I will read a portion of the 29th chapter of the Book of Isaiah,
commencing at the 7th verse:
"And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even
all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her,
shall be as a dream of a night vision.
"It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he
eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty
man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he
is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all
the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
"Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken,
but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
"For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and
hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he
covered.
"And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that
is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read
this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
"And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read
this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with
their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their
heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept
of men:
"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this
people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their
wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men
shall be hid."
There is much more in this chapter which I will not read, but which
all can read at their leisure. In sitting and looking at the
congregation these words have come to my mind:
"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this
people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their
wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall
be hid."
Truly have these words been fulfilled in our eyes and in our hearing.
God our Eternal Father predicted by the mouth of His Prophet
Isaiah, concerning the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and the
manner in which it should be received; and we today are living
witnesses of the fulfillment of these things. God our Eternal Father
has done and is doing a marvelous work and a wonder in the midst of
the inhabitants of the earth. He is causing the wisdom of the wise to
perish—He has caused it—and He is bringing to naught the understanding
of the prudent, especially those who fight against Mount Zion, or
against the covenant people of God. The manner in which our Father and
our God has spoken concerning the great work of the last days with
which we are identified, is very remarkable. When we examine the
prediction of the holy prophets, it is wonderful how plainly
everything connected with this work, so far, has been fulfilled; and
as we have been told this morning—and we are told whenever the Spirit
of God rests down upon the Elders of this Church to speak concerning
the future—we have the strongest assurance that can be given by God to
any people that as that which has been predicted in the past has been
completely fulfilled up to the present time, so all the predictions
which have been made connected with this work, or concerning it, will
also be fulfilled to the very letter; not one word will fail, not one
iota of the word of God concerning Zion will fall to the ground
unfulfilled.
This work commenced, as we know, in obscurity, in weakness, with no
particular demonstration in the sight of the world. A few individuals
only knew concerning it. There were no remarkable manifestations for
the world to gaze upon, for the world to wonder at, connected with its
birth. It was born according to the will of God. The Church started
out a good deal like we have started out—helpless. What is there more
helpless, weak, puny, insignificant, it may be said, in many respects,
than a human being when it is born into the world. Yet that being if
nurtured properly, if trained as it should be, has before it a career
of never-ending glory. That little puling infant may become, in the
eternity of our God, a God, to sway power and dominion in the eternal
worlds, to be the father of unnumbered millions. Yet at its birth who
would anticipate such a future for it. So it was with the Church of
our God. Born in weakness, cradled in obscurity, it came forth
according to the command of God; not attended, as I have said, by any
great demonstration that the world could gaze and wonder at, but
attended by the blessing, the power and the promises of our Eternal
Father concerning its future. It required faith on the part of those
who then received it to believe that such a glorious career as was
predicted concerning it, awaited it. No human being unenlightened and
uninspired by the Spirit of God, could have anticipated such a future
for this great work; and yet in these early days, when it was in this
condition which I have attempted to describe, the Prophet Joseph and
those who received revelations with him, looked forward to its future,
and saw that which we behold today in actual reality; they saw in
vision that which we participate in today, and far more than anything
that we have yet seen. I have often been struck with the remarkable
character of the predictions which Joseph, inspired of God, gave
utterance to concerning this work. As I have said, scarcely a
step in its advancement was hidden from him; scarcely a step but what
was foreshadowed by him through the Spirit of God, which rested down
upon him. Men doubt the divinity of this work. Men question the spirit
of prophecy, or the divine mission of Joseph Smith. His life is
maligned and misrepresented; his character derided and held up to
contempt and scorn; yet it is not much to say, it is not much to
anticipate, that before many years pass away, he will be recognized by
the children of men as one of the mightiest Prophets that ever trod
the footstool of God our Eternal Father. It is because his life has
not been understood; it is because the work which he was the means in
the hands of God of founding, is not comprehended; it is because his
life has not been understood; it is because the work which he was the
means in the hands of God of founding is not comprehended; it is
because everything connected with this Church is beclouded by
