Orson Pratt

“ And this shall be a law unto my people in Zion, and in all the stakes of Zion that shall be established."
Do we teach our children to walk uprightly and keep the commandments of the Most High? Do we read to them the revelations of God, and show them how wicked it is to take his name in vain? Do we point out to them how that we should not curse ourselves, nor one another, nor anything that is about us? Do we not often hear children in the streets of our city heaping curses upon the heads of their fellows? ”

“ Quite a difference between the blood of a dead man and the blood that comes from a living man—one is very nauseous when compared with the other. No wonder then that everything having life in the sea should perish.
A third Angel pours out his vial on the fountains and rivers, and they also become blood. You have already learned that when the third Angel sounded his trump the third part of the waters become bitter with wormwood, and it was accompanied by certain judgments not universal, but when the last plagues are poured out the fountains and rivers of water, and the ocean become blood. ”

“ When the rivers and fountains are turned into blood, a certain Angel cries out saying, "Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art and wast and shall be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy." This shows that there will be Prophets in those days and that these people will shed their blood. A great many people think there are to be no more Prophets; but the Prophets have their blood shed in those days, and God will give the wicked blood to drink. ”

“ The Lord's scourge shall pass over by night and by day, and the report thereof shall vex all people; yet it shall not be stayed until the Lord come; for the indignation of the Lord is kindled against their abominations and all their wicked works; nevertheless Zion shall escape if she observe to do all things whatsoever I have commanded her, but if she observe not to do whatsoever I have commanded her, I will visit her according to all her works, with sore affliction, with pestilence, with plague, with sword, with vengeance, with devouring fire ”

“ When you see the nations of the earth, especially the heathen nations, and also those north of Jerusalem—the great nation of Russia and other nations on the continent of Asia, together with many in Europe, gather up against Jerusalem after the Jews have returned and rebuilt their city and Temple, and when their armies become exceeding great multitudes in the valley of decision, then you may look for the Lord to come down with his mighty ones, and for the constellations of heaven to be darkened. ”

“ The Lord sent forth the destroyer in ancient times to lay waste the first-born of the Egyptians, pointing out the means by which his people might escape, and those who failed to do as they were commanded had no promise of being preserved; so in these days when judgments come, they will begin among his Saints, and those who have not attended to the word of wisdom and the laws of life that he has pointed out and have no claim to mercy and favor, God is no respecter of persons. They who have great light and yet sin will endure tribulation and indignation from his hand unless they repent. ”

“ I do not know how the Lord will send forth his voice so as to make all the people on the four quarters of the globe hear it, for the loudest sound that we can produce only extends over a small area, a few miles at most; but the Lord has power to make his voice heard by all that live on the four quarters of the earth, and when he fulfills this prediction, all that live will literally hear the words that are here named; and the wicked will perish out of the earth as they did in the days of Noah, and so far as they are concerned the earth will be made empty and desolate. ”

“ One would imagine that all the earth would repent when they see judgments of this kind; yet we are told that for all this the people will blaspheme God, because of their plagues, sores and pains, and the calamities they have to endure. They are given up to hardness of heart, the Spirit of God is withdrawn from them, and instead of repenting of their evil deeds, their murders, sorceries, whoredoms, idolatries, thefts and various, crimes that are mentioned, they continue in their wickedness [’] s, and judgment after judgment is poured upon them until they are consumed. ”

“ Can they escape his wrath and indignation? Can their parents escape the judgments of the Almighty if they have neglected to teach them the wickedness of taking the name of the Lord in vain? If the parents have not done this the sins of their young and inexperienced offspring will rest more or less upon their heads. ”

“ So will Zion be clothed upon with the glory of her God and armed with the panoply of Heaven, and the nations will fear and tremble because of her, for God will be in the midst of Zion, and he hath sworn by the power of his might that he will be her refuge, her high tower and her strength, and he will uphold and sustain her, if she keep his commandments in all things ”

“ I hope that we shall take a course to prevent these things coming upon us. It is better to be chastened and receive judgment in this world, even if it be sword, pestilence, famine and the flame of a devouring fire, if we can be brought to repentance thereby, than to remain unchastised and go down swiftly to the pit. If we, because of our sins, need chastising by the Almighty, let the chastisement come while we are in the flesh, that we may repent ”

