Eliza Roxcy Snow

“ The first principles of the Gospel which we offer, and which put men in possession of the revelations of God and of a knowledge of this work, are precisely as simple, plain and as easy of understanding as the order before alluded to, through which the heavens were opened in Naaman's behalf. ”

“ I propose to make some general observations upon the Gospel and its administrations, and in relation to its effects when received, and the important blessings derived by this community through its divine power and virtue. This Gos- pel, which God has commanded us to offer to the world, is an order or system of things, simple, plain, and may easily be understood. In regard to its principles the nature of its requirements and the precise kind and character of its bless- ings and promises, no one, however ignorant or unlearned, needs to be left in the dark any great length of time ”

“ This system of religion, in its nature, in the character of its origin, the manner of its operations, and in the purposes for which it was designed, coupled with the fact that people of honest hearts can and will apprehend and appreciate divine truth, is such that it cannot be destroyed. ”

“ Every man and every woman, before receiving a system that required such sacrifices, would require a positive assurance that submission to its require- ments would bring indisputable knowledge of its true divin- ity, so that, after having obtained a divine witness of its genuineness, they could willingly, cheerfully, and with a reso- lution inspired by the Almighty, move onward over the path- way of persecution and sacrifice, traversed in all ages by the martyred Saints and Prophets. ”

“ In many instances it was brought to us by men with whose character we were perfectly familiar, and for whose honesty and integrity we could vouch ; who solemnly stated, in private and in public, that through an obedience to its requirements, they had obtained, in a tangible form, a perfect knowledge of its heaven-born principles. ”

“ N addressing an assembly of Saints, I expect the benefit of their prayers, without the ceremony of asking, being assured they are aware, as well as I am, that our teach- ings and administrations in the Gospel of life are blest according to our faith and prayers and the diligence and attention we bestow. ”

“ The astronomer may know of many laws and phenomena connected with the sun and its movements through ethereal space; but as regards the simple fact that it exists and shines upon the earth, millions know as well as himself. President Brigham Young, and e\en Joseph Smith, so far as respects the simple fact that this Gospel, which we preach as a divine institution, never professed to have a knowledge more thorough, more convincing, or more satisfac- tory, than tens of thousands in these valleys who never arose to address a public audience. ”

“ Our Apostles who are living are* as honest as the Apostles of the New Testament, and their testimony is as worthy of credit, so far as they live and speak according to the Scriptural law and testimony. ”

“ Many of the thousands of persons in these beautiful valleys, who formerly were com- pelled, with their wives and children, to subsist in a half starved condition not owning a habitation, nor a foot of land, nor a horse, cow, pig, nor chicken in fact, not anything they could call their own subject at any moment, through the whim of their employer, to be turned into the streets, miser- able beggars ”

“ Should the prominent men of this Church, together with tens of thousands of its Elders, be swept away by our enemies, the Gospel would still survive, and, with unabated force and vigor, still continue its irrepressible operations; these holy and sacred truths would be avowed and vindicated, order and proper authority continue their peaceful and happy reign, and Elders^'ith hearts overflowing with love and heavenly zeal, go forth to the nations; churches spring up in every land and clime ”

“ Peter had obtained a revelation which Jesus called a rock, which every man might receive individually to himself and build upon with perfect assur- ance and safety, upon which he could found all his hopes and prospects of salvation. ”

“ Flourishing settlements, towns and cities are rapidly being built, extending over a dis- stance of five hundred miles in length hundreds of miles in width, through the untiring energy and perseverance of a people formerly totally ignorant of such labors. ”

“ Blessings proportioned to faith and diligence. Plainness of the Gospel. Naaman, the Assyrian. How the Gospel found us. The same as that of New Testament. Power of the Gospel. Testimony of the Elders. What Philanthropists tried to do, the Lord has done. Joseph Smith. His mission. Obedience brings knowledge. Elders honest and brave as the ancients. Knowledge not confined to our leaders. Falsehood refuted. The dishonest will apostatize. Persecution promised. The honest will receive the truth. The Latter-day work will triumph. ”

“ This might be true in some instances, but impossible as regards its appli- cation to this people as a community.' Those persons who received this work without religious motives, and without honest convictions of its divine requirements, but solely for the "loaves and fishes," cannot possibly abide the test to which every one's faith, sooner or later, must be brought, but will have every particle of his dishonesty and hypocrisy exposed, and will sooner or later apostatize. ”

“ Of course, in this case, having proved to our satis- faction that there was no Holy Ghost no supernatural manifestations no knowledge no revelations accompanying the Elders' administrations of the Gospel; no human persua- sion, no cunning sophistry could have induced us to leave our homes and friends, to embark in a scheme which our common sense taught us would eventuate in bitter disappoint- ment and inevitable ruin ”