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history, that Cyrus pursued this
course all his life. Whenever he
took a city he went and offered
sacrifice to the great God, the God
of heaven. You may trace this
through the whole history of the
world until the present hour
and you will find that that
God who sits enthroned on
high has governed and controlled
all these things. He will do the
same today. That same God has
set His hand to fulfill the volume of
revelations contained in these rec-
ords of divine truth, which portray
the winding-up scene of the work
and Kingdom of God in the last
dispensation and fulness of times.
Our Heavenly Father called His
servant Joseph Smith. He laid the
foundation of this Church and
Kingdom, and he organized the
Church with prophets, apostles,
pastors, teachers, gifts and graces,
for the perfecting of the Saints, for
the work of the ministry, and for the
edifying of the body of Christ, until
we all come to the perfect stature of
a man in Christ Jesus, in fulfilment
of the revelations of God. [##Ephesians 4:11-13##] Our num-
bers are few, it is true; but the peo-
ple of God always were few in every
age of the world. Noah, after
preaching 120 years, while building
the ark, only succeeded in saving
eight souls out of all the inhabitants
of the earth. [##Genesis 6-7##] The rest were destroyed
by the flood, and they were shut up
in prison and there visited by Jesus
Christ, the Son of the living God.
While his body lay in the tomb three
days His spirit went to preach
to those spirits that were in prison,
that they might be judged accord-
ing to men in the flesh. [##1 Peter 3:19-20##] The work
of the Lord always has been an up-
hill business so far as laboring among
the children of men is concerned.
But there is no person who believes
in the Bible can deny that the Lord
has proclaimed that in the latter
days He would set His hand to build
up His Church and Kingdom, He
would gather together His people,
and He would send an angel flying
through the midst of heaven, having
the everlasting Gospel to preach un
to every nation, kindred, tongue
and people under the whole heav-
ens, crying with a loud voice: "Fear
God and give glory to Him; for the
hour of His judgment is come." [##Revelation 14:6-7##]
This was the proclamation of the
angel of God who delivered the Gos-
pel of Christ to Joseph Smith. "The
hour of His judgment is come." [##Doctrine and Covenants 133:36-38##] So
say we. We have been called upon
to warn the nations. We have been
called to go forth without purse or
scrip. We have had to travel abroad,
swim rivers, wade swamps, travel
on foot, and visit the nations of the
earth in various ways, to preach the
Gospel unto them. We have been
obliged to do this, for we have been
called to do it, whether we were
popular or unpopular. If we had
not done this, we would have been
condemned; the Lord would have
cut us off and raised up a people that
would perform His work. These
thousands of Elders, gathered out
from the nations of the earth, upon
whose shoulders rests this Priest-
hood, are the instruments in the
hands of Almighty God, and
are called to go forth to warn
this generation; and their testimony
will rise up in judgment against this
generation and condemn them, and I
declare it in the name of Jesus Christ,
as an Apostle of the Lamb of God in
this day and age of the world. I
say there is not a nation under hea-
ven, there is not a king, a prince or
a president, or any other man who
has power over the sons of men, but
should give unto their subjects the
privilege of worshiping God accord-
ing to the dictates of their own con-
sciences. These subjects are the
creatures of God, they are the chil-
dren of God. They are placed here
on the earth and are responsible to
God Himself for their religion, for
their faith and for their worship.
They are not responsible to the em-
perors, or kings, or presidents, or
governors who rule over them.
Every man is responsible for the
course he pursues before the Lord.
And God will bless no king, no em-
peror and no president who will not
give unto his subjects the rights and
privileges in their relationship to
God which the Father Himself has
given unto them. Whenever these
subjects are deprived of their rights,
those who preside over them are
held responsible.

