Discourse by Elder Chas. W. Penrose, delivered in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, Sunday Afternoon, January 2nd, 1881.

I can endorse heartily the remarks that have been made to us by Brother John L. Smith, an old acquaintance whom I am pleased to see. I feel gratified to know that he is still laboring for Israel, that his heart is in the right place, and that his desires are, as they always have been so far as I have been acquainted with him, to serve God, to keep his commandments, and teach men so.

When Jesus was on the earth he said, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” I believe it is the object and desire of all our brethren who are called to occupy responsible positions in the midst of the people to carry out this saying of Jesus—that is, to keep his commandments themselves and to teach others to do the same. This desire, at any rate, should animate every one who is called to be a servant of God. It is not enough to believe in the Gospel; it is not enough to have faith in the work that God Almighty has commenced on the earth; it is not enough to have a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that angels have come from heaven, restored the Gospel and brought back the ancient priesthood, that God has commenced the great latter-day work spoken of by all the ancient prophets and that we are called to assist in that work—a mere testimony that this is the case is not enough. We are called to be workers of righteousness. And we are not only called to do what is right, but also to aid in establishing righteousness on the earth by teaching others to follow our example.

The religion which we have received is a practical religion. It offers something for us to do all the time. There is no need for us at any time to stand still, we are called to be active workers in the cause of God. Every man and every woman who has received the Gospel and been baptized into the Church is expected to take an active part in this work; not to leave it to those who are called upon to preside in the various wards and stakes and over the Church of God, but each one of us has an individual interest in this Church (or ought to have) and should manifest it by a desire to do something that the work of our God may roll forward in the earth.

We have had made plain to our understanding some few of the first principles of salvation, and these have been made clear to our minds not merely as objects of faith, but as something for us to lay hold of, as a guide to our feet, as a light to our path, and as an incentive to action. We are called to be Saints not only in the Assembly Hall, or in the Tabernacle, or in the place of prayer, but in every condition of life, and to bring into practice those things that God has made known to us to influence us in all that we do, that we might be a different people from the great mass of mankind, striving after the condition of sainthood—that is, to become holy in the Lord, to be sanctified in all our being to the service of the Almighty and the establishment of his kingdom and government on the earth. That is what we are here for, in these valleys of the mountains.

There is an idea in the world concerning religious affairs that they are mere matters of sentiment, something to think about, something to pray about, something to sing about, something to exalt the feelings. This is all very good so far as it goes, but it is only a small part of religion. Religion is not a mere matter of emotion or of sentiment, or of feeling. True religion is something to guide us, to make us better, to teach us in every respect. True religion will teach us how to use properly every power with which our great Creator has endowed us. True religion not only affects the spiritual part of our being, the internal part of man or woman, but affects the whole nature, spiritual, mental and physical. It comes here on the earth and is fitted to our condition where we live and while we live. It is adapted to us today. It not only unfolds to us something of the future and elevates that standard of beauty and perfection before us, that we expect some time to arrive at, but it unfolds to us our duty today and tells us how to act in every movement of our lives and in every condition in which we may be situated; in fact, there is no place that we may be called upon to occupy, or in which we may find ourselves, where our religion ought not to influence us in what we should do. Not only does our religion come to us to influence us in our acts, in our bodies as well as our spirits, but it also comes to us to direct us in our thoughts, that we may be able to turn our minds in the proper channel, so that we may think good thoughts and not evil, that we may have good desires and not evil, and that we may become so sanctified in our natures that the spirit and influence which comes direct, from God our Heavenly Father, who dwells in the bosom of eternity, may descend into our souls and have free and uninterrupted access thereto, and that we may become Saints, individually and collectively, a royal generation, a peculiar people, zealous of good works. This is the kind of religion we have received.

When we heard the Gospel and believed in Christ and in God the Father, and went forth repenting of our sins and were baptized for the remission of sins, and received the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, this was the beginning of our religion, these were the preliminary steps in the path that leads to the presence of God. When we came into the Church, having put off the old man with his deeds, we were supposed to have put on Christ, to pattern after him in all our acts, to seek for his spirit, to be guided by his example, so that by and by we might become as he is and fit to stand where he stands—in the presence of God, and abide there. Some people who are in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as some people outside the church, have an idea that salvation consists in belonging to a certain sect or party or in having a certain condition of mind. They do not grasp the idea that exaltation is only brought about through a natural process—the putting away of that which is evil and laying hold of that which is good; the putting away of that which is wrong and taking hold of that which is right: departing from the ways of the world and walking in the ways of God. We need to understand this fully and clearly, my brethren and sisters. You and I will not be saved in the presence of God with an exaltation like that which is held out to us simply because we are called Latter-day Saints, or because we have complied with a certain form of religion, or even because we have gone into sacred places and received holy ordinances whereby we might be washed and cleansed and made anew and anointed unto righteousness. We shall not be brought up into the presence of our Father to abide there and participate in his glory simply because of these things. If we ever get there to stay, it will be because we are fitted to be there, because we are prepared to abide his glory, to stand in his presence and rejoice with him and aid him in his glorious works in the midst of the universe. We will stay there because we are like him and fit to be where he is. If it is found that we are not like him, that we are not of his spirit, not actuated by the same motives that animate his bosom, not governed by the same laws, we shall not be able to abide his presence and cannot stay there. If we do stay there, it will be because we are fit to be there in the nature of things because natures correspond with his, our spirits harmonizing with his, our acts being controlled by the same motives and governed by the same laws as those by which he governs himself, and not merely because we have adopted a certain creed, not merely because we have bowed to a certain form, not merely because we have submitted to certain ordinances and ceremonies.

All these ordinances and ceremonies instituted by the Almighty and comprehended in that which is called the Gospel are necessary. There is no such thing as nonessential ordinances; every one of them is essential. Exaltation cannot be arrived at without them. But exaltation does not consist of the mere compliance to certain forms and ceremonies that the Almighty has instituted and placed in his Church. There is something more required, something superior to all this. What is it? It is the spirit that comes from our Father to dictate us in every act, to make us righteous and holy unto the Lord, and to sanctify us and bring us into complete subjection to and harmony with the laws that govern the celestial kingdom. There is no real happiness either in this world or the world to come except through obedience to proper law. That is the only way that happiness can be obtained. We ought to understand this and teach it to our children. There is a spirit growing in the world which leads mankind to throw off restraint, to cast aside laws and regulations, which leads people to become “a law unto themselves.” This is the teaching “spiritualism,” that peeping and muttering system. The expounders of that faith—if it may be called a faith—teach the doctrine of mankind becoming a law unto themselves—no forms, no ceremonies, no regulations—each one independent for himself and herself. Now, while we sing sometimes:

“Know this that every soul is free, To choose his life and what he’ll be;” and while we acknowledge,

“For this eternal truth is given, That God will force no man to heaven.” Yet on the other hand, we recognize the fact that there is a law given to all things in the economy of God in the heavens above and in the earth beneath. “All kingdoms have a law given.” So we are told here in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. We learn from that Book that, “there are many kingdoms; for there is no space in which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no space, either a greater or lesser kingdom. And unto every kingdom is given a law; and unto every law there are certain bounds also and conditions.” Every kingdom that is governed by law is preserved by law and sanctified by the same, no matter in what part of the universe it may be and those who abide the laws of that kingdom and that condition in which they find themselves, gain happiness and are preserved and sanctified and become exalted thereby. Now, although these laws are given of God, they do not interfere with the volition of man. Every man has his free agency. Light and truth are placed before us, truth and error are here, and we can choose the one and refuse the other, or refuse the one and choose the other, just as it was with our first parents in the garden of Eden. The history of the fall is placed before us that we might understand this great principle of agency; the tree of life and the tree of death, the tree of light and the tree of darkness. The Lord has said to us in substance, “I have placed before you truth and error, choose which you will receive. You can receive the light or the darkness, you can receive the truth or the error as you please; but by and by you must give an account of your acts.” We find ourselves here on this planet that God has created for us, a branch of his great family, and he has given us certain principles to govern ourselves by. He does not force them upon us. God will force no man to heaven or to hell; but if we choose we can lay hold of these principles and be governed thereby, and by doing that we will be improved in our nature in proportion to our reception of light and truth, and exaltation will come to us on this principle and no other.

This spirit of so-called independence, or “liberty,” as some persons misuse the term, is spreading throughout the world. It has its influence among us. There is to a certain extent in our midst a desire and disposition to throw off the restraint that comes from the heads of families, the influence that parents exercise over children, to rebel against the laws of the community in which we live, to resist the restriction that comes from the laws of the land, and from the laws of the Church—the laws of God. This spirit exists to a great extent in the world, and is bound to have more or less effect upon us here in the mountains, because, although we are in some degree separated from the world, yet we are also connected with the world, and must expect, as a part of the human family, that some among us will be more or less affected by this spirit. Now, we ought to get this idea clearly upon our minds and upon the minds of our children. We ought to understand the necessity of yielding obedience to proper laws. We ought to learn to understand the laws that pertain to our bodies so that they may be kept healthy. And we should become fully acquainted with the laws that govern our Church. Every principle that God has revealed should be clear to our minds, and in order to understand them we should read the books given to us, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. These ought to direct us in our every day lives. Then when we come to meeting and hear our brethren speak the word of the Lord, we should try to treasure up in our hearts the words of life, put them into practice, and also teach the same to our children; for it is on this principle that we will become prepared to go into the presence of God by and by, and not merely because we are called Saints, not merely because we have been ordained to some office in the priesthood, not merely because we may have been put into some position to preside or direct our fellows. This will not exalt us, but the practice of what is right and true will exalt us. In fact every person in doing what is good and right is naturally bettered thereby, and every individual in doing what is evil is degraded thereby. All our acts are known by the powers on high whom we cannot see. They understand us, although we may think no one sees what we do. Yet though no one should see us, if no one but ourselves knows our acts, if we do what is evil and debasing we are that much the worse for it; if we do that which is right and good we are that much the better for it. And if we practice righteousness and teach men, so we will become great in the kingdom of heaven on natural principles.

We should all live according to the laws of God, to the best of our ability—although we are beset with many weaknesses and infirmities and faults, many of which have been transmitted to us from our forefathers away back for ages and are concentrated in us who live in the latter days. But so far as we have power and ability, we are required to battle with and overcome our inherent failings, and if we take hold of the principles of righteousness, in the very act of doing that we are bettered, and if we continue in this path we will go on from grace to grace, from light to light, from purity to purity, from holiness to holiness, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” We must be clothed with his light, and be filled with his fullness, and be fit to stand in his presence and dwell with the Father. And this is the promise: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” There is no need for us at any time to be in the dark concerning our duties. We need not be in the dark concerning any act we desire to perform, if we will go to the Father and say, “Father, make thy will known to me. Enable me to walk in thy light to do that which is pleasing to thee; enable me to overcome all that is contrary to thy law.” If we live in this kind of spirit, there will always be a voice whispering in our souls telling us that which is right and wrong, and our progress will be onward and upward in the straight and narrow path that leadeth unto the eternal continuation of the lives.

Now, by and by, when we come into the presence of God to be judged we will be valued for what we are, not for what men have called us, not for what we have appeared to be to one another, but we will stand just as we are, with all of our spots and blemishes. If we are clean and white and pure when we appear in the presence of our Heavenly Father, and in the presence of the hosts around him, we shall be seen as such; if we are foul and evil, no matter how fair we have appeared to men, we will be comprehended as we are, we will “see as we are seen and known as we are known.” We shall not be able to hide our imperfections from one another. We shall be weighed in the balance, and if we are found wanting we cannot receive a fullness of glory. But, says someone, I have had certain blessings pronounced upon my head, I have been promised an exaltation in the presence of God; I have been promised thrones, principalities, powers and dominions, and are not the promises of God to be fulfilled? Yes; but every promise is made on certain conditions, and unless we comply with these conditions God cannot, in consonance with eternal justice, bestow those blessings upon us, no matter what may have been promised upon our heads. We are told that those who will not sanctify themselves by the law of the celestial kingdom cannot receive a celestial glory. Now, what glory will you and I have? Just exactly that glory we are fitted to have and no other. This is only just, and God must be just or he would cease to be God. Yet God will force no man or woman to keep the law of light and truth; but unless we live the laws of righteousness and obey the law of the celestial kingdom we cannot in the nature of things receive and abide a celestial glory. Then our chief business is to find out the law of God, and do that which is right and true and good. We should watch well the path of our feet and avoid everything that is evil; for that which is evil naturally contaminates and debases, and that which is good naturally purifies and exalts. We should all the time strive for the guidance of the Holy Spirit that we may be in harmony with those who are placed over us, and that we may train our desires and our acts so as to be in consonance with the mind and will of God.

Now, the Lord has made known to us a few things. We should make it our business to carry these things out, and we shall find the value of them by and by if we do not sense them today; for as I said just now when we are in the act of performing that which is right we become purified in our character, and more fit to abide the glory of our Father, while the less we do what is right the further we will be away from that purity which is necessary for dwelling in his presence. We expect to gain a celestial glory. That is what you and I started out to win. We are not satisfied, as our sectarian friends are, to sing:

“I want to be an angel, And with the angels stand.” That is not what you and I are aiming at. We are after a glory superior to that. We read that the Saints shall judge the angels. Who are the angels? They are ministering spirits to those that are worthy of “a far more, and exceeding, and eternal weight of glory.” That is what you and I have started out to gain, to obtain a celestial glory, to obtain a celestial crown, and we shall be satisfied with nothing else than that. How shall we obtain it? We shall obtain it in no other way than by abiding the laws that pertain to the celestial kingdom. Let us, then, find out the laws of the celestial kingdom as fast as we can and practice them, and if we make this the business of our lives we will find the Lord very near to us, we will find it easy to approach him and learn of his ways. We can have the still, small voice to make glad our souls and open out our understandings. We should live in this spirit, my brethren and sisters, so that we may enjoy happiness and peace today as well as the prospect of having eternal happiness and peace in the world to come.

I pray God, in the name of Jesus Christ, to stamp these truths upon our hearts, so that we may be able to order our lives by the laws of truth and righteousness, individually and as a people; that we may live for the Lord and for the truth, and for one another—not for selfish objects, but for the glory of God and the salvation of our race.

I feel thankful this afternoon to be in the congregation of the Saints, to be numbered among the people of the Most High God, and to take part in the religion that God Almighty has revealed in this day and age of the world. I know this is the work of God. I know this by the witness of the eternal spirit in my soul. I know the peace it brings when I act in consonance with its laws. My desire is to live as becomes a Saint of God; to live as a servant of the Most High; to incorporate in my being the principles that will make men and women holy and pure, for I know that they make men and women great. I desire to live these principles, and as far as I have ability to teach them to others, for I know that in them is joy and happiness, power and might—power to the spirit and might to the body. The power of God belongs to and is with this Church. It enters into our whole being, spiritual and physical. This work is good for the body and for the soul, and if we live according to the dictations of the Holy Spirit, we will be happier, stronger and mightier in all our being, and when we come up in the presence of the Father, having been purified and our robes made white through the blood of the Lamb and our faithfulness to the cause of truth, we will be able to abide the presence of the Great Eternal without shame.

May the blessing of God rest upon us, and may we be saved in the celestial kingdom of our Father, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President George Q. Cannon, delivered at the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, November 14, 1880.

It is exceedingly pleasing to me—and I have no doubt it is to all the Latter-day Saints—to hear the testimony of the servants of God who have gone forth as missionaries to the nations of the earth, and have returned bearing a faithful testimony concerning the work of God, and giving their experience in declaring the word unto the people.

The labors of the Elders of this Church are, in some respects, the most extraordinary of all the labors of the children of men with which I am acquainted. The preaching of what is called the Gospel is not uncommon. There are thousands upon thousands of men who profess to be ministers of life and salvation, and to be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, who devote their lives to the proclamation of those principles which they esteem necessary to salvation. But it is not a common thing for men to go forth, putting their trust in God and relying upon him for that sustenance which is necessary to enable them to live and to perform their missions. We have missionaries of various denominations who have come here, as they say, to enlighten us, to dissipate our errors, to put us on the right path and to point out to us a better plan of salvation than that which we possess. But they come here because they are paid to come. They make their living by coming. It is a profession like that of the physician or surgeon, who comes here to administer to our physical ailments. In this respect the Elders of this Church differ from all others. They go out without purse and scrip, relying upon the Lord, putting their trust in him, devoting their time, their energies, and the ability that God has given unto them for the purpose of enlightening their fellow men concerning that which they know to be the truth. I do not know any greater evidence than this that men could give to their fellow men of their sincerity. And when men go forth in this way they are very likely to live so that the spirit of the mighty God of Jacob will be with them, they are likely to feel after it, to seek in faith to obtain God’s blessing. When a man is hungry, when he is without money, when he has no friends, he is very apt to feel after some Being that has power; if he has any faith in God he is very apt to exercise it, and by the constant exercise of that faith, if he did not know before he went upon his mission that God lives, that God is near, that he hears and answers prayer, he would be very likely to learn these things before a great while, and so become strengthened in his faith so that he would ask, believing when he did ask that he would receive the very thing that he desired. God in his mercy has commanded his people to take this course. He has commanded his Elders to go forth and preach his Gospel, not for a salary, not for hire, not for the sake of enjoying pleasant times and the favor of mankind, but that they may be the means in his hands of saving the world and of bearing such a testimony to the world concerning this Gospel, that it will be left without excuse, at the same time promising his servants that he would raise up friends to them that they should have their needs supplied. It is one of the most remarkable things connected with this Church, that from the day it was founded until the present time no man has gone forth called of God to proclaim the Gospel in faith, but he has returned bearing testimony that God has opened his way, that God has fed him, that God has clothed him, that God has put it into the hearts of people to assist him, that he has traveled by sea, traveled by land, traveled amongst strangers in lands where strange languages were spoken—yet at no time has he ever lacked for food, raiment, or any of those things which were necessary to enable him to accomplish the mission upon which he had been sent.

As a people, brethren and sisters, we do not appreciate the value of this training. I am satisfied that we ourselves scarcely comprehend the blessing there is in such educational conditions. In an age of almost universal skepticism it is of the utmost value to us as a people that we should receive the training that our Elders get when they go abroad among the nations of the earth preaching the Gospel. Without it we should lack opportunities of testing the Lord, of being tested ourselves in regard to our faith, of proving to our own satisfaction that God lives, and that God hears and answers prayer, and that he does interpose in behalf of the humble, the weak and the insignificant when they approach him in faith in the name of Jesus and ask for this interposition. A perusal of the journals of the Elders of this Church who have kept daily record of that which they have endured and witnessed, and the various incidents of their missions would be as interesting as the acts of the Apostles in the New Testament; for God has manifested Himself in the most extraordinary manner in their behalf. Many of this people, before they heard of the organization of the Church, read the acts and teachings of the Apostles and of the Savior, and also Paul’s Epistles, and their souls yearned for a day of such power upon the earth. Many who are here today, many thousands throughout this Territory, who are now connected with this Church, have wished that they could have lived at a time when these acts were being performed, when such men as are described in the New Testament had an existence upon the earth. But the history of the Elders of this Church—the miracles and manifestations of God’s power which they have witnessed and been the instruments in performing—would make a book far larger than any record we have handed down to us.

Today, the existence of God may be said to be only known by personal experience, to comparatively few people. Thousands throughout Christendom think they know, because of their traditions, that God lives and that Jesus is the Son of God. Their fathers, their mothers, their priests, their school teachers, have indoctrinated them with the idea that there is such a Being as God, and that Jesus his Son is the Savior and redeemer of the world, and they fancy they know and understand these things. But how many are there who can testify, by personal experience that they know that God lives? How many can say that they have asked for and re– ceived, through imploring in the name of Jesus, the very blessings that they desired and needed? Comparatively few people out of the masses that live upon the earth. Hence it is that God has removed himself far from them, and they say there is no use in calling upon God, there is no use in inculcating a belief that he will hear and answer prayer, that he will interpose in behalf of individuals, or that he will suspend—to use another phrase —great natural laws to accomplish certain results. Yet God does not suspend natural laws when he interposes in behalf of his people. We are told in the New Testament that Jesus ascended in the sight of certain individuals into heaven. The law of gravitation apparently may be said to have been suspended, or the law which confines bodies to the earth—the law by which we are governed; but the Savior understood a higher law; he understood laws by which he could accomplish this, and at the same time not interfere with the general law that governs human bodies, and so in all these matters God can interpose his power; he can hear and answer the prayers of those who are humble and seek unto him. He can give unto them the desires of their hearts in a way that is his own; He can operate by unseen influences upon men’s minds, and lead them to certain things that will result in the fulfillment of the desires of others, concerning which they have offered their prayers unto the Lord. In this respect the Latter-day Saints occupy, so far as I know a unique position.

Brother Nicholson remarked that he could see among the young men who had gone forth to preach of late years, a wonderful zeal, and growth in faith. This will be more and more the case. The agencies that are now at work in our midst, our Sunday Schools—the scholars of which number upwards of thirty thousand—our Young Men’s and Young Women’s Associations—the members of which are numbered by thousands—are doing a vast amount of good. The young are being trained in the reading of the Scriptures. And who can read the Scriptures without believing that God is, and that he hears and answers prayers? What is there in the Bible to lead a reader to believe that faith shall not be exercised today as much as at any time in the world’s history, or that revelation from God shall not be enjoyed today as much as 1,800 years ago? He who reads the Bible and believes in the equality of man, believes in the justice of God, and his unchangeable character, that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, will have faith spring up in his heart concerning the possibility of having knowledge from God, and of God’s speaking, of sending his messages to the earth today as well as he did in ancient days. I do not believe that a child can be found who, if the New Testament be given to him or to her, and he or she read it without the bias which comes from the interposition of friends and the comments of teachers, will not have faith in God, and will not desire to know why it is that God does not work miracles in these days, and why God’s power is not manifested now as it was in ancient days. These inquiries will naturally spring up in their hearts, and their desire to share in these blessings will be as natural to them as any other thoughts would be. Certainly, they will have no idea unless they are taught it, that these gifts and blessings are no longer to be enjoyed by men upon the earth. It is false teaching that generates such ideas in the mind of the children of men, not the Bible itself, not the New Testament, not anything that is written within either of those books, but they are ideas that come from outside of the Bible. But it is said if these things have not ceased, if it was not the will of God that they should cease, why is it that we do not have these manifestations now as they had in ancient days? Why is it that God does not speak now? Why is it that angels do not minister unto men now? Why is it that the Holy Ghost is not poured out now? Why are there no persons possessing the gift of healing, and other manifestations of the power of God? Why is it that Christendom has been for ages without these blessings and gifts in their midst?

These are very reasonable inquiries, and the answer to them is to be found in the history of the Church, in this fact: that mankind would not permit a servant of Jesus to live in their midst who did such things, from the days of himself and his apostles down to the days of the restoration of the Gospel in its purity to the earth. Inspired men have not been permitted to live in their midst. Even men who professed to have a little light, who did not profess to have received revelation, but who claimed that it was their privilege to seek unto God and to find him and obtain knowledge from him, to a certain extent, were persecuted unto death. Read the history of the various reformed churches from the days of the Apostles down until the present time, or to within fifty years, and you will find that this has always been the result. Mankind have been determined that a reformed religion, and cer– tainly revelation from God, should not be introduced in their midst. They would not have it. We have seen it in our own age, in this enlightened nation, occupying the foremost rank of all the nations of the earth, prominent for liberty, and for the freedom of its government, laws and institutions.

