Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered at the General Conference, in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Saturday, A. M., Oct. 8th, 1881.

I want to preach a short sermon to this congregation. To begin with, I have heard President Young and President Taylor a great many times from this stand ask the people to keep quiet until the meeting was dismissed; but as soon as the sermon ends there are a hundred boys and girls, or two hundred of them, rush for the doors. I do not like it. It pains me to see the President of the Church make this request, and the people pay no attention to it.

Now, in this fast age we are passing from a polite age to a very rude one in many respects. When I was a boy 65 years ago, and went to school, I never thought of passing a man whom I knew in the street, or a woman, without taking off my hat and making a bow. I never thought of saying “yes” or “no” to those that were placed over me. I was taught to say “yes, sir” and “no, sir;” but today it, is “yes” and “no,” “I will,” “I won’t,” “I shall” and “I shan’t.” Now, when I see this rudeness amongst us, I sometimes wish that the spirit of the New England fathers was more among the people. But I do hope, brethren, sisters and friends, when a man stops talking and the choir rises to sing, that you will keep your seats. You can afford to do this as well as the President of the Church, the Twelve Apostles, or others who are sitting on this stand. You don’t see us jump up and run for the door the moment a speaker is done. The Lord is displeased with any such thing. I hope you will pardon me for so speaking. I felt to say that much.

We have a great variety of teaching and preaching, and I have sometimes thought that we have more preaching and teaching than any other people on the earth. I expect it is all right. I think we need it. The world need teaching, we ourselves need teaching; but I have thought that the Latter-day Saints have had more of the Gospel of Christ proclaimed to them than any other generation that ever lived.

My mind reverts to the channels of communication from God to man. Here we have the Bible which gives a history and prophecy of the prophets from Adam down to our own day extending through a period of near 6,000 years. The Lord, through all the destruction that has taken place in the various libraries of the world—like the great library of Alexandria, for example—has preserved the record of the Jews, at least we have a portion of it to read. Then, again, we have the Book of Mormon, the stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim, giving a history of the ancient inhabitants of this country from the time of their leaving the Tower of Babel to their disappearance from the land, and of the visitation of Christ to them. We have these books from which to obtain knowledge. Then we have the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, our Testament, which contains the most glorious, godlike, solemn and eternal truths ever recorded within the lids of a book on the earth. All these records are the words of God to man; and though the heavens and earth pass away not one jot or tittle will ever fall unfulfilled.

Then the Lord has other ways of communicating His mind and will. We have the living oracles with us, and have had from the day that Joseph Smith received the ministrations of Moroni, the Nephite, John the Baptist, Peter, James and John, Moses, Elias, Elijah, Jesus Christ—from that day we have had the living oracles to teach us the word of the Lord.

President Joseph F. Smith yesterday spoke of the gifts and graces. Now, the Lord has many ways in which He communicates with us. Frequently, as has been the case in every age, truths, principles, warnings, etc., are communicated to the children of men by means of dreams and visions. There is a great vision recorded in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. When Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith saw the visions of heaven they were commanded to write while in the vision. The Lord was in that. It is a communication to man. But we have had a great many dreams—I have had in my life, and I suppose you have more or less—which amount to nothing. I will tell you just about what I refer to. A man eats a hot supper when he goes to bed; he gets the nightmare; he is chased by a bear; or he falls over a precipice, and as soon as he strikes the ground he wakes up. Now, the Lord had nothing to do with that. A man may go to bed half-worried to death, tired and dream about something that will never take place. Last night, for instance, I dreamt I was making glass houses out of blocks of glass two feet square. Now, I don’t know that the Lord was in that. Yet I have had dreams of a very different character. When I was a boy eleven years old, I had a very interesting dream, part of which was fulfilled to the very letter. In this dream I saw a great gulf, a place where all the world had to enter at death, before doing which they had to drop their worldly goods. I saw an aged man with a beaver hat and a broadcloth suit. The man looked very sorrowful. I saw him come with something on his back, which he had to drop among the general pile before he could enter the gulf I was then but a boy. A few years after this my father and mother removed to Farmington, and there I saw that man. I knew him the moment I saw him. His name was Chauncy Deming. In a few years afterwards he was taken sick and died. I attended his funeral. He was what you may call a miser, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. When the coffin was being lowered into the grave my dream came to me, and that night his son-in-law found one hundred thousand dollars in a cellar belonging to the old man. I name this merely to show that in this dream I had manifested to me certain things that were true. I think of all the inhabitants of the world having to leave their goods when they come to the grave. After this scene had passed before me I was placed in a great temple. It was called the kingdom of God. The first man who came to me was Uncle Ozem Woodruff and his wife I helped into the temple. In process of time, after embracing the Gospel, and while on my first mission to Tennessee, I told Brother Patten of my dream, who told me that in a few years I would meet that man and baptize him. That was fulfilled to the very letter, for I afterwards baptized my uncle and his wife and some of the children; also my own father and stepmother and stepsister, and a Methodist priest or class leader—in fact I baptized everybody in my father’s house. I merely mention this to show that dreams sometimes do come to pass in life.

Then, again, there are visions. Paul, you know, on one occasion was caught up to the third heaven and saw things that were not lawful to utter. He did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body. That was a vision. When Joseph Smith, however, was visited by Moroni and the Apostles, it was not particularly a vision which he had; he talked with them face to face.

Now, I will refer to a thing that took place with me in Tennessee. I was in Tennessee in the year 1835, and while at the house of Abraham O. Smoot, I received a letter from Brothers Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, requesting me to stay there, and stating that I would lose no blessing by doing so. Of course, I was satisfied. I went into a little room and sat down upon a small sofa. I was all by myself and the room was dark; and while I rejoiced in this letter and the promise made to me, I became wrapped in vision. I was like Paul; I did not know whether I was in the body or out of the body. A personage appeared to me and showed me the great scenes that should take place in the last days. One scene after another passed before me. I saw the sun darkened; I saw the moon become as blood; I saw the stars fall from heaven; I saw seven golden lamps set in the heavens, representing the various dispensations of God to man—a sign that would appear before the coming of Christ. I saw the resurrection of the dead. In the first resurrection those that came forth from their graves seemed to be all dressed alike, but in the second resurrection they were as diverse in their dress as this congregation is before me today, and if I had been an artist I could have painted the whole scene as it was impressed upon my mind, more indelibly fixed than anything I had ever seen with the natural eye. What does this mean? It was a testimony of the resurrection of the dead. I had a testimony. I believe in the resurrection of the dead, and I know it is a true principle. Thus we may have dreams about things of great importance, and dreams of no importance at all. The Lord warned Joseph in a dream to take the young child Jesus and his mother into Egypt, and thus he was saved from the wrath of Herod. Hence there are a great many things taught us in dreams that are true, and if a man has the spirit of God he can tell the difference between what is from the Lord and what is not. And I want to say to my brethren and sisters, that whenever you have a dream that you feel is from the Lord, pay attention to it. When I was in the City of London on one occasion, with Brother George A. Smith, I dreamt that my wife came to me and told me that our first child had died. I believed my dream, and in the morning while at breakfast, I felt somewhat sad. Brother George A. noticed this and I told him my dream. Next morn– ing’s post brought me a letter from my wife, conveying the intelligence of the death of my child. It may be asked what use there was in such a thing. I don’t know that there was much use in it except to prepare my mind for the news of the death of my child. But what I wanted to say in regard to these matters is, that the Lord does communicate some things of importance to the children of men by means of visions and dreams as well as by the records of divine truth. And what is it all for? It is to teach us a principle. We may never see anything take place exactly as we see it in a dream or a vision, yet it is intended to teach us a principle. My dream gave me a strong testimony of the resurrection. I am satisfied, always have been, in regard to the resurrection. I rejoice in it. The way was opened unto us by the blood of the Son of God.

Now, having said so much on that subject, I want to say to my brethren and sisters, that we are placed upon the earth to build up Zion, to build up the kingdom of God. The greater proportion of the male members of Zion, who have arrived at the years of early manhood, bear some portion of the Holy Priesthood. Here is a kingdom of Priests raised up by the power of God to take hold and build up the kingdom of God. The same Priesthood exists on the other side of the veil. Every man who is faithful in his quorum here will join his quorum there. When a man dies and his body is laid in the tomb, he does not lose his position. The Prophet Joseph Smith held the keys of this dispensation on this side of the veil, and he will hold them throughout the countless ages of eternity. He went into the spirit world to unlock the prison doors and to preach the Gos– pel to the millions of spirits who are in darkness, and every Apostle, every Seventy, every Elder, etc., who has died in the faith as soon as he passes to the other side of the veil, enters into the work of the ministry, and there is a thousand times more to preach there than there is here. I have felt of late as if our brethren on the other side of the veil had held a council, and that they had said to this one, and that one, “Cease thy work on earth, come hence, we need help,” and they have called this man and that man. It has appeared so to me in seeing the many men who have been called from our midst lately. Perhaps I may be permitted to relate a circumstance with which I am acquainted in relation to Bishop Roskelley, of Smithfield, Cache Valley. On one occasion he was suddenly taken very sick—near to death’s door. While he lay in this condition, President Peter Maughan, who was dead, came to him and said: “Brother Roskelley, we held a council on the other side of the veil. I have had a great deal to do, and I have the privilege of coming here to appoint one man to come and help. I have had three names given to me in council, and you are one of them. I want to inquire into your circumstances.” The Bishop told him what he had to do, and they conversed together as one man would converse with another. President Maughan then said to him: “I think I will not call you. I think you are wanted here more than perhaps one of the others.” Bishop Roskelley got well from the hour. Very soon after, the second man was taken sick, but not being able to exercise sufficient faith, Brother Roskelley did not go to him. By and by this man recovered, and on meeting Brother Roskelley he said: “Brother Maughan came to me the other night and told me he was sent to call one man from the ward,” and he named two men as had been done to Brother Roskelley. A few days afterwards the third man was taken sick and died. Now, I name this to show a principle. They have work on the other side of the veil; and they want men, and they call them. And that was my view in regard to Brother George A. Smith. When he was almost at death’s door, Brother Cannon administered to him, and in thirty minutes he was up and ate breakfast with his family. We labored with him in this way, but ultimately, as you know, he died. But it taught me a lesson. I felt that man was wanted behind the veil. We labored also with Brother Pratt; he, too, was wanted behind the veil.

Now, my brethren and sisters, those of us who are left here have a great work: to do. We have been raised up of the Lord to take this kingdom and bear it off. This is our duty; but if we neglect our duty and set our hearts upon the things of this world, we will be sorry for it. We ought to understand the responsibility that rests upon us. We should gird up our loins and put on the whole armor of God. We should rear temples to the name of the Most High God, that we may redeem the dead.

I feel to bear my testimony to this work. It is the work of God. Joseph Smith was appointed by the Lord before he was born as much as Jeremiah was. The Lord told Jeremiah—“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a Prophet unto the nations.” He was commanded to warn the inhabitants of Jerusalem of their wickedness. He felt it a hard task, but ultimately he did as he was commanded. So I say with regard to Joseph Smith. He received his appointment from before the foundation of the world, and he came forth in the due time of the Lord to establish this work on the earth. And so it is the case with tens of thousands of the Elders of Israel. The Lord Almighty has conferred upon you the Holy Priesthood and made you the instrument in His hands to build up this kingdom. Do we contemplate these things as fully as we ought? Do we realize that the eyes of all the heavenly hosts are over us? Then let us do our duty. Let us keep the commandments of God, let us be faithful to the end, so that when we go into the spirit world and look back upon our history we may be satisfied. The Lord Almighty has set His hand to establish His kingdom never more to be thrown down or given to another people, and, therefore, all the powers of earth and hell combined will never be able to stay the progress of this work. The Lord has said he will break in pieces every weapon that is raised against Zion, and the nations of the earth, the Kings and Emperors, Presidents and Governors have got to learn this fact. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Lord. It is a fearful thing to shed the blood of the Lord’s anointed. It has cost the Jews 1,800 years of persecution, and this generation have also a bill to pay in this respect.

I bear my testimony to these things. The Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants contain the words of eternal life unto this generation, and they will rise in judgment; against those who reject them.

May God bless this people and help us to magnify our callings, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Last Discourse of Apostle Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, September 18, 1881.

It has been almost one year since I have been able to stand up before a congregation to address them, having been severely afflicted during that period of time. I am now blessed with the opportunity and privilege of occupying a few minutes, as long as my health would justify, in speaking a few words to the congregation. I am just able to stand upon my feet, most of the time scarcely able to sit up. I believe that the Saints have exercised their prayers and their faith in my behalf. If they had not done this, I doubt very much whether I would now be able to appear before you. Notwithstanding the afflictions of my body and the long silence that I have kept, so far as public congregations are concerned, yet I have felt the same enduring love for the principles of truth and for the people of God in all my afflictions, that I had in the time of my health. There is nothing so precious to me as the great principles of salvation. They have for the last 51 years of my life—it being 51 years tomorrow since I was baptized—occupied the uppermost place in my mind. Riches, the honors of this world, etc., have been but a very small consideration with me, com– pared with the riches of eternal salvation, the blessings of the everlasting Gospel, the new covenant which we have embraced, the great work which the Lord our God is performing by his mighty hand in the age in which you and I live. I trust and verily believe that that which has had so conspicuous a place in my understanding, in my thoughts, in my meditations, in my mind, will continue to hold the same position with me so long as the Lord shall permit me to tarry here in this probation. Fifty-one years ago tomorrow, as I have said, I entered this Church, the Church then being confined to a small district of country in the State of New York. The knowledge of the Gospel, and the doctrines which we have taught, had not spread forth except within a very small limit of country. What a contrast between then and the present! Tomorrow—if I live till tomorrow—I shall be 70 years of age, which is said to be the average old age of man. They are the years appointed to man. So says one of the inspired writers, and if man, peradventure, should reach a few years beyond three score and ten, it is said that it is filled up with afflictions and sorrow and infirmities of old age. I trust, however, that if I am permitted to tarry still longer than this appointed time, or rather this period of time, I trust that my days may not be those of suffering. At any rate, so far as my mind is concerned, my understanding, that is at rest, that is at peace. I know what my hopes are. I know the plan of salvation. I have had the communications of the spirit of the Lord God, to teach me more or less all the days of my life, and this has given me great consolation. Hence, if I live past seventy, I do not expect to have sorrow of mind. I may have afflictions; I may encounter them; I may not to any great extent.

I wish to call your attention for a few moments to a subject closely connected with those days that I have been speaking of—the rise of the Church. It will be next Thursday night, 54 years since the Prophet Joseph Smith, then but a lad, was permitted by the angel of the Lord to take the gold plates of the Book of Mormon from the hill Cumorah, as it was called in ancient times, located in the State of New York. This I consider one of the most marvelous occurrences which has taken place for the past eighteen centuries—to be permitted to observe the face of an holy angel, and then be permitted, in addition to that, to take out of the ground, in fulfillment of ancient prophecy, a record of one-half of our globe, giving a history of the peoples and nations that occupied this great western hemisphere—more marvelous than anything that has transpired during that long period. What makes it still more marvelous is, that it is connected with revelation, with something that comes from heaven, with divine authority. God permitted this record to be taken from its place of ancient deposit. He it was that sent the angel to deliver those records into the hands of this boy. It was God. And what object did the Lord have in performing this marvelous thing? It was to establish on this earth that kingdom predicted by the ancient Prophet Daniel, that should be set up in the last days, which should stand forever, and should finally become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. What could be of more importance? Such an event was predicted to happen, that such a kingdom should arise, that God should be the autho– rity of it, that he should lay the foundation of it, that he should set it up. If we go back to the finding of the records of the Book of Mormon; if we go back to that eventful day when God sent his angels to confirm the divinity of that record to three other persons; if we go back to the time of the organization of this Church, we find that God has in all these matters spoken himself. We did not select the day on which this kingdom should be organized. Joseph Smith, the Prophet, did not select the day, but God pointed out the very day, the very month, in which this work should be performed. Hence it is God’s work; it was God and not man that set up this kingdom. Has there been an authority established in this Church from the day of its organization that was established by man’s authority? Not one. Every authority in this Church, however high or however low, or whatever the nature of the callings might be, whatever the duties of the callings, God has introduced that authority. We have no record, no minutes in our Church, where there have been Apostles called and ordained in this kingdom, by man’s authority. It is just what we might expect. Anything else than this would not be ascribed to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God could not be set up by man. Man has no right to select even the day for the organization of that kingdom. Man has no right to select the least officer of that kingdom; it must all come from heaven. It was said that such a kingdom should be set up. It was set. It was set up according to the mind of God, according to his own mind, not according to the whims and notions of sectarians, or any theologians, or any learned man, but according to the mind of the great Jehovah. We have seen the progress of this kingdom. We have seen what God has accomplished during the last 51 years. We have seen his hand made manifest. We have seen the kingdom organized, not to dwell in the place of its particular organization, and the people be scattered all over the world like sectarianism, but a kingdom that should gather together the sons and daughters of God, according to the predictions of the ancient prophets into one place upon the face of our globe, to prepare them for the mighty events and occurrences that should take place when he should accomplish that work. And how marvelous it is to see the hundreds and hundreds of vessels that have crossed the ocean, the mighty ocean, in perfect safety, bringing the Saints of God to their destined haven, to rejoice in one body, in one place, in one region in the mountains of Israel, the great back bone of the western hemisphere, if we may so term it. This is all to fulfil prophecy.

But I must not enlarge upon this subject. How happy I feel that I am once more, after having been brought so low, so near the gates of death—how happy I feel that I am permitted once more to lift up my voice before you. I do not know that I can make you all hear, but I trust that my voice will be strengthened, I trust that my body will be strengthened, I trust that my mind—if it has been weakened at all by sickness—may also be strengthened, and that I yet may have the humble privilege of lifting up my voice and testifying, before thousands of people in these mountains, if not abroad among the inhabitants of the earth, of God’s power. It is a day in which he has commenced to perform a mighty work, and the foundation is already laid and is quite broad, and he has quite a numerous people through whom he can work and accomplish his mighty purposes; and although feeble in body, I do not know but what the Lord may yet strengthen me to again publish glad tidings of great joy abroad among the nations of the earth, or perform whatever duties may be assigned unto me by the general authorities His Church.

May God bless the people of Zion—all the Latter-day Saints scattered throughout all these mountain regions: may he favor us before many years with a full and complete redemption according to the promises that are made in His word. Amen.

Discourse by President George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, September 18, 1881.

The remarks which have been made by Brother Orson Pratt have no doubt been listened to with great attention and with a feeling of delight by those who have heard them. It is indeed a very great pleasure to have him in our midst once more, and especially to listen to the sound of his voice—to hear the testimony that he still bears to the work of God. It is probable that today Brother Orson Pratt is the oldest living member of the Church, and certainly there is no man in the Church who has labored longer and more diligently and with a greater spirit of self-sacrifice in proclaiming its principles, in defending it, and in advocating the cause of God in the midst of the earth. And no doubt, as he has said, the fervent prayers of the Latter-day Saints have been offered up without ceasing throughout all our valleys, and in all our settlements, and in every dwelling place, unto God the Eternal Father in his behalf, that his life might be spared, that his health might be again restored to him, that he might have the privilege of proclaiming the word of the Lord unto the people. I trust that these prayers will still be offered up, that faith will be exercised in his behalf, that the desire of his heart may be granted unto him; for I know that faith will be exercised in his behalf, that the desire of his heart may be granted unto him; for I know that there is no desire so strong in his breast as that which he has expressed—the desire to proclaim the truth, and to win souls unto Christ, and to help establish that Zion of which God has laid the foundation. It is indeed encouraging to listen to the voice of a man who has had his experience, and to witness the unflinching zeal that he still possesses for the work of the Lord. I felt as though I did not want to say one word—if I could have answered my own feelings—after he had concluded. I would much rather have left his remarks to be pondered upon by the people, than to have said one word myself. But as there is time remaining, and we have come together for the purpose of partaking of the sacrament and worshipping our God, it is not improper that that time should be occupied.

