Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Sixteenth Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, March 14, 1875.

I will read a few paragraphs which you will find recorded in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, commencing near the middle of the second paragraph of a revelation given December 27, 1832:

“In that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth; Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made. As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made; As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made; And the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand.

“And the light which now shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings; Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space—The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things.”

We will now pass on to the ninth paragraph of this same revelation, given through Joseph Smith the Prophet:

“All kingdoms have a law given; And there are many kingdoms; for there is no space in the which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no space, either a greater or lesser kingdom. And unto every kingdom is given a law; and unto every law there are certain bounds also and conditions.

“All beings who abide not in those conditions are not justified. For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own; justice continueth its course and claimeth its own; judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the throne and governeth and executeth all things. He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and all things are by him, and of him, even God, forever and ever.

“And again, verily I say unto you, he hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons; And their courses are fixed, even the courses of the heavens and the earth, which comprehend the earth and all the planets. And they give light to each other in their times and in their seasons, in their minutes, in their hours, in their days, in their weeks, in their months, in their years— and these are one year with God, but not with man.

“The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also giveth their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of God. Unto what shall I liken these kingdoms, that ye may understand? Behold, all these are kingdoms, and any man who hath seen any or the least of these hath seen God moving in his majesty and power. I say unto you, he hath seen him; nevertheless, he who came unto his own was not comprehended. The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him. Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, that I am the true light that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound.

“Behold, I will liken these kingdoms unto a man having a field, and he sent forth his servants into the field to dig in the field. And he said unto the first: Go ye and labor in the field, and in the first hour I will come unto you, and ye shall behold the joy of my countenance. And he said unto the second: Go ye also into the field, and in the second hour I will visit you with the joy of my countenance. And also unto the third: saying, I will visit you; And unto the fourth, and so on unto the twelfth.

“And the lord of the field went unto the first in the first hour, and tarried with him all that hour, and he was made glad with the light of the countenance of his lord. And then he withdrew from the first that he might visit the second also, and the third, and the fourth, and so on unto the twelfth. And thus they all received the light of the countenance of their lord, every man in his hour, and in his time, and in his season—Beginning at the first, and so on unto the last, and from the last unto the first, and from the first unto the last; every man in his own order, until his hour was finished, even according as his lord had commanded him, that his lord might be glorified in him, and he in his lord, that they all might be glorified.

“Therefore, unto this parable will I liken all these kingdoms, and the inhabitants thereof—every kingdom in its hour, and in its time, and in its season, even according to the decree which God hath made.

“And again, verily I say unto you, my friends, I leave these sayings with you, to ponder in your hearts, with this commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall call upon me while I am near—Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you; And if ye ask anything that is not expedient for you, it shall turn unto your condemnation.

“Behold, that which you hear is as the voice of one crying in the wilderness—in the wilderness, because you cannot see him—my voice, because my voice is Spirit; my Spirit is truth; truth abideth and hath no end; and if it be in you it shall abound.

“And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your mind become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will.”

I have read these sayings from a revelation given a little over forty-two years ago, to that youth, called Joseph Smith, a farmer’s boy. Do they sound like the ravings of a madman? Do they sound like something that was invented or composed by the wisdom of man, or do they sound like the truth? Joseph Smith was not a learned man, he had to work for his living when he was a lad; and when God called him and gave these revelations through him he had not studied any more than the generality of the young men who now sit in this congregation, and probably not near as much. Yet these words were given to him, and they contain information and knowledge far beyond that which you will find recorded in the writings of the learned, information expressed so simply that a common mind can, in some degree, grasp it, and yet so sublime and so great that when we come to investigate its depths, it requires greater powers and greater understanding than what man naturally possesses.

We are told, in the part of the first paragraph that I read, that God is in the sun of our firmament, that he is the light of the sun, and that he is the power of the sun by which it was made. We are also told that he is in the moon, and that he is the light of that heavenly luminary, and the power by which it also was made. We are also told that God is in the stars, those worlds so distant from ours, those great centers around which, no doubt, millions on millions of opaque bodies revolve as our planets revolve around our central body, the sun; that he is in those stars, that he is their light, and the power by which they are governed; or to come home directly to our earth, he is in the earth, and is the power and light and glory that is attached to the elements of our globe.

This would seem to exhibit before us the nature of that Being whom we worship. We worship him because of his glory, greatness, goodness, justice, mercy, knowledge, and wisdom. We worship him, because he has the power to govern and control the universe, and because he has commanded us so to do. He is a personage; and we are told that in the beginning man was created in his image. We are also told that we are his sons and his daughters, that we were begotten by him, before the foundation of this world; that we are his offspring, as much so as the little children in this room are the offspring of their parents. Seeing then, that he is a personage and that we are in his image, we can form some idea of the general outlines and resemblance of that personage, but can we form an idea of the intelligence that he possesses? We have but a very limited idea of that. He comprehends all things, all things are before him, all things are round about him, and he is the great and supreme Governor of all the works of his hands.

We are told that the same light which shines from the sun, from the moon, and from the stars, is the same light that quickens the understandings of the children of men. But who is there in this congregation, or upon the face of the earth, that can tell how that light operates in quickening the understandings of men? It is the same light by which you are enabled to see each other, and surrounding nature. The light that proceeds forth from all these heavenly luminaries, with very great velocity, is the same light that quickens the understanding. Do you know how that is done? I do not; yet this is what God has revealed. He is the light that is in all things. Do you or I comprehend how that light is connected with all things? No. These are lessons which we have got to learn in the future, when we ascend in that scale of knowledge and intelligence now possessed by celestial beings. How long it will be before we comprehend these things I know not. How our capacities may hereafter be enlarged, I know not; how they will be developed and quickened so as to comprehend all these great truths and principles, I know not; but we are told in this revelation that the light that quickens the understandings of the children of men, and lighteth all things is one and the same and that it is also the life of all things. What are we to understand by this? Have we life? Yes, we certainly have. Where did we obtain this life? When was it created or made? There is a revelation upon this subject which says that intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created, neither indeed can be. Is it then eternal? Yes. Then this light that shines is eternal in its nature is it? Yes, because it is the same light that gives life to all things. Did our spirits, that have power to think and to reason, have life before the foundation of the world? Yes. And what gave them this life? The elements, composing our spirits were eternal; they were never created, neither indeed can be; they existed from all eternity, and were, at a certain period, combined or organized in the form of our spirits; and hence the pre-existence of man before the world was made.

This same light which gives us life, and without which we could not abound, proceeds forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space. Can we get away from it? No; for it fills all the intermediate spaces between world and world, between one system and another, and between universe and universe; “and there is no space in which there is no kingdom, and there is no kingdom in which there is no space;” hence, this being the case, all eternity, as far as your minds can possibly stretch, is filled with kingdoms, and with this power of God, this light which is the life of all things, and the law by which all things are governed.

Perhaps you may ask me why I dwell on this mysterious subject? I answer, why did the Lord dwell upon it forty-two years ago, if he did not want us, in some measure to understand it? Would he speak at random? Would he give a revelation without expecting that the people would ever try to understand it? If the Lord wished us to understand something, and condescended to reveal something, why should we, after forty-two years of experience, think that we are stepping over our bounds in trying to approximately comprehend what the Lord desired us to understand, in some measure, forty-two years ago? It is an old sectarian whim and notion, to suppose that we must not try to understand revelation. You know that when they come to something in the divine records which they do not understand, they will say—“Oh, the Lord never intended us to understand that, that is a mystery, we must not search into these things, they are mysteries.” Just as though the Lord would reveal something that he never intended or wished the human family to understand. Saying nothing about the Deity, it would be an act of foolishness on the part of a man to attempt a revelation of something that he never intended his fellow men to understand. The Lord is more consistent than man; and if he reveals anything, he surely intends that thing to be for the profit and edification of the pure in heart.

I was going to say that we had dwelt too long on baptism for the remission of sins. But no, we should still retain that in our remembrance. Not leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, we ought to go on to perfection. I believe that King James’ translation of that passage says—“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.” But the translation given by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, through the Prophet of the Lord puts in the little word not. “Therefore not leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.” I do not want the people to leave baptism, or to cast from their minds, and forget the first principles of the doctrine of Christ; but, on the contrary, you should always retain them in your memories. When you repented you did a good work; retain that good work in your minds. When you were baptized for the remission of your sins, through the ministration of a servant of God divinely authorized, you did a good work; retain that in your minds, do not leave that principle. When you had hands laid upon you for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that was confirmed upon you, you were obedient to one of the principles of the doctrine of Christ; do not leave that, but retain it in your minds. Do not suppose, however, that those first principles are the only ones to be learned; do not become stereotyped in your feelings, and think that you must always dwell upon them and proceed no further. If there be knowledge concerning the future; if there be knowledge concerning the present; if there be knowledge concerning ages that are past, any species of knowledge that would be beneficial to the mind of man, let us seek for it, and that which we cannot obtain by using the light which God has placed within us, by using our reasoning powers, by reading books, or by human wisdom alone, let us seek to a higher source—to that Being who is filled with knowledge, and who has given laws to all things and who, in his wisdom, goodness, justice and mercy, controls all things according to their capacity, and according to the various spheres and conditions in which they are placed.

When we reflect upon this subject, the query naturally arises in our minds—if he has given a law unto all things and has set bounds and conditions to every law which he has given, will it hurt any intelligent being to learn concerning those laws as far as he possibly can? I think not. To illustrate this, let us suppose that a learned man, by years of research and study, has discovered many of the great laws of nature, and that he has a family of children growing up, do you think that he would be displeased with his children because they had a curiosity and a desire to know something in relation to that which their father understood? No, you say, he would be pleased to see the intellectual faculties and powers of his children expanding, and to hear them inquiring about this, that, and the other thing, with which he was perfectly familiar, but of which they were ignorant. Furthermore, if it would be pleasing to a father to hear his children making such inquiries, would it not be still more pleasing to him to impart useful information unto them? You reply, “Oh yes, nothing would delight me more than to impart useful instruction to my children, and to aid them in developing their mental powers.” Well, that is just the way our heavenly Father feels in relation to his children. Anything that would be for our good to know—and all knowledge is for our good if we make a right use of it—he is willing to impart, if we but seek unto him in a proper and acceptable manner. Let us then keep all the commandments, and laws, and conditions which God has appointed for us to keep. It is our right and privilege to knock, and we have the promise that it shall be opened to us; to seek, and when we do seek, to do so with the expectation of finding. In this way we may receive more and more information and knowledge, concerning the things of God, and the works of his hands. There are many things that we can learn, already within our reach, without any special and direct revelation, that is, when I say special revelation, I mean without the Lord revealing directly by a vision, the ministration of an angel, or by direct words, as he revealed many things to the ancient revelators, seers, and Pro– phets. There are a great many things that we can learn independently of these direct revelations; but still we need the help of the Lord, in some measure, in our researches, to learn anything; we need the influence of the Spirit of God to quicken the light that is within us, for light cleaves to light, and the Spirit of God is light, and it cleaves unto the light that enters into the composition of the spirit of man; and when we keep his commandments the Lord is ever ready and willing to quicken the judgment, inform the mind, and lead us along in our thinking and reflecting powers, that we may have power to understand a great many truths, without his coming out and saying—“Thus saith the Lord.”

There are a great many truths which might be revealed to me in words which I should not be able to understand; that is, a law of nature might be revealed to me in words, but I could not understand the principle involved therein after it was thus revealed. For instance, I could reveal a great many things to school children in words, which they could not possibly comprehend. I could give them a revelation that would take them perhaps two or three years deep study to comprehend, and yet it could be printed in a very few words. Just so with the Lord—he could reveal in a few words, a principle to us which it would take us years of study and reflection to understand. Suppose, for illustration, we take the principle of force or gravitation, by which things fall to the earth, and by which the planets are held in their orbits, and do not fly away from the great central luminary of our system—the sun. We will suppose that we know nothing about this law of force, called gravity, and that some man among us should get a direct revelation, expressing that law; if he had never studied sufficiently to understand the nature of these words, the very words that he would receive would be incomprehensible to himself. For instance, the law of gravity is expressed, in the words of Sir Isaac Newton, as follows—“Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force varying indirectly as its mass, and inversely as the square of its distance from every particle.” Now supposing that law had been given to Newton, or to the world, and that there had been no knowledge of mathematics among men, what would they have understood about the law? They might have said—“There is a formula which comprehends the law of the force of the universe;” but what would they know about it? If, however, they understood the terms used, they would know how the force varied at different distances from the attracting or gravitating body. That is the real revelation; it is not the words. A thousand things might be revealed to this congregation, but if merely revealed in words, they perhaps would not know anything about them. We must understand the nature of the thing, the nature of the idea comprehended in any law in order to have it a revelation to us; words are nothing but signs of ideas; if the ideas are not understood, the words will be a mystery.

When we undertake to investigate the laws which govern the various departments of nature, we are investigating the laws of God. Says one—“Do you mean to say that the law of gravitation, which was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, by which all the bodies in the universe are held in their proper position, is a law of God?” Yes. If he has given this law of force to all bodies, then it is one of his laws, and all who study that law study one of the laws of God. To illustrate this still more familiarly to the minds of the congregation, we will say—here is brother Kesler, who, I presume has been teaching school in this house. Perhaps he has some students in algebra, and perhaps in geometry; then, perhaps he has many scholars who know nothing about these things. Now suppose that brother Kesler should call up a class, the members of which know nothing whatever of the sciences I have named, and should express certain rules in algebra to them, would that be a revelation to that class? It would in words, but what would they comprehend about it? Not a thing; it would be as dark as midnight. There are the words in which the rules are expressed, but could the students in that class put those algebraic rules into operation? No, a process is necessary in order to enable these children to understand the revelation, and that process is one of slow growth, mastered a little today, a little tomorrow, and a little the next day, and by and by, in one or two years, they would probably comprehend the algebraic revelation given to them so long before in words. It is so with arithmetic, with grammar, geography and almost any branch of science taught in our common schools or universities. No wonder then, to me, that Paul in speaking of a man, who was caught up to the third heavens, said he saw things that were not lawful to be uttered, that could not be uttered; for if he had undertaken to utter them, he would have uttered something that the people could not possibly comprehend, until they had learned previous principles. Such a man might tell about certain laws which prevail in heaven, and certain glories which he saw there, but yet, unless the people to whom such things were told had placed themselves in a position to have the Holy Ghost, or the visions of heaven opened to their minds, the words uttered would not be a revelation to them, for it would be altogether beyond their powers to comprehend.

The revelation which Sir Isaac Newton obtained concerning the forces of the universe, has been developed from his day until the present time. The whole learned world of mathematicians have brought all their faculties and powers to bear upon this one little law which I have expressed to you, and have they got through with it? Oh no, it is just beginning to unfold to them some of the common phenomena of the universe, and that is about all. In about a century hence, if the Lord should spare the world, and men make as much advance in these matters as they have done in the century past, this law, there is no doubt, will be carried out into a great many channels and branches that we know nothing about now. Says one—“If it requires so much study on the part of the learned world to unfold and comprehend this one law, it is discouraging to think that there are perhaps hundreds of other laws as intricate as this to investigate before it is possible to come to an understanding of them.” We need not be discouraged upon this subject; for if we do the best we can according to the position in which we are placed, and the opportunities which we have, we do all that the Lord requires; and by and by we shall be placed in a condition in which we can learn much faster than we can now. We need not be discouraged. Perhaps the man who, under a sense of discouragement, gives up and does not make the best of his present limited opportunities, will be limited hereafter in the life to come, and will not be allowed to progress very fast, because of his laziness and his want of desire, courage and fortitude to pursue certain channels of knowledge that were opened up to him here in this life. But when we see individuals not only willing to receive some few of the simple principles of the Gospel of Christ, but are willing to press onward towards perfection as far as opportunities present themselves, we may rest satisfied that they will be honored of the Lord according to their diligence, perseverance, fortitude and patience in striving to understand the laws which he has given to all things.

We might, if we had time, point out a great many other laws. The law of light, for instance, and the law of the velocity of light, or the manner in which light is permitted to go from world to world, and in touching upon these and similar subjects we should be describing to you the power, wisdom, greatness and majesty of the Creator, who has constructed all these things according to law, and all of them are governed by his laws. It would seem almost impossible to untutored minds, if we were to tell them that a motion could be transferred from world to world at the rate of one hundred and eighty-five thousand miles every second of time. Wonderful. We almost start back at the declaration, and almost doubt the possibility of the velocity thus indicated. But incredible as it may seem to the uneducated, it is a certain thing; it does not rest upon the imaginations of the children of men; it is just as certain that light travels at nearly that rate from one creation to ano– ther, as it is that men can time the speed of horses with a watch held in their hands, and the most ignorant will admit that it is perfectly easy to do that. Well, it is just as easy to demonstrate the velocity of light, and it has been done not only by one law, but by many laws; not only by one phenomenon, but by many phenomena, and it is a thing that cannot be disputed by those who have investigated and are capable of understanding the methods of demonstration that have been given.

What causes this immense velocity, and who constructed the great etherial medium that intervenes between all worlds, by means of which a jar can be carried from world to world with that immense velocity? It was God, that Being who is said to be in all things, not by his person, but by his Spirit and his agency. He constructed this great medium so that it should communicate vibrations or jars, from world to world at that rapid rate.

We see an illustration, on a small scale, here on the earth, in connection with our atmosphere. Who constructed this atmosphere and gave it its elasticity, and all its principles and powers, by which sound is communicated from place to place at a very rapid rate? God. He constructed all these things. Sound, we are told, flies at the rate of ten hundred and ninety feet in a second. How does it travel with that velocity? Do the particles from a sounding body—for instance a bell that is ringing—travel all that distance? Oh no, it is merely the vibration, or wave that is sent through the great mass of the atmosphere, from the sounding body to the organ of the ear; and it is sent at the rate of speed I have mentioned—over one-fifth of a mile in a second—and we call that very rapid velocity; but what is it compared with a hundred and eighty-five thousand miles a second.

When you study all these things you are learning lessons concerning God. He it is who has thus organized all these materials of nature, has given them their properties, endowed them with their elasticities, placed them in certain proportions; or, as one of the inspired writers says—“He has weighed the mountains in a balance.” Everything is adjusted in the best possible manner, to carry on his operations throughout the great universe which he has constructed. But I do not wish to dwell lengthily upon these subjects; of more importance than all these laws which govern the materials of nature, are the intelligent beings who inhabit these creations. God, in constructing these materials into creations and worlds, has done it for a wise and noble purpose. The great purpose that he had in view was the intelligent beings who should occupy these creations. No law was given to our earth and its materials, or to the planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the various asteroids, merely for the sake of giving laws; but the Lord had a useful design in view, namely to add to his own glory and to the happiness of millions of his sons and daughters who should come to people these worlds I have named, that they might be prepared to be redeemed from their fallen condition, as the people of this creation are to be redeemed from theirs.

Inquires one—“Do you mean to say that other worlds have fallen as well as ours?” Yes, man is an agent; intelligence cannot exist on any other principle. All beings having intelligence must have their agency. Laws must be given, suited and adapted to this agency; and when God sends inhabitants on various creations he sends them on the great and grand principle of giving them an opportunity to exercise that agency; and they have exercised it, and have fallen. Is there anything revealed to prove that other worlds have fallen as well as ours? Oh yes, read some of the other revelations. I might quote you one which now occurs to my mind, given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, revealing anew that which was formerly revealed to Enoch, before the flood, concerning the vastness of the creations of the Almighty, and many other things. After speaking of these innumerable creations, Enoch exclaims—“Thou hast taken Zion to thine own bosom out of all the creations thou hast made.” Why should the Lord take Zion from all these creations? Because all of their inhabitants were not worthy. The very expression shows that there were only a few on each of these creations that he could denominate Zion. You know what Zion means: it means the pure in heart, and only a few could be selected from each of all the creations which have been made, as worthy to be taken to his own bosom as a Zion. Does not that show that they have fallen? If they had not transgressed, but had always been obedient, the Lord, as an impartial Being, would have redeemed all the inhabitants of these creations and taken them all to his own bosom. But it seems that only a few had the privilege of being gathered into the bosom of God.

Says one—“There is another thing I would like to have explained, about the parable you have read. ‘Behold, I will liken these kingdoms unto a man having a field, and he sent forth his servants into the field to dig in the field; and he said unto the first, go ye and labor in the field, and in the first hour I will come unto you, and ye shall behold the light of my countenance.’ And he said unto the second in the same manner, and unto the third, and so on unto the twelfth. And when they had fulfilled certain conditions, their Lord comes unto them, and they are made glad with the light of his countenance, during their hour. After he has visited the first, he visits the second, then the third, and so on until the twelfth, each man in his own order, according to his time and season. Now what does all this mean?” The Lord wanted to represent these kingdoms so that we could understand what he desired to impart, and he gave it as a parable, in order to assist our weak comprehensions to understand something about Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and others of the various worlds that he has formed. Says the interrogator—“I do not comprehend this idea of the Lord’s withdrawing from one and going to another.” In order to comprehend this let us come back to our own globe. Do we not expect that the Lord will, by and by, come and visit us and stay a little while, about a thousand years. Yes, and then we shall be made glad with the joy of the countenance of our Lord. He will be among us, and will be our King, and he will reign as a King of kings and Lord of lords. He will have a throne in Zion, and another in the Temple at Jerusalem, and he will have with him the twelve disciples who were with him during his ministry at Jerusalem; and they will eat and drink with him at his table; and all the people of this globe who are counted worthy to be called Zion, the pure in heart, will be made glad by the countenance of their Lord for a thousand years, during which the earth will rest. Then what? He withdraws. What for? To fulfill other purposes; for he has other worlds or creations and other sons and daughters, perhaps just as good as those dwelling on this planet, and they, as well as we, will be visited, and they will be made glad with the countenance of their Lord. Thus he will go, in the time and in the season thereof, from kingdom to kingdom or from world to world, causing the pure in heart, the Zion that is taken from these creations, to rejoice in his presence.

But there is another thing I want you to understand. This will not be kept up to all eternity, it is merely a preparation for something still greater. And what is that? By and by, when each of these creations has fulfilled the measure and bounds set and the times given for its continuance in a temporal state, it and its inhabitants who are worthy will be made celestial and glorified together. Then, from that time henceforth and forever, there will be no intervening veil between God and his people who are sanctified and glorified, and he will not be under the necessity of withdrawing from one to go and visit another, because they will all be in his presence. It matters not how far in space these creations may be located from any special celestial kingdom where the Lord our God shall dwell, they will be able to see him at all times. Why? Because it is only the fall, and the veil that has been shut down over this creation, that keep us from the presence of God. Let the veil be removed, which now hinders us from beholding the glory of God and the celestial kingdom; let this creation be once perfected, after having passed through its various ordeals, after having enjoyed the light of the countenance of our Lord, in our hour and in our season, and let all things be perfected and glorified, and there will be no necessity for this veil being shut down.

Says one—“Do you mean to say, then, that there is a faculty in man, that he can behold the Lord and be in his presence, though millions on millions of miles distant, on another creation?” Yes, just as easy as we can behold one another here in this room. We shall then see as we are seen, and know as we are known, and there will be a perfect redemption. In this way all the creations that are redeemed can enjoy the continued and eternal presence of the Lord their God. I mean those who are made celestial, not those who are in the lower orders, who are governed by telestial laws, but those who are exalted to the highest degree of glory, those who will be made kings and priests, those who have kept celestial law, obeyed celestial ordinances, and received the Priesthood which God has ordained, and to which he has given power and authority to administer and to seal on earth that it may be sealed in heaven. The people who are thus glorified are said to be taken into the bosom of the Almighty; as Enoch says—“Thou hast taken Zion from all these creations which thou hast made, and thy bosom is there,” &c. He does not mean that the Lord God is right within a few rods of every individual; this would be an impossibility, so far as the person is concerned; but he means that there is a channel of communication, the privilege of beholding Zion, however great the distance; and the privilege of enjoying faculties and powers like this is confined to those high and exalted beings who occupy the celestial world. All who are made like him will, in due time, be able to see, to understand and to converse with each other though millions and millions of miles apart. With all the imperfections of the present state men have invented means by which they can converse with the inhabitants of the uttermost parts of the earth. We may sit down in our chimney corners and converse with the people in Asia, England, France, and in the four quarters of the globe; we can bid each other “good night,” or “good day,” as the case may be; and if man with all his imperfections can do this by using some of the gross powers and materials of nature, why may not that God who has power to control and govern all these materials, so organize and construct the machinery of the universe that we may be able to communicate intelligence a distance of millions on millions of miles in the twinkling of an eye, so that, according to the words which are revealed, we may be considered to be in his own bosom, where we can converse with him, see him, hear him, &c.

Time will not permit me to pursue this matter any further. Some of the items of this subject occurred to my mind a little while before I came into the house. I have been in the habit of preaching a great deal in the 13th and 14th Wards, where many strangers attend who wish to hear about our doctrines. But having a congregation of Saints before me today, I thought I would touch upon things that are revealed in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. It contains many ideas that are great and grand in the extreme, and which are calculated in their nature to inspire every faculty of the soul of man with desires to know and comprehend more of the things of God.

May God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, February 28, 1875.

I will read a passage with which the Latter-day Saints, especially, are familiar—“All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.” This is the third verse of the 18th chapter of the prophecies of Isaiah.

All people who have any confidence in the Old and New Testaments, and who have read the pages of the Bible, are expecting certain great and important events to transpire upon the earth; they look for an entire change to come over the nations, and also for a universal kingdom to be established on the earth never to be overthrown. These things are so clearly predicted in the prophecies of the holy Prophets, that I believe all who profess any faith in the Bible are looking for something of this kind to take place. All who believe in the New Testament believe that the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is to come, not as he did formerly, in a meek and lowly manner, born in a manger, hated, derided, buffeted and spit upon, and finally crucified by the hands of wicked men, but that when he comes again, it will be in very great majesty and glory, accompanied by all the armies of heaven and by the Saints of all dispensations, who will be raised from the dead at that important time, and who will be caught up into the clouds and come with him. All people who believe in the New Testament believe that such an event as this has got to transpire. Those who believe in the Old Testament, and discard the New, believe that there has to be a great change come over the inhabitants of the earth and over the whole of this creation. The Old Testament speaks of the day of the Lord, when the sun will be darkened, when the moon and the stars will refuse to shine, when the Lord will punish the wicked for their wickedness, when sinners will be swept from the face of the earth, and when there will be none but the righteous left. It is believed that a day will come, when the wicked among the inhabitants of this globe will be burned as stubble, and when there will be neither root nor branch left of the proud and of them that do wickedly. So that believers in both the Old and New Testaments, or in either of them, are expecting that such a great and terrible event will come. But very few, however, of the inhabitants of our globe have taken into consideration the great preparatory work for this grand change; they have not searched the Scriptures in regard to how this work is to be accomplished, and who the persons will be who will be ready and prepared to abide that day; how that great change will come, and what the signs of it will be they know not, and yet the Bible is very plain and full in relation to these matters.

The words of our text communicate to us the knowledge that a proclamation is to become so conspicuous at that day, that all the inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth will be required to see and understand, when the Lord commences this work, when he lifts up an ensign on the mountains. I suppose that a great many have been looking for the Lord to do something, but in what portion of our globe he would commence his work they did not know. There are some few, who have searched the Bible diligently, who have been looking for the kingdom of God to be set up on the earth in the latter times, never to be destroyed. Some have supposed that the kingdom that was built up by the early Christians, some eighteen hundred years ago, was that kingdom predicted by the Prophet Daniel. Others, not being able to reconcile the ideas communicated by Daniel on this subject, have looked forward to a day when there should be, literally, a kingdom established on this earth by the power of God in fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel. Those who have believed, or tried to believe, that the ancient Christians constituted that kingdom, have been at a loss as to how it could exist broken up into a thousand fragments, a thousand different classes of people with as many different faiths clashing one with another. They have said in their hearts—“Is this the kingdom of God, where there is no union?” Some two hundred millions of the human family professing Christianity, and yet contending one with another about their doctrines and principles, one believing a doctrine and another condemning that doctrine and believing something directly different. Another discarding both these doctrines and believing in something else, and so on, until inextricable confusion is the result. They have looked upon the babel thus created as something so different from the nature of that kingdom predicted by the ancient Prophets, that they have been unable to reconcile the idea in their own minds that it could possibly be the kingdom of God.

Suppose that we quote the passage in the second chapter of Daniel, in regard to the setting up of God’s kingdom. It is there said that Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had a dream, which portrayed before him all the kingdoms of the earth for many generations, under the similitude of a great image, whose head was of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet part of iron and part of potter’s clay. Besides the image he, in his dream, beheld something entirely distinct therefrom, and forming no part nor portion of it, cut out of the mountains without hands. It was called a stone from the mountains, which smote this great image, representing the kingdoms of the world, upon the feet, and when the feet were smitten all the other kingdoms crumbled to pieces, and they were carried away before the force of this little stone like the chaff of the summer threshingfloor, and no place could be found for them; but the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Now, ancient Christianity, or, in other words, the kingdom which God set up eighteen hundred years ago, did not accomplish the prediction or fulfill that which was spoken by Daniel; neither was that kingdom which was then set up at a time when this great image had been completed. No feet nor toes of the image were yet formed when the ancient kingdom of God was set up on the earth. It is true that Nebuchadnezzer, and the Babylonish kingdom over which he ruled, representing the head of gold, had existed. The Medes and Persians, who succeeded him, had existed, and they represented the breast and arms of silver; the Macedonians or Grecians existed, representing the third kingdom that bore rule over all the earth; the great Roman empire had begun to exist, but it was not yet divided in its two legs of iron as it was several centuries after Christ. The feet and toes of the image were not yet formed, but it will be noticed, by the testimony of Daniel, that when that stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, that is, without the hand of human wisdom; when that should be cut out and should commence its rolling forth from the mountain, the very first attack that it should make would be on the feet and toes of the image.

The ancient kingdom of God could not do this, for the reason that the feet and toes on the two legs of iron were not yet in existence, and hence that kingdom did not represent the one that Daniel spoke of, though the kingdom then set up was the kingdom of God, but not the one that was to bear rule over all the earth, as predicted.

Another reason why that kingdom was not the one spoken of by Daniel is this—the kingdom spoken of by the ancient Prophet, that was to be set up by the God of heaven, was never to be destroyed, but it should break in pieces all other kingdoms and should stand forever, and never be left to another people. Did the kingdom commenced by Christ and his Apostles fulfill these predictions? No. Why not? Because it was predicted both by Daniel and by John the Revelator that the kingdom which was to be built up in the days of Christ’s first coming, instead of prevailing against the kingdoms of the world, was to be overcome. It was written concerning that kingdom that war should be made upon it by the powers of this world, and that they should prevail and overcome it. Not so with the latter-day kingdom—that never can be overcome or prevailed against.

Was the prophecy of John and Daniel, concerning the former-day kingdom being overcome, fulfilled? Yes. Certain powers arose and made war upon that kingdom, and spread forth their doctrines and principles until all nations became drunk with the wine of the wrath of the fornication of that great ecclesiastical power. Instead, then, of the kingdom of God overcoming the nations, it was overcome and banished from the earth.

Perhaps some may inquire—“Do you believe, then, that the Christian Church has been so overcome that it has not existed on the earth?” That is what we believe, that is one of the principles taught by this people during the last forty-four years of the existence of this Church. Says one—“You have no charity.” Yes, we have charity just as far as the Lord God permits us to have charity; but we have not charity sufficient to call darkness light, nor the doctrines and creeds of men the doctrines of heavens. We have not charity sufficient to say that that which is organized by human wisdom is of God, or that the traditions and commandments of men can be substituted for those of God. Charity does not lead us to make these assertions. Perhaps you may inquire—“What evidence have you then, that the kingdom of God was overcome, besides the predictions that you have quoted?” We have this evidence—in the kingdom of God there were always inspired Apostles. There is no testimony in this sacred volume, the New Testament, that the kingdom of God ever existed without Apostles in it. Where are your Apostles inspired of God, modern Christendom? Where have they been for the last seventeen centuries of the Christian era? If you had had Apostles during that time they would have continued to exercise the functions and gifts of Apostles: they would have received revelation from heaven, and those revelations would have been just as sacred as the revelations that were given to the first twelve Apostles, and it would have been just as necessary to have them compiled in the sacred canon as to compile the revelations of those who lived in the first century of the Christian era. This, then, is a testimony and a very important one too, that the kingdom that was set up anciently did not continue, but was overcome, so much so that Apostles had no existence on the earth, and they have not had for many long centuries of darkness that are passed and gone.

Recollect now, that in the New Testament order of things, given for the organization of the true Christian Church, Paul says—“God hath set in the Church first, Apostles, secondarily Prophets,” &c. Take away, then, this first officer of the Church, and say that no Apostles are needed to inquire of God and receive revelations, and you do away with the foremost and most essential member in the kingdom of God from what you call the Christian Church. “Secondarily Prophets.” Who does not know that for seventeen centuries past the Christian world so-called has not believed in any prophecy, that is the foretelling of future events, or in inspiration from heaven? Who does not know that all new revelation has been discarded, not only by the great mother Church, called the Roman Catholic, but by the Greek Catholics, and also by all her descendants, her daughters, the various Protestant sects? They have all denounced everything in the shape of new revelation. But the kingdom or Church of God never did, and it never can, exist without inspiration and new revelation, without inspired Apostles and Prophets; therefore this, besides the predictions that I have named, proves to every person who believes in the sacred text that the kingdom of God has not been upon the earth for a long period of time.

We might go on and show other reasons why it has not been upon the earth. In order for the kingdom of God to be upon the earth there must be a continuation of authority. Says one—“Authority for what?” Authority to administer its ordinances. Where that authority ceases the sacrament cannot be administered; where that authority ceases no person can administer baptism, or the laying on of hands for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. In fact, where that authority ceases all the ordinances of the kingdom of God cease. Says one—“Have they not had the Christian ministry among the Roman Catholics, among the Greek Catholics, and among all the Protestants who have dissented from those two ancient Churches?” Yes, they have had a ministry, but has that ministry had divine authority? That is the great question to be determined. If they have had divine authority, then the kingdom of God has existed on the earth just as long as that authority has existed; if they have not had divine authority, the kingdom of God upon the earth ceased when that authority ceased. How are we to determine this? Says one—“Determine it by the standard, the holy Scriptures.” In appealing to them we find that Paul says—“No man taketh this honor unto himself, save he be called of God as was Aaron.” Every person who has read the Old Testament Scriptures, knows that Aaron was called by immediate and direct revelation in his day. He was not called by revelation that was given several hundred years before he was born, to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac or Jacob; he was not called by some commission that was given in former generations, but by direct revelation in his day. Can no person, then, take this ministry to himself, unless he is called the same as Aaron was called? So says Paul. Have any of these ministers, among all these so-called Christian denominations, been called by new revelations? If they have, they deny their own words, for they have incorporated in their disciplines, creeds and articles of faith that the sixty-six books contained in the Old and New Testament are all the revelations that God has ever given to man. Is that so? Let us search these sixty-six books and see if any man that lived in the second century of the Christian era is mentioned therein, or in the third or fourth, or in any succeeding century down to this day. Has any man in the Christian world from the days of the ancient Apostles down to this time been called by name to the ministry? If so, that will alter the case. But I find that this ancient compilation of revelations does not mention by name a solitary individual who has dwelt on the earth for the last seventeen hundred years, hence none of them have been called by ancient revelation; and, in order to be called, according to the declaration of Paul, as Aaron was, they must be called by new revelation.

