Discourse by President George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, April 24, 1881.

The principles which have been advanced this afternoon are so strictly in accord with the principles which were taught by the servants of God in ancient days, that every one, upon reflection, must acknowledge that to have a church professing to be the Church of Christ there must of necessity be in it, if the ancient principles be adhered to, the spirit of revelation. In the Bible that has come to us as the record of God’s dealings with his people from the days of Adam our father down to the days of the last disciples of Jesus Christ: in that record we are told that every man who professed to be a follower of the Lord, and especially those who belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ, enjoyed from the Lord that spirit of revelation. It is difficult to conceive—if we did not see around us organizations professing to be his followers and not enjoying His Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, which communicates his mind and his will unto those who seek for it. Of course we see around us in Christendom any number of churches which profess to be the churches of Christ, the members of which deny present communication from God, who say that revelation is no longer needed; that the canon of scripture is full, that all the revelations that God had to give to men he has given, and that they are embodied in the Old and New Testament. We have, as I have said, any number of churches which make this statement, teach these doctrines and train the children and the grown people in the belief that God had ceased to speak, that he has ceased to communicate his mind and will unto his children; that the channel of revelation which was once opened and by which all who were his true children were distinguished—that that is forever closed. But, as I have said, if it were not the existence of these organizations; if it were not for the fact that these are the teachings that mankind receive; if we were to read the Book itself, and rely upon its statements, the natural conclusion would be that it would be the privilege of every man and of every woman who belonged to the Church of Christ to have communications from him, for the reason, as I have already stated, that it was the distinguishing characteristic of the organization known as the Church of Christ in the Messianic dispensation. It was the distinguishing characteristic also of the men who were the servants of God anterior to the days of Jesus. It would be a most singular idea—if it were not for the existence of those traditions to which I have referred—that God, our eternal Father, our Great Creator, should cut off his children from all communication with him, and leave them to grope in the dark, wandering hither and thither without any certain means of knowing his divine mind, of comprehending his divine will concerning themselves and the affairs of the earth. I can join with Brother Nicholson, who gave expression to his joy and gratification that we live in a day when God has once more broken the silence which has reigned for ages, and has revealed his mind and made known the plan of salvation in its old plainness and purity to the inhabitants of the earth. And if there is one thing that causes my joy to be greater than another, it is the fact that this knowledge, as he has stated, is not confined to one man, nor to three men, nor to twelve men, but that it is communicated unto every humble soul who seeks for it in a spirit which is acceptable unto God. It is a constant cause of thanksgiving to me that a people have been gathered together who are relieved, to a very great extent, from the uncertainty, and from the strifes, contentions and divisions upon points of doctrine that prevail throughout Christendom. There is in every human heart a desire to know something concerning God. I think it is Bancroft who says that the natural man, the barbarian, believes in God naturally; but skepticism and unbelief are the attendants of civilization, of enlightenment so called. There is no man who has not stifled that portion of the spirit of God which is born in him, who does not desire to know something concerning God; concerning his purposes, concerning the plan of salvation, concerning the object of his creation and of his being placed on the earth, and also concerning his future destiny. And because this knowledge does not come in the way in which men would like it to come, because God does not conform to men’s ideas and to men’s expectations, a great many deny the existence of God, and say that if there be a God, he certainly would reveal something to those who seek earnestly to comprehend him. But there is one saying recorded by an ancient Prophet, that experience proves to be true, even the experience of those who have known God best, and have been best acquainted with the plan of salvation. The Lord said that, “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” We cannot comprehend God; we cannot dictate to him the plan that he shall pursue in saving his children. Men frequently say, “How easy it would be for God to reveal himself; how easy it would be for him to make his mind and will known so indisputably that no one could cavil about or reject it; how easy it would be for him to open the heavens and make manifest his glory, and send angels that all might see.” No doubt the Elders of this Church have been frequently met by the objection—whenever they had testified that God had established His Church in its ancient power, with its ancient gifts, restored the everlasting Gospel, and the authority to administer its ordinances, and that he had done this by the administration of holy angels—they have been met by the objection “Well, if this testimony be true, why did he not send angels to somebody or to some people whom all would believe, and concerning whose testimony there could be no doubt, instead of sending them to an obscure youth, an illiterate boy, in the State of New York, and withholding from the rest of mankind all knowledge concerning this wonderful event.” Of course this sort of argument applies to the Savior himself, it applies to the whole plan of salvation, it applies to every Prophet that ever lived, and cannot be confined alone to Joseph Smith or to the Latter-day Saints. With equal force it might apply to those who lived at the time of the resurrection of the Savior. Why was he not seen by all the people? Why was the Son of God born in so obscure a place, born in a stable and cradled in a manger? Why did he not reveal himself in power? Why did he not convince all the inhabitants of the earth so irresistibly that they would be compelled to accept Him as the Son of God. This argument would apply to other dispensations than that of the Son of God. It would apply to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, and to the whole of the Prophets and Apostles that ever lived. But God, as I have said, has a way of doing these things that does not comport with the ideas of men. There is one thing that we as a people should understand, and that is, that God has purposely drawn a veil between himself and the inhabitants of the earth to accomplish his own designs. He has the power—we all admit it, that is, all who believe in God—to reveal himself in his fulness; he has the power to open the heavens and show every living being all that the heavens contain. There is no limit to his power. He controls the innumerable hosts of heaven. He has but to utter his command and they obey. Jesus said, on one occasion, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” But God, as I have said, has purposely drawn a veil over the inhabitants of the earth. He permitted Adam to fall; he permitted him to transgress his law, to bring about the fall of the human race, in order that man might be, for without the fall man would not have had an existence upon the earth. “Adam fell,” therefore, “that man might be, and men are that they may have joy.” There was a purpose in this. God, through his foreknowledge, comprehended it all. He knew the end from the beginning. It was all arranged. The Son of God was foreordained, to come as a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, to die for man and atone for the original sin, and to bring to pass the resurrection from the dead, he being the firstfruits of them that slept. God designed that he should come here and be clothed upon with humanity. He designed we should struggle and contend here in this probation with a glimmering of knowledge, a little light. He gave unto us his word. He has commanded us to seek unto him, and he that seeks shall find, to him that knocks it shall be opened, and he that asks shall receive. How? Will it come in such a manner as to convince all the world? No. There would be no faith if this were the case; there would be no room for the exercise of faith. God wishes his children to be developed. And what better position could we be placed in for development of every kind than in such a school of experience as that through which we are now passing on the earth? If God were to reveal himself as many would like, there would be no room for the exercise of faith, there would be no necessity to struggle. But there are two great powers on the earth. Here is the power of God on the right hand, and on the left hand here is the power of evil, and as the Book of Mormon tells us, “it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things.” We could not enjoy the sweet if we had never tasted the bitter. There are two principles at work, and we have to contend with them. Jesus, our Great High Priest and Elder Brother, when he was upon the earth had to contend against evil. He was not free from temptation. He was tempted in all things like unto us, but he differed from us in being able to overcome temptation, in being sinless through the power that he had through his sonship. But he set us the example. He knows through that which he had to contend against the weakness of human nature. He stands as mediator at the right hand of the Father, pleading for his brethren and sisters who, like himself, are subject to the trials, temptations and afflictions that exist in this mortal life. But because of this shall we say that God does not speak? Because we do not see his face, shall we say he does not exist? Because we do not hear his voice, shall we say he has no voice? Because we do not see his hand or his arm—that is, that which we call a hand or an arm—shall we say that he has neither hand nor arm? Certainly not. He will be sought after and all those who seek him will receive his blessing. He will give certainty, he will remove doubt and misapprehension, and give light and enable all such to comprehend and see as far as necessary that which is good for them; he will lead them on step by step, until they reach his presence if they will obey his commandments. They will not have to do this in darkness or in doubt, they will not have to throw aside or surrender their judgment, but he will give unto them his mind and will in such plainness that they will know and comprehend for themselves, although they may be tempted and tried and afflicted.

The proclamation of the Gospel as it has been taught in our day, has brought peace to thousands and thousands of seeking souls. It was very remarkable at the time that this Church was organized, how the spirit of God moved upon a great many people throughout the United States, in Canada, in Great Britain, Denmark, and in other countries to which the Elders went, carrying the glad tidings of the restoration of the ancient Gospel. In many places members of churches were dissatisfied with the want of power in the churches to which they belonged, dissatisfied with the absence of gifts, and they met together and prayed unto God to reveal himself or to give unto them some knowledge concerning the old plan of salvation. Here are my two brethren on this stand, President Taylor and President Woodruff, aged men, who in their early youth or early manhood were in this condition—President Taylor in Canada, and President Woodruff in Connecticut, one of them a Methodist preacher, and the other a member of no denomination. Both of them for years sought God with all the earnestness of their souls to make manifest unto them his mind and will. They were dissatisfied with the existing condition of affairs. President Taylor with other members of the church to which he belonged, would gather together to read the Scriptures, and investigate the principles taught by the Savior and his Apostles, such as the gifts following believers, but in the church to which they belonged and other churches around them no such gifts existed. They were dissatisfied with this condition of things, being conscious that God was the same then as he had been 1,800 years before. They sought for the restoration of these gifts, and when an Elder came along with the glad tidings that a church had been organized after the old pattern, and they were convinced it was true, it filled their souls with gladness, and President Taylor and a number of others who are now in this city, or in this Territory, members of this Church, received the doctrines gladly. At first they doubted its truth. It seemed too good to be true. And they also felt a good deal like the people of Judea in olden times when Jesus was on the earth. People asked them, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” So they feel in respect to this Church. People say, “What good can come from such a source as this is reported to be from.” The same with Brother Woodruff, the same with hundreds of men and women. And I do not know that it should be limited to hundreds; it may be said hundreds and thousands had a yearning, anxious desire for something higher, something nobler, something more certain, something that was from God. This feeling animated thousands of hearts in various lands, and the Elders were guided to them, and when they saw their faces, when they heard their teachings and humbled themselves in obedience to the commandments of God, they became profoundly convinced by the testimony of Jesus Christ, that the Gospel they taught was indeed the ancient Gospel restored. And from every land where the glad tidings have been carried by the Elders of this Church have these humble people crossed continents and oceans, forsaking all because of the Gospel, glad in their hearts that they had received it; like the man that had found the pearl of great price, they were ready to sell all for the purchase of that, so that they could have it in their possession. They were ready to forsake home, kindred, old associations; they were ready to sacrifice their good name—for that had to be sacrificed—all the past repute that they might have had, everything had to be thrown as it were to the winds. But they had found the pearl of great price. They had obtained a testimony from God, and they could endure persecution. Mobs could not extinguish the love of truth. The burning of houses, the destruction of property, and even the loss of life itself, could not cause them to abandon the truth. They cast their lot with the Saints. This feeling of unity has pervaded this entire people, go where you will. You may go to the antipodes and find a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They may have never seen an Elder from Utah, and yet when you go into their congregations and meet them, you find that they believe in the same doctrines, they have precisely the same spirit and the same faith. Before they heard the truth they might not have desired and never thought of leaving their native land, but as soon as they have received the Gospel, you will find in their bosoms, even if no Elder has ever taught it, an unquenchable desire to come and associate with the people of God in the Rocky Mountains, and they are never content until they can gratify their desire. Go to the north and the south, to the east and the west, and to the most distant lands, upon the face of the earth and you will find in their hearts the same feeling, nothing else will satisfy them. God has spoken, God has touched their hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost, and it is this that has sustained us. It is this feeling we should cherish. It is dearer to us than life itself. It is the spirit of God that unites heart to heart, that unites man and woman with bonds that are stronger than death—death cannot break them. Where that feeling is cherished, persecution may rage with all the fierceness that is possible, it cannot destroy it. I thank God from the depths of my heart, when I think of it, that I live in such a day and that I belong to a church of this kind, that I am permitted to have a membership in the Church, for go where you will on the earth you cannot find anything like it. This brotherhood comes from God. It is a foretaste of that brotherhood that will exist in the heavens; it is a foretaste of that union and that love that will prevail there, and without which heaven would not be heaven. And whence its origin? Where did it originate? It originated in heaven, and it was communicated through an humble instrument whom men despised.

It is a test of faith to embrace a Gospel taught by a man with the repute that the world gave to Joseph Smith, with all the falsehoods that were circulated concerning him. It is a test of faith today to the inhabitants of the earth to receive anything that has an origin among the “Mormon” people. Why, you might as well accuse a man of being a leper in some societies as accuse him of being a “Mormon!” Men will shun coming in contact with him. To those who know the Latter-day Saints, it is laughable to see the feeling that is manifested, and there is no greater cause of wonder in the minds of this class than when they come to Utah and see the condition of things existing here, it is so different from everything they have expected. Men and women frequently get filled with the most outrageous ideas respecting the Latter-day Saints. They come here expecting to see monsters, as though you wore horns or were beings of a different species to other people. Now, as I have said, it takes faith and a love of the truth to embrace the Gospel under such circumstances. And the devil is doing all he can, as he always has done, to prejudice men’s minds, to deceive them, to throw dust in their eyes by maligning the servants of God and the people of God. He did it with the Savior. Why was it that all Judea did not believe in the Savior, a holy being whose life was spotless, performing mighty miracles in the midst of the people? Could they not all have embraced the Gospel? Was it God’s design that they should not embrace it? No. God gives unto us our agency, and we do not ourselves realize how great this is. There is no limit to our agency. The power to choose good, the power to refuse evil, the powers to choose evil and refuse good is given to every human being. We can, if we choose, accept God, we can, if we choose, reject God. There is no compulsion about Him, about His Gospel, or about the plan of salvation. If you and I are saved, we will be saved because we have been obedient, and we have exercised the power that God has given unto us. There is no limit to this. We can seek unto Him in humility in the name of Jesus, and continue faithful to the end; we can walk humbly and uprightly with all the ability of which we are capable, observing virtue, chastity, honesty and truthfulness, or we can on the other hand turn to evil, we can reject everything that is good, we can be untruthful, we can be unvirtuous, we can be dishonest, we can practice iniquity. As the Lord said to Cain, “If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” If he would do right, he would be accepted. The agency was within him; God had given it to him, and he would not take it from him. We should cease to be the beings he designs us to be if he did. We are not automatons to be moved by some master hand or pulled with a string. God will control our ac– tions, but he will not dictate to us and compel us. He overrules all things for his glory and for the accomplishment of his purposes. Your acts and mine, and the acts of all the inhabitants of the earth are subject to God, who is the overruling providence over all, and he controls all to suit his divine purposes through his superior knowledge and supreme power. But if you get to heaven, as I have said, if you sing the songs of the redeemed, you will do it, because you yourselves have chosen that path and have determined, by his aid, to walk therein all your days; if any are ever numbered with the damned, if any, ever go into outer darkness and endure the misery of those who have rejected the truth and violated those laws which God has given, violated, in other words, the light that was within them, and which comes from God—if any be there it will be because they have chosen to walk in the path that leads in that direction, and Jesus came not to save them unless they seek to save themselves; it would be contrary to the plan of salvation if he were to do so. There is divine wisdom, therefore, in our seeing as little of the divine presence as we do, it is a test of our faith, and yet those who follow the right course receive the light that is necessary. I can testify of this to you this day in all solemnity before the Lord, I know that God is a God of revelation. I know it for myself. I know that he is a God that hears and answers prayer. I know that he is a God that heals the sick when he is approached in faith and that the mighty works that were done in ancient days he is as willing that they should be done today if his people will exercise faith. He has not gone to sleep like old Baal did. You remember Elijah and the Pro– phets of Baal. Elijah believed in a God that heard and answered prayer, but the believers in Baal called upon Baal. They called upon him throughout the day, but he heard them not, and Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” But Elijah’s God was not asleep. He had not gone so far but what he could hear the prayer of his chosen servant. The God of heaven never sleeps. His ear is open constantly to the cries that come up unto him; his eye is never closed; he looks upon all his creations; and though he rules in the heavens above and regulates the motions of the universe and controls the planets with which the heavens are emblazoned, there is none of us so insignificant, small or obscure that he cannot hear our prayers and our cries. We have proved this time and time again in the history of this people. His preserving care has been round about us; he has never forsaken us; and often, when everything seemed as though destruction was inevitable, and that there was no path of deliverance, he has calmed the angry elements, he has opened the path and made it plain, he has caused the light of his glory to shine upon that path, and it has been clear to those who have been walking humbly and uprightly before him. This people are a standing witness in the midst of all the nations of the earth that God lives, and that he is the Being the Scriptures say he is. Think of the plots that have been devised against us; think of the plans that have been laid for our destruction; no end to them, and yet this little handful of people, six in the beginning, have gone on increasing, trusting in God as their Deliverer. We have been mobbed, tried and persecuted in various ways, but all these things have had the effect of cleansing us, they have all had their purpose. I would not give much for this Church today if all who had joined it were members of it—that is, members of it with their sins and corruptions and inclinations to do wrong. I am thankful for one thing connected with this work, namely, that every trial has the effect of cleansing the Church, of keeping it pure, of taking away from it the dross and leaving the somewhat purer element. It would not do for the tares to grow up and choke the wheat. Therefore all these things have served a wise purpose in the economy of God; and there is this peculiarity about this Church, it has the power of self-purification, it carries with it, as it were, the power of self-purification. Let a man or a woman in this Church do wrong and persist in that wrong, and sooner or later the Spirit of God will be grieved and they will lose that spirit and their attachment to the truth, and will fall away. In this way we have been preserved. The union of the people to a great extent has been preserved. It is true that those who have left us are opposed to us; it is true there is opposition from various sources; but this does not change nor affect the fact that there are those who do right, nor does it detract from nor lessen the spirit of God which they have received, the spirit of union and of love. That spirit burns as brightly today in the midst of faithful people as it ever did.

Now there are a good many who look upon this work—and some of our faithful Saints, too—and get discouraged because they see iniquity around them, because of evil here in our city, for instance. There was a time when we were free from these evils, many of which now abound, and some are fearful that the evil is overcoming the good. I do not share in these apprehensions. I think it is our duty to be vigilant, to be watchful, and to be all the time doing our best to repel every iniquity, to extinguish as far as we can every temptation, every wrong that is practiced; to use our influence against it, and to do all in our power to stamp it out. For instance, there is drunkenness and the sale of spirituous liquors or intoxicating drinks. I think it is the duty of every Latter-day Saint to help put away such things and to do all in their power to put down gambling houses, houses of ill fame, and other haunts of vice; to discourage blasphemy, the use of profane language, dishonesty, taking advantage of our neighbor, everything of this character. I believe this is our duty, and every man and woman should exercise himself and herself to this end; but after having done that and those efforts do not succeed in preventing or in extirpating them entirely, then what? Shall we be discouraged? Not in the least. You and I cannot sustain this work alone; it is no use thinking the burden of the work is upon us. It is God’s work. I have been made to feel this a good many times when I have been concerned in my mind, being in a strait, as it were, as though everything was closing around me. But I have learned by experience that this work is not the work of man; that the responsibility of carrying it forward and gaining success and preventing evil does not depend upon me alone. I of course have my part, but God presides over it, God has it in his keeping, he is arranging and overruling everything for its final success and triumph. He will make the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of wrath will he restrain. All, therefore, that we have to do is to do that which devolves upon us individually and collectively, and leave the rest to him, and borrow no trouble. One-half of our unhappiness is due to borrowed trouble, looking forward to something that will never occur. The Savior gave us a very wise admonition upon this point. Said he, “Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.” Enjoy today, not improperly, but properly. Take pleasure today and let the threats come. The clouds may be dark here in the west, when the sun sets, and you may think tomorrow is going to be a stormy day; but how unwise it would be for us to make ourselves miserable in anticipation of the storm tomorrow, when we have the sun shining upon us today, when the heavens are glad and all nature is thankful for the goodness of God. Why should we think of the storms tomorrow? Let them come, and let us be prepared to meet them as best we can. Let us put our trust in God, and while we have peace today, let us enjoy the peace. Be happy as you progress. Enjoy the day as it comes. If adversity comes you will be prepared to meet it, just as well as if you had been brooding over it for months or years. The Latter-day Saints should be the happiest people upon the face of the whole earth. I believe we are. There is one thing the Lord has done for us. He has removed that uncertainty and fear that people have respecting the future. And if we do right, if we keep the commandments of God to the best of our ability, confessing our sins and repenting of them, we have no cause to be un– happy. If afflictions come, if death enters our habitations, shall we bow down our heads and mourn as though We had no hope? No. Let us accept it as from God, believing that he controls all things for the good of his people. And remember this, my brethren and sisters, that God has said through his Son Jesus Christ, that not one hair of our heads shall fall to the ground unnoticed. He is watching over us. He cares for the humblest. Even the very sparrows are the objects of his care, and we are worth more than many sparrows.

