blood of any of the human family; and
when the books are opened in the day
of judgment these things will be proven
to heaven and earth. Perhaps I had not
ought to enter into these things, but it
came to me. Men are in danger some-
times in being adopted to others, until
they know who they are and what they
will be. Now, what are the feelings of
Israel? They have felt that they wanted
to be adopted to somebody. President
Young was not satisfied in his mind with
regard to the extent of this matter;
President Taylor was not. When I went
before the Lord to know who I should
be adopted to (we were then being
adopted to prophets and apostles,) the
Spirit of God said to me, "Have you not
a father, who begot you?" "Yes, I have."
"Then why not honor him? Why not
be adopted to him?" "Yes," says I,
"that is right." I was adopted to my
father, and should have had my father
sealed to his father, and so on back; and
the duty that I want every man who
presides over a Temple to see performed
from this day henceforth and forever,
unless the Lord Almighty commands
otherwise, is, let every man be adopted
to his father. When a man receives the
endowments, adopt him to his father;
not to Wilford Woodruff, nor to any
other man outside the lineage of his
fathers. That is the will of God to this
people. I want all men who preside
over these temples in these mountains
of Israel to bear this in mind. What
business have I to take away the rights
of the lineage of any man? What right
has any man to do this? No; I say let
every man be adopted to his father; and
then you will do exactly what God said
when he declared He would send Elijah
the prophet in the last days. [Malachi 4:5] Elijah the
prophet appeared unto Joseph Smith
and told him that the day had come
when this principle must be carried out. [Doctrine and Covenants 110:13-16]
Joseph Smith did not live long enough
to enter any further upon these things.
His soul was wound up with this work
before he was martyred for the word of
God and testimony of Jesus Christ. He
told us that there must be a welding
link of all dispensations and of the work
of God from one generation to another.
This was upon his mind more than most
any other subject that was given to him.
In my prayers the Lord revealed to me,
that it was my duty to say to all Israel
to carry this principle out, and in fulfill-
ment of that revelation I lay it before
this people. I say to all men who are
laboring in these temples, carry out this
principle, and then we will make one
step in advance of what we have had
before. Myself and counselors con-
versed upon this and were agreed upon
it, afterwards we laid it before all
the Apostles who were here (two were
absent—Brothers Thatcher and Lund, the
latter being in England,) and the Lord
revealed to every one of these men—
and they would bear testimony to it if
they were to speak—that that was the
word of the Lord to them. I never met
with anything in my life in this Church
that there was more unity upon than
there was upon that principle. They
all feel right about it, and that it is our
duty. That is one principle that should
be carried out from this time henceforth.
"But," says one, "suppose we come
along to a man who perhaps is a mur-
derer." Well, if he is a murderer, drop
him out and connect with the next man
beyond him. But the Spirit of God will
be with us in this matter. We want the
Latter day Saints from this time to trace

their genealogies as far as they can, and
to be sealed to their fathers and mothers.
Have children sealed to their parents,
and run this chain through as far as you
can get it. When you get to the end,
let the last man be adopted to Joseph
Smith, who stands at the head of the
dispensation. This is the will of the
Lord to this people, and I think when
you come to reflect upon it you will find
it to be true.

Another principle connected with this
subject I want to talk about. A man
has married a woman, and they have a
family of children. The man lays down
in death without ever hearing the Gos-
pel. His wife afterwards hears the
Gospel and embraces it. She comes to
the temple and she wants to be sealed
to her husband, who was a good man.
The feeling has been to deny this and
to say, "No, he was not in the Church,
and you cannot be sealed to your hus-
band." Many of a woman's heart has
ached because of this, and as a servant
of God I have broken that chain a good
while ago. I have laid before every woman
this principle and let her have her choice.
Why deprive a woman of being sealed
to her husband because he never heard
the Gospel? What do any of us know
with regard to him? Will he not hear
the Gospel and embrace it in the spirit
world? Look at Joseph Smith. Not
one of Joseph Smith's fathers or
brothers or sisters were in the convenant
when he received the keys of the king-
dom of God and translated the Book of
Mormon. They afterwards received it.
Every brother and sister that he had,
and his father and his father's brothers,
except Uncle Jesse Smith, embraced
the Gospel. Now, suppose that any of
these had died before they had the op-
portunity of entering into the covenant
with the Lord through the Gospel, as
his brother Alvin did; they would have
been in the same position as Alvin,
concerning whom the Lord, when Joseph
saw him in the celestial kingdom, said:

