I must say, brethren and sisters, that it is with a degree of
pleasure that I enjoy the privilege, this morning, of rising for the
purpose of addressing you. However probable it may be that there are
those present who might do so more to your satisfaction; yet, if the
spirit of prayer and faith is exercised in the assembly, I may be able
to present to your consideration some items which may not be
altogether uninteresting.
I have taken a good deal of pleasure in preaching in the different
settlements of this territory, wherever I have had the opportunity of
meeting with the Saints; but it is seldom I arise in this stand for
that purpose, for it requires a voice rather, if any thing, beyond the
strength of my lungs, to speak in this large congregation, any length
of time, and consequently I do not appear in this stand as often as I
otherwise would.
There are many subjects which I take pleasure in discussing in the
presence of the Saints. I have felt, ever since I received my
ordination, a great desire to preach upon the first princi ples of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world; and to spend my time in
proclaiming to the Saints those doctrines of obedience, faith, and
charity which are so generally understood, and which by a great many
persons are neglected, to their own injury. There is not a person of
common intelligence among the Saints, who has resided in this valley
for the past three years, who has not heard enough of the principles
of salvation to know perfectly what to do to be saved, if they had
given that attention to the subject which they ought to have done, if
such persons desire to carry out the views and sentiments which have
been from time to time proclaimed from this stand.
To be sure we frequently hear inferences drawn, which do not comport
altogether with our former sentiments, sentiments and opinions which
we have formed by tradition, or which have been the result of
circumstances by which we have been surrounded.
I suppose no person will take exceptions if I should in the
continuation of my remarks take a text, which will be found
recorded in the 4th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark. "And
he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into
the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed
should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth
forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the
full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately
he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come." If such a
passage as this does not occur in the 4th chapter of Mark, then I will
acknowledge myself mistaken. But whether there is or not, the subject
that presents itself to my mind is illustrated by the words of this
text.
I remember twenty-four years ago, when the doctrines of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were first being proclaimed to the
inhabitants of the earth, we were told that we were to participate in
the same blessings, and would be subject to the same kind of
persecutions, as was the common lot of all former-day Saints; that the
same gifts that were enjoyed in the days of our Savior and his
Apostles were and should be in the last days; and that if these things
did not follow, it was for want of obedience to the will of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. It was this spirit of revelation that pointed
out the only way; and because the different churches did not have in
their midst the same offices, gifts, and blessings, and the same
privileges, the reason assigned was plainly and simply that they had
not been faithful in their obedience to the principles which had been
revealed, and had thereby lost the spirit of revelation, had slid from
the original platform, and had fallen back to principles of folly,
teaching for doctrine the precepts of men. The Christian world, as we
shall denominate it, being then composed of several hun dred different
denominations, who all professed to form portions of the Church of
Christ, and separately professed to have the only true Church, and the
only true doctrines that were upon the earth, each one of them claimed
to have the only true plan of salvation that was upon God's footstool,
and to disclaim all others as being heretical, erroneous, and corrupt;
and yet each and all were differing on some principles. This division
of principle had unquestionably, for many centuries, been the cause of
bloody war, and millions of people had been slain in consequence; the
quantity of blood spilt, and amount of human suffering produced, were
immense. These same Christian divisions, which had been so thirsty for
human blood, so tenacious to their peculiar doctrines, and that had
been so fruitful in producing creeds and systems which they maintained
by the edge of the sword, almost invariably, as they would use every
means that came within their power to build up themselves, and the
more they had of subdivisions the more new schisms; new, because a new
division had been made—the whole may be considered a practical
illustration of the sentiment of the Irish Poet—
"Who can believe it? the cause is rather odd—
They hate one another for the love of God."
The Lord sent His servant Joseph Smith to proclaim to the world the
original principles of the Gospel; and the very moment they heard him
calling upon them to come back to the original principles, and partake
of the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as they were
originally preached by those whom Jesus himself sent to preach, all
those different sects and denominations began to call for authority!
