Discourse by Elder H. W. Naisbitt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, May 15th, 1881.

However disagreeable it may be to my personal feeling to stand before a congregation, the consciousness which the Elders of this Church possess that they have had committed to them the authority of the Holy Priesthood, and that they are entitled to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and that they possess the faith and prayers of the Saints who are their associates in the Church—those who understand their needs—is enough, I think, to buoy up an individual when he is called upon suddenly to address the people; indeed it is these thoughts alone which give me courage at the present time; I count upon a measure of the Holy Spirit; I count upon the faith and prayers of the Saints; and while I take up a little time I hope that that which may be said will be profitable and advantageous to all who listen and to the speaker himself.

Numerous have been the methods and channels through which the human family from time to time have received intelligence. Preaching is as old as history. Men have learned from each other. The results of individual experience have been transmitted to those who had less opportunity, and in this way knowledge has been increased in one from the resources of another.

But Christians believe, I think, as a rule, that men have not always been dependent upon those who dwell in the flesh for the intelligence which they have acquired. Those who have accepted the Bible, the Old and New Testament, will understand that there have been in past ages other methods by which intelligence was communicated than simply through men who dwelt in the flesh. Spiritual communication is one of the cornerstones of the old book. It is filled with instances where intelligences not directly of earth have visited members of the human family and communicated with them from time to time. Abraham, whom Christians look upon as “the father of the faithful,” was one who was privileged to receive angelic visitations. Lot was another of those who had experience of this character; and so were many of the ancients, from the beginning down to the time of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose divine mission was announced by the visitations and communications of the angelic hosts. Whatever the character of these angels might have been, whether they were resurrected beings who had dwelt upon the earth—whether they were those of higher grades—archangels, as they are called—or whether they were de– signed and appointed specially to minister to individual men—which of these varieties they may have belonged to, it is very evident that the scriptures are full of the history of angelic communication, and that they were the instruments in the hands of the Almighty, sent to communicate his will under certain conditions. It is quite true that in our age this has been accounted one of the lost arts; it has been numbered among the things that had been, but had fallen into disuse; something that had become obsolete or unnecessary in the advanced condition of human intelligence.

But the same scriptures which tell of such visits in ancient times also point out with remarkable distinctness that there would be periods in the history of the human family when this angelic communication would again be restored, and that messengers would again come from the heavens to communicate with the children of men and introduce a new condition of things or prepare for conditions which must and will exist in order that the economy of God might be saved. Hence we have an account in the revelations of St. John, of the different angels that were to follow each other in the several epochs or dispensations of Providence among mankind. We have an account of the opening of the seven seals, which according to that record is to be done by angels appointed by divine authority, for the express purpose of the unfolding of the divine program in human history. But there is mention made there of one particular angel of whom it is said that he was seen “flying through the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto those that dwell upon the earth.” That this was to be in the far distant future from the period when John dwelt upon the earth and was a prisoner on the Isle of Patmos, is abundantly evident to all who have been but casual readers of the sacred Scriptures; but to those who have been students of that book, to those who have sought to read it understandingly, to make it their rule of life and to be guided by it in their travels, and through its teachings to fit themselves for the future, this statement could not pass with common notice—it no doubt has arrested their attention many a time, as covering a series of interesting and important periods of events. While in the nineteenth century such an idea by religionists has been ignored, being considered unnecessary, yet the documents have come down to us from the primitive times and the assertion is not denied that such an occurrence was to take place at some period of human history, if the word was to be fulfilled. Now I think that there are advantages to be derived from this angelic communication. Whenever a man realizes who and why he is upon the earth; whenever he realizes the instincts which are implanted within him and which make him soar after something that goes beyond the reach of human life and time, I think every one will agree that there is a vast field and need also for the acquisition of intelligence that would tend to the advancement of thousands and millions of the human family.

Ideas that could be communicated in regard to the past, ideas in regard to the present, ideas in regard to the future, might thus be obtained. Those ideas are not particularly within the range of the schools, colleges and educational institutions of mankind, they must come from a source and through channels where

Discourse by President George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, May 15, 1881.

The Gospel is declared to be glad tidings of Salvation; and the principles which have been dwelt upon in our hearing this afternoon by Brother Naisbitt, are made glad tidings of salvation unto every soul, especially unto every soul that will receive them and those who have received them, who have bowed in simplicity before God, calling upon Him in the name of Jesus Christ, to give unto them a testimony and a knowledge concerning the truth of these things. The declaration of the principles as we have heard this afternoon, kindles within their hearts the old fire and quickens their spirit and causes feelings of joy and satisfaction to fill their whole being. While listening to Brother Naisbitt’s remarks I thought to myself that no human being upon the face of the earth who could be assured of the truth of that which has been stated—that there is indeed a church organized according to the primitive pattern, that the old Gospel is in truth restored, that the old ordinances have been once more placed in the Church accompanied by the old power—if a person could be convinced of this and know for himself and herself that it is true, is there one soul that would not be willing to endure all things, to have his name cast out as evil, to be misrepresented, to be persecuted, yes, and even slain, if that should be necessary in the providence of God, in order to attain to all these blessings here and hereafter? I do not believe that, taking the human family generally, there could be many found who would hesitate concerning this matter if they could be convinced of its truth. But the difficulty is to get men and women to comprehend the truth, to recognize it, to understand it when they hear it, to be able to separate the truth from error, for the reason that in the human mind there are certain conceptions of truth. We entertain certain ideas as to what the truth should be, how it should come to us and also as to who its teachers should be, the kind of men they should be. And this is the difficulty that is all the time in the way of preaching the Gospel. There is an arch enemy of mankind who is constantly laboring to blind the eyes, to darken the understanding and to harden the hearts of the children of men, and to prevent them from receiving the truth when they hear it. There have been comparatively few who have been able to rise superior to their surroundings, and it has only been by the aid of the Almighty that they have suc– ceeded. But in every age from the beginning there have been those found who have sought after truth and have been willing to make every sacrifice for it. It was so with the Apostles. It was so with those who believed in their doctrine. It was so with the Prophets who preceded them. It has been so with those who have succeeded the Apostles; for in every age, and among all people, as we have been told, there have been those who have sought for the truth in heathendom, in Christendom, among all people, as they would for a precious treasure of inestimable worth, and who have endeavored to comprehend it, to value it, and have been willing to lay down their lives for it. There have been such persons found in all ages and among all people, but it has been especially the case with those who have received the Gospel as we have heard it described in our hearing this afternoon.