Joseph Smith, the Prophet of God, did not arrogate to himself any superiority over his fellows, but he said that every man might be a prophet of God, might have the testimony of Jesus Christ, if he would live for it. He did not go among the people and say, “I have been chosen and elected to be something superior to all the rest of you; I have received blessings which no other man can receive.” This was not his doctrine nor his teaching, but he said that every man that would obey the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and have the ordinances administered to him by one having authority, should receive the Holy Ghost, and that would make him a prophet, it would fill him with the Spirit of God, which is the spirit of prophecy; and because he declared this, because he declared the equality of man before God, because he contended that the souls of men in the nineteenth century were as precious in the sight of God as they were in the first century of the Christian Era, or at any time anterior to that era; because he declared that God was the same in these days as he was in ancient days; because he declared that God was not a God who made distinction among his creatures; that he did not manifest light to one generation and refuse it to another who were equally faithful in seeking for it—because he declared these doctrines in this nation and in this age his life was sacrificed. Our existence today in these mountains, the existence of Utah as a Territory in its present form, is due to religious intolerance, and is due also to the fact that a community has grown up who contend for religious equality before God, who claim that they are as good as their fathers in the sight of God, who contend that, however weak and fallible they may be, they at least are the children of God, and the heavens are open to them, if they have equal faith, as they were to their fathers who lived 1,800 or 2,000 or 3,000 years ago. Utah became an organized territory because of this fact; that there had been begotten in the hearts of the people the feeling to seek after God as their fathers did, to seek for him that they might find him and obtain knowledge from him for themselves, not content to read of the blessings, of the powers, and gifts, and of the ordinances of salvation that were extended to others, thousands of years ago. The mere reading of these things would not satisfy this people. Nothing short of the actual realization of the blessings would satisfy the yearnings of their soul. And they stand today as a living protest against religious intolerance, and in favor of the old faith that existed upon the earth thousands of years ago, seeking for the old paths, teaching their children that God is the same today that he ever was, and that they must seek unto him as they did in ancient days to obtain knowledge of him and from him. And we began in this way: The Lord commanded us to go without purse or scrip—a good way of testing us to see whether our desires to know him were real or not—to go out in the midst of a cruel and unfeeling world, opposed to us, opposed to the ideas we entertained, priests feeling as they did in ancient days, that their craft was in danger. “Why,” said they, “here are men who will destroy all our creed. We shall have no pay for our preaching if this becomes popular, our profession will be destroyed,” and from the day that proclamation was made to the present time the strongest opponents of this Church and of this people have been men who preach for hire, and whose creeds have been in danger by the proclamation of these truths. Today religious conventions cannot be held without “Mormonism” being introduced and advanced as something against which the power of the nation should be directed.

The Lord has been with us and has helped us or we could not have done what has been done. It has been his blessing, it has been the manifestation of his power, that has shielded and upheld this people. His word has gone forth concerning this work. It will not return unfulfilled. Commencing with six members, this Church has increased until it is a power in the earth, and there is no nation which has not heard of this strange people living in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. The ideas we have taught are revolutionizing the earth, silently and slowly in some respects, but nevertheless as thoroughly. We are few in number, but the power and influence of the ideas which we advocate wield a power that we here do not fully understand. This will increase. As I have said to you and to others, the qualities that are possessed by the Latter-day Saints will never die. They cannot die unless you kill the people themselves. Talk about destroying this work! When you destroy the Church of Christ, and virtue, union, industry, frugality and temperance from the face of the earth, the world will destroy “Mormonism,” as it is called. But a people with such qualities as we exhibit, as God has developed within us, cannot be killed. Ideas have been begotten and given birth to that will continue to grow and increase until they fill the whole earth, because they are true and divine. If there were only half a dozen men left alive who had this organization and held these principles, they would continue to grow and gather adherents and spread on the right hand and on the left. The principles are indescribable in their character. A faith has been begotten, a faith been born that will continue to live and increase and spread abroad, from the very fact that it is true, and truth always finds a lodgment in the hearts of the honest. There is no way to destroy this unless those who entertain a belief in it are destroyed. That can be done, but it is not likely to be done. It was done in the days of the Apostles, for the reason that the churches were scattered abroad, here and there. They were surrounded by their enemies. Satan had power in the earth. The Apostles were slain one after another. Every man that raised his voice in favor of divine revelation from God, or contended for the equality of man before God, and the unchangeableness of God, was slain. The Church was scattered abroad. Paul built up branches throughout Asia Minor. Other Apostles built branches of the Church wherever they could find a place where the people would receive the truth. But they were surrounded by adverse influences, and the Apostles and Saints were not allowed to live. And we in this day would be destroyed if we were alone, if these influences were left to operate against us. You surround a few people by multitudes who are actively hostile and aggres– sive against them, and how difficult it is for them to maintain their foothold! This was the condition of the churches in the days of the Apostles. They were scattered abroad throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, and on many islands. The Apostles had gone forth wherever they could find an opening. Thousands had been organized into the Church, and in these various branches there were men who had inspiration from God, who had the authority of the Holy Priesthood, who could ask of God and receive from him knowledge for the guidance of the people. While these men remained the Church continued to grow. But persecution sought the lives of men of this character. They were singled out and slain until not one was left, until a universal silence reigned. Throughout all the nations of the earth, not a voice was heard to disturb the silence, no heavenly messenger, no voice from the eternal world, no man that had the authority to say, “thus saith the Lord.” The heavens became as brass over the heads of the children of men, all communication was cut off, and of course the Church fell, the Priesthood departed, the ordinances were changed, and those who survived with a little faith accommodated themselves to the circumstances surrounding them. That was the condition in early days.

But how the condition has changed! God in his mercy concealed this continent from the eyes of the world. For ages it remained here a secret place. Neither the Atlantic nor the Pacific could be penetrated until the set time came. Then a man was found who was moved upon by the Spirit of God. He became possessed of an idea that would not die, and his idea prevailed eventually. Ships were launched upon the great ocean, and the continent of America was discovered. God has revealed the reason this continent was concealed for so many ages. If it had been known to early ages, it would have been overrun, and there would have been no room for the great work of the last days. But he organized a government upon this land. He sustained the men who founded it. He filled them with His Spirit and enabled them to fight all the battles necessary to establish religious, social and political freedom, and a system of government was formed under which his kingdom could be set up, with all its institutions, without interfering in the least with the Constitution. In the Lord’s own due time this Church was brought forth. The messengers of life and salvation were sent to the nations of the earth proclaiming that God had established His Church, and inviting them to come to a land of liberty. Thousands have been gathered here from that day to this, fulfilling in a most remarkable manner the predictions of the prophets concerning the gathering of the people in the last days. The circumstances which surrounded us are very different from those which surrounded our predecessors. We are a compact body. We believe in gathering; we believe in one people of one faith living together, worshiping God according to the dictates of their own consciences. This presents a solid phalanx against opposition and persecution. We cannot be slain today in detail as our brethren were 1,800 years ago. The ideas we believe in are being disseminated among our children. We are increasing. The teachings of history are that a people like us have a destiny, and they cannot be pre– vented from fulfilling it. You take two communities, one a multiplying community and the other only partially multiplying, and what will be the result? But I need not dwell upon this. There is a line of thought connected with this which you can reflect upon at your leisure.

God has given unto us the conditions that are suitable for the accomplishment of the great work that he has said shall be established and carried forward in the last days, and we are connected with it; and there is this to distinguish it from all others—it is not a man-made system. Men may say and think what they please about it, but from the President of the Church down to the last man who has entered into the Church in sincerity, there is a faith and a knowledge that this work is of God, and the Presidency believe this as much as the humblest man in the Church and more too. It is this that gives power, it is this that gives influence. It is because they are filled with a knowledge concerning it that they have lived it, that they have contended for it, that they have passed through persecutions to establish it, that they are not unwilling to die for it, if it should be necessary. And this is the case with the whole people. Why? Because they are deluded? Because they are dupes? Because they are deceived? No, but because God has opened the heavens and poured out His Holy Spirit upon them and given them a testimony for themselves of the truth of this work. The Norwegian, the Swede, the Dane, the native of Switzerland, or the German, Frenchman, Irishman, Englishman, or the American, together with the Icelanders, Sandwich Islanders—all receive it in their own lands, all bearing testimony in the selfsame words, that God has given them a testimony of the truth of this work. Destroy it! You might as well try to destroy the heavens themselves, or to overthrow the throne of Jehovah. It is true. It will live. Men may fall away—for men are weak mortals—man may deny the faith, man may say this is all a delusion; men may die, but the grand truth still lives. It has found a lodgment in the hearts of honest men and women. And they are increasing. Their children are multiplying. They are spreading abroad on the right hand and on the left; living virtuous, temperate, frugal, industrious lives, loving God and loving their neighbors.

Are there exceptions? Yes, we are human. The devil still lives, and he has power to tempt. Therefore we have exceptions in our midst. Nevertheless those qualities are increasing and multiplying. Men are found who possess them, and those growing up to manhood and womanhood are also found to possess them. They know God and ask Him, believing that they will have the desires of their hearts granted unto them. And thus the work of God is spreading abroad throughout the earth, finding a place in the hearts of people, humble, it is true, but people who are independent—people who are the noblest of earth’s sons, for the reason that they are not afraid to embrace that which is unpopular. The work of natural selection is going on in that way. This Gospel is naturally selecting the best of the people from the midst of the earth—men and women in humble station, from the lower ranks of life, in the most of instances, although there are some exceptions, some noble exceptions; but notwithstanding the lowliness of their origin and their surroundings, they are people of independent thought, people who dare embrace a truth though it be unpopular, and cling to it in the midst of all the influences that are brought to bear against them. Out of such materials the Lord is building up a Church, building up a people, bestowing His blessings upon them.

It would not do for His people to be anything else but valiant, and when they pass through the ordeal they will be like gold seven times purified. In days gone by it was the mob, it was the burning of houses, driving the people from their lands, and this has been followed by ordeals just as trying in their character, as far as testing the people is concerned. By this process the people are becoming stronger in the Lord. Their feet are planted upon a rock. They have proved God for themselves, known him for long years in the midst of trials, temptations and vicissitudes such as no other people on the face of the earth know anything about.

I thank God for this. I thank him every day that I live for this Church. I thank him that I am a Latter-day Saint. If I can only have a name among this people I feel as though I could have no greater comfort. I wish to be associated with a people of this kind, a people who love the Lord and are willing to do anything to show their faith in and their love for him, and if it were necessary, to lay down their lives for the truth. I cannot help loving a people of this kind. They have weaknesses and faults. I have them too. We are alike in this respect. If they will bear with me I will strive to bear with them. I know this is the Church and Kingdom of God. I know that those who cling to it will, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, receive glory and exaltation at his right hand. I know that people who love him, as the Latter-day Saints do, and are willing to make sacrifice, will not be forgotten by him. He will not forget them in the day that he makes up his jewels; he will bless them and honor them.

That we may remain faithful and true unto the end, and be counted worthy to receive an exaltation in the kingdom of our God is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt and Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Sept. 19th, 1880.

It is with peculiar feelings that I arise to address this congregation who are assembled this afternoon. An event in regard to myself has this day happened that generally only happens once in the course of a man’s life. Fifty years ago today I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hence, it might be said that it is in reality a year of jubilee, so far as I am concerned—I mean that the past year, which is the fiftieth year of my membership in the Church, closing with today, has been, indeed and in truth, a year of jubilee.

There is another thing, connected with these fifty years in the Church, that is also pleasing to your humble servant. Sixty-nine years ago today I was born into this world, making this day a double birthday to myself. How very thankful I ought to be for this great privilege which has been bestowed upon me. The hearing of the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, yielding obedience to the same, and entering into the Church and kingdom of God, in my early youth, certainly is a blessing that is worthy of all thanks and praise to my Father who is in heaven, who granted this privilege to me in my youth. There were many scores of millions—yes, hundreds of millions of the inhabitants of our globe that did not enjoy this privilege.

It seems that the Lord our God, some fifty years ago and a little upwards, saw proper to organize his kingdom, to establish it on the earth by the ministration of holy angels, and by the revelations of his Spirit, and by sending down authority from the heavens to minister here on the earth, and by bringing forth that great and precious record, the Book of Mormon, and causing the same to be printed for the benefit of all mankind. How great a privilege conferred on me, to come to the understanding of the contents of that book when I was but nineteen years of age! How great a privilege to live in a day and age of the world when God has again revealed himself to the children of men! There have been many periods of time since the creation in which the heavens, in an especial manner, have been favorable to the children of men, by sending communications and revelations from on high. But a long time had intervened, during which no such privilege had been granted to mortal man. So far as the nations of the Eastern Hemisphere were concerned, upwards of seventeen centuries had passed away, during which they were left in darkness, having no legally authorized minister, no one that could legally baptize, or administer the Lord’s Supper, or build the Church of God, or administer in any of the ordinances of his Gospel; that was a long time for the nations to be left in darkness. So far as our Western Hemisphere is concerned, they were not left quite so long a period without information from the heavens. Some fourteen hundred years and upwards had passed away, on this Western continent, during which the people were left in darkness; hence, the whole earth for fourteen centuries, at least, had no Gospel preached by divine authority, no Church of the living God in any quarter thereof—so far as we are acquainted. It is true, that during these fourteen centuries the nations had a book that contained the history of the Gospel as it was preached in ancient times—a book called the Bible. But a book containing the history of the Gospel is one thing, and the power and authority to administer the ordinances of the Gospel is another thing; they are entirely distinct. A book, itself, authorizes no man, under the whole heavens, to build up the Church of Christ; it authorizes no man to preach the Gospel. No man ever receives divine authority by means of an ancient book that was given to prophets and inspired men centuries before he was born. We never knew of the Lord’s calling men by ancient books. If the Lord calls anyone in this day, it is by a new revelation, not a revelation given 1,800 years ago. How inconsistent it would be to suppose that a man is now called to sit in the presidential chair of the United States, because we have the history that Washington once sat in that chair. Would that authorize any person, among the scores of millions of the population of these States, to go and take possession of that chair, and undertake to administer in the office of a president over this great people? The thing would be so ridiculously absurd, that the people would rise up universally and condemn any such imposition. So in regard to the things of God. God is a God of order. And if mankind have an order in relation to authority to administer in governmental affairs, how much more the Lord? Has he not as much wisdom as his creatures? Is the Lord so much beneath his own creation that he would prefer illegality to legality? That he would let anyone assume the authority and power without calling him to an account in the great judgment day? “But,” inquires one, “how do you know, Mr. Pratt, but what the Lord has called some one during the many centuries that you say the people have lived in darkness? How do you know but what he has authorized servants and ministers, to proclaim his Gospel among the children of men?” Now this is a very important point. I do not blame those who have not considered this subject, in putting such a question. It is perfectly reasonable that they should inquire how a person may know what grounds we have for supposing that there has been no one commissioned with divine autho– rity, during the fourteen centuries that have rolled over the heads of the people, until the Lord sent his angel, upwards of fifty years ago, and restored the authority. There are various reasons that can be advanced to prove that the earth has been destitute of any such authority. One reason is, that among the three or four hundred millions of Christendom, or those who profess to be the followers of Christ, we find one universal belief among them, and they have acted upon that belief, namely: that God gives no new revelation to the inhabitants of the earth during their day. That is enough for me; it is all the evidence that I would want, although there is an abundance of other evidence; but that is sufficient for me to know that God never sent them. “But,” inquires one, “may not a person be sent of the Lord, be divinely commissioned, and yet no revelation be given in his day?” I answer, impossible, impossible! “But,” you may still further inquire, “may not others who received divine revelation in ancient times, have communicated that authority to their contemporaries who outlived them? And may not those contemporaries, thus receiving divine authority, have conferred it upon others still younger, and they upon others? And thus, may not the authority have been handed down by a regular succession of ordination, from the days of the apostles to our own period of time?” I will say that would be possible, just the same as the Church of God, in the first century of the Christian era, delivered the authority to preach and administer ordinances from one to another, among the various nations of the earth; it was continued along during the whole of that century—just as easily it could have continued, the second century, and the third, and each succeeding century down to our own time.

Here, then, arises another question—may not the authority have thus been transferred? I answer—where has there been an unbroken succession of that same authority that was administered in the first century? I will tell you where the succession was broken. In the very period that new revelation ceased to be given to the human family, no further succession could be continued. It would be impossible for any person to be ordained with divine authority, for instance, to the apostleship, unless there was some person that had authority, and had really obtained divine intelligence, by new revelation, from the heavens, that such authority should he conferred upon some other person. When did divine revelation cease? Where shall we go for testimony upon this subject? So far as the inhabitants of the eastern portions of our globe were concerned, divine authority ceased about the close of the first century of the Christian era. Why did it cease? Because we have no account of any new revelation having been given after the close of that century; and when new revelation ceased: divine callings ceased; divine authority ceased; persons ceased to confer that authority in succession; because, for this obvious reason, they, without new revelation, did not know whom to call; they did not know who should be authorized to receive the apostleship, or any other calling. Every person, during the first century of the Christian era, who was ordained with authority and power to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel, was ordained by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Timothy was a young man, compared with many of the apostles. He only received the calling, be– stowed upon him through the laying on of the hands of the servants of God, or of those who were authorized, by new revelation, to administer and to confer authority upon him. Thus it is written in this good book (the Bible) that Paul, who was authorized as an apostle, called Timothy by virtue of the spirit of revelation and prophecy. “Neglect not,” said Paul, “the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying of the hands of the presbytery.” And when we speak of missions, in those early periods of Christianity no person assumed to go on a mission among the inhabitants of the earth, unless he was sent, unless he was set apart. Even as great a man as the Apostle Paul had no authority to go forth as a missionary, only by the laying on of the hands of the persons who administered to him. Hence, it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, that the Holy Ghost said unto certain prophets that were in the Church at Antioch, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” Here is a new revelation. Saul could not be separated and set apart to any work of the ministry, only as the Lord called him; and that calling was made known to the prophets that were in the Church at Antioch. If peradventure, a man had been called by the spirit of revelation and prophecy, and set apart by the laying of the hands of a prophet or apostle, to be an especial minister to the nations of the earth, there would arise still another great question to be solved, in regard to whether that man, thus set apart, could fulfil the object of his mission without new revelation? I say that it would be utterly impossible. No man can fill a mission acceptably before the heavens, unless God should give to him revela– tion, from time to time, to direct him in all his missionary labors. We have abundant testimony in the New Testament concerning this matter. Even when some of the very greatest revelators that we have any record of undertook to do things of their own accord, they were led directly different from their own judgments, in regard to their missionary labors. Paul had, at a certain time, a great desire to visit a certain place; such desire arose from his own natural judgment; but the Holy Ghost forbade him. Here it required a new revelation to know whether his own inclinations should be followed or not. Again, we find that the revelations of the Most High were very necessary in the case of the travels of these missionaries, among the inhabitants of the earth, Philip had done a great work in the city of Samaria. He had succeeded in convincing large numbers, concerning Jesus, and had baptized them, and organized a great church in the city of Samaria. One would have thought that after having performed labors of such magnitude, he would be required to stay among that people, and administer to them; but no; the Lord gave a new revelation to the man Philip. He said, “Arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.” In other words, “leave your present field of labor; you can do more good somewhere else.” Now, a man left to his own judgment, without new revelation, would not want to go somewhere else; his own inclinations would be to stay where so many had received his testimony. But no; the Spirit of God thought differently. “Arise Philip, go unto the south country.” He was not told what he should do in the South country, but he started off according to the new revelation. And after journeying a short distance, he saw a chariot before him, probably driving along at a slow pace, and it required another revelation. The old one that he got awhile before, requiring him to go to the south, he had already begun to fulfil. But while he yet journeyed, he did not know his further duty; and if God had not given him new revelations, he would have gone forth blindly in his missionary labor. But another revelation came, “Go near, and join thyself to his chariot.” He therefore obeyed, and when he arrived at the chariot, he found a man reading not the new Testament, but the law and the prophets. Philip, being wrought upon by the Holy Ghost, said unto this man, “Understandest thou what thou readest?” “How can I,” said the man in the chariot, “except some man should guide me?” And Philip began to explain unto him the things that he happened to be reading from the prophecies of Isaiah, concerning Jesus, and Philip was invited into the chariot. They rode along until they came to where there was water of sufficient depth to attend to baptism, for it seems that Philip had converted, or, in other words, had proved by his arguments that Jesus was the very Christ, and the man desired baptism and the chariot stood still, and Philip went down into the water and baptized him. Now Philip had no authority to confirm by the laying on of hands, as is evident, in the case of those who were baptized in the great city of Samaria. There was great rejoicing there because Philip had baptized them, but none had received the Holy Ghost, till another authority, higher than that of Philip, came and laid hands upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost; having baptized these peo– ple, he could go no further; he could not administer the blessing of the Holy Ghost; and hence, having fulfilled the object of the two revelations on this subject, the Lord had another place for him. He did not go there of his own accord, but it required a very powerful manifestation to get him away from that water; the scriptures testify that “the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.” Have you ever heard anything of the kind in these days, where men, in fulfilling their missions, have been caught away to some other place? “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with the wings of eagles;” says the Prophet Isaiah. Philip must have been borne, as it were upon eagle’s wings. Now if a person—a man light enough, I mean—could get on an eagle’s wings and be carried through the air, it would be a very good representation of some of those that wait upon the Lord.

I mention these various circumstances—and might mention scores of others—to show, that without the Spirit of the living God, to impart revelations, no man could administer to his fellow man, no man would have the authority to administer. This brings me back to the statement I have already made. You recollect the question is, can it be proved, or is there any evidence that there has been any man called to the ministry among all the nations during the long period to which I have referred? We take their own testimony. They say that there has been no revelation since the first century of the Christian era. Who says so? The whole Catholic church to begin with, and the Greek Church, another branch of the Christian church so called, and then the Protestants that protested against those two branches, and came out from among them, have continued the same false traditions, that no new revelation is needed—that the last revelation which was intended for the human family was given towards the close of the first century of the Christian era; They do not seem to know how such an expression, if admitted, cuts them off from all authority and power which are divine; they do not seem to know that they cannot possibly be ordained by proper authority, unless God speaks again; they do not seem to know that the writings of men who are dead and gone, centuries ago, do not authorize them to preach the Gospel, nor give them any divine authority to administer its ordinances. Hence you see the impossibility of there being a regular succession from generation to generation, because of the want of new revelation. A great many other testimonies might be brought to prove this fact, but this one is sufficient. “Well then,” says one, if your arguments be true, if your belief be correct, there has been no Christian church on the earth for many generations.” We can come to no other conclusion; there is no half-way business about it. We come to testify that there has been no church on the earth that God has recognized as his church for the last fourteen centuries, at least; and among the European nations and the nations of Asia and Africa there has been none since the close of the second century of the Christian era. What a woeful condition it is for the inhabitants of the earth to be in. We would be in the same condition that they are, if God had not condescended again to give new revelation; and this brings me to the subject of the Book of Mormon.

Fifty-three years will have passed away, next Wednesday morning, the 22nd day of September, since the gold plates of the Book of Mormon were delivered into the hands of a boy, by the name of Joseph Smith, a farmer’s boy, an illiterate boy, uneducated in the higher branches of learning, uneducated in regard to what is contained in the Old and New Testament, uneducated in the dogmas and creeds of men, uneducated in all branches of science, except it be some of the first principles, the rudiments of education, as taught in the common schools of the State of New York. I say, fifty three years have almost expired since this great, this marvelous, this wonderful event happened; since an angel of God delivered sacred records into the hands of an illiterate, common youth, not yet twenty-two years of age. Such was the beginning, as it were, of a great revelation. I will not say the precise time of the beginning; for God prior to this time had given revelation to this youth on many occasions. The first one that he gave to him was in the spring of 1820, before Joseph Smith was of the age of fifteen. Then a wonderful revelation was given to him, the first one he ever received. In a great and glorious open vision, in answer to his prayers, there was the manifestation of two of the great personages in the heavens—not angels, not messengers, but two persons that hold the keys of authority over all the creations of the universe. Who were they? God the Eternal Father and his Son Jesus Christ, through whom God the Father made the worlds! These glorious personages descended from heaven; two personages whose countenances outshone the sun at noonday; two personages clothed with a pillar of light round about them, descended, stood before this lad, and revealed themselves to him. He saw their countenances; he saw the glory of their personages; he heard the glorious words that proceeded from the Father, as he pointed to his Son and said, to Joseph, “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” This was a new revelation; something different from what had been made manifest for a great many centuries, according to the declarations of the articles and creeds of men. How often I have read the declaration of King James’ translator of the Bible, wherein King James is represented as the head of the church, and wherein the Bible, as translated by those that were chosen and appointed for that purpose, was intended for the light and benefit of the children of men; and for fear that mankind would cavil on the subject these uninspired men, the translators, in connection with those who were in their council, concluded to tell the people that this was the whole canon of scripture; in other words, we have translated sixty-six books, and they are compiled, or about to be compiled and printed for the benefit of mankind; and these sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament are the only books that Christians should receive, the only revelation that they should have to guide them in all their future lives. The people were just simple enough to believe what they said—just simple enough to take it for granted, because learned men, that were not inspired of God, had made this unqualified, unproved declaration. Now, “we, the Church of England, must get up, besides these 66 books, some ‘Articles of Faith’—some thirty-nine Articles we will invent. We have got no pro– phets among us to write these Articles—no inspired revelator sent from God; and therefore, we will originate out of our own hearts something that will prevent the people from receiving any new revelation. We will cunningly tell them that these 66 books, called the Bible, contain all the revelation that God ever gave to man.” What further have you to say in your thirty-nine articles? “We say that every person that does not limit and confine his faith to the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament, or if he undertakes to receive any other revelation, he is to be expelled from our church. That is what is said—not directly, but indirectly. In other words, every person who pretends to be a prophet, he is not to be a person considered worthy of belonging to our church.” Has any other church but the Church of England adopted these false, soul-destroying delusions? Yes, a great many others. They have invented articles—not exactly thirty-nine, but articles of faith, creeds they are called in some instances, and disciplines in others, and so on. What are the objects of these? They are not revelation; God had nothing to do with giving them, men wrote them out of their own uninspired hearts, but they were all very careful to take up the ideas inculcated in the days of King James, namely, that the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament were to be their rule of faith, and be their guide and nothing else was to be received as inspired. Oh, how blind! If they did but know it these very declarations in these articles and creeds would cut them off from all authority. But they were just simple enough to receive such a false doctrine; just simple enough to accept their want of authority before God; and thus by their own acknowledgement, by their own printed works they prove to the whole world that God did not establish their churches, that God did not establish among them the ancient order of things; for the ancient Church of the living God was never destitute of the spirit of revelation.