On being told that it was revealed from heaven, and that the
foundation was revelation from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
authori ty given by him, and that He had commanded the
reestablishment of his Church, or of laying the foundation of his
Church upon its primitive or original foundation, they all exclaimed,
"There is to be no more revelation, there is to be no more
prophesying, no more visions, no more ministering of angels." Hard as
it is to believe, and strange as it may appear, these religionists who
had read and professed to believe the New Testament, and knew that
John did declare, more than sixty years after Christ, that he saw
another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
Gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, to every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people, see Rev. xiv. 6—these same men would rise
up and declare that such a thing never was to take place; and although
John plainly declares that what he saw was to come to pass hereafter,
yet they believed it not, and said all such manifestations had an end
when the Apostles, or fathers, fell asleep.
Thus they commenced a persecution, an untiring crusade, against the
Latter-day Saints, and by every means in their power endeavored to
stop the progress of the work.
"Why," said they, "we have authority direct from Jesus Christ."
I
remember a circumstance of a certain learned Baptist preacher, rising
in a congregation where I had been preaching, and stating that the
Baptists had all the authority of the Gospel Priesthood that was
required in the Baptist church, and that it had come to them from the
Apostles, pure and unadulterated, by way of the Waldenses, and that he
was prepared to prove the channel through which it had come. I do not
know but his congregation believed what he said; but at any rate, the
gentlemen declined to produce his evidence when I called upon him to
do so, and all the evidence that he could have adduced was, that about
the year 1160, in Lyons, a man named Peter Waldo, hired a catholic
priest to translate the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and
they formed a church, which took the name of its mercantile founder.
And this is as far as the authority can be traced by the Baptists;
this method of tracing authority is of no use, unless they adopt the
authority of the pope; and if the Catholic church be taken as
authority, then when the Catholic church brings out the edict of
expulsion, it certainly deprives those whom it expels of all their
authority, for it is impossible for a stream to rise higher than its
fountain.
If the pope and his church be corrupt, the authority of no other
church can be of any value that has descended from it, and is built
upon the validity of its Priesthood.
The Presbyterians consider that they can trace the matter a little
further back. They consider that their authority originated somewhere
else, but after spending their time and toil they can only get back to
the Catholic church, for they renounced its principles and came out
from it, set up a new set of doctrines, part of them borrowed and part
of their own manufacture. They denied the spirit of revelation, and
consequently had no knowledge from the eternal world, and with the
exception of those doctrines which they had picked up, they had no
priesthood but that which they had borrowed from the mother church;
and the mother church having pronounced an edict of expulsion against
them, which must have been valid if she had possessed any authority to
confer.
Perhaps a Wesleyan might tell us that in their church they had
authority from God. Then we ask, where did it come from? "From Mr.
John Wesley," they will reply. And where did he get it ? "Why he was a
minister of the Church of England." And where did the Church of
England get the authority from? From Henry the Eighth, who is
designated among English kings as the wife killer. And where did he
get it? Why, when the Romish church refused to sanction the divorce of
his lawful wife, without any just cause, and refused to grant him his
wishes, he put away his wife, rebelled against the church, which he
had acknowledged, and from which he had received the title of Defender
of the Faith, from the Roman pontiff; but yet he came out,
excommunicated the pope, and declared the Catholic church to be
heretical and abominable and declared himself to be the head of the
church. He enforced his title by military power, seized the revenues
of all religious establishments, used them for his own aggrandizement,
created new ones upon his own authority, and established the Church of
England priesthood. And this is as far as the matter can be traced,
and there is the extent of their authority, the idol of their hearts,
and the head of the Church of England excommunicated from the Church
of Rome for his own corruption. This is a pretty seat of authority!
Some persons will tell us that God has never intended to give any more
revelations, notwithstanding they read that God set in His Church
Apostles and Prophets, Pastors and Teachers, and that they had gifts,
prophecies, and revelations and that they were placed in the Church
for the express purpose of the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ, and that they might be no more children tossed
to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and the
cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
This is plainly and clearly illustrated before any persons who believe
the New Testament, and yet the principles and doctrines, when set
forth in boldness and simplicity, have been rejected by them.