We are here upon a mission. This
is not our home. This is not the
place where we expect to dwell for-
ever. We are going into the spirit
world. I have been associated with
the Church for 57 years. I
was intimate with the Prophet
Joseph Smith and those that laid
the foundation of this Church, who
were martyred for the word of
God and testimony of Jesus. They
today are in the spirit world, ming-
ling with the Gods, where they can
plead for their brethren. So too
shall we go in our day and time.
In view of this can I afford to reject
the gospel, or to turn away from
that which the Lord has required
at my hands, because it does not
suit the world? I cannot. I have
got to meet my acts before the
throne of God, and so have this
nation and all the inhabitants of [t]he
earth. They will understand then
that there is a power above them, and
that is the God of heaven. All
men have got to appear at the
judgment seat of Christ. And when
men shed the blood of the righteous
because they follow the words of the
Lord, they have to pay for it. No
man can shed the blood of the
righteous without it costing him
something. It was so in the days
of Jesus Christ. No man was more
unpopular on the face of the earth
than Jesus Christ was from the
day He was born until He ascended
into heaven. All Jerusalem was
against Him. The Jews were
against Him. The Gentiles were
against Him, in a great measure.
They cried out against Him and
accused Him of everything that was
wrong, and labored very hard to
find some accusation against Him
whereby they might put Him to
death. It is true that the Gentile judge
who heard the testimony against
Jesus told the Jews: "I find no fault
in this man," and he washed his
hands, saying, "I am innocent of
the blood of this just person: see you
to it." All right, said they, "his
blood be on us, and on our child-
ren." [##Matthew 27:22-25##] How little did those Jews
know what it would cost them to
shed the blood of Jesus Christ.
Well might the Son of God, while
on the cross, cry out, "Father, for-
give them; for they know not what
they do." [##Luke 23:34##] Strange language for a
man that was expiring on the cross!
Why did He say this? He knew
what would be the result to the
Jewish nation for the next two
thousand years. Whenever the na-
tions of the earth have taken a
stand against the Gospel of Christ
or the people of God, they have had
to pay the bill. It has cost some-
thing to shed the blood of Joseph
Smith and Hyrum Smith, and the
price is not fully paid yet.

While the world look upon us as
a strange people, while they have
no faith in us or in our teachings,
and while they have no faith in
the Bible which they profess to be-
lieve in, still their unbelief will
not make the truths of God without
effect. The inhabitants of the earth
know not what awaits them. The
Lord is going to cut short His work
in righteousness. If He did not no
flesh would be saved. As I have
said before, we have been called
upon to warn this generation.
How was it when we first
went to New York, to Phila-
delphia, to Boston, and to the
various states of the Union? We
went there and found hundreds of
people who were ready to receive
the Gospel of Christ. We organized
churches throughout the United
States, north and south, more espe-
cially in the northern and middle
states. At that time there was not
the feeling that there is today. There
were a great many who were willing
to open their eyes to see, their ears
to hear, and their hearts to under-
stand. The Lord told Joseph Smith
that He had set His hand to prune
His vineyard once more for the last
time, and He commanded him and
others to go forth and warn this
generation to gather out the honest
and meek of the earth, and to pre-
pare for the day of His judgment.
And in one place in this book of
##Doctrine and Covenants 86:2-6|Doctrine and Covenants##, in explain-
ing the parable of the wheat and the
tares, the Lord says: "Behold, verily
I say, that the field was the world,
and the Apostles were the sowers of
the seed; and after they have fallen
asleep, the great persecutor of the
church, the apostate, the whore,
even Babylon, that maketh all na-
tions to drink of her cup, in whose
hearts the enemy, even Satan, sit-
teth to reign, behold he soweth the
tares, wherefore the tares choke the
wheat and drive the church into the
wilderness. But behold, in the last
days, even now while the Lord is
beginning to bring forth the word,
and the blade is springing up and is
yet tender. Behold, verily I say
unto you, the angels are crying un-
to the Lord day and night, who are
ready and waiting to be sent forth
to reap down the fields; but the Lord
said unto them, pluck not up the
tares while the blade is yet tender
(for verily your faith is weak) lest
you destroy the wheat also."

Do the inhabitants of the earth re-
alize the judgments that hang over