Brother Pratt has alluded, in brief terms, to the revelations which God gave unto his servant Joseph Smith, through the Book of Mormon, or through the plates upon which that record was found. Today there is probably no greater stumbling block in the way of the people regarding this latter-day work than this record. Everything has been done that could be done to blind the eyes and darken the understanding of the children of men concerning the Book of Mormon. Every conceivable falsehood, almost, has been put into circulation concerning the origin of that work, and the inhabitants of the earth have been led to believe that it is one of the greatest impostures that was ever palmed upon mankind. And the name “Mormon” has been applied, in consequence of this, in derision to us because of our belief in that work. I have many times been reminded of the falsehood that was palmed upon the people by the Pharisees concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They would not believe that most momentous event in that generation, though borne testimony to by living witnesses. They declared that his Apostles, or disciples, had stolen the body, that he had not been resurrected, and that false belief became current in that generation and was an accepted theory concerning the founder of the Christian religion, and the whole world deemed themselves justified—speaking now in general terms—in rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, and his disciples as the Apostles of God, and yet today it is the belief of Christendom. A man who doubts that the Savior was resurrected the third day from death, is looked upon as unworthy of that holy name, the name of Christian. So belief change and misrepresentation and falsehood fade away as time passes on and truth is received and accepted; and the day will yet come—and it is not very far distant, when we speak about it in comparison with this event to which I have alluded—when this Book of Mormon and all connected with it will be received and accepted, that is, all the truth, as the truth of the living God, for the reason that it is true, and that God himself is its author. For that reason, and for that reason alone, the time will come—and as I have said, it is not far distant, though it may seem very presumptuous to make such a statement—when this record will be accepted, as the Bible is now accepted, as a book of divine origin, and that it has been revealed through the ministrations and agency of holy angels. We accept the Bible today without a question—that is, those of us who believe in Jesus Christ and in God. There is not a living witness to substantiate its truth. We accept it because our fathers and our mothers and our teachers from our earliest days have taught us that it is true, that it is the word of God, and among protestants a belief in its sacredness, that I am sorry to say is fading away in many circles, was general. The Bible was accepted after the reformation as infallible; it took the place of the infallibility of the Pope, and yet, as I have said, there is not a single living witness whose testimony has come down to us authenticated respecting its divinity, and in fact it is so open to attack that there are thousands who deem themselves justified, because of the insufficiency of the testimony and the conflict between statements which it contains, in rejecting it as the word of God. But in the case of the Book of Mormon, three witnesses, in addition to the man who was chosen of God, to translate it, testify, in the most solemn manner that an holy angel came and exhibited the plates and testified to them that it was of God. We have heard those living witnesses bear testimony to this, and though they became alienated from Joseph Smith afterwards, though every one of them afterwards left the Church, because of differences that they had with members of the Church, and because fellowship was withdrawn from them, in consequence of acts of rebellion—yet all three men maintained their testimony unflinchingly—two of them being now dead—when they came back to the Church as they had done before, and as they did during their alienation from the Church, that the Book of Mormon was true; that they had seen an angel, and that that angel had testified to them that this was the work of God. One of these witnesses is still living, and though not connected with the Church, he still bears testimony, and publishes it—we see it frequently in the newspapers—confirming that which he had written, constantly bearing testimony unto all with whom he is brought in contact, and who make inquiry of him concerning this matter. When I was a boy I heard it stated concerning Oliver Cowdery, that after he left the Church he practiced law, and upon one occasion, in a court in Ohio, the opposing counsel thought he would say something that would overwhelm Oliver Cowdery, and in reply to him in his argument he alluded to him as the man that had testified and had written that he had beheld an angel of God, and that angel had shown unto him the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. He supposed, of course, that it would cover him with confusion, because Oliver Cowdery then made no profession of being a “Mormon,” or a Latter-day Saint; but instead of being affected by it in this manner, he arose in the court, and in his reply stated that, whatever his faults and weaknesses might be, the testimony which he had written, and which he had given to the world, was literally true.

Besides the three witnesses who saw an angel and handled the plates, there were eight others who testified also in the most solemn manner that, though not shown the plates by an angel, they were shown the plates by Joseph Smith; that they hefted the plates, that they handled them, that they examined them, that they appeared to be of ancient workmanship, that they saw the characters upon them, which were curious; and these eight men have testified to this, making in all twelve witnesses, many of whom we have known. But if this were the only testimony concerning this work, I myself would have, I might say, comparatively slight faith in it. It would have weight, of course. The testimony of men of character, men who testify solemnly to any fact, always did have weight with me. I suppose such testimony has weight with all, more or less, according to the credibility of the witnesses. But there are evidences in this work itself of its divinity. It is the internal evidence which the Book of Mormon contains that bears testimony of it. If Joseph Smith’s claims as a Prophet of God had no other foundation than that which this book furnishes, then there is foundation enough for him to rank as one of the greatest prophets that has ever lived upon the face of the earth. There were predictions recorded in this book and published to the world in the winter of 1829 and 1830, which are being fulfilled today, and which have been fulfilled, or have been in process of fulfillment since the day that the work was issued from the press. There is scarcely a thing connected with the movement of the Latter-day Saints that has not been foreshadowed in the Book of Mormon. The way in which the work should be received, the manner in which it should be treated—I mean this organization, this Church, the manner in which the world would receive it, the manner, also, in which they would receive the record—that is the book—the expressions which they should use concerning it, had all been described in the greatest plainness before the Church itself was organized, even to the gathering of the people together, to which Brother Pratt has alluded as being so wonderful a work; and it may be said so phenomenal a work in its character. For the gathering out of this people called Latter-day Saints from every nation is a phenomenal work; the bringing them to these mountains; their organization throughout these valleys; the union, the love and the peace which prevail among them are all phenomenal in their character. This Book of Mormon, before there was a Church organized, before it had an existence, foreshadowed, in great plainness, that a people would be gathered together from the nations of the earth, and it has also described to us what their fate would be, how they would be driven and mobbed, and how they would be compelled to flee into the wilderness, as we did flee. There is scarcely a thing, as I have said, connected with this Church, or its history, that has not been alluded to with greater or less plainness, but especially the rejection of the Gospel by the nations and the treatment that those who espoused it would receive. This book was published, too, at a time when it was the proud boast of every American citizen, that religious liberty was universal wherever the stars and stripes waved; when such a thing as religious persecution was unknown; when every man could worship God without let or hin– drance, according to the dictates of his own conscience; when such a thing as mobocracy, as driving men and women from their homes, burning their houses, destroying their property, or anything connected with these scenes, had never been witnessed in the Republic. Yet God, through this record, revealed in great plainness that such would be the case when this Church should be organized, and this was published, as I have said, before the Church had an existence upon the earth. It also testified what the fate of Joseph Smith should be. It alluded to the persecution that he should receive. It described how he should be treated by his enemies; these things were set forth and can be found within the pages of this book, and also many events that have not yet transpired. Joseph Smith has made predictions, and they are embodied in this book. I say he has made them, that is, God chose him as an instrument to bring these predictions to light—concerning the remnants that are left in the land—the Indians. Now, it is the general opinion—and it has been the opinion entertained for many years—that the Indian tribes would disappear, that they would be wiped out from the face of the land, that they would disappear as the buffalo have disappeared, and that it would only take a very short time until they would be obliterated. If there is any one opinion that is general in our land among the people in our Republic, this today is the general opinion concerning the Red Man. Of course there may be some who entertain a different opinion, but they are so few that they can scarcely be noticed, certainly they cannot be heard. Even those who advocate and espouse the cause of the red man, and look upon his race as ter– ribly wronged, see no hope for him in the great future, but believe that he must disappear before the march of civilization and the increase of the pale faces. Now, Joseph Smith has predicted in this Book of Mormon the very opposite of this, and the world will yet see and know for themselves whether he is a true Prophet or not concerning this. This Book of Mormon with its promises is to a very great extent based upon the idea and the view that there is a future for the red man of this continent, and that they will at some time become an enlightened people and be redeemed from their present condition.

Now, if Joseph Smith had chosen to have said something as an impostor that would have suited the people, he would never have published the promises which this book contains concerning the red man; he would never have thought of such a thing, because the whole current of thought, even as early as the days of his childhood, was in a different direction. But inspired of God he made these predictions, and they are left on record like the other predictions to which I have alluded, and they will be fulfilled just as sure as God has spoken. And it is in consequence of our entertaining these views that we have been accused of having undue sympathy with the red man; because we have believed that they were human beings, that they had souls to be saved, and have felt to treat them with that kindness which we think is due to every man that stands in the form of God, whatever his race or color may be, whether black or red, yellow or white. Because we have taken this course and entertain these views, we have been accused thousands of times of having undue sympathy with the Indians, and sometimes of rendering them aid in their depredations. In our valleys and throughout our mountains an Indian has been as safe as be would be in the midst of his tribe. We have fed them, we have clothed them, we have endeavored to elevate them, we have treated them kindly. We have thought that a man who would shed the blood of an Indian would receive as severe condemnation and punishment therefore, as if he were to shed the blood of a white man. We have also endeavored to teach the people this idea, and the consequence is that travel where our people may, if it be known that they are people of Utah, they can travel with a degree of safety that no one else can, because for these thirty-four years in these mountains we have pursued this policy—not to aid them in their attacks upon the whites, but, on the contrary, to persuade them—and, in fact, we have endeavored by force of arms to prevent them from doing such things when they have resolved to go upon the warpath. We have invariably said to them: “You cannot commit a greater crime than to shed the blood of your fellow men, whether it be of your own race or any other race.” Our influence has been to maintain peace, to endeavor to reclaim them from their degraded and indigent condition, and teach them industrious habits and those arts which would elevate them from their degradation. The Book of Mormon has had that influence with us, and, as I have said, there are promises connected with it which will yet be fulfilled, and which will establish, even more than it is already established the truth of what I have said, that Joseph was a man inspired of God, and that he spoke by the inspiration of the Almighty.

I know that it is very fashionable —we have experienced it, we know about it—to decry everything that is not popular. In every age of the world, the men who have laid the foundation of reformation, who have endeavored to stem the public current, and to mark out a path different from that trodden by the majority of mankind, have had the most bitter opposition to contend with. They have had everything to meet, and in many instances have had to lay down their lives in testimony of the truth of that which they were doing. And we are no exception to this rule. Our pathway has been marked from the beginning with sufferings from this cause, and we may expect that it will continue to be. We need not look for anything else. Our religion is an unpopular one, and we might possess all the virtues of the angels and they would be obscured by the misrepresentations and the clouds of calumny that are raised against us. Our virtues are lost sight of. Our industry and the good qualities which have made this land so beautiful; those qualities which have been the means in the hands of God of reclaiming this land from its desert condition, and peopling it, and making the valleys resound with the hum of industry, and creating beautiful homes in it, from north to south, and from east to west; the practice of temperance and virtue, and the other qualities which characterize this people, are entirely lost sight of, because in the opinion of the majority we are heretic. We adhere to a religion that is, as they believe, or as they assert, an imposture, and because of this they are ready to do with us as the Jews did with the Savior, and with those who believe in his divine mission. Nevertheless, this being the truth, it must prevail. There need not be any doubt in our minds, I do not believe there is. I do not believe that 150,000 or 200,000 people can be found in any part of the globe who have the feelings of serenity and calm security, and who have less apprehension concerning the future than have the Latter-day Saints who dwell throughout these valleys of the Rocky Mountains. I do not believe another people can be found who have the feelings I describe. And when the clouds have been darkest, when everything appeared to foreshadow the destruction of the people, when it seemed as though all earth was raised against us, there has never been a time, even during those dark hours, that there has been any quailing in the hearts or feelings of the Latter-day Saints concerning the future. They know that God reigns; that this is his work, that he has laid the foundation of it, and that he will preserve and make it triumph in the earth; that he has sustained every man, woman and child belonging to this church from the beginning. When mobs have descended upon us like an avalanche, and when all the evils which they have wrought have come upon the people, even then there has been no flinching, no quivering of the hands, no shaking of the knees, no quailing of the heart, but calmly reposing upon the promises of God, the people have been sustained, and have gone forward rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be numbered among the Saints of God. This has been the feeling, it is today—and notwithstanding that threats of the most fearful character have been fulminated against us from time to time, and the press has come out with too great unanimity for its credit, suggesting every manner of scheme to exterminate us—notwithstanding all this the Latter-day Saints, I believe, of all the people upon the face of the earth, have had more peace in their hearts, have had more peace in their habitations, have had more confidence and less apprehension concerning the future than any other people to be found upon the face of this wide globe, go where you will to find them. And why is this? “Oh,” says one, “it is your fanaticism; you are an enthusiastic, fanatical race of people. Your leaders are shrewd men, and the rest of the people are the dupes of your imposture; you exercise an influence over them, you blind their minds and they are led by you because you are shrewder than they.” This is the common expression of opinion respecting us. It shows how ignorant mankind are concerning this work. There is not a faithful man, there is not a faithful woman, who crossed the Mississippi River when driven from Illinois, but felt and knew that it was right for us to go into the wilderness and to carve out a new home, far away from those people who called themselves Christians, but who belied their profession—who did not feel this as much as President Young did, or any of the Twelve Apostles. Even the children themselves had the spirit of it. The whole people crossed that river and started out into the then Territory of Iowa, with entire confidence that God would lead them to a good place; they started with far more confidence than the children of Israel did under the leadership of Moses. And from that day to the present the people have had this spirit. Not a settlement has been formed throughout these mountain regions without the people themselves who founded it, being fully imbued with the feeling that they were called of God to come to this land, and it needed no con– straint from President Young or any other man to influence them to do so. They were ready to act for themselves.

Every man and woman who enters into this Church has the right to know whether this doctrine be of God or not. I would not give a fig, if we numbered millions, if the people did not know for themselves that this was the work of God. I would rather have the six persons who formed the nucleus of the Church on the 6th of April, 1830, if those six knew for themselves that this was the work of God; I would feel we were a greater strength in the earth than six millions who had not this knowledge. And so I say concerning this people today throughout these valleys; if they only know for themselves that this is the work of God; if they have received this knowledge by the revelations of God for themselves individually, then they become a power in the earth, they are a living force. Murder may be resorted to for the purpose of destroying them, but as long as one remains there is a power through which God can work and bring to pass that which He has said shall be accomplished. The killing of Joseph Smith did not destroy this work, that was tried; it is not the killing of those who were associated with him that will do it. The past expulsions of the people did not injure or destroy the work, neither would any such attempts, if permitted, do so in the future. It is a living entity, and it is composed of living entities, men and women who know for themselves that this is the work of God, not depending upon Joseph Smith, not depending upon Brigham Young, not depending upon John Taylor, not depending upon Orson Pratt, or any other man tabernacled in the flesh, for their knowledge concerning this work. You might kill all these men off, if God would permit you, and still the knowledge remains until you extirpate the whole people; and in this respect it differs from every other work known among men. I have said it was phenomenal. It is phenomenal this people who come from the nations of the earth—each one comes bearing testimony that he or she knows it is the work of God. They know that before they leave their homes, and they come impelled by that living faith, and they hear testimony to it. Hence it is a power in the earth. It is God’s work. As Brother Orson Pratt has said, God dictated the day of its organization; God dictated that we should come to these mountains. There is not a settlement we make without our seeking to know the mind and will of God concerning it. We do not send a missionary abroad without asking the mind and will of God upon the subject. His mind and will is sought for in all things in holy places, and this Church has been guided from the first day of its organization until today, by that spirit of divine revelation. Hence the prosperity that has attended us, and the wonderful results that we witness today.

God has broken the long silence that has reigned for centuries. It is not to us alone, but He has spoken to the whole world, if they will open their ears to hear and their hearts to understand. God is working mightily today among the nations of the earth, and He is bringing to pass His great purposes, that have been so long deferred. But who hears His voice? Who seeks to understand it? Very few indeed. Unbelief is increasing, until even among those who profess to be ministers of religion you hear the power of God questioned respecting the affairs of men, and it is a rare thing today to find any man, even a professor of religion, who believes that God interposes by special providence in behalf of any of His children upon the earth. It is very rarely you can find men who have such a belief. They believe that God allows all things to go on without interference on His part. That, however, is not the faith of Christ, that is not the teaching of the Savior, who taught His disciples and all men to go unto the Father, and ask in His name for that which they needed, and that the very hairs of their head could not fall to the ground unnoticed. This is the God the Latter-day Saints believe in and seek after. They know that He lives. They know by revelation for themselves, and this constitutes the great difference between this Church and every other church. We believe in revelation from God today. We believe that He is the same yesterday, today and forever; that He changes not, and that if His mind and will were revealed unto the inhabitants of the earth 1,800 years ago in answer to prayer, in the same manner they can be obtained today.

I pray God to bless you, to pour out His Holy Spirit upon you, to lead and guide you into all truth, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Chas. W. Penrose, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Aug. 14, 1881.

One of the many evidences of the truth of the Gospel which we have embraced is the experience of young brethren, some of them born in Utah, others who have come here in their childhood and have grown up in the midst of the people, and who are occasionally sent out into the world to advocate the Gospel of Christ. We find that every one of them who is faithful to his trust, who attends to the duties imposed upon him, and keeps himself unspotted from the world, returns with a testimony of the truth in his heart. He is able to say that he knows the work is true independent of the instruction which he may have received or the testimony which he may have heard from others, and he is able to say that he has received this witness from God to his own soul. Now the testimony of the young brother who has spoken this afternoon is the testimony of all our brethren who go out in like manner and return in the same way. And there is another thing connected with this which corroborates it, and that is if any of our missionaries go out into the world and become contaminated, fall into the ways of the world, transgress the commandments of God, and stain their garments with impurity, they lose that testimony, and when they return they do not come back full of confidence and of zeal, they do not come back with the spirit of union in their hearts towards the rest of the Church, but they go into the dark, they become full of faultfinding, they fall away, and finally make shipwreck of their faith.

It has been truly said this afternoon, that the bond of union which binds the Latter-day Saints together, is this testimony, or the spirit by which it comes. We are not bound together by any cast-iron rules or ceremonies, nor are we held together by the power of men who preside over us, as is supposed in the world; but the bond of union which unites us, is the inspiration of the same spirit. We have obeyed the same Gospel in the same way; we have been baptized by one spirit into one body, whether we were previously Catholics or Episcopalians, Methodists or Baptists, Congregationalists or Quakers, Theists or Infidels—no matter what our faith or lack of faith may have been before, when we received this Gospel we all received the same truths in the same fashion, and being baptized by one baptism, we were prepared to receive the same spirit, and that spirit resting down upon us enabled us to see eye to eye.