When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was first
founded, you could see persons rise up and ask, "What sign will you
show us that we may be made to believe?" I recollect a Campbellite
preacher who came to Joseph Smith, I think his name was Hayden. He
came in and made himself known to Joseph, and said that he had come a
considerable distance to be convinced of the truth. "Why," said he,
"Mr. Smith, I want to know the truth, and when I am convinced, I will
spend all my talents and time in defending and spreading the doctrines
of your religion, and I will give you to understand that to convince
me is equivalent to convincing all my society, amounting to several
hundreds." Well, Joseph commenced laying before him the coming forth
of the work, and the first principles of the Gospel, when Mr. Hayden
exclaimed, "O this is not the evidence I want, the evidence that I
wish to have is a notable miracle; I want to see some powerful
manifestation of the power of God, I want to see a notable miracle
performed; and if you perform such a one, then I will believe with all
my heart and soul, and will exert all my power and all my extensive
influence to convince others; and if you will not perform a miracle of
this kind, then I am your worst and bitterest enemy." "Well," said
Joseph, "what will you have done? Will you be struck blind, or dumb?
Will you be paralyzed, or will you have one hand withered? Take your
choice, choose which you please, and in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ it shall be done." "That is not the kind of miracle I want,"
said the preacher. "Then, sir," replied Joseph, "I can perform none, I
am not going to bring any trouble upon anybody else, sir, to convince
you. I will tell you what you make me think of—the very first person
who asked a sign of the Savior, for it is written, in the New
Testament, that Satan came to the Savior in the desert, when
he was hungry with forty days' fasting," and said, "If you be the Son
of God, command these stones to be made bread." "And now," said
Joseph, "the children of the devil and his servants have been asking
for signs ever since; and when the people in that day continued asking
him for signs to prove the truth of the Gospel which he preached, the
Savior replied, "It is a wicked and an adulterous generation that
seeketh a sign," &c.
But the poor preacher had so much faith in the power of the Prophet
that he daren't risk being struck blind, lame, dumb, or having one
hand withered, or anything of the kind. We have frequently heard men
calling for signs without knowing actually what they did want. Could
he not have tested the principles, and thus have ascertained the
truth? But this is not the disposition of men of the religious world.
To be sure, I have seen those whom would get up and reason that Christ
built his Church upon the rock—for say such men, "Jesus promised and
said, 'Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.'" From this declaration they claim that
the Church being built upon a rock would always remain upon the earth
in its purity, and the Priesthood and authority be preserved, and this
argument would be produced with a degree of triumph. How say they? "If
'Mormonism' be true, and the pure Priesthood had been lost, and the
true Church had therefore become extinct upon the earth, the gates of
hell would have prevailed against it, or the Savior's words failed."
If this conclusion be correct, what was the cause of Mr. Wesley
beginning a reformation in his day? The church had got into darkness,
and the devil had got such power that it was necessary that a reform
should be got up.
Where was the necessity of Waldo beginning a new church in his day?
The power of the devil, the great adversary, had entirely overcome the
church; and, hence, it was necessary to begin anew. Now suppose we
were to read the passage, and see what it was that the Savior did say
upon the subject. The Savior said, on a certain occasion, addressing
his Apostles, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" His
disciples say, "They have different opinions about you—some say thou
art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the
old Prophets has risen from the dead." "But," says the Savior, "whom
do ye say that I am?" "Why," says Peter, "thou art Christ, the Son
of the living God." The Savior replied, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona:
for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father
who is in heaven. I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock
will I build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it."
This argument would be introduced by those who believe that Christ
built his Church upon St. Peter, and you then come to read the
passage, and what do you learn by it? You simply learn that Peter had
made the discovery, by revelation, that Jesus was the Son of the
living God, and that upon the rock (revelation) he (Christ) would
build his Church, and upon nothing else, and that the gates of hell
should not prevail against it. Not being a linguist, like my brother
behind me, I shall say that the common accepted meaning of the word
"hell," is a place of miserable departed spirits, and hence the Savior
told Peter that the gates of departed miserable spirits should never
prevail against his Church. This is the principle here illustrated,
and consequently whenever a reformation becomes necessary in the
Church of God, it must be founded upon the rock—revelation;
and whenever the Church left the principles of revelation they ceased
to be the Church of God; and nothing could bring them back again, or
reestablish them, but being replaced upon the same foundation, and by
the same authority.
I have heard arguments brought against this Church, by men endeavoring
to prove that there was to be no more revelation. For instance,
learned men have quoted the epistle of Paul to Timothy, to prove that
all revelations ceased in the time of the Apostles, for at the time
Paul wrote to Timothy he made a declaration to him, which the learned
have endeavored to use to some advantage. Paul says, "From a child
thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation."
