go forth and bear a true and faithful testimony
to the nations of the earth and the isles of the
sea and have preached unto them the gospel of
Christ, and what has been the consequence?
The words of the Lord have been fulfilled to the
very letter, for wherever this gospel has been
preached there have been hypocrites, the wicked
and ungodly, and there also have been the honest
and the meek of the earth, and whoever have re-
ceived this testimony, been baptized for the re-
mission of sins, received the laying on of hands
for the gift of the Holy Ghost—have had their
minds enlightened, and they have looked forward
with an eye of faith to see the fulfillment of
what God has promised.

Have we as a Church been disappointed in
anything? No, we have not, but the Lord has
fulfilled his promises in relation to the things of
his kingdom.

The Lord has chosen men like Joseph and Hy-
rum, the Smith family and the Twelve Apostles,
and they have been humble men in this church
and kingdom, and almost all the officers have been
called from the laboring class, from the plow,
from the hammer and the anvil, and from nearly
every occupation, and their words have pierced
the honest in heart, for they have had all the
power, blessings and knowledge which the Lord
has given unto them, and they have given the
honor and glory to God. I will venture to say
there is no people upon the earth who have been
picked up as we have been, for we have been
gathered from all religions and sects.

The Elders have gone forth teaching and bap-
tizing the people; they have laid their hands upon
the sick and healed them, cast out devils, and had
power to do all those things which the Lord has
promised unto believers. Wherever the people
have received the truth the signs have followed—
the lame have been made to walk, the deaf to
hear, the blind to see; fevers have been rebuked
and the elements have been subject to the Elders
of Israel. Where is there a man who has gone
out to preach the gospel who has not been con-
strained by the Spirit to warn the people, as mes-
sengers of salvation, of the judgments that are
coming upon the earth?

We have been called upon to warn all who
came in our way, including kings, rulers, the
rich and learned, as well as the poor and humble.
It is true that the Lord might have enlightened
the minds of the rulers, the rich and learned and
chosen them to have performed his work in the
establishment of his church upon the earth, but
he never has seen fit to work through that chan-
nel, but he has ever chosen the poor and humble
as his messengers upon the earth.

There is another thing which I desire to allude
to, and that is the very excellent discourse we
have heard to-day, and the testimony of the ser-
vants of God in relation to our present position.
The opposition that we have had and the perse-
cutions we have passed through have been allud-
ed to by br. Taylor, and all those matters are in
fulfillment of what the angel told br. Joseph, and
as long as Satan rules in the world this spirit of
mobocracy will manifest itself, even until the
scenery shall be wound up, and until he who
holds the keys of the bottomless pit shall bind him
with a chain, cast him into the pit and shut
him up, and put a seal upon him.

We expect this, it is what we are looking for,
and yet we above all people have reason to re-
joice; we have reason to rejoice in him who
stands at the helm, and who has nourished and
sustained this kingdom from the beginning. The
God of heaven has never forsaken this work, but
he has ever backed up his servants and opened
their way before them.

How the soul of the Prophet rejoiced when he
beheld the work of God spreading abroad in the
earth, the truth received by the children of men,
and the promises of God verified to the letter, in
the gathering of the Saints and a way prepared
for the establishment of Zion upon the earth.

We have had the holy Priesthood conferred
upon us, and the power of God has surrounded
us, so that we have been preserved thus far from
the hands of our enemies in the midst of the many
circumstances in which we have been placed.
Those things should increase our faith before the
Lord and give us confidence in his promises, and
it should inspire our hearts to diligence in the
fulfillment of every duty required of us.

The Lord says in the revelations contained in
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants that this
gospel shall be preached in all the world, and he
commands his servants to call upon all nations to
repent and obey the voice of God, to receive the
gospel and the words of eternal life. He says:

'Lift up your voices and spare not. Call upon
the nations to repent, both old and young, both
bond and free; saying—Prepare yourselves for
the great day of the Lord: for if I, who am a
man, do lift up my voice and call upon you to
repent, and ye hate me, what will ye say when
the day cometh when the thunders shall utter
their voices from the ends of the earth, speaking
to the ears of all that live, saying: Repent and
prepare for the great day of the Lord! yea, and
again, when the lightnings shall streak forth from
the east unto the west, and shall utter forth their
voices unto all that live, and make the ears of all
tingle, that hear, saying these words: Repent ye,
for the great day of the Lord is come!