misrepresentation and falsehood that men assume the attitude they do
towards this the great work of our God. In the very beginning of this
work Joseph told the Saints, left on record the statement, as to how
it would be received by the children of men—the hatred with which it
would be met, the violence that would be manifested towards it, the
various troubles through which it would have to pass. All these things
he told, by his prophetic voice, as though their history had been
written, as though they had taken place. Most graphically he has
described to the Saints the results that should attend the increase of
the work. At the first he said it should excite the animosity and
hatred of a township. It did this. God in his mercy did not permit
persecution to become so strong in the inception of the work, in the
days of its weakness, that it could be overwhelmed. He restrained the
power of the wicked, so that the growth and strength of the work would
be commensurate with the opposition it had to contend with. As its
circle enlarged, as its influence extended, opposition grew
proportionately. From townships it extended to cities. As the work
grew and outspread these limits, it excited the opposition of
counties. As its influence continued to grow, from one county it
extended to adjacent counties all the time growing, all the time
increasing, all the time meeting with as much opposition as it could
well bear up under. Wonderfully has the providence of our God been
exhibited in the care exercised over His growing Church and His
increasing people! Had it not been for this care, my brethren and
sisters, we should not have the happy privilege that we enjoy this day
of meeting together in peace in this Tabernacle. Had Satan been
permitted to wreak his vengeance upon the Church in the commencement,
it could easily have been extinguished in blood. Had the same power
that was exercised against the Church in the days of Nauvoo, when the
blood of our Prophet and Patriarch, and our present President,
drenched the soil of Illinois—had that same spirit been permitted to
have wreaked its vengeance upon the Church in the early days, it
could, with no more excitement than was then raised, have completely
extirpated the Priesthood from the face of the earth. But God, as I
have said, in His wonderful providence, restrained the wrath of the
wicked in the early days of the Church. Brother Franklin D. Richards
has told us this morning, that for eight years after the birth
of a child it is free from the power of temptation and Satan. God
restrains the power of Satan—forbids him to exercise it over the
tender child. And so in like manner did He restrain the power of Satan
in the early days of this Church, so that there was a limit to its
exercise over the Church in its weak condition. But as power
increased, as the gifts of God were manifested, as the keys of the
Priesthood were revealed unto the children of men, so did the wrath of
the wicked, so did the violence of mobs, so did the combinations that
were formed with the object of destroying the work of God increase in
their strength and in their numbers. As the work progressed, so did
the spirit of opposition progress, one keeping pace, apparently, with
the other, and there is a wise purpose in this when we contemplate the
great destiny that awaits this people. We can see the wisdom and the
purpose of our God in permitting persecution to keep pace with the
growth and the advancement of the work. It is just as necessary that
we should be developed in our strength; it is just as necessary that
we should be developed in our faith, as anything else connected with
the work of our God. If it were not for this, we could not become the
people that God designs; we could not fulfill the destiny that He has
in store for us if it were not for these terrible ordeals to which
this Church and this people have been subjected in the past, and to
which they are now exposed, and which, doubtless, will continue to
increase as the Church increases, until the day comes when the Kingdom
of God will triumph over every obstacle and be fully established upon
the earth.
But as I have remarked, as the Kingdom has grown and spread, so have
the words of our beloved Prophet been literally fulfilled. Men say,
"Oh, if you will only get a revelation concerning polygamy, if you
will only lay polygamy aside, you will no longer have any opposition
to contend with; if you will only conform to modern ideas concerning
your domestic institutions, we shall have nothing to say against you.
The opposition that finds now such strong support will be deprived of
its war-cry and of the sympathy of thousands which sustain it at the
present time—they will be deprived of this and you will go along like
the rest of the churches, without having to suffer from the opposition
and the hatred that are now manifested against you."
Vain thought!—a thought that is only expressed by those who know
nothing of the character of this work, who are not familiar with the
history of this dispensation, and who judge of the effects of such
movements by their human knowledge and the experience that they have
with other systems. This system which God has established, this great
work of our God, cannot be measured by human thoughts; the effects of
this work and that which it is accomplishing on the earth, that which
it will accomplish on the earth, cannot be estimated by anything that
is known among men. It is entirely unique, unlike anything else that
has ever been upon the earth since our Savior laid the foundation of
that dispensation—there has never been anything like it among men, and
therefore every calculation concerning it, every prognostication and
every suggestion is at fault in regard to this work of our God. For,
be it understood, as we well understand it as a people, that before the public revelation of plural marriage the opposition to this
work was stronger, according to the strength of the people, than it
has been since. Therefore, those who understand this work, know very
well that anything of this kind—unless indeed the people should
apostatize—would have no such effect as our friends in many instances
think it would have.
