faculties which are enshrouded with the darkness of a fallen creation—those faculties, when once illuminated, when once touched by the finger of the Almighty, can pierce the creations of the Almighty, so far as he permits us to behold.

These things encourage me. I am in hopes, when I get to the other side of the veil, that it will not be so difficult for me to understand the different laws of science, and the different laws and branches of education that are taught in this little creation of ours. I am in hopes that when my spirit shall launch forth out of this mortal tabernacle, and go into the eternal world, that I shall not, at that time, require Lord Ross’s great six feet telescope; I am in hopes that I shall not need any of the telescopes, or other instruments invented in the nineteenth century; but I am in hopes there will be a telescope prepared for me, by which I can see the vast creations of the Almighty, and comprehend, in a short period of time, more than could be unfolded to the children of mortality in a thousand years.

I mention this in order to bring before the Latter-day Saints a principle which, I think, we should all, more or less, reflect upon. How encouraging it is to think we are not always going to be bound down to this slow process of gaining knowledge, and information, and wisdom, pertaining to the works of the Almighty! How glorious it is also, to reflect upon the celestial host, who dwell in the fulness of celestial glory, where there is no veil, and where they have their bodies; for some of them have been raised from the grave to immortality, and are clothed upon with all the fulness of the attributes of the Father. I say, how glorious it is to reflect upon the heights and depths and lengths and breadths of knowledge that will then be unfolded to the children of men! These things, as I said before, inspire my heart with joy. I do not confine my hopes to the volumes of works on science, with which I may come in contact here in this world; I do not confine my hopes to the slow process of advancing in knowledge and intelligence that the children of this world have; but I look forward to that higher school—that great university which will scope in boundless and eternal space, that will scope in the most distant creations that we can imagine in the vast field of eternity, in which we will be able to comprehend those laws by which the various creations are governed; not understand them as we now comprehend some few laws, but understand them in all their perfection and fulness, being like unto our Father and God, made like unto him, fashioned like unto his glorious body, and become indeed “sons of God.” Shall I go still further and say Gods? Are we not the children of our Father? Will not the children ascend to the same height, to the same glory, to the same celestial world, and to the same fullness of the attributes of their Father? Are not our children, take them as a body, qualified to come up to all the perfections and attributes of their fathers, who came on the earth before them? It seems to be a general law that children will grow up and possess all of the perfections of their parents, provided that they take the necessary steps, and are favored with long life, and have the natural intelligence that is common to man. If, then, this seems to be a natural law in regard, not only to man, but also to all animated creation—that the children come up and possess the perfections of their fathers before them—may we not reason, by analogy, that our Father who begat us—our Father who dwells in yonder celestial world, intends to make us one with him, that we shall receive the same fulness with him, that we shall partake of light, and truth, and knowledge, and advance from grace to grace, as the revelations in the Book of Covenants state, until we shall receive a fulness of all truth? Then will not this make us, in one sense of the word, sons of God? Will it not make us Gods also, according to the word of God? “But,” inquires one, “how can two persons possess the same attributes without quarreling with each other?” That is not the order of heaven. That is not the pure law that God has ordained, that there should be quarrels with those that have the same degree of intelligence; but the law is that they shall become one, as “I and my Father are one, so that these my brethren may also become one in us as we are one.” That is the law; and if they are one there will be as much unity between his children who are exalted to that high condition in the celestial glory, as there is a unity and oneness between the Father and his only begotten Son. Have they any quarrel? Have they any difficulties? Have they any difference of views? Does one intend to carry on one government, and another a different kind of government? No; whatever is the will of the Father, is the will of the Son; whatever the Father is prepared to do, throughout all his vast dominions, the Son is in accord with him; and whatever the Father desires to perform and accomplish, his children who are made like him and one with them, will take hold and perform the same work, with all that unity and oneness which exist between the Father and the Son. In the celestial glory they are made equal in oneness, in power, in knowledge, and in all perfections; and the Lord their God is with them, and they are one with him, to carry on all his purposes, and will be one with him throughout all the future ages of eternity.

I thought perhaps the time was expired; but I will say a few more words in regard to this great glory, this high destiny prepared for the sons of God. I told you that our process of gaining information would be very rapid—would be immense in its growth, and that we should have the faculties within us developed to the highest degree. But now let us for a few moments, look into this high state of perfection. When our faculties are thus developed, and when we have all the wisdom that I have been speaking of, that dwells in the bosom of celestial beings, in the eternal worlds, what will we do with this wisdom? Will we fold up our arms, and remain throughout all the future ages of eternity, in perfect indifference and laziness, without anything to accomplish or perform? No; we will have works assigned to us to perform in the eternal worlds, that will be proportionate to all the fulness of that glory and knowledge which we are endowed with. Did the sons of God in ancient times, come forth and assist in the formation of this little creation of ours? Did they all shout for joy when the materials were brought together, and when the foundations of the earth were laid? Did they all feel happy and sing a song of rejoicing, and with great joy; did they look upon the works which they were performing? Yes. Jesus was there—the Firstborn of this great family of our Father in heaven. He had the superintendence of this creation. He had the power, because the power dwelt within him, to build this earth of ours, the same as you give to your superintendent power to build your temples, about which Brother Rich has been speaking. It is said that the worlds were made through our Lord Jesus Christ. But do you suppose that he alone made them? No; he had the sons and daughters of God with him. And there were prophets in those days, before our earth was made. They shouted for joy when they saw the nucleus of this creation formed. Why? Because they could look into the future, and by the spirit of prophecy, behold the designs and purposes of the great Jehovah in regard to the creation which they were then in the act of forming. Did they not understand that they would have the privilege of coming forth and peopling this earth? Yes. Did they not understand that they were to pass through a probation on this earth, the same as we are now passing through, in order to prepare them for a still higher exaltation and glory, with immortal bodies of flesh and bones? Yes; they understood these things, hence their joy, when they saw the creation being formed for them. I mention this, in order to show to the Latter-day Saints that the great work that will be entrusted to those who are prepared, will be proportionate to the wisdom, intelligence and understanding that will be imparted to those who enter into the fulness of the glory of the celestial kingdom. They will not remain in idleness to all eternity. They will have a work to perform. They will form worlds under the direction, no doubt, of those that may be ap– pointed to superintend works of such vast magnitude. Furthermore, when they have formed these worlds, they will set them in motion in the midst of universal space, in some location, where they can continue their mission, and where all necessary things shall be fulfilled and accomplished during the days of the probation of these various creations. There will be laws given to govern these new creations, the same as there are laws given to govern the creations with which we are surrounded. The inhabitants upon these creations will be visited from time to time by those that have taken part in the great work of their formation. The inhabitants thereof will be dealt with according to law. They will be intelligent beings. They will have their agency, and they will pass through their probation the same as the people are now passing through their probations here in this world. Everything will be accomplished according to laws that shall be ordained when these creations are made. Will they visit these creations? Yes; for they will have the same power of locomotion, the same power to pass through space (almost in the twinkling of an eye) that our Father has—that his Son Jesus Christ has—that all celestial beings who are exalted in his presence have, and possessing the power, they will visit from creation to creation; they will impart knowledge and understanding to their children in these creations. They will visit them with the light of their countenances, and the children of these creations will be made glad in their hour, in their times, and in their seasons, by the light and countenances of the celestial beings who, from time to time, organized them. These are the high destinies that await the Latter-day Saints, if they are faithful. These are the high destinies into which many of the Former-day Saints have already entered. These are the great, and choice, and exalted blessings in store for all who will keep the commandments of our Father and God. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 6th, 1880.

I have a desire to be heard in what I say to this assembly. I know the difficulties there are in speaking here. It requires not only attention, but quietude among the people.

I feel disposed to read a few verses from the good old book the Bible—some of the sayings of Isaiah and Ezekiel. [The speaker then read from the 12th chapter of Ezekiel, from the 21st to the end of the chapter.] I have (the speaker continued) a few reflections upon my mind that I would like to lay before the Latter-day Saints, especially those who bear the holy priesthood. Among the lessons which we are learning in our day and time is this one truth: that we all of us need the spirit of revelation in order that we may teach mankind of the things of God. I do not believe myself there ever was a man lived in the flesh on the earth, in any day or age of the world, no matter what his position, calling, name, or age might be—I do not believe any man ever had the power to do the work of God, to build up his kingdom or to edify the souls of men, without inspiration and revelation; for the Lord has never called any man in any age of the world to do any of this kind of work, whether to preach the Gospel, to prophesy, or to declare the word of the Lord to the inhabitants of the earth, or to administer in any ordinance in any temple or in any tabernacle, without the holy priesthood. There are no ordinances acceptable in the sight of God of any force after death or in the eternal worlds except those ordinances that are performed by men bearing the holy priesthood. Our heavenly Father himself has officiated by this principle in the creation of all worlds, in the redemption of all worlds, and in all the work which he has performed; it has all been done by the power of the Godhead and the holy priesthood, which is without beginning of days or end of years. This priesthood has power with the heavens. It has association with the heavens. The heavens are connected with this priesthood, let it rest upon the shoulders or head of any man, whether it be Jesus Christ, or those fishermen, or the ancient patriarchs or prophets or Joseph Smith, or any other man who is called of God as was Aaron, by revelation, and prophecy to bear record of the name of God in any age of the world. Therefore, I occupy the same position myself. I know I need the Spirit of God. I know you do. I know any man does who rises on this stand, and attempts to teach the people. You give a man the inspiration of Almighty God and the eternal truths of heaven and he can instruct and edify the children of men upon the principles of life and salvation; without this he cannot do it. And in order to present to my brethren and sisters and friends the subject that I have on my mind, I will just refer a little further to some words of the Lord to the Prophet Ezekiel, [The speaker again referred to the Book of Ezekiel, and quoted from the 9th, 14th and 33rd chapters, all of parts quoted having reference to the dealings of God with the wicked.] Continuing, Elder Woodruff said: Now, having quoted all these passages of Scripture, I want to say to my brethren the apostles, the high priests, the seventies, the elders of Israel, who bear the holy priesthood, upon whose shoulders the God of heaven, in this day and generation has placed the responsibility of the Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthood; has placed the responsibility of this great and last dispensation, the fulness of times, and the building up of the great kingdom of God which Daniel saw by revelation, vision and inspiration in his day and generation as proclaimed by all the prophets and apostles who have written in this book, in the stick of Judah as well as in the stick of Joseph and other revelations given to us through the mouth of the prophets and apostles in our day and generation—I want to ask in the face of all this—and I take it home to myself—what position are we in before high heaven, before God the Father, before his Son Jesus Christ, before the heavenly hosts, before all justified spirits made perfect from the creation of the world to this day? What condition are we in as the servants of the living God, men holding the holy priesthood into whose hands the God of Israel has given this kingdom. Are we disseminating the mighty flood of revelation and prophecy in these records and these books which are now to rest upon the generation as in the days of Noah and Lot? In this respect are we justified in the sight of God, in the sight of heaven, in the sight of angels, and in the sight of men? Can we fold our arms in peace and cry, “all is peace in Zion,” when, so far as we have the power of the priesthood resting upon us, we can see the condition of the world? Can we imagine that our garments will be clean without lifting our voice before our fellow men and warning them of the things that are at their doors? No, we cannot. There never was a set of men since God made the world under a stronger responsibility to warn this generation, to lift up our voices long and loud, day and night so far as we have the opportunity and declare the words of God unto this generation. We are required to do this. This is our calling. It is our duty. It is our business. We have had to perform this work for the last 50 years of our lives. When the Lord called Joseph Smith to lay the foundation of the Church he called him in fulfillment of many revelations given in other dispensations to men. He was preserved by the hand of God to come forth in the last days, even in the dispensation of the fulness of times. He was a prophet of the living God. He was a prophet, seer and revelator. The Lord called upon him to do the work for which he was ordained before the foundation of this world. He did all that was required of him, and he was surrounded with thousands of men who were acquainted with his life, and with the Spirit and power of God which rested upon him, and who sustained him in life and in death. We know he was a prophet of God, and we know he brought forth the stick of Joseph, the Book of Mormon, which was given unto him by the angel of God. This Church and kingdom has been organized by the command of God and by the revelations of heaven. It has continued to grow and increase, and has been upheld by the Lord Almighty, from its organization until the present hour. And when I look at this Tabernacle and think of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains;” when I look at these everlasting hills and the land given by promise to Father Jacob and his posterity; when I see this barren desert peopled by 150,000 Saints of the living God who have been gathered from nearly every nation under heaven through the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—what can I say about it? Can I say it is a dream? Can I say that it is all a vision? Can I say that this work is of man and not of God? Can I say these are revelations and prophecies which belong to some other generation? I tell you no. This is the kingdom of God. Here are the Saints of God. These mountains are being filled with the Latter-day Saints from every nation under heaven, and with these things before me I know that it is my duty to preach the Gospel, to warn Saints and sinners wherever I have the opportunity. The Lord told Joseph Smith that he would prove us in all things, whether we would abide in his covenant even unto death, that we might be found worthy. The prophet sealed his testimony with his blood. That testimony is in force upon all the world and has been from the day of his death. Not one word of the Lord shall pass away unfulfilled. The unbelief in this generation will make no difference with regard to the building up of the kingdom of God. As it was in the days of Noah so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Therefore, I desire to ask my brethren, the elders of Israel—and I ask myself at the same time—do we understand our position before the Lord? Ezekiel has passed away. He is in the spirit world. He has received his resurrected body and stands at the right hand of God with other prophets and apostles who lived in days gone by. They had their day and generation. All these patriarchs and prophets and apostles had a time to prophesy, to preach, to labor, and to administer in the ordinances of life and salvation. Now, in this last dispensation, ye elders of Israel, this work has been put into your hands. Therefore what shall we say, and what shall we do? Are we acting as watchmen upon the walls of Zion? If we are, are we justified in closing our mouths, in closing our ears, or in setting our hearts upon anything else excepting the building up of the kingdom of God? I do not think we are. In my view our responsibility is very great. We should live our religion. We should practice ourselves what we preach. We should treasure up the words of life. We should search the records of divine truth. We should seek to comprehend the day and age in which we live. This is the way I look upon our situation today. I do not look upon the revelations recorded in these books, touching the dispensation of the fulness of times, as something that will pass away unfulfilled. We live in a generation when great changes are about to take place. We live in a time when darkness covers the whole earth and gross darkness the people. The world are a great way from the truth. Infidelity overwhelms the earth, in fact it is a hard matter today to get either priest or people, sect or party, of any name or denomination under heaven to believe in the literal fulfillment of the Bible, as translated in the days of King James, which contains the revelations given from the days of Father Adam down to our own time, and which point out to us the signs of heaven and earth indicating the coming of the Son of Man. We live in the generation itself when Jesus Christ will come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. We live in the generation when the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been revealed in its fulness to the Gentiles, and when the Gospel of Christ will go to the House of Israel, to the descendants of Lehi, in fulfillment of that which is recorded in their records in the 9th, 10th and 11th chapters of the last book of Nephi. These prophets spake by the power of God and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and as the apostle says, “No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” I feel therefore to say to my brethren who bear the holy priesthood, and I say it to myself and to all—I do not think we have much time to lie down and slumber. We have no time to speculate in trying to get rich, in try– ing to accumulate gold and silver. What we have got to do is to build up the kingdom of God. As apostles, high priests, elders, seventies and the lesser priesthood, we are bound together by this new and everlasting Gospel and covenant; we are called to perform the great and mighty work of building up Zion, of building temples wherein we may labor for the living and the dead, and we should live in that way and manner that we may be governed and controlled at all times by the Holy Spirit.