All who have died without a knowledge of
this Gospel, who would have received it if they
had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the
celestial kingdom of God; also all that shall
die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who
would have received it with all their hearts,
shall be heirs of that kingdom, for I, the Lord,
will judge all men according to their works, ac-
cording to the desire of their hearts. [Doctrine and Covenants 137:7-9]

So it will be with your fathers. There
will be very few, if any, who will not
accept the Gospel, Jesus, while His
body lay in the tomb,went and preached
to the spirits in prison, who were des-
troyed in the days of Noah. After
so long an imprisonment, in torment,
they doubtless gladly embraced the
Gospel, and if so they will be saved in
the kingdom of God. The fathers of this
people will embrace the Gospel. It is
my duty to honor my father who begot
me in the flesh. It is your duty to do
the same. When you do this, the Spirit
of God will be with you. And we shall
continue this work, the Lord adding
light to that which we have already re-
ceived. I have had friends adopted to
me. We all have, more or less. But I
have had peculiar feelings about it, espe-
cially lately. There are men in this con-
gregation who wish to be adopted to
me. I say to them today, if they can
hear me, Go and be adopted to your
fathers, and save your fathers, and
stand at the head of your father's house,
as saviors upon Mount Zion, and God
will bless you in this. This is what I
want to say, and what I want carried
out in our temples.

The Almighty is with this people.
We shall have all the revelations that
we will need, if we will do our duty and
obey the commandments of God. When
any of us get so that we cannot receive
these revelations, the Lord will take us
out of the way and put someone in our
places who can. I am here today, on
borrowed time, I may say. I would
have been in the spirit world today,
mingling with the spirits in the presence
of God, had it not been for the cry of
this people for my life when I lay at the
gates of death a year ago. I have been
preserved by the power of God. How
long I shall live I do not know. It does
not make any difference to me. But
while I do live I want to do my duty,
I want the Latter-day Saints to do their
duty. Here is the Holy Priesthood in
these mountains. Their responsibility
is great and mighty. The eyes of God
and all the holy prophets are watching
over us. This is the great dispensation
that has been spoken of ever since the
world began. We are gathered to-
gether in these mountains of Israel by
the power and commandment of God.
We are doing the work of God. This is
not our home, as far as mortality is con-
cerned. We shall soon pass away. But
while here let us fill our mission. I
want to say to Brother L. Snow,
Brother M. W. Merrill, Brother J. D. T.
McAllister and Brother D. H. Cannon,
and all associated with you, carry these
things before the Lord and see for
yourselves. If you are not satisfied
with this order of things, go and ask the
Lord about it, and the Holy Ghost will
reveal to you the truth of these princi-
ples.

This is all I ought to say at this
time perhaps upon this subject.
I am glad to meet with you. I have
had a great anxiety over this matter.
I have had a great desire that I might
live to deliver these principles to the
Latter-day Saints, for they are true.
They are one step forward in the work
of the ministry and in the work of the
endowments in these temples of our
God. When you get to the last man in
the lineage, as I said before, we will
adopt that man to the Prophet Joseph,
and then the Prophet Joseph will take
care of himself with regard to where he
goes. A man may say, "I am an
Apostle, or I am a High Priest, or I am
an Elder in Israel, and if I am adopted
to my father, will it take any honor from
me?" I would say not. If Joseph Smith
was sealed to his father, with whom many
of you were acquainted, what effect will
that have upon his exaltation and glory?
None at all. Joseph Smith will hold the
keys of this dispensation to the endless
ages of eternity. It is the greatest dis-
pensation God ever gave to man, and he
was ordained before the world was to
stand in the flesh and organize this
work. He was martyred for the word
of God and testimony of Jesus, and when
he comes in the clouds of heaven he will
wear a martyr's crown. Those of you
who stand here—I do not care whether
you are Apostles or what you are—by
honoring your fathers you will not take
any honor from your heads; you
will hold the keys of the salvation of
your father's house, as Joseph Smith
does. You will lose nothing by honor-
ing your fathers and redeeming your
dead. It is a glorious work. When I
returned from England in 1841 and
heard Joseph Smith give this revelation,