As I have remarked opposition has continued to grow and increase
until today, as we have been told and led to expect, upwards of half a
century ago. Not only has it been a township, not only has it been a
county, not only has it been a state that has arrayed itself against
the work of God, and instituted measures for its overthrow and entire
destruction, but today this great fact stares us in the face, it
presses itself upon our attention, we cannot shut our eyes to it—this
great fact, that today the United States in its governmental capacity,
has pitted itself against the work of our God, and has passed measures
for its complete overthrow and destruction. Most wonderfully has God
thus far fulfilled every word that has been spoken by the mouth of His
inspired Prophet! And shall we who witness the remarkable fulfillment
of this prophecy—shall we today shrink from the issue that is
presented to us? Shall we in view of all that God has said to us
concerning the past, and all which he has predicted concerning the
future? Shall we falter? Shall we tremble or grow weak in our knees?
Shall we become palsied in our efforts and let go of that great work
of our God which is entrusted to us? God forbid that there should be
any weakening, that there should be any faltering, that there should
be any lowering of the flag, or any weakening of the flag, or any
weakening of the knees, or any trembling of the heart, in view of all
that presents itself before us, however appalling the vision may be to
mortal sight. God forbid that there should be anything of this kind in
the hearts or in the actions of any man or woman who calls himself or
herself a Latter-day Saint. For be it known unto you, my brethren and
sisters, be it known unto all the earth everywhere, that God, years
and years ago, told us by the mouth of His inspired Prophet, that
these things, the fulfillment of which we now behold, would actually
take place, and that we should have these things to meet and to
contend with and to overcome.
What shall be the future result? Is this to be the termination, is this
to be the end? No. As the Church increases, so will the opposition to
it increase, until it will extend itself beyond the confines of our
own nation to other lands and to other nations, until, in fact, the
whole earth that has not received, or will not receive the Gospel of
the Son of God, the message of salvation, of which we are the unworthy
bearers, until, I say, all the nations of the earth will array
themselves against the work of our God, and exert their power to
destroy it, as a township did, as a county did, as a state did, or as
the United States are now doing, and then the work of our God will
rise in its sublimity, in its strength, in its Godlike power and
assume its place, its rightful position among the nations of the
earth. The puny infant, born on the 6th day of April, 1830, will
become a stalwart man, full of power, full of the gifts of God, full
of the excellencies that belong to perfect manhood in the sight of
God, and will assume its fit and proper place de signed by God
for it among the nations of the earth. This we may look forward to,
this we may expect, and if we do not make calculations on these things
we fail to comprehend the character of the work which He, our God, has
established on the earth. Men wonder at our temerity—men wonder at the
hardihood we have. They are surprised that we should dare think as we
do. Only a few days ago we saw the statement of a friend in the
Deseret News, appealing to us to get a revelation to do away with
plural marriage; because if we did not, war and bloodshed would be the
result. Have we not been threatened with this from the beginning? Yes,
we have. We have had this ordeal to meet; we have had war threatened;
we have suffered from bloodshed; but the burden of the Lord has been
upon us, the hand of God has been over us. Though our pathway has been
beset by all these difficulties, nevertheless the burden of the Lord
has been upon us to carry forward this Gospel and to establish this
work, let the consequences be what they may to us individually. We
have the promise of God, that so far as the work is concerned it will
stand, it will increase, until it fills the whole earth. We know not
what the consequences may be to us individually. Each man must do his
duty, and do his part faithfully, courageously, manfully, in the sight
of God, being willing to endure all the consequences, with a full
knowledge that God will save, redeem and exalt him if he will only be
true to the holy Priesthood which he has revealed.
Then is not this a marvelous work and a wonder? Has not the wisdom of
the wise in connection with it, perished? Has not the understand ing of
the prudent been brought to nought? Has it not baffled all the
calculations of human wisdom? Has it not overcome all the obstacles
that have been put in its pathway by human strength and by all the
ingenuity which human beings have been able to devise or employ or
command? Certainly it has; and today human wisdom and human prudence
are as much at fault as they ever were, and it will continue to be the
case until all that God has predicted concerning this work will be
literally fulfilled.