The world generally have the idea that when truth comes from God, it comes in such overwhelming power, that mankind are compelled to accept whether they will or no. But this is not the case, it never has been the case. If it were the case man would be deprived of that great privilege that he has received from God—that is, his agency, without which man would cease to be the being that he is, the child of God. The Almighty has given unto all the inhabitants of the earth their agency. A man can choose to be a wicked man; he can choose to be a devil, so to speak, if he wish. Will God interpose? Yes; but not to take away his agency. He can turn to wickedness, be corrupt, and do everything that is evil and abominable in the sight of God, so long as life is given to him, and God permits him to do it. He will not take away his agency. If He did, we would cease to be independent creatures with the right to choose. On the other hand, a man can turn to that which is good and holy and pure. He can cherish it, he can seek for it, he can love it. He has that right, he can choose between those two principles. They have been placed before us so that we might choose the good and reject the evil, or choose the evil and reject the good. That is the privilege that is given to us.

It is not always—neither has it been the case with the majority of mankind who have comprehended the truth—the popular voice that is expressive of the truth. On the contrary, from the very beginning down through all the generations, even to our own day, it has been the case that truth has been unpopular. Hence the saying of the Apostle Paul: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” He did not say that they might suffer, or that they perhaps might suffer, but that they shall suffer. It should be one of the consequences of living godly in Christ Jesus. The Savior told His disciples the same thing. He led them to expect that they would be persecuted, that they would be hated of all men for His name’s sake. He cited the attention of His disciples to the Prophets who had preceded them; they had been persecuted, they had been slain, and in like manner they might expect a similar fate, and we know full well that this was all fulfilled, that they did meet this fate; as He himself died a martyr to the truth, so His Apostles died in like manner, and the great body of his followers suffered persecution unto death, but were sustained by the knowledge they had received from God, not looking at the world and the perishable things of the earth, knowing that there was a life beyond. They were willing to endure all things; to have their names cast out as evil; to be persecuted; to be stripped of everything that they had. Paul says: “They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, etc.” They suffered all manner of afflictions because of their love for the Gospel. But they lived in peace with themselves and with their God. There was a joy and happiness that came from God, that sustained them in the midst of their sufferings, trials and difficulties. They knew that if they continued faithful they would receive a reward at the right hand of God, and the very thought of that eternity to which they were hastening was sufficient to stimulate them to look beyond the trials and persecutions of this life, and they walked to the stake joyfully having that knowledge.

Now the very fact that truth has not been popular, shows very plainly that mankind do not expect to receive it from the source through which it comes, or through the mediums that presented themselves to them. They looked for it in some other form. But God chooses his own methods, he selects his own instruments, he disseminates his truth in his own way; he has always done so and he will do so until the end.

There is scarcely a day, I may say scarcely an hour, that I do not reflect upon our condition as Latter-day Saints in contrast with the circumstances which have surrounded our predecessors. When I think of the persecution they endured; when I think that God revealed unto his Apostles that there would be a fall– ing away, that the Church would be overcome and the truth destroyed—that is, in its original purity—I cannot help contrasting our position today as compared with the position of the early Christians. Of course a great deal of truth has been saved. Some believe in one part of the Gospel and some in another. Every church possesses some fragment of the Gospel; but the truth in its entirety, the authority to administer in the ordinances, had been taken away. Of course this being the case there could be no organized church upon the earth. But in the early days of the Church, as I have quoted to you, they suffered all manner of affliction. We, in our day, have different circumstances surrounding us. God in his mercy has made certain promises. He promised unto Paul, he promised through the Savior himself that this Gospel of the kingdom should be preached unto all nations before the end should come. Daniel spoke of the kingdom that should be set up in the last days and should not be given into the hands of another people, but it should stand forever. This is different from other dispensations which have preceded it. The Apostles foresaw that there would be a falling away; they saw that persecution would destroy the Church. But they looked beyond this, and, as has been quoted in our hearing, John the Revelator foretold the time when the everlasting gospel would be restored again to the earth never to be taken away again. It might be persecuted, its followers might be hated, they might be driven, as they have been. Indeed there is no persecution the early Christians received; there is no trial or affliction that they had to pass through considering the time the Church had been organized that the Church of the Savior which he has caused to be organized in our day, has not endured. Were the ancient Saints driven? So have the modern. Were the former-day Saints persecuted? So have the Latter-day Saints. Were they slain in former days? So they have been in the latter days. Were their names cast out as evil? So their names have been cast out at the present time. Were they accused of abominable crimes in ancient days as a justification to kill them? So they have been in these days. It is true that such wholesale persecution as attended the preaching of Christianity in the primitive days has not followed its preaching in our day, for the dispensations are different. The Church was driven from the earth then, but as I have said, God has made a promise in these days that it shall not be destroyed again, and this ought to sustain you. This has, I know, sustained and comforted you in days that are past. I have often wondered in looking back to the days of persecution how the Saints were cheered and sustained under such circumstances. When I reflect upon our journey from Illinois, through the wilderness, destitute of everything, women carrying infants with scarcely food enough to keep soul and body together—when I think of these things now, when years have brought responsibility and care, it is a matter of constant wonder to me how the Latter-day Saints in those days sustained themselves, how they could be so cheerful and show such forbearance and fortitude under such circumstances, meeting together round their camp fires singing and rejoicing together as though they were in happy circumstances and, even after they reached this valley, when starvation stared them in the face, their hope and courage were none the less. What was the cause of this? It was the consolation which God had given them that this work should triumph, that it should spread and increase, and that it should gather within its fold every honest soul sooner or later. It was this consolation that never deserted the people.

Now, does it follow, my brethren and sisters, that because this Gospel will not be given to another people, that we will remain in connection with this Church regardless of our actions? Certainly not. The religion which we profess ought not only to be a Sunday religion, but a religion we should carry with us in our daily lives, in our intercourse with one another, in everything in fact that pertains to us, and not like a Sunday garment put on today and laid aside tomorrow. In all; our dealings, in all our conversation, in all our associations, we should endeavor to carry out the principles of our religion.

