Jedediah M. Grant

“ If you want to know what "Mormonism" is, it is that which will roll forth until it fills the whole earth.
Do we expect to find uniformity at this time? No sir; but we look for mobs, and the very scum of hell to boil over. Do we look for a privilege to fold our hands and sing lullaby baby, etc.? No; we expect the rage of all hell to be aimed at us to overthrow us; we expect mobs, and troubles with the Indians. The earth will be rent with earthquakes, and a thousand thunders will utter their voices, and make the ears of mortals tingle, and their hearts to fail within them ”

“ This eternal threatening of us with the armies of the United States! I wonder what men think we are made of, when they threaten us! As if they expected that we were going to succumb to whoredom! If we were to establish a whorehouse on every corner of our streets, as in nearly all other cities outside of Utah, either by law or otherwise, we should doubtless then be considered good fellows.
If we were to allow gambling, drunkenness, and every species of wickedness, the "Mormons" would then be all right, they would not then threaten us with the armies of the United States. ”

“ Because I am one of the Council of the First President, will that save me? No, but if I am saved, I shall be saved because I do my duty as a man of God. Shall a man be saved because of some particular Quorum to which he belongs, or a woman be saved because she is in some particular family? No, that is foolery. Men and women are saved because they do right. It is nonsense for a woman to suppose, that because she is sealed to some particular man she will be saved, and at the same time kick up hell's delight, play the whore, and indulge in other evil acts and abominations. ”

“ If you occasionally see a dirty sheep, do not let it try you; if you do not get a bushel of wheat as quick as you want it, do not let that try your faith. If you are agoing to die of hunger, that is the time to be strong in the God of Israel. I wish to see the new comers active in their religion; I wish to see them live their religion, and not only seek to be endowed with the spirit of Zion, but to bring the spirit of Zion with them. ”

“ You may read all the books in the universe, and study all you can upon the science of astronomy, chemistry, and theology, and make those sciences interwoven with your very nature, till they are like a straight-jacket upon you, and you may be wrapped up in them and bound hand and foot, and after all they will not let you into the fountain of all knowledge; but by taking such a course, you will have to become slaves to the learning that you have acquired. ”

“ O Lord, we ask thee to bless us in our efforts on the earth; may righteousness and peace spread as the light of the morning, may we rejoice in the natural fortresses of this land, and may we be the pioneers of truth, men who will break the crust of nations, gather Israel, and send the truth to every clime. May we accomplish the great work thou didst commence through thy servant Joseph, that truth may reign on the earth, and righteousness predominate among all people. ”

“ We owe it to the church of God, to ourselves, our wives and children to the latest generation; by every tie that binds us to our religion, by the sacred covenants made to the fathers on this land, or in Asia; by every noble feeing of our natures; by the memory of the past and the hope of the future. May we remember to do justice to the martyred Prophet and Patriarch, lest our right hands forget their cunning, and our tongues cleave to the roof of our mouths. ”

“ If there is so much iniquity in this church as you talk of, Elder Rigdon, and you have known of it so long, you are a black hearted wretch because you have not published it sooner. If there is not this iniquity you speak of, you are a black hearted wretch for endeavouring to bring a mob upon us and murder innocent men, women and children! Any man that says the twelve are bogus makers, or adulterers, or wicked men, is a liar, and all who say such things shall have the fate of liars, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. ”

“ I have always felt that no Saint fully comprehends the power of Satan as well as God's Prophet; and again I have thought that no Saint could fully understand the power of God unless he learn the opposite. I am not myself acquainted with any happiness that I have not learned the opposite of. You may perhaps enjoy a great deal, the opposite of which you know nothing of, you may be constituted different to me, your feelings may be different, you may have learned to enjoy without first experiencing the opposite ”

“ Now if you will preach the same Gospel, you will preach the same principles precisely that were taught not only by Paul, Peter, James, and John, but by all the rest of their fellow servants. And when men received the Holy Ghost, they spake with other tongues, and prophesied. In order to tell whether people have embraced the true Gospel or not, we need only to look at their fruits, for by their fruits shall ye know them, says the Savior. ”

“ You hear the professed ministers of Christ teaching the benighted multitude, that the day when angels administer to men has ceased; that the sacred Urim and Thummim is lost; that the holy Priesthood is no longer needed, and the sacred place where they offered sacrifices for Israel is gone, all are gone.
In this way, century after century passed away; nation rose against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; nations and kingdoms rose, and in their turn fell in succession, to give place to others, while nature, in her convulsive throes, shook the earth from centre to circumference. ”

“ But until you do this, we will continue to throw the arrows of God through you, to hurl the darts of heaven upon you and the power of God in your midst; and we will storm the bulwarks of hell, and we will march against you in the strength of the God of Israel. And by the power of the Priesthood restored by the Prophet Joseph, by the light of heaven shed forth by brother Brigham and his associates, we expect to triumph; and in the name of Jesus Christ, we do not mean to surrender to evil. ”

“ When I read the productions of men I am apt to forget them; I go for instance, to Elder Hyde's grammar class, and I study, and read, and commit the rules of grammar to memory, but unless I keep my mind constantly upon that subject, it will fly away from me; it is like the man's rabbit, "when he went to put his hand upon it, it was not there." On the contrary, there are certain truths brought to my mind by the aid of the Spirit of the Lord, that I have never forgotten. Truths deposited by the Holy Ghost are treasured up in the mind, and do not leave it. ”

“ And that mob that comes on us to disturb us, it shall be between us and them a war of extermination, for we will follow them till the last drop of their blood is spilled, or else they will have to exterminate us, for we will carry the seat of war to their own houses, and their own families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed. Remember it then, all men. We will never be the aggressor, we will infringe on the rights of no people, but shall stand for our own until death. ”

“ Here are Elders of Israel who have seen company after company of angels, who have seen the sick healed, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the tongue of the dumb loosed, and the eyes of the blind opened. You will hear them testify that they have seen the glory of God; and that by the spirit of prophecy, they have seen war, pestilence, and famine coming upon the earth. The Methodists do not pretend to have such testimony, and of course have not such faith. You may go to any sect you please upon the earth, and their faith corresponds with their testimony, more or less. ”

“ Every portion of sectarian religion that is good is my religion. If they have a precious gem it belongs to my religion; if it is purity, virtue, integrity, the gift of the Holy Ghost, fervency, and prayer, it is my religion. Some people talk of wild fire; I would rather have wild fire than no fire at all. ”

“ And when the mind's eye stretches abroad across the mighty deep, throughout Europe, we see the hand of the Lord visibly at work there, not only in the spread of the Gospel, in the prosperity of the people of God, and in the proclamation of the eternal principles of truth through the agency of the Elders of Israel, but in the war-cloud gathering black around, dyeing the ocean with human gore, and drenching the solid earth with blood. ”

“ I do not blame those men who shot our beloved brethern, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, one hundredth part as much as William and Wilson Law, the Fosters and the Higbees; it is true they are murderers, but I consider that those men who pointed their guns at me, are not so steeped in crime, nor half so guilty before God, as those men who were their instigators, their aids and abettors. They are the men who are the most guilty before God, and of them will their blood be required. ”

“ When a man is wrong and will turn round and do right, I love him better than I did before. We do not feel like casting you off, like casting you into the mire, and saying "God Almighty damn you." "Get out of the mud and may the Lord God of Israel bless you" is what we say. I had rather bless ten men than curse one. I am not led to curse, but I am led to chastise iniquity, to bring out the alloy, expose sins and bring to light that which is wrong among the people ”