I know very well how the world look at these things. As I said before, the world is far from the Lord. We ourselves are too far from the Lord as a people. We ought to draw near to the Lord, and labor to obtain the Holy Spirit, so that when we read the revelations of God we may read them by the same Spirit by which they were given. Then we can understand their purport when given to the children of men.

The Lord has said by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, that he would proceed to do a marvelous work and a wonder; and when I look at the rise and progress of this Church, when I behold the great work the Lord has performed, it was a marvelous work and a wonder indeed. There never has been, in my view, any generation in which the same amount of prophecies and important events have to be fulfilled as in the generation in which we live. Joseph Smith, an illiterate boy, was raised up by the power of God. His teachers were the angels of heaven. He was administered unto by the Son of God. He received the Aaronic priesthood of John the Baptist, who was beheaded for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He received the apostleship and Melchizedek Priesthood under the hands of Peter, James and John, who were also put to death for the word and testimony of Jesus Christ. He made use of these ordinances by the commandment of God. He organized the Church and kingdom of God; he did that which all the wisdom of the sectarian world could never have comprehended. He established the only church on the face of the earth according to the ancient order of the Church of Jesus Christ, with apostles, prophets, teachers, gifts, helps, governments, baptism for the remission of sins, the laying of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost—an organization which has not existed on the earth from the day the ancient apostles were put to death, and the holy priesthood taken from the earth, until the present. This Church has continued to rise. It is the only true church upon the face of the whole earth. Its history is before the world. It has continued to grow and increase from the day it was organized until the present time. This is the Zion of God. We see an embryo of it in these valleys of the mountains, and it is designed by the Most High God to stand on the earth in power and glory and dominion, as the prophets of God saw it in their day and generation. This is the kingdom that Daniel saw, and it will continue to roll forth until it fills the whole earth. These are eternal truths, whether the world believe or disbelieve them, it matters not, the truths cannot be made of non-effect. This is certainly a strange work and a wonder. There has been every exertion made to stay it. Armies have been sent forth to destroy this people, but we have been upheld and sustained by the hand of the Lord until today.

And now I desire to bear my testimony. I have no fears, my brethren and sisters—and I say the same to our nation, to all kings, queens, emperors, presidents and governments of this world—I have no fears with regard to “Mormonism,” and the ultimate triumph of the kingdom of God; because the Lord Almighty has said that the nation and kingdom that will not serve him shall perish and be utterly wasted away. If this had not been the Zion of God it would not have stood so long as it has done. This kingdom, however, has not been organized by the power of man but by the power of God, and whatever God undertakes to do he will carry out. I have therefore no fear of this kingdom. It was ordained to come forth before the world was made; and the Lord never undertook a dispensation of this kind without due preparation before he commenced. He had material in the spirit world who would in time be raised up to carry on this kingdom. I have no fears about this work being accomplished, but I have fears about many of the Latter-day Saints; because if we have the holy priesthood upon our heads and do not live our religion, of all men we are under the greatest condemnation. We have baptized a great many into this Church and kingdom—not many, certainly, when compared to the twelve hundred million inhabitants of the earth—but a great many have apostatized. What! Latter-day Saints apostatize? Yes. I tell you people will apostatize who have received the holy priesthood and Gospel of Jesus Christ, if they do not honor God, if they do not keep his commandments, obey his laws and humble themselves before the Lord; they are in danger every day of their lives. Look at the number of devils we have, round about us! We have I should say, one hundred to every man, woman and child. One-third part of the heavenly host was cast down to the earth with Lucifer, son of the morning, to war against us—which I suppose will number one hundred million devils—and they labor to overthrow all the Saints and the kingdom of God. They even tried to overthrow Jesus Christ; they overthrew Judas, and they have succeeded in overthrowing a good many Latter-day Saints, who had a name and standing among us, who undertook to build themselves up instead of the Kingdom of God. And when men having this priesthood—I do not care whether it was in the days of Adam, in the days of Moses, in the days of Joseph Smith, or in the days of Brigham Young, I care not in what day they lived—if they bore this priesthood and undertook to use it for any other purpose than the building up of the kingdom of God, then amen to the power and priesthood of such men.

The Lord will have a people to carry on his purposes who will obey and serve him. He has a good many people in this day and age of the world, who will be faithful unto death, whether called to seal their testimony with their blood or not. He has a people who will maintain his work while they are here. But here is the danger, ye Latter-day Saints, and the Savior saw it very plainly, and has left it on record in the earth: He compared the kingdom of God unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. “And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bride– groom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” Now, those who have got oil in their lamps, are men who live their religion, pay their tithing, pay their debts, keep the commandments of God, and do not blaspheme his name; men and women who will not sell their birthright for a mess a pottage or for a little gold or silver; these are those that will be valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ.

This is the way I feel today. I feel to warn my brethren and sisters, the Latter-day Saints, to live their religion, to trim their lamps, because as the Lord lives, his word will be fulfilled. The coming of Jesus is nigh at the door. These judgments that I have read will come to pass, and though Brigham, Joseph, Noah, Daniel and Job, or anybody else were in the land, they could not do more than deliver their own souls by their righteousness. The man that is righteous cannot save the wicked. We have got to live our own righteousness, that is keep the commandments of God.

We are approaching changes. There are judgments at our door. There are judgments at the door of this nation, and at the door of Great Babylon. How do the world feel today? How does our nation feel? Something similar to Belshazzar, the king. On the night that he drank out of the golden and silver vessels with his princes and his wives, he thought, “Well, I made this country. I made this city. I am the god of this country;” but when the Lord Almighty manifested his displeasure by the writing on the wall, the scene was changed. His kingdom was broken up and given to the Medes and Persians. His greatness, his gold and silver did not save him. In the same way the Lord in ancient days swept away great cities when they were ripened in iniquity. Jerusalem was overthrown in fulfillment of the words of the Lord. Jeremiah and Isaiah prophesied what would come to pass, and it was fulfilled to the very letter. So I say to the Gentiles, so I say to the Latter-day Saints. What the Lord has spoken concerning our nation, and concerning the nations of the earth, notwithstanding that the unbelief of the world may be great, notwithstanding that they may reject the word of God and seek to put the servants of God to death—will all be fulfilled. War, pestilence, famine, earthquakes and storms await this generation. These calamities will overtake the world as God lives, and no power can prevent them. Therefore I say to the elders of Israel, be faithful. We have had the priesthood given to us, and if we fail to use it right, we shall be brought under condemnation. Therefore, let us round up our shoulders and bear off the kingdom. Let us labor to obtain the Holy Spirit—and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—which has been put into our hands, and inasmuch as we do this, the blessing of God will attend our efforts.

We have been here a number of years. We have preached the Gospel and labored to build up this kingdom. Many have been associated with this Church almost from the beginning. Many have been taken away. Joseph and Hyrum sealed their testimony with their blood. Many have passed to the other side of the veil, and many others of us will soon follow them; but I do not want when I get there to have it said, “When you were in the flesh you had the priesthood, you had the power to rebuke sin, but you were not man enough to chastise the ungodly.” Neither do I want my relatives to rise up and say, “You had the power to do a work for the redemption of the dead, but you have neglected these things.” I do not want these things to rise up against me. As for gold and silver, they are of very little account compared with eternal life. When we die we must leave the riches of this world behind. We were born naked and we will go out of the world in the same condition. We cannot take with us houses, gold, silver, or any of this world’s goods. We will even leave our tabernacles for somebody to bury. Our spirits must appear in the presence of God, and there receive our reward for the deeds done in the body.

Therefore, I pray God my heavenly Father to enable us to live our religion, to labor for light and truth that we may not work in the dark; to live nearer and nearer the Lord and be prepared for that which is to come, and eventually gain eternal life, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse by Elder C. W. Penrose, delivered in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, Sunday Afternoon, April 25th, 1880.

The Latter-day Saints are often accused by the people in the Christian world of being very much deluded. Our religion is counted a delusion and a snare. I was thinking, however, during the meeting this afternoon about the great number of Christian preachers who today are standing up in various parts of the world informing the people who listen to them that simple belief on the Lord Jesus, who died on Calvary, is all that is necessary to save them and exalt them in the presence of God the Father. And it seems to me that if there is one delusion more pernicious than another it is that very doctrine, which seems to be a fundamental principle of all the various Christian sects. You will find, go where you will in the Christian world and listen to any of the great preachers of the day, that this is the common topic of discourse. Jesus Christ is preached—which is quite right, I am very glad that he is—as the Savior of the world. So we testify as Latter-day Saints. In connection, however, with this great truth which is proclaimed to the inhabitants of the earth by men professing to be sent of God, is preached the great error that mere belief in the work which Jesus Christ wrought out is sufficient for the salvation of the people. The inhabitants of the earth are informed that it is not by any works of righteousness which they may perform that they can gain any favor whatever in the sight of God, but it is the righteousness of Christ alone which is acceptable to the Father and which they can gain the benefit of if they simply believe in him.