6 And again, the Lord shall utter his voice out
of heaven, saying: Hearken, O ye nations of the
earth, and hear the word of that God who made
you. O, ye nations of the earth, how often
would I have gathered you together as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye
would not! How oft have I called you by the
mouth of my servants, and by the ministering of
angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice
of thunderings, and by the voice of lightnings,
and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of
earthquakes, and great hailstorms, and by the
voice of famines and pestilences of every kind,
and by the great sound of a trump, and by the
voice of judgment, and by the voice of mercy all
the day long, and by the voice of glory and honor,
and the riches of eternal life, and would have
saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye
would not! Behold the day has come, when the
cup of the wrath of mine indignation is full.

7 Behold, verily I say unto you, that these are
the words of the Lord your God: wherefore, la-
bor ye, labor ye in my vineyard for the last time:
for the last time call upon the inhabitants of the
earth, for in my own due time will I come upon
the earth in judgment; and my people shall be re-
deemed and shall reign with me on earth; for the
great millenial, of which I have spoken by the mouth
of my servants, shall come; for satan shall be
bound; and when he is loosed again, he shall
only reign for a little season, and then cometh the
end of the earth; and he that liveth in righteous-
ness, shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye;
and the earth shall pass away so as by fire; and
the wicked shall go away into unquenchable fire,
and their end no man knoweth on earth, nor ever
shall know, until they come before me in judg-
ment'— -[Doc. and Covs, sec. xiv, page 177.

I look upon these things; I reflect upon our
government in the manner which has been re-
ferred to to-day; I look at the liberal laws and
Constitution that exist in our land upon which
our government is founded, and yet in the midst
of all this we have not had the privilege of en-
joying our rights, or worshipping God or enjoying
our religion without persecution and oppression.
The Lord has frequently given us revelations upon
these things, and he has spoken concerning our
government and Constitution, and he has said 'ye
are justified in maintaining the Constitution and
laws of the land for they make you free and the
gospel maketh you free, and you shall seek to
sustain good and wise men for rulers, and what-
soever is more or less than this cometh of evil.' [Doctrine and Covenants 98:5-10]
Do you blame the Latter Day Saints? Can the
Lord, can angels, or can anybody blame the Lat-
ter Day Saints for rejecting such cursed, corrupt
scoundrels as we have had here? The laws of
heaven command us not to uphold and sustain
men except they are good men, who will sustain
the Constitution of our country, and we are ful-
filling the revelations in this respect as in many
others, and we are carrying out the requirements
of the Constitution of the United States.

We have fulfilled the law of God, and we have
always been willing to receive and respect all
good and wise men in carrying out the laws and
Constitution of our country.

We have plead with the government, we have
plead with the President and we have plead with
the Senate of the United States to send us good
men; br. Taylor has told us they will not do it,
and why? Because they are not good themselves;
they are not virtuous, they are not holy, and they
will not acknowledge the hand of God at all, but
seek to overthrow the blessings and spirit of that
rich legacy bequeathed to us through the blood of
our fathers—the Constitution. Here is where
I consider that our nation, and the whole people
of the United States, are under condemnation; it
is because they have a constitution and laws of
government, which the people control, for they
elect their own officers, for all citizens have the
right to vote for their governors, presidents and
officers in general, and hence they come under
condemnation. -[Blessed the sacramental cup.]-

The whole people have a vote in the selection
of their officers and if they appoint wicked men
for their governors and for their rulers, and then
those rulers go to work and rule unrighteously,
tyrannize over the poor and humble, and sacrifice
human life to satisfy their wicked ambition, at
whose hands will the Lord require the blood of
the innocent? He will require it of those who
elected the officers, for the responsibility does not
rest alone upon the presidents, or governors, or
judges, but it rests in a great measure with the
people who placed them in power, when a nation
becomes corrupt and appoint corrupt and wicked
rulers and sustain them in their wickedness.

When Joseph and Hyrum Smith were mur-
dered the greater part of the people rejoiced in it,
and would remark that it was a pity the Smiths
had died in the way they had, but it was a good
thing they were out of the way. Governor Ford
said, when speaking to the brethren in Nauvoo,
that almost every man he talked with would say
it was a pity the Smiths should die under the
pledged protection of the Governor of the State,
but yet they were glad they were dead. Will not
God require an atonement at the hands of such
men?

In as much as we have trusted in the Lord, and
have found him true to his word, why should we
not trust him now? If the harvest was ripe
twenty or thirty years ago surely it is ripe now,
for the Elders of Israel have gone forth to the
nations, and the people have rejected their testi-
mony.