My brethren and sisters, when we look at this work by the light of the
Holy Spirit, when God enables us to comprehend some of His designs and
purposes, we can see how wonderfully He has wrought in our behalf, how
wonderfully he has preserved this people. We today are a great
people, it may be said. In some respects we are. We are few in
numbers, it is true; but God in His wonderful providence has prepared
this land, this glorious land, this mountain region, it seems as
though He had prepared it beforehand for the ingathering of His
people, and as a dwelling place for them. A better habitat cannot be
found on the face of the earth, for the Latter-day Saints than this
mountain region. A better or more admirably adapted people for these
mountains cannot be found. The training we have had in the past
admirably fits us for the labor of establishing cities, towns,
villages and hamlets, opening farms, and developing all the resources
of these mountain valleys. No other people are so well qualified for
this labor as we are. No other land is so well adapted for such a
people as this land that we now inhabit. The people and the land have
been found. The people and the land have come together. The
land is here. The people have found the land which is so surprisingly
fitted for their habitation. And there is no people that I know
anything of, who can compete with us in these mountain valleys. They
are ours by right of possession to begin with, by right of settlement,
and they are ours by right of our capacity to inhabit and hold them,
and they are ours by right of the blessing and the favor of God our
Eternal Father, bestowed upon us and upon the land itself. And, as
President Taylor suggests, they are ours by purchase as well as by
those other rights.
Shall we be uprooted from this land? Shall we be extirpated? This is a
question that presents itself very often, doubtless, to our mind. In
the providence of our God, will we be permitted to maintain our
foothold here, and to continue to increase and to spread? We have the
answer to these questions in our own possession. It depends upon
ourselves.
"Oh," says one, "It don't depend upon you, it depends upon
another
power. It depends upon this: whether you will abandon your peculiar
practices; whether you will lay aside your peculiarities of doctrine
and of religion, and conform to the views, to the institutions, and
the practices that prevail in the nation of which you form a part."
These are the comments of those who are not of us respecting this
question or questions, which I have asked. They think it depends upon
our abandonment of those peculiar features which make us a distinct
people from the rest of the nation. On the other hand I state here in
the presence of heaven, in the presence of the Great God, our Eternal
Father, that it does not depend upon this. It depends—I affirm it, and
I am willing to stake my reputation upon it as a servant of God—it
depends entirely, without question, without qualification; upon the
Latter-day Saints themselves, whether they will continue to live in
this land and to occupy it, and to enjoy the valleys and the peace
which God has vouchsafed unto all who dwell here. I know that looking
at matters naturally, we are in danger of being overwhelmed,
extinguished. A people feeble as we are, a people possessing no
greater resources than we have; a people of no greater numbers, of no
greater wealth, of no greater influence in the earth—why, it would
seem a bold and rash thing to say that we can withstand all opposition
that may be brought against us. If God were to permit the world to
launch its thunderbolts against this work; if God were to permit the
world to unite against this work, to combine and to put in operation
its forces against this work, I am willing to admit that there would
be great danger of our complete overthrow and destruction, in fact it
might be said there would be scarcely a question concerning it. But
remember, my brethren and sisters, that this is the work of God. This
is not the work of man. It has not been the wisdom of man that has
guided this work. It has not been the wisdom of man that has sustained
it. It has not been the wisdom of man which has defeated the plans of
our enemies. It has been the wisdom and power of the Great God, our
Eternal Father. He has chosen his instruments. But, then, how weak
they are! How feeble they are! How insufficient their efforts and
their words would be if He did not supplement them by the bestowal of His power, and by that overruling providence which controls
all the affairs of the children of men, controls all the results
according to His own good pleasure. But God our Eternal Father, will
not forget His people. He will not forget the promises which He has
made, and it is upon these that we must rely. It is for these that we
must live. We must live—live, brethren and sisters—let it sink deep
into your hearts. We must live ourselves so that we shall have the
fulfillment of the promises of God granted unto us. If we so live,
there is no power on earth that will be permitted to combine itself,
or to array itself, or to exert its force against this work to its
injury, or to retard its onward progress. Hear it all ye Latter-day
Saints! Hear it! If I could speak so that the whole world would hear
the utterance I would like to sound it in the ears of all mortal
men—that there is no power that will ever be permitted to array
itself, or to combine itself against this work of our God, to retard
its onward progress from this time forward until the full consummation
will be achieved—that is, if the Latter-day Saints themselves are
faithful to God, if they will keep the commandments of God, if they
will sanctify themselves and cleanse themselves from sin, and live
pure and holy lives. If they will do this, then the success and the
triumph and the continued growth and advancement of this kingdom and
the continued maintenance of these valleys and these mountains are
assured unto us as a people. There is no doubt of it. I say in the
name of Jesus Christ, that it will be so. I promise it in His name,
and in the authority which I have received from Him—that if we will
comply with these requirements and conditions, there is no power upon
earth nor in hell that can disturb this people, that can uproot us,
that can unsettle us in these valleys and in these mountains; for God
has given unto us this land, and from this time forward, we will go on
increasing and spreading and enlarging until all that God has said
shall be literally fulfilled concerning this work that He has
established upon the earth. He will do a marvelous work and a wonder.