Says one—“Stop, that will not do, the very moment that we admit new revelation, we say that the canon of Scripture is not full, and that will lead us right in opposition to all the declarations and traditions of our fathers, therefore we will not take that ground, and we will not say that we have been called by new revelation as Aaron was.” How will you get around it, then? Says one—“I think that we can get authority from this good old book, though our names are not mentioned therein as being called as Aaron was, by direct revelation.” Well, let us examine. What authority do you think you can get from this ancient record? Says one—“You turn to the last chapter of Mark. It is there written that Jesus said unto his eleven disciples, after he rose from the dead—’Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.’” Indeed! Does that call you? Did it call Paul, Timothy or Titus? Did it call any other person that lived even then, except the eleven to whom Jesus spoke? No, it did not; every other person who received any call had to receive it by new revelation. Even then, in that age, a commission given to eleven men did not commission the twelfth. A commission given to those eleven men did not commission any Christian minister who lived in the first century of the Christian era. Hence we find in the 13th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles that there were certain prophets in the Christian church at Antioch—do not be astonished, professed Christians, that there were prophets in the Christian church at Antioch—“And the Holy Ghost said unto them,” prepare yourselves for hearing a new revelation—“separate unto me Barnabas and Saul unto the work of the ministry to which I have called them.” Here then was a new revelation for Barnabas and Saul in relation to their ministry and calling. But could they undertake their ministry by virtue of some old commission given prior to their calling? No. Timothy, who lived contemporary with the ancient Apostles, was not called by virtue of a commission given to the eleven, neither was he called by virtue of a commission given to Paul and Barnabas; but he was called as the Apostle Paul has declared in his epistle to Timothy—“Neglect not the gift which is in thee, which was given thee by the spirit of prophecy, and by the laying on of the hands.” What! Did Timothy live in the day of Prophets, and when Prophets could find out in relation to his calling, and lay their hands upon him and set him apart to the work of the ministry unto which God had called him? Yes, and so with all the rest, and no man can take this honor to himself, save he be called of God as was Aaron.

God is a very consistent being; he does not do things at haphazard, but he is very orderly in his work, and everything in his kingdom is consistent and according to law. That is the way the Lord works. He is far more consistent than the political governments of our day; and even they, with all their imperfections, would never be so unwise as to re– ceive a foreign minister simply because some other foreign minister had been called. Supposing that a man from Great Britain should go to Washington, and should declare to the President of the United States, and to the various authorities of the government there—“I am a minister plenipotentiary, I have authority from the British Government to transact whatever business it may have to transact with the Government of the United States.” “Very well,” say the President and those associated with him at the head of the Government, “let us see your credentials.” “My credentials!” says this man. “Bless you, I have not any new commission. The authorities of Great Britain have not said anything to me about being sent to represent them in the United States, but nevertheless I have authority to act as their minister.” “Well, what is the nature of your authority? pray tell us.” “Why,” says he, “having access to some old documents I found, in searching them over, that there was a man called about fifty or sixty years ago to act in this nation as minister plenipotentiary for Great Britain.” “What has that to do with you?” say those who are questioning him. Says he—“I did not suppose that I needed any new commission, so I just took this old document and put it in my pocket, I thought it would authorize me to act as minister because one that is dead and gone acted by virtue of the authority it conferred.” What do you suppose our Government would think of such a minister? Don’t you think they would regard him as a little insane, or beside himself? They certainly would. Do you suppose that God has less wisdom than our general Government? Do you suppose that he lets things run at random? Or does he have a system to his kingdom? If our Government would not receive a man on an old commission given to a person dead and gone, why should it be supposed that the Lord is so inconsistent as to say that Tom, Dick and Harry, and all the world, or part of it, were called to be ministers because a commission was given to eleven men some eighteen hundred years ago? Why, that commission did not authorize any but those to whom it was given; and to my mind it looks supremely ridiculous for any person to claim that he is commissioned to preach and to administer the ordinances of the Gospel, because eleven men received authority to do so eighteen hundred years ago.

Says one—“You are very uncharitable.” Can’t help it; if that is uncharitable, I will confess that I am uncharitable, and I cannot help it; though I believe that true charity leads us to believe things that are reasonable, consistent, and in accordance with the word of God, and that I try to do. However numerous my own imperfections may be, it is my real desire, and has been from my youth to the present time, to be consistent. These are some reasons, among a multitude that might be named, why we, as Latter-day Saints, believe that the kingdom of God which was set up in ancient days has had no place on the earth for some seventeen centuries past, so far as the eastern continent is concerned. The kingdom of God was set up in ancient America, and it existed until between three and four centuries after Christ, consequently when we say that it has not existed upon the earth for upwards of seventeen centuries past, we have reference particularly to the nations of the east.

Says one—“That is an awful condition for our earth to be in to have no Christian Church upon it for so long a period. Cannot help it. If it is a woeful condition, it is necessary for us to search the Scriptures in order that we may learn if God ever intends to alter this order of things, and if he ever intends to again establish his kingdom upon the earth. Daniel, in his prophecy, has informed us that such will be the case. He saw the time when that great event would take place. He saw the four great kingdoms which should bear rule over all the earth. The fourth great power which bore rule over the world was the great Roman Empire, which was represented by the two legs of the great image which he saw. And as the world grew older this empire was divided, and the various kingdoms which sprang therefrom became so weakened that they were represented, not by iron altogether, but by iron mixed with miry clay. They had not the strength of former kingdoms, and they are the kingdoms of modern Europe and the Republic of America, which has been built up by people who have come over to the American continent, and have established one of the wisest and best governments upon the face of the whole earth, but yet not established altogether after the order of the kingdom of God.

All these modern kingdoms as you now behold them, the Scandinavians, for instance, in the north, and the Germans, Italians, Swiss, French, the Spaniards and Austrians, and all other kingdoms representing Christendom, have grown out of the great Roman Empire, which once had dominion over all these lands, and they were represented by the feet of the image spoken of by the Prophet Daniel.

It is comparatively an easy task to locate the kingdoms represented by the various portions of the completed image. The head of gold we may place away in Asia, representing the Babylonish Empire, with Nebuchadnezzar at its head. Next the Medes and Persians, represented by the breast and arms of silver; their location was also in Asia, running partially into Europe. Then came the Macedonians and Greeks, represented by the belly and thighs of brass; and finally the Romans, represented by the legs of iron. Thus we can locate the great image, with his head in Asia, his feet reaching over here to the western continent, all of them governments of human institution instead of having been organized by divine authority; they have all been organized without having a direct “Thus saith the Lord” in relation to the matter.

By and by the time came when, in the providence of God, it became necessary to set up his kingdom on the earth. How is it set up? Is it cut out of the mountain with hands, that is, with human wisdom alone? Oh no, the Lord spake; the Lord sent his angel; the Lord gave commandment from the heavens; the Lord informed his servants how to organize his kingdom; the Lord fulfilled that which he spoke by the mouth of the ancient Apostles; the Lord sent that angel which he promised that he would send in the 14th chapter of the Revelation of St. John. What did he send that angel for? To restore the Gospel of the kingdom. “Then you mean to say that the kingdom of God cannot be established without the Gospel being sent, do you?” Yes. “But,” says one, “have we not got the Gospel in this good book of ours, the Bible?” We have a history of it. But can you and I embrace it? No, I have already proved that we could not be baptized, and baptism is one of the first essential ordinances to become citizens of the kingdom of God. I have also shown that we cannot legally partake of the sacrament, because it requires a divinely authorized person to administer it. We cannot have hands laid upon us for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, because that requires God’s ministers to administer it, and the Lord would not pour out the Holy Ghost through an unauthorized minister. Hence you see, however much we might read the history of the Gospel as preached in ancient times, and the history of the organization of the ancient church, it could not do us any good so far as receiving the ordinances is concerned. It is true that we might be benefited by observing the moral principles taught therein, and being moral, virtuous, upright and just before all men; but to become citizens of the kingdom of God requires divine authority, and therefore it was necessary that we should have something more than a mere history of the Gospel, and that something was, and must be, authority sent down from heaven. This is what John predicted. I will quote the passage for the benefit of strangers, for our people are familiar with it, even our Sunday school children understand it. The passage I refer to is contained in the 6th verse of the 14th chapter of Revelation. It reads as follows—“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, kindred, tongue and people.” Accompanying this message of the everlasting Gospel brought by an angel were these remarkable words—“Fear God and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.” That is the eleventh hour, the last time that he will send laborers to labor in his vineyard. When he sends these last laborers to prune his vineyard for the last time, he communicates the message of the everlasting Gospel by an angel sent from heaven. Not for one people or one nation only, but to be preached to every nation, tongue and people that dwell upon the earth.

This alone, if I had not brought any evidence or testimony to prove that the kingdom of God has been done away from the earth, this alone proves it. If there had been any people on the face of this wide world of ours, who had the Gospel, it would have been unnecessary to send an angel from heaven with it. If there had been in any part of the earth a people who had the everlasting Gospel, and authority to administer its ordinances, do you suppose that an angel would have been sent from heaven to restore that Gospel? Such a supposition is unreasonable. All we would have had to do, would have been to find them and to have them to administer baptism, the laying on of hands and the other ordinances of the Gospel unto us, and then to have ordained us to the work of the ministry. But no; so completely had the world of mankind apostatized that no authority existed; no kingdom or Church of God, no voice of revelation, no Prophet or inspired man among all the nations, hence God sent his angel in our day, and here I hold in my hands a book of between five and six hundred pages, containing the everlasting Gospel as it was taught on this continent by the risen Savior eighteen hundred years ago. Jesus, after he had finished his ministry and burst the tombs at Jerusalem, came to this western hemisphere of ours, and chose twelve disciples and ordained them and sent them forth to preach the Gospel among the inhabitants of this land. Those men went forth and organized the Church, and the doctrines and Gospel which Jesus administered on this continent were recorded in this book. When the angel came from heaven he brought this book to light. He did not reveal it to the great and learned of the earth, or to those who were wise in their own eyes, but he found a farmer’s boy between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and set him to do this work, and it has come forth, and the Gospel is revealed.

But there is one thing I wish to state now very pointedly, that though this angel brought forth the everlasting Gospel and revealed it by the Urim and Thummim to Joseph Smith, the unlearned farmer’s boy, yet that did not authorize Joseph Smith to baptize you or me; it did not authorize him to lay hands upon me nor you for the gift of the Holy Ghost; it did not authorize him to administer the Lord’s supper; it merely revealed the fulness of the everlasting Gospel through him for the benefit of every people, nation, kindred and tongue of our globe. “Well,” says one, “if he could not baptize you, how were you first baptized?” I answer that the Lord was consistent, and that when he sent this everlasting Gospel by his angel, he did not forget, when the work was translated by the Urim and Thummim, to again send an angel from heaven to ordain individuals by the laying on of hands to administer the ordinances of the Gospel, and to call them as Aaron was called, by new revelation. Angels were sent down from heaven, and the Apostleship was conferred, that same authority which Peter, James and John and the rest of the Apostles held in ancient days was conferred, and many others were called and the Church was organized, not by the wisdom of man and by his cunning and craft, but everything, even to the very month and day on which it should be organized was revealed of God from heaven, and no person was called to the work of the ministry, only by revelation. The Apostleship was conferred by revelation, and the work began and spread forth, and the people began to believe in this everlasting Gospel, and the Church was organized again with inspired Apostles and Prophets, according to the ancient pattern.

It may be said—“This is a very high pretension.” We do not pretend this thing of ourselves; all the glory is unto God. He sent the Gospel, he restored the everlasting Priesthood and Apostleship, and to him be all the glory. He bestowed these blessings; we received them and we feel thankful for them. And in connection with the restoration of the Priesthood, and the kingdom—for God calls it his kingdom—in the midst of this people, though they may be hated, persecuted, driven time and time again, and finally driven into these mountain wilds, yet the kingdom is here, it is not overcome: God’s kingdom is here and it will endure forever, for that is the prediction of Daniel.

Is this an appropriate place for the kingdom, away up in this mountain region, so isolated from all the nations? We are not so isolated but what we can fulfill the prediction given in ancient times through John; not so isolated but what this Gospel, which was sent by an angel from heaven, can be published to all the nations of the earth. Look at what has been already accomplished, during the short period of its existence. Forty-five years have not rolled over our heads since we were organized with only six members. What has God done since then in rolling forth his work? He has sent missionaries by hundreds, not only to the inhab– itants of the various States of this Union and to those of British America; but he has sent them by hundreds to foreign lands. They have lifted up their voices in the midst of the British nation, among the Welsh, the Scotch, the Irish, among the Scandinavians of the north, among the Germans, among the French, the Swiss, the Italians, among the Hindostanese and the inhabitants of South Australia and New Zealand, and various islands of the sea; and from the midst of these various peoples a hundred thousand souls have been gathered to these mountains, whence the kingdom of God—the stone cut out of the mountains—is to roll forth, until it fills the whole earth. We did not come here with the idea of fulfilling that prophecy. I doubt whether there was scarcely one among us, when we were driven here, who entertained the idea that this was the appropriate place for the kingdom of God. It is true, we had read in Daniel that the stone should be cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it should accomplish the great work that God had decreed, in filling the whole earth. We had read this, but did we realize it when our enemies cannonaded us from our lands and homes in the States? While living there we were driven time after time, and finally were driven to these mountains; and before leaving, our enemies made us enter into an agreement that we would not stop short of the Rocky Mountains, and that we would go even beyond the summit of the Rocky Mountains. Said they—“You must do this or we will kill you. We have killed your Prophet and some of your best men, and we have robbed and driven you four or five times; and now, this time, we will not suffer you to stop within our borders, you must go beyond the Rocky Mountains.” We started because we were obliged to; we got here; and now we are becoming quite a people. But what was the object of our enemies in driving us here, into what was termed the Great American desert? They no doubt thought that if we once got here, we should surely perish, for they supposed that no human being could ever gain a livelihood by cultivating the earth in this desert. The only inhabitants it then contained was a few Indians, who lived by digging roots, and catching and drying crickets, and grasshoppers and rattlesnakes, with now and then a rabbit; and these Indians would, once in a while, be able to partially clothe themselves with rabbit skins. Our enemies thought—“If we can only get the ‘Mormons’ into that desert, that will be the end of ‘Mormonism.’”

We are here, what have we done, with the blessing of the Lord and his multiplied kindness and mercies upon us? We have found that God has blessed the land and blessed the exertions of his people. He has blessed them in building up many cities, towns and villages, for some four hundred miles in extent, in the very heart of these great interior mountains of America. He has blessed us in erecting several hundred schoolhouses; he has blessed us in reclaiming the desert, and with many blessings that might be named. All praise be to him! He it is who has sent rains upon this burnt and parched-up soil. When we came here, Salt Lake was twelve feet lower than it is now. We took all these little streams and turned them on to our land, and according to all natural supposition, the waters of Salt Lake would have become lower and lower. Why? Because all these streams were cut off from entering it. But instead of becoming lower and lower, we find that, after taking stream after stream, and rivulet after rivulet to irrigate our crops, God has actually sent rains from the heavens in such abundance that Salt Lake is now about twelve feet higher than when the pioneers came here in 1847.

Is there anything said about this desert in prophecy? Yes. You can find many prophecies in Isaiah, David’s psalms, and other Prophets, predicting that, about or near the time of the coming of the Lord, “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be made glad for them.” That the “desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing.” Isaiah further says that “the Lord shall comfort Zion; he shall comfort all her waste places, he shall make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” Also that he would “cause springs of water to break out in the desert, and that the parched ground should become pools of living water.”

How is it brethren? I appeal to you who are acquainted and were here in 1847? Many of you know that, in places where there would be a little spring then, about sufficient to water half an acre, now there is water enough to water land sufficient to sustain several hundred families. This is a literal fulfillment of the prophecy which says that “the parched ground shall become pools of living water.”

Now let us come more directly to the words of our text. I had almost forgotten the text. “All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign upon the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet; hear ye.” It seems then that God is going to lift up an ensign upon the mountains. What do you mean by an ensign? According to the definitions given by our lexicographers an ensign is a kind of a standard to which people rally and around which they gather. The Lord is going then, to lift up an ensign on the mountains, and it is to be so wonderful in its nature, something of so much importance that not part of the people are required to understand it; but in the language of Isaiah, “all ye inhabitants of the world,” all nations, languages and kindreds are required to see, when the Lord lifts up an ensign on the mountains: “When he bloweth a trumpet hear ye.” What kind of a trumpet? The trumpet of the Gospel, that which takes the Gospel to all these nations, calling upon them to flee out of their own lands. Gather out from the nations, come together in one, go up into the mountains where the kingdom of God is established for the last time. What for? To escape the judgments and tribulations which must come upon the nations of great Babylon.

There is an indication in prophecy where these mountains, in which this ensign is to be raised, are located; the Lord has not left us in the dark concerning this matter. Let us read the first verse of the chapter from which our text is taken. “Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.” I will also read the fifth and sixth verses—“For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruninghooks, and take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.”

It seems, then, that the Prophet saw in vision a land that seemed to represent two great wings, and a land, too, that was beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, from where the Prophet delivered this prophecy. Palestine, the land where Isaiah dwelt when he delivered this prophecy, was northeast from Ethiopia, and he speaks of a land shadowing with wings beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. We have not any map in this room, or we might point out how the two divisions of the continent of North and South America resemble two great wings, connected together at the Isthmus. I scarcely ever look at the outlines of the two divisions of this continent as depicted on a map, without being reminded of the wings of a bird; and I presume that when Isaiah, in vision, saw this western continent, it made the same impression upon his mind, and, as he did not know what name would be given to the continent of America, he had no better way to give expression to his ideas, than to call it the land shadowing with wings, in other words, having the appearance of huge wings, and that it would be beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, from where he dwelt. If you trace the maps, and pass through the land of Ethiopia, where could you find a land the outlines of which so much resemble the wings of a bird, as the land of America? I do not know of any. And it seems that this land so described, had a woe pronounced upon it. “For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall cut off the sprigs with pruninghooks and take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountain, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.” This is an awful judgment to come upon that land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.

But first, before this judgment is to come upon the wicked of that land, the Prophet speaks of a message, or something that should concern all the inhabitants of the world and the dwellers on the earth, showing that the people will, in God’s mercy, be warned before these awful judgments come; showing, also, that after the raising of the ensign on the mountains, the inhabitants of this western continent will be among the first to experience these terrible judgments.

The harvest is said to be the end of the wicked world; and if it is so, “afore the harvest,” that is, before the final end comes he will visit the inhabitants of the land shadowing with wings, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia with judgments that are terribly severe, that will cause them to lie by hundreds and thousands unburied, from one end of the land to the other, to be meat for the fowls of the air and the beasts of the earth. Why? Because the judgments will be swift, giving no time for burial.

Inquires one—“Do you really believe that such judgments are coming upon our nation?” I do not merely believe, but I know it, just as well as I knew, twenty-eight years before it commenced, that there would be war between the North and the South. We knew that by a revelation which God gave through his servant Joseph Smith, twenty-eight years before the war of the rebellion commenced; and it was published in the languages of various nations years and years before the war was inaugurated, and it took place precisely according to the words of the Prophet, and it began in the very locality specified in the revelation, namely, South Carolina. We know that these judgments are coming with the same certainty that we knew concerning the war of the rebellion.

But there will be a chance to escape from these judgments for all who are willing to gather to the place of refuge which God has appointed in the mountains; all people can rally and gather to that place if they wish to do so. This is spoken of in many places. Let us turn to the fifth chapter of Isaiah, and see what is said there, concerning the ensign. In the 26th verse we read—“And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the ends of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.” An ensign for the nations lifted up from afar! Isaiah, where were you, when you delivered that prophecy? In Palestine. What land would be far off from Palestine, where you resided? I think this American continent would be about as far off as almost any portion of the globe.

When the Lord commences this message it will be sent from the nation “afar off” to the ends of the earth; and there will be a gathering connected with it, of that people who shall come with speed swiftly. The Prophet probably did not know the nature and power of steam in the days to which he referred, and that the gathering would be effected by means of steamboats and railroads; but he did understand that there would be some very swift method of conveyance. He did not understand the meaning of railroads, and many things connected with them, for they are a modern invention, and the terms used in designating them are also of modern origin. But he saw in vision that people should come with speed swiftly from the ends of the earth, when the Lord should hiss unto them. He, of course, described the events he saw in the best language at his command. In his sixty-second chapter, Isaiah says—“Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.” It seems then that he did describe something about making these railroads. “But,” inquires one, “what did he mean by saying ‘go through, go through the gates?’” I do not know. Probably he did not understand what a tunnel was in those days, but when he saw in vision a long train of cars, without any animal power to draw them, dart into the mountain, and emerge on the opposite side of the mountain, I do not know that he could describe it in any better language than by saying—“Go through, go through the gates;” and then, when he wanted to represent the smoothness of the railroads, I do not know that he could do it any better than by saying—“Cast up a highway, gather out the stones,” etc.

With the casting up of this highway a proclamation was to be made. How extensive? In one region of country? Oh, no. “Behold, the Lord has proclaimed unto the ends of the world, behold thy salvation cometh, his reward is with him, and his work before him.” What else? “They shall call them the holy people.” What people? Why, the people that should lift up the standard spoken of in the preceding verse. Lift up a standard for the people, prepare the way for the people; behold they shall call thee the redeemed of the Lord; thou shalt be called, sought out, a city not forsaken. Jerusalem was not sought out, neither has it been a city not forsaken. Everyone knows that Jerusalem was in existence before Joshua led the people into the land of Canaan, it was an ancient city among the heathen before it was conquered and taken possession of by the house of Israel. And everyone knows that Jerusalem was to be forsaken for a good many centuries before the generation should come that this proclamation should be made, or this highway should be cast up, or the ensign should be raised upon the mountains, when the people should be called a holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, called, sought out, a city not forsaken, etc.

I can bear testimony, so can a great many other men, that when we came here in the summer of 1847, and sought out this city, the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we sought it out by the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of revelation which rested upon us, and we were guided by that Spirit. We did not lay out a little narrow tract of land, half a mile square, but understanding the purposes of God in some measure, we laid out this city with broad streets, and extended it over an area of several square miles, and as you see it at the present time. Why did we take this course? Because we knew by the Spirit of God that rested upon us, the great work that the Lord our God intended to accomplish here in the midst of the desert. We knew that he would gather his people from the various nations and establish them here in Zion, as a standard or ensign to the nations, that as many as would might gather here before the judgments should come. Read the 11th chapter of Isaiah about this same ensign. “It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

Before Judah and the ten tribes of Israel could ever be gathered an ensign has to be lifted up for the nations. Not for Judah and Israel alone, but for the nations afar off, for the Gospel has been restored for the benefit of the Gentiles—every nation, kindred, tongue and people—as well as for the benefit of the dispersed tribes of Israel.

So far the work has progressed, so far the Lord our God has stretched forth his hand to establish his kingdom upon the earth. But what is the destiny of this kingdom? Read the Prophets; hear what Daniel says. He saw the kingdom of the latter days, which, in its commencement, was like a stone cut out of the mountains without hands, become a great mountain and fill not only the American continent, but the whole earth. What else does Daniel say? “And the kingdom, and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens shall be given into the hands of the Saints of the Most High, for his kingdom is an ever– lasting kingdom, and it shall stand forever.”

It seems then that this is the destiny of this kingdom. If you want to know the destiny of the nations of our globe, it is this—one government, one kingdom, not half a dozen empires, republics, and this, that and the other governments, but one kingdom, everlasting in its nature, will have dominion over the whole of our globe. But are you not committing treason to preach in this way? If such predictions mean treason, perhaps it would be well enough for some of our good judges to get out an indictment against the Prophet Daniel and other ancient Prophets, and bring them up and try them, and see if they are treasonable characters or not. We are preaching their words; and if it is treason to preach the Bible, would it not be a good plan to burn it up, and not have such things for the people to read and preach about? But if we have the liberty in this glorious land of ours, to believe the Bible and the prophecies it contains, have we not also the liberty to tell them from that good Book what is going to take place on the face of the earth? I think so. And I have, this afternoon, as simply as I know how, in the simplest language I have at my command, endeavored to convey to your judgments and understandings that which God has spoken by the mouths of his ancient Prophets, that you may know what he is now doing, and what he intends to do until the consummation determined upon is performed upon all the face of the earth, and the elect gathered out from the four winds of heaven. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Twentieth Ward Meetinghouse, on the Evening of Sunday, February 7, 1875.

I will read the third paragraph of a revelation that was given in 1834. It commences on page 292 of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.

“But verily I say unto you, I have decreed that your brethren which have been scattered shall return to the land of their inheritances, and build up the waste places of Zion. For after much tribulation, as I have said unto you in a former commandment, cometh the blessing. Behold, this is the blessing which I have promised after your tribulations, and the tribulations of your brethren—your redemption, and the redemption of your brethren, even their restoration to the land of Zion, to be established, no more to be thrown down. Nevertheless, if they pollute their inheritances they shall be thrown down; for I will not spare them if they pollute their inheritances. Behold, I say unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by power; Therefore, I will raise up unto my people a man, who shall lead them like as Moses led the children of Israel. For ye are the children of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham, and ye must needs be led out of bondage by power, and with a stretched-out arm. And as your fathers were led at the first, even so shall the redemption of Zion be. Therefore, let not your hearts faint, for I say not unto you as I said unto your fathers: Mine angel shall go up before you, but not my presence. But I say unto you: Mine angels shall go before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land.”

It is many months since I met with the people here in this Ward. I recollect when I was here last I partly promised to say something about the redemption of Zion. What I may be able to communicate to you in relation to that great event, regarded as of so much importance by this people, I am unable to say. I may not be able to throw upon the subject any special information more than what you are already in possession of. All that any of us know, and all that we possibly can know in relation to the future is that which God in his mercy reveals. The Lord understands the future as well as the past and the present, and his Spirit understands that which is to come, and the promise is that that Spirit shall be given to us through the prayer of faith, so that we may be able to comprehend in some measure the things of the future. The promise of the Savior to the ancient Apostles was, that when the Spirit of truth should come he should guide them into all truth, and show them things to come. That same Spirit, imparted to the servants of God in the 19th century of the Christian era, is just as capable of opening up the future, lighting up the mind of man and showing him events that are to take place, as it was the first year after the crucifixion of Christ, on the day of Pentecost, or in any other former age of the world—it is the same from eternity to eternity, and it is just as needful for us, as Latter-day Saints, to know the things of God, as it was for the former-day Saints to know them. The great and important thing with us is to exercise sufficient faith before the heavens, that God may pour out the spirit of prophecy upon us. The same faith will procure the same blessings, and the spirit of prophecy was considered by the ancient Apostles as one of the best gifts, far greater than the gift of tongues or than the gift of interpretation of tongues. It was a spirit that was given for the edification of the Saints of the living God, and the same spirit is promised to all his servants who live faithful before him.

I well recollect, when I was but about nineteen years old—forty-four years last fall—that believing Joseph Smith to be a Prophet, and being led by the Spirit, I went a journey of two hundred miles to visit him. I well recollect the feelings of my heart at the time. He inquired of the Lord, and obtained a revelation for your humble servant. He retired into the chamber of old Father Whitmer, in the house where this Church was organized in 1830. John Whitmer acted as his scribe, and I accompanied him into the chamber, for he had told me that it was my privilege to have the word of the Lord; and the Lord in that revelation, which is published here in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, made a promise which to me, when I was in my youth, seemed to be almost too great for a person of as humble origin as myself ever to attain to. After telling in the revelation that the great day of the Lord was at hand, and calling upon me to lift up my voice among the people, to call upon them to repent and prepare the way of the Lord, and that the time was near when the heavens should be shaken, when the earth should tremble, when the stars should refuse their shining, and when great destructions awaited the wicked, the Lord said to your humble servant—“Lift up your voice and prophesy, and it shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.” This was a particular point in the revelation that seemed to me too great for me ever to attain to, and yet there was a positive command that I should do it. I have often reflected upon this revelation, and have oftentimes inquired in my heart—“Have I fulfilled that commandment as I ought to have done? Have I sought as earnestly as I ought to obtain the gift of prophecy, so as to fulfill the requirement of heaven?” And I have felt sometimes to condemn myself because of my slothfulness, and because of the little progress that I have made in relation to this great, heavenly, and divine gift. I certainly have had no inclination to prophesy to the people unless it should be given to me by the inspiration and power of the Holy Ghost; to prophesy out of my own heart is something perfectly disagreeable to my feelings, even to think of, and hence I have oftentimes, in my pub– lic discourses, avoided, when a thing would come before my mind pretty plain, uttering or declaring it for fear that I might get something out before the people in relation to the future that was wrong. But still, notwithstanding all this, there is one thing that I have endeavored to do, and that is, to inform my mind as far as I could by reading what God has revealed to both ancient and modern Prophets, in relation to the future, and if I have not had many important prophecies and revelations given directly to myself, I certainly have derived great advantage and great edification from reading and studying that which God has revealed to others; and hence most of my prophesying throughout my life, so far, has been founded upon the revelations given to others.

We are told that Zion—this people, the Latter-day Saints, are called Zion—shall be redeemed and restored to the lands of their inheritances, and in consequence of this promise made to us by the Lord, many of us have felt much anxiety to know when the Lord would fulfill this great revelation, and some perhaps who were little boys and girls when it was given, and now greyheaded—for it is about forty-two years since—have not considered or reflected much about what God has promised to do with, or what blessings he has promised to bestow upon, this people. In their family prayers they have heard their fathers pray to the Most High to remember Zion and to redeem Zion, and to restore his people to the lands of their inheritances, and perhaps some of them have reflected upon the subject. Some may have thought it was merely a form of prayer which their fathers had learned, without any expectation of anything of the kind taking place, and they have felt careless about it, knowing nothing about whether Zion was ever to be redeemed or not. But those who have reflected upon the subject, and who have made it a matter of prayer and of deep study, in order to know the times and the seasons, and the mode in which God would bring to pass this great event, have been full of hope, expectation and desire, and their constant prayer has been, before the family altar and in the public congregations, that the redemption of Zion might be brought about soon.

We are promised that after much tribulation comes the blessing. The Lord says—“I the Lord have decreed a certain decree that my people shall realize, that after their tribulations they shall be redeemed, and restored to the lands of their inheritances.” Little did we suppose when we were driven out from Jackson County, the place where God has promised to give his Saints their inheritances, and in the regions round about, that nearly half a century would pass over our heads before we would be restored back again to that land. This long period of tribulation, and the dispersion from our homes and inheritances, have been the cause perhaps of a great many going down to the grave without having the opportunity and privilege of returning to participate in the blessings that were promised. Now, it would be a source of comfort and consolation to those who are still living, to whom this promise was made, if they could be assured in their own minds that they would live here in the flesh to behold that day. But let me say a few words in relation to this. We need not expect, from what God has revealed, that a very great number of those who were then in the Church and who were driven, will have the privilege of returning to that land. We need not expect anything of the kind. “Why not?” inquires one. Because the Lord informs us that but a few of those who were then driven out should stand to receive their inheritances. We read this, or indications thereof, in several revelations, the language being something like this—“You shall be persecuted from synagogue to synagogue, and from city to city, and but few shall stand to receive their inheritances.” Now if a great portion of those who were driven out should live and they should be restored back again, they might afterwards say—“This does not seem to agree with the revelation, here are pretty much all that were driven out.” But this will not be the case. When you come to count up, a few years hence, those who were driven forth from that land, you will find that there will be very few indeed; there will, however, be some out of that number, but only a very few. There will be some that will live to behold that day, and will return and receive their inheritances, they and their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, according to the promise.

We have a special promise in relation to that land given to us as Latter-day Saints, a promise which I believe I have formerly repeated in this house. It was first given on the 2nd day of January, 1831, at a general conference of pretty much all the Saints who lived in the State of New York, held in the house where the Church was first organized. The revelation was given in their presence, written by a scribe as the sentences fell from the mouth of the Prophet Joseph. Among the great things then made known was the following—“I hold forth and deign to give to you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord shall come; and this is my covenant with you, that I will give it unto you and unto your children after you, for an everlasting inheritance; and you shall possess it in time and possess it again in eternity, never more to pass away.” If there are any strangers here I will say, for their information, that this is the reason why we call that land a land of promise. And though we have been deprived of it, now for upwards of forty years, some of us hold deeds for portions of it which we purchased, paying our moneys to the United States officials, who sold it to us at the government price, but we were not permitted to live upon the lands thus purchased. You may think this rather a curious thing in this great American republic, one of the most liberal governments on the face of the whole earth; but if it is a strange thing it is known as the truth to thousands and tens of thousands that we were dispossessed of our inheritances. The land is still there, but it is occupied by those who do not own it.

Inquires one—“Why were you driven from that land?” I might answer you by repeating the words of our enemies, for they have published their reasons for driving us from our homes. One reason was that we pretended to speak in tongues, which was considered a mortal offense against religionists. This was one accusation that they brought against us, as you will find in their published declarations, in which they pledged their lives, their property and their sacred honor to dispossess us of our homes.

Another accusation was that we professed to heal the sick. What a terrible crime it was for a man to lay his hands on sick persons and ask the Lord to heal them, and then if the Lord healed the sick they should not be worthy to keep their land, but should be driven from their homes and be deprived of their property!

Another reason was that, besides believing in the gifts of speaking in tongues and healing the sick, we assumed to foretell future events. They did not like that at all. To think that people should believe in that part of the Gospel in the 19th century was too much for our enemies, and they said—“We cannot have such people in our midst, to corrupt our morals, and to introduce the old-fashioned religion that is taught in the New Testament. We have a religion that does away all these things, it does not believe in the order of things that the New Testament sets forth, and you pretend that this New Testament religion is to be enjoyed in our day; our wives and children must not be corrupted by it.”

These were the main reasons for driving us, as set forth in their published program. I did not know, in those days, that it was a crime for the Latter-day Saints to believe in this part of the New Testament; I really thought that, in our country, the Constitution guaranteed to us the privilege of believing the whole of the New Testament as well as a part; but it would seem to be otherwise, for forty years have passed away and we are still disfranchised so far as our property is concerned. We have appealed to the United States government to bestow upon us our rights as American citizens. Have they done it? Oh no; they have referred us, however, to those persons who drove us out of the State, supposing that they would have the magnanimity to restore to us our rights. Who ever heard of mur– derers, robbers and thieves turning round and restoring that to their victims of which they had plundered them? I scarcely ever heard of such an instance; there may be some few instances in history, but they are very rare, in which a person will repent and try to restore fourfold. The United States Government told us that we must appeal to those who had murdered, robbed and driven us from our homes, for the redress we sought. But we have had the revelation of the Lord pretty well fulfilled—“You shall be persecuted from city to city and from synagogue to synagogue, and but few shall stand to receive their inheritances.”

We were driven from Jackson County, in the State of Missouri, in the Fall of the year 1833, and three or four months after that event the revelation was given from which I have read this extract, promising that, after much tribulation, we and our children after us should be restored to the lands of our inheritances.

Have we had much tribulation? Yes. Look at the many times we have been driven since that revelation was given. We were driven out of Clay County, then out of Kirtland, in Geauga County, now called Lake County, Ohio; and after that we were driven from Caldwell County, from Davies County, Ray County, and several other surrounding counties in the State of Missouri, and finally expelled from the State, leaving a great many thousand acres of land for which we hold the deeds to the present day. After that we settled in the State of Illinois, in Nauvoo. We were there but a few years when the Prophet, his brother and several others were killed, and again we were driven, and finally there was a treaty made with this people. Now, whoever heard of one part of the United States making treaties with another part of the United States? Or whoever heard of the people in one part of the country making a treaty with the people in another part? That treaty was in words like this—“You must leave all the States of the Union, you must not stop this side the Rocky Mountains, you must go beyond the Rocky Mountains; if you will do this you may depart in peace, but we will take your houses and lands and occupy them without remuneration, we will not pay you for them; but if you can get away without selling your property and you will agree to go beyond the Rocky Mountains you may have the privilege of going, otherwise we will kill you.”

