I will read a few passages of Scripture which will be found in the
54th chapter of Isaiah. (The speaker then read most of the chapter
referred to.) Continuing, he said:
I hope that the congregation will pardon me for undertaking three
Sabbaths running to instruct them when there are so many of our
brethren—those who are ordained and filled with the spirit of
truth—who would be glad, no doubt, to speak to the people; but a great
many of my younger brethren, younger than I am, may perhaps have a
great many opportunities after I may pass away, provided that the Lord
sees proper in His wisdom to call me hence.
I feel a great pleasure in standing before a congregation of
Latter-day Saints, or a mixed assembly of those who belong to the
Church and those who have not received the great message which the
Church has received. It gives me great joy and great satisfaction to
speak to them in the name of the Lord, and unfold, as far as
the Spirit will give me utterance, that which the Lord has said
concerning His people in the latter days. I had nothing upon my mind
when I arose and walked into the stand, but upon opening the Bible my
eyes fell upon this chapter, and I thought that I would read it—and
perhaps something might occur in relation to this chapter that would
be interesting in regard to the latter days, for certainly what I have
read relates to future times—times that have not yet come.
"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the
curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and
strengthen thy stakes;" is the exhortation of the prophet to some class
of people that should dwell on the earth. If we wish to know what
class of people the Prophet had reference to, read the last verse of
this chapter: "This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and
their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." It would seem then,
from the declaration given in that clause of the seventeenth verse of
this chapter, that the Prophet was speaking of his servants and their
heritage—that is, the heritage that his servants should occupy—that
they were not to be narrowed and contracted in their feelings in
regard to their inheritance as though it were to be in a small tract
or region of country. The Lord had otherwise determined according to
the words of this chapter. He intends they should inherit a great
land, that they were to stretch forth the curtains of their
habitations, and for fear that they would be limited in their views
and contract themselves to a small region of country, the Lord says
expressly, "Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes."
Well, we are trying to do this as Latter-day Saints. When we first
came here we located this city in the month of July, 1847, some 32
years ago this last summer. Then it was thought by many that had not a
knowledge of prophecy, that we were too expanded in our views to lay
out a city—being only a handful of pioneers—to lay out a city covering
several miles of ground, when there was not yet a house built; when
comparatively there was before us a great dry, barren desert. It
seemed almost folly to even some of the Latter-day Saints to see the
surveyor with his measure line, others with their instruments of
observation, getting the height of this land above the sea
level—making great preparations, while we yet camped, a little handful
of us, in wagons and in a few tents. It seemed folly to lay out a city
covering an area of several square miles; but those who did this work
were under the direction and inspiration of the Almighty. We knew that
this people would become a very great people. We knew that the words
of Isaiah would be fulfilled which are recorded in the 60th chapter,
"A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong
nation." Now we believed that. It was not merely all opinion such as
might be formed by the enlightened judgment of the human family, but
by the inspiration of that Spirit which knows all things, we laid out
a city sufficiently large in extent to accommodate and gather together
an extensive population for this inland country and desert. Have we
been disappointed? Has the Lord disappointed us in our expectation? Go
over the area of this whole city, over these northern wards and
western wards, and travel and traverse all the different lots and
streets, and see if you find many vacant places. Is not the
land generally taken up? Is it not generally occupied? Are there many
vacant lots, where there are no houses or habitations? Are there many
places where there are no fruit trees, no gardens? Are there many
streets where there are no ornamental trees, no water ditches? We find
after we have traveled several days and traversed nearly all the
streets of this city, gone for miles each way, that all the lots with
some very few exceptions, seem to be occupied, and not only so but
some of the lots originally intended only for one family are now split
up, divided and subdivided, and contain several habitations in the
same lot, and scarcely room enough at that. We find the population
coming into this city so great that there seems to be scarcely room,
and even our water in dry seasons seems to be very scarce, not
sufficient to water even the trees that are so necessary to be kept
alive, to say nothing of gardens and flowers and shrubbery. "Enlarge
the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine
habitations; spare not;" that is don't be stingy, don't be contracted,
don't limit yourselves to a small area of country but break forth on
the right hand and on the left. Already within the last 32 years we
have been fulfilling this commandment. We have stretched forth the
gardens of our habitation several hundred miles in the south
especially, and one or two hundred miles in the north, into the
Territory of Idaho. Utah does not seem sufficient for us, hence we
have built many large towns and villages in Idaho. We have spread
forth our towns, our villages and our settlements to the south for
some 300 or 400 miles, and even after doing this we find the place is
too strait, and the saying is: "give place to me that I may dwell." We
would scarcely suppose that a work of this great and important
magnitude would have been accomplished in so short a time as scarcely
one-third of a century, when all this great basin—nearly all with the
exception of one or two small portions of the country traversed by
Fremont and a few of his followers—was explored and considered an
unprofitable desert, considered unfit for the habitation of man, in
consequence of the dryness and parched condition of its soil. But the
Lord when He begins to fulfill and accomplish a work among His people
does so by degrees. He did not convert this great American desert,
several hundred miles in extent, into a fruitful garden in one day,
nor in one year; but in a few years, comparatively speaking, He has
accomplished this work and has done it too with an eye to the
predictions that were uttered by His servant Isaiah, the Prophet, and
His servant, David, the Psalmist.