If the Lord had left us in this condition, we would have been wandering in darkness to this day. The people who are here assembled this afternoon, would be no better off than the Protestant denominations, no better off than the Greek and Roman Catholic Churches that have existed from generation to generation, during many long centuries of apostasy. But God having looked upon the darkness that covered the earth, and the minds of the people, having looked upon the people that were honest in heart, and seeing the dilemma in which they were placed—without inspiration, without any knowledge that comes from heaven in their day, without anyone who has the right and the authority from heaven to baptize—concluded to fulfil that which was predicted by the ancient apostles, namely, to send an angel again to the inhabitants of the earth. It was a long time for the earth to be left without angels. Perhaps some of you may inquire, “Why did the Lord leave the people so long? Why did so many generations pass away, and no Church of Christ on the earth, no prophets, no revelators, etc.?” It was because of the apostasy of the people; and then after the apostasy commenced, near the close of the first century, they killed off the apostles, prophets and revelators—killed off the Saints who embraced the true Gospel, and the world became so exceedingly wicked and corrupt that the Lord did not see proper to send them any other message. But perhaps you may inquire, must all those people who have lived so many generations ago, go down to an endless perdition in the eternal worlds, because no one had authority on the earth to administer Gospel ordinances to them? No; the Lord is more just than this. Every man and every woman that has not had the privilege of hearing the Gospel in this life, preached by one holding divine authority, will have the opportunity of hearing it in the world to come; so that there is no partiality, so far as the preaching of the Gospel is concerned. But, says one, there is a little partiality, it seems to me; for some have the privilege of hearing the Gospel in this life, instead of waiting till the next. But the Lord in looking upon the various generations upon the earth, judges after this wise: that when a people become so darkened, through their own apostasy, through their own wickedness, through their shedding the blood of righteous men, the Lord sees proper, because of this, to make them wait. If the true authority had been revealed, during the time of the administration of these corrupt men, the Gospel would have been banished again from the earth. For instance, if God had sent the angel in the second century of the Christian era, to renew his church on the earth, what would have been the consequence? There would have been no place upon all the face of the globe, where the people would have suffered such a church to exist. If he had sent the angel in the third century, or in the fourth, or in any of the centuries intervening, before religious liberty was established, the consequence would have been the shedding of the blood of apostles, prophets and saints again, and in order that they might not bring upon themselves this great condemnation the Lord saw that it was far better to postpone the sending of the angel, until he should prepare, among the political governments of the earth, a nation where the church could exist, and have a little degree of safety. And even our nation, the best nation on the earth, having the wisest laws, laws that are calculated, if put into execution, to protect all religious denominations, laws founded upon justice and principles of equity—even in our nation, it has been just as much as the Lord could do, without destroying the agency of man to get his Church once more established on the earth. See what persecution has attended it! See what hatred! See the Saints fleeing before infuriated mobs; men, women and children, murdered; prophets, patriarchs, apostles and revelators martyred. The Saints could scarcely find a resting place for the soles of their feet, after all the preparation that was made by the establishment of a great and free government. No wonder, then, that the Lord did not begin it two or three centuries ago; no wonder that he did not begin it in the days when Catholicism and the Greek church had universal sway over the eastern continent. The Church of the living God, if it had been established then, would have been immediately rooted out from the earth; and great would have been the condemnation resting upon the nations if such had been the case. But now it lives. Circumstances have changed, and though the saints have been driven from their homes, and from their farms, though they have been persecuted, and the lives of many of the Saints destroyed, and their prophets put to death, yet, notwithstanding all this the Lord has preserved his Church, until the present time; Fifty years have rolled away, and upwards since the Lord commenced this great work.

Now, then, a few words on the future. Years are to come, as Brother Angus Cannon said to me while sitting upon the seat this morning. He came to me, and I mentioned to him that this last year was my fiftieth in the Church—in other words—that I had been in the Church fifty years. A peculiar kind of answer was made by Brother Cannon. Said he, “Brother Pratt, I hope you may have millions of days or anniversaries of your birthday.” I thanked him very much. Well, now, let me begin to speak upon this subject. God has promised eternal life to his children. “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Now, I can see a consistency in the good wishes of Brother Cannon, upon this subject. I hope for eternal life, I have had this hope for the last fifty years. If I obey the commandments of heaven, if I receive his sayings, and abide in his word, I hope never to die, as it is promised in the New Testament. But, says one, did not Jesus die? And he kept all of his Father’s sayings. Did not the apostles die? And they kept the Father’s words. And were not all the ancient Saints subject to death? And they kept the sayings of the Lord. Yes, they suffered what is termed the death of the body. There is, however, quite a difference between the death of the outward tabernacle, and the death of the spirit. In other words, the spirit that God has placed within the tabernacle will live forever, and those who have the opportunity of dwelling in the next world, in light, in glory and in a fullness of happiness, get what is termed eternal life; there is no end to it. Consequently it cannot be expressed fully in the language of brother Cannon that millions of such anniversaries might be enjoyed. But there is something still greater in the expression of eternal life, than that of a few millions of years. It is something that has no end. It may have a beginning. A person may begin to exist in this fleshly tabernacle as I commenced my existence here on this earth sixty-nine years ago today. That was the beginning of my existence here in this world; but there is such a thing as a person having a beginning to his existence in the flesh, and yet have no end. Those persons that were translated in the twinkling of an eye in ancient days did not have a separation of body and spirit. They were changed; they were, by the power of Almighty God, wrought upon instantaneously; they were changed from mortality to immortality; but still retain their flesh and bones. Now, I would ask, is there any end to their immortal tabernacles when thus changed? There is a beginning but no end. Their spirits are combined with their bodies forever. I have this hope. You Latter-day Saints have the same hope, so far as eternal life is concerned. You expect it, you pray for it, you desire to have a life that is endless; figures are unable to express the endless duration of ages that are to come. Eternal life is said to be the greatest gift of God unto the human family. There are many gifts of God, but this is the greatest of all. In the first place, God has given his Son to die for the human family. What a great gift! If it had not been for this gift of our Heavenly Father to the inhabitants of our fallen world, the consequence would have been that we should have had eternal death. What are we to understand by the term eternal death, supposing that there had been no atonement made? What is the meaning of the term? Could you multiply figures enough if you were to take the figures that are now in use and extend them in a line—extend them in a series so that the figures themselves would be as numerous as the particles of the globe—would that express eternal life? Or would it express the duration of eternal death, provided there had been no atonement? No; it cannot be expressed. Hence the atonement of our Savior, which is the gift of God to the fallen inhabitants of this creation, lies at the foundation of all the other gifts given unto the children of men. It is because of this gift that we are permitted to repent of our sins. How could there have been an individual upon all the face of the globe who could have repented, provided there had been no atonement? Hence you see that repentance is the gift of God, purchased by the atonement. Again, could baptism have been a holy ordinance if it had no saving power in it? Could it have been for the remission of sins, had it not been for the blood of the atonement? No. Baptism, then, is a gift to the children of men as well as repentance. Would the laying on of hands have had any effect upon any person of the human family, in bestowing the gift of the Holy Ghost had there been no atonement? No. Then that is also a gift—the gift of God to man, that his servants should lay their hands upon baptized believers, and that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Could we have been permitted to partake of the Lord’s Supper with any effect whatever? No. Then it is also a gift of God unto man. And thus we may go through all the ordinances, that God ordained from before the foundation of the world unto the present time, and all of them can be called the gifts of God unto man on conditions, and some of them without conditions. The atonement came without any condition on the part of man. It was without repentance, without faith on the part of man. The atonement was something given through the pure love of God to fallen man, without any acts of good works on the part of man. There are some of the blessings, then, that God has ordained for the fallen inhabitants of our globe which come independent of our works, and this is one of which I have been speaking. Would there have been any light or intelligence, or goodness or happiness, to be partaken of by fallen man, if it had not been for the atonement? None at all; there could have been no righteousness. But then, all the other gifts that we receive are through works, and by faith and works combined, and it is because of the distinction between these two separate gifts that many of the inhabitants of the earth have erred. Some of them profess to believe that they can obtain all the gifts of God without works, because of some of the sayings of the ancient apostles; while others consider that work must be combined with faith. Now both of these ideas are true when taken in their true light. Eternal life is among all those gifts that are promised of God; such as the gift of repentance, baptism, laying on of hands, etc. All these are not to be compared with the greatness of the gift called eternal life. I hope that all the Latter-day Saints under the sound of my voice may attain to this, the greatest of all the gifts of God.

Now, I wish, before taking my seat to bear my testimony before the people here assembled. I do know by the power of God, by the shedding forth of the Holy Ghost upon my heart, by the revelations of the spirit, by the many manifestations of the goodness of God to me, I do know that God has sent his angel from heaven. I do know that he has raised up the great latter-day kingdom predicted by Daniel. I do know that he has called apostles and prophets; that he has sent forth his servants divinely commissioned, with power from on high, to declare to the nations of the earth the great and last message of mercy unto the inhabitants thereof, to prepare all those that are willing to be prepared, for the great day when the heavens shall be opened, and all the heavenly hosts shall descend with power and with great glory, to reign here on the earth. I do know that God by his power has gathered together his people from the various nations of the earth, and established them here in these mountains for a little season, for an especial purpose. And what is that purpose? To prepare you while dwelling here in these mountains, territories and regions, that you may receive the blessings ordained for you in a future time, which time is not far distant. I do know that this people will return and will possess the land that God has promised to them, even in Missouri, and in Kansas, and in the regions round about. I do know that God will build up in Jackson County, Missouri, a great, and wonderful, and beautiful city, that shall be called “the Perfection of Beauty,” the New Jerusalem. I do know that God will light up the habitations of that city by his power, by his glory, by a cloud in the day time, and by a pillar of fire in the night. I do know that when the people shall gather together in their religious assemblies, as you are here gathered this afternoon, that God will light up your assemblies, by his divine power even in the night time, making your habitations, where you meet, glorious in the extreme. I do know that God will fulfil all that which he has spoken, by the mouths of his holy prophets, since the world began, pertaining to this last dispensation of the fulness of times, which will come to pass in their times, and in their seasons, and that this dispensation will be far more glorious, than all the other dispensations combined together, before everything shall be completed, for the bursting heavens to reveal the Son of God, and all those that are with him. These things, and scores of other things that I might name, I know will be fulfilled in their times and in their seasons, and that all who are faithful will be made partakers of these blessings. Amen.

Remarks By Elder Wilford Woodruff.

It is not my purpose at all to detain this congregation, but before dismissing I feel that I would like to say a few words. We are not in the habit of flattering any man, but I want to say a few words concerning Brother Pratt. If there is any man dead or alive who has dwelt longer in this church and kingdom than he has I do not know him. If there is any man that has traveled more miles in preaching the Gospel of Christ, in bearing testimony of the kingdom of God on the earth, I do not know who he is. When Brother Pratt embraced this Gospel he was a boy—in one sense of the word illiterate and unlearned, the same as Joseph Smith and the most of us. Whatever knowledge Brother Pratt has obtained, either of the learning of the world or of the kingdom of God, he has obtained it by diligence and labor since he embraced this Gospel. I have been associated with Brother Pratt myself for 47 years. I have traveled with him by sea and by land, in foreign countries and at home, and I never saw a man in my life that I know of that has spent as few moments idly as he has. I have never seen a storm at sea so heavy—even when shipping seas over the bow, side and stern but what he would read his book. Whenever the breakers became too heavy he would simply shut up the book until they were over. If there is a man on this continent who is more at home in the starry heavens, in the astronomical world than Brother Pratt I do not know who he is. If there is a man more deeply versed in mathematics than Brother Pratt, I do not know who he is. There may be many men equal to him in these things, but if there are, I do not know them. How has he obtained his knowledge? He has obtained it since he embraced this work. He has improved his time. Brother Pratt is the only living man today that was in the first quorum of the Twelve in its first organization, and I am pleased to listen to his testimony of the Gospel of Christ; for I want to say to Brother Pratt and to all other men we all have to acknowledge this; Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, the Apostles, and, all men in this Church and kingdom, if there is anything to us, if there is anything about us, if we have any knowledge, or any power, or any influence, we have to give God the honor of it. It is not of ourselves. Joseph Smith always acknowledged this, as have all men in this Church and Kingdom. We have been called from the plow, from the plane, from the hammer—ignorant, illiterate boys, and thrust into the vineyard; and all the power we have, or ever had, in building up the Kingdom, we have to acknowledge it as coming from the hand of God. Brother Pratt was one of the earliest men who shouldered his knapsack and traveled through the American continent to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this nation. Frequently he would suffer from ague all day and go along and preach his sermon at night. These are experiences that he and others have passed through in the early rise of this Church, and I feel to thank God that we can still hear his voice and the voice of others who have been long in this Church and Kingdom. I hope the Lord will preserve his life until he is satisfied with it. He has lifted up his voice long and loud, according to the commandment of God to him, in bearing record of this Gospel and kingdom to the nations of the earth. I was struck, in contemplating our own experience, with some of the remarks he has made today with regard to the Apostle Philip—how our own experience has agreed with that of the ancient apostle. How many times have we been called by revelation to go to the right and left, here, there and the other place, contrary to our expectation?

I will here relate what took place in my own experience. I was in Staffordshire in the year 1840. I was in the town of Stanley and held a meeting in the City Hall. I had a week’s appointments out in that town. Before I rose to speak to the people, the Spirit of the Lord said to me, “this is the last meeting you will hold with this people for many days.” I told the congregation when I arose what the Spirit of the Lord had manifested to me. They were as much surprised as I was. I did not know what the Lord wanted, but I saw the purpose of God afterwards. The Spirit of the Lord said to me, “Go south.” I traveled eighty miles; went into the south of England. As soon as I arrived, I met John Benbow. It was clearly made manifest to me why I had been called thither. I had left a good field, where I was baptizing every night in the week. When I got to this place, I found a people—some 600 of them—who had broken off from the Wesleyan Methodists and formed themselves into a sect called the United Brethren. I found that they were praying for light and truth and that they had gone about as far as they could go. I saw that the Lord had sent me to them. I went to work amongst them and ultimately baptized their superintendent, forty preachers and some 600 members; I baptized every member of that denomination, but one. Altogether some 1,800 were baptized in that field of labor. I suppose some of those then baptized may be in this congregation today. I name these things to show how we have to be governed and controlled by the revelations of God day by day. Without this we can do nothing. Many of our brethren who were with us at that time and who came to this valley, have passed behind the veil. Eight of the quorum of the Twelve who were in the flesh and most of them with the pioneers, today are in the spirit world. We are passing away.

I know as Brother Pratt has said, that this is the kingdom of God. Israel is being gathered together. The revelations of God are being fulfilled, and nothing will be left unfulfilled. Therefore, as Saints of the living God, let us be faithful to our testimony. We have the kingdom of God. We are called of God by inspiration and commandment to warn this generation, to preach the Gospel, to gather the people, to build up Zion, to build temples, to redeem the living and the dead, and to carry on the great work which is laid upon our shoulders; and may God enable us to accomplish these things for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered at the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, September 6, 1880.

In the year 1832 the Lord gave a revelation concerning the calling and sending forth of his servants, the missionaries, among the nations. I will read you a few paragraphs or verses in relation to their calling, commencing at the 64th verse of the revelation that was given on the 22nd day of September, 1832. “Therefore, as I said unto mine apostles I say unto you again, that every soul who believeth on your words, and is baptized by water for the remission of sins, shall receive the Holy Ghost. And these signs shall follow them that believe—In my name they shall do many wonderful works; In my name they shall cast out devils; In my name they shall heal the sick; In my name they shall open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf; And the tongue of the dumb shall speak; And if any man shall administer poison unto them it shall not hurt them; And the poison of a serpent shall not have power to harm them.” That is a very curious commission to be given in the nineteenth century of the Christian era to those that are called in our day; very curious. If Joseph Smith, through whom this revelation was given, was not called of God, the promises here made would not be fulfilled. On the other hand, if God is the author of this revelation, then all the world may prove for themselves the divinity of His word. An impostor would take very good care to so word his language in the promises that there would be a double meaning to them, and if they were not fulfilled in one sense they might perhaps be fulfilled according to a second interpretation, and thus he would escape the obloquy of being an impostor. But the Lord does not deal with the human family in this double kind of dealing. All his promises are yea and amen, plain, pointed, definite, no two meanings about them. Here we are told that inasmuch as the servants of God, the missionaries, should go forth “that every soul”—meaning every person among all people, languages, nations and tongues—“who believeth in your words”—believeth on the testimony of these mission– aries that go forth—“and is baptized by water for the remission of sins shall receive the Holy Ghost.” Now can you make out two meanings to that? Or is there only one meaning? “They shall receive the Holy Ghost.” And then in order that every soul in all the world might know whether they were true believers or not there were certain signs promised to them. “And these signs shall follow them that believe.” Believe what? Believe in your words, the words of you missionaries. What shall they do? “In my name they shall do many wonderful works; In my name they shall cast out devils; In my name they shall heal the sick; In my name they shall open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf; And the tongue of the dumb shall speak; And if any man administer poison unto them it shall not hurt them; And the poison of a serpent shall not have power to harm them.” Is there anything indefinite in that? Does it say that these signs possibly may follow those that believe? Does it say perhaps you will receive the Holy Ghost, perhaps you may have power to heal the sick, perhaps you may have power to open the eyes of the blind, etc. No, that is not the language. Here is a definite promise made to them. To the missionaries alone? To whom was this promise made? To every soul in all the world that would believe and receive the testimony of these missionaries. Here we see something very similar to the commission that was given—and referred to by Brother Reid in his remarks—in the last chapter of Mark. The ancient-day servants of God were sent forth to all the world, to every creature, and the language of our Savior to them was that all, in every part of the earth that should believe their testimony should be saved. Then in order that there might be no mistake in regard to believers and unbelievers, he told them that certain signs should follow them that believe. Do you discover any difference between the former-day commission, 1,800 years ago, and the latter-day commission? I do not discover the least difference between the two. Did the Lord verify and fulfill his promises to the former-day missionaries? He did. In the same last chapter of Mark we are told that the servants of God, the Apostles, went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. How did he confirm it? By fulfilling the promises in the last chapter of Mark, that they in all the world might know whether they were Gospel believers or not. Well, what was to become of all other sects that did not believe? They shall be damned, says the Savior. He did not say, “If you are sincere in your belief you will get into heaven whether you receive the message I sent you or not.” He did not say, “If you come across any sincere people don’t baptize them, don’t try to get them to believe your message, for they will get into heaven anyway.” They had only one proclamation to deliver to all people whether that people were sincere or insincere; whether that people worshipped idols or worshipped something else, whether they were infidels or whatever might be their profession, the commission was—tell them that if they do not believe your message they shall be damned. No halfway business about it, it was not half a commission. Does the latter-day commission testify of the same things? Let me read a little further. “Verily, verily I say unto you, they who believe not on your words, and are not baptized in water in my name, for the remission of their sins, that they may receive the Holy Ghost, shall be damned, and shall not come into my Father’s kingdom where my Father and I am.” Just the same as the ancient commission. It did not excuse the ancient commission; it did not excuse one person in all the world however sincere, whatever the profession might be, every man, every woman among all nations, kindreds and tongues, all were to be damned if they did not receive the message that these servants of God took to them. Just so it is in the latter days. If it was anything else, we would not believe it, we could not look upon it as divine. God only had one message for the people to receive, and all that received it were to be blessed, and all that would not receive it were to be damned. That is our charity, that is the charity of the ancient Apostles and servants of God, that is true charity. If we should come and tell you that you Protestants, and you Methodists, and you Baptists, and you Campbellites, and you Church of England members, and you Roman Catholics, that if you are only sincere you would all get to heaven we should have no charity for you; but when we come and tell you that if you do not repent of your sins—you Catholics, Protestants, and all other denominations—and receive the message that God has commissioned his servants to declare in your hearing that every one will be damned. This is true charity, just as it was in the ancient days. But is this in force upon all people, says one? Yes; we will read the next verse. “And this revelation unto you, and commandment, is in force from this very hour upon all the world, and the gospel is unto all who have not received it.” It is a witness unto all nations that they may receive the truth and be prepared for the great day of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord, in relation to sending this mission forth among the inhabitants of the earth, did not desire that the people should have any dubiety upon their minds. He did not want them to hope merely that they were right and to be all the time trembling and quivering for fear they were not right; but in order that they might be sure, as the ancient believers were, he tells every soul that will receive this work that these signs shall follow them.