What were the crimes of which we were accused in the various places from which we were expelled? If any of our people had been guilty of breaking the laws it was in the power of our enemies to bring us before their courts of justice, for in all these places they held all the civil offices in their own hands. But they very well knew that, so far as the laws of the country were concerned, they could not reach this people. Why? Because we were not guilty of the transgression of any of their laws.

When we were driven from Nauvoo there were some unable to leave—poor, feeble and sick; Nauvoo was a kind of a sickly place and a great many people were sick there and many of the sick, infirm and poor had to be left behind, being unable to leave with the main body of the Saints. We walked over the Mississippi River on the ice and wandered and wallowed about in the snowdrifts of Iowa with our teams and wagons, but these poor people could not get away in time. The mob were very anxious to come in possession of our property, and hence after the main body got out one or two hundred miles from Nauvoo, where there were no inhabitants, cut off from all resources, and unable to obtain any information from our poor brethren, the mob was so anxious to get the property of which they had forcibly deprived us, that they attacked the city with cannon and musketry, and finally drove these poor people out and compelled them to cross the river, where a great many of them perished. Were not these tribulations? Yes, and they were all foretold years before they came to pass. “After much tribulation comes the blessing, and this is the blessing which I, the Lord God, have promised unto you, that after your tribulation you shall be redeemed and be restored again to the lands of your inheritance.”

Since our arrival in these mountains we have had a hard time here. We have had a land such as no other people would ever have pretended to occupy. It was once considered the most dreary, desolate, barren place on the face of all North America, a land where it was supposed that no human being could subsist, or in which if he undertook to subsist by the labor of his hands by cultivating the earth, he would perish. But by hard labor and perseverance we have made ourselves comfortable homes in what was formerly a desert, and the Lord has been very favorable to us and really has blessed us far beyond anything we could have anticipated when coming here, and he has caused that the seasons should be very fruitful as a general thing; and this land, which appeared so desolate, barren, parched up and so full of drouth, has be– come a fruitful land, and the Lord has fulfilled many and many a prophecy recorded in Isaiah and the Psalms of David in relation to making the desert blossom as the rose and making it like the garden of the Lord. It is thus prophesied, and that it has been fulfilled no one can dispute, who will reflect and realize for a moment what the Lord has done since we came here to this land. When the pioneers reached here, in July, 1847, we went out to what is now termed Black Rock, over beyond the first point of the western mountains; we went into the lake to bathe, and we could walk up to that rock, the water being several feet below the dry ground on which we walked to get to it. What do you now behold? Ten feet of water over that ground on which we walked. The Lake, since then, has been continually rising, until ten or twelve feet of water have been added to it. We might naturally have supposed that it would have fallen that much instead of rising. Why? Because the waters, which before then had been continually emptying into the Lake were withheld from it and used to irrigate the soil and evaporated again into the heavens. This, according to natural appearances, would have a tendency to lower the streams; but with all the use of the waters and of the streams for the irrigation of crops, &c., there has been a continual rise in the Lake. We read numerous prophecies referring to the last days, in which it is said that the wilderness should be like the Garden of Eden, and that the desert should be made to blossom as the rose, that it should blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing, and that they should have songs of melody, thanksgiving in the desert, &c. I might quote you numerous chapters in Isaiah and in the Psalms of David, relating to this subject, but I have not time, I want to pass along to some other points.

Notwithstanding all these favors and blessings since we came here, we have had to wear ourselves out, so great has been the labor we have had to perform. We could not go out before breakfast and cut and haul a load of wood, as we could in Jackson County; we could not go out and get in one day three or four loads of logs and poles to fence our farms as we could in places where we formerly resided. But we had to expend an immense amount of labor, and a great deal of capital and means was expended in working roads up into these difficult rugged canyons in order to get timber for building and fencing purposes, and for fuel. Then we had to stop up of nights to take the little amount of water allotted to each man or family, for it was necessary to husband it as economically as possible in order to bring our crops to maturity. This excessive labor has worn many out, and sent them to untimely graves. It is a marvel to me that we have been able to build schoolhouses and educate our children in any degree, especially when considering the vast labor that has been required of them, for as they began to grow up and ought to have been at school, they have had to be in the mountains herding sheep, or at work irrigating the soil; and under all these multiplied difficulties, it is certainly astonishing beyond measure, that the people throughout all the settlements of Utah Territory have been able to build schoolhouses and to educate their children, but the feeling, on the part of both parents and children, has been to acquire as good an education as possible under the circum– stances. Would any other people have accomplished this? No. Had any other people come to this desert wild and undertaken to cultivate the soil they could not have done it, they would have broken up; there would not have been union enough among any class of people on the face of the American continent to accomplish what the Latter-day Saints have accomplished in reclaiming the desert. Others would have fought over the water and thousands of other things, where this people have been peaceable and quiet, and subject to good order.

Having now brought the people down to the present period, and having seen the fulfillment of ancient and modern prophecies, literally before our eyes, the question now is, What prophecies to be fulfilled in the future relate to this people and to the great events which must take place when Zion is redeemed? I will endeavor to point out some things that must take place before Zion is redeemed, besides the tribulations which we have endured. One thing which I will name is contained in the Book of Mormon, in the teachings of Jesus. It is a matter which directly concerns the Saints, and something which they must fulfill and accomplish before the redemption of Zion. I will read the passage. The words it contains are the words or our Lord and Savior after he had risen from the dead, and when he descended from heaven upon this American continent, and taught the Israelites who dwelt on this land. The passage I refer to commences with the second paragraph of the 7th chap. of the book of Nephi, pages 464 and 465 of the Book of Mormon. It reads as follows:

“And now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words, he said unto those twelve whom he had chosen: Ye are my disciples;”—this did not mean the twelve Apos– tles chosen at Jerusalem, but the twelve chosen by our Savior on this American land—“and ye are a light unto this people, who are a remnant of the house of Joseph. And behold, this is the land of your inheritance; and the Father hath given it unto you. And not at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell it unto your brethren of Jerusalem. Neither at any time hath the Father given me commandment, that I should tell unto them concerning the other tribes of the house of Israel, whom the Father hath led away out of the land. This much did the Father command me, that I should tell unto them: That 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. And now, because of stiffneckedness and unbelief they understood not my word; therefore I was commanded to say no more of the Father concerning this thing unto them. But, verily, I say unto you that the Father hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because of their iniquity that they knew not of you. And verily, I say unto you again, that the other tribes hath the Father separated from them; and it is because of their iniquity, that they know not of them,”—that is the ten tribes. “And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: 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. And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching. And they understood me not that I said they should hear my voice; and they understood me not that I said that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice— that I should not manifest myself unto them, save it were by the Holy Ghost. But behold, ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me.

“And verily, verily, I say unto you, that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about, whither I have been to minister. For they of whom I speak, are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them. But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them”—these other sheep he is now speaking of were the ten tribes whom he visited after he had visited the people on this land—“and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold, and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them. And I command you that ye shall write these sayings after I am gone, that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry, do not ask the Father in my name, that they may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost, and also of the other tribes whom they know not of, that these sayings which ye shall write shall be kept and shall be manifested unto the Gentiles,”—that is, they should come forth in the latter days, manifested unto the Gentiles as it has been to this great nation—“that through the fulness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer. And then will I gather them in from the four quarters of the earth; and then will I fulfill the covenant which the Father hath made unto all the people of the house of Israel.

“And blessed are the Gentiles, because of their belief in me, in and of the Holy Ghost, which witnesses unto them of me and of the Father. Behold, because of their belief in me, saith the Father, and because of the unbelief of you, O house of Israel, in the latter day shall the truth come unto the Gentiles, that the fulness of these things shall be made known unto them. But wo, saith the Father, unto the unbelieving of the Gentiles—for notwithstanding they have come forth upon the face of this land, and have scattered my people who are of the house of Israel; and my people who are of the house of Israel have been cast out from among them, and have been trodden under foot by them; And because of the mercies of the Father unto the Gentiles, and also the judgments of the Father upon my people, who are of the house of Israel, verily, verily, I say unto you, that after all this, and I have caused my people who are of the house of Israel to be smitten and to be afflicted, and to be slain, and to be cast out from among them, and to become hated by them, and to become a hiss and a byword among them.”—Has that been fulfilled? Have the Indians been hated? Have they been cast out and trodden under foot? Have they been despised? The people who are acquainted with the history of the Indians can answer this question.—“And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel”—that is the Gospel contained in this book which he promised to bring forth unto them—“and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth,”—you can judge whether this is true or not so far as the American nation is concerned—“and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and secret abominations; and if they shall do all those things, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my Gospel from among them.”

Now here is a point which I wish to speak upon and explain before I go on to the next sentence, which has a bearing upon something which we have yet got to do. The Lord has told us in this saying that if the Gentiles should not believe in this book—the fulness of the Gospel—and should be lifted up in their pride above all nations, and be filled with all manner of lyings, mischiefs, whoredoms, abominations and every kind of evil, that he would bring the fulness of his Gospel from among them. I wish to state that when I read this in 1830 it was a great mystery to me. Recollect this was written and printed before there was any Latter-day Saint Church in existence, and yet here was a prophecy that the Lord would bring the fulness of his Gospel from among the Gentiles if they did not receive it. When the Lord commanded us to go up and settle in Jackson County I thought to myself—“Well, if we build up a great city here, according to that which is predicted in the Book of Mormon, we shall be right in the midst of the Gentiles, and how will it be possible for that prophecy ever to be fulfilled?” It was a mystery to me, I could not see it. I knew it was true, for God had given me a witness and evidence that I knew as well as I knew that I lived that that book was true; but yet I could not understand how the Lord would bring the fulness of his Gospel from among the Gentiles if we were going to be permitted to build up a city in Jackson County, Missouri, and stay there. But some seventeen years after the rise of this Church circumstances rolled round by which the Lord fulfilled this prophecy in taking the main body of the people from among the Gentiles. Not voluntarily altogether, for we did not all feel perfectly willing to leave our houses. We had been driven four times before from lands and homes, and we did not really feel willing to leave; but still, rather than be shot down and mobbed, as many of our people had been, we concluded to move the fifth time, and we did so because we were obliged to, but little did we think then that we were fulfilling a prophecy in the Book of Mormon, such a thought had not entered into our hearts. But we were brought out west here to these mountains, and I do not know of another place on the face of this vast continent where we could have been so completely isolated from the Gentiles, the wicked who had rejected the Gospel, as we were by coming out en masse to this land. “If the Gentiles shall sin against the fulness of my Gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my Gospel from among them.” It was done, the prediction was fulfilled to the very letter. You might have passed through the land there for hundreds and hundreds of miles, from city to city, and inquired for an Elder who had authority to baptize for the remission of sins and to build up the Church and kingdom of God, and the answer would have been—“There is no such person here.” “Where are they?” “They have gone away beyond the Rocky Mountains,” more than a thousand miles away from civilization as they called it. When we got here and again searched the prophecies we found that the Lord had been as good as his word, and had literally fulfilled that which he had spoken concerning taking his Gospel from the midst of those who had sinned against and rejected it.

There is one thing which I am now about to read which has not yet been fulfilled, and which we must fulfill before Zion is redeemed. I will read it—“Behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my Gospel from among them, and then I will remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my Gospel unto them.” Now then, we are here in this land, the house of Israel are scattered all around us, some in the great basin, some in Arizona, some in Idaho, some in Colorado, some in Montana, some in one place, some in another; I refer to the American Indians, all remnants of Joseph and belonging to the house of Israel. They have become very degraded in consequence of the apostasy and wickedness of their ancient fathers. This people—the Latter-day Saints, before they can ever return to build up the waste places of Zion and receive their inheritances in Jackson County, Missouri, have got to exert themselves to bring the remnants of Joseph to a knowledge of the truth. We have not made any very great exertions in this direction unto the present time. The Lord has given us time since he brought the fulness of the Gospel from among the Gentiles to lay a foundation so that we could commence this missionary work in behalf of and among the remnants of Joseph. We have got the foundation laid, we have succeeded in building many cities, towns, villages, &c., for some four hundred miles north and south; we have got our farms fenced and our water ditches dug, and we have begun to prosper in the land, so that now, I think, is the time for us to wake up our minds in relation to the scattered remnants of the house of Israel.” “Behold, then I will remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my Gospel unto them.”

It seems that the Lord is working among that people, and that he is determined this prophecy shall be fulfilled whether we take it in hand or not. What do my ears hear? What do we all hear? Messengers are visiting these wild tribes in the basin, and in the regions round about hundreds of miles apart. These messengers come to them, and they speak in their own language in great plainness, and tell them what to do; they tell them to repent of their sins and to be baptized for the remission thereof; tell them also to cease roaming over the country and to cultivate the land; tell them to go to the Elders of this Church and receive the ordinances under their hands.

Who are these messengers? Read the Book of Mormon and you will find what God promised to do for the remnants of Joseph fourteen hundred years ago, about the time that most of them were becoming wicked and corrupt. The Lord said when their record should come forth in the latter days that he would send his messengers to them, and among these messengers he mentioned three persons who lived some eighteen hundred years ago, three of the Twelve who were chosen on this land. The Lord made a promise to these three that they should administer, as holy mes– sengers in the latter days, for and in behalf of the remnants of the house of Israel, which should fall into a low and degraded condition in consequence of the great wickedness and apostasy of their ancient fathers; that they should be instruments in his hands in bringing these remnants to the knowledge of the truth. We hear that these messengers have come, not in one instance alone, but in many instances. Already we have heard of some fourteen hundred Indians, and I do not know but more, who have been baptized. Ask them why they have come so many hundred miles to find Elders of the Church and they will reply—“Such a person came to us, he spoke in our language, instructed us and told us what to do, and we have come in order to comply with his requirements.”

Perhaps you may inquire—“May not this great work, the redemption of these Indian tribes, take place after we have returned to our inheritances?” No doubt but what there will be a great work transpire among the Indians after we do return; but let me say to you that there will also be a great work performed among them before we return to receive our inheritances and before the redemption of Zion. In order to prove this I will read what Jesus has said further on this subject. After having foretold a great many things that should transpire in the latter days our Lord and Savior also spoke of that portion of the Gentiles which would repent and receive this book called the Book of Mormon, and he makes the following promise unto them—“If they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my Church among them.” This the Lord has done, and the Church now numbers over a hundred thousand right here in this great desert. “I will establish my Church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among those of the remnant of Jacob unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance.”

A great many have desired to know what this means. Are you Mormons going to be numbered with them and wander about with them in these mountains? Are you going to hunt as they hunt, and lead a wild, nomadic, vagabond life as they do? No. What is the meaning of it then? The meaning of it is this—the Lord God made a promise to the forefathers of the Indians, about six hundred years before Christ, that all this continent should be given to them and to their children after them for an everlasting inheritance; and he made a promise also by the mouth of Nephi, one of the first colonists who came from Jerusalem, some twenty-four hundred years ago, that, when the Gentiles in the latter days should come forth upon the face of this land and receive the records of the descendants of those ancient colonists, they should be numbered with the remnants of Jacob in the inheritance of the land. Not numbered with them to come down to their foolish, degraded, wicked, warlike customs, but numbered with them in the inheritance of the land.

Another thing mentioned in prophecy is that they, “the Gentiles,” shall assist my people, the house of Israel, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem; and then shall they assist my people, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, that may be gathered in unto the New Jerusalem; and then shall the power of heaven come down and be in the midst of this people, and I also will be in their midst. 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, in that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people.”

What I wish to call your special attention to now, so far as these sayings are concerned, is this—the Latter-day Saints in these mountains never can have the privilege of going back to Jackson County and building that city which is to be called the New Jerusalem, upon the spot that was appointed by revelation through the Prophet Joseph, until quite a large portion of the remnants of Joseph go back with us. Now then, here is a work for us, and we have no need to pray the Father to return us to Jackson County until that work is done. We can pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus, to convert these Indian tribes around us, and bring them to a knowledge of the truth, that they may fulfill the things contained in the Book of Mormon. And then when we do return, taking them with us, that they shall be instructed not only in relation to their fathers and the Gospel contained in the record of their fathers, but also in the arts and sciences. They will also be instructed to cultivate the earth, to build buildings as we do, instructed how to build Temples and in the various branches of industry practiced by us; and then, after having received this information and instruction, we shall have the privilege of helping them to build the New Jerusalem. The Lord says—“They,” the Gentiles, who believe in the Book of Mormon, “shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.”

Now, a great many, without read– ing these things, have flattered themselves that we are the ones who are going to do all this work. It is not so; we have got to be helpers, we have got to be those who cooperate with the remnants of Joseph in accomplishing this great work; for the Lord will have respect unto them, because they are of the blood of Israel, and the promises of their fathers extend to them, and they will have the privilege of building that city, according to the pattern that the Lord shall give. Do not misunderstand me, do not think that all the Lamanite tribes are going to be converted and receive this great degree of education and civilization before we can return to Jackson County. Do not think this for a moment, it will only be a remnant; for when we have laid the foundation of that city and have built a portion of it, and have built a Temple therein, there is another work which we have got to do in connection with these remnants of Jacob whom we shall assist in building the city. What is it? We have got to be sent forth as missionaries to all parts of this American continent. Not to the Gentiles, for their times will be fulfilled; but we must go to all those tribes that roam through the cold regions of the north—British America, to all the tribes that dwell in the Territories of the United States, also to all those who are scattered through Mexico, and Central and South America, and the object of our going will be to declare the principles of the Gospel unto them, and bring them to a knowledge of the truth. “Then shall they assist my people who are scattered on all the face of the land, that they may be gathered in to the New Jerusalem.”

Will not this be a great work? It will take a good while to gather all these tribes of South America, for some of them will have to come from five to eight thousand miles in order to reach the New Jerusalem. This will be quite a work, and yet we shall have to perform it after the city is built.

What then? After they are all gathered, “then shall the powers of heaven come down and be in the midst of this people, and I also will be in your midst.” Now I do not say that this will be a period after his second coming in the clouds of heaven, but I believe that it will be a coming prior to that time, when he comes to manifest himself to all the nations and kindreds of the earth. It will be a fulfillment of that saying in the Psalms of David—“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock. Stir up thy strength and come and save us.” He is called, in a peculiar manner, the shepherd of Israel. This is what is meant also in the blessing of Jacob upon the twelve tribes of Israel, or more especially upon the tribe of Joseph. You recollect he called up his twelve sons to bestow upon them his last prophetic blessing. He told them that he would inform them what should take place in the latter days. Joseph, he said, is a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. As much as to say that the descendants of Joseph would be so numerous that they would not all stay on the old homestead near Jerusalem, but some of them would run over the wall, that is, go to some other place. “The archers have sorely grieved him, they have shot at him and hated him, but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hand of the mighty God of Jacob; from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel.”

Now who can explain and tell us what this means? Can any of the wise commentators of the day? Can any of those who have studied theology all their lifetime, tell us why it is from Joseph that the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel is to be made manifest? Says one—“It cannot have reference to his birth, because Jesus descended from Judah, instead of Joseph, out of the loins of Judah, through the lineage of David. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” Why then this peculiar saying of the old Prophet Jacob, about the tribe of Joseph, that from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, if he was not born of Joseph, and did not descend through that tribe? This is a very curious kind of a saying. But he will be made manifest in the character of a shepherd, and that shepherd will lead Joseph as a flock, and he will stir up his strength and will save the house of Joseph. But it will be in his own time and way. First, a remnant will be converted; second, Zion will be redeemed, and all among the Gentiles who believe will assist this remnant of Jacob in building the New Jerusalem; third, a vast number of missionaries will be sent throughout the length and breadth of this great continent, to gather all the dispersed of his people in unto the New Jerusalem; fourth, the power of heaven will be made manifest in the midst of this people, and the Lord also will be in their midst, in the character of a shepherd, and he will lead Joseph as a flock, and he will instruct and counsel them personally as he did their ancient fathers in the days of their righteousness.

This is what we must look for—these are the things that must be fulfilled, and for which we must seek and pray in an understanding manner. Not asking God to redeem Zion before he has redeemed a portion of the remnants of Joseph; not ask– ing God to establish this people upon their inheritances in Jackson County, until the other things are fulfilled in their order, and in their times and seasons.

Perhaps some may inquire—“Have you any idea, brother Pratt, how we will be redeemed when we have accomplished this work you have spoken of?” Not much, I do not pretend to have a great deal of understanding upon the subject; but there are some few things revealed, some of which I read to you at the commencement of my remarks. Speaking of the redemption of this people, the Lord says—“Behold I will raise up a man like unto Moses.” This did not mean Joseph Smith, he was already raised up and was among us. He was the one who received that revelation; he was the one who brought to light the Book of Mormon, and translated it by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. But the Lord, who understands the end from the beginning, saw that when his work was completed, he would be taken away, and that another would be raised up. When this was first given I used to inquire, in my own mind, whether it meant Joseph, and I got it into my heart that Joseph, perhaps, would lead us until he became a very old man; I was in hopes all the time that such would be the case. I, like many others, did not seem to understand that this was a prediction of the future.

When Joseph was taken away, and our beloved brother, President Young, was appointed to take the lead, and received the keys and the power of the holy Priesthood that had been conferred upon Joseph, I was in hopes that he might be the man, and I still have a lingering hope that such may be the case. But he is now becoming aged, and how long the Lord will bless us with his presence I do not know, but this much I do know, that either he will be preserved, or that some other personage will be raised to fulfill that prophecy. “Behold I say unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by power, therefore I will raise up unto my people a man who shall lead them like as Moses led the children of Israel, for ye are the children of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham, and ye must needs be led out of bondage by power, with an outstretched arm, and as your fathers were led at the first, even so shall the redemption of Zion be.”

It seems then that this people, at some future time in their sojourn here in this land, may possibly be in bondage greater than they are at the present time. I try to hope for the best, and to think that the bondage we are in and have been in for years, in consequence of the efforts of those who are striving to take away our rights as American citizens, and to trample us down in the dust; I say I have been in hopes that that would be all the bondage that was meant here in this prophecy, but I do not know but what there may be a greater signification to these words. I do not know what the purposes of the Lord are in relation to this particular thing. It may be that we shall have our rights completely taken from us; it may be, if we do not live sufficiently faithful before the Lord, that he will yet bring us into still greater tribulation than that which we have hitherto had. It may be that we shall yet be in bondage like the Israelites in the land of Egypt; for the Lord has said that, when this man should be raised up, he would redeem his people by power out of bondage, and they should be led as their fathers were led at the first. Says the Lord—“I say not unto you as I said unto your fathers—’mine angel shall go before you, but not my presence’—but I say unto you that mine angels shall go before you, and also my presence.” It was, in ancient days, a great calamity to Israel, when the Lord swore in his wrath that he would not go up in their midst, but that he would send an angel before them. Why did the Lord do this? Because of the wickedness and stiffneckedness of that people. He had redeemed them out of the land of Egypt, and they would not hearken to the words of Moses, they would not obey the voice of the Lord, but they stiffened their necks and hardened their hearts against the counsels that they received, and for this reason the Lord was under the necessity of leading them for forty years in the wilderness, considering them unworthy to go into their choice and promised land, and he swore an oath that all of that company—hundreds of thousands—who had come out of the land of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, except Joshua and Caleb, should not enter into the Land of Promise, so great was their wickedness; and he fulfilled his word. So provoked was he on one occasion at their rebellion, that he threatened to consume them in a moment, but Moses plead with the Lord to spare his people, lest the people around about should say that the Lord could not bring his people into the Promised Land. Moses said—“Remember thy covenant which thou didst make with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our fathers, that they and their seed should have this land for an everlasting inheritance.” “No,” said the Lord, “I can raise up seed unto you Moses, that you may go in and possess the land.” “No,” said Moses, “remember that ancient covenant, that thy people may not be deprived of their inheritance;” and the Lord finally concluded to hearken to the voice of Moses, and to let them go into the land. But said he—“My presence shall not go up with you, lest I break forth upon you in my wrath, and you be consumed in a moment, but I will send an angel with you.”

In these last days, in redeeming his people from bondage he has told us in plain words, that his angel should go before us and also his presence; and as, in the deliverance of Israel in ancient times the waters were divided and plagues sent forth upon the Egyptian nation, it would not surprise me at all if there should be similar power manifested in the redemption of Zion. There may be a few individuals go to prepare the way, to purchase a little more land and get things in orders; but when that is accomplished, this people as a body will return to that land, the Lord going with them.

In ancient times, so long as the Lord did continue with Israel, he manifested his glory over their camp by a cloud by day; and whenever the cloud arose they followed it, and wherever it rested, there they pitched their tents and remained until the cloud moved again, when they again journeyed on. Now, if Zion is to be redeemed after the same manner, you need not be surprised if the Lord God should let his glory, in the form of a cloud by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night, be over all the camp of Zion. This is what I look for; perhaps I am a little enthusiastic, but it is really what I look for and expect; and when the Lord says that his presence shall go with us, I expect he will be in the midst of this people as he was in the midst of ancient Israel until they rejected him from their midst.

Did he converse with them in the wilderness before he left them?

Yes, he talked with them out of a burning cloud in the burning mount, he spoke in their ears by the voice of a trump, and sounded in the ears of all the house of Israel the ten commandments, and they all, men, women and children, heard it. Do I look for similar manifestations of God’s power and presence when Zion is redeemed? I do. He may not come down upon any mountains, but he will converse with this people as audibly to men, women and children, as he did in ancient times. Zion must needs be redeemed by power, with an outstretched arm, the angel of the Lord going before the camp of this people, and they will return, and a remnant of the Lamanites with them to build up the city of Zion in Jackson County.

How about our inheritance when we get back there, our farms, &c.? We need give ourselves no uneasiness about that, there will be no speculation, no grabbing in those days; no one to say—“I am going to take up all the land round about so that I can speculate with it in selling it to my brethren.” No such thing as this, not a solitary soul among all the Latter-day Saints will receive an inheritance in this way. Another person is to come for the special purpose of dividing to the Saints their inheritances. “Behold,” saith the Lord God, “I will send one mighty and strong, clothed with light as with a garment, whose bowels shall be a fountain of truth, who shall utter words, eternal words, and who shall divide to the Saints their inheritances by lot.”

Have you read this revelation? It was published in the fourteenth volume of the “Millennial Star,” and it has been published in other publications. Says one—“If the inheritances of the Saints are to be apportioned by lot, a good man, perhaps, will be put off with the poorest inheritance, and some not so good will get some of the best, it is all haphazard.” Oh no, we find that lots cast by divine appointment in ancient times were cast upon a principle which designated the very thing which the Lord desired. How was it on a certain occasion about casting lots to discover the transgressor among all the hosts of Israel? A certain man had taken a gold wedge, and the people had been forbidden to take it. No one knew anything about it, but the transgressor, and he hid it in the earth. Lots were cast and the lot fell upon a certain tribe, it did not designate the man at first; they cast lots again, and it fell upon a certain portion of that tribe; they cast lots again, and it fell on a certain family, and finally it fell on a certain man in that family, and being called up, it proved that he was the very man among all the hundreds of thousands of Israel. Now here was a casting of lots by divine appointment, and the Lord, who orders all these things well, caused the very thing to be revealed according to his own mind. And when the lots are cast for this people to receive their inheritances, the Lord will so order it that every man will be rewarded according to his works, and that too by lot, however great the miracle may be.

Now I have told you about all I know, so far as it is revealed, concerning the redemption of Zion. There is one little thing, however, that I wish to name—that there will be quite a company of us before the redemption of Zion. Saith the Lord, in a certain revelation—“Let mine army become very great, and let it become sanctified before me, that they may be as fair as the sun, as clear as the moon, that their banners may be terrible unto all the nations of the earth.” We learn from this declaration of the Lord, that before Zion is redeemed we are to be quite a numerous people; and this agrees with what is in the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah—“A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation.” That is our destiny. However much our enemies may howl, whatever may be our future tribulations, the Lord God has decreed that Zion shall become a strong nation, that the armies of Israel shall become very great, and not only very great, but they will be sanctified before him, and there will be such a power made manifest in their midst, that their banners will be terrible to all the nations of the earth. They will not be terrible because we outnumber the nations, but this terror of Zion which will be among the nations, will be because of the power of the great Jehovah that will be manifested in their midst, something that the nations will discern and understand; and when telegraphic dispatches are sent forth to the most distant parts of the earth, it will be said—“Who can stand before the armies of Zion? Behold, the Lord God is with them as a cloud by day, and as a pillar of fire by night.” Fear will seize upon the nations of the earth, and the banners of Zion will be terrible.

These are some few things pertaining to the redemption of Zion. I would to the Lord that we were righteous enough to know a few more! There are a great many things that I would like to know about the redemption of Zion that I do not know, and I presume that you also would like to know them. But what the Lord has revealed is very plain when connected together; and when we reflect upon it, it is aston– ishing to us to think that in our day the Lord has decreed to perform such a great work in the midst of the earth. It will be astonishing to us when the time comes for the Lord to gather in, from every part of this great continent, these poor, miserable, degraded Lamanites, that his servants may have power over them in order to bring them to civilization. It looks impossible to us, but remember that that is the day of the Lord’s power, and that then will be fulfilled the saying in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that the Spirit of the Lord shall be shed forth upon the hearts of those who are ordained to that power; that every man among these remnants of Joseph will hear the Gospel in his own tongue, by the power of the Holy Ghost shed forth upon those who are ordained unto this power. There is such a saying as that in the Book of Covenants, and when that day comes the Lord God will work mightily by signs, wonders and miracles in various ways that will have an influence over these remnants of Joseph to convert them and bring them to a knowledge of the truth, that the prayers of their ancient fathers, and of the Prophets and Elders who once dwelt on this American continent, may be fulfilled upon their heads.

I do not know that I have done justice to the subject of the redemption of Zion; if I have not, it is because I do not sufficiently understand it. I do not know that I know anything in relation to the matter only what God has revealed. I have had no vision, no revelation in relation to that particular subject; yet I know, from what has been revealed to me, that these things are true, and that, in their times and seasons, every jot and every tittle thereof will be fulfilled. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms, Sunday Afternoon, November 15, 1874.

We profess, Latter-day Saints, to be living in a dispensation called the dispensation of the fulness of times, a dispensation commenced and committed to men in our age by the administration of angels, by the revelations of the Holy Ghost, by bringing forth the word of God to the people, by restoring authority to the children of men to administer the ordinances of the Gospel, and by committing to them a message which is required to be published among the inhabitants of the earth. It is very evident from what was declared by the ancient Apostle that another dispensation after his day was to be introduced among the inhabitants of the earth. We read, in the first chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times all things that are in Christ shall be gathered together in one. It is in accordance, therefore, with this dispensation that we see the people gathering here in this Territory and extending their settlements east and west, north and south. But we are only a very few of the people that God intends to gather together in one in this dispensation. It is literally a dispensation of gathering, not merely a gathering together of those who are here on the earth in the flesh; but before it is completed all things in Christ which are in heaven will also be gathered and united with those who are in Christ on the earth. We have but barely commenced in this glorious dispensation. The Church has been organized by divine revelation, angels have appeared, the apostolic authority has been restored by the ministration of angels, and the kingdom of God has been set up in fulfillment of the promise made to the ancient Prophet Daniel—a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, never again be rooted out of the earth and never be committed to another people, but it shall continue forever while all human governments, of whatever name they shall be, will be rooted out of the earth by the divine judgments that will take place as the kingdom of God rolls forth among the nations. This is clearly foretold by nearly all the Prophets whose words are recorded in the divine Scriptures. They have spoken of the day when the Gospel should be restored; they have spoken of the period in which the kingdom of God should be set up and what it should accomplish; they have spoken of the signs that should be made manifest in those days both in the heavens and upon the earth; they have told us concerning the gathering, not only of the literal descendants of Israel, from the four quarters of the earth, but also of the gathering of all the Saints. These are matters so clearly foretold that I have often wondered in my own mind that people professing to believe the Bible and to receive the plain and pointed instructions contained therein, have not been looking for a dispensation connected with all these events that I have named.

What can possibly be the meaning, Latter-day Saints, of that prediction in the revelations of St. John, that another angel should fly through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, to every nation and kindred and people and tongue, Saying with a loud voice—“Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters!” What can possibly be the meaning of this prediction and vision of John in relation to the future and the hour of God’s judgment if there never was to be another dispensation made manifest to the children of men? Certainly, before John saw this vision the Gospel had been very extensively preached among the inhabitants of the earth, to both Jews and Gentiles, so much so that Paul, prior to this time, speaking upon the subject of the preaching of the Gospel, says it had been preached to every creature under heaven, “whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.” It seems, according to his declaration, that he had an understanding in some way, either by revelation or from some other source, that the Gospel that was committed in his day had already been preached before his death to every creature under heaven; yet John, after this period, while on the Island of Patmos, after having written several epistles to the churches that were built up called the seven churches, and reproved them for their wickedness, apostasy and lukewarmness, threatening to remove their candlesticks out of their places, and fighting them with the spirit of his mouth; after having seen all this in vision on Patmos and writing to these churches, had presented before him a scene that was still in the future—a scene of darkness, apostasy, sin and corruption, wherein all nations should be more or less overcome, and during which certain powers should arise and fight against the kingdom of God, and make war with and overcome the Saints, and then another power should be established on the earth under the name of “The Mother of Harlots”—an ecclesiastical power, described as a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, having a golden cup in her hands full of the filthiness and abominations of the earth, causing all nations to drink out of that cup, and making them drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornication. John saw this portrayed among the events that were to take place after his day. He saw the Saints overpowered and, as the Apostle Paul had clearly predicted, a great falling away take place, and that men should be lovers of their own selves, proud boasters, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, &c., having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. This was clearly seen by the revelator on Patmos, as well as by the Apostle Paul. After having seen this, beholding all nations overcome, all people, kindred and tongues worshiping according to the creeds and ceremonies of this great ecclesiastical power that had risen, and supping out of the golden cup, the angel who revealed these things to John, in order to encourage him, showed that this wickedness would not always continue among the nations, and also gave him a view of the manner in which God would again visit the inhabitants of the earth, and he uses this prediction which I have quoted about the coming of another angel.

It seems that this angel was to come at a period when there would be no nation, kindred, tongue or people on the whole earth that had the power and authority to administer the Gospel of Christ. The ancient Apostles had very different views on this subject from those entertained by the divines of the present day. Almost all Christian denominations suppose that there have been Christian churches on the earth ever since the days of the Apostles, according to the New Testament pattern; but the ancient Apostles saw that, instead of being churches of Christ, they would have a form of godliness, denying the power, in other words, they would have no power to administer the Gospel as it was administered in ancient times; and this apostasy should be so universal in its nature that all people, nations and kindreds upon the face of the whole globe should be overcome by it, so much so that there should be no Christian church left, no people left that should have authority, no people left that could administer the ordinances of the Gospel, and hence it needed to be restored from heaven, and the method of its restoration was to be by an angel from heaven.