He will cause the wisdom of the wise to perish; He will bring the
understanding of the prudent to naught in all their calculations
against this work which He is establishing on the earth, and with
which we are connected. Glory to God in the highest for the privilege
He has granted unto us, poor, weak mortal creatures, to be identified
with His great work and have such glorious immutable promises given
unto us! Oh! how our hearts should swell with gratitude to our God!
How profoundly grateful we should be and how thanksgiving and joy
should well up in our hearts unto our God for having given unto us the
privilege of being connected with this great work.
Now, will those connected with it not have their trials? Oh yes. Those
who would reign with Christ must suffer with Him. Those who would
reign with the Prophets; those who would gain the glory that God has
in store for the righteous must suffer with the Prophets and Apostles.
I have spoken in my remarks concerning the great work of our God. I
have not yet alluded to individual cases connected with it. What will
be the fate of individual members of the Church of God? That depends
upon ourselves. But whether we remain connected with the work or not,
this I know: I know that this work will roll forth in the
manner in which I have, in my humble and weak way, attempted to
describe to you. I know that. But whether I will be faithful depends
upon myself. I beseech Him in the name of Jesus, that I may be
faithful; that whatever may come in my pathway I may never, no never
flinch, never weaken in my fidelity, in my courage and in my zeal for
this glorious work of our God. I would rather die this instant in your
presence, than ever falter in regard to this work. I love it. It is
God's work. I dedicated myself in my childhood to the cause of God,
and I have endeavored through my life to be faithful to Him. If we
will be faithful to our God He will redeem us, no matter what the
circumstances may be through which we may be called to pass. We may
wade through sorrow. We may have to endure persecution. We may have to
meet with death. We may have to endure imprisonment and many other
things that our predecessors had to endure. God may test us in this
manner. Every human being that is connected with this work will have
to be tested before he can enter into the Celestial Kingdom of our
God. He will try us to the uttermost. If we have any spot more tender
than another, He will feel after it. He will test all in some way or
other. But like the promises that have been made in regard to the work
as a work, so are the promises made to us as individual members of the
Church. We have had certain promises made to us. We have had blessings
sealed upon us. God has acknowledged them in the heavens when they
have been sealed upon our heads by the authority of the Priesthood
which He has restored. And you may notice it that as the work of our
God has increased we have also increased in the power of the
Priesthood. When Joseph Smith committed the keys of the Priesthood
unto his brethren, and rolled the burden upon their shoulders of
carrying forward this work—in his urgent haste to build the Temple of
Nauvoo, in his urgent haste to commit to his fellow servants all that
God had committed to him—from that day the Kingdom of our God has
grown in majesty and in strength, and at the same time has called
forth opposition such as it never met with before. Every Temple that
we build excites additional hatred, increases the volume of
opposition, the volume of hostility, and the threatenings of the
wicked. Every Temple that we have thus far completed—and every Temple
of which we lay the foundation—has been another testimony in favor of
God, and has brought strength to the people of God, in enlisting the
hosts in the eternal world upon our side; but at the same time there
has been stirred up, from the very depths of hell, all the damned,
Satan and his legions, to unite with their agents upon the earth in
an endeavor to destroy this work, and to do everything in their power
to obliterate it from the face of the earth: for hell is engaged at
the work we are doing: hell is stirred up at that which we are
accomplishing. Satan sees that which he dreads. He sees a people
guided by the holy Priesthood. He sees a people gathered together
according to the promise of God, filled with the power of God, led by
His everlasting Priesthood, and seeing this, he is determined to exert
every power, every influence that he can muster for the purpose of
preventing the spread and growth of this work. He is determined to do
this, and we can see it. But his power and influence are
restrained; because, were it not so, the strength of the people of the
Church of God is not such as to withstand the power of the evil one
without succumbing to it. God, therefore, permits the opposition power
to grow in proportion to the strength of the Saints, and if the
contest be a sharp one, a keen one, a violent one, the sooner it will
be ended. Because there is a termination to all this. There is a time
coming when this opposition must cease and when God will stretch forth
His arm, as He has already done, to accomplish His great work on the
earth. As the nations of the earth reject the Gospel, He will pour out
the judgments that are set to follow the preaching of the Gospel. God
will fight for Zion. God will remember Zion. Her name is written on
the palms of His hands. He never can forget Zion. A woman may forget
her nursing child—and that is a very difficult thing to do—but our God
will never forget Zion, never forget the promises made to His people.