It is claimed by some people in the world that it is impossible to make different people see alike; that it is a matter of impossibility to bring all people to the unity of the faith. It is claimed that as our countenances differ, so do our dispositions and our minds, that what will convince one person will not convince another, and therefore that it is impossible to make a body of people all understand alike, and if they do act together it must be through some compulsion. Now, I regard this as a great mistake. I know it is not true by my own experience and by what I see here among the people called Latter-day Saints. I know that it is possible for a great number of men and women to be brought to see things exactly alike. We may look at this outside of religious matters. If a number of us take a problem in geometry, as soon as we all understand the principles which govern it, are we not able to solve the problem in the same way? Certainly. So with a sum in arithmetic. So in regard to any branch of exact science. It is supposed, however, that theology is not a science, cannot be made a science, that it is a mere matter of opinion, and that as people differ so much in opinion in other things, they will be bound to differ in their views in regard to religion. But these ideas are founded on fallacies. Theology, properly speaking, is not a mere matter of opinion. What is called religion in the world, I admit, is a matter of sentiment and opinion, and one man’s opinion is just as good as another—and in some respects, as the Irishman said, “a great deal better.” One reverend divine’s opinion is just as good as another’s, for they differ just as much as the people do whom they teach. And so the idea prevails that religion is a mere matter of opinion, and therefore we can expect nothing but division. But true religion does not come from man. True religion comes from God, if there is a God. Our young brother this afternoon, says he knows there is a God. It is no matter of opinion with him. He knows that God hears and answers prayer, and you may find thousands of men and women here in Utah, who are willing to bear the same testimony. They do not hold this as a matter of faith alone, it has become knowledge to them. They know that there is a Supreme Being, that He is a personage, that He hears and answers prayer, and He has demonstrated to their entire satisfaction not only that he lives, but that the Church of which they are members is his; that this work in which they are engaged is his work; that he has established it, that he is rolling it on, and that he will sustain it and bring it to a glorious consummation, no matter what earthly power may intervene. Now, I say if there is a God, and if that God made this world upon which we live, and if he is our Father, the Father of our spirits, then he has the right to control the earth and all the people that live thereon, and it is unreasonable to think, if there is such a Being who made the earth and formed the creatures that dwell upon it, and who guides and controls their destinies, that he will never manifest himself to his creatures. It is unreasonable to me to think that. We have a book here called the Bible; we have another book called the Book of Mormon, and here is another called the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. In each of these books it is declared that there is a God, and that he has revealed Himself. The Bible gives a history of some of the revelations of that Divine Being to people on the eastern continent, in Palestine particularly. The Book of “Mormon” gives an account of some of the revelations of the same Being to the ancient inhabitants of this continent, the progenitors of the American Indians, civilized persons from whom the American Indians have descended, for they were not always the despised beings they are at present. The Book of Doctrine and Covenants contains revelations from the same Being, given in the day and age in which we live. Each of these books corroborates the others. They run together like three drops of water, or, to make scriptural reference, like the three measures of meal in the parable. In each of these books the testimony is given of a God, and also the fact that he will reveal himself to those who rightly approach him. If this be true, if the united testimony of the Bible, the Book of Mormon and Book of Doctrine and Covenants is true, then it is possible for the inhabitants of the earth to obtain knowledge from God, and further than that, if these books are true, knowledge has been sent down from on high, religion has been sent down from heaven, for the guidance and benefit of people dwelling on the earth. If these books are true, God, at different times in the world’s history, has called and appointed men to be His representatives—not to represent his perfection, because they were only human beings, but to represent certain truths which he revealed to them for the benefit of their fellows, and in some instances, for all the people dwelling upon the widespread earth. If these books are true, Jesus, who died on Calvary, was the Son of God, and he sent out his Apostles unto all the world to preach the true religion. Now the religion that God gave to these men in any age, whether we find it in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the Book of Doctrine and Covenants is not the religion of man. It did not spring out of the human heart; it was not framed by men meeting together in conclave; but it came by revelation from the Supreme Being. He manifested it to mankind. I know that there are a great many different things called religion in the world that have come out of the hearts of men, at least in part if not altogether. They have taken some of the things written in the Bible, they have reflected upon them, and then have added a little of their own opinion concerning these things. They have taken a part of what God has revealed and added their own notions to it. But true religion, the religion of God, must come from God. The religion of Jesus Christ must come from Jesus Christ, and not from man. If religion comes down from God to man and man receives that religion and the spirit of it, they will all come to the same understanding concerning it. Being baptized into one body, they will comprehend it alike. Having the same light they will “see eye to eye.” And according to the Scriptures, there is to be a time when all people shall see alike. “Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion,” so says the prophet Isaiah. And there is to be a day when all people that breathe the breath of life will know God, from the least unto the greatest. They will be able to bear the testimony our brother has borne this afternoon, and no one will have need to say to his neighbor, “Know ye the Lord.” But if religious affairs go on as now in the world it will take a long time to accomplish the change, will it not? Well, the Latter-day Saints, as I said just now, are able to bear this testimony. Why? Because they are better than anybody else? They make no such assertion; but if they are no better than the people of the world they have not very much to boast of. I have traveled a good deal and know the doings of the world, and if the Latter-day Saints are no better than the majority of the people, they have nothing particular to boast about. But we do not claim that we can bear this testimony because of our extra goodness. We do not say, “Come not near unto us; we are holier than you.” We have no such disposition or spirit. But having heard the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Elders of this Church and reflected upon them, prayed about them and compared them with the old scriptures, we came to the conclusion that they were true, because they corresponded in every respect with the teachings of Christ and his Apostles. And let me say, in passing, that this cannot be claimed for any religious sect in the world—we do not call our Church a sect—there is no religious sect in the world whose creed, ordinances, formula, and Church government correspond, in every particular with that we read about in the New Testament. But we find on close comparison that the doctrines taught by the Elders of this Church correspond in every respect with the doctrines taught by Jesus and his Apostles. They made the same promises to us that the ancient Apostles did. On hearing this we prayed about it; we sought wisdom from God; we did not turn away from these men because their names were cast out as evil; but we turned to the Lord. He heard our prayers and answered them, and stamped the truth of their testimony upon our hearts. We were baptized, and being baptized we received the testimony that our sins were remitted; for we came forth from the liquid grave to a new life, we had “put off the old man with his deeds” and “put on Christ” to walk after the pattern of his life. And when the Elders laid their hands upon us, according to the order of confirmation, that God established in the Church, the Spirit of the Almighty rested down upon us, and filled our hearts with sweet satisfaction, and with the knowledge that we had received the truth, and we were filled with light, communication was opened up between us and our Father. We received peace, revelation, knowledge and wisdom, gifts and powers for our own individual benefit as members of his Church. The Holy Ghost bore testimony to us that God lived, that the religion we had received was his religion, and that Spirit, to those who have been faithful and listened to its whisperings, has been a continual guide, “a light to their feet and a lamp to their path,” a continual monitor, an abiding witness, which brings things past to their remembrance, confirms the things of the present, shows us things to come, and bears record of the Father and the Son. It is this that has drawn this people here. The Latter-day Saints received this Spirit wherever they dwelt on the face of the earth, when the Gospel came to them. We have come a great many of us from various parts of Europe, the different States of America, and from other countries and nations, north and south—we have all come here and embraced the same faith, we see many things eye to eye, understand alike and work together, not because we are forced to do so, as some people im– agine, by the craft and cunning of men who understand human nature, but because we have received the same spirit. Men who oppose this work—“Mormonism” as they call it—leave this matter out of consideration altogether. In consequence of this they can never comprehend this work, they cannot discern the cause of the union of this people; they cannot account for the work accomplished by the Latter-day Saints, in spite of all the opposition and persecution they have had to endure. But the real cause of our union is the Spirit of the living God, which rests upon us. That Spirit led us here, and we are here to stay. We are here to do the work which God designs shall be done. We are willing to make any sacrifice—if there be such a thing as sacrifice—because God Almighty has enlightened our minds, because we know that he lives, that he hears and answers our prayers and gives us the blessings we ask for when they are good for us, and withholds them when they are not; for like children we are apt to ask for razors to cut our fingers with. God answers our prayers when it is wise to grant the things we desire.

This testimony which we have received is not imaginary, it is not a phantom, it is a fact, and the same testimony has been experienced wherever this Gospel has gone. It is claimed that Joseph Smith was an impostor. We say we know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. The promises he made have been fulfilled. When the Elders were sent out to proclaim the Gospel, they made the promise to all who should obey it, that they would receive the testimony I have been talking about. Could man have bestowed this testimony? No. But we received it and we know it came from God, and as I said before, wherever people have received this Gospel, this religion that the Lord has something to do with personally—they receive the same testimony, and when they seek for the gifts of the Gospel, they obtain them if they ask in faith. I speak now of the gifts enumerated in the Bible, that were manifested in the ancient Church. They are now manifested in this Church; for it is the Church of Christ, and it is established on the same basis that it rested upon in the first place. In the Church now is the power of the holy Priesthood, the authority of the Apostleship, and of all the different offices of the Church, as was the case in the Church anciently. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is joined to the Church of the Firstborn behind the veil. This is not the church of man. The principles we have received have not sprung from the brains of men. They have been revealed from God. This Gospel is now being preached as a witness to all nations before the end shall come. Jesus promised this to his disciples just before his crucifixion. He gave a number of signs, “Behold the fig tree, and all the trees. When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” This Gospel of the kingdom, the Gospel that Christ preached, has been sent down from heaven in our own time, and is being preached as a witness to all the world—not preached for hire or proclaimed for money; for the Elders go out without hope of pecuniary reward, in fact in most instances they pay their own traveling expenses in order to bear their testimony. And wherever people receive that testimony they receive this spirit and they know it is true, and that is the power which bound them together. No human being could weave such a tie as that which unites the Latter-day Saints. It is a heavenly union among themselves, and it is a union between the heavens and the earth. The Saints are gathering from all nations to the place which the Lord has appointed, and are building temples to his name for the benefit of the living and the dead. We have come out of the world, and therefore the world hate us; we have turned our backs upon our former friends and kindred, and have formed new relations and new associations. We have experienced the influence of the Spirit of God, and our desire is to bear testimony to the truth of this work, which shall roll on until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, and until “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” That is our work, that is what we are here for. If we are accumulating any earthly wealth here, it is by the blessing of God that we may the better accomplish his purposes, that we may help to build up his kingdom on the earth, that wickedness may be swept from the earth, that he whose right it is to reign may come and take possession of his kingdom.

Now, my friends, the time at my disposal has nearly expired, but before sitting down, I desire to bear my testimony, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that I know this is the work of God; I know that God lives and that he hears and answers the prayers of the faithful; and I know this work will prevail. I know that no earthly powers can retard it. The combined powers of the earth—Presidents, Kings, Emperors or Governors—cannot stay the progress of this work, because the great Jehovah hath spoken it. This is the way, walk ye in it. Avoid evil and choose the good. “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” I know this work will roll on, though all the world is against us. We are a little handful of people compared to the nation of the United States, but true strength is not in numbers. I do not mean when I make such a comparison, that all the millions of this nation are against us; many are opposed because they do not know us, they do not know our object, they do not know our spirit, they do not know what manner of men and women we are. They think we are a set of fanatics. But it is principle that has brought the Latter-day Saints to dwell in these valleys and we live and labor that out of this Church may be built up the kingdom that all the prophets and inspired men of God have seen from the beginning, upon which the glory of God shall shine, and over which the Lord shall rule. This work will prevail, no matter what opposition may be brought to bear against it. If this whole nation should rise up and other nations should join them, with the object of destroying the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they could not accomplish it. Our kind Methodist friends are anxious to see “Mormonism” stamped out; but the more they attack it, the stronger they will make it, as the more united will be our people, and the firmer our desires and our determination to roll on the work of God, and live as He directs. The best policy, therefore, for the Methodists, or any other sect, to pursue, is to let us alone. However, they cannot let us alone, for there is an influence—the influence of the evil one—which is antagonistic to this work, and stirs up the hearts of the wicked against it. All manner of lies are circulated concerning us, which, however, only serve to increase our strength. If we were let alone there might arise internal divisions; but while we are hated and derided by the world, misrepresented and maligned, by preachers and editors, and men who profess to be men of God, we shall become more and more consolidated, for all this only unites us more together. It is according to human nature that it should do so, and in all this we can see the providence of God. This will continue and prevail. I know it just as well as I know that I am here. The general outline of the work to be performed in this generation is clearly mapped out in my mind. And if the Latter-day Saints will keep the commandments of God, and walk in the path they have commenced to tread, revelation and knowledge and wisdom will be given to them from on high, the servants of God at the head will be filled with revelation to feed the flock of Christ, and this work will roll forth in strength and power in the earth, until all things which have been predicted by the Prophets are fulfilled.

May God hasten the day and help us to be faithful, that when His kingdom is established, we may be worthy of a place therein, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

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

The speaker read the 18th chapter of the Revelation of St. John, and said: This chapter which I have read in your hearing, contains a series of important predictions concerning Babylon. It is found four chapters after another prediction concerning the restoration of the Gospel. The sixth verse of the 14th chapter of the same book says: “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, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” The next verse says—“And there followed another angel saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” We would infer from this that one consequence of the preaching of the Gospel, or the declaration of it by this angel that should fly through the midst of heaven, would be the downfall of Babylon. We are not left in doubt, as Latter-day Saints, respecting the application of this name Babylon. Commentators have been puzzled to explain what this meant, or to what city or people it applied, but in the records that have come to us this is made so plain that I suppose there is no Latter-day Saint who entertains any doubt respecting this matter. One consequence which should follow the preaching of the Gospel, as I have said, should be the downfall of Babylon; but in the first verses that I have read it appears there should be a cry go forth before Babylon should fall. “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” There should be, it appears from these passages that I have read in your hearing, several events connected with the preaching of the declaration of the Gospel by this angel that should fly through the midst of heaven—there should be a cry go forth among the people to come out of Babylon, out of this system which had made all nations drunk with her fornications, and no doubt this would be done in a manner that would be so remarkable that all the inhabitants of the earth would have the testimony concerning it.

There have been a number of predictions made concerning the gathering together of people from various nations and from the midst of various peoples, Isaiah and Micah, two ancient prophets, have left on record their plain predictions concerning certain events that should take place in the last days connected with the gathering of people together. Their predictions concerning these events are among the most remarkable that are contained in their books, and as Latter-day Saints we fully believe these events are taking place and have been taking place for a great many years. Isaiah, in speaking about this matter, uses very much the same language as Micah. He says in the 2nd chapter, commencing at the 2nd verse: “And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

Now this is a remarkable prediction concerning the gathering together of the people in the last days. I have often thought in connection with this latter-day work that one of the most remarkable features of the divinity of the work is to be found in the gathering together of the people called Latter-day Saints. As we firmly believe, the prediction that I read concerning the coming of the angel with the everlasting gospel has been fulfilled in the establishment of this Church. The Elders of this Church have testified of this for many years, in fact since its first organization—that it was necessary for the everlasting gospel to be restored in its primitive simplicity and purity from heaven, there being no Church in existence upon the earth that possessed it, and, therefore, God the Eternal Father, in fulfillment of his designs and the predictions of the Holy Prophets, condescended to send angels from heaven to restore the primitive Gospel with its accompanying gifts and powers from heaven.

The Elders of this Church have often been questioned as to the necessity of such a revelation; for the Gospel, as they believe, was in existence upon the earth. “Why,” it, has been asked, “do you mean to say that we do not have the Gospel? that we do not have churches organized by the will of heaven? that the Christian religion as believed and practiced by us is not divine?” These queries have often been propounded to the Elders of this Church when they have testified that God has restored through the ministration of holy angels the everlasting gospel in its original purity. There has been but one answer to these queries; that if the Church of Christ existed in its original purity upon the earth, then which out of the numerous sects was that Church? How shall we distinguish it? Hundreds of sects exist upon the earth that profess to be the Church of Christ. The ministers of these various sects claim that they are the ministers of Jesus Christ, yet in many instances contend concerning doctrine, concerning methods of Salvation, concerning ordinances concerning many matters that in the mind of the great majority are deemed essential unto salvation. For instance, there are Christian churches today which believe in at least three forms of baptism. Now Paul has expressly declared that there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. Yet, as I have said, there are churches which are considered orthodox in christendom, that have three different forms of baptism. One believes in sprinkling, another in pouring, and another in immersion. And they differ as to the methods of immersion and the preparatory steps to be taken before being immersed, and before being sprinkled, and so with almost every cardinal doctrine of the Christian religion. There being this diversity, a man with the Bible in his hand going forth in the midst of the Christian sects with an anxious desire to know which is of God, would be puzzled beyond expression to find out which of the various churches laying claim to being divine, and to being the authentic church of Christ, was the true church. He, if he could not obtain knowledge from God, or some communication that would satisfy his mind, would be compelled to give up in despair, or to content himself with the idea that he would join that which suited him best and risk the consequences, hoping that he would fall into the hands of a merciful God. It is on this account that the Elders of this Church have constantly testified that there was a necessity for divine revelation; that in these days, God being the same yesterday, today and forever, those who sought unto Him to obtain knowledge from Him in the proper way, could obtain that knowledge, and could receive some communication that would satisfy them as to the course which they should take.

The Church of Christ—which is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—has been organized as we testify according to the original pattern, with Apostles and Prophets, with Evangelists, with Pastors and Teachers, and the various officers that were contained in the ancient church, having all the essential features of the primitive church. But not this alone. The Gospel as taught is claimed to be the same Gospel in every particular as was preached by the Savior while upon the earth, and committed by him to his Apostles to declare unto all nations; the same doctrine, the same ordinances, the same gifts and the same blessings. The Latter-day Saints are distinct from all other denominations which claim to be Christian in this respect: that they claim that if they obey the same form of doctrine that was taught by the servants of God anciently, and have the ordinances administered by those having authority from heaven, that the same results will follow, that the same gifts, the same blessings, the same supernatural manifestations will attend the believers in those doctrines today that attended believers in ancient days. Numerous testimonies have been borne that these have been the results. In every land where the Elders of this Church have gone to preach the Gospel, hundreds have embraced it, and after having embraced it have testified that they have received the gifts as promised by the Savior, and as promised also by those who have gone forth to declare this Gospel. I suppose that when these declarations have been made thousands of persons have said—“If this be true, and if the supernatural gifts that Jesus promised unto his disciples follow the preaching of your Gospel, or that which you call ‘Mormonism,’ then why cannot you give us a sign, that we may see for ourselves and be convinced that it is divine?” This is a very easy way of appealing to the Elders and, as many believe, of cutting them off from any further statement respecting their claims until they show a sign. But those who ask this forget that Jesus himself gave no signs to convince unbelievers. When applied to himself to give a sign, he said it was a wicked and an adulterous generation that sought for a sign, and no sign should be given them. And on one occasion, when he visited a certain place, it is recorded of him that he did no miracle because of the unbelief of the people. Now it would seem that if signs had to be given to convince the people that would have been the best place Jesus could have labored, a place where unbelief was most prevalent, and when he himself was appealed to. But he refused to do so. He did not come for the purpose of giving men signs. They were told in the Scriptures that “these signs shall follow them that believe,” they should not come to convince men and to make them believe. Now in this respect the Latter-day Saints have had considerable experience. We know very well that the Lord has not given signs for any such purpose, and yet I suppose in this congregation, were liberty given to speak and to bear testimony, there are hundreds and perhaps thousands under the shade of this roof who would testify that they have seen the mighty power of God follow the administration of the ordinances of this Church. But I think myself that God has given unto us greater evidences and more convincing than the working of miracles. In these days when there are so many materialists, as they are called, when the senses of men are appealed to, to convince them of supernatural power, it seems to me that this is about one of the weakest evidences that could be brought forward to establish the divinity of the work. If men were to work miracles before me, to convince me of the truth of any system, I could not be convinced by any such evidence. My mind is of such a character that I could not accept miracles as evidence of the divinity of the system with which the men were connected who worked these wonderful powers. In fact we are told in the Scriptures, that the day would come when miracles should be wrought by false prophets, and men would be deceived by false evidence of this character. It is an easy thing to deceive the senses, we see it every time our theater is occupied by a magician—we see things done that hoodwink our senses. Our eyes are deceived, our ears are deceived; all our senses are deceived by shrewd, cunning men, by men who are expert in manipulating various articles, and if they were to set themselves up as the apostles of some system, and declare that these were the evidences of the divinity of that system, and we should believe this sort of evidence, we might be converted to error. All those who are familiar with the Bible know the experience of Moses before Pharaoh. There was scarcely a miracle that Moses wrought that the magicians of the king did not imitate, and every miracle that was wrought only tended to harden the heart of the king, and make him determined that he would not let the children of Israel go, so that we see that miracles in and of themselves are no evidence of the divinity of any system, nor of the power and the authority from God of the men who work them.

But did the Lord ever have a people upon the earth at any time whom he called his own who did not have power from God? If there ever was such a people the Bible has failed to give us any account of them. From the days of Adam down to the days of John the Revelator—a portion of whose writing I have read this afternoon—he made manifest his power unto his servants, and through his servants unto the inhabitants of the earth. He has communicated his mind and His will in great plainness whenever he had a people upon the earth; there is not a single exception. John the Baptist, it is said was a mighty prophet. Jesus said no greater prophet had been born of woman. Yet did no miracles, but he was attended by great power. One reason why he was called the greatest prophet ever born of woman was that he had the privilege of baptizing the Son of God, a privilege that no other human being had, and it was so great a privilege that doubtless it distinguished him above all the prophets that had preceded him or that followed him. But he had revelation from God, though he did no miracle, yet he was a prophet. He was filled with the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, and he declared in great plainness to the people who lived in Judea, that the coming of the Messiah was near at hand, and when he baptized him, he bore testimony that he was the veritable Son of God, the Messiah, and he was greatly endowed by the Almighty, as were all his servants of whom we have any account in the Scriptures. But as I have said, there are evidences connected with the Church of God at all times which are greater than those manifestations to which I have alluded which are called supernatural and which men seem to greatly desire to behold. I believe that if it were to be told to the inhabitants of the earth that a man that was nigh unto death was about to be administered to by “Mormon” Elders, and that he would be raised up from that bed of sickness, that people would flock by thousands to witness that manifestation. And if God would consent to do such a thing, do you think they would believe any more in the divinity of the work of God or in the mission of the men who had thus administered than they did before? I do not believe that men can be convinced as they should be convinced by such manifestations. It has been a matter of remark among those who have had experience in this Church, that where men have been brought into the Church by such manifestations, it has required a constant succession of them to keep them in the Church; their faith has had to be constantly strengthened by witnessing some such manifestations; but where they have been convinced by the outpouring of the spirit of God, where their judgment has been convinced, where they have examined for themselves and become satisfied by the testimony of Jesus in answer to their prayers and to their faithful seeking unto the Lord for knowledge—where this has been the case they have been more likely to stand, more likely to endure persecution and trial than those who have been convinced through some supernatural manifestation of the character to which I have alluded.

