2

enters the spirit world preach[e]d the
gospel there to those who lived after
him; but they all preach to men
who were in the flesh before they
were. Jesus himself preached to
the antediluvian world, who had
been in prison for thousands of
years. So with Joseph Smith and
the elders—they will have to preach
to the inhabitants of the earth who
have died during the last seventeen
centuries; and when they hear the
testimony of the elders and accept
it there should be somebody on the
earth, as we have been told, to at-
tend to the ordinances of the house
of God for them, that they may be
judged according to men in the flesh
and come forth in the morning of
the first resurrection and have a
part therein with us. [##Doctrine and Covenants 88:99##]

These are eternal principles of the
gospel of Christ. We have been
commanded and have been under
the necessity of going forth and de-
claring it to the sons of men. I will
ask by what power have these apos-
tles and elders taken their knapsacks
on their backs, wading swamps and
rivers, and preaching without purse
and scrip, as they have done for
years and years past and gone.
What power has sustained them?
As I have said before, these revela-
tions of God, these great command-
ments and prophecies that have
been given for the last six thousand
years. They have been inspired by
the Spirit and power of God, they
have been commanded to go forth
and warn this generation by preach-
ing the gospel to them. Here is
President Brigham Young has trav-
eled, as poor as any man could be,
tens of thousand miles, without
purse and scrip, to preach the gos-
pel to the sons of men. So have
his brethren. They have been sus-
tained by the hand of the Almighty,
and if they had not done it they
would have been under condemna-
tion. Why? The angel of God,
who restored the everlasting gospel
to earth, said it must be preached to
every nation, kindred, tongue and
people under the whole heaven, for
the hour of God's judgement had
come. The hour of God's judgment
is at the door of this nation and the
Christian world. Brother Erastus
Snow here, a week last Sunday,
told us about preaching to the dead,
and the judgments that awaited
the nations. Other elders have re-
ferred to the same subject. But sev-
enteen hundred years have passed
without prophets, apostles and pa-
triarchs. The judgments of God
did not rest upon the nations of the
earth during that time as they will
after the proclamation of this gospel.
This message that Joseph Smith
brought to the world involves the
destinies of this whole generation,
not only of this nation, but the
whole Christian and Jewish world,
Zion and Babylon, the whole of it.
They now stand, as it were, warned
of the Lord. The gospel has had to
go to them. We have been obliged
to go abroad to preach the gospel to
the nations; we should have been
condemned, and smitten by the arm
of Jehovah, if we had failed to ful-
fill the revelations given unto us.
It is by that power that President
Young, Joseph Smith, the Twelve
Apostles, and the thousands of
elders of Israel have been moved
upon to go forth and do the work of
God.

Now then, my friends, are we
going to stop here? Are the rest of
the prophecies not to be fulfilled?
Is the Lord going to cut his work in
two, or let the rest go unfulfilled? I
tell you nay, the word of the Lord
is going to be fulfilled, and the Lord
is not going to give this kingdom to
another people. The Lord has rais-
ed up a set of men and women, and
he will inspire and move upon them
to carry out this great work, and we
have got it to do. Zion is going to
rise and shine, and to put on her
beautiful garments; she will be
clothed with the glory of God, and
for brass she will have gold; for iron
silver and for stone iron. All these
revelations touching the last days
have got to be fulfilled. President
Young is moved upon to call upon
Zion to do her duty. Why is he
thus moved upon? Because the
power of revelation surrounds him
and crowds upon him to magnify
his calling and do his duty among
the sons of men. The power of
God rests upon him, and he will
never hold his peace until Zion is
built up and perfected, the house
of Israel gathered and the work of God
performed under his administration
as long as he dwells in the flesh.
He is as much under the power of
God and the revelations of Jesus
Christ as any man that ever breath-
ed the breath of life.

We have got to build this temple.
The Lord requires it at our hands.
We have to pay our tithing—the
Lord requires it at our hands. The
Lord has never said by any revela-
tion that Brigham Young should
build a temple alone, that his coun-
sellors, or that the Apostles or bish-
ops should do it alone. This re-
sponsibility rests upon every man
and woman who has entered into
covenant with the Lord in these
latter days; and if we do not dis-
charge it we shall suffer, the Lord
will chastise us. He is not going to
leave us, and he is not going to take
this kingdom away from the Latter-
day Saints and give it to anybody
else, for they are the Saints, and al-
though mixed like corn in a sieve
among the Gentile nations they
have been prepared from the founda-
tion of the world to come forth as
the sons of Jacob in these latter
days, to build up the Zion of God on
the earth. We have got to come to
it. We must give our earnest sup-
port to co-operation, for it is a step
in advance towards establishing the
Order of Enoch and the building up
of the Zion of God. The servant of
God is moved upon to call upon us
to perform this work, and we have
it to do.