When we search the Scriptures and read the sayings of Jesus Christ, and of his servants whom he sent forth to preach the Gospel, we do not find any such statement as this. We find, it is true, that the apostles of the Lord Jesus preached Christ and him crucified to the world wherever they had an opportunity; they directed the attention of the people, Jew and Gentile, wherever they went, to Jesus of Nazareth who was slain on Calvary as the Redeemer of the world, and faith in him was declared to be absolutely necessary. But we do not find that in proclaiming faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to that generation they informed the people that a mere belief in Christ was all that was needful; we find that, in addition to teaching the principle of faith in God and in his Son Jesus Christ, they taught the people it was necessary to observe certain rules, and commandments, to obey certain forms and ordinances, to comply with certain conditions that they might obtain the benefit of the shedding of Christ’s blood. We find by searching the New Testament, which contains some of the teachings of the apostles and some of their letters to the churches, that the doctrine was held forth by them that “the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” We find that this applied, as they taught it, not only to what is called original sin, but also to actual sin. The sin which our first parents committed in the Garden of Eden is called original sin; and the sins committed individually by the inhabitants of the earth, are called actual sin, for “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The apostles sent forth to preach the Gospel by our Savior himself, taught the people that through the shedding of Christ’s blood remission of sin might come to all and that mankind might be redeemed from sin, original and actual. But we find this distinction in their teaching in regard to original sin, and their teaching in regard to individual sin; that the blood of Christ redeems mankind from the effects of the fall and will eventually bring up all who died in Adam—“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”—but that while people had nothing whatever to do with the sin which Adam committed and therefore have nothing whatever to do with the work of atonement for that sin, yet for their own sins there is some action required on their part that they may obtain redemption therefrom, inasmuch as the blood of Christ was shed for original sin unconditionally, but for the remission of actual sin conditionally.

God, when he placed our first parents in the Garden of Eden put before them a certain tree, the fruit of which he said, “they should not partake of, if they did they should surely die.” They partook of that tree in disobedience to the divine commandment, and planted the seeds of death in their bodies, and that death has passed upon all their posterity. “It is appointed unto men once to die.” This act of our first parents introduced death into the world. Death came by sin, and death has passed upon all the posterity of Adam and Eve. Jesus came in the meridian of time as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” to bring mankind up from the effects of the transgression of our first parents. Hence he is called “the Second Adam,” and we are told that as in the first Adam all die, even so in Christ, the second Adam, shall all be made alive again. And he himself proclaimed that the time should come, “in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation,” or in the words of the inspired translation, “they that have done good, in the resurrection of the just, and they that have done evil, in the resurrection of the unjust.” It is through the transgression of Adam that we have to suffer what is called the temporal death. Through that transgression our spirits have become separated from our bodies; our immortal spirits held by these mortal tabernacles must be taken out, and our bodies must return to the ground and crumble into dust; but by the atonement wrought out by the Lord Jesus Christ the time is to come when all who lived in the body shall live in the body again. Christ was raised from the dead and became “the firstfruits of them that slept;” afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming will be brought forth. This is the first resurrection. “Blessed and holy,” says the Apostle John in his vision, “are they that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of his Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” After that John saw, that “the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to his works.”

The atonement wrought out by the Lord Jesus Christ for original sin will apply just as far as the effects of the sin are felt. As all the posterity of Adam died through that sin, even so all the posterity of Adam will be raised up again through the atonement. “But every man in his own order,” says the apostle, “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming;” and then after the thousand years have passed away, the rest of the dead, as John said, will be brought forth and judged each one according to the deeds done in the flesh. All must give an account unto the great eternal Father. We are responsible for the acts done in the flesh, for like as it was in the case of our first parents, good and evil, truth and error, are placed before us, and every individual is left free to choose the good and refuse the evil, or to choose the evil, and refuse the good, as he pleases. Both are set before us and, if we yield to either, it will lead us in either direction. There is, however, a spirit in man, born in him, which comes from God, the fountain of light and truth. This light is planted in the breast of every man and every woman who breathes the breath of life. It is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and if people would listen to the whispering of that still small voice, be led by that natural light and natural inspiration, they would be led up to God. By this natural light, by this general inspiration, if people would listen to its whisperings, and be guided thereby, they would be led up to the fountain of light. “Every good gift,” says the Apostle James, “and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” But on the other hand there must be, as the Book of Mormon says, “an opposition in all things,” and there is a spirit of evil, a spirit of darkness, which draws downward to death, and a spirit of light which leads upward to life; the one leads to Satan and his works, the other to God and to righteousness. But the inhabitants of the earth generally have been more prone to listen to the inspiration of the spirit of darkness as did our first parents, than to listen to the still small voice of light and life in their souls.

All people must give an account of the deeds done in the body according to the measure of light they have received, and the opportunities they have had of obtaining that light, while they dwelt in the flesh. Some people have lived on the earth when God has sent his servants inspired of him to make plain his ways, while others have tabernacled in the flesh when no inspired voice was heard, when no communication was open between the heavens and the earth. And he who is just, who is the embodiment of the eternal principles of justice, will deal out to all according to their light and according to the opportunities they have had of obtaining that light, but all must be judged, all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account for their individual works.

Now, we will take the case of an individual who has broken all the laws of God and perhaps all the laws of man, and finally has shed the blood of a fellow creature, and is condemned by the laws of man to die; he is, in fact, unfit to live, unfit to associate with mortal beings, therefore, they must needs thrust him out of the world that he may mingle with immortal beings. Where do they send him to? A minister will come and preach to him, and tell him that all he has to do is to cast his soul on Jesus; that he has just to believe that Christ died for him, and the righteousness of the pure, immaculate, sinless, Christ will be grafted into that rotten branch, so that he will have the fruits of righteousness and peace. That is according to the modern Gospel. The man believes this, he confesses Christ with his lips and acknowledges him with his tongue, and straightway is strung up between the heavens and the earth, and choked to death; his spirit is forced out of his body, and ushered into the presence of the eternal Father to stand before his spotless throne, and is deemed fit to dwell in the society of the pure and holy ones on high. That is according to the modern Gospel, but not according to the ancient Gospel of Jesus Christ, the everlasting Gospel which says “no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

But someone may ask, “Is there no efficacy, for actual sin, in the atonement wrought out by Jesus Christ? Is there no method by which people can obtain a forgiveness of their individual sins?” Yes, there is a way, and that is the plan of the true Gospel, but it does not consist in mere belief in the righteousness of another; mere belief in the righteousness of somebody else will not make us any better ourselves. What is to be done then? Here the Gospel is very plain and simple, when pointed out by one who understands it. But “How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?” It is men who are not sent who preach the nonsense we hear in the world. It is men who are not sent who deceive mankind with their strong delusions, and then turn round and call the Latter-day Saints deluded. If they were sent of God they would not preach such nonsense, they would not deceive mankind and thus become the cause of so much sin and evil in the world. For while people believe that at the last moment, at the last gasp of their existence, they may cast their souls on Jesus, and by believing in his virtue escape the penalty of their sins, they will continue to sin on, like many of these false teachers who revel in sin up to their very eyes, and will die in their sins and go down into the pit where they must wait until they are released, in the time and way of the Lord. The doctrine of belief without works is a strong delusion. There is more to do, according to the Gospel, than merely to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is necessary. That is the foundation, it is the root of the matter, but it is not all the matter. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Why? Because if you have true faith in Christ, if you really believe on him, you will believe in his sayings and keep his commandments. Hear him: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” “Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”

When Jesus Christ sent his apostles unto all the world after he had risen from the dead, he commanded them to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” They were to go out and preach to all the world, baptizing those that believed, and then proceed to teach all things whatsoever he had commanded them. Christ taught his disciples many principles while he tarried with them in the flesh, and after he had risen from the dead he continued his instructions from time to time. He also told them that when he went away the Comforter should come to reveal unto them the things of the Father and the Son, and to guide them unto all truth; for it is only by receiving truth and living it that people can be saved and exalted. “Sanctify them through thy truth,” prayed the Savior, “thy word is truth.” The Holy Ghost, the Comforter, was to come, therefore, to make plain the truth, and to reveal things past, present, and to come. It is necessary, however, to have faith in Christ. Why? Because every blessing that flows to the inhabitants of the earth from God the eternal Father comes through Jesus Christ. We must first of all believe in God, then believe in Jesus Christ, and if we really do believe in God and in Jesus Christ we will find out in ourselves that we have broken the commandments of God and of his Son Jesus Christ, and the desire will enter our hearts to turn away from sin. Thus it is said, “whosoever heareth these sayings, and doeth them, I will liken unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” It is taught by some that repentance is the first principle of religion, but if a man does not believe in God, will he pray unto him? What has a man to repent of except the breaking of the commandments of God? And how shall he feel anything to repent of if he does not believe in God? It is necessary therefore to have faith first, and then comes repentance, a determination to forsake evil, and this is what the ancient apostles taught.

What next? We find that wherever the apostles went, whenever they found a people who believed in Jesus and repented of their sins they baptized them. By sprinkling a little water in their face? Or by making the sign of the cross upon their foreheads? No. They were taken down into the water and buried there in the likeness of Christ’s death and burial and raised up in the likeness of his resurrection, that henceforth, having “put off the old man with his deeds” they might walk in newness of life, observe his laws and keep his commandments, and follow his footsteps, for he “left us an example, that we should follow in his steps.” Then the apostles laid their hands upon those that were baptized, and we read that they received the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the spirit of truth, which opened up a communication between each individual soul and the fountain of light and eternal truth, which testified that they had been washed clean from their sins. How washed? By water? Yes, and no. Water does not wash away sin, but if people desire remission of their actual sins they must be baptized. Thus it must be, “to fulfil all righteousness.” Even Christ himself had to be baptized to fulfil that commandment, and if he had not obeyed it there would have been no manifestation of the Holy Ghost resting upon him in the sign of a dove, and a voice from heaven declaring, “’This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Christ left us this example, and his apostles followed in his footsteps, baptizing according to the commandment for the remis– sion of sins. John the Baptist also taught this same doctrine when he went out to preach in Judea, and when the people came to him confessing their sins he baptized them in Jordan for the remission of sins. “I indeed baptize you,” says John, “with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”

Baptism for the remission of sins!

“Why,” says one, “I thought the blood of Christ redeemed us from our sins.”And so it does. Water itself will not wash away guilt. If a person has no faith in Christ, and has not repented of his sins, baptism will be of no avail. But baptism properly administered by one who has a right to administer in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, will avail. The person to be baptized must go down into the water and therein be buried for a remission of sins, having repented, and having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in his atoning blood, for the blood of Christ was shed, “for the sins of the whole world.” But the “whole world” will not receive the benefit of the atonement unless they comply with the conditions laid down, namely: faith, repentance, and baptism. They who do not receive this ordinance cannot enter into the presence of the Father, for “except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” So said Jesus. This is a little different from the teachings of modern divines, is it not? Yes, but it is according to the teachings of Christ and his apostles.

Now, then, in regard to the administration of this ordinance. Men must have a right to administer before they do anything in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. I ask who has that right? There are a great many ministers standing up in the various chapels and churches today administering in the name of this holy trinity. You can see men in the Christian world stand up before a congregation and sprinkle a little water upon an unconscious babe, and call it baptism, and actually do it in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Who sent them? Who told them to do this sprinkling? Did God the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Ghost? No. Did any person to whom God has spoken, having authority from God to ordain, appoint them to that office? No. Why! Because for hundreds of years communication with the eternal world has been shut off, inasmuch as the people who profess the Christian religion have not even believed in the doctrine of present communication with God. They have been contented with the old revelations contained in the book we call the Bible, which contains a few of the things that God revealed hundreds of years ago. They do not believe in having communication with the heavens. How did they get this authority, then? When did a man ever get authority from God to sprinkle and call it baptism, or to baptize an infant in any form? It is not to be found in the Bible. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” so Christ said. And you will find that wherever the apostles went, faith was the first principle they taught. “If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest,” said Philip to the eunuch who sought to be baptized. Baptism without faith and repentance is valueless, it is void; and baptism administered by one who has not the right to attend to that ordinance in the name of the holy trinity is also void. Supposing men were to come to us with as groundless claims in temporal things as they do in spiritual. Supposing a man came from Germany to this country and professed to be a minister from the German court. We would ask to see his credentials, and if he had been sent as an ambassador for that people, he would be able to show his authority. Supposing all that he had to prove his right to represent the German Empire was, he felt called in his heart to do so. We should consider him a fit subject for a lunatic asylum. But there are men administering in these sacred things (administering in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost), ordinances to which God never appointed them, for they say there is no communication between them and God, nor has there been among the inhabitants of the earth for hundreds and hundreds of years. They say the canon of scripture is full; God talks no more with the inhabitants of the earth. Where, then, do they get the right to administer in the name of the Lord? I tell you as sure as they do this they will be called to account and held guilty of taking the name of the Lord in vain. How did the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ get the authority to baptize? Christ gave it to them. How did Christ get the authority? Did he assume it himself? No. Jesus said, “I come not to do my own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” It was his Father in heaven who called him to be a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, and Moses and Elias who had previously held that priesthood, administered to him in the mount. Thus Christ received that holy priesthood, after the order of Melchizedek, which embraced all the higher powers and comprehended the lesser or Aaronic priesthood (for the greater includes the lesser), and he ordained his apostles to that priesthood. “As my Father hath sent me,” said he, “even so send I you.” They obtained their ordination from Christ, and therefore had a right to baptize and also to call others as the Holy Ghost directed.