Now, then, here in this house, probably are many hundreds of believers that have manifested their faith by receiving the message of the Gospel, and they have further manifested their faith by gathering out from the various nations and coming here to Utah Territory. They are believers. Is there any chance for them to doubt? How can you doubt if you yourself heal the sick, cast out devils, open the eyes of the blind, or cause the lame to leap? If you yourselves have received the Holy Ghost, and these signs are following you, is not this a testimony that you are Gospel believers? And if these signs do not follow you, on the other hand, you know that you are not Gospel believers. No dubiety, no uncertainty, no hanging our heads down and doubting whether we are believers or not. Here is an undoubted testimony to every Latter-day Saint that if they are true Gospel believers these signs shall follow them, and if these signs do not follow them they are not true Gospel believers. Does this apply not only to Latter-day Saints but to all people? Yes. If the Methodists want to know whether they are true Gospel believers let them ask themselves the question if the signs follow them that are promised to believers; if they do not, they know they are not Gospel believers. So with the Presbyterians, so with the Baptists, so with every Christian denomination under the whole heavens. They can all prove themselves by the word of God; they can all know whether they are true believers according to the true Christian religion, or whether they have false hopes—merely something that is leading them along in a crooked path. When people have the signs they have a good foundation for their hopes; their hopes are built upon something that is like a rock; they stand firm and steadfast. But when they have not the signs and the promises are not fulfilled to them, where are their hopes? They are gone, they are the hopes of those that are flattering themselves they are Christians when they are not. And they are afraid to compare themselves with the New Testament and the Gospel contained therein; they are afraid to come to the light of the Gospel; they are afraid to read the promises of Jesus, or if they happen to read them exclaim, “We must do away with these. It won’t do for us to acknowledge that the promises of God made to believers can be enjoyed in our day.” Let us read the first promise in the last chapter of Mark. Not only were these signs promised, but Jesus said: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Do you Christians believe that you will be saved? Do the various denominations among the four hundred millions of Christians in America, in Europe, and in other parts of the earth—do these four hundred millions of Christians expect to be saved? Oh, yes. What makes you think so? You don’t have the signs which follow the believers, and how can you hope for salvation? Why should you hope for it? Why expect to be saved in the kingdom of God? The promises are made to believers, they were not made to those that have not the signs. One promise was just as sacred as the other, and if you have not the signs of believers you have not the promise of salvation. Very curious Gospel, says one. Well, there is no mistaking that gospel, we can all of us know on what ground we are placed. If we cannot obtain the promises made to the people anciently, namely the signs, how shall we obtain the greater promise of eternal life and salvation in the world to come? Surely if the people cannot have faith to get the little promises, how can they expect to get the greater promise? All their faith is foolishness, their faith is all founded upon sand, and they go blindfold to the other side of the veil to wake up and find they never had received the Gospel. But, says one, we have received the Gospel. Our ministers have preached it long and loud generations before “Mormonism” came upon the earth; we and our fathers have heard it. It is one thing to hear the Gospel as recorded in the New Testament, and another thing to enjoy the blessings of it. It is one thing to read about people receiving the Holy Ghost, and it is another thing for you to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. It is one thing to be baptized by a man holding authority from God who has the right to baptize, and another thing to be baptized by one holding no authority from God, and no right to baptize. Do you suppose that the signs would follow those that had the ordinance of baptism administered by a man that had no authority? No. For instance there is the Methodist baptizer, the Presbyterian baptizer, and the baptizers of the various religious denominations—most of them baptize, some of them for the remission of sins, and some because they suppose their converts have already received a remission of sins. Perhaps they may perform the ordinance by immersion—the true mode of baptism; but can an unauthorized man baptize his neighbor and that be called baptism in the sight of heaven? No. A man that is not called of God, a man that has no revelation, and says there has been none since the close of the first century of the Christian era, all his administrations are as invalid as it would be for a heathen priest to baptize you, or for any person upon the face of the whole earth to come and baptize you. Such baptisms are not good; they are illegal; they are unlawful; they are not accepted of God unless the administrator is a true servant of God, and if he be a true servant of God, the signs will follow him, and if the signs do not follow him he has no authority to baptize. No wonder then that four hundred millions of people have been without the signs. There has been nobody authorized to baptize them to begin with. A true believer is a man that receives the ordinances, and not only believes in them but manifests his faith by his works. He obeys the ordinances and the blessings follow. The blessings do not follow the four hundred millions because they have not obeyed, and they cannot obey without there is a man authorized to administer the ordinances.

Well, says one, what do you Latter-day Saints say about the authority to administer these ordinances? We say, and have said from the beginning of this Church, that the Lord God Almighty, who sits upon His throne in yonder heavens, has spoken again to the inhabitants of the earth. He has called by name his servants. He has sent forth angels in glory from his holy presence, and they have administered the authority of the apostleship, and bestowed it upon the heads of men to administer again among the children of men in all the ordinances of the Gospel. This is our testimony. Has it ever been that since the rise of the Church? It has. We never have varied from that testimony. What further do we say? We say that among all people, nations, kindreds and tongues, Christians, heathens, Mahommedans, and the savages upon the islands of the sea—that among all these nations there is no authority, not one person among all their denominations that has the least particle of right to baptize you, or to administer the sacrament, or to lay on hands that you may be baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, according to the ancient pattern and order of things; not one of them; they are all powerless, they are all without authority, without revelation, without any knowledge that comes from God direct to themselves in this age. No man among them has been called of God, as was Aaron. Everybody knows that Aaron was called by new revelation. He did not have to go back to revelations given 1,800 years before he was born to tell him how God commissioned somebody before the flood; he did not have to do that; but says he, “I have been ordained”—how?—By a revelation from God. “Moses set apart Aaron. He is thy brother. I call him by name. Set him apart to the Priesthood, ordain him, let him be clothed upon with priestly garments, let him administer and his administration I will accept.” This was the substance of the revelation, and calling and commission that was given to Aaron, the servant of God. Is it true what Paul said, that no man can take the honor of the Priesthood to himself unless he was called of God as was Aaron? If that be true there must be more revelation in order that there may be a calling. You that say the canon of scripture is full, that no more scripture has been given since John the Revelator left the earth, what becomes of your callings? You have none—that is, that are divine. No wonder, then, that while the world were wandering in darkness without God, without any true knowledge from the heavens direct to themselves, without the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, without the organization of any true church, without prophets, without revelators, without inspired men—no wonder that God has again commissioned an angel from the heavens to begin the work on the earth. Brother Reid spoke during his discourse about Joseph the Prophet—how he was called, that the Lord appeared to him, that Jesus appeared to him, and that angels appeared to him and conferred upon him authority and power. There is no wonder that the Lord should send his angels and thus appear in order to begin the work on the earth where so much darkness reigns. It is called a day of Gospel light by these four hundred millions of people. A day of Gospel light! Well, all the Gospel light they have is the history of a Gospel preached 1,800 years ago. They have no power to administer in it. They have the history of something, without any power to partake of it; that is, you cannot be baptized, you cannot receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, you cannot receive the Lord’s Supper for want of administrators; but can read about it, you can read how the authority was once on the earth. That is some satisfaction, is it not? How much satisfaction I do not know. It is something like the case of a man who, after traveling a long journey, arrived at a place where he knew there was a splendidly spread table. But the door was locked and the key was lost—nobody could introduce him to that table to eat that he might appease his hunger. How very satisfactory it must be to that man to know the history of such a good spread table, and yet no power to get to the table. Just so it is with these four hundred millions of Christians. It is so much satisfaction to read how the believers in ancient days were baptized by one holding authority to baptize, and how they could distinguish themselves from unbelievers; but, alas, say they, “We cannot partake of it; no blessings of the Gospel for us; no one to let us receive the same Gospel. We would like to feast like unto the ancient Saints, but is it not enough—our priests say it is—to know how others enjoyed these blessings?” Now that is precisely the situation of this generation.

This is true charity. If I were to come and tell you that you are all in the right path inasmuch as you are honest and sincere, and walk in your various doctrines and principles, it would be false charity, it would be flattering you to walk in paths that were wrong, it would be flattering you that you had hopes of salvation when you had none. But we do not do this. This flattery we leave to other portions of the world, we leave that to the Christian denominations that are without any of the powers and gifts of the ancient Gospel. Let them flatter, let them occupy this position, let them have this false charity; but as for us we have the plain naked truth—plain as words can make it—to tell unto all people, namely, if you will believe and receive the Gospel you shall be blessed, not with commonplace blessings, but with the supernatural gifts of the Gospel, and on the other hand that every soul of you that do not receive it shall be damned. Amen.

Discourse by Elder H. W. Naisbitt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, August 29, 1880.

I stand here today, as you are all aware, to speak of those things which pertain to the faith that we have received, of that order which we call the Gospel of the Son of God, that order which the world entitles “Mormonism,” a system which contains within itself many elements which are strange to mankind, but which are very powerful in their character and calculated in their progress and growth to arrest the attention of the human family. With all the faults, weaknesses and traditions which encumber the people who dwell in these mountains, I believe the universal testimony is, that they are entitled to credit for earnestness, for industry, for honesty, and for many results which have grown out of these characteristics. One source of territorial, or state, or national greatness consists in a proper understanding of the purposes for which men dwell upon the earth, upon their ideas in regard to family organization, social ethics, or those principles which bind man to man and family to family, and make of a nation a grand united whole.

The Latter-day Saints, it is well known, are strong advocates of marriage. They believe that every man and every woman should enter into that relationship. They believe in the divinity of that first command, that the human race were destined to multiply and replenish the earth. Consequently, wherever any large assembly of the Latter-day Saints are brought together, there you will find a very large proportion of those who are young in years. The theories which are held by some philosophers, by some men and women who enter the marriage state, find no place among the Latter-day Saints. The universal faith among them is that children are “an heritage from the Lord;” that “happy is the man who hath his quiver full of them,” in contradistinction to an increasing tendency elsewhere, to believe that there should be a limit to the number of children which a man should possess, and that wheresoever they may be considered undesirable, from the claims of society, from the disposition to follow the fashions of the age, from a feeling that self-gratification is the highest destiny of the human family, that there the family increase should be curtailed. Among the Latter-day Saints those ideas have not obtained a foothold. Although they have come from the outside world, gathered from the nations of the earth and measurably partaken of the influences which prevail there, yet they have not so far done violence to the instincts which God has planted within them as to practice the theories of the parties to whom I have alluded. And in all our assemblies, as I have said before, in this tabernacle as an illustration, in our ward meetings and in all our settlements and colonies, there is substantial testimony to be found of the fact that in this obedience to the law of primitive times, to the law of the constitution of human nature, and to the law as revealed to us in this “dispensation of the fullness of times,” the Latter-day Saints have paid marked and decided attention.

This increase of population brings with it many thoughts; it is the father or parent of much reflection to those who grasp the situation. I recollect many a time in my travels east, when gentlemen in the great cities of this country made reflections in regard to our emigration from the different portions of the earth, I have said: “Yes, we have quite an emigration; the gathering is a fixed fact, fundamental in the economy of this Gospel.” But outside of this gathering there is another one, which fails to arrest the attention of the world because it comes in a less ostentatious manner, and that is the wonderful home increase of that people dwelling in the mountains. And whenever tourists visit here, if they travel outside the limits of this city, if they visit our settlements in the length and breadth thereof, they cannot fail to be struck with the rapid multiplication of those who have thus gathered from the nations of the earth. When we inform the world that in a population of 150,000 souls there can be found in the neighborhood of 50,000 in attendance upon our schools; when we realize the immense number under the age of maturity, it would require a mathematician to tell what will speedily be the increase if the present policy is pursued. In a few generations to come, if this characteristic continues to manifest itself proportionately, there will be a continual necessity for spreading forth, Utah will become too small for her spreading population, and in all the adjacent Territories and States, those who have been drawn together under her institutions, who have accepted her faith and believe in her destiny—those will be found measurably carrying out the ideas which today permeate our society in a local capacity.

In considering this element growing up in our midst, we may form some idea in regard to the future of the people who dwell here. I believe there is an ancient proverb which says that “the stream cannot rise higher than its fountain,” that “as men sow so shall they also reap;” and whatever we may have anticipated when illuminated with the spirit of prophecy, whatever our private ideas may be in regard to the glory and the greatness that shall rest upon the people, one thing is sure, that it depends upon the growth, development and characteristics which are imprinted and made manifest in the posterity of the Latter-day Saints.

Education is one of the “catch words” of this generation. It is considered to be one of the mightiest levers for the future prosperity of the United States; but opinions in regard to what constitutes education are as various almost as the individuals who are questioned. With a very large number, education is supposed to consist in the ability to read and write, and in the understanding of the geographical character of the country in which the student lives. It is considered to be comprehended in the rules of arithmetic and in the various branches of an advanced or classical education, as it is called, where the youth of the country graduate, and are then called scholars. But I apprehend this style of education may be given with a generous and extended hand to every son and daughter of this republic, and yet when you come to analyze the whole you will find that the mass of the people thus trained are, as a rule, absolutely deficient in the great and grand element which constitutes the higher form of education and of human culture.

There is in the scholastic institutions of the United States something of a disposition to eradicate from them everything which savors of religious training. It has been sought in many places to exclude the Bible as a text book, or a book to be used in any form whatever, much more the idea of including any form of religious faith or practice. Rather has there been an idea in the mind of most Americans that it was fundamental in the constitution and genius of the country that there should be an eternal separation between what is considered and called religious and secular things. Yet, when we reflect upon the wonderful organization we have and that we see around us, when we reflect upon the faculties and endowments which men possess, can we not see that this very idea of “church and state,” or religious and secular faculty, is interwoven and is the very fabric of humanity, placed there by God himself, and that there is a disposition under the religious sentiment to draw sustenance and support, comfort and solace from the conceptions which pertain to divinity; and growing out from this fundamental religious idea or sentiment and established thereupon can come alone all the highest attributes that we look for in the future, a time when man shall find all his powers and functions harmoniously developed. And it is just as impossible to separate this great constitutional principle which exists in the human organization as it is to divide or break asunder anything which is formed, created, or intended to be formed, created, or intended to be adopted by the great ruler of the universe. Man possesses his religious faculties, no matter how dormant they may be, no matter how wrapt up by superstition, or blinded by the ignorance and misconceptions of the teachers who have molded him. God has planted in the human organization those attributes which seek communion with the divine. And it is upon righteous conceptions of man’s origin that his future will depend. If the young men of any community have no correct ideas in regard to this; if they believe that they are but the product of chance: if they are impregnated with the thought that they are simply in a transitory condition and that they may “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,” if these are the thoughts which entertain, all their actions will correspond with these thoughts, they will not reach out, nor after the higher attributes which belong to humanity, they will be filled with selfishness, with a disposition to gratify their own passions, even if they have to accomplish this at the sacrifice of the feelings and interests of these with whom they come in contact. But if the youth of our country realize that they are the sons and daughters of the living God; if they realize and comprehend the fact that before they dwelt upon the earth they enjoyed a pre-existence, that their spirits dwelt in the eternities, and had a home there, had associations there, and that they comprehended something of the purposes for which they should come and tabernacle in the flesh, then we may be sure that such thoughts and feelings will have their influence upon the entire course of their after life. If the youth of a community are thus trained, if they comprehend the relationship which they sustain, to the great ruler of the universe if they have faith in God and have received of the fact that God lives, that he holds in his hand the destinies of the human family, that he hath provided rewards for virtue and penalties for vice—if they comprehend these things, their actions in life will be shaped by these ennobling thoughts. But if the education which the youth of a country receives is devoid of training for the religious sentiment, if the grand revelations of the ancient times which God has given through “his servants the prophets,” are set on one side, and if instead thereof education is supposed to consist of arithmetic and the kindred branches of that science, of political knowledge and all that goes to make up what is called a scholar, leaving out the cultivation of other attributes which God has implanted in man—if that is the kind of education imparted, then of necessity it will, at some period of time in the history of that country, bring about religious death, and as a consequence the bonds of society would become loosened, men would live for themselves instead of living for each other, and they would become simply as “the beasts that perish,” ignoring the past and caring nothing at all for the future. Hence I believe that this education and training is an important matter as pertaining to the youth of a country, that it should not be a Sabbath exercise only, but that at home, at the family circle, and in the common day school there should be as much attention given to the religious faculties as there should be given to intellectual and mental culture about which we talk so much, and for which we erect so many schools. And it is also to be remarked that according to the conceptions of the people on religious matters, so also will be their conceptions in regard to morality. Morality is the outgrowth of religion. It is the fruitage of the tree of life in regard to men’s ideas of God, of the past, and of the future. Without the cultivation and spirit of true religion, the moral faculties are very likely to be perverted, warped and misdirected. If the idea of brotherhood finds no place in the education of our youth, they will be disposed to take advantage of their brethren, take advantage in trade, speculation, etc., and society would thus become so individualized, that men would become a race of Ishmaelites, “every man’s hand against his brother.”

I believe that among the people who inhabit these mountains that this idea of brotherhood—the brotherhood of the human family—forms a very prominent feature in their education. I think our youth are taught that they should not live for themselves alone, but rather that in living for others they can and do best subserve their own interests. And we have examples of this in many directions, most notable among which is the missionary system which obtains among the Latter-day Saints. Have we not seen in our experience in this Territory, some 300 to 400 men called at once to go forth and preach the Gospel, to leave their homes and families, their friends and business, and travel to the nations of the earth to propagate the religious ideas which they had received. We have known those men sent throughout the United States, to every section of Europe, to Australia, to the Islands of the sea, to China and to India, and such has been the devotion of those who were thus called, that in the course of three or four weeks, every man had left the scenes and associations that were dear to him, and through the midst of difficulties and trials have finally found themselves in these widely divergent points of the compass, to which they had been called by the voice of the people and by the authority presiding over them. And when they have gone to these different nations they have gone in the spirit of brotherhood, they have looked upon the human family as their brethren and their sisters. They have gone in the capacity of saviors, and they have carried with them those principles which are the foundation of that civilization which the Almighty intends to establish on the face of the earth. They have not gone to preach that which would narrow the views of mankind; they have not gone to teach that which would introduce a spirit of selfishness or of anything degrading, but have gone carrying with them the principle of universal brotherhood which, when put into practice, will cement and bind society together in such a manner, that should any power touch the interests of one they would inevitably touch the interests of the whole. And it has been by the faith which they have exhibited; by the earnestness with which they have labored, by the blessings of God and the power of his spirit which accompanied them, that they have been able to gather from among the nations the best elements of their society, and transplant them into these valleys of the mountains, then weld them into a comparatively united people—a people measurably animated by one thought, one impulse, one faith, believing in one God, and putting into practice one order—a people who are looking for one result, and that is the regeneration and redemption of all those who place themselves beneath the influence of those ideas and ordi– nances which have been advanced. This is the tree which has been planted, and the seed which has been sown, and the result can be best calculated by those who have given most attention to that which has been taught.

This idea creeps out in almost every direction. I have given this illustration, of the missionary effort which has sent its thousands and tens of thousands from this community—even when it was much smaller in numbers than it is at present—around the habitable globe. There is also another phase of this same spirit which the Latter-day Saints have exhibited, they have not only sent and are sending these men on missions, and sustaining them by their means, by their faith and prayers, but in obedience to the spirit of gathering they have given great assistance to those who were unable to gather of themselves. Indeed, in the history of the past have we not seen the time when the authorities of the Church have called for from 200 to 600 teams to journey to the Missouri River to transport the poor and the meek of the earth across those dreary plains—where the railroad now makes its welcome music—and they have landed thousands in this way in the midst of these mountains and introduced them to the new order of civilization which has been inspired by the spirit of the living God. In addition to all this they have taken from these valleys, and laid up at convenient points on the route, provisions enough to sustain those thousands while thus traveling for three or four months across the plains, they have also provided at such times a strong mounted body guard of the youth of the territory to protect the emigrants from the assaults of the Indians, so that they might perform their journey in safety. And they have gone still further: they have not only brought those thousands from the boundaries of civilization, and from the training and education of the systems and governments of the old world, but they have colonized all these valleys, and it is these thousands who constitute today the cities, towns, and villages of Utah. Not only have they been placed in these settlements but they have been taught the rudiments and the advanced principles of self-sustenance and of positive independence. The thousands and tens of thousands of Utah are beyond the depths of poverty that you find exhibited in the old world. The poverty which is known to exist there, the strikes which occur in the ranks of labor in the old world, the difficulties which belong to even in so blessed country as the United States, find no place among the people who dwell in these valleys. The majority of those who have thus come in strangers, who have been thus surrounded by new conditions, and subjected to new influences, have produced good results. Travel wherever you will throughout this territory and you will find the majority of people live in their own homes; they pay no rent to anybody; they are not, when poor and unemployed, subject to be turned out into the public streets; they are not, when old age creeps upon them, likely to be thrust into the union, or poor house as it is called, where the husband is separated from the wife and the wife from the husband, thereby giving practical force to the new reading of the marriage ceremony as suggested by some of the radicals of the old world, that that service should read, not as it does at present, but “till death or poverty do us part”—they are not subject to these conditions, but a man and woman have the privilege of living together, the man with the wife of his youth; they see their posterity grow up in thrift and peace, and when “the weary wheels of life stand still” they lay themselves down in hope of a glorious resurrection unto eternal life!

There is also another feature which is worthy of remark in this territory. Can it not be safely said that the mortality of the people thus gathered together bears a marked contrast to that which exists elsewhere? Can it not be said that the influence of industry, of peace, and of good order, has had a good effect upon the masses in many directions. The mental pressure which excites elsewhere sends tens of thousands to suicide or drives them into houses built for those suffering from insanity, does not exist in the midst of the Latter-day Saints. Mentally, the people of this territory are pretty evenly balanced; one of the results of their faith in God, is that it enables them to contend manfully and patiently with difficulties instead of yielding to the circumstances thrust upon them, and thus they become valiant in the battle of life; they are not afraid of obstacles, or danger, or duties which may surround them; they believe that it is best to work, to fight and overcome, instead of cowardly taking into their hands the opportunity of depriving themselves of living upon the earth and filling a suicide’s grave. The faith of the Gospel teaches them that life is a school, that it is an honor and works out future glory to submit to its discipline, to overcome its difficulties, to solve its problems and to fill its purposes, so that all the attributes of their manhood may be cultured and developed. This springs from the fundamental idea which the people of this territory have received and which they have accepted in their faith, and whatever social, commercial, political, or other class of difficulties may arise, and even though surrounded by the fire of persecution, they will still exercise this faith in God, and believe that from all apparent evil he will bring forth good. Does not the mental balance which this people exhibit, this absence of that tendency toward suicide and lunacy—which exists in all the nations of the earth by virtue of the pressure which society brings to bear upon the characteristics of men—does not the fact that this pressure is unknown among the people of Utah, (or at least if not unknown, nearly so) stand as an evidence of the better character of the institutions under which they live? On the other hand they are giving to their posterity all that the world calls education. Not that they consider it the primary object and end of life, but they do consider it useful to their children in enabling them to fulfil some of the responsibilities of manhood, to attend to the business duties and affairs of life, and for this they are building schoolhouses, for this they employ teachers and erect academies, and in this way they have spent in poverty as much, comparatively speaking, as will bear a pleasant contrast with any part of this country, of which they are a part. And while they have endeavored to carry out this joint style of education—that is, the cultivation of the highest attributes, which consist of faith in God, faith that we can commune with him, faith in the Scriptures handed down to us by the ancient servants of God, faith that by the introduction of the Gospel and the practice of its principles will be laid the foundation of a higher civilization, calculated in its nature to supersede all other forms with which man may have been acquainted in the ages that are past—yet for all this, politically they do not feel obliged to be either democrats or republicans, whigs or nationalists, but rather feel to cultivate all the qualities of patriotism and citizenship, developing these to the highest possible perfection. But even in connection with a system which aims at these results, a system which has set before its believers so elevated a platform, there will occasionally in individuals be comparative failure. But wherever men are possessed of this faith, it is simply a question of time as to its ultimate success, and the day is not far distant when those who hold this faith will not be confined to Utah and the adjacent territory, they will not be held in bondage and vassalage, and have appointed over them men in whose election they have no voice, but they will stand qualified with all that of excellence they desire, and have the privilege of being free and full American citizens.

I said awhile ago that there had been a good deal of talking and a good deal of writing in regard to a bugbear called the union of Church and State. But it is folly to talk or write against a thing which God has incorporated into the very fabric of man’s being; and it would be a good deal better now for the nation in which we live if the ranks of political parties were less divided, were more imbued with a sense of honor, virtue, purity, and the spirit of brotherhood. This would remove from them a great many of the evils with which they are afflicted: it would help to strengthen their efforts for the good of the nation—in every way—if they, in the spirit of the Christian faith, went forth to receive the suffrages of their fellow men, and then take with them into the halls of Congress the same spirit, there to labor with just conceptions of justice and brotherhood, realizing that “God hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth.” If our political parties were animated by this spirit, would not the name of America stand higher than has ever yet been dreamed of by those who entered her counsels or sat to administer her affairs. I am an advocate for the system which has been established in Utah Territory, because I have studied it, I have seen its influences, I have marked its power over the lives of those who have been obedient and subservient to it, and I know myself that it is calculated to develop the best features of our humanity, to unite the human family together, to bring heaven to earth, to bring men into communion with the angels, and to hasten the day when not only the angels, but Jesus shall come to the earth and reign, and when the thousands of those who have been prepared under the influence and institutions of Zion shall have the privilege of associating with “the Church of the Firstborn; and the spirits of just men made perfect.” This I know to be the power and spirit, the end and aim, the final triumph of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I feel proud that thousands in Utah have consecrated all that they possess to the establishment of this divine system which you can read of in the history of the past, and which has again been revealed in our day through the ministration of angels to the Prophet Joseph, on the eastern shores of the continent of North America I know also that in the progress of this work it will not only take hold of the poor and meek of the earth, but the day is not far distant when it will take hold of many of the more thoughtful and cultivated among men; and while we may look back through the history of the past and think there never were statesmen like Washington and others who have left their names on the records of fame, yet, my brethren and sisters, the Gospel tells us that these were only the precursors of many in the future who in intellect and culture shall stand unfolded in all that harmony and glory which belongs to the eternities.