And there is one thing above everything, I think, we should observe, and that is to be careful about; each others’ feelings and reputation. It is bad enough to be persecuted by outsiders; it is bad enough to have hard things said by those who do not know us; but it is a cruel thing for men and women who profess to be brethren and sisters in the Lord to speak evil of each other. I can endure anything and everything, it seems to me, from the outside so long as it is not true. I am so organized that I do not care anything about these things, they do not affect me, and I rejoice when I think I am trying to do the best I can; but if I should know my brethren and sisters spoke evil of me, that I think would hurt me, and I am sure it hurts others. We should be espe– cially careful how we talk about each other. If we cannot say anything good let us hold our tongues. If we know of a brother or a sister’s weakness go to him or to her if you speak of this weakness. If anyone has done you wrong go to him alone or her alone and tell him or her your grievance, instead of going to your neighbor to talk about the person whom you imagine has wronged you. Above all things we as a people should dwell together in love. The spirit of love should illumine our faces and gladden our hearts, for God delights in a glad heart. We should therefore carry peace and gladness into our habitations. Instead of going in cross, displeased, angry, we should dismiss all such feelings at the threshold and go into our homes carrying with us the spirit of peace. And when there are hard feelings existing, a feeling that some one has injured us, there should be a course taken to remove the same. We should not come together, as we have done this afternoon, and partake of the bread and water in remembrance of the broken body and spilt blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, bearing hard feelings towards one another. If I know or feel that a man has wronged me, should I come here and partake of the sacrament without going to him and endeavoring to make the matter right? No, I should not. I should go to that man and tell him my feelings. If he has wronged me, I should say to him, “Let us make this right;” if I have wronged anyone else, that person should come to me in like manner. All such feelings should be removed from the midst of the Latter-day Saints. We should dwell in love, in union and in peace, and if we cannot make our differences right between ourselves, then we should call in the aid of some of our brethren to assist us, and by their aid, perhaps, the wrong, if any exists, may be rooted out and the evil put away from our midst. This is the religion that we should have. We may hear the Elders talking about the principles of the Gospel, as we have done this afternoon, and our hearts be gladdened by the recital thereof—we may listen to these things: but if we do not carry out the principles that are thus taught, our religion is of no avail, it amounts to nothing, it is like a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, it is not a practical and true religion; but if we carry out these principles, then blessed are we, and just as sure as we carry them out it will be the case with us, as long as Satan has power, that we will be persecuted. I would have none of you imagine that there will be a cessation of this persecution. I have heard some say that the time will soon come when there will be a cessation of this hatred against the Latter-day Saints. Do not deceive yourselves with any such idea. Thousands of times people have said to me, “Oh, I wish you Latter-day Saints would abolish that hateful institution. That is the only thing that makes you objectionable.” This is a great mistake. If we could do such a thing, it would not bring the result that the world imagine. If this is the Church of Christ—as we declare it to be—just as true as it is we will be persecuted. We cannot escape it, it is an inevitable result of the Gospel. We might seclude ourselves in the deserts of Sahara, as we secluded ourselves in these mountains some thirty-three years ago, and persecution would reach us. The adversary will not let us alone. The direst persecutions we ever had to suffer, occurred before the doctrine of polygamy was taught or believed in. There is nothing short of complete apostasy, a complete denial of every principle we have received, a throwing away of the Holy Priesthood, that can save us from persecution. When this takes place, when all the chief features of the Gospel are obliterated, when we can float along the stream and do as the world does, then and not till then will persecution cease, or until the adversary is bound, for the day will come when Satan will be bound and then persecution will cease, but until then there will be no cessation; until then persecution will always exist in some form or other, and we shall have to meet it, so that we may as well make up our minds on the subject. In my childhood I made my calculations that the Gospel might cost me my life. I felt as Brother Naisbitt has described. In my childhood I had a yearning to know the truth and to know the Church of God. I would have gone round the world if I had been strong enough to have found a servant of God who had the ancient power. I thought I would be willing to do everything that anybody else ever did, God being my helper, even if it cost me my good name. It might cost me my life; but what is that compared with eternal life in the presence of God. What are houses, what are lands, what is property of any kind compared with eternal life in the presence of God, to dwell there eternally in the society of Jesus, and of the Apostles and Prophets of old? This life is but a span. A few short years and we will pass away. Even if our enemies should suffer us to live, it is inevitable that we shall die. That fiat has gone forth. Death is in the world. But we have received a knowledge of the truth, and we can seal our testimony with our blood regarding it; but I do not think this will be necessary in this age further than what has taken place. I trust it will not be. No man need court any such thing. If it should come while we are in the path of duty, having espoused the truth, we should be willing to endure all the consequences involved in its espousal and should follow the path that God has pointed out, leaving Him to overrule and control all things. But it is important, my brethren and sisters, that we should know it is the truth. That is the important point, that we should know for ourselves—not because I say so, not because someone else says so, but because we know it for ourselves, God having revealed it to us. And that is the privilege of every human being whom God has created, that each should know for himself and herself concerning the truth. It is my privilege and your privilege to ask God and find out the truth for ourselves, and then when we have found it we can endure persecution. This is what the world calls fanaticism, but it is a fanaticism that the Saints of God always had. It is different from any other fanaticism; it is based on the truth, and it is this that should gather us together; it is this that should gather us together and make us one people.

That God may grant us a continuation of these blessings and an increase of them and of His power and preserving care, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by Elder H. W. Naisbitt, Continued from Page 376, Journal of Discourses, Vol. XXII, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, May 15th, 1881.

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 376, JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES, VOL. XXII.) there have been larger opportunities for the acquisition of the knowledge which pertains to the designs of the Creator. I think that all thoughtful men and thoughtful women have felt within themselves that there were a great many problems in regard to human existence upon which they would like to have light and intelligence, they would like to understand and to have a surety as to whether a man was anything more than a mere animal in creation, whether it was his destiny only “to eat and to drink, for tomorrow we die,” or whether his existence was of a continuous character; whether after having laid down this tabernacle of flesh he would be privileged to enjoy again the associations which have been agreeable to him on earth, whether the family circle would be burst asunder, or whether continuing to exist he would be divested in a great measure of the temptations which seem to influence him on the right hand and on the left, and which appear to lead so many thousands of the human family down to degradation and death. It appears to me that there are questions in connection with all these things that thousands would like to solve, and questions which really never can be solved by the ordinary wisdom and knowledge which pertain to the educational facilities of mankind. Now, in reading these prophecies concerning the future angelic visitations that are to take place in the history of mankind, I have no doubt that those who have pondered over these prophecies have thought that in these visitations they would find the key which should unlock the past, the present and the future, and be of great value in the salvation of the human family—salvation from ignorance, from sin, and from death. These are the things which men everywhere need. They need to be saved from themselves; they need to be saved from each other; they need to be saved in regard to the future, according to the Scriptures, and the generally received notions of the Christian world.