“But,” says one, “there are many people who have felt called in their hearts, they have had the spirit of the Gospel. Have they not a right, seeing they believe in Christ, to administer in these ordinances?” Certainly not, not a particle of right. Let us look at Paul and his history, related by himself, Saul, of Tarsus, who went to persecute the Saints and was smitten to the earth by the light from the glorious presence of the lately risen Jesus. He was led blind into the city to which he carried letters intended to be used in the persecution and annoyance of the saints. Says Paul: “And one Ananias, Came unto me, and said, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Saul attended to the ordinance and was baptized. “Well, now,” says one, “surely Saul had a right to preach the Gospel. He had seen Jesus and heard his voice. A miracle had been wrought upon him and he was told that he should be a witness unto all men.” No, he had not yet the right. The hands of the servants of the Lord had not yet been laid upon him. But we read in the thirteenth chapter of Acts, that while certain prophets and teachers were waiting before the Lord, “the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” It is written, “No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” Aaron was called by Moses, who received divine authority by direct communication from God. Aaron, it appears, could talk better than Moses, but Moses was the man called to hold the keys of the ministry. If any man desires to act in the holy ministry he must first be baptized for a remission of his sins and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, otherwise he cannot be a teacher unto others. And even then, although he may have had visions, although he may have seen the Lord and had the glories of heaven opened unto his view, though the curtain that hides the future may have rolled up before him like a scroll, so that he could gaze into the glories of the eternities, all this would give him no authority whatever to administer in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. He must be called, he must be ordained, he must receive the authority of the holy priesthood.

Well, what condition has the Christian world been in for centuries? Just the same in a great many respects as the heathen world. The people have been in the depths of error. Darkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people. “Stay yourselves and wonder,” says the Prophet Isaiah, speaking of the latter times, “cry ye out and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine: they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.” And the Lord said that in that very time, when the people should be in this condition, when they should draw near unto him with their mouth, and honor him with their lips, while their hearts were far from him, “I will proceed to do a marvelous work among the people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of the wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. * * * And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” Just as the prophet predicted so it has been in the age in which we live. Out of darkness has come forth light. God, from his holy dwelling place, looked down upon the world and beheld that all had gone astray, that none were doing good, no not one. They were divided and contentious, jangling and quarrelling about creeds. Men were crying lo! here, and lo! there; in fact the blind were leading the blind and both were falling into the ditch together. The Lord beheld this from his holy habitation and again restored the truth from the eternal world. He sent his holy angels and revealed anew the everlasting Gospel. Truth came out of the earth, and righteousness looked down from heaven and both joined in one, gave joy to the meek, and became a power among men in the earth.

God called Joseph Smith to the great work of ushering in the last dispensation. He made manifest to him the truth, sent angels to him, enlightened his mind and gave him the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, and as Moses and Elias came to Christ in the Mount, so also did Peter, James and John ordain Joseph Smith to the Melchizedek priesthood. The authority of that priesthood is here now, and the servants of God who are called by that authority go forth and preach the Gospel to every creature, for a witness unto all nations, declaring that the end is near, and that the second advent of the Lord is close at hand. People are called upon everywhere to repent of their sins; to be baptized for the remission of sins, and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and whenever people have received the Gospel and obeyed its ordinances his blessings have come to them. The Holy Ghost, the Comforter, which speaks direct to their souls, has borne witness that their sins are remitted, that they are raised to a newness of life, and that if faithful unto the end they will be received back into the presence of the Father, to dwell in his society and glory. This is a privilege offered to all the inhabitants of the earth who will believe in this Gospel of the latter days. Yet it is no new thing. It is the old Gospel restored. Not a doctrine, not a principle, not a precept therein, but what may be found in the old Scriptures. And this is what people call delusion! The Gospel came to us in the various nations of the earth, some belonging to the various religious sects, and some belonging to no sect whatever, and when we received and obeyed it a power took hold of us superior to anything we have ever experienced before, and witnessed to us in an unmistakable manner the truth of this work. It is not a phantom. It is not something imaginary, but it is a solemn fact, as certain as the fact of our existence. No one can reason us out of it, or force us out of it. Why? Because it is stamped upon our spiritual nature, it is a part of our very being. God Almighty has revealed this truth to our souls, and we know it as we know we live. That is why we are here.

Now, our business is to live this religion, to learn further of the ways of God, and to do his will in all things. The matters I have been speaking of are only the A B C of the Gospel. We must learn “line upon line and precept upon precept,” and continue to grow and increase in a knowledge of the truth, living by “every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Now I would ask whether this is the case? Having been redeemed, or having had our individual transgressions remitted, are we walking in the straight and narrow way? Are we learning of God? Are we seeking to understand more distinctly and clearly the things that pertain to our salvation? Are we performing the task allotted to us? For we are living in an important day. The day of the second coming of the Savior is nigh at hand, and when he comes shall we be found, as in the parable, among the wise or among the foolish virgins? How is it with us this afternoon? Have we oil in our lamps to guide us on our path? There is no need for us to do anything in the dark. We should be the children of the light. We are accused of following our leaders in “blind obedience.” There is no such thing in the Gospel. We have in our midst those who give us the word of the Lord in a church capacity, “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ,” but it is our privilege to have the same light. “The manifestations of the spirit are given to every one to profit withal.” The Holy Ghost is conferred upon each individual and it is our privilege to see our way. When the true Saints hear the word of life, there is an echo within their hearts and a spirit which testifies to its truthfulness. When the word comes through our inspired leaders it proceeds from the spirit of light which guides us unto all truth. It is the privilege of every Saint to have this light for themselves, the light of God, the light of truth, “the light that is in all things and through all things and round about all things, and is the law by which all things are governed.” It is our privilege to be in possession of that faith that we may ask and receive, that we may seek and find, that we may knock and have the door opened unto us. Well, are we doing this? If so, then we rejoice in our religion. The world compared therewith is as nothing; all things are as dross compared with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. If we are living our religion it is everything with us. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Earthly things perish with the using and when we pass away we must leave them behind, but we will carry with us the Gospel, and every one of its truths we have made our own. We will carry with us the holy priesthood and its gifts and powers, if we have been faithful, and will be permitted to mingle with the spirits of just men made perfect, and rejoice in the hope of a glorious resurrection.

Now let us strive to walk in this path that we may gain this great glory. Let us attend to the duties we are required to perform. There is nothing in the Gospel that is nonessential. Every principle that has been revealed unto us is necessary for the salvation of man, for I tell you before we are fit to dwell in the presence of God and enjoy the fulness of his glory we must become like him. Latter-day Saints, the ordinances of the Gospel will not save you, they are only aids to salvation. What, then, will save us? A knowledge of truth and the practice thereof, nothing else. We must learn the ways of God. We must walk in his paths. We must be Saints in very deed, and walk in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then, by-and-by, where he is we will be also. If we turn our backs upon the truth we will go down to death; we will be beaten with many stripes, we must suffer the consequence of our guilt, and after we have gone through the depths of suffering and sorrow in the due time of the Lord we may get some kind of a salvation and glory, but where God and Christ are we cannot come, worlds without end.

I would say to my friends who are here this afternoon, that I know this work is true. God Almighty has made it known to me. I bear this testimony to you, and I am willing to meet it before the great judgment seat. God has spoken from the heavens in this our day. He has restored the Gospel of Christ and the authority to preach it. It will go forth to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. The wise and the prudent will not receive it, but “the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” This work will go on to this end and purpose. Zion will be built up, Jerusalem will be redeemed, and the time will come when Jesus, our Redeemer, shall descend in power and great glory to reign upon the earth. I bear my testimony that this is the work of God, that he requires our whole heart, and that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us put away our follies and our errors. Let us not drink into the spirit of the world. Let us not pat– tern after the wickedness that is creeping into our midst. Come out from among them and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing! Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. It is only by the practice of righteousness and personal purity, that we will be made fit to dwell in the presence of the Lord. A doctrine contrary to this is the worst kind of delusion.

May God help us to live the life of a Saint and finally save us in his kingdom, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by Elder C. W. Penrose, delivered in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, Sunday Afternoon, April 11th, 1880.

I am thankful today for this opportunity of meeting with my brethren and sisters in this fine hall to worship God and spend a little time in reflecting upon the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I am thankful also for this opportunity of bearing my testimony to the truth of the work in which we are engaged. I trust that during the short time I shall stand before you I may be led by the Holy Spirit to say something which will edify and instruct the people.

It was remarked by Brother N. H. Felt, who has just addressed us, that it would be a difficult matter to answer the question—wherein do the Latter-day Saints, or “Mormons,” differ in their views from the rest of the people who profess the Christian religion. True this would be a difficult question to answer in a few minutes satisfactorily. There are a great many points of difference between our doctrines and the doctrines of the so-called Christian world, but if I were to attempt to answer the question in brief I would say the chief difference consists in this—That the religion which we have received has come down from God out of heaven direct, by revelation, in the day and age in which we live, while the religions which are believed in by the various Christian denominations who meet today in different parts of the world to worship God, most of which have been in existence for a long time have been in every case arranged by men. The people who belong to the various Christian sects all profess to believe in one Book—the Bible, and in one God; but their ideas in regard to religion and in regard to the manner in which God shall be worshipped and served are very different, and when we trace up the origin of their religion we find that in every case, with perhaps one exception, they have been started by men; by individuals who, no doubt, in the first place, believed they were enlightened of God and had come to the conclusion that such and such doctrines were the doctrines of Christ, and that it was their duty to preach these doctrines. They convinced others of the truth of the ideas which they had adopted, and together they formed a religious society. Now, we shall find that this is the case with all those different sects and parties, that compose modern Christendom with the exception perhaps of the Church which is called the Church of Rome, the Roman Catholic church. That church professes to be a continuation of the Church which Jesus Christ established. It professes to have the same authority, handed down from generation to generation, which was exercised by the ancient apostles. It professes to have the keys that Peter held. The Pope of Rome professes to be the successor of St. Peter, and the priesthood of the church of Rome profess to have the same authority, or similar authority, or a succession of the authority, which was held in the primitive Christian Church. They say there has been no interruption of this line of priesthood in the church which Jesus Christ established, to build up which the ancient apostles lost their lives—that this priesthood has been continued down through the stream of time to our own period. All the rest of the denominations called Christian have sprung from that body directly or indirectly, and their organization was started in the way that I have briefly described.

You see then there is a great difference between our professions and the professions of all the rest of the Christian world in this particular. We testify that in the day and age in which we live, God, who spoke in ancient times to the prophets, and in the meridian of time by his Only Begotten Son, has uttered his voice again out of heaven; that Jesus who died on Calvary, that we might live, has manifested himself in this day and age of the world; that the angels of God, who were men that ministered in the name of the Lord, in the flesh, in times of old, who died in the truth and live in God, have come to the earth in this age of the world and revealed the things of God; and that this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been organized, not by the wis– dom of man, not by persons who have reflected and studied and come to certain conclusions in their own minds and then founded a church, but that it has been organized and established and carried on and directed under the immediate revelations of the Most High God. You see this is quite a difference. There is quite a distinction between us and all the rest of the people called Christians. I do not know, however, whether the great body of people called Christians will allow us to adopt that name. They dispute our right to the title of Christians. They call us “Mormons”—rather a foolish title to give us. Mormon is the name of a man, a servant of God, a prophet of the Most High, who lived anciently on this continent and wrote some of the things revealed to him in a book called the Book of Mormon; and because we believe in that book, our “Christian” friends call us “Mormons.” We might just as well call them Peters, because they believe in Peter; we might just as well call them Pauls, Jeremiahs, Isaiahs, or Lukes, because they believe in the sayings of these men written in the book called the Bible.

