Orson Pratt

“ Can we take those things into the grave with us? Can we carry our farms, our houses, our carriages, and other property, behind the vail with us? No, we cannot. Then why should this be in the hearts of so many of those who profess to be Saints as the uppermost desire? Why should the people lie awake to study how to collect an abundance of the things of this life? Why should they cling to the things that must perish and be done away? This is one of the great temptations that beset the pathway of mortal man. He desires to heap up the riches of this world, as though he were to stay here forever. ”

“ May the Spirit of truth rest down mightily upon the Saints of the latter days! May they be armed with power and with the righteousness of God in great glory! May they rise up in mighty faith, like the people in the days of Enoch, that the heavens may clothe them with the glory of God! and may they go forth, conquering and to conquer, until the false tradition and evils and sins and abominations of the children of men shall be swept from the earth, and until the King of kings and the Lord of lords shall reign triumphantly with omnipotent power! ”

“ What! in a free and enlightened nation and government like the United States, which holds forth, in the first amendment to the Constitution, liberty, and freedom of conscience! A Constitution that protects religious societies in their belief! A Constitution that guarantees to all the right of having whatever kind of religion they choose! A Constitution that guarantees liberty of the press, and liberty to all to serve God according to the dictates of their own consciences! Can it be that such a prophecy will be fulfilled in the midst of such an enlightened nation? ”

“ Will we fold up our arms, and remain throughout all the future ages of eternity, in perfect indifference and laziness, without anything to accomplish or perform? No; we will have works assigned to us to perform in the eternal worlds, that will be proportionate to all the fulness of that glory and knowledge which we are endowed with. Did the sons of God in ancient times, come forth and assist in the formation of this little creation of ours? Did they all shout for joy when the materials were brought together, and when the foundations of the earth were laid? ”

“ Why is it that so great and good a Being, a Being who is full of benevolence and love, a Being who is filled with mercy and compassion, should suffer such a dire calamity to befall the human race? Why is it? Is it because He delights in the sufferings of mankind? Is it because he delights to see them writhe in pain and distress? No: it is because man has sinned; it is because he has offended his Maker—because he has transgressed sacred and holy laws, because he has subjected himself to the monster death, to the miseries, wretchedness, and vanities of this life. ”

“ A god that cannot be "here or there!" A god that is "NO WHERE!" A god that cannot exist "NOW and THEN!" A god that exists in NO TIME! A god that has no extension—no "parts"—no conceivable relation to time or space! O, blush for modern christianity!—a pious name for Atheism! Some perhaps may think that I have not sufficient charity. But why should I have charity for a god that has no "parts"—no relation to space? Let him first have charity for himself. But this would be impossible; for he is a god "without passions." He can have no charity nor love for himself nor any one else. ”

“ If the heavens are to be revealed; if the face of the Son of God is to be unvailed; if the glory of his countenance is to outshine the sun in his strength; if he is to come in flaming fire, while the very heavens themselves shall shake by his power, and the earth reel to and fro like a drunken man the mountain themselves, feeling his power, are sunk and the valleys are raised up; if all these grand events are to attend the second advent of the Son of God, is it unreasonable that he should raise up a great Prophet in the latter days to make preparations for so great an event? ”

“ No wonder, then, that the world has dwelt in darkness for so many centuries, for the earth has become so corrupt, and the heavens have apparently become as brass over the heads of the nations. No Prophet, no angel, no inspiration, no Revelator, no man of God to say, "Thus saith the Lord God" unto the people. No wonder, then, that the Lord, before the great day of the coming of his beloved Son from the heavens, should send an angel to prepare the way before his face! ”

“ Their voice is lifted up to the nations; their hands are pointed to the West, to the heart of the American continent—to the everlasting hills, saying to mankind, "Yonder, in those mountains, is a kingdom that is never to be destroyed, a kingdom that must exist forever; while all earthly kingdoms and governments will crumble to the dust and will be blown away, like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, to the four winds of heaven."
Jesus said on a certain occasion to his disciples, and to the multitudes, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." ”

