go on magnify- ing our calling and to be true and faithful to every commandment which God has given unto us, as the people of any other generation had in their day; and for one I can say, "It is the kingdom of God or no- thing" for me, and I am willing to risk the consequences. I know that I cannot afford to disobey any com- mandment which God has given to me, because there is no man who holds the Priesthood, and possessing the inspiration and the gifts of God and the light of truth, but would be ashamed both in the flesh and in the spirit-world to meet his God, and to be obliged to acknowledge that he did not obey His commandments.

When I read these solemn, these eternal declarations made through the mouth of Joseph Smith, no, my heart swells with gratitude and praise to God, my heavenly Father. I consid- er that the Doctrine and Covenants, our Testament, contains a code of the most solemn, the most Godlike proclamations ever made to the hu- man family. I will refer to the "Vision" alone, as a rev- elation which gives more light, more truth, and more principle than any revelation contained in any other book we ever read. It makes plain to our understanding our present condition, where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going to. Any man may know through that revelation what his part and condition will be. For all men know what laws they keep, and the laws that men keep here will determine their position here- after; they will be preserved by those laws and receive the blessings which belong to them.

I say a[g]ain, the Latter-day Saints have every encouragement; their pathway is plain and inviting before them. And the nearer we adhere to the commandments of God, the more confident we shall become that God is our friend and that He is watching over us and that His son Jesus is our advocate, with the Father, that He is in the midst of this people, and that He will con- tend for the rights of his Saints, and will ward off every weapon that is formed against Zion. So far at least we have been sustain- ed; the arm of Jehovah has been made bare in our behalf ever since we have been in these valleys, and all Israel whose eyes are open to see and whose minds can comprehend the dealings of God with his people, know it. We have been sustained by the power of God from the be- ginning to this day, and nothing short of the power of God could have saved us and brought us through; and nothing but the power of G[o]d can preserve us, and nothing but His wisdom can pilot us safe to the high destiny that awaits us.

The nation cares no more about our practising the order of plural mar- riage than any other principle of the gospel; it would make no difference with us to-day. Were we to com- promise this principle by saying, we will renounce it, we would than have to renounce our belief in rev- elation from God, and our belief in the necessity of Prophets and Apos- tles, and the principle of the gather- ing, and then to do away with the idea and practice of building Tem- ples in which to administer ordin- ances for the exaltation of the living and the redemption of the dead; and at last we would have to renounce our Church organization, and mix up and mingle with the world, and be- come part of them. Can we afford to do this? I tell you no, we can not; but we can afford to keep the com- mandments of God.

Let us obey the celestial law of God, that we may have our wives and child- ren with us in the morning of the first resurrection; that we may come forth clothed with glory, immortal- ity and eternal lives, with our wives and children bound to us in the family organization in the celestial world, to dwell with us throughout the endless ages of eternity, to- gether with all the sons and daugh- ters of Adam who shall have kept the commandments of God.

Although in its infancy, this work has a great and a mighty future; and as I have often said, the eyes of all the hosts of heaven are over us; the eyes of God Himself, and the eyes of all [t]he prophets and apostles that have ever lived in the flesh are watching this people. They know that they are not neither can they be made perfect without you; and they fully understand that we cannot be made perfect without them. They under- stand the greatness, the extent, the power and the glory of this dispen- sation.