prophet, elder and saint of God, and to
all the inhabitants of the earth, "Be ye also
ready!" That is what it says to all men.
If you have anything to do, any work to
perform that is of consequence to yourself
or friends, living or dead, do it.
Is there any sorrow or mourning in my
heart with regard to the departure of
Brother ? I would rather follow a
thousand apostles and prophets to the grave
and see their lifeless remains deposited in
the dark and silent tomb, than see one man
who has tasted the good word of God, and
the powers of the world to come [Hebrews 6:5] make
shipwreck of his faith, lose his crown and
go to perdition. I have had more sorrow
in seeing men, with whom I have traveled
and preached the gospel, turn from the
truth, commit wickedness and lose their
standing in the , than over all the
faithful Latter-day Saints I have seen laid
in the tomb. When I see a man depart
who, like Brother Benson, has been ever
willing to go and come and do the bidding
of those over him, I look forward with
great joy to his reward. He is the first
man in the , who, for
the last forty years, has had the privilege of
dying a natural death; for most of the
apostles who ever tabernacled in the flesh
have died as martyrs. We have had two in
our quorum who have died thus, besides
our prophet and patriarch. True, they will
receive a martyr's crown, so will all men
who are true and faithful unto death and
lay down their lives for the work of God
and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Brother Benson has died among his
friends; he had not been in pain or suffering,
or endured a lingering sickness. Thank God
he died in the harness and has gone home
to receive his reward. During the time he
has been a member of the church he has
been on many missions. I will here re-
mark, without entering into details, that
at the time the Saints were driven from
to this land, he was called upon
and sent east, as one of the agents of the
church to prove the eastern country,—our
Puritan fathers and friends in , after we had been driven from our
homes, country, and the graves of parents,
wives and children, to see if they would
stretch out their hand to assist us while in
the wilderness. He labored faithfully on
that mission, visiting and other
leading New England cities, calling for
contributions to help the poor, the widow
and the fatherless, who were, in a measure,
in a state of starvation in the wilderness
after having been driven from their homes
in the midst of an inclement winter. I be-
lieve he got fifty dollars. If he had gone
into and split rails by the day I
guess he would have made considerable
more money in the same time. But never
mind! He was faithful on his mission, and
returned faithful, and continued so from
the commencement of his career as a Lat-
ter-day Saint until the day of his death.
I rejoice in this, and it is a consolation to
his family, and to all Israel to know
that he has been true and faithful to
his calling. When I contemplate and rea-
lize that the little time spent here in this
mortal life will fix and mould our destiny
for all the endless ages of eternity I try to
realize what manner of men we all ought
to be.
I have traveled a good deal with Brother
Benson and have been acquainted with
him, as you have, a good many years past,
and I can bear this testimony of him,—he
has always been ready and willing to la-
bor in either temporal or spiritual things.
Here on this road he labored faithfully
during the past year in building a hun-
dred miles of the railroad; he and those
associated with him finished their job with
punctuality. All these things show the
untiring industry and perseverance of the
man.
This is the way with all of us. We are
all called to labor in temporal and spiritual
things in building up the kingdom of God
in these last days. We have to preach the
gospel to the children of men; we have to
warn the nations of the earth. We have
been called to do this; this is the command
of God to the elders of Israel. In obedience
to this they shoulder their knapsacks and
without purse or scrip, travel the world
over to declare to the children of men the
words of life and salvation. In doing this
they swim rivers, wade swamps and en-
dure much toil and privation. During the
last thirty-seven years of my life I haye [have] tra-
veled one hundred thousand miles in
obedience to this command. It will be well
with all men who are faithful in the per-
formance of these duties. Brother Benson
never performed a mission or any other
duty but what he will rejoice over forever,
and so it will be with us all. The reward
of the faithful will amply repay them for
all the labors they ever performed or for
the privations they have endured. No la-
bor we have ever done that has helped to
promote the happiness and well-being of
our fellowmen will go unrewarded. Bro-
ther Benson, to-day, instead of being with
his family in , that is in the flesh, he
may be with them in spirit, is privileged
to mingle with his brethren who have
gone before,—, , , , and the prophets and apostles
of former days. He is mingling with
them. They have finished their work in
the flesh, so has he. He has been suddenly
called away from his labors but his works
will follow him.
