Discourse 1880-08-01
REPORTED BY GEORGE F. GIBBS.
IT is a common saying with us, that
the Lord has set his hand to build
up his kingdom; but, notwithstand-
ing, it is a true one, and it is a very
interesting one. Let us turn our
minds which way we will, as men
of God, as Elders in Israel, if we en-
joy any portion of the Spirit of the
Lord, we cannot help seeing the
hand of the Lord in his works in
these mountains and in the earth.
It is a difficult matter, many times,
for men of the world to understand
the literal fulfilment of revelation;
in fact, some of our leading men,
men of wisdom, men who have en-
joyed a good portion of the Spirit of
the Lord—it has been difficult for
them to understand the fulfilment
of prophecy. In conversation with
persons with regard to the affairs of
our nation, I remember President
Young telling them that there would
be a division in our nation between
the North and South. "But," said
they, "that cannot be; the stability
of our government is of too durable
a nature to even permit of any such
thing." This is the way that our
leading men felt before the rebellion;
this is the way, as a general thing,
that leading men feel to-day. They
cannot comprehend, it is not in their
hearts to believe in the fulfilment of
prophecy; they cannot understand
how it is that any power or wisdom
that God can exercise can bring to
pass the prophecies that remain to
be fulfilled. We had examples of
this, as I have said. But the crisis
came; a four years' war was waged,
which laid in the grave a million
and a half of the strength of our na-
tion, and, as I have often said, and
which I believe is true, cost them a
debt which they will never live to
pay. They could not comprehend
this until it was over. It is so with
our nation to-day; they cannot
comprehend, notwithstanding the
mighty evidence that is rolling be-
fore them like the waves of the sea,
one event after another in their ful-
filment; but they cannot realize how
the Lord can make use of the ele-
ments known to mankind to bring
about the destruction of a nation like
ours. When Brother John Morgan
was speaking, I was reminded of a cer-
tain spirit that arose in the hearts of
men a few years go, incited through
the oppression of capital against labor.
A few men rose up in Pittsburgh and
other places in Pennsylvania, and
in three days destroyed some twenty
million dollars worth of railroad
property. When this element once
rises, what power has law, what
power have the officers of the law or
the government to control it? It
cannot be controlled by human
power. As Latter-day Saints, we
can in a measure understand, when
we come to reflect that God rules
and overrules and can do anything
he has a mind to with regard to the
fulfilment of these events. I believe
the Bible; I believe the Book of Mor-
mon; I believe the Doctrine and
Covenants, and I believe that the
predictions they contain will in their
fulfilment roll upon our heads, and
upon the heads of this nation, and
upon the heads of the people of Zion,
and the judgments of God, that have
been proclaimed in the hearing of
the people for the last fifty years,
through the mouth of Joseph Smith
and of Brigham Young and the apos-
tles and the elders of Israel, by the
gift and power of the Holy Ghost—
not one jot or tittle of what has been
declared will fall to be ground un-
fulfilled, and the Latter-day Saints
ought to be prepared for them. [Doctrine and Covenants 20:35] I
know many of these things look
dark when men look upon them
with the natural vision, and as a
consequence doubt and unbelief fol-
low; but when you look upon them
with your mind enlightened by the
Spirit of God, the spirit of inspira-
tion and revelation, we then are able
to understand them, and how easily
it is for God to bring to pass the pre-
dictions of his servants.
The Lord, in a revelation given to
Orson Hyde and William McClellan
in the early days of the Church, in
sending them out to preach the gos-
pel, told them that when they
preached they should speak as they
were moved upon by the Holy
Ghost; and that if they did not have
the Holy Spirit to direct them, they
were told not to teach. "And,"
said the Lord, "when you do speak
as you are moved upon by the Holy
Ghost, your words are the words of
God, they are scripture, and they
are the mind of the Lord to the peo-
ple." (Sec. 68.) Many have an idea
that it is something very strange for
men now-a-days to have revelation,
and that nobody should have revela-
tion excepting Brother Taylor.
Here, my brethren and sisters, you
are upholding the quorum of the
Twelve twice a year in General Con-
ference, besides doing so at your
quarterly conference, as prophets,
seers and revelators, and you pray
for them twice a day, and perhaps
oftener, and should it be anything
very strange if they should receive
a revelation? How strange, indeed!