Now, this Apostle, whose writings I have read, has borne testimony that a cry should go forth after the declaration of the everlasting gospel to all the inhabitants of the earth to come out of Babylon. It is a very remarkable fact connected with the preaching of this Gospel, that wherever it has been preached, in every land to which the Elders of the Church have gone, though nothing was said unto the people for years after the Church was organized, concerning the doctrine which had been revealed to the Church, that is, the doctrine of gathering—though nothing had been said concerning that doctrine, the spirit of gathering together took possession of the converts of this Church. There are thousands of people throughout this Territory, who, before they received this Gospel, never expected to leave the land of their birth. Some born in the Eastern States, some in the Middle States, some in the Southern States, some in the Western States, some in Canada and in Europe, and in various parts of the earth—they had not the remotest idea in their minds before they heard the preaching of the “Mormon” Elders that they would ever leave their homes; they never thought of it, it never entered into their minds. And yet it is a very remarkable thing that when they heard the Gospel and became convinced by its truth, directly afterwards, or simultaneously with the hearing of it they were seized with an intense desire to leave the land of their nativity, break up their old associations, and gather with the people of God. I look upon this as one of the most remarkable phenomena that has ever been witnessed. There is nothing we read of in either sacred or profane history that approaches this work in being remarkable. It is true that Moses led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But they were one people, they were only sojourning in the land of Egypt. The traditions which had come down to them from their fathers were that they should leave that land and go back to the land which God had promised to their great ancestor Abraham. When Moses came to them he came to fulfil preconceived ideas; he came to carry out traditions that had come down to them and which were sacred in their memories; they were looking for some such event as the leading of them forth from bondage in Egypt to the land of Canaan. On this account, therefore, it is not a parallel case. But we see in these mountains from north to south, extending some 600 or perhaps 800 miles north and south, a string of settlements built up by people of various nations who have not come to this land because of the desirableness of the land; who have not come to Utah because it is rich in minerals, who have not come to Utah because it abounds in agricultural resources; who have not come to Utah because it is a healthy climate, or because of some advantages of this character. If we visit the settlements in Idaho, and converse with the people who live in these settlements, and travel from there through Utah, down into Arizona, and converse with the people in their settlements and ask them the motive that prompted them to come to this land—why are you here? Why did you leave your former homes? Some of you are eastern people, some southern, some western, some from the middle States, some from the various countries of Europe, some from far-off Australia and New Zealand, and some even from Africa and from the East Indies—you ask these people why did you come here? What motive had you in view when you came to Utah to settle? And the universal reply would be from every adult member of this Church, “I came here because I believed it was the will of God I should do so. I was prompted by a feeling I could not resist to leave my former home, to dissolve my connection with my kindred, to break my old associations and to travel and cast my lot with the Latter-day Saints.” This would be the universal response if the people were interrogated upon this point. Some have left pleasant homes, which before hearing and obeying the Gospel they never expected to leave, it was a matter they had not contemplated. Now to my mind, my brethren and sisters, this is one of the most remarkable features of this work to see a people moved, upon as this people have been in various lands, all taking up their line of march and gathering together into one place. As I have said, we fail to see anything in his– tory that corresponds with it. In the days of the Apostles, such a doctrine was not taught. The Apostles built up branches of the Church in various places where they could get opportunity. They baptized the people and organized them and left them, and they were overcome in time. There was no gathering place. It was so in previous ages. But in these days, in conformity as I firmly believe, and as the most of you doubtless believe—in conformity with the prediction that I have read, the prediction of Isaiah, and in conformity with the prediction of the Apostle John, when he said there should be another voice calling upon the people to come out from Babylon—in conformity with these predictions these things have been accomplished. Now if I were to ask you, could I or could any other man induce you by any human reasoning to have done this unless you yourselves had been moved upon? I know very well what your response would be. You would say that it would be impossible for any human influence to have operated upon your minds to have brought this about. You are witnesses in this respect of the power of God upon you. You know whether it was the inducements held out by the Elders; you know whether it was the preaching of the Elders, whether it was the arguments of the Elders, or whether it was any other influence of this character that operated upon your mind in this matter. If the thousands that are numbered in this Church had the opportunity of testifying, they would say, “I was moved upon by a power that I could not resist. I had enjoyed the society of my friends, I had intended to live with them all my life before I heard this Gospel; but when I heard it a greater love sprang up in my heart, than I had ever before known. The love of kindred became feeble as compared with it. I felt as though I could not be happy away from the society of those who believe as I believe and who had embraced the same truths that I had embraced. I therefore dissolved my connection with my kindred. I bade them farewell, and I went forth a stranger to cast my lot among a strange people whom I had learned to love because I had received the same spirit that they possessed.” And we all know—every one who has had any experience in this Church—how strong that feeling is. Why, to keep the Latter-day Saints from gathering together you would have to put them in dungeons, you would have to deprive them of their liberty. The most powerful magnet never attracted towards it a substance for which it had affinity with any greater influence than this Gospel has attracted the people who comprise the Church. I look upon it as I have said, as one of the most remarkable phenomena connected with the latter days that we behold anywhere among the human family at the present time. It is a most wonderful spectacle. Here are people of almost every nationality known to Christendom, people speaking almost every variety of language—that is, the language of every Christian nation—not trained alike, not educated in the same schools, not brought up in the same religion, with varied traditions, and varied knowledge, yet they are drawn from the various nations of the earth, into one place impelled by one common impulse; for it is not the least remarkable fact connected with this that those who come from every land seem to possess the same influence. I have had the opportunity myself, at least on one occasion, of seeing nine different nationalities leaving Europe on board one ship. They sang songs composed of the same truths in their various languages, all bore the same testimony, all were moved upon by the same influence, and all dwelt together as if they were of one family. Now, it might be supposed that people coming from various nations would be hard to control, would be quarreling, would have feelings of national jealousy, and that strife and contention would grow up amongst them. But the contrary is the case. Someone may say that this is brought about by the influence of the “Mormon” leaders; “You ‘Mormons,’” says one, “have shrewd leaders; Joseph Smith was a shrewd man, a man of wonderful magnetic power, as also was Brigham Young.” But Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are dead. Yet it is said that the leaders are shrewd men still, and that they control and influence the people. What a wonderful thing! What a wonderful power that men by delusion—for it is said to be a delusion—can accomplish such great works without the aid of truth and light and intelligence! Let any number of intelligent men with all the advantages that they may possess attempt to do what the ignorant, unlearned Latter-day Saints have done; let any body of men in Christendom go to and attempt to establish such an organization as we witness in Utah Territory, and what will be the result? If any doubt this let them try it. Let any sect try it. Take the best and most enlightened, the most powerful church that contains the greatest purity and the greatest truth—let them attempt to do anything like what has been done by these unlearned, illiterate, ignorant “impostors,” as they are called, and see what the result will be. Let the Catholics, the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Methodists, or any other denomination, or let any combination of scientific men attempt anything of the kind, and see what the result will be. For fifty years the Elders of this Church have been preaching the Gospel. We have traversed the whole of the United States and the Canadas, and nearly all the nations of Europe, and this people have been gathered out from these nations, and there is no failure connected with the labor. Men have apostatized, as we see; they have denied the faith; men and women have left the Church, and they have used all their influence against the Church, yet the work is still onward, and every hour has brought acquisitions from abroad. Wherever the Elders have gone to preach this Gospel they have found men and women who were willing to receive the truth and rejoice in it, and to cast their lot with the people of God and to endure all the consequences attached thereto. Now, until there can be something of a similar character to this accomplished, I think that men ought to be careful about charging the Latter-day Saints with being impostors, and this work as being the work of imposture; unless there is found something that is parallel to it, unless there is a power exhibited by somebody else that is equivalent to it, or at least will bear comparison with it, I think men and women should be modest in their statement that it is all a delusion and humbug. You, my brethren and sisters, know very well it is no such thing. You know that no body of men could have convinced you by their human power to have done what you have done, and no human power could have blended the people into one, as they are throughout all these valleys.

There is one thing that distinguishes the Latter-day Saints from every other people that I know anything about—and I have traveled considerably—and that is, they love one another. It is not in name, it is not a profession of love, but they fire a people that love another so strongly that they are willing to die for each other if it is necessary, and it is that deep and abiding love that binds them in union. Travel among the “Mormons” wherever you will, north or south, east or west, at home or abroad, in the United States or in foreign lands, this love is a distinguishing characteristic of the people, you behold it everywhere. Men may never have beheld each other’s faces and yet they will love one another, and it is a love that is greater than the love of woman. It exceeds any sexual love that can be conceived of, and it is this love that has bound the people together. It has been a cement that all the persecution, all the tribulation and all kinds of trial could not dissolve or break; and the extraordinary feature of it all is, as I have said, that this people who are thus bound together are not a people of one township, not a people of one nation, not a people of one language, but they are as diverse as it is possible to get the human family to be. It would not be so strange if all were Americans, or all eastern men, born in New England, brought up with the traditions of New England; it would not be so strange if all were men of the middle States, or of the northern States or of the western States. But who is there that asks among the “Mormons” or Latter-day Saints as to a man’s nationality? Who is it asks where a man or woman came from? Here are Danish, French, German, Italian, English, American—northern, southern, eastern and western men—all living together as brothers, full of love for each other; none of that rancorous feeling that exists between nationalities is to be witnessed in Utah Territory. This entire people can be moved by a hair when it is in the right direction. Men say it is priestly influence, and it is something that should be broken to pieces. It is dangerous, they say, to America. Why it is all folly. Let anybody try to drive this people, and it will be found that they will die in their tracks before they will be driven. There is no more independent people lives upon the face of the earth than the Latter-day Saints in this mountains. A more determined and unyielding people I never met with. The men whom I associate with, why you might as well try to bend a bar of steel as to bend them; they will not bend, and yet they can be led by a hair. But they must know that what they are advised to do is right. Here are men and women who have sacrificed their all, who have been willing to give up their homes, who have had their homes burned over their heads, their cattle shot down, every piece of property taken from them, and then were driven out ruthlessly and cruelly by mobs. Yet they endured all rather than forsake their religion; they could not be driven—that is, they could not be driven into apostasy; no, they would have died before they would have yielded. If there is one characteristic, one peculiarity that the Latter-day Saints are noted for more than another it is for their unyielding tenacity to principle, and any man that would drive them in any capacity, be he Priest, Elder, Apostle or President, would find that he had undertaken a job that he could not carry out.

What is it, then, that makes this people united? It is the outpouring, as I testify, of the Spirit of God. Others will say it is something else, but I say it is the Spirit of God, and these are the fruits of that spirit as borne testimony to by ancient Prophets and Apostles. They said it would be so, Jesus prayed in the last great prayer that he offered unto his Father that his disciples might be one even as he and his Father were one. This was the great distinguishing character of his Church; and we learn from the Scripture record that they were one in heart and one in feeling. They would suffer persecution, they would go to prison, they would suffer death, for the sake of their religion. The Latter-day Saints have exhibited the same qualities. They have been patient, long-suffering, forbearing, and averse to quarrels and litigation. There is no disposition to go to law and quarrel with one another, and yet every man is tenacious of his rights. The people who have embraced this Gospel have had to think for themselves. It is no light matter to become a “Mormon.” It involves serious consequences. Our people may be ignorant in certain directions, but they are not ignorant about the Gospel and about the Bible. They understand the Bible and know upon what their faith is based, and they have clear conceptions of duty and personal rights, and yet in this Territory there is little or no litigation among the Latter-day Saints. Who ever hears of “Mormons” going to law with one another? It is a rare thing. They have a way of settling their differences as brothers and sisters should and as all christian men and women should.

What is going to be the result of all this? Why, this work will go on. This work which the world call “Mormonism,” but which I call the Church and Kingdom of God, will roll forth. It will draw to itself everything that is honest and pure. Despised today, looked upon today with contempt, it will evince qualities in the eyes of the world that will yet wield a power in the earth. As I have often said a people who are frugal, temperate, industrious, peaceable, united, who do not blaspheme, who do not commit outrages, but attend to their own business, must make their mark in the world. They must live in the struggle for existence. They will live; the qualities that they possess cannot die, they cannot be extinguished very readily. Wherever Latter-day Saints have control good government prevails, honesty prevails; you do not find people heavily taxed; you do not find officers consuming all the taxes for their salaries. No; you will find peace, good order and honesty. We are lied about! Yes, all manner of lies are circulated concerning us. I have heard men say that when they came to Salt Lake they were actually afraid of their lives because of the falsehoods that had been sent abroad. Why, from some of the stories that have been circulated one would think that a “Mormon” Apostle ate a man for breakfast every morning; that he was never satisfied unless he breakfasted upon somebody not of his faith. I do not think that to look at the Apostles and the leading men that they would give anybody such an idea. They do not look very savage nor very ferocious. Yet, these lies are being told and circulated, and they have their effect upon certain classes. But like all the lies in the past, we shall outlive them. It would be amusing to read all the lies that have been used in days past and gone. But there is a new batch in process of incubation all the time, and when the old ones get stale the new ones come forth adapted to the change of the case. Yet notwithstanding all this we continue to live. Lies do not hurt us. I do not think they cause us to sleep any the less. They do not cause us to enjoy any the less our pleasant homes, our fruit, or these beautiful streams that come from the mountains. We have learned that we can live and be lied about. We will continue to live and increase.

Now, my brethren and sisters, I am exceedingly thankful myself that God has revealed the truth, and that he has commanded his people to gather out of Babylon, that they may be free from the corruption that exists therein. We know there is a condition of society at the present time on the earth, which corresponds exactly with that which the Apostle John predicts, and which I read. You read it at your leisure and you will find that everything in modern society is represented in the 18th chapter of John’s Revelation. Now, God has commanded his people to come out of Babylon. We are trying to do it. We are trying to establish a new order of society, not to tear down the old, but to establish a new order that will grow and increase, and be better than the old one. Everything connected with this people has for its design the renovation of the earth from the evils which exist at the present day. I am thankful there is a prospect for myself and my children in this respect; for when I look at society as it exists, its hollowness, I confess if I had no hope only in that to be found in such society, I would have no desire for life, and I certainly would not care about having a family. But when I think of the society that the Latter-day Saints are trying to establish, every man having his rights, every woman enjoying her rights, I have hope for myself and for my children. I believe that they can live and not be preyed upon. I think with pleasure about the future, the union and the love that I hope will continue to grow and increase among the people. There is a desire to feel after and help each other, to care for somebody else besides ourselves. I notice a disposition of this kind, and I think in many breasts it is growing and increasing.

I pray God that we may continue to develop in this direction; that we may humble ourselves before God and call upon him in mighty prayer to aid us in our endeavors; that when we are disposed to be lifted up in pride that we will go to God and ask him to show us our true condition. We get the idea occasionally that we are a very good people; individually we get lifted up by vanity and pride; we forget who we are. Why, in the sight of our God, in the sight of his purity we can imagine how impure we are, and how far we are from being what we should be. Let us, therefore, go unto him and call upon him in the name of Jesus for his blessing. We believe in God. We believe that he is today, as he was in ancient days; a God who hears and answers prayer; who is well able to hear and answer the prayers of his children today as he was 1,800 years ago. Let us go to him and implore his blessing upon us, upon our children, upon the honest in heart in all the earth who desire to serve God. May God bless you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder C. W. Penrose, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, July 17, 1881.

Being called upon this afternoon, to address this congregation, I arise to do so, trusting that the Spirit of God will rest upon me to enlighten my mind and suggest such thoughts to me as may be profitable to the congregation assembled, and I desire that my brethren and sisters will sustain and support me by their attention and their faith, and prayers, that I may be inspired to speak the truth, and that all who listen may have the same spirit resting upon them, that they may be able to see and understand the things presented.

There are a great many people assembled today in different parts of the world to worship God according to the various forms which prevail in what is called Christendom. All those people who profess to be Christians, believe that there is a God, and that Jesus of Nazareth who died on Calvary, was the Son of God. They also believe that the book called the Bible, contains the revealed will of God to man. But although they all profess to believe in the same book, in the same God, and in the same Savior, yet they have different forms of worship, different tenets of faith, and they are traveling in different roads, with the expectation of arriving at the same place at the end of their journey. The differences which exist in the world in regard to religion are very deplorable. If mankind were actuated by the same spirit in their worship of God, they would worship in one way, they would walk in the path of truth, and would not be tossed to and fro and carried about by different winds of doctrine. The fact that people are divided in their belief in regard to religious principles, is proof that the same spirit does not rest upon them; they are guided by different influences, therefore are led in different paths. There is to be a time, according to the Scriptures, when the people who believe in God, will all be brought into such a condition that they will “see eye to eye.” There is to be a time when all people living upon the earth “shall know God, from the least even to the greatest,” and there will be no need to contend about doctrine or principle, but all will understand alike, for “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God, as the waters fill the great deep.” How is this great change to be brought about? At the present time people who profess to believe in God have a great many different ideas concerning Him. They have a great many different opinions in regard to the being who is called His Son, they have a great many different ideas of the Gospel as taught by His Son, and these contentions do not decrease, on the contrary they increase. New sects are springing up, churches are increasing in the earth, but the children of men are becoming more and more varied in their opinions in regard to religion. If things continue in the present way, how long will it take till all the inhabitants of the earth are brought to a knowledge of the truth? How long will it take to bring them all to the unity of the faith, and to the knowledge of the Son of God? We are told in the Scriptures, that one of the objects of the preaching of the Gospel was that people might be brought to “the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” It appears to me that if things continue in their present condition, instead of the inhabitants of the earth being brought to a unity of the faith and to the knowledge of God, division and contention will increase. When missionaries are sent from Christian nations to heathen nations, they do not establish any unity of faith among those to whom they are sent. On the contrary, they introduce division. For instance, a number of missionaries go among the Mahomedans, and if they convert a portion of them to the different faiths which those missionaries teach, they are turned away from the union, such as it is, of their old creed to the divisions of modern Christendom. If the Baptist missionary should convert a certain number of Mahomedans to his creed, the Baptist church would be established among them; and if the Meth– odists introduced their creed and obtained converts, there would be the Methodist faith and the Baptist faith among them; and so with the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians and the various isms which are prevalent in Christendom. If all these sects were introduced into a Mahomedan country, then instead of the people being brought to greater unity of the faith, division would be established in their midst, they would be split up into sects just like modern Christendom is today. And yet if the Bible is true, the time is to come when all shall know God from the least to the greatest, and when all shall bow the knee and confess that Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. Unless something is introduced into the world of a different nature and character to the various sects which now exist in Christendom, these results can never be brought about.

If the Gospel which Jesus Christ introduced into the world, and which His Apostles were sent forth to preach, were restored again to the earth, and the people were brought to the understanding of that Gospel, then they would come into this condition, because this was one of the characteristics of the Gospel, one of its great effects upon the people when it was introduced into the world 1,800 years and more ago. When the Apostles whom Jesus Christ sent forth went to preach the Gospel in the country in which they were born, Palestine, they found people professing different creeds, but when these people came to receive the Gospel which the Apostles taught, they were all brought to the unity of the faith. If Peter went out and preached in one part of the world, say to the Jews, and Paul, “the Apostle of the Gentiles,” went out among the Gentile nations and preached to them, the converts made by Peter, and the converts made by Paul, believed exactly alike, no matter where they were born, no matter what creed they had previously professed; and when James went out, or any of the rest of the Apostles, and made converts, all came to the same belief as the converts of Peter and the converts of Paul. Indeed the Apostle Paul says, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit”—“We have,” said he,” “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one hope of our calling.” This was the effect of the acceptance of the Gospel in the days of the ancient Apostles. And upon the principle that the same cause will always produce the same effect under the same circumstances, if that Gospel were to be preached in this day of the world the people who obeyed it would be brought into the same condition, no matter what their creeds were. When they received the Gospel of Jesus Christ they would be brought to a unity of the faith, they would receive one doctrine, they would receive one spirit, they would have one Lord, one baptism, one faith and one hope of their calling, they would be started on the same road, they would worship the same God in the same way, under the influence of the same spirit.

Well, what is the matter in what is called the Christian world? The difficulty is that the people of the earth have departed from the plan of salvation which was taught by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, and the opinions of men have been introduced instead of the word of God. Men have stepped forth from the ranks to be preachers and teachers of the people, and have introduced their own notions, and churches have been built up and established upon those notions. In the olden times the Apostles of Jesus Christ did not feel that they had any right to go out and preach their views about doctrine, their ideas about salvation, but they went out as ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ having authority from Him to preach the Gospel which He delivered to them and no other, and the Apostle Paul went so far as to say, “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” And John, the beloved and loving disciple, who talked so much about love and charity, says, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” The servants of God who have been called at various times from the beginning to preach the word of the Lord to the inhabitants of the earth have always come with the word of the Lord; not their own ideas, not with their peculiar notions about doctrine, but they came to bring a message from the Almighty, and they delivered it with authority. Every word they spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was the word of God to the people, and was binding upon them, for those men were the representatives of God upon the earth, so far as their teachings were concerned. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost,” and that which they said under the influence of that spirit, was the Word of God to the people to whom it came. But for hundreds of years the people of the earth have been taught the doctrines of men. They have been “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,” just as we read in the Scriptures they would do; and in consequence of this the people have become divided, sects have multiplied, division has increased, and the people, instead of obeying the voice of the Lord and walking in His ways, have the teachings of men and have walked in the ways of men, and therefore they have departed from the Almighty. We say sometimes that God has departed from the world. That is not exactly the case; the world have gone away from God; “they have heaped to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they have turned away their ears from the truth, and have turned unto fables,” as the ancient Apostles said they would. This, in a few plain words, is the condition of the Christian world today. Notwithstanding this, however, there are a great many people among those various sects and religions who are sincere in their worship. Their desires are good, and a great many of them think they are walking in the way of life. But as the wise man Solomon says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is death.” There is and can be but one way, one true way into the presence of God. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the path, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,” said Jesus, while “Broad is the road, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” There is but one way, and, “He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” There being but one road to eternal life, he that walks not in that road is on another, but there is but one road to take him into the presence of God to receive the glory of His Father’s kingdom. Now, this may sound in some people’s ears very uncharitable. People say the Latter-day Saints are uncharitable, because they aver that there is only one way to heaven. You never hear a man called uncharitable when he says there is only one way in mathematics. If five times five are twenty-five, anyone who differs from that is acknowledged to be wrong, but when we talk about religious affairs there seems to be an idea in the world that people can believe what they please about religion, and it is all right. Now, this seems to me very inconsistent. Truth cannot be bent or turned aside. Truth cannot be turned into error; there is no compromise between truth and error. If a principle is true in one age of the world, it is just as much so in another; and the notions and sincerity of the people will not alter that truth in the slightest degree. Jesus came to show the way of salvation. He sent His Apostles to teach one way, one plan, and as the Apostle Paul said, if anybody preaches any other he will be accursed.

But supposing we look into the nature and character of this plan of salvation, this way that Jesus laid down. I will refer you to the 3rd chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, and the 5th verse. The words I am about to read are the words of Jesus Christ. Now if you please to say that Christ was uncharitable, you may. I will not say so. Jesus is the great Divine Master. Those who do not profess to believe that He was the immaculate Son of God, believe He was a great inspired Teacher, and what He said was the word of life to the inhabitants of the earth. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night to enquire about the way of life. And “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus did not quite understand what was meant by being “born again,” whereupon Jesus further explained, saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” This was the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no compromise about it, no two ways about it. Here is the one way laid down by the Lord: No man can enter into the kingdom of God, except he has been born of the water and of the Spirit. How are we to understand this Scripture? We are to understand it, I suppose, just exactly as it was laid down. Jesus was making himself plain to Nicodemus. He told him that except a man was born again he could not see the kingdom of God, and when Nicodemus inquired how this could be, He further explained, that except a man was born of the water and of the Spirit, he could not enter into the kingdom of God.