I pray God the Eternal Father to bless you, to fill you with His Holy Spirit. Let it be read in your countenance. God loves a glad heart and a cheerful countenance. Carry these into your homes. Husbands: instead of carrying your cares unto your homes to afflict your family with them, throw them off outside and go in with a glad face, so that your children may welcome you with gladness and joy, as they would the presence of the sun after a storm. Let your wife also receive you with gladness and if she has had anxiety and care let your presence comfort her. One of the most painful things to me, is to see men cross in their families, carrying into their houses a spirit that incites fear in the hearts of the mothers and children, and that makes them feel glad when the man goes out. Why, such a man ought not to have a wife, he is unworthy of children. Husbands when they go into their homes ought to carry with them a spirit of peace and joy, so that all might be cheered by his presence, the children glad to meet him, glad to have him come, and sorry when he goes away and the wife, on her part, gladdened by the same spirit.

I pray God to bless you, my brethren and sisters, and to fill you with His Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Discourse by President George Q. Cannon, delivered at the General Conference, Tuesday Morning, April 5, 1881.

A great variety of topics have been alluded to during our Conference; and I trust that the people will be able to remember, after their return to their homes, the various counsels and instructions that they have received. Our meeting together in a conference of this character ought to be exceedingly profitable to us. Certainly these are occasions of great interest; and I am sure if the instructions which have been given are carried out by the people, they will produce a marked improvement in their lives.

There are many subjects which suggest themselves to us upon occasions like the present. We are placed in such circumstances that it requires constant teachings, constant counseling to enable us to accomplish the duties devolving upon us.

There is one thing that has impressed itself very much upon my mind, to which allusion has been made by others since our Conference commenced, namely, the subject of education.

My position for many years has been such as to deeply impress me with its value and with the importance of our attending strictly to this matter in our various settlements.

There are no people with whom I am acquainted upon the face of the earth who need and who can find use for education to the extent that the Latter-day Saints can. The sending out of missionaries, the building up of settlements, the laying the foundation of a government in a desert land uninhabited by other people; the framing of a polity that produces the results that we have seen produced already in our valleys, and the taking part, as we naturally will have to do, in all matters affecting the weal and the independence of our children and others, all these considerations appeal most powerfully to us as a people, as fathers and mothers, and as citizens, to do all in our power for the advancement of the cause of true education in our midst. Those who are familiar with the people and with what has been done must feel gratified at the improvement which has already been made in various directions. There is a rapidly growing taste for everything that is elevating. I can remember when a boy, when we came here, of the feeling of the boys and the young men; to ride bronco horses, wear big spurs, use the lasso dexterously, break wild horses, and pursuits of that character, were then deemed the most desirable accomplishments by many.

A great change has taken place. We now have our Mutual Improve– ment associations for the young of both sexes; the meeting of last evening gave evidence of the great improvement there has been made in this direction, and the crowded condition of the meeting of the Sunday School superintendents and teachers held the evening previous to that, was an indication of the interest that is being taken in these matters by all classes. This means improvement; this means a growing taste, an increasing desire to advance. You can see it in the children. Books are sought for. Children take pleasure in reading. The great demand today in this Territory is for libraries. And let me here say, we should be exceedingly careful in the selection of books that we put in the hands of our children. And there is one thing that I would have said last night, had time permitted, to those engaged in these associations, that is, to teach the children not to accept that which they read in a book as true, because it is printed; but to teach them to weigh for themselves, to examine for themselves, and test for themselves the statements which may be made upon any and every subject that may be brought to their attention through the medium of books, whether scientific or otherwise. The danger in indiscriminate reading on the part of young people lies in this: their impressions are vivid, and if what they read be incorrect; if, in point of fact, what they read is based on unsound premises and be entirely wrong, but it is presented in an agreeable taking and specious manner, they are apt to accept it as being true. Now, as we have heard this morning, God has revealed certain principles which we know to be true, certain grand cardinal truths which are as fingerboards pointing the way of life. We should teach them to our children of the Sabbath School and of the Mutual Improvement Associations, and endeavor, by the help of God, to implant them in their hearts, so that they afterwards in their search for knowledge, of any kind, may be able to bring what they may read to this standard and test the same thereby. And if our children are taught thus to read, the danger of infidelity, the danger arising from superficial reading, and the imbibing of incorrect ideas, sometimes set forth in a scientific way will be, to a great extent, obviated; and to my mind great care should be taken in these things by all teachers, by all parents, by every one, in fact, who has the care of young people, or the direction of their studies; and not only this but the same rule applies to every one whether a child or an adult. Let us endeavor to cultivate this disposition in our children, to investigate carefully, to weigh properly the statements which may be presented to them. And in no place in our territory should there be a child left without education. A man who suffers his children to grow up in ignorance and without the benefits of education—that which pertains at least to a common school education—is guilty of a great wrong. We should take every pains in our power to instruct our children, to furnish them every facility for learning. Educators who have had experience in other places all join in stating, that they never found a class of pupils more apt, more bright, or who manifested a special aptitude for knowledge and who acquired it with greater ease than do the children of the Latter-day Saints. This is the statement of educators repeatedly made to me, as Chancellor of the University of Deseret; and I believe it. We have children growing up who are bright—who only need have ordinary facilities for education to make them cultured men and women. We had better take the means that others probably would covet, as mobs have done before, and which is a standing temptation in the eyes of certain persons, take that means, I say, and spend it in educating our children with the view of preparing them to enter upon the great and important duties which will devolve upon them, than to have it as a standing temptation to induce somebody to make a raid to get possession of it, or to keep it, and when we can keep it no longer, to bequeath it to our children to possibly quarrel over, and cause disturbances and divisions in our families, and at a time too when our voices are silent and our influence powerless to remedy the evil. Spend it wisely upon your children in your lifetime, and when you have educated them, when you have given them something which they can keep when they lie down at night, without the slightest danger of burglars stealing it, they are equipped for the struggle of life.

Every child in our community should be educated, not in books alone, but to sustain himself, or herself, so that in case he or she be left alone, or otherwise, they will be able, from the elements around them, inasmuch as they possess the use of their own limbs and faculties, to earn a living and thereby aid somebody else to live. And it seems to me, that if parents were worth millions, they should never be content to let their children, boys and girls, grow up to manhood or to womanhood without teaching them to earn their own living at some trade or some manual or skilled labor. I say to my brethren, teach your children the use of their brains, and when they have learned to use their brains, teach them the cunning and skill that can be taught to the right hand of man, by which all that is glorious which we see around us is produced. A good brain and the skill of man’s right hand can produce wonders. The nations who have thus developed themselves have made their mark in the history of the world; and to this characteristic in the nations who are so fortunate as to possess it may be traced the secret of their growth and prosperity. There is no reason why we should not be equal to the most favored in this respect.

A remark was made last evening to the effect, that some of our young men had very little desire to take part in the exercises of the Improvement Associations, because their early education had been neglected. If there had been time I would have related for the benefit of such, a few incidents in the career of a gentleman with whom I am acquainted; he sat by my side at the last session of Congress. He is a man about 45 years of age; when he was 29 years of age, he had a wife and one child, and could not read or write; today he is a member of Congress, and a very creditable representative of his State; he has served also in the Legislature in his State; and has been speaker in that body. Now this is a remarkable instance of what a man can do when he applies himself to learning. There is no man who possesses a sound mind who need be afraid if he will apply himself, using the faculties which God has given him, and not sit down with the idea that he cannot learn. Why a man ought to learn if he should live to be 150 years of age, learn something every day until he dies; there is no limit to a man’s capacity to learn. And because a young man is 20 or 21 years old, or even older, and has a wife and children to sustain, to sit down with the idea that he cannot learn or that he is past learning because his early education has been neglected, is folly; there is no propriety in either man or woman entertaining such ideas. This gentleman of whom I was speaking, at the age of 29, could not read; he was a farmer and was suffering from an attack of bronchitis. His physician told him that if he did not stop work he would gradually sink into the grave. He knew that if he remained upon his farm he could not live without working; so he rented it, and with his wife and child moved down in the city, determined to spend in study the time he could not employ in work. His wife helped him. He had a worthy partner—a most excellent woman I should judge, from what he told me. He commenced his studies, his health improved, but instead of returning to the farm he kept on for four years, and secured a good education in that time; he pinched himself, and both he and his wife struggled, by working all they could and living economically, to acquire this education. After thus applying himself for four years he returned to his farm, completely restored in health. His neighbors thought that as he had been a good student, he would make a good supervisor, to which office they elected him without any effort on his part; and after awhile they elected him a legislator, and returned him several times, and he served as speaker to that body in the State, where probably for its population there are as many men of culture and energy, as can be found anywhere else. And then he was sent to Congress.

It struck me that it was an in– stance of perseverance and energy worth remembering for the benefit of its example, and I relate it so that if there are any young men or young women within the hearing of my voice who may be similarly situated, they need not be discouraged because they have not had the advantages of education in their youth. There ought to be no discouragement under such circumstances. I hope, however, that we shall do everything in our power to furnish facilities for our children. Do not spare means in this direction, my brethren and sisters. You do not know what future there is before your children. They are like diamonds. True, they may need polish, in order to bring out their brilliancy and best qualities; and education of the right kind will impart this luster. There are some as bright intellects in obscure families in this Territory as can be found elsewhere. God has so distributed his gifts that he has not given them to any one family. I thank him for that. He is not going to build up a dynasty in his kingdom. He does not confine his gifts and blessings to any special class of men. He has distributed them like he has the air, so that all have them and all share in them. A man and his wife may be an obscure couple, yet their children may make the brightest men and women. None of you know what your children are capable of until you give them proper opportunities. You should not think that because you have got through life without much education, that therefore your children ought to go through in the same manner. Give your children opportunities, and do not work them to death and thereby stunt their minds; but give the boys a chance and give the girls a chance, bearing in mind that they will have more extended opportunities than you have had for the use of education, and you ought to train them accordingly. At the same time do not, sisters, bring up your children in idleness, and encourage them in the thought that their hands, because they are educated and have a few accomplishments, are not designed for labor; and so with the boys, because they get an education that they cannot hold a plow or handle a shovel, or an axe or other tools. This is a wrong idea. We must not, in educating our children, degrade labor, but rather ennoble and dignify it, and make it worthy the ambition of everybody to work, to toil, to look upon labor as a blessing from God.

I would like to see knowledge spread through our land, in all our settlements; and while we give the boys and girls every facility we can, at the same time we should develop, within them the love of the truth; that is very important, in fact, it is indispensable with us. I am exceedingly anxious upon this point. I have felt, I may say, concerned about it for years. I have done what I could in my limited way to help our children. I resolved years ago that I would do all in my power for them, and I have been struggling to do so ever since. I have not been able to do what I would like to do, but I still hope, and I know others have felt as I do, and that with our combined exertions and efforts we will be able to uphold the cause of true education throughout all our land, and raise the standard so high that, in a few years, we shall have the best educated children to be found within the confines of the republic. There is no reason why this should not be, and yet not depend upon taxes altogether. I, myself, am not unconditionally in favor of taxation schools under all circum– stances. I have views about that which I have not time to express now. Let us advance education by individual effort. I hope we shall never have heavy taxes in this Territory. They should be kept down to the very lowest amount consistent with the preservation of good government and the making of the necessary improvements. Have light taxation and stimulate individual effort in this direction; and not bring a child into the world and instill into its mind that because he is born somebody owes him an education. I think it degrades children to give them such ideas. Teach them it is their duty to work for themselves. And when a man has children he should provide for and educate them, and not think that because he may have a rich neighbor that he should help give them an education. Such an idea is doing more at the present time to pauperise the children of our country in their feelings than almost anything else. They get the idea that they ought to be educated at the expense of the State; and when they are educated they then are to be sustained at the expense of the State. The consequence is the country is filled with men seeking for office; every new President is almost killed by the clamor and pressure of men applying for office. I think it a very bad condition of affairs. I am thankful for one thing. I have been your delegate now for upwards of eight years, and I have scarcely had an application from any of my constituents for help to get office. This relieves me from much that Representatives generally find very unpleasant. Our people are self-sustaining and taught how to work and look upon manual, honest labor as dignified and honorable, and such pursuits as require this as being as noble as any other.

I pray God to bless you and fill you with His Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Erastus Snow, delivered at the General Conference, Monday Afternoon, April 4, 1881.

I desire to be heard, not that I am ambitious of speaking, but if I speak I desire that my strength shall not be unnecessarily taxed.

One of the ancient expounders of the Christian religion said, that the Gospel was the perfect law of liberty. I believe it; and if I take a text at all, that is my text.

The Gospel as understood and expounded by the Savior and his ancient Apostles, is a perfect law of liberty. Everything pertaining to the spirit of the Gospel, as taught and expounded and practiced by the Savior and His disciples, tended to liberty. All the revelations which God ever gave to man from the beginning of the world tended to liberty. The government which our heavenly Father has exercised, or attempted to exercise over His children on the earth or in the heavens, has not in the least tended to restrain or abridge them in their liberty, but rather to enlarge it, to extend it, to insure, to preserve and maintain it. The Gospel of Christ, and all of the revelations of God to man have sought to mark the line of distinction between liberty and license, between correct principles of government and anarchy or oppression and slavery. Oppression and slavery are the result of sin and wickedness, violations of the principles of the everlasting Gospel either by the rulers or ruled or both, and generally both. True freedom of mind and body and true liberty, even the enjoyment of human rights is founded and maintained, and rests upon human integrity and virtue and the observance of those principles of truth on which all true happiness and true freedom is founded. Sin was never righteousness, nor can be; license was never liberty nor can be; misery was never happiness, nor can be; and yet because of the blindness and ignorance of some people, they never appear to be happy only when they are perfectly miserable. And there are some people too who think they are always in slavery and bondage unless they are trying to get themselves into trouble; and they think there is no true liberty only in acting like the devil. The Nihilists of Russia, the Socialists of France and their sympathizers in America, including the “Liberals” of Utah, are panting for liberty; they are restive under the restraint of order and law; they are opposed to government, and like the French Socialists and Communists, they would destroy Jehovah himself and behead the king and burn up Parliament and assassinate every representative of power and government; and when they had reduced the country and themselves to anarchy, they would look upon their condition as the acme of freedom and human liberty. The world today is drifting in this direction, including our own liberal America.

If we take a retrospective view of the dealings of God with his people whom he recognized, and who acknowledged his laws, and among whom he raised up Prophets, and with whom he established his covenants, we will find that they have been the freest of all peoples which have existed on the earth. The students of the Bible and the Book of Mormon know this to be the case. They know that the first king who ruled over ancient Israel, was chosen at their own earnest solicitations, when they began to apostatize from God, and to despise His counsels. They know that Samuel the Seer, who judged them in righteousness, and who taught them faithfully the ways of the Lord, earnestly remonstrated with them when they clamored for a king to go out and in before them and lead them to battle, that they might be as other nations who were around them. Samuel foretold the results—that such a course tended to bondage; that they were but forging the links of the chain that would bind them and deprive them of freedom. He labored long and arduously to dissuade them from it; but they would not listen to him. And yet they were not willing to consent for anybody else to make them a king but that same Samuel; and when he had prayed to the Lord, the Lord told him to “hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” Samuel did as the Lord commanded him, and Israel was ruled over by a king of their own choosing. But the heavens were displeased with them for so doing, and you who are conversant with Bible history are familiar with the troubles and sorrows which befell Israel in consequence of this departure from the ways of God. And those who read the Book of Mormon find the same spirit breathed throughout that book. The people, in the days when they were willing to listen to the voice of Prophets and inspired men, were the freest and best of all people; but when they began to apostatize and harden their hearts against the words of the Lord and the counsel imparted to them by His servants, they began to drift with sin and oppression and bond– age. Anarchy—shall I say, is the worst of all governments? No: Anarchy is the absence of all government; it is the antipodes of order; it is the acme of confusion; it is the result of unbridled license, the antipodes of true liberty. The Apostle Paul says truly: “For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” At first this is a startling statement. Even the monopoly of the one-man-power as in Russia, or the monopoly of the aristocracy as in other parts of Europe, or the imbecility and sometimes stupidity of a republic like our own, is far better than no government at all. And for this reason, says the Apostle Paul, “The powers are ordained of God,” not that they are always the best forms of government for the people, or that they afford liberty and freedom to mankind, but that any and all forms of government are better than none at all, having a tendency as they do to restrain the passions of human nature and to curb them, and to establish and maintain order to a greater or less degree. One monopoly is better than many; and the oppression of a king is tolerable, but the oppression of a mob, where every man is a law to himself and his own right arm, is his power to enforce his own will, is the worst form of government. The efforts of extremists clamoring for human freedom are all tending in this direction; and those who clamor for human rights are, as a general thing, the first to trample them under foot—I mean those who are the most loud-mouthed; their ideas of freedom are all on their tongue; they conceive of no freedom only when they wield the sword, or dictate terms to others. The Gospel of the Son of God extends to the world that perfect law of liberty. Founded on truth, and a proper appreciation of those principles which tend to the largest possible happiness to humanity, it restrains mankind, not in the enjoyment of freedom and liberty, but from efforts to deprive their fellows of it. In other words, the power which God has sought to exercise, and which he has recommended and sanctioned, is only to seize the arm which is raised to fell his fellow, and to stop the loud tongue of the raging maniac, which would destroy the peace of his fellow man, and who would seek to build himself up on the ruin of others. There is no system of government ever instituted among men which is so well calculated to give and maintain human freedom, and at the same time to restrain the vices and excesses of fallen humanity, as the government of the Gospel sought to be established by the Savior and His Apostles. We heard quoted this forenoon the words of God spoken through the Prophet Joseph, and which are and always will be in force among this people, to the effect that the powers of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and cannot be exercised in any degree of unrighteousness; that the power of that man departs from him when he attempts in the least degree to exercise an unrighteous dominion over his fellow man—or any power or dominion except that power of truth and of persuasion founded upon it.

The teachings of the Savior in relation to the settling of difficulties arising among brethren in the Church of Christ, through visiting them and talking frankly one with another, explaining and expounding to each other until they come to an understanding of all troubles which may arise among members of the Church; and in cases of disagreement invoking the aid and council of visiting priests and teachers to act in the premises as peacemakers, as helps to the parties to arrive at a proper understanding, constitute the best method of settling and adjusting the differences of mankind which has ever been instituted; agreeing with the experience of Bishop Hunter, who has often said, that no cases of difficulty are so thoroughly and effectually settled as those which are disposed of in this way. This is the chief labor of the visiting Priesthood among the people of God. And yet the enemies of this people prate a great deal about the oppression of the Priesthood. There is no pope or bishop, priest or clergyman or ecclesiastic belonging to any sect on the earth, so far as my knowledge extends, which is so approachable as the President and Apostles and Priests and Bishops and Elders of this Church, whose hearts and ears are open to everybody to hear what everybody has to say, and to give it due weight in all patience and long-suffering, to enlighten and teach them correct principles, so that they may act honestly with each other and secure each other the greatest possible amount of liberty, freedom and happiness. The same may be said of the domestic relations in the family circle—I will not say with wicked men, with men who are naturally tyrannical, having the spirit of tyranny and oppression born in them; but I will say that free men and women who are imbued with the spirit of the everlasting Gospel, who are living in polygamy, that they manifest a greater degree of parental affection and of conjugal love, and evince greater earnest desire to promote peace and happiness and comfort and liberty and freedom to each member of their families, than at least the great majority of the families of the Christian world. And as I have often said—and I am as well acquainted with polygamous families in Utah, as perhaps, any other man, in consequence of my traveling constantly among the people and mingling with them—that, as a rule, the polygamous families of Utah are the best regulated families in the land, and they enjoy the greatest degree of happiness and freedom, unity, fellowship and love and reverence for correct principles. Our would-be regenerators would feign try and make us believe that unless we all go to the polls and vote their ticket we are slaves to the Priesthood; that because we chose to vote for our friends, we are doing the bidding of the Priesthood. Yes, and so we are. The Priesthood has always taught us that we would be fools, indeed, to vote for our enemies, for those who would rob and plunder us, for those who would not only rob us financially, but would steal from us the common rights of citizenship were it in their power to do so. And, yet, forsooth, because we vote for our friends, for men in whom we have confidence, they say we are priestridden, etc. And what does it all mean? “Why, we want you Mormons to vote for us that we may get our arm into the public treasury, for we are too lazy to work.” All who are acquainted with the administration of affairs in Utah, know that the affairs of government, both territorial and county, and also municipal, are the most economically administered of any other Territory or State in the Union; that there is not one delinquent or case of embezzlement to where there are ten in any other Territory or State. And yet our would-be regenerators are exceedingly angry because we will not vote for men to misrepresent us and our interests at the seat of government; because we do not squeak when they squeak, because we do not sneeze when they take snuff. This they call liberty! And there are perhaps some of our own people who are so far befogged that they run with this class of men; they read their twaddle so much and they become so much beclouded that they think it is necessary, in order to show their manhood, to vote for their enemies because, if they do not vote for their enemies they will be put down as “Mormon slaves;” and this would be too much for them, they could not stand so much.