blood of any of the human family; and when the books are opened in the day of judgment these things will be proven to heaven and earth. Perhaps I had not ought to enter into these things, but it came to me. Men are in danger sometimes in being adopted to others, until they know who they are and what they will be. Now, what are the feelings of Israel? They have felt that they wanted to be adopted to somebody. President Young was not satisfied in his mind with regard to the extent of this matter; President Taylor was not. When I went before the Lord to know who I should be adopted to (we were then being adopted to prophets and apostles,) the Spirit of God said to me, "Have you not a father, who begot you?" "Yes, I have." "Then why not honor him? Why not be adopted to him?" "Yes," says I, "that is right." I was adopted to my father, and should have had my father sealed to his father, and so on back; and the duty that I want every man who presides over a Temple to see performed from this day henceforth and forever, unless the Lord Almighty commands otherwise, is, let every man be adopted to his father. When a man receives the endowments, adopt him to his father; not to Wilford Woodruff, nor to any other man outside the lineage of his fathers. That is the will of God to this people. I want all men who preside over these temples in these mountains of Israel to bear this in mind. What business have I to take away the rights of the lineage of any man? What right has any man to do this? No; I say let every man be adopted to his father; and then you will do exactly what God said when he declared He would send Elijah the prophet in the last days. Elijah the prophet appeared unto Joseph Smith and told him that the day had come when this principle must be carried out. Joseph Smith did not live long enough to enter any further upon these things. His sould was wound up with this work before he was martyred for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ. He told us that there must be a welding link of all dispensations and of the work of God from one generation to another. This was upon his mind more than most any other subject that was given to him. In my prayers the Lord revealed to me, that it was my duty to say to all Israel to carry this principle out, and in fulfillment of that revelation I lay it before this people. I say to all men who are laboring in these temples, carry out this principle, and then we will make one step in advance of what we have had before. Myself and counselors conversed upon this and were agreed upon it, afterwards we laid it before all the Apostles who were here (two were absent—Brothers Thatcher and Lund, the latter being in England,) and the Lord revealed to every one of these men— and they would bear testimony to it if they were to speak—that that was the word of the Lord to them. I never met with anything in my life in this Church that there was more unity upon than there was upon that principle. They all feel right about it, and that it is our duty. That is one principle that should be carried out from this time henceforth. "But," says one, "suppose we come along to a man who perhaps is a murderer." Well, if he is a murderer, drop him out and connect with the next man beyond him. But the Spirit of God will be with us in this matter. We want the Latter day Saints from this time to trace

their genealogies as far as they can, and to be sealed to their fathers and mothers. Have children sealed to their parents, and run this chain through as far as you can get it. When you get to the end, let the last man be adopted to Joseph Smith, who stands at the head of the dispensation. This is the will of the Lord to this people, and I think when you come to reflect upon it you will find it to be true.

Another principle connected with this subject I want to talk about. A man has married a woman, and they have a family of children. The man lays down in death without ever hearing the Gospel. His wife afterwards hears the Gospel and embraces it. She comes to the temple and she wants to be sealed to her husband, who was a good man. The feeling has been to deny this and to say, "No, he was not in the Church, and you cannot be sealed to your husband." Many of a woman's heart has ached because of this, and as a servant of God I have broken that chain a good while ago. I have laid before every woman this principle and let her have her choice. Why deprive a woman of being sealed to her husband because he never heard the Gospel? What do any of us know with regard to him? Will he not hear the Gospel and embrace it in the spirit world? Look at Joseph Smith. Not one of Joseph Smith's fathers or brothers or sisters were in the convenant when he received the keys of the kingdom of God and translated the Book of Mormon. They afterwards received it. Every brother and sister that he had, and his father and his father's brothers, except Uncle Jesse Smith, embraced the Gospel. Now, suppose that any of these had died before they had the opportunity of entering into the covenant with the Lord through the Gospel, as his brother Alvin did; they would have been in the same position as Alvin, concerning whom the Lord,when Joseph saw him in the celestial kingdom, said:

All who have died without a knowledge of this Gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God; also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom, for I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.