The Sabbath before last I addressed the congregation and spoke of the
people inhabiting the great mountain territory, removing. You will
recollect this. You know our enemies have had a great many
speculations about our moving. A great many have supposed that we
would remove to an island of the sea; others have pointed out
Vancouver's Island, others Russian America, as it used to be called;
others have pointed out Mexico; others the islands of the Indian
Ocean; and others South America, as the future destination of the
Latter-day Saints. But Sunday before last I endeavored to point out to
you our hopes, our views as contrasted with the views of our enemies,
in relation to our future destination. I will repeat again, to bring
to the remembrance of the Latter-day Saints, and those who
might have been present on that occasion, what was then said. We
expect that these mountains will not be the residence of all the
Latter-day Saints; we expect that the great majority of the people
will emigrate. We want to tell you where our eyes are fixed. As stated
in our former discourse, they are fixed upon a land—not in the distant
islands of the Indian Ocean, nor in the Pacific Ocean, nor in South
America, but our eyes are fixed upon a land on the western boundaries
of the State of Missouri and the boundaries of the State of Kansas. We
expect to go there just as much as we expect the sun will rise and
set. We have no other expectation. We expect to return there just as
much as the Jews expect to return to old Jerusalem in the latter days.
Perhaps you may inquire if we expect to return as a majority. Yes. Do
we expect to return as a great people? Yes. Do we expect to return
with our wives and our children? Yes. Do we expect to return in a
peaceable manner? Of course. Have you ever seen any other feeling on
the part of the Latter-day Saints, only to promote peace wherever they
may settle? What has been our object from the commencement? Peace and
goodwill to all men. But perhaps you may still further inquire
concerning our emigration to the eastern boundaries of the State of
Kansas, and to the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, what
we intend to do in that part of the country? We expect to be farmers,
a great many of us. We expect to introduce all kinds of machinery and
manufactures. We expect to build mills. We expect to become a very
industrious, frugal, economical people. We expect to have our
merchandise and our stores and storehouses in that land. We expect to
build a great many hundred schoolhouses in that country, just the
same as we have already done in this country and in the two adjacent
Territories, Idaho in the north and Arizona in the south. We do not
calculate to neglect our children in regard to their education. We
expect to build a great number of academies or the higher schools, and
besides a great many schoolhouses. We expect to erect universities
for the still higher blanches to be taught. We expect to build many
hundreds of meetinghouses, and we expect to be a people very densely
located there—not one man taking up six or eight miles of land, and
calling it his farm; we don't expect to live in that way, but we
expect to settle a very dense settlement in that region of country. We
expect to own the land, too. How? By purchase. We expect to purchase
the land that we have not already purchased. We have already purchased
a great deal of land in Jackson County and Clay County, Missouri, and
our purchases are on record if they have not destroyed the record; but
we were driven from that land, from our farms and homes; our houses
were burned down, our merchandise that we had in our store was taken
and strewn through the street; our printing office—one of the most
distant western offices in the Union—was also destroyed; the type was
taken out and scattered through the streets; our hay stacks were
burned, our cattle were shot down, and we were driven in the cold
month of November from our houses and lands purchased of the general
Government, and we fled before our enemies. "Well," says one, "are you
not afraid to go back again to purchase land in that country when you were thus treated in the early settlement in 1833, when you
were driven from your homes, some of you massacred, your property
destroyed—are you not afraid to return?" O, I expect they are more
civilized now. Do you think civilized people would murder now? Do you
think they would drive people from their homes now? We may give them a
chance to see. At any rate we shall fulfill our part, purchase the
land, gather together upon our own purchased land, and we calculate to
obey all the laws of the State of Missouri, and all the laws of the
State of Kansas that are constitutional in their nature. But, says
one, suppose the people should rise up and say you should not possess
the land, what would you do? We would leave the matter in the hands of
the Lord, just the same as we did at first when He led us by
revelation to where the great central stake of Zion should be built.
