Discourse 1891-08-10
-[REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER.]-
I am very pleased indeed to meet
with so many Latter-day Saints in this
tabernacle on a working day, and I
hope you will get paid for coming to
meeting today. I have felt amply
paid myself for my journey from Salt
Lake City in, listening to the instruc-
tions which our brethren have given
unto us. I told Brother Cannon this
morning that if, when a young man, I
could have attended a meeting of this
kind and heard instructions as
we have had given to us, I
should have felt that I was in heaven;
I should have been satisfied that I had
received what I had prayed for and de-
sired from my childhood. When I was
a boy I read in the New Testament
concerning Jesus Christ and His Gos-
pel, and the gifts and graces that were
then manifested, and I felt that the
principles there taught were the ones
that I desired to live to hear taught. I
prayed for this earnestly in my early
manhood. I have read the Bible
through a good many times in my life.
I have read the Book of Mormon
through a number of times. I have
also read the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants through a number of times;
and I have felt that God had never given
unto us stronger principles and more
glorious instructions in any of the
revelations of God than are recorded in
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.
They are all by the same author, but
to different men, and at different times.
I will read a few verses from the 121st
section of the Doctrine and Covenants.
This section contains the prayer and
prophecy of the Prophet Joseph while
he was in Liberty jail; and the truths
embodied therein are among the sub-
limest that God has ever revealed to
man:
For there is a time appointed for every
man, according as his works shall be. [Doctrine and Covenants 121:25]
God shall give unto you (the Saints)
knowledge by His Holy Spirit, yea by
the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost,
that has not been revealed since the world
was until now; [Doctrine and Covenants 121:26]
Which our forefathers have waited
with anxious expectation to be revealed
in the last times, which their minds were
pointed to, by the angels, as held in re-
serve for the fullness of their glory: [Doctrine and Covenants 121:27]
A time to come in the which nothing
shall be withheld, whether there be one
God or many Gods they shall be mani-
fest; [Doctrine and Covenants 121:28]
All thrones and dominions, princi-
palities and powers, shall be revealed
and set forth upon all who have endured
valiantly for the Gospel of Jesus Christ; [Doctrine and Covenants 121:29]
And also if there be bounds set to the
heavens, or to the seas; or to the dry
land, or to the sun, moon, or stars; [Doctrine and Covenants 121:30]
All the times of their revolutions: all
the appointed days, months, and years,
and all the days of their days, months,
and years, and their glories, laws, and
set times, shall be revealed, in the days of
the dispensation of the fulness of times, [Doctrine and Covenants 121:31]
According to that which was ordained
in the midst of the Counci[l] of the Eternal
God of all other Gods, before this world
was, that should be reserved unto the
finishing and the end thereof, when
every man shall enter into his eternal
presence, and into his mortal rest. [Doctrine and Covenants 121:32]
How long can rolling waters remain
impure? What power shall stay the
heavens? As well might man stretch
forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri
river in its decreed course, or to turn it
up stream, as to hinder the Almighty
from pouring down knowledge from
heaven, upon the heads of the Latter-day
Saints. [Doctrine and Covenants 121:33]
Behold, there are many called, but few
are chosen. And why are they not
chosen? [Doctrine and Covenants 121:34]
Because their hearts are set so much
upon the things of this world, and aspire
to the honors of men, that they do not
learn this one lesson— [Doctrine and Covenants 121:35]
That the rights of the Priesthood are
inseparably connected with the powers
of heaven, and that the powers of heaven
cannot be controlled nor handled only
upon the principles of righteousness. [Doctrine and Covenants 121:36]
That they may be conferred upon us, it
is true; but when we undertake to cover
our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain
ambition, or to exercise control, or do-
minion, or compulsion, upon the souls of
the children of men, in any degree of un-
righteousness, behold, the heavens with-
draw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord
is grieved; and when it is withdrawn,
Amen to the Priesthood, or the authority
of that man. [Doctrine and Covenants 121:37]
Behold! ere he is aware, he is left to
himself, to kick against the pricks; to
persecute the Saints, and to fight against
G[o]d. [Doctrine and Covenants 121:38]
We have learned, by sad experience,
that it is the nature and disposition of al-
most all men, as soon as they get a little
authority, as they suppose, they will im-
mediately begin to exercise unrighteous
dominion. [Doctrine and Covenants 121:39]
Hence many are called, but few are
chosen. [Doctrine and Covenants 121:40]
Who can comprehend this grand
language? Scarcely any person. The
Lord says in this revelation that
whether there be one God or many
Gods, they shall be revealed; and all
kingdoms, thrones, principalities and
powers shall be revealed unto those
who keep His commandments. Can
we comprehend this? Why, there is
not an astronomer that can tell us
scarcely one thing that is done in Mars,
or Venus, or Jupiter, or in any of the
planets, aside from the earth. Here
are worlds upon worlds—millions of
them—and what do we know about
them? Our own little planet, upon
which we live, is about as much as we
can comprehend. Look at the extent
of the blessings that are promised us!
These blessings and these revelations
are worthy the attention of the Latter-day
Saints.
In this revelation it is shown that
the Priesthood of which we have been
speaking, has power. It has power
with the heavens; it has power on
earth. And as was said this morning, it
does not make any difference what
portion of that Priesthood a man holds
—whether it is a President, an Apostle,
an High Priest, a Seventy, an Elder, a
Priest, a Teacher or a Deacon—when
he goes before God in prayer, with a