I know the Latter-day Saints understand these things, and in the spirit thereof they are seeking to cultivate their faith in God, seeking to consecrate their time, talent and ability to the building up of Zion upon the earth; and to those who are strangers in their midst who are not acquainted with their program, not acquainted with the ambition which prompts and inspires the Latter-day Saints—to such we say these are the ideas by which we are actuated. They know they are workers for God, they are laborers in the great field of human progress, and they are using that which they have received from the heavens, believing that divine purposes are best served by divine edu– cation and divine culture, and when these are operating, all the facilities about which men boast, sink into comparative insignificance in contrast with that higher education which belongs to and grows out of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I ask our friends who turn in with us occasionally, to give us credit for this earnestness of purpose, and although they may not see as we see, although they may consider the Latter-day Saints mad, yet they must admit that “there is method in their madness.” The results which are now seen are but the drops before the shower, the little progress now made is but the shadow of that which shall be seen when they shall return to the land of the rising sun, for then in every State of the Union will be found wonderful colonies of the Latter-day Saints, wielding power and influence under the administration and institutions of Zion, working as they work now for the elevation and progress and redemption of the human family.

May God give us wisdom “to work while it is day,” to labor diligently in the duties to which we have been called, and when we have done this, may we be saved in the celestial kingdom of our God, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by Elder C. W. Penrose, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, August 8th, 1880.

Having been called upon this afternoon to address this congregation, I rise before you trusting that the Holy Spirit, which makes plain to the human mind the things of God, may rest upon me and upon you; that I may be inspired by that Spirit to say something which will be of profit to those who hear, and that those who listen to what I may say may be able to understand in the same light and under the same influence as that by which the words are spoken.

The elders of this Church, in ministering as public speakers, stand before the people in the name of the Lord. They do not address congregations for the purpose of ventilating the opinions and ideas which they may entertain, but they occupy the position of ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ, to speak that which is given to them by the influence of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, the servants of God are instructed to “treasure up in their hearts continually the words of life,” with the promise that if they do this and are diligent in seeking for the mind and will of God, in the very hour that they are needed, words shall be placed in their mouths, or ideas be brought up in their minds, which shall be for the benefit of all who hear. It is in this Spirit that I endeavor to address the congregation this afternoon, and I hope I shall have not only your attention, but the benefit of your faith and prayers, that the Spirit of God may rest upon me and the congregation also.

We are living upon the earth at a time when there are a great many creeds—a great many different doctrines, each professing to be the true faith—the Christian religion. There is a spirit of doubt and division in the world. Men are ever learning but not able to come to a knowledge of the truth. They indulge in a great many speculations. Some good people study the Scriptures and endeavor to find out what is divine truth, but their ideas are various; they do not come to the unity of the faith; and the great reason why this is so is because they do not seek to the fountain of light and truth with the expectation of receiving any reply. In olden times God used to speak to the people. He had ser– vants upon the earth who spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost; angels ministered to the sons of men, and truth was revealed in great plainness from the Father. But in these times, people have to put up with the ideas and notions that men hold in relation to these truths which were anciently revealed. There is now no voice from heaven, no prophet among the people; there are no inspired apostles; angels have ceased to minister, and to use the words of one of the great divines of the day, “The awful voice of prophecy is silenced forever.”

Of course in making use of these remarks I am speaking in relation to what is called the Christian world. The Latter-day Saints believe that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and that if he is sought after today in the same way that he was sought after yesterday, he will answer in the same manner. We believe that it is just as possible for angels to come to earth in these times as in any former age of the world; we believe that the power of the Holy Ghost is the same today as it was thousands of years ago; that divine truth can be made manifest direct from God to the people now as it was in the days of Jesus, or in the days of the prophets who preceded him on the earth.

The religion we Latter-day Saints have received—which we hold to, which we live for, and which a great many of us are willing to die for, if necessary—has come to us by revelation from God in the day and age in which we live. In taking up the writings of the old prophets, in reading the letters written by the ancient apostles, we find that the religion which God has revealed to us is the same religion which God revealed to them. What is contained in the Bible corroborates that which we have received, and the spirit which accompanies the preaching of the word to us, is similar in its effects to that spirit which accompanied the preaching of the ancient prophets and apostles of the Lord. We find this out by reading that portion of their records which has been left. So that the religion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not a mere theory of men. The doctrines which we have received have come to us direct from the Lord in our own time. We are not left to speculation, we are not left to our own theories, but we have defined principles given to us of God for our guidance, for our comfort and for our edification.

Now, there is a disposition existing in the world today to go away from the Lord. Men seem to have a desire to follow out their own imaginations, their own ideas and notions, and in consequence of this a great many wrong principles have been received for truth in the Christian world, and this disposition seems to increase. The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Saints in his day, advised them to “beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of man, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Now, that same advice is good for the people in our times; good for the Latter-day Saints; good for the people who compose the various sects of modern Christendom. If we have received the doctrines of Christ, if our feet are planted firmly upon the rock which he has laid, there is no fear of our going astray; but if we depart from that and walk in the ways of men, and are led by their theories and their speculations and their vain philosophy, we are very likely to go astray.

I notice in reading some of the works of modern divines, and noting the progress of religious thought among the people, that there is a doctrine which is becoming very widespread among the people called “Christians,” that is, a heresy in regard to the doctrine of our condition in the future. It is believed by a great many people at the present time, that there is no such thing as a literal resurrection of the body; that when this body is laid away in the ground and goes back to the elements out of which it was organized, that is the end of the body, and that it will never come up again. They do not see any need of a literal resurrection of the body; they cannot perceive by what process it can be resuscitated; and not being able to comprehend how this great change can come, how the scattered elements of the body can be brought together again, they reject the doctrine altogether. This is the belief of the people who are called spiritualists or spiritists. This is one of the doctrines of that great delusion of the latter times, that “strong delusion” that the Lord has permitted to come into the world because men would not receive the truth, but turned away from it and loved a lie. It is taught by that rapping and muttering influence, that when the spirit leaves the body and passes into another state, that is the resurrection; that the body will be raised up no more; that the spirit, liberated from the body, will progress from sphere to sphere—how many spheres they do not know—but that there is no further need of the body. This idea is increasing in its hold upon the minds of the people, among the various “Christian” sects, and some of the greatest preachers and divines of the day entertain this idea, philosophize upon it and teach it to their congregations. Now we have the satisfaction of definite knowledge in regard to this matter, as well as all the articles of our creed—if we have such a thing as a formulated creed. The ideas we have in relation to this doctrine have come from God. There is no need of any doubt about it, no need for any speculation. The Lord has revealed something concerning this. It is true he has not revealed the philosophy of it in full, he has only given us some ideas concerning it. But he has made the fact very plain that there may be no misunderstanding about it. In the Book of Doctrine and Covenants—which contains many of the revelations that God has given to the Church through the Prophet Joseph Smith, we find this doctrine laid down in great plainness. It is stated that the spirit and the body make up the soul of man, and that the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul. We are taught also that there are material elements and spiritual elements; that the spiritual part of our being was in the beginning with God, and that the spiritual and material when inseparably connected receive a fulness of joy, otherwise men cannot receive a fulness of joy. It takes the spiritual part of man and the material or physical part joined together inseparably to obtain a fulness of joy. When the spirit is separated from the body, a fulness of joy cannot be obtained. When the spirit is joined to the body temporarily under a temporal law, under the law of death, it cannot receive a fulness of joy. The spirit and the body must be so joined together that both will be immortal, and in that condition man can receive a fulness of joy.

The Book of Mormon is also very plain upon this subject. I will read one or two texts from that book, and if I have time I may refer to the Bible, to show that the things contained in the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants are the same as contained in the old scriptures. I will read a passage from the seventy-ninth page (new edition) of the Book of Mormon, namely:

“And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel.

“Oh how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect.

“Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanliness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.”

Now, according to the Book of Mormon, the spirits of men, the righteous and the wicked, are to be brought up from the place to which they shall go when they depart from this life. There is no need for any dubiety about this, there is no need for any mistake; it is clear that the separation of the spirit from the body is not the resurrection spoken of in this book.

The Prophet Alma, touching on this subject, explained to the people in his day what an angel of God made known to him. These words, which I am about to read to you from the Book of Alma, in the Book of Mormon, are not Alma’s ideas and speculations. He says they were revealed to him by an angel. I would advise you to read the 40th chapter, 352 page, new edition. Alma states here that he was very much troubled concerning the doctrine of the condition of people after they passed away from this life. He wanted to know something of the condition of man between death and the resurrection, and he says an angel of God made known to him that there is a space between death and the resurrection, that the spirits of the wicked are in a state of unrest, having a knowledge of all their wickedness, and a remembrance of all their transgressions; that they are in a state of fear, looking for the wrath and indignation of God, not knowing what their punishment will be; while on the other hand, the spirits of the righteous enter into a state of rest. They have a perfect knowledge of all that God has done for them, and all their acts of righteousness, and they await in peace for the time when their bodies shall be brought forth from the dust to stand in the presence of their God to receive their crown. Alma then goes on to say:

“But this much I say, that there is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body, and be brought to stand before God, and be judged according to their works.

“The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.”

Now, that is clear and distinct on this point. In regard to the times and seasons of this resurrection, about which Alma speaks, he said he did not know, but those things he did know were made known to him by an angel, namely, that there is a space between death and the resurrection; that at the resurrection the body and the spirit shall be brought up and restored to each other, and not only the body and spirit, but every part and particle belonging to the body; not a hair of the head shall be lost; every joint and muscle and fiber and sinew, and every part and particle necessary to make up a perfect physical body for the spirit to dwell in, shall be restored to that spirit in the resurrection. That is the doctrine laid down by the Prophet Alma, as taught to him by an angel.

The very meaning of the word “resurrection” ought to dispel the idea that the separation of the spirit from the body at death is resurrection. The word itself means, “I stand up again.” The idea which all the prophets and apostles of old had was that at some future time the voice of God should be uttered, and the dead should stand up again, their bodies should come from the grave; just exactly the doctrine laid down in the Book of Mormon and Book of Doctrine and Covenants. Some have an idea that the people who lived upon the earth before Jesus had no correct ideas in regard to the future. I have seen such statements published by popular divines of the day; but when we come to take up the Old Testament Scriptures, we find that the writers, holy men of God, who wrote as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, had a distinct and unwavering faith in regard to this same doctrine, that of the resurrection of the body.

The book of Job is said to be the most ancient book of the Bible. I will read a verse or two from the 7th chapter. In the 9th verse we read: “As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.” Now, that is a very plain statement of Job’s; that when a man goes down to the grave he shall not return. Those who believe in the vain philosophy that I have referred to, take a great deal of comfort in quoting that passage, and also some sayings of Solomon, the wise man; that is, he was a wise man once, but he became a foolish man before he died, not because he married more wives than one, but because he transgressed by marrying strange wives. Solomon, in some of his writings, speaks in the same way as Job. But I will read a verse from the 14th chapter of Job:

“As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and dryeth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not.”

This also is a very plain statement, is it not? But Job did not stop here as he did in the 7th chapter, for he continues,

“Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until the wrath be passed, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.” Chapter xiv, 12-15.

Read again in the 19th chapter, where he is a little more explicit, commencing at the 23rd verse:

“Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”

Now, in the first place, Job is speaking in regard to what we all seek in this world, in regard to the common lot of mortals. “Man lieth down, and riseth not.” In saying that Job had no reference to what would take place in the future. He was speaking of the common experience of mankind. But afterward, inspired by the spirit of prophecy, he looked right down to the latter days, in the midst of his afflictions, his trouble and sorrow, his pain of body and anguish of mind, when his friends were turned against him—he looked down to the latter days and wished that his words were written and printed in a book, that the words were graven in the rock with an iron pen and lead put into them, that they might stand as a witness to all future generations, as a testimony to the resurrection of the body and a rebuke to the vain philosophy of the latter times.

I will now read a verse or two from the book of the Prophet Isaiah, to show that others of the ancients, besides Job, had some idea of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. In the 19th, 20th and 21st verses of the 26th chapter of Isaiah we read;

“Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

“Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

“For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”

Isaiah, you see, had the same spirit as Job. He spoke about the time when the indignation or wrath of God should pass over the earth, and he wished to be hidden in the grave until that time was over, and then he expected the earth to cast out her dead.

I have not time to read the 37th chapter of Ezekiel—you can read it at home—but in that Chapter we find that the Lord showed Ezekiel a valley full of dry bones. The Lord asked him whether these bones could live, and he answered, “Thou knowest.” Then the Lord told him to prophesy upon these bones, and as he prophesied, there was a noise and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them. Then the Lord again told them to prophesy, and he prophesied as commanded, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Now, we have no need to read the writings of the divines of the present time to find out what this means. Right in the same chapter is given the interpretation.

“These bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the Land of Israel. * * And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land: then ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.”

Now, by these testimonies that I have quoted from the Old Testament scriptures, we find that the people who lived on the earth before the days of Jesus had some knowledge in regard to the future, in regard to the condition of the spirit when it left the body, and also in regard to the resurrection of the body. The wise man Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes 12th chapter and 7th verse, speaking in regard to death, after giving a very poetical description of the house we live in, says: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” He had some idea in regard to life after death, although if we read some of his writings we might gain the idea that man ended when his body was laid down in the grave.

Now, these doctrines, which were understood by the people before the days of Christ are the same as believed in by the disciples of Jesus, the same as Jesus taught. We will take, for instance, Jesus’ own declaration in regard to the resurrection, in which he says: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in their graves, shall hear his voice. And shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” Or as it reads in the Prophet Joseph Smith’s version, “they that have done good, in the resurrection of the just, and they that have done evil, in the resurrection of the unjust.” Now, according to Christ’s own statement to his disciples, all that are in their graves are to come forth, both the righteous and the wicked, just as it is taught in the Book of Mormon. This is also in accordance with what the Prophet Daniel—another of those ancients who understood this doctrine—says in the 12th chapter of his book. He speaks of Michael and the great trouble that shall come upon the earth in the latter days and says: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel understood that there was to be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust. Now take the 20th chapter of the Book of Revelation, read it, and you will find the resurrection portrayed to John by vision when he was on the Isle of Patmos. He says:

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”

And after the thousand years passed away, John saw in the vision the rest of the dead brought forth. “The sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”

The Apostle Paul in writing to the Philippians, 3rd chap., 20-21 v. says: “Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” Now, according to this testimony, the righteous, who look for a part in the first resurrection, expect to have bodies like the glorious body of the Son of God. What kind of a body was that? We read that Jesus Christ was put to death upon the cross; that when he had cried with a loud voice, he said “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” and then gave up the ghost. The body was placed in a new tomb in which no man had lain, and to guard the body, lest somebody should come and take it away, Roman soldiers were placed before the door of the tomb or sepulchre. But we read that two angels came, before whom these Roman soldiers fell as dead, and they (the angels) rolled away the stone from the tomb and the sleeping body of Jesus awakened and came forth. When the disciples arrived, the body was gone. Mary went into the garden to try and find out something concerning the body, and while she was weeping, Jesus appeared unto her. She sprang forward and was about to embrace him when he said, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and to your God.” When the disciples were informed of this they could not believe it, and they met together on a certain occasion, and when the doors were shut, for fear of the Jews, and they found they were securely alone, they began to talk about the wonderful things that had transpired; about the death of Jesus, the crucifixion of one whom they thought was to take the throne and sit upon it in power forever. And we read that while they were talking Jesus appeared in their midst and said, “peace be unto you.”

“But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. * * *

“And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.” Luke xxiv 36-43.

Now, here was a resurrection of the body. Not the raising of Christ’s spirit, but his body out of the tomb. In that body he appeared before the disciples, and when they thought it was merely a spirit, he told them that a spirit had not flesh and bones as they saw him have. The disciples who had this manifestation told some of the rest. Thomas, however, would not believe it. He said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” After making use of these foolish remarks, Jesus appeared to Thomas when he was assembled with the other disciples, and he said unto Thomas, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” Thomas could not help believing then, but Jesus said unto him, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Faith is a great blessing. Some people will not believe anything they cannot grasp with their human reason or cannot see with their natural eyes. But blessed is the man of faith, blessed is the woman of faith! For by faith they can see into things that cannot be discerned by the natural eyes. They can reach out to the regions of immortality, grasp eternal realities and lay hold upon the things of God! Now, Jesus appeared in the same body that was placed in the tomb, and yet it was not the same, there was a change in it. What change was it? We read that Jesus Christ shed his blood “for the remission of sins: not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus was raised up from the dead by the power of God, and says Paul, “If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Paul also says, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” Blood is corruptible, the blood-quickened body is subject to the law of death. But Christ’s body when it was raised from the dead was “quickened by the spirit.” There was a great deal of difference not only in this respect but in others. When the disciples were shut up in that room Christ was able to enter it without opening the door, which could not be done by mortals. He had power to manifest himself to his disciples, and he had power to cover himself from their gaze. He had power to overcome the laws of gravity, and on a certain occasion, after he had visited his disciples, had appeared to 500 brethren at once, had given instructions to his apostles to build up his church, as he spoke to them “a cloud received him out of their sight.” He was able to lift himself up from the earth and depart from this sphere to another; his body was no longer a mortal body, no longer governed by the same laws as those by which we are governed. We are also told that “While they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go to heaven—Act. i, 9-11.” When he shall come again he shall come in the same body, and we are told in the 14th chapter of Zechariah that his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives and in the 13th chapter that when the Jews behold him, the Messiah, whom they have expected so long, they will say, “What are these wounds in thine hands?” Then he shall answer, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” And then every family will mourn apart; the whole house of Israel will mourn because of the wickedness of their forefathers in putting him to death. In receiving him at his second coming they will comprehend the truth of his first coming, and not before, and they will welcome him as the resurrected Christ.

Now, the Apostle Paul says that “He shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” What kind of bodies will the righteous possess in the resurrection? They are to be bodies of flesh and bones quickened by spirit; not quickened by blood, no longer subject to death, pain, or any of the ills of mortality. This does not look much as if the separation of the spirit from the body is resurrection. Such a doctrine as that is not according to the scriptures, it is only “vain philosophy.”

Latter-day Saints, beware of this vain philosophy which would rob you of your faith in the resurrection that is to come. O, what a glorious hope it brings! Husbands who mourn the loss of their wives, whom they loved and whom they have placed away in the tomb, shall receive them again in the resurrection. What a glorious meeting, that is, if they have been sealed by the holy order of God. Whatever is thus sealed to them on earth is sealed in heaven. Husbands and wives, those sealed and united according to the holy order of celestial marriage, will be joined again in the resurrection. They will come forth out of the tomb and their bodies will be quickened by the power of the Holy Spirit, and made glorious like unto the body of the Son of God. They will be reunited as man and wife forever, and of their increase and of the extent of their dominion and glory, power and might and majesty, there shall be no end! Mothers who put away the bodies of their little ones in the ground in deep sorrow and lamentation shall receive their babes again to their bosoms. As they were laid down in the grave, so shall they come forth again in the same stature, the same likeness, nothing shall be lost, not even a hair of their heads, but they shall be quickened after the power of an endless life. The Apostle Paul illustrates this in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians. He says: “It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body; and there is a spiritual body.” When wheat is planted in the ground, the seed seems to die. It is said that in the midst of life we are in death. But in the midst of death there is life. There is a nucleus of life that is imperishable. There is a germ within that little kernel of wheat that seems to perish and die, that is also indestructible, and so with the body planted in the ground. What is raised, Paul? Is it the spirit raised out of the body? No; it is the resurrection of the body. That was the testimony the apostles bore. Their chief testimony was that Jesus was crucified upon the cross, and that he was raised up from the dead.

But, says one, I cannot see any good of it. What is the use of this old body after it goes to the ground and mingles with the dust? What is the use of taking the trouble to bring it up again? How is it possible? In regard to the possibility, there are a great many things possible with God that are impossible with man. A few years ago it was not thought possible for a man to stand in New York and talk to another in London, but it is done, it is possible, and many things are done now that were not thought of years ago. Supposing a person who knows nothing about the properties of the magnet were to visit some of the big factories in England, he would see in many of them large quantities of brass and steel filings all mixed together. I have been in such works and seen that the proprietors are very careful to allow nothing to go to waste. They sweep up all these filings and put them in barrels or other receptacles, and by and by some one comes along with a large magnet and digs it into the mass of mixed filings, and when it is withdrawn it is seen to be covered with particles of steel or iron. This is repeated over and over again until all the steel is separated from the brass. But a person who had no knowledge of the magnet would naturally think, on seeing these particles all mixed together, that it would be impossible to separate them. Now, do you not think that God has more power than man? That he has “magnets” with properties beyond our present ken? I think he has. I think if God desires to bring the particles of the human body together, he understanding their composition, can easily do so. In the beginning he spake to chaos, and by the power of his faith the worlds were formed. Faith is a force. It is as much a force as magnetism or electricity. It is the power by which the universe was framed. God can speak to the elements of our bodies and bring them forth again according to certain fixed laws known to him if not to us. Jesus spoke to the winds and they obeyed him. He walked upon the water. Out of five loaves and two fishes he made a great feast, “And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.” All this was done upon natural principles, and we would be able to comprehend this if we understood natural principles thoroughly. And I have no doubt in my own mind, that when the resurrection shall come, when God shall speak, and we shall answer, it will be just as natural to bring up our bodies in the morning of the resurrection as it was for us to lay them down. Why, we do not understand how it is that they crumble away. Can you explain the death process, when an individual is taken hold of by some mysterious power, and the life goes out of him? There is no brightness to the eye, no beauty on the cheek, no motion to the lip, all is quiet, cold and lifeless. The body is placed away in the ground and the particles begin to separate, when, but a little while before there was something that caused all the particles of that body to cling together. A change has come, and they all want to get away from each other. What is the process and who understands it? There are a great many things we do not understand. This afternoon we are whirling in space at an immense velocity. The earth is revolving upon its own axis and traveling around the sun. How is it done? “By the operation of certain forces.” But how did these forces come into operation, what did they spring from, how are they regulated? Who knows? Who understands the process of sleeping and waking up again? Here is a thing that takes place every night. We go to sleep. How do we go to sleep? I do not know. Sometimes I try to go to sleep and cannot, and again I try to keep awake and cannot. Sleep is in the likeness of death, and waking up is in the likeness of the resurrection. I do not know how it is done, only that it is done by the power of God. It will be as Job says, God will call and we will answer. The glorious frame of man, the most beautiful piece of God’s workmanship, so “fearfully and wonderfully made,” will come forth in its full perfection and endure throughout all the ages of eternity.

“Well, what is the good of it?” I think that passage in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants explains it clearly. The Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith said that the spirit and the body of man must be inseparably connected before a fullness of joy can be obtained. Man must be raised up in an immortal body which cannot be grasped by the hand of death. The unembodied or disembodied spirit cannot receive the joys that come through the grosser elements. Spirit ministereth to spirit, Spiritual things have affinity for that which is spiritual. There are pleasures which can only flow through the medium of a material body, and hence the necessity of the resurrection. A perfect being is an immortal spirit dwelling in an immortal body, and by affinity with all things, and heaven the key to the heights and depths and breadths of the universe, is able to draw from every source the joy and bliss and pleasures and glories, that are the heritage of the celestial ones who are filled with the fullness of the eternal God. I am afraid that those vain philosophers who do not want any more to do with the body after death, will find themselves in the same condition as those who are spoken of in the vision of Ezekiel to which I have referred. The Lord declared of them “Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.”

There is a great deal in the revelations that God has given to the prophet Joseph that may not be plain to our minds at the first glance. Therefore, I would advise my brethren and sisters to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the things that God has placed on record for our guidance, and let us place our trust in them rather than upon the vain philosophy and foolishness of men who think they are great scientists, and imagine that they can reason out the things of God. Man, by searching, cannot find out God, but He reveals them to the faithful by his spirit which “searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God.” And if we will take for our guide the laws and precepts God has given; take the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which all run together like three globules of water, and are like the three measures of meal in the parable, and seek to God Almighty for the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, that it may be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, then we will have manifested unto us those things that are necessary for us to understand. God has set in the Church in these days, as he did in olden times, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, etc., for the work of the ministry and for the perfecting of the Saints, and if we are guided by the living oracles of the Church, and the power of the Holy Ghost and the sacred books, we will not go astray, but if we are guided by the vain philosophy of uninspired men we are almost sure to get upon the wrong path.