We are told in the Scriptures that Jesus was not only the Teacher, but He was the Great Exemplar. Jesus “left us an example, that we should follow in his steps.” If this be the case, Jesus must have been born of the water and of the spirit, and if we can find out how He was so born, then we can find out how we must be born of the water and of the spirit. We are told here in the New Testament; that when Jesus Christ was about thirty years of age (he conformed to the laws and customs of the Jews among whom He resided) before he went on his ministry, he went to John, the forerunner, and asked to be baptized, but we read that John, who knew the character of Christ’s mission, said, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Here is a pattern set by Jesus Christ, for mankind to follow. He knew it was necessary for every one to be born of water and of the spirit, and He went to John, a man who had authority from God to baptize, and was immersed by him, or baptized by him—the words are of similar meaning—and the Spirit descended and the Father witnessed that He was well pleased with this act.

Now, you will find, if you will read the Scriptures, that when Jesus Christ sent His disciples to all the world, he told them to “preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Again, he says, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” If we read the book called The Acts of the Apostles, we find that these instructions were carried out to the very letter. In that great sermon preached by Peter, on the day of Pentecost, when so many were brought to obedience to the truth, when asked by the people, “What shall we do?” Peter said unto them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” First, the birth of the water, then the birth of the Holy Ghost. This was the example of Christ, and this was how the Apostles taught it.

If you follow the Apostles in all their travels and teachings—so far as the history is given to us in the book called the Acts of the Apostles, and so far as laid down in the epistles which they wrote to the churches—you will find that this was the preparatory Gospel, the Gospel of the kingdom. First, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” What shall we do when we do believe? “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” And you will find further that after the people were baptized, the Apostles laid their hands upon them, and by the administration of that ordinance the Holy Ghost came upon them. And this was uniform. It was not one Gospel in one country and another in another; it was the same Gospel for all. Neither were there a number of baptisms for different people in different parts, but one Lord, one faith, one baptism; not “pouring” in one part of the world and “sprinkling” in another, and the “sign of the cross” for another. No, it was one baptism, being buried in water after the likeness of Christ’s death, and being raised up out of the water in the likeness of His resurrection; brought forth from the womb of the water into the element of air in the likeness of the natural birth, all done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by men holding divine authority. No man had a right to administer these ordinances as he pleased or according to some fancy within his own mind. A man must be appointed to the ministry by the voice of God through the living oracles, or his ministrations are void and of non-effect. When people were baptized in this way they were prepared to receive the birth of the spirit, and when the Apostles’ hands were laid upon them they received the Holy Ghost, they were born of the spirit, and the effects were as I remarked at the beginning, no matter what they previously believed or disbelieved, they were all brought to the unity of the faith. They believed alike, they had similar impressions, the same spirit rested upon them, they were brethren and sisters, they were no longer divided in feeling, but all were inspired by the same influence, and desired to labor for the same object and purpose. We find also that this spirit developed certain gifts among the people, some that were internal, not perceptible to the natural eye, except as they influenced the acts of men; while others were external. For instance, we read that the fruits of the spirit are these: “Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance, brotherly love and charity;” these were the effects of the Holy Ghost in the human heart in former times. Now, if the same spirit rests upon the people today, it will bring forth the same fruits. “Every tree is known by its fruit.” There were other gifts given by this spirit, which we read of in the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians and 12th Chapter. He says, “To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.” These were the fruits of the spirit in the days of the Apostles. Now, if this same spirit is given to people today, through obedience to the Gospel, it will bring forth the same fruits. The gift of tongues will be enjoyed; the gifts of interpretation, of healing, prophecy, discerning of spirits, etc., and people will be united together in spirit and be filled with love, joy, peace, patience and charity, and be baptized by one spirit into one body.

Now, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—to which most of the people of this congregation belong—has been established by direct communication from heaven in our own times, and the reason for the establishment of this Gospel again by revelation from heaven is this: The world has departed from the ancient Gospel, an outline of which I have been giving to you this afternoon; people have turned away from it, and taken to the vagaries of men. The world has heaped to itself teachers. Men have been hired by the people to preach doctrines which would suit the people. Hence division has been in the world in place of union; discord and contention have sprung up instead of peace, joy and brotherly love, which are the fruits of the Gospel. But God Almighty has restored this Gospel in the day and age in which we live, because, according to the Scriptures it must be “preached to all the world as a witness, and then shall the end come.” The true Gos– pel, the Gospel of the birth of the water and of the spirit, without which man cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, must be preached to all nations. God has restored that Gospel by direct communication from the heavens. It is the only way in which it could be restored. It cannot be evolved from the mind of man. It must come from God or it is not the work of God. If Jesus Christ has nothing to do with a church personally, it cannot be the Church of Christ. It may be a Methodist church, an Episcopalian, Presbyterian or a Quaker church, or it may be a church bearing any other name that men have put upon it; but if it is the Church of Jesus Christ, He will be in communication with it. Well, the Lord has restored this Gospel by revelation from heaven. With it he has also restored the same authority held by the ancient Apostles. Angels have come down to the earth that they might restore this Priesthood. Peter, James and John have come as ministering angels and restored the ancient Apostleship, in which is authority to preach the Gospel, to baptize for the remission of sins, to lay on hands for the imparting of the Holy Ghost, to organize the Church of God, and set all things in order; that authority has been restored to the earth, and by that authority the Gospel must be preached to all the world as a witness, before the end shall come.

The world marvels how it is that people can be brought together from so many different nations and countries, and all settle down under one form of faith. People have an idea that there are certain persons here holding great influence over the minds of men; that they have gathered people together by that influence, and now hold them here in bondage. There could not be greater freedom anywhere upon the face of the earth than is enjoyed right here in Utah, by the people called Latter-day Saints. But what has drawn them here? What makes them willing to go through any trial or any sacrifice for their faith? It is just simply this: They heard the Gospel, received it in their hearts, and they have been born of water and of the spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. The spirit by which the Prophets wrote and spoke; the spirit by which Jesus Christ brought forth the living word of God; the spirit by which the ancient Apostles were inspired is here on earth, and dwells in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints. They have been baptized by one spirit into one body, and all the gifts of the spirit anciently enjoyed are the fruits of the spirit today, and each man and each woman for himself and for herself, has received a divine witness direct from the Almighty to their own souls that God has commenced the great work of the latter days, which is to establish His government on the earth bring all mankind to the unity of the faith, and prepare the world for the coming of Him whose right it is to reign. It is the power of the Spirit of Almighty God which rests upon the Latter-day Saints. It is that which has drawn them here, to leave their homes and friends and come up here to these mountains, where they can learn more of the ways of God, and walk more closely in His paths, where they learn further of this Gospel and of those glorious ordinances which pertain to the salvation of mankind.

But the question which may be asked here is: “If there is only one way of salvation and you have received that, and all the rest of man– kind are in the dark and not walking in the ways of life, what is to become of them, and what is to become of the masses of the human race that never heard this Gospel?” Will you tell me what is to become of the heathen that have died, who never heard of Christianity in any shape? For there is but one name given under heaven by which men can be saved. What is to become of the myriads that have passed into the spirit world without even having heard the name of Jesus Christ? What is to become of all the Jews—numbers of good men and good women amongst them—what is to become of the millions of Jews who have passed away into the spirit world from every land—and some of them in a great hurry too, driven by the hands of “Christians”—who have never obeyed any Gospel at all? Now, the word of Jesus Christ must stand good. Even if I could not comprehend the decree, if there was no ray of light to make it plain to my mind, yet if I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ I must believe that saying that there is only one way into the sheepfold, that no man can get into the kingdom of God, who has not been born of the water and of the Spirit, and until it is made plain to my mind I must hold on to it by faith, if I cannot comprehend it by my reason. But thanks be to God, this has been made clear to our minds, not because we are wise and learned in the Scriptures, but because God Almighty has been pleased to make it known. That is the only way we have come to an understanding on this point. All the doctrines we have in our Church are scriptural, but they have not been taken from the Scriptures, they have come direct from the Almighty by revelation in our time. The Prophet Joseph Smith, previous to his death, obtained from the Almighty a knowledge in regard to the condition of the dead. He was shown the condition they would occupy in the eternities which are to come. In one great vision it was revealed to him that there are three degrees of glory, the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial: that those who enter into the celestial kingdom are they who obeyed the laws of the celestial kingdom; that those who enter into the terrestrial kingdom are they who did not obey the celestial law but obeyed a lesser degree of law and therefore were only prepared to receive a lesser degree of glory; and that those who enter into the lowest degree of glory are those who are cast down for their sins and who must pay the penalty of the same, but all, except the sons of perdition, eventually will come out of their suffering and enter into a condition for which they are qualified. But over and above this the Prophet Joseph Smith saw that the Gospel of the Kingdom could be preached not only to people in the flesh, but to people out of the flesh; that when people depart this life they retain their identity; that they can be informed; that they can receive and reject; and he was also shown that the time must come when all shall hear the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, because by that they shall be judged. The Apostle Peter says: “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them which are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” Every one must hear the Gospel and be judged by it: It would not be just to judge any one by that Gospel if they never heard it. “But,” says some one, “that is a new idea altogether. The idea in the Christian world is that there are two conditions to which the spirits of men go after death, namely, to heaven or to hell.” That is the common idea, I know; but according to the doctrine which Joseph Smith taught, and which he learned by revelation from heaven, the time is to come when everybody will hear the Gospel of the Son of God, every one will have the chance to bow the knee to King Emmanuel, and to do it understandingly.

Now, when we come to look into the Scriptures, we find that Jesus Christ on a certain occasion read in the Jewish Synagogue a passage out of the Book of Isaiah. You will find it in the 61st chapter of Isaiah. What is it? “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” This was a part of the mission of Christ. He was not only sent to preach good tidings to the meek, but it seems he had a mission to some that were in captivity. I will read a verse or two upon the same subject from the 42nd chapter of the Book of Isaiah: “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” In the 49th chapter of Isaiah, we find some remarks of the same kind: “That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves” I ask, were these predic– tions which it is generally admitted were uttered concerning Jesus Christ, fulfilled? Let us see. Jesus Christ was taken by wicked hands, hung upon the cross and crucified. He prayed for his enemies before he departed; he prayed that God would forgive them, because they knew not what they did, and then “bowed his head and gave up the ghost.” Where did the ghost or spirit of Christ go to after it left the body? The body was taken down and placed away in the tomb; but where was Jesus? Was he lying in that tomb, embalmed? Oh, no, that was merely the helpless body. His spirit had gone. Where had it gone to? Says one, “it went to heaven, of course.” Stay a moment. Three days after this we find this same Jesus, whose body was placed away in the tomb, walking in the garden, “and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.” Jesus, while walking in the garden, met Mary; and Mary, supposing him to be the gardener, asked where they had laid Jesus. Making himself known to her, she sprang towards him. Whereupon he said to her, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” Now, there were three days between the placing of Christ’s body in the tomb and the raising of it. Where was Jesus, the real Jesus, the living Jesus, while his body was lying in the tomb? Who can tell us? We read in the third chapter of the first epistle of Peter, 18th to the 20th verses: “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” Where was he? Where did he go? “Put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” That is where Christ was between the time of his death and his resurrection, preaching deliverance to the captives, the opening of the prison to them who were bound. But some may ask, How do you know what he preached to them? The answer will be found in the 4th chapter of the same epistle, and the 6th verse, namely, “For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” From this it appears that Jesus Christ went and preached the Gospel to the dead. What for “That they might be judged according to men in the flesh;” for it would not be fair to judge them by that Gospel if they never had the opportunity of hearing it. Here is Jesus, stretched out upon the cross, praying for his enemies; he bows his head and gives up the Ghost; his spirit departs from his body; he goes to Paradise. That is where the thief went who repented on the cross. “Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom;” he cried. And Jesus said unto him, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Was that in the presence of the Father, in heaven, in glory? Oh, no. It was in the place for departed spirits, some of them disobedient spirits; a portion of it the place in which the rich man found himself who is spoken of in the parable of Lazarus. Christ went to the spirit world and the thief went with him. It was a place where the wicked pay “the uttermost farthing” for their sins in the flesh. There Jesus went. No longer trammeled by the laws which govern the earth, no longer subject to the bonds of the flesh. This is the place that David speaks of when he says, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” Jesus is not now the babe of Bethlehem, he is not now the despised of men, he is not now bearing the sins of men upon the cross, but he is Jesus the mighty, Jesus the conqueror. Jesus the Son of God, Jesus the Prince, Jesus the pure, who knew no sin, and over whom death had no claim. He entered the abode of the doomed. He proclaimed deliverance to the captives. He preached the Gospel to the dead. He opened the prison house and “led captivity captive.” He then came back to where his body lay in the tomb. The guards fell back as though they were dead men, when the angels with the keys of the resurrection appeared at the door of the sepulchre. The great stone was rolled away and the risen Christ came forth in his might. He grasped the keys of hell when he entered the dark regions of Hades. He grasped the keys of death when he came back triumphant and arose on high to receive “all power both on the earth and in the heavens.”

Now this may be a different view to that which has been entertained for hundreds of years, but it is the eternal truth of God, and as it was with the disobedient in the days of Noah, so it will be with those of the latter days. It will be as we are told in the 24th chapter of Isaiah, where the Prophet in speaking of the last times says: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.”

Jesus Christ when He was upon the earth, made use of this remarkable language: “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” It appears from this that those who really believe in Jesus, those who are really his disciples, shall follow in His footsteps, do the works that he performed, follow in the same path which he trod, that by and by they may come up to the same glory. So we learn from the revelations of God, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that when the servants of God depart from this stage of action they follow the footsteps of the illustrious captain of our salvation, they preach deliverance to the captives, they publish the Gospel of peace in the regions of the departed. Hosts of the Jews, hosts of the heathen, and hosts of the Christians have died to wake up and find themselves in the spirit world, and not in the glory they expected, because the time to receive the glory and the reward is not till after the judgment. And they will be offered in the spirit those essential truths which they could not learn while in the flesh.

Is not this comforting to our hearts? It is to mine. I had thought over this many a time before I understood this principle, and when this light came to me it filled me with gladness: That all people whoever dwelt on the earth will have the privilege of hearing the Gospel of Christ; that God is not so narrow as sectarian preachers would make him; that he does not regard a few of his creatures only, but that “His tender mercies are over all his works,” and that all shall have an opportunity of receiving or rejecting the means of salvation, and will stand or fall thereby.

Now, there is another question that will come up, that I must say a word or two about to make this doctrine plain. When people who depart from the earth without hearing the Gospel, go into the spirit world, and by and by a man of God comes preaching the word of God, and they are willing to receive it, can they be born of water and of the spirit? Is baptism an ordinance that can be attended to in the spirit world? I thought, says one, that water was an element or compound of elements, belonging to the earth. Well, according to the revelations of this great Prophet, Joseph Smith—one of the greatest Prophets that ever breathed the breath of life, excepting, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ—those who receive the Gospel in the spirit world can have the necessary earthly ordinances attended to for them by proxy, that is, the living can be baptized for the dead. This will startle some people. Some good Christians will feel shocked at the idea. But stop; do not be in a hurry. Did you ever think of the principle of one dying for another? Did not Jesus suffer for all on the principle of a vicarious atonement? On this principle of proxy rests the whole scheme of human redemption. Without that principle of proxy, every one must pay the penalty of blood and death, for the wages of sin is death, and “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” and “without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.” Christ died for you and for me and for all mankind, on condition that they would receive His Gospel. He died, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” He who knew no sin died for those that had sinned. Here, then, is the principle of proxy in the vicarious death of Jesus Christ, as was typified in the ordinances and sacrifices that were given in the law of carnal commandments.

But is this a scriptural doctrine? It is. In the 15th chapter of I Corinthians, 29th verse, we find Paul asks a peculiar question. He is talking about the resurrection of the dead. The people in those days did not understand much about that subject. He asks, “What shall they do which are baptized for the dead? If the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead?” From this it would seem that in the early Christian church, the living were baptized for the dead. From this we can understand what Paul meant when, in writing to the Hebrews concerning their departed ancestors, he said, “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” That is the condition of a great many of our forefathers, they cannot be made perfect without us. There is no redemption for the living or the dead except by the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not the Gospel of Wesley, Calvin, Luther, or of any man, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity, as it comes down from Him for the salvation of the human family. Without obedience to that Gospel, neither the living nor the dead can be saved.

I take great pleasure in bearing my testimony that I know the true Gospel has been restored to the earth. I know that the Apostleship has been sent down from heaven to the earth again, and that the power as well as the name of it is here. Men have received authority from the heavens to administer in all the ordinances of God’s house. This is the one Gospel, the true Gospel of faith, repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, and the reception of the Holy Ghost, through the laying on of hands, with the cultivation of all that is good, and the overcoming of everything which is evil. This is the Gospel of the kingdom. It will be preached to all the world as a witness that the end is near. There is no power which can stay the progress of this work. It is for this our missionaries go abroad in the world. Some people have an idea that they are simply emigration agents to gather out people to Utah. It is not so. They go abroad to preach the Gospel of Christ among the nations of the earth. It must be proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue and people: to professors of religion and non-professors, to preachers and their congregations, to pastors and their flocks, to the king upon his throne and to the peasant in his cottage, to the presidents of republics, and in fact to all peoples on the face of the earth. All must hear the warning voice: Repent of your sins, O ye inhabitants of the earth! Turn away from your corruptions where with you have defiled yourselves and the earth on which you dwell, or woe unto you, for I the Lord God will cleanse the earth as with the besom of destruction. Repent, before judgment shall overtake you. Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and you shall be cleansed from sin, and a new heart shall be put into you. You shall be born of the water and be made new creatures in Christ Jesus. You shall be born of the Spirit, the Holy Ghost shall be given unto you as a gift from God, which shall be a light to your feet and a lamp to your path, by which you can be brought into communion with the Father and the Son and the heavenly hosts, by which light and intelligence can be flashed from the celestial kingdom to your souls, and by which you may know you are accepted of God! This Gospel must be preached to all the world by the servants of God. And wherever their testimony has been received—in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Islands of the sea, throughout the United States, South America, Africa, and the East Indies, those who have obeyed it have all been baptized into the same body and worship the same God in the same way, and they all want to come here, the great gathering place of the Saints. There is no need to coax them to come: the great difficulty is to find money to bring them here when they want to gather. In this they are fulfilling the words of Isaiah and Malachi: “And it shall come to pass,” says the Prophet Isaiah, “in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Those who receive the Gospel come in here “as the doves to their windows.” From the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, God is gathering His elect from the four quarters of the earth. This is one of the signs of the second coming of the Son of Man. We are building this Temple—I do not allude to the Tabernacle in which we are now assembled, although the Prophet Isaiah speaks also of a Tabernacle, a shadow from the heat and a covert from storm and from rain—but I allude to the Temple on another part of this block; we have others also at St. George, Logan and Sanpete. What are they for? Why, that the living may go into the House of God, according to the pattern received from on high, and attend to the ordinances for the dead. Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith were slain for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, and are following in the footsteps of their Divine Master. They have gone into the spirit world and preached deliverance to the captives, and we are building these Temples to the name of God, in the tops of the mountains, that the dead may be fully redeemed.

I have merely touched upon this subject, and my time will not allow me to go further. But I wish to bear my testimony to this congregation that the Lord has restored this Gospel I have spoken about. The power of it is here, the ancient gifts are here, and I know it, and hundreds and thousands that are occupying these valleys know it. That is why we are Latter-day Saints; that is why we are willing to be cast out and despised of men: that is why we cleave to our faith: and I tell you this work will roll on, no matter what may happen or what opposition is set up against it, for this is God’s work. The kings of the earth and the legislature of nations may counsel together, they may lay their plans and fulminate their decrees, but they cannot stop this work in which we are engaged. It will roll on, not because we are so wise or so great—for God has called the weak things of the earth to confound the mighty—but because it is the work of God. No power can hinder this work in the least degree; every weapon that is raised against it will fall to the ground. The Gospel will be preached, Israel will be gathered, and all nations and peoples shall be subdued, until every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. And the mansions of the dead, and the halls of the spirit world, and every part of the universe will resound with the Gospel of peace, preached by the servants of God, until all shall hear and obey, and when the work is done, Jesus Christ will go before the Father and present to Him this finished work, that God may be all in all.

May the Lord help us to be obedient, to labor in His cause as we are called to work, that we may find our way back to the presence of our Father, and receive the crown and reward of the faithful, even so. Amen.

Remarks by President John Taylor, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, July 3rd, 1881.

I have been interested in the remarks made by Brother Cannon, who has addressed us, because I am personally well conversant with most of the events to which he has referred. I also coincide with him in his feelings as regards the position we ought to occupy in this Territory as an integral part of the United States, in relation to the melancholy event which has so recently transpired in the nation; for all right feeling people must execrate a crime like that attempted on the life of the President. It is usual with many people when they think they have received an injury to hope and wish that the like calamity may rest upon those who are their opponents, or by whom they have received, or supposed they have received, certain slights or injuries; and it is very difficult for such people to comprehend the principle that actuates, or ought to actuate, all high-minded, honorable men, especially those who profess to be influenced by that Gospel which was introduced by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our motives as Latter-day Saints should be very different indeed from those which many are actuated by, who do not believe in the principles enunciated in the Gospel of the Son of God. Our mission to the world is a mission of peace. Our proclamation is the same as that which was made by the angels of mercy who heralded the advent of the Son of God; it is: “Peace on earth, and good will toward men.” We have never entertained any other feeling or principle than this; nor do we desire to cherish any unhallowed feelings in our bosoms either to individuals or the nation.

