The circumstances which surround us at the present time are of a very
peculiar character; probably at no period of our history has the work
of the Last Days attracted the attention and the curiosity of the
people generally to the extent that it does today. There are several
reasons for this, but that which, more than anything else at this
time, has directed the minds of the world to Utah is the discoveries
of mineral in our Territory. This has undoubtedly added greatly to the
interest which has ever been felt in this strange land, and in the
strange people who inhabit it. The best method of disposing of us and
our system has given rise to much controversy and discussion in years
past. That we ought to be disposed of in some manner has been a very
general opinion and feeling in certain quarters; there has seemed to
be a disposition manifested by some persons to do something so as to
effectually dispose of the system called "Mormonism." They have
apparently felt that it was in the way and ought to be removed, or
that something should be done to retard its growth and progress, and
the influence which it is exercising in the world. Did we not know
through our own bitter experience in the past that this feeling is
entertained by a great many people, it would be difficult for
us to imagine that such is the case, for an examination of our
principles, and an understanding of their bearing, operation and
effects would certainly not lead to conclusions of this character. So
far as I myself am concerned, if this matter were submitted to me
without my knowledge and past experience in relation to it, I should
say that the principles and doctrines believed in and practiced by the
Latter-day Saints, and the results which have been wrought out by
their operation would not have had the effect of creating animosity or
ill will, or any feeling other than kind, brotherly and affectionate.
What is there about this system called "Mormonism" that should evoke
the terrible amount of animosity and hatred which have been displayed
at various times? The Latter-day Saints believe in Jesus Christ, they
believe that he is the Savior of the world; that he died for man's
redemption; that, through his death, we may, by obedience, be brought
into the presence of the Father, and made heirs of eternal glory. The
Latter-day Saints believe that mankind should repent of and forsake
all sins, and be baptized in the name of Jesus for their remission;
the Latter-day Saints believe that they should not only be baptized
for the remission of their sins, but that baptism should be
administered by those only who have authority. Not vague or
ill-defined authority, based upon a commission given to others
centuries ago; but an authority proceeding from God that will be
recognized on earth and in heaven. The Latter-day Saints believe that,
having repented of sin and been baptized for the remission of it, they
who have complied thus far with the Gospel requirements, should have
hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and that
they who thus lay on hands should have authority from God to officiate
in this ordinance.
Is there anything about or connected with this faith that should
excite opposition, create ill feeling and arouse hatred? Certainly,
when we look at this dispassionately, we must admit that there is not.
Is there anything connected with this faith, or the principles to
which I have referred, that does not harmonize with the Scriptures?
Peter, who preached the first sermon of which we have any account
after the resurrection of Jesus, declared precisely the same
principles which I have alluded to as being part of our belief. The
other Apostles taught the same principles, and enforced them upon the
people to the extent of their ability and power. I know that there are
difficulties and contentions in the religious world as to the mode and
efficacy of baptism; some assert that immersion is not the true mode;
but we are willing to stand by the Scriptures and to abide by their
decision, feeling assured that, if they be taken literally, those who
read them will have a perfect conviction that immersion is the only
true mode. But even should there be a difference of opinion on this
point, it is not of such a character as to stir men up in deadly
hostility towards us.
There may also be a difference of opinion in relation to the laying on
of hands. Some may say this is only necessary where men are ordained,
and that it is not right or proper for all the members of the Church
of Christ to receive the imposition of hands. But as I have said in
reference to baptism so I say of this ordinance: it is clearly
revealed in the Scriptures and can readily be substantiated from them
that the members of the Church of Christ in ancient days had hands
laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and that
it was the ordinance and the only ordinance instituted in God's
economy for the bestowal and the reception of that gift.
Well, is this all the Latter-day Saints believe in? No. I do not
expect to be able to tell all we believe in, or to allude to every
principle this afternoon; but these are the first principles which we
have proclaimed to the world. In addition to these there is
another—namely, the gathering together of the people of God. Wherever
the Elders of this Church have gone they have said, and testified to
the people, that the time in which we live is the gathering
dispensation alluded to by the ancient prophets, when God's people
should be gathered from the various nations of the earth to one place,
according to the predictions of John the Revelator, David the
psalmist, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all other prophets whose
writings we have in this book. They, in simplicity, have called upon
the people everywhere to repent, and to gather together; and these, in
substance, are the principles which the Elders of this Church have
declared unto the people wherever they have traveled; and it is
because of these principles and their proclamation that so much
persecution has been stirred up.