If we go among all these different denominations calling themselves Christians, and enquire of them if God has sent an angel, the answer of every soul will be—“No angel has come in our day. God sent angels to the Christian church in the primitive ages of Christianity, but now, for something like seventeen hundred years we have not been visited by angels, and no new message has been given.” This will be their declaration throughout the four quarters of the globe, wherever Christian churches, so called, are organized. Go to the great Mother Church, the oldest in existence among those professing Christianity, and make the enquiry of her members, and they will make the same declaration—“No message later than that given in the New Testament. God has said nothing by new revelation to guide our church. The holy Scriptures and the traditions handed down from the fathers are our rules of faith and practice.” Go to the Greek church, which separated from the Roman Catholics, the members of which are now so numerous that they number their millions, and ask them if they have received any message from God, and they will give an answer similar to that given by the Catholics—“Nothing new, our ecclesiastical authorities, archbishops, cardinals, etc., do not reveal anything new.” This you will find recorded in their writings. They declare that it is their business to interpret the old and to bring forth what the ancient fathers have said, and the church must be guided by these interpretations, and by the decrees of its uninspired authorities. Thus we may trace the Christian world in the four quarters thereof, and we shall find that they all acknowledge and declare that this angel, spoken of by John the Revelator, has never appeared to any of them.

Suppose that we now enquire of the Latter-day Saints. What do you believe, Latter-day Saints, about this matter? Why your universal answer is—“We as a people, without one dissenting voice, believe with all our hearts that God has sent his angel from heaven and restored the everlasting gospel in all its fulness.” What do you say, you missionaries, elders and high priests, and you seventies and apostles who have gone forth during the last forty-four years, and published these tidings in the four quarters of the globe? Why your universal answer is—“Wherever we have been we have published that which we were commanded—namely, that God has sent his angel from heaven, that that angel, by his administrations in our day, has brought to light a sacred record called the Book of Mormon, containing the fulness of the everlasting gospel as it was preached in ancient times upon this American Continent among the forefathers of the Indians.” This has been your testimony for almost half a century has it? Yes. Why did you bear this testimony among the people? Because you were commanded to do so, it was a message committed to you, and if you had not fulfilled the requirement given in the commandment you would have been under condemnation.

Then so far as the faith of this people is concerned, it is consistent with the prediction that was uttered by the Apostle John. John said that such should be the case, the Latter-day Saints say that such is the case; one predicted that it should be in the future, the other declares that is has already come to pass, and that God, in our day, has commissioned that angel and that he has appeared unto some, and through them, committed the fulness of the everlasting gospel to the human family and commanded them to bear record of it to all people. There is nothing inconsistent so far as this item of faith is concerned.

But here will arise a question in the minds of some who have not investigated this subject; they will admit that, if our testimony is true, the message which we proclaim is one of the most important that has been committed to man for seventeen hundred years past. This all will admit; for this message does not concern one nation alone, but all nations, for, as John stated, it is to be declared to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Why? Because none of them had the gospel at the time it was revealed, that is the reason. If there had been one little corner of the earth where the gospel was preached and its ordinances administered by divine authority, there would have been no necessity for its restoration by an angel, all we would have had to do would have been to hunt up that little corner of the earth, where some tongue or people had the gospel and the church organized among them; they could have baptized and confirmed us, and administered to us the sacrament and all the blessings of the gospel. But from the very fact that there were no such people on the earth in the four quarters thereof, it had to be restored anew from heaven. This is our testimony, and it is plain and pointed, but the query is, among those who have not investigated it—“Is this true?”

Among the evidences that have accompanied the committing of this gospel to men in our day by an angel, let me refer you to those which were given before this church arose, when Joseph Smith, that farmer’s boy, was commanded to go to the hill Cumorah and take from the place of their deposit the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and to translate them. When he was commanded to do this work, and while in the act of doing it, the Lord God sent his angel to three men besides the translator, and to these men the angel exhibited, leaf by leaf, the unsealed portion of these plates, and at the same time the voice of the Lord from heaven was heard, testifying that the work had been translated correctly, and commanding them to bear witness of it unto all people, nations and tongues to whom this work should be sent. They, therefore, prefix their testimony in the Book of Mormon to that effect, testifying to the ministration of the angel, to seeing the plates and the engravings thereon, and to its correct translation.

Here then, were four witnesses—the translator and three others, before the rise of this church, who testify that God sent his angel. It is not a speculation with them, but something absolutely certain. They could not be deceived in relation to this matter. Joseph Smith could not be deceived when the angel told him to go and obtain these plates, and gave him a vision of the very place where they were deposited, and he actually ob– tained them, and with them the Urim and Thummim, by which he translated them. There was no possibility of his being deceived in relation to the matter. And when these three men, in answer to their prayers, saw the angel in his glory, saw him descend from heaven clothed with glory, saw him take these plates, saw them in his hands, heard the voice of God from heaven bearing testimony to the correctness of the translation, commanding them to bear witness to all people, they could not be deceived in relation to this matter, it was something positive to them; and if you say they were deceived, with the same propriety an infidel may say that all the prophets from Adam down to the days of John, who professed to see angels, were deceived; with the same propriety they could contend against the holy Scriptures on the same ground that many would contend against the testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Were there any others who saw the plates besides these four men? Yes. How many? Eight, all before this church was organized. These eight witnesses have also given their testimony, and it is prefixed to the Book of Mormon. The eight did not see the angel, but they saw the plates, and they testify that they handled them, and saw the engravings thereon, all of which had the appearance of ancient workmanship, and, in the close of their testimony they say—“And this we bear testimony of, and we lie not, God bearing witness of it.”

This makes twelve witnesses to the original of the Book of Mormon. Would to God that we had twelve witnesses to the original of the Bible, so that it might stand on equal testimony with the Book of Mormon! But, alas, there is not one original in existence that we know of, and neither has there been for many generations past, of any one book of the Bible from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation. Says one—“Do you mean to say that King James’ translators did not translate the Bible from the original?” Yes that is what I say. They translated it from the language of certain manuscripts, which language, of course, was not the English language; but they did not translate from the original. Why? Because, for aught we know, these manuscripts might have been the 999th copy from the original. There might have been two thousand copies handed from one scribe to another and transcribed instead of the original. Indeed, what man for the last ten centuries has ever seen one of the originals of the Bible? I do not know of any, and we have no account in history, either sacred or profane, that the original has ever been seen by any person for the last ten or twelve centuries; but we have the testimony of many learned men, men who profess Christianity and to believe the Bible, that, in gathering together the most original manuscripts they could find and comparing them one with another—manuscripts in the Hebrew, Greek and other ancient languages—they found that they contradicted one another, and that there are something like thirty thousand different readings among those different manuscripts. Some of these learned men have collected together an immense quantity of these different manuscripts and have expended large fortunes in so doing. For what purpose? That they might translate them into the English language; but when they came to compare them they found such a variety of contradictions that they gave the task up in despair. Others have taken such manuscripts as they could get hold of, and have done the best they could. One thing is certain, King James’ translators, being among the wisest men and greatest scholars of their day, did justice to the subject as far as it was possible by uninspired men.

Now the Christian world believe the Bible, so do the Latter-day Saints. We believe that the original was just as true as the Book of Mormon, that is our faith; and that the Book of Mormon is just as true as the original books of the Bible. The world believe that the Bible is a divine record, but on what evidence do they believe it? Certainly not because there is the testimony of any parties who ever saw the original. Here, then, we bring forth the Book of Mormon to you, and we present to you twelve witnesses who have seen the original of that book. Do you not perceive that, so far as this one species of evidence is concerned, the Book of Mormon is supported by a greater amount of evidence than the Bible? Is there one person among all the Christian churches and denominations, for the last sixteen centuries, who knows the Bible to be true by the ministration of an holy angel? No, not a single individual, for according to the testimony of all the Christian sects, during the whole of that time no angel has been sent and nothing new has been revealed.

If it be true that God has not revealed anything since the days of John the Revelator, then no person has had a knowledge given him as to the truth of the Bible. But how is it with the Book of Mormon? Four men have seen an angel. Now compare or contrast this evidence concerning the two books. These four men were men of your own times, men whom you could cross-question, witnesses whom you had the privilege of interrogating in relation to their testimony. But we are told that the Bible bears record of its own divinity, and that the Saints who lived in ancient days did see angels. Now suppose we admit that the Bible does bear testimony of its own divinity. Turn to and read the declarations of Nephi and Alma, and of the prophet Jacob, and many other prophets who wrote the various books in the Book of Mormon, and they bear testimony that they saw angels. The Bible bears testimony that the prophets who wrote the various books which it contains did the same. Now put one on a par with the other and, so far as that species of evidence is concerned, one is just equal to the other.

Again, the Bible says, in giving a commission to the ancient apostles to go and preach the gospel, that certain signs should follow all the believers throughout the whole world. “Go ye forth and preach the gospel to every creature under heaven, he that believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name they shall cast out devils.” Mark, now, not the apostles alone, they were not the only ones whom these signs should follow, but they were to follow every creature in all the world who should believe, making it as definite and unlimited as possible. They were not only to have salvation, but they were to be blessed with certain signs following them. What were they? “In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not harm them, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” Certain definite promises were made to the believers by which they could distinguish themselves from all the rest of mankind, and it is recorded in the following verses of the same chapter, that the apostles went everywhere preaching the word, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by signs following.

What are we to understand by confirming the word with signs following? Are we to understand that the Apostles alone confirmed the word? No. There were certain signs which were to follow the believers wherever they preached. The promise was to every creature in all the world. They went everywhere and preached this word, and the Lord wrought with them by confirming the word to every believer throughout all the world, by causing the promise to be fulfilled to those believers. Here then, the believers had no particular necessity for asking the apostles to perform miracles, for they themselves were blessed with certain miraculous signs, and the Lord confirmed these signs upon them, so that they were not obliged to seek foreign testimony, or for miracles wrought by somebody else, for every person, male or female, who believed and obeyed that gospel, obtained for himself, the signs promised. This is what the Scriptures inform us, and in this dispensation, when God revealed this Gospel anew, and sent his angel and organized his church, and sent forth his servants, the same promise was made as to the ancient Saints. I can read it here in this book, for this is the book of the revelations and commandments that was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith before the rise of this church, and a short period after its rise. In this book we find recorded something like this—“As I said unto mine ancient apostles I say unto you”—speaking to the elders of this church—“go ye forth among all the nations, preaching my gospel; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name they shall cast out devils, in my name they shall open the eyes of the blind, they shall unstop the ears of the deaf, they shall cause the tongue of the dumb to speak, and the lame man to leap as a hart.” This promise was not made to the elders alone who went forth in this dispensation, but to all throughout the world who believe in their testimony.

This was pretty bold language to be used if Joseph Smith was really an impostor; if he was an impostor he, in using such language and making such a promise, laid the foundation for the overthrow of his own system. It is a very easy matter to make a promise of this kind, nothing is easier than that; but to fulfill that promise is altogether another thing. Here was a promise made in the very early rise of this church, upwards of forty years ago, that certain signs should follow them that received and obeyed this gospel. Let us inquire on this subject, for this is one species of evidence that is dwelt upon by the opposers of this work wherever we go. When the elders came to you Latter-day Saints, in the various nations where you resided, and preached the gospel to you, did the Lord confirm these promises unto you, or did he not? You can hear the united testimony of some fifty or a hundred thousand people dwelling in this Territory, that God did truly and in reality confirm this promise unto his servants, and unto his handmaidens while in the different nations from which they emigrated; that he did cause the blind to see, the lame to walk, the tongue of the dumb to speak, and that he did cause his power to be made manifest in very deed, just as the promise was given.

Here then, was a vast cloud of witnesses, some fifty thousand living witnesses. Can we find one living witness who will bear such evidence as this to the truth of the Bible? No. Go among all the Christian denominations and ask them—“Are you believers?” “O yes, we are believers.” “Do the signs follow you that Jesus said should follow the believers?” What is their answer? No, almost without an exception. There may be some few exceptions; but what was the universal answer before spiritualism commenced, before the days in which Joseph brought forth this work, and for some few years after, among the Christian denominations? It was—“No, God has not shown forth any of those signs that he said should follow the believers.” Why then do you call yourselves believers? If God has not confirmed the word to you by signs following, how do you know that you are believers? May it not be that you are deceiving yourselves? May it not be that you have merely got a form of godliness, and that the power does not attend you? According to their own testimony they have no right nor authority to call themselves believers; and the promise contained in the Bible, made to believers, have never been confirmed to any of the so-called Christian sects since the days that King James’ translators translated them. But when we take the Book of Mormon and examine it on this kind of evidence we have fifty thousand witnesses ready to testify to the fulfillment of these promises, many of them having experienced the fulfillment thereof in their own persons, while others have seen the manifestations of God’s power in healing the sick and afflicted among his people from time to time; consequently the Latter-day Saints have fifty thousand times more evidence so far as the signs following are concerned, of the divinity of the Book of Mormon than what the Christian world have of the divinity of the book called the Bible.

Moreover there is another kind of evidence which the Lord promised before the rise of this church, when he conferred the apostleship again upon the heads of the children of men, and gave them authority to preach this gospel and to administer its ordinances; he told them that they should preach the gospel, and that they should baptize every penitent believer who desired baptism, and that they should lay their hands upon the heads of those penitent believers in confirmation, pronouncing, by the authority of their apostleship and office and calling, the Holy Ghost upon those baptized believers; and God promised, before the rise of this church, that every soul among all people, nations and tongues that would receive this gospel with full purpose of heart, should be baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands of his servants. It is a very easy matter for an impostor to make a promise of this kind, but supposing it should not be fulfilled, supposing that the Holy Ghost did not come upon the people, in the course of one or two years the believers, so called, in Mormonism would all apostatize, they would very naturally say—“the promise was made that we should receive the Holy Ghost through the ordinance of the laying on of hands, and yet we have not received it.” “Here is the promise that we should heal the sick, and that the various signs should follow us, but these promises have not been fulfilled we turn away from your system with disgust, we do not believe there is any authority in it,” and Mormonism would soon have been banished out of existence. But what are the facts? The fact that there is now a hundred thousand Latter-day Saints gathered from the various nations of the earth into these mountain regions proves to me beyond dispute or controversy that they did realize the promise, namely, that the Holy Ghost did rest upon them, and that by virtue of that gift they did receive revelation and visions and prophecies and the word of the Lord to themselves, and knew of a surety that this was the work of God; and in consequence of this knowledge, not mere faith, but in consequence of this knowledge which they received in their own native lands they gathered up here to this land. It would require a great degree of faith to induce people to forsake their own lands and the homes and graves of their ancestors, to come across the ocean some three thousand miles, then take an inland journey of two or three thousand miles or more, and come to a desert country, as we did when we first settled this land; I say it would require a great deal of faith to induce people to do this. But let me tell you that it was not by faith alone that the believers in the system established by the Prophet Joseph Smith did this; it was something beyond faith—they obtained a knowledge before they started. There may have been some exceptions, but many of them obtained a knowledge before they left their native countries that this was the work of God. You obtained this knowledge through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; the gifts of that Spirit were manifest among you as they were among the members of the ancient Church, and by its inspiration you were edified and instructed, and you received a knowledge, in fulfillment of the promise of Jesus made in ancient times—“If any man will do the will of my Father, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” In the first place, they have to believe before they can do the will of the Father; but belief and knowledge are two very different things. By faith, without a knowledge, many repent and obey the ordinances of the Gospel, and then they receive a testimony to themselves, some in one way, some in another; some by having visions given to them, some by the ministrations of holy messengers, some by the healing of the sick, some by the revelations and inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

These are the evidences then which we have to present before the world, to substantiate the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Have you any objection to them? Says one—“Here is my objection; it matters not how many miracles are wrought, how many signs are given, and whatever evidence may be pretended to have been received, it does not matter about this, if a thing is inconsistent in and of itself, if it contradicts itself, if it contradicts the Bible I shall reject it.” I honor you for that judgment, I would do the same. If the Book of Mormon contradicted the revelations of God called the Bible, given on the other continent, you might tear up the sycamore trees and cast them into the sea, or you might say to this mountain—“Depart hence,” and if it should be done it would not be sufficient evidence in my mind to make me receive it. A thing must be consistent, and when we come to open and read the Book of Mormon, do we find any evidence therein of its falsity? Read it from beginning to end in relation to its historical matter. It pretends to be a history of the coming of a small colony, two or three families, from the city of Jerusalem, led by the hand of the Lord. They built a ship by the command of the Lord, and were guided by his hand across the ocean; they landed on the western coast of South America, about six hundred years before Christ; and after that they worked their way up towards the narrow strip of land we call the Isthmus, and founded settlements and, finally, about fifty years before Christ, sent forth their colonies into the north wing of the continent, which we call North America, and in process of time the whole land became peopled and overspread with millions of people. Now read this history from the time they left Jerusalem until the time that the Nephite nation were destroyed by another portion of the nation called Lamanites, and their records were hid up by their last Prophet: read this history and see if you can find any contradictions therein; if you cannot, you cannot condemn the book so far as the historical matter is concerned.

Says one—“Oh, but it might have been got up by some cunning individual, who was very careful in his management, so as to get all the links of the history perfectly in accordance one with another, and still it may be false.” On what ground? Says the objector—“Perhaps the doctrines taught in the different ages by the several Prophets mentioned in the various books of the compilation do not agree.” Very well, read the whole of the books contained in the compilation, the period included in which comprises a thousand years, from the time they landed on the continent to the time the Nephites were destroyed, search the doctrine preached by each Prophet in the successive generations and see if you can find any contradictions; if you cannot find anything that contradicts itself, then see if you can find in that book anything that contradicts what is contained in the compilation of the Prophets on the eastern hemisphere; see if you can find anything in the Book of Mormon that clashes with or contradicts the Bible, then perhaps you will have a little justification for saying you do not believe it. But when you have made this thorough examination and find no contradictions between the two records you will certainly have no right to say the book is false, so far as its doctrines are concerned.

Says one—“That book called the Book of Mormon professes to be a prophetic record, and has a great many prophecies, and perhaps these prophecies may disagree with the prophecies contained in the Old Testament, or perhaps they may disagree among themselves, in which case it would weaken my faith in regard to it.” In this case I would say as I said concerning its doctrines—search all its prophecies diligently—and it contains prophecies that reach to the very end of the earth—search diligently those that have been fulfilled since the rise of the Church as well as before, and search those that are yet to be fulfilled from this time until the coming of the Savior, and from that time down to the end of the earth, and see if you can find one contradiction in all the record; and then compare them with the prophecies contained in the Bible, and if they do not contradict one another, have you or I any right to say that it is not a revelation from God? There must be some evidence that we can bring forward by which we can be justified in rejecting a book as being a divine revelation. Now where is that evidence, what species of evidence is it, where can it be obtained, from what quarter, in order to condemn that book as not being a divine revelation? I know of none.

I have given you, very briefly, my reasons, and the reasons of the Latter-day Saints for believing that book to be a divine revelation. Moreover, let me go still further. We find in the Bible, the Jewish record, many prophecies that point forward to the coming forth of a similar record to that called the Book of Mormon, pointing out what should be fulfilled when a certain record or book should come forth; pointing out a period, time or age of the world when it should come forth, and the object for which it should come forth.

Now the Book of Mormon has come forth to fulfill these ancient prophecies. I have not time to refer to them today particularly, but those who have heard these things for forty years past are well versed in relation to the predictions of the Bible, concerning the coming forth of such a work as the Book of Mormon. Now let any learned man prove that this work has not come forth in fulfillment of these prophecies, show some discrepancy, show wherein it cannot possibly be the fulfilling of these prophecies. Can they do this? If they can they perhaps may have a little justification for rejecting the work; but if, on the other hand, they cannot show the fulfilling of those prophecies in any other facts that have been revealed; if they cannot prove that the Book of Mormon is not the fulfillment of those prophecies they certainly cannot be justified in rejecting it. “Well,” says one, “is there any special prophecy in the Bible that calls that book by name, or that there should be a book called the Book of Mormon, come forth?” In answering this question, let me ask you another question—Is there anything in the prophecy of Isaiah or any Prophet who lived before his days that speaks particularly of a Prophet coming forth by the name of Jeremiah, who should reveal certain revelations? “Oh no,” says one. Well, then, ought you not to reject the prophecy of Jeremiah, inasmuch as no Prophet preceding him spoke of him, no one who lived before him who said a word about his book called the Book of Jeremiah? Moreover, were there no Prophets that prophesied concerning the coming of Ezekiel and his book, and Hosea and his book, and of Joel, Amos, Malachi, and many of the ancient Prophets who might be named? What preceding Prophet prophesied concerning the coming forth of these books? None at all. The Jews would have had the same right in the days of these Prophets to say—“I will reject you Jeremiah, and I will not receive your revelations, and my reasons for rejecting you are that none of the preceding Prophets have named you by name, and they have not spoken of your book.” The Jews might have rejected the whole catalogue of the Prophets on this ground; therefore, this is another species of evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon, over and above that which can be brought to establish the divinity of the Bible.

What more might be said to prove the divinity of the Book of Mormon? I will bring up some other evidence besides all that I have named. We are told in the prophecies of the holy Prophets, not only about the coming of the angel, but we are told that when God should set up his kingdom and send that angel, it should be a dispensation of gathering the people of God. Now, supposing that Joseph Smith had all these proofs that I have named to testify concerning the divinity of this book, and had said nothing about the gathering, what then? Why you and I could go to our homes and say, “goodbye Joseph Smith, we do not believe you to be a Prophet.” “Why?” “Because the latter-day dispensation was to be characterized by the gathering together of all things in one that are in Christ, and you have said nothing about it, and therefore we reject you.” But is it so? No; before the rise of this Church, while Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon, it is predicted here, in this translation, that the Church should go forth from this continent to all the people, nations and tongues of the earth, and that all who believed should be gathered in one. Now how did Joseph Smith know that that would be fulfilled when there was no Church in existence? It is a very easy matter, as I said before, to prophesy, but to fulfill is another thing. But here in Utah is the fulfillment, for here are upwards of a hundred thousand people gathered out from the nations of the earth, proving definitely, at least so far as this species of evidence is concerned, that Joseph Smith certainly was a true Prophet, for he predicted it before it commenced to take place.

There is another species of evidence in this book. It is foretold within its pages that after it should come forth in the latter day and the Church should have been established, the blood of the Saints should cry from the ground against their persecutors and those who should slay them. This was a prophecy, the fulfillment of which in an enlightened age like this, seemed very unlikely. We find that, since the organization of this free government, and our great charter of liberties and constitution, since the time of the enunciation of these choice republican principles upon this continent by this great and powerful nation, that the blood of no sects or parties has, as it were, stained our ground because of the belief of the people. Sometimes they get killed in mobs about anti– slavery, or something of that kind; but when it comes to religion it has generally been a little persecution with the tongue, and that has been about all. But here was a prediction before the rise of the Church that the blood of the Saints should cry from the ground against their persecutors. This has been literally fulfilled. We have no need to refer you to the scores of Saints that were shot down in cold blood, who, while emigrating with their wives and children in order to locate in another country, were fallen upon by mobs, chased into a blacksmith’s shop, and there some eighteen or twenty of them were shot down by their persecutors, who pointed their guns between the logs of the shop, it being a log building. Then, when they had got through with these murders they began to rob them of their clothes and pulled off their boots and put them on, and while in the act of doing this they discovered two or three little children who had crept under the bellows in hope of escaping. What did they do with these children? Called them out, and placing their guns to their heads shot them down and destroyed them. All these things have transpired within the past forty years upon this great and glorious land of ours. The constitution is good, that is not to blame, that gives us the privilege of religious liberty; but those who have lived under this free government have seen proper to thus persecute and murder the Saints, and their blood has been shed, and it now cries from the ground for vengeance on the nation.

Says one—“Why on the nation?” Because it was not done by a private mob, but by the officers of a State; it was done by the highest authority and power of a State, by individuals who were organized under State authority to go against an innocent people. We had never broken a law, and the records of their courts could not show one case wherein this people had transgressed the laws of the land.

The people thus organized to drive the Latter-day Saints, of course, had their reasons for so doing, everybody has, or endeavors to find a reason for the course he pursues. One reason assigned for persecuting the Saints was that they believed in the gifts that the ancient Saints believed in. Some may be disposed to doubt the truth of this statement, but to such I say, go and read their documents and there you will find the reasons they set forth for this murderous work, and among those reasons they say—“A certain people have come amongst us who believe in speaking in tongues, in the interpretation of tongues, in the healing of the sick, and in the various gifts that were in existence in the ancient Church, and we pledge ourselves and our property and all that we have that we will remove them from our midst, peaceably if we can and forcibly if we must.”

Now, would you believe that people would be driven from their homes and murdered by individuals because they were exercising religious rights guaranteed to them by the constitution of their country? Did Joseph Smith know that such persecution would arise before the Church was organized? Could he have written such prophecies and the Book of Mormon if he had been an impostor? How did he know they would ever be fulfilled? How did he know that this Gospel would be spread to the uttermost parts of the earth? How did he know that the people abroad in other nations would gather to this land, according to the prophecies that were uttered? All these things prove him to be a prophet sent of God, as his prophecies were fulfilled.

Finally, examine every point of evidence you can think of; take up, step by step, the various events that must take place—the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles to bring in their fulness that their times may be fulfilled; the preaching of it to the Jews; the preaching of it to the scattered tribes of Israel, and all the other events predicted in connection with this Latter-day work; take them up one by one, and see if this people have left one thing out of their faith that should characterize the dispensation of the fulness of times. Do the Scriptures foretell the gathering of the Jews from the four quarters of the earth? The Book of Mormon does the same thing. Do the Scriptures say that the Jews should remain scattered until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled? The Book of Mormon and the Revelations given to this Church declare the same thing. Did the ancient Prophets and Apostles declare that the Gospel of the Kingdom should be preached to all nations, that the fulness of the Gentiles should come in before all Israel should be saved? This also is according to the faith of the Latter-day Saints’ Church and is contained in our writings. And, finally, take up every principle, predicted by the ancient Prophets, pertaining to the great preparatory work for the coming of the Lord from the heavens and see if it differs in the least iota from the belief of the Latter-day Saints. When we come to combine all these evidences we are not ashamed of our faith, we are not ashamed of our doctrine, we are not ashamed of the dispensation which has been committed to us. We are abundantly able, through the assistance of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and the grace of God shed forth in our hearts to maintain with all boldness and confidence the great, heavenly and glorious principles which God our heavenly Father has revealed to us in these latter times. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered at the Adjourned Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, October 11, 1874.

[The speaker took as a foundation for his remarks the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th verses of the 7th chapter of the prophecies of Daniel, and the 20th chapter of the Revelation of St. John.]

All Bible believers are looking forward to the time when the inhabitants of this creation shall be brought into judgment, and be judged out of the books which are written, every man according to his works. We should rather conclude from these sayings in Daniel and in the Revela– tion of St. John, that there is a record, or perhaps many records, kept of the works of men—their deeds done in this probation. How these records are kept in heaven is not for me to say; what language they are recorded in, or what are the symbols of the ideas of the heavenly hosts who are engaged in recording, how many records there are, etc., is not known to us; but from what is written, we can form some conclusions in relation to this matter, for we are told in the sayings of Jesus, in the New Testament, that for every idle word and every idle thought men shall give an account in the great judgment day. Hence these words and thoughts must be had in remembrance either in books, or impressed upon the minds of beings who are capable of retaining all things in their remembrance. There must be some way by which the idle words and thoughts of the children of men shall be kept in remembrance, and if the dead are to be judged out of the books that are to be opened, we should naturally draw the conclusion that they are memorandum books of the idle words and thoughts of the children of men.

We also read in the Book of Mormon—a record which all Latter-day Saints profess to believe in, and consider equally sacred with the rest of the word of God that is recorded in the Bible and elsewhere—the sayings of Jesus, that were spoken on this continent some eighteen hundred years ago. Jesus says—“All things are written by the Father.” I suppose by his agents, that is through his direction, by his authority. “All things are written by the Father.” Taking all these passages of Scripture together, we may look for a general reckoning with all the inhabitants of this earth, both the righteous and the wicked. How long this day, called the day of judgment, will be, is not revealed. It may be vastly longer than what many suppose. It seems to me that unless there were a great number engaged in judging the dead, it would require a very long period of time; for, for one being to personally investigate all the idle thoughts and words of the children of men from the days of Adam down until that time, it would require a great many millions of years, and therefore I come to another conclusion, namely, that God has his agents, and that through those agents the dead will be judged.

This reminds me of what was said by the Apostle Paul when reproving the ancient Christians for going to law one with another. He tries to shame them out of this evil practice by referring them to the lowest esteemed among them that were called Saints. Says he, in substance—“Let them be your judges, it is not necessary for you to go to the highest authorities, but let even those who are least among you become judges in regard to many of these things that you now take before unbelievers, and for which you require a judgment from those who have nothing to do with the Saints of God,” or rather with the Gospel in which they believed. And, in connection with these sayings, he asks this question—“Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the world?”

This reminds me of some sayings that are recorded in the Book of Mormon, as also of others contained in the Bible. Jesus said to his twelve disciples or Apostles—“You that have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall come sitting upon the throne of his glory, then you shall also sit upon twelve thrones, and shall eat and drink in my presence, and shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel.” It seems, then, that there are certain personages to be engaged in judging the world. The Twelve Apostles are to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, and the Saints will be set to judge the world.

The Book of Mormon, speaking on this same subject, informs us that there were Twelve chosen among the ancient Nephites on this American land, and that, while the Twelve chosen by Jesus on the continent of Asia were to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, the Twelve chosen from among the Nephites should judge the remnant of the house of Israel that dwelt on this land.

Here, then, is another quorum of judgment, another council that is appointed to judge, and so we might continue the subject and bring in all the councils that God has ordained in any generation of those whom he has appointed and selected, and ordained with power and authority from on high. To them was granted not only the privilege of acting here in relation to the ordinances of mercy, but hereafter in relation to the ordinances of justice; hence both justice and mercy were committed, in some measure, into the hands of those who were ordained of the Lord. But in these respects there is one thing to console the Saints of all ages, as well as to console the whole world, and that is, that when the final time shall come to judge the children of men, whoever the agents may be who shall sit in judgment upon their several cases, they will do it by the inspiration of the Almighty, and hence it will be done right.

This reminds me of what Jesus said to the Twelve who were chosen among the Israelites on this continent, eighteen hundred years ago. Said he—“Know ye not that ye shall be judges of this people? What manner of persons, therefore, ought ye to be, in all holiness, and purity and uprightness in heart, if you are to judge this great nation?” In other words—“If you are to sit in judgment upon all of their deeds done in the body, and to render a righteous decision before the Almighty, how pure, holy, upright and honest you twelve disciples ought to be in order to become judges indeed of the people, that in judging them you may not condemn yourselves.”

Having quoted these passages, which give us a little understanding of the purposes of the Almighty in regard to judging the world, I will now quote another passage of Scripture that has a bearing in some measure upon this subject, showing that it was a principle understood by the ancient Saints of God, and that the eternal judgment that was to be administered by the Saints at some future time was numbered among the first principles of the doctrine of Christ. It was not one of those hidden mysteries, one of those secret things, one of those wonders that were to be searched out by the faithful, but that it was a doctrine numbered among the first principles of the oracles of God. I will now, leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ according to King James’ translation, quote from another translation which I have seen, and which I believe to be more correct. The passage to which I will direct your attention reads—“Therefore, not leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith towards God and of the doctrine of baptisms, and of the laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

These principles of the doctrine of Christ were thoroughly understood by the faithful ones who lived eighteen hundred years ago. They understood that the day would come when God would set them, not only to judge the world, but to judge angels. Some angels have got yet to be judged, and the Saints will be the agents to perform this great work and render the decision of judgment. Jesus said to the Twelve among the ancient Nephites—“Know ye this, that your judgment”—speaking of their judging the Nephite nation—“shall be that judgment which the Father shall give unto you;” in other words—“You shall not judge by your own natural wisdom; you shall not judge according to the outward appearance; but it shall be that judgment which the Father shall give unto you.” Now, the Lord judges mankind according to the law and the testimony. The revealed law is delivered to the people, and those to whom it is revealed will be judged by that law, hence Jesus says—“My words shall judge you at the last day.” It is not the tradition of the children of men that is going to judge the world, that is not the law. The traditions of the children of men are one thing, and the law is another thing; popular ideas are one thing and the law of God is another thing. We are not to be judged by the creeds, doctrines, disciplines and articles of faith invented by uninspired men, but by the pure law of God as it issued forth from his own mouth and by the mouths of his ancient Prophets and Apostles. The testimonies will be forthcoming, one of which will be the record, the books that are written. Every idle word that is spoken, every idle thought that has ever entered into the hearts of man will be written and brought up, and out of that record of our conduct—our thoughts, words and deeds—will we be judged.

Now, if there is to be a vast number of individuals engaged in the work of judgment, it may be a speedy work; for let all mankind be classified—a certain portion delivered over to the Apostles of ancient days, another portion to the Twelve chosen from among the ancient Nephites, another portion delivered over to the Saints who lived in the first ages of the world, another portion to the Saints who lived after the flood, and another portion to the Latter-day Saints, and let all be engaged in this work of judging the human family and the work can speedily be accomplished. It may require years, and it may be accomplished, perhaps, in less than one year, that is a matter that we cannot decide upon now. There is to be, however, a prior judgment to the final judgment day, and we will speak upon that awhile.

There is a certain degree of judgment rendered upon every man and every woman as soon as they have passed the ordeals of this present probation. When they lay their bodies down their spirits return into the presence of God, when a decree of judgment and sentence is immediately passed. Hence we read in the Book of Mormon, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they depart from this mortal body, return home again to that God who gave them life, and then shall it come to pass that the spirits of the righteous shall enter into a state of rest, peace and happiness, called Paradise, where they shall rest from all their labors. And then shall it come to pass that the spirits of the wicked—for behold they have no part or portion of the spirit of the Lord—shall depart into outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing and gnashing of teeth; and in these two states or conditions the children of men shall be placed until the time of the resurrection.

Then again there will be a judgment after the resurrection, that will not be the final judgment, that is the judgment of the twelve tribes of Israel, spoken of by our Savior, which will take place when he and the Twelve return again to the earth. That judgment will be exercised more directly on the whole house of Israel that have loved the Lord and kept his commandments.

Here then are the various times of judgment, the various conditions and circumstances of the children of men in the spiritual state, judged before the resurrection, assigned to happiness or misery as the case may be, and in the judgment of the first resurrection certain rewards, glory, power, exaltation, happiness and eternal life will be conferred upon the righteous. But another sentence of judgment will be pronounced upon those who are not favored with coming forth on the morning of the first resurrection, namely, those who have disobeyed the Gospel. To all such the voice of the angel will be—“Let sinners stay and sleep until I call again,” their sins having been sufficiently judged beforehand, that they are not counted worthy of a resurrection among the just and the righteous ones of the earth. This agrees with another passage recorded in the Book of Covenants, that at the sound of the third trump then come the spirits of men that are under condemnation. These are the rest of the dead, and they live not again until the thousand years are ended, neither again until the end of the earth. Why? Because a certain measure of judgment is pronounced upon them even then. Now then let us go to the angels which the Saints are to judge. We find that the angels who kept not their first estate are reserved in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day. Those angels that fell from before the presence of God were judged in a measure upon their fall, and were cast out to wander to and fro upon the face of this earth, bound as it were with chains of darkness, misery and wretchedness, and this condition is to continue during the whole of the temporal existence of this earth, until the final judgment of the great day, when the Saints, in the authority and power of the Priesthood which God Almighty has conferred upon them, will arise and judge these fallen angels, and they will receive the condemnation of which they are worthy.