He looks down from His holy habitation, and sees the humble efforts of
His people. He sees their devotion to His cause. He sees their
willingness to lay down their lives for the truth. Our God is not
ignorant of this. His eye is upon this people, and His blessing will
be with us. There is no power that can prevent the outpouring of His
Spirit upon us; no power whatever.
We are rearing, as I have said, temples. And who shall enter into the
temples of our God? Shall the drunkard, the whoremonger, the
blasphemer, the Sabbath-breaker? Shall the man who does not train his
family as he should do, who is not living a godly life? I tell you, my
brethren and sisters, the time has come when a higher standard of
purity must be observed by us as a people than has been in the past.
We must live worthy of these blessings which God has bestowed upon us.
If we do not God will withdraw His Spirit; God would condemn His
servant who stands at the head of this Church, were he to permit
wickedness to enter into these holy places. Therefore, the servants of
God are strictly charged concerning these things. O, you adulterers!
O, you whoremongers! O, you drunkards! O you Sabbath-breakers! O you
dishonest men, and you hypocrites who have a place and a name among
the Latter-day Saints! I say, woe! unto you unless you repent of your
sins, unless you forsake everything that is evil and humble yourselves
before God, and ask forgiveness from Him; for I tell you the Spirit of
God will be withdrawn from you, and you will be left to yourselves and
become as withered branches only fit for burning, unless you heartily,
sincerely, profoundly, from the bottom of your hearts, repent of all
your sins and put them far from you. God will not bear with you any
longer. The sinner in Zion will tremble. That day will come. Fear will
come upon the hypocrite. Therefore, repent of your sins before it is
too late. And if you do you may enter into the holy places which God
has provided. But O ye Presidents of Stakes and ye Bishops, you must
be on the watchtower about these things, for God will hold you
accountable. The sins of the people will be found upon your garments
in the day of the Lord Jesus, if you do not cleanse impurity from the
midst of your wards. If you recommend men who are unworthy, through
tenderness of heart and through sympathy, when they are wicked, I say to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that the
condemnation of God will rest upon you, and He will hold you to a
strict accountability. For God has not chosen men to preside without
laying upon them responsibility of a very grave and weighty character.
He holds us accountable for these things. When a man has a relative
and he condones the offense of that relative, through sympathy, he
will not be free from responsibility. Now let it be known throughout
all Israel, as the word of the Lord to us for the present, through His
servant who stands at the head, that a man who commits adultery, a man
who has had his endowments, cannot be baptized again into the Church.
Let it be known throughout all Israel, as the word of God through His
servant, who stands at the head, that a man who has had his
endowments and commits whoredom, cannot now be received into the
Church again. These must be cut off; because the law that was given in
the early days of the Church concerning a man committing adultery once
and being received back into the Church does not apply today. There
has been a higher law since then, namely, the endowments, and men have
taken upon themselves, and women also, sacred obligations in holy
places. Therefore, hear it and understand it. Let it be given out in
all the congregations of the Saints; let it be known everywhere
throughout the land of Zion, so that if a man is tempted to do that
deed, or a woman, that they will pause in view of the terrible
consequences which await its commission—that they will pause and ask
themselves the question—can I do this at the expense of my salvation
and my exaltation in the presence of God? God has labored with us for
fifty-four years and six months. He has revealed unto us His laws in
plainness and power, so that all can understand, and if there be any
now that do not understand, it is because they have not availed
themselves of their privileges and opportunities. My brethren and
sisters, this land must be a land of Zion to us. It will be a land of
Zion to all who keep the commandments of God. It will not be a land of
Zion to the adulterer, the seducer, the blasphemer, the
Sabbath-breaker, the man who does not pay his tithing, to any who do
not keep the commandments of God; but to those who do keep the
commandments of God, and who keep themselves pure, it will be a land
of peace, a land wherein they and their children after them can dwell
in peace and righteousness. But let us be warned in this the day of
our probation. Let us walk humbly before our God. Let us live so as to
have his revelations constantly within us; let us live so that His
Spirit shall burn in our hearts and in our bosoms and in our bones
like a very fire, that in the end we may be saved and exalted in His
Celestial Kingdom, which I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
- George Q. Cannon