This is the point which I desired to make plain this afternoon—the glorious doctrine of the resurrection of the body, one of the main doctrines of the Christian religion. It all hinges on that; for if Christ is not risen, then is our hope vain. Christ died and was raised again. So shall we die—perhaps not all of us will sleep in the earth, for some are to remain and be alive at his coming—but we shall all be raised, and those who dwell upon the earth when the Lord appears shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye. The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall awake, and with those who are living shall be caught up to meet the Lord. Perhaps this may be the lot of some in this congregation this afternoon. The day of the Lord is nigh at hand. Behold he cometh, as the prophets have declared! Not as the babe of Bethlehem, but as the Lord of power and glory, as the resurrection and the life! Every word which has been spoken concerning him will be fulfilled. Christ will appear and he will call the righteous to himself. They will come forth in the morning of that great “day of the Lord, that bright and beautiful morning when the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings,” and the lambent rays of his regal glory shall warm the righteous dead to life. But woe unto them that know not God and obey not the Gospel, for they shall be banished from the presence of the Lord, and until the millennial day is over they cannot come forth in their bodies to receive their portion.

May God help us to walk in his ways and keep his commandments, that we may have a right to a part in the first resurrection, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, August 8th, 1880.

What we have heard from this stand, this afternoon, as well as on former occasions, we must meet again in the great judgment day. We have quite a number of scribes at the table, who are writing down anything that is said. These are not, however, the only scribes. There are others behind the veil, who take down the discourses of the servants of God; they are recorded there; and the books will be opened at some future time. All the warnings that have been given to the Latter-day Saints, and to the world, will again come up, in the own due time of the Lord, in judgment; and it will be required of us to render an account, whether we have been obedient to those warnings, or whether we have been disobedient. The Lord is a consistent Being in all his doings. He will not condemn the children of men, for not receiving something that they were ignorant of; but, if they are condemned at all, it will be for rejecting something that they have understood, or something that they might have understood, had they improved the opportunity. They will be judged according to law, according to testimony, and according to that which is written in the sacred books. The records of heaven will be opened. The records, kept by divine authority on the earth, will also be opened. The evidences and testimonies will be set forth; and every man and every woman, who is condemned, in the great judgment day, will be condemned according to law, according to testimony, according to evidence, according to the light that has been given, according to the deeds done in the body.

The Lord is a Being who has given laws unto all things; and he adapted these laws, according to the condition and circumstances of all things. All agents, free agents, who have light and knowledge to know how to act, how to discern good from evil, will be judged according to one law. They are not compelled to obey the law which they hear, but they can act according to their agency, either in obeying or disobeying, receiving the blessings of obedience or the fruits of disobedience. The Lord has giv– en a great many laws, besides those which he has given to free agents, or to intelligent beings; but they differ in their nature, according to the condition and circumstances of the materials to which these laws are given. See a revelation upon the subject of these laws, which was given on the 27th day of December, 1832 (Doc. &. Cov. pp. 305 to 310). This revelation was called, in those days, the “olive leaf.” In this revelation, the Lord informs us that “he hath given a law unto all things by which they move in their times and their seasons.” These laws which are given to the materials of nature are generally obeyed. There does not seem to be any agency on the part of these materials, so far as we naturally comprehend it; at least, if there is an agency, it seems to be very obedient instead of disobedient. Hence, when he issues forth a law to govern the materials of creation the law seems to be obeyed; at least we do not know of any disobedience. It would almost seem as though these materials act under compulsion and are really obliged to act as they do. Yet there are some sayings in this same revelation, which seem to indicate that there is a degree of intelligence even in these materials. We read that “the earth abideth a law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law.” This would seem to indicate that there is something connected with the earth itself, wherein it has an agency; and that because of the exercise of its agency, and keeping the law, it should be crowned with celestial glory. The materials out of which our earth is formed, are also governed by law. Not only the earth as an organized world, but the very materials themselves, are governed by laws. These laws were given of God; and when we search into the laws, not of nature merely, but the laws of God, and the more we comprehend the laws by which materials are governed, the more we understand the laws of God and his operations in the universe.

The earth seems to take one continued course. It has an orbit. It does not deviate from this orbit, unless acted upon by some other force, which may cause some fluctuations or deviations from its apparently destined path. Some, in reflecting upon this might say, that the earth is obliged to follow this course. I do not know about this, I am not so sure. I think if we could see a little further, we would understand that, connected with the materials of the earth is a living principle, a principle too, that acts according to certain laws, intelligently, not blindly; and that our earth, in performing its course, following the track marked out, does so according to law, as much as we do when we go forth and are buried in the waters of baptism. We go according to law, and obtain a blessing, so does the earth, when following the course marked out for it. “God hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons.” We know that all of these great movements, which we observe taking place in the universe around us, are conducted according to certain laws, which mankind have, in a few instances, been able to search out themselves through the intelligence that God has given them. For instance, we see a force in exercise, when we lift up a stone from the ground, and hold it in our hands; the moment we let go this stone, it falls to the earth. What causes it to fall? Philosophers tell you that “it falls according to a law of nature.” But who is this nature that gave this law? Why do material bodies fall? Why do they not remain stationary, suspended in the air, or in a vacuum? Why do they have a tendency to approach the center of the earth? It is because there is a force which draws them towards such center. What is this force? Scientists have called it gravitation; but the name does not explain the force. We are certain that a central force exists; and that such force is something that acts according to a certain law. Now, if you were to take a material body, as for instance, a stone, 4,000 miles above the surface of the earth and let go of it; it would only fall one-fourth part of the distance, in a second, that it will fall here, near the surface of the earth. Why will it not fall with the same velocity up yonder as here? Because the law which God has given in relation to these materials, varies in its intensity of force, according to some law of the distance from the central force. A body will fall, near the earth’s surface, about 16 feet and one inch, in one second of time. You take it up 4,000 miles, and it will fall only about four feet in one second of time. This has been demonstrated by the action of the earth upon the moon which is nearly 60 times further from the earth’s center than we are. The moon only falls toward the earth about the eighteenth part of one inch in a second, which is about 3,600 times slower than a stone or other bodies would fall at the earth’s surface. Thus, it will be perceived, that this gravitating force diminishes in its intensity according to a fixed law, depending on the distance from the center of the earth. This law was discovered by Newton. It is known beyond all controversy that if we go twice the distance which we are from our earth’s center, bodies will weigh two times two less than they weigh here. If we recede thrice our present distance, bodies will weigh three times three, or nine times less than if weighed here. At ten times the distance, the weight would be ten times ten less than here. At sixty times our distance from the earth’s center (which is the distance of our satellite) bodies would weigh toward the earth, sixty times sixty less than they weigh here; but sixty times sixty are thirty-six hundred; that is, a pound would weigh thirty-six hundred times less if carried to the moon’s orbit, than here.

In the language of mathematicians, “the intensity of the gravitating force varies inversely as the square of the distance between gravitating centers.” This law is undoubtedly universal in its operations, extending to all the visible universe.

This law, combined with orbital movements, is necessary to the stability of worlds revolving in space. Without it, systems on systems would soon rush to ruin. If any other law of intensity than the one which now exists were assumed, irretrievable ruin would soon follow. Out of the infinity of laws of variable intensities depending on distances, the only one has been selected which alone can impart stability to all systems in space. Who made this all-wise selection? Did blind matter select its own laws? Or did an all-wise and an all-powerful Being impart these laws—selecting out of an infinity of force intensities, the only law of variable intensity, which would render stable the grand machinery of the universe?

This curious law some will tell us is merely a law of materials, that God had nothing to do with it. But I dispute it. I say that God is the Author of this law; and were it not for this infinitely wise provision, there would not be such a thing as one particle of matter being drawn to another; and a stone, when loosened from the hand, would still remain where it is set free.

Again we see our world here—the earth on which we are permitted to live and have our being—sweeping round the great center of the solar system, once in 365 days and a fraction of a day: it has continued in this path, not only through a few centuries, but for thousands of years; or, in other words, it has followed this course according to some undeviating law. Whatever this law may be God has ordained it, for he has ordained the “law which is given to all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons.”

This earth does not revolve around the sun, once a year, in a circular orbit, but in an oblong, elliptical orbit. Now, it is just as easy to cause a body to revolve around the sun, in an ellipse, as in a circle. For instance, if our Earth, when at its mean distance from the Sun, should be projected, with its present mean velocity, in a line at right angles to the lines joining the Earth and Sun—it would describe a perfect circle around that luminary. But let the projections deviate from a right angle, a little less than one degree, and it will take the very form of orbit it now has, provided it is projected with the same mean velocity that it now has. Again let this same earth be projected, at its mean distance from the Sun, in a line making an angle of 70 degrees, 31 minutes and 44 seconds of an arc, instead of 90 degrees, as in the instance just named, and the form of the orbit would be greatly changed: the distance from the Sun, when nearest, would be only sixty-one millions of miles; and in six months after, the distance would be doubled, that is, one hundred and twenty-two millions of miles. Under these circumstances, the Sun, when nearest, would appear four times larger than at its aphelion distance.

You see, then, how easy the Lord, by deviating the angle of projection, could cause a great difference, in the eccentricity of an elliptic orbit, without altering the mean distance or without shortening or lengthening the year. The year would remain the same, without any deviation in its length, if the earth revolved in an ellipse of the kind that I have just named. Again, if you wanted the earth to go so near the Sun that it would almost graze its edge, and still retain the length of our year unchanged, it would not take our advanced university students long to determine the angle of projection the earth should have, so as to just graze the edge of the Sun, at the perihelion distance, and come back again in an ellipse, which would be almost equivalent to a straight line, provided it was projected at the mean distance that we now have, with its present mean velocity; and the year would be exactly the same as now. I mention these things to show you how the Lord, by a little deviation, can design a great variety of orbits, in which worlds may revolve, according to law; for all these things are done according to law; and if actually projected, as we would propel a cannon ball, then all the Lord has to do is to decree the form of the elliptical orbit, having one year for its description, and the projecting angle will be, at once, known.

This is a law, and the Lord is the Author of it. It is not a law of nature. It is not a law of blind materials which have no knowledge or life connected with them, or in them or round about them.

I have been speaking of bodies projected at different angles, and at the mean distance of our earth from the sun. But let us next go still further off into space. We can go away to the orbit of Jupiter, about four times our distance from the sun. Is there any law for projection or a law of velocity that would cause bodies to revolve in orbits, at four times our distance from the sun? Yes. What is the law! It must not have the same velocity that we have. It must, at four times that distance, have only one one-half of the mean orbital velocity of our earth; and, if you gave it more than one-half of such velocity, it would decrease the mean distance of the orbit below four; if you gave it less, it would increase that mean distance above four; but if you gave it exactly one-half of the velocity our earth has, then it would preserve its orbit in a circle, or in any kind of an ellipse at that mean distance. Is there any law to govern this velocity depending upon the distance from the sun? Yes. What is the law? According to mathematical expressions, “the velocity varies inversely as the square root of the distance.” Well, says one, that is no information to us. We don’t know what you mean by inversely and don’t know what you mean by the square root; for all of us have not sufficiently studied arithmetic so as to understand the roots and powers of numbers. In reply, I will say, it is something very simple to all advanced students of arithmetic. Let me say a few more words, in regard to this law; for this is also a law of God. For instance, we will say, that the earth travels a certain distance in one second, which we will call unit distance or 18 miles in a second, in its orbit—we will call this distance one. We go four times further off than our earth is from the sun, and take the square root of four. But inquires one, how do you get the square root of four? A number that will multiply into itself, say two into two, makes four; two then is the square root of four, that is, it is the direct square root, not the inverse. But now you put this figure 2 underneath a line, and place the figure 1 above it (thus 1/2) and such a fraction is the inverse square root of four. Hence, one-half the velocity that our earth has, must be given to bodies which are four times further from the sun than we are. When nine times further off from the sun than we are the orbital velocity will be only one-third of ours; because one third is the inverse square root of nine. In like manner, when sixteen times further off, the orbital velocity is one-fourth ours. When twenty-five times more distant, the orbital velocity will be one-fifth, and so on to any distance.

Here, then, is a regular law of velocity; and you may extend this to any distance, in the solar system, that you please.

Now, who ordained this velocity? Did the unconscious materials of nature come together, and undertake to consider this matter? Here are laws that are conducted with great intelligence—intelligence too, that was not understood for several thousand years preceding the period of Newton. We have no account that the most civilized nations of the earth had any idea of the law of velocity depending on the inverse square root of the distance. Yet this law existed whether understood by man or not; it made no difference whether the nations were ignorant in regard to this matter or not, the law existed, and operated for ages unperceived by mortals.

The Latter-day Saints say, that the Lord of Hosts who has given us laws, adapted to our condition as free agents, has also given laws to these material worlds, by which they act and by which they are preserved for a great, and wise and good purpose, to sustain unnumbered myriads of animated beings, who are by numerous other laws adapted to these worlds, and enjoy life therein. We now have been speaking of the infinitely wise law of the velocity of planets. But this law would not preserve our universe in its present beautiful order, if the law of gravitation was not exactly what it is. We say that the law of gravitation acts inversely as the square of the distance. Now, why doesn’t it vary as the cube of the distance? Why doesn’t it vary inversely as the fourth power of the distance, or some other law of distance? Because all these other laws would throw the system into destruction at once; it could not be sustained. There is only one law among an infinite number that might be chosen, that would preserve the system in its present beautiful order, and that is the law of the inverse square of the distance. Who gave this law to materials that they should have this attractive force? The Book of Covenants tells us that “God hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons;” but if he had given a different law than this I have named, in regard to gravitation, the whole system, in a very short period, would be reduced to a chaotic mass, lifeless and inanimate, existing for no purpose, accomplishing no design or end. All this infinite wreck of worlds would be the necessary result of selecting an unwise law, varying from the one which now obtains among gravitating materials.

The law of velocity must be exactly adapted to the law of the inverse square of the attractive power. Who was it that made this adaptation? Did the materials endow themselves with both of these laws? Did they perceive that no other laws would render the universe stable or lasting? Or, otherwise, is there an all-wise and all-powerful Governor who brings all things under the dominion of laws, wise in their action, powerful in their nature, and preserving the grand machinery of the universe, in the most perfect harmony in the working of all its parts?

There must, then, have been some great supreme intelligence who organized these worlds and gave them laws of attractive force and adjusted velocities and thus produced the harmonious orbits which we have, and which will preserve themselves, unless interfered with by some extraneous force, for thousands of years to come.

We might go on and speak of a great many other principles connected with these laws, but let us now come to the laws given to intelligent beings. God has given laws to what might be termed intelligent nature; but let me say, that what is termed intelligent nature is sometimes called in this same revelation from which I have been reading, a spirit, or rather, a power that “is in all things, through all things, round about all things, and the law by which all things are governed.” It is, then, an intelligent power that encircles itself through, or over, or round about every particle or every atom, and these atoms act in accordance with the law that is ordained, and do not deviate from it unless commanded by the same authority that gave the law. The same Being, who gave the law to materials by which they act, can counteract the law. He did so in the instance when Elisha caused iron to swim. We read, that as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water. The man, was much concerned, because it was a borrowed axe. “And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.” Now what was it that caused the axe to rise in the water? The same Being who gave the law of gravitation, which caused the axe to sink, counteracted that law, and caused the axe to swim. The same Being who gave the law of universal gravitation, can counteract this law. He did it, in many instances, in ancient times. He divided the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to pass. The water stood up like walls, in a great heap, not for a few seconds, or minutes, but stood there sufficiently long to allow the Israelites to get to the other side of the sea. Now, what was it that counteracted this law of nature? What was it that caused this watery element, which has a tendency to spread out and sink to its own level, to stand up in a heap, almost like a solid body? The same Being who gave the law, which governs the yielding liquid properties of water, can counteract the law, so as to make the water stand in heaps. God is the great Author of all law, and is just as able to counteract a law, as he is to continue a law. Let him withdraw the command that materials shall attract all other materials; let him say to matter, “I no longer require you to act according to that law,” and you would not find the earth going in an orbit around the sun. There would be no bond of union to keep things in their proper place; everything would be left to itself. Let God withdraw his law, or let him command adversely, and he will be obeyed; because he has the power thus to direct; and the intelligence which surrounds these materials, the spirit that is in and through all these things, would understand the command and act accordingly. In the same way the Lord heals the sick. He has made the tabernacles of the children of men, and he has organized them according to a law, so that every part of the human system is adapted to every other part. The blood flows through the arteries, and through the veins, and every part performs its proper functions. When any part or portion of this wonderfully constructed being, or, in other words, this almost perfect machine, becomes deranged or out of order, the same Being who first constructed man, with all the different organs, muscles, sinews and skin, can easily mend or regulate the same, and cause every part to work in perfect harmony with every other part, so as to impart health, and life, and vigor to the whole machinery. You would certainly think that a person was not much of a mechanic if, after he had constructed a beautiful clock, and it had run for several years, and got out of order—if when you applied to him for repairs he replied that he could not, you would be apt to say, “You made it in the first place: you certainly ought to know what is the matter, and you can repair and restore it to working order.” Just so with the Lord. When our human machinery is out of order, he understands all about it; and he is the best physician that can be employed; and he also can be employed without money and without price. He imparts to this machinery his Holy Spirit which circulates through the whole body, and promotes health and strength in the individual. But how apt we are to apply to inferior physicians. As soon as something ails this mortal tabernacle, the cry is, “Oh, mother, or husband, will you send for the doctor. My son is very sick, and we need the doctor.” Now this is sometimes the way with those who call themselves Latter-day Saints, but they ought to be ashamed that they do not honor the name which they have taken upon themselves. The Lord has ordained that when you are sick, you should apply the simple ordinance of the laying on of hands, or the anointing with oil by his servants in the name of Jesus Christ. In this ordinance there is more power than in all the medical ability in the world; for there are many diseases which baffle the skill of the wisest physicians, while by the laying on of the hands of the servants of God—not in their own name, but in the name of Jesus Christ—according to the directions given in the Scriptures, we have the promise that they shall be healed; that is, if they are not appointed unto death.

Here, then, is another law of God; and we might go on and touch upon instances of the healing power—the healing of the lame man, the blind man, the deaf man, or of fevers removed from the body, and the restoration of broken bones. Now, we have many testimonies, especially among our brethren in Wales, where they have, in the coal mines in which they worked, been crushed, as it were, until many bones in their body were broken, so much so, that it was supposed they could only live a very few hours, at the longest; yet by the laying on of the hands of the servants of God, we have the testimony of many witnesses that those bones were brought together, making a noise like the crushing of a basket and were placed in their proper form; and the individuals were restored to health and soundness. Could any herbs, or mineral, or physicians have accomplished this? No. Who did accomplish this? The Lord Jesus Christ, through his servants, by the laying on of hands, according to his commandment. Did he do it according to law? Yes; for all his works are carried on, according to certain laws which he has ordained; and if we had the same wisdom that he has, we could see the workings of the Holy Spirit upon the bones that are broken; we could see the circulation of that spirit in bringing those bones together; we could see the action of that spirit in relieving the optic nerve, so as to impart sight to the eye. If we could see the workings of that spirit, and then understand by what power it works, these things would not be a miracle to us. God has no limit to these laws that are called the laws of nature. He has an infinite number of laws; and he can work according to any of them, which are suitably adapted to the circumstances, so as to bring about his righteous purposes and wise designs according to his own good will and pleasure. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, August 1st, 1880.

I will call the attention of the congregation to a few passages of Scripture, which will be found in the 20th and 21st chapters of the Revelation given to St. John. In the 20th chapter we find these words:

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

In the 21st chapter, commencing with the 1st verse, we read these words:

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

“And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”

It is a great and important undertaking to rise up before a congregation of the children of men, and endeavor to declare the words of eternal life to them. No man living can do this acceptably in the sight of God, unless God is with him, by the power of his spirit and by the inspiration thereof. I often feel my own weakness and imperfection as a man, when endeavoring to do a work of this nature. I oftentimes feel to ask myself the question—what am I, and how can I perform the work which the Lord requires at my hand, unless he assists me? Sometimes I almost feel to shrink; but then I know, from past experience, that God has assisted me, and I have every reason to believe that he will continue so to do, inasmuch as I am humble and exercise faith in him, and strive to do his will.

These words written in the 20th and 21st chapters of the Revelation given to St. John on the Isle of Patmos, occurred to my mind, a few moments before I rose to my feet; for it is the practice of most of the elders of this church to take no thought before hand what they shall say, and it is very seldom that the officers of the church endeavor to plan out in their own minds any particular form of discourse, but, sometimes the spirit of the Lord may suggest certain passages of scripture, and then that same spirit may dictate and direct, in regard to the form of words that shall be used in delineating the ideas contained in those texts.

We are told in the words which I have read, that there is a period of time yet in the future, wherein this earth upon which we stand, where we have our being, and from which we derive our sustenance, will pass away; and the heavens that are over our heads will also pass away; at the time this great event shall happen, we are informed that a great white throne shall appear; that a certain personage will sit thereon, and that so great will be his glory, and so great the power attending him, that the earth itself will flee away from before his presence, and the heavens, the literal heavens that are over our heads—probably meaning the heavens that pertain to this creation—will pass away; the atmosphere and those things included in the atmosphere; and the earth itself, the solid portions thereof, and the liquid portions, will all pass away, before the face of him that sits upon this throne. This is believed not only by the Latter-day Saints, but by all Christian denominations, with very few exceptions. They believe that the heaven and the earth will, at some future period have a great change wrought upon them. They expect that they will pass away but I believe that most of them consider that the earth will become annihilated; that the very materials of which it is composed will be reduced to nothing. I think that used to be, when I was a boy, a tenet of the sectarian world; it used to be their idea, that the earth was, in the beginning, made out of nothing by the word of God, and that it would be reduced to nothing when it passed away.

But I have not time to dwell upon the idea of the Christian world, and their views, concerning this matter; I shall touch upon those things according to the ideas and the faith of the people called Latter-day Saints. We do not believe that the earth was made out of nothing, like the modern Christian idea; we have no such belief; for we do not find any such declaration contained anywhere in the scripture. We do not take it for granted, because they have incorporated these things in their modern theology, in their doctrines, in their disciplines, in their church articles, in their creeds—we do not receive it on this testimony; but we search to see what the scriptures of truth have said upon this subject; and when we have searched them, we find there is no indications whatever, that the earth was made out of nothing, or that it sprang into existence, where there was nothing on which to work.

We read in the first chapter of Genesis that God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, but there is nothing in this passage that informs us that he made the earth out of nothing. Our view is that the elements out of which this and all other worlds were made existed from all eternity; they never had any beginning. There are a few individuals on the earth that make no profession of religion—some call them materialists—who believe this same principle; and in doing so, they have got one truth incorporated among their ideas, though they do not believe in God. The materials of this creation, according to our view, and that which God has revealed to us, in this last dispensation, have existed from all eternity. These materials have been, from all eternity, subject to the command of the great Jehovah; they are under his jurisdiction; he has power to control them; he gave them laws; they act according to these laws; and they have been governed by laws, so far as we have any knowledge, and so far as our creation is concerned, for indefinite ages past; and we have every reason to believe that they have been under the dominion of law, so long as there has been a Supreme Being. And you might ask how long is that? We answer, that he is co-eternal in his existence, with the materials of creation—one existed as long as the other; and neither of them had any beginning. There may have been an endless cycle of organizations and disorganizations among the materials of nature, governed for a certain period of time, for a wise purpose, according to wise and just and holy laws, adapted to their condition, and to bring about the great purposes of the great Jehovah. We find that everything, at present, so far as we have any knowledge and understanding to discern the workings of nature, seems to be under the dominion of law. The earth rolls in its destined orbit according to laws. The force by which it is supposed to have been projected is according to a certain law. The great central force by which it is governed, or to use a modern word “attracted,” is according to a certain law. The projectile force, so called, is adapted to the central force; and it has rolled in its destined path, ever since its present organization, or for some 6,000 years, and how much longer it has rolled in that path or orbit, we do not know. It had a beginning in its present organization, as Moses clearly gives us an idea. But in organizing this world the Lord did not call it into existence from nothing, but called the eternal elements that were spread abroad in space and commanded them to come together, according to certain laws; and the earth was formed and placed in its proper position, in the midst of many other creations which roll around the great central orb—the sun. It was no small work; it required the power of an Almighty Creator to organize a world like this, to adapt it, in its organization, to the principle of life, which, more or less, pervades all of its materials, causing them to fulfil various laws, ordained in relation to their action, obeying what are called chemical laws, in forming the numerous compounds of which our earth is composed. The solid portions, the liquid portions, and the aerial positions, were all formed chemically by the power of the Almighty—I mean the compounds which constitute those portions—and when we come to reduce these compounds to their elements, we find upwards of sixty elementary principles, from which, being joined together according to chemical laws, all the numerous compounds are formed. Now, these laws in all their operations are laws given by the Divine Being. He it is that causes them to operate. Light, heat, electricity, and every substance combined with the materials of our globe, are all under the dominion of numerous laws; and the results that are brought about, or the good that is bestowed upon the inhabitants of the earth, upon the animal creation, giving them life, happiness, and peace—have all been brought about by the wise ordination of these laws, exhibited through all the elements of this creation. I say it required an Almighty power to so wisely organize these elements; and when they were organized it required great wisdom and judgment to produce the orbital motion of the earth. The ascertained velocity that the earth has in its orbit, as it flies in its destined course around the sun, is between eighteen and nineteen miles per second. It not only requires great power to organize the elements into a world, but it requires infinite wisdom to organize the elements into flesh as at present in the animal creation, including man, to give life to the beings which dwell in these tabernacles.