Having made these few preliminary remarks in regard to the judgment of the children of men, let us now refer again to the passage contained in the seventh chapter of Daniel. Says that ancient Prophet—“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.”

How many are ten thousand times ten thousand. One hundred million. That would be a larger congregation than you or I ever saw, and larger, probably, than any congregation that has ever been collected together upon this earth at any one time. They would occupy a vast region of country, even for a foothold. A hundred million people stood before this personage—the Ancient of days. Who was this personage called the Ancient of days? We are told by the Prophet Joseph Smith—the great Prophet of the last days, whom God raised up by his own voice and by the ministration of angels to introduce the great and last dispensation of the fullness of times—the last dispensation on the earth so far as the proclamation of mercy is concerned; I say we are told by this Prophet that the Ancient of days is the most ancient personage that ever had an existence in days here on the earth. And who was he? Why, of course, old father Adam, he was the most ancient man that ever lived in days that we have any knowledge of. He comes, then, as a great judge, to assemble this innumerable host of which Daniel speaks. He comes in flaming fire. The glory and blessing and greatness of this personage it would be impossible even for a man as great as Daniel fully to describe. He comes as a man inspired from the eternal throne of Jehovah himself. He comes to set in order the councils of the Priesthood pertaining to all dispensations, to arrange the Priesthood and the councils of the Saints of all former dispensations in one grand family and household.

What is all this for? Why all this arrangement? Why all this organization? Why all this judgment and the opening of the books? It is to prepare the way for another august personage whom Daniel saw coming with the clouds of heaven, namely the Son of Man, and these clouds of heaven brought the Son of Man near before the Ancient of days. And when the Son of Man came to the Ancient of days, behold a kingdom was given to the Son of Man, and greatness and glory, that all people, nations and languages should serve him, and his kingdom should be an everlasting kingdom, a kingdom that should never be done away.

This explains the reason why our father Adam comes as the Ancient of days with all these numerous hosts, and organizes them according to the records of the book, every man in his place, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man to receive the kingdom. Then every family that is in the order of the Priesthood, and every man and every woman, and every son or daughter whatever their kindred, descent or Priesthood, will know their place.

Where will this great conference take place? The Lord has revealed this also. The Lord did not raise up this boy, Joseph, for nothing, or merely to reveal a few of the first principles of the Gospel of Christ; but he raised him up to reveal the hidden mysterious things, the wonders of the eternal worlds, the wonders of the dispensation of the fullness of times, those wonders that took place before the foundation of the world; and all things, so far as it was wisdom in God, were unfolded by this personage called by his enemies “Old Joe Smith,” who was about fourteen years old when the Lord raised him up. I say that he, by the power of the Holy Ghost, and the spirit of revelation, revealed the very place where this great assemblage of ten thousand times ten thousand of the righteous shall be gathered together when the books are opened. It will be on one of the last places of residence of our father Adam here on the earth, and it is called by revelation Adam-ondi-Ahman, which, being interpreted, means the valley of God where Adam dwelt, the words belonging to the language which was spoken by the children of men before the confusion took place at Babel. In that valley Adam called together Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah and all the high Priests and righteous of his descendants for some seven or eight generations. Three years before his death he there stood up, being bowed with age, and preached to that vast assembly of people, and pronounced upon them his great and last patriarchal blessing, and they rose up by the authority and power and revelation of the holy Priesthood which they held, and pronounced their blessing upon their great common progenitor Adam, and he was called the Prince of Peace, and the Father of many nations, and it was said that he should stand at the head of and rule over his people of all generations, notwithstanding he was so aged. That was the blessing pronounced, three years before his death, upon the great head, Patriarch and Prophet of this creation, the man whom God chose to begin the works of this creation, in other words to begin the peopling of this earth.

Where was that valley in which that grand patriarchal gathering was held? It was about fifty, sixty or seventy miles north of Jackson County, Missouri, where the Zion of the latter days will be built. Where the garden of Eden was is not fully revealed; where Adam ate the forbidden fruit is not revealed so far as I know, that is, the particular location on the earth, no revelation informs us where he passed the first few centuries of his life; but suffice it to say that, when Adam was about six or seven hundred years old there was a great gathering of the people. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, who lived contemporary with his old ancestor, and others who were called by him, went forth and gathered out the righteous from all the nations, and as there was no Atlantic Ocean in those days rolling between the eastern and western continents, they could gather together by land from Asia, Africa and Europe. In those days the earth was not divided as it was after the flood, in the days of Peleg. In that gathering many came from the ends of the earth. Adam might have been among the emigrating companies, if not, then, he most probably had his residence at that central place of gathering. Let this be as it may, it is not revealed. There is a place, however, where this great Conference took place in ancient times, where the Lord revealed himself to that vast assembly, and stood in their midst, and instructed them with his own mouth, and they saw his face. There is the place where it was ordained that Adam should have the power, as the Ancient of Days, after a certain period and dispensations had rolled away, to come in his glory accompanied by the ancient Saints, the generations that should live after him and should take up their abode upon that land where they received their last blessing, there in the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman.

This man, will sit upon his throne, and ten thousand times ten thousand immortal beings—his children—will stand before him, with all their different grades of Priesthood, according to the order which God has appointed and ordained. Then every quorum of the Priesthood in this Latter-day Saint Church will find its place, and never until then. If we go behind the veil we will not see this perfect organization of the Saints of all generations until that period shall arrive. That will be before Jesus comes in his glory. Then we will find that there is a place for the First Presidency of this Church; for the Twelve Apostles called in this dispensation; for the twelve disciples that were called among the remnants of Joseph on this land in ancient times; for the Twelve that were called among the ten tribes of Israel in the north country; for the Twelve that were called in Palestine, who administered in the presence of our Savior; all the various quorums and councils of the Priesthood in every dispensation that has transpired since the days of Adam until the present time will find their places, according to the callings, gifts, blessings, ordinations and keys of Priesthood which the Lord Almighty has conferred upon them in their several generations. This, then, will be one of the grandest meetings that has ever transpired upon the face of our globe. What manner of persons ought you and I, my brethren and sisters, and all the people of God in the latter days to be, that we may be counted worthy to participate in the august assemblies that are to come from the eternal worlds, whose bodies have burst the tomb and come forth immortalized and eternal in their nature.

It will be found then who it is who have received ordinances by divine authority, and who have received ordinances by the precepts and authority of men. It will then be known who have been joined together in celestial marriage by divine authority, and who by wicked counsels, and by justices of the peace who did not believe in God at the time that they did it, or those who have been married merely until death shall part them. It will then be known that those who have received the ordinances of marriage according to divine appointment are married for all eternity; it will then be known that their children are the legal heirs to the inheritances, and glories, and powers, and keys and Priesthood of their fathers, throughout the eternal generations that are to come; and every man will have his family gathered around him which have been given unto him by the sealing of the everlasting Priesthood, and the order and law which God has ordained, and none other. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered at the Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Wednesday, October 7, 1874.

I have been requested, this afternoon, to preach upon the subject of marriage. It is a subject which has been often laid before the Latter-day Saints, and it is certainly one of great importance to the Saints as well as to the inhabitants of the earth, for I presume that no person, who believes in divine revelation, will pretend to say that marriage is not a divine institution; and if this be the case, it is one which affects all the human family.

I will select a passage of scripture in relation to this divine institution as it existed in the days of Moses. In selecting, however, this passage, I do not wish the congregation to suppose that we are under the law of Moses particularly. There are many great principles inculcated in that law which the Lord never did intend to come to an end or be done away—eternal principles, moral principles, then there are others that were done away at the coming of our Savior, he having fulfilled the law. Because we find certain declarations, contained in the law given to Moses, that does not prove that the Latter-day Saints are under that law; that same God that gave the law of Moses—the being that we worship—is just as capable of giving laws in our day as in Moses’ day; and if he sees proper to alter the code given to Moses, and to give something varying from it, we have no right to say that he shall not do so. Therefore, in selecting the passage which I am about to read, it is merely to show what God did in ancient times, and that he may do something similar in modern times.

In the 21st chapter of Exodus, speaking of a man who already had one wife, Moses, says—“If he take him another wife, her food, her raiment and her duty of marriage shall he not diminish.” It will be recollected that this law was given to a polygamic nation. When I speak of a polygamic nation, I mean a nation that practiced both plural and single marriage, and believed one form to be just as sacred as the other. Their progenitors or ancestors were polygamists; and they were considered patterns for all future generations. Their piety, holiness, purity of heart, their great faith in God, their communion with him, the great blessings to which they attained, the visions that were made manifest to them, the conversation that God himself, as well as his angels, had with them, entitled them to be called the friends of God, not only in their day, but they were considered by all future generations to be his friends. They were not only examples to the Jewish nation, but in their seed, the seed of these polygamists, all the nations and kingdoms of the earth were to be blessed.

I hope that pious Christians in this congregation will not find fault this afternoon with their Bible, and with the Prophets and inspired men who wrote it. I hope that they will not find fault with God for selecting polygamists to be his friends. I hope that they will not find fault with Jesus because he said, some two thousand years or upwards after the days of these polygamists, that they were in the kingdom of God, and were not condemned because of polygamy. Jesus says, speaking of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—“Many shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God.” Do not find fault with Jesus, you Christians, because he has these polygamists in his kingdom, and because he has said that the Gentiles will be blessed through the seed of these polygamists; neither find fault with him because he has taken these polygamists into his kingdom, and that many will come from the four quarters of the earth and have the privilege of sitting down with them therein.

Jacob married four wives, and may be considered the founder of that great nation of polygamists. He set the example before them. His twelve sons, who were the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, were the children of the four wives of the prophet or patriarch Jacob. So sacred did the Lord hold these polygamists that he said, many hundred years after their death—“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, and this shall be my memorial unto all generations.” Now, Christians, do not find fault if God chose these polygamists and, at the same time, wished to make them a sample, a memorial to all generations, Christians as well as Jews.

Several hundred years after God raised up these, his friends, and founded or began to found the twelve tribes of Israel, he saw proper to raise up a mighty man called Moses to deliver the children of Israel from the bondage in which they had been oppressed and afflicted by the Egyptian nation. So great had this affliction become that the King of Egypt issued a decree commanding the Israelitish midwives to put to death all the male children, born among the Israelites. This murderous law was carried out. This was about eighty years before Moses was sent down from the land of Midian to deliver the children of Israel from this cruel bondage. How long this great affliction of putting to death the male children existed, is not given in the Bible; but it seems to have waxed worse and worse during the following eighty years, after which Moses was sent to deliver them. We may reasonably suppose that the oppressive hand of Pharaoh was not altogether eased up, but continued on for scores of years, destroying many of the male children, making a great surplus of females in that nation. A great multitude of females over and above that of males, will account for the peculiar passage of Scripture to which I will now refer you. It will be found in the 3rd chapter of Numbers. I have not time to turn to it and read it, but I will quote you the substance thereof. Moses and Aaron were commanded to number all the males in Israel from a month old and upward that were called the firstborn among the various tribes. Now the firstborn does not mean the oldest male child of the first wife, for sometimes the first wife has no children, but it means the firstborn son that is born to the father whether by the first wife, or second, or third, or any number of wives that he may have; the term firstborn pertains to the first male child that is born to the father. So it was accounted to Jacob’s family of twelve sons. Reuben only was called the firstborn of Israel until he lost his birthright, through transgression, which, we are told in the 5th chapter of first Chronicles, was taken from him and given to one of the sons of Joseph. But so far as age or birth was concerned, Reuben was the firstborn; and had it not been for his transgression, he would have inherited a double portion of his father’s substance, for that was the law in ancient times.

Now how many of the firstborn could be found in the midst of Israel? We are told that there were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three firstborn males among the eleven tribes: the tribe of Levi was not reckoned at that time, but all the male members of the tribe of Levi, from a month old and upwards was twenty-two thousand souls. Now if the tribe of Levi numbered in proportion to the other eleven tribes, the number of firstborn males in all the twelve tribes would probably amount to between twenty-four and twenty-five thousand souls, it could not have run over that. There might have been some of the firstborn who were dead, which would make a few more families: then there might have been other families who never had any male children, which would increase the families still more. Supposing then, in order to give all the advantages possible, and to make as many families as we possibly can consistently, that we say, instead of twenty-five thousand firstborn in the midst of all Israel, that there were thirty thousand; that is allowing for all these contingencies I have named, where families have no males, and those families that have male children under a month old which were not reckoned, and those families which might have had firstborn male children who died and the number might possibly be increased to four or five thousand more, making the total number of families about thirty-thousand.

Thus we see that the number of firstborn males from a month old or upwards give us a clue to the number of families; we may not be able to determine the number exactly, but these data will enable us to approximate very closely. It is generally admitted, that Israel, at that time, numbered twenty-five hundred thousand souls. There might have been a variation from this of a few thousand souls, but according to the Scriptural and all other evidences that can be gleaned, the number above referred to is about the number of souls that existed in Israel at that time. Among that twenty-five hundred thousand souls then, there were thirty-thousand families. How many were there in a family? All that you have to do to tell how many there were in a family, is to divide twenty-five hundred thousand by thirty thousand and you will find that the quotient is eighty-three, showing that number of souls on an average in each family. Now if these families were all monogamic, how many children must have been born to each wife? Eighty-one.

This argument is founded on Scripture, and it shows plainly, even if you should double the number of families or of the firstborn, that they could not be all monogamic families, for if we suppose there were sixty thousand families, it would make every married woman the mother of forty odd children, and if such a supposition could be entertained it would go to show that women in those days were more fruitful than they are now. These declarations are given in your Bible, which is also my Bible; that is, in King James’ translation. We all believe, or profess to be Bible believers or Christians. Do not be startled my hearers at these declarations of your Bible. No wonder then that this passage which I have taken for my text was given to that people, because they were a people who needed to be guided in relation to their duty. “If a man take another wife;” that is, after he has got one, if he take another one, “her food”—whose food? The food of the first wife—“her raiment,” that is the raiment of the first wife, “her duty of marriage, he shall not diminish.” Now this is plain, pointed and positive language in regard to polygamy as it existed among the house of Israel in ancient times. Why did not the Lord say, if polygamy were a crime or a sin—“If a man take another wife let all the congregation take him without the camp and stone him and put him to death?” Or if that was too severe let them incarcerate him in a prison or dungeon for several years? If it be a crime why did he not say so? It is just as easy to say that, as to give directions as to what course a man shall pursue with regard to his first wife, if he takes another one.

This is Bible doctrine as it existed in those days. I know that it has been argued that the first woman, here spoken of, was merely a betrothed woman, and not married. But if this be so, what a curious saying this in our text—that her duty of marriage shall he not diminish if he take another wife. This and other expressions show clearly that they were both wives, and that there was a certain duty to be attended to by the husband, besides providing them with food and raiment. It was argued here in this tabernacle before some eight or ten thousand people, on a certain occasion, that the Hebrew word translated “duty of marriage,” ought to have been translated “dwelling”—“Her food, her raiment and her dwelling he shall not diminish.” I recollect asking the learned gentleman, Rev. Dr. Newman, why he translated it dwelling, instead of translating it as all other Hebraists have done? I asked him to produce one passage in all the Bible where that word translated “duty of marriage,” meant a “dwelling,” but he could not do it. The Hebrew word for “dwelling,” and the Hebrew word for “duty of marriage,” are two entirely distinct words. I referred him to the learned professors in Yale College, and to many others who have translated this Hebrew word “duty of marriage.” These professors and other learned translators, have referred to this special passage, and have translated it in two ways—one is “duty of marriage,” and the other is cohabitation. Now, if this latter be correct—her food, her raiment and her cohabitation, shall not be diminished. I asked him why he varied in his translation of the Hebrew, from all these translators and lexicographers? His only answer was that he found a certain Jew in Washington who told him that it meant “dwelling,” or rather that its original root referred to a “dwelling.” I thought that was a very poor argument against all the translators of the Christian world, who are mostly monogamists. But we will pass on. I do not intend to dwell too long on these subjects.

So far as the law of Moses is concerned, to prove that the house of Israel kept up their polygamous institution from generation to generation, let me refer you to another law to show that they were compelled to do this, or else to come out in open rebellion against the law of Moses. In the 25th chapter of Deuteronomy, we read something like this—“When brethren dwell together, and one of them die, the living brother shall take the widow of the deceased brother, and it shall come to pass that the firstborn that is raised up shall succeed in the name of his brother.” This was a positive command given to all Israel. Now was this command confined to young men who were unmarried, or was it an unlimited command so far as living brothers were in existence? This is a question to be decided. There is nothing in all the Scriptures that makes any distinction between a married brother who survives and an unmarried brother; the law was just as binding upon a living brother, if he had already a wife living, as it was upon a living brother if he had no wife, it being a universal law, with no limits in its application, so far as the house was concerned. This law, then, compelled the children of Israel to be polygamists; for in many instances the living brother might be a married man, and in many instan– ces there might be two or three brothers who would take wives and die without leaving seed, and in that case it would devolve upon the surviving brother to take all the widows. This law was not given for that generation alone, but for all future generations. Some may say, that when Jesus came, he came to do away that law. I doubt it. He came to do away the law of sacrifices and of burnt offerings, and many of those ordinances and institutions, rites and ceremonies which pertained to their tabernacle and temple, because they all pointed forward to him as the great and last sacrifice. But did he come to do away all these laws that were given in the five books of Moses? No. There are many of these laws that were retained under the Christian dispensation. One of the laws thus retained was repentance. The children of Israel were commanded to repent, and no person will pretend to say that Jesus came to do away the law of repentance. Another was the law of honesty, upright dealing between man and man; no one will pretend to say that that law ceased when Jesus came. The laws concerning families and the regulation of the domestic institutions were not intended to cease when Jesus came, and they did not cease only as they were disregarded through the wickedness of the children of men. The laws concerning monogamy, and the laws concerning polygamy were just as binding after Jesus had come, as they were before he came. There were some laws which Ezekiel says were not good. Jesus denounced them, and said they were given because of the hardness of the hearts of the children of Israel. Ezekiel says that God gave them statutes and judgments by which they should not live. Why did he do it? Because of their wickedness and hardness of heart. I will tell you how this law became done away and ceased to exist among the children of Israel—it was in consequence of their rejection of the Messiah. In consequence of this their city was overthrown, and their nation destroyed, except a miserable remnant, which were scattered abroad among the Gentile nations, where they could not keep the law in regard to their brothers’ widows. When John the Baptist was raised up to that nation, he must have found thousands on thousands of polygamists, who were made so, and obliged to be so, by the law which I have just quoted.

Some of you may enquire—“Had not a surviving brother the right to reject that law of God?” He had, if he was willing to place himself under its penalty. I will quote you the penalty, and then you can see whether he could get away from polygamy or not. One penalty was that he should be brought before the Elders and that the widow whom he refused to marry, according to the law of God, should pluck his shoe from off his foot, and should then spit in his face, and from that time forth the house of that man should be denounced as the house of him that hath his shoe loosed, a reproach among all Israel. Instead of being a man of God, and a man to be favored by the people of God; instead of being a man such as the Christian world would now extol to the heavens because he rejected polygamy, he was a man to be scorned by all Israel. That was the penalty. Was that the only penalty? I think not. Read along a little further, and it says—“Cursed be he that continues not in all things written in this book of the law.” Oh, what a dreadful penalty that was, compared with being reproached by the whole people! Oh, what a fearful curse upon a man that refused to become a polygamist, and would not attend to the law of God! A curse pronounced by the Almighty upon him, also the anathemas of all the people as well as from God! The word of the Lord was that all the people should say amen to this curse. Now, if I had lived in those days, I should not have considered it very desirable to bring myself under the curse of heaven, and then have the curse of all the twelve tribes of Israel upon my head. I should not have liked it at all. I would rather have gone into polygamy according to the command, even if it had subjected me to a term of five years in a penitentiary.

We find many other passages, touching upon this subject. I will quote one, which will be found in the 21st chapter of Deuteronomy. It reads as follows: “If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: Then it shall be, when he makes his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn.”

Now this applies to two classes of polygamists. First, to those who may have two wives living at the same time, and then to those who may have married two wives in succession. It applies to both classes, for both classes existed in those days, and the Lord gave this, not to condemn polygamy, not to do away with it, but to show that the individual who had two wives should be impartial in regard to his children. Did he approbate this man that might have two wives in his hatred of one, and in loving the other? No, he did not, but inasmuch as man is weak and may sin against God, and suffer himself to be overcome with prejudice and hatred to one person, and feel in his heart to love and respect another, the Lord gave laws in case any such crime should exist among them as a husband’s hating one wife and loving another; he gave laws to regulate it, not that he approbated the hating part.

As I have already proved to you that there were great and vast numbers of polygamic families in Israel, and that there were thousands of firstborn from these plural wives, these firstborn persons, whatever might be the conduct of their mothers, were entitled to their inheritance, namely a double portion of all that the father had to bestow. That was the law in ancient times. We might close here so far as the law of Moses is concerned, but I wish to call your attention to a peculiar saying in this law.

This law has got to be restored again. Says one—“You astonish me beyond measure, I thought it was done away forever.” Well, listen to what the Lord said to Israel in the closing of this book of Deuteronomy. When the children of Israel shall be scattered in consequence of their iniquities to the uttermost parts of the earth among all the nations, and their plagues shall be of long continuance, and they shall be cursed in their basket and in their store, and with numerous curses which he mentioned should come upon them; after these things had been of long continuance, the Lord says—“After they shall return unto me and hearken unto all the words contained in this book of the law, then I, the Lord God, will gather them out from all the nations whither they are scattered, and will bring them back into their own land.” Oh, indeed! Then when they do absolutely return and hearken to all the words of the book of this law, God has promised to gather them again; that is, they must enter into polygamy, they must believe when their brother dies and leaves no seed, that the surviving brother, though he has one, two, or a half a dozen wives living, shall take that widow. That is part of the law, and they must fulfill all the words of this law, and then God has promised to gather them again. Says one, “When that is fulfilled it will be in the days of Christianity.” We can’t help it; polygamy belongs to Christianity, as well as to the law of Moses.

Says one—“The children of Israel have been scattered now some 1,800 years among all the nations and kindreds of the earth, in fulfillment of this curse, but if we believe that saying which you have just quoted, we are obliged to believe that the children of Israel are yet to return to attend to all these institutions, and that too while the Christian religion is in vogue, and that they are to regulate their households according to the law of God, whether those families are monogamic or polygamic.” What will the good Christians think when that is fulfilled? They cannot help themselves, for God will not gather Israel until they do return with all their hearts unto him, and hearken to and obey all the words of this law, written in this book. This is the word of the Lord, and how can you help yourselves? Says one, “We will pass laws against them.” That will not hinder, when God sets his hand to carry out his purposes, laws that may be passed by England, Denmark, Norway or any other Christian community will not hinder the Israelites from attending to all the words contained in the book of his law; for they will want to get back again to their own land.

Inasmuch then as the Lord has promised to restore all things spoken of by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world began, supposing that he should begin this great work of restoration in our day, how are we going to help ourselves? I can’t help it. Brigham Young, our President, can’t help it; Joseph Smith could not help it. If God sees proper to accomplish this great work of restoration—the restitution of all things, it will include what the Prophet Moses has said, and it will bring back with it a plurality of wives. The 4th chapter of Isaiah could never be fulfilled without this restoration. The passage to which I refer is familiar to all the Latter-day Saints—“In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely; and in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach.” Now will this prophecy ever be fulfilled, unless this great restoration or restitution shall take place? It cannot. If this great restitution does not take place, Jesus will never come, for it is written in the New Testament, in the 3rd chapter of the Acts of the apostles, that “the heavens must receive Jesus Christ, until the times of the restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouths of his holy Prophets, since the world began.” Jesus will have to stay a long time in the heavens providing that monogamist principles are the only principles that will be introduced, in fact he never can come, for the Scriptures say the heavens must retain him until all things are restored.

God has said that seven women shall take hold of one man for the purpose of having their reproach taken away, that they may be called by his name, not cast off as harlots or prostitutes; not to take away the name of the father from the children, and cast them into the streets, as the Christian nations have been doing for many long centuries that are past. But these seven women will be desirous of having the name of their husband for themselves and their children. Isaiah says it shall be so, and it will have to be under the Christian dispensation. How are the Christians going to get rid of this? Can you devise any way? Is there any possible way or means that you can think of that will put a stop to the Lord’s fulfilling his word? I will tell you one way—if you will all turn infidels and burn up the Bible, and then begin to persecute, the devil will tell you that you can successfully overcome, and that God will never fulfill and accomplish his word; but if you profess to believe the Bible, by the Bible you shall be judged, for, saith the Lord, “My words shall judge you at the last day.” The books will be opened, God’s word will be the standard by which the nations will be judged; hence if you wish a righteous judgment I would say—Forbear, do not destroy the Bible because it advocates polygamy; but remember that every word of God is pure, so it is declared; and he has nowhere in this book, condemned plural marriage, even in one instance.

I know that it has been argued that there is a law against polygamy; but in order to make the law, the Scripture had to be altered. It is in that famous passage which has become a byword in the mouth of every schoolboy in our streets, Leviticus xviii. ch., 18 v. Now let us examine for a few moments that passage and see what it says. You will find that the fore part of this chapter forbids marriage between certain blood relations. Prior to this time it had been lawful for a man to marry two sisters. Jacob, for instance, married Rachel and Leah, and there was no law against it prior to this time. It had also been lawful for a man to marry his own sister, as in the days of Adam, for you know there were no other ladies on the face of the earth for the sons of Adam except their own sisters, and they were obliged to marry them or to live bachelors. But the Lord saw proper when he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness, to regulate the law of marriage, so far as certain blood relations were concerned, called the law of consanguinity, which speaks of a great many relationships, and finally comes to a wife and her sister. This law was given to regulate the marriage relations of the children of Israel in the wilderness. It was not to regulate those who lived before that day who had married sisters; not to regulate those who might live in the latter days, but to regulate the children of Israel in that day. It reads thus: “Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness besides the other in her lifetime.”

This passage has been altered by certain monogamists in order to sustain their ideas of marriage, and we find in some large Bibles what are called marginal readings that these monogamists have put in, and instead of taking this in connection with all other blood relationships, they have altered it—Neither shalt thou take one wife to another. The men who translated King James’ Bible were monogamists, yet they had sense enough to know that the original Hebrew would not bear that construction which has been given by later monogamists. The original Hebrew, when translated word for word, makes it just as King James’ translators have made it. The Hebrew words are—Ve-ishaw elahotah-lo takkah. These are the original Hebrew words, and if they are translated literally, word for word, the translation stands just as it is in the text. But this is not saying but what the words, El-ahotah, under certain circumstances, are translated in another form, namely, “one to another,” “one sister to another,” and I am willing that it should be translated that way. Then it would read—“Thou shalt not take one sister to another to vex her in her life time.” So you may take it either way, and it bears out King James’ translation, or the meaning given by him.

I do not profess to be a Hebraist to any very great extent, although I studied it sufficiently many years ago, to understand its grammatical construction, and to translate any passage in the Bible; but then, having lacked practice for many years, of course a person may become a little rusty in regard to these matters. But I have searched out all the passages that can be found in the Old Testament, either singular or plural, masculine or feminine, pertaining to the words contained in this text, and I find a far greater number rendered according to the words that are here given, literally, in this text than what are translated—“one sister to another.” But I am willing that this translation should be allowed.

Now, if we thought the congregation would like to hear the translation of all this, and the reasons why, we could give it; but I presume that there are but few Hebrew scholars present, and if the translation were given, the great majority of the congregation would not understand whether it was translated correctly or not, and for that reason I shall not take up your time by referring to these technicalities. But I will make the broad statement, that there is not a Hebrew scholar living on this earth who can translate that passage from the words contained in the original Hebrew, without adding words of his own, not contained in the original text, if he translates it, as Dr. Newman did—“one wife to another.” If the first word—Ve-ishaw means one, as he would try to have us understand, it does not mean wife also: but if it means wife, it cannot be translated as he has it, and therefore it cannot bear out that construction. But I see that I am dwelling too long on the subject of the law of Moses.

Now I wish to come directly to the point in regard to polygamy as it exists at the present time among the Latter-day Saints. I stated in the beginning of my remarks, that polygamy, or any other institution that was given at one age, might not be binding upon another, without a fresh revelation from God. I made that statement when I was discussing that subject in this house. I still say, that we are not under the necessity of practicing polygamy because God gave laws and commandments for its observance and regulation in ancient times. Why then do the Latter-day Saints practice polygamy? That is a plain question. I will answer it just as plainly. It is because we believe, with all the sincerity of our hearts, as has been stated by former speakers from this stand, that the Lord God who gave revelations to Moses approbating polygamy, has given revelations to the Latter-day Saints, not only approbating it, but commanding it, as he commanded Israel in ancient times.

Now let us reason on this point. If God did do such things in former ages of the world, why not the same Being, if he sees proper, perform the same or similar things in another age of the world? Can anyone answer this? If God saw proper to give certain laws in ancient times, and then to revoke them; or if he saw proper to give laws that were not revoked, but done away by the transgressions of the children of men, has he not a right, and is it not just as consistent for that same Divine Being to give laws, for instance, in the 19th century, concerning our domestic relations, as it was for him to do it in the days of Moses? And if he has that right, as we Latter-day Saints believe that he has, are not the people’s consciences just as sacred in regard to such laws in these days, as the consciences of ancient Israel? Or must there be some power to regulate our religious consciences? Here is a grand question. Shall our religious consciences be regulated by civil government or civil laws, or shall we have the privilege of regulating them according to the divine law of the Bible, or any divine law that may be given in accordance with the ancient Bible? I answer that, when I was a boy, I thought I lived in a country in which I could believe in anything that agreed with, or that could be proved by the Bible, whether it was in the law of Moses or in the doctrines of the New Testament. I really thought the Jews had a right to reject Christ, or, in other words, if they had not the right to do it morally, they had the right, so far as civil law is concerned, to reject this Messiah, and to believe in and practice the law of Moses in our land; but I am told that such liberty of conscience is not to be tolerated in our Republican government. If the Jews should collect in any great numbers, and should say one to another—“Come brethren, we are the descendants of Abraham, let us now begin to practice according to the laws that were given to our ancient fathers, and if a brother dies and leaves a widow, but no children, let his living brother, though a married man, marry the widow, according to our law,” it is doubtful whether they would be permitted to associate together and practice those laws now, if they were so disposed. Why? Because the prejudice of the people is so great that they are not willing others should believe in the whole Bible, but only in such portions as agree with their ideas. If we were instituting a practice that the Lord God never approbated, but for the punishment of which he had prescribed penalties, or if we were introducing something foreign and contrary to the Bible, then there would be some excuse for the people in saying that such a thing should not be practiced in the name of religion. But when we take the Bible as a standard in relation to crime, it is altogether another thing; and I do think that every American citizen who professes to believe in any part or portion of that sacred record, on which all the laws of Christendom pretend to be founded, has the right to do so, and to practice it, and that, too, without being molested.

Now, after having said so much in relation to the reason why we practice polygamy, I want to say a few words in regard to the revelation on polygamy. God has told us Latter-day Saints that we shall be condemned if we do not enter into that principle; and yet I have heard now and then (I am very glad to say that only a few such instances have come under my notice), a brother or a sister say, “I am a Latter-day Saint, but I do not believe in polygamy.” Oh, what an absurd expression! What an absurd idea! A person might as well say, “I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I do not be– lieve in him.” One is just as consistent as the other. Or a person might as well say, “I believe in Mormonism, and in the revelations given through Joseph Smith, but I am not a polygamist, and do not believe in polygamy,” What an absurdity! If one portion of the doctrines of the Church is true, the whole of them are true. If the doctrine of polygamy, as revealed to the Latter-day Saints, is not true, I would not give a fig for all your other revelations that came through Joseph Smith the Prophet; I would renounce the whole of them, because it is utterly impossible, according to the revelations that are contained in these books, to believe a part of them to be divine—from God—and part of them to be from the devil; that is foolishness in the extreme; it is an absurdity that exists because of the ignorance of some people. I have been astonished at it. I did hope there was more intelligence among the Latter-day Saints, and a greater understanding of principle than to suppose that anyone can be a member of this Church in good standing, and yet reject polygamy. The Lord has said, that those who reject this principle reject their salvation, they shall be damned, saith the Lord; those to whom I reveal this law and they do not receive it, shall be damned. Now here comes in our consciences. We have either to renounce Mormonism, Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon, Book of Covenants, and the whole system of things as taught by the Latter-day Saints, and say that God has not raised up a Church, has not raised up a prophet, has not begun to restore all things as he promised, we are obliged to do this, or else to say, with all our hearts, “Yes, we are polygamists, we believe in the principle, and we are willing to practice it, because God has spoken from the heavens.”

Now I want to prophesy a little. It is not very often that I prophesy, though I was commanded to do so, when I was a boy. I want to prophesy that all men and women who oppose the revelation which God has given in relation to polygamy will find themselves in darkness; the Spirit of God will withdraw from them from the very moment of their opposition to that principle, until they will finally go down to hell and be damned, if they do not repent. That is just as true as it is that all the nations and kingdoms of the earth, when they hear this Gospel which God has restored in these last days, will be damned if they do not receive it; for the Lord has said so. One is just as true as the other. I will quote this latter saying, as recorded in the Book of Covenants. The Lord said to the Elders of this Church, in the very commencement as it were, “Go ye forth and preach the Gospel to every creature, and as I said unto mine ancient Apostles, even so I say unto you, that every soul who believes in your words, and will repent of his sins and be baptized in water shall receive a remission of his sins, and shall be filled with the Holy Ghost; and every soul in all the world who will not believe in your words, neither repent of his sins, shall be damned; and this revelation or commandment is in force from this very hour, upon all the world,” as fast as they hear it. That is what the Lord has said. Just so, in regard to polygamy, or any other great principle which the Lord our God reveals to the inhabitants of the earth.

Now, if you want to get into darkness, brethren and sisters, begin to oppose this revelation. Sisters, you begin to say before your husbands, or husbands you begin to say before your wives, “I do not believe in the principle of polygamy, and I intend to instruct my children against it.” Oppose it in this way, and teach your children to do the same, and if you do not become as dark as midnight there is no truth in Mormonism. I am taking up too much time. I would like to dwell on another more pleasing part of this subject, if there were time. (President G. A. Smith—“There is plenty of time, brother Pratt.”)

I will go on and tell the people why polygamy was instituted in this dispensation. So far as a future state is concerned, God has revealed to us that marriage as instituted by him, is to benefit the people, not in this world only, but to all eternity. That is what the Lord has revealed. Do not misunderstand me; do not suppose that I mean that marriage and giving in marriage are to be performed after the resurrection; I have not stated any such thing, and there will be no such thing after the resurrection. Marriage is an ordinance pertaining to this mortal life—to this world—this probation, just the same as baptism and the laying on of hands; it reaches forth into eternity, and has a bearing upon our future state; so does baptism; so does the ordinance of the laying on of hands; so does every ordinance which the Lord our God has revealed to us. If we attend to these things here in this life, they secure something beyond this life—for eternity. They neither baptize, nor receive baptism, after the resurrection. Why? Because neither was intended to be administered after the resurrection. After the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Why? Because this is the world where these ceremonies are to be attended to. That which is secured here, will be secured hereafter, if it be secured upon the principles of law which God has revealed. Marriage, then for eternity, is the great principle of marriage with the Latter-day Saints; and yet, I am sorry to say, that there are some of our young people who will suffer themselves to be married by the civil law; not for eternity, but just like the old Gentile custom—the way our forefathers were married. A justice of the peace, a judge, or someone having the right by the civil laws, will pronounce them husband and wife for a short space, called time; perhaps to last only about three score years, and then it is all over with the marriage contract; it is run out; they are husband and wife until death shall separate them, and then they are fully divorced. We do not believe in any such nonsense; it is one of the ideas of the Gentile world in regard to marriage.