We went there because the Lord told us to go. We settled upon the very
spot where the Lord commanded us. We commenced to lay the foundation
of a temple about three-quarters of a mile from Independence, Jackson
County, Missouri. It was then a wilderness, with large trees on the
temple block. I visited that place 47 years afterwards, namely, a year
ago last September, and not a tree was to be found on that temple
block—not so much as a stump—everything seemed to be cleared off, and
one would scarcely know, unless very well acquainted with the ground,
where the temple site was located. There, however, we expect to build
a temple different from all other temples in some respects. It will be
built much larger, cover a larger area of ground, far larger than this
Tabernacle covers, and this Tabernacle will accommodate from 12,000 to
15,000 people. We expect to build a temple much larger, very much
larger, according to the revelation God gave to us forty years ago in
regard to that temple. But you may ask in what form will it be built?
Will it be built in one large room, like this Tabernacle? No; there
will be 24 different compartments in the Temple that will be built in
Jackson County. The names of these compartments were given to us some
45 or 46 years ago; the names we still have, and when we build these
24 rooms, in a circular form and arched over the center, we shall give
the names to all these different compartments just as the Lord
specified through Joseph Smith. Now, our enemies do not believe one
word of this. They think we are enthusiastic, they think that this is
all nonsense, and I do not know but there may be some of the
Latter-day Saints that begin to partake of the same spirit, owing to
their assimilating themselves so much to the fashion of the world,
that they have lost their strong and powerful faith in that which God
has predicted by the mouth of his servants. Perhaps you may ask for
what purpose these 24 compartments are to be built. I answer not to
assemble the outside world in, nor to assemble the Saints all in one
place, but these buildings will be built with a special view to the
different orders, or in other words the different quorums or councils
of the two Priesthoods that God has ordained on the earth. That is the
object of having 24 rooms so that each of these different quorums,
whether they be High Priests or Seventies, or Elders, or Bishops, or
lesser Priesthood, or Teachers, or Deacons, or Patriarchs, or
Apostles, or High Councils, or whatever may be the duties that are
assigned to them, they will have rooms in the Temple of the
Most High God, adapted, set apart, constructed, and dedicated for this
special purpose. Now, I have not only told you that we shall have
these rooms, but I have told you the object of these rooms in short,
not in full. But will there be any other buildings excepting those 24
rooms that are all joined together in a circular form and arched over
the center—are there any other rooms that will be built—detached from
the Temple? Yes. There will be tabernacles, there will be meeting
houses for the assembling of the people on the Sabbath day. There will
be various places of meeting so that the people may gather together;
but the Temple will be dedicated to the Priesthood of the Most High
God, and for most sacred and holy purposes. Then you see that,
notwithstanding all these Temples that are now building in this
Territory, and those that have been built before we came here in
Kirtland and Nauvoo, the Lord is not confined to an exact pattern in
relation to these Temples building in the different Stakes any more
than He is confined in the creation of worlds to make them all of the
same size. He does not make them all of one size, nor does He set them
rolling on their axes in the same plane, nor does He construct any in
many respects alike; there is variation as much as there is in the
human form. Take men and women. There are general outlines that are
common to all, but did you ever see two faces alike among all the
millions of the human family? What a great variety, and yet all are
constructed in general outline alike—after the image of God. So in
regard to the building of Temples. The Lord will not confine Himself
to any one special method to be so many feet long, so many feet wide,
and so many places for the Priesthood to stand, but He will construct
His Temples in a great variety of ways, and by and by, when the more
perfect order shall exist we shall construct them, through the aid of
revelation, in accordance with the Temples that exist in yonder
heaven. And when I speak of yonder heaven I do not refer to that kind
of heaven the sectarian world sings about, beyond the bounds of time
and space. I have no reference to any heaven beyond space, but I have
reference to the heaven that the Lord has sanctified and made heaven
in other worlds that he has created, consisting of all kinds of
materials the same as our world is, and when this world passes through
its various ordeals, it, too, by and by, will pass away and die like
the body of man and be resuscitated again, a new heaven and a new
earth, eternal in its nature. The new worlds that are thus constructed
and quickened by the fullness of the celestial glory will be the
heavens where the Gods will dwell, or in other words, those that are
made like unto God, when their bodies are changed in all respects like
unto His glorious body, changed from materiality and cleansed from sin
and redeemed, they will then be immortal and dwell in a heavenly
world. Now, in this world there will be Temples, and these Temples
will be constructed according to the most perfect law of the celestial
kingdom, for the world in which they are built or in which they stand
will be a celestial body. This last Temple that I am speaking of, or
this last one to be built in Jackson County, Missouri, will be
constructed after that heavenly pattern in all particulars. Why?