I wish to speak to my friends, a little,
with regard to the position which we occu-
py as Elders of Israel, and as the church and
kingdom of God upon the earth. I feel im-
pressed to do so. I do not know that I wish
to say a great deal more with regard to
Brother Benson. His labors are before us
and the world, and they are before God and
angels. I am satisfied with them and I do
not know who is not who was acquainted
with him. I wish, now, to say something
with regard to the organization of this
Church and the position occupied by Joseph
Smith, Elder Benson and the apostles and
priesthood of this Church.
We are living in a very important age, an
age in which preparations are making for
the of the Messiah to reign
a thousand years upon the earth with His
Saints. The scriptures of the and will never be fulfilled until this
comes to pass. An angel of God, the Reve-
lator informs us, was to fly through
the midst of heaven, having the to preach to them that dwell on the
earth,—to every nation, kindred, tongue
and people, saying with a loud voice, "Fear
God and give glory to Him, for the hour of
His judgment is come, and worship Him
who made the heaven, the earth, the seas
and the fountains of water." [Revelation 14:6-7] You may
take up and all the prophets, and
you will find that they refer to this latter-
day dispensation, when the Kingdom of
God should be established on the earth.
There never was a prophet, from
down, whose records we have, but had his
eye upon this great dispensation of the last
days. When the Lord created the earth He
placed men upon it, and though the power
of sin has entered it, it has not been left by
the Lord to go at random. In Adam all
fell, or died, but in Christ, the apostle says,
all are made alive. [1 Corinthians 15:22] Our worthy
has often said, when speaking upon the
prevalence of sin in this world, that one of
the greatest honors and blessings ever con-
ferred on the sons of men, was to come and
dwell in the flesh in a sinful world like this,
amid the power of evil, temptation and
darkness, that they might have the privi-
lege of overcoming them and of inheriting
eternal life, which is the greatest gift of
God. All the prophets have foreseen the
establishment of the Kingdom of God in the
last days; they have seen Zion pass through
all her travail and persecution to her final
triumph, when she possessed great glory,
power and dominion upon the land of
. saw the kingdom of God,
which he likens to a little stone cut out of
the mountains without hands, which grew
and increased in size until it filled the whole
earth. Daniel said this kingdom was to be an
everlasting kingdom. [Daniel 2:26-47]
Well, brethren and sisters, you and I
have lived to see the dawn of the great day
thus referred to by the prophets, in which
the God of heaven has set His hand for the
last time to establish His kingdom upon
the earth; a kingdom not to be overthrown,
but to remain until sin, Satan and the
power of the devil are banished from the
face thereof, and until, as the prophets have
said, the kingdoms of this world shall be-
come the kingdoms of our God and His
Christ.
This day we have lived to see. This taber-
nacle, this congregation, and the multitudes
through the valleys of the mountains are
the fruits of this work. How did it com-
mence? It commenced by an angel of God
flying through the midst of heaven and
visiting a young man named Joseph Smith,
in the year 1827. That was the time of a
great awakening among the sectarians of
the day,—a day of revivals and protracted
meetings, when the people were called upon
to join themselves to the sectarian churches.
This young man looked around amid the
the confusion among the different sects,
each proclaiming the plan of salvation dif-
ferently, and each claiming it was right and
that all others were wrong; in the midst of
this contention he did not know which to
join. While in this state of uncertainty he
turned to the Bible, and there saw that pas-
sage in the epistle of James which directs
him that lacks wisdom to ask of God. [James 1:5] He
went into his secret chamber and asked the
Lord what he must do to be saved. The
Lord heard his prayer and sent His angel to
him, who informed him that all the sects
were wrong, and that the God of heaven was
about to establish His work upon the earth.