The first great marriage celebrated in this world of ours—that of our first parents—is a sample of marriage that should be introduced and practiced by and among all generations and nations, so far as the eternity of its duration is concerned. Our first parents were immortal beings; they knew nothing about death; it was a word that had never been spoken in their ears. The forbidden fruit had never been laid before them; no law in respect to that was yet given. But Eve was brought to our father Adam as an immortal woman, whose body could not die to all ages of eternity; she was given to an immortal husband, whose body could not die to all future periods of duration, unless they brought death upon themselves. Sin entered into the world, and death by sin; death is one of the consequences of sin; and they brought it upon themselves. But before that, they were married—the immortal Adam had the immortal Eve given to him.

Now if it had been possible for them to have resisted that temptation, they would have been living now, just as fresh, and as full of vigor, life and animation, after six thousand years, as they were on the morning in which this ceremony of marriage took place; and if you should reflect upon millions and millions of ages in the future, they would still be considered husband and wife, while eternity should last. You could not set a time—you could not point your finger at a moment or hour, when they would be separated, and the union be dissolved.

That is the kind of marriage that we Latter-day Saints believe in; and yet some of our young people, professing to be members of the Church, and who say they wish to keep the commandments of God, go and get married by a justice of the peace, or some person authorized to perform that ceremony by the civil law. Ask parties who are guilty of such folly, why they were married by these officers of the law until death should part them? and they will say, “We did it inconsiderately, and without reflection,” or perhaps they will say that their parents did not teach them on that point. Do you not know that such marriages are not sealed by him that is appointed by divine authority? That they are not of God and are illegal in his sight, and your children are illegitimate in the sight of God? If you expect to have any benefits in eternity arising from your children, they must be yours legally, according to divine appointment, under a divine marriage. “What God has joined together let not man put asunder.” But what has God to do with it, when a magistrate, who, perhaps, is an infidel, and does not believe in a God at all, says to a man and woman, “Join your hands together,” and then, when they have done so, he says, “I pronounce you husband and wife?” What has God to do with such a marriage as that? Has God joined them together? No, a civil magistrate has done it; and it is legal so far as the laws of the country are concerned, and the children are legal and heirs to their parents property so far as the civil law is concerned, but what has God to do with it? Has he joined them together? No, and the marriage is illegal, and, in the sight of heaven, the children springing from such a marriage are bastards.

How are we going to legalize these matters? There are many who are very sorry for the Latter-day Saints; so sorry that they would favor the passing of a law which would legalize all the children who have been born in polygamy, and thus prevent them from being what they consider bastards. Now we are just as anxious, on the other hand, to get all our fathers and mothers, who have been married by these Gentile institutions, joined together by divine authority, in order that they may become legal in the sight of God. We do not want their children to be bastardized; and hence, we get them adopted, or we shall do so when the Temple is built; I mean all those who have been born of parents that have never been joined together of the Lord or by his authority. All such children, as well as men and women, married only by the civil law, have got to have ordinances performed for them in the Temple. The men and women will have to be legally married there; and the children born before their parents were thus legally married, will have to pass through ordinances in order that they may become the legal sons and daughters of their parents; they will have to be adopted according to the law of God. You young men and women, who are married in a manner that the Lord does not authorize or own, put yourselves to a great deal of trouble, because you will have a great deal of work to do hereafter in temples in order to get things legalized. How much better it would be for you to come to those whom God has appointed, and have your marriages solemnized as immortal beings, who have to live to all eternity.

It is true that we have all to die by and by, and we shall be separated for a little season; but this separation is a good deal like a man’s leaving his family to go on a mission: he returns after a while to his wives and children, and he has not lost the one nor has he been divorced from the other, because they have been separated. And if death separates, for a little season, those who are married according to God’s law, they expect to return, to each other’s embraces by virtue of their former union; for it is as eternal as God himself.

“Do you mean to say,” says one, “that people in the immortal state, will be united in the capacity of husbands and wives, with their children around them?” Yes, we do believe that all persons who have these blessings sealed upon them here, by the authority of the Most High, will find that they reach forward into the eternal world, and they can hold fast to that which God has placed upon them. “Whatsoever you seal on earth,” said the Lord to the ancient Apostles, “shall be sealed in the heavens.” What could be of more importance than the relationship of families—the solemn and sacred relationship of marriage? Nothing that we can conceive of. It affects us here and it affects us hereafter in the eternal world; therefore, if we can have these blessings pronounced upon us by divine authority and we, when we wake up in the morning of the first resurrection, find that we are not under the necessity of either marrying or giving in marriage, having attended to our duty beforehand, how happy we shall be to gather our wives and our children around us! How happy old Jacob will be, for instance, when in the resurrection, if he has not already been raised—a great many Saints were raised when Jesus arose and appeared to many—if Jacob did not rise then, and his four wives, and his children, how happy he will be, when he does come forth from the grave, to embrace his family, and to rejoice with them in a fulness of joy, knowing that, by virtue of that which was sealed upon him here in time, he will reign upon the earth! Will it not be a glorious thing, when that polygamist, by virtue of promises made to him here, comes forth to reign as king and priest over his seed upon the earth? I think that in those days polygamy will not be hated as it is now. I think that all things that have been prophesied by the ancient prophets will be fulfilled, and that Jacob will get his wives, by virtue of the covenant of marriage; and that he will have them here on the earth, and he will dwell with them here a thousand years, in spite of all the laws that may be passed to the contrary. And they will be immortal personages, full of glory and happiness. And Jesus will also be here, and the Twelve Apostles will also sit on the twelve thrones here on the earth, judging the twelve tribes of Israel; and during a whole thousand years, they will eat and drink at the table of the Lord, according to the promise that was made to them.

Old Father Abraham will come up with his several wives, namely Sarah, Hagar and Keturah and some others mentioned in Genesis; and besides these all the holy prophets will be here on the earth. I do not think there will be any legislation against polygamy.

By and by they will build a polygamous city, and it will have twelve gates, and in order to place as much honor upon these gates as possible, they will name them after the twelve polygamist children that were born to the four polygamous wives of Jacob; and these good old polygamists will be assembled together in this beautiful city, the most beautiful that ever had place on the earth.

By and by some Christian will come along, and he will look at these gates and admire their beauty, for each gate is to be constructed of one immense splendid pearl. The gates are closed fast and very high, and while admiring their beauty he observes the inscriptions upon them. Being a Christian he of course expects to enter, but looking at the gates, he finds the name of Reuben inscribed on one of them. Says he—“Reuben was a polygamous child; I will go on to the next, and see if there is the name of a monogamous child anywhere.” He accordingly visits all the twelve gates, three on each side of the city, and finds inscribed on each gate the name of a polygamous child, and this because it is the greatest honor that could be conferred on their father Jacob, who is in their midst, for he is to sit down with all the honest and upright in heart who come from all nations to partake of the blessings of that kingdom.

“But,” says this Christian, “I really do not like this; I see this is a polygamous city. I wonder if there is not some other place for me! I do not like the company of polygamists. They were hated very badly back yonder. Congress hated them, the President hated them, the cabinet hated them, the Priests hated them, and everybody hated them, and I engendered the same hatred, and I have not gotten rid of it yet. I wonder if there is not some other place for me?” Oh yes, there is another place for you. Without the gates of the city there are dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, adulterers and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Now take your choice, Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, September 20, 1874.

I will read the 3rd and 4th verses of the 29th chapter of Isaiah:

“And I will camp against thee round about, and I will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.

“And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.”

[The speaker also read the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 18th verses of the same chapter.]

It will be forty-seven years the day after tomorrow since the plates, from which the Book of Mormon was translated, were obtained by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and as there may be persons in this assembly who are unacquainted with the circumstances of the finding of this book, I will relate some circumstances in relation to the beginning of this great and marvelous work.

Joseph Smith, generally known in the world as “Old Joe Smith,” was a boy about fourteen years of age at the time the Lord first revealed himself in a very marvelous manner to him. The circumstances were these: This boy, in attending religious meetings that were held in his neighborhood, seemed to be wrought upon in a very wonderful manner, and he felt great concern in relation to the salvation of his soul. Many young people were wrought upon by the same spirit, and they commenced seeking the Lord, and professed to be converted. Among this number were several of the Smith family, who united themselves with the Presbyterians. During the progress of this revival a sort of rivalry sprang up among the various denominations, and each one seemed determined to obtain as many of the converts as possible, and have them unite with his particular religious order. This boy, Joseph Smith, was solicited and advised to unite himself with some of the religious denominations in that vicinity, but being of a reflecting turn of mind, he inquired in his own heart which among these several religious bodies was right. I presume that many of you, at some period of your existence, have been wrought upon in the same manner, because you have been anxious to join yourselves to the true church of God, if you could only find which was God’s church. It was not, therefore, at all strange that this young man should have these ideas passing through his mind; but how to satisfy himself he did not know. If he went to one denomination they would say, “We are right, and the others are wrong,” and so said all the others. Like most boys of his age, Joseph had never read the Bible to any great extent, hence he was unable to decide in his own mind, as to which was the true church. When he saw several denominations contending one with the other, he naturally enough supposed that some of them must be wrong. He began to search the Bible in his leisure time after his work was done upon the farm; and in perusing the New Testament, he came across a passage which is very familiar indeed to most of my hearers; the passage reads thus—“If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” Mr. Smith really believed this passage. He did not read this as one would read a novel, thinking that it was all imaginary; but, from his heart, he believed that it meant what it said, and he said to himself—“I certainly lack wisdom in relation to my duty. I do not know which of these denominations is correct, and which is the church of Christ. I desire to know, with all my heart, and I will go before the Lord, and call upon his name, claiming his promise.” He therefore retired a short distance from his father’s house, into a little grove of timber, and called upon the Lord, claiming this promise, desiring to know his duty and to be informed where the true Church of Christ was. While thus praying, with all his heart, he discovered in the heavens above him, a very bright and glorious light, which gradually descended towards the earth, and when it reached the tops of the trees which overshadowed him, the brightness was so great that he expected to see the leaves of the tree consumed by it; but when he saw that they were not consumed he received courage. Finally the light rested down upon and overwhelmed him in the midst of it, and his mind at the same time seemed to be caught away from surrounding objects, and he saw nothing excepting the light and two glorious personages standing before him in the midst of this light. One of these personages, pointing to the other, said—“Behold my beloved Son, hear ye him.” After this, power was given to Mr. Smith to speak, and in answer to an inquiry by the Lord as to what he desired, he said that he desired to know which was the true Church, that he might be united thereunto. He was immediately told, that there was no true Church of Christ on the earth, that all had gone astray, and had framed doctrines, and dogmas, and creeds by human wisdom, and that the authority to administer in the holy ordinances of the Gospel was not among men upon the earth, and he was strictly commanded to go not after any of them, but to keep aloof from the whole of them. He was also informed that, in due time, if he would be faithful in serving the Lord, according to the best of his knowledge and ability, God would reveal to him still further, and make known to him the true Gospel, the plan of salvation, in its fulness.

Mr. Smith had this vision before he was fifteen years old, and, immediately after receiving it, he began to relate it to some of his nearest friends, and he was told by some of the ministers who came to him to enquire about it, that there was no such thing as the visitation of heavenly messengers, that God gave no new revelation, and that no visions could be given to the children of men in this age. This was like telling him that there was no such thing as seeing, or feeling, or hearing, or tasting, or smelling. Why? Because he knew positively to the contrary; he knew that he had seen this light, that he had beheld these two personages, and that he had heard the voice of one of them; he also knew that he had received instruction from them, and therefore, to be told that there was no such thing as revelation or vision in these days, was like telling him that the sun did not shine in these days. He knew to the contrary, and he continued to testify that God had made himself manifest to him; and in consequence of this, the prejudices of the different denominations were aroused against him.

Why should they feel such concern and anxiety in relation to his testimony as to persecute him, a boy not quite fifteen years of age? The reason was obvious—if that testimony was true, not one of their churches was the true Church of Christ. No wonder, then, that they began to persecute, point the finger of scorn, and say—“There goes the visionary boy.”

In the year 1823, Mr. Smith, being not quite eighteen years old, was meditating in his heart concerning the former vision, and was feeling great anxiety that the promise might be fulfilled to him, that he should, at some future time, have revealed to him the Gospel in all its fulness. He retired to his room one Sunday evening, in September (1823), and commenced to pray with all the earnestness and faith that he could possibly obtain, that the Lord would fulfill the promise that he had made to him. While thus praying, he discovered that a light seemed to be breaking into his room, growing brighter by degrees, until he saw a personage, apparently an angel, standing before him. This personage wore a white robe, and his countenance had the appearance of lightning, but yet appeared of an innocent expression. This personage did not stand upon the floor of the room, but his feet were a short distance above the floor. He informed this boy that the Lord had sent him as a messenger, in answer to his prayer, in order to impart unto him further information. And then he commenced telling him that this great American continent was once occupied by a numerous people, the descendants of the house of Israel, most of them the descendants of a remnant of the tribe of Joseph; that they came here from Jerusalem by the direct guidance of the Almighty, some six centuries before Christ; that in a vessel, which they built by the command of God, they came round by the Gulf of Arabia, crossed the Great Pacific Ocean, and landed on the western coast of South America; that the descendants of these people had many Prophets among them, and that after they had been on this continent about a thousand years, during the progress of which they had become divided into two distinct nations, they fell into great wickedness, and that God threatened them with overthrow; the people of one of these nations were called Lamanites, from Laman, one of the colony which came out of Jerusalem; that the people of the other nation were called Nephites, taking their name from Nephi, the brother of Laman; that between three and four centuries after Christ these two nations occupied the two great wings of this continent, the Lamanites occupying South America, and the Nephites North America; but the Nephites, at that time, having apostatized from the religion of their fathers, and many of them having become exceedingly wicked, the Lord threatened them with an overthrow. And he commanded one of the last Prophets, named Mormon, to make an abridgment of all the records of former Prophets who had been raised up on this land, an abridgment of the history of the nation from the time that they left Jerusalem until that time. He did so, and committed the abridged record, written on plates of gold, into the hands of another Prophet, his son Moroni. The original records, from which the abridgment was made, were hid up by Mormon in a hill called Cumorah, in the interior of what is now called the State of New York, but the abridgment was still in possession of the Prophet Moroni. About this time, or a little before this time, there had been a fifty years war between the inhabitants of North and South America; and finally the Lamanites of South America drove the Nephites from the Isthmus, and continued to burn their towns, cities and villages, and they destroyed hundreds and thousands of the Nephites; and ultimately they were driven into what we now call the State of New York. Three hundred and eighty years after the birth of Christ they entered into terms of peace, or, in other words, an armistice, for the space of four years, during which time the two nations gathered together all their forces into one vicinity, near the hill Cumorah. And when the four years of peace, or armistice, had expired, they came together in battle, in which the Nephites were overpowered, and hundreds of thousands of them killed, including women and children. Moroni, who was among the few Nephites who were spared, and in whose possession was the abridgment which had been made by his father, Mormon, was commanded to hide up that abridgment in the hill Cumorah, near the town of Manchester, Ontario County, State of New York. The Lord commanded him not only to hide up the record, but also to deposit with it the Urim and Thummim, an instrument used by the ancient seers who dwelt on this Continent. The Lord promised Moroni that, in the latter days, he would bring forth that book out of the ground, that it should whisper out of the dust; that it should speak unto the living as if it were from the dead, and when he should bring it forth this Urim and Thummim, deposited with it, should enable the finder to translate it into the language of the people who should then inherit the land.

I have now given you a brief statement of these things, in substance, as they were taught by the angel of God who administered to Joseph Smith in September, 1823. After giving this instruction the angel disappeared; and as Mr. Smith continued to pray and call upon the name of the Lord, the angel appeared the second time, and made the same narration in relation to the Lamanites and Nephites as he made on his first visit. When conversing with Mr. Smith about these records, the vision of his mind was opened so that he was enabled to see where the records were deposited, and he was told by the angel that, if he would be faithful and do according to the commandments of the Lord his God, he, in due time, should have the privilege of bringing the records forth, and that he should translate them for the benefit of the people.

The angel again departed, and Mr. Smith, being unable to go to sleep, continued to pray, and the vision was renewed again; the angel, on his third visit, not only reiterating his previous statement, but also declaring many things that were then in the future in relation to the marvelous work and wonder which the Lord was about to perform upon the earth. When he had withdrawn for the third time, daylight began to appear in the east, and Mr. Smith had not slept the whole night; but he nevertheless went to work with his father in the field, at their usual early hour. But the visions of the night wrought upon his mind to that degree, that his natural strength began to fail, and his father, noticing that he looked pale, advised him to return at once to the house. He started to do so, but had only gone part of the way, when he again saw the light in the heavens, and the angel of God came down and stood before him, and commanded him to return to his father, and relate the visions of the previous night to him. He did so; and the old man commanded his son to be obedient to the heavenly messenger, believing with all his heart that the vision was from the Almighty. On this last occasion the angel told Mr. Smith to go to the hill Cumorah, which had been shown to him in vision the previous night, which was about three miles from his father’s house, and there he should have the privilege of beholding the records. He, after having spoken to his father, accordingly went, and beheld the records. He knew the place as soon as he saw it. He saw the crowning stone of the stone box that covered the records. It was oval in form, and was partially bare, the edges being under the sod. He immediately removed the turf that covered the edges of this stone, and, with a lever, succeeded in lifting off the upper stone, which was cemented to four others, in the form of a box, within which he saw the plates and the Urim and Thummim. He was about to put forth his hand to take the plates, when lo! the angel of God appeared again, and told him that the time had not fully come for these records to come forth; that he (Joseph) was yet inexperienced, and needed strength, and that if he would be obedient to the commands which he would give to him, and which the Lord would impart from time to time, he should, in due time, be permitted to receive these records, commanding him at the same time to come there one year from that date, and that he would appear again to him, and give him further instructions; and thus he should do from year to year, until he should receive the plates, provided that he should prove himself worthy before God; for the angel said unto him, that these plates could not be obtained by any person for speculative purposes; that they contained records that were sacred, prophecies and doctrines that were written by ancient Prophets, and that the Lord God had promised that these prophecies and revelations should go forth to all people, nations and tongues, and that they could not be entrusted with anyone to get gain.

From that time, Mr. Smith, on the 22nd of September each year, continued to visit this place, until the year 1827, he being then not quite twenty-two years old. On the morning of the 22nd of September, in the year 1827, the angel of the Lord permitted him to take these records, with the Urim and Thummim, and he carried them to his father’s house. The people in that neighborhood, having learned about these things, sought by every means in their power—by persecution, mobs, and every other means that they could bring to bear, to find these plates and take them from him. But the Lord gave him directions, through the Urim and Thummim, what he should do with the plates, where he should hide them, and gave him all the information that was necessary to keep them out of the hands of the mobs.

Finally, the persecution became so great, that this young man was obliged to leave his father’s house, and proceed to the Susquehanna River, in Pennsylvania, and there he commenced to transcribe or make a facsimile of some of the characters or words that were written on these metallic plates; and the transcript, then made, was taken by a man named Martin Harris to the city of New York, and exhibited to the learned, to see if they could translate them. Remember, it was not the plates that were taken to the learned, but it was the words of the book, transcribed from the plates, and the learned were requested to read them. But Mr. Harris could not succeed in finding any person who was able to translate them; although he found one man—Professor Anthon—well known through the United States, and in European nations, as a great linguist, who said that he would assist, according to his best ability and judgment, in translating the transcript presented to him by Mr. Harris, and he gave a written promise to that effect. “But,” said he, “where did you get these records?” Mr. Harris informed him that they had been revealed by an angel of God to a young man named Joseph Smith. Mr. Anthon then said to Mr. Harris, “Give me that paper I have given you.” Mr. Harris handed it back to him, and he tore it in pieces, saying—“There is no such thing as the ministering of angels in these days, but bring the record here, and we will see what we can do in relation to assisting in translating it.” Mr. Harris replied that a part of the record was sealed, and that only one portion of it was permitted to be translated at the present time. This learned man said—“I cannot read a sealed book,” thus fulfilling the words I have read—“And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, ‘Read this I pray thee,’ and he saith, ‘I cannot for it is sealed, I cannot read a sealed book.’” The next verse says—“And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying—“Read this I pray thee;” and he saith—‘I am not learned.’”

When Martin Harris reported to this boy, what the learned had said, and how they had proceeded in relation to this matter, the Lord God commanded this young man to translate the record himself, through the aid of the Urim and Thummim. But he made this excuse—“I am not learned.” And the Lord answered him in the very words of Isaiah, as recorded in the next verse—“Wherefore the Lord said, inasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, and have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men, therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” That is the answer that the Lord made this young man, commanding him to read the book.

It was marvelous that a man who did not possess the ordinary education, obtained in the common schools of the country, and who could barely read, and could write but very little; a man who had only read the bible a very little, and who knew but little about the various theological doctrines of the day; I say that for such a man to be called of the Lord God, and commanded to translate from an ancient record and to bring forth a book for the benefit of all nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples, was marvelous in the extreme, and it did literally cause the wisdom of the wise to perish. “And I will raise forts against them, they shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust,” &c.

Now this record is as if one spoke from the dead; it is the voice of the ancient dead Prophets who once inhabited this great continent; it is the voice of the dead to the living, a warning voice, the everlasting Gospel in all its plainness and purity, speaking out of the ground, whispering out of the dust, just as this passage of Scripture declares. Not the book, but the words of the book were sent to the learned; and, lastly, the book itself was commanded to be translated by the unlearned. All this is marvelous.

The eighteenth verse, which I read, says—“And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book.” What book? We answer, the one that the Prophet had been speaking of, the one that was to speak out of the ground, and that was to be translated by the unlearned. “In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.”

This book, that has thus been marvelously translated, is for the benefit of the meek and the poor among men. When Jesus came in ancient days, and preached the Gospel to the learned and the unlearned, we are told that on one occasion, the disciples of John came and asked him if he was the true Messiah, or should they look for another? And he said unto them—“Go and tell John that the dead are raised, that the blind see, and that the poor have the Gospel preached to them.” So, in these latter days, when the Lord God causes a book to come forth out of the ground, and to whisper from the dust, it is for the benefit of the poor among men, and they are to rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Has this ever been fulfilled literally? It has. We have lifted up our voices for forty-four years and upwards among the inhabitants of this nation, and also for many years among the inhabitants of other nations, bearing testimony to all people that the Lord God has sent his angel, according to the promise made in the fourteenth chapter of the Revelation of St. John, flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to every nation, kindred, tongue and people that dwell upon the face of the earth. We have borne testimony, faithfully and diligently without purse or scrip, for these many years among the inhabitants of the earth, to the rich as well as the poor. But the rich will not obey it; no, they have their riches to look after. One says—“I have a yoke of oxen that I have just bought, I must go and try them.” Another says—“I have invested so many hundred thousand dollars in merchandise, I must attend to that.” Another says—“I have some other business, I must look after that.” But the poor among men, whose hearts are pure and meek because of the oppression that they have received from the monopolist, and from the rich, are humble, and they receive this work, hence they have gathered out from among the various nations, where they are no longer oppressed or under taskmasters, and have accumulated homes of their own, and lands, and flocks and herds of their own, which neither they nor their fathers in the old countries inherited from generation to generation. The poor among men, when they shall hear the words of the book, shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

To show more fully the time when this book should be brought to light, let me say that it is a latter-day work, and to prove it, I will read the following verses. “The poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel, for the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off; all that make a man an offender for a word, or that lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, or that turn aside the just for a thing of naught.” All these are to be cut off. When? When they have heard the words of this book, when the proclamation has been sounded in their ears. When they are become fully ripened in iniquity, they will be cut off according to the declaration of the Prophet Isaiah. But their times must first be fulfilled; their fulness must come in, before these terrible judgments and destructions shall lay waste the nations of the Gentiles. But is there no hope for Israel, when this book comes forth? When I speak of Israel I mean the literal Israel, the descendants of the twelve tribes, whose fathers inherited ancient Palestine. Is there no hope for them when this great and marvelous work shall be accomplished? We will read the next verse. “Therefore, thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob. Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale; but when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.”

It seems then, that Jacob was to be scattered and dispersed, and made ashamed, his face was to wax pale, and he be counted a hiss and a byword among the people, until the set time should arrive, until God should rise up in his majesty and power in the latter days, and should set his hand according to the words of the Prophets, a second time to recover his people from the four corners of the earth. And when he should commence this great work, he would bring forth the words of them that have slumbered in the dust, should whisper out of the ground, and their speech should be low out of the dust; and Israel, after that time, should no longer be made ashamed, neither should their faces wax pale. Why? Because they must be gathered from the four quarters of the earth by means of that book.

There is another object expressed in the next verse, the last verse of the chapter, for the bringing forth of this book. “And they also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.” How many hundreds of thousands of good, upright, moral people among all the nations of Christendom, have erred in spirit because of the false doctrines that have been promulgated, from generation to generation, in their midst; doctrines of form without any power? Doctrines that exclude all communications with the heavens, that shut up the voice of the Almighty in continued silence; that closed up the heavens as brass over their heads; that proclaimed in all their creeds, articles of faith, and discipline, that the Bible contained all that God would ever reveal to the children of men. Millions have erred in spirit because of these doctrines; others have murmured because of them, and have found fault, and said, “How can we know the true doctrine, or the true church, when we find several hundred all teaching different, each one going his own way, each proclaiming his own dogma, creed and discipline? Contradicting and quarrelling with one another? Christian nations fighting against Christian nations,” etc. They have murmured about it; and many have begun to think that there is nothing in revealed religion. It has made thousands on thousands of infidels; and it is not to be wondered at; for instead of taking the Bible as their guide, and comparing ancient Christianity with the truth, they have taken this Babel of confusion, called modern Christianity, and have asked if that could be from heaven? And they do not believe in it. They do not believe that God is the author of confusion, and they have murmured, contended and complained. But when this book should come forth, “they that murmured should learn doctrine, and they that erred in spirit should come to understanding.” How? In what way? Because this book, translated from those plates, contains the doctrine of Christ in such perfect plainness, that no two persons who read that doctrine disagree in relation to it. It is plain, and easy to be understood. For instance, let me mention in relation to one ordinance about which there is much contention among the sects of Christendom, namely the ordinance of baptism. One says it must be by pouring, another by sprinkling, another by immersion; a fourth says you must be baptized three times, once in the name of the Father, once in the name of the Son, and then in the name of the Holy Ghost. And thus they quarrel, and contend, and have their different views about that one doctrine.

Now, when you take up the Book of Mormon, and read, in the latter part of the book, concerning this ordinance, you find that our Lord and Savior, after his resurrection, descended to the northern part of what we call South America, and stood in the midst of a large congregation of people who saw him descend, and who also beheld the wounds in his hands and in his feet, and they heard him teach his gospel, and he commanded them that they should no more offer sacrifices and burnt offerings on this American continent, as their fathers had been accustomed to do, but that they should do away with these things. And he taught them his gospel, and commanded them to believe and repent with all their hearts, and to come down into the depths of humility, like little children, and be baptized in his name for the remission of their sins, and promised them, if they would do so, that they should be filled with the Holy Ghost. And he called twelve disciples on this American continent, the same as he called twelve apostles in ancient Palestine. And after he had called and ordained these twelve disciples, he commanded them to baptize all penitent believers, and he gave them the pattern, saying unto them—“You shall go down and stand in the water and, in my name, you shall baptize them. And now, behold, these are the words which you shall say, calling them by name—’Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen,’ and then shall ye immerse them in the water, and shall come forth again out of the water. And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name, for behold the Father and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one,” etc.

Now, let me ask, who could draw any two conclusions from words as plain as these? No person could; and there could be no two churches differing, or built up upon the principle of baptism as here revealed. So it is in regard to every other point of doctrine relating to the plan of salvation revealed in this book; they are all just as plain as the one to which I have called your attention. Hence, when people understand, and comprehend by the power of the Holy Ghost, that this record is divine, and when they can once put their confidence in it as such, they never after that need be at a loss concerning the points of the doctrine of our Lord and Savior. “They that erred in spirit shall come to understanding; they that murmured shall learn doctrine.”

Again he says—“The deaf shall hear the words of the book.” Has this been literally fulfilled, or must it be spiritualized? “The eyes of the blind shall also see out of obscurity and out of darkness in that day.” Does this mean those who are blind spiritually, or does it mean literally? I think it means both. Those who have been blind spiritually are seeing out of obscurity and out of darkness, and those who have been deaf spiritually are beginning to hear. But this is not the entire meaning. Do not the greater part of this congregation, now sitting before me, know of a surety that the Lord God has, since he sent forth the proclamation of this Gospel among the people, caused the eyes of the blind—those blind physically, born blind—to be opened? Do they not know that the ears of some who were so deaf that they could not hear the loudest sound have been literally opened? Yes; you know this, for it has been done in the four quarters of the earth. Not in some obscure corner, where a few individuals have seen it, but among the nations and kingdoms where this gospel has been preached; therefore, the Lord God has indeed fulfilled, to the very letter, these predictions, uttered by the ancient prophets in relation to the great work that should be performed on the earth in the latter days, when he should bring forth this book, and should cause the earth, as it were, to open and bring forth salvation.

This agrees with the testimony of David the Prophet; for not only Isaiah, but David says, in the 85th Psalm, when enquiring about the long captivity of Jacob—“Lord wilt thou not bring back the captivity of Jacob, that Israel may rejoice, and that thy people may be glad?” The Lord, in answering this prayer of David, tells him how he will do it. Says he—“I will cause truth to spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven, and they shall go before us, to set us in the way of his steps.” Yes, by bringing forth this work out of the earth, and by raising up his church, by the divine authority which he restored again, and by pouring out the Holy Ghost from heaven, by sending down righteousness from heaven, and by truth, which has sprung forth out of the earth, the Lord has set us again in the way of his steps. And Israel will truly be made glad, and the house of Jacob, when this work shall go forth to them, will no longer be made ashamed.

This agrees with another prophecy, where the Prophet Isaiah, in looking after the consolation and redemption of Jacob in the last days, says—“Let the skies pour down righteousness, and let the earth open and bring forth salvation. It seems then that the earth was to bring forth truth and salvation, and the skies at the same time were to pour down the blessings of eternity upon the heads of the people, and by this means the Lord God would save the nations of the earth, and redeem Israel from the four quarters thereof. But alas! for the wicked in that day. Let us see what is to become of them. I have already quoted one passage stating that they were to be cut off in a terrible manner, and be brought to naught, the scorner being consumed, and all that watch for iniquity being cut off. Let us read another passage, in this same 29th chapter—“The multitude of all nations that fight against Zion shall be as a hungry man who dreameth and behold he eateth, but he waketh and his soul is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh, but he waketh, and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite. So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.”

Has that ever been fulfilled upon the nations of the earth? It does not matter how many of them there are, they are in the hands of the Almighty, and by the blast of his nostrils they can be consumed, and swept away by the breath of his lips, and they will become like a hungry or a thirsty man who dreams that he has something to eat or to drink, and behold it is all disappointment; for he wakes and his soul is thirsty and hath appetite. So it will be with all people that fight against the great latter-day work; for, saith the same Prophet, “they shall be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake, with great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.” It will be a day not of destruction by a flood of waters, but by various judgments, ending with the flame of devouring fire, which will sweep the earth, and destroy the wicked out of it. Behold the day will come, and is close at hand, when Malachi’s prophecy will be fulfilled, that shall burn as an oven; when all the proud and they that do wickedly shall become as stubble, and they shall be burned up, saith the Lord of hosts. That day shall leave them neither root nor branch. No branches of the wicked left, no roots left among the nations, but the earth, and all the fulness thereof, will be given into the hands of the Saints of the Most High, as was predicted by Daniel the Prophet, that “the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens, shall be given into the hands of the Saints of the Most High.” A King shall reign in righteousness in those days and his name shall be the Lord of Hosts, Jesus of Nazareth, the great Messiah. The King of kings and Lord of lords will reign over the nations in those days, as he now reigns king of Saints. And behold this is the preparatory work. This book that has now come forth will be sounded among the various nations and kingdoms of the earth. They who hear the words thereof, and repent of their sins, and turn away from all unrighteousness, and will receive the fulness of the everlasting gospel, will be gathered together, and the sons and daughters of God will come from the ends of the earth, even every one that is called by his name.

We might go on still further, but this is sufficient for the time being. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Old Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, July 19, 1874.

I hope the congregation will give their attention and pray for the Holy Spirit to be shed forth upon all those who are upright in heart, that we may be edified and instructed by the inspiration and power thereof, for this is one of the objects which we have in view in assembling ourselves together, from Sabbath to Sabbath, to be instructed in the things pertaining to the kingdom, and also to partake of the emblems of the death and sufferings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We find ourselves here, upon this creation, intelligent beings, and questions no doubt arise in the minds of almost every man and every woman in relation to the future destiny of the human family, and what is the object of our being placed here on this earth for a short season and then passing away. It is a question not only asked by intelligent beings who believe in divine revelation, but the heathen and semi-barbarous nations, in fact all people reflect, more or less, concerning the object of their existence here, and what awaits them in the future. Mankind gain very little light on this subject unless through the medium of divine revelation, hence we find among all people a great variety of views in relation to this matter. Our American Indians have some ideas of a future state of existence—they cannot persuade themselves to believe that man is destined, when he lays aside this mortal tabernacle, to be annihilated, but they look forward to a future state, and the pleasures they will hereafter enjoy in their happy hunting grounds. Some people believe one principle and some another in relation to this matter, and the only way man can be satisfied on a subject of so great importance is by receiving revelation from that order of beings—far in advance of us—who have a knowledge of the future state and condition of man.

We find recorded in the revelations of the Most High, called the Bible, as well as in the Book of Mormon and the various modern revelations which God has given, that man is destined to live forever. God having revealed this fact to ancients and to moderns, raised up witnesses to bear testimony to the children of men that they are immortal beings, and that this change which comes upon them, denominated death, is not an annihilation of their being or an end of their existence, but it is merely a casting off or laying aside of the mortal tabernacle; that man lives in the eternal world even after he appears to be dead, and that, if a righteous man, he has joy and happiness, but if a wicked man, he has the gnawing of conscience, and misery, and wretchedness; and that he expects, according to divine revelation, to receive again, in due time, the tabernacle that he has thrown off for a moment. It is sown in weakness, says the Apostle Paul, it is raised in power; it is laid down as a mortal body, it is raised up as an immortal body.

If we, by study or research, could discover some method or principle by which we could remain in this world and live in this tabernacle forever, we should be willing to do so with all the inconveniences of the present order of things, and still be joyful in our hearts. If any man could by research or learning discover some kind of a way, or means or medicine that would give immortality to the children of men, even in their present state, he would be considered one of the greatest men that ever lived, and the one who had bestowed the greatest blessing upon his fellow creatures; he would be lauded to the very skies, and his name would be handed down among all people and nations as one of the greatest benefactors of mankind; so earnestly do we feel to cling to life and desire to live, that we would be very willing to put up with the inconveniences of the present state if we could only remain and the monster death have no power over us. But it is in the order of God that man should die. Man brought this upon himself by transgressing the laws of heaven. By putting forth his hand and partaking of that which God had forbidden, he brought this great evil into the world. Death not only came upon our first parents, who committed the first great transgression, but the curse has been inherited by all their generations. None can escape the curse so far as the mortal body is concerned.