Because it will never perish, it will exist forever. "What! Do you
mean to say," says one, "that the materials of that temple will
not wear?" "Do you mean to say," some of you may inquire in your
hearts, "that age will have no effect upon the walls and the materials
of that temple?" This is what I mean—I mean to say that not only the
Temple, but all the buildings that shall be built round about that
Temple, and the city that will be built round about it, which will be
called the New Jerusalem, will be built of materials that never will
decay. "But," says one, "that will be contrary to the laws of
nature."
You may cite me to some of the buildings that existed before Christ
that were built out of the most durable materials that could be found,
and yet when the storms of hail, rain and snow came, these buildings
began to waste away until they could scarcely be recognized. Well, I
do not ask you to think that this temple and the city round about it
will defy the rough hand of time and the work of the elements of our
globe, and exist forever, so far as natural laws are concerned; but
there is a principle higher than these natural laws. Did you never
think of it—a higher principle, a higher kingdom that governs all
these laws of nature, such as you and I have been accustomed to
understand ever since our youth. I say there is a higher law, a
controlling power over all the laws of nature, that will prevent these
buildings from decaying; and I wish while dwelling upon this subject
to say a little about another subject; that is, the building up of
Palestine with the new Jerusalem. It will be the old Jerusalem rebuilt
upon its former site. Now, will that city ever be destroyed, will it
ever decay? Will the Temple to be built in Palestine ever be thrown
down or ever be furrowed with hail, rain, snow and frost—will these
ever have any effect upon it? No, not in the least.
Why? Because God will be there. So He will be in the temple of Zion on
this continent, and by His power, by His laws—which are superior to
all those grosser laws of nature—He will preserve both of these
cities, one on the western hemisphere, and one on the eastern
hemisphere, from any decay whatever. Now, we have it recorded here in
this book, in the 31st chapter of Jeremiah, that this city on the
eastern continent shall not be thrown down any more forever. It seems,
therefore, to be an eternal city, never to be destroyed. "But," says
one, "I cannot believe that; I cannot believe but what these cities
will be subject, just as much as anything else to decay." Do you
believe this good book—the Bible? If you do, you are obliged to
believe that such things are possible. Do you want to know some of
them? I will mention one instance. You will recollect that Moses
commanded Aaron to take a pot of manna and lay it before the Lord, to
be kept for their generations. Now it was a noted fact that if the
children of Israel gathered more manna than would last them until
after the next morning, it would decay, but on the last day before the
Sabbath they gathered manna for two days, and they found that on the
Sabbath day it was preserved. Who preserved it? Why did it last two
days instead of one? Because God counteracted those lesser laws, or
laws of nature, by His divine power, which is greater than them all,
and He therefore preserved for two days that which would not last
longer on the other days of the week than twenty-four hours. Well, we
find that the Lord ordered the manna to be placed in the tabernacle to be kept for their generations, that they might see the bread
wherewith He had fed them in the wilderness, when He brought them
forth from the land of Egypt. Did that manna decay? No, it remained
fresh and pure in the tabernacle. Why? Because God was there; His
divine power was there; a miracle was wrought to counteract the
general laws of nature such as we generally understand them to be, and
this manna was preserved from generation to generation. Now the Being
that could produce this effect upon a small quantity of substance on a
pot of manna, could He not do the same in regard to whole buildings, or
is His arm so limited that He has to work in a little narrow corner
and preserve a little handful of manna from spoiling through decay. I
would say that the same Being that could perform this, which we might
term a lesser miracle, could extend the same power to stone, wood, and
to all kinds of metal and material that might enter into the
construction of a Temple. Shall I limit that power to the preserving
of a Temple! No. The same Being could preserve the city round about
the Temple, hence it is a city that shall never be destroyed nor
thrown down from that time henceforth and forever. God will be in the
city. He will take care that the building materials suffer nothing
from the laws of nature. He will take care that the city is
illuminated by His divine power, and especially the Temple, the most
sacred of all the Temples, where He will have His throne, where the
Twelve Apostles will have their thrones, as the judges of the twelve
tribes of Israel; He will take care that there is nothing in that
Temple that shall decay in the least degree. So it will be in the New