I know very well the feelings of the world, and perhaps of some who
are listening today to this brief enunciation of our principles and
the causes of our persecutions. Say they, "If these were the only
principles taught by the Latter-day Saints we cannot think they would
have been persecuted, there must be something behind this. It cannot
be possible that, in this enlightened age, men and women should be
persecuted and reviled and their names cast out as evil for believing
these doctrines?" A prevalent idea has been that this prejudice
against us owes its origin and continuation to our belief in a
plurality of wives; but when it is recollected that the mobbings,
drivings and expulsion from cities, counties and states which we have
endured, and our exodus to these mountains all took place before the
revelation of that doctrine was publicly known, it will be seen at
once that our belief in it has not been the cause of persecution. I
have an idea on this point in relation to this much-talked-of and
much-abused doctrine, and it is this: I believe that from the day it
was taught to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and
embraced in the faith and lives of its members we have risen in power
and grown in influence; we have gained favor with and enjoyed the
protection of the Heavens such as we never possessed before. All the
prosperity, seemingly, that we enjoy today has been bestowed upon us
since the proclamation of that principle and its adoption by us into
our faith and practice. There has been an almighty power hedging us
round about and encircling us from that day until the present time;
and though men have plotted and schemed and have devised mischief, and
formed machinations and combinations against the Latter-day Saints,
their schemes have fallen to the ground; their combinations have
proved unavailing, and we have been delivered time and time again
since we came to these valleys.
There is good reason why this is so. If this principle be from God, as
we solemnly testify it is, surely God would stretch forth his arm to
defend and deliver a people who would be so valiant and trustful as to
go forth in the face of so-called civilization and popular prejudice
in the nineteenth century, and embrace and practice that doctrine, and
assume all the consequences which its practice involves!
Surely God, who would reveal such a principle to his people and call
upon them to obey it, would defend those who had the courage to
sacrifice themselves if it were necessary to carry out what they
believed to be God's behest! He would stretch forth his arm, exert his
power and fulfill his promises to deliver those who would thus go
forth in humility and meekness and carry out a principle that he had
revealed unto them!
This is the view which I take of this matter. Instead of our being
left to the power of our persecutors to a greater extent since its
revelation and practice, we have had greater freedom and security, and
have been blessed as we never were before. It was not on account of
our belief in this that we have been hated. Joseph and Hyrum Smith
were slain in Carthage jail, and hundreds of persons were persecuted
to the death previous to the Church having any knowledge of this
doctrine. What then was the cause of the persecutions of the people,
and why should they have been singled out and made so remarkable above
other people, many of whom believe in several of the principles that
they believed in. There is not a religious denomination in Christendom
which does not believe in Jesus Christ; I do not know of one that does
not believe in repenting of sin and also in some form of baptism. They
may differ in opinion as to the mode, efficacy and necessity of the
ordinance; some may and do call it essential, while others regard it
as nonessential, but it is generally believed in; and there are also
denominations which believe in the laying on of hands. I do not know
of one that believes in the gathering of the people together, still
there are people or communities who do gather together, besides the
Latter-day Saints. What is it then that makes us so marked? I will
explain it in a few words, as I understand it. It is because the
Latter-day Saints believe that God has restored from the heavens the
everlasting Priesthood—that eternal authority by which man acts upon
the earth as the ambassador of God. It is because we have testified
that God has restored this once more to earth and we have received it,
and that by virtue of it we act as Apostles, members of the seventies,
high priests, elders, bishops, priests, teachers and deacons, and in
the several offices God has placed in his Church. This is the secret,
my brethren and sisters and friends, of the opposition that is and has
been waged against the Church of God. We might go forth and preach
belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, and baptism for
the remission of sins, as Alexander Campbell did; we might say, as
some of the sects do, that it is necessary to lay on hands; we might
gather the people together, and do any or all of these things, but if
we did not have the right to exercise heaven-bestowed authority there
would be no particular opposition to us. Of course, the nearer a man
draws to God, and the more he lives according to the plan which God
has prescribed, the more opposition he meets with. Satan will stir up
strife, animosity and hatred against him. On this account Luther,
Calvin, John Wesley and other reformers have been persecuted. The
nearer they came to the truth, and the more zealous they were in
proclaiming it, the more opposition they met with. Men, in reasoning
upon this subject, say that every sect, at the commencement of its
career, is persecuted because men are not familiar with its doctrines;
but, when they become known, opposition and persecution cease. They
predict this about the Latter-day Saints; but the truth of the
matter is this: if every new sect is persecuted, it is because it
fearlessly denounces the sins, follies and vices of the age, and so
long as they continue this, so long are they persecuted; but the
moment they assimilate to the world, gloss over its follies and go
with the stream and float with the popular current, opposition ceases.