So it will be with your fathers. There will be very few, if any, who will not accept the Gospel, Jesus, while His body lay in the tomb,went and preached to the spirits in prison, who were destroyed in the days of Noah. After so long an imprisonment, in torment, they doubtless gladly embraced the Gospel, and if so they will be saved in the kingdom of God. The fathers of this people will embrace the Gospel. It is my duty to honor my father who begot me in the flesh. It is your duty to do the same. When you do this, the Spirit of God will be with you. And we shall continue this work, the Lord adding light to that which we have already received. I have had friends adopted to me. We all have, more or less. But I have had peculiar feelings about it, especially lately. There are men in this congregation who wish to be adopted to me. I say to them today, if they can hear me, Go and be adopted to your fathers, and save your fathers, and stand at the head of your father's house, as saviors upon Mount Zion, and God will bless you in this. This is what I want to say, and what I want carried out in our temples.

The Almighty is with this people. We shall have all the revelations that we will need, if we will do our duty and obey the commandments of God. When any of us get so that we cannot receive these revelations, the Lord will take us out of the way and put someone in our places who can. I am here today, on borrowed time, I may say. I would have been in the spirit world today, mingling with the spirits in the presence of God, had it not been for the cry of this people for my life when I lay at the gates of death a year ago. I have been preserved by the power of God. How long I shall live I do not know. It does not make any difference to me. But while I do live I want to do my duty, I want the Latter-day Saints to do their duty. Here is the Holy Priesthood in these mountains. Their responsibility is great and mighty. The eyes of God and all the holy prophets are watching over us. This is the great dispensation that has been spoken of ever since the world began. We are gathered together in these mountains of Israel by the power and commandment of God. We are doing the work of God. This is not our home, as far as mortality is concerned. We shall soon pass away. But while here let us fill our mission. I want to say to Brother L. Snow, Brother M. W. Merrill, Brother J. D. T. McAllister and Brother D. H. Cannon, and all associated with you, carry these things before the Lord and see for yourselves. If you are not satisfied with this order of things, go and ask the Lord about it, and the Holy Ghost will reveal to you the truth of these principles.

This is all I ought to say at this time perhaps upon this subject. I am glad to meet with you. I have had a great anxiety over this matter. I have had a great desire that I might live to deliver these principles to the Latter-day Saints, for they are true. They are one step forward in the work of the ministry and in the work of the endowments in these temples of our God. When you get to the last man in the lineage, as I said before, we will adopt that man to the Prophet Joseph, and then the Prophet Joseph will take care of himself with regard to where he goes. A man may say, "I am an Apostle, or I am a High Priest, or I am an Elder in Israel, and if I am adopted to my father, will it take any honor from me?" I would say not. If Joseph Smith was sealed to his father, with whom many of you were acquainted, what effect will that have upon his exaltation and glory? None at all. Joseph Smith will hold the keys of this dispensation to the endless ages of eternity. It is the greatest dispensation God ever gave to man, and he was ordained before the world was to stand in the flesh and organize this work. He was martyred for the word of God and testimony of Jesus, and when he comes in the clouds of heaven he will wear a martyr's crown. Those of you who stand here—I do not care whether you are Apostles or what you are—by honoring your fathers you will not take any honor from your heads; you will hold the keys of the salvation of your father's house, as Joseph Smith does. You will lose nothing by honoring your fathers and redeeming your dead. It is a glorious work. When I returned from England in 1841 and heard Joseph Smith give this revelation,