Jerusalem. Zion upon this great western hemisphere will have a city
called the New Jerusalem (because it has never been built before) and
God will preserve it by His divine power. Read what the Psalmist,
David, has said in the 50th Psalm: "Out of Zion, the perfection of
beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep
silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very
tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above,
and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints
together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice." Perhaps you may ask why it is called "the perfection of
beauty." Shall I read from the chapter I opened with? In the 11th
verse of that chapter we read: "O thou afflicted, tossed with
tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair
colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy
windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of
pleasant stones." Now any person that is acquainted with mineralogy or
with geology, and any person that has studied these things to any
great extent, knows concerning these precious stones how very precious
they are esteemed, and how a small portion of these stones is very
frequently valued at more than its weight in gold, some of them one
hundred times their weight in gold, and yet the Lord will bring or
create, or form, as the case may be, or tell His children how to form
those precious stones in great abundance, sufficiently pure and
crystallized in order to complete the foundations and also the temples
and the public buildings of that great city called the New Jerusalem.
But before this shall commence, the Lord has addressed them as
a people afflicted: "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not
comforted." Just as the Latter-day Saints have been now for upwards of
forty years driven from place to place before we emigrated to this
great mountain desert, persecuted by our enemies, our cities taken
from us, our villages taken from us, our farms taken from us, our
flocks and herds shot down; we were robbed of all these things, and
yet without any redress from the Government under which we live. We
then came forth beyond these great rocky chains of mountains, hoping
that in the distant desert, where no other people would have thought
of locating themselves, we might live undisturbed. We have been
greatly prospered in this desert. We have lived here long enough to
fulfill a great many of the prophecies that are contained in this good
Jewish Bible. But we have not yet got through with fulfilling
prophecies. We are designed as a people to fulfill a great many
prophecies. We shall move however, as I have already stated, down into
that region of country. But you may say—that is, some of the weak
Latter-day Saints may say—that it will cost so much; we will have to
purchase all that country sufficiently extensive to give place to all
this people. How are you going to obtain means enough to purchase a
country large enough for all this people to dwell in? Well, now, the
Lord has that in His own hands, don't you know it? Is it a difficult
thing for the Lord to make his people rich when they are prepared for
it, after days of tribulation, after passing through a great many
afflictions and difficulties, tossed to and fro; would it be a
difficult matter for the Lord to open up whenever He pleases, means of
unmeasurable riches, more than all the Latter-day Saints would know
how to use? Hear what the Lord says: "For brass I will bring gold, and
for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron.
Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction
within thy borders." Who were the people here spoken of? They were
people that should be clothed upon with this light that I have been
speaking of, this glorious light; the presence of the Lord will be in
their midst, and it will radiate over their temples, it will light
their city by night and by day. "But are you sure," says one, "that
such a thing will take place?" I have no time to read all the Lord
says on the subject, but if you read the 60th chapter of Isaiah, you
will find that the sun shall be no longer necessary by day, nor the
moon by night, to give light to a certain people. Why? Because "the
Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
Thy sun shall no more go down." Not like our sun which arises in the
morning and exists above the horizon for a few hours, then descends,
and darkness covers the earth. Not so with this light, the glorious
divine light that will lighten up the heights of Zion. It will never
go down, it will be a standing miracle by day and by night, from one
week to another, month after month, year after year, until the one
thousand years shall have rolled away over the heads of the people
that dwell on the earth. But let us see what more is said. That same
God that has spoken of these great riches, brass for gold, iron
instead of silver, for wood brass, and for stones iron—I say that that
same God has exhorted the latter-day people called Zion to "Arise,
shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is
risen upon thee." I do not mean something that never can be discerned.
