Jedediah M. Grant

“ After the waters subside, and the inhabitants of the earth begin to increase and go forth upon its face, you soon discover a change in them and in the earth itself.
If you look for uniformity in man, was it when the descendants of Noah sought to build a great tower, that they might, as they thought, climb up to where their Father in Heaven lived, and thus try to defy His power, should He again bring a flood of water to deluge the earth? Was that the age, when people studied to know the purposes of a righteous God? ”

“ Consequently, when we see man excited to follow any avocation in life, whether it be for gold, silver, or other precious ores, for which he leaves his all, acts unwisely and inconsistently, sacrificing his home, his family, and everything dear and near to him, we can exclaim, "This wild career of man is not the only wildness exhibited in nature."
If you refer back to the earliest ages, and trace the history of the world, where can you find uniformity in nature's works? If you can find a uniformity at any time in the earth, the sea, the air, or in the elements, pray tell me when it was. ”

“ If you pass on through the line of his descendants you find the same lack of uniformity. How sublime the quarrel that took place between Joseph and his brethren! What remarkable contentions existed among them. Look at the old Patriarch Jacob in his family circle, and you see him goaded with thorns of grief because of his family broils. Do we find the elements around that family very calm, pacific, uniform, serene, angelic, and God-like? How calm they were when one of his wives, in order to get her rights, had to purchase her husband with mandrakes? ”

“ MARK you, your peace has not come yet, for Lucifer is not yet bound; and while the earth is fearfully convulsed because of the wickedness on its face; the nations will gather themselves and make an effort to wrest the kingdom from the Saints, and destroy them root and branch.
We are not coping with a few people here and there, but with the world, with all the enemies of God, with all hell, and with the devil and his host. ”

“ When the babe Jesus returns from Egypt, he exclaims of himself, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Even in that age, look at the commotion, the turmoil, the strife, and the difficulties that existed.
Were sublimity, uniformity, and beauty seen at the time when the King of righteousness, the anointed of God, was carried up unto an exceeding high mountain by Lucifer, who showed him the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, saying, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." ”

“ The grand majority of the mass governs; the uniform testimony of the million was, that they were drunk, and of course you are to believe according to the greatest amount of testimony, are you not? Then if you arraign those disciples before the grand tribunals of the nations, the great majority of the multitude would say they were drunk; but if only a few thousands say they were not, which are you to believe? Where then is the uniformity in this testimony? Look at the discrepancy, and the array of testimony against the disciples. It is certainly overwhelming in its nature. ”

“ If you should pass on to the time the illustrious meek man of God, Moses, was sent to them, how much uniformity do you discover when he led them to the Red Sea, and a mighty host from Egypt around them threatening their destruction, but the sea opened and let them through dry shod, and the mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs? ”

“ If you pass on and seek to find uniformity, beauty, and sublimity, will you find it when the Israelites were bondmen in Egypt, when they were compelled by hard task masters to gather straw and make bricks for a living? ”

“ Even in the domestic circle of the great Patriarch, we discover nature was not uniform. Was it uniform when the cry of the banished Hagar ascended to heaven, and brought an angel to give drink to the young urchin who was dying of thirst under one of the shrubs? ”

“ When a man of God speaks, let him speak what he pleases, and let all Israel say, Amen.
We expect to see and hear tell of earthquakes, and other mighty convulsions in the earth, as it has been in former times; and if the devil exerted his power in ancient days to destroy the work of God, so he will in the latter days. ”

“ If you wait until they arraign him before an earthly tribunal, condemn, and put him to death, and place him in the tomb, do you there look for beauty and uniformity? What do you see? A host of soldiers guarding the mouth of the tomb to keep his disciples from stealing his dead body; they did not only think they would steal his dead body, but that they would lie about it afterwards, and say he had risen from the dead, and palm an imposition upon that age of the world. These are some of the sublimities of the Christian religion in the days of its Founder ”

“ My exhortation to the Latter-day Saints is to keep the commandments until truth shall prevail, the devil is bound, and righteousness prevails then watch for the Lord's coming, for you know not the day nor the hour the Son of Man cometh. ”

“ In some small hamlet a few thousands of people might be a decided majority, and perhaps take in all to baptize so many. But a few thousands in comparison with the great multitude that dwelt in Jerusalem, was only like one grain of sand in comparison to a handful. ”

“ Other communities have gold and silver to aid them, in building, in planting, in gathering, and in all the different avocations of life: but this people have to accomplish all they do accomplish, by the bone and sinew alone, which the Almighty has given them ”

“ That is "Mormonism."
You need not wonder that we raise stout boys in the mountains, for we want children of the right blood; we do not want a scrubby breed here. Men of "Mormon" blood are not afraid to die. ”

“ They suppose that the "Mormons" have turned a somerset, have apostatized, and altered their character and creed as a people. I always take great pleasure in telling such honorable men, such wise men, that that which they call "Mormonism" changeth not. ”

“ The men that tremble, and whose hearts go pit-a-pat because they have got to die, are not worth a picayune. A man that refuses to walk up in the track, no matter what comes, and steadily press forward, though there should be a lion in the way, is not of "Mormon" grit. ”

“ They used to tell Joseph Smith he could never accomplish anything, for he had neither money nor, friends. They tell us we cannot accomplish much, "for everybody says you are crazy followers of Joe Smith, and believers in the Book of Mormon ”