But the stranger might say, “It is very well for you to make such a statement as you have made, that your Church has been organized by the commandment of God and by divine revelation from him in the present day, but how can you prove that to the world?” There is a very simple way by which this can be found out, by which the truth or falsity of what I have said can be established. The people who live here in Utah, who have been gathered here from a great many different parts of the earth, are here because they know that what I have spoken of this afternoon is true. This is what brought them here. They have not come up to the heights of these mountains to dig for gold or silver, to make themselves rich with the fruits and products of the earth, or to unite together to establish some socialistic system for the mere bettering of their temporal circumstances. They have come here from the east, from the west, from the north and from the south, from the different continents and from the islands of the sea, because in their own souls they have received a testimony similar to that which I have borne this afternoon. They have investigated the subject; they took the course pointed out to them by which they could find out the truth or falsity of this work for themselves, and having received a testimony that it is true they have come up here to these mountains; they have left their homes in various lands, they have turned their backs on their former homes and relationships, broken up their business affairs, many of them having left friends and family and have come up here to these mountains that they may learn more of this important work, having first of all received a testimony from God that it is true. Well, someone may say, “How did they find it out? Did they find it out because somebody told them? Did they receive their testimony from some other man or woman? No; they received it direct from the Lord, direct from the heavens, for “God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him. “He is just as willing to manifest himself to an Englishman, an American, a Scotchman, an Irishman, a Dutchman, a Scandinavian, a South Sea Islander or anybody else, as to a Jew. How did they obtain this testimony? The Apostle James, some of whose writings we have in this book called the New Testament, told the people in his day, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” Now when the elders of this Church went out with this testimony that God had again spoken from the heavens, that communication between the heavens and the earth, which was once enjoyed by men of old had again been opened up, they told the people who heard their words that if they would believe in the true and living God, if they would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if they would repent of their sins and be baptized in water for the remission of sins, they should receive the Holy Ghost, and by this Spirit they should obtain a testimony direct from the Almighty to their own souls, that God had in very deed commenced the great work of the latter days, spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world began. What was the result of this teaching? Why, in every place, in every part of the world, among any people, no matter what their former customs or religion might have been, no matter what condition they might be in, no matter how they had been educated, no matter of what race they might be, wherever they heard the sound of this Gospel and obeyed it, they received a testimony of the truth of this work and therefore have gathered up to these mountains.

This is my testimony to this congregation this afternoon: that, having received this Gospel and obeyed it in the way that I have pointed out, I received a testimony to my own soul, from the Almighty, by which I have no longer any doubt as to its truth; no longer to depend upon the testimony of man. I can say for myself, before God, before the heavenly hosts, before all nations wherever I may be sent, that I know this work is true. I know that God lives. I know that God hears and answers prayers. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that angels have come down from the heavens in these the last times and restored the ancient Gospel. I know that the holy priesthood, the power of God, the authority to administer in the name of the Lord, held by men, in ancient times, has been restored to men in these the latter days, and that it is here upon the earth, never to be taken away again until the work has been accomplished for which it was sent; until every nation shall hear the sound of the Gospel; until every nation, kindred, tongue and people, shall hear of the purposes of the Great Jehovah; until all people shall be warned, and the honest and upright, and the truth-loving in every clime shall be gathered unto the fold of Christ; until the way shall be prepared for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ—to reign in Mount Zion and Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously; until the earth is redeemed from the curse; until Satan and his hosts are bound; until the great work of God is accomplished and all his children brought up from death and hell and the grave, and placed in a position where they can glorify God throughout the countless ages of eternity.

It is popularly supposed that when our elders go out as missionaries to the different countries of the earth, they go for the purpose of inducing people to gather here to these peaceful valleys, that they might be made subservient to our leaders. That is the popular idea. There cannot, however, be anything more false and ridiculous than this. What object could men have in taking the trouble to go, as our elders do, to face the frowns of the world, to be scoffed at and despised, to travel “without purse or scrip,” as did the ancient servants of God, suffering contumely, persecution, privation, and even hunger and thirst, traveling footsore and weary, among a people who, generally speaking, do not desire to hear their testimony? Their object is to preach the Gospel of Christ, and to bear witness of this great work. It is not merely to gather people to these mountains. When people do come here they come just as I have said—because they have received the Gospel, and know it to be true. They come up here that they may learn more of the ways of the Lord. And this is the testimony that our elders bear wherever they may be sent: That God has restored the ancient Gospel and that he is building up his Church on the earth again for the last time; that the hour of God’s judgment is nigh; that the angel, to whom Brother Felt referred, and about whom he quoted from the revelations of St. John, has come to the earth with “the everlasting gospel to preach to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.” This is our testimony, this is why we go forth, and when the people hear our testimony and believe it, and call upon the Lord for a witness, they receive it, and then they are willing to forego everything for the sake of the Gospel.

There is another great difference between our religion and the reli– gions of the world, and that consists in the power and authority of the priesthood to which I have briefly referred. Now, it is true that the church called the Church of Rome, professes to have the priesthood. That church professes to have the same authority which was in the ancient church, and that it has been handed down from generation to generation to our own times. The Church of England—or the Episcopal Church as it is called here—professes to have a portion of that same authority. The Greek Church also professes to have a portion of that authority. They are branches or offshoots from this Roman Catholic Church; but the rest of the Christian denominations repudiate any idea of a priesthood. They think there is no need for any priesthood. They say that Jesus was the Great High Priest, and that there is no need for any more priests; that is the prevalent idea among the rest of the Christian sects. But we do believe in the necessity of this priesthood, and say that it has been restored from heaven in this our own times. In what way? In the first place John the Baptist, who went before Jesus to prepare the way for him as the prophets predicted, who held the priesthood of Aaron, or the Levitical priesthood—that same person who baptized Jesus in the river Jordan, and who was beheaded for preaching the word of the Lord, has come to the earth in this day and age of the world, and ordained man to the same authority and priesthood that he held while he was in the flesh. Now, I do not know that there is another people on the face of the earth that possess any such thing as that, so that in that respect there is a great difference between our religion and the religions of the world. Further, we testify that not only this lesser priesthood which was held by John the Baptist has been restored, but that Peter, James and John, who held the Apostleship, the same priesthood which Christ held, have come in this our own time and restored the authority which they held. “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you,” said Jesus to his disciples. They were ordained to the same authority that He held. What authority was that? We are told that Christ was called to be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, an unchangeable priesthood, everlasting, without beginning of days or end of years. He conferred the same priesthood upon His apostles, and Peter, James and John were left to take charge of the Church when He departed; they had the keys of the kingdom; whatsoever they should bind on earth was to be bound in heaven, and whatever they should loose on earth was to be loosed in heaven. Now, we testify that these three individuals holding the keys of that apostleship, the higher priesthood, have come down to the earth as ministering beings in our own times, and ordained the Prophet Joseph Smith to the same apostleship and priesthood and authority which they held, and through him it has been conferred upon others, so that the ancient authority and priesthood held by men of God in times of old, is here on the earth in this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Then there is another difference between us and the rest of the people called Christian, who profess to believe in the Christian religion. This lesser priesthood holds the power to baptize for the remission of sins among other things, but it does not hold the power to confer the Holy Ghost upon the people. When John the Baptist baptized for the remission of sins he said, “There cometh after me one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” And we read in the New Testament, in the Acts of the Apostles, that on a certain occasion when the apostles were passing through the upper coasts of Ephesus, they found certain disciples who had simply been baptized with the baptism of John, who did nothing but baptize for the remission of sins, he having no authority to lay his hands upon the people; they had not received the Holy Ghost. But the apostles had received that power and authority from Jesus Christ which He himself held, and they laid their hands upon these people, and they received the Holy Ghost. Here is the difference, or one point of difference, between those two priesthoods. Now this priesthood has not remained upon the earth, hence the necessity of restoring it. The only person in Christendom who professes to have the keys of the apostolic priesthood is the Pope of Rome. What is the Pope of Rome? Is he an apostle? No; he does not profess to be an apostle. Then how came he to be the successor of Peter? Peter was an apostle. He held the keys that Christ gave to him. Christ ordained him. Does the Pope of Rome profess to have the keys of revelation? No, he does not profess to receive any new revelation. He, with others, sometimes meet in holy Convocation, as it is called; they meet in council, they enunciate certain dogmas, but he does not profess to receive any revelation from God. What was the great power of the ancient apostleship? The power to commune with the Highest. The form of the apostleship was nothing; the power was everything. That power departed from the earth. The people in ancient times were unworthy of it. They put out the lights of God which He had placed in the world, and left themselves in darkness. They cut short the apostles’ lives, and the world was left in the gloom. They would not have the power and authority of that apostleship in their midst, and instead of the ancient Church of Christ with the power of God, with the ministration of angels, with the gifts and blessings we read about in the New Testament, we find arising a church of a different form, a church that has persecuted the Saints, a church that is stained with the blood of the innocent, a church that put people to death for their religious belief (which the Church of Christ never did), and yet that church, including all the various contending denominations and sects extant upon the earth, is called “Christian!”

Now, our testimony to the world is that God has restored these two ancient priesthoods—that is, the power to administer in the name of the Lord by authority, and that the power of God accompanies that authority. Here are men who profess to have the right to administer the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins, who profess to have the authority to lay hands upon the people for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, an impostor might profess to have this power. Having read about it in the New Testament, and seeing that the ancient servants of God possessed such power, a man might profess to have authority to lay hands upon people for the bestowal of the Holy Ghost. But an impostor cannot really confer the Holy Ghost. That comes from God. No man can bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost upon anyone; that is the gift of God. We read about a man who thought he could purchase this power. He offered the apostles money for it. But Peter said unto him, “Thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.”

Now, here we have in Utah about 150,000 people. A great many of them came to these mountains under very adverse circumstances. They left their various homes in different parts of the world to gather out here with the Saints. Why? Because they knew that this was the work of God by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. How did they receive it? They received it by the laying on of hands of men who professed to have the authority to do so. Now, the fact that they received the gift of the Holy Ghost is a proof that the power of God accompanies the administration. The same fruits that were made manifest in days of old are made manifest today. We read in the New Testament that certain gifts existed in the ancient Church. The sick were healed and the lame made to walk. Some had the gift of tongues, others the interpretation of tongues, others the gift of prophecy, etc. What was the effect of the existence of these gifts? Union, concord, brotherly love, all seeing eye to eye. Now, inasmuch as we find the same gifts among the Latter-day Saints—although of different nationalities, formerly of different religions, brought up in different ways—it is evidence clear and plain that the power of God is in the midst of this people; that the Holy Ghost has been conferred upon them, and this is their united testimony. This is clear to me, but it may not be clear to everybody else. I do not believe it possible for others to see things as I do, unless they take the same course as I have done, and test the matter for themselves.

If a man believes in God, and in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Scriptures, he will manifest his faith by receiving the doctrines laid down and the commandments given; and if he will ask of God he will receive a testimony. I can make bold to promise this blessing to every man and woman in this house—and I do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ—if they will obey this Gospel which God has sent from heaven for the salvation of mankind. My friends, if you will turn away from your evil deeds, if you will turn unto the Lord God, obey the ordinances and ask for a testimony of the truth of this work; if you will do this in sincerity, I promise you in the name of the Lord you shall receive the testimony you seek. Is there any minister upon the face of the whole earth, amongst the so-called Christian sects, who can make you a similar promise? No. Why? Because they have not been called to this work. This is another point of difference between our religion and that of the world. Our elders go forth with boldness, because they are not sent by men. They are not called to preach for hire. They are called of God to bear the holy priesthood and carry forth this message of glad tidings wherever they may be sent. It is their duty to proclaim this Gospel to the uttermost bounds of the earth, and their testimony is similar to that I have borne here today, and our witnesses are the Latter-day Saints—gathered from the nations—who dwell in the valleys of the mountains.

There are a great many other points of difference between us and the so-called Christian world, that I have not time to refer to. For instance, we believe in the doctrine of gathering to this land from all parts of the world. When we go out to preach this Gospel, we do not advise the people to stay and erect great churches in the countries where they receive the Gospel. We bear testimony to them that this is the time of God’s judgments. We say, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” We testify that the time is near at hand when great Babylon shall fall; when God shall smite terribly all the nations of the earth; when he will turn and overturn; when nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; people against people and family against family; when there shall be wars and rumors of wars; plagues, famines and pestilence; such a time as has never been known upon the earth from the beginning even unto the present day. Therefore we call upon the elect of God to come out from the nations of the earth, and they come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, to this chosen land, to serve the Lord, to learn of his ways and to walk in his paths, and prepare themselves for the great events that are about to transpire on the earth.