This angel quoted many of the prophecies
of Isaiah, and and told this
young man that they were about to be ful-
filled among the nations of the earth; and
he also told him that if he would listen and
render obedience to the commands of God,
he should be an instrument in the hands of
the Lord in establishing His kingdom upon
the earth. [Joseph Smith-History 1:27-54]
These visits were repeated from time to
time, during which Joseph received revela-
tion and much instruction in the things of
God. He taught some of these things to
his father and some of his brothers and a
few others, but he had no authority to
preach or administer in the ordinances of
the house of God. Why? Because, as the
prophet has said, "No man taketh this
honor unto himself except he be called of
God as was ." [Hebrews 5:4] No man, in any gener-
ation, has ever had authority to preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ unless he was called
by revelation. You may read the history
of all the prophets and apostles from the
creation down, and they have all received
the holy priesthood under the hands of God
or angels, or under the hands of men who
have held this authority. It was so with
Joseph Smith. He could not find anybody
who possessed this authority, and he called
upon the Lord to know what to do, and the
Lord sent , who was be-
headed for his religion. [Doctrine and Covenants 27:8] John held
the Aaronic priesthood, and he came
and ordained Joseph Smith to the same
priesthood. This gave him power to ad-
minister in some of the ordinances of the
gospel of Christ. He could baptize for the
remission of sins, but he could not lay on
hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. The
Lord afterwards sent , and
, who held the keys of the kingdom in
their day and generation upon the earth,
and they ordained him an apostle, and
sealed upon his head every key, power and
blessing, and all the authority which they
exercised in their day. [Doctrine and Covenants 27:12]
This is the origin of the authority of the
the Latter-day Saints; and from that day
until the present the little stone cut out of
the mountain has been growing. The
Church was organized on the 6th of April,
1830, with six members, and the elders im-
mediately went forth, one here and another
there, bearing testimony and preaching the
doctrines the angel made known to Joseph,
and some few, out of many, have received
and obeyed the same. This gospel is the
the same as that taught by the ancient
apostles, namely, faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, repentance of sin, baptism for the
remission of sin, then the for the reception of the Holy Ghost.
These were the doctrines taught by the
ancient apostles, and the signs that followed
believers anciently follow them in our day.
Said Jesus, when sending his apostles
forth, to preach:
"Go ye into all the world and to every creature.
"He that believeth and is baptized, shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be
damned.
"And these signs shall [f]ollow them that be-
lieve: In my name they shall cast out devils;
they shall speak with new tongues;
"They shall take up serpents; and if they
drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover." [Mark 16:15-18]
All these gifts and graces were promised
by Joseph and the early elders of the
Church, just the same as by the ancient
Apostles; and this is the testimony that
every elder has borne from that day until
the present. Has the Lord backed up this
testimony? He has. All of the Twelve
who have labored abroad, and we have
been doing so, more or less, thirty or forty years,
traveling hundreds of thousands of miles,—
have made this declaration. I have preached
to millions of my fellow-men in my own
and other countries; and I and the other
apostles, as well as hundreds of elders of
this Church and Kingdom, have all made
the same proclamation, to kings, princes,
presidents and rulers and to the inhabit-
ants of the earth wherever we have gone as
far as we have had an opportunity and have
had the privilege of opening our mouths.
We have borne the same testimony to all,—
namely, that all who would receive our
testimony and obey the gospel should re-
ceive the Holy Ghost. Would we have
dared to go forth and bear this testimony if
we had not known this was the work of
God? No, there is not a man on the face of
the earth who dare do it under any other
circumstances, for his hypocrisy and decep-
tion would soon have been apparent; the
very first man that received his testimony
would have proved it. Could we have
gathered our hundreds of thousands from
the nations of the earth if we had been de-
ceivers, and had preached false doctrines?
As the apostle says, "But though we or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed." [Galatians 1:8] No, we
should have had no success; we might have
preached false doctrines until we were grey,
or as old as , but if we had we
should never have seen , this or these valleys of the mountains. But
the Lord backed up our testimony, and
tens of thousands throughout this Territory
and in the world, who received it,
can bear record that they have re-
ceived the Holy Ghost, and the revelations
of Jesus Christ, and that the gifts and graces
of the gospel have followed them.