Reference has been made by Bro. Cannon in his remarks to the feeling and animus which exist among many calling themselves Christians, in their conventions, etc., in their endeavors to stir up a spirit of persecution and opposition to us. Let them take their course; let them follow the influence by which they are governed. We cannot afford to entertain a spirit of that kind, nor do we desire to cherish a spirit of retaliation. If Jesus, when upon the earth, could patiently endure the scoffs, sneers and reproaches of men which were so indiscriminately heaped upon Him; if we are in possession of the principles which were enunciated by Him, we can afford also to cherish the same noble and magnanimous feelings which dwelt in His bosom. I know of no other principle than this associated with the Gospel of the Son of God, whether in this age or any other age. Jesus came here according to the foreordained plan and purpose of God, pertaining to the human family, as the Only Begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. He came to offer himself a sacrifice, the just for the unjust; to meet the requirements of a broken law, which the human family were incapable of meeting, to rescue them from the ruins of the fall, to deliver them from the power of death to which all peoples had been subjected by the transgression of a law, and He Himself took the initiatory in this matter, and offered himself, the Son of God, as competent propitiation for the sins of the world. And when He was opposed, rejected, cast out, spat upon and maligned; and again, when He was crucified, in His last remark He used the words which have already been referred to, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” He taught that it was written in the law in olden times, that there should be “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth;” but says He, “I say unto you, That ye resist not evil * * Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” These were principles worthy of a God; these were feelings which if cherished by the human family, would elevate them from that low, groveling position in which they are laboring, would place them on a more elevated platform, would bring them into communion with their Heavenly Father, and prepare them for an association with the Gods in the eternal worlds.

In reference to this late melancholy affair which has occurred, I feel in my heart a strong sympathy for President Garfield. People may think this strange. Why, say they, did he not make some remarks which are calculated to injure you as a people? Yes. But he, like the rest of us is a fallible being. We are all fallible, and it is not every man who can resist the pressure which is brought to bear upon him, and the influence by which he may be surrounded. Even Pilate, who was inspired by strong principles of justice, found it difficult to resist the popular clamor against Jesus; he felt a disposition to deliver the Savior from the position in which he was placed by his enemies, and asked the people, What harm has this man done? Nothing. Only the people continued to cry out, “Crucify him, crucify him;” and in answer to their demands he delivered Jesus into their hands, saying, however, “I wash my hands of his blood.” He had not the firmness to resist the cries of the population but yielded to their unreasonable demands.

But to return. In speaking of these matters, I have reasons personally, myself, to have very vindictive feelings if I would entertain them, in regard to misrule and mob violence, for under the pledge of the governor of Illinois, made to me and to Dr. Bernhisel, (who is here presented) Joseph and Hyrum Smith were guaranteed protection, and the governor pledged us his faith and that of the State therefore. But these two innocent victims were slain in cold blood, and the very guards whom the governor ostensibly placed for their protection, assisted in the murder, whilst I, myself, who was not there as a prisoner, received four balls at the time of their massacre. Under these infamous circumstances it would be very natural for a man to entertain vindictive feelings. But do I have feelings of revenge in my heart concerning these men? No. Did any of you ever hear me give utterance to feelings of that kind? I think not. I do not wish to be governed by such influences. Those who perpetrate such acts have enough to answer for without any maledictions from me. I do not cherish feelings of that kind. I consider that all these things are governed by an all-wise and inscrutable Providence, by a God who rules and regulates, manages and directs the affairs of the human family. I saw Joseph and Hyrum Smith mortally wounded by men with blackened faces, and, as I have said, I was severely wounded—quite as severely as President Garfield is. Do I feel enmity towards these men? No, their case is not an enviable one. There is a Being who knows the acts of the human family and is acquainted with their affairs, who will judge all men and all nations according to their deserts. Do I know this? I do know it. The Gospel reveals many things to us which others are unacquainted with. I knew of those terrible events which were coming upon this nation previous to the breaking out of our great fratricidal war, just as well as I now know that they transpired, and I have spoken of them to many. What of that? Do I not know that a nation like that in which we live, a nation which is blessed with, the freest, the most enlightened and magnificent government in the world today, with privileges which would exalt people to heaven if lived up to—do I not know that if they do not live up to them, but violate them and trample them under their feet, and discard the sacred principles of liberty by which we ought to be governed—do I not know that their punishment will be commensurate with the enlightenment which they possess? I do. And I know—I cannot help but know—that there are a great many more afflictions yet awaiting this nation. But would I put forth my hand to help bring them on? God forbid! And you, you Latter-day Saints, would you exercise your influence to the accomplishment of an object of that kind? God forbid! But we cannot help but know these things. But our foreknowledge of these matters does not make us the agents in bringing them to pass. We are told that the wicked will slay the wicked. We are told in sacred writ, “that vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay.” And in speaking of ourselves we need not be under any apprehensions pertaining to the acts of men, for the Lord has said, “It is my business to take care of my saints;” but it is our business to be Saints. And to be worthy of that character it is our duty to live by the principles of virtue, truth, integrity, holiness, purity, and honor, that we may at all times secure the favor of Almighty God; that His blessings may be with us and dwell in our bosoms; that the peace of God may abide in our habitations; that our fields, our flocks, and our herds may be blessed of the Lord; and that we, as a people, may be under His divine protection. Fear him and keep his commandments, and if we do this we need know no other fear either on this side of heaven or of hell, for God has pledged himself to take care of his people and to sustain and deliver them from the hands of their enemies, Therefore we may feel easy, and we can always afford to treat all men right. What! Would you treat your enemies well? Why, yes. If they were hungry I would feed them; if they were thirsty I would give them drink; if they were naked I would clothe them; but I would not be governed by their principles, nor influenced by the feelings which animate their bosoms. I would try and imitate and cherish the same truths that dwell in the bosom of God, who makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and the rain to fall on the just and on the unjust. Then, having done that, I would leave them in the hands of God, and let him direct his affairs according to the counsels of his own will.

I am sorry to see this murderous influence prevailing throughout the world, and perhaps this may be a fitting occasion to refer to some of these matters. The manifestations of turbulence and uneasiness which prevail among the nations of the earth are truly lamentable. Well, have I anything to do with them? Nothing; but I cannot help but know that they exist. These feelings which tend to do away with all right, rule, and government, and correct principles are not from God, or many of them are not. This feeling of communism and nihilism, aimed at the overthrow of rulers and men in position and authority, arises from a spirit of diabolism, which is contrary to every principle of the Gospel of the Son of God. But then do not the Scripture say that these things shall occur? Yes. Do not the scriptures say that men shall grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived? Yes. Do not the scriptures tell us that thrones shall be cast down and empires destroyed and the rule and government of the earth be trodden under foot? Yes. But I cannot help but sympathize with those who suffer from their influences; while these afflictions are the result of wickedness and corruption, yet we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that those who engage in these pernicious practices are exceedingly low, brutal, wicked and degraded. I would say “my soul come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united.”

I have traveled abroad myself, quite extensively among the nations of the earth. Did I ever interfere with them? No, not in the least particular. Did I see things that were wrong? Yes, but it was not for me to right them. That was not my mission. I had no command of the kind. My mission was to preach the Gospel of salvation to the nations of the earth, and I have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles to do this, without purse or scrip, trusting in God. And so have many of my friends traveled. We did not hurt anybody, did we? For instance, now, right in our own city, we have Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, and all kinds of isms. Do we interfere with them? We do not. Would you interrupt them in their worship? I know of no such thing, good Latter-day Saints will not do it. Would I malign or persecute them? No, I would not. If we told the truth about some of them it would be quite bad enough without stating falsehoods, and if other men cannot afford to treat us aright, we can afford to treat them properly and to give the fullest and broadest liberty to all who come within our reach; liberty to do right, not liberty to oppress, not liberty to trample upon correct principles, not liberty to rob men of their property or religion. Men who would do this are villains which we want nothing to do with; but all honorable men, all men who do right and maintain the laws and the Constitution of the United States, we are their friends and will sustain them to the last. These are my thoughts in relation to that matter.

In connection with President Garfield, have we any feelings of enmity? No; I have none. I feel truly to sympathize with him in his affliction, but I feel more profoundly moved that deeds of this description can occur in a free, liberal and enlightened government like this. We might expect such things in some of the European nations where the principles of nihilism exist to so great an extent, and where there seems a disposition to subvert all rule and government and place the people and nations in the hands of irresponsible mobs, and of low, brutal, murderous men, without any regard to the principles of law, order, justice, equity and righteousness. I could account for some of these things taking place there. It is really astonishing to see what efforts are being made to accomplish the overthrow of rule and government in Russia, Austria, Germany, Spain, England, Italy, France, Turkey, etc. These things are beginning to spread among and permeate the nations of the earth. Do we expect them? Yes. These secret combinations were spoken of by Joseph Smith, years and years ago. I have heard him time and time again tell about them, and he stated that when these things began to take place the liberties of this nation would begin to be bartered away. We see many signs of weakness which we lament, and we would to God that our rulers would be men of righteousness, and that those who aspire to position would be guided by honorable feelings—to maintain inviolate the Constitution and operate in the interest, happiness, well-being, and protection of the whole community. But we see signs of weakness and vacillation. We see a policy being introduced to listen to the clamor of mobs and of unprincipled men who know not of what they speak, nor whereof they affirm, and when men begin to tear away with impunity one plank after another from our Constitution, by and by we shall find that we are struggling with the wreck and ruin of the system which the forefathers of this nation sought to establish in the interests of humanity. But it is for us still to sustain these glorious principles of liberty bequeathed by the founders of this nation, still to rally round the flag of the Union, still to maintain all correct principles, granting the utmost extent of liberty to all people of all grades and of all nations. If other people see fit to violate these sacred principles, we must uphold them in their en– tirety, in their purity, and be patriotic and law-abiding and act honorably toward our nation and to its rulers. It is truly deplorable to see our President, the President of this great and mighty nation, one of the greatest rulers in the world stricken down by an assassin. Yet these things we have to mourn over. But in all cases it is for us to be true to our God and to our religion, to obey the laws of God, cleaving to correct principles, letting purity, virtue, honor, truth and integrity characterize all our acts, that we may be the blessed of the Lord.

I pray God to bless you, and that we may be led in the paths of light; and I pray God to bless all honorable men everywhere, and to bless our President and our rulers who rule in righteousness, and that wherein any of them are doing wrong, that they may be led in the right path, and that we may be led to pursue that course at all times that shall secure the approbation of God, the approbation of our own conscience and the esteem and respect of all honorable men everywhere. Regarding the notions of others, we care nothing; our trust is in God; and we will try and observe His laws and keep His commandments. May God help us to do so in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder John Nicholson, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 26, 1881.

I have unexpectedly, to myself, been called upon to address this congregation. While I shall endeavor to do so, I desire that you shall give me your sympathy and faith, that I may be able to speak in clearness whatsoever may be put into my mind by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, if I shall be so fortunate as to enjoy a goodly portion of that influence. I have no special subject on my mind upon which to speak, and am therefore dependent upon the inspiration of the moment as the spirit shall give utterance.

It has been the privilege of the servants of God in all ages to enjoy a portion of His power to direct them in their ministry and to make plain to their understanding the things that they should speak about when it became their duty to preach the truth. This congregation is very largely composed of people who profess the same religious doctrines as those which I have myself embraced, adhered to and advocate. There are others, however in the congregation who are unacquainted with the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and who perhaps are more or less anxious to obtain some understanding of the nature and character of the work which is represented among and by this people. Heretofore they have been dependent upon popular report, which has been, in almost every instance, erroneous upon this subject, for we have been greatly misrepresented in all the world. There is one particular point that I wish to direct the minds of this audience to regarding the work, and in doing so, I wish to point out a popular error which exists in the understanding of many people in reference to us. There is a prevailing opinion, based on false representations regarding the Church which I have the honor to be identified with, that there exists among the people called Latter-day Saints, a species of serfdom or bondage, or that one or more men rule over the people with a high hand—a species of despotism. I wish to state here that my personal experience in this Church for half of the time which I have spent in this life, informs my judgment that such is not the case, that the Latter-day Saints are a free people, and the system which they have adopted—which they understand to be of divine origin—is calculated in its character to make them free. The reason why it makes them free is because that the greatest bondage which can exist among the human family is the result of doing that which is wrong, which is contrary to the laws of God, and to the laws of righteousness, that should exist between man and man. I do not wish to say that this Church or this people as a whole are entirely free from evil. It would be very wrong to assert this, to do so would be stepping beyond the bounds of truth and consistency, for we are in a state of imperfection, and where imperfection exists there necessarily follow departures from the strict line of righteousness. But there is one feature connected with this Church that is glorious, and it is this: that so far as the laws of this Church are concerned, there are none who are exempt from them, they are applicable to all, from those who hold the highest positions in this Church to the humblest member therein; all must subscribe to them. There is, however, an organization—an order in this Church which we recognize and which we sustain. This feature extends to this beautiful principle in the Church—which is the highest form of what might be termed the democratic principle—that all the main measures pertaining to this work, in order to be valid in the sight of heaven, and to be in accordance with the strict law of this Church, must have the consent of the people before it becomes binding upon the people, from whatsoever source it may emanate. In order to show you that this is the case, I will refer the congregation to what we esteem as the law and the testimony. We have a book here which is called the Book of Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, containing the revelations of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith, who was raised up specially by the Almighty, according to our faith, to organize the Church of Jesus Christ according to the will of heaven, by revelation and commandment from the Most High. In order to show you that that which I have spoken is according to the law of our Church, I will read a small portion of instructions which emanated from him whom we esteem a great Prophet. Talking of the government of the Church and the people in July, 1830, these instructions came through that medium: “And all things shall be done by common consent in the church, by much prayer and faith, for all things you shall receive by faith.” That is a law of this Church that the affairs of the Church shall be done by common consent of the body religious, and therefore there is no despotism here; there is no one-man power in the sense in which it is accepted regarding us in the world, because when measures that are deemed for the advancement of this work are brought up, they have to be received by the people, and their consent obtained, in order to make them in accordance with the law which God has revealed for the government of the organization that He has established in this day. And there exists among this people a reverence for law, a regard for that which is legal and proper, that I have not seen exist to the same extent in any other community with which I have mingled.

There is at the present time a disposition among the people of the world which is quite remarkable, I might even say that it is phenomenal in its character. There is a question now existing in the world which is not confined to one nation alone, nor one section of the globe; but there is an influence at work which appears to be fast becoming a question pertaining to this whole world—I refer to the spirit, and influence and disposition which are growing everywhere to throw off every species of restraint. Because of the increase and development of this power and influence in the hearts of the masses of the people, some of the governments of Europe are being shaken from center to circumference, and we not only hear—in consequence of this feeling which is growing in the minds of the people—we not only hear of threats to cast down thrones and to destroy the heads of governments that are existing, but that these things are actually taking place, and the heads of nations are trembling for fear because of this existing disposition to break in pieces the powers that be. I may draw the attention of this congregation to the fact that the revelations which were brought forward by Joseph Smith, the Prophet, pointed to this very movement and stated, in definite terms, that such a condition would exist among the nations, and that it would bring about the destruction of those governments in which it was suffered to exist and to spread. But in place of the Latter-day Saints having a disposition of this kind, it is the genius of this work, it is the spirit of this Church, to conform to proper organization, to recognize laws that are according to human rights, to recognize that which will benefit mankind. It is true that most of the governments of Europe are not based on correct principles. The rulers do not recognize the rights of the people whom they govern; but at the same time the condition that would be brought about by these things which I have referred to, this undermining governments, etc., would bring about a ten-fold worse condition of things than the despotism even which exists in the old countries, because it would bring about anarchy and confusion; it would bring about a condition of things wherein the strong would oppress the weak even to a greater extent than they do at present, and surely there is no need for that.

Then, it might be asked, if you Latter-day Saints have so great a regard for law, for existing regulations to rule and govern society, why is it that you make exceptions to this rule? Why is it that there is, at least, one law that you are not willing to conform to?—referring to the law that was passed in 1862, for the suppression of our system of marriage. The reason is this—that we regard the Constitution of our country as sacred, and the will of our Heavenly Father as supreme. That sacred instrument—the Constitution of this land—says that a man and woman in the practice of their religion shall not be interfered with, that Congress shall have no power to make such interference as that proposed by the law to which I have made allusion. But it might be said in regard to this that it is a law nevertheless because it has passed the Congress of the United States and been sustained by the Supreme Court of the United States. Nevertheless—I now speak for myself—I lay it down as a proposition that any law that infringes upon my religious rights cannot be a constitutional law, if all the courts in the world should decide that it is of that character. But it may be said—and it is said frequently—that our system of marriage—the same system of marriage that obtained among the ancients who held direct communication with the Almighty—is not a part of religion. But I state, so far as I am individually concerned, that I hope never to get into the position where any man or class on the face of this earth shall prescribe to me what shall or shall not be my religion, for the moment that such a condition is admitted, then farewell to religious liberty. It becomes as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, having no basis in reality. But it is sometimes said that our system of marriage is obnoxious to the ruling sentiment of the country, and especially to those whose crafts are in danger, and who are professors of other religions. Then on the same principle, if we were in the majority would it be right for us to use coercive means to put down in the religions of others what might be obnoxious to our system? It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. But it seems to me somewhat remarkable that people who are living perhaps thousands of miles away from this part of the country, should have such powerful visual organs that they can gaze and see something that needs correcting among the people called Latter-day Saints, when there is sufficient perhaps within a radius of half a mile of their own dwelling places which would require their attention in correcting for the rest of their lives. But whenever a man travels in this country or any other, we shall find a large proportion of the people who are liberal in regard to this community, and who think that they should not be interfered with in their institutions, and instead of getting up all this furor and excitement in reference to what is called the “Mormon Problem,” the sensible part of the community particularly are willing that the “Mormons” should be left to the solution of that problem themselves, and we assert that, with the help of God, we are able to accomplish that work and show eventually, if not at present, a model community that it would be good for others in the world to pattern after.

There are a great many ideas in reference to this people, as I have said, which are erroneous. I have met, in traveling on the trains people who were utterly surprised to find that the Latter-day Saints looked like other people. I presume that they expected to see men walking about with slouch hats and belts filled with weapons of destruction, so erroneous and so slanderous have been the reports concerning this people which have gone abroad about them. There is only a percentage of the people that were here who are willing, on account of the deep-seated prejudice that everywhere exists concerning this people, to speak the truth concerning them. There are men who have come here who belong to different denominations, without naming any of the religious bodies with which they were connected—who have been treated with the utmost courtesy and respect; perhaps more respect than their characters entitled them to. They have been allowed to preach their tenets, disseminate their doctrines among the people here, to build their churches until you can see them on every hand, not only in this city, but in other cities of this Territory. For purposes of the deepest mendacity they have gone abroad and been the chief instruments in arousing public sentiment against the Latter-day Saints. They have risen in their religious conventions in the United States, and told to my positive and certain knowledge, as black and infamous lies as ever fell from the lips of human beings, and were thus enabled to ply their vocation in collecting money in order to save the downtrodden women of Utah, and to help solve the “Mormon problem.” I say that such men are unworthy of the title of manhood. They obliterate within their narrow souls every principle which is worthy or entitled to respect. I have no respect for them whatever. Although I do not wish them any harm at all, I have no regard for them, because they are too limited, too narrow, too devoid of principle; in fact they can get along with as small an amount of principle as any class of men that I ever knew of in my life. So far as I am concerned, I have not reached that condition of perfection which our Savior taught and practiced. I am imperfect in that respect—when He says you shall love your enemies. I say that I do not have any love for characters of that kind, who will go in the face of facts with which they are acquainted, as well as men can possibly be acquainted with anything, and willfully and knowingly misrepresent the characters of this or any other people on the face of the earth. I would feel the same if these animadversions and calumnies which are heaped upon this people were heaped upon any other. There is one individual especially whom I knew when he was here, at least passingly, who said that in Provo, a quiet, peaceable settlement in the South, one of the most peaceable places on the top of this earth, perhaps—at least it would be if they were all Latter-day Saints who are there—this individual said that he was under the necessity, in going to preach in the morning or in the afternoon, or whenever he had to ascend the stand, of laying a pistol by the side of the word of God—a falsehood as plain and direct as ever was spoken; for I have lived in this Territory fifteen years and have never known the time when it was any more necessary for one of those hirelings who preach for money and divine for wages and not for the good of the souls of men, to go on to the stand armed and equipped for defense, any more than it is for me to do the same thing at this moment, in this building.

But my brethren, sisters and friends, that is the way false reports are started regarding this people. And what is the reason? One reason is, I presume, because of our success.