Another great point of difference is the building of Temples. The different Christian denominations build houses and call them St. Paul’s church, St. Peter’s church, St. Mark’s church, etc. They build churches to these various saints, but they know nothing about building a house to the name of the Most High God—a temple in which the Lord may come and place his feet; for this is the day spoken of by the prophets, when “the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiners’s fire,” etc. We call upon the people to come out and help build temples in which ordinances can be administered for the benefit of the living and the redemption of the dead. The redemption of the dead! Can the living do anything for the dead? When people pass away from the earth, is not their condition settled? When the tree falls, does it not lie there? Yes, it does, till it is moved. In connection with the Gospel we have received glad tidings of salvation which is preached to the living and to the dead. The Lord has revealed to us the glorious doctrine of redemption for the dead—a plan by which the living may aid the dead. Not by saying mass over the soul of the departed, but by attending to certain ordinances for them which belong to the Gospel. Are all the thousands and millions of people who have passed away without a knowledge of the Gospel to perish? No. There is no name under heaven but the name of Jesus whereby man shall be saved. Ask our Christian friends if the millions of heathens who have passed away from this world have ever heard the name of Jesus. If not, what is to become of them? Millions of people who dwell upon the earth even in so-called Christian countries know nothing about the true Gospel. The so-called Christian churches lack this knowledge and light. By the confession of the Episcopal Church, in its homily of the perils of idolatry, the whole of Christendom, “clergy and laity, men, women and children of all ages, sexes and degrees, have been at the time the homily was written, buried in the most abominable idolatry for the space of 800 years or more.” According to the testimony of the Apostle in the Apocalypse, the whole world, Christian as well as heathen, has gone astray, all nations have become drunk with the wine of the wrath of the fornication of Babylon the great, the mother of harlots; and there has been no voice from heaven, no revelation from God, no communication with the eternal world for many centuries. Although a great many people have tried to do the best they could—and so far being accepted of God—yet they have not received the Gospel by which they can enter into the presence of the eternal Father; they have not entered in at the straight and narrow gate which leadeth to lives eternal.

By this Gospel which has been revealed to us, the servants of God who depart from this mortal sphere, take with them the authority and priesthood they hold, as Christ did, when he went to preach to the spirits in prison. So the servants of God, bearing the same priesthood, go and minister to the spirits behind the veil whether Christian, heathen or pagan. No matter what clime or race they belong to, all must hear the same Gospel and be judged by it on the great day of judgment. They have therefore an opportunity of repenting in the spirit, if they did not hear the Gospel in the flesh. The Spirit can believe, can be informed and instructed in the ways of God, but the Spirit beyond the veil cannot attend to ordinances pertaining to the flesh. To this end, therefore, we are building temples so that, when they are sanctified and accepted of God, the holy priesthood may administer both for the living and the dead. For this is the great dispensation of the fulness of times in which Christ will gather together in one, all things that are in him, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. This is the last dispensation of God’s mercy to man. The work has been commenced and it will roll on until the Gospel has been preached to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, and the honest in heart have been gathered out from among the Gentiles. Then the Lord will send his servants unto the Jews and the House of Israel, and thus fully accomplish all he has spoken by the holy prophets. We will therefore work while we dwell in the flesh, and when we have finished the work we will pass behind the veil to sweet rest. Rest from our trials and sufferings, from our sorrows and tribulations, from our persecutions and misrepresentations, but not to cease from our labors of love, but to minister in the power, in the strength, in the might and majesty of the eternal priesthood among the hosts behind the veil, and those that dwell upon the earth will continue to build temples and minister therein, that the dead may be redeemed.

I have not time to continue further on this subject. I have briefly pointed out some of the differences between us and the “Christian” world. And now I will bear my testimony to this congregation in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that this is not the work of man; that “Mormonism” is the work of the Great God, and no power can overturn it. And I testify further, that every nation and kingdom that shall rise against this work shall perish and be utterly wasted away. The Lord will have a reckoning with that nation, no matter where it is, for all the nations of the earth are in the hands of God, and every human government that will not serve him shall be brought low, until his kingdom spreads forth and is established upon the whole earth with Christ the Redeemer, as King, whose right it is to rule.

May the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, rest in the hearts of the Saints, and also guide all people who desire the truth, in the way of life eternal, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at Ogden Tabernacle, on Sunday, March 21st, 1880.

It affords me pleasure to have the opportunity of being with the Saints of this place today. I came here to attend your Primary meeting of the juveniles; and as I was here, I thought I would stay over Sunday and talk to the fathers and mothers a little. And I would state, as is generally understood by you all, that we do not have our discourses arranged for us, or marked out particularly. Our ideas are to present ourselves before the people, and to seek for the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, that such things may be communicated as may be advantageous and interesting to those who hear. And, therefore, when we meet together in an assembly like this we ought all of us, both speaker and hearer, to feel that we are in the hands of our Heavenly Father, and to seek for the aid of his Holy Spirit, that the speaker may speak correctly and understandingly, and in a manner that shall be calculated to promote the welfare of the people, and that the people themselves may also be prepared to receive such things as may be communicated.

We occupy a peculiar position on the earth at the present time, per– haps a little different from that of any other people that have existed on the earth—our thoughts, our ideas our principles, our organization, our doctrines, our ordinances, and everything connected with our religious matters are different from those of other people; and it is our opinion, and not only our opinion, but a certainty—in fact, it amounts to knowledge among a great many of the Latter-day Saints, that the influences and principles that we have received have been communicated to us by the Almighty. We were not the originators of the principles we believe in; neither was Joseph nor Hyrum Smith, nor President Brigham Young, nor the Twelve; neither was any individual nor any people associated with the priesthood or the organization of the Church at the present time. We believe that these things have been communicated to us by the Lord; that they are in strict harmony with principles that have existed heretofore, to a certain extent, with this difference however, that in the various dispensations that have existed upon the earth since its formation, each one has had its peculiar role to fulfil, with certain duties devolving upon those operating to attend to. We are living in the dispensation which is emphatically called the dispensation of the fulness of times, which we are informed from the scriptures has been “spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world was;” and this being the case, the dispensation in which we live embraces necessarily all that was contained in any and all of the other dispensations that have existed in all the ages preceding ours; and that consequently whatever organizations, manifestations, revelations or communications that have ever come from God to the human family in their times and dispensations, we may consistently expect to be embodied in this one. And, therefore, in some respects, as I stated before, the dispensation or time in which we live differs in many particulars from those in which God has communicated to man.

We have, for instance, what is called the patriarchal dispensation, which existed before and after the flood. And those patriarchs and men of God that lived in those remote ages had communications with the Almighty, and they also had the Gospel. And they not only received revelations pertaining to their own day and age, but also in regard to the future. And hence we are told that Adam, three years before his death, gathered together a great many of his people and the prominent authorities of the holy priesthood, and he blessed them, and being filled with the Holy Ghost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest dispensation, including all the leading events that should transpire in the different ages of time, even until the winding up scene, associated with this our earth; embracing those things that have been and are to be brought forth in this the present dispensation. And, in fact, this dispensation, we are told, has been “spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world was.” And, therefore, it must of necessity have been associated with the teachings of Adam, of Seth, of Enoch, of Methuselah, and of Noah, Abraham, Moses and many other prominent characters that held communication with the Lord, and who had revealed unto them his purposes and designs in the days in which they lived. Many people listened to the principles of truth in their day. Enoch was a remarkable man and had a special mission to the people in his day, and he was full of the spirit of prophecy and revelation; he also had a Church organization as we have to a certain extent, and he preached to the people and forewarned them of certain events that should transpire upon the earth. And the wicked were angry with them, as they are sometimes with us; they did not like their teachings and operations, and they conspired against them, and great numbers of their enemies assembled for the purpose of destroying them. And Enoch was clothed upon by the power and spirit and revelation of God. And whilst under the inspiration of the Almighty he uttered his prophecies, and his enemies and the people generally trembled at the power of his words; and the earth shook, and the people fled from his presence afar off, and were not able to injure him; for God was with him. And Enoch, with the united labors of the elders of his day, gathered the people together who hearkened to his words and believed the message sent to them, in the same manner as you have been gathered together. They built up a city which was called Zion; and the people who inhabited it were under the inspira– tion of the Lord for a great number of years; receiving instruction, guidance and direction from him. And finally, as wickedness grew and increased, and as the testimony went forth among them, the good, the virtuous, the honorable, the pure and those who desired to fear God and work righteousness assembled themselves together, constituting the city of Zion; and the others became more corrupt. And Enoch and his brethren prophesied unto the people about the calamities that should overtake them, that the world was to be destroyed by a flood; and there were provisions made for the continuance of the human family, and it was made known to Methuselah that his seed should be the medium through which should be perpetuated the human family upon the earth. And Methuselah was so very desirous to have this thing fulfilled that Noah, his grandson, who was the son of Lamech, was ordained by Methuselah when he was ten years old.

The people, we learn, grew to be so corrupt that “the imaginations of the thoughts of their hearts were only evil, and that continually;” and we are told that it even repented the Lord that he had made man. But the servants of God went forth preaching the Gospel of life and salvation to this wicked people, and warned them of the destruction that was coming upon the earth. Before this great calamity took place Enoch and his city were translated.

The power of translation was a principle that existed in the Church in that dispensation. There is something very peculiar in these things. Some people, who are not in the Church, might ask me where I got my evidence from. To the Latter-day Saints I would say, we get it by revelation. We do not believe that, say some. That we cannot help. I am speaking now to those who do believe so, to those who are believers in God, and who are believers in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and who believe in the revelations which the Lord has given and in those he continues to communicate. It is to those people I am speaking today on these points.

The Bible does not give us a very extensive history of these matters; in fact, it is very, very brief. Referring to that great man, Enoch, it tells us that he was not for God took him; and that is all. This is a very short history for so important a subject.

After that the flood came, which was a terrible calamity, to overtake the inhabitants of the earth; and they were swept away according to the prophecy—cut off from the earth, deprived of life and existence, and shut up in prison.

After some thousands of years Jesus came, associated with another dispensation. And when he appeared on the earth and had got through with his ministry, and had suffered in the flesh and was quickened by the spirit, “he went and preached to the spirits in prison” who were, as stated, “sometime disobedient in the days of Noah.” And hence thousands of people that had suffered the wrath of God for so long a time had the opportunity of listening to the principles of the Gospel in another dispensation that Jesus came to proclaim. And when he had got through with his mission on the earth to those who lived, he went then to preach to those who had been dead, and I might properly say were damned for so many years. And what was the special mission he had to proclaim? He came “to preach the gospel to the poor, to open the eyes of the blind, to set at liberty those that were bound, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.” That was part of his mission; the whole of his mission, however, has not yet been fulfilled. But he came to liberate the prisoners, which he did in the spirit, when he got through with his mission on the earth.

On the back of that Noah steps forward in a prominent position, and he had his work to perform, which he did perform, and began to raise up another seed; and they lived also in what may be termed a patriarchal dispensation. And among them were many of his leading posterity. There was Melchizedek, for instance, who was called the King of Salem and the Prince of Peace, of whom Paul makes some curious remarks, among which was that Christ was a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. If he was, then of course Melchizedek was a priest after the order of Christ. And as Christ introduced the Gospel, so Melchizedek had the Gospel, and had and held and administered in the same priesthood that Jesus did. And we read too, according to some men’s ideas, a very singular thing concerning him, that “he was without father and mother, and without beginning of days or end of years, and abideth a priest continually.” He must be, indeed, a very singular man, to be without father and without mother and without descent, and yet that he should be a priest forever. Well, how is it? You generally understand it; but I will inform those who do not that the Apostle Paul referred to the priesthood that Melchizedek held, and that they had what was termed the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood in their day, that is, the day in which Saul lived; and that a man to be a priest had to be a literal descendant of Aaron and of the tribe of Levi; and he had to be able to prove his lineage, tracing his descent back to the time when this priesthood was given by Moses in the wilderness. But the Melchizedek priesthood was different from that, it had nothing to do particularly with either father or mother, it being without descent, and, therefore, people holding it were not altogether dependent upon their father or mother or descent for this authority; but that priesthood is an everlasting priesthood, administering in time and in eternity. And this is what Paul referred to by way of contradistinction to the Aaronic priesthood which then existed.

