page_0002

flourished and became a mighty
people; but they turned from the
right way of the Lord, and when
they had ripened in iniquity they,
like other nations of the earth, were
finally destroyed by the judgments
of God. The other nation was
known as Nephites and Lamanites,
being named after the sons of Lehi,
the head of the family who, by
command of God, left their native
land, Jerusalem, some four hun-
dred years before Christ, and tra-
veled by land, and in ships
of their own construction, crossed
the great waters, and came
to this land. They dwelt here
for hundreds of years, and also be-
came a great and mighty people,
an outline of whose history is re-
corded in that book. The interest-
ing mission of the Savior to the
people of this continent is also re-
corded here; the establishing of the
Church among the believing Ne-
phites, and their labors in the work
of perfection. And I may say the
remains of some of the cities built
by these peoples have been dis-
covered and written about by such
men as Stephens and Catherwood
and others; and doubtless much re-
mains yet to come to light in corrob-
oration of the testimony of this
divine record.

The Prophet Joseph not only per-
formed this work, but organized the
Church with prophets and apostles,
elders, priests, teachers and deacons,
as it was organized in the days of
Jesus and His Apostles. And there
is a feature connected with the
Church as it exists today that is pe-
culiar from all other dispensations
that we have any account of; that
is, nearly the whole body of its male
members have received some portion
of the Priesthood, until we have to-
day in these mountains some twen-
ty thousand men bearing either the
Priesthood after the order of Aaron
or Melchisedek. There is a reason
for this. There never has been a
time in all the dispensations of God
to man, when there has been so
much need for the labors of the ser-
vants of God as in this our day; and
the Lord, therefore, has called a
great number of men to bear the
Priesthood, and directed them to go
unto all nations, tongues and peoples,
as He showed John the Reve-
later He would do in the last days,
as recorded in the ##Revelation 14|14th chapter of the
book of Revelations##. And in ful-
filment thereof we have not only
gone forth to the nations proclaim-
ing this Gospel revealed to man by
the angel of God, but in further
obedience to the divine command,
have come out from Babylon, until
we number some two hundred thou-
sand gathered here. And by what
power have we come here? And
why did you leave the States of
this nation, England, Scotland, Ire-
and, Wales, Norway, Sweden, Den-
mark, Austria, Germany and other
nations? You heard the Elders.
They told you they had been sent
by God and that they had the ful-
ness of the Gospel to offer to man,
and they explained to you the prin-
ciples thereof. They told you there
was but one Gospel, and that God
had never revealed but the one, the
Gospel that Paul referred to when
he said, "Though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other Gos-
pel unto you than that which we
have preached unto you, let
him be accursed." [##Galatians 1:8##] You be-
lieved and obeyed, and gathered
with the Saints. And what
was it these Elders taught
you? It was that you must have
faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of
God; that you must repent of your
sins and be baptized by immersion
for remission of the same, and then
have hands laid upon your head for
the reception of the Holy Ghost.
And this Comforter, this Holy
Spirit, you received, and it bore
witness unto you that you had in-
deed been initiated into the Church
of Christ. And if I were to call
upon this congregation of Latter-
day Saints today, and ask every
man and woman who thus heard
and obeyed, and who did receive
this testimony for themselves, to
rise to their feet, how many do you
think would remain seated? Not
many, if any. The fact that you
are thus gathered here, and that
you have these many years re-
mained faithful to the cause you
espoused, is evidence that you did
receive and are still in possession of
this testimony. And I would say,
if there are present today any
strangers who are not acquainted
with the principles of our religion,
let them gaze upon this congrega-
tion of over ten thousand faces;
let them travel through the
settlements of the Saints north
and south, and contemplate
the work that has been accomp-
lished in redeeming the earth and
making it habitable, and then let
them ask themselves the question,
are not these people in earnest? Are
they not sincere? Are they deceiv-
ers, these missionary Elders who
have been the means of inducing
the people of all lands to thus settle
and make homes in these valleys?
Do you believe in their works and
their mission? You say no. But let
me tell you, there is not an honest
man upon the face of the earth ac-
quainted with the history of the
Latter-day Saints that can say this
at heart. And I testify to you, as I
would to the whole world had I the
power to do so, that God has set His
hand to fulfil the word of the Lord
as given in the Bible, the book
of all books the Christian world pro-
fess to believe in; the revelations of
St. John, the predictions of Isaiah,
Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Joel, Micah, and
others contained within its sacred
lids, who spoke of the great work of
the last days; and I testify that the
day has come which Daniel saw,
the day referred to by him in his
interpretation of Nebuchudnezzar's
dream, when the God of heaven
should set up a kingdom which
should never be distroyed.

This Kingdom was represented to
him as a little stone cut out of the
mountain without hands, which
stone smote the image, representing
the different nations that then ex-
isted and should exist, on the feet,
breaking it to pieces; and it became
a great mountain, and filled the
whole earth. [##Daniel 2:26-47##] Was Daniel a pro-
phet? He was, and was highly
favored of God because of his
mighty faith. Isaiah saw our day
and time and was glad.

"Sing, O heavens; and be joyful,
O earth; and break forth into sing-
ing, O mountains: for the Lord hath
comforted his people, and will have
mercy upon his afflicted." What
is the matter? The Lord is going to
comfort Zion; He is going to have
mercy upon her afflicted ones. But
Zion said, "The Lord hath forsaken
me, and my Lord hath forgotten
me." "Can a woman forget her
sucking child?" saith the Lord.
"Yea, she may forget, but I will not
forget thee. Behold, I have graved
thee upon the palms of my hands;
thy walls are continually before
me." [##Isaiah 49:13-16##] This refers to the building
up of Zion in the last days; the
gathering together of the people,
preparatory to the coming of the
Son of Man.

As far as constitutional liberty is
concerned, I will say, the God of
heaven has raised up our nation, as
foretold by His Prophets genera-
tions ago. He inspired Colum-
bus, and moved upon him to
cross the ocean in search of this
continent. The world is acquainted
with the history of his course; his
pleadings with the courts of Europe,
and his final triumph in finding
sympathy in the King and Queen
of Spain, who furnished the neces-
sary means to make the exploration.
It is also well known how our fore-
fathers found a home and an asylum
in this land from the hand of perse-
cution, and how they planted here
the tree of liberty and jealously
guarded it from the attempt of the
mother country to uproot and de-
stroy it. The hand of God was in
all this; and it is through the inter-
vention of His providences that we
enjoy today the freest and most in-
dependent government the world
ever saw. And what was the object
of this? It was to prepare the way
for the building up of the Kingdom
of God in this the last dispensation
of the fullness of times; and as long
as the principles of constitutional
liberty shall be maintained upon
this land, blessings will attend
the nation. But wo unto those who
fight against Zion, said the Lord. I
have heard the Prophet Joseph
Smith remark, that if he were
Emperor of the world, and had the
power to control the whole human
family, he would sustain every man,
woman and child in the enjoy-
ment of their civil and religious
rights, let their religion be what it
may. In saying this he expressed
my sentiments, and the feelings of
this entire community. For God
has given to every man individual
agency, and He will hold him ac-
countable for the use of this agency.
And while we in our hearts and
feelings accord to the whole world
this blessing, we claim the same for
ourselves. To obtain this and to
secure it to our children, we have
struggled; and we look forward with
joyful anticipation when it shall be
beyond the power of man to drive it
any more from the earth. Our feel-
ings with regard to religious liberty
have been manifested towards
the religious denominations that
have come among us. Not
a single one of them can accuse us