This Church is organized exactly as it
was anciently,—with apostles, prophets,
pastors, teachers, gifts, helps and . Are all apostles, or are all pro-
phets? Do all have the gifts of healing, or
do all speak with new tongues? No, but
all these gifts and offices are in the Church,
and, as the apostle says, they are placed
there for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ, and for the
perfecting of the Saints—until we are come
to the unity of the faith, to the knowledge of
the Son of God and to the fulness of the
stature of a man in Christ Jesus. [Ephesians 4:12-13] That is
what they are given for, and they are needed
just as much as they ever were in any gen-
eration. But the world has been without
these blessings and wandering in darkness
for nearly eighteen centuries. Now the
Lord has raised up a people to establish His
Kingdom on the same foundation as an-
ciently. This is the work of the Latter-day
Saints. We have been called to warn this
generation; we understand the and know that the judgments of God
are at hand. If we had not been faithful to
our calling and mission, the Lord would
have raised up another people, because the
set time is at hand for Him to establish His
Kingdom.
There are one or two ideas more I wish to
refer to, with regard to the mission of
Christ. That mission did not end when He
was crucified. When that event took place
we are told that His body lay in the tomb
for three days, and that His spirit went to
preach to the spirits in prison, which some-
time were disobedient when the long suf-
fering of God waited in the days of ,
while the ark was preparing. Jesus went
and preached to them in the spirit that they
might be judged according to men in the
flesh. [1 Peter 3:19-20] [1 Peter 4:6] Here is a principle of which the
Christian world know nothing, and which
has been revealed to us in our own day,
—namely, preaching the gospel of life and
salvation to the spirits of those who pass
away without rendering obedience there-
unto. Nearly eighteen hundred years have
passed away since God had a church upon
the earth. In that time about fifty-four
thousand millions of human beings have
passed away without the gospel. Are they
to perish because they lived in generations
when God had no church on the earth?
No, they will be preached to by men who
go into the spirit world, who hold the keys
of the Kingdom of God, and the ordinances
of the house of God will be administer-
ed to them by their descendants and friends
here on the earth. The Apostle evi-
dently had his mind on this subject when
he says, "Why then are they baptized for
the dead if the dead rise not?" [1 Corinthians 15:29]
I do not know how fully Brother Benson
has attended to the work for his dead, but
I know that he has worked hard for the
living; and when he goes into the spirit world
and meets with those for whom he has been
baptized and been the means of liberating
them from prison in the spirit world, what
joy he will have! And it will be so with
others. And this work of adminisiering [administering]
the ordinances of the house of God to the
dead, I may say, will require the whole of
the millenium, with Jesus at the head of the
resurrected dead to attend to it. The ordin-
ances of salvation will have to be attended
to for the dead who have not heard the gos-
pel, from the days of Adam down before
Christ can present this world to the Father
and say "It is finished." [John 19:30]
Brethren and sisters, let us be admonish-
ed by the death of Brother Benson, and if
we have anything to do let us do it. Let
us go to and attend to our ordinances, then
when we go to the spirit world and meet
with father, mother brother or sister they
cannot rise up and accuse us of negligence.
I have attended to the ordinances for a
great many of my friends, and I want you
to do the same, so that when we get to the
other side of the vail we may look back
and be satisfied. This power has been
placed in the hands of the Latter-day Saints,
then let us go forth and use it for the salva-
tion of the living and the dead. With re-
gard to the unbelief of the world, it will
not make the truth of God without effect.
These ordinances have been revealed to us;
we understand them, and unless we attend
to them we shall fall under condemnation.
I rejoice in the work of God and I rejoice
to live in this day and age of the world.
I want to live as long as I can do good; but
not an hour longer than I can live in fel-
lowship with the Holy Spirit, with my
Father in heaven, my Savior and with the
faithful Latter-day Saints. To live any
longer than this would be torment and
misery to me. When my work is done I
am ready to go; but I want to do what is
required of me. The gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to all who believe,
both Jew and Greek. Let us be faithful,
keep our covenants, do our duty, and at-
tend to all the ordinances of the gospel as
far as we can both for ourselves and our
dead. When we have done this we shall
be satisfied. I pray that God may bless
you; that he may bless the apostles who
dwell on the earth; that His power may
rest on the presiding Twelve, the Seven-
ties, the High Priests, the Bishops, Elders,
Teachers and Deacons, and all who have
entered into covenant to keep His com-
mandments. Let us be faithful and we
shall obtain our reward; we shall overcome
and obtain eternal life and a crown of
glory if we magnify our calling by living
the religion which we have received, which
may God grant for Christ's sake, Amen.