Now I have heard and seen learned priests rise up against this Church,
and say, "There, Paul says that the holy Scriptures were able to make
Timothy wise unto salvation, and the 'holy Scriptures' means the
Bible, and that is all the Scripture that is necessary now, for it is
only necessary to be made wise unto salvation; and if Timothy had
enough to make him wise unto salvation, why all Christians have
enough, who are believers." Let me here ask a question—are we sure
that we have got all the Scriptures that Timothy had known from his
childhood? He tells Timothy that from a child he had known the holy
Scriptures. Now if Timothy was a man of very mature years, he might
have been a child before our Savior's crucifixion; as Paul's epistle
was written 30 years after that event, therefore he must have been a
child before the writing of the four Gospels, for one of them was not
written until years after. Then those Scriptures which he was
acquainted with, were those which were written previous to the New
Testament, and if we can believe the testimony of the Old Testament,
it is found that a great many books were acknowledged as Scriptures
and as revelation, which were not by King James' translators
considered to be such, and are not at the present day, as they are not
incorporated in this Bible. For instance, we learn of the "Book of
Enoch;" we read a reference made by Moses to "the Book of the Wars of
the Lord." Now what kind of a book, or what kind of Scriptures those
books might have been, we cannot tell; but it is probable that they
were in Timothy's knowledge, for he had known the holy Scriptures from
a child.
This was the great knockdown argument brought by the Campbellites
against the Latter-day Saints—"That from a child thou hast known the
holy scriptures." What Scriptures? To be sure John's Gospel was not
written at that time, neither were his three epistles, or his
revelations, and several other books were not written at that time,
although King James' translators considered those books necessary,
and inserted them in our Bible. But suppose we read the passage a
little further: 2 Tim. iii. 15-17. "From a child thou hast known the
holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may
be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
Then you discover that those Scriptures which were given were only
sufficient to make even Timothy wise unto salvation, through faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ, and that all Scripture given by inspiration was
profitable and actually necessary to make the man of God perfect, and
thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Now, my friends, get into heaven without revelation if you can; for
all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and the man of God
cannot be thoroughly furnished with all good works without getting a
knowledge of the Scriptures. It matters not through whom, this is the
principle upon which the true Church is founded, and the gates of hell
will never prevail against it; but when they reject revelation they
adopt another religion, that is built upon another and sandy
foundation, and that has another head, different from the true Gospel;
the clouds will come, and the winds blow and beat upon their fabric,
and the fabric that has become old and venerated will be thrown down,
and great will be the fall thereof; and it will be more tolerable for
the heathen than for such churches.
Well, this is the very state and position of Christendom when Joseph
Smith introduced the fulness of the everlasting Gospel into the world.
I have narrated the facts relative to the quarrels they had with each
other in the several denominations; and yet they united to destroy the
little illiterate boy, as he was called. If education were necessary
to proclaim the revelations which Jesus Christ had revealed unto him
(the boy) then we may conclude the Lord did not select the proper
person. They persecuted him (not for being wicked), burnt his houses,
stole his property, tarred and feathered, scourged and imprisoned him;
and his friends also shared a similar fate—they were whipped and
driven from place to place; and finally when he was placed under the
pledge of protection from the executive of the State in which he
lived, he was treacherously murdered, almost the whole Christian world
said, "It is too barbarous to kill him in that way, but then it is a
good thing that he is dead."
"But," say some, "how is it that all the power, and all the miracles,
and all the manifestations and blessings of the Priesthood have not
been manifested in the Church, that were manifested in the Church of
God formerly by the Prophets of old?"