Now, this angel that was to come in the latter times was declared to be one who was to bring the everlasting Gospel in order that it might be preached among all nations. Now, the everlasting Gospel, whatever that may mean, is something that is divine in its character. It is not conjured up by cunning and designing men. God was its author; in fact the Scriptures say that His Son Jesus was the “author and finisher” of the Christian faith on earth. Whenever, therefore, the revelation of that Gospel comes it must give man an account of his origin, of the necessity of the circumstances of the present, and something of his future. There is one thing which strikes the reader as being very peculiar in regard to this angel coming to the human family. It is implied upon the surface, and in its depths also, that there would be no necessity of sending the Gospel if the children of man had the Gospel already, this would be superfluous. Then when this angel comes is he to come to Christendom, or is he to come to heathendom? Is he to come to men that have not heard of Jesus, know nothing of God, know nothing of the way of salvation, or is he to come to the Christian world. If he is to come to heathendom it of course would be to bring salvation, the redemption of the soul and body of man; but if he is to come to Christendom it would almost seem to imply that amid them even the Gospel of redemption was unpreached or misunderstood, for in all the creations of our God there does not appear to be anything of an unnecessary character, there are no steps fallen in His government that are inapplicable to the existing condition of things; but the fact that an angel was to come in “the dispensation of the fulness of times” naturally implies that the Gospel would not be at that time preached on the face of the earth. Now this is rather an awkward conclusion to arrive at when all Christendom is said to be doing so much in regard to the building of churches, the teaching of religion, the payment of ministers, the sending of the so-called Gospel to the heathen, and the furnishing of Bibles to all the nations of the earth. And on reflecting upon the visits of this angel a man would naturally enquire, if this angel is going to bring the Gospel, in what does the Gospel consist, and as a necessary consequence he would also begin to enquire as to what the records say which have come down to us from ancient times. He would look into the New Testament; he would read the sayings of those whose names have become historic; he would read the sayings of the Great Teacher, who was sent from heaven, even Jesus Christ the righteous; and he would read the acts and doings in that book of His successors the Apostles, and of the primitive church, and from this record he would endeavor to find out what the Gospel was as preached in ancient times, and after he had done this he would begin to contrast the Christian organizations with which he was surrounded, the theories which Christians hold, the doctrines which they teach and put them side by side in parallel columns with the teachings of the ancient Church. He would institute comparisons and so would show a desire to understand the necessity for this angel coming expressly from heaven to “preach” the everlasting Gospel “unto them that dwell upon the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people.” And in taking the New Testament for his guide, in pondering the acts and teachings of Jesus and his Apostles, he would begin to understand that there was method and order in connection with that Gospel; that it consisted of a series of principles, of ideas, and thoughts and practices, which were intended to work out some desired end. Hence it was said that the Gospel in ancient times “was the power of God unto salvation.” It was an important thing, it was something of value; it was something calculated to affect a man’s interests in time and in eternity, it was “the power of God unto salvation;” and I do not think that in any other recognized record are we so likely to find a portrayal of that Gospel in its purity and original simplicity as in the record called the New Testament. When we come to search that, we realize that Jesus professed to be the Son of God. He encouraged his followers to exercise faith in his Father, and in regard to his works he told them that he “did nothing of himself, but that which he had seen the Father do that did he,” and that which he did before his Apostles, and which he commanded them to do, was according to the commandments which he had received of the Father. I think the Christian world will be willing to acknowledge that this faith in God was a principle which was calculated to enhance the welfare of the human family. It was calculated to infuse high and lofty thoughts into the man or woman who accepted it; faith in the existence of God, faith that they were his children; faith that he was alive to their interests; faith that he was able to teach them the purpose of their existence, and the design that he had in their creation, faith that he was able to hear and answer their prayers. And the man who enjoyed this faith in God after he had been taught it was a man who was likely not only to feel higher conceptions in regard to humanity, so far as he himself was concerned, but there would be bound to spring up in his heart feelings, growing out of this, in regard to his brother man, and to his sister, woman; he would be bound to look upon them with more regard for their interests, well-being and salvation upon the earth, than he would have done without this conception. He would be interested in the moral, mental and spiritual condition of his neighbor; he would be interested in imparting to his neighbor the truth, and thus the spirit of faith in God would begin to spread and exercise a salutary influence wherever it was felt among those who received it.

And Jesus was not satisfied only with teaching this faith in God, but he realized that there would grow out of it these or similarly certain principles of action with regard to the conduct of those who received it. A man would begin to realize that inasmuch as he was a child of God, that he had in many respects been unworthy of that position, that he had been guilty of many acts both of commission and omission that were derogatory to such origin, and he would naturally begin to repent, to be sorry for having committed himself in this way and not to be sorry only, but to lay everything of this character aside in order that he might stand approved of God, His Heavenly Father. Hence there would grow out of faith the spirit of repentance for past sins, and then it was found that there was an ordinance in the Gospel by which through divine appointment, a man was enabled to receive the “remission of his sins,” consequent on the sacrifice that was to be offered on Calvary. That ordinance of the Church, as established by Jesus, was the ordinance of water baptism for the remission of sins. This was one of the principles of the Gospel, one of the principles of salvation, one of the steps in the educational process of those who submitted themselves to the authority of the Great Teacher, Jesus Christ. Now there is a vast diversity of opinion in the Christian world in regard to baptism, but this diversity we need not stop to consider. We can take the New Testament, and see what is laid down there upon the subject. Some think baptism unimportant. Christ, however, evidently thought it important. In speaking to Nicodemus, he said, “Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” And when he commissioned his Apostles to preach the Gospel, they went forth among the people, “baptizing them in water, confessing their sins.” Indeed, there are illustrations in abundance of this fact, that will be familiar to all the students of the New Testament. The great Apostle Peter, who appeared to have been the master spirit of the Church on the day of Pentecost, when men began to inquire what they should do to be saved, answered the inquirers in this way, “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.” This was the ancient order; this was the order established by Jesus, and the presumption is beyond dispute that if it was necessary for any one single member of that primitive church, or for any of the Apostles, or for Jesus himself to be baptized in water, it was necessary for the whole. Hence the irresistible conclusion is, that every member of the primitive church was baptized, “buried with him by baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” This was one of the doctrines of the ancient church, and the next doctrine that followed it in the program and system of the Gospel was the giving of the Holy Ghost. Now the scriptures tell us that “the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” In every land and clime, in all conditions of the human family, of every color, among the most highly civilized as among the most degraded, there is given to every man this measure of the spirit of God to profit withal, and it is in accordance with his obedience to the measure received of that spirit that he will be rewarded in the future. But in the Christian church there appears to have been an order that went in advance of this universal gift of the spirit. It was called “the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.” Hence those who are familiar with the New Testament will realize that when men were baptized they were afterwards confirmed by “the laying on of hands,” and upon that confirmation they received the Holy Ghost. This Holy Ghost in them was the power of God. It opened up their minds, it informed their reason, enlarged their capacity, and enabled them to comprehend, as the scriptures say, the past, present and future. It was a grand gift, and one essential to salvation. To one man it gave the spirit of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge; to another faith; to another the gift of healing; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues, etc. It was to them the fountain of divine intelligence and power. And these manifestations followed the believer everywhere. It harmonized all the conflicting thoughts and ideas that they might have had in regard to God, in regard to the institutions with which they were surrounded, in regard to the duties devolving upon them, in regard to their destiny in the future. It made them one in Christ Jesus. They were baptized by one baptism, and they enjoyed one spirit. They were rich in the unity of the faith. And when men were thus baptized and received this spirit it was not expected that they should stand strictly upon their own individuality. They were not left to wander abroad to the right and to the left, but there appeared to have been in the primitive times a good deal of what we see in our own day. An organization grew up. They formed what was called a church. It is called in the New Testament, in some places “the Church of God,” in other places it is called “the Church of Christ.” It was a church composed of those who had thus been baptized, and thus received of the Holy Ghost. They were united together for self-defense. They were united in order that they might be taught by the authorities of that church. They were not taught by strangers or by men who had never passed through the same gateway and received the same spirit as themselves, but according to the New Testament they were taught by Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers and Evangelists, men who were engaged in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. These officers were “set in the church,” according to the New Testament, for the edifying of the body, for the training of the members, until they all came to the unity of the faith and to the full stature of men and women in Christ. Now, that was a glorious age. I have heard good men and women, ever since I heard anything, wish that they had lived in those primitive times. They have said how glad they would have been to have the privilege of even touching the hem of the Savior’s garment, witnessing his miracles, hearing his teachings, and to have been obedient to the principles which he taught. Men and women have said that they would have been glad to have lived in the Apostolic age; that they would have belonged to the primitive church; that they would have been in their glory to share in its trials and persecutions, to have enjoyed its spirit, to have received of its blessings, and to have acquired the knowledge and intelligence which accompanied the Priesthood that had control of that special church. I believe there are thousands everywhere today—men who are Elders, Deacons, Superintendents of Sunday Schools, teachers in Sunday Schools—who, on reading the history of the past feel that they would have been glad to have lived in the primitive times and seen the leaders and apostles of that church. Well, now, these feelings are natural. We realize the glory and blessing which belong to that ancient order. But it appears that this order in a great measure has become obsolete; it has passed away, it is not to be found anywhere in the form in which it existed anciently. There may be a church that has faith in God; there may be many churches that include repentance, that practice baptism; some may have faith in baptism for the remission of sins; there may be here and there men who believe in the reception of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands; but in its beautiful primitive order it is nowhere to be found among the children of men.

