“ Speaking of the time when they should be brought out of captivity, and gathered to the lands of their inheritance, he says, "And the blood of that great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall turn upon their own heads; for they shall war among themselves, and the sword of their own hands shall fall upon their own heads, and they shall be drunken with their own blood. And every nation which shall war against thee, O house of Israel, shall be turned one against another, and they shall fall into the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord;" ”

“ Skeptics, Christian divines, and writers of romance are not the men to stake their reputation on the enunciation of such principles as the following: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not and is not baptized shall be damned." "Harlotry is the most abominable of all sins in the sight of God, except it be the sin against the Holy Ghost." In fact, it is the teaching of such pure principles in the Book of Mormon that makes it so very unpopular with a large portion of mankind. ”

“ Organization and disorganization succeed each other. The thunders roll through the heavens; the earth trembles and becomes broken by earthquakes; fires consume cities and forests; the waters accumulate, flow over their usual bounds and cause destruction of life and property; the worlds perform their revolutions in space with a velocity and power incomprehensible to man, and he, covered with a veil of darkness, calls this universal energy, God, when it is the workings of his Spirit, the obedient agent of his power, the wonder-working and life-giving principle in all nature. ”

“ If the vail was rent to-day, and the Great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible,—I say, if you were to see him to-day, you would see him like a man in form—like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image, and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked, and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another ”

“ After referring to the prophecy of Malachi, he says "It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse, unless there is a welding link of some kind or other, between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other, and behold, what is that subject? It is baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can they nor we, be made perfect, without those who have died in the Gospel also;" verse 18. ”

“ There will be wars and rumors of wars, signs in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, the sun turned into darkness and the moon to blood, earthquakes in divers places, the seas heaving beyond their bounds; then will appear one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, &c. But the Son of Man will come as the sign of the coming of the Son of Man, which will be as the light of the morning cometh out of the east. ”

“ Remission of sins by baptism was not to be preached to murderers. All the priests of Christendom might pray for a murderer on the scaffold forever, but could not avail so much as a gnat towards their forgiveness. There is no forgiveness for murderers; they will have to wait until the times of redemption shall come, and that in hell. Peter had the keys of eternal judgment, and he saw David in hell, and knew for what reason, and that David would have to remain there until the resurrection at the coming of Christ. ”

“ In the History of Joseph Smith, under date of April 7, 1843, we find the following very pointed assertion on this subject: "There is no fundamental principle belonging to a human system that ever goes into another in this world or in the world to come: I care not what the theories of men are. We have the testimony that God will raise us up, and he has the power to do it. If any supposes that any part of our bodies, that is the fundamental parts thereof, ever goes into another body, he is mistaken." ”

“ It is a record of truth; it was brought forth from the earth; it bears testimony of the Only Begotten Son of God; of his birth, death, resurrection, teachings, and ministrations among the Nephites. Righteousness has been sent down out of heaven by the restoration of the Priesthood, with all its authority, ordinances, and blessings, through which, alone, righteousness can be made manifest.
The latter-day gathering of Israel has been inaugurated, and righteousness, and truth are sweeping the earth as with a flood, and gathering the elect from the four quarters of the earth. ”

“ Mothers, you shall have your children, for they shall have eternal life: for their debt is paid, there is no damnation awaits them, for they are in the spirit. As the child dies, so shall it rise from the dead and be forever living in the learning of God ”

“ Whether the prophet Malachi held the keys of this power or not, he evidently saw in prophetic vision, that it would be taken from the earth, and be restored again, that the broken links of past generations might be welded together. For the Lord said, through him, "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse;" ”

“ The Book of Mormon is very plain on this subject: "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great mediation of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil;" ”

“ We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists is having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is his punishment. He is pleased when he can obtain the tabernacle of man, and when cast out by the Savior he asked to go into the herd of swine, showing that he would prefer a swine's body to having none.
All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not. The devil has no power over us only as we permit him. ”

“ FORGIVE ALL MEN.—July 9, 1843. "Joseph remarked that all was well between him and the heavens; that he had no enmity against anyone; and as the prayer of Jesus, or his pattern, so prayed Joseph—'Father, forgive me my trespasses as I forgive those who trespass against me,' for I freely forgive all men. If we would secure and cultivate the love of others, we must love others, even our enemies as well as friends."
NECESSITY OF BAPTISM.—The Gospel requires baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, which is the meaning of the word in the original language—namely, to bury or immerse. ”

