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more inspiration and revelation than
we have. We want our souls to be
wide open to the things of God, and
to understand our position and destiny.
I realize, Latter-day Saints require at
my hands, as President of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter-day Saints, many things. They
also require many things at the hands
of my counselors and these Apostles.
We can accomplish what is required
of us if we have the faith and the as-
sistance of the Latter-day Saints and
the power of God; but without that we
can do nothing.

I will say a few words with regard to
another dispensation. The whole
Christian world profess to believe in
the Bible. You look through that
book, and you will not find a single in-
stance of a Prophet, or an Apostle, or
an inspired man going forth to preach
the Gospel except by the power of
the holy and everlasting Priest-
hood. No man has had power
to go forth and administer in the ordi-
nances of salvation without that
Priesthood, from Adam down. Father
Adam was a great High Priest. So
were his sons that were with him—
Seth, Enos, Jared, Canaan, Mahala-
leel, Enoch and Methuselah; and a
great many others bore the holy
Priesthood. All that Moses did was
by the power of the holy Priesthood.
All that Jesus Christ and the Apostles
did was by the power of the Priest-
hood. Jesus Christ was our great
High Priest, and He came into the
world and laid down His life as a great
sacrifice for the redemption of the
world. It is that dispensation that I
wish to say a few words about. It was
rather a peculiar dispensation. The
Savior came to the Jewish nation—to
His own—through the loins of Abra-
ham, Isaac and Jacob, and David. The
Jewish nation rejected Him. He la-
bored until they put Him to death. He
lived only three years and a half
after He entered the ministry.
He lived long enough, however, to
choose twelve Apostles, to organize a
church, to warn that nation, and to
declare unto them what would come
upon their heads. Moses had also told
the Jewish nation of these things in
his day, by the inspiration of the Lord.
Has one jot or title fallen unfulfilled?
Not one. When the Savior suffered
that ignominious death on the cross,
and was about to give up the ghost,
He said, "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do." [##Luke 23:34##] Is not
that a strange saying for a man who
was being crucified and about to go
into the spirit world? But Jesus saw
everything that would befall the Jew-
ish nation, and well might He make
such a remark. He saw that one
thousand eight hundred years after
His death this yoke of bondage and
trial and tribulation would rest upon
the posterity of Judah, and he was
ready to forgive them. No, they
did not know what they did.
They did not comprehend it. They
did not understand that they were put-
ting to death their Shiloh—the king of
the Jews, their great Redeemer. They
were too overwhelmed with darkness
and iniquity to comprehend this.
But, as I was saying, Jesus chose
twelve Apostles. They were fisher-
men, weak and illiterate. But the
Lord has always chosen the weak
things of this world, instead of the
great, and the learned, and the rich,
and the powerful of the earth. Why
has He done it? That He might have
instruments that He could handle—
men who would obey Him, who
would take His counsel and carry out
His commandments. In preparing
this dispensation in which we live the
Lord has known perfectly well what
lay before us. He has known the
mighty events that were to be heaped
upon the heads of both Jew and
Gentile, Saint and sinner, Zion and
the world; and He has prepared an
element to do this work of His,
which He has gathered here
in the mountains of Israel. But in the
days of the Savior it was a dispensa-
tion of sacrifice; and Jesus Christ and
the Apostles only lived a little while
after they were chosen, to warn the
nation in which they dwelt and that
generation. Jesus Christ was crucified,
the Apostles were put to death, and
most every man who bore the Priest-
hood was slain, excepting John the
Revelator. The Lord had ordained
him to live, and he did not die, but
remains today upon the face of the
earth, in fulfilment of the promises of
God to him. But in that day they had
not the privilege of building the Zion
of God or the Kingdom of God. It was
not a dispensation prepared for that.
These men laid down their lives, and
the judgments of God overtook the
Jewish nation, in fulfillment of the pre-
dictions of the Savior and the Pro-
phets. Moses told them in his day,
"And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine
own body, the flesh of thy sons and of
thy daughters, which the Lord thy
God hath given thee, in the siege, and
in the straitness, wherewith thine ene-
mies shall distress thee." [##Deuteronomy 28:53##] All this
came to pass, and the kingdom was
taken from the earth, the holy Priest-
hood was taken up to God, who gave
it, and the Church went into the wil-
derness, and there remained until the
day set for its restoration to the world.