I do not believe that the history of the world records as great a
miracle as Deseret now is. The history of the sacred volume does not
contain a record of as great and wonderful a miracle as the fleeing of
this people into the wilderness, robbed of every earthly thing that
could make life desirable, driven before the muskets of the Christian
mob, exposed to the vicissitudes of new climates, and exploring into
the mountains in a new and desert country, and contending with every
difficulty that the devil could introduce, and with all the clamor and
calumny that could be invented to harden the hearts of men and women
against them. In the midst of all this, they rejoiced, and after
locating themselves in the wilderness, a thousand miles from
settlements, in a place that was pronounced by all scientific
travelers to be uninhabitable, and there producing the bounties of
life in great abundance, and to see how it has risen in splendor, in
every respect, I say it is a wonder and a marvel far beyond any other
recorded upon this earth. The fact of it was, before we were driven
from the United States, we petitioned the Governor of every State in
the Union for an asylum where we might be permitted to enjoy the
blessings of our religion unmolested; and all our petitions were
treated with cruel neglect. When our enemies drove us into the
wilderness, a great share of the Christian world felt like saying,
"They will starve to death, the Indians will destroy them, and we
shall have done with Mormonism;" and they concluded that, in the eyes
of posterity, they would give us such a bad name as to justify their
cruel actions towards us, and as we should be sure to perish, there would nobody live who would tell the truth for us, and that
would be the end of the matter.
We were quite willing to go, for the best of all reasons, we could not
stay. There was no chance under the heavens for us to stay, and be
protected, in any State in the Union; and I suppose some of them felt
as the pious old Quaker did when he was on board a vessel which was
attacked by pirates—he was too pious to fight, it was against his
conscience, but when one of the pirates started to climb a rope and
get upon the vessel, the old Quaker picked up a hatchet and said,
"Friend, if thee wants that piece of rope, thee can have it and
welcome," and immediately cut the rope and let him drop into the sea,
where he was drowned. So our enemies thought they would let us go into
the heart of the Great American Desert and starve, as they compelled
us to leave everything that would make life desirable.
It was even counseled in high places to disarm the "Mormons" after
they started, that is, to take from them the few old fusees and cheap
arms which they had been able to scrape together, after they had been
disarmed the third time by executive authority, and they had
subsequently picked up some old fusees to kill game with; and it was
gravely discussed to disarm them, so that they would not be able to
kill game, or defend themselves against the Indians; but through the
providence of God, and our prayers, we were enabled to pack off the
few old guns, and started for the mountains. But instead of starting
to kill the Indians, as our puritan fathers did, we began endeavoring
to teach them to work and be industrious; and had it not been for the
interference of other spirits, we would have got along very smoothly;
and this has been the result of the united efforts of those who have
been willing to listen to the counsel and instruction given to this
people. Those who have been unwilling to listen to the counsel and
instructions of President Young, have caused us more trouble than
everything else we have had to contend with among the Indians.
For instance, in the year 1849, a company of Missourians passing
through the country to California, shot a number of squaws, for the
sake of stealing their horses, and pursued their journey. This
produced enmity among the Indians towards the white men.
A few such circumstances have caused some of our brethren to lose
their lives; but not a thousandth part of troubles have occurred here,
that was brought upon those colonies established upon the coast, with
the single exception of Pennsylvania.
No man that has had to do with the Indians, has ever been able to do
the good to them that Governor Young has done; and some of the
statesmen have acknowledged it.
And the discovery has actually been made, that the "Mormons" did not
starve to death, and that the Almighty did sustain them in the midst
of every difficulty which possibly could be brought upon their heads.
I have seen men, even in this Church, who have become discouraged at a
few trials. I can tell you, brethren and sisters, if all such men will
trace their conduct to its source, they will find that they have
fostered an evil spirit, evil principles, and lived in open rebellion
to the religion which they have professed; and consequently darkness
has come over their minds, and they soon felt as a very self-righteous
man did some years ago. He was in the Church, and he said he had
proved the revelations of Joseph Smith to be untrue. "How did you
prove them so?" "Why," said he, "one of Joseph Smith's
revelations
says, that if a man shall commit adul tery, he shall lose the
Spirit of the Lord, and deny the faith, and shall be cast out. Now,"
says he, "I have been guilty of that crime, and I have not
apostatized, and consequently that revelation is not true, and that
proves Joseph Smith is not a true Prophet." This was the darkness
which his corruptions had brought upon him, and this is the kind of
darkness which transgression will bring upon all men in this Church.
This people are different from any other people that live upon the
face of the earth; they have the Holy Priesthood, and there is no man
in all the house of Israel that fulfills the duties of his calling as a
Saint, but receives a portion of the holy Priesthood, and every person
has his duties to fulfil.