I mean that true light that emanates from the great fountain of light,
the Messiah, the Redeemer; that true light that lighteth every man
that cometh into the world; that true light which is in all things and
giveth light to all things; that true light that lighteth up the
understanding of the children of men and quickeneth their memory; that
true light that quickens the eyes of this mortal tabernacle, that we
are able to discern objects round about us; that true light which is
of God, will be rendered visible to the eyes of all the inhabitants of
that city. And shall I limit it there? No. The light will shine so
conspicuously from that city, extending to the very heavens, that it
will in reality be like unto a city set upon a hill that cannot be
hid, and it will have quite a tendency to strike terror to all the
nations of the earth. Will all see it? No, some may be too far off,
beyond the ocean, to behold that miraculous light that will shine
forth in this city, but I will tell you the effect it will have upon
the kings, queens, rulers, congressmen and judges of the earth—they
will hear of it by telegraph; the news will be flashed over the
civilized nations of the earth, but they will not believe it. They
will say, "Let us cross the ocean, and let us see this thing that is
reported to us by telegraph; let us see whether it is so or not."
Well, when they get within a day or two's journey of the city they
will be alarmed. Some of these kings and nobles, when they see the
light shining forth like the northern lights in the arctic regions,
illuminating the whole face of the heavens—when they see this light
shining forth long before they reach the city, fear will take hold of
them there, says the Psalmist, in the 48th Psalm, they will become
weak, and their knees will smite together like the knees of
Belshazzar. They will try to haste away from the glory of God and from
the power of God, and to get out of the country as soon as possible.
Fear and terror will be upon them. It will have an effect upon many
other kings and nobles, more pure in heart, more honest, that are
willing to receive the truth; it will have a different effect upon
them, so much so, that they will say with Isaiah, "Arise, shine; for
thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For,
behold, darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people: but
the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen from thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness
of thy rising." These are the different effects which it will have
upon the rulers of the various nations, some believing, some
trembling, some humbling themselves and willing to forsake their
thrones and their kingdoms and their empires to come and dwell with
the people of God, while others more wicked, more corrupt, will not be
able to endure it. This shining light will be seen for many miles
distant, and the wicked will flee away; they will be fearful lest they
be smitten by that power that illuminates the people of God, hence the
terror of the Lord will be there. Terror will take hold of the wicked
when Zion becomes as fair as the sun and as clear as the moon, and her
banners will be terrible to all nations. One would naturally suppose
when we see the present hardness of heart that exists among our
enemies, when we see our Elders waylaid, young peaceable boys
that are taking their first mission abroad to proclaim the Gospel of
the Son of God—when we see them shot down and their murderers tried by
a jury and acquitted, and then tried for riot and acquitted of
that—one would naturally suppose that a people so hard in their hearts
would not be converted to believe even if they should see the power of
God manifested. But do you suppose that among these people where such
things are carried on in the light of day, where murderers go free and
where judges say, "commit murder, commit riots, take the life of the
innocent; we will free you" —do you suppose that there are no honest
hearted among the people that are allowed to do this? If you do you
are mistaken. There are many of the honest in heart deceived by the
cunning craftiness of the children of men, by priestcraft which lies
at the foundation of all the persecutions endured by the Latter-day
Saints. Priests, afraid of their craft, afraid of this little one,
afraid that the little one will become a thousand, and the small one a
strong nation, say: "let us down upon them, let us drive them from
their homes, let us burn their houses, let us persecute them from city
to city, let us fall upon their missionaries and put them to death."
We would hardly suppose that there could be found an honest person
among such a people, but there are. There are goodhearted people all
through the States. In Missouri, where they first drove us? Yes, many.