Associated with this priesthood there were certain powers and privileges. These Abraham possessed and enjoyed. Some people think that he was a kind of a shepherd with very few more ideas than a mushroom; that he lived in the dark ages and did not comprehend much; that he was not intelligent and had a species of what we term nowadays “old fogyism.” But if we examine into his character and the position he occupied, and if we understand something about the principles he promulgated, we shall find that he was another character entirely. In giving his history he tells us that “He sought for the blessings of the Father and the right whereunto he should be ordained to administer the same.” He further says—“Having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a great follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace; and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God I became a rightful heir; a high priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers; it was conferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time. Yea, even from the beginning, or before the foundations of the earth, to the present time, even the right of the firstborn, on the first man, who was Adam, or first father, through the fathers unto me.” Times and Seasons, vol. iii, p. 704. His father, however, was an idolater; but had probably possessed a record of his genealogy, for Abraham in his record continues—“I shall endeavor hereafter to delineate the chronology, running back from myself to the beginning of the creation, for the records have come into my hands, which I hold until the present time.” And having found out that he had a right to the priesthood, he, therefore, sought an ordination, and he was ordained by Melchizedek to the Melchizedek priesthood. And the Lord gave unto him certain privileges and powers that were very great; not only did he have an ordination in the way I refer to, but he sought more information from the Lord. And the Lord communicated with him and gave him a Urim and Thummim by which he was enabled to interpret, to read and comprehend the mind and will and the laws and purposes of God. And, furthermore, I would state that he went still further. He asked God for certain blessings and privileges and powers which belonged to him and which he considered were within his reach, and which were his privilege to obtain. And the Lord revealed himself to him and communicated unto him certain eternal principles—that no man can comprehend unless God does reveal them—and many other things—the motion of the planets, and the planetary system of the earth on which we live, and the sun and the moon and the stars and the various bodies that compose our solar system; and then of other suns, and other heavenly bodies and the laws governing them. Abraham wrote those things, and was well versed in those great principles; and some men affirm today that he was the founder of certain abstruse principles which they allege are discovered in what is called the Great Pyramid of Egypt—principles that not only pertain to the planetary systems but to events yet to transpire on the earth. I am not going to say anything about the truth or the untruth of these latter statements, as I have not investigated them sufficiently to comprehend them; but I merely give the opinion of a great many men respecting him and the intelligence he possessed. But suffice it to say, that the Lord himself instructed Abraham in things pertaining to this and other worlds, and that he in his day possessed more light and intelligence on the principles alluded to than all the combined wisdom of the world of today.

Now, this was the kind of a man that Abraham was. And his heart and feelings and affections were drawn out after God. And God blessed him and said unto him, “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thee and thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven,” &c. And further the Lord told him, “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my word.” And hence he occupied a very important position. And, as I before said, being a patriarch he had the gospel and the priesthood belonging to it, namely, the Melchizedek priesthood.

I do not propose today to show how these things have all been literally fulfilled that are here spoken of; that I will leave for you to hunt up for yourselves. But the promises made to that man of God have been literally fulfilled, even to the present day to the coming forth of this work with which we are associated.

Now, that was a peculiar dispensation; it was under the dispensation that was introduced, say by Noah, or the one that he was, I was going to say, founder of; he was not the founder of it, but he was the one preserved by the Almighty from the wreck of the world, in which he had lived for upwards of 600 years to introduce it. And Abraham was one of the prominent actors in operating and carrying out the purposes of God in that dispensation, and there were a great many others too that were in possession of the same kind of intelligence; but he was one of the most prominent, therefore I have referred more particularly to him.

Then, there was another dispensation followed, called the Mosaic dispensation. Moses was made use of as an instrument to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. It had been predicted that the descendants of Israel should go into bondage and be confined there for 400 years, and that they should be delivered by the power of God. And Moses was the man chosen of the Lord to perform that work; and he was indebted to the Lord for the instruction and the intelligence he received. We read in the Bible that on a certain occasion he saw a burning bush, and the bush, we learn, was not consumed; and on going towards it he heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto him, telling him to take his shoes from off his feet, for the place whereon he stood was holy ground. He did as he was commanded. The Lord then told him that he had a work for him to perform, which was that he should go down to Egypt where he had been reared from his youth, and where he had been taught according to the learning of the Egyptians to deliver this people Israel out of their bondage. You that are acquainted with your Bible know the history of it. The account is lengthy and I shall not attempt to enter into it. Suffice it to say, he succeeded in delivering the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. He had the power, when his people reached the Red Sea, to smite the sea and cause the waters to divide, thereby making a way of escape from their pursuers, the Egyptians. He led them into the wilderness where they had to depend entirely upon the mercies of God for their sustenance. But having been in bondage for so long a time it was difficult for them to comprehend many things that were communicated to them; and, we are told, they began to long for the leeks and the onions. We, in our day, would think that their taste was not so very delicate; but that was their desire, many of them feeling that they would rather go back to Egypt than to suffer the trials that seemed to await them. And the Lord manifested himself to them in many marvelous ways, and Moses who was their leader and who had been especially appointed by the Lord, went up to the mount, and the Lord gave unto him certain commandments which he wrote with his own finger, upon tables of stone which were prepared for that purpose, Moses was away from the people for some time conversing with and receiving communications from the Almighty, and when he came down he found that the people whom he had led out of Egypt and to whom the manifestations of the Lord had been shown, had made a golden calf and were worshipping it—about the same as we do sometimes, and we profess to be a much more enlightened people than they were—and they said, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” On seeing this wickedness on the part of his people he became angry, and he threw the tables of stone to the ground and broke them. Afterwards other stones were prepared and the same laws written on them. And the Lord was desirous that they as a people should be faithful in the observance of his laws, that they should be governed by the principles of the Gospel which Moses taught them. This is a singular idea to some people; they think there was no Gospel until Jesus came. Well, we cannot help that, but Paul understood it better. He tells us that Moses preached the Gospel to them in the wilderness, but the word preached did not profit them, etc., wherefore the law was added because of transgression. Added to what? To the Gospel. Paul understood this if men in this age do not. And Moses did himself get into the presence of God, and he also led seventy elders who were so instructed and prepared that they could go into the presence of God to communicate with him; but the people were afraid of God, and when the Lord appeared to them on Mount Sinai, when they heard the thunders and saw the lightning and felt the mountain quake, they said to Moses, do not let the Lord speak to us any more lest we his people die; but do thou speak to us and be mouthpiece. They were not prepared to come into the presence of the Lord; they were not sufficiently pure, neither did they understand the laws and principles which God had communicated. But they murmured and murmured and that continually—the same as we do, we see something of the same spirit, we are found sometimes murmuring against God, or at least against some of the revelations he has given unto us, or against the priesthood, and in many instances without cause. And what had God done for them? He brought them out from the midst of Egypt, from a state of servitude and vassalage, and delivered them from the hands of their oppressors, and when the Egyptians pursued them, he opened the waters of the Red Sea and let them pass through in safety; but swallowed up their enemies who pursued them. Then when they were short of food he supplied them with angel’s food, manna. That was all the harm he had done to them—just about as much as many others who murmur. They murmured against God for bringing them away, and against Moses for being the instrument in doing it. Whereas God was trying to fulfill the promises he had made with Abraham, their father; and he was making use of Moses as his instrument to deliver the people from that bondage with which they had been oppressed for so long a time; but because of their transgressions, their wickedness and their rebelliousness, the law was added or given unto them, which was a law of carnal commandments and ordinances, of which a later writer in speaking of it says, “neither we nor our fathers were able to bear.”

Well, he placed them in another position, and gave unto them the Gospel, but as they could not endure the greater light he gave them a lesser light in the form of a law of carnal commandments and ordinances. Hence that dispensation is therefore called the Mosaic dispensation; and Moses was the instrument made use of by the Almighty to introduce it, and it was revealed to him upon the mountain. And that law of carnal commandments and ordinances seemed to suit them a little better than the Gospel; they loved these carnal commandments better than the light, the truth, the revelation and spirit that was associated with the Gospel. And they could not come into the presence of God. If you remember, certain men at one time went running to Moses to complain of certain other men whom they said were prophesying; and Moses said to them, would to God that all the Lord’s people were prophets; would to God that all could be inspired with that spirit of revelation that flows from him. Says the Prophet Joel, in speaking of the glory of the latter-day, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And upon the servants and the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit,” etc. Now, they had a dispensation then called the Mosaic dispensation; and associated with that was a sprinkling of the Gospel. Once in a while the light of the day star would dawn upon the people, foretelling some things in which they and their children were interested; and that was manifest through certain men among them who were peculiarly inspired by God. But they did not have then a regularly ordained organization of the Melchizedek Priesthood as we have it. If a man received these things in those days he received it from God. A young man came to me to ask me some questions on this subject, and I will here mention one thing I told him. These prophets had the Melchizedek Priesthood, but they did not have it in the regular organized form as we have it. Hence when Elijah was about to be translated—for that spirit and power was yet with him; it had not left the earth after Enoch’s day, for many were translated besides him and his city—there were certain prophets scattered up and down among Israel, and as Elijah and Elisha were traveling together, Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel. But Elisha said as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they went on together. And at Bethel the sons of the prophets at that place came forth unto Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. At this place Elijah wanted Elisha to tarry, saying that the Lord had sent him to a place called Jericho; but Elisha made the same answer. Elijah at this place made the same request of his companion, saying the Lord had sent him on to Jordan; but Elisha would not be separated from his master. And they went on to Jordan together; and when they came to that stream, Elijah took off his mantle, wrapped it together and smote the water which divided, so that they went over on dry ground. And when they had passed over, Elijah asked Elisha what he could do for him before he should be taken away. Elisha, knowing that he had something to do and that he was about to be left alone, and that he might be the better prepared to perform the work before him, requested Elijah to let a double portion of his spirit rest upon him. But could Elijah grant his request? No, he could not. What answer did Elijah make him? He said, thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou seest me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not it shall not be so. How did Elijah know that? Because he knew that the Melchizedek Priesthood holds the keys of the mysteries and the revelations of God; and that if he could see him as he ascended, it would be an evidence to him that the Lord had granted his request, although he himself had not power to grant it, Elisha would then know that his prayer was heard. Those other prophets, who knew that Elijah was to be translated, went and stood to view the event afar off; I do not suppose that they saw anything of Elijah as he was being taken up into heaven. But he was taken up, and Elisha saw the manner in which he went, and cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.” And how did he see them? God had conferred upon him that priesthood by which he was enabled to see them. Elijah threw down his mantle as he ascended, which Elisha took up and started off alone, his “head” having been translated. But he had received the answer to his prayer; and approaching the banks of the Jordan, with the mantle that had been left him he smote the waters saying, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he did so they parted as they had done at the command of Elijah, and Elisha passed over. And God was with him, manifesting his power through him, as he had done through his predecessor. I speak of this as a certain principle and I speak of it now for the information of you elders, that they did not have then an organized Melchizedek Priesthood, but that if it was conferred upon individuals, they did not have the power to confer it upon others, unless through special command of the Lord. And Elijah knew that if Elisha could see him when he was ascending, that his prayer would be answered. Why? Because the Melchizedek Priesthood holds the keys of the mysteries and the revelations of God.

This is a principle on that point; and it may be of use to you elders, that you may comprehend the position, that they occupied. That was associated in part with the Mosaic dispensation, but only in part. But when Jesus came he introduced the Melchizedek priesthood in an organized form, and restored the Gospel. But those men did not restore the Gospel. But let me show you that are acquainted with the history of the Book of Mormon, they had a great many more revelations in regard to these things upon this continent than they had upon the continent of Asia. And they had the Gospel and administered in the ordinances and talked about the coming of Christ, still they administered in the laws of Moses until the coming of Christ; and yet at the same time they did have the Gospel and an organization of that Gospel in part and ordinances among them different from what they had on the other continent before Christ came. You that are acquainted with the Book of Mormon will find these things in it; and if you have not found them, hunt them up, and you will find what I say in relation to this matter is true.

Very well. When Jesus came he had been looked forward to by all the prophets since the world was, and it had been prophesied about him that he would come to redeem the world and offer himself as a sacrifice, as an atonement for the sins of the world, of which there were many shadows and types. I will refer back again to Moses, and then I will refer to the sacrament. Moses, as I stated, had the Gospel when he went among the children of Israel. There were many signs and wonders poured out among them and many calamities overtook the Egyptians. And Moses went from time to time into the presence of Pharaoh telling him what should take place, and among the rest he said that if they did not let Israel go, the firstborn of the Egyptians should be slain. And he told the people that dwelt in the land Goshen—the children of Israel—that they were to kill a lamb and sprinkle the blood of the lamb upon their door posts, and that when the destroying angels passed through, their children should escape death. And it happened precisely as had been told them—while the firstborn of the Egyptians was destroyed, the children of the Hebrews were preserved. Now, that was called the Passover among the children of Israel, and it was continued among them year after year, and the day on which it was kept was called the day of the Passover.