This has been the case, more or less, with every sect; but when men
predict this of the Latter-day Saints they do not understand the
nature of the work in which we are engaged; they do not comprehend the
nature of the claims that we make; they have no understanding of the
authority that we exercise. The distinction, to which I have referred,
between us and others is that we claim to have the Holy Priesthood.
"But," says one, "has not this authority always been on the earth?
Why, ministers have gone forth and preached now for centuries,
authorized by the divine commission of the Apostles—'Go ye into all
the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be
damned.' On the strength of this commission they have gone forth for
centuries, and why do you Latter-day Saints claim additional
authority? Has the authority not existed ever since the days of the
Apostles?"
If it has, where are its fruits, where are its powers, and where is
the proper exercise thereof exhibited? Shall we go to the Church of
Rome and inquire of it? It claims to have uninterrupted Apostolic
descent from Peter, down through the ages until we reach our own day.
Say the Episcopalians, Lutherans, Calvinists, and all Protestant
sects, "No, she is the mother of harlots, she has defiled herself;
that church is false, and God has taken from her the authority she
once had. If we go back to the middle ages you will find that her
popes have been corrupt, and there have been times when there were more
than one pope, and if history can be relied on a woman once occupied
the papal chair; therefore we Protestants abhor her and call her the
mother of harlots; we have come out of her and have renounced her and
her wickedness. Neither she nor her priests have any authority."
But the Catholic, on the other hand, maintains that his church and
his alone has the authority, which Protestant Christendom declares she
has lost. And here a question arises in my mind, for as the Protestant
churches say that the Catholic Church is the mother of harlots, I turn
to the mother and ask who and where are her daughters. Is Lutheranism
a daughter of hers? Is Calvinism a daughter of hers? Is the Church of
England, founded by Henry VIII., a daughter of hers? If they are not,
where are her daughters? Where shall we look for them, if not in the
midst of the Protestant churches? If I go to the Episcopalians and ask
them for their authority, what reply do they give me? "We exercise
that which has come down to us from the Catholic Church. We came out
of that church because of her impurity, but we brought with us
authority to build another church, and ours is the Church of God."
But, says the Catholic Church, "We have severed you from us;" and I,
as a Latter-day Saint, say to the Episcopalians: If the Catholic
Church had authority to give you the priesthood, and you derived it by
imposition of hands from the Catholic clergy, then it had power to
deprive you of that authority; if it had power to bestow authority it
had power to withdraw that authority; and the Catholic Church
did excommunicate Henry VIII., Latimer, Cranmer, and all who took part
in that defection, and branded them as apostates, and, if they had any
authority, deprived them of all they possessed. The same is true of
the Lutheran and Calvinist churches, and all others who descended from
her.
But there is another view to be taken of this matter. Jesus said to
his Apostles: "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he
that believeth not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them
that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils," &c.
Now, my Protestant brethren, if you take one part of this commission,
why not take the whole of it? You say that by virtue of this authority
which Jesus gave unto his Apostles, you go forth and preach the
Gospel; but if you take this part of the commission, why not take the
whole, and have the signs following them that believe your teachings,
and have devils cast out, the sick healed, &c.
In asking these questions I do not wish to be harsh or to reflect on
any sect, but only, in honesty, to place the truth before you from my
standpoint. Say the so-called Christians, in answer to the above
questions: "We do not believe in these things; this power has been
withheld, it was only bestowed in the Apostolic age, and was necessary
then for the establishment of the Gospel."