I think, perhaps, this broad assertion may be contradicted in the minds of some. They may tell us of Enoch, who was translated to heaven; they may speak of Elijah, who was caught up in a chariot of fire, and say, “Here, at least, are two exceptions to the general rule.” But what do we know concerning translation? What has God revealed in all the revelations contained in the Old and New Testaments in relation to a translated being? Are we assured that such beings never will have to undergo a change equivalent to that of death?

Our new revelations that we have received inform us of a great many individuals that were translated before the flood. We read that a great and mighty Prophet of the Most High God was sent forth in the days of Adam, namely Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, who lived contemporary with his ancestor Adam; that in his days a great number of people heard the plan of salvation preached to them by the power of the Holy Ghost that rested upon Enoch and those who were called with him; that they received this plan of salvation and gathered themselves out from among the various nations of the earth where they had obeyed the Gospel; that they were instructed, after they assembled in one, in righteousness, for three hundred and sixty-five years; that they learned the laws of the kingdom, and concerning God and every principle of righteousness that was necessary to enable them to enter into the fullness of the glory of heaven; they were instructed to build up a city, and it was called a city of holiness, for God came down and dwelt with that people; he was in their midst, they beheld his glory, they saw his face, and he condescended to dwell among them for many long years, during which time they were instructed and taught in all of his ways, and among other things they learned the great doctrine and principle of translation, for that is a doctrine the same as the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, which is among the first principles of the plan of salvation; and we may also say that the doctrine of translation, which is intimately connected with that of the resurrection, is also one of the first principles of the doctrine of Christ. They were instructed in relation to this government, the object of it, &c.

According to the light and knowledge which the Latter-day Saints have upon this subject, revealed in the revelations given through Joseph Smith, we find that those people, when they were fully prepared, having learned the doctrine of transla– tion, were caught up into the heavens, the whole city, the people and their habitations. How much of the earth was taken up in connection with their habitations we are not informed. It might have been a large region. You may ask—“Where was this city of Zion built in ancient days?” According to new revelation it was built upon this great western hemisphere. When I speak of this western hemisphere I speak of it as it now exists. In those days the land was united; the eastern and the western hemispheres were one; but they dwelt in that portion of our globe that is now called the western hemisphere, and they were taken up from this portion of the globe. No doubt all the region of country occupied by them was translated, or taken away from the earth.

Does this prove that they were immortal beings from the time of their translation? No; it does not prove any such thing. How are we to know anything about it? We cannot learn anything in relation to it, except by revelation. God has revealed to us that they are held in reserve, in some part or portion of space; their location is not revealed, but they are held in reserve to be revealed in the latter times, to return to their ancient mother earth; all the inhabitants that were then taken away are to return to the earth.

Some five thousand years have passed away since they were caught up to the heavens. What has been their condition during that time? Have they been free from death? They have been held in reserve in answer to their prayers. What were their prayers? Enoch and his people prayed that a day of righteousness might be brought about during their day; they sought for it with all their hearts; they looked abroad over the face of the earth and saw the corrup– tions that had been introduced by the various nations, the descendants of Adam, and their hearts melted within them, and they groaned before the Lord with pain and sorrow, because of the wickedness of the children of men, and they sought for a day of rest, they sought that righteousness might be revealed, that wickedness might be swept away and that the earth might rest for a season. God gave them visions, portrayed to them the future of the world, showed unto them that this earth must fulfill the measure of its creation; that generation after generation must be born and pass away, and that, after a certain period of time, the earth would rest from wickedness, that the wicked would be swept away, and the earth would be cleansed and sanctified and be prepared for a righteous people. “Until that day,” saith the Lord, “you and your people shall rest, Zion shall be taken up into my own bosom.” Ancient Zion should be held in reserve until the day of rest should come, “then,” said the Lord to Enoch, “thou and all thy city shall descend upon the earth, and your prayers shall be answered.”

They have been gone, as I have already stated, about five thousand years. What have they been doing? All that we know concerning this subject is what has been revealed through the great and mighty Prophet of the last days, Joseph Smith—that unlearned youth whom God raised up to bring forth the Book of Mormon and to establish this latter-day Church. He has told us that they have been ministering angels during all that time. To whom? To those of the terrestrial order, if you can understand that expression. God gave them the desires of their hearts, the same as he gave to the three Nephites, to whom he gave the privilege, according to their request, of remaining and bringing souls unto Christ while the world should stand. Even so, he granted to the people of Enoch their desire to become ministering spirits unto those of the terrestrial order until the earth should rest and they should again return to it.

Joseph inquired concerning their condition, whether they were subject to death during that period, and was informed, as you will find in the history of this Church, as printed in the Millennial Star and other publications thereof, that these personages have to pass through a change equivalent to that of death; notwithstanding their translation from the earth, a certain change has to be wrought upon them that is equivalent, to death, and probably equivalent also to the resurrection of the dead. But before that change comes they minister in their office unto those of another order, that is the terrestrial order. Strangers will not understand perhaps what we mean by the terrestrial order. If they will take the opportunity of reading the doctrines of this Church, as laid down in the revelations given through Joseph Smith, they will learn what our views are in relation to this matter. God revealed by vision the different orders of being in the eternal worlds. One class, the highest of all, is called the celestial; another class, the next to the celestial in glory, power, might and dominion, is called the terrestrial; another class, still lower than the terrestrial in glory and exaltation, is called the telestial. This middle class, whose glory is typified by the glory of our moon in the firmament of the heavens as compared with the sun, are those who once dwelt on this or some other creation and, if they have had the Gospel laid before them they have not had a full opportunity of receiving it; or they have not heard it all, and have died without having the privilege. In the resurrection they come forth with terrestrial bodies. They must be administered to says the vision, and God has appointed agents or messengers to minister to these terrestrial beings, for their good, blessing, exaltation, glory and honor in the eternal worlds.

Enoch and his people understanding this principle sought that they, before receiving the fullness of their celestial glory, might be the instruments in the hands of God of doing much good among beings of the terrestrial order.

We read in the New Testament concerning certain angels that are in the eternal worlds, and the question is asked by the Apostle Paul—“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation?”—not for those who were already heirs of salvation, but for those who shall be—those who were to be redeemed, that were to be brought forth and exalted. Enoch and his people were appointed to this ministry, holding the Priesthood thereof, with power and authority to administer in order that those beings may be exalted and brought up, and inherit all the glory that they are desirous to receive.

Much might be said concerning these different orders of glory, but we feel to pass on, and we will speak a few words now concerning the resurrection from the dead of those who have fully prepared themselves for the highest glory, the glory of the celestial kingdom, the highest of all, the holiest of all, the kingdom where God the Father sits enthroned in glory and in power, ruling and governing all things. There is a certain law, which God ordained before the foundation of the world, an irrevocable decree that those who would obey that law should have this great and most glorious of all the resurrections, be raised to celestial power, thrones and exaltations, where they could dwell in the presence of their Father and their God, throughout all the future ages of eternity.

Do you enquire what this law is which God revealed, and which was foreordained in the counsels of eternity, to be made manifest unto the sons and daughters of men for their exaltation to this highest heaven? Do you desire to know the road, the ordinances, the principles, by which we may attain to that highest of all exaltations? I will begin and say to all, that every individual that ever attains to the fullness of that glory, I mean those who have come to the years of understanding and maturity not referring at all to little children—must be born of the water and of the Spirit in order to be prepared to enter that highest glory of all. No one gets there upon any other principle. No ordinances, principles, laws or institutions laid down by the children of men that vary from that principle, will ever bring us into the celestial kingdom. We have the words of Jesus on this subject, when speaking to Nicodemus—“Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he can in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” It is an impossibility, because the word of the great Jehovah has gone forth, and will not be revoked, and unless we are born of the water and of the Spirit, we cannot enter there.

What do we understand by being born of the water? What we understand, what God has revealed to us, as well as to the ancients, is, that we must be laid under the water and be brought forth out of the water, typical of birth, for this is a birth of the water. Who is a fit subject for this birth of the water? None but those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world; those who believe that he died to redeem the world and that he shed his blood to atone for the sins of the world; those who believe this and truly repent of all their sins are the only subjects who are justified before God in going down into the waters of baptism, being immersed in the water and brought forth again out of the water, which is the new birth of the water. It will do no person any good to be baptized a hundred times if his baptism is not connected with true faith in God and in Jesus Christ, and in his revelations and commandments; and unless he sincerely and truly repents of his sins, reforms his life and enters into a covenant with God to serve him in all righteousness, humility, meekness and lowliness of heart, his baptism would be good for nothing, it would not be acknowledged in heaven, it would not be recorded in the archives of eternity to his justification in the great judgment day. Let me go still further, and say, that if we have repented of and been baptized for the remission of our sins, if we do not seek after the birth of the spirit also, our baptism will avail us nothing; they must go hand in hand—the birth of the water first and then the birth of the spirit.

What do we understand by the birth of the spirit? I answer, that there is a birth of the spirit, in other words, those persons who receive the Holy Ghost are filled with it, are immersed within it, they are clothed upon therewith, and consequently are born anew of it, and they are without desires to do evil, their desires to do that which is wrong are taken away, and they become new creatures in Christ Jesus, being born of the spirit, as well as being born of the water. Here then are certain laws, ordinances or principles, as a beginning or starting point, by which we may gain an entrance into that highest glory of which I have been speaking.

Another thing to be considered in receiving these ordinances—I may be ever so sincere and humble and ever so willing to repent of my sins; I may have ever so much faith in God and in his Son Jesus Christ, and yet if I am not baptized by a man holding divine authority from God, having the right to baptize me in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, my baptism will not be legal, it will not be the new birth, and I cannot enter into the kingdom of God, according to the words of Jesus. What then does it require to constitute a man having divine authority? Can anyone by a mere impression upon his mind consider that he has divine authority to baptize his fellows? No; it needs a call from heaven, it needs a new revelation cotemporary with the individuals that act, a revelation from God calling the persons by name, setting them apart, ordaining them and calling them to officiate, commanding them to administer. Any other person who attempts to administer baptism will not be acknowledged in heaven. But a man holding the right by virtue of his divine calling and ordination, and by virtue of the power that God has bestowed upon him and the commandment that God has revealed to him, can go down and administer the baptism of water, and it will be recognized in heaven; it will not only be recorded on earth among the Saints in the Church here on the earth, but it will be recorded in the books of eternity, the records that are kept on high, and in that day, when all men shall be judged out of the books that are written, it will be found that the books kept here on earth will accord with those books that are kept in heaven, and by these books will parties be justified, and by these books will the legal ordinances that have been administered be acknowledged and recognized in heaven.

This calls forth another query by the world—“Why is it that you Latter-day Saints are so exclusive in the administration of the ordinances that you will not admit me, a Baptist, to join your society on my old baptism? I have been immersed,” says the Baptist; “I was sincere, I repented of my sins, and yet you Latter-day Saints will not receive me into your communion and to become a member of your Church unless I am baptized by one of your authorities.” The answer is, we do not recognize, as I have already stated, the authority of the Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Roman Catholics, nor of any Christian society upon the whole face of our globe to administer in the sacred ordinances, unless God has called them by new revelation, even as Aaron was called in ancient days. Have they been thus called? Ask them, and they will tell you no. Ask them if there has been any later revelation than the Old and New Testament, and all these societies will tell you that God has not given any revelation, raised up any Prophets or inspired Apostles, sent any angels, or given any visions, since the day that John the Revelator, the last of the Apostles, closed up his writing. Oh what an awful condition they must be in if this is the case! And who, with the exception of the Latter-day Saints, I ask again, among all nations, kindreds, peoples, tongues, and religious denominations, upon the face of our globe, has any divine authority? Not one, hence their baptisms are illegal, their administrations of the Lord’s Supper are illegal, and all their administrations in ordinances are not recognized in heaven. If God has not said anything since the days of the ancient Apostles, no wonder that he commanded, in these latter days, that we should not receive any into our Church unless they came in by the door of baptism.

But we have only told you some of the first principles of the Gospel of the Son of God, which are necessary to prepare the human family to enter into that highest glory that is spoken of by the Apostle Paul—the glory of the celestial. He says in the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians—“There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for as one star differs from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead.” The glory of the sun is the highest, it is called by Paul the celestial, and I have told you some of the first principles of the celestial law. If you would inherit a celestial glory you must be willing to abide by the celestial law, otherwise you will come short. But do we stop with these first principles? No, there are many other great and glorious principles, connected with the celestial law, which God has revealed, and set forth as necessary for his people to receive, in order to prepare them to enter into that glory. I will name one—marriage.

We know very little about the order of heaven, so far as marriage is concerned, and all that we do know God has revealed. He has told us in the New Testament, “What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” It seems then that there is a marriage wherein God officiates, or in other words, he officiates by his power and authority, he officiates in the uniting of men and women in marriage, hence it is called joining them together of God—what God joins, not what man joins. It is a divine institution, it cannot be administered by the lawmaking department. There may be marriages under the civil law; Congress, or the Legislatures of the various States and Territories may pass laws regulating the marriage institution, and marriages performed according to the provisions thereof would be legal, so far as the laws of man are concerned. But has God anything to do with these marriages? Just as much as he has with baptism when it is administered illegally. I have already shown you that a baptism administered by a man without authority is good for nothing; and a man and woman united in marriage by any civil law ever framed since the world began, are illegally married in the sight of heaven; to be legal there, it must be performed by a man called by revelation and ordained and commanded to celebrate that ordinance.

Now I want to say a few words to our young people who dwell in different parts of the Territory. I have heard that some of them, perhaps through a want of understanding of the laws of God, have suffered themselves to be married by the civil law—for instance, by a justice of the peace, alderman or judge. That will do very well so far as the laws of the land are concerned, but has God anything to do with such marriages? Nothing at all. Has he ever authorized marriages to be solemnized after this order? Not at all. Are children born of such marriages your legal sons and daughters in the sight of heaven? Not at all; they are in one sense bastards. That is a pretty hard saying, is it not? They are actually bastards. For instance, there are many old people who never heard of the divine appointment and authority which God has sent forth from heaven in relation to marriage, who have been married according to the laws of the countries in which they resided before they heard of this work. They complied literally with their laws, and so far as the law was concerned that was all right. But were they, legally, in the sight of God, husband and wife? Just as much as I would be a son of God and born of water, if I were sprinkled by a sectarian priest, or baptized by a Baptist priest, just as much. Could we claim a celestial glory, and all the privileges and blessings and exaltation that God has ordained from the foundation of the world to be bestowed upon those who comply with the celestial law, unless we complied with this law? Could our children, in the morning of the resurrection, come up and say unto us—“We claim you as our legal parents;” “I am your son,” “I am your daughter, and you are my parents, and therefore I claim the privilege of partaking of all the glory that you partake of, and of receiving thrones and dominions and kingdoms and powers and principalities in heavenly places in Christ Jesus?” They could not claim any such thing; neither could the parents have a claim upon these children; neither could they be gathered together and organized into a family capacity. Why? Because the celestial law has not been attended to. Inquires one—“Do you mean to make us all out bastards?” Not in the eyes of the law, but in the eyes of heaven. I am pointing out the difference now between the two laws—the law of man and the law of God, or the celestial law. Parents, if you would have your families connected with you in a social capacity hereafter, you must take steps to secure them by obeying the celestial law.

Inquires one—“Is there any remedy for these illegal marriages that we entered into before we heard the Gospel?” Yes, God has ordained from before the foundation of the world, laws and institutions adapted to the condition of all the human family, which, when revealed, if they are attended to by the children of men, will bless and exalt them, and consequently the propriety of gathering. God has not revealed a law in relation to marriage which may be officiated in everywhere, at random, without any record; he has ordained that in the last days, in Zion and in Jerusalem, and in the remnant whom the Lord our God shall call, there shall be deliverance. Deliverance from what? From all our former foolish traditions, and from the powers of darkness and everything evil. For this reason the people are gathering up from the nations of the earth, that they may be taught the law of deliverance; that they may be taught, legally and properly, how to become connected as husbands and wives in the sight of heaven; and inasmuch as our children have been born unto us under the covenants of the civil law, that our marriages may be renewed under the new covenant that God has revealed, and be recorded and sealed on earth and in heaven for the benefit of our children and their posterity forever and ever. You will find, when you learn further concerning the celestial glory, Paul’s words to be true, that in that glory, those who are in God must themselves be connected in marriage; for says the Apostle Paul, “the man is not without the woman in the Lord, and the woman is not without the man in the Lord.” This is an eternal principle, an eternal law pertaining to that glory. You may try to get the fullness thereof singlehanded, but you can’t do it, for God has made this a point of order and law, that all beings who are exalted to that highest glory shall be united in the Lord, as husband and wife.

Inquires one—“Do you mean that such relationship is going to continue after this life in the eternal worlds?” Yes, that which God has appointed and ordained in eternity, in relation to the creations and worlds that he has made, must be fulfilled. There is no such thing as a woman dwelling separately and independently, and inheriting a fullness of the glory of heaven, or a man either; they must be united together in the Lord.

Now you begin to understand a little of the principle of marriage, as believed in by the Latter-day Saints. We might point out a great many other principles of the celestial law, necessary to observe in order to attain the highest glory, but as the heat is intense, it would not be wisdom to detain you. Let me say to my young brethren and sisters, do not transgress the law of heaven. These things could be done without any very great condemnation by people abroad, but when we are at the place where we can be taught and instructed in the ways of the Lord, if we then, with our eyes wide open, go and get our marriages celebrated by the civil authorities of the land alone, we shall find ourselves under great condemnation. God will judge the people according to the light they have, and if you have been properly instructed in regard to his laws and ordinances do not transgress them, but attend to them according to the order of heaven, as you are instructed. Let all your marriages be, not for time only, according to the Gentile system of marriage, but let them be covenants for eternity, and let them be sealed upon you by a man of God having authority to do these things; and let them be recorded, and let these records be such that, when the books are opened, they will be found to accord with the records of heaven, then, if you are faithful, you will be entitled to your wife and your children, to all eternity, by virtue of the covenants which you have entered into, and which have been sealed on earth, by divine authority, and sealed in heaven in your behalf. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 14, 1874.

There seems to be at the present time a great deal of interest manifested among the Latter-day Saints, and even among those who are connected with our Church, in regard to some instructions that have been imparted to the Latter-day Saints in relation to their temporal affairs. The instructions which have been imparted, and which the people are, in some measure, receiving, are comparatively new in their estimation, that is, it is supposed they are new, and something which we, in times past, have not practiced. But if we appeal to the revelations of God, we shall find that no new thing has been required of us. It is generally termed, however, by Latter-day Saints, the New Order. You hear of it in all parts of the Territory. What is meant by the New Order? Is it really new in the revelations of God, or is it something new for us to practice it? We have been required, in the year 1874, to come back again to an old order, as taught in ancient Mormonism. What I mean by ancient Mormonism is Mormonism as it was taught some forty-three or forty-four years ago. There is a generation now living on the earth who seem to be comparatively ignorant of the doctrines which were taught some forty years ago to men who are now old and have grey heads and gray beards. Since that time a new generation has arisen; and they begin to think that something new, something that will turn things upside down, is being introduced into Mormonism. I will say to all who have such ideas, you are entirely mistaken, it is not so; we are trying to get the people to come back again to the old principles of Mormonism, to that which God revealed in the early rise of this Church.

Every man, whether he is or is not a Latter-day Saint, when he comes to study our written works, the written revelations which God has given, will acknowledge that the Latter-day Saints cannot be the people they profess to be, they cannot be consistent with the revelations they profess to believe in and live as they now live; they have got to come into the system which the Saints call the New Order, otherwise they cannot comply with the revelations of God.

I believe that I will quote a few revelations this morning, in order to show you what God said in relation to property or temporal things, in the early rise of this Church. The first revelation that now occurs to my mind will be found in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, on page 217; it was given in March, 1831, forty-three years ago last March. In the third paragraph of this revelation we read these words:

“For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance. But it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin.”

Do you believe this revelation, Latter-day Saints? “Oh, yes,” says one—“we believe Joseph Smith was a Prophet.” Have you practiced it? Oh, that is another thing. How, then, are we to know that you believe this revelation if you do not practice it? How are the world to know you are sincere in your belief, if you have a revelation which you profess to believe in, and yet give no heed to it. I do not wonder that the world say that the Latter-day Saints do not believe their own revelations. Why? Because we do not practice them. “It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin.” There may be some strangers here, and they do not believe this book, but I will tell you what they would say as men of reason, they would say that if you Latter-day Saints call this your book of faith, and doctrines, and covenants, to be consistent you ought to comply with it. That is what they would say, and it is really a true saying, and consistent and reasonable. If we believe this, let us practice it; if we do not believe in it, why profess to believe in it?

I will now refer you to a revelation given on the second day of January, 1831, it is on page 120 of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. I will tell you how this revelation was given, for I was present at the time it was given. The Church, then, was about nine months old. The Prophet Joseph, who received all the revelations contained in this book, was then living in the State of New York, in the town of Fayette, Seneca County. He called together the various branches of the Church that had been organized during the nine months previous in that State, and they assembled together in the house in which this Church was organized, namely, Father Whitmer’s house. You will recollect, in reading the Book of Mormon, that the sons of Father Whitmer, young men, are noted as witnesses of the Book of Mormon, David Whitmer having seen the angel, and the plates in the hands of the angel, and heard him speak, and the hand of the angel was placed on his head, and he said unto him—“Blessed be the Lord and they that keep his commandments.” And he heard the voice of the Lord in connection with three other persons testifying out of the heavens, at the same time that the angel was administering, that the Book of Mormon had been translated correctly by the gift and power of God, and commanding him to bear witness of it to all people, nations and tongues, in connection with the other three that were with him. These were some of the individuals also who saw the plates and handled them, and saw the engravings upon them, and who gave their testimony to that effect in the Book of Mormon. It was in their father’s house where this Church was organized, on the 6th of April, 1830; it was in their father’s house where this little Conference was convened on the 2nd of January, 1831, and this Conference requested the Prophet Joseph Smith to inquire of the Lord concerning their duties. He did so. He sat down in the midst of the Conference, of less than one hundred, I do not know exactly the number, and a scribe wrote this revelation from his mouth. One item contained therein, in the fifth paragraph, reads thus—

“And let every man esteem his brother as himself, and practice virtue and holiness before me. And again I say unto you, let every man esteem his brother as himself. For what man among you having twelve sons, and is no respecter of them and they serve him obediently, and he saith unto the one: Be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here; and to the other: Be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there—and looketh upon his sons and saith I am just? Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.”

Perhaps the Saints may think that this has reference to spiritual things alone, and means to be one in doctrine, principle, ordinances, faith, belief, and so on, and that it has no reference whatever to temporal things; but in order to show you that this has reference to temporal as well as to spiritual things, let me quote that which God said a few months after this in another revelation. I have not time to turn to all these revelations, but I will quote them. The Lord says—“Except ye are equal in the bonds (or bands) of earthly things, how can you be made equal in the bonds of heavenly things?” Here was a question put to us: How can you be made equal in the bonds of heavenly things, unless you are equal in the bonds of earthly? Surely enough, we cannot be made equal. If we are unequal in this life, and are not one, can we be entrusted with the true riches, the riches of eternity? I believe I will read to you a small portion of another revelation that was given on stewardships. The Lord commanded certain ones among his Servants to take charge of these revelations when they were in manuscript, before they were published, that they might be printed and sent forth among the people, and he also gave them charge concerning the Book of Mormon, and made them stewards over these revelations and the avails arising from them. And the Lord said—“Wherefore, hearken and hear, for thus saith the Lord unto them, I, the Lord, have appointed them and ordained them to be stewards over the revelations and commandments which I have given unto them, and which I shall hereafter give unto them; and an account of this stewardship will I require of them in the day of judgment; wherefore I have appointed unto them, and this is their business in the Church, to manage them and the concerns thereof, and the benefits thereof, wherefore a commandment give I unto them that they shall not give these things unto the Church, neither unto the world, nevertheless, inasmuch as they receive more than is needful for their necessities and their wants, it shall be given into my storehouse and the benefits shall be consecrated unto the inhabitants of Zion, and unto their generations, inasmuch as they become heirs according to the laws of the kingdom.”

Now, you notice here, the Lord did not intend those individuals whom he named to become rich out of the avails of the sale of the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and other revelations and the literary concerns of his Church, he never intended that they should become rich while others were poor, that was not the order; but inasmuch as they received more than was needful for their support what should they do with it? Should they aggrandize themselves while their poor brethren were destitute? No, not at all; they were to give all the surplus, over and above what was really necessary to support them, into the Lord’s storehouse, and it was to be for the benefit of all the people of Zion, not only the living but for their generations after them, inasmuch as they became heirs according to the laws of the kingdom of God.

There was a certain way to become heirs according to the laws of the kingdom of God. Heirs of what? Heirs of the avails arising from the sale of the revelations which all the inhabitants of Zion were to be benefited by. Says one—“But perhaps that was limited to these six individuals who are here named, and did not mean the whole Church.” Wait, let us read the next sentence—“Behold, this is what the Lord requires of every man in his stewardship, even as I the Lord have appointed or shall hereafter appoint.” From this we learn that all the stewards which the Lord had appointed; and all that he should appoint, in a future time, to stewardships, were to hand over all their surplus—all that was not necessary to feed and clothe them—into the Lord’s storehouse. None who belonged to the Church of the living God are exempt from this law. Does that law include us? It includes all who belong to the Church, not one is exempt from it. Have we been doing this, Latter-day Saints, for the last forty-three years, since this revelation was given? Have we been complying with the order we undertook in the year 1831, to enter into? This old order is not a new order that you talk so much about.

In the year 1831, we commenced emigrating to the western part of the State of Missouri, to a county, quite new then, called Jackson County; most of the land at that time was Government land. When we commenced emigrating there the Lord gave many revelations. The Prophet Joseph went up among some of the earliest to that county, and God gave many revelations contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, in relation to how the people should conduct their affairs. Among the revelations then given was the commandment that every man who should come up to that land should lay all things which he possessed before the Bishop of his Church. Another revelation, given before we went up to that land, speaking of a land which the Lord, at some future time, would give us for an inheritance, commanded that we should consecrate all our property into his storehouse. If we had wagons, horses, mules, oxen, cows, sheep, farming utensils, household furniture, gold and silver, jewelry, wearing apparel, it mattered not what it was, the Lord said, in a revelation given in February, 1831, that it should all be laid before the Bishop of his Church, and that it should be consecrated to the Lord’s storehouse. This reduced us all on a level. If a man had a million dollars when he gathered up to Jackson County, if he complied with the law, he would be just as rich as the man who had not one farthing. Why? Because he consecrated all he had, and the poor man could not do any more than that, hence all who complied with the law were equally poor or equally rich.

What was the next step after this consecration? In those days we had but one Bishop—his name was Edward Partridge, and he was called by revelation—and the next step after this general consecration, the Lord commanded the Bishop and his two counselors to purchase all the land in Jackson County, and in the counties round about, that could conveniently be got, the general price being one dollar and a quarter an acre. And what next? After purchasing these lands as far as they had the means to do so, every man that had consecrated his property was to receive an inheritance. Now recollect, none except those who consecrated, none who disobeyed that law, were to receive an inheritance or stewardship; but all who consecrated their properties according to this law were to receive their stewardship.

What is the meaning of a stewardship? A steward is one who is accountable to somebody for the property that he manages, and that is his stewardship, whether it be landed property, farming utensils, wagons, cows, oxen, horses, harness, or whatever may be committed to him. To whom were the brethren in Jackson County accountable for the stewardship committed to them? To the Bishop. The Bishop was called in these revelations a common judge in Zion, ecclesiastically speaking, not according to the civil laws; so far as our ecclesiastical laws were concerned he was to be a common judge, and each person was to render an account of the stewardship which he had to the Bishop. I do not know how often; perhaps once a year, perhaps longer than that, perhaps oftener. I do not know that there was any specified time given in these revelations about how often these accounts should be rendered up. But how were the people to live out of the avails of the stewardship committed to their charge? They were to have food and raiment, and the necessary comforts of life. Well, of course, a wise and faithful steward, having health and strength, and perhaps a good deal of talent, might so take charge of a stewardship that he might gain more than he and his family needed, and keeping an account of all these things, and rendering the same when required, some of them would have a considerable surplus above that which they and their families needed. What was to be done with that? Why, as stewards, they would have to consecrate it into the Lord’s storehouse, the Lord being the owner of the property and we only his stewards.

There were some men who were entrusted with a larger stewardship than others. For instance, here was a man who knew nothing about farming particularly, but he might be a master spirit as far as some other branch of business was concerned. He might understand how to carry on a great cloth manufactory and everything in the clothing line necessary for the inhabitants of Zion. Such a man would require a greater stewardship than the man who cultivated a small farm, and had only himself and a wife and two or three children to support. But would the fact of one man having a greater stewardship than another make one richer than another? No. Why not? Because, if one received fifty or a hundred thousand dollars to build and stock a large manufactory for the purpose of manufacturing various kinds of fabrics for clothing, although he might have a surplus of several thousand dollars at the end of the year, he would not be any richer than the farmer with his few acres of land, and let me show you how they would be equal. The manufacturer does not own the building, the machinery, the cotton or the flax, as the case may be, he is only a steward, like the farmer, and if, at the end of the year, he has five, ten, or fifty thousand dollars surplus, does that make him a rich man? By no means, it goes into the Lord’s storehouse at the end of each year, or as often as may be required, thus leaving him on the same platform of equality with the farmer and his small stewardship. Do you not see the equality of the thing? In temporal matters it is not given that one man shall possess that which is above another, saith the Lord.

Now did the people really enter into this, or was it mere theory? I answer that, in the year 1831, we did try to enter into this order of things, but the hearts of the people had been so accustomed to holding property individually, that it was a very difficult matter to get them to comply with this law of the Lord. Many of them were quite wealthy, and they saw that on that land a great city called Zion, or the New Jerusalem, was to be built; they understood that from the revelations, and they said in their hearts—“What a fine chance this will be for us to get rich. We have means and money, and if we consecrate according to the law of God we cannot get rich; but we know that people by thousands and tens of thousands will gather up here, and these lands will become very valuable. We can now get them at the government price, a dollar and a quarter an acre, and if we lay out a few thousands in land, we can sell it out to the brethren when they come along at a thousand percent profit, and perhaps in some cases at ten thousand percent, and make ourselves wealthy, so we will not consecrate, but we will go ahead for ourselves individually, and we will buy up the lands to speculate upon.” These were the feelings of some who went up to that country; but others were willing to comply with the word of God, and did just as the revelation required, and they laid everything they had before the Bishop, and received their stewardship.

After he had organized these things, Joseph the Prophet, in August of the year 1831, went back to Kirtland, about a thousand miles east, and while there the Lord revealed to him that the inhabitants of Jackson County were not complying with his word; hence Joseph sent letters up to them containing the word of the Lord, chastening them because of their disobedience and rebellion against the law of heaven. He did this on several occasions, and one occasion, especially, as you will find recorded in the history published in some of our periodicals. I think you will find it in the fifteenth volume of the Millennial Star, in language something like this—“If the people will not comply with my law, which I have given them concerning the consecration of their property, the land shall not be a land of Zion unto them, but their names shall be blotted out, and the names of their children and their children’s children, so long as they will not comply with my laws, and their names shall not be found written in the book of the law of the Lord.”

In another revelation, published in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord says—“The rebellious are not of the blood of Ephraim, wherefore they shall be plucked up and shall be sent away out of the land.” When this revelation was given all was peace in Jackson County. We had no enemies there any more than we had elsewhere, wherever the Church might be located; all was comparative peace. But the Lord said that the rebellious should be plucked up and sent away out of the land. The people thought there was no prospect whatever of that revelation being fulfilled. All was peace, and to say that they were to be plucked up and driven out of the land was out of the question. They did not repent, that is all of them, but continued in their disobedience, neglecting to consecrate their properties, according to the requirements of the law of the Lord; and hence, when they had been there about two years and five months from the time of their first settlement or location, they were literally plucked up and cast away out of the land. You have the history before you. Their enemies arose upon them and began to tear down their houses, and they burned two hundred and three of the dwellings our people had built in that land. They burned down their grain stacks, hay stacks and fences, and chased the Latter-day Saints around from one part of the county to another, sometimes tying them up to trees and whipping them, in some instances until their bowels gushed out. They tore down the printing office and destroyed it, also one of our dry goods stores, and scattered the goods through the streets; they went into houses and, taking therefrom the bedding and furniture, piled them up in the streets and set fire to them, and thus they continued their persecutions until, finally, they succeeded in driving the Latter-day Saints from the county, and thus the word of the Lord was fulfilled which said—“I will pluck them up and send them away out of the land, for none but the obedient shall eat of the good of the land of Zion in these latter days.”

Another revelation God gave, to warn the people, in which he told them to remember the Book of Mormon, and the new covenant which he had revealed, and which, if they did not observe, he said—“Behold, I the Lord have a scourge and a judgment which shall be poured out upon your heads.” This was given between one and two years before we were driven out of that county, in Kirtland, Ohio, through the Prophet Joseph, and sent up to them to warn them. Another revelation said if the people did not do thus and so, they should be persecuted from city to city, and from synagogue to synagogue, and but few should stand to receive an inheritance—meaning those who had gone into that county.

Now go through this Territory, from one end thereof to the other, hunt up the greyheaded and greybearded men and the old ladies, who were once in Jackson County, and see how many you can find who lived there then, and you can judge whether the word of the Lord has been fulfilled or not. I guess that you will find but very few if you hunt, all through the Territory.

Let us read a little further in the revelations, and see whether God has cast us entirely off or not. In one of the revelations, given after we were driven out across the Missouri River into Clay County, and into the surrounding counties, the Lord said, concerning the people who were scattered and driven—“Behold, I have suffered these things to come upon them because of their sins and wickedness; but notwithstanding all these afflictions which have come upon my people, I will be merciful unto them, and in the day of wrath I will remember mercy, wherefore I, the Lord, will not utterly cast them off.” Though but few should stand to receive an inheritance, the Lord said he would not utterly cast them off.

What next? He gives an inferior law, called the law of Tithing, suited and adapted to us. After we had been driven for neglecting to comply with the greater law of consecration of all we had, he thought he would not leave us without a law, but he gave us an inferior law, namely, that we should give in one-tenth part of our annual income. This law was given in May, 1838, I do not remember the exact date, and I believe that we have tried to comply with it; but it has been almost an impossibility to get the people universally to comply with it.

There is another item connected with this law of Tithing that has but seldom been complied with, namely, the consecration of all surplus property. Now go round among the Saints, among the emigrants who have gathered up from time to time, and there has been only now and then a man who had any surplus property, let him be the judge. If a man had fifty or a hundred thousand dollars, he said in his own heart—“I really need all this, I want to speculate, I want to buy a great deal of land to sell again when the price of land shall rise; I want to set up a great store in which to sell merchandise to the people, and if I consecrate any of this it will curtail my operations, because it will diminish my capital, and I cannot speculate to the extent I should if I retained it all, and I shall therefore consider that I have no surplus property. Now an honest-hearted individual would have a little surplus property, and he would put it in; but from that day until the present time I presume that the tenth of their annual income has been paid by the majority of the people. I do not really know in relation to this matter, at any rate the Lord has not utterly forsaken us, hence I think we have kept his law in some measure, or in all probability he would have cast us off altogether.