“ Why give way to darkness, to debauchery, to low and degraded things, and mix with those who are calculated to fill you with the spirit of evil continually?
Why suffer a cloud of darkness to hover over your minds, even a cloud of thick darkness that is almost impenetrable? Why suffer your faith to die away, that you cannot prevail with the heavens and obtain the blessings of the Priesthood revealed in the last days? ”

“ Here, then, is a new faculty of knowledge, very extended in its nature, that is calculated to throw a vast amount of information upon the mind of man, almost in the twinkling of an eye. How long a time would it take a man in the next world, if he had to gain knowledge as we do here, to find out the simplest things in nature? He might reason, and reason for thousands of years, and then hardly have got started. But when this Spirit of God, this great telescope that is used in the celestial heavens, is given to man, and he, through the aid of it, gazes upon eternal things, what does he behold? ”

“ If then perfection characterizes every doctrine embraced in the great scheme of this modern prophet, who can say that he was not sent of God? Who dare oppose so great and perfect a system, without the least shadow of evidence to prove its falsity? Who so lost to every sense of reason and sound judgment, as not to perceive an overwhelming evidence flowing in from every quarter to establish the divine mission of Joseph Smith? Who that has examined his mission or system impartially, can bring even one evidence against it? ”

“ No wonder that an angel should be commissioned from the eternal heavens from the throne of the Almighty with another message to the inhabitants of our globe! For do you suppose that this latter-day kingdom that is to be set up without hands will be set up without any communication from heaven, without any new revelation, without any Prophets, without any Apostles, or inspired men? Do you suppose that God will accomplish a work of this nature and yet the heavens be veiled over our heads like brass? ”

“ Verily, verily, I say unto you, Darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face. Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation, and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord. ”

“ Plurality, therefore, instead of injuring the morals of society, would have an effect directly the reverse; it would greatly purify society from the immoralities which now exist. How long shall the State governments be cursed with such illiberal laws! When will the people awake to a consciousness of their duties, and repeal those acts which have resulted in so much evil! When will they learn to be freemen according to the spirit of the Constitution, and no longer fetter themselves with the chains of superstition, handed down from the dark ages of Popery! ”

“ I give unto you a commandment to teach these things freely unto your children, saying that inasmuch as they were born into the world by the fall, which bringeth death, by water, and blood, and the spirit which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again of water and the Spirit, and cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten, unto the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, that ye may be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory. ”

“ To show that they come with power, they come on a highway cast up for them; the ice feels the power of God and flows down, making room for them; and the barren deserts of the north, wherever they may go and need water, will yield forth pools of living water to quench their thirst. As they come to sing in the height of Zion, the everlasting hills, this great Rocky Mountain range, extending from the arctic regions south to the central portions of America, will tremble beneath the power of God at the approach of that people. ”

“ I may have ever so much faith in God and in his Son Jesus Christ, and yet if I am not baptized by a man holding divine authority from God, having the right to baptize me in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, my baptism will not be legal, it will not be the new birth, and I cannot enter into the kingdom of God, according to the words of Jesus. What then does it require to constitute a man having divine authority? Can any one by a mere impression upon his mind consider that he has divine authority to baptize his fellows? ”

“ They will read her laws, and say, "Our laws are as nothing, our wisdom as foolishness, our words like the tow that is exposed to the devouring flame; we are broken asunder, torn into fragments, and ready to crush under our own weight; but your laws, government, and officers are all good, righteous, just, and true; surely the God of Israel is in your midst. Come, let us go up to Zion, let us hear from the wise legislators of Zion, and let us hear the laws proclaimed therein; let us learn of the wisdom that dwells in the servants of the Most High." ”

“ You teach us that our fathers and mothers in generations gone past have died without the knowledge of the Gospel; you teach us that God is a just being, and will punish men by the law of the Gospel; and how is it that he suffered all these generations to remain without the Gospel while in the flesh? I want to answer this question, and tell you why there was no Church on the earth six hundred or a thousand years ago—why generation after generation have fallen into their graves, without hearing the voice of God, or any communication from him. ”