If that is so, where do you find authority for making the assertion?
If you take part of this commission given by Christ to his Apostles,
what right have you to reject the remainder? Why not reject the whole?
I say that, by a parity of reasoning, if you take a part you ought to
take the whole. You cannot consistently take one portion of Scripture
and say, "This applies to me, or is mine, and I have a right to act by
the authority it confers;" and then to say of the other, "I dismiss
it, and want nothing to do with it." That is mutilating the word of
God, and wherever you find men who have authority from God to act in
his name, you will find these gifts and blessings attending their
administrations, just as in ancient days.
Suppose a descendant of John Adams, the first minister of this
government to the Court of St. James, should find an old document that
had been given to him by the Continental Congress authorizing him to
go and act as its minister. He reads this document in which his
ancestor's name is mentioned and in which he is duly empowered to act
as ambassador for the United States, and he says, "Here is a document,
I have it, the original that was given to my great ancestor. I do not
see why I should not go and act as ambassador. This document was not
given to me, it is true, but I want to act in this capacity." He goes
across the water, travels to London, goes to Court, and presents his
document and says, "I am empowered to act. I am sent over by the
United States as ambassador to the Court of Great Britain." "Where is
your commission?" "Here." "Why, this is an old document, it was
given
to John Adams. Is that your name, and are you the man?" "Oh no, I am
not the man, but I am a descendant of his." This would be just as
consistent as for a minister of religion in this day to claim
authority because he has a record of the commission which Jesus gave
to his disciples. If one case is consistent, so is the other; if one
is not, then the other is not.
My brethren, sisters and friends, you now, probably, begin to see the reasons why the Latter-day Saints claim that God has restored
the authority and the everlasting priesthood; you now, probably, begin
to see some reasons why God should send his holy angels from heaven to
earth again.
"But," says one, "I thought there were going to be no more angels,
prophecies or revelations. I have been taught that the canon of
Scripture was full, and that it was not necessary for God to speak
again to man on the earth."
Oh, this delusive idea! This damnable doctrine which has been preached
until Christendom is completely filled with unbelief, so that the man
who believes in revelation and that there is a necessity for it is set
down as one who is unworthy the society of his fellows! Oh, the
dreadful effects which have followed the proclamation of this fallacy
for so long a period! What are the effects, resulting from it, that we
see today? Christendom rent asunder, divided into sects and parties,
the name of Jesus derided and sneered at, and the pure Gospel lost
because of the propagation, for centuries, by so-called Christian
ministers, of the soul-destroying and damnable heresy that God cannot
or will not speak to man again from the heavens; that God will not
reveal his will, send his angels, or exercise his power in the affairs
of earth as much as he did in ancient days. Look at the effects of
this! Travel in all our cities of the Atlantic and Pacific, and what
do you see? Men and women professing to be followers of Jesus Christ,
and yet all divided and split asunder, and quarrelling and
contending—even members of the same church divided asunder. The
Methodist Church North, and the Methodist Church South; the
Presbyterian Church North, and the Presbyterian Church South; the
Baptist Church North, and the Baptist Church South, and thus the
religious world is divided and split asunder, and there is no
authority to say what is truth or who shall proclaim it; there are
none to say in the midst of the people, "Thus saith the Lord," or
"Here is the path, walk ye in it;" and if a man comes forward claiming
that he has this authority he is met with the accusations:
"You are deluded, you are an impostor, you preach false doctrine, we
will have none of your teaching. Men who believe in prophesy and
revelation are liable to be deceived, and we are afraid of you, we do
not know but you will deceive us. Jesus said there should be false
prophets, we believe you are one of them."
