marks, I shall be glad of it.
Our position, to-day, before the
heavens and the earth and before
each other, reminds me of days that
are past and gone. On the 20th of
July, 1847, I brought our late Presi-
dent in my carriage through
into this , which was the first time he set
foot upon this land. The question
has been often asked by strangers
who visit our , why did Brig-
ham Young pick upon this spot to
build a city? Because it was shown
him before he came here. But
when we came to this country, what
did we find here? A barren desert,
as barren as the ;
and the only signs of life were a few
black crickets, some cayote wolves,
and a few poor wandering Indians.
To-day we may travel from in
the north of our to in the south, a distance of
some 500 miles, and see on every
hand towns and villages, gardens,
and orchards, fields and crops; we
behold a people industrious and
happy, building their own dwelling-
houses, meeting-houses, school-houses,
tabernacles and Temples, and im-
provements and enterprises are con-
stantly going on. And all this
within so short a time. What does
this mean? What does it bespeak
to the strangers who visit our Terri-
tory, and in fact to the whole world,
and to heavenly as well as mortal
beings? It is evidence that God
has set his hand to fulfil the predic-
tion contained in the Bible, that he
has commenced the work of uniting
the record or stick of Joseph with
that of ; that the set time
has come for him to favor Zion.
And how have these things come
to pass and what was the origin
of this peculiar system that presents
itself now to the inhabitants of the
earth, which found a resting-place in
the wilds of this desolate, uninhabited
land, and which has already produced
such marvellous results? It was
performed in a very singular manner,
to begin with. As the Lord ever has
done in attempting to establish his
rule and government on the earth,
he chose the weak things of the
earth, and them he will use to con-
found the wisdom of the wise. He
manifested himself to a in his
teens, and also sent an to
him on several occasions, in fulfil-
ment of the revelation to the
Revelator, and of the inspired words
of many other Prophets and Apostles
who have spoken concerning the
marvellous work and wonder of the
latter-days. But says the world,
"We do not believe that." We un-
derstand that perfectly well; we do
not expect you to receive the Gospel
of the Son of God with the same
readiness that you believe the false-
hoods and misrepresentations that
are constantly made about it. The
world ever has opposed it, and we
expect to meet all manner of opposi-
tion until the final triumph of right
over wrong, of truth over error. We
might commence with father
and trace it down to the present time,
and we would find that the same
spirit of opposition and of followed the people of God in
every age, as exists to-day against
us, as a people. And so natural is
it for the devil to oppose every move
that the Lord makes towards re-
claiming and redeeming the earth,
that men are often found to de-
nounce the "Mormons" and their
religion when they know nothing
either of us or our tenets. The Sa-
vior of the world himself was de-
nounced as a deceiver, as an imposter;
why? Because those who raised
this cry against him knew him not,
and those who re-echoed it took not
the trouble to ascertain whether it
224 JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES.
marks, I shall be glad of it.
Our position, to-day, before the
heavens and the earth and before
each other, reminds me of days that
are past and gone. On the 20th of
July, 1847, I brought our late President in my carriage through
into this valley, which was the first time he set
foot upon this land. The question
has been often asked by strangers
who visit our city, why did Brigham Young pick upon this spot to
build a city? Because it was shown
him before he came here. But
when we came to this country, what
did we find here? A barren desert,
as barren as the Desert of Sahara;
and the only signs of life were a few
black crickets, some cayote wolves,
and a few poor wandering Indians.
To-day we may travel from Paris in
the north of our Territory to in the south, a distance of
some 500 miles, and see on every
hand towns and villages, gardens,
and orchards, fields and crops; we
behold a people industrious and
happy, building their own dwellinghouses, meeting-houses, school-houses,
tabernacles and Temples, and improvements and enterprises are constantly going on. And all this
within so short a time. What does
this mean? What does it bespeak
to the strangers who visit our Territory, and in fact to the whole world,
and to heavenly as well as mortal
beings? It is evidence that God
has set his hand to fulfil the prediction contained in the Bible, that he
has commenced the work of uniting
the record or stick of Joseph with
that of Judah; that the set time
has come for him to favor Zion.
And how have these things come
to pass and what was the origin
of this peculiar system that presents
itself now to the inhabitants of the
earth, which found a resting-place in
the wilds of this desolate, uninhabited
land, and which has already produced
such marvellous results? It was
performed in a very singular manner,
to begin with. As the Lord ever has
done in attempting to establish his
rule and government on the earth,
he chose the weak things of the
earth, and them he will use to confound the wisdom of the wise. He
manifested himself to a boy in his
teens, and also sent an angel to
him on several occasions, in fulfilment of the revelation to John the
Revelator, and of the inspired words
of many other Prophets and Apostles
who have spoken concerning the
marvellous work and wonder of the
latter-days. But says the world,
"We do not believe that." We understand that perfectly well; we do
not expect you to receive the Gospel
of the Son of God with the same
readiness that you believe the falsehoods and misrepresentations that
are constantly made about it. The
world ever has opposed it, and we
expect to meet all manner of opposition until the final triumph of right
over wrong, of truth over error. We
might commence with father Adam
and trace it down to the pressent time,
and we would find that the same
spirit of opposition and of persecution followed the people of God in
every age, as exists to-day against
us, as a people. And so natural is
it for the devil to oppose every move
that the Lord makes towards reclaiming and redeeming the earth,
that men are often found to denounce the "Mormons" and their
religion when they know nothing
either of us or our tenets. The Savior of the world himself was denounced as a deceiver, as an imposter;
why? Because those who raised
this cry against him knew him not,
and those who re-echoed it took not
the trouble to ascertain whether it