“ Did God ever give you a new revelation?" "Oh, don't mention it, we do not believe in any new revelation, or in inspired men in our day." "Very well, then, you do not think that God has sent any angel to restore the Gospel, and authority to preach it to the children of men?" "Oh, no, none but a poor deluded sect called Mormons away up in the mountains of America believe any such thing; they profess that God has sent an angel from heaven to restore the Gospel and the authority of the Priesthood, but we do not believe that God sends angels in our day." ”

“ Is it a difficult thing for the Lord to make his people rich when they are prepared for it, after days of tribulation, after passing through a great many afflictions and difficulties, tossed to and fro; would it be a difficult matter for the Lord to open up whenever He pleases, means of unmeasurable riches, more than all the Latter-day Saints would know how to use? Hear what the Lord says: "For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders." ”

“ Now, there is in the very air which we breathe, and which all animated beings, more or less, breathe, and by which they live—a principle of heat; and when this heat in its latent form is evolved, or comes forth from the constituents of the atmosphere, would there not be a sufficient amount to produce this revolution upon the earth? Is there not sufficient heat not only to burn up the wicked and the proud, but to cause the very elements of our globe to melt by its intensity? thus fulfilling another prophecy which says, "the hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord;" ”

“ Imprison the polygamist for having more than one wife, and you have the same right to imprison a man for having more than one child, or to punish the slaveholder for having more than one slave. The same Constitution that protects the latter also protects the former. It is just as much the right of the people to have twelve wives as to have twelve children. What would you think of a State law that would undertake to deprive you of the privilege of having only one child? This would be no more barefacedly unjust than the State laws against polygamy. ”

“ Where is there a law passed by human authority that will stand the searching glance of the Almighty? Where is there a kingdom or council organized among the nations that now exist that gets the counsel of the Almighty to direct them? All that do not obtain this direction will be rooted up in the great day to come; they will be overthrown and brought to naught. And even their domestic institutions are wrong. Where is there a nation among those governments where the people have been brought into the bonds of matrimony according to the order of God? ”

“ No, every man and every woman will have to be a revelator and prophet, and the knowledge and glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the bosom of the great deep. And by and by, as a kind of climax to all this, the revelation of the Lord Jesus himself will take place from heaven in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel. That will be a revelation that the wicked can not abide, a revelation too great for them, and that will pierce them to their inmost soul. ”

“ Why will not American citizens, then, rise up with one accord and repeal those illiberal, oppressive laws, and let the liberties bequeathed to us by the choice blood of our illustrious ancestors be enjoyed to their fullest extent? Why will not America welcome the oppressed, down-trodden sons of the Old World to enjoy the luxuries of our soil, and the great privileges of our sacred Constitution, without tearing from their embrace that which is dearer than life, the moment that they set foot upon our shores? ”

“ All things with which we are acquainted, pertaining to this earth of ours, are subject to change; not only man, so far as his temporal body is concerned, but the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, and every living thing with which we are acquainted—all are subject to pain and distress, and finally die and pass away; death seems to have universal dominion in our creation. It certainly is a curious world; it certainly does not look like a world constructed in such a manner as to produce eternal happiness ”

“ We came here because we loved God, because we loved His laws—we loved the plan of salvation, we loved the principles that He had revealed, and because we knew that in process of time, in fulfilment of ancient prophecy respecting the Latter-day Zion and the Church of the Most High God, we should become a great and powerful people.
We are taught in the Jewish record, the Bible, that a little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation. We believe these prophecies, we know this to be the kingdom of God. ”

“ If Joseph Smith were an impostor, whence his superior wisdom? What power enervated his mind in laying the foundation of a church according to the ancient order? How could an impostor so far surpass the combined wisdom of seventeen centuries as to originate a system diverse from every other system under heaven, and yet harmonise with the system of Jesus and his apostles in every particular? What! an impostor discover the gross darkness of ages, and publish a doctrine perfect in every respect, against which not one scriptural argument can be adduced! ”

“ May the Lord bless us as a people; bless us with wisdom, with understanding, with power with the heavens, with union, with peace among ourselves; bless us with righteousness, and joy in the Holy Ghost; bless us with the spiritual gifts of His kingdom, multiply His favors upon us and upon our generations after us, forever and ever, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. ”