There are in this Church some six
thousand seventies, and four thou-
sand high priests, and four thousand
elders, who hold the Melchisedec
priesthood, which is after the order
of the Son of God, besides many
thousands of priests holding the
Aaronic priesthood, and I would like
to ask, if it was wrong to desire
revelation? What business have we
with this priesthood, if we have not
power to receive revelation? What
is the priesthood given for? If we
do not have revelation, it is because
we do not live as we should live,
because we do not magnify our
priesthood as we ought to; if we did
we would not be without revelation,
none would be barren or unfruitful.
We have one man who holds the
keys of the kingdom of God upon
the earth, and it is his business to
give the word of the Lord for the
guidance of the Church. But here
we have apostles and men of God,
holding the holy priesthood, acting
in behalf of the Church in different
parts of this Territory, and also in
different parts of the earth; and we
have men, say, acting as Church
agents in Europe, part of whose
business it is to charter ships for the
transit across the ocean of tens of
thousands of the people of God; is it
the right of such men to have reve-
lation from the Lord to guide them
in their operations? Yes, it is; and
no man should undertake to act in
positions affecting the interests of
Zion, unless he lives so as to be guid-
ed and directed by revelations of
God. And every man who presides
over a temple should live day by
day in the revelations of Jesus
Christ. And every seventy, and
every high priest, and every man
bearing the holy priesthood should
live in that way to get revelation to
guide and direct him in his labors.
This idea that no man has any right
to call upon God and receive revela-
tion is wrong, and it has been wrong
whenever it has existed in any age
of the world. As was said of old,
when a complaint was made con
cerning certain of the elders prophe-
sying in the Camp of Israel, so say
I: "I would to God that all were
prophets;" because the spirit of
prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.
With regard to prophesying, I wish
to say, that we have a great many
times the revelations of God given
unto us through his spirit, when we
do not comprehend what revelation
is. How many of you have had the
still small voice of the spirit whisper
things to you, and when you have
followed the dictations of that spirit
it has become in you a principle of
revelation. I would not be here to-
day if I had not listened to the
whisperings of that still small voice
which has guided me in my journey-
ings; I never could have passed
through the dangerous scenes and
incidents of my life had I not fol-
lowed the whisperings of the spirit
of the Lord to me. And with regard
to our preaching I will say, that as
apostles of God and as men appointed
to lead and guide Israel, we have a
great many things presented to our
minds that at the time appear to be
beyond our comprehension. Brother
Heber C. Kimball, for instance, was
a natural prophet; he would at times
give utterance to things when
preaching under the influence of the
Holy Spirit that would frighten
himself, and has many times been
known to say after he had finished
preaching, "What have I said?" I
am reminded of a circumstance
which occurred in the early settle-
ment of Utah, at a time when we
were all in very destitute circum-
stances, without the shadow of any
reasonable hope for seeing better
times. At such a time Brother
Kimball in preaching one day told
the congregation that many months
would not pass before we would be
able to buy goods in Salt Lake City
as cheaply as they could be bought
in New York City. When Brother
Kimball had said this he actually felt
frightened for he could not see how it
could come to pass, but it was spoken
under the influence of the Holy
Ghost and therefore it was revela-
tion. I was thinking to-day of a
time, many years ago, when President
Young and several of the brethren
of the Twelve, were in Logan; it was
a time when a railroad up to this
region was not even dreamed of, the
time when Brothers Ezra T. Benson
and Peter Maughan presided here;
when at a meeting President Young
called upon me to talk to the people
assembled. The night before, how-
ever, we had been met by a long
line of children and young people,
from 3 up to 20 years of age; they
had come out to meet the Prophet,
and presented a fine sight. While
talking to the people I felt led to
speak to the children and young peo-
ple; and I told them that I wanted
them to remember the visit which
the President was making them be-
cause the day would come when
they were grown up, when they
would talk to one another and say,
that on such a time President Young
and party visited us and we were
told then that we should see the day
when a temple should be built in
this place from the top of which we
would be able to survey the country
around which would be occupied by
ten thousand of our people; and you
will say that this was told to us
when Brother Benson and Brother
Maughan presided here. We never
thought of building a temple here
at that time, it had never entered
into the heart of men to do so. Bro-
thers Benson and Maughan have
been for some years now in the spirit
world. To-day you are engaged
building a temple which will be com-
pleted and dedicated to the name of
the Lord; and when this shall be
done these young people will have
the opportunity of going to the top
of the building and will then see
what I promised to you in those
early days.
I mention this to show you how
things are presented to our
minds and given utterance to in our
public teachings about which, at the
time, we have little or no idea.