The more I look at the words which the Lord
has spoken concerning our enemies, and especially
those of this nation, the more I become satisfied
that they will not escape the judgments of the Al-
mighty any more than the Nephites of old did, or
any of the other nations who have rejected the
message sent unto them by the God of Heaven.
This nation are ripe in iniquity, and the destroy-
ing Angels are at their doors, and I am as sure
that the scourges will follow, as I am that the
servants of God have borne a true and faithful
testimony unto them. I know what the con-
sequence will be of the world rejecting the truth,
for I have the testimony of Jesus and the Spirit of
God within me, and therefore I say let us look
well to our ways, remember our covenants, our
duties and our prayers and I do hope and pray
that the Elders in Great Salt Lake City, will not
in the midst of their recreations neglect their
prayers on their duties before the Lord, nor per-
mit any thing to stand between them and the
building up the kingdom of God.

Mormonism is just as good as it was a year ago.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is as good as it was a
year ago, or as it was in Kirtland or Nauvoo, and
it is our privilege to continue to increase in bless-
ings, glory, power and virtue from this time hence-
forth and for ever, and therefore I say brethren
and sisters let us lay these things to heart, and
let us look at them as they exist before us. Let
us read the revelations of God and give heed to
the teachings of the living Oracles and have faith
in their promises, that we may thereby have the
Spirit of God to enlighten us and to guide us
through this probation.

The Presidency of this Church are good men,
they are filled with the Spirit of the Lord con-
tinually, with the spirit of teaching, of counsel,
which if we follow will lead us on to eternal life,
therefore we are blest, and saved when we obey
their teaching.

We have our leading men, and our Governor,
all of whom have proceeded out of the midst of
us; our judges, our wise men, and our rulers, are
those that have come out of the house of Israel,
and this is a blessing and a privilege that Israel
have not enjoyed for many generations. We see
that the Elders have gone forth and labored for the
upbuilding of the Kingdom of God, and for
carrying out the purposes of our heavenly
Father and for the accomplishment of the great
work of the latter days.

We have the greatest reason to be thankful of
any people upon the earth, and we should realize
that as we have been preserved heretofore so we
shall be hereafter, and though the United States,
and though all Europe and hell may make war
upon us yet if we listen to the counsel that has
been given, the blow will be warded off, and what-
ever we may be called to pass through will be
for our salvation, exaltation and glory.

I pray the Lord my heavenly Father to grant
us his Spirit that we may prize our blessings, keep
our covenants, and continually have his favor, and
continue humble and faithful, and that he will
pour out those judgments upon the wicked,
proud and the rebellious which they desire to in-
flict upon the people of God, which may the Lord
grant for Christ's sake—Amen.

go forth and bear a true and faithful testimony to the nations of the earth and the isles of the sea, and have preached unto them the gospel of Christ, and what has been the consequence?— The words of the Lord have been fulfilled to the very letter, for wherever this Gospel has been preached there have been hypocrites, the wicked and ungodly, and there also have been the honest and the meek of the earth, and whoever have received this testimony, been baptized for the remission of sins, received the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost—have had their minds enlightened, and they have looked forward with an eye of faith to see the fulfilment of what God has promised.

Have we as a Church been disappointed in anything? No, we have not, but the Lord has fulfilled his promises in relation to the things of his kingdom.

The Lord has chosen men like Joseph and Hyrum, the Smith family, and the Twelve Apostles, and they have been humble men in this church and kingdom, and almost all the officers have been called from the laboring class, from the plow, from the hammer and the anvil, and from nearly every occupation, and their words have pierced the honest in heart, for they have had all the power, blessings and knowledge which the Lord has given unto them, and they have given the honor and glory to God. I will venture to say there is no people upon the earth who have been picked up as we have been, for we have been gathered from all religions and sects.

The Elders have gone forth teaching and baptizing the people; they have laid their hands upon the sick and healed them, cast out devils, and had power to do all those things which the Lord has promised unto believers. Wherever the people have received the truth the signs have followed— the lame have been made to walk, the deaf to hear, the blind to see; fevers have been rebuked and the elements have been subject to the Elders of Israel. Where is there a man who has gone out to preach the gospel who has not been constrained by the Spirit to warn the people, as messengers of salvation, of the judgments that are coming upon the earth?