But how is it that we have been smitten, driven, cast out and persecuted, and the lives of our Prophet and Patri– arch and hundreds of others destroyed by rifle, cannon, and sword in the hands of our enemies? How is it that such things have been permitted in this free republic? “Oh,” says one, “It is because you practiced polygamy.” I answer that we did not practice polygamy in the days of the persecutions which I have named, they came upon us before we began that practice, for the revelation on polygamy was not given until some thirteen years after the rise of this Church, and that was after we had been driven and smitten and scattered to and fro, here and there by the hands of our enemies, hence, it was not for that that we were persecuted. But if we take the printed circulars written by our enemies, we can give you their reasons for persecuting us. One of their reasons was that we believed in ancient Christianity, namely, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing the sick, etc.; and our enemies did not believe in having a community in their midst who claimed to have Apostles and Prophets and to enjoy the gifts of the Gospel the same as the ancient Saints. Our enemies said they would not have such a people in their society, and if we did not renounce these things they would drive us from our homes. You can read this with the names of the mob attached to it, in connection with a great many priests and ministers of different denominations. The Rev. Isaac M’Coy and the Rev. Mr. Bogard, and many others who might be named, were among the leaders of the mob who persecuted the Latter-day Saints.

Now, why is it, Latter-day Saints, that we have been tossed to and fro and smitten and persecuted for these many years? It is because we have disobeyed the law of heaven, we have not kept the commandments of the Most High God, we have not fulfilled his law; we have disobeyed the word which he gave through his servant Joseph, and hence the Lord has suffered us to be smitten and afflicted under the hands of our enemies.

Shall we ever return to the law of God? Yes. When? Why, when we will. We are agents; we can abide his law or reject it, just as long as we please, for God has not taken away your agency nor mine. But I will try to give you some information in regard to the time. God said, in the year 1832, before we were driven out of Jackson County, in a revelation which you will find here in this book, that before that generation should all pass away, a house of the Lord should be built in that county, (Jackson County), “upon the consecrated spot, as I have appointed; and the glory of God, even a cloud by day and a pillar of flaming fire by night shall rest upon the same.” In another place, in the same revelation, speaking of the priesthood, he says that the sons of Moses and the sons of Aaron, those who had received the two priesthoods, should be filled with the glory of God upon Mount Zion, in the Lord’s house, and should receive a renewing of their bodies, and the blessings of the Most High should be poured out upon them in great abundance.

This was given forty-two years ago. The generation then living was not only to commence a house of God in Jackson County, Missouri, but was actually to complete the same, and when it is completed the glory of God should rest upon it.

Now, do you Latter-day Saints believe that? I do, and if you believe in these revelations you just as much expect the fulfillment of that revelation as of any one that God has ever given in these latter times, or in former ages. We look, just as much for this to take place, according to the word of the Lord, as the Jews look to return to Palestine, and to rebuild Jerusalem upon the place where it formerly stood. They expect to build a Temple there, and that the glory of God will enter into it; so likewise do we Latter-day Saints expect to return to Jackson County and to build a Temple there before the generation that was living forty-two years ago has all passed away. Well, then, the time must be pretty near when we shall begin that work. Now, can we be permitted to return and build up the waste places of Zion, establish the great central city of Zion in Jackson County, Mo., and build a Temple on which the glory of God will abide by day and by night, unless we return, not to the “new order,” but to that law which was given in the beginning of this work? Let me answer the question by quoting one of these revelations again, a revelation given in 1834. The Lord, speaking of the return of his people, and referring to those who were driven from Jackson County, says—“They that remain shall return, they and their children with them to receive their inheritances in the land of Zion, with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads.” There will be a few that the Lord will spare to go back there, because they were not all transgressors. There were only two that the Lord spared among Israel during their forty years travel—Caleb and Joshua. They were all that were spared, out of some twenty-five hundred thousand people, from twenty years old and upwards, to go into the land of promise. There may be three in our day, or a half dozen or a dozen spared that were once on that land who will be permitted to return with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren unto the waste places of Zion and build them up with songs of everlasting joy.

But will they return after the old order of things that exists among the Gentiles—every man for himself, this individualism in regard to property? No, never, never while the world stands. If you would have these revelations fulfilled you must comply with the conditions thereof. The Lord said, concerning the building up of Zion when we do return—“Except Zion be built according to the law of the celestial kingdom, I cannot receive her unto myself.” If we should be permitted, this present year, 1874, to go back to that county, and should undertake to build up a city of Zion upon the consecrated spot, after the order that we have been living in during the last forty years, we should be cast out again, the Lord would not acknowledge us as his people, neither would he acknowledge the works of our hands in the building of a city. If we would go back then, we must comply with the celestial law, the law of consecration, the law of oneness, which the Lord has spoken of from the beginning. Except you are one you are not mine. Query, if we are not the Lord’s, who in the world or out of the world do we belong to? Here is a question for us all to consider. There is no other way for us to become one but by keeping the law of heaven, and when we do this we shall become sanctified before God, and never before.

Talk about sanctification, we do not believe in the kind of sanctification taught by the sectarian religion—that they were sanctified at such a minute and such an hour and at such a place while they were praying in secret. We believe in the sanctification that comes by continued obedience to the law of heaven. I do not know of any other sanctification that the Scriptures tell about, of any other sanctification that is worth the consideration of rational beings. If we would be sanctified then, we must begin today, or whenever the Lord points out, to obey his laws just as far as we possibly can; and by obedience to these laws we continually gain more and more favor from heaven, more and more of the Spirit of God, and thus will be fulfilled a revelation given in 1834, which says that before Zion is redeemed, let the armies of Israel become very great, let them become sanctified before me, that they may be as fair as the sun, clear as the moon, and that their banners may be terrible unto all the nations of the earth. Not terrible by reason of numbers, but terrible because of the sanctification they will receive through obedience to the law of God. Why was Enoch, and why were the inhabitants of the Zion built up before the flood terrible to all the nations around about? It was because, through a long number of years, they observed the law of God, and when their enemies came up to fight against them, Enoch, being filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, and speaking the word of God in power and in faith, the very heavens trembled and shook, and the earth quaked, and mountains were thrown down, rivers of water were turned out of their course, and all nations feared greatly because of the power of God, and the terror of his might that were upon his people.

We have this account of ancient Zion in one of the revelations that God has given. What was it that made their banners terrible to the nations? It was not their numbers. If, then Zion must become great it will be because of her sanctification. When shall we begin, Latter-day Saints, to carry out the law of God, and enter upon the process necessary to our sanctification? We are told by the highest authority that God has upon the earth that now is the accepted time and now is the day of salvation, so far as entering into this order which God has pointed out is concerned. Shall we do it? Or shall we say no? Shall there be division among the people, those who are on the Lord’s side come out and those who are against the law of God come out? I hope this division will not be at present. I hope that we shall take hold with one heart and with one mind. The time of the division will come soon enough. It will be in the great day of the Lord’s power, when his face shall be un– veiled in yonder heavens, and when he shall come in his glory and in his might. Then the heavens will be shaken and the earth will reel to and fro like a drunken man. “Then,” saith the Lord, “I will send forth mine angels to gather out of my kingdom all things that offend and that do iniquity.” That will be time enough for this great division. Let us not be divided now, Latter-day Saints, but let us manifest our willingness to comply with the word and law of the Most High, and be prepared for the blessings which he has in store for us.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered at the Forty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Monday Morning, April 6, 1874.

Forty-four years ago today, the Kingdom of God was organized on this earth, for the last time, never to be broken up, never to be confounded or thrown down, but to continue from that time, henceforth and forever. This kingdom was not organized by man, nor by the wisdom of man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, he having guided and directed, by revelation, everything in regard to its organization, and bestowed authority upon his servants to perform the work, and they being only agents or instruments in his hands.

All other Christian denominations for many long centuries, have been organized without revelation. The organizers of these various denominations did not even pretend that God had given them any information from Heaven; they did not even pretend that there was one sentence which had been received in their day from the Lord, in relation to the organization of their institutions. In this respect the Latter-day Saints differ widely from all Christian denominations! It is an essential difference, a peculiar characteristic, and one of the utmost importance. Every person with a little reflection, can see that without divine information, man is utterly unable to organize the Kingdom of God on the earth. He may organize kingdoms, empires, republics and various kinds of civil government and a great variety of governments in a religious capacity, and when he has organized them they are without foundation and authority. The Lord communicates nothing to them, but they are compelled to ponder over that which had been revealed in former ages, and get all the information they can from what God spake formerly. But how impossible it is for people to learn their duties from what God said formerly to somebody else. We might as well, in the organization of a civil government, say, “the canon of laws is sealed up, we need no legislators or Congressmen.” If the question be asked why we do not need them, the answer is, “Oh, we depend upon the laws which were made by our fathers; they are sufficient for our guide.” Just fancy the people of this great republic being governed by the laws enacted in the first Congress after the revolutionary fathers framed the constitution. Only think of all the people now appealing to those ancient laws, made before any of them were born, and having nothing further to govern them!

This would just be as consistent as it would be to suppose that God some eighteen hundred years ago, gave all the information that he ever intended to give in relation to the government of His kingdom and His affairs here on the earth. You know that in civil governments laws are continually required, circumstances call them forth. Laws made last year are not always suitable to the circumstances of this year, and those made ten years ago, might be altogether unsuitable for events now happening, and hence the necessity of something new, direct from the lawmaking department. So in regard to the kingdom of God. God spake to the ancients, but many of the words he spake then are not binding upon the people now. Some few of the great moral principles revealed to the ancients are binding forever, but the great majority of the revelations from Heaven were only suited to the individuals to whom they were given. Take, for instance, the case of Abram. He was living in Chaldea, the land of his fathers. The Lord spake to him, and commanded him to arise and leave his native country, and journey to a strange land, which was promised to him for an inheritance. Now, I ask, was any other people upon the face of the whole earth bound to obey this divine law given to Abraham? No; it was suited to him and to him only. If we were all under this ancient law, then every one of us would have to go to Chaldea; and after we got there we should have to leave that country and go to some land which we should expect to receive for an inheritance, which would be the very height of absurdity.

Again, when God led forth Abraham into the land of Palestine, we find that he not only communicated laws to him, but that he also made precious promises relating to him and his seed, which did not pertain to all the nations and kingdoms of the earth. God commanded Abraham on that occasion to arise, and to pass through the length and breadth of the land, and to go out on to a certain high place and to cast his eyes eastward and westward and northward and southward, for said the Lord unto him, “All this land which thou seest shall be given to thee, and to thy seed after thee for a possession.” Under this law have I been commanded to go to the land of Palestine and walk through the length and breadth of the land? Never. Have you been commanded to do it? Never. It is not a law that is binding upon us, neither was it binding upon future generations after the days of Abraham.

Again, when God made the promise to Abraham that he should have that land for a possession, and his literal seed after him, he did not mean you nor me, nor the generations of the earth who are not the literal descendants of Abraham.

Again, when God revealed himself to Moses, and told him to go down into Egypt and deliver Israel from bondage, that was a law binding upon Moses and Moses alone. The Latter-day Saints are not under that law, neither are any other people. So we might continue to multiply instances by thousands where God spake to individuals, and they, and they alone, were the persons who were to give heed to his laws. Again, where he spoke in some cases to the nation of Israel, Israel and Israel alone could obey those laws. But sometimes he would reveal to an individual or to a people certain great moral principles that were binding upon them and upon all people unto the ends of the earth, when they were made manifest unto them. Such laws are everlasting in their nature. Sometimes God revealed ordinances as well as commandments and laws. These ordinances were binding just as far as God revealed them for the people to attend to. For instance, the law of circumcision was binding upon Abraham and his seed, and was to be continued for a certain season, but by and by it was to be superseded by some other. God also revealed, in the days of the introduction of the Gospel, many eternal laws, different from those that had been revealed in former times. He revealed many things afresh and anew when he came personally on the earth, which had also been revealed prior to his day. For instance, we will take the law of faith, and repentance. These principles were taught in every dispensation, and were binding upon all people in the four quarters of the earth, and in all generations before Jesus came; they were eternal principles, and were to be continued forever. We will take, again, the law of baptism for the remission of sins. Wherever the Gospel was preached this ordinance was binding upon the people. Wherever men were sent forth with the fullness of the plan of salvation to declare to the children of men, the law of baptism accompanied that message, and all people, as well as Israel, were required to obey that sacred ordinance.

In the latter days, when God establishes his kingdom on the earth for the last time, there will be thousands and tens of thousands of precepts and commandments revealed to certain individuals, which will be binding upon them alone. Then there will be other commandments that will be adapted to all the Church, and they will be binding upon the Church and upon the Church alone. Then there will be certain commandments that will be binding upon all nations, people and tongues, and blessed are they who give heed to the commandments and institutions and ordinances which pertain to them and which are adapted to their circumstances, and which are given for them to obey. But we will return again to the Church and kingdom.

Forty-four years have rolled over our heads since God gave commandment to a young man, a youth, to organize baptized believers into a Church, which was called the kingdom of God, not organized in its fullness, for there were not materials enough at that time to institute all the officers that were needed in that kingdom. The kingdom needed inspired Apostles, Seventies, High Priests after the order of Melchizedek; it needed the Priesthood of Aaron—the Levitical Priesthood, which the ancient Prophet said should be restored in the latter days. The kingdom needed all the appendages and blessings of these two Priesthoods, and there were not a sufficient number then baptized to make the organization perfect and complete; but so far as there were individuals the organization was commenced, although there were then only six members. Two of these were Apostles, called of God to be Apostles; called by new revelation to be Apostles; called by the ministration of angels to be Apostles; ordained by the laying on of hands of immortal personages from the eternal worlds. Hence, being ordained by this high authority, called by this high and holy calling, and chosen to go forth and organize the kingdom, and to preach the message of life and salvation among the children of men, they were obedient; and the other four individuals were organized in connection with them, upon the foundation that had been laid by the Lord himself, and not upon a creed that had been concocted in some council of uninspired men; not upon some articles of faith that were framed by uninspired men to guide and govern them; but what they received was by direct revelation. Not one step was taken without obtaining a revelation in regard to the manner of proceeding in relation to the laying of this foundation.

How very different this from the Methodists, the Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Church of England, and the various societies and denominations that exist throughout all the Protestant world; not one of them was organized in that way! Supposing that some of these Christian denominations should happen to get the form pretty nearly correct, and yet not have the authority, that would make all the difference. The form with the authority is one thing, and the form without the authority and divine appointment and ordination is another thing. One has power, but the other has not; one is recognized by the Lord Almighty, but the other is only recognized by man. I think we can see the difference between man’s churches and God’s Churches, between man’s organization and God’s organization. In the first place there never were a people, since Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden to the present day, who were acknowledged of God, unless they were founded and directed and counseled by him; unless there were a Priesthood having authority from him; unless God spake to them, and sent his angels to them. There never was a people, in any age of the world, whom God recognized as his people, without these characteristics. Says one, “How very uncharitable you Latter-day Saints are! You exclude the whole of us, you do not except one of our churches or good Christian denominations, and there are very good, moral people in them.” We do not dispute but what they are a very good, moral people; that is one thing, and a Christian Church is another. Morality is good in its place, and it must be in the Christian Church. Morality may exist outside of the Christian Church, but both cannot exist together without God organizes the Church.

Perhaps I have spoken sufficiently long upon the subject of the organization of the Church. I might enter fully into the investigation of these matters, and give you the particulars about the angels of God who descended from heaven and conferred the authority upon chosen vessels. I might tell you about the day which God set apart, and upon which he commanded that his Church should be organized, for the very day was mentioned by revelation. I might also relate to you many instructions that were given at that time to all the members of the kingdom of God. But I have other subjects upon my mind that seem to present themselves before me.

There have been probably scores of revelations given from time to time during the last forty-four years, which are not binding now, neither were they binding upon all the people at the time they were given. For instance, God gave a revelation, through his servant Joseph, on the 14th day of November, 1830, to your humble servant who is now speaking, commanding him to go forth and preach the Gospel among the nations of the earth, preparing the way of the Lord for his second coming, and to lift up his voice, both long and loud, and cry repentance to this crooked and perverse generation. I ask this congregation if there is an individual present here, but your humble servant who is under this direct command? No. If you have been commanded to do the same, you have been commanded by a distinct revelation. The revelation given to me was not given to any other individual, and was not binding upon any other. So in regard to the gathering up of the Saints. We were dwelling in the State of New York, and on the second day of January 1831, God commanded that all the Saints in that State, the State in which the Church was organized, and all who were dwelling in all the regions round about, should gather up to the State of Ohio. Is that a commandment binding upon any of this congregation? Not one of them, it was only suited to the circumstances that then extend, and when fulfilled it was no longer even binding upon them. The Lord gave a commandment after we had gathered up to the land of Kirtland, that some of his servants should go forth, two by two, preaching through Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, that they should meet together in general Conference on the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and that the Lord God would reveal unto them the land which should be given unto them for an everlasting inheritance. These persons were commanded to do this. This commandment was binding upon them and them alone. They were the individuals who were commanded to do this work—it was not required of the rest of the Church. They fulfilled their appointment—as many as were faithful went through, two by two, on different routes, preaching and calling upon the people to repent and be baptized, confirming them by the water side, and organizing Churches. Finally those persons thus commanded assembled in August and September, on the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, in Jackson County. Then the commandment was fulfilled; and it was no longer binding upon those to whom it was given. Thus you see that what is suitable for this month is not always suitable for next month, and what is suitable for today is not always suitable for tomorrow. It needs new revelation.

When these missionaries assembled in Jackson County, the Prophet Joseph, being with them, inquired still further, and a commandment was given on that occasion, before the Church had gathered, except one small branch, called the Coalsville Branch, and that commandment was to be binding upon all the Latter-day Saints who should gather up to that land. What was it? That all the people who should gather to Jackson County, the land of their inheritance, should consecrate all their property, everything they had—they were to withhold nothing. Their gold and silver, their bedding, household furniture, their wearing apparel and everything they possessed was to be consecrated. That placed the people on a level, for when everything a people has is consecrated they are all equally rich. There is not one poor and another rich, for they all possess nothing. I do not know but you might call that poor; but they have something in common, namely, that which they have consecrated, and this brings me to an item which I happened to think of just about half a minute before I arose.

I will now read to you what took place on this American continent thirty-six years after the birth of Christ. Jesus appeared here on this continent and organized his Church. He chose twelve disciples and com– manded them to go and preach the Gospel in both the land south and the land north, and they did so. This extract gives us a little information about the repentance of the people—

“And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.”

Now, was not that a marvel? Perhaps you may ask how it was that they were all so easily converted. That would be a very natural question to arise in the minds of many, for they must have been a very different people from those living nowadays. We have preached, year after year, and have only converted here and there one. But all those millions, inhabiting both North and South America, were converted unto the Lord. Was not that a wonderment? If I explain a little what took place beforehand, it will clear up the wonderment a little.

Just before Christ was crucified in the land of Jerusalem, the people on this land had become exceedingly wicked, and it was foretold to them by their Prophets that, when Jesus, their Savior, should be crucified in the land of their fathers, there should be great destruction come upon those who were wicked in this land, and that many of their cities should be destroyed—they should be sunk and burned with fire, and God would visit them in great and terrible judgments if they did not repent and prepare for the coming of their Savior, for they expected him to appear after his resurrection. The wicked did not repent, and all those destructions came, just as the Prophets foretold. Darkness covered the face of this land for three days and three nights, while at Jerusalem it was only three hours. Three days and three nights they suffered darkness upon all the face of this land, and very many of their cities, which were great and populous, were sunk, and lakes came up instead of them; a great many were burned with fire, a great many were destroyed by terrible tempests, and a great destruction came upon the wicked portions of the people, who had stoned and put the Prophets to death, and only the more righteous portion of the people were spared.

In the latter part of the year in which Jesus was put to death, he descended among a certain portion of the people on this continent, gathered in the northern part of what we term South America. He descended from heaven and stood in their midst; and on the next day, when a larger multitude were gathered together, he came a second time and there were a great many thousands on that occasion. He often appeared to them after that period, within the course of one or two years, and he chose twelve disciples, and so great was the power made manifest before those thousands, that when they went forth into the north and south and preached the word, according to the commandments of God, the more righteous portion of the people, who had been spared, and who had humbled themselves and partially repented, but did not understand the fullness of the Gospel, were easily converted, and that is the reason why all the people in North and South America were converted unto the Lord; and in the thirty-sixth year, reckoning from the birth of Jesus, they were not only all converted upon the face of this whole land, but they were all organized upon a common stock principle, and there were no poor among them, and they dealt justly one with another.

Says one, “They did the same thing in the land of Jerusalem.” Yes, but they did not keep it up in the land of Palestine—they seem to have failed, for we have no account that this common stock principle, as at first organized, continued among the Saints on the Asiatic Continent. Churches were built up in various parts of Asia and Europe, one in one place, another in another, and they all seem to have had property of their own; and I believe, myself, that they were unprepared, in their scattered condition, to enter into this order of things. There was too much wickedness at Ephesus, in Galatia, at Corinth, and in the various places where small branches were organized, to enter into this common stock principle, and carry it out successfully. But on this continent there was a fine opportunity for all the people, millions and millions of them were in the same faith. How easily, then, could they be guided and directed, and put in their property, and organize it as a common stock fund; and they did so, and were exceedingly blessed and prospered in their operation. And I will tell you how long it existed—about one-hundred and sixty-five years. But in the year two hundred and one after the birth of Christ, the people began to be lifted up, on this continent, in pride and popularity, and began to withdraw their funds from this common stock, and take them into their own hands, and call them their own, and they continued to do this, until the great majority of the people had corrupted themselves and withdrawn from this order. Then, after having broken up this common fund in a great measure, only a few individuals here and there still holding on to it, they became proud and highminded, and lifted up in their hearts, and looked down upon those who were not so prosperous as themselves, and in this way a distinction of classes was again introduced, and the rich began to persecute the poor; and thus they continued to apostatize, until, about three hundred and thirty-four years after Christ, they began to have great and terrible wars among themselves, which lasted about fifty years, during which millions of them were destroyed. Finally, they became so utterly wicked, so fully ripened for destruction, that one branch of the nation, called the Nephites, gathered their entire people around the hill Cumorah, in the State of New York, in Ontario County; and the Lamanites, the opposite army, gathered by millions in the same region. The two nations were four years in gathering their forces, during which no fighting took place; but at the end of that time, having marshalled all their hosts, the fighting commenced, the Lamanites coming upon the Nephites, and destroying all of them, except a very few, who had previously deserted over to the Lamanites.

Before this decisive battle the Nephites, who had kept records of their nation, written on gold plates, hid them up in the hill Cumorah, where they have lain from that day to this. Mormon committed a few plates to his son Moroni, who was a Prophet and who survived the nation of the Nephites about thirty-six years, and he kept these few plates, while all the balance of them were hid up in that hill; and then, Moroni, being commanded of God, hid up the few plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated.

I make mention of these circumstances for the purpose of showing you that, when people have been once enlightened as the Nephites were, and have had all things common, and have been blessed with an abundance of the riches of the earth, working together in harmony, until riches were poured out upon them in vast abundance, and then withdraw themselves from the order of God, they soon bring swift destruction upon their heads. We see the Nephites, after taking this course, descending lower and lower in their wickedness, going into idolatry, offering up human sacrifices unto their idol gods, and committing every species of abomination that they had ever known or heard of, all because they had been once enlightened and had apostatized from the truth, and withdrawn from the order of God, in which their forefathers had had a long experience.

The Lord gave a caution to the Latter-day Saints, when he told them, in a revelation, given in 1831, to enter into the same order pertaining to our possessions in Jackson County. Prior to that, he gave us a promise, saying, that if we would be faithful we should become the richest of all people; but if we would not be faithful in keeping his commandments, but should become lifted up in the pride of our hearts, we should, perhaps, become like the Nephites of old. “Beware of pride,” says the Lord, in one of these revelations, “lest you become like the Nephites of old.”

I have no doubt that you Latter-day Saints are the best people on the face of the earth. God has gathered you out from among the nations; you were the only people, to whom the message of life and salvation was sent, who received the missionaries of the Most High when they came to your respective nations. You not only received the Gospel of repentance and baptism, but you hearkened to those missionaries and the counsels of God, and gathered to this land. Hence, you have done better than all other people, and you have been blessed above all other people. But there is danger, after having been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and having had the gifts of the Spirit made manifest more or less according to our faith, if we become lifted up in the pride of our hearts and think, because we have gathered an abundance of the wealth of this world, that we are a little better than our poor brother who labors eight or ten hours a day at the hardest kind of labor. Any person having the name of Latter-day Saint who feels that he is better than, and distinguishes himself from, the poor and supposes that he belongs to a little higher class than they, is in danger. “Beware of pride, lest you become like unto the Nephites of old.”

In order that this pride may be done away, there must necessarily be another order of things in regard to property.

Why does pride exist at all? Let us make a little inquiry about this. Do you know the reason? It all arises out of the love of riches. This is what generally constitutes pride. Now supposing you were all brought on a level in regard to property by a full consecration of everything that you have into a common stock fund, would there be among that number one who should thus consecrate all that he had, who would have anything to boast of above his neighbor? Not at all. He might have the use of property, one man might have perhaps a hundred times more than another, to use as a steward or agent for this general fund; but when he has used it he has his living out of it—his food, his raiment, the necessaries and comforts of life, whether he handles hundreds of thousands or merely a small stewardship, for the man that takes charge of a great manufacturing establishment would require more funds than he who has a small farm, but the funds would not belong to him, he only has his food, raiment and the necessaries and comforts of life. But here is another branch of business, just as important, as far as it goes, as this large manufacturing establishment. What is it? To make mortar, to lay up our buildings, for without them we should soon suffer. The man who makes mortar, then, is just as honorable as the man who takes charge of a large establishment which requires five hundred thousand dollars to carry it on. But in both cases, the surplus of their labor, after taking therefrom the necessaries of life, goes to the common stock fund; and the man who has had charge of the large establishment has nothing that he can boast of over the man who makes mortar—one is just as rich as the other.

But I know there are many Latter-day Saints who have formed an erroneous idea or opinion in regard to this common stock fund. Some for want of reflection, may suppose that every man and every woman must have the same fashioned houses to live in, or there would not be an equality; they must have the same amount of furniture, or there would not be an equality. Some may suppose that all must have the same kind of bedding and everything precisely alike or there would be no equality. But this is not the way God manifests himself in all the works of his hands. Go to the field, the pasture or meadow, and learn wisdom. Search from one end of the pasture to the other and see if you can find two blades of grass that are exactly alike. It cannot be done, there is a little deviation, a little variety, and hence we see from this that God delights in variety. But because one blade of grass might be formed a little more pleasing to the eye than another, would the first have any right, if it could reason, to say, “I am above that other?” Not at all. It was made for a certain purpose, and so in regard to everything else. No two men upon the face of the earth have the same features. We have the general characteristics of the human form, and we do not look like the original of man according to Darwin’s idea; we do not look like the monkey or baboon, from which Darwin says man originated. Men the world over, have many features bearing a general resemblance, and their form is molded in the image of the Most High. But when you come to scan the features of man minutely, you will see some deviation in the countenances of all men throughout all creation. Now, are they not equal? Do those little distinguishing characteristics in the features make them unequal? Not in the least. Then, because it might fall to my lot to make mortar, and to another man’s to take charge of a great store of merchandise, both of us being agents, that does not make the mercantile agent any better than the man who makes the mortar, and I should not expect to wear the same kind of apparel that the man did who was behind the counter. If I was making mortar I should not want on broadcloth, silk, or satin; I should want apparel adapted to the particular class of labor I was engaged in. Hence, there will be a distinction in these things.

Then again, do you suppose that when we come together it would be pleasing in the sight of God for every man and every woman to have on a Quaker bonnet or dress, or to pattern after the Shaking Quakers; that each of the ladies should have on a ribbon that should come under the bonnet, and be of just the same length? Not at all. God delights in variety; we see it throughout all the works of his hands, in every department of creation. Therefore men and women will dress according to their tastes, so far as they can get the means.

You draw your means from the common stock fund, and if you have stewardships set apart to you to manage, and you make little in the stewardships, the Bishops who take charge of these matters will not begin to inquire of you, “Well, brother, what kind of a hat have you worn? Was it straw, and was the straw just so fine or just so coarse, or was it a palm leaf hat you wore? I should like to know what kind of a hat band you have had? Was it a hat band having a bow knot, and, if so, was it any longer than your neighbors?” No such questions as these will be asked; but each man, each family in the stewardship, whatever they make, can exercise their own judgment in regard to many of these things, as they do now; and when you come together on Sunday, it is not expected that every man’s and every woman’s tastes would be to dress precisely like their neighbors, but have variety, and that out of the means of your stewardship.

But when you come to render up an account of that stewardship to the Bishop at the end of the year, there may be some prominent, leading questions asked, but not about these little matters. It will be asked if you have squandered your stewardship unnecessarily; have you been very extravagant in things unnecessary, and neglected other things of importance? If you have done these things, you will be counted an unwise steward, and you will be reproved; and perhaps, if you have gone too far, you may be removed out of your stewardship, and another person more worthy may step into it, and you be dropped because of doing wrong. But there never will be any Bishop, who has the Spirit of the living God upon him, who will inquire whether you have the same size stoves in your house, and the same kind of plates, knives, forks, and spoons as your neighbor; but you will have to give an account of those prominent items. That is the way I look at this common stock operation.

Then again, I do not know that the common stock operation which God commanded us to enter into in Jackson County, Mo., will be suitable in the year 1874. I commenced my discourse by showing that what was suitable one year was not always suitable the next. I do not know but here in Utah it may be necessary to vary materially from the principles that were commanded to be observed in Jackson County, Mo. I do not know but we may be required here to not only consecrate all that we have, but even ourselves as well as the property we possess, so that we may be directed by the Bishops and their counselors, or whoever may be appointed, in regard to all our daily avocations. I do not know how it will be. I have not heard. Down in Jackson County they were not thus directed. Every man got his stewardship, and he occupied it, and rendered an account of the same from time to time. But I do not know but it may be necessary here in Utah that we should be directed oftener than once a year, it may be that we shall be told weekly, and perhaps in some cases daily; and perhaps the Bishop or overseer may say today, “Here, brother, I would like you to do so and so today,” and tomorrow he comes along and says, “I would like you to stop that now; we have something else on hand; come with me, I will put in my hands as well as you, for, although you have selected me by your own voice to take charge, I am no better than you are, therefore I will take hold with you and do all I can in connection with you, and let us go at this business today.” Tomorrow there may be something else, and the next day something else, perhaps, according to the judgment of the Bishop and those who are appointed with him. In this way we could, perhaps, more effectually carry out the mind and will of God here in this desert country, than we could if we tried to imitate the pattern which was given to us in another country.

We cannot work here as we could in Jackson County, Mo. In that country we did not have to irrigate. We could settle on a piece of rising ground there, and the rains of heaven watered it. We could settle in the valley, and there were no ditches to be made. We could settle in any part of the county, or of the counties round about, and the rains of heaven would descend and water our land. And furthermore, there was timber all around, groves of timber, and we could go out before breakfast and get a load of wood, and in the course of a few days split rails enough to fence considerable of a patch of ground. Here we have to labor under other circumstances. Here we have not timber so that every man can fence his little farm or stewardship; we have not strength enough. If we happen to farm on some of these high grounds, it is very difficult to dig canals and water ditches to water our little steward– ships. What shall we do, then? Join in together, be of one heart and one mind, and let there be a common stock fund, so far as property is concerned, and so far as our own individual labor is concerned. Consequently, we need not think, because we may not be organized precisely according to the law that was adapted to Jackson County, that this counseling is void of the Spirit of God. Do not let any person begin to think this. You need to cooperate together in your labors. This is necessary in fencing a great many of our farms. You need to cooperate in getting out your water from your water ditches to water your land, and you need to do it in a great many other respects.

For instance, these mountains, which rise so majestically on the east and on the west, are full of rich minerals, this is one of the richest countries in the world. Will not some of the Latter-day Saints eventually be required to act in the department of mining as well as in the department of agriculture? Yes. Can one individual do as well as half a dozen, or as well as a hundred, at mining? It may require the experience of a vast amount of labor in order to develop the resources of these mountains, and in that case cooperation will be absolutely necessary.

“But,” says one, “the Gentiles have already done that.” But very little, I will assure you. Here and there they have opened a mine, but not one thousandth nor one ten-thousandth of that which exists and which will be developed hereafter. Now, in all these departments the Latter-day Saints must learn to be united, and I am glad to see, I rejoice exceedingly to hear, that the President has been moved upon, not only before he left Salt Lake City to go down South, but while he has been there, to alter the order of things that has existed for many years here in these mountains, among the Latter-day Saints. In what respect? To bring about a united order of things in regard to their property and labor, and the development of the resources of our farming land; in regard to raising flocks and herds, building, and developing the mineral resources of our mountains. In all these respects the President has seen the necessity of beginning to bring about, gradually, as the way may open, a different order of things that will strike the axe at the root of this pride and distinction of classes. I am glad; I rejoice in it. Several of the Branches of the Church south have already entered into this order.

Inquires one, “What is it, what kind of an order is it? Tell us all about it.” I would tell you as much as I thought was wisdom, if I understood it myself; but I do not; I have had but very little information about it. Suffice to say that I know that the order of things that could have been carried out successfully in Jackson County cannot be carried out here, on the same principle, without a little variation. It cannot be done—circumstances require different laws, different counsel, an order of things suited to the condition of this desert country.

“Are all the people going directly into this thing at once.” “Yes, if they choose;” but you may depend upon it that in all cases whenever God has moved upon his servants to introduce anything for the good of the people, it takes time for the people to receive it—they do not receive it all in a moment. The Lord is long-suffering—he bears with the weaknesses and traditions of the people for a long time. When, by the mouths of his servants, he counsels the people to do this, that, or the other, and they are a little backward about it, he does not come out in judgment as he did to ancient Israel, and cut them off by thousands and tens of thousands. He does not do that, but he bears with them, waits year after year. How long he has borne with all of us! Forty-three years ago we were commanded to become one in regard to our property. Forty-three years we have been in disobedience. Forty-three years have rolled over our heads, and we are far from oneness still. God has not cut us off, as he did ancient Israel, but he has borne with us. Oh, how patient and long-suffering he has been with us, perhaps thinking, “Peradventure, they will, by and by, return, reform, repent, and obey my commandments that I gave them in the first rise of the Church. I will wait upon them, I will extend forth my hand to them all the day long, and see whether they will be obedient.” That is the way the Lord feels towards us. Should we not pattern after him? If this order of things should reach Salt Lake City, if these different wards should begin to be organized in some measure, and the people begin to be divided, some entering into the order and others refusing, should we not bear with those who do not? Yes, bear with them, just as the Lord has borne with us, and not begin to think that we are better than our neighbors who have not entered into the order, and flatter ourselves that we are above them, and revile and persecute them, and exercise our influence against them, saying, “Oh, they do not belong to the united order of God, they are outside of it, and consequently we have not much respect for them.” We must not do this, for perhaps, though we may think we are on a firm foundation, it may slip from under us, and we also may be brought into straightened circumstances. If we exercise patience, long-suffering, and forbearance with the people until they learn by experience what God is doing in our midst, many of these rich people may come into the order, who now say in their hearts, “We will wait and see whether this thing will prosper.” If they are honest in heart, they will finally come to the conclusion that the people in the united order are a happy people; they are not lifted up in pride one above another, and they will say, “I think I will go there, with all I have; I will become one of them;” and in a little while they will come along, while others, perhaps, will apostatize entirely. However, if they want to go, let them go, they are of no particular benefit if they feel to apostatize from anything which God has established for the benefit of the people. May God bless you. Amen.