When in the western country,
many years ago, before we came to
the Rocky Mountains, I had a dream.
I dreamed of being in these moun-
tains, and of seeing a large fine look-
ing temple erected in one of these
valleys which was built of cut gran-
ite stone. I saw that temple dedi-
cated, and I attended the dedicatory
services, and I saw a good many
men there that are living to-day in
the midst of this people. And I saw
them called of God and sent forth
unto the United States and to Baby-
lon, or what is called the Christian
world, to bind up the law and seal
up the testimony against the nations
of the earth, because they had re-
jected the testimony of Jesus and of
the establishment of the kingdom of
God upon the earth. [Doctrine and Covenants 88:84] When the
foundation of that temple was laid I
thought of my dream and a great
many times since. And whenever
President Young held a council of
the brethren of the Twelve and talk
of building the temple of adobe or
brick, which was done I would say
to myself "No, you will never do it;"
because I had seen it in my dream
built of some other material. I men-
tion these things to show you that
things are manifested to the Latter-
day Saints sometimes which we do
not know any thing about, only
as they are given by the Spirit of
God.
I will say to Israel who are here to-
day, we should take hold of this
work in earnest and build this tem-
ple and redeem the dead as well as
the living; and have faith in God
believing that this is the work of
God which will roll on to its fulfil-
ment in the earth. God will not dis-
appoint you in these the last days;
he will not disappoint the wicked, he
will not disappoint the devils in hell,
nor the angels of God in the heaven
will not be disappointed with regard
to the fulfilment of the revelations;
whatever may be the unbelief of
this generation it will make no differ-
ence with regard to the fulfilment
of the revelations of God and the
predictions of his servants.
When in the Tabernacle at Salt
Lake City on the 24th of July, in
looking upon the assembled mul-
titude and in contemplating the
magnetude and grandeur of the pro-
cession I said to myself "What can
be the feelings of the world?" What
can be the feelings of our enemies
who are laboring to "break up
Mormonism'" and who have for
these many years past indulged in
the fond expectation, and have
even gone so far as to predict
year after year that in a few
years more "Mormonism" will be
done away. The world do not
know what to do with "Mormon-
ism;" the heads of our own nation
and the kings of the earth are alike
undecided with regard to this hand-
ful of people that are growing up in
these mountains. They see our
union and the work already accom-
plished by us; they see the elements
of prosperity and power manifested
in this people, and although they do
not say it themselves it is a fact, the
spirit of fear to a degree is taken
hold of them, they are afraid that
the "Mormons" tell the truth when
they say the God of heaven has set
his hand again for the last time to
establish his rule and government
in the earth, which is destined to
become a great kingdom and fill the
whole earth. The great men of the
earth are not ignorant of the exist-
ence of this people; they are studying
our history, and they are watching
the result of our labors. Although
we are located in the interior of this
mountain country, and so recently
considered without the pale of civ-
ilization, the Latter-day Saints are
not hid from view, their light is not
under a bushel, but they are already
known and talked of throughout all
Christendom; and this Zion will
continue to grow and no power will
hinder it. Let us prepare ourselves
and keep the faith, obey the com-
mandments of God and exercise faith
in these things; and let our prayers as-
cend into the ears of the God, of Sabath
day and night for the fulfilment of
these revelations and prophecies.
The Lamanites will fulfill all that
God has said about them, and the
Jews will fulfill and realize all that
has been said respecting them and
all that has been promised and pre-
dicted upon their heads by their
father Jacob and by the prophets.
It was foretold by the prophet Moses
that they should be driven and des-
pised by their enemies, and that
they should be cursed of God, and
that his curse should follow them
until Christ came; and that they
would reject him, and then they
would be scattered as corn is sifted
in a seive, etc. [Amos 9:9] But hear it all Israel,
after your sorrow and pain and dis-
tress and after the days of your trib-
ulation, your great Eloheim will
stretch out his hand and gather you
from every nation wherever you are
driven, and he will bring you home
to your own land, and you shall re-
build, your temple and city, and you
shall be delivered by Shiloh when
he comes. That will be fulfilled;
and all that God has said with re-
gard to the ten tribes of Israel,
strange as it may appear, will come
to pass. They will, as has been said
concerning them, smite the rock,
and the mountains of ice will flow
before them, and a great high way
will be cast up, and their enemies
will become a prey to them; and their
records, and their choice treasures
they will bring with them to Zion.
These things are as true as God
lives.