We have been called upon to warn all who came in our way, including kings, rulers, the rich, and learned, as well as the poor and humble. It is true that the Lord might have enlightened the minds of the rulers, the rich and learned and chosen them to have performed his work in the establishment of his Church upon the earth, but he never has seen fit to work through that channel, but he has ever chosen the poor and humble as his messengers upon the earth.

There is another thing which I desire to allude to, and that is the very excellent discourse we have heard to-day, and the testimony of the servants of God in relation to our present position. The opposition that we have had and the persecutions we have passed through have been alluded to by br. Taylor, and all those matters are in fulfilment of what the angel told br. Joseph, and as long as Satan rules in the world this spirit of mobocracy will manifest itself, even until the scenery shall be wound up, and until he who holds the keys of the bottomless pit shall bind him with a chain, cast him into the pit and shut him up, and put a seal upon him.

We expect this. It is what we are looking for, and yet we above all people have reason to rejoice; we have reason to rejoice in him who stands at the helm, and who has nourished and sustained this kingdom from the beginning. The God of heaven has never forsaken this work, but he has ever backed up his servants and opened their way before them.

How the soul of the Prophet rejoiced when he beheld the work of God spreading abroad in the earth, the truth received by the children of men, and the promises of God verified to the letter, in the gathering of the Saints and a way prepared for the establishment of Zion upon the earth.

We have had the holy Priesthood conferred upon us, and the power of God has surrounded us, so that we have been preserved thus far from the hands of our enemies in the midst of the many circumstances in which we have been placed. Those things should increase our faith before the Lord and give us confidence in his promises, and it should inspire our hearts to diligence in the fulfilment of every duty required of us.

The Lord says, in the revelations contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants that this gospel shall be preached in all the world, and he commands his servants to call upon all nations to repent and obey the voice of God, to receive the gospel and the words of eternal life. He says:

'Lift up your voices and spare not. Call upon the nations to repent, both old and young, both bond and free; saying,—Prepare yourselves for the great day of the Lord: for if I, who am a man, do lift up my voice and call upon you to repent, and ye hate me, what will ye say when the day cometh when the thunders shall utter their voices from the ends of the earth, speaking to the ears of all that live, saying: Repent and prepare for the great day of the Lord! yea, and again, when the lightnings shall streak forth from the east unto the west, and shall utter forth their voices unto all that live, and make the ears of all tingle, that hear, saying these words: Repent ye, for the great day of the Lord is come!

6 And again, the Lord shall utter his voice out of heaven, saying: Hearken, O ye nations of the earth, and hear the word of that God who made you. O, ye nations of the earth, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not! How oft have I called you by the mouth of my servants, and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice of thunderings, and by the voice of lightnings, and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes and great hailstorms, and by the voice of famines and pestilences of every kind, and by the great sound of a trump, and by the voice of judgment, and by the voice of mercy all the day long, and by the voice of glory and honor,

and the riches of eternal life, and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not! Behold the day has come, when the cup of the wrath of mine indignation is full.

7 Behold, verily I say unto you, that these are the words of the Lord your God: wherefore, labor ye, labor ye in my vineyard for the last time: for the last time call upon the inhabitants of the earth, for in my own due time will I come upon the earth in judgment; and my people shall be redeemed and shall reign with me on earth; for the great millennial, of which I have spoken by the mouth of my servants, shall come; for satan shall be bound; and when he is loosed again, he shall only reign for a little season, and then cometh the end of the earth; and he that liveth in righteousness, shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye; and the earth shall pass away so as by fire; and the wicked shall go away into unquenchable fire; and their end no man knoweth on earth, nor ever shall know, until they come before me in judgment'—[Doc. and Covs, sec. xiv, page 177.

I look upon these things; I reflect upon our government in the manner which has been referred to to-day; I look at the liberal laws and Constitution that exist in our land upon which our Government is founded, and yet in the midst of all this, we have not had the privilege of enjoying our rights, or worshipping God or enjoying our religion, without persecution and oppression. The Lord has frequently given us revelations upon these things, and he has spoken concerning our government and Constitution, and he has said 'ye are justified in maintaining the Constitution and laws of the land, for they make you free and the gospel maketh you free, and you shall seek to sustain good and wise men for rulers, and whatsoever is more or less than this cometh of evil.' Do you blame the Latter Day Saints? Can the Lord, can angels, or can anybody blame the Latter Day Saints for rejecting such cursed, corrupt scoundrels as we have had here? The laws of heaven command us not to uphold and sustain men except they are good men, who will sustain the Constitution of our country, and we are fulfilling the revelations in this respect as in many others, and we are carrying out the requirements of the Constitution of the United States.