This world, however, is not now as it was in the beginning, that is when I speak of the beginning, I have reference to the beginning of the earth, in its present organization; I do not have reference to the beginning of duration, for it had no beginning; I do not have reference to the beginning of an endless past, but I have reference to the beginning relative to our little globe. In the beginning of our creation, the earth was very fair, quite different from what it is now. There were no children of mortality upon it, no animals that were mortal upon it, no birds, nothing wherein we observe life in this creation existed in its mortal state; but everything that had life was immortal; every bird, fish, fowl, insect, creeping thing, cattle, and man—all were immortal. The earth had no curse resting upon it; the earth itself was immortal, and would have continued in all its glory, as it issued from the hand of the Creator to the present time, without any curse, had it not been for the transgression of our first parents. That was the introduction of mortality, of pain and sorrow, misery and wretchedness, not only upon man, but upon all creation that then existed; everything was brought under the dominion of the curse. The curse came upon man—that being who could stand in the presence of God and converse with him face to face—the seeds of mortality were sown in his immortal body—a change came and his whole system was affected thereby. The seeds of death were placed within the tabernacle of man, within the tabernacle of the lion, of the ox, and every beast of the field, and every fish of the sea, and every fowl of the air. A very great change then came over this creation. First, it was spiritual in all its blessings and fullness of life and glory. Then it was reduced to a temporal condition, wherein misery and wretchedness existed.

Another great change happened nearly two thousand years after the earth was made. It was baptized by water. A great flow of water came, the great deep was broken up, the windows of heaven were opened from on high, and the waters prevailed upon the face of the earth, sweeping away all wickedness and transgression—a similitude of baptism for the remission of sins. God requires the children of men to be baptized. What for? For the remission of sins. So he required our globe to be baptized by a flow of waters, and all of its sins were washed away, not one sin remaining. You were baptized, Latter-day Saints, for the remission of your sins, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, repenting of your sin with all your heart, going down and being buried beneath the liquid grave, you came forth as new creatures. So says the New Testament; you buried the old man with all of his wicked deeds, and came forth out of the liquid element born anew. So the earth in a measure was renewed, not fully; no more than we are renewed fully by baptism; we are not made immortal, when we come out of the waters of baptism; we still retain the effects of the fall, so far as mortality is concerned. So does the earth; the earth retains the effects of sin and transgression that came upon its face. But notwithstanding it retains these effects so far as mortality is concerned, yet it was cleansed in a measure from this transgression. But alas! This earth has again become corrupted. We are required, after being baptized for the remission of our sins, to sin no more; to live holy and perfect lives, so far as we possi– bly can, and to keep the commandments of God in all things, and to walk in newness of life, and this to the end of our days. The earth has not been permitted to rest during the period of four thousand years and upwards since its baptism. Wickedness again has accumulated upon its face. The inhabitants of the earth have corrupted and defiled the earth by their transgression. By and by another great change will come. As the earth was cleansed from its transgression by baptism in water, so it must again be cleansed, before it is made immortal. It must be cleansed by an element that is stronger and more purifying than that of water, namely, the element of fire. Fire must prevail over all the face of this earth. What for? For the purpose of cleansing the earth from its transgressions, the same as the Latter-day Saints expect to be cleansed and purified more fully than by baptism in water—by the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. This is the promise to all that will repent of their sins and be baptized for the remission of the same, that they shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is another baptism, more effectual, more cleansing, more purifying in its nature, sanctifying the inner man and the outward man, and making him a new creature. So this earth in due time must be baptized with fire first, and then the Holy Ghost. Fire will cleanse all the proud and they that do wickedly from its face—all persons that are corrupt, all sinful persons, all disobedient persons, all who do not keep the commandments of God; it will cleanse the earth by burning them as stubble, fulfilling the words of the prophet Malachi, in the last chapter, which reads thus: “For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

It seems, then, that this earth has to undergo a process very similar to that of the redeemed man. It has to obey all the great sacred ordinances of the Gospel, so far as its first principles are concerned; the earth has to undergo a cleansing process, first by water, a similitude of water baptism, and then by the Holy Ghost, a similitude of baptism by fire and the Holy Ghost which you receive by the laying on of the hands of those who have authority. Does this make man immortal? No; man still retains his mortality, even after he is baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost—his body is subject still to death. It may be burned at the stake; it may pass away as the earth will pass away; not annihilated, not one particle of our earthly tabernacles shall be struck out of existence; but the elements may be separated asunder, they may mingle perhaps with other elements—all this may take place, even after we have been sanctified and purified by the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. So with our earth, when it is renewed by the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, when he shall descend, as Paul says, in flaming fire. What effect will that have? It will have the effect that is spoken of by Malachi, all the proud, including every wicked man, every wicked woman, will be swept away like stubble before the devouring flame. It will be thus when Jesus descends in the clouds of glory. The elements will be cleansed, the same as you receive a cleansing by the Holy Ghost. You are made new creatures. So the earth will be made new, and great knowledge will be imparted to the inhabitants thereof, as predicted in the 11th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah. The knowledge of God will then cover the earth as the waters cover the mighty deep. There will be no place of ignorance, no place of darkness, no place for those that will not serve God. Why? Because Jesus, the Great Creator, and also the Great Redeemer, will be himself on the earth, and his holy angels will be on the earth, and all the resurrected Saints that have died in former dispensations will all come forth, and they will be on the earth. What a happy earth this creation will be, when this purifying process shall come, and the earth be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the great deep! What a change! Travel then, from one end of the earth to another, you can find no wicked man, no drunken man, no man to blaspheme the name of the Great Creator, no one to lay hold on his neighbor’s goods, and steal them, no one to commit whoredoms—for all who commit whoredoms will be thrust down to hell, saith the Lord God Almighty, and all persons who commit sin will be speedily visited by the judgments of the Almighty! But, inquires one, can they sin? Yes; their agency will still be left. We read in the 65th chapter of Isaiah that then, “There will be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred old shall be accursed.” Children will grow up without sin unto salvation, as a general thing, and in order to show how swift the judgments will come upon the people, after Jesus comes and stands upon the Mount of Olives, and all the Saints with him, we have only to refer to the last chapter of Zechariah, where it is stated, “that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even unto them shall be no rain.” From this it appears that people who refuse to come up to the land of Jerusalem, to worship God and to keep the feast of tabernacles, are to be immediately visited with famine. They shall have no rain, and that will stir them up, during the Millennium, to repent of their sins; but if the Egyptians do not come up from year to year to Jerusalem, they shall be visited with a great plague. What kind of a plague? The plague will be so severe in its operations, says the prophet Zechariah, that “Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.” Thus you see that swift judgment will come upon those that are rebellious, after Jesus descends. This shows that mortality still continues, that people are subject to plagues, subject to pain, and subject to be afflicted with famine, for the want of rain. But by and by, when Jesus has been here in person a thousand years, and all the ancient Saints that have been resurrected, and the modern Saints also, after they have lived upon the earth for the space of a thousand years, it seems that Satan is to be loosed out of his prison, and permitted to go forth and tempt. Whom shall he tempt? Those whom Jesus has brought from heaven? No, they are beyond temptation. Whom will he tempt? Those that are yet mor– tal—the innumerable inhabitants of the earth who have multiplied and spread forth, and become almost as numerous as the sands upon the seashore. He will tempt them. He will go out into the four quarters of the earth, and gather together all that he can overcome, and bring them up against the camp of the Saints and the beloved city. He thinks that he will fight and overcome the camp of the Saints. They will be camped beside the beloved city; for all the Saints will then be gathered, just the same as you are now gathered from the four quarters of the earth, to escape the various judgments that are coming, and finally the judgment of fire. So will the Saints be gathered together to the new Jerusalem, and round about old Jerusalem, and Satan will gather up his hosts, that have apostatized from the truth, and he will marshal them round about the city, and fire will descend from God out of heaven, and devour that portion of the army of Satan that is still mortal. The elements of their bodies will be separated; they will be consumed, the same as the wicked will have been consumed over a thousand years before that, and this will be another great change. But the earth is not yet immortal, not yet in its glorified state, as it was before man fell. Then, after Satan’s army is devoured, and after Satan is cast into hell, and all over whom he has power—then all the inhabitants of the earth will be judged; this great white throne that I have been reading about, will appear; the great and final judgment will come; and when this white throne appears, the earth itself and the literal, temporal heavens that are overhead will flee away, and there will be found no place for them. What does this mean? Does it mean that the elements themselves will be annihila– ted? Or is there no place for the earth in its organized form; for the elements will pass away, be scattered in space over millions and millions of miles, just the same as our bodies after we have been sanctified and purified, may be burned as martyrs at the stake and the elements of our bodies passed into the atmosphere and into the surrounding country. So will the earth pass away in like manner. But by and by the same voice, the same power that calls forth our bodies from the sleeping tomb, that unites bone to its bone, sinews and skin and muscles, and the various compartments of the system, that breathes the breath of life into them, that makes them immortal, even so will the Lord God, in due time, speak by his power and call the scattered elements of this creation from their dispersion, bring them together again, and organize them into a new heaven and a new earth. Will there be one particle of the earth lost? No, every particle that now is combined with the heaven and the earth will still exist. Will it be modeled after the present model? No. It may have the same shape and form that it now has, the same as our bodies when they are brought forth out of the grave will have a form something after the present form. Every hair of the head will be restored, every part will be restored to its proper form, not after the form of mortality, to sicken again, to have pain and to die; but though the body is restored to the same image, so far as the outlines are concerned, yet it is immortal, no more subject to pain, or sorrow, but is restored to perfect happiness and to bodies that will endure while eternity endures. So it will be with the earth. A great many of our scientific men consider that the earth has never had a beginning as an organ– ized body, but they look back many millions and millions of years, when they suppose that such and such an event brought about such and such a cause; and they say, (the infidel portion of them) that the earth will never have an end. Well, now, they are right so far as the materials are concerned, but they are entirely out of the way so far as the great revolutions I have named are concerned, and so far as the annihilation of the earth is concerned. The earth never will have an end, so far as the materials are concerned. The earth after it is made anew, resurrected from its old materials, will continue forever, and will be the abiding place of all the righteous, throughout all the future ages of eternity. Hence, we read that John, after the earth fled away, saw a new heaven and a new earth; but the new one was much altered. There was no more sea. There must be a great alteration when the sea, the elements that compose the water, the oxygen and hydrogen, and the various elements that enter into the constitution of sea water, shall be otherwise combined. Will there be a new set of geologists in those days, who will figure as they do in our days, and say such and such events exist, and they must have existed from all eternity, or they must have been brought about by such and such changes; that is, will the geologists be as limited in their views as the present ones are? But the geologists that shall live ten thousand years hence, or even two thousand years hence, when this great change shall have come over the earth, will be able to philosophize clearly; for they will be full of knowledge, understanding and comprehension, and they will be able to understand something about the process of world-making, creating worlds, the changes that come upon worlds, and the final change when worlds are made anew and immortal, and their philosophy, their ideas, and their system of geology will be correct and can be depended upon. Why? Because they were there; they saw the changes, they were present when the changes were made, and they have not forgotten all these things, and they will know them, and understand them, after the final change comes. There will, however, be a change which some of the mortal inhabitants of this earth will forget. Isaiah says, in the 65th chapter: “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” Now, that has reference to the creation that will be renewed, at the beginning of the millennium. People will not remember. Our children that will be born during the millennium will not remember all the wickedness and corruption that existed in the days of their fathers. It will not come into their minds, unless God puts it there; but when they become immortal, after the thousand years have ended, then I think they will comprehend the process by which this world was made. But, inquires one, how will they know it? They will know it because they were all present when it was made. You understand it, Latter-day Saints; you and I were there when this world was made. We have forgotten it, but we will remember it when we wake up in eternity, with all the fulness of knowledge that will be given after everything is made anew. Well, inquires one, what will be the occupation of this people, after descending upon the new earth? After Jesus has been on the earth a thousand years, God himself is to be on the new earth. What is he to do? He is to “wipe away all tears; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” We will be there if we are righteous enough, if we keep the commandments of God. If we will endure to the end, we will have an inheritance in this world when it is resurrected and made anew. Moreover, it says there will be no more death. What! A world without death? A world thickly populated as this creation will be? What a joyful creation! The tree of life will be on the earth in the midst of that city that will descend on the earth, and whoever eats of the fruit of that tree will live forever, just the same as the tree of life was placed upon the earth before Adam transgressed. Anyone eating of the fruit of that tree could not die, for the decree of the Lord had gone forth, and his word must be fulfilled.

There are some few things to which I wish now especially to call your attention, in relation to this new earth of which I am speaking. I said that the saints would receive an inheritance upon it. I would ask you, my brethren, upon what principle they receive an inheritance upon the new earth? It is by securing it through a promise here in this life. If you can secure 40, or 80, or 160, or 640 acres of land by promise here in this life—I do not mean the promise of mortal men, I would not give much for their promise concerning any blessing after death comes; but if you can get a promise from him who has a right to promise (for the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof), that you shall inherit the earth for an everlasting possession, then it will be given to you. But, says one, supposing I do not get any promise? I do not know, then, that you will have a claim on a solitary foot of it. Abraham got the promise, not after he was dead, but here in this life. The Lord, because of his faith, made him a promise, and told him to go out from his own country to a land he had never seen; and after getting there, the Lord said unto him, “Now, Abraham, walk through this land in the length and breadth of it; to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.” For how long? For an everlasting possession. Abraham did not care about having a deed for time only, did not care about getting a few acres just merely for a little while, and then have it taken from him, and he have no claim upon it afterwards. Did Abraham inherit it on this earth? Did his seed, Isaac, or his grandson, Jacob, to whom the promises were confirmed and renewed—did they get any of it while they lived? No. The prophet Stephen, who was murdered for the Christian religion, has recorded in the New Testament, speaking of this promise made to Abraham, that the Lord “gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on.” What! Stephen, are you not mistaken? You lived several thousand years after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were in their graves—do you mean to say that the Lord did not even give them as much as a foot? What did he do for them, Stephen? He made them a promise that they should have it, and their seed after them; for an everlasting inheritance. Oh, then, they are still to have it, are they, for an everlasting inheritance, by virtue of the promise made in this mortal state who are Abraham’s seed? All that do the works of Abraham—all that are baptized into Christ. They are Abraham’s seed according to the promise. What promise? The promise that he and his seed should have the land of Palestine, east and northeast of the Mediterranean Sea, for an everlasting possession. Now all who have received the same covenants, obeyed the same Gospel, obeyed the new and everlasting covenant, have the promise in connection with Abraham’s seed.

Has the earth been parceled out to anybody else except Abraham and his seed? Yes. The Lord brought a nation to this great western hemisphere, called Jaredites, from the Tower of Babel. When He brought them here they were a righteous people, and he made promises to them; and among the promises given was the promise that this great western hemisphere should be given to them, and to those that were worthy besides them, for an everlasting possession. We Gentiles have come here; we have got upon the land of these Jaredites, and we think we are very rich if we have got 640 acres, or perhaps ten times that amount of land. Says one man, “I have got my deed from the Land office; I am the owner.” But, hold on; there is the original owner; that you know nothing of, that came here from the tower of Babel, that had all this western hemisphere promised to him and the righteous of his seed for an everlasting possession. What will become of your 640 acres then? What will become of your farms when these resurrected men shall come forth and show their deeds. Perhaps you may think they did not keep any records in those days. But let me tell you they had records of deeds; and all these things are spoken of and testified of in the great books that are kept in the eternal world, and it will be found that they are the inheritors before us, that is before the Gentiles that came over here four hundred years ago and upwards. But what about the Nephites that came here about six hundred years before Christ. When they got here, the first thing the Lord did was to confirm his promise unto them. He told them it was their inheritance for an everlasting possession. Hold on, says one, that would take away the right of the Jaredites. Oh, no. The Lord, in making this promise, did not do it according to the deed-makers of this day; he did not follow after the pattern of men. The records that he makes on the books in eternity are records made upon principles in accordance with celestial law, not in accordance with Gentile laws, nor our notions of things. The notion, or idea, that the Lord had was that this continent, North and South America, should be inhabited by the righteous who will be resurrected from the dead, and who lived here on this continent.

Latter-day Saints, do you not feel a little concerned? Has any promise been made to you, or are you left out while the Nephites and Jaredites gobble up all the land, and leave you to go around the streets begging? Hear what the Lord, our God, had to say, through the Prophet Joseph, concerning you, on the 2nd day of January, 1831. I was present when the Lord gave this revelation, in the midst of a conference, to his servant Joseph. I will repeat the words: “And I will hold forth and deign to give unto you” (speaking to the Latter-day Saints assembled in conference, and to all that should become Saints) “greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh; And I will give it unto you for the land of your inheritance. And this shall be my covenant with you, ye shall have it for the land of your inheritance, and for the inheritance of your children forever, while the earth shall stand, and ye shall possess it again in eternity, no more to pass away.” The same promise you see; very different from the promise of men; you will possess it again in eternity, no more to pass away. He did not reveal to us the central portion of our land of promise on that conference day, but told us it should be revealed at a future time. Hence, in that same year he appointed his servant Joseph and some twenty or thirty of the elders to go from Kirtland, Ohio, westward through the State of Ohio, State of Indiana, State of Illinois, State of Missouri, to the western boundaries thereof. There he pointed out by revelation—which you will find recorded in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants—the central portion of our inheritance, where the great temple should be built, upon which a cloud of glory should rest, and told us that that was the land of promise, in time and in eternity, the same as the promise made to the ancient Saints of God. We are not in possession of it at the present time. It cannot, however, be said concerning us, as it was said by Stephen concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He said he gave those old ancient men not so much as to set their foot on. But it happens we paid for some of that land, and we got our deeds at the Land Office, and we claim this at the hands of our God, and ask him, if we do not get it right now, this year, or ten years’ hence, we will ask our Father to give us that land after the resurrection, at any rate. But will we inhabit any of it in time? Oh, yes. We will build a great city in Missouri. We will also build a great temple unto the Lord our God, in that city, and the temple block and place where it is to stand is already known. It was laid out in the year 1831, and the corner stone laid, and we will build a temple there, and build it after the pattern that the Lord gave to his servant Joseph, the Prophet, and also according to the pattern that he shall hereafter show, if the pattern is not already given in full. I will tell you another thing that will happen in our promised land, after that temple is built: there will a cloud of glory rest upon that temple by day, the same as the cloud rested upon the tabernacle of Moses, that was carried in the wilderness. Not only that, but also a flaming fire will rest upon the temple by night, covering the whole temple; and if you go inside of the temple, the glory of God will be seen there as it was anciently; for the Lord will not only be a glory and a defense on the outside of that wonderful building, but he will also be a glory and a power in the inside thereof, and it shall come to pass that every man and every woman who is pure in heart, who shall go inside of that temple, will see the Lord. Now, how great a blessing it will be to see the Lord of Hosts as we see one another in the flesh. That will take place, but not till after the temple is built. Moreover, you will not only be favored with this great privilege, but Isaiah tells us that “the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night.” When you hold your meeting in the day time, you shall be sheltered by a cloud, and when you hold your meetings in the night time, instead of lighting up your lamps with common oil, or with gas, or anything of this kind, you will have no need of any artificial light, for the Lord God will be the light thereof, and his glory will be there, and you will see it and you will hear his voice. Have you not read in this book called the Bible, about the Lord suddenly coming to his temple? Read the 3rd chapter of Malachi: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple. * * * And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteous– ness.” That same fire will rest upon the abodes of those that come into that temple, and they will be filled with fire and the Holy Ghost. They will be purged of all iniquity, and every ordinance that will be administered in that temple will be administered by holy hands, and you will understand and know the meaning thereof. The Lord will reveal these things in their day; he will reveal everything that is needful, so that the knowledge of God may rest upon you, and that there may be no darkness with you. Amen.

Discourse by Apostle George Q. Cannon, delivered in the 14th Ward Meetinghouse, Sunday Evening, July 25, 1880.

While I was sitting here today, a portion of the record of Alma suggested itself to my mind, which I will read, as found recorded in the 4th chapter of the Book of Alma—(new edition).

[The speaker then read the greater portion of the 4th chap.] Continuing he said:

I should not attempt to get on my feet to speak to you my own thoughts, or my own feelings, or that which my own spirit would suggest. I have had sufficient experience in my life to know that for a man to impart profitable instruction unto his fellow creatures in the capacity of a teacher of the things of God, he must have the aid of the Spirit of God. Without that he cannot impart that which will be of permanent profit to anyone. I know it is the privilege of a people situated as we are to know the mind and will of the Lord concerning us, and also when we come into an assemblage of this character to receive the instruction which is adapted to the circumstances of each particular individual, and that is the office of the spirit. I cannot tell your feelings. I do not know your hearts. There may be secret sorrows, there may be griefs, there may be doubts, there may be many things that oppress you in your feelings, of which I am entirely ignorant. But the Spirit knoweth the things of God. God knoweth our hearts and his all-piercing eye can penetrate the inmost recesses of our hearts, and every thought, every secret is known to him, and he can, through the aid of his Holy Spirit, impart to each one that portion of strength, of comfort, of light which each soul may need to strengthen it on its onward journey in the path which God our Father has marked out for us to pursue, and unless a meeting of this kind is attended, with these effects, to me it is exceedingly unsatisfactory. When I go as a listener, I desire to go to meeting to be fed, to go away from the meeting with a feeling that I have received that which will be a benefit to me in my life, in the acts of my life, and so also if I speak.