“ There is no possibility that the fall of man was an accident or chance, any more than was his creation. If an accident, then why was Christ prepared from before the foundation of the world as a propitiation for sin, and to open up the way for man to immortality?
Christ's mediation was a sequence of the fall. "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins;" ”

“ If, in his life's labors, and their results, the predictions of the ancient prophets are being fulfilled, it should be satisfactory evidence of the divinity of his mission. For unless a man have the spirit of the prophets, he can neither understand their predictions, nor the nature of the events that would fulfil them.
John, the Revelator, in his vision of the latter times, saw another "Angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue;" ”

“ From a sermon of Joseph Smith's: "As concerning the resurrection, I will merely say that all men will come from the grave as they lie down, whether old or young; there will not be 'added unto their stature one cubit,' neither taken from it; all will be raised by the power of God, having spirit in their bodies, and not blood." ”

“ The spirit of Elias is to prepare the way for a greater revelation of God, which is the Priesthood of Elias, or the Priesthood that Aaron was ordained unto. And when God sends a man into the world to prepare for a greater work, holding the keys of the power of Elias, it was called the doctrine of Elias, even from the early ages of the world. * * * This is the Elias spoken of in the last days, and here is the rock upon which many split, thinking the time was past in the days of John and Christ, and no more to be. ”

“ Centuries of darkness passed away in which we hear nothing of the order of the holy Priesthood, or of any saving ordinances for the dead, when an obscure man, Joseph Smith, Jun., appeared in the United States of America, and claimed that to him was committed the authority to open up the Dispensation of the fulness of times, in which all the keys and powers of the holy Priesthood should be restored to the earth. ”

“ Joseph Smith said, "If you wish to go where God is, you must be like God, or possess the principles which God possesses, for if we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are going from Him and drawing towards the devil. * * * A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God.". ”

“ All other sins are not to be compared to sinning against the Holy Ghost, and proving a traitor to thy brethren.
I will give unto you one of the keys of the mysteries of the kingdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity: That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the highroad to apostacy ”

“ That Jesus Christ was the same being who called Abraham from his native country, who led Israel out of the land of Egypt with mighty miracles and wonders, who made known to them his law amid the thunderings of Sinai, who delivered them from their enemies, who chastened them for their disobedience, who inspired their prophets, and whose glory filled Solomon's temple, is evident from all the inspired writings, and in none more so than in the Bible. ”

“ The apostle Paul gives us some light on this subject: "But some man will say, How are the dead raised? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; * * thou sowest not that body that shall be. * * But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds;" ”

“ One is the Holy Ghost, the same as given on the day of Pentecost, and that all Saints receive after faith, repentance, and baptism. This first Comforter or Holy Ghost has no other effect than pure intelligence. It is more powerful in expanding the mind, enlightening the understanding, and storing the intellect with present knowledge, of a man who is of the literal seed of Abraham, than one that is a Gentile, though it may not have half as much visible effect upon the body; for as the Holy Ghost falls upon one of the literal seed of Abraham, it is calm and serene ”

“ The keeping of the sabbath day was to be a sign throughout the generations of Israel, that the people continually remembered that it was the Lord that sanctified them through keeping his commandments.
In verse 14, the Lord says, "Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people." The command is repeated in a little different form in verse 15.
The sabbath was to be a perpetual covenant between the Lord and the children of Israel. ”

“ This was one of the ten special commandments given to Israel, during a grand display of God's power and glory on Mount Sinai.
In the past centuries of darkness it appears to have lost its significance with the Christian world. They do not appear to realize that honor is due to the first parents of the human race. They have been long taught that Adam and Eve were great transgressors, and have mourned over the fact that they partook of the forbidden fruit and brought death into the world. ”

“ To the Elder or Saint who has studied the revelations of our Lord Jesus Christ, as given in the Doctrine and Covenants, by the light of the Holy Spirit, it is most abundantly manifest that the human family has departed, degenerated or apostatized from original methods in their secular or business concerns, as truly, and as extensively, as they have in their spiritual interests, or the matters of their religious faith. ”

“ The more sure word of prophecy means a man's knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the holy Priesthood. It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance. ”