We have fulfilled the law of God, and we have always been willing to receive and respect all good and wise men in carrying out the laws and Constitution of our country.

We have plead with the government, we have plead with the President and we have plead with the Senate of the United States to send us good men; br. Taylor has told us they will not do it, and why? Because they are not good themselves; they are not virtuous, they are not holy, and they will not acknowledge the hand of God at all, but seek to overthrow the blessings and spirit of that rich legacy bequeathed to us through the blood of our fathers—the Constitution. Here is where I consider that our nation, and the whole people of the United States, are under condemnation; it is because they have a constitution and laws of government which the people control, for they elect their own officers, for all citizens have the right to vote for their governors, presidents and officers in general, and hence they come under condemnation. Blessed the sacramental cup.

The whole people have a vote in the selection of their officers and if they appoint wicked men or their governors and for their rulers, and then those rulers go to work and rule unrighteously, tyrannize over the poor and humble, and sacrifice human life to satisfy their wicked ambition, at whose hands will the Lord require the blood of the innocent? He will require it of those who elected the officers, for the responsibility does not rest alone upon the presidents, or governors, or judges, but it rests in a great measure with the people who placed them in power, when a nation becomes corrupt and appoint corrupt and wicked rulers, and sustains them in their wickedness.

When Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered the greater part of the people rejoiced in it, and would remark that it was a pity the Smiths had died in the way they had, but it was a good thing they were out of the way. Governor Ford said, when speaking to the brethren in Nauvoo, that almost every man he talked with would say it was a pity the Smiths should die under the pledged protection of the Governor of the State, but yet they were glad they were dead. Will not God require an atonement at the hands of such men?

Inasmuch as we have trusted in the Lord, and have found him true to his word, why should we not trust him now? If the harvest was ripe twenty or thirty years ago surely it is ripe now, for the Elders of Israel have gone forth to the nations, and the people have rejected their testimony.

The more I look at the words which the Lord has spoken concerning our enemies, and especially those of this nation, the more I become satisfied that they will not escape the judgments of the Almighty any more than the Nephites of old did, or any of the other nations who have rejected the message sent unto them by the God of Heaven.— This nation are ripe in iniquity, and the destroying angels are at their doors; and I am as sure that the scourges will follow as I am that the servants of God have borne a true and faithful testimony unto them. I know what the consequence will be of the world rejecting the truth, for I have the testimony of Jesus and the Spirit of God within me, and therefore I say let us look well to our ways, remember our covenants, our duties and our prayers and I do hope and pray that the Elders in Great Salt Lake City, will not in the midst of their recreations neglect their prayers on their duties before the Lord, nor permit any thing to stand between them and the building up the kingdom of God.

Mormonism is just as good as it was a year ago. The gospel of Jesus Christ is as good as it was a year ago, or as it was in Kirtland or Nauvoo, and it is our privilege to continue to increase in blessings, glory, power and virtue from this time henceforth and for ever, and therefore I say, brethren and sisters, let us lay these things to heart, and let us look at them as they exist before us. Let us read the revelations of God and give heed to the teachings of the living Oracles and have faith in their promises, that we may thereby have the Spirit of God to enlighten us and to guide us through this probation.

The Presidency of this Church are good men, they are filled with the Spirit of the Lord continually, with the spirit of teaching, of counsel, which if we follow will lead us on to eternal life, therefore we are blest, and saved when we obey their teaching.

We have our leading men, and our Governor, all of whom have proceeded out of the midst of us; our judges, our wise men, and our rulers, are those that have come out of the house of Israel, and this is a blessing and a privilege that Israel have not enjoyed for many generations. We see that the Elders have gone forth and laboured for the upbuilding of the Kingdom of God, and for carrying out the purposes of our heavenly Father and for the accomplishment of the great work of the latter days.

We have the greatest reason to be thankful of any people upon the earth, and we should realize that as we have been preserved heretofore, so we shall be hereafter, and though the United States, and though all Europe and hell may make war upon us yet if we listen to the counsel that has been given, the blow will be warded off, and whatever we may be called to pass through will be for our salvation, exaltation and glory.

I pray the Lord my heavenly Father to grant us his Spirit that we may prize our blessings, keep our covenants, and continually have his favor, and continue humble and faithful, and that he will pour out those judgments upon the wicked, proud and the rebellious which they desire to inflict upon the people of God, which may the Lord grant for Christ's sake:—Amen.