Edward Hunter

“ And they have poured out their wrath—they have murdered the Saints, driven them from city to city, from land to land, dispossessed them of their inheritances, destroyed their cities, their temples and slain their Prophets. ”

“ When we look around us, what do we behold? We see the most unmistakable tokens of prosperity, peace, and plenty; the self-evident fruits of high heaven's protecting care, industry, sobriety, and faith. ”

“ Do you consider that it is your duty to purify and sanctify your hearts before God, to put evil far from you, to resist the allurements, temptations, and devices of Satan, and thus panoplied in the bright armour of integrity, truth, and righteousness, with pure hearts, and clean hands, and arising in the strength, might, and majesty of the great Jehovah, put down iniquity, yea, with an eagle eye, ferret it out, and with a strong arm, hush in eternal silence every ingrate spirit, who profanes, with his unholy presence, the most holy place ”

“ If we do not put it down, it will put us down. If we do not, when we have the privilege, the opportunity, magnify our calling, fulfil our covenants, the Lord our God will withdraw His Spirit from our midst, as being unworthy and negligent servants.
I am aware that the devil raves and grows angry when the Saints prepare to build a temple, I am aware that he rummages every nook and corner, to gain the ascendancy, seduce away, stir up strife, contention, and hinder the progress of the work ”

“ Although peace may temporarily have smiled around, yet it was like the lone traveller, struggling to make his way through the scarcely incrustated lava, yet warm, amid the craters of the momentarily extinct volcano, which has only ceased to pour forth its liquid fire, to gather renewed and increased energy, and again send forth its lurid flame, molten fury, and devastation, to all around. Thus has it ever been with this people—in the midst of enemies have they struggled to build up cities, wherein they might inhabit ”

“ They have used every stratagem, every exertion to destroy the Priesthood from the face of the earth. They were successful then—will they be so now? Will the authority of the holy and eternal Priesthood of Almighty God, again be driven from the face of the earth, the Prophets and Apostles all slain, and none left in possession of the living oracles of divine truth? ”

“ We will build a temple unto the name of the mighty God of Jacob, here in the wilderness of deserts, amid the forest of mountains, upon the foundation which we this day consecrate unto the Lord of Hosts. ”

“ When your plans become so futile, weak, and unavailing, as to become stale and uninteresting, I may suggest for you. In the meantime, let the Saints remember the promise President Young made them, upon the occasion of his breaking the ground for this temple, on the 14th of February last—"Not one of them, who had not been through the fiery ordeal, should lose the privilege, if he continued faithful; he shall not be a whit behind the most exquisite infliction of torture that any of the Saints have had to endure." ”

“ Let all people, sinners, mobocrats, and devils, learn from experience that persecution, plunder, robbery, rapine, murder, and expulsion from home and country, will not win. They have effectually tried this plan, and it has as effectually failed every time. Please take notice! and devise some new scheme the next time, wherein you can feel some assurance, that you may possibly succeed, and we have the pleasure of not being plundered, murdered, and disfranchised in the same old way. Tax your inventive genius for some broader scheme to destroy God's people from the face of the earth. ”

“ The Saints pray their Father in heaven to hasten His work, and roll it forth with mighty power.
Do you not know that the heavens are ready to drop with blessings in store for the faithful Saints, if they were ready and able to receive them? The Almighty God is ready to establish His kingdom upon the earth, in power and majesty, if His people were ready to receive, were prepared to administer therein in holiness, purity, and wisdom. ”

“ We are surrounded by their descendants. Those loathsome, effeminate specimens of humanity, which we daily see in our midst, are their children, low, degraded, sunken to the lowest depths of human existence. ”

“ To the Valleys of the mountains we have been led by His Almighty power and watchful guidance. We have been delivered from our enemies, from our oppressors, by His unerring wisdom, and surpassing kindness. ”

“ The might of Jehovah will preserve us. The Lord God will sustain us, and, if so be we should be scattered as hitherto, He will gather us in greater power, greater numbers, with increased ability to perform His work upon the earth. ”

“ We will rear a superstructure wherein we can receive the ministrations of angels and holy beings; wherein we can receive instructions, and perform offices for the redemption of our dead, receive keys for the resurrection of the Saints of God, wherein we can meet the spirits of just men made perfect, and again strike hands with the martyred Prophets, Joseph and Hyrum, and all those who have suffered and died for the testimony of Jesus. ”

“ No! they are not—their work is preparatory, and I am happy in believing that their progress is onward, that they are advancing toward that unity, faith, and perfection, those good works and Godlike attainments, which shall witness unto the Lord our God, that they are rapidly approximating towards that eventful period, when the Son of Man will appear in his temple, to cheer the hearts of his people. The heavens are propitious, and if we do right, the Lord our God will be our friend, bless and prosper us in our endeavors to bring. ”