“ They will know that they can not stand without the aid of the Lord against all those from the north quarters—Gog and Magog, all the hosts of Russia, and of the various nations round about that come up there and cover the land like a cloud. They will know that unless God helps them they can not obtain a victory over this mighty host; but they will put their trust in the Lord, and he will "roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem," and he will be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel. ”

“ If you want to know about the time when the sun and moon are to be darkened, and when the stars will no longer give any light, and when there will be total darkness over all the face of the earth, here is an event predicted so that you can not mistake. ”

“ As the Lord made the earth and the heavens in six days, and on the seventh day finished his work and made man out of the dust of the earth, so in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth and redeem man, even all that is within his power, and shall seal all things unto the end of all things. ”

“ And you must wait yet a little while, for ye are not yet ordained; and their testimony shall also go forth unto the condemnation of this generation if they harden their hearts against them; for a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth and shall continue to be poured out from time to time, if they repent not, until the earth is empty, and the inhabitants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the brightness of my coming. ”

“ You see then from this what is to follow the coming of that Angel with the Gospel. The one representing the Son of man is to thrust in his sickle and reap the earth, then the Angels are sent forth to thrust in their sickles and also to reap. These Angels are to gather the clusters of the vine of the earth into one place that they may be punished and the judgment which will overtake them who are thus gathered together will be so severe as to cause the blood that is shed to reach to the horses' bridles. ”

“ Every person who reads the word of the Lord, knows that it is wicked; and these children growing up thus in our midst go from one degree of sin to another until they finally lose, altogether, the Spirit of the Lord. ”

“ I do know that as I walk along the streets of Salt Lake City, I often see boys from six or eight up to fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, and perhaps twenty years of age collected together, and so far as my ears are concerned, I can bear testimony that they have no regard nor respect for the word of the Lord nor for the covenants into which they have entered, for they blaspheme his name in the midst of his house or kingdom. ”

“ The Lord has told us in this book that he would scourge this people, and would not suffer them to go on in wickedness as he does the world. He will make a difference in this respect between those who profess his name and the world. The world may prosper. They have not the religion of Heaven among them ”

“ When the Lord has caused these seven angels to sound their trumps, he will bring about all these purposes which he has ordained, and which must be accomplished in that morning. Before Jesus appears in the clouds of heaven they are to sound to prepare the way of the Lord before his coming. ”

“ When the Lord permits the devil to go forth and torment people he has considerable power. You can see this in the case of Job. When the devil stirred up the Lord to torment Job, the devil was permitted to go and strike Job with pestilence, with sore boils, and to make him feel sorrow, pain and distress. ”

“ Here we perceive what the Lord intends to do both for Zion and for the wicked. Zion shall spread herself if she will only keep the commandments of God, and she will become great, glorious and terrible ”

“ God has decreed, from the early rise of the Church, that we should be afflicted by our enemies, and by various afflictions, and he would contend with this people and chasten them from time to time until Zion should be clean before him. ”

“ And it will be given unto them to torment men five months—the time which is to intervene between the sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpets, and during that time these awful creatures, such as neither we nor our forefathers, in all the generations before us, have ever seen on the earth, will torment the wicked. ”

“ He has power over them and with them, and commands these awful beings, and they go forth and torment the inhabitants of the earth, but are not permitted to kill them. Men in those days will seek for death, but it will flee from them, although they will greatly desire it on account of the terrible torment they endure. ”

“ Joseph Smith told us, or the Lord did through him, and it is printed here in this book, that when he first planted this people in Jackson County, in the State of Missouri, if we did not take such and such a course, our enemies would come upon us, our blood would be shed by them, and we should be scattered and driven from place to place, and this has been literally fulfilled upon our heads. ”

“ Would you like to know where that spot is, and why the people are gathered there? the Lord will suffer three unclean spirits, John tells us in another place, to go forth about that time, spirits of devils working miracles, and they shall gather together the kings and great men of the earth and their armies to a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon, the Lord calls it a great wine press. ”

“ These creatures have wings, hair like women, teeth like lions, tails like scorpions, and with their stings they will torment the wicked for five months. But it will not be given unto them to destroy men, only to torment them. ”

“ They will not sound their trumpets in the evening of the sixth thousand years, but when the six thousand years shall have passed away from the creation, and the morning of the seventh has commenced, then these great events will happen. ”