Now, thinking men understand the object of all this cry. It is prompted by the same spirit which we see manifested by the extremists almost throughout the civilized world. It is true there is a great deal of oppression in the world, and these men see it and they wish to improve things, but do not know how; and instead of commencing to rectify what is wrong in their own hearts and in their own families, and then extend their influence for good to those immediately around them, instead of using moral suasion and showing a good example, they turn to and undertake to serve God like the devil, trying to right things the wrong way by casting down everything in the form of order and government, producing anarchy and ruin instead. Like the idiot who, because he himself was houseless, having to sleep on the doorstep of some rich man, put the torch to the rich man’s palace and destroyed it. Fools can demolish and destroy; it requires wise men to build.

I said of the ancient people of God; I say of the Latter-day Saints, there is no people capable of appreciating true liberty and of understanding the principles on which it is founded, and who know so well how to maintain them; because we have found it in the Gospel which we have received. And every man who has received the spirit of the Gospel, and whose heart is warmed with the love of it, is preparing his heart and is using his influence to educate the people to understand the true principles of human freedom, and the means by which they can be maintained. And I say, as President Cannon has said, referring to what the Prophet Joseph Smith told us, that the time would come when the extremists of the land, who are undermining the fabric of freedom, and little by little breaking under foot the guarantees of human liberty which have been raised up by our heavenly Father, through the instrumentality of wise men whom he raised up to establish the institutions of our country; these extremists of the land are gradually undermining those safeguards of human liberty, and plotting to carry out their nefarious designs in their endeavoring to oppress the people of God, and to destroy the institutions of heaven out of the earth. The time will come when the voice of such men will be heard in the land, like the roaring of a tornado, so that the still small voice speaking from the heavens cannot be heard; and the voice of the loudmouth, plotting destruction to human liberty and freedom will be heard all over the land, and everybody raise up and say, it is the voice of God; and they will be willing to stand and look on and see the Saints butchered and Prophets martyred, and our institutions wrested from us and wasted away. But when that time arrives, the Lord will come forth from his hiding place and “vex the nations;” he will raise his arm, and it shall not be turned back, and he will stay the hand raised against his people to destroy them and their institutions.

The Gospel has been the means of gathering us out from among the nations, and has made us a free and happy people, an able and united commonwealth; and the Lord is using us to establish its principles in these mountains, that throughout these valleys may be formed a nucleus around which honorable men and women may gather, men who will be capable of appreciating the blessings of liberty and of helping to extend them to others. And all presidents and senators and judges, and all men in official authority who shall lend themselves and their influence to trample upon the common rights of man, those rights which God has bestowed upon us and which are our common heritage, and who shall be found warring against God and his institutions, when the cap of their iniquity shall be full, the Lord Almighty will cause them to disappear from the public gaze, he will let them sink into oblivion and disgrace.

Those who suppose they can secure happiness in doing wickedly are grievously mistaken. And if they seek to oppress their neighbor by appropriating to themselves his hard earnings without rendering him a just equivalent, they will find every time they do it, they are but weaving together withes for their own backs, preparing punishment for themselves, and bringing themselves into bondage—the bondage of sin. For all judgments and punishments which the law of the Lord has ordained and appointed unto man are designed to correct their errors and sins. And where they are corrected and they learn better, then He is ready to stretch forth His hand to save and exalt them. The Gospel is ever ready to step in to assist repentant man when he has become sensible that he needs help to be redeemed, and he realizes that he has not the power to redeem himself. Then repentance unto life is granted to him; but it never can come until his judgment is convinced, until his mind is enlightened and his eyes are opened to see himself, and to comprehend his true position. And whether he be in this world or the world to come, he must place himself in a condition to be saved before redemption can come unto him; and it is only by the light of truth and of true and correct principles which can bring happiness and liberty and freedom, and with it a disposition to extend that liberty to all around, and to maintain it and protect each other in its enjoyment; and not with a spirit of vengeance upon the erring, and oppression upon the ignorant, but only with a disposition to seize and hold the hand which is raised to smite his fellow and stop in his wayward course the individual who would override his fellow. And all men should be protected in this freedom to go so far and no further.

May the Lord help us to live and walk in the light, and think for ourselves, and act like sensible people, paying heedless regard to the blatant foolish lunatics who are attracting the attention of the world. They, however, have their day, after the manner of the old adage—Every dog has his day; and when it is past he will cease to bark and bite.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered at the General Conference, Sunday Morning, April 3, 1881.

I think that all of us as Latter-day Saints should have our hearts filled with gratitude and thanksgiving to God our Heavenly Father for his mercies and blessings which we enjoy this day. It is certainly a source of much pleasure to me to have the privilege of meeting with so many of the Latter-day Saints, and with so many bearing the Holy Priesthood in this dispensation of God to man. I cannot but re– joice when I reflect upon the history of this people, and contemplate the dealings of God with us, how that He has protected us and sustained us and delivered us and made us a community in the land, and that too under adversity and opposition.

In tracing the history of the Prophets and Apostles of old, as well as those of our day, we find that there have been some very peculiar manifestations of the trust and con– fidence in God which they have exercised. Consider, for instance, the position of the Three Hebrews. They could afford to trust themselves in the hands of God; they could afford to meet whatever punishment or affliction or persecution which might be heaped upon them in consequence of their obeying the law of God. But they could not afford to bow down and worship the image which Nebuchadnezzar had caused to be set up, because it was contrary to the commandments of God. The history of the result of their refusing to obey the royal edict, commanding all Babylon to fall down and worship it, we are familiar with; also with the similar circumstance in which the Prophet Daniel figured. In any and every age of the world when God has called or commanded a man or a people to perform a certain work, they through determination and perseverance, and faith in him, have been enabled to accomplish it; and I do not know of a single instance wherein anything ennobling or exalting has been gained when his command has been shunned or willfully disobeyed. I will here mention the case of Jonah, which presents itself to my mind, when the Lord sent him to deliver a message to Ninevah. The requirement was a little too much for Jonah, and he thought he would try to avoid it; but after he had spent three days and nights in the belly of a whale, he thought, no doubt, that if ever he got to land he would unhesitatingly obey the commandments of the Lord. The result we know. We take our Savior, and also the Apostles who followed him; we read the history of what they suffered and passed through. All of the Apostles suffered death (excepting one, whom they could not destroy), including the Son of God himself, in order to seal their testimony with their blood; while the Savior had to suffer upon the cross, to fill the mission which he had been preordained to perform; which, by the way, is a very strange ensample to man, to see the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father on the earth, the Firstborn in the spirit world, a person of His high exaltation and glory, condescending to come forth to be born in a stable and cradled in a manger; and after he grew up, how he traveled about in adversity and suffering, never shrinking from any duty imposed upon him—it should certainly be a good ensample to all of his followers. And the Apostles themselves, because of their integrity to the truths of the Gospel which they had received through their Master, the Savior, they like him, suffered death, and thus sealed their testimony with their blood. They could perform no more than he could towards turning the hearts of the people to the truth; but they determined to risk whatever suffering, trouble or tribulation they were called to pass through for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus, that they might receive eternal life.

I bring this home to ourselves. I bring it home to the Latter-day Saints; I bring it home to our day and generation. Many of us have been acquainted with our Prophet and Patriarch, Joseph and Hyrum Smith. We know their lives; we know the suffering and trouble they passed through. These men are true and faithful unto death. They could afford to do it; but they could not afford to deny the faith; they could not afford to shrink from the important message which God had given unto them, of establishing this Church and kingdom upon the earth, but they could afford to be true and faithful to the last moments of their lives, in advocating and defending the principles of the Gospel of the Son of God. I wish to say to our leading men, the Presidency of this Church, the Twelve Apostles, the Presidents of Stakes and their Counselors, the Bishops, the Seventies, the High Priests and Elders, and to all men bearing the Holy Priesthood, as well as to all who have entered into covenant with God, that we can, as individuals and as a people, afford to maintain our integrity in this our day and generation, regardless of consequences. We can afford to be true and faithful to God; we can afford to carry out every principle and commandment which God has given unto us; we can afford to do this, as much so as Prophets and Apostles and people of God of other dispensations and generations. And I would say to all Israel, there is not one soul of us who can afford to compromise one of the revelations or one of the commandments which God has committed to our charge. No man can afford to do this who is called of God to build up this Kingdom. We can afford, however, to meet the consequences, whatever they may be. And I would say to all present this day, that we should have, and that we have as much comfort, as much hope and as much cause to trust in God, and have received as much encouragement, by the overruling hand of Almighty God in our behalf, to go on magnifying our calling and to be true and faithful to every commandment which God has given unto us, as the people of any other generation had in their day; and for one I can say, “It is the kingdom of God or nothing for me and I am willing to risk the consequences. I know that I cannot afford to disobey any com– mandment which God has given to me, because there is no man who holds the Priesthood, and possessing the inspiration and the gifts of God and the light of truth, but would be ashamed both in the flesh and in the spirit world to meet his God, and to be obliged to acknowledge that he did not obey His commandments. And I will here say that whenever we do our duty, whenever we keep the commandments which have been made known to us, we will see the fulfillment of the promises which God has made to us with regard to this day, age and dispensation. There is no promise which God has made to us but what will be fulfilled to the very letter. I read these—the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and I regard them as eternal truths. I cannot find any revelations given from the days of Moses down to the days of Joseph Smith, nor from the days of Joseph to our day, by men who have spoken as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, but what has been fulfilled to the very letter, as far as time would admit of. Though the heavens and the earth pass away, not one jot or tittle which will fall unfulfilled. When I read these solemn, these eternal declarations made through the mouth of Joseph Smith, my heart swells with gratitude and praise to God, my heavenly Father. I consider that the Doctrine and Covenants, our Testament, contains a code of the most solemn, the most Godlike proclamations ever made to the human family. I will refer to the “Vision” alone, as a revelation which gives more light, more truth, and more principle than any revelation contained in any other book we ever read. It makes plain to our understanding our present condition, where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going to. Any man may know through that revelation what his part and condition will be. For all men know what laws they keep, and the laws which men keep here will determine their position hereafter; they will be preserved by those laws and receive the blessings which belong to them.

I say again, the Latter-day Saints have every encouragement; their pathway is plain and inviting before them. And the nearer we adhere to the commandments of God, the more confident we shall become that God is our friend and that He is watching over us, and that his Son Jesus is our advocate, with the Father, that he is in the midst of this people, and that he will contend for the rights of his Saints, and will ward off every weapon which is formed against Zion. So far at least we have been sustained; the arm of Jehovah has been made bare in our behalf ever since we have been in these valleys, and all Israel whose eyes are open to see, and whose minds can comprehend the dealings of God with his people, know it. We have been sustained by the power of God from the beginning to this day, and nothing short of the power of God could have saved us and brought us through; and nothing but the power of God can preserve us, and nothing but his wisdom can pilot us safe to the high destiny which awaits us. Perhaps I may be permitted to say, we met with a good deal of persecution and oppression and suffering before we came to these valleys, and still the hand of oppression is stretched out against us, and the public mind everywhere within the pale of Christendom is more or less set on our destruction, and that because a certain Biblical principle—the patriarchal order of marriage is practiced by us. When Earl Rosborough was visiting this city, he inquired of President Taylor what excuse the State of Missouri had in driving ten thousand of this people beyond their borders into the State of Illinois; and what excuse the people of this nation had who took part in, and those who countenanced the persecution which we have endured, for persecuting us before the principle of patriarchal marriage was practiced by the Latter-day Saints. President Taylor replied, it was because we believed in revelation, because we believed in Prophets and Apostles, and because we believed in the ancient, the apostolic, the everlasting Gospel, with all its gifts and blessings. Then, said Earl Rosborough, “it would make no difference, as far as your being at variance with the Christian world is concerned, whether you practice plural marriage or not, unless you renounce all other principles you hold to that caused your persecution heretofore; you would be persecuted still.” I say the same today. The nation cares no more about our practicing the order of plural marriage than any other principle of the Gospel; it would make no difference with us today. Were we to compromise this principle by saying, we will renounce it, we would then have to renounce our belief in revelation from God, and our belief in the necessity of Prophets and Apostles, and the principle of the gathering, and then to do away with the idea and practice of building Temples in which to administer ordinances for the exaltation of the living and the redemption of the dead; and at last we would have to renounce our Church organization, and mix up and mingle with the world, and become part of them. Can we afford to do this? I tell you no, we cannot; but we can afford to keep the commandments of God. And I will here say, that we have been sustained by the hand of Jehovah in a marvelous and miraculous manner ever since we came to these valleys and proclaimed to the world our belief in the revelation of celestial or plural marriage; and I will say further, and in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior and Elder Brother, we shall be sustained from this time until he comes in the clouds of heaven, inasmuch as we shrink not from the performance of our duties. We have somebody to deal with besides man. The God of heaven holds our destiny; he holds the destiny of our nation and of all the nations, and he controls them. Therefore, I say to the Latter-day Saints, let us be faithful; let us keep the commandments; let us not renounce a single principle or command which God has given to us. Let us keep the word of wisdom. Let us pay our tithes and offerings. Let us obey the celestial law of God, that we may have our wives and children with us in the morning of the first resurrection; that we may come forth clothed with glory, immortality and eternal lives, with our wives and children bound to us in the family organization in the celestial world, to dwell with us throughout the endless ages of eternity, together with all the sons and daughters of Adam who shall have kept the commandments of God.

I pray that we may be able to do our duty in this world. I pray that we may not fear man who can only kill the body, but fear God who hath power to cast both body and soul into hell. I feel to say that there is no people under heaven who have so much cause to rejoice and to be grateful as the Latter-day Saints. There is no other people since the foundation of the world called to perform the work which you, Latter-day Saints, are called to perform. The God of heaven has given you the kingdom, the great and last kingdom, the only kingdom which has ever been set up on this earth to remain until the coming of the Son of Man. Although in its infancy, this work has a great and a mighty future; and as I have often said, the eyes of all the hosts of heaven are over us; the eyes of God Himself, and the eyes of all the Prophets and Apostles who have ever lived in the flesh are watching this people. They know that they are not neither can they be made perfect without you; and they fully understand that we cannot be made perfect without them. They understand the greatness, the extent, the power and the glory of this dispensation.

When I contemplate the fact that the few men and women dwelling in these mountain valleys have had committed to them this great and mighty work, I feel that of all people under heaven we ought to be the most grateful to our God; and that we ought to remember to keep our covenants, and humble ourselves before him, and labor with all our hearts to discharge faithfully the responsibilities which devolve upon us, and the duties which are required at our hands. For we can afford to do anything which God requires of us; but none of us can afford to do wrong. It would cost far more than this world with all its wealth is worth for the Latter-day Saints to do wrong and come under the disfavor of Almighty God. Our prayers, one and all, should be that of David’s—“Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”

I pray God to bless this assembly of His people; and to bless the Presidency of the Church, the Apostles and all bearing the holy Priesthood, together with all who have entered into covenant with him. My earnest prayer is that the blessings of our God may be over us in time, that when we get through and shall pass behind the veil, we shall have done all that was required of us, and be prepared to dwell with the sanctified and the just made perfect through the blood of the Lamb. Amen.

Discourse by Elder H. W. Naisbitt, delivered in the Assembly Hall Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Feb. 20th, 1881.

It is related in the history of the Lord Jesus Christ, that upon a certain occasion (after some of His marvelous works), He was followed by a great number of people; and upon noticing that this continued, He called His disciples and said—

“I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint by the way. And his disciples said unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude? And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said Seven, and a few little fishes. And he commanded them to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.”

In looking upon a congregation like the present, I think that every Elder in Israel must feel that from the few small loaves and fishes which he may have accumulated in his experience, he is unable to feed and supply the necessities of the multitude before him. But while he occupies the position, he realizes that the infinite resources of the Holy Spirit are within general reach, and that this can be supplied and so administered as to bring home the little food that may be presented; and that by the processes of its multiplication, every man and every woman, and all the youth who are assembled, may have their “portion of meat in due season,” they may go away satisfied and refreshed and fitted for the duties of life, and their minds may be so expanded as to realize that through the inspiration of the spirit there is more left than appeared at the beginning. If this result depended upon a man’s native intelligence, if it were to come alone from the narrow field of his own experience, in my opinion it would be presumptuous in one to expect to be able to do much good. But the Elder who stands before the congregations of Israel, realizes that he is but the instrument, that he is but the medium, and that he needs to be taught as well as to be the medium for teaching; that he needs to be fed, as well as to be the instrument of feeding others; that his character and capacity are pretty much like the majority of those who are in communion with the same Church; that if he is to grow, to increase, to acquire strength, to become filled with intelligence, that he must reach beyond the confines of man’s thought; that he must get beyond the boundaries of man’s experience, that he must draw his supplies from resources which are greater than those that man controls; and that it is only from this outreaching that he will be able to satisfy the wellings of that spirit within him which desires to comprehend and to accumulate and to enjoy all truth.

The many agencies which are at work among the Latter-day Saints, to bring to pass the purposes of the Almighty, are more or less understood by all. I think that there are none of us scarcely, who would claim the title of “Master of Arts.” We are all, I think, satisfied to be ac– knowledged (and to feel it an honor and a privilege to be acknowledged) as students or pupils in the great school of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have all comprehended the depths of our ignorance; we have all realized that the training which has been necessary for us, the lessons which have been given unto us had to be adapted to our capacity and to our condition; no matter how high our spirits might soar in anticipations of the present or the future that spreads before us—when we have come to ourselves; when we have really felt our insignificance, when we have realized how easily we are influenced by temptations that are opposed to our best interest; when we realize how easily we are diverted by the fashions and frivolities of life; when we realize how we are cast down by opposition, and how the efforts of our enemies seem measurably to test our faith—I say, when we realize that these are the feelings of the masses of the people, we then comprehend that we need to be buoyed up and sustained by a power that is vastly higher and greater than ourselves.

We are a good deal in the condition of our boys when they go to school. They come in contact with those who are far in advance of themselves; in their simple primary lessons they realize what an immense gulf there is between them and their preceptor. And when in our ignorance we realize how far we are behind many of those who have grown gray with experience, who have been passive to the reception of the spirit of revelation, who have been able to grasp a large amount of truth, and to comprehend the bearings which one truth had upon its neighbor truth, (all together jointly working out that process which is called and constitutes education in the life of a Saint), we have had our ambition stirred, our feelings wrought up, our minds illuminated by the influences of this same spirit of inspiration. Sometimes this has been in reading the productions of the old Prophets, sometimes in listening to the champions of the Gospel in our day, sometimes in sitting beneath the combined influences of the hosts of thoughtful men and women among the congregations of the Saints. Probably we might illustrate, for a moment or two, how the changes we look for are likely to be brought to pass, and the ways have been presented to us from time to time. And if the illustration is drawn from homely things, I hope that it will bring home to the good Saints and to this audience the truth sought to be established.

Many of the inhabitants of this Territory are agriculturists—tilling the soil of these mountain valleys. Looking at it naturally, it would not seem to be so highly productive, or to yield the vast advantages which spring from tillage, that subsequent experience seems to confirm. But here is a man engaged in this occupation who has had a measure of experience, and who knows, at all events, the rudimentary principles which pertain to his occupation.

In the beautiful months of summer he walks into his field. He remembers his labor there, how he took pride in the preparation of that field for the harvest which he desired. It was well ploughed; it was well harrowed; it was well seeded; and as the spring rains descended it became clothed in a garment of lustrous green. As the weeks pass by it advances towards a higher form, even towards maturity, until with the warmth of the increasing sun, and partly as the product of the good cultivation which it has had, it glows in this sunshine of the summer with the promise of an abundant harvest.

The farmer, realizing the destiny of the grain, was disposed to question it, after the manner of the fables we read in the days of our childhood. He goes into this field of grain as the passing cloud flits over it; as the wind sweeps across its face he notices how it bends with its weight and wealth of grain, he admires its beauty and he says, “What a magnificent field of wheat is here.” And addressing himself to it he suggests:

“How would you like to be presented to the king?”