380 THE DESERET NEWS. [Sept. 15
prophet, elder and saint of God, and to
all the inhabitants of the earth, "Be ye also
ready!" That is what it says to all men.
If you have anything to do, any work to
perform that is of consequence to yourself
or friends, living or dead, do it.
Is there any sorrow or mourning in my
heart with regard to the departure of
Brother ? I would rather follow a
thousand aostles and prophets to the grave
and see their lifeless remains deposited in
the dark and silent tomb, than see one man
who has tasted the good word of God, and
the powers of the world to come make
shipwreck of his faith, lose his crown and
go to perdition. I have had more sorrow
in seeing men, with whom I have traveled
and preached the Gospel, turn from the
truth, commit wickedness and lose their
standing in the Church, than over all the
faithful Latter-day Saints I have seen laid
in the tomb. When I see a man depart
who, like Brother Benson, has been ever
willing to go and come and do the bidding
of those over him, I look forward with
great joy to his reward. He is the first
man in the Quorum of the Twelve, who, for
the last forty years, has had the privilege of
dying a natural death; for most of the
apostles who ever tabernacled in the flesh
have died as martyrs. We have had two in
our quorum who have died thus, besides
our prophet and patriarch. True, they will
receive a martyr's crown, so will all men
who are true and faithful unto death and
lay down their lives for the work of God
and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Brother Benson has died among his
friends; he had not been in pain or suffering,
or endured a lingering sickness. Thank God
he died in the harness and has gone home
to receive his reward. During the time he
has been a member of the Church he has
been on many missions. I will here remark, without entering into details, that
at the time the Saints were driven from
to this land, he was called upon
and sent east, as one of the agents of the
church to prove the eastern country,—our
Puritan fathers and friends in New England, after we had been driven from our
homes, country, and the graves of parents,
wives and children, to see if they would
stretch out their hand to assist us while in
the wilderness. He labored faithfully on
that mission, visiting Boston and other
leading New England cities, calling for
contributions to help the poor, the widow
and the fatherless, who were, in a measure,
in a state of starvation in the wilderness
after having been driven from their homes
in the midst of an inclement winter. I believe he got fifty dollars. If he had gone
into and split rails by the day I
guess he would have made considerable
more money in the same time. But never
mind! He was faithful on his mission, and
returned faithful, and continued so from
the commencement of his career as a Latter-day Saint until the day of his death.
I rejoice in this, and it is a consolation to
his family, and to all Israel to know
that he has been true and faithful to
his calling. When I contemplate and realize that the little time spent here in this
mortal life will fix and mould our destiny
for all the endless ages of eternity I try to
realize what manner of men we all ought
to be.
I have traveled a good deal with Brother
Benson and have been acquainted with
him, as you have, a good many years past,
and I can bear this testimony of him,—he
has always been ready and willing to labor in either temporal or spiritual things.
Here on this road he labored faithfully
during the past year in building a hundred miles of the railroad; he and those
associated with him finished their job with
punctuality. All these things show the
untiring industry and perseverance of the
man.