Every man that would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that would
receive the doctrines he taught, and those taught by his Apostles,
that would listen to his counsel, and obey his precepts, were
promised, and did receive, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that Spirit
did lead, and guide, and teach him or her that received it, into all
truth, unless the receiver afterwards defiled his temple by wickedness
and corruptions. And he (the Spirit) would lead into all truth, and
that truth when revealed would become a matter of knowledge in the
breast of every Saint. And no man can rise up, that has lived in
obedience to those principles, and say that he has not realized the
very thing promised.
The very first thing that Joseph told the brethren, when they were
going out to preach, was, that their salary would be tar and feathers,
abuse and persecution—"You will be driven from house to house, and
from country to country, and be hated of all men because of your
religion;" and this has been fulfilled, and that too by the people in
free America. Thousands of people have been driven over and over again
by people living under the free institutions of the United States. Who
could have thought that their teachers and leaders would have been
murdered while under the protection of the Governor of a State? And
who could have believed that this could have been done in free
America, without a single murderer being brought to justice?
When Joseph proclaimed these things to the world beforehand, all men
said, "Let him alone, he will prove himself a liar in that;" but even
that was proved true; the vengeance of the wicked fell upon him, and
they took his life, and not a single individual was ever brought to
justice for it!
Now in the days of early Christians, when Pagan Rome persecuted the
Apostles, it was a different case altogether; for the Pagan religion
was the acknowledged creed of the land, therefore the Pagan religion
being established by law, made the innovation by the early Christians
a violation of their laws; but it has not been so in this land, where
freedom of opinion upon all subjects is guaranteed to all, by both
State and Federal constitutions. And every murder, every house that
has been robbed or burnt, and every act of cruelty and oppression
which has been committed upon the "Mormons," has been in violation of
both laws and Constitution, and these things have been known to the
officers of state, and yet, remarkable to tell, not one has ever been
punished; still the evidence was in their possession, which would have
brought the perpetrators of those crimes to justice. They were sworn
to support the Constitution and to faithfully execute the laws, the
neglect of which was perjury; and they had the laws of their country
and of their Senate to back them.
Not so with the Romans. When the Romans carried on their persecution
of the Apostles, the laws of their country and senate
supported them, for the proclamation of the disciples of Christ was
defaming the gods that the laws of their country commanded to be
worshipped; but in this instance it was entirely another thing, for
freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of conscience in
religious matters is guaranteed to all people who might choose to come
there; and in the face and eyes of all this, not only were their
privileges taken away as citizens, but the laws and Constitution of
their very country, the country in which many of their fathers fought
and bled, were treated with utter contempt. And religious prejudices,
and Christian stupidity, that defy a comparison or parallel in the
history of nations, produced this identical effect.
This, however, is not all the work which is presented to us as an
illustration of the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Prophet, that
has been accomplished. It is only the commencement of the mighty
purposes which have been predicted, for when the Prophet first made his
appearance he proclaimed the distresses that were to come upon the
nations of the earth; and what has been the result? Why at the present
time the nations are filled with madness; they are dashing against
each other with perfect madness, slaying their thousands daily. It
appears as if all the rulers and great men of the earth had lost their
reason, and as if the feelings of the human race were bent perfectly
like butchering and destroying each other. Millions of lives during
the past year have been sacrificed, either in the battlefield or in
sickness, or accident by sea, or the sickness which is the result of
the war, and yet greater preparations are being made to contest the
point; and what point is it? Why, whether a certain tract of land,
which neither of the great parties ever saw, or probably ever will
see, shall be governed by a man called Sultan, or by a man called
Czar. But the real thing is, the spirit of peace is taken from the
earth, and the spirit of war and bloodshed runs through the earth, and
that to an extent hitherto unknown.
We sometimes see men make their appearance among us, and after a short
stay they will say, "Why I believe I will go off to some place and
wait till ancient Mormonism comes round again, for this is not ancient
Mormonism; these are not the original doctrines that were preached."