The wheat is growing up in the dark soil of the earth, having no idea of its purpose or future; but the question being asked, it lifts itself in pride, it rejoices in the prospect that is suggested, and finally says:

“Yes, I would like to be presented to the king.”

But by and by, as it colors to ripeness, the laborers come, and with the reaping machines or sickle they go to work in this beautiful field of grain, and before it knows where it is, instead of waving in the sun and enjoying the elements surrounding it, it finds itself lying prone upon the earth. And as it lies thus prostrate, the question naturally arises, “How is the promise of my master going to be fulfilled? How am I to reach the destiny to which he alluded?” While it is pondering over the situation, more laborers come along, and they take it and bind it into bundles; and the wheat wonders to itself whether the bundling process is a step towards its destiny. By and by another set of hands comes, and the bundled wheat is set on ends, in (what they call in the part of the nation from which I came) the form of “stooks.” After the stooks have been formed, a cap-sheaf is put on them, to protect the grain from the changes of the weather. It stands a while in this condition, undergoing the mellowing process; but after standing sufficiently in this form, another gang of laborers come along, and thrusting their steel forks into the sheaves, pitch them on to wagons and haul them away to the barnyard, where they are put into a stack. Here it remains probably for a time, undergoing another process, passing another stage, which fits it better for its final use. But it does not remain very long before it is moved again; this time it passes through the threshing machine. It goes through the beaters, and is subject to the fan, and is thus separated from the straw and chaff. It is then put into sacks and tied up at the mouth, and after a while it is hauled away to the mill, and there it is put into the smutter, and cleansed from foul seed, smut, &c.; then passing between the upper and nether millstones, it is ground almost to powder; from thence it must perforce pass through the bolt, and finally comes out fine, or very fine flour, according to the quality of the wheat, or the design of the miller. But notwithstanding the many changes it has undergone, its end is not yet; it is not yet in a condition to realize the fulfillment of the promise. The flour is now taken home to the good housewife, who puts a little of it into a pan, and then pours hot or cold water upon it, and adds the elements which cause fermentation; and then it assumes another condition. It begins to think again, “Surely my destiny is now about to be fulfilled.” But the good wife takes it, and works it, and kneads it into loaves, and finally opens the oven door and thrusts it as it were into the furnace. By this time it thinks that its end has come; it is now about to be consumed. After it has undergone this baking process for a while, it comes forth from the oven a beautiful, brown, pleasant, well-flavored loaf, in which condition it is fit to be presented to the highest authority in the land.

Now, to return again. Here is the human family unconscious of their origin, unconscious of their destiny. But the Elders of this Church go forth and tell mankind that they are the children of their common Father; that they had their origin in the eternal worlds; that there lies before them a grand and sublime destiny; and they say, inasmuch as this is so, how would you like again to be presented to your Father—to the King? How would you like to return to His presence, and to enjoy His smiles. How would you like to be brought back again to the surroundings you once enjoyed? And as the stirring impulses of these warm thoughts rush through the hearts of the listeners in the midst of the nations of the earth, their minds begin to expand and their hearts begin to swell with the newfound dignity thus spread before them, and in the promise of the future; but by and by there is a change in their condition; in the pride of their hearts, under the inspiration of those men who thus taught and counseled them, they thought they were going to be somebody. But other contingencies of life were upon them. The sickle is at their roots; adverse circumstances come along, and withal they are perhaps laid low upon a bed of sickness; and when they least expect it they are called to pass through the valley of humiliation. And under these circumstances they inquire, Is this the way through which I am to pass into the presence of the King? The Elders who first prompted them to these ennobling thoughts have now induced them to take another step in this preparatory process. They repent of their sins; they go down into the waters of baptism and become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they are now bound in bundles, or, as they are called, “branches;” and when they are tied up in this fashion there is a cap-sheaf put over them in the authority of a presiding officer of the branch. I know that occasionally there are those in the lower sheaves who are disposed to find fault with the position they occupy. They say, we are just as good wheat as you can find on the cap sheaf; we are just as valuable, we possess just as much intelligence; but while this is the case, and they may rebel, yet they finally realize that there is an order in the organization with which they are identified, and the increase of the spirit of intelligence tells them that the same destiny, the same grand future awaits the wheat in the sheaves that stand upon the ground, as it does the wheat which crowns the pile.

But a new impulse begins to work in their hearts, and the agents came along and gathered them up to the railroad and to the steamboat. “From the east and the west, and the north and the south,” they are taken away in a body and placed in the form of, or in the stackyard—this is the gathering place in Zion. They are with the body of the Church, in a larger form, than they were in the little branches in the old world. And after they have been in the stack a while, they begin to look around and to ponder upon the changes which they meet from time to time; they find themselves in the midst of new conditions; that they are surrounded with new combinations of circumstances, subject to new influences. Soon they discover that they have reached the threshingfloor of the Almighty, and as they pass through the cylinders (as it were), through the trials and friction which belong to the gathering place of the Saints, as their defects and surplusage become apparent, there may be groaning in spirit, but the conclusion is reached that they need to lay off the straw of old tradition, the chaff of early training, the influences and powers which molded them in the past, and to make themselves satisfied with every process pertaining to the present and the future.

By and by they come forth from the threshing machine measurably divested of extraneous and comparatively useless characteristics; but no sooner have they got through than change is on them again; they find themselves in the mill, and between the upper and nether millstones at that—between the friction of their enemies and the direction of the authorities in the Church of Christ, they are almost ground to powder, in order that they may know themselves, that they may understand their characteristics or defects, and that they may be the better prepared for the future.

After a while a man is called upon a mission. He goes out to colonize the desert, or he is sent to the nations of the earth, and here comes the kneading process. The call may be to a hot or a cold country, to a pleasant place or a disagreeable one, but he all the time realizes that his character is changing, that it is being molded into a higher form, becoming more and more willing, yet also becoming solidified and established. And after having been thus kneaded and watered until in thought and inspiration, he begins to ferment, he is again molded into still another form and thrust into the oven, that it may consume that which is evil, that he may throw off those gases that are unnecessary for his future, and having passed through this process, he comes forth purified, as it were by fire, and fitted for the Master’s presence.

I presume that all the Latter-day Saints are more or less acquainted with these trials through which they have passed—with the influences that have been at work upon them since they yielded obedience to the Gospel. You that are from the old world, or from the new, will realize the feelings of joy and of gladness with which you received the Gospel. You will comprehend how, for the moment your judgment was carried captive by the power of the Spirit of God; how you realized the grandeur and the adaptability of the Gospel to your condition, and how much you enjoyed association with those who were of a like spirit with yourselves. You took satisfaction in their society. If you saw a man or a woman who belonged to the same branch, you used to rush to give him or her the morning or the evening greeting, as the case might be. In the midst of your daily avocations you looked forward to the meeting in the evening, or you looked forward to the meeting on the Sabbath. But after you had been but a little while in the Church, you began to realize that every one did not look at the Gospel as you looked at it. There were those who began to think that you were foolish, enthusiastic, deceived; who began to show you that they had no interest in that which you had accepted. They treated you with indifference, looked upon you with contempt, and you soon found your only satisfaction was in the association of your brethren and sisters; you were drawn, even forced, into their society. The bitterest opponents you found were in the religious world. The old Sabbath school teacher, the old class leader, the old superintendent, the old minister, became enemies to you. While professedly anxious for your welfare, they considered you were in error, they feigned sorrow for your delusion, they hoped for your deliverance. And if you lived in a small village or in a small town, it became almost an impossibility for you to secure employment. The opportunities of living were measurably denied you. Hence you found more abiding solace in the Gospel, and you began to comprehend the advantages of gathering. You began to realize that there was something of an intelligent character in connection with it; that by gathering you would escape from this contempt and from this opposition; that you would be in the midst of those who were of like faith with yourself. By and by you had the chance of leaving your native land; but the trials and difficulties which you had to meet on the way to “the valleys of the mountains” were very hard, and such as you were not accustomed to in your native land. You were placed under new conditions, subject to new trials. You felt yourself surrounded by new temptations, and you began to comprehend that you had within you features of character that were comparatively unknown before. You felt the inconvenience of traveling on the plains, as we used to do in olden times, with eight, ten, or a dozen in a wagon.

After a time you landed in Zion, and you soon began to realize that here was another state, or condition. I recollect my own experience when I first settled in this city. I came from the active ministry in the old country. No one knew me here, and no one seemed to care to know me. I occupied no position; nobody bade me welcome; I was a stranger in the midst of a strange land. I began to feel a little blue. I had to wonder within myself whether gathering had made any difference in my feelings or faith, and it was only upon reflection I discovered that from a life of comparative activity I had been brought into a condition where I was comparatively dormant; my faculties were unexercised, and instead of being sought unto, had to seek counsel from those who presided over the Ward. Conditions were reversed, circumstances were changed, and it was only reflection that led me to comprehend this fact. After I had been here a little while, I had to look for something to do. I was not sure that I would find the employment to which I had been accustomed. I had been used to standing behind a counter and attending to business of that kind in the old world, but when I came to Salt Lake City there was hardly a counter in it. I could find no occupation of that character. I therefore went to work as a carpenter, in order to sustain myself and family, and become a useful member of society. This was a new experience. It brought with it its trials. When Saturday night came I was not sure as to the kind of wages I would receive. I would likely be paid in something; it might be in something I had made myself—the product of my own hands; it might be in something I did not want. These were the old days of “barter and swap” in the midst of Israel. When we wanted a candle we had to melt a piece of fat in a saucer, stick a piece of rag in the center, and by this means light ourselves to labor, or to bed. When we wanted a fire we had to get a little wood—there was no coal—and go to work and chop it, and instead of a fireplace, we had to make the fire on the hearth, in stooping to which my wife would almost break her back in attending to the necessities of domestic life. These were in their way trials. They gave us new thoughts, new feelings, they brought momentarily strange conclusions; we began to inquire whether the Zion we had reached was worthy of the ideas we had cherished in regard to it. We met with many trials. If we had to trade in any way, we came in contact with those who were disposed to take advantage. We were “green” in our way, so to speak; we were not acquainted with this order of things, and there was more or less friction until we became used to the ways and methods which belong to a new country. The old land is the product of thousands of years in the history of the past; this was a new land, it was but of yesterday, and had all the newness that pertained to infancy. Yet I must say that even at that time, after a little acquaintance, social life was very warm. People used to visit each other with great freedom. There was no vast amount of style; there was nobody able “to put it on.” When we visited we were satisfied to enjoy our molasses and bread and squash pie, and with these we thought we feasted almost upon the food that the Gods were wont to eat, or upon angels’ food. We enjoyed these things, until by and by we began to increase in means and to build up our homes.

When we look back upon these primitive times, we see how little really the human family can get along with. How many things we hunger after, desire to have, and spend our lives in obtaining, yet how easily we can get along without them. I think that one of the greatest losses I experienced in this Territory was that of intellectual enjoyment. I had come from Mechanics’ Institutes, Lyceums and Athenaeums, which offered opportunities of amusement and intellectual growth. But you know how it was here in those early times. The newspapers have been telling us lately that we were occasionally two or three months without a mail, while newspapers and books were few and far between. We had left even our Stars and Journals and pamphlets on the plains; we had thrown them out of our trunks—and I do not know but some had to leave their trunks also—and we were thrown more decidedly upon our own resources, and we had each to seek more earnestly the inspiration of the Almighty to give us intelligence. But even in these adverse conditions our minds became enlarged, we continued to grow, and had feasts of fat things in the tabernacle, and in the Ward, Quorum and other meetings of the Saints. The spirit of inspiration rested upon those who spoke to us, and our minds expanded to the truths of the Gospel, and the future of the grand system with which we had become identified.

Gradually the Gentile world came into our midst in considerable numbers; as they kept increasing they tried many methods to divert our attention. They pointed out to us the mines in the everlasting hills; they brought along the fashions that belong to Babylon; they tried to work upon our feelings; they called upon our sons and daughters to throw off the bondage (as they called it) which had been placed upon them by the Priesthood. But, when we pondered upon these things, we realize how little they understand our position, how little they understand our condition, how little they understand the thoughts we have in regard to the future, how little they comprehend the foundations of our faith, even while they pray, beg, beseech and coax us to recant, how little they know of the power of the spirit and of the result of the experience we have passed through in the school of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, they continue in this direction, and we have to meet it. We must comprehend the rivalry—if I may so express myself the ever-present opposition which exists between the powers of intelligence and the powers of ignorance.

Well, we continued to live in Zion. Our families continued to increase. People gathered in from the nations of the earth. They spread out on the right hand and on the left, built up cities and redeemed the waste places. The power and authority of the Priesthood has been conferred upon the rising generation. Hosts of them are going forth as missionaries in the midst of the nations of the earth. They go with power and force, and when they return they acknowledge that the process through which they have passed has agreed with them. It has given them strength, increased their faith, and enlarged their thoughts.

And so Zion continues to grow. Her population increases in intelligence; they are becoming more and more fitted and adapted for the society of “the Church of the Firstborn and the spirits of just men made perfect.” They are men and women who are looking forward to the time when, through their faith– fulness and integrity, they shall be admitted into the celestial kingdom and presented to the King. Their “eyes shall see the king in his beauty: and the land that is now afar off;” there they shall rejoice in His presence, and feel amply repaid for all trial, when they have triumphed and overcome.

I pray for and am assured that God, by His Spirit, will continue to work with the Latter-day Saints; that they will continue to be passive to its admonitions and more active to obey; that they will seek and learn, by “line upon line and precept upon precept,” and that while they follow this goodly advice, while they are edified by the ideas which are thrown out before them, while they enjoy the songs and the anthems which are rendered by the choir, I hope they will be strengthened in their faith, and carry home with them the influence and the power of the food they have received here, and that thus there will be more life in the midst of Israel. I hope that even today, from the few words thrown out, that they will be spiritually strengthened, and so know that there are positive elements of growth to be obtained by attendance at the sanctuary of the Lord.

That we may continue to enjoy the life which has been given unto us, and that we may finally “become men and women in and through the Gospel,” is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder John Nicholson, delivered in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, Sunday Afternoon, February 6th, 1881.

Having been called from the midst of the congregation to address this assemblage this afternoon, I feel my inability personally to do justice in the performance of this duty, unless I am aided by the spirit of the living God. I earnestly solicit that you will exercise faith for me while I shall occupy this position, that I may be able to speak through the influence of that power, and truthfully present the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which the Latter-day Saints have embraced in their faith and practice, so far as they understand them.

There are a great many subjects connected with the plan of redemption that are of interest to all who are seeking for salvation in the kingdom of God. The field is so wide, in fact, that there is sometimes great difficulty in selecting the class of matter best suited to the circumstances that immediately surround us. There is, however, one phase of this work that I think is specially interesting in connection with it. I hold in my hand a volume which is known for good or evil throughout the entire civilized world—the Book of Mormon. The Latter-day Saints claim that this book is a record of peoples that dwelt anciently on the face of this continent, and that it was brought forth in this generation, through the instrumentality of a great Prophet, namely: Joseph Smith. This book has not been generally received in this light; in other words, it has been, so far as the great bulk of the world is concerned, repudiated as not properly authenticated, not what it claims to be. In my travels in the world, however, I have found very few people who could give an intelligent reason for the repudiative stand they have taken in reference to this record, I have asked a great many of them—and I presume that numbers of the Elders besides myself have done the same thing—whether they had perused this book and endeavored to make themselves acquainted with its contents, and also to make themselves familiar with the evidences in favor of its authenticity. In the majority of instances these have never as much as seen a Book of Mormon. Now, it appears to me that this is not a proper position to be taken in regard to any subject by an intelligent person. If a matter is worthy of consideration at all it should be intelligently investigated. This is the only method by which we can arrive at correct conclusions in reference to religion or any other subject.

We claim this book is a record or history of the ancient inhabitants of America, the remnants of whom are now scattered on various portions of this continent. Numbers of them surround us in these valleys, and are known as the aborigines of America. It is unnecessary for me to more than allude to the fact that there did exist, in the ages of the past, peoples on this land who had arrived at an advanced stage of civilization, and who cultivated the arts and sciences. The ruins of vast cities, among which are the remains of great structures, giving ample evidence of this fact. This testimony is presented before the world and is being constantly produced for the consideration of the reading public. Then there was a people anciently upon this continent who were in a condition of advancement; this is universally acknowledged, I believe, by those who have considered this question. When Jesus came to offer himself up as an atonement to satisfy the law that had been broken by mankind, and to organize his Church in the land of Palestine, he did so organize what he called his Church. It was composed, so far as its officers are concerned, of men who were inspired of God, and who were directly authorized and commissioned by Him to act in His name and to administer the principles of life and salvation wherever they went. What was the nature of their commission? He said to His ancient Apostles whom He commissioned: “Go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” The Apostles, according to the power that was given to them, and according to the nature of the commission with which they were thus entrusted, went into various parts of the world and made this proclamation, calling upon all men everywhere to repent of their sins, to obey the everlasting Gospel that they might be saved in the Kingdom of God, to come into the true fold of Christ. Nobly did they perform the great work that was entrusted to them. But, so far as we are aware, they did not extend their labors to this part of the world; for the peoples who dwelt on the eastern hemisphere were ignorant of the existence of this continent. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ said to His Apostles: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” Now, seeing there was a people here on this continent, surely they were entitled to the benefits of the Gospel of the Redeemer as well as those who lived on other parts of the earth. We find that so far as the Book of Mormon is concerned, an explanation is given in regard to how the people who lived on this portion of our globe were visited and administered to in the things of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, even as those ministrations were manifested in other parts of the world.

Sometimes we allude to the Scrip– tures and select passages to substantiate those things that are written in the Book of Mormon. I will now draw the attention of the congregation to a passage that we consider has reference to this subject, which is found in the 10th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, the 15th and 16th verses: “As the Father knoweth me”—these are the words of the Savior—“even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” What is the necessary conclusion to be arrived at from this remark of the Savior? It is very plain and simple. There were other sheep who were not of the fold at Jerusalem, and it was necessary that they also should hear the voice of the Savior and be brought into the fold of Christ, that there might be one fold and one shepherd.

The Book of Mormon, from page 501 to 540, gives an account of the fulfillment of this inspired utterance of the Redeemer. It tells how, after he was crucified in the flesh, at Jerusalem, and showed himself to many of his disciples, He, in fulfillment of this assertion, that he had “other sheep,” that he must visit them, and that they also must hear his voice and be brought into the fold, visited the ancients on this land and established His fold amongst them. He performed that work on this continent, among the people of whom the Book of Mormon is a history or record. What is the fold of Christ? It is the Church of Christ. What is the Church of Christ? It is an organized body, at the head of which stand Apostles, and Prophets. That was the Church of the Redeemer in ancient times, it was the Church established by himself in Palestine, and it always will be the Church as long as there is a true Church of Christ—not a revelationless, uninspired, dead formula, “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” but an organization wherein there is authority to act in the name of him whose Church it is. Men are reasonable upon most subjects, it appears to me, excepting when it comes to matters of religion. A great many people seem to be willing that anything should do for them in the shape of religion, so long as it does not give them much trouble. But there is nothing by which humanity can be sanctified unless it be the truth; and no church can offer salvation except it be the true Church of Christ, for in it alone is the power of God unto salvation. It is a strange thing that people can read the record of the New Testament, of the sayings of the Apostles, the description of the organization of the Church as it existed in its primitive completeness and power, and then be prepared to accept of a church of a different description entirely. This is a day when revelation is denied, when Prophets and Apostles are stated to be no longer needed. This is the position of the whole of so-called Christendom. But what do the Scriptures say these inspired teachers were given for? Paul says they were given “for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”—and if we say that such officers are no longer needed, then we must also assume the position that the ministerial work can be safely abolished and that the body of Christ which is the Church, requires no more edification; for this was the means established by Jesus Christ for its edification and instruction. Another purpose for which these inspired teachers were given was that we might be all brought to a unity of the faith, and yet it is stated that those officers who were placed in the Church for that purpose are no longer needed. If that assertion were correct, unity would be unnecessary in the Church, or else the Church has arrived at that condition of unity, when the means for bringing about that result is entirely unnecessary and can be dispensed with, But no person can claim this latter position. Those who call themselves the Church of Christ cannot consistently assume this position; for if there is a subject upon which men and women are divided in their views and practices, and engender towards each other feelings of bitter animosity, it is religion, and that also which is claimed to be the religion of the meek and lowly Jesus Christ, who came to fill the hearts of His disciples with peace. This was His motto, this was the proclamation that ushered in his birth, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” We claim that it requires the same today to save men and women as it did in ancient times.

