Orson Hyde

“ Why, "We will oil our lips, and smooth our tongues, and ingratiate ourselves into your favor; we will mingle and co-mingle with you as brothers, and lead you away; we will contaminate you, and by pouring wealth into your laps, we will make you indifferent to your God, your faith, and your covenants." ”

“ And if the Elders are sent forth to bear the truth to the nations, they will go, as it were, in the trough of a wave, as the billows of tribulation and destruction pass over the nations, retiring before another wave comes ”

“ Brethren and sisters, be faithful,—be true to the Lord our God. Though you should not get so much of this world's goods, be sure your hearts are in unison with the God of Heaven. May the peace of Israel be and abide with you, and with those who guide the destinies of Israel from this time henceforth and for ever. ”

“ I need not reiterate in your hearing, that we are living in a most important day and age of the world, equally important to the Saints of the Most High as to the rest of mankind; for the present is fraught with events that should admonish us to live near to the Lord, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. ”

“ We have been expelled from a certain country because our enemies discovered in us germs of power and greatness which aroused their jealousy and hatred, and they were determined to be rid of us. When they saw us leaving, to cross the vast plains that stretched before us, as we turned our backs upon the homes we had made with much labor and toil, they flattered themselves that they were rid of any dominion of ours, either real or imaginary. ”

“ They thought they had given us an outfit that would last us until our destruction would be consummated; they imagined it would last us until we got beyond what they pleased to call civilization; but thinking that, perhaps, we might live through all, they demanded five hundred of our best men, while in camp in the wilderness, leaving our camp to the care of cripples and old men and women, in the midst of an Indian country. ”

“ A great enterprise was determined upon by our Heavenly Father, and for this purpose he seemed to have inspired a certain individual with the manifestations of his will in dreams, and visions of the day, perhaps, also, of the night, and that individual was Joseph of old. ”

“ If I mistake not, a certain Senator said to a Senator from Louisiana, "What are you going to do with Louisiana?" "Why," was the reply, "Louisiana was a wilderness when we bought her from France, and if she secede we will make her a wilderness again." If the land does not become a wilderness and a desolation, we do not see correctly—we do not understand correctly the revelations which the Almighty has given us. ”

“ It required ships, means, and men to enable him to make his way across the trackless deep to find a country which, to him, seemed necessary to balance the earth. The Spirit of God came upon him, and he had no rest day nor night until he accomplished what the Spirit wrought upon him to do. ”

“ This country, discovered by him, is enveloped in war; and if you live a few years longer, you will see much of the land that has been blessed with unequalled prosperity, from the east to the west, a wilderness and a desolation ”

“ If they had had any faith that he would be successful, they would have fitted him out with the best ships that any navies of the time could have afforded, manned with sufficient men and supplied with all the necessary equipments ”