I told you that the measures adopted by this Church are done by common consent, as anyone knows who has attended one of our General Conferences when this huge building is filled in every part with the Latter-day Saints from the various places that we have located in this Rocky Mountain region, when we come together to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience and according to that which we have accepted as true. When we come together for that purpose our missionaries are called. They are not reared in colleges for the purpose. We claim to have in our midst the same Priesthood and authority which existed in the ancient Church, and the same power characterizes the administrations of that Priesthood. Men are called from the plow, they are called from the carpenter’s bench, from the shoemaker’s bench, from the office of the accountant, from the merchant’s store, and from any of the other vocations of life by the authorities of the Church, and when the selections are made their names are called out in this conference that the voice of the people may be given by which to endorse the selections which are thus made. The people are requested to manifest whether the selections meet with their wishes or no, a show of hands is called, a forest of them goes up, and these men, if they be filled with the faith of this Gospel, are ready to go to the ends of the earth at such a summons, and perform their God-given duty in fulfillment of the words of the Lord and Savior when He said, referring to it as one of the signs of the last days, “And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness and then shall the end come.” They lay aside their business interests and go forth without remuneration and perform this labor. Their efforts are blessed, for they are generally successful, and they return after as many years as may be assigned them to labor in the nations of the earth in preaching this Gospel; they come back with their sheaves with joy and rejoicing, to reunite themselves again with the main body of this Church.

There is a statement in the Scriptures something like the following: “To the pure all things are pure.” Now there are many who attribute the existence of our marital institutions to a desire on the part of the men who form this Church to minister to the lower instincts and passions of their natures. I do not say that in every instance the Church is free from this kind of crime, for crime I consider it is; but I say that when such is the case, when a man enters into this holy bond, whether it be in taking more wives than one, merely for the gratification of his passions he infringes upon a law of God, of nature and of this Church, for this Church decides that its members shall be pure in every respect; therefore those who are governed by impure instincts, feelings and sentiments are departing from the genius, the spirit, and the true practice of this Church, whoever they may be. But this is not the purpose. There are purposes in the mind of Jehovah in regard to this principle, at least we accept them as such. God has decreed that in this day He will build up His Kingdom, and we are seeking to build it up, and as it is said in the Book of Mormon that was brought forth by the power of God, through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith, that if the Lord should desire to raise up children to himself, that He shall command His people, otherwise they shall not practice the principle of plural marriage. Our Elders go abroad into the nations; they sound the trumpet of the Gospel both long and loud. But although they meet with some success, the numbers that hear their testimony and embrace it are comparatively few, compared with the great masses, that disregard their message. This kingdom must have people, and if the people of the world will not come and join with us and build up the kingdom of God, we will build it from the internal strength within itself. Let a person who does not believe in this go through this Territory from north to south and from east to west, and see the flocks of beautiful children who are growing up in the midst of this people, who will aid in bearing off this kingdom.

There is a great cry in reference to the stoppage of the influx of population to Utah. Attempts have been made to stop the flow of immigration of Latter-day Saints on the most flimsy pretexts. I have no fears, however, that anything of that kind will ever amount to much, because no measure of that kind can, in this country, obtain without overriding and trampling under foot every principle of the constitution of our country. But it appears to me that there is a source of power that is growing up in this community that is comparatively lost sight of. That is the youth who are growing up. Many state that the youth of this community are becoming demoralized. There are some who are demoralized, and who have departed from the faith which their fathers suffered to establish and sustain. Some of the latter have suffered death and others have suffered almost death time and time again, because of the persecution and opposition with which they have had to contend in almost every form. But those who suppose that the bulk of the youth of this community will not sustain this work are mistaken. The bulk of them will, and a great many of them are, and I will say today, in behalf of our young men, that, according to my experience, having been recently on a mission abroad, generally the most successful among the Elders of this Church, and the most fearless in the enunciation of the principles and doctrines of this Gospel, the most laborious and indefatigable laborers in the cause of truth, have been the boys who have been born and reared in the Territory of Utah, and in the city in which we now are. I have great hopes of our young people, and I am pleased to note within the last few years the great solicitude, the anxiety which has been manifested in regard to their welfare, that they should be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the God of Jacob, to shun the drunkard’s path, the path of the libertine, and every form of pollution and degradation.

But this brings me back again to an idea that I was about to draw your attention to, in regard to the idea that men embrace the principles of plural marriage in order to minister to their baser passions. I have spent between five and six years exclusively preaching this Gospel in the nations, and I have been acquainted, in that capacity, with hundreds of Elders. I have labored and traveled with them in the nations of the earth, and I know, as well as I know that I stand here, and that you are listening to the tones of my voice, that they are, as a rule, as pure as the angels in regard to the matter to which I now allude. They go abroad for one, two, three or four years, or as many years as may be necessary, and refrain from every form of gratification of the kind to which I now refer. I have known of instances of departures from this rule, and there is a singular thing connected with this work that I wish here to note. Those who have been guilty of thus violating the principles of chastity, and consequently the holy Covenants they have entered into, there has been a departure from them of the light and power of the Holy Spirit, and they became wilted like the flower without moisture which has been blighted by the heat of the sun. It was visible to every eye that something had happened which was derogatory to such individuals. It is opposed to the spirit of this work that men should violate the principles of purity and chastity, and I know this to be the case. Where such instances have occurred, what has been the sentiment of this Church? Has it sustained it? If it has ever been sustained by any person in authority in this Church, I know not of any instance of that kind.

What is there so very horrible, what has awakened the sentiment of the world at large that they should become so shocked in their moral susceptibilities regarding this people? What is there about this people that appears so enormously wrong? There is peace, there is regard for each other, there is respectability, there is a large amount of honesty and uprightness. What is there to shock the sensibilities of the most enlightened professor of religion or of anybody else in the world at large, which is reeking with corruption from center to circumference. Some people say—“What is going to be done in regard to this question? “The United States Government are going to come down on you and crush your institutions or crush you.” Well, you see, we have got so often crushed in theory, that we are becoming used to it. We have been crushed, obliterated, annihilated, until there was not a spot left of a Latter-day Saint in theory, but the practical part has not yet come. We have no fears. Some of our friends regard us with solicitude, they are deeply concerned for our welfare, and they think surely the end will come this time, whichever time it might be, but we do not think so. We have great faith in the Almighty. That is a good quality in any people, is it not? To have faith in God. I do not know of a people who have more faith in God and the Scriptures, so that, seeing we are told that without faith it is impossible to please God, in that respect at least we must to some extent please our Father in heaven. We have often seen the clouds that have gathered around us thick, dark and threatening, at the darkest hour dispelled. Then we have seen the sun of prosperity shine again in its glory and in its strength, so that we think every cloud that comes will be dissipated in a similar way, and that the God of heaven will not forsake a people who put their trust in Him. We put our trust in Him, and also believe in doing the best we can our– selves, believing that God helps them the most who help themselves. But some say—“You will have to give up what is demanded of you; you will leave to abolish your institutions and become like unto us.” This is what the world say. Then I say God forbid that we shall become in some respects like the world or their institutions. We do not want to become like that, and no people have a right to coerce us into that condition, notwithstanding that there is a journal published in this city—and we have preserved the record of it, published to the world—advocating what? Purity, instruction and intelligence to be disseminated among the Latter-day Saints, that their delusion might be dispelled, and that they might be brought out of the thralldom in which they are supposed to be involved? No. What are the measures advocated? The establishment, encouragement and sustenance in the midst of the Latter-day Saints of gambling dens, houses of ill fame, drinking saloons, and all those institutions which are damning in their character, and which drag poor humanity down to the very depths of degradation! Surely the words of the Prophet are coming to pass when he said that in the last days the corrupt in heart would say, “let us go up to Zion that her sons and daughters may be defiled.” And I now say, that leave it to the sentiment of the Latter-day Saints, leave it to the prevailing feeling in the midst of this people, and there would not exist in the Territory of Utah today, an institution of the kind which I have named. I have seen the day when houses of ill fame were not suffered to exist within the confines of this Territory. But those officials who are sent forth to us by this mighty government have in many instances encouraged these evils instead of sustaining the noble sentiment of the people. They have ignored and set aside local laws enacted for the suppression of these iniquities. I say, out on such characters as these, whether they be judges, whether they be governors, whatever position they hold, as far as I am individually concerned. I have no hesitation in saying that I have not the slightest atom of respect for such individuals. These are the men who would bring into this community the worst species of despotism that could exist among any people, that is, to force into and encourage in the midst of a community those elements which are degrading and corrupt. They have not the welfare of the people at heart, and I utterly and totally, as an individual—I am not speaking for others, but for myself—I despise them from the bottom of my heart and all such characters. But all those men who sustain righteousness and uphold purity and equal rights, I say that I feel in my heart to bless them and to sustain them, and to respect them as every man who takes a course of that kind should be respected.

“But will you not forego your institutions because of the amount of pressure which may be brought against you.” I say so far as I am concerned that I have no concessions to make. I do not want to be understood as talking for others; but I say we claim that God has revealed this system, and the only concessions which can be made so far as our principles are concerned must be made by their Author, otherwise they are null and void. So far as religious liberty is concerned, we claim the same as other people, and, in the language of the celebrated orator who figured in the early history of this country—Patrick Henry —I hope to be able to say as he said: “Give me liberty or give me death.” I believe that is the ruling sentiment among the faithful of this Church, and those who suppose that we are always going to lay our necks down to be trampled upon and crushed, and that we shall always be crowded to the wall, I say that I am of the opinion that they will sometime find out their mistake.

But we Latter-day Saints have a great deal to learn. Sometimes we complain of the waywardness of many who have become connected with us; that they have gone back into the practices of the world; that they have become backsliders and do not conform to the principles of this Gospel. Then I say there is a provision in the law for cases of this kind. To the law and the testimony, for God has revealed the laws, and they are contained in this book (Doctrine and Covenants), in the Bible, and in the Book of Mormon, for the regulation of His Church, and for its preservation and purity. There is one universal law in regard to the evildoer in this Church, and it is this, in the language of the revelation in which it is given, “He who sinneth and repenteth not shall be cast out.” If that law were applied, the unpardoned and unrepentant would be shaken off and the Church purged of its worthless elements.

This, my brethren and sisters, is a great work. God has revealed it. Then let us cultivate within us that principle of eternal life which Jesus spoke about when he said to the woman at the well, that if she had asked him he would have given her to drink that which would have caused her never to thirst, and would have been as a well of water springing up to everlasting life, which is the Spirit of the living God, given to the faithful for their guidance.

May the Lord bless all the House of Israel, the dispersed of every tribe, and the righteous, the pure, the holy and the good in every nation under the whole heavens, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Discourse by President George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 12, 1881.

I have listened with great satisfaction and pleasure to the remarks which have been made by Brother Woodruff this afternoon, and I know they are true, and that they will be profitable unto all those who treasure them up in their hearts and make application of them in their lives.

While he was speaking, the query ran through my mind respecting the prophets and men of God who lived in ancient days—was there ever a prophet of God—a man who had a message from God who was received by the generation among whom he lived? They had very few indeed. The Prophet Jonah stands out almost as an exception. Nineveh did repent when he went to it with the message from God; but from Noah down one prophet after another was rejected by the generations unto whom they were sent and unto whom they bore messages from the Almighty. Even Moses, though successful in leading out the children of Israel, with difficulty escaped being stoned to death by his own adherents. And so with every prophet until the days of the Savior himself. Jesus was persecuted; Jesus was derided, Jesus was rejected. Jesus, who came—his coming having been predicted by the holy prophets and the whole nation being in expectation of him—was rejected because he did not come according to the ideas, the preconceived notions of the people—that is of his own kindred unto whom he was sent.

The world entertain certain ideas concerning truth, they entertain certain ideas concerning God and concerning His servants, and when men come to them with something that conflicts with these ideas they are led to reject them, and it is not until a man has died, not until in many instances his blood has been shed, that he is recognized as a Prophet of God. In fact it was an accusation of the Savior against the Jews that they garnished the tombs and sepulchres of the Prophets whom they had slain. They slew them, but after their death their children said, “If we had lived in their day we would not have slain the prophets, we would have received their testimony,” while they treated the Prophets in their midst the same as their fathers had done their predecessors. But it takes time to bring men to esteem Prophets. It has taken centuries to sanctify the memory of the Son of God; centuries have rolled on before He was recognized by the world as the being whom his disciples testified he was. To his generation he was a vile impostor, and was counted worthy of the most ignominious death that could be inflicted—to be crucified between two thieves. Why, they had the most irrefutable evidence, as they supposed, that He was not the Son of God. “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” “’Why,” said they, “art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.” He was a Galilean, and therefore, because of his lowly birth and surroundings, they deemed themselves perfectly justified in rejecting Him. And as has been quoted today, so confident were they that He was not the being whom He represented himself to be that they said, “His blood be on us, and upon our children.” They felt so secure in calling for his crucifixion, they were willing to incur all the penalties which might be inflicted upon themselves and their posterity for the death of a man who, in their estimation, was so vile an impostor.

In the same way it will take time to make the merits of the predictions of Joseph Smith recognized. Will they be recognized? Yes. Joseph Smith has uttered predictions which cannot be disputed, and that have come to pass. Before his death he predicted that the Latter-day Saints should become a great people in the Rocky Mountains. Years before we were compelled to leave the States, he predicted that the South would rebel, and that the civil war would break out in South Carolina. That prediction was in print long years before it was fulfilled. And when it seemed as though the rebellion would break out in Florida, the Latter-day Saints never had any doubt as to where the war would commence. They knew the word of God had been spoken, and that it would be fulfilled. And it was fulfilled, literally, as also many other predictions which have been uttered.

But do these things come to man in a way that man will receive them? No: they come in contact with worldly pride. They invoke the same opposition which Paul had when he was at Ephesus, when the silversmiths cried out, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” And they bawled and cried so much in favor of Diana, that his voice was drowned. So it is today. These things come in contact with established institutions, with established crafts; man’s craft is in danger, and hence the outcry. There is a great outcry, and it comes from those whose craft is most in danger. It has ever been so, and it ever will be so while man continues under the same influence which now operates upon him.

The organization of this Church does not coincide with men’s minds, it is contrary to their feelings, it comes in contact with their traditions and their prejudices. “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” It is the same idea. Can any good thing come from Joseph Smith, an uneducated man? Can any good thing come out of the “Mormon” people. And the whole world seemingly is in a turmoil. Every conceivable falsehood is told about this people. Well, this will continue to be the case; I have no doubt of it in my mind. We have got this warfare to fight, and every people who have stood in our position had it before us. Every reformation which was ever effected among men had to be effected in the face of opposition, and frequently the foundation stones have been laid in the blood of the men who were the instruments in the hands of God in laying the foundation. Opposition in this respect is not a new thing. It is as old as Adam that there should be opposition to contend against. Jesus predicted it, because he knew it was the history of the past, and he knew it would be repeated. Thus those who embrace “Mormonism,” or the Gospel of Christ, may make their calculations upon it.

But there is this difference between the dispensation in which we are engaged and other dispensations which have preceded it: we have the promise of God that His work introduced in this the dispensation of the fulness of times shall never be overthrown, so that this dispensation differs in this respect from every dispensation which has preceded it. There is no stopping this work. Men may fight it, they may kill those who advocate it, and use every means in their power against it; but the fiat of Jehovah has gone forth concerning it, and it will spread and increase and will gather within its pale every holiest soul throughout the earth sooner or later, not making war, not attacking, not assaulting, but by the power of divine truth and by the spirit that accompanies it, bearing testimony to every honest soul. And as these troubles increase of which Brother Woodruff has spoken—for they will increase, in our own land, too; they have increased, and they will increase—men will become unsettled in their minds as to what they will do and where they will seek for protection; for the day will come when stable government in these United States will be very hard to find. The ele– ments are already operating that will produce this instability. Men will be glad to seek refuge, glad to seek protection, glad to live in any place where men and women are honest and true, and where the principles which Brother Woodruff has announced, the principles of true liberty are maintained, and God grant that they may be ever maintained.

It has been said that those who have been persecuted will, when their turn comes, become persecutors. This has been said concerning us. “Oh,” it has been said, “you are now in the minority. It is all very well to plead for liberty and contend for the rights of man. But wait. If you ever get power, you who have been persecuted will turn round and persecute other people.” This has been cast against us as bearing out the history of the past. The Pilgrim Fathers, it is quoted, did this. After being persecuted themselves, they turned round and persecuted others—Episcopalians, Quakers, Baptists, etc.—who did not believe as they did. Well, we have not done this yet. We did not do it when we had everything our own way in these mountains, removed a thousand or twelve hundred miles from every other people. We gave perfect liberty to all, and there never has been an hour since we first occupied this country when our tabernacles, boweries, and other places of worship have not been open to men of every denomination to preach within their walls or under their shade. Time and time again our children have been invited to this tabernacle to listen to ministers of different denominations, that they might know what other people taught; this has been upon the principle which Brother Woodruff has stated, that if they have one truth we have not got, we are willing to exchange our errors for that truth.

I would not give much for a religion which would not stand contact with the world. It was said once respecting President Young, that he read the remark that he would not give much for a religion that could not stand one railroad. I think the same. If my religion cannot stand all the railroads which can be brought here, I do not want it for myself nor for my children. It there is anything superior to that which we believe outside of our religion, let it come, we will welcome it. We are not wedded to our religion only so far as it is true. So far as it is true we are wedded to it, and as such we have espoused it, as such we maintain it, and as such we hope to die believing in its tenets and practicing them; but if anyone else has something better let him come along. We have sacrificed enough for truth to show that we love it. We have forsaken everything for the truth as we believe it, and a people who have been willing to have their houses burned, property destroyed and be driven into a wilderness as we have been, and to create homes in this desolate land—a people that has been willing to do this should not shrink from accepting any truth which may be presented to them, and I do not believe they will. We have given no evidence of such a tendency at any time, I have never heard of it, but there has been a constant willingness to receive the truth.

And this doctrine of plural marriage which is so much talked about; we have shown our devotion to truth by espousing it. If its practice had been of the same nature as that which is popular with the world, there would not have been a word said against us. It is not be– cause other people do not do wrong with women that the outcry is raised against us. It is not for doing wrong with women, it is for marrying more than one woman, which we could have avoided if licentiousness had been our object, that we are attacked. When God revealed that principle to the Latter-day Saints, there were men who felt as though they would rather go to their graves than carry out that principle. They were men who had lived all their days and had been true to the covenants they had made with their wives, and the thought of marrying more than one woman was as repulsive as it could be to any men in the world. They shrank from it. I heard President Young himself say, that as the hearse passed his house in Nauvoo on the way to the cemetery, he thought he would like to be the occupant of that hearse and of the coffin which it contained, when he thought of this doctrine and the opprobrium that would descend upon him and upon our people, when it became known that we believed in and practiced plural marriage. Here is President Taylor, and Brother Woodruff, who has spoken, and other men of mature years in those days—they know how it was. They would have shrunk from it if they could, but the very fact that they have embraced it ought to be sufficient to show the world that they are devoted to principle, that they have been willing to lay down their lives, if necessary, to carry out principle. It would be cheaper, no doubt, to discard plural wives and follow the ways of the world. Do you think I would have any persecution if I had a wife here and one or more mistresses in Washington? Not in the least: there would not be one word said about my marital relations or my domestic affairs; not one word. I know this. How do I know it? Because there are those who are in that condition. But because men marry wives and give their names to their offspring, and are not ashamed of them, and are true to these wives and do not go outside of the family circle, and believe a man ought to be killed who does it—because they do this they are decried and all hell is stirred up. Now, if these things are wrong we practice them without knowing they are wrong. We believe them to be true. We believe this principle has been revealed for the salvation of women. And a man takes a great responsibility upon himself who enters into this order. Reflect upon this a moment: A man marries a wife, and he does it—if he does it properly—with the clear understanding between them beforehand, that if it be right to take another, according to the tenets of his religion, he may do so. Well, he takes another wife. What is the result? He doubles his responsibility, he increases his care. What man of sense or principle is there that would take these obligations upon him lightly? Would any man do it for the sake of gratifying lust? He would be a simpleton and a villain if he did it. A man in this position, if he feels as he should do, will feel there is a great responsibility resting upon him in the taking care of the children of such marriages, in the education and training of them, and the preserving of them from vice. And what is there to induce him to shoulder this responsibility except principle?

We desire to have no margin of unmarried women among us. We do not want institutions among us which are not of God, and which propagate death and disease. We desire every woman to be married, and as there are not more women than men in Utah, if everyman marries, there will be no plural marriage, it will cease, and that is the best remedy in the world for this “Utah Polygamy,” as it is called. Let every man marry, and there will be no single women of marriageable age. But as all men will not marry, we have instances of two and more women who love one man and who choose to live together and live together virtuously and properly.

“Ah, but,” says one, “there is a law of Congress against such a thing.” I know that, and I am not advising any man to do anything that would make him liable to go to the Penitentiary. But I am talking about principle, about that which we believe and practice, and that which has impelled us to action in this matter. I have taken some of my children down to Washington, and have said to them, “Now, here you see the other side. I want you to have the opportunity of seeing society, and understanding something of it outside of our Territory.” I would not hoodwink a child. I would set before children all which is necessary to give them light upon this subject, that they may understand it. I would like every one of my daughters to understand it thoroughly; and in speaking thus about my own family, I speak about every girl in this community. I want to see a virtuous community, one which is free from vices which infest the world. Diseases that are common elsewhere are unknown in this land, among our people; and I thank God for it, and I pray that it will continue to be the case.