But, to return to the Book of Mormon. Portions of Scriptures can be cited, to substantiate, or tend to substantiate at least, the validity or authenticity of this book. But there are other evidences that are more potent in their character, in my estimation and these evidences are contained within the book itself; it speaks for itself. Its teachings are in the strictest harmony with those of the Scriptures of eternal truth; its morality is faultless; its religion will bear the closest scrutiny in comparison with the instructions of Jesus himself and the Apostles, as contained within the lids of the Bible, the record that is accepted by Christendom as the history of the early Church. But there is internal evidence of the Book of Mormon being what we claim it to be, and to have been brought forth by the power of the living God. What is the character of this evidence? It is prophetic in its nature. I will draw the attention of the congregation to one passage that occurs to my mind, which will be found on page 122 of the latest edition. It gives the words of the Prophet Nephi: “And now I would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and the Gentiles. For after the book of which I have spoken shall come forth”—that is the coming forth of this book—“and be written unto the Gentiles and sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth to the remnant of our seed. And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the Jews. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them; wherefore they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers. And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them save they shall be a white and delightsome people. And it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered, also shall begin to believe in Christ; and they shall begin to gather in upon the face the land; and as many as shall be– lieve in Christ, shall also become a delightsome people. And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his work among all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, to bring about the restoration of his people upon the earth.” A portion of this prediction has received a literal fulfillment, while the remainder is in process of verification. The tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints render the prophecy that many shall “believe the words of the book” an accomplished fact. The inspired utterance purports to have been spoken over two thousand years ago. The unbeliever may repudiate the claim regarding the ancient character of the record, and assume that it originated with Joseph Smith. But this would not much improve the position of the skeptic, for as the Book of Mormon was published before the Church was organized, Joseph Smith had no ordinary means of knowing that many would believe in the divine authenticity of the book.

There have been many, I believe, even among the Latter-day Saints, who, under the circumstances of the past, have found it all that their faith could grasp to believe some of the words which I have just read in your hearing—those relating to the Lamanites. Nearly from the organization of this Church, and for many years subsequently, missionaries, Elders of this Church, were sent among the remnants of the ancient people of this continent, the aborigines, to endeavor to bring them to a knowledge of their fathers. It appeared, however, as if the efforts in that direction were fruitless—that these people had fallen so low in the scale of being, so depraved that it seemed next to impossible for the rays of truth to penetrate their minds. It appeared as if we might as well despair of accomplishing anything so far as they were concerned. But this is an inspired record, and these words which I have read to you this afternoon were the inspired utterances of a great Prophet, which must come to pass in the last days, in connection with the great latter-day dispensation. They have commenced to be fulfilled, not by the power of man, but by the power of the living God.

About seven years ago there was a movement among some of the tribes of the people to whom I allude. They came forth and made statements to the effect that the Great Spirit had directed them to come to the Elders of this Church and be baptized for the remission of their sins. There is an Elder in this congregation, Brother George H. Hill, who sits in the gallery, who has, as well as others, been instrumental in doing much in this direction. As many as 300 of these people at one time solicited of him the administration of this ordinance. Was it the influence and power of man that accomplished this? No, it was not; it was the influence and power of the living God, who, according to the Book of Mormon, made a promise to the fathers of these people that he would visit the remnants of their posterity and restore them to a knowledge of their progenitors. This covenant was made with the fathers at the solicitation of the latter, who knew by the spirit of prophecy that their descendants would become dark and benighted, through the influence of apostasy and wickedness. It is true that comparatively few of that people have received the truth and forsaken their idle habits and evil practices, and are endeavoring to live as peaceable and respectable citizens; but the work of reclamation has commenced. It has a small beginning, but this is the case with nearly all great results. But there is an element of growth in this work, and it will increase and expand until it shall take many of this portion of the House of Israel within the Gospel fold, and they shall accomplish the great work that is predicted of them in connection with this last dispensation of the fullness of times.

There is another thing in connection with this great work beginning amongst the aborigines—a work that was to be contemporaneous with its inauguration. It is predicted in the Book of Mormon that when the Lord should remember the portion of Israel on this continent, and they should begin to believe the words of this book, at that time, contemporaneous with that event, the Father would commence to prepare the way among all nations for the gathering of the house of Israel from the four quarters of the earth to the lands which he had promised to their fathers for an everlasting inheritance, to them and their children forever. This was the sign given by the Savior when he preached to the ancient inhabitants of this continent, and I will show that this was the case, so far as the Book of Mormon records the prediction. On page 527 are these words: “And when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things—it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.” And again, on page 529: “And then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people, yea, even the tribes that have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem. Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name. Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance. And they shall go out from all nations.”

Here is a statement that is made in connection with this work; here is a prediction that when the Lamanites should commence to believe in the words of this book, the Father was to commence to gather the whole house of Israel and to prepare a way amongst all nations. Is this the case? If this be an inspired utterance, then the Lord is preparing the way, and has been ever since this sign became a fact—for the gathering of the Jews and the other branches of the whole house of Israel. Has this been so?

I draw the attention of the congregation to recent events in the political world, which point in that direction. Shortly after this work commenced among the remnants of Israel on this continent, there was warfare between Russia and Turkey, which culminated in what is known as the famous Berlin Treaty, in the production of which Lord Beaconsfield, himself a Jew, was the leading spirit. There are clauses in that treaty that are favorable to the accomplishment of the work to which I allude—the gathering of the house of Israel from the nations of the earth to the lands that were promised to their fathers, to them and to their children forever. Political freedom, comparatively speaking, was, by that instrument, granted to the Jews contiguous to Palestine—in Romania and other principalities of the East. A short time subsequent to the formation and ratification of the treaty, Great Britain assumed a protectorate over that part of the world in which is Palestine, and the Jews have rights now accorded to them that they have not enjoyed for many generations. But one of the greatest evidences of all is the fact that the Jews themselves are beginning to awaken upon this subject and are operating with a view to the colonization of ancient Palestine by the house of Israel. A Mr. Oliphant, not long since, applied to the Sultan of Turkey for the privilege of purchasing portions of Palestine for this very purpose, and organizations are being affected in various parts of the world with no other object in view than the one to which I am now alluding. There is another thing that I believe will aid this work of influencing the ancient people of God to go to their own land, and that is the circumstances by which they are being surrounded in some of the countries of Europe. They are being persecuted in Germany and Russia, and the condition of Europe is becoming so disturbed and so broken up, and business matters are becoming so uncertain, that I expect these circumstances will lead the Jews to consider the question of establishing a Hebrew nationality before long; for we are living in the very day when God will fulfil the promises he made to Israel. Let the people hear it, for it has been uttered by the voice of inspira– tion, ancient and modern, and the words of the Lord, through his servants, will not fall to the ground, but will be fulfilled to the very letter.

Why, my brethren and sisters, are we not more familiar with the contents of this book? No Latter-day Saint can intelligently comprehend the signs of the times unless he is informed in regard to the teachings of this record. In the early rise of this Church the Lord manifested his displeasure with the Saints because they did not pay sufficient attention to the revelations contained in the Book of Mormon, and that book itself promises, and the revelations through the Prophet Joseph promise, that, in the due time of the Lord, when the people are sufficiently advanced to receive them, other records of momentous importance shall be brought forth for the consideration of the Saints; but I do not think we will receive anything additional to what we have already obtained in this form until we have manifested a suitable appreciation of that which has already been given to us. This record and the revelations of Jesus Christ generally have been given for the perusal of the people, that they may reflect upon them, upon the principles that they make manifest, upon the law of God, that the law may be written in their hearts, and that they may be men and women of understanding. It must be pleasing, however, to every person who is interested in this great work, to see that there is a fresh impetus in this direction. The Saints are giving more attention to what God has revealed for our acceptance and which is contained in the records which have been given to this Church. I believe this spirit will increase, because when the minds of the people are bent in that direction, their appetites for the things of God are increased and they desire more, which shall accordingly be given them.

How clearly is the condition of the nations of the earth today depicted in this book! It is stated, near to the quotation which I first made, that in these latter days God would create a great division among the people, that the wicked would destroy the wicked. There is a question on a subject that is clearly described in this record, that is drawing the attention of the ablest minds of the age. It is an influence that is shaking the governments and nations of the earth from center to circumference—I refer now to the “secret societies” that are filling the heads of governments with fear, that commit all kinds of diabolical depredations among the nations, and that are even threatening their very existence. These societies, which are inspired by a desire to throw off every kind of legal restraint, exist, in some form or another, in almost every nation under heaven, and especially in those nations claiming to be civilized. Perhaps this is what is meant by the great division among the people. This subject was brought up before the mind of Moroni, the last man in whose custody the plates from which this record was translated were, and who was so highly privileged as to hide them up in the hill Cumorah, where they were found by the Prophet Joseph Smith, in this age, being directed to obtain them by the angel of the Lord. It was a habit with Moroni, while making the closing portion of this record, to discourse upon the subject matter, to speak with the peoples of the earth who would live in this day in which you and I are living as if he spoke to them face to face, as one man speaks with another, and warn them of the evils that would exist among them and the destruction that would fall upon their heads. He also called upon them, by the voice of prophecy, to repent of their sins and accept of the plan of redemption, that they might be saved in the kingdom of the Father. Perhaps it would be interesting to you, considering the nature of the times in which we live, to draw your attention to what he (Moroni) says about this very condition to which he pointed by the spirit of prophecy, a condition that was to exist in the day in which we live. You will find it on page 588. He is now addressing the Gentiles who would be living when this book would be brought forth, and the work of the Father commenced. Hear his words: “And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread out over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them, and yet he avenge them not. Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be. Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who build it up. For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.” Now here is a prophecy. There is no ambiguity in reference to these words. This Prophet is speaking as if he were speaking face to face with those who would be living in this day, and he tells them to beware of these things, and we witness the fulfillment of his words, for such things are among the nations of the earth today, and are spreading everywhere and causing anxiety and fear to take hold of the hearts of the people.

These predictions and many others that are receiving a literal verification, establish the inspiration and genuineness of this record, which was brought forth by the instrumentality of Joseph Smith to this generation. It is an inspired record, and contains within itself the evidences of its authenticity. Men have but to give this subject an unprejudiced investigation, considering it upon its merits to come to that conclusion. Although people may not be willing to admit that it is of divine origin, that it is an inspired record, they surely cannot, at least, set aside the facts which it enunciates.

Let us, then, who belong to this great Church—the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—prize that which God has given to us for our instruction and edification, and let us not treat them as things that are of no moment. We live in a great day, the greatest of all ages, the greatest of all dispensations. It is a great privilege to be associated with so noble a work as that with which we are connected, and I believe that the time will soon come when this Church will go forth clear, purified by the agencies which God will bring to bear upon it for that purpose. I expect to see the time come when the hypocrite in Zion shall tremble, being afraid because of the power of God that shall be in the midst of the people who will be living as they should live. I expect to see the day when there shall be less worshipping of the god of this world, which wins the hearts of many people from the worship of the true and living God. There is a sin which God has denounced in every age; it is the sin of idolatry. In ancient times, when people were less cultured than they are now, they bowed themselves down before blocks of wood and stone, and golden calves, and worshipped at such shrines, prostrating the powers that God had given them before that which was dumb and unintelligent. But there are different forms of idolatry. Whatever a person uses his powers most to accomplish is that which he worships. If a man exercise the gifts that God has given him exclusively in pursuing the object of self-aggrandizement—the building up of self, to all intents and purposes that individual is an idolater before the shrine of mammon. God is a jealous God, and He wills not that any of His people should have any other God than Him. Let the poor and the meek be lifted up in their hearts and rejoice before God for He hath them in remembrance, and let those who truckle to position and to wealth beware, for the Lord will not suffer it long. Let the hand of fellowship be extended to him who is cast down, that he may be comforted. Surround him with a halo of love and friendship, and let him know that he is not forgotten, and the Lord will remember those who act this brotherly part. I am reminded sometimes of the weakness of humanity, when called to the scenes of death which sometimes visit us. We are called to the funeral of some man, some Elder in Israel, or some sister or friend who has departed this life; and, O, how we love to dwell upon their good qualities, to speak of their goodness and to cast the veil of undiscerning charity over their faults. We should not wait until our brethren and sisters are seized with the chill hand of death, and their bodies are about to be laid in the cold tomb, to recognize the good points in their characters. We should manifest a little of that appreciation while we are surrounded by them. This course would be much more consistent. Let us cultivate the spirit of the living God, which leads to righteousness. Every sentiment of our hearts that leads to good is planted there by the living God, and that which leads to evil is placed there by the adversary of our souls. There are but two sources, one of light and one of darkness. The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God, is given to us to cultivate in our hearts as a well of water springing up to everlasting life. It can be so cultivated in a human being that it can be listened to as a voice of a familiar friend, in every time of difficulty and trial. Its voice is known and distinguished as a voice of friendship, for that spirit is the friend of every Saint who cultivates its acquaintance. It is a searcher, a deep searcher, of the motives by which men and women are inspired. If we merely have an outward semblance of righteousness and our motives within are not of the godlike character they should be, that spirit will depart from us, leaving us in greater darkness than before we possessed the Holy Spirit. This Church is a brotherhood or it is nothing. It is a unity; it is the highest phase of communism and individualism combined. It cultivates man to perfection as a social and individual being. It meets the legitimate wants and aspirations of every class of humanity.

I pray that the power of God may increase in the midst of the people from the head to the feet, throughout the whole of the body religious, and that we may be successful in uprooting evils that are manifested in our midst as a community or as individuals. God has revealed the laws and principles for the purification of His Church. They are contained in His statute books—in the Book of Mormon, in the Doctrine and Covenants, containing the revelations of Jesus Christ, and in this Bible. The Lord tells us we are to deal with all things according to the laws of His Church. We know what these things are; they are contained in these books to which I refer. Then I say that the law of God and the power of God will ultimately correct every evil existing in the Church of Christ, for it must ultimately become pure, and those who will not purify themselves will, sooner or later, be cast off from the body-religious, as not of that kind of material to be used in the building up of the glorious kingdom of our Heavenly Father.

I pray that we may be continually awake to the signs of the times in which we live; that we may see the importance of every one attending to his and her duties, according to the sphere in which each moves; and that we may be on the alert, avoiding everything that is evil, is my desire, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by President Joseph F. Smith, delivered at Logan, Feb. 6, 1881

I desire an interest in the faith and prayers of my brethren and sisters who are present, that I may be able to speak under the influence of the good spirit, such things as will be encouraging to the faith of the Saints.

I rejoice always in the truth of the Gospel with which I have become acquainted; and although there may be many things with which I am unacquainted, yet that portion of the plan of salvation which I do understand is sufficient to convince me beyond the possibility of a doubt, that we are engaged in the great latter-day work of God Almighty, which is for the salvation of the human family, the establishment of the kingdom upon the earth preparatory to the coming of the Son of God in power and great glory, to take possession of the kingdom and of the world; to take the reins of government in His own hands, to judge and rule with righteousness, and with equity reprove for the meek of the earth, to the honor and glory of God, to the salvation and deliverance of His people, the downfall of Babylon, the destruction of the wicked and the overthrow of all man-made systems and organizations that are in conflict with the requirements of heaven and the laws of God. There is, to my mind, nothing lacking in proof or evidence of these facts, which have plainly been set forth in the Bible, in the Book of Mormon, and also in the revelations through the Prophet Joseph Smith; which last named are recorded in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. I am perfectly satisfied, as much so as I am that I breathe the breath of life, that these truths pertaining to the last dispensation and the great latter-day work have been revealed to us from God, and that we are in possession of truth, eternal truth that can never be uprooted or destroyed. It is true that we are but a handful of people in comparison to the vast multitude that are in the world, indeed we are few in comparison to the population of our own nation; for while we, as a community, number a few thousands, the nation numbers nearly half as many millions; and our nation is only a small portion of the human family. But yet it is not presumptuous, nor is it unreasonable or inconsistent, notwithstanding the paucity of our numbers, our supposed lack of intelligence pertain– ing to scientific matters, and our poverty as compared with the wealth of the world, for us to claim that we have received revelation from God, that the Almighty has spoken to the children of men with His own voice and by the voice of angels and ministering spirits, or personages whom He has sent to reveal His will to man. For it is in this way that God has ever revealed Himself to the nations of the earth. He calls a Prophet now and a Prophet hereafter, and He reveals himself to His servants the Prophets, and He makes known His will unto them, and it becomes their duty to proclaim the law and the will of the Almighty to the inhabitants of the earth, and to call others to the ministry, sending them forth that they may proclaim the Gospel to their neighbors and associates; and so the work of God has to work its way, spread and increase among the children of men, like the leaven, referred to by the Savior, that is placed in the measure of meal that works until the whole lump is leavened. So God has done in all ages of the world when He has undertaken to renew His covenant with the people; He has called certain men (who doubtless had been foreordained to come forth in certain ages to do a certain work) through whom He has made known to the nations and peoples of the earth His mind and will. When Jesus came to the earth He scarcely found faith among mankind; only John the Baptist holding a commission from God to minister in the first ordinances of the Gospel; John having been called and appointed of God and ordained by a holy angel to that ministry and Priesthood. A few that had listened to his testimony and teachings, and had been baptized by his baptism, with him, constituted all who were acknowledged of God upon the earth at the time of the coming of the Savior, And Jesus called unto Him twelve disciples, ordained them, commissioned them and sent them forth to preach the Gospel; but they sojourned with him for three years during his own ministry to receive instruction, to be taught of Him, to learn the ways of the Lord from the Great Head, that they might be qualified to go forth at the expiration of that time being witnesses of God, witnesses of the divine mission of their Lord and Master, and prepared to proclaim the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. After Jesus was crucified of man, he went in the spirit to the spirits that were in prison, who had been disobedient “when the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah,” that by his coming the Gospel might be taught unto them, their prison doors be opened, and liberty be proclaimed unto them, even the liberty of the Gospel, that they might live, through obedience to its requirements, according to God in the Spirit; and when the ordinances of the Gospel necessary for the redemption of the dead had been performed for and in their behalf upon the earth, that they might be judged according to man in the flesh. When Jesus had done this He again took up the body of flesh and bones which had been hung upon the cross, and pierced unto death and laid away in the tomb; that body which had passed through the portal of death and the ordeal of the grave, he again brought forth from death unto life. Thus he conquered death and gained the victory over the grave and brought about the resurrection from the dead through the power of the Gospel and the holy Priesthood. Shortly after He visited His disciples, when He breathed upon them, saying unto them; “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” He also commissioned them to go forth and preach the Gospel to every creature. Then He departed from them, and they went forth and testified of Jesus Christ, and proclaimed the Gospel to the world, with power and with the demonstration of the Spirit of God. These chosen disciples of Christ suffered ignominious deaths from the first to the last, with the single exception of the Apostle John, who we are informed, was preserved from the power of his enemies, from their attempts to destroy his life, for a wise purpose of God, to fulfil the promise of the Savior unto him; and yet, notwithstanding this promise, it is believed by the Christian world that he died a natural death after wicked men had attempted several times in vain to destroy his life. Notwithstanding, the disciples of Jesus, excepting John the Revelator, suffered ignominious deaths, they sowed the seed of the Gospel among, and conferred the Priesthood upon men, which remained for several generations upon the earth, but the time came when Paganism was engrafted into Christianity, and at last Christianity was converted into Paganism rather than converting the Pagans. And subsequently the Priesthood was taken from among men, this authority was recalled into the heavens, and the world was left without the Priesthood—without the power of God—without the Church and Kingdom of God. There were tens of thousands that hearkened to the teachings of the disciples and yielded obedience to the Gospel; and they suffered persecution such as the people of God in this generation have never begun to suffer. Some of the Latter-day Saints who were associated with this Church in its early history, and suffered the persecutions in Ohio, in Missouri and Illinois, thought that their persecution was very great, even greater than that of any other people. But this is not so, for this people have never begun to endure the persecution that was inflicted upon the former day Saints, those who received the testimony of the Apostles. People in former days believed that they were doing God service to burn those Saints to death, to whip and to spear them to death, to drag them until they were torn to pieces and otherwise to torture and destroy them, and, indeed, in some instances they sewed up the believers in cloths and in sacks, which they covered with pitch or tar and then set on fire to light the streets of imperial Rome! In ancient days it was considered lawful to perpetrate these barbarities upon those who professed to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were driven from place to place; they were hunted down as wild beasts, and otherwise suffered persecution such as this people have never begun to suffer, and as I earnestly hope and pray they never will be subjected to.