Now, in regard to the angel that should “fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,” it is only reasonable to suppose that when the Gospel is restored, it will be restored with all its ancient power, blessings, ordinances, Priesthood, and everything that gave it grandeur and glory in the primitive times. But now the query is, Has this angel come? If he has not, are the children of men looking for him? Is there any anticipation in the midst of the Christian world of his appearance? I think not. But here among a small section of men and women in the Rocky Mountains, gathered from all the nations of the earth, there is an understanding that this angel has come, and should not the world be pleased at the assumption; for if they are delighted in reading the account of this angel’s probable visitation, why not take comfort and delight in the thought that angelic visitations may again become general or partial, as the case of necessity may require. Here, then, we have a little nucleus of men and women who say this angel has come in the 19th century, in the “dispensation of the fulness of times;” that he has brought with him and given to those who are preaching it, the “everlasting Gospel” as it existed in the ancient times; that in their practice they are in the habit of exercising faith in God, that they have repented of their sins; that they have been bap– tized in water for the promised remission; that they have laid aside their follies; that they want to free themselves from error and from all unrighteousness; that they have again identified themselves, as did the ancient Christians, with the Church, possessing within itself the ancient organization, the ancient Priesthood, the ancient authority to teach, to lead, and to govern and control, until all the obedient come again to the unity of the faith. Now if the Christian world take joy and satisfaction in reading ancient history or prospective history; if there are thousands of longing hearts in every denomination who say they would have rejoiced to have lived in the ancient times, to have listened to the teachings of the authorities of the primitive church, and to have shared in its blessings, etc.; what should be the thought when they hear again from men passing to and fro in the nations of the earth declaring that the ancient order has been restored; what should be the thought of men of intelligence, men of reflecting minds, men that know the merits and demerits of the Christian world, should not these hearts leap for joy when they hear that the Gospel has been thus restored in all its ancient glory?

The Latter-day Saints testify—it is a standing testimony to the nations—that this angel spoken of by John, the Revelator, has come to the human family, that he has brought with him the ancient Gospel, and that all those who are willing to accept their testimony, to exercise faith in God, to lay aside their dead works, their foolish notions and their false traditions, to divest themselves of the errors of the ages, and to be baptized and receive the power of the Holy Ghost, that they shall be as full of assurance as were the Saints in ancient times. For this, the Gospel of the kingdom neither was nor is a cunningly devised fable, nor was it something got up by the craftiness of men, but the obedient realized and know that it is “the power of God unto salvation;” it has come to them not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance; and there are thousands throughout the length and breadth of the Territory, thousands throughout the United States, the islands of the sea, and throughout the nations of the earth, that rejoice in this Gospel. They are ready to testify that they know that God lives, that Jesus was the Savior of mankind, that the Gospel in all its pristine purity and beauty has been restored, and that in our own day all the blessings and privileges necessary for a complete salvation are offered to mankind. This may seem a reflection upon the intelligence of ages that are past and gone. But it is not so. I presume that there are thousands and millions who have passed away, that did the best they could, they lived up to the light they had, they sought to please God in their daily walk and conversation; but the Elders of Israel take the liberty of pointing out “a more acceptable way,” and they are free to testify and speak of their own knowledge that God has restored the Gospel and prepared the way for the salvation of all who are willing to give obedience to that which has been revealed.

May God enable us to appreciate the day of our salvation and live according to his design, that we may be saved in his kingdom, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Discourse by President George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, May 8th, 1881.

President Cannon having read the whole of the 12th Chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, said: It is a blessed thing for us who live in this day and age to have records in our midst which have come down from olden times, and which are recognized, at least by Christendom, as the Word of God, and as containing principles of life and of salvation. A people who are destitute of such records are in many respects to be pitied, for they have not the benefit of the experience and teachings of those who have preceded them and are deprived of that knowledge concerning the things of God, which is a great stay unto those who possess it. It is a great comfort to a person in the midst of trials and of afflictions, who has a desire to look unto God or some being who is superior to us, to read the life and the experience of others who may have been similarly situated in other ages, and to know from the record that has come down how they felt and acted, and the deliverances they received through the power of God. In like manner it is a great blessing and a comfort to those who are struggling in the midst of the darkness, error, and confusion which prevail upon the earth, whose souls go out after God, who desire to know concerning Him, to comprehend the plan of salvation, to have some understanding concerning the objects of their creation; and while in this life to have the experience of others who have preceded them, and also to read that which they knew concerning God.