And thus they fortify and encase themselves in their unbelief and
reject the word of God, and if Paul or Peter were to rise from the
dead, and go amongst them and proclaim the principles they taught
anciently, they would close their churches and chapels, and would say,
"We will have none of you, you will deceive us, you are one of the
false prophets spoken of," forgetting that, if there are false
prophets, there will, in all probability, also be true ones; and that
it would be inconsistent to talk about false prophets if there were no
true ones. There never is a counterfeit, bogus or imitation without a
true one to copy after! Can you wonder, brethren and sisters, that the
world is in the condition that it is, when unbelief has been handed
down for generations, until it permeates the minds of all, both priest
and people, even the children learn it in the Sunday schools, until
every fiber of their minds becomes indoctrinated with the idea? The
present condition of the Christian world is not to be wondered at, the
wonder is that belief and faith exist to the extent they do.
There are a few things more I would like to say in connection with
this subject while I am upon it. One is that a perusal of the
Scriptures will clear up one point in our minds respecting the
principle of revelation and communication between God and man. There
is not a servant of God of whom we have any account, from Genesis to
Revelation, who did not receive revelation. Can any person point out
a man who was one of God's servants, of whom we have any account in
the Scriptures, that did not receive revelation? Not one. It may be
said, and is argued, "Why is it, if it be God's will that man should
have revelation from him, that the world has been so long without it?"
This is very easily explained. You recollect that Jesus, on one
occasion, went into a certain place, and it is said concerning him
that he could not do many mighty works there because of the people's
unbelief. Unbelief, therefore, has a tendency to prevent the
communication of God's will to man by closing the channel of
communication. And another very good reason is that when men were on
the earth who did have these communications they were not allowed to
live. Every such man was hunted and persecuted, and his life was
sought after until there was not one left who had the power, authority
and great gift and blessing to say to the people, "Thus saith the
Lord;" and revelation and the spirit of revelation were withdrawn from
man, and the whole earth fell into unbelief and darkness, and gross
darkness prevailed over the hearts of the people. It is a very
excellent reason why revelation should cease when the earth was
drenched with the blood of Heaven's messengers, and that blood was
crying for vengeance on those who had slain them.
But there was a time predicted by the Prophets—John saw it, and has
said in his revelations, "I saw another angel fly in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell
on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
people, saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give glory to him, for
the hour of his judgment is come.'" Now the testimony of the
Latter-day Saints is that God has sent this angel, and has actually
restored the Holy Priesthood—that authority which was held by the
Apostles and Jesus in ancient days, and by Joseph Smith, an humble,
unlearned, but Godfearing boy, in our day. Joseph sought the Lord
diligently and earnestly to know which was the right way; his mind was
distracted by the various claims set forth by one sect and another,
and he was determined to seek unto the Lord for wisdom, for he had
read in the Epistle of James, that if any lacked wisdom and would ask
of God, he would give liberally and upbraid not. He did so, and the
Lord communicated to him that in his own time he would establish his
Church, on the earth. He also told him not to join any of the churches
then in existence, for all had departed from the right way. Eventually
he was ordained; but in the first place, anxious to be baptized, he
sought the Lord to know in what way he should obtain the ordinance of
baptism, and the Lord sent an angel—John the Baptist, him who held
this authority in ancient days and who baptized Jesus, and he laid his
hands on the head of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and ordained
them to this authority. "Well," says one, "I cannot believe this; if
they could have got it from Peter Waldo, from the Catholic Church or
the Baptist Church, I might have believed it; but to think that
an angel came, shocks me, and it is more than I can believe. It is
fanatical, and none but fanatics believe angels come to earth; there
is deception in the idea."
Oh, foolish generation! How could the power of God be restored from
heaven, how could the world be united again, how could men be brought
into one fold, and how could these dissensions and divisions be healed
and removed unless God exerted his power? When the Lord does exercise
power it is in his own way. If he chooses to send an angel, he will do
so, and will not ask you or me whether we will accept and are suited
with it or not. He sent an angel on this occasion to restore to earth
the authority to baptize for the remission of sins, and that messenger
laid his hands on the heads of Joseph and Oliver and gave them that
authority, and they commenced to baptize.
But there was the authority to baptize with the Holy Ghost, or laying
on of the hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, yet remaining to
be restored. All of you who are familiar with the experience of Philip
who baptized the eunuch, and who went to Samaria and preached the
Gospel, know that we have no account of him laying on hands for the
Holy Ghost. When the Apostles at Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans
had been baptized by Philip, they sent two of their number to lay on
hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. These two had authority to
baptize, and they also had authority to lay on hands; and when they
came to Samaria they laid hands on the baptized believers, and they
received the Holy Ghost, and they spake with tongues and prophesied.