When Jesus was upon the earth he sent his disciples to go and prepare a place that they might hold the passover together. “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” What was it they were doing? It was partaking of the passover of the sprinkling of that blood which was typical of the shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God upon Calvary. And the breaking of that bread was typical of his broken body. And they offered in former times the blood of bullocks and of rams, goats, etc., as sacrifices. And all this, as Paul says, had reference unto the shedding of the blood of Christ; and was typical of that of which he was the great ante-type when he came to fulfil all these things. Very well, what was that? Did they have the passover then? Yes. They looked forward from that passover to the time when Christ should come and shed his blood to atone for the sins of the world. And we look back to the time when he did it, and we partake of this sacrament—this bread and water, which we use instead of wine—in commemoration, in token of what he has done for us. And we are told by the apostles, that as often as we eat and drink of this, we show forth the Lord’s death until he come again. And let me say to you Latter-day Saints, while we are doing this, there is something very important connected with it, and we ought to be careful that we do not partake of these emblems to our condemnation. Do you ever quarrel with your brethren, or act in such a way as to get up feelings, and perhaps speak harsh words one about another, and in other ways do that which is wrong, and then meet together in solemn mockery before God and eat and drink condemnation to your souls? We want to be careful about these things; and hence we should understand that when we bring our gift to the altar, and there remember that we have ought against our brother, we should first go and be reconciled to him and then come and offer our gift. Not come in any kind of hypocrisy, but come with clean hands and pure hearts and feel to say “O God search me and try me and prove me, and if there is any way of wickedness in me, let it depart, and let me be thy true representative upon the earth and let me partake of the spirit that dwelleth in Christ, and live in the enjoyment of that upon the earth; that when he comes again I, with my brethren, may meet him with clean hands and pure hearts.” And I would say to the teachers who go around to visit their brethren, when you find ill feeling of any kind, it is your duty to root it out, and to see that there is no hardness and no contention or strife among the people who come to participate in this sacred ordinance.

Well, so far as the gospel is concerned, that dispensation was introduced to the world first by John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Jesus. And when the Savior came John knew it, and on seeing him he exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” And when people were flocking to John to be baptized of him, Jesus came also as a candidate for baptism. But John told him that he (John) had need to be baptized of him. But the Savior told him to suffer it to be so, then “to fulfil all righteousness.” And he was baptized of him. Well, that dispensation continued for a long while after, and it began to decline and disappear; but there were a great many men in different parts who listened to the principles of the Gospel of the Son of God. But by and by it began to fade away, both upon the Asiatic continent and upon this continent. It was prophesied that it would, and that there should a certain power arise who should seek to make war with the Saints of God and that it should overcome them; and this power should seek to change times and seasons and things, and they should be given into his hands until a time and times and the dividing of a time. These things were fulfilled—the Church of God fell into darkness and the priesthood was taken from them, and they had instead something in the form of a bogus priesthood and a bogus creed instead of the true principles which Jesus introduced among men. That was on the continent of Asia. On this continent they seemed the same pretty much; but they had an unparalleled scene of prosperity and joy in the Gospel of the Son of God after he came; and it grew and spread and prevailed throughout the land. And as it was in their love for one another that no one said that ought he possessed was his own; but, they had all things common among them. We are told of these things more elaborately in some other places which might be introduced, but which I do not wish to enter into now. On this continent they remained in this condition for two hundred years; and they dealt justly one with another, and dwelt together in peace. I wish we could do that always. By and by they fell into darkness, and the result was, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, to which I again refer you to read and investigate.

Then what next? Were things to go on in that way forever? No; the dispensation of the fullness of times has got to be restored to introduce all that has been spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world was. The Apostle John, when banished to the Isle of Patmos says that he saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people. What do you mean? The same Gospel that Adam had, the same Gospel that Seth had, the same Gospel that Enoch had, the same Gospel that Noah had, the same Gospel that Abraham had, the same Gospel that Jesus had; the Gospel that brings life and immortality to light, and that places men in communion with their Heavenly Father—the everlasting Gospel. And who introduced it? God himself came to earth with his son Jesus and manifested himself to the prophet Joseph, and, pointing to his Son, said, “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, Hear Him!” Jesus from that hour was to be his instructor. What then? Then came Moroni, who had charge of the records of the people on this continent, who came and delivered them to Joseph Smith. What next? Then came John the Baptist and laid his hands upon his head and upon the head of Oliver Cowdery, and said, Upon you my fellow servants, I lay my hands and confer upon you the Aaronic priesthood, which shall never be removed again from the earth until the sons of Levi shall offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord. Why did John come? Because he held the keys of that priesthood and was the last that held them in that dispensation. And then Peter, James and John came and laid their hands upon his head and ordained him to the office of the Melchizedek priesthood. Why? Because they had held that priesthood themselves and they were the ones that held the keys of that priesthood; and when they left, the keys of that priesthood were taken with them and they came having it in their charge to confer it upon Joseph Smith. What else? Then Elijah appeared in the Temple at Kirtland and conferred upon them the blessings that were spoken of pertaining to him. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the com– ing of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” The prophet conferred upon him those keys; and hence we try to do these things. And people wonder why we are building our temples. It is that the hearts of the fathers may be turned to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers. And if Jesus saw it necessary after being put to death in the flesh to go and preach to the spirits in prison that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, it was also necessary that provisions should be made for men who had died without the Gospel, without a knowledge of the principles of eternal truth, that we might be baptized for them, as the Scriptures say, according to the flesh, that they may live according to God in the spirit. Why is it you are so willing to build temples? You would squeeze your dollar in many other things, but when it comes to that you say, “I want to do it.” And it is so throughout Israel. I suppose we have as many as five hundred men engaged in this work. And the brethren feel willing to do it. Why? Because you want to secure certain blessings for yourselves; and, then, you want to look after your friends, that the hearts of the fathers may be turned to the children, etc. We are operating upon the earth because we have the power; and they are operating in the heavens because they have the power; and as the Scripture says, they without us cannot be made perfect, neither we without them. And neither they nor we could operate in these things unless those keys had been restored and things put in the position they are today. Then we will build our temples, won’t we? I think we will, and then administer in them. Were we to talk to the world about a great many of the things I have referred to today, we would have to bring up evidence to prove the truth of them. I am talking to Latter-day Saints, however, today; and you ought to know of them, if you do not; and if you are not acquainted with them “search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life,” and you will find all these things I have mentioned.

Now, then, all of these dispensations had to be restored. Then comes Moses. Why? because he held the keys of the gathering dispensation: And he conferred upon Joseph Smith the power to gather Israel from the four quarters of the earth, and also the ten tribes. But the latter have not come yet; but people are hunting them up, and they will be found by and by; when the time comes, and the mountains will flow down at their presence, and a highway will be cast up, and they will come to a knowledge of the people. But they could not come without the restoration of the keys I have referred to.

Now, here are all these different dispensations, and there is one I have not mentioned. We are told to build up Zion, shall we do it? I tell you in the name of Israel’s God we will do it with the help of the Almighty; we cannot do it without, but with his help we will do it. We will build up the Zion of our God, and help to roll on the work which God has commenced. And those children you saw here the other day, [referring to a general conference meeting of the children of Weber Stake] many of them will live to participate in these things. And we will endeavor to train them in the fear of God that their tender hearts may be rooted in the principles of truth; and they be led to acknowledge the God of their fathers. Having said so much I will pass on to something else.

Here we are. We are organized under the direction of the Almighty; and as I before said, not according to our ideas and notions, but according to the word and will and revelations and law of God. And none of us can do anything only as God permits us. What are we going to do? We are going to build up Zion. What then? When Zion is built up—and it is not built up yet; but it will be built up; and when that is done Jerusalem that is spoken of shall be built—and we are a long way from that—but when that is built up and the glory of God shall rest upon it, upon every dwelling of Mount Zion as it did in former times—then we will build up our Zion after the pattern that God will show us, and we will be governed by his law and submit to his authority and be governed by the holy priesthood and by the word and will of God. And then when the time comes that these calamities we read of shall overtake the earth, those that are prepared will have the power of translation, as they had in former times, and the city will be translated. And Zion that is on the earth will rise, and the Zion above will descend, as we are told, and we will meet and fall on each other’s necks and embrace and kiss each other. And thus the purposes of God to a certain extent will then be fulfilled. But there are a great many things to be brought about before that time. And we are here in an organized capacity trying to prepare ourselves for all the providences of the Almighty. We are trying to instill into the hearts of the people the principles of honesty, truth and integrity, and remove covetousness and iniquity of every kind. Never mind the world nor what they can say or do, for they can only do what the Lord permits them. We will then continue to do as we have done only a great deal more abundantly. We will send out the Gospel to them, and continue to advocate the principles of truth, and to organize ourselves according to the order of God, and seek to be one—for if we are not one we are not the Lord’s and never can be, worlds without end. Hear it, you Latter-day Saints! And do not be figuring for yourselves and for your own aggrandizement; but feel to say in your hearts, “What can I do to help to build up Zion. I am here, and everything that I have got is upon the altar, and I am prepared to do the will of God no matter what it may be, or where it sends me, to the ends of the earth or not.” But we are not doing that yet; we are too much after our own affairs and drinking into the spirit of the world, and yielding and catering to that feeling and influence. Now, while we wish the world well and would desire to promote their happiness, we cannot be governed by their practices nor be under their influences. God is the Lord our God; he is to be our king and lawgiver, and he must rule over us. We must not permit ourselves to conform to the ideas, notions, dogmas, theories nor the wickedness that exists in the world, and of which there is too much already among us. But to the contrary, battle against these evils, continuing the warfare until we purge them from us, and call upon the Lord to assist us, and to lead us in the paths of life, and to enable us to comprehend to some degree the position we occupy to him, and the magnitude of that priesthood that has been conferred upon us.

What will you do with the world? I was talking with a gentleman lately who thought because of certain inimical legislation that had been manifested towards us, that we should feel at enmity against our government. I told him that he was laboring under a very great mistake; that there was not a more loyal, patriotic feeling people in the United States than the Latter-day Saints are. But have they not done so and so to you? Yes, but the Lord has guided us, and we can put our trust in him and wait his time. We are not in a hurry; he will bring things about in his own way, and will abundantly fulfil the words of the Psalmist—“Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” Some men seem to think that we are going to be swallowed up; but we are not very much alarmed about it. We have been “swallowed up” a great many times, but they have generally managed to vomit us up again. [Laughter.] Among the legislators of our nation and throughout the land, there are many high-minded, honorable men, who desire to see all men protected in their rights, but because there are a great many who are not and who feel otherwise, and who do not understand us, should we entertain feelings of enmity? What was the message that Jesus came to perform? “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” etc. What have we been told to do? To go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned. We go and offer the message of life and salvation. How many of these greyheaded men whom I see around me today that have traveled thousands of miles in order to promote the welfare of the human family. I have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles myself. And did he ever forsake me? Never; he was always true to his word. And when you elders have gone forth he has been true to you. And when people have believed, repented and obeyed the message you bore to them, and you laid your hands upon them to confirm them members in this Church, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost;” they received it. Is not that proof that God has been with you? Yes, it is. Will he not be with us to the end? Yes. What is our message to the people? Peace on earth and good will to man, and seek to promote the welfare and happiness of the human family, in every possible way that we can. And we ought to feel to endure as Jesus did the contumely of sinners until the Lord shall say: “Stop, it is enough.” They will have hard enough times of it. Do we need to seek or injure anybody? No. Is that our mission? No; but to seek to promote the welfare of all men.

Well, we are here in a political capacity as well. We are an integral part of the United States—a very small part. What shall we do? Why live so that no man can bring any reproach against us; treat all men right, deal honestly with one another, and with all men, and be true to God and your religion. If we do this then we have a claim upon God; then we shall be blessed of the Lord and our offspring with us; then the Almighty will smile upon us, and then we shall advance from wisdom to wisdom, from intelligence to intelligence and knowledge to knowledge, until we shall see as we are seen and know as we are known. And we will go on performing the work God has placed upon us; and we will continue to teach and instruct and educate and elevate our children; and also teach all men who will be taught by us, the principles of life; and by and by God will work with us in a more powerful manner than he has done yet; and thousands upon thousands will flock to the standard of Zion, and many will come and say, “we do not know much about your religion, but you are an honorable people and execute justice and we want to be governed by those principles and be under their influence; and if we cannot endorse your religious views, we seek your protection and want to be one with you.” You will find hundreds and thousands of people will yet come in this way, and many are pretty near it now. But we are not prepared; we sometimes pull and haul, and talk and get hard feelings and seek to tear in pieces and destroy, and carry out our own ideas and will. I have no will of my own; I do not want a will of my own; I want to know the will of God, and then do it. Don’t you? We ought to do it; and let our own feelings and judgment be emerged in the will of God, and seek to carry out his purposes. As seventies go forth and be ready to go to the ends of the earth at the drop of the hat, when required to fulfil any mission that may devolve upon you, or that you may be called to, and consider this your mission of life, you seventies, do you hear it? I tell you that this is the will of God concerning you, and not to consider how you can fix yourselves and make yourselves comfortable; but attend to the other first, and be on hand to do that, and then it will be all right.

May God help us to do right and keep his commandments, that we may have his spirit to be with us and live in the enjoyment of the same, and be saved in his kingdom, in the name of Jesus. Amen.