When I contemplate the condition
of our nation, and see that wicked
ness and abominations are increas
ing, so much so that the whole heav-
ens groan and weep over the abomi-
nations of this nation and the na-
tions of the earth, I ask myself the
question, can the American nation
escape? The answer comes, No; its
destruction, as well as the destruc-
tion of the world, is sure; just as
sure as the Lord cut off and de-
stroyed the two great and prosperous
nations that once inhabited this
continent of North and South Amer-
ica, because of their wickedness, so
will he them destroy, and sooner or
later they wili reap the fruits of
their own wicked acts, and be num-
bered among the past.
I cannot help it; I would to God
they would repent, that their eyes
might be opened to see their condi-
tion; but the devil has power over
them; he rules the children of men,
he holds Babylon in his own hand,
and leads the people whithersoever
he will. There are changes await-
ing us, they are even nigh at our
very doors, and I know it by the
revelations of Jesus Christ; I know
it by the visions of heaven; I know
it by the administrations of angels,
and I know it by the inspiration of
heaven, that is given to all men
who seek the Lord; and the hand of
God will not stay these things. We
have no time to lose.
I pray God's blessing upon the
men working on the temple, and
his blessing upon the Saints, that
their hearts may be inclined to build
them. If you knew and understood
the feelings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith, and those of his brethren as-
sociated with him, and the feelings
of the millions of the human family
who are shut up in their prison
houses, we would not tire, we would
labor with all our might until the
building was finished and dedicated,
and then we would labor for the re-
demption of our dead. Ask Bishop
Hunter if he ever expects to meet
with his friends and associate with
those who have passed away, unless
he redeems them in the flesh, and
he will tell you, no. He could not
mingle with them if he did not re-
deem them in the flesh. I know the
same, too.
I pray God to bless you, and to
pour out his spirit upon my brethren
of the quorum of the Twelve, that
we may walk in the light and be
guided aright in all our ministra-
tions. And I tell you again, God
will not disappoint you; this king-
dom will never go backward, neither
will it ever be given into the hands
of another people; but it will rest
upon the shoulders of our sons and
daughters when Christ comes in the
clouds of heaven. We have no time
to throw away, or spend in the fool-
ish things of the flesh; what time
is at our disposal should be used in
building up the Zion of God, and in
preparing ourselves and our families
for the things that await us. Oh, I
wish many times that the veil was
lifted from off the faces of the Lat-
ter-day Saints; I wish we could see
and know the things of God as they
do who are laboring for the salvation
of the human family who are in the
spirit world; for if this were so, this
whole people, with very few, if any,
exceptions, would lose all interest in
the riches of the world, and instead
thereof their whole desires and la-
bors would be directed to redeem
their dead, to perform faithfully the
work and mission given us on earth;
so that when we ourselves should
pass behind the veil and meet with
Joseph and the ancient apostles, and
others who are watching over us
and who are deeply interested in our
labors, we might feel satisfied in
having done our duty.
This is how I feel, this is my faith.
I read the Bible, the Book of Mor-
mon and the Book of Covenants,
and I look for everything contained
in them to be fulfilled. We are
making history day by day, and we
are fulfilling the events which the
old prophets saw, and which they
predicted would transpire in the
latter days. Isaiah, when he saw in
vision this people in the mountains,
exclaims:
"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 on his afflicted.
"But Zion said, The Lord hath for-
saken me, and my Lord hath for-
gotten me.
"Can a woman forget her sucking
child, that she could not have com-
passion on the son of her womb?
yea, they may forget, yet will I not
forget thee." [Isaiah 49:13-15]
In the own due time of the Lord
all things spoken by the prophets
will be literally fulfilled.
I pray God to help us to do our
duty and to help us to feel interested
in our labors in the flesh. And as a
closing remark, seeing that this is
election time, I will say, do not, my
brethren, allow the spirit of conten-
tion and dissension to creep in among
you. I am ashamed of some of our
people who, instead of using their
powers and influence in endeavoring
to unite the people, go to work and
stir up strife, and the result is that
in some of our cities an opposition
ticket is gotten up, and our own peo-
ple in these places divide one against
the other. I say, shame on the
elder or man holding the priesthood,
the authority delegated to him by
high heaven, who will do this thing;
the heavens are displeased with such
a man, and unless he repents he will
certainly be found numbered with
those who are arrayed against God
and his kingdom in the earth. We
have the whole world against us,
besides many evil spirits to contend
with, and we certainly should not
divide one against another.
May God bless Israel, is my prayer,
through Jesus Christ. Amen.
