Orson Pratt

“ God told us in the early days of this Church, by new revelation, that the times of the Gentiles would be fulfilled in the generation then living upon the earth. Forth-three years of that generation have already gone by. How many more years it will be before their times are fulfilled I cannot tell; but I know the day is not far distant when young men, now living in these mountains, will be commissioned to go, not to the Gentiles, for their times will be fulfilled, but the Lord will say to them—"Go forth and fish and hunt up Israel in the four quarters of the earth. ”

“ All its members have denied new revelation, and have declared that the canon of Scripture was full. Who, among the whole of them, was ever called by new revelation? Why, if a man made any such pretence he was excommunicated from the Church unless he repented of the sin, as they called it. To believe that God would again speak and call men by new revelation, as Aaron was called, was in their idea a heresy, and they were not to believe in anything except it was bound in their ancient books. We will take, for instance, the highest authority in the Church of Rome. ”

“ The latter-day kingdom is to increase in greatness, power and glory, until the kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven shall be given into the hands of the Saints of the Most High, and the wicked shall be entirely swept from the face of the earth. ”

“ Go and ask any of these fallen churches,—go to the oldest among them, the Roman Catholic, or the Greek church, and ask them if God has sent another angel with the everlasting Gospel to be preached to all nations, and has committed it to them, and they will tell you no, they do not believe it is ever to be sent in that manner, but that it has continued on the earth from the time it was introduced by the Savior, and consequently there is no need of any such restitution, there is no need of any angel coming to restore it, for they have it already. ”

“ When the time shall have arrived for the fulfillment of the prophecy recorded by Ezekiel the Prophet, when the Jews and the ten tribes shall return and they shall no more be divided into two kingdoms, Jerusalem will be redeemed from the hands of the Gentiles, and it will be again inhabited by the Jews as a nation; not by a poor miserable remnant, dependent upon the charity of foreign nations for subsistence, but hundreds of thousands of the twelve tribes will return to Palestine, and their capital city will be Jerusalem, not Samaria. ”

“ God promised, in this last dispensation, that the Saints should enjoy all the gifts enjoyed by his people in ancient days—that they should lay hands upon the sick and they should recover; that in the name of Jesus they should cast out devils, open the eyes of the blind, unstop deaf ears, cause the lame to walk, and that through them, God would show forth his power in this latter-day Church and kingdom as he did in the former-day Church and kingdom. ”

“ The kingdom that was thus rent from the Jews and transferred to the Gentiles may be called a spiritual kingdom, inasmuch as the Saints, to whom the kingdom was given in that day, did not form any particular constituent, portion of the nations of the earth, but here was a branch, and there was a branch, one in one place and another in another; having received the blessings of the fullness of the Gospel, the blessings of that spiritual kingdom which was built up in their midst, they partook of the fatness of the olive tree, though they, were wild branches. ”

“ God never yet had a people on the face of the earth in any age of the world from the creation down through all the dispensations, without having inspired men among them, who could call upon God and receive revelations, and their revelations were just as sacred as those which had preceded them, and that had been bound into volumes; hence the canon of Scripture would have been enlarged every century down to the present time had the Church of God continued on the earth. ”

“ It is the poor among men. The rich and great, the highminded and noble have despised the work of the Lord; but the poor among men, from many nations, have received the message and testimony which God has re-vealed by the ministration of an angel flying through the midst of heaven. They have left their native countries, and have gathered here, and here they are in the possession of a rich country and they have been made to "rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." ”

“ And they also (the house of Israel) if they abide not in unbelief shall be grafted in again, for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou (the Gentiles) were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. ”

“ Had we time we might refer you to many other prophecies that have been given and written in the Jewish record concerning the coming forth of the record of Joseph in the latter days, just prior to the gathering of the House of Israel. The Christian world may use all the exertions they are capable of, and spend all the money they please, to bring about the gathering of the Jews in the land of Palestine, never to be divided again, but they cannot accomplish it. ”

“ Now you see that this record of the tribe of Joseph, called the Book of Mormon, agrees in all its particulars, so far as doctrine is concerned, with the record of the tribe of Judah; hence the testimony of two nations should be a witness to all people, nations and tongues respecting the truth of Christianity: and instead of doing away with Christianity, the Book of Mormon—the record or stick of Joseph, is an additional testimony to the great and important truths contained in the Bible ”

“ The next passage says—"Forasmuch as this people"—the people to whom the book is revealed—"draw near to me with their mouth, do honor me with their lips, and their hearts are removed far from me, and the fear of the Lord is taught to them by the precepts of men, behold I will proceed to do a marvelous work, even a marvelous work and a wonder; the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." ”

“ God commanded him to lay hands upon those who believed, repented and were baptized for the remission of their sins, that the baptism of the Holy Ghost might be given to them, just as the ancients did. ”

“ It is very evident to every person who believes in the Scriptures of truth that, so far as the gathering of Israel and their becoming one nation in their own land are concerned, this prophecy has never yet been fulfilled, it is therefore among those great events which the Lord has decreed and determined to bring to pass in a period of time yet in the future ”

“ We there find that the church have placed within it, first, Apostles, secondarily, Prophets, thirdly, Teachers, after that working of miracles, healing the sick, speaking with divers tongues, interpretation of tongues, &c., and all these were helps, governments, gifts, blessings, authorities and powers that served to characterize the true kingdom or church of God from all those that were destitute of this power and authority. ”

“ Why, we say that she is that great and abominable power that is called the mother of harlots and Mystery Babylon the Great, that she is one of the most corrupt powers on the face of the earth, hence the Protestants, who could not endure all this corruption, came out from her. ”

“ There is no means whatsoever of distinguishing him, unless he was called of God as was Aaron, and this would introduce new revelation, and hence, when it ceased, the real authority ceased, and the Pope had no more authority than a heathen priest, neither could he confer authority upon a second man, neither could the church itself give authority without new revelation from God. The Bible could not give this authority, for there is not a word said in all the Old or New Testament that such and such a man, by such a name and at such a period in the future, should occupy the chair of St. ”

“ They believe in the religion of their ancient fathers, and all of them who dwell there are very poor, many of them are what may be termed beggars, being sustained principally by the charity of travelers and other visitors to that land, and by donations from charitable Christians and Jews abroad. ”