But it was under such circumstances the Gospel was proclaimed among the people. In this way were the believers in Christ treated, being esteemed as worthless, refuse, unfit to live, and worthy only of the most cruel and ignominious deaths. The same feelings existed, and do today exist, in the hearts of some people toward the Latter-day Saints. But the Lord Almighty has prepared the way for the coming forth of the kingdom of God in this dispensation by establishing the republican government of the United States; a government affording the widest liberty and the greatest free– dom to man that has ever been known to exist among men, outside of those governed by the direct communication of heaven. It was part of the design of the Almighty when He influenced our fathers to leave the old world and come to this continent; He had a hand in the establishment of this government; He inspired the framers of the Constitution and the fathers of this nation to contend for their liberties; and He did this upon natural principles, that the way might be prepared, and that it might be possible for Him to establish His kingdom upon the earth, no more to be thrown down. And when the way was prepared and the time fully come for the restoration of the Gospel, God revealed Himself to Joseph Smith, giving to him certain promises concerning the coming forth of the Gospel and the establishment of His kingdom in the last days. And subsequently God sent messengers to him and ordained him to the Priesthood, or conferred on him the rights, powers, keys and authority of the holy Priesthood, to act as His representative in establishing the Gospel of the kingdom once more among men, and for the last time, also to restore the Priesthood to earth, that man might again officiate in the name and authority of God, for the salvation of the living and the dead. He had to call one man to this office, who afterwards, as Jesus did, called and set apart twelve others, together with Seventies, High Priests, Elders, Bishops, Priests, Teachers and Deacons, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ, that all may come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to the fulness of the measure of the stature of Christ Jesus; that we might come to a oneness in the knowledge of the truth, that the world might be leavened with the leaven of truth, that all mankind might have the privilege of bearing the Gospel and of being gathered into the fold and family of Christ.

In the space of about fifty years, I suppose, we have gathered from first to last into the fold of this Church, some three or four hundred thousand people. It may seem to some that this would indicate that we had made very slow progress in half a century; having succeeded in gathering into this Church only between three and four hundred thousand people; and that today we do not number more than 150,000 to 200,000 members all told, in good standing; that is, taking all that can be called Saints in America, in Europe, in Australia, and upon the islands of the sea; wherever this Gospel is preached, or people acknowledge membership in this Church, all told, perhaps, we do not number more than 200,000 members in good standing. It may seem that we are making haste slowly; that we are not progressing very rapidly. It might seem to some of us that we ought to have accomplished a great deal more in the fifty years past since the organization of this Church. I confess that I believe with all my heart, that as a people we might have made far greater progress in the accomplishment of the purposes and will of God than we have, if we had only done as we should. In my humble opinion, and I express it as my firm conviction and belief, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints might have numbered today many times more than it does, if those who have embraced the Gospel had remained true and all had been as faithful as they should have been. The progress of the work of God does and will depend greatly upon the righteousness of the people, the faithfulness of the Priesthood in keeping His commandments, honoring His laws, and laboring for the accomplishment of the purposes of God upon the earth, instead of self-aggrandizement. I will venture, as my opinion, that the Latter-day Saints through their follies, their neglect of proper example, their carelessness respecting their duties, not to mention greater sins, and the evil resulting therefrom, have prevented the conversion of as many people as have been converted unto God. There are today perhaps nearly as many that have apostatized as are now in good standing in the Church; many of whom were honest but have been deceived and led away from the truth, many others, I admit, have turned away because of their own sins. Others again have left the Church because they were unable to distinguish between the actions of their foolish brethren and the principles of eternal truth, and in that way have allowed themselves to go into darkness and turn away from the Kingdom. In almost every place you go, where the Gospel is being preached, you may find scores and scores of people that once belonged to the Church, how are they today? Are they members of this Church? No; they are apostates, in darkness, knowing not the truth, for the light they had is gone out and darkness has taken the place thereof, and they are now under the power of darkness or Satan and cannot help themselves.

And again, there are many people who have come among us, who, if they had found that perfection in the conduct and character of Latter-day Saints which they expected to find among those professing to be Saints, if they had found more of the fruits of righteousness in the midst of this people and less of their follies and weaknesses, they would no doubt have been constrained to yield obedience to the Gospel; whereas they only became hardened in seeing the weakness and imperfection of many so-called Latter-day Saints, concluding that they, judging them by their acts, are not much better than other professing Christians. And in this way many that might have been brought to a knowledge of the truth, have been discouraged, disappointed and deceived, because they failed to discover or feel as they might and should have done, if all the fruits of the Gospel had abounded as they should, that power of the Priesthood and efficacy of the Gospel which should be exhibited in the midst of the people of God.

Now, am I finding fault with the Latter-day Saints? If I should find fault with you of course I would be finding fault with myself. I acknowledge that I have not lived up to the standard as I should have done. I have not possessed that power, that inspiration, that knowledge of truth, that close communion with God and with the Holy Ghost, that I might or ought to have done. Therefore if there is blame attached to the Church I am willing to acknowledge and share my proportion of that blame. Nevertheless, what I say in regard to this matter I believe to be the truth. I will give you, if you wish, and I think I had better do so, one or two simple and undeniable proofs of my assertion. Excuse me if I refer to things which may be considered quite common; I am not here to teach you new doctrine, I am endeavoring to teach you truths, which we have been taught for the last fifty years.

I will refer you to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, to that simple principle called the Word of Wisdom. How many of this congregation have kept this law? And how many do keep it today? It would perhaps not astonish you very much were I to say that there were members of the Church of forty years standing and upwards, who take their tea, coffee, tobacco, etc., just as though God had not some forty-eight years ago, revealed the Word of Wisdom. I can point out men and women that have been in this Church some twenty-five or thirty years, that are no nearer keeping the commandments of God, in this respect, than they were twenty-five or thirty years ago, and some of them not so near. If I were pressed on this point I could call the names of some individuals in proof of what I say. We have not lived up to the privileges nor kept the laws of God as given unto us. What is the result? Is it not that when we preach these principles we preach them in word only and not in the demonstration of the power of God? Certainly not in the demonstration and power of example, but with the words of our lips which proceed not from the heart. And that is not all. In the Book of Mormon it is recorded that Christ commanded the people to call upon God in His name, morning and evening with their families. Similar instruction is given in the Doctrine and Covenants, and the same principle is inculcated in the Bible. God has said that He will be sought after by His people; and Jesus said that we must knock in order that the door might be opened unto us; and that we should seek in order to find, and ask in order to receive. And, yet, how many heads of families in the Church fail to meet with their families to call upon God in family prayer? How many Saints neglect this duty? It is a duty, it is the word of the Lord to the Saints, that they should meet with their families morning and evening, and call upon God in His name. This principle is part of the Gospel, it was taught by the Savior on the eastern, and also on the western, continent: and, simple as it may appear, it is absolutely necessary that the Latter-day Saints should come together in the family capacity, and kneeling around the family altar, call upon God for His blessings morning and evening. And they need not confine themselves to morning and evening prayer, for it is their privilege to enter into their closets and call upon Him in secret, that He might reward them openly.

Again, it is written that God is angry with those who will not acknowledge His hand in all things. How many of the Latter-day Saints whom God has blessed with the riches of this world, with houses, lands, flocks, herds, gold and silver, have forgotten to acknowledge His hand in the bestowal of the wealth they possess, and have been blinded by the gifts conferred upon them, and in that blindness have forgotten the Giver? Having an abundance, the rich are too apt to feel that they do not have to kneel down and ask God to give them houses and daily bread, for they have palaces and wealth. They say, we have these things; we have no need to ask for them, nor to thank God for them, for they are ours; we have gained them by our own industry and ability. Thus God is left out of the question. But God has said, “I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me;” therefore He will be inquired of by His people, and He requires that they shall acknowledge Him in all things; yet we often forget to acknowledge Him in His greatest mercies. When the blow of an enemy that has been aimed at our destruction is warded off by the wise counsel perhaps of the holy Priesthood, we say, “We outwitted them; we did it, we circumscribed the cunning and craft of our enemy: we did this, and we did that, and we did the other thing;” it is great I with some of us, and God is not acknowledged by such at all. There is too much of this spirit amongst us, I am sorry to say.

God requires one-tenth of our increase to be put into his storehouse; and this is given as a standing law to all of the Stakes of Zion. And has said that unless all observe this law to keep it holy and by this law sanctify the land of Zion unto Him, etc., that this land shall not be a land of Zion unto us. And yet, how many of us have neglected to observe this law? We profess to believe it, but how many have neglected to obey it in full? If the Savior were to come today, who will judge us not after the sight of the eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of the ears, but with righteousness, and with equity and by the knowledge of eternal truth, and the balance of eternal justice, how many would he find who really have paid one-tenth of their increase in compliance with this law? There are some people that do it, but when you take out these that do keep this law according to the strict letter and spirit of it, you will find that in comparison to the whole they are few. The people pay a portion of their tithing. President Young frequently charged the people with not paying one tenth of their tithings. I presume that was an extreme view. I believe the people are doing better than that, now at least; but at the same time I believe that a very large proportion of us pay only a portion of the tenth of that which God puts into our hands.

Now, why do I refer to these things? I leave it to you—to conscientious men and women—it would not become me to say that Brother Jones or Brother Smith, or any other individual is the person that is delinquent in his duty; but it behooves me to speak on the principle in general terms, and I think I am very near the truth in relation to this matter. I will leave that for you, however, to say in your hearts, whether you pay an honest tithing before God, or whether you pay a portion of your tithing. God knows; we cannot deceive Him. Why do we not comply fully with this law? Simply because we lack wisdom, faith, understanding, and confidence in the promises of God. If we felt the fire of the Holy Spirit in our hearts; if we were conscientious in all our acts before God, this people would be raised to a higher plane; faith would be increased, good works would abound, and others, seeing our good works, would be led to glorify our Father in heaven. I will read a few instructions that were given to the ancient Saints. They are not new, therefore, they are very old instructions, They are applicable, however, to us, although spoken to the former-day Saints, for the key by which the blessings are obtained is given to us”Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” The meek shall inherit the earth. Shall the proud and the haughty and those that are lifted up in the vanity of their hearts? No; God has said that they shall be burned as stubble; that the day that is coming shall burn them up; that neither root nor branch of them shall be left, but they shall become as ashes beneath the feet of the righteous. But “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Then as meekness is one of the requisite qualities of a Latter-day Saint, a Christian, a member of the Church of God upon the earth, except we are meek and lowly, we shall not receive the promised blessing. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Shall they that are not merciful obtain mercy? No. Why? Because it is said elsewhere that the measure which we meet out shall be measured back to us again. And when it is measured back unto us it will be shaken down and pressed together, heaped up and running over. If we act, for instance, in regard to the law of tithing as I have mentioned, we shall be judged accordingly, and receive according to our works. If we forgive them that trespass against us, it shall be measured back unto us in mercy, etc. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Shall the corrupt see Him? No. Shall they be counted worthy to stand in His presence, and be called “blessed?” Certainly not. “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world.” Who? The peacemakers, the pure in heart, the meek, those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, the good, the honorable, the Godlike. “Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” “A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

That I understand to be the duty of a Latter-day Saint, “Let your light shine” that men shall see your good works. And if God has given a commandment, prove to the world that you believe it, by keeping it so that men, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father in heaven. If God has said that tobacco and strong drinks are not good for us, let us hearken to this warning and not defile our tabernacles by indulging in things that are injurious to our systems; and thus respect the word of God ourselves, and show a good example to others. When we can show to the world that we are saved from the sins of the world, they will see our good works and be constrained to glorify our Father in heaven. But when strangers come among us and witness drunkenness, hear profanity, see that some of us are dishonest and cheat each other, that so far some of us are no better than the people of Babylon; “the Pharisees and Sadducees” of the present age, at the same time professing to be the children of God; they justly say, “These people are hypocrites, they profess one thing and do another; they profess to be the children of God, but they are the children of the devil.” In other words, if we bring not forth the fruits of the Gospel, it will be set down as a natural and philosophic conclusion that we either do not have the Gospel, or if we do, we do not live it. For “a bitter fountain cannot send forth sweet water,” nor vice versa. And if, therefore, we are redeemed from sin through the atoning blood of the Savior—redeemed from the world—we will have power to establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth. There will be no swearing, no whoredom, there will be no crimes of infanticide or feticide. No such sins will be known among us, our children will be born in honorable wedlock under the ordinances of the holy Priesthood, and not illegitimate, to be denied the privileges of the congregations of Israel, until perhaps the tenth generation according to ancient law. But today, I am sorry to say it, some of these evils exist; we see them cropping out here and there once in a while. Yet, while this is the case, I say—and I say it without fear of successful contradiction—that the Latter-day Saints are the best people that I know of upon the face of the earth; a greater proportion of them are honest, honorable and virtuous, according to the light they possess and the ability they have, than the same proportion of the rest of mankind. But let us be more faithful and spread the kingdom and gather the people of God, and possess the land which He has given unto us, even the Zion of God—this land of Joseph.

May God help us to do so, is my prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Discourse by Elder Chas. W. Penrose, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Jan. 30, 1881.

I have listened attentively to the remarks made to us by Brother Bywater, this afternoon. He has presented to us a great many things that are true and profitable for us to reflect upon. I always take pleasure in listening to my brethren when they say something. I take pleasure in reflecting upon the ideas which they present and in carrying them to their legitimate conclusion. When we hear a truth presented to us by the Spirit of the Lord, it is of this nature; that we are not only instructed in that particular truth for the time being; but it leads us to reflect upon truths that grow out of or are connected with it. One truth seems to lead to the contemplation of other principles, and they to others, until the great field of truth is open to our view, and we see that we know but very little, but that there will be an opportunity afforded us to advance and learn that of which we are now ignorant.

Brother Bywater has to some extent this afternoon drawn the line of distinction between the faith of the Latter-day Saints and the creeds of the various denominations, expressing himself to the effect that whereas each of them take in but a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as de– clared in the Scriptures, in their creeds, the Latter-day Saints embody in their faith the whole of it; that whereas the different Christian denominations are founded upon some few peculiar ideas and tenets, the faith of the Latter-day Saints is based upon a broader foundation—that we take in the whole of the Gospel, the whole of the revealed will of God to man. This is correct so far as it goes. But the faith of the Latter-day Saints is not comprehended alone in that which God has revealed and is placed on record. The creed of the Latter-day Saints is not comprised by a certain number of tenets; we are not limited to a certain number of articles of faith; we are not confined to the things which are laid down in the book called the Bible, which all the professing Christians of the times declare they believe. We are not bound up by the Old Testament, nor the New Testament, nor by both combined. We have received certain principles that can be found within the lids of the Bible. A great many of our principles can be found existing among the various Christian denominations. One sect believes in some things which we believe in; other sects believe in other things in which we believe. But there are principles connected with our faith which go over and beyond and above all that which is comprehended in the Christian world, and all that which is contained within the lids of the Bible. And yet at the same time there is nothing in our faith, there is nothing in our creed, which contradicts that which is in the Bible. There is no principle in our faith which contradicts anything that can be demonstrated by known truth. Truth always harmonizes with itself. And when a person grows in the knowledge of the truth and advances to higher principles, he does not receive anything that contradicts any truth he had previously learned, for truth is never discordant with itself. Truth is eternal; truth, as we have been told this afternoon is indestructible and never contradicts itself.

The great distinction, as I view it, bringing it down to a small point, existing between the people called Latter-day Saints and all other bodies of professing Christians is this: That our creed is founded upon doctrines and principles and a spirit which have come from heaven in our own times. The doctrines of our faith, most of them, can be found laid down in great plainness in the books of the Bible and were revealed aforetime. Yet we have not received our training, our ideas concerning them, from the Bible. They have come to us from heaven direct. Every doctrine and principle of our faith has been sent down to us in our own times. These doctrines have come by present revelation. Now in that there is a marked difference between us and the rest of the people who profess to believe in the Christian religion. The various sects of modern times draw their creed—or profess to do so, from the Bible; they take it from the written books; they do not profess to have received any direct communication from the heavens. Take all these various sects of modern times and examine into their different creeds and the foundation of their belief in them, and you will find that it rests upon the hypothesis of the divinity of the Old and New Testaments. They trace their doctrines—or profess to do so—to these books, and they believe in the various doctrines which exist among them, because they consider that they can find them in these books. The book is the foundation. The Bible the written word, the dead letter, is the foundation of all their creeds. Perhaps the Roman Catholic Church, as it is commonly called, is the only exception in that respect. But even the Roman Catholic Church, who look to the Pope as the great earthly head of the Church, do not believe in present revelation. They did not obtain their creeds through direct communication with the heavens. Although the Pope professes to be the direct descendant of St. Peter, he does not even profess to have that great gift which made Peter a veritable Apostle—that is, the gift of revelation. Peter received communication from on high; so did his brethren of the Apostleship. This was the real source of their light; this was the real power by which they instructed the people. They were filled with the Holy Ghost, the spirit of revelation; they were in communication with the great unseen Head of the Church, Jesus, who was crucified, and had departed from their midst.

But all the various sects that compose modern Christendom more or less repudiate the idea of present revelation. They do not believe that in these times man can com– mune with his Maker. They believe, to use one of their favorite expressions, that the awful voice of prophecy is closed forever; that the canon of scripture is full; and they believe that when John the Apostle wrote the book of Revelation, that was the last sacred record committed to man.

Now you see there is a great difference between the whole Christian world and the Latter-day Saints. Whereas we also believe in the Bible; whereas we also believe that God inspired holy men of old and that they wrote as well as spoke by the Holy Ghost: while we believe in the merits of Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant, believe in his atonement, believe in the work he wrought out for the salvation of mankind; and believe in the teachings of his inspired Apostles, yet we do not found our faith upon that which is recorded in the sacred book called the Bible. But our faith is founded upon communications received in our own times, in the nineteenth century by living Prophets and living Apostles—by men who today hold that authority which the men held who wrote the things contained in that book. In that, then, is a great distinction between us and all the rest of the Christian world.

And there is another distinction, as I remarked just now; that whereas these various Christian sects are confined within certain narrow limits of faith, tied up within a certain number of articles or principles, our faith is not tied up by any number of tenets. The revelations which have been given to us at the present time do not constitute the whole of our creed. True, they constitute our creed so far as we have advanced today, but we stand ready to receive still further communication from the same source; the way is still open for us to receive still further light, further principles, further admonitions, further counsels, and further plans for the rolling forth of the great work of God on the face of the earth. So that our creed—although it is true it can be likened to the blossoming of that flower which Brother Bywater has so beautifully pictured before us, but which will fade and fall away—is to me more like the tree of life, which shall never perish, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, whose fruit bears the flavors and the juices of immortality, whose leaves never crumble or decay, whose roots are grounded in eternal soil, and that shall never wither and never die. This everlasting Gospel which we have received is the tree of life that shall flourish forever. And the same power which has revealed faith, repentance, baptism, and the laying on of hands, and the holy Priesthood, and has made known unto us the plan for the redemption of the living and the dead, and has inspired us to our works up to the present time, is still ready to communicate line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, that we may be ready for every emergency, prepared for every event in the work of our God as it rolls forward on the earth. And when we, as individuals, depart behind the veil, we shall find the same opportunities there. We shall not lose the power to receive revelation. Our Priesthood will go with us. We will continue to grow in the knowledge of correct principles. That same Holy Spirit which has revealed a few things to us on the earth, and stamped the truth of them upon our hearts, will continue to open unto us the great things of the boundless universe; for it is the spirit of truth, and it will guide into all truth.

This is the condition that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in, and in that respect it stands distinct from all other bodies of so-called Christians now extant upon the face of the earth. But in this respect it is exactly the same as the old Church we read about in the Bible.

The beginning of this great latter-day work was when the Father and the Son revealed themselves to the Prophet Joseph Smith. God spake from heaven. God opened up the communication that had been lost for centuries. Ages had rolled along and there was no voice from above. But the Lord spake to Joseph saying, “This is My Beloved Son, Hear Him!” The Lord, the Great God, the Eternal Father, who spake in ancient times by the Prophets; and in the meridian of time by His Only Begotten Son, has spoken in this age of the world and has pointed to His Son as His mouthpiece as standing between him and the inhabitants of the earth, and this work in which you and I are engaged, is under the immediate direction of that holy being, our Elder Brother Jesus Christ, whom we are commanded to hear. We are not to go after the vain traditions of sects, nor the vagaries of men; we are to “Hear Him!” God has said so. Every doctrine and every principle that has been revealed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has come from the Father through the Son and by messengers who have been sent to this world by the Son, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, which bears witness of the Father and the Son. It is as it was in that revelation given to St. John on Patmos. Read the first two verses of the first chapter of the book of Revelation: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.” That is the order. God, our Father, is the author of all things here upon this earth. He is the developer or revelator of truth to us. He is the author of our existence and of our faith; it all comes from Him; but it comes through Jesus Christ; He stands between us and the Father, and although all things are of the Father, they come by and through Jesus Christ, the mediator. He sends others as the Father sent Him. These come and minister to those on the earth. And the Holy Ghost that proceeds from the Father, that fills all the immensity of space, that is in all things and through all things and round about all things, and is “the law by which all things are governed;” that beareth witness of the truth to all people who abide by the truth, will quicken them and bring them into communion with the Father and the Son. And therein lies the beauty of our faith.