But I want to speak more particularly
about this great and last dispensation,
in which the Lord has said, through
the mouths of all the patriarchs and
prophets, a mighty work should be per-
formed. It is different, my brethren and
sisters, from the days of the Savior. I
do not believe there ever was a greater
dispensation than the one in which
you and I live, because in it is cen-
tred the fulfilment of all prophecy
and all revelation that has been mani-
fest looking to the final restoration of
all things before the coming of the
Son of Man. I want to speak of our
condition today before the Lord. When
the Savior died He went to preach to
the spirits in prison. Most all the
people from the days of Noah to that
day had died without the Gospel, and
Jesus went and preached to them.
They had this work resting upon
them in that day. In this day and
generation we have in the Bible, the
Book of Mormon and the Doctrine
and Covenants the history of the
Latter-day Saints and of the world.
You are my witnesses today that this
people are here in fulfilment of these
revelations and prophecies. We have
had a Prophet raised up in these last
days, as great a Prophet as ever
breathed the breath of life, save Jesus
Christ, and He was raised up for the
purpose of laying the foundation
of this work. And how is this
dispensation and this work to com-
mence? I would like to have the
Christian world read the revelations of
St. John. There you have before you
a picture of what awaits this genera-
tion. You have there proclaimed that
in the commencement of this great
and last work in the last days an angel
of God would fly through the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting Gospel
to preach to them that dwell on the
earth, "and to every nation, and kin-
dred, and tongue, and people, saying
with a loud voice, Fear God, and give
glory to Him, for the hour of His
judgment is come." [##Revelation 14:6-7##] Yes, ye Latter-
day Saints, the hour of God's judgment
is come." The Lord raised a great
Prophet unto us. He was a mighty
man, although illiterate, in one sense
of the word. The Lord called upon him
to perform this work, and he not only
received the visitation of angels, but
even the voice of God. This is the
only dispensation that I have ever
read of in which the Father and Son
both appeared to the man whom He
had chosen to establish His Church.
Joseph Smith received this great
honor. He was a Prophet of God.
I have traveled with him a good many
miles. Speaking of the gifts and
graces manifested by the Elders of
Israel, I have seen Joseph Smith in
one day go forth among the sick and
command those that were dying to
arise and be made whole, and they
have leaped from their beds, been
clothed, and walked out in the street
and followed the Prophet of God in his
travels through the midst of the Saints
of God. Can I doubt this work? Can
you doubt it? I think not. No man
that has had any experience in this
work can doubt it. You remember
Brother Fordham. He was breath-
ing his last breath of life when
the Prophet took him by the hand
and commanded him in the name of
Jesus of Nazareth to arise and be
made whole. He leaped from his
bed, was clothed, and walked out and
into the house of Brother Joseph
Bates Noble, who is still living in
these mountains. He was also lying
at the point of death and was instantly
healed by the power of God, through
the voice of the Prophet of God. I
name these things because I have had
experience in them and have a right to
mention them. The power of God was
with the Prophet, from the time he
was ordained to the Priesthood until
he was murdered. He lived some four-
teen years after he laid the foundation
of this work. And when he organized
this Church he organized it in its full
power and glory, and every gift and
grace, and every ordinance that
belongs to the Church of God.
Nothing was ever manifest in any
age of the world but what was included
in the organization of this Church. It
was organized with Prophets, with
Apostles, with Pastors, with Teachers,
with helps and governments, with
gifts and graces, and with the Mel-
chisedek and Aaronic Priesthoods.
Joseph Smith was true and faithful to
death, and he was a mighty man of
God, as may be seen by anyone who
will read that code of revelations which
he left to us—as sublime revelations as
God ever gave to man.

Now, brethren and sisters, the
foundation has been laid, and you are
here in these mountains of Israel.
Myself and others have preached to
you in England, in Scotland, in
Wales, in the islands of the sea and