Well, there were similar persons in the days of the apostle Paul. He
in writing to the Hebrews, v. ch., 12 ver., says, "For when for the
time ye ought to be teachers," that is, when you have been long enough
in the Church to become teachers, "ye have need that one teach you
again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are
become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat." "You," says
he, "have need that one teach you again which be the first principles
of the oracles of God; and you belong to that class who have need of
milk." Now when I hear a "Mormon" talk of going back to
"Ancient
Mormonism," it forcibly reminds me of this passage of Scripture which
I have just cited.
To be sure, when the work first commenced, men would rise up and say,
"Show us the wonderful power and miracles which were performed by
Moses."
The text shows the kingdom of heaven is likened unto seed cast into
the ground; it is compared to corn; it springs up, first the blade,
then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear.
You are all aware that it has never been in any one period of the
world's history that corn or any other grain has come to maturity at
once, and you are also aware that a kingdom or country or nation, of
any kind or con dition, is not the work of a moment. But the
kingdom of heaven was likened by our Savior to seed sown in the
ground; it springs up, first the blade, and afterwards the full corn
in the ear, and when harvest comes, the sickle is thrust in and the
harvest is gathered, and thus the work is progressive. And the
Prophets, in speaking of the work of the last days, have said that the
Lord will give line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and
there a little, and that a little one shall become a thousand, and a
small one a great nation; I the Lord will hasten in its time: so is
the kingdom of God.
This people have nothing to expect but persecution, for just as long
as they adhere to the principles of revelation, just so long as they
are governed by the original principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
will every priest upon the face of this earth, that is an hireling,
raise his influence to destroy the kingdom and those who bear the Holy
Priesthood.
The fulfillment of the predictions of the Apostle is in our own day,
viz., that men would after their own ungodly lusts heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears, and turn their ears from truth unto
fables! Not wait till God sent men among them, they would not listen
to men whom heaven might send with new revelation, but they would go
to work to educate them themselves, heap to themselves teachers of
their own manufacture, get up their own factories, and manufacture
their own teachers or preachers, who should turn the hearts of the
people from the truth, and turn them unto fables, and teach for
doctrines the precepts of men.
These will act as the Apostle Peter tells us, for says he, "There
shall come false preachers and false teachers in the last days, who
shall turn the hearts of the people from the truth, and shall say unto
them, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell
asleep, all things remain as they were from the beginning, and the
great day is passed, and we are under the necessity of rejecting
anything and everything that professes to be revealed from God."
And unless this people so live before God as to have the light of
revelation constantly before their eyes, the powers of darkness will
prevail over them, for that very day spoken of by the Savior is near
at hand, when nation is lifting up sword against nation, and when it
is necessary that we should see and understand the signs for
ourselves, for it is nearly the time when the sign of the Son of Man
shall be again seen.
The signs of the times thicken in the heavens, and the earth shows
forth her wonders. And as this is frequently denominated the fast age,
I will say that it is fast ripening for the burning, for ere long the
Savior will make his appearance among his people, when they are
sufficiently united, when they become sufficiently agreed that they
can all work with one feeling, one mind, one soul, and with one
spirit; the heavens then can be revealed, the curtains unrolled, and
the Savior appear in the midst of his Saints.
Some feelings have been created in the world because the Saints are so
firmly united. Now they need not be afraid, for it is the work of God,
and although they scatter us a hundred times to the four winds of
heaven, although they murder thousands of us, and burn and destroy our
property, it is the work of the Almighty, and they cannot prevail
against it. Whatever may be done will only serve to roll it forth, and
hurry forward the work of the Almighty.
The fact is, the time is near at hand when the consummation of the
wicked will take place; the day of the Lord is near; the harvest is
not far ahead. The wicked are slaying the wicked, and times
are growing worse and worse; all the world feel it; and we should
watch for the coming of the Son of Man.
This puts me in mind of a little anecdote that I have heard our Irish
brother tell of a son of the Green Isle, who was placed in prison with
a Yorkshireman. The Yorkshireman had stolen a cow, and Patrick had
been stealing a watch. While they were there, Yorkshire concluded that
he would joke his companion about stealing the watch, so says he to
Patrick, "What time is it ?" "About milking time," said Pat. And
I say
that it is about harvest time, and it will not be long before the
story of the Kilkenny cats will be acted out in earnest; the nations
will devour and destroy each other, for peace is taken from the earth.
I shall close, praying the blessings of heaven to rest upon you
continually in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
- George A. Smith