This is the way with all of us. We are
all called to labor in temporal and spiritual
things in building up the kingdom of God
in these last days. We have to preach the
gospel to the children of men; we have to
warn the nations of the earth. We have
been called to do this; this is the command
of God to the Elders of Israel. In obedience
to this they shoulder their knapsacks and
without purse or scrip, travel the world
over to declare to the children of men the
words of life and salvation. In doing this
they swim rivers, wade swamps and endure much toil and privation. During the
last thirty-seven years of my life I haye traveled one hundred thousand miles in
obedience to this command. It will be well
with all men who are faithful in the performance of these duties. Brother Benson
never performed a mission or any other
duty but what he will rejoice over forever,
and so it will be with us all. The reward
of the faithful will amply repay them for
all the labors they ever performed or for
the privations they have endured. No labor we have ever done that has helped to
promote the happiness and well-being of
our fellowmen will go unrewarded. Brother Benson, to-day, instead of being with
his family in , that is in the flesh, he
may be with them in spirit, is privileged
to mingle with his brethren who have
gone before,—, , , , and the prophets and apostles
of former days. He is mingling with
them. They have finished their work in
the flesh. So has he. He has been suddenly
called away from his labors but his works
will follow him.
I wish to speak to my friends a little,
with regard to the position which we occupy as Elders of Israel, and as the church and
kingdom of God upon the earth. I feel impressed to do so. I do not know that I wish
to say a great deal more with regard to
Brother Benson. His labors are before us
and the world, and they are before God and
angels. I am satisfied with them and I do
not know who is not who was acquainted
with him. I wish, now, to say something
with regard to the organization of this
Church and the position occupied by Joseph
Smith, Elder Benson and the Apostles and
priesthood of this Church.
We are living in a very important age, an
age in which preparations are making for
the second coming of the Messiah to reign
a thousand years upon the earth with His
Saints. The Scriptures of the Old and New
Testament will never be fulfilled until this
comes to pass. An angel of God, the Revelator informs us, was to fly through
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach to them that dwell on the
earth,—to every nation, kindred, tongue
and people, saying with a loud voice, "Fear
God and give glory to Him, for the hour of
His judgment is come, and worship Him
who made the heavens, the earth, the seas
and the fountains of water." You may
take up and all the prophets, and
you will find that they refer to this latterday dispensation, when the Kingdom of
God should be established on the earth.
There never was a prophet, from
down, whose records we have, but had his
eye upon this great dispensation of the last
days. When the Lord created the earth He
placed men upon it, and though the power
of sin has entered it, it has not been left by
the Lord to go at random. In Adam all
fell, or died, but in Christ, the apostle says,
all are made alive. Our worthy President
has often said, when speaking upon the
prevalence of sin in this world, that one of
the greatest honors and blessings ever conferred on the sons of men, was to come and
dwell in the flesh in a sinful world like this,
amid the power of evil, temptation and
darkness, that they might have the privilege of overcoming them and of inheriting
eternal life, which is the greatest gift of
God. All the prophets have foreseen the
establishment of the Kingdom of God in the
last days; they have seen Zion pass through
all her travail and persecution to her final
triumph, when she possessed great glory,
power and dominion upon the land of
. saw the kingdom of God,
which he likens to a little stone cut out of
the mountains without hands, which grew
and increased in size until it filled the whole
earth. Daniel said this kingdom was to be an
everlasting kingdom.
Well, brethren and sisters, you and I
have lived to see the dawn of the great day
thus referred to by the prophets, in which
the God of heaven has set His hand for the
last time to establish His kingdom upon
the earth; a kingdom not to be overthrown,
but to remain until sin, Satan and the
power of the devil are banished from the
face thereof, and until, as the prophets have
said, the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and His
Christ.
This day we have lived to see. This tabernacle, this congregation, and the multitudes
through the valleys of the mountains are
the fruits of this work. How did it commence? It commenced by an angel of God
flying through the midst of heaven and
visiting a young man named Joseph Smith,
in the year 1827. That was the time of a
great awakening among the sectarians of
the day—a day of revivals and protracted
meetings, when the people were called upon
to join themselves to the sectarian churches.
This young man looked around amid the
the confusion among the different sects,
each proclaiming the plan of salvation differently, and each claiming it was right and
that all others were wrong; in the midst of
this contention he did not know which to
join. While in this state of uncertainty he
turned to the Bible, and there saw that passage in the epistle of James which directs
him that lacks wisdom to ask of God. He
went into his secret chamber and asked the
Lord what he must do to be saved. The
Lord heard his prayer and sent His angel to
him, who informed him that all the sects
were wrong, and that the God of heaven was
about to establish His work upon the earth.
