Orson Hyde

“ When we have shared the benefit of any charitable bequest, more especially when we hold a portion of it in our own hands, that ought to be benefiting others, how can we expect God, or any other philanthropist, to extend to us blessings?
What is the duty of the Saints who have come here by the aid and benefit of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund? It is their duty to pay back the debt they owe immediately. "But," says one, "we cannot pay, we have no means." ”

“ I have been at some of the prayer circles and meetings in the sectarian world, and heard their pious minister say, "Come, sinner, bow to the yoke of Christ; behold the guardian angel standing waiting to be the honored agent to carry the news to heaven, that one more soul is converted." If God knows it already, what is the use of angels to carry the intelligence? God knows everything through His agents, or servants, and that is the way He is everywhere present. ”

“ Now go and take this, ye swift messengers, you faithful agents, in vessels of bulrushes, pipe-ships, or, in other words, steam-ships, and be messengers of glad tidings to the poor, and wretched, and oppressed, and meek of the earth. It is an honor to be a messenger, bearing to them the means of taking them out of their poverty, wretchedness, and oppression. ”

“ True messengers of God do not come in this way; but says the world—"Angels came in olden times, but do not come now to earth any more; they have gone to heaven, and there is nothing more for them to do here." I can speak to the servant of a king when I cannot speak to the king himself. I could approach the lower orders of his subjects when I might not approach the higher circle. If men reject the administration of angels, and will not believe in their existence, nor regard their words, I do not know how they will ever obtain access to the king. ”

“ This is a debt, a sacred obligation which you owe, not only to the authorities of this Church and kingdom, but you owe it to your brethren whose cries and prayers are ascending up to God; and if you withhold that which belongs to them—that which they should enjoy, their prayers will recoil on your heads, not in blessings, but in curses.
We all say here, that we are blessed; we say our labor and toil have been blessed; I am sure of it. Can we work out our salvation? ”

“ We have commenced to gather the people, and we have also commenced to raise a Fund by which the poor Saints are to be gathered; and this is based upon principles that are applicable to us in the days of our childhood; but we suppose, when the Almighty begins to put forth His own hand to accomplish His own work, and sustain the operations of His servants on this small scale, which we shall know it is small when we see the mighty engine of God at work, for when we were children we spake as children, and understood as children, and thought as children ”

“ In the first place, to show unto you that there is no religion with which we are acquainted, except that of the Latter-day Saints, that can, in its exercise and in its operations, bring to pass the fulfilment of the predictions of the Prophets. All the types and figures presented to our Lord and Saviour to illustrate truths, weighty and important, show that in the last days there is to be a gathering together of the people. ”

“ The gathering of the Saints together is to take place. "But," says one, "we do not believe that the gathering of the people will take place in the last days literally; we do not believe that angels will minister any more to us." The old-fashioned religion is, "We have got all that heaven was pleased to give, and that can be proven by the good Old Bible. Let the angels stay in glory, and we will stay on our farms, and go to church from one year to another, and follow up the same routine over and over again until we go down to our graves, and that is the end of our service in the flesh." ”

“ When will it be that the angels are sent to gather in the remnant? It will be just at the time when the Saints have done all that is in their power to do, and can do no more, and have been worn out in the service of their God: then the Lord will send the armies of heaven to aid them. He has had an army under His training from the beginning, and when He gives the word of command they will collect the balance of the Saints from the four winds; and not only so, but they will open the graves, and raise the Saints from the dead. ”

“ Can we witness to God and angels and to our brethren, that we are willing to put forth our hands and contribute to swell the sum total of this Perpetual Emigrating Fund, according to the ability God has given us? Are we willing to put forth our hand and aid in rolling forth this work, by collecting the people together from wretchedness and want? What shall we gain by doing this? We shall gain numbers that will look up to us as their friends and benefactors, and hail us as their saviors. ”

“ Angels will have a part in the work of the last days. What are they to do? Says the Saviour—"The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while man slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." He let them grow together until the time of harvest; then He "will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles and burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." The field is the world. Who are the reapers? The angels are the reapers; and still, angels, you say, are coming to earth no more. ”