Philip had the same authority as John had—namely, the authority to
baptize; but it appears from the record that he had not authority to
lay on hands. This was the position of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery
after having been ordained to this priesthood. They had authority to
baptize, but there was something still lacking. They were men who
would not run before they were sent; they would not claim authority
that had not been bestowed upon them. They waited the good pleasure of
the Lord and he sent to them Peter, James and John. You recollect that
Jesus, on one occasion, asked Peter whom men said he, the Son of Man,
was. They said some said one thing and some another. Then said Jesus
to them, "But whom say ye that I am?" and Peter said, "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
That is, he had not received that knowledge from man, but from God;
and said Jesus, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
Church." What rock? "Oh," says the Catholic, "upon Peter, he
was a
rock, and the Church was built upon him." "No," Say the Protestants,
"not upon Peter, but upon Jesus." "Now," says Jesus,
"upon this rock."
What rock? The rock of revelation—the principle upon which he was
talking. He had spoken to Peter and told him that flesh and blood had
not imparted to him certain knowledge which he possessed, but "my
Father which is in heaven; and upon this rock will I build my Church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." They never can
prevail against a Church built on the rock of revelation. "Upon this
rock will I build my Church, and I will give unto thee, Peter, the
keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth
shall be bound in heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven."
Now this Peter, who held this authority when it was withdrawn from the
earth, still held it as an angel in the presence of God. What
messengers better adapted to the exigencies of the case than Peter,
with his two associates, James and John, to come and lay hands upon
Joseph Smith and ordain him to the authority to preach the Gospel and
to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost? It is the
exercise of this authority, thus bestowed, which has gained the
thousands from the various nations of the earth that people these
mountain valleys! It is this authority which has enabled the Elders of
this Church to traverse remote continents and islands of the sea
without purse or scrip, and, in the name of Jesus Christ, proclaim his
Gospel in its ancient simplicity, God confirming the word by signs
following—the very same work and the very same results that followed
the preaching of it in the days of Peter and his fellow Apostles.
How very singular, is it not, that Joseph Smith should have claimed to
receive the authority from John the Baptist! How very singular that he
should claim authority from the ordination of Peter, James and
John—that is, if it were not true! How very singular! And then, to add
to the singularity of the whole case and to the remarkable features of
it, to think that the Elders of this Church have accomplished a work
precisely similar in many respects to that which the ancient Apostles
accomplished! Wherever they went and the people received their
testimony they were of one heart and mind. And has it not been so in
our day? We find in this Territory men representing nearly every
country. They have come here by thousands from remote continents and
isles of the sea, and they are united, not so much as they should be,
or as they will be; but still there is amongst them a remarkable
amount of union, peace, love, and goodwill, and an absence of
litigation, drunkenness, theft, and the evils and vices that prevail
in the world. The people are united, and from every hamlet, and every
habitation over all this extended country, from north to south, their
united prayers ascend morning, noon and night to God, to bless his
servants and to bear off the Holy Priesthood and Apostleship. Yes, in
all this land, and throughout the earth wherever the servants of God
have gone, these same principles prevail and are observed by those who
have received their testimony. The Saints are united; they sustain the
authority which God has restored; for be it known there is an
authority now on the earth by which men can declare to the people,
"Thus saith the Lord," just as we might suppose a servant of God would
do anciently.
Do I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet because it was told to me
in my childhood? Do I believe that Brigham Young is an Apostle and
prophet because it has been told to me? Partly, but more from the fact
that God has borne testimony to me by the revelations of the Holy
Spirit; and I have grown in the belief and knowledge, and I know that
Joseph was a prophet; I know that he was ordained of God; I know that
he had the authority which he professed to have, and that it is in the
Church; and I know, too, that the same signs follow the believers as
did anciently, and the Church will grow and increase and spread
abroad. It is on this account, my brethren and sisters and friends,
that we are so hated, for the adversary knows it, and hence this
persecution which seems so causeless.
May God bless us, help us to keep his commandments, to discern the
truth, and to cleave to it all our days, in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
- George Q. Cannon