In this respect the chapter which I have read from this book is of priceless worth; its value cannot be estimated by anything that is known among men upon which value is fixed. If we did not have this book, and it could be given to us with the testimony that we now have as to its authenticity and its divine origin, I suppose there are hundreds today in this Tabernacle who, if they could not get it in any other way, would be willing to give all that they have in the world to possess a copy of it. The fact that we have it, the fact that we have always had it, the fact that our forefathers always had it, at least so far as we know, has made us to a certain extent careless about it. We do not value it as we might do if our attention had been newly awakened to its existence. But in the Latter-day Saints it should always be a precious treasure. Beyond any people now upon the face of the earth, they should value it, for the reason that from its pages, from the doctrines set forth by its writers, the epitome of the plan of salvation which is there given unto us, we derive the highest consolation, we obtain the greatest strength. It is, as it were, a constant fountain sending forth streams of living life to satisfy the souls of all who peruse its pages. Our condition is bad enough, it may be said, in some respects with this in our possession and having this to refer to; but we can imagine that it would be much worse if we did not have it, if we could not appeal to our fellow creatures who believe in God, who believe in Jesus Christ, who believe in the Old and New Testaments—if we did not have this to appeal to, to prove that whatever our peculiarities may be, however different our views from the views of many who profess Christianity, we at least share in those views with others who were called the people of God, the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in days that are past, and who among all people throughout Christendom are recognized as the true exponents of the word of God, and the plan of salvation which He revealed.

There was a day in our history when it was considered a crime for us to believe in revelation from God. I do not know that that day is entirely past. There was a day in our history when it was considered very improper for us to believe in Prophets or Apostles—that is, to believe that they ought to be in the Church. There was a time when we were indicted by a mob in its written proclamation for believing in miracles. It was considered sufficient cause and justification to expel us from our homes because we believed that God, through His power, could heal the sick, and perform miracles like unto those that were performed in ancient days by His servants. How do you think it would have been, my brethren and sisters, if we had not had the Bible to refer to? How would it have been with many of those who passed through those scenes if they had not had the teachings of the Apostles and the words of the Savior written as we have them in the Bible to comfort them, to cheer them, and to show them that it was not a new departure for men to have those ideas and beliefs? With the Bible in our hands we could test all men who professed to be followers of Jesus Christ; for God has plainly said, that He is the same yesterday, today and forever; that He does not change; that He is as near unto His people in these days as He ever was; that he is as willing to hear their cries, to answer their petitions, to grant unto them the desires of their hearts, in our age as He ever was in any preceding age. Now, this is a doctrine plainly taught in the Bible, and it, has been the cause of immense satisfaction to those who have espoused its doctrine, it would have been a very trying thing for us in the days of gloom through which we have passed had we not been assured in a very reliable way that God would hear and answer our prayers, for there have been many times when if it had not been for this assurance and this knowledge, the Latter-day Saints would have sunk beneath the weight of their afflictions, it is doubtful if they could have endured them; but by having this knowledge, by having received a testimony concerning the willingness of our Father in heaven to answer prayer, and to deal with us as He dealt with His ancient children, we have been comforted, we have been sustained, we have been filled with hope and have been cheered in our onward progress, and this knowledge today is more precious than any knowledge there is upon the face of the earth; for in the darkness, in the unbelief, in the denial of God, which is so common at the present time, the man who knows that God lives, that God hears and answers prayer, the woman who knows this occupies a very superior position and has great cause for thanksgiving and praise that such knowledge has been placed in his or her possession. Now Paul, who wrote this epistle from which I have read, understood this perfectly. His life, in many respects, resembles the lives of those who preceded him in the same career. In many of its features it resembles the lives of the prophets who lived before the days of the Savior; and the lives of the servants of God in this day in which we live have a strong resemblance to that of Paul and his fellow Apostles. Brother Woodruff has published a little work, called, “Leaves from my Journal,” and in reading that book I have been very forcibly reminded of the lives of the ancient Apostles, it resembles them so much. You have doubtless thought, all of you, about the character of the men whom Jesus chose to be His Apostles. They were men who were stumblingblocks to their generation, for they did not belong to the popular classes. They were not learned men, they were not rich men—that is in the worldly sense of the word—they were not dignified men; and Jesus Himself, the Lord of life and of glory, was a constant stumblingblock to His generation. His origin was humble—although he came of a kingly line: his surroundings were mean and low; his reputed father a carpenter, and doubtless he himself worked at the business, and the men whom he chose were fishermen, men of low degree, men of lowly origin; not scholars, not men of fine presence so far as worldly advantages were concerned. But he filled them with the power of God; he gave them the revelations of heaven; he taught them the plan of salvation; he sent them forth endowed with power from on high; and they effected a great revolution in the earth. They laid the foundation of a system that has accomplished marvelous results, and through their work the name of Christ has been spread throughout all the earth.

Have you not been frequently struck, my brethren and sisters, with the peculiar manner in which God called his people and his servants. It is not many wise, it is not many learned, it is not many noble who have been called as his servants. He called his Prophets wherever he could find them, and they were suited to his purpose. He called his apostles and his disciples in the same manner. It seemed to be a necessity that the faith of the generations of men should be tried, that their confidence in God should be tested, to see whether they would be willing to receive his truth from any source however humble. It would not be any trial of a man’s faith if some man possessing supreme power, who wielded wonderful influence, were to declare that what he said was the word of God unto the people—a man of popular honors, a man who could control all the people, who could make the system which he advocated popular and desirable among mankind, what trial would there be of a people’s faith to embrace truth under such circumstances? But that has not been the course which God has taken with his people. He could have sent his Son Jesus Christ among men at a time and under circumstances that would have made his influence irresistible on the earth and among the people. He could have given him such power that men would have been compelled to have received him, but that was not the way in which the Lord did his work. He never did it in that manner. He never consulted men’s views and their ideas respecting his work. He chose his instruments and he sent them as he desired under the circumstances which he deemed best adapted to accomplish his purposes. Therefore His Son Jesus was born—though as I have said deriving his descent from the kingly house of David—under circumstances that did not carry with them great influence. There was nothing about his birth or his surroundings to convince the inhabitants of the earth that he was the Son of God. They were left entirely to know this by the Spirit of God; they were left to derive this knowledge by seeking for it unto him who could bestow it upon them, and were not to be actuated by that which is called the popular voice; and in this way man’s agency is tested to the very utmost. To illustrate the idea that I have on my mind, suppose that Jesus had been born under circumstances that mankind would have had to accept him as the Son of God; suppose his disciples had been under such circumstances and surrounded by such influences that mankind would have naturally followed them and accepted their doctrines without hesitation, because it would have been to their worldly interest to do so, would man’s agency have been tested as it was in the days of the Savior? No, his agency would not have been tested. He had presented before him truth and error. Truth was not popular. The espousal of truth was not of worldly advantage to men at that time. If he therefore espoused it, it would be because of his love for it, and for the blessings which would flow from it, and not because there would be any profit of a worldly character attending its espousal. There is a reason therefore for God sending many of his messengers as he has done. It was rarely that they were men who by their position could control the people and cause them to follow them naturally aside from the truth. We know how it was with many of the Prophets. They were unpopular. The truths that they declared did not add to their popularity, and it was a test of men and women’s love for the truth when these men came among them, for when they espoused the truth they did it because of the love of the truth. God has evidently determined that when men and women embrace the truth, they shall embrace it for the love of it; that they shall not be converted by man’s influence; that they shall not follow in the train of men because of some advantage that will accrue to them. Evidently, then, it is the will of God concerning us, that if we embrace the truth we must embrace it because we love it, not because of the instrument who brings it to us. We must be willing to receive it through whatever channel he may choose. If it be John the Baptist, if it be any of the disciples of the Savior, if it be Joseph Smith, if it be Brigham Young, if it be John Taylor, or any other man, no matter who the man may be, God chooses his own instruments, and he sends his truth to the earth in a way that be sees fit.