The position of the Latter-day Saints in this respect is different from that of every other people which I know of on the face of the earth. We profess to serve God. We profess to have received from him blessings as the result of our obedience to his commandments. We profess to live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God, and we believe that this is a time when God speaks in various ways to his children, manifesting his mind and will to them, and that it is not with us as with other people who are dependent upon that which is written, dependent upon the Bible for the food and nutriment necessary to strengthen them. We depend upon the revelations of God to us. In this respect our position is different from that of every other people which I am acquainted with, and of course, this being our position, it is of the utmost importance to carry out the principles which we believe in, that we should live in such a manner as to have the mind and will of the Lord made manifest to us. How is this mind and will communicated? By what means is the mind and will of the Father made manifest unto the children of men? There are various ways. One is—he has placed in his Church officers whose duty it is to instruct the Church. Yet this does not relieve the members of the Church from their responsibility. It is for the members of the Church also to so live that when they are taught and counseled, when instruction is given unto them, that they shall be able to know whether that instruction and counsel be from God or not. This is the privilege of every individual, and there is no person, however humble, who is a member of the Church, who should be destitute of this spirit of which I speak, this light and this intelligence. God our Eternal Father is the Father of us all. The relationship which exists between us and him is not confined to a small portion of the human family, but it is the same with all of us; every individual who is within the walls of this house tonight, occupies I may say precisely the same relationship to our Father in one sense. Not that all have the same responsibility, not that all are required to perform the same duties; but all occupy the same position of children, and our Father in heaven is our father, the Being whom we worship. As God is the father of us all, we trace our descent from him, our children trace their descent from him, they are as much his children as we are his children, and I often think in my association with my own children that I would just as soon hurt the feelings of a grown person as I would one of my children. I think in one respect they are my equal, though I occupy the relationship of father to them; and so I feel towards all. Now, the Gospel produces this sense of equality. There could be no slavery where the Gospel is taught in its fullness and in its perfection. There could be no distinction where the Gospel is practiced. You read here—or rather I have read for you—in this record which has come down to us, that when the principles of the Gospel were practiced among the people of this land, they were equal to a very great extent; but when they began to violate the principles of the Gospel, their inequality manifested itself. Some were lifted up in pride, some looked with scorn upon their poor brethren and sisters. Classifications arose in society which had their origin not in virtue, not in holiness, not in purity, not in any superiority arising from intelligence, but because some were richer than others, some could dress better than others, some could have better surroundings than others, doubtless dwelt in finer houses, better furnished, and they were better clad, and had probably finer and nicer food. Distinctions of this kind grew up not out of the Gospel, but out of the violation of the principles of the Gospel. Wherever the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is taught, it produces, as I have said, this sense of equality, it makes the man who may know and understand the things of God feel that he is no better than his fellow man, and the woman who understands the things of God feel that she is no better than her sister. If this sentiment were practiced among us, it would produce the results we find that Alma sought to produce among the people, and which he did produce by the preaching of the word, as recorded in the subsequent verses to those which I read. He went forth preaching the word as he found it the most effectual means, as described by the historian, of checking the evils that were growing among the people. It would be so among us in a while if it were not for the preaching of the word of God, and with the preaching of the word, with all the faith, all the zeal, and all the power which our leaders are capable of exercising, it needs it all to repress these inclinations and these tendencies. There is something in the human heart of that character that when human beings are prospering they are apt to be lifted up in pride and to forget the cause or the source of their prosperity; they are apt to forget God, who is the fountain of all their blessings, and to give glory to themselves. It requires a constant preaching of the word of God, a constant pleading with the people, a constant outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the people to bring them to a true sense of their real condition. With all the experience the Latter-day Saints have had, who is there among us that cannot perceive this tendency? Why, it is constantly bringing itself into notice. It becomes in some instances quite offensive, because those who are humble feel the effects of it. Those who are poor, needy and destitute, not gifted with ability to accumulate the things of this world, feel it, and very frequently their hearts are grieved because of it. There is this tendency we have to contend with as a people and as individuals, and it is something we should constantly bear in mind, that God has sent us here and given unto us a mission on the earth, not to accumulate riches, not to become worldly-minded, not to pile up the things of this world which are perishable, to the injury of ourselves or to our detriment in our progress in the things of the kingdom of God. Is it right that we should take care of ourselves as a people and as individuals? Certainly. Is it right that we should be prudent, that we should take care of those gifts and blessings which God has given unto us, that we should husband our resources, that we should be economical, and not extravagant? Certainly; this is right, this is proper, we should be culpable if we were not so. But with this there is also something else required, and that is, to keep constantly in view that the management and care of these things is not the object that God had in sending us here, that is not the object of our probation. God has shown unto this people repeatedly—and there is scarcely an individual member of the Church who has not had experience in it—that he can give and he can take away. I have in my mind now many instances where men of wealth —comparatively wealthy at least—have joined this Church, and it seemed as though there was a succession of events after they joined the Church, to deprive them of all they had, to test their faith apparently, but to show them that God did not give men means for the purpose of placing their affections upon them, and then, after they were stripped, he has, in many instances, begun to bless them again, and allowed them to have means in greater abundance than ever they had before. He has done so with this people. We have been stripped of our property, reduced to the last extremity for food and for other necessary comforts, and yet God has multiplied upon us these blessings when he has sent us food, and we have had abundance. But the happiness of a people does not consist in the abundance of worldly things, that is, the abundance of food or of raiment, or of houses, carriages, horses, and costly apparel. It is true that if we are relieved from the pressure of want, if we have the wherewith to supply our necessities, we feel better, we feel a relief that we do not feel when ground down by poverty. But happiness is not entirely dependent upon these circumstances, as doubtless many of my brethren and sisters have proved. I have proved it myself to my entire satisfaction. I have been in reduced circumstances; been on missions when I did not know where to get a mouthful to eat; turned away by the people who dare not entertain me because of the anger that was kindled against us. I could stand by and weep, being a boy and away from all my friends. But I, nevertheless, was happy. I never enjoyed myself in my life as I did then. I know that happiness does not consist in the possession of worldly things. Still it is a great relief when people can have the means necessary for the support of themselves and families. If they possess these things and the Spirit of God with them, they are blessed. But the Lord requires of us different things in this day to what he did in ancient days. I often think of it.

There is a great deal of inequality among us as a people, not so great as described by the writer in the book of Alma, but still there is a great deal of inequality among us, a great deal of pride and more disunion than there should be. This people are not united as they should be. There are many things existing among us that should be uprooted and not have an existence in our midst. And what is the reason that these things exist? The reason is to be found in our neglect of the principles we have espoused. The Lord requires all his people in these days to bring unto him a sacrifice. In olden times, before the coming of the Lord Jesus, we read in the Bible that the people brought their offerings of oxen, of sheep, of fowls of various kinds. These were burnt offerings, they were sacrifices, the blood of animals flowed, and the sins of the people apparently were remitted by their obedience to these requirements. But the Lord has said respecting us, that the offering he requires at our hands is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Let me ask you—and in asking you—I ask myself—do you, when you go unto the Lord, bring this offering, or do you go to God without asking him in this spirit and in this manner? If you go to the Lord with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, he will show to you all your faults, and all your weaknesses, he will bring plainly before you wherein you have come short in doing his will, and when you see yourself in the light of that spirit instead of being filled with pride, you will feel to abase yourselves and bring yourselves down in the very dust of humility; your own unworthiness will be so plain before you, that if pride should come into your heart at any time, you will almost be shocked at it, and you will feel to put it away from you. It is in this way that we as Latter-day Saints should live. There is enough taught to us in the Bible, in the Book of Mormon, in the Doctrine and Covenants, and by our leaders from time to time, to guide us into the presence of God Our Heavenly Father. We should be the most humble people on the face of the earth. Why? Because God in communicating to us the knowledge of our weakness and faults, will give us humility. We should be the most thankful people upon the earth. Why? Because owing to the abundance of God’s goodness and mercy to us, and realizing it as we should do, it will fill us with a thankfulness that words could not express; our hearts would overflow with extreme gratitude to the Lord our God for the blessings that we enjoy. Under these circumstances should there be any murmuring? Not any. Should we find fault with our condition and our circumstances? Certainly not, if we are living the religion which God has revealed to us. Should there be any quarrelling or faultfinding? No; because where the Spirit of God exists there is no disposition of this character. There is a manifestation to suffer wrong rather than to do wrong; not to revile, not to prosecute, not to assail back when we are assailed. If a brother comes up to me, he is in a bad temper, he says something that is annoying, and I lose my temper and reply in the same spirit, do I do right? Certainly not. However much the provocation may be, it is not my duty as a Latter-day Saint, as a professed follower of Jesus Christ, to indulge in any such feeling or expression. Well, but one may ask, have we to submit to abuse? Yes, that is one of the requirements of the Gospel, that you shall submit to abuse. Have we to submit to wrong? Yes, if somebody attempts to wrong you, it is your duty as professed followers of Jesus Christ to submit to that. Supposing I am struck, must I submit to a blow? Yes, I must, or else I am not carrying out the principles of my religion. Well, but suppose a person tells falsehoods concerning me, assails me and reviles me, must I submit to this? Yes. Why? Because the requirements of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are that we should do so, that we should not quarrel, that we should suffer evil and wrong and pray for the person who does these things to us. This is a hard lesson I know. Some men would think their children cowards unless they would fight when they were struck. They teach their children to strike back when struck, to resent attacks upon them. Then, again, if one man calls another a liar, the first thing we know the man is knocked down, and as a result of training he would be considered unmanly if he did not resent the insult in this way. I am very glad, however, that a change has taken place in this respect. There must be changes of this kind among us. If a man forgets himself so far as to call his brother a liar, or any other offensive name, there should be enough of the Spirit of God and the spirit of patience and the spirit of self-respect left in the brother to bear the insult without resenting in the same spirit. Would this make us pusillanimous? Would this make us a people devoid of spirit? Certainly not; there is plenty of room for the exercising of all the spirit we have in coping with the difficulties we have in life without exercising it in that manner, without expending it in senseless quarrels. If we have this spirit to which I have alluded, this meek, humble, broken and contrite spirit, will it not produce union? Yes, it will, it will produce union and love, and I wish to say to all who are here tonight, that it is the duty of every man and woman in this Church to live at peace with him and herself, and then to live at peace with everybody else, husbands with wives, wives with husbands, parents with children, children with parents, brothers with sisters and sisters with brothers; this is the duty that God requires at our hands. I am speaking now of something which is not an abstract theory, that cannot be carried out; I am speaking of that which can be carried out, which every one of us can carry out, and of results which can be accomplished in the midst of this people.

The feeling has grown upon me, and is growing upon me every day, that as a people we do not live up to our privileges. We do not have the knowledge of the things of God that we should have. There is not that amount of revelation enjoyed by us which there should be. The gifts of the spirit are not manifest to the extent they should be. Is there revelation? Yes, I know that and can testify of it. Are there gifts, are there blessings enjoyed by the people? Yes, I am convinced of it. Are there manifestations of the goodness and the power of God among this people? I am satisfied that there are manifestations of this kind. The sick are healed. The mind and will of the Lord is communicated to the people, but it is not to that extent that it should be considering our circumstances, and considering the length of time the Church has been organized. Who is there that is not conscious of this. Ask yourselves, each of you, “Have I the knowledge of the things of God that I should have? Does the Spirit of God bear testimony to me and warn me and teach me as it should do?” Let each one ask himself and herself this question. Now, if we live as we should, there is no event of any importance that could occur but we would have some intimation respecting it; we would be prepared for it, we would be prepared for every public event that affected us, every private event, everything of this character that could occur to us that would affect us in the least degree would be known by us at the very time. The Spirit of God with its monitions would say to us, “If you pursue that path there is danger, you may lose your life, you may meet with some accident.” Mothers would have the teachings of the spirit respecting their children, and how to take care of them, and fathers also respecting their families. I am not talking about something which is entirely beyond our reach and is impossible for us to receive. I am speaking of something which is within the reach of all of us to a greater or less extent. Some are gifted in one direction and some in another. But all who belong to this Church and have taken the course which God has pointed out, and have humbled themselves in obedience to the commandments of God, and endeavored to carry out these commandments, have this promise made unto them, that they will be taught of the Lord.

If there is one desire that I have as an individual greater than ano– ther, it is that I may so live as to have the blessing, and next that you, this Church, this people, may so live as to have the same. I would not have those gifts unless somebody else had them, for I have learned in my life that when one man is blessed more than his fellows, temptation comes in, prides comes in, and the adversary is apt to suggest to him that he is so much better than his fellow men. Therefore, if I wanted to have any great gifts from the Lord, I never have felt—and I do not think I ever shall, I certainly will not with my present state of feeling—to have these myself, I would like somebody else to have them also. I would not want to be the richest man in the community; I would not want to be the most gifted, the most prominent or the most honored in any respect. I would want others to share in these blessings. Then I would have less fear concerning the effect of them upon myself. When I am blessed I want to see the Latter-day Saints blessed, I want to see the people of God receive the gifts of God, and enjoy them so that we shall all grow, increase and develop together.

I noticed when I was very young in the Church, that men who were greatly gifted of the Lord and had many manifestations, were the men who apostatized; with the exception of the Prophet Joseph Smith, nearly every one was overthrown. I suppose the reason of it was that they were lifted up in pride and allowed the adversary to take advantage of them. I would like well enough to see these gifts and blessings multiplied among us and upon us, that as a people we should have dreams and visions and manifestations of the Spirit; but there is one thing that we have all got to be very careful about, and that is this: I have seen Elders in my experience that when they got their own spirit moved very much they imagined that it was the Spirit of God, and it was difficult in some instances to tell the difference between the suggestions of their own spirit and the voice of the spirit of God. This is a gift of itself, to be able to distinguish that which suggests itself to our own hearts and that which comes from God. And we are misled sometimes by our own feeling, because of our inability to distinguish between the voice of the Spirit of God and the suggestions of our own spirit. There is a still, small voice in the heart of every human being. There is an influence comes with every son and daughter of Adam that is born into the world. What! Outside of the Latter-day Saints? Certainly, I told you in the beginning that we are all the children of God. There is an influence born with every person that to a certain extent is a spirit of revelation. Hence you will frequently find it the case—probably some of you adults have experienced it, when you joined the Church, that this influence told you what proved to be true. Brother Woodruff, here, I have heard him tell, in his experience, how he was led before he joined the Church by this influence, how it operated upon his mind until it was brought in contact with the truth. I have heard a number of others relate the same thing, and if they received the truth this influence increased with them, but if they rejected the truth, if they refused to receive the testimony of the servants of God, the light that was in them became darkness, and as the Savior said, how great is that darkness! I proclaim it as a truth, that when a man or a woman enters into this Church and is baptized, repents of his or her sins, humbles himself and herself in the depth of humility before the Lord, determined with His help to forsake their sins, to put them away from them, I say, when a man or a woman comes to the Lord in that spirit and lives so that the Holy Ghost will rest upon them, that there will be no event of any importance from that time forward but what they will have some intimation respecting it, some premonition, and they will walk in the light, some to a greater extent than others, because some are more gifted than others, some live in such a manner as to have this developed within them to a greater extent. But if they continue to cultivate this spirit, to live in the light of it, it will become a principle of unfailing revelation to them.

Is this your privilege? Certainly it is. It is also the privilege of children, boys and girls, young men and young women, middle-aged and aged to enjoy this. It is not confined to anyone in particular, to any sex, to any particular position in life, but it is extended to all. It is the design of God that it should be so. But it is dim within us because of the generations of unbelief and wickedness of heart which have existed. We have inherited a great amount of unbelief from our fathers; it has come down to us. The heavens have been as brass over the heads of the people, and there has been a spirit of unbelief which has excluded the revelations of Jesus and the manifestations of the Spirit of God.

Fifty years ago this Church was organized. There are men and women who have been fifty years in the Church, some who have been forty years, a great many thirty years, a still greater number twenty years. Is it not time, then, after all we have heard, and all we know concerning these things, that some of this unbelief should disappear and more of that love be exhibited which draws us nearer to God and places us in closer communion with Him? Is it not time that this should be the case with our children? Why, it seems to me so, and I have no doubt it is so. And yet there is much room for improvement in these things.

There is one thing above all others which strikes me with astonishment when I think about it among our people. A great many years ago, the Lord gave what is called the “Word of Wisdom” to us as a people. It is a thing I very rarely allude to. I never drank tea or coffee in my life, I never drank liquor, I never used tobacco, and I have endeavored to keep the Word of Wisdom. It is no credit to me, my parents instilled it into me. I never allude to it in public speaking. I never allude to it in my family. I have set the example and allowed them to follow it, and they have done so, most of them. But when I think about it, when I see our people, after what God has said upon this subject, after the plain manner in which he has spoken to us and told us what would be the result of the observance of certain laws, deliberately day after day flying in the face of the counsel which God has given unto us in that Word of Wisdom, I get exceedingly amazed and I wonder how it is that God bears with us. It is a grievous thing to trifle with that promise, and with the many promises which are connected with that promise and with the many promises which are connected with the Word of Wisdom. We see young men learning to drink liquor, to smoke and chew tobacco, and acquiring this habit and the other habit which is expressly forbidden, or at least that counsel is given respecting, which ought to be more binding because it comes with an appeal to us—it appeals to our sense of right that a commandment does not, because a commandment comes with strict injunctions which leaves no alternative but to obey; but this is a word of counsel by a kind father, and He tells us that if we will observe it, we shall have health, the destroyer shall not have power over us, nor over our families, and that we shall have treasures of knowledge and wisdom given to us. Supposing here are a good many young men that belong to this Church, some of whom are very eager for knowledge—reading books, studying, going to the University, imagining that is the most direct and easy way to obtain it, and at the same time these same young men, members of the Church, drinking their tea and coffee and smoking their cigarettes. Does it not seem like a great inconsistency for men and women to do these things? I proclaim to you Latter-day Saints, that the Word of Wisdom is the word of God, that those who obey it will receive every blessing which is promised in the revelation, that they will have health, and that they will have power and blessings which they cannot conceive of until they try it. It is a simple thing, yet it shows how neglectful we are as a people. I believe the time is not far distant when we shall have to be very different from what we are in these respects. I with tell you what I have sometimes thought: that the Lord is going to deal with us as he did with the Israelites. They hardened their hearts against the Lord, became careless and disobedient, and finally the Lord, in His wrath, decreed that none of them, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, should enter the promised land. The words that are used are very expressive. Their carcasses were to fall in the wilderness, all over a certain age. But the Lord spared the little ones. He raised up a new generation and led them to the promised land. We have the same promise that some will be left to go back to the promised land, and I feel satisfied it will be fulfilled. But would it not be better for us all to exercise faith and do right, that we might all receive the fulfillment of this promise? Certainly. There were times in our lives when we felt that we would do anything for the sake of the spirit we had received. Is there any person in this Church, in this room tonight who has not seen the time in his or her life—if they have had any experience—when they would sacrifice anything to be in possession of the Spirit of God. Every one who has joined this Church of any age and experience knows this to be the case. There is a sweetness to be experienced in receiving the Spirit of God, that is preferable to everything else in life. Everyone should be in possession of this spirit. If you do not have it, let me say to you, do not rest till you get it. I do not believe in the sectarian style of doing things, neither do you; but there are some things exceedingly necessary for all to do whether they belong to this Church or not, and that is to look at their lives and examine and see wherein they have come short, and repent and humble themselves before the Lord, and get a renewal of His Holy Spirit. Of course people who do not belong to this Church are not likely to take this course; yet in the sectarian world they feel the necessity of revival. As a people we should live day by day so as to have the spirit of God resting upon us.

I have great pleasure in testifying to you of my own experience in these matters. I have been away now for some eight or ten years, more than half of my time from the Church; alone, so to speak; I have not had the advantages of other Elders, because they are visiting among the various branches. I therefore can appreciate these things which I perhaps would not appreciate if I had been constantly in the society of the Saints. I sometimes regret this; I feel that I have not the advantages my brethren have; but I have no doubt the Lord makes up for it in other ways. I have proved to my entire satisfaction, that God is willing to reveal Himself to His servants under all circumstances, to make his mind and will plain to them, and I have had to live in that way while I have been gone. Circumstances have sometimes been of such a nature that I could not see what to do by my own wisdom; but I have never yet—and I do not say this from vanity at all, I say it to encourage you; I do not say it because I consider myself blessed above you, but I say it because it is your privilege and because I would like to stir you up to faith that you may receive those blessings of God—I say there never has been a moment when I have been absent, but what I have had shown to me what to do, what steps to take, what to say and what not to say. It gives me great joy to bear testimony to these things; and if there is one thing that I feel more thankful for than another, it is that God has restored His Church, and that I have the privilege of being a member of it. When Brother Erastus Snow was speaking today, and when Brother Woodruff was speaking yesterday, I could scarcely control myself. You heard how the Lord led the brethren across these plains, and how when President Young saw this valley, he said to Brother Woodruff, and afterwards to the brethren of the camp: “Here is the place.” Was there any doubt in his mind? No; the Lord had revealed the place to him, he knew it for himself. I remember on one occasion telling President Young, the first year we were here—I was then quite a boy—that if we could only get bread and water I should feel satisfied if we could only have peace. Well, we had peace. We were not harassed; indeed a more peaceful time than we had when we came into these valleys never was enjoyed by any people on the face of the earth. President Young knew what the Lord would do. The Lord had revealed it to him, and described many things which have not yet occurred. Is not this precious?—to have the word of the Lord, to know we are led by the inspiration of the Almighty. It is one of the greatest blessings that a people can enjoy. Ever since the Church was organized, we have been led by revelation. And who has been misled by it? People have always prospered who have listened to the voice of the Shepherd. It was so in the days of Joseph, it was so in the days of President Young, it is so today under President Taylor, and it will be so to the end. The Lord has stretched forth his hand to accomplish his purposes, and it will not be withdrawn until all is fulfilled. We shall not be destitute of the voice of revelation. We may do a great many things contrary to the mind and will of God, for which he will chastise us and scourge us, if necessary; but he will not withdraw His Priesthood from us, and his voice will not cease to be heard; it will be given unto those of his servants who live for it, and they will know the mind and will of God for this people. Persecution may go on. People may say we have not the gifts; but the Lord will not leave us; he has not left us; he will make of this people a great nation; and there is no power upon the face of the earth that can arrest the progress of “Mormonism,” as it is called by the world, but which is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It will grow, increase and spread abroad as the Prophet Daniel saw it, until it fills the whole earth. Some of you may get discouraged and say the Lord delayeth His coming, and begin to get weak in faith because of drunkenness and gambling in our midst, and say Zion is not going to be redeemed because our enemies have got such power. But will that prevent the redemption of Zion? No. The Lord is bringing us through these circumstances. There was a time when we were driven by mobs, and our faith was tried in various ways. It is necessary that there should still be trials to test the faith of this people. There are no mobs now, we do not have our houses burnt down now, or our cattle shot down. But shall we be without trials? No. Why? Because it is necessary—at least I accept it as necessary in the providence of God—that there should be liquor saloons, etc., so that Latter-day Saints who make so many professions can, if they want to drink beer and get drunk, or go in and play billiards and gamble, or go to other places that are worse—can do so. “But,” says one, “I thought in coming to Zion I was coming to a place of purity where none of these things existed.” If that had been the case how would you have been tried? It is necessary you should be tried for a while in order to develop your strength. We have to be brought in contact with the world, and we have to show the world that there is something connected with our religion which is enduring. Yet all these things have been a source of strength to us. Why, says one, how can that be? Well, now, I am in a position to know the feeling towards us. Our enemies have been trying to get legislation against us. But some say, “what is the use of legislating against the Mormons? If you will only let them alone, it will come all right. The Catholics, the Episcopalians, the Methodists, the Baptists, the infidels, have their meetinghouses, schoolhouses, and newspapers, and have brothels, gambling houses, drinking saloons, and milliner’s shops, and you cannot imagine what a great work these things are doing among the Mormons! The young people are growing up and they do not want more wives than one. Why, it is as much as they can do to keep one. The girls want fine millinery, fine dresses, fine furniture. What is the use of resorting to unjust legislation when these things are going on? When they get rid of their polygamy they will be a good people.” I have sometimes thought that in the providence of God he suffers such things. At the same time it is operating upon our own people. Our young men are led on to smoke, to drink, and to do wrong. At the same time, trials are necessary; we must be tested, and when we emerge from these trials we will feel better and stronger. Has the Lord forgotten Zion? Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can you mothers forget your nursing babies? When you do, which is not very likely, then the Lord may forget Zion. His eye is upon Zion. His hand is over this people. His hand has overruled all things for the good of this people and their salvation. Will Zion be redeemed? Yes. Will you be redeemed? That is for you to say. Will I be redeemed? That is for me to say. We need have no fear about the welfare of this work; we need not tremble and think there is danger. Congress may pass laws, attempts may be made to overthrow this work; but we need have no fears: Zion will be redeemed. Many will fall by the wayside, many will lose their faith, many will be led away by false and seducing spirits; but there will be those who will be saved and exalted, and all of us who are here tonight have this privilege if we will accept of it; we can be saved each of us and crowned with glory in the presence of God and the Lamb. There is no provision to exclude us; we are not predestined for damnation; we are predestined to be saved if we will accept of the salvation offered. Therefore, in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we are not saved we cannot look up and charge God with having done anything to prevent us, we will have no one to blame but ourselves, and that will be our hell.

I pray the Lord in the name of Jesus Christ, that we may all be saved and exalted in the celestial kingdom. Let us live our religion, this precious and holy religion, and let me say to you that if you have not had the happiness of it lately, get the happiness that it produces, and you will not exchange it for anything else in the world. It ought to be a pearl of great price to all of us, and we ought to cherish it more than we do our lives. Amen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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