There are some prophecies per-
taining to these latter days that are
unpleasant to contemplate. Presi-
dent Young has been calling upon
the daughters of Zion day after day,
now, for years, to lay aside these
Babylonish fashions. I have been
reading the [##Isaiah 3|third chapter of Isaiah##]
and I have been hoping, all the days
of my ministry, that the sayings
contained in that chapter would
never apply to the daughters of Zion
in our day; but I believe they will,
and inasmuch as they will not listen
to President Young and to the pro-
phets, apostles and elders of Israel
with regard to throwing off these
nonsensical things, I hope they will
hasten the lengthening out of their
skirts and drag them in the streets;
that they will increase their round
tires like the moon, increase their
hoops, and their headbands, in-
crease their Grecian bends at once
and carry it out until they get
through with it, so that we can turn
to the Lord as a people. Some of
the daughters of Zion do not seem
willing to forsake the fashions of
Babylon. I to such would say
hasten it, and let the woe that is
threatened on this account come,
that we may get through with it
then we can go on and build up the
Zion of God on the earth. But in
spite of the follies that some among
us delight in, we are going to build
up Zion. We are going to fill these
mountains with the cities and peo-
ple of God. The weapons formed
against Zion will be broken, and
the nations of the Gentiles will
visit her and their kings will come
to the brightness of her rising. I
often think when I see gentlemen
and ladies sitting in our tabernacles,
who have come over this great high-
way that has been cast up, whether
they realize that they are fulfilling
the prophecies of Isaiah. I think
this many times in my own mind.
I am satisfied that they do not real-
ize it, but they are fulfilling the rev-
elations of God. The Gentiles are
coming to the light of Zion and
kings to the brightness of her ris-
ing. All these things have been
spoken of and will be fulfilled; and
by and by, when we are sanctified
and made perfect, when we are
chastised and humbled before the
Lord, when we have got our eyes
opened, and our hearts set upon
building up the kingdom of God,
then will we return and rebuild the
waste places of Zion. We have got
this to fulfill in our day and genera-
tion. Then think not, ye elders of
Israel, ye sons and daughters of
Zion, that we are going to live after
the order of Babylon always. We
are not. We shall be chastised and
afflicted, and shall feel the chasten-
ing rod of the Almighty unless we
serve the Lord our God and build
up his kingdom, for he has given us
all power; yes, all power is given
into our hands to perform this
work.

Where is the man or the woman
on the face of the earth who can-
not see the hand of God in our de-
liverance until to-day? Every wea-
pon has been broken that has ever
been formed against us. Point me
out an individual or a people who
have ever taken a stand against Jo-
seph Smith or Brigham Young, the
Zion of God or the elders of Israel,
and who have sought to overthrow
this work, but what the curse of
God has rested upon them. Show
me one of that class who has not
gone down to the dust, and as it has
been in days past so it will be in
days to come. Woe to that nation,
kindred, tongue and people under
the whole heavens who war against
Zion in the latter-days; every wea-
pon shall be broken that is formed
against her, and that nation that
will not serve her shall be utterly
wasted away saith the Lord of
hosts. These things are true, and I
would warn Jew and Gentile, saint
and sinner and all the world to be
careful what they do as touching
them.

A few words more to the Latter-
day Saints. I want to say to the
brethren and to the sisters, let us
cease finding fault one with another;
let us not say that this man or this
woman does wrong, this family does
wrong, this person or the other sets
a bad example; let us realize that
we ourselves are held responsible
for what we do. It will do me no
good if I apostatize because some-
body's family follows the fashions
of Babylon, or because some man or
woman or some set of men and
women do wrong. Let us cease
this kind of work, and all of us
look to ourselves. It will do me no
good if I apostatize because I think
somebody else does not do right. We
should lay aside this, there is too
much of it in the Zion of God to-
day, and has been a good while,
finding fault with this, that and
the other, instead of looking at
home. Let us all look at home,
and each one try to govern his own
family and set his own house in
order, and do that which is required
of us, realizing that each one is
held responsible before the Lord
for his or her individual actions
only.

I pray God my heavenly Father
that he will pour out his Spirit
upon the daughters of Zion, upon the
mothers in Zion, upon the elders,
and upon all her inhabitants, that
we may listen to the counsels of
the servants of God, that we may
be justified in the sight of God,
that we may be preserved in the
faith, that we may have power to
build temples, build up Zion, re-
deem our dead, and be redeemed
ourselves, for Jesus' sake. Amen.