The most of those who are of adult years in this audience this day know how it was before they heard the sound of the Gospel as, preached by the Elders of this Church. They know very well that nowhere within the range of their acquaintance was there a man among all the churches, who declared that he had authority from God to administer the ordinances of life and salvation by direct revelation from him. The most of you know that the common expression was that the canon of scripture was full; that there were no more miracles; that angels would come no more to the earth; that God would no more bestow the old blessings that were enjoyed in ancient days, and that he would no more speak unto men. This was the teaching, and every one was led to expect that all things would continue as they were, and when men and women were dissatisfied about this, and they went to their ministers and asked them about it, they invariably replied that the blessings pertaining to the days of Jesus and his Apostles were not for this generation. I was but a child when my parents joined the Church, but I learned to read very early. Among the first questions I remember asking my father was in relation to the Apostles and to the gifts. I asked him if there were no Apostles now. He told me there were not. I asked him if there were no men who performed the works that they did. He told me that there were none, and I have time and time again gone to bed and cried because I could not live in the days of Apostles, because I could not see Jesus and knew the things which he taught, and which his Apostles taught. This was my experience in my childhood. I yearned with all my soul to live in a day when these things were possible, when God would speak from the heavens, when God would bestow his power upon men, and when those who were faithful could receive the gifts and blessings of the Gospel as they did in ancient days, and I repined in my heart because I did not have the privilege of living in a day like that. And as I have said, though but a child when the Gospel came to my father’s house, I rejoiced in it, and I have rejoiced in it from that day to the present.

God has restored the old Gospel, God has rebuilt the old Church. God has restored the old authority, and with the Gospel have come the old gifts and manifestations of the spirit, and with the Church, and with the authority and with the Gospel and with the gifts have come the old persecution, the old hatred, the old animosity, the same determination to destroy the work of God that has always been manifested when it had an existence upon the earth. And how inconsistent it would be to entertain any other views concerning the Gospel than that which we do. How inconsistent it would be to believe that the inhabitants of the earth would be entirely cut off from any further revelation from God. But, says one—this is what is said when they object to these things—how is it that we have lived for so many generations without this knowledge? There is a reason for this. God does not deprive the earth, nor the inhabitants of the earth of His knowledge without cause. When the Prophets disappeared from Israel before the coming of the Savior, there were reasons for their disappearance. When there was witchcraft, as we are told, in the days of Saul, and there was a time of famine in the land for the word of God, there were reasons for this. When communication ceased between heaven and earth in those and subsequent days, there were good reasons why that should be so. Communication never ceased when the people were faithful. When they honored God, when they kept the commandments of God, when they listened to the voice and admonitions of His Prophets, communication never ceased under these circumstances. But when the people turned unto idols, when they followed Baal, when they hardened their hearts against God, when they persecuted and slew His Prophets, then in his anger he withdrew from them, his face was hidden, his voice was no longer heard, there were no longer visions, there were no longer prophecies in the land—an unbroken stillness reigned between the heavens and the earth until the people again repented, sometimes under the inspiration of a Prophet, sometimes under some good king raised up and turning to the Lord. Then again Prophets appeared, predictions were heard, the voice of revelation, or in other words, the voice of God through his servants, was heard in the land. And so it was after the days of the Savior. When he was killed his Apostles still lived, and they proclaimed the truth, and they would have continued to do so, to have perpetuated the line of the Apostles, to have ordained Apostles after Apostles, for, as Paul has said, God has placed first in the Church, Apostles. The Church of Christ is not perfect without Apostles. Apostles were as necessary as Teachers; they were as necessary as Evangelists; they were as necessary as Pastors. But the wicked would not allow Apostles to live, for Apostles were men who had revelation, Apostles were inspired of God; they became, as it were, the oracles of Jehovah to the inhabitants of the earth. But they were slain, one after another. The Church was persecuted, the men of God were destroyed, and of course when this came to pass, darkness prevailed. There were no means of receiving revelation. How could God send men unto people who would kill them? He destroyed the Jewish nation for killing his Son, and he broke in pieces other nations for killing His Apostles. And thus there arose a system having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; a system that was popular, a system of religion that monarchs caused to be taught in their dominions and to their subjects, and a great change occurred throughout what is called Christendom. The followers of this religion, instead of being persecuted and hunted, instead of having to hide in caves and dens to escape the wrath of the governing powers, those that were left of them emerged from their hiding places and were elevated to places of power and honor, and the followers of him who was called the meek and lowly Jesus, became, in some instances, the rulers of the land. Thus persecution ceased, and with the stoppage of persecution there was also a cessation of revelation. There was no voice from heaven, no angels descended, no men had visions—that is, I am speaking now in general terms. The Church was not organized upon its original plan; it departed from it; and from that time until a little over half a century ago, this continued to be the case. Have there been reformers? Yes; good men, men who served God to the best of their ability, Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and many others, arose in their generations, and strove to the best of their ability to turn the tide and to have men seek after God. But they had not the autho– rity of the Holy Priesthood; they had not the authority to rebuild the Church according to the original pattern, and though they were blessed of God, though they enjoyed his favor, though his spirit was with them to a very great extent, they did not have the authority to initiate men and women into the Church, and through their administration to bestow upon them the gifts that were enjoyed in ancient days. This was the cause of such a long period of darkness, of gloom and ignorance that prevailed concerning God.