“ Where is the people who have got more rocks than we have? Do we have bread, and plenty of it? Yes! We have had fine crops of wheat since the cricket and grasshopper war was over, and our waters are sure, for here we have them flowing down every street, in the midst of summer, and they are not salt waters either, but they are fresh and good. How applicable are these sayings of the Prophet to the Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake Valley. ”

“ If we always think of God, and maintain our integrity to Him, to ourselves, and towards our neighbors, the unvirtuous and wicked cannot find access into our society. If the gate of the citadel of virtue is never opened to our enemy, he may strive in vain. ”

“ An angel showed a little example of this at the time the Saviour ascended from the tomb. He rolled the stone from the door of the sepulchre, and the keepers fell as dead men, and the Son of God arose. There is the work of an angel, of one who was reserved for this purpose, and there are convoys of angels who are schooled and trained to this work, and they can open a grave much quicker than an Irishman can with a spade. At the presence of one of these angels, the earth trembles, and throws out its dead. The angels will do this, but not until we have done our best. ”

“ Well, then, this money that has been appropriated to bring the Saints here, let it be refunded with all speed, let it be a matter of conscience. If you should see your neighbor suspended from a tower, and hanging by a brittle cord, and by any little struggle he might break the cord, and be dashed in pieces, whatever you might be engaged in, you would leave it and run to his rescue, and try your utmost to save the man who is ready to plunge into this vortex, a gulf beneath his feet. ”

“ The old Prophet had his eye upon the increased speed of ships; but our translators have made him to say that swift messengers shall be sent to the nations afar off in vessels of bulrushes. What do we understand by vessels of bulrushes? Do we ever see such vessels, or hear tell of such, except the cradle that was made for Moses to float in on the Nile? Have we ever read of men, swift messengers going in vessels of bulrushes? ”

“ These angels are in the likeness and image of God, and men are also in His image. I believe, if God gave me a message to deliver to the people, and I did not deliver it in the legitimate way, He would close my mouth because I would not give it in the way he gave it to me. ”

“ We may sit down and persuade ourselves that it is God's will we should do nothing for ourselves, and we may go to beggary; but if we help ourselves, and bestow the labor for nature to bring forth, we shall have an abundance, and God will be faithful in blessing our labors. ”

“ It is said that God helps them that help themselves. I have been showing you what will be done for His elect in the last days; but will He do it for them who will do nothing for themselves? I say no; God helps those who help themselves. ”

“ Judgment begins at the House of God, and the "Mormon" will be the first to feel the chastening of the Almighty, because we looked for better things of him: he has light and knowledge, and knows better than to be guilty of such acts. ”

“ I do not know how much they are spinning, and how many white robes they are making, for the Saints and the redeemed; but they have to work out all their indebtedness in prison; and if God is hungry or naked, He will not call upon you; for He has millions of resources in another quarter. He can get along without us doing the work, but He gives us a privilege of doing it if we will ”

“ The old Prophet says, "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil ”

“ There are some men in this kingdom who have an idea it cannot roll on without them—"I must be there, I am of so much consequence and importance, that if I should happen to set up my will in opposition to any measure, the wheels would be retarded in their onward course." ”

“ I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." If God was without body, parts, and passions, how could Stephen know whether He stood on the right hand, or the left, or whether He stood upon either side? ”

“ I do not wish anybody to apply this to themselves unless they are worthy of it; and if I am met in the streets and assailed with having spoken rashly, I say, you are the man, the saddle fits you; but those who are not guilty, but are secure in the possession of their virtue and good intentions, may the blessings of the Lord be upon you for ever. ”

“ Their habitation is the "munitions of rocks," and they ask no odds of the world, but they are subject to God, who has redeemed this Basin, and put salt enough in it to save us. It is not a dry and barren ground, for we can make it rain when we please, and they cannot in Long Island. ”

“ Very well, we will not oppress you; but you can give your note, and you can file your obligation with the agent, or such authorities of the Fund that it concerns, that they may have some voucher to act upon, or that they can tell at least where the funds are—in whose hands they are lodged ”

“ In a communication from an editor to me, he quotes from the 17th chapter of Jeremiah, where it says, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. ”