This angel quoted many of the prophecies
of , and and told this
young man that they were about to be fulfilled among the nations of the earth; and
he also told him that if he would listen and
render obedience to the commands of God,
he should be an instrument in the hands of
the Lord in establishing His kingdom upon the earth.
These visits were repeated from time to
time, during which Joseph received revelation and much instruction in the things of
God. He taught some of these things to
his father and some of his brothers and a
few others, but he had no authority to
preach or administer in the ordinances of
the house of God. Why? Because, as the
prophet has said, "No man taketh this
honor unto himself, except he be called of
God, as was ." No man, in any generation, has ever had authority to preach the
Gospel of Jesus Christ unless he was called
by revelation. You may read the history
of all the prophets and apostles from the
creation down, and they have all received
the holy priesthood under the hands of God
or angels, or under the hands of men who
have held this authority. It was so with
Joseph Smith. He could not find anybody
who possessed this authority, and he called
upon the Lord to know what to do, and the
Lord sent , who was beheaded for his religion. John held
the Aaronic priesthood, and he came
and ordained Joseph Smith to the same
priesthood. This gave him power to administer in some of the ordinances of the
gospel of Christ. He could baptize for the
remission of sins, but he could not lay on
hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. The
Lord afterwards sent , and
, who held the keys of the kingdom in
their day and generation upon the earth,
and they ordained him an apostle, and
sealed upon his head every key, power and
blessing, and all the authority which they
exercised in their day.
This is the origin of the authority of the
the Latter-day Saints; and from that day
until the present the little stone cut out of
the mountain has been growing. The
Church was organized on the 6th of April,
1830, with six members, and the elders immediately went forth, one here and another
there, bearing testimony and preaching the
doctrines the angel made known to Joseph,
and some few, out of many, have received
and obeyed the same. This gospel is the
the same as that taught by the ancient
apostles, namely, faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, repentance of sin, baptism for the
remission of sin, then the laying on of
hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost.
These were the doctrines taught by the
ancient apostles, and the signs that followed
believers anciently follow them in our day.
Said Jesus, when sending his apostles
forth, to preach:
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
"He that believeth and is baptized, shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be
damned.
"And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils;
they shall speak with new tongues;
"They shall take up serpents; and if they
drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them;
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover."
All these gifts and graces were promised
by Joseph and the early elders of the
Church, just the same as by the ancient
Apostles; and this is the testimony that
every elder has borne from that day until
the present. Has the Lord backed up this
testimony? He has. All of the Twelve
who have labored abroad, and we have
been doing so, more or less, thirty or forty years,
traveling hundreds of thousands of miles,—
have made this declaration. I have preached
to millions of my fellow-men in my own
and other countries; and I and the other
apostles, as well as hundreds of elders of
this Church and Kingdom, have all made
the same proclamation, to kings, princes,
presidents and rulers and to the inhabitants of the earth wherever we have gone as
far as we have had an opportunity and have
had the privilege of opening our mouths.
We have borne the same testimony to all—
namely, that all who would receive our
testimony and obey the Gospel should receive the Holy Ghost. Would we have
dared to go forth and bear this testimony if
we had not known this was the work of
God? No, there is not a man on the face of
the earth who dare do it under any other
circumstances, for his hypocrisy and deception would soon have been apparent; the
very first man that received his testimony
would have proved it. Could we have
gathered our hundreds of thousands from
the nations of the earth if we had been deceivers, and had preached false doctrines?
As the Apostle says, "But though we or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed." No, we
should have had no success; we might have
preached false doctrines until we were grey,
or as old as , but if we had we
should never have seen Utah, this tabernacle or these valleys of the mountains. But
the Lord backed up our testimony, and
tens of thousands throughout this Territory
and in the world, who received it,
can bear record that they have received the Holy Ghost, and the revelations
of Jesus Christ, and that the gifts and graces
of the gospel have followed them.