Now, this communication that I am speaking of is not confined alone to those that are called to the Priesthood in this Church; it is not confined to three or twelve or seventy, or any given number of men, or to all the men; it belongs to the whole Church, male and female. It is the spirit of revelation, the spirit of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. This spirit quickens the whole body. And here again is a distinction between us and the rest of the world. We cannot only receive the Holy Spirit to gladden our hearts, to cheer our souls, to comfort us, to make plain what is written in the books, but also as a present revelator. Just as the light that comes from the sun streams down to gladden our eyes and make plain the physical objects of creation, so the light that comes down from the sun of righteousness is universally diffused in the Church, that every man and every woman and every child of proper years who has obeyed the ordinances of the Gospel, may receive of that spiritual light and revelation, each and all in their own place and for their own purposes as they need.

When I speak of this spirit of revelation, I wish to be clearly understood. As I have said, each one in his own place is entitled to the manifestations of the spirit. But the President of the Church, who is sustained by the voice of the Church and by Divine appointment, stands as the revelator to the Church. If there is anything to reveal for the guidance of the Church as an organized body, or for the comfort and edification of the Church, it will come through the head. That is clearly laid down in the revelations God has given us, that we might never be deceived by the revelations of this person or that person who might claim to have received a Divine message. In the rise of the Church the Lord said if He had anything to communicate to the Church as a body, He would reveal it through his servant Joseph. “None else,” said the Lord, “shall be appointed unto this gift except it be through him; for if it be taken from him, he shall not have power except to appoint another in his stead. And this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive not the revelation of any that shall come among you; And this I give unto you that you may not be deceived, that you may know they are not of me.” But, says one, supposing the head does not obey the ordinances; supposing he transgresses; suppose he turns aside and is unfit to receive the revelations of God for the Church—why, then, the Lord says another shall be appointed in his stead. Thus we have an order by which we may not be deceived. When we get any revelation from God to this Church, it will come through the head of the Church. Yet when a man is called to preside over a portion of God’s Church he may obtain, by the power of the Holy Ghost, a knowledge of his duties, a knowledge of the wants of the people under his care, and thus be able to counsel them under circumstances in that particular sphere. So in a family. A man who has a family, and who has been ordained to the Priesthood, can have the light of God to guide him in the interests of his family, that he may know how to rule and conduct all things properly in that household; but it is not his duty to dictate to the Ward or to the Stake in which he resides; that belongs to the constituted authorities; but in his own affairs he may obtain the revelation that he needs, and so in regard to principle and doctrine for his own benefit. A man or a woman in this Church is not tied down to written tenets of faith, but has no right to teach or attempt to expound that which God Almighty has not given through the head, although all have the right to receive light and knowledge for themselves. And I know the way is open. I know the Lord is ready to hear the prayer of every member of the Church. I know He will hearken and hear and speak to their souls that which they need in due season.

There is this difficulty sometimes in this Church, however, and the same difficulty existed in former times. If a person should happen to grow a little in the knowledge of the truth, and get something which others may not have received, he may become puffed up in the vanity of his heart, and think he should be exalted into a high position. For instance the Lord gives gifts to the Church—the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of healing, the gift of being healed, the gift of discernment of spirits, and a great many other gifts according to the faith desires, and capacities of the Saints. A person may get a gift and rejoice very much in that gift, but just as soon as he becomes desirous of displaying it, and wishes to be considered great among men because of it, just at that moment he is in danger of being led by a false and delusive spirit, led out of the strait and narrow path that leads to lives eternal. All these gifts properly used are for the benefit of the Church. Above all, every member should enjoy the spirit of revelation. Were it not for this spirit of revelation we would not be any different from other churches, this Church would be dead without this divine light, which indeed is the life thereof.

Now, my brethren and sisters, seeing this is a day of revelation, seeing we stand in this position before the Lord, seeing the Lord is nigh to us, that he can hear our prayers, and that he will answer them, what kind of people ought we to be? Why, we should be a people ready and anxious to receive every word he may reveal through the authorities of His Church whom he has appointed to lead, guide and instruct us. People make a great deal of fuss about the “Mormons.” They say we are led by men. They think we are bound up in chains of bondage, compelled to do this, that or the other. Why we are of all people in the world the most free! Sometimes I think we have almost too much freedom. We have embraced the gospel of liberty, and seeing that God has placed at its head men to make known how we are to act, we should be ready and anxious to receive the word of life; and when we pray for God to sustain the authorities of the Church in their respective positions, we should be ready and willing to sustain them ourselves, and receive the word of God revealed through them for our guidance. And if we were willing to put into actual practice the things that God has revealed in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants—a book which contains some of the revelations given in our time—I know the Lord would reveal more. Just as soon as we are ready to carry out what has already been revealed, the heavens are ready to reveal more. We have only received a little of that which is designed to be made known in the latter days. God is ready to reveal in this great dispensation all things that were revealed in former times, and many things that have been hid from the foundation of the world. Well, let us live up to that which we have received, let us reduce it to daily practice, and if we have been doing things that are wrong and contrary to the will of God, let us make up our minds that we will do so no more, that we will live the lives of Latter-day Saints, doing our duty, filling the sphere we are called upon to occupy, and we shall have joy in our labors, God will be near to us, He will be unto us a Father and a Friend, and we will have all the time a testimony of this work.

I bear my testimony this afternoon before this congregation—and I am willing to do so before all the world, if my voice could reach to the ends of the earth—that I know God lives, that Jesus of Naza– reth, who died on Calvary’s Mount, is His son; that He has revealed Himself in our time; that the Holy Ghost, the spirit of revelation, has spoken to my soul, bearing witness to me of the truth of this work, and I rejoice that I am a Latter-day Saint.

I pray God to bless us as a worshipping congregation today; that He will seal upon our hearts the spirit that shall help us to be truthful and righteous and pure, and that we may always be actuated by the spirit of revelation, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George G. Bywater, delivered in the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Jan. 30th, 1881.

The appearance of the congregation before me awakens within my mind a number of pleasurable reflections. There is one unerring method of determining the value of all subjects, of all objects, of all matters pertaining to the interests of our common humanity; and that method is the rule by which the results are attained, and the determination of the character of those results, whether they be good or whether they be evil. And this method moreover is not only applicable in determining the various secular conditions and circumstances of mankind, but it is equally unerring in determining the higher phases and conditions of the life of man. It reaches upward into the realms of mind and invades, if you please, or spreads itself over the entire field of human thought, embracing not only our secular but our spiritual interests.

When Jesus of Nazareth, the Savior of mankind, was on the earth sojourning for a few brief years with the children of men, he gave expression to this most beautiful and highly philosophic rule: “For every tree is known by its fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. By their fruits ye shall know them.” It is the contempla– tion of the elementary principles embodied in this rule that has awakened within my mind the reflections I have referred to, while gazing upon this congregation seated in this beautiful place of worship. It is true that the spectacle presented before our minds when contemplating the surroundings of the people of the Latter-day Saints—the comforts of life they are enjoying, and the material blessings that they have become possessed of—does not alone determine the divine character of the spiritual philosophy, the system of principles and doctrine which constitute their faith. For when we travel in the world, and extend our observances over the great centers of what is called the civilized world of mankind, we can behold on every hand stupendous edifices, gorgeously denominated cathedrals draped in the most costly tapestry and finished in the most elaborate manner, bespeaking a high cultivation of art and a development of science in its most advanced stages, with every means improvised to render the object and purpose of those structures efficient to the ends designed. And a reference to these representations of man’s industry and skill, and to the exhibition of that wisdom, which is at once the standard of the intellectual growth and advancement of the race and age in which they were brought forth enables us to judge comparatively of the growth of wisdom, and the growth of intelligence which has become the heritage of our race, and which we inherit through the very mysterious and complex nature of our spiritual and physical constitutions. But that which imparts greater value to the physical labors of the Latter-day Saints, producing the unmistakable phenomena presented here today and in other places throughout the Territory of Utah, and wherever the Latter-day Saints are assembled together in their more scattered conditions of life, following the varied pursuits thereof, in developing the various branches of labor which have been developed in society, and which society demands the performance of, is the uninviting character and crude quality of their surroundings on one hand, and the indomitable energy awakened by the inspiration of their faith on the other hand, elucidating to a demonstration their faith to be the gift of God, and that their works, so far as they are the products of that faith, to be the works of righteousness. Therefore we lay claim to considerations of an equal character, to considerations of equal merit, to the respect and gracious judgments that are awarded to the builders of the various centers of civilization, and that are conferred upon those active agents and instrumentalities by which they have been established among men.

But that which actuates my mind, my brethren and sisters, and more especially on the present occasion, is the peculiar character and constitution of the faith we have espoused; and upon this subject, as I have been invited by my brethren to address you for a short time, I respectfully ask your attention.

What is it, I would ask, that constitutes the peculiarities that distinguish the people of Utah from the rest of the world of mankind, from the divisions of human society variously denominated Christian—Christian Presbyterians, Christian Episcopalians, and the Christians of the various denominational titles by which they respectively desire to be recognized as distinct and separate societies? I ask, what is it that marks so peculiarly the distinction between the Latter-day Saints and the rest of their fellow creatures? We claim them to be our fellow creatures, whether they are willing to claim us as their fellow creatures or not. We know we have proceeded from the same boundless, the same limitless, the same immutable source of life from which they sprang as also our forefathers, and indeed all the generations of the children of men, back to the border lines of ethnological territory and earliest dawn of human history. This distinction of which we speak may be stated in a very few words, however unacceptable that statement may be to those of our friends, or those who ought to be our friends, who differ from us. It is in this—that in the profession of Christianity we have accepted it as a whole; we have not regarded fractional Christianity, sectional Christianity, modern Christianity, as the embodiment of those principles and teachings which the great Founder of our faith came into this world incarnate to reveal, and which He left as a heavenly legacy to the children of men—children of the great common Father, with whom we, with Him, once existed, He being the first begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, the firstborn of many brethren. And we chose to accept Christianity in its complete and entire constitution; uninoculated by the precepts and doctrines of men, pure from heaven, unfolding to our understandings the incomparable plan of human redemption. We have accepted the Christian revelation as proclaimed by angels and inspired Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists of every degree. To us it is a modern revelation, and we accept it with all the obligations which it has imposed upon us as conditions of salvation; with all its constituted and organized officers; with all its divinely instituted ordinances, and with all its pure and heaven-born principles that it embodies. The truth and elements which go to make up that system of worship, that system of faith, that system of belief, or, in other words, that system of divine knowledge, possess in their nature every virtue requisite, and every element of worth, and every force and principle of energy that can reach man—man in his entirety, man as a whole, not some particular phase of his nature, as they are not designed to develop one particular characteristic of his being. The teachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are not evolutionists who choose to develop one particular characteristic to the extreme, and to suppress others to an abnormal condition, thereby producing results the most derogatory and pernicious in their government over the constitution of the being. We have embraced the Gospel which has been revealed for the express purpose of meeting man’s every want, and of furnishing an intellectual regime and mental discipline adequate to the unfoldment of every attribute and quality of man. In this constitutes the essential dif– ference, the distinctive discriminative features between the Latter-day Saints and the rest of the so-called Christian world. It is upon this ground that our friends differ from us; that our fellow men wage war against us. They, however, would tell you, no. They would say it is because we have institutions and practices that are antagonistic to the moral ethics of the age; that we support practices and lend our defense to doctrines that are repugnant to the moral sense of Christianity, to the enlightened races of mankind; that they do not at all oppose us on the ground that we believe the Bible, that we accept the doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ—because we believe in prophecy and revelation—but that we have come in contact with would be customs and usages, with the popular interpretation of moral principles and moral conduct; and that, therefore, we have rendered ourselves obnoxious to the Christian world. And that, therefore, because we are in the minority, forsooth, it would be in good grace for us to abandon that which the majority so strenuously oppose and so persistently reject. And they claim that we must do it.

Now, my friends, I have stated in a very brief manner the feelings of the Christian world. I do not speak of any other phase of society, because the rest of the world of mankind are not in pursuit of divine knowledge; they are not searching for those principles which bring life and immortality to light; they are generally committed to the science of moneymaking; they have exerted and brought into play all the energies of their being to develop trade and commerce, and to engage in developing all of the secular interests of the world, not only of one nation, but so broad and expansive have become their ideas, that they have become purely international in their scope of utility; they have crossed the expanse of oceans and penetrated the continents, and taken into consideration the welfare of other races as well as of that of their own, financially, secularly. But the Christian world oppose us upon the ground of our being offensive to them because of our institutions. Now, my friends, brethren and sisters, it is a consolation to us when we read the pages of prophecy; when we open the sacred volume and pore over its historical pages and take a retrospective glance into the history of the past, and learn that similar charges were brought against the Founder of our faith, against Jesus of Nazareth, and also against His Apostles and Prophets and the Patriarchs; and that it is with the unbeliever in revelation, and with those who are influenced by proscribed principles and spirit of any age in which they lived to oppose progress, to oppose development in any direction.

There is one great difficulty in the way of progress and that is invested interests, not less so in religion than in the avenues of commerce and trade. Whenever there have been any great principles brought forth in the mechanical world, in any department of mechanism from the agricultural through all the ramifications of society, they have rarely escaped opposition. And, indeed, this obstruction in the way of progress, is not confined to mechanical pursuits. There is a spirit with large capitalists and men who have invested deeply and extensively their capital in the manufacture of any commodity, produced for the world’s market, which arrays itself against growth and progress made in any direction excepting only where it will especially benefit them. There is opposition; their invested interests stand in the way of progress; and it is not only in temporal affairs, but it is also in religion, in theology. One great reason why the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints are opposed by the so-called Christians, is, because they place at a discount their fractional faith, their fractional currency of belief, so to speak, and they do not wish to have their faith discounted; they do not wish to be placed in the unenviable light as to be regarded as only professing a fragmentary Christianity. And in this they only manifest the same envious traits that have marked the history of our race in all the great phases and stages of progress which the world has made.

I must here, my friends, make one remark in relation to the spirit of persecution that is in the world, and which, by the way, is a very anomalous phenomenon, very much so indeed. Christianity, in its fundamental principles, has running through it a broad vein of charity; and that spirit of mercy and love permeates every avenue of it, and thrills with sensitive pulsations through every brain, heart and vein of its unfeigned believers. There is no duty to be performed, no services rendered which the doctrine of the Christian revelations requires of its devotees, of its accepters, but that enjoins the administration of mercy and forbearance, and long-suffering, and gentleness, and tenderness, and meekness, and brotherly kindness, and all those excellencies and virtues which grace the character of an exemplary Christian. And I may here say, and I do so with feelings of shame and regret, that the bitterest persecutions that have ever been waged upon the world’s battle fields have been waged by men who have professed the doctrines of the meek and lowly Jesus. Yes, the most overwhelming torrents of human blood that have ever stained the world with its gory hue, have been let out by the violent hands of those who professed to administer in the sacred things of God, who professed to be inspired by the spirit of the Divine Master. And of all classes of men and women that I have ever met or that I have any knowledge of, theological and religious fanatics have been the most unreasonable, the most unapproachable, the worst of infidels to the Christian cause. This is a broad statement to make; it is, notwithstanding, made with due consideration. It has not been hurriedly pronounced, for I have given this matter some thought, some study and some little observation. And I am convinced my friends, that the ignorance and superstition that have produced the direst evils, the knowledge of which has been recorded upon the pages of history, have not been the legitimate outgrowth of the principles of Christianity, but of Christianity falsely so-called; they have been the product of unenlightened ideas, they have been the result of misguided zeal, that was not according to knowledge; and they have been too frequently manifested in directions and among communities where better results and more genteel and gracious things were expected to predominate.

Now, the history of the Latter-day Saints is one that has been before the world for a number of years in many of its phases, not probably in all its bearings, not in all its features; but there are many salient points in our history that indicate and that most unmistakably, to the impartial student of history, that the hostile attitude assumed by theological demagogues and their partisan adherents towards the Latter-day Saints is very similar to the conduct of the world towards the former-day Saints, and stands in offensive comparison with their parade of Christian benevolence and religious toleration. In this particular, history repeats itself. The revelations of truth have ever awakened the spirit of persecution in misbelievers. And our Lord Jesus Christ assigned a very acceptable reason why this is so. He says that “men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” Now, upon this point I do not wish to be understood by my brief quotation of this text that I consider mankind incorrigible, that the race is hopelessly sunken in depravity and sin. No, my brethren, I have more faith in the potency of the plan of redemption, and more faith in the remaining stamina and integrity of human nature itself, than to give up the hope that God will fail to fulfil His purposes in the creation of man. On the contrary, I believe that He will develop His heavenly designs in the Godlike combination of the attributes and qualities that constitute man a moral and spiritual being. I have faith that man will yet stand forth erect in the likeness of his Maker, in whose image he was first created. Man will then be filled with the glory of God, which is intelligence and truth; his divine origin will then be self-evident; and the truth of what the historian Moses has said of the genesis of man, will receive the concurrent sanction of science and religion.

We have received this Gospel from its first principles, through the varied stages of progress which it has made, and which has been made since its restoration in the dispensation in which we live, until today. And here we must confess that the verity of the Savior’s words have been most fully established, that the truth comes not to us in its fulness; comes not to us in its complete and entire character; but it comes to us as a beautiful little bud upon a choice and tender plant that blooms; it comes to us as a growing protuberance on the top of a stem; it comes to us presenting the appearance of something more to follow; it swells: it enlarges; the leaves that modestly and beautifully cover up the internal structure of that bud begin to open and expand through the vitalizing energies of the sun, whose radiating rays impart warmth and life and vigor to the growing plant. And it grows stronger and higher; it branches, and spreads, and opens more and more until the blossom is spread open to full view, and kisses the sunbeams as they descend through the vestibule of Nature’s laboratory into the sanctum sanctorum, if you please, where the formative principles and coordinating laws reside. The plant has passed through many stages of unfoldment from its germinal origin to its maturity—its maximum attainment. It has spent its energies in self-development and in elaborating provisions for a new existence. The environments change. The winter of its life has come. It passes into a season of rest, to be again called into new life and enlarged activity when spring time comes again. This exemplifies the great law of growth and progress in universal nature, not only in the “lily of the valley,” but in the realm of universal nature where God presides.

Now the Gospel has come to us something after the fashion pre– sented in this little figure, It was not given to us in its entirety; it came to us line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. We are, moreover, informed in holy writ, that Jesus, who was the likeness of the Father and the express image of His person, in whom dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily, that He did not receive of that fulness at first, but received grace for grace; He increased, He grew in knowledge and in favor with God and man; and He is the great prototype, the great exemplifier of our faith. And so has been the growth and faith of the Latter-day Saints.

When we received this faith, we received it in the simplicity of our hearts. We received it as a message from God, not comprehending it in its entirety any more than the child when he is conducted to school and placed in a primary class to receive his first lesson, is capable of understanding all at once the several courses of study and the various branches of knowledge which he has the capacity to acquire. No, my friends, he learns little by little; he learns first to distinguish between the various forms of the characters to which are attached specific and distinct sounds, and by which they are to be known. He learns to attach the proper value to each and all as they stand in relation to one another in the alphabet; and after mastering that, learns to arrange and rearrange and change and modify the relationship of those characters, producing various results according to the principles of orthography and orthoepy. Thus he acquires a knowledge of the language he speaks. So with every other branch of knowledge in like manner, the study of theology being no exception to the rule.