Shall we become persecutors in our turn? No. Why? We do not have the same motives to impel us to such a course that people who persecute have. Persecutors generally believe that those whom they persecute are doomed to spend the endless ages of eternity in hell fire, unless they can be made to repent of their errors. Persecution becomes, therefore, with them, in many instances, a highly justifiable and meritorious method of saving souls. This has been the feeling which has impelled many persecutors in every age—a holy, burning zeal to snatch souls from perdition. The men who have been most zealous in hailing men to prison and inflicting torment, have been as a rule, men zealous and sincere in their religion. They thought it better to destroy the body than that the soul should be consigned to hell; they thought it better for heretics to burn an hour or too on earth than that they should burn eternally. But the Latter-day Saints have no such views respecting future punishment? We believe there is an endless hell. We do not, however, believe that human beings are consigned to it eternally. The hell may be endless and the punishment endless, but it does not follow that they who are consigned there are to remain in it eternally. We believe men will be rewarded for the deeds done in the body, and we therefore can afford to be liberal in our views in this respect. As President Woodruff has said, we would give every man the right to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience, knowing that he will have to be responsible for his actions, and that it is none of our business except to present the truth as we understand it before him, and if he accepts it, all right, if he rejects it he must endure the consequence.

As for ourselves we are opposed to being seized by the throat, because men think we are in error. And to avoid this we have fled a number of times, leaving everything, and finally came out here into the wilderness, thinking we could have peace for a while which we have had. But this people might as well take wings and fly from the planet as try to get out of the reach of the world. A prominent man who called upon me here, said to me upon one occasion: “When I see this beautiful valley, and see how comfortable you are, I wish you were out of the United States.” “Why,” said I. “Because,” said he, “I can foresee what trouble you will have, and that you will not be allowed to remain in peace; you will have to leave here, people will not be content to have you stay.” “Where shall we go?” I enquired. We might go to the deserts of Sahara, or the most forlorn place on the face of the earth, and it would only be a little while our industry, our frugality, our union and those qualities which characterize us, would draw the world to us. We cannot be hid. If we were to go to the remotest part of the earth, to Patagonia or anywhere else, that which we witness here would be repeated. We are like a city set upon a hill that cannot be hid. Those qualities that characterize this people, which make us so remarkable, which have enabled us to make a beautiful place out of the desert, as we have done in this country, and would do wherever we might go—those qualities would draw men to us. If we were on an island we should have ships coming with commerce; upon a continent we should have railroads and means of communication such as we have today. He would have been a bold man who would have ventured to have said—unless he were a Prophet; you know Prophets take strange liber– ties; God gives them liberty to say remarkable things—that in the space already passed such great changes would have occurred in this valley, and throughout these valleys, and that this place would become so important. We hear of railroads coming in here from every direction, making Salt Lake City their objective point. We are bound to be lifted up. You cannot conceal us, it is impossible. We have got to stand contact with the world, and if our religion will not stand such contact, then it must succumb. But it will not. It will stand the test, it will pass through the ordeal purer and better, and men will recognize its beauty. Our destiny is to be brought in contact with the world. God has predicted it. We may hide ourselves in a corner, but God will bring us out to the light, for we have to come in contact with the world to prove our strength, to prove what is in us, and to learn many things the knowledge of which we need.

I pray God to bless you my brethren and sisters and friends, to let His Holy Spirit rest down upon you and preserve you in the truth. Let us love and cling to the truth with all our hearts, and it will bear us through. It is that which will endure in time and throughout eternity; and that God may assist us in maintaining our integrity and keeping the faith, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 12, 1881.

We have assembled ourselves as Latter-day Saints for the purpose of worshipping God, of listening to instructions, and administering one of the ordinances of the house of God—the sacrament. I look upon the sacrament as an ordinance of great importance to us; in fact, from the days of Adam down to the days of Jesus Christ, there were sacrifices offered; not only by Adam but by his posterity, by Moses and the house of Israel, and all the generations of people who were led by the Lord—sacrifices were offered as a type of the great sacrifice to be made by the Messiah. They offered the blood of bulls, rams and doves as a type of the great and last sacrifice and death of the Messiah, whose blood was shed for the redemption of the world. Prior to the death of the Savior, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was administered to His disciples, and they were informed that they were to partake of the bread as an emblem of the broken body of the Lord, and of the wine—or whatever is made use of as a substitute—in token of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I feel disposed here to make a remark and say, that if I were the emperor of the world and had control of every human being that breathes the breath of life on earth, I would give to every man, woman and child the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience, and when I say this I speak the sentiments of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, the Presidency of this Church, the Twelve Apostles, and all the Elders of Israel. This is the sentiment of all the Latter-day Saints. What! Would you grant the Methodists this privilege? Certainly. And the Baptists? Yes, certainly. And the Catholics, the Shakers, the Quakers? Yes, and everybody else under heaven. I would grant to all people the right to enjoy their religion without molestation. I would even extend this privilege to the Latter-day Saints; I would give them the privilege of believing in the Bible and the organization of the Church according to the ancient pattern with Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus being the chief corner stone. Why would you do this? I would do it because God himself does it. The God of heaven grants to all his children, every sect and party of whatever name and denomination under the whole heavens, their agency and the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. The Lord forces no man to heaven. He places before him life and death, light and darkness, truth and error, and having before him all these principles, he is at liberty to worship God and believe what he chooses. He alone is responsible to God for his actions. Now, when I read the history of the world in days which are past, when I note the illiberal spirit which was manifested, and the blood which has been shed upon the earth—for the earth has been deluged with blood, under what is termed holy wars, under the garb of holy religion—I look upon it as the most ungodly and unrighteous thing that was ever committed upon the earth. I look upon what is taking place today in the same way. I marvel sometimes when I see the spirit of our nation and the feelings of the sects of today toward Utah and the Latter-day Saints. Have we ever stood in the path of any man, sect or people with regard to their religion? No, we have not. We have been willing at all times that men should preach their doctrines and believe them, unmolested by us, and I would say, to express my own feelings, that if a man believed he had to climb a cottonwood tree three times a day, for salvation, I would never hinder him. No, this liberty, this freedom, especially under the American Government of all nations under heaven, ought to become universal. No man or set of men should attempt to hinder their neighbors from enjoying their religion. And while I say this, and while we grant all men this fight and privilege, as we have done here in this city, this Tabernacle and various other buildings having been opened to the clergymen of the day, we have been perfectly willing, after we have heard all they have had to say, to accept any truth they might have that we are not in possession of. If there is a man in this world who has one truth which I have not got, I am willing to exchange all the errors I have got for that truth. But we as a people claim the same right we grant to others. We claim the right to worship God unmolested by our fellow men. The laws of God, the decrees of God, the oracles of God, as well as laws of our country and the constitution of our government grant this right to the human family—yes, even to the “Mormons,” as we are called, to the Latter-day Saints as well as every other class.

Then, why this tremendous furor among the sects of the day with regard to these “Mormons” and their religion? The trouble is the world do not know anything about our religion, they do not know what we believe in, and if anybody forms an idea from what they hear abroad, they hear anything but the truth. I have been amused sometimes—I have of late—in reading the speeches delivered by gentlemen—clergymen at that—who profess to have lived in Utah, and to understand this people. One gentleman who professes to be acquainted here delivered a speech in Rochester, before a missionary society, in which he stated that “there were in Utah 620,486 young persons in the Mormon district, and it was the youthful element that missionaries were working on.” Well, now, how does this gentleman make out 620,486 young people out of 140,000? I do not know by what process of mathematics, or by what rule he arrives at this question. That gentleman knew just as well when he made that assertion that it was false as I know. Our population is only about 140,000. Mr. Conyer, who had lived here some six years, stated “that there were 40,000 scholars in the mission, and he wanted assistance to furnish his enlarged school.” Well, now you take 40,000 scholars out of the total population of 140,000, and I do not think you will have many for the Mormons. But all this is as near true as anything you get abroad, and I really wish that gentlemen, clergymen and everybody else who attempts to report Utah would tell the truth. That is all we ask of any persons who visit us. But it seems impossible for anybody to speak of Utah and the Latter-day Saints—“Mormons” as they are termed—with any degree of truth; but I wish they would, it would be better for them, better for us, and they would be under less condemnation.

Now, what are the principles in which the Latter-day Saints believe? What is the dreadful crime which we have been guilty of for the last fifty years? Why, the Lord has raised up a Prophet—Joseph Smith. He sent an angel from heaven in fulfillment of the revelations of St. John. And that angel delivered the Gospel to Joseph Smith; delivered unto him power and knowledge to obtain the Book of Mormon, a record containing the history of the ancient inhabitants of this continent who dwelt here hundreds and thousands of years ago. He translated it into the English language. Does the Book of Mormon contain a different Gospel to that contained in the Bible? It does not. It gives a history of the people who dwelt upon this continent anciently, tells where they came from and how they came here, tells of the dealings of God with them, and the establishment of the Church of Christ among them. They were visited by Jesus after his resurrection. Hence he 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.” He also told the Nephites when he established His church among them, that he had other sheep. They were the ten tribes of Israel. The Book of Mormon is a history of the dealings of God with that people; the Bible is a history of the dealings of God with Judah and with the Jews and the twelve tribes of Israel: it contains in fact a short outline of the dealings of God with the Jaredites and Nephites from the building of the Tower of Babel down to the days of the Savior and after His resurrection. The Bible is the Stick of Judah in the hands of Judah, and the Book of Mormon the Stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim. Both books contain the same gospel. There was never but one gospel and there never will be any other revealed to the human family. Hence Paul says: “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Now, if Joseph Smith had established any other gospel on the earth than the gospel which Paul taught, that Christ and His Apostles taught, and that was taught to Abraham, Noah, and the antediluvian world, why we would have the curse of God resting upon us. The great trouble with the so-called Christian world is that they have spiritualized the Scriptures until there is not a semblance of the gospel left. I never could find it. I never could hear a gospel sermon in my life, and I sat under Dr. Porter and Dr. Hawes and other great divines of the day. I never could hear a gospel sermon according to the ancient pattern as was taught by Joseph Smith. Of course all sects have had some truth. All sects have professed to believe in the blood of Jesus Christ, more or less; all sects and parties have their various roads to heaven and to hell, but none of them teach the Gospel according to the pattern laid down in the New Testament.

It required an angel from heaven “to fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people,” to prepare them for the great judgments of our God, before the winding-up scene. The angel has come: that Gospel has been delivered. It was delivered to Joseph Smith. He did not receive his power from man, but from the revelations of Jesus Christ. What did that Gospel teach? Why, faith in Jesus Christ. “Yes, oh yes,” say the Methodist, “we believe in Jesus Christ.” All right. Then the next principle was repentance of our sins. “But,” say the sectarian world, “we also believe in repentance.” Well, what is next? The revivalists who visited this city, (Messrs. Sankey & Moody) believed in Jesus Christ, and they said that if a person only came to Christ, he did not require to be a Methodist, Baptist, Mormon, or anything else. Prophets and Apostles were not required; all that was required was to come to Christ. But we say there is something more required besides believing. A man has to be baptized for the remission of his sins in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. That law of baptism has never been altered. Many believe in baptism even by immersion, but not particularly for remission of sins. What next? Having repented of our sins and been baptized for a remission of them, we must have hands laid upon for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and when we have received the Holy Ghost, it will be unto us as a principle of revelation, a testimony of the Father and of the Son.

Well, what kind of a church are you going to have? Paul, in speaking of the Corinthians, goes on to represent the Church of Christ as the body of a man. He shows that every part of the body must act in unison; the head, the eyes, the ears, the mouth, the feet, must all work together in order that the body may be perfect, and that there may be no schism. We are also told that God set in the Church Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now we have had independence of mind enough to believe this doctrine. This is “Mormonism.” It is faith in Christ, repentance of our sins, baptism for the remission of our sins, and the reception of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. These are the principles which we as Latter-day Saints believe in. We do not believe that God ever had a church on the earth without Apostles and Prophets in it, without inspiration in it. To do away with any of the principles of the Gospel would cause a schism in the Church of Christ. When you cut the head off a man he will die. He may live if he loses an arm or a leg but if you cut the head off he will die. Precisely so with the Church of Christ. We believe in the Bible; we believe in all the prophecies; we believe God meant just what he said and said just what he meant; we believe that the prophecies of the scriptures are of no private interpretation; we believe in the second coming of Christ; we believe that the judgments of Almighty God will be poured out upon this generation. All the unbelief of the world will not stay the fulfillment of the decrees of the Almighty. The unbelief of the in– habitants of the antediluvian world in the days of Noah did not stay the deluge. The unbelief of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah did not avert the destruction of these cities. The unbelief of the Jews did not avert the destruction of Jerusalem. We look for a literal fulfillment of the decrees of God. We know as a people that he has set his hand to establish his Church. He has set his hand to warn all nations. The Holy Priesthood has been restored, not by the power of man, but by the power of Almighty God.

As I have said, we believe in the Book of Mormon as containing a record of the ancient inhabitants of this continent, and a clue to the ruins which have been discovered in various parts of the land and for which the world can find no origin. The whole history of these things, however, is pointed out in the Book of Mormon, and if the world would only take the trouble to read that book they would understand these things more perfectly. The American Indians are a remnant of the ancient inhabitants of this continent. Their forefathers were an enlightened people. They had the Gospel among them and the power of God was manifested in their midst; but when they became wicked and turned away from God, the judgments of the Almighty fell upon them and they were overthrown and destroyed by warfares. The Lamanites, now a downtrodden people, are a remnant of the house of Israel. The curse of God has followed them as it has done the Jews, though the Jews have not been darkened in their skin as have the Lamanites. The fate of the Jews in this respect is a standing monument to all infidelity. The prediction of Jesus with regard to them has been liter– ally fulfilled. He predicted that they should be led away captive unto all nations, and that Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. When Pilate was ready to release Jesus because he found no fault in him, the Pharisees and high priests, being filled with prejudice, would not have it. They cried out “Crucify him, crucify him, and let his blood be upon us, and our children.” The prediction of Jesus has been verified, and its fulfillment is before the world today. The Jews have been trampled under the feet of the Gentiles for 1,800 years, and they are today being persecuted in European nations. Why? Because that curse of God rests upon them and will rest upon them until Shiloh comes, until they are regathered to Jerusalem and rebuild the city in unbelief. You cannot convert a Jew. They will never believe in Jesus Christ until he comes to them in Jerusalem, until these fleeing Jews take back their gold and silver to Jerusalem and rebuild their city and temple, and they will do this as the Lord lives. Then the Gentiles will say, “Come let us go up to Jerusalem; let us go up and spoil her. The Jews have taken our gold and silver from the nations of the earth—come let us go up and fight against Jerusalem.” Then will the prophecies that are before you be fulfilled, The Gospel was preached first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles, The Jews rejected the message: the Gentiles received it, and unto them was given all the gifts and blessings of the Gospel. But Paul told them to take heed lest they fell through the same example of unbelief. Yet in time, we Gentiles, departed from the kingdom of God, and the church went into the wilderness. There has not been an organization of the church of Christ on the earth from the days of the ancient Apostles, until the days of Joseph Smith, who came forth in this great and last dispensation, and who by inspiration and power from on high again restored the Gospel. The world do not believe this. We cannot help that. The unbelief of the world does not make the work of the Lord of non-effect. The Lord has set his hand to establish his church and kingdom, and the warning voice is to all men. He has called his servant to bear record of this to all nations. This is what the Lord is doing with these despised Mormons. And already the members of nearly every sect under heaven have embraced this work, though our numbers are small compared with the Christian world. We expect this. As it was in the days of Noah and Lot so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. These principles are true. The world does not know what awaits them no more than they did in the days of Noah, or in the days of the Jews.

But, why this furor against the Latter-day Saints? Do you know? “Oh, yes, we do. You are Polygamists. That is what is the matter.” Well, indeed! Now, let me ask you a question. Were we polygamists when we were driven from Jackson and Clay Counties? Why, the worst persecution we have ever had, was before polygamy was revealed to us, or before we received it. What cause, then, had the Missourians and others to drive us in the beginning? “Oh, you believe in revelation, you believe in prophets: we cannot bear these things, they are all done away with. These things were only given in the dark ages of the world, but today, living as we are in the blaze of the glorious Gospel, we do not need them; but if you will believe as we do and scatter yourself abroad among the Methodists, etc., and do as they do, it will be all right.” Now, gentlemen it is not polygamy. What do you care about polygamy? What does our nation care about polygamy? What do the sectarians care about polygamy? Bless your souls, nothing. But nine percent of these Mormons may be polygamists. Dreadful! Why, have you no evils in New York? Have you no evils in Boston? Have you no evils anywhere? Are you all perfect? If so, you are pretty well off; you are certainly prepared for salvation. But no, my friends, I will tell you: If we were to give up polygamy today—if we were to say to our government, “Oh, yes, we will give up polygamy”—why the next they would say would be, But look here; you have got to give up something more than that.” They would tell us, as the Missourians did, that we must quit believing in prophets, apostles and revelation. The same feeling exists today as existed then.

We, Latter-day Saints, are called out of the world. We have received the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord Almighty has raised up Prophets and Apostles in this our day, and has set his hand to establish the kingdom that Daniel saw in fulfillment of revelation and prophecy. We have been gathered out from the nations of the earth to these valleys of the mountains. Zion is growing and increasing. This has been the case from the beginning. There has never been an hour from the organization of this Church but what our course has been onward and upward. Even in the midst of mud and water, on the banks of the Missouri River, where, by an edict of Governor Boggs, some 10,000 were driven—no matter under what circumstances we have been placed, the hand of God has been over us. The Almighty has set his hand to gather in the meek of the earth. And after our testimony, will come the testimony of thunderings and lightnings. Read the revelations of St. John: see the signs of the times, and prepare yourselves for that which is to come. We trust in God. We cannot afford to deny the Lord, we cannot deny his revelations. We have a code of revelations called the Doctrine and Covenants. That code given through the mouth of Joseph Smith, contains the most sublime revelations concerning this generation that were ever given to the world. Many of these revelations have had their fulfillment so far as time has permitted. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God. I traveled thousands of miles with him, in fact the revelation he gave concerning the war which would break out between the North and South, I wrote that revelation myself as it was given by the Prophet twenty years before it was fulfilled. That revelation was published to the world broadcast, and I merely refer to it because it is a thing that is clear to the minds of all men. All the revelations in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, the Bible, and the Book of Mormon, will have their fulfillment in the earth.

We are living in an important day. We are living in the most important dispensation God ever gave to man. There is a great change awaiting us; there is a great change awaiting Zion, our Government, and the whole Christian world. The signs of the times indicate the coming of the Son of Man in power and great glory. But before His coming the Gospel has got to be preached to all nations. We have been preaching the Gospel for fifty years, and by it a few have gathered out from the nations of the earth to these valleys of the mountains. That is why the world hate us. It is because the Lord has called us out of the world to establish the everlasting Gospel. And I want to say to the Latter-day Saints: Have faith in the revelations of God; have faith in the promises which have been given. We should be preparing ourselves for the great events which await us. Darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people. The Lord is withdrawing His Spirit from the nations of the earth, and the power of the devil is gaining dominion over the children of men. See how crime is increasing. Fifty years ago when the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith, there was not one murder where there are a thousand today; there was not one whoredom where there are a thousand today; and so you may go through the whole black catalogue of crime. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.” Look at the wickedness which is on the increase in the world, covering the earth like the waters of the great deep. What will the end be? Death, destruction, whirlwinds, pestilence, famine and the judgments of God will be poured out upon the wicked; for the Lord has withheld these judgments until the world is fully warned. To this end we have been laboring diligently for fifty years, so far as we have had opportunity. But all these judgments will come. The seals will be opened; plague will follow plague; the sun and the moon will be darkened; and the unbelief of the world will make no difference to all these things coming to pass.

I have a desire with you, as Latter-day Saints, that we may keep the faith, overcome the world, and magnify our high and holy callings. We will be held responsible before the Lord for the light we possess. We should be diligent and faithful in our labors, for if we turn our backs upon the truth, once having known it, we will be under far greater condemnation than those who rejected the truth. What we may be called upon to suffer for the Gospel’s sake is neither here nor there. This nation and every other nation is in the hands of God. Your destiny is in the hands of God. Men can go no further than the Lord will permit them to go. But we should be faithful to God and to our fellow men, ever ready to do what is required of us.

I pray God our Heavenly Father, that His blessing may be over us; that the hearts of the people of our nation and other nations may be open to the light of the Gospel, that they may not pursue the course the Jews did, for we know what it has cost them. It will cost this nation or any other nation the same to shed the blood of the servants of God. Whatever course a nation pursues in this respect, it will have to foot the bill. The constitution of our country is one of the best that was ever given to any government. Our forefathers were inspired of God to write that instrument. I have a respect for our government, flag and constitution. I know this nation has been raised up by the power of God for a certain purpose, and that to establish his kingdom upon it, and inasmuch as we do our duty the Lord will sustain us. Those who labor to establish the kingdom of God on the earth will be blessed, and those who fight against the work of God, will be held responsible for their actions.

I feel to bear my testimony to the truth of this work. I know Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and I have a desire that I may be faithful with the rest of my brethren that I may inherit eternal life, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.