Now, if a man had gone with this Bible in his hands throughout Christendom at the time the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, and inquired of the various churches respecting their organization and the gifts and blessings that Paul has described in the chapter I have read as necessary to the Church of Christ, he would have found no church corresponding to his description. He compares it to a man’s body. He impressed upon those to whom this epistle was addressed, the necessity of being a member of the body; that the head could not say to the feet, “I have no need of thee;” that an Apostle could not say to the humblest member of the Church that there was no need of that member or that officer. Neither, on the other hand, could that officer say, because he was the feet, that there was no need of the head. All the officers, all the gifts, all the blessings that were enjoyed in ancient days are as necessary to the perfection of the body of Christ now as they ever were. The Saints were all partakers of the same spirit, and when men had that spirit, as Paul had it in his day, they had these gifts. Not every man the same gift, by any means; but God gave his gifts through his spirit according to the wants of the people, according to the necessities of the Church, and thus they were in every respect a perfect body. You take out Apostles and you leave the body imperfect, and you take out Prophets and the body is no longer perfect. You take out miracles, and helps, prophecies, tongues, interpretations of tongues, and all these gifts, or any of them, and you leave the body of Christ, or the Church of Christ imperfect. Are all Apostles? No. Are all Prophets? No; but every one ought to have the spirit of prophecy. There is necessity for Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, and all the gifts in the Church, and whenever the Church of Christ is organized on the earth it possesses those blessings. Now, referring to this chapter which I have read, if a man had gone out sixty years ago among the Christian sects and denominations in search of the Church of Christ, according to the ancient pattern, would he have found it? Was there such a church on the earth? No there was not. The Lord sent his angels to Joseph Smith and ordained him to the old authority, for as there was no man remaining on the earth then that had that authority, it was necessary that they should come, otherwise the authority could not have been bestowed. It had gone back to heaven, therefore the heavens had to be opened, angels had to descend, even the same men that held it when they were in the flesh on the earth. They had to lay their hands upon a man and ordain him as they would have done in the flesh, as they did in fact while in the flesh upon him who took the place of Judas Iscariot when he betrayed the Lord and lost his apostleship. They laid their hands upon Matthias, and he became an Apostle. The council would not have been complete without this. Matthias occupied that place by ordination under the hands of his brethren the Apostles, and in like manner when Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were ordained Apostles, they received the Apostleship by the laying on of the hands of the men who had held that authority in the flesh, and hence you can see the propriety of angels coming.

Now, it is a remarkable fact that Joseph Smith had gifts before he was ordained. He was a Seer, for he translated before he was ordained; he was a Prophet, for he predicted a great many things before he was ordained and before the Church was organized; he was a revelator, for God gave unto him revelations before the Church was organized. He therefore, was a Prophet, Seer and Revelator before he was ordained in the flesh. Did you ever think of it? Brother Joseph Smith was a Prophet, Seer and Revelator before he ever received any Priesthood in the flesh. But did he on that account presume to administer the ordinances of life and salvation? Did he presume to lead men into the waters of baptism and baptize them? No, he did not. Why? Because he had not received that authority. He could act in those other capacities, he could possess those other gifts, they were born with him. He was ordained a Prophet, doubtless, before he came here; but that ordination did not give him the right to immerse men and women in the waters of baptism, neither did it give him the power to lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. He had to await the authority from on high. And who came? The man that held the authority in ancient days, the man who baptized the Son of God—John the Baptist, who was beheaded by the order of Herod. It was necessary that some one holding that authority should come from heaven, there being no one on the earth, and all the churches then in existence denied such authority, to a very great extent, at least. At any rate, whether they denied it or not, they did not possess it. And when he came, he laid his hands upon Joseph Smith and his companion, Oliver Cowdery, and gave them the authority, and then, having received the authority, they were baptized for a remission of their sins. But there still remained another authority which they did not have. Joseph was not a presumptuous man. Why, there are thousands of men in this generation who would say, “if I am a Prophet, Seer and Revelator, I have authority to do everything else.” But he did not do that, he did not take that view, he waited, as I have said, until the due time of the Lord, and when the Lord sent his messenger to ordain him, then he acted, But he did not think, after having seen an angel, after having been ordained by an angel to the Aaronic Priesthood, after having received authority to baptize—he did not presume to lay on hands upon anyone for the reception of the Holy Ghost. As in the other cases he waited, and in the good time of the Lord, he sent his Apostles, the three leading Apostles—Peter, James and John, the First Presidency of the Church, in the days of Jesus after his death; he sent those who held the keys, he commanded them from heaven to go and administer unto those two men, to lay hands upon them. And when they were ordained Apostles, they proceeded then to lay hands upon each other, the one ordained the other, having received authority from God to do this. In virtue of this Apostleship they proceeded to organize the Church under the command of God.

And witness, my brethren and sisters, the marvelous results which have followed the restoration of this angelic and divine power, witness the marvelous results wherever this Gospel has gone. It has gone forth accompanied by the convincing power of God. The humble of the earth have been baptized and they have received a testimony from God that their sins have been forgiven. What wonderful power this is! The power to remit sins by the administration of an holy and divine ordinance. Yet this has been the case. Humble men have been chosen and ordained of God, and have gone forth carrying this power with them. They have taken those who believed into the waters of baptism, immersed them, and God has witnessed unto those souls that their sins have been remitted. A wonderful power! And then they have laid their hands upon them and the Holy Ghost has descended as in ancient days, and the gifts, blessings and graces of the Gospel have accompanied the administration of that holy ordinance, and the hearts of the people have been bound together. Oh, how wonderful it is when we look at it!—men and women of every nation, kindred, tongue and people to be bound together as the heart of one man, under the influence of the power of God, through this humble agency. Such men start out feeling their dependence on God. They have no learning to boast of; they have no advantages to any great extent, yet they have not the disadvantages that some people have to contend with. I think it is a positive disadvantage to be as many ministers are. A man is terribly encumbered who goes through the mill to be prepared to teach the Gospel. But when a man goes forth putting his trust in God, he feels that in and of himself he is nothing; that if he brings a soul to the knowledge of the truth, he knows that it must be by the power of God. He goes forth trembling and weeping, yet he bears precious seed. He knows he has the message of life and salvation, that God has chosen him to deliver that message, and he goes among the people, bearing his testimony in humility, calling upon God to bear witness of the truth of what he has said, calling upon the people to repent and to forsake their sins and turn to God. It is not his eloquence, it is not his popularity, it is not his wealth, it is nothing of this kind that convinces the people, but it is the Spirit of God which rests upon them. They are filled with joy and peace. They read the Bible as they never read it before. The scales drop from their eyes. They see the beauties of the Gospel, and they wonder how it was they did not see them before. And all this through the restoration of the Holy Priesthood. The Prophet Joseph Smith, inspired of God, laid the foundation of a Church that has not the like of it on the earth. Men wonder at it. They say, “What an organization you have; how wonderful it is.” It is wonderful because it is Divine, it came from God. Man’s wisdom did not devise it—man’s wisdom has not maintained it. Whatever there is about it, God must have the glory.

In conclusion, my brethren and sisters, I say to you, cleave to the truth, revere this book (the Bible) and the other books that we have received. These precious records contain the word of God. We can look back to olden times and see how our brethren and sisters did, and what God did for them, and how similarly he is blessing us now. These records are a source of comfort in the midst of affliction and trial; they are a source of blessing and joy to every soul who will peruse them and treasure up the truths therein contained.

May the Lord help us to be true to that which he has com– mitted to us, that after we have fought the good fight, after we have done all we can do for the salvation of our fellow creatures and the spread of truth, we may be received into the mansions of the blessed, there to dwell eternally with our God, and with those who have gone before, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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