In Ohio, where we were also driven? Yes, many which are honest before
God, and will receive the testimony of the Gospel, and unto this Zion
that I have been speaking of such will gather together, to swell the
numbers of the Latter-day Saints, and we will become a strong nation
and they cannot help themselves, and this is what makes them feel so
bad. But, says one, we can help ourselves. We have got the Secretary
of State, Mr. Evarts, and he in connection with others of the Cabinet,
have published a circular unto the nations of Germany, Great Britain,
Norway, Sweden and Denmark, asking their help; "Will you not step
forward," say they, "and put a stop to the emigration of the
Latter-day Saints. We are afraid they are growing too strong. We are
afraid there are too many of them in yonder hills. O, Great Britain,
help us! O Germany, help us! Let your arm stretch forth and allow no
more of these Latter-day Saints to gather to the mountains of Utah! O
keep them back. Shut up the ports of Liverpool, of Europe, and let no
more emigrate to that land!" Do you think they can shut the ports of
heaven? Do you think that yonder spirits that dwell in the presence of
God the Father, will be kept back, and will not come here and take
infant tabernacles to swell the borders of Zion? Think you, you can
shut down the gates of heaven and control this matter? Stretch forth
your arm and try to stay the arm of the Almighty, that He send no more
spirits here to swell the borders of Zion! Would it not be well to
pass laws to prevent these spirits coming, to prevent this heavenly
emigration? Think you, you can stay the purposes of the Great Jehovah?
No; these spirits will come and our streets will be full of children,
sons and daughters, and they will say, as they crowd up: "The place is
too strait, Give place to me that I may dwell," and they will stretch
forth the curtains of their habitations, they will lengthen their cords and strengthen their stakes in spite of all the powers of
earth and hell combined. "A little one," says the Prophet Isaiah,
"shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation." Daniel
caught the same spirit. He saw a little one planted in the mountains.
He saw a kingdom organized, an ecclesiastical government called the
Kingdom of the God of Heaven. He saw it organized—not in the lower
countries of the earth, but he saw it organized in a high and lofty
region; in other words, as is recorded in the 18th chapter of his
prophecies, he saw an ensign lifted up upon the mountains. What is an
ensign? "Why," says one, "according to our dictionary, and according
to our opinion upon this subject, I should suppose an ensign, or
standard, to be something unto which the people will gather." You have
thought right. This ensign, says the Lord, shall be lifted up upon the
mountain. What is an ensign? It is not only something unto which the
people will gather, but it is something of divine appointment,
something that the Lord organizes, something that will be a pattern to
all peoples, nations and governments erected in the mountains, and He
calls upon all the inhabitants of the earth to see it. In another
place the Prophet Isaiah says: "And he shall set up an ensign for the
nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together
the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." Can you
hinder it? Can you oppose the almighty hand of Jehovah that he shall
not accomplish His purposes? It cannot be done. You may afflict, you
may pass laws, you may call upon distant nations to help you, you may
shut down the emigration against the Latter-day Saints, you may drive
them, you may burn their houses—you may do all this, but they will
continue to live and to stretch forth in spite of all the powers
beneath the heavens, and become a great people under the Constitution
of this great land. We never want to be freed from the Constitution of
our country. It is built upon heavenly principles. It is established
as firm as the rock of ages, and when those that abuse it shall
molder in corruption under the surface of the earth, the American
Constitution will stand and no people can destroy it, because God
raised it by our ancient fathers, and inspired them to frame that
sacred instrument. The Constitution is one thing; corrupt politicians
are another thing. One may be bright as the sun at noonday, the other
as corrupt as hell itself; that is the difference. Because we have a
good Constitution that is no sign that the strong arm of the law,
founded upon that Constitution, will protect the minority as well as
the majority. The politician may suffer the majority to trample upon
the rights guaranteed by that Constitution to the minority. They have
done it before, and perchance they will continue to do it until they
are wasted away. Then will be fulfilled another saying in this same
chapter which I have read—"For thou shalt break forth on the right
hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and
make the desolate cities to be inhabited." Now, there are a great many
cities in the United States that will not be totally destroyed when
the inhabitants are swept off the surface of the earth. Their houses,
their desolate cities will still remain unoccupied until Zion in her
glory and strength shall enlarge the place of her tents, and stretch forth the curtains of her habitations. That is the destiny of
this nation, and the destiny of the Latter-day Saints. Amen.