This Church is organized exactly as it
was anciently—with apostles, prophets,
pastors, teachers, gifts, helps and governments. Are all apostles, or are all prophets? Do all have the gifts of healing, or
do all speak with new tongues? No, but
all these gifts and offices are in the Church,
and, as the apostle says, they are placed
there for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ, and for the
perfecting of the Saints—until we are come
to the unity of the faith, to the knowledge of
the Son of God and to the fulness of the
stature of a man in Christ Jesus. That is
what they are given for, and they are needed
just as much as they ever were in any generation. But the world has been without
these blessings and wandering in darkness
for nearly eighteen centuries. Now the
Lord has raised up a people to establish His
Kingdom on the same foundation as anciently. This is the work of the Latter-day
Saints. We have been called to warn this
generation; we understand the signs of the
times and know that the judgments of God
are at hand. If we had not been faithful to
our calling and mission, the Lord would
have raised up another people, because the
set time is at hand for Him to establish His
Kingdom.
There are one or two ideas more I wish to
refer to, with regard to the mission of
Christ. That mission did not end when He
was crucified. When that event took place
we are told that his body lay in the tomb
for three days, and that His spirit went to
preach to the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient when the long suffering of God waited in the days of ,
while the ark was preparing. Jesus went
and preached to them in the spirit that they
might be judged according to men in the
flesh. Here is a principle of which the
Christian world know nothing, and which
has been revealed to us in our own day
—namely, preaching the gospel of life and
salvation to the spirits of those who pass
away without rendering obedience thereunto. Nearly eighteen hundred years have
passed away since God had a church upon
the earth. In that time about fifty-four
thousand millions of human beings have
passed away without the gospel. Are they
to perish because they lived in generations
when God had no Church on the earth?
No, they will be preached to by men who
go into the spirit world, who hold the keys
of the Kingdom of God, and the ordinances
of the house of God will be administered to them by their descendants and friends
here on the earth. The Apostle evidently had his mind on this subject when
he says, "Why then are they baptized for
the dead if the dead rise not?"
I do not know how fully Brother Benson
has attended to the work for his dead, but
I know that he has worked hard for the
living; and when he goes into the spirit world
and meets with those for whom he has been
baptized and been the means of liberating
them from prison in the spirit world, what
joy he will have! And it will be so with
others. And this work of administering
the ordinances of the house of God to the
dead, I may say, will require the whole of
the millennium, with Jesus at the head of the
resurrected dead to attend to it. The ordinances of salvation will have to be attended
to for the dead who have not heard the gospel, from the days of Adam down before
Christ can present this world to the Father
and say "It is finished."
Brethren and sisters, let us be admonished by the death of Brother Benson, and if
we have anything to do let us do it. Let
us go to and attend to our ordinances, then
when we go to the spirit world and meet
with father, mother brother or sister they
cannot rise up and accuse us of negligence.
I have attended to the ordinances for a
great many of my friends, and I want you
to do the same, so that when we get to the
other side of the vail we may look back
and be satisfied. This power has been
placed in the hands of the Latter-day Saints,
then let us go forth and use it for the salvation of the living and the dead. With regard to the unbelief of the world, it will
not make the truth of God without effect.
These ordinances have been revealed to us;
we understand them, and unless we attend
to them we shall fall under condemnation.
I rejoice in the work of God and I rejoice
to live in this day and age of the world.
I want to live as long as I can do good; but
not an hour longer than I can live in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, with my
Father in heaven, my Savior and with the
faithful Latter-day Saints. To live any
longer than this would be torment and
misery to me. When my work is done I
am ready to go; but I want to do what is
required of me. The gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to all who believe,
both Jew and Greek. Let us be faithful,
keep our covenants, do our duty, and attend to all the ordinances of the gospel as
far as we can, both for ourselves and our
dead. When we have done this we shall
be satisfied. I pray that God may bless
you; that he may bless the apostles who
dwell on the earth; that His power may
rest on the presiding Twelve, the Seventies, the High Priests, the Bishops, Elders,
Teachers and Deacons, and all who have
entered into covenant to keep His commandments. Let us be faithful and we
shall obtain our reward; we shall overcome
and obtain eternal life and a crown of
glory if we magnify our calling by living
the religion which we have received, which
may God grant for Christ's sake, Amen.