So far as our history is concerned; so far as the opposition which we have met in propagating this message of mercy, and of heralding forth to the world the glorious news and “glad tidings of great joy,” which shall be unto all people, namely, the plan of redemption, we anticipate opposition; it is nothing new; it is nothing marvelous when we understand human nature. Not at all. We sometimes speak unadvisedly; we sometimes marvel at things which happen, but of which, upon more deliberate reflection, we would not, because there is nothing strange in this. We see rivalry in all things, in all the various phases of society; we see competition and rivalry in the present crude and undeveloped state of human intellectuality, in the present—if I may be allowed the expression—immoral state of society; and I maintain that society is in an immoral state when the good of all is not contemplated, when the greatest good to the greatest number is not the dominant principle, is not the inspiring motive, is not the moving and propelling incentive urging men forward in the various concerns of life. I say again, that unless there is a motive which pervades all our actions, taking into contemplation the good of the whole and not of a part, society so conditioned is not, in a proper sense, in a moral condition. The condition of society contemplated in the Gospel embraces this expressed injunction, that we should help to bear each other’s burdens; that we should do unto others as we would have others do unto us. And requires, moreover, that whatever other gifts, whatever other qualities, whatever other characteristics may be distinguished in our conduct toward our fellow men, or whatever other features may disappear and subside in the rolling tides of the ages in the developing of our nature, assimilating it more and more in the image of God, that there are certain attributes that will never fail, namely, faith, hope, and charity. These will forever abide.

And when I consider these facts as inseparably connected with the system of salvation left by Jesus our elder brother, our Lord and Savior, what are we to think of the attitude of the Christian world toward us. How very uncharitable they are! How very unlike the Savior in His conduct, in the judicial murder of the crucifixion upon a Roman cross—“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Do our Christian friends feel so towards us? Do they who think we are deluded; that we are beguiled by false conceptions of righteousness, that we have been decoyed by some impure motives to the maintenance of institutions that are damning in their character upon man, do they exercise this forgiveness towards us? No, my friends. But as there is a kind of Christianity referred to in the Scriptures, whose propagandists appear in sheep’s clothing, garbed with all the sanctity of innocent lambs, but within are ravening wolves, we are confined to the Savior’s rule of judging men and things—“By their fruits ye shall know them.” But it is our duty to emulate the examples given us by Him in whom was no guile. When Jesus came into the world, did He seek to exterminate everybody? Or His followers, poor fishermen, Did they seek to destroy and institute persecution against those who differed from them in opinion? No. Have the Latter-day Saints exhibited this spirit towards the world? No, they have not; and we modestly and friendly challenge the universal world to cite us to any feature or trait that may be found in any chapter of our history wherein we have sought to wage war against man or woman because they did not believe as we did; to coerce them to the acceptance of our faith; to drag them into prison or drive them with the sword because we could not make disciples of them. No, my friends, such a disposition even is contrary to the genius of our faith. We have invited respectfully, the most competent expounders of the doctrines of the various sects when they have chanted to come among us, to enunciate their views from our pulpits and in our lecture rooms, to our own congregations. We have never closed our door against them, although we have been so very exclusive; although we are so peculiar a people, and so arbitrary in our priestly rule as charged by our liberal accusers. But when our missionary Elders have gone forth to the world, it has been a very rare thing, indeed, to meet with such a favor; and when such an opportunity has been proffered, we have known how to prize it. When ministers have opened the doors of their meetinghouses or churches, offering us the use of the same to preach to their assemblies, we have acknowledged most respectfully the receipt of such favors. Who do you think is the more charitable? Where are we to draw the line of demarcation between the charity of the “Mormons” and that of other dissenting Christian churches, and their feelings and sentiments towards us? It would not be a difficult thing to draw this line; but I forbear this afternoon.

I will simply say, it affords me pleasure to realize that God has thus far presided over our destinies; that we have been held, as it were, in the hollow of His hand. We have been a handful of people with the prejudices of an unbelieving generation running high tide against us. We have been looked upon as unworthy a passing notice. But a change has come over the vision of their minds. Now everybody is giving us notice. God has permitted us to gather strength, and that, too, in the face of the bitterest persecution and the fiercest opposition which we have had to contend with, and that which God has designed to develop and establish in the earth will triumph all the more by being thus opposed. The more the effects of resistance are brought to bear against it, like the shaking of the forest tree, very frequently promotes its growth: it disturbs its roots; it loosens the soil around it and it commences to put forth fresh energy, increasing in strength and size; and like the mustard tree, the more it is kicked the farther the seed is scattered.

Now this is the view I take of the results of opposition which we have had; and we have excellent precedents for believing this, not only in the day and age in which we live, but all past history contributes to the support of this belief and its supply of material is ample for the argument. Now, this is not only the case with reference to the truth itself, but it is a principle inherent in nature, that sometimes a bad cause is also fostered by the opposition it meets with. So that those of our friends whether here or elsewhere who suppose that opposing the truth will produce an arrest of its growth, and extinguish the life it contains, the vitality embodied in it, are simply poor readers of human history, are simply ignorant of the facts of history, and are ignorant of the various phases of human nature, as that human nature has been de– veloped in the varied schemes that have sprung into life during the centuries past and gone. But when we take these indestructible principles that outlive the ages; when we take a truth that is universally so, one that is a truism in its nature, and when we take our association of those truths together and constitute a system, and then undertake to wage war against that system, my friends, it is a very costly experiment; it is a losing game. For “truth though trampled to the earth will rise again.” You cannot destroy that which cannot die. You cannot put life out of that which is life itself. You cannot extinguish the power that is limitless in its resources. You cannot do it.

Now, I do not purpose occupying your time but a few moments longer. I have directed your thoughts over quite a breadth of ground in quite a rambling manner. I have not felt disposed to take a subject and direct your thoughts specially to it; for I am aware when subjects are spoken of, and questions are sprung, the mind involuntarily follows out and conducts itself through a series of reasons and deductions until it arrives at legitimate conclusions, satisfying itself or otherwise as the case may be; but I have brought up a number of questions showing the general character of the work in which we are engaged. I am convinced that God has directed our destiny, and that His hand is still over us for good; and that we are the happy recipients of many proofs of His divine favor. He has withheld from us the chastening rod of our enemies; He has dispelled the clouds which have gathered around us in sable thickness, and has shed forth the light of heaven upon us, which has caused our hearts to rejoice in the God of our salvation. We have received the doctrines of Jesus Christ: faith in Him; repentance of sins, and baptism for the remission of sins; and we have essayed and covenanted to live a new life in Christ Jesus; to seek to do good to all men, and evil to none; and like Daniel of old, to be faithful to the statutes and to the decrees and behests of Jehovah, the decrees of man against us notwithstanding; we having come to the conclusion in our own minds that God and a few good men form an overwhelming majority. And we shall see and yet learn that truth will triumph and prevail. But it may be—and we have promises moreover to that effect—that clouds of darkness will gather; that threatening storms will rise; that the impending dangers will be so imminent as to cause the countenance of some to pale and their knees to tremble and their faith to falter. But, then, the darkest hour is before the dawn of day. So shall we find that God, when He shall have been fully convinced of our integrity, having proven us as gold is purified through fire, will abide by the results of obedience to His covenants; that we shall come off more than conquerors through Him who loves us, even Jesus Christ our Savior.

May His Spirit and His grace sustain us in the discharge of every duty, in the developing of every divine institution and in maintaining every correct principle, and in promoting peace and righteousness upon the earth, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.

Discourse by President Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, at the Half Yearly Conference, of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, Sunday Afternoon, Jan. 9th, 1881.

“Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a righteous reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.” These were the words of the Apostle Paul. Again he said: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” And he repeats this. Again he says: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” I will say as Paul did, “Woe be unto me if I preach not the gospel.” I will say the same for the Apostles, the High Priests, the Seventies, and the Elders, so far as they are called to declare the words of life and salvation to this generation; the judgments of God will rest upon us if we do not do it. You may ask why. I answer, because a dispensation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has never been given to man in ancient days or in this age, for any other purpose than for the salvation of the human family. Again, the Lord says (in sec. 1 of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants): “And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I the Lord have commanded them. Behold, this is mine authority, and the authority of my servants, and my preface unto the book of my commandments, which I have given them to publish unto you, O, inhab– itants of the earth. Wherefore, fear and tremble, O ye people, for what I the Lord have decreed in them shall be fulfilled. * * Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments; And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets.” Again, the Lord has said, “Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming. * * and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon. Wherefore, if ye believe me, ye will labor while it is called today.” This is the word of the Lord to the Elders of Israel. And I say the same to the Latter-day Saints. It is no light thing for any people in any age of the world to have a dispensation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ committed into their hands, and when a dispensation has been given, those receiving it are held responsible before high heaven for the use they make of it.

I feel to back up the testimony given to us this forenoon by President Taylor. I have had the same feelings resting upon me for the last years of my life. I realize that our condition, our position, the responsibility we hold, the relationship we sustain to God, and the relationship we sustain to this great and last dispensation—I feel that many of us as Latter-day Saints, hold too lightly these important trusts committed to our charge. The angel of God, as declared to St. John, the Revelator, while upon the Isle of Patmos, had come forth in the last days, flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth, and to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come. This Gospel was committed to Joseph Smith, and connected with this Gospel was the proclamation, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.” This was the position in which Joseph Smith was placed when he was in the flesh; it was the position of those that were connected with him, his brother Hyrum, and others of his father’s house, as well as the Twelve Apostles, the Seventies, and those early Elders of Israel who were called to make the proclamation of this Gospel to the world. They were sustained by the power of God. They were called and commanded to go forth into the world and preach this Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth, without purse or scrip. This is the manner we traveled in early days. The early Elders of the Church were called to pass through a great deal. Joseph Smith himself, from the hour that he received the records from the hand of Moroni, and commenced to proclaim the restoration of the Gospel, to the day of his death, had to suffer tribulation. The whole world arose against him—priest and people. What was the matter? Simply that Joseph Smith was like other prophets and apostles. He brought forth a dispensation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which came in contact with the traditions of the people—traditions which have been handed down from generation to generation. He was the first man since the day the Savior was put to death, and the Apostles and the Priesthood taken home to God—he was the first and only man that ever attempted to establish the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to the ancient order of things. But he was sustained in his work. He knew very well when he undertook to introduce this Gospel that it would be unpopular, his brethren knew this also; but being called of God, and a dispensation of the Gospel having been committed to his hands and the hands of his brethren, the Gospel had to be preached.

This is our condition today. O ye Elders of Israel who have received the Holy Priesthood, we have this work laid upon our shoulders, we have to take hold and build up this kingdom or be damned. This is our condition; we cannot get away from it; the ancient Apostles could not; we cannot. It is the greatest dispensation God ever gave to the human family in any age of the world, and we are commanded to carry it forward. We cannot afford to treat lightly this work. We cannot undertake to serve God and mammon. We cannot undertake to serve the world and fulfil our missions as Apostles and Elders of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have got to take one side or the other. And I will also say we cannot be fruitful in the things of the kingdom of God, except we are diligent in searching for the things of God. It is our duty to do so. We have been called by the spirit of revelation, by the voice of God from Heaven, through the mouth of his prophets, to preach the Gospel and build up this kingdom. This is the word of the Lord unto us. The Lord said in the beginning, some fifty years ago, in the first revelation almost which was given to us, that the harvest was ripe, and that whosoever would thrust in his sickle and reap the same is called of God.

I have given you my views and feelings with regard to these things. I have my faith, my hope. I believe that God Almighty reserved a certain class of men to carry on his word. They have been born into the world in this generation. I believe this was the case with Joseph Smith. I believe he was ordained to this work before he tabernacled in the flesh. He was a literal descendant of Joseph who was sold into Egypt, and the Lord called him and ordained him. He gave unto him the keys of the kingdom. He received the record of the stick of Joseph from the hands of Ephraim, to stand with the Bible, the stick of Judah, in the last days as a power to gather the twelve tribes of Israel, before the coming of Shiloh, their King.

We have been under the necessity of carrying this Gospel to the generation in which we live. The Lord has never sent judgments upon any generation which we have any knowledge of until he has raised up prophets and inspired men to warn the inhabitants of the earth. This is the course the Lord has dealt with all men from the days of Father Adam to the present time.

I need not stop to tell you that we live in a day of darkness, wickedness, unbelief, and transgressions of every kind; I need not tell you this; the heavens know it, the earth knows it, the devils know it, all men know it who are acquainted with the human family in the day and age in which we live. The Lord told us fifty years ago, that “Darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.” But He has sent forth the warning voice to them. He has called upon all men to repent and obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that they may be counted worthy to escape the judgments of God.

President Taylor treated this forenoon upon the law of Tithing. Perhaps the Latter-day Saints do not want to hear much more upon this subject; but I have felt a long time that we as a people were somewhat ignorant of that law. We have looked upon it as a matter of little consequence; we have looked upon it with a great deal of indifference whether we pay tithing or not. But the subject was clearly set forth this forenoon by President Taylor. He has no power to change this law, nor has any other man; and if we do not obey it, we can lay no claim to the promises made to those who obey it. These things are very plain and pointed. The principle of tithing has been a principle of sacrifice in almost every age of the world; in fact, it was peculiarly so among the people in ancient days, and among even the heathen nations of the earth. Now I have thought many times that some of those ancient kings that were raised up, had in some respects more regard for the carrying out of some of these principles and laws, than even the Latter-day Saints have in our day. I will take as an ensample Cyrus, on account of his temperance. He was one of the kings of the Medes and Persians. I believe his father was a Persian and his mother a Mede. To trace the life of Cyrus from his birth to his death, whether he knew it or not, it looked as though he lived by inspiration in all his movements. He began with that temperance and virtue which would sustain any Christian country or any Christian king. And even when he was sent in his youth to his grandfather Astyages, the king of the Medes, he showed that he had been carefully brought up, and he followed his early training in a great measure throughout his life; while as king or leader of the Median armies, he conquered nearly the whole world—in fact I do not know that he ever lost a battle. His grandfather was living in luxury, and when young Cyrus was sent to him he offered to serve him as a butler—only he didn’t do as butler’s sometimes do—that is, taste the wine before putting it on the table. Cyrus, when offered wine, said, “I am afraid it is poison.” “You are afraid it is poison?” “What makes you think it poison?” “Why, because I have seen it make you and some of the princes act very strange, you would stagger and act very curious.” He followed this principle of temperance during his whole life. Before a battle he offered sacrifices to the Gods; when he finished a battle and had a victory he did the same thing. I have been struck in reading his history with the course he took in this matter. He would never enter into revelry or debauchery over the nations he had conquered. He taught such principles until the day of his death. Before he died he told those by whom he was surrounded, that he did not want his body put into a gold coffin or a silver coffin; he simply desired his body to be laid in the dust and covered with the earth. Many of these principles followed him, and I have thought many of them were worthy, in many respects, the attention of men who have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But the law of tithing was carried out by all Israel, from the creation of the world down to the present time—that is, whenever God had a people upon the earth they observed the law of tithing. And I believe, as President Taylor has stated, that it is our duty to pay our tithes and offerings before the Lord. It is a commandment of the Lord that we should do this, and I do not feel myself called upon as a member of this Church and kingdom to require the President of this Church to attempt to change this order, or attempt to find fault with him because he does not permit young men who curse and swear, who do not pay their tithing, etc., to enter the Lord’s house and there have sealed upon their heads the highest blessings that were ever given to Patriarchs and Prophets, who have sealed their testimony with their blood. He has told the Bishops and Presidents of Stakes not to give recommends to young men or old men, or anybody else, who do not obey the laws of God in this respect, and I feel to back him up in this matter, for I know he will be justified before the Lord. If we attempt to please the world on the one hand and serve the Lord on the other, we will fall.

I feel to say to my brethren who have received the holy priesthood: We occupy a position in the world which is of great importance to us. We have received the teachings of heaven; in fact, I believe there never was a people since God made the world, who received more teachings than the Latter-day Saints, for the last fifty years. The world has rejected the light of truth, and the fulness of the Gentiles will come in. But it is our duty to preach the Gospel to them, until the Lord says, “It is enough.” We must round up our shoulders, and bear off this kingdom.

The Lord compared the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins; five were wise and five were foolish; five had oil in their lamps and five had not. Now the question is, how can we keep oil in our lamps? By keeping the commandments of God, remembering our prayers, do as we are told by the revelations of Jesus Christ, and otherwise assisting in building up Zion. When we are laboring for the kingdom of God, we will have oil in our lamps, our light will shine and we will feel the testimony of the spirit of God. On the other hand, if we set our hearts upon the things of the world and seek for the honors of men, we shall walk in the dark and not in the light. If we do not value our priesthood, and the work of this priesthood, the building up of the kingdom of God, the rearing of temples, the redeeming of our dead, and the carrying out of the great work unto which we have been ordained by the God of Israel—if we do not feel that these things are more valuable to us than the things of the world, we will have no oil in our lamps, no light, and we shall fail to be present at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

I have felt for a good while that we required stirring up with regard to the law of tithing, and other things. The question is here: If this is the work of God, and the Lord has given us commandments, will we be blessed in obeying these commandments? The Lord holds our destiny in his hands. The earth, the riches of the earth, the crops, the herds, or flocks, our food and raiment are all the gifts of God to us.

Of course, we are required to practice what we preach. I believe in that doctrine. Now, I know for myself, that the presidency of this Church pay their tithing. As chairman of the Auditing Committee, I know what their tithing is. The Twelve Apostles pay their tithing. Bishop Hunter and his Counselors pay their tithing, as well as a great many others in this Church and Kingdom. I would not preach tithing if I did not pay it. I consider it my duty to pay my tithing. I consider it is a law of God to me, and I am no poorer for obeying it. I wish my brethren and sisters to take this principle to heart. As the President has said, the Lord does not care anything about our cattle, our gold and our silver. The law of tithing is a law of God to us. Obedience is better than sacrifice. We are building temples to the name of the Lord. What are we building them for? That we may enter in and redeem our dead. The Lord has had his endowments a great many years ago. He has ascended to his thrones, principalities and powers in the eternities. We are his children. He has given us a law, and he has placed us here on the earth to obey that law. We are here to fill a probation and receive an education. I once read a man’s view of education—he was not a Mormon, but a man of the world—who said, “No man is fully educated unless he can tell where he came from, why he is here, and where he is going to.” That being the case, I thought there were few fully educated in the world. No man can tell where he came from unless it is revealed to him. We have had these things revealed to us in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Book of Doctrine and Covenants. We have thus come to the knowledge that we had an existence before we came here, and that we had a probation before we came here. We are now upon our second estate, and our eternal destiny depends upon the few years we spend in the flesh. We are placed here that it may be seen which law we will keep. Our Heavenly Father has placed before us the laws celestial, telestial and terrestrial. If any man will obey the celestial law, he will be preserved by that law; all the glory, power and exaltation, belonging to that law, will be given to him. What does the Savior, the Son of God, say to us in our Testament? He says, in speaking of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, that “they who receive this Priesthood receiveth me, saith the Lord; for he that receiveth my servants, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth my Father; and he that, receiveth my Father, receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore, all that my Father hath shall be given unto him; and this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the Priesthood. Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved.” Who in the name of the Lord can apprehend such language as this? Who can comprehend that, by obeying the celestial law, all that our Father has shall be given unto us—exaltations, thrones, principalities, power, dominion—who can comprehend it? Nevertheless it is here stated. How few there are on the earth today, or in any other dispensation, who have been able to abide the celestial law of God. It brings down the hatred of the whole generation in which we live. No man can live the celestial law without bringing upon his head persecution. It cost the Savior his life; he suffered an ignominious death upon the cross. Joseph Smith sealed his testimony with his blood, as also have others connected with this Church and kingdom.

Now, our position is this: We have been chosen out of the world, the world hate us, our nation hates us, indeed the inhabitants of the earth in a great measure hate us. Of course there are honorable exceptions. But a great many despise us; a great many wish our destruction. Why? Because we are trying to abide the celestial law of God; we are preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and endeavoring to carry out its principles. Now the question is, will it pay us to do so? Will it pay us to be faithful? Will it pay us to pass through whatever trials or afflictions, or persecutions, or even death itself, for the kingdom of God, for salvation and eternal life, the greatest of all gifts which God can bestow on the children of men? I say it will, and I hope that the Latter-day Saints, that all men in authority—that we will all be faithful before the Lord, that we will remember our prayers, labor for the Holy Spirit, labor to know the mind and will of God, that we may know the path to walk in, that we may obtain the spirit of the Lord and the Holy Ghost, and that we may overcome the world and magnify our calling till we get through this probation. There is a long time hereafter. Our aim is high. There are a few in this generation who have attempted to keep the celestial law. I desire to keep that law, so that when I have finished my probation here, I may get into the presence of my Heavenly Father, where our Savior is, where the old patriarchs and prophets are, where Joseph Smith and his brethren the Apostles and those who have lived faithful until the day of their death are. That is my desire, and I say I desire this for myself, I desire the same for my family.

I pray God my Heavenly Father, to let his blessings rest upon us; I pray that his Holy Spirit may be with us to guide us in the path we should walk in; I pray that we may magnify our calling and overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, and inherit eternal life, for Christ’s sake. Amen.