Orson Pratt

“ According to other prophecies, contained in Daniel, a succession of judgments, great and terrible in their nature, will overtake them, before the fire spoken of comes. Nation will rise against nation in war, kingdom against kingdom: or in the language of Isaiah, "Behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. ”

“ Unity is the greatest and most heavenly principle of government. If we can find out what is right, would it not promote the peace and welfare of all to carry out in unity every principle of right, and discourage that which is wrong? ”

“ We read that the four beasts, representing the powers of the earth, will exist at the time of the coming of the Ancient of Days. And that the fourth beast, represented by the Roman Empire and the kingdoms that have grown out of it, will be "slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame." Here then we can read the destiny of that portion of the inhabitants of the earth constituting the fourth beast; or, in other words, the destiny of the kingdoms of Europe, who were to arise and grow out of that fourth power. ”

“ A feeling of perfect unanimity will exist among the people, and division and dissension will be unknown. We have had so much division in our country, and among the nations, for so many generations that it has become a common thing among the people. In order to be enlightened and independent and liberal, it is thought that every man must be against his neighbor, and every man must set up his judgment in relation to matters, though it may be in contradistinction to that of his neighbor's. All this, in a government like our republic, is acknowledged as legitimate. ”

“ He also says that he will cut off the cities of our land, that all manner of lying, deceits, hypocrisy, murders, priestcrafts, whoredoms and secret abominations shall be done away, having reference particularly to this nation. He says, too, "I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard." We are told, too, that the nature of these judgments is to be swift and terrible, coming upon them like a fierce wind, when they expect it not; when they are crying peace and safety, behold sudden destruction is at their doors. ”

“ Is there not room enough upon the mountains of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and upon the plains of Olaha Shinehah, or the land where Adam dwelt, that you should covet that which is but the drop, and neglect the more weighty matters? ”

“ May God bless the Latter-day Saints, and may our minds be kept steadfast upon the nature and glory of the promises to the righteous, and the great events that must be fulfilled, looking for the coming of the Church of the First Born, looking for the day of peace, the day of rest, when Jesus shall reign king of kings as he now reigns in heaven. ”

“ All the inhabitants of the United States only number about forty millions, counting men, women and children. If they were assembled in one place, it would present a grand spectacle; but suppose we double that number, making it eighty millions, what a vast congregation that number of people would make, we can hardly grasp in our comprehension its extent; and still we will add to it another twenty millions so as to equal the size of the congregation which the Prophet Daniel saw standing before the Ancient of Days. ”

“ May the Lord stir up the minds of his people that they may seek for those things in the future, and may we put away from our minds everything calculated in its nature to shut out the spirit of the living God from our hearts, is my earnest prayer, in the name of Jesus. ”

“ Such eventually is to be the condition of this whole nation, if the people do not repent of their wickedness; and such a state of affairs means no more or less than the complete overthrow of the nation, and not only of this nation, but the nations of Europe, which form the feet and toes of that great image. They are the powers to be first broken; it is not the nation representing the head of gold, the remnant of the Babylonish Empire that still exists in Asia, that will be attacked first, neither is it the Persians and Medes, whose descendants still live ”

“ This prophecy relates to a period of time in the history of our race, when thrones are to be cast down, when kingdoms and the various governments which exist upon the face of the earth are to be overthrown; to a period when only one kingdom or one government shall have dominion, and its dominion will extend to the ends of the earth; a kingdom too which we are told, in the second chapter of Daniel's prophecy, is to be everlasting in its nature, and not like those other kingdoms which Daniel says are to be overthrown. ”

“ It is God, then, who organizes it; he confers the power and authority upon those who shall minister in its government; human wisdom does not enter as a constituent, either in the founding or government of the same.
The fifth kingdom is, therefore, to be peculiar from all the others in its organization. It is further said, that "it shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people." The four kingdoms which preceded it were transferred, first to one nation, and then to another, until the image was complete, until human governments had nearly fulfilled their destiny ”

“ Then comes the period and time when the earth must undergo its final change, far exceeding any former changes. For at the beginning of the Millennium, the mountains will melt, and flow down like wax at the presence of the Lord ”

“ If the will of God were really done on earth as in heaven, a state of peace and happiness would exist, there would be little complaining or murmuring, and the people would have entire confidence in each other. On going to their beds at night they would have no need to go to the trouble of locking their doors and seeing that everything was secure from theft, for there would be no thieving, no one to wrong his neighbor, in any way whatever. ”

“ It could not be otherwise; a being that is infinite in wisdom and knowledge, and a being that had power in proportion to it, could organize an earth into a most perfect form; and he did so and pronounced the same very good. But man brought a curse on the earth. Man brought a change, not only on man, but upon the animal creation, and not only upon the animal creation, but upon all the elements of which the earth was formed. ”

“ Not only will the elements melt with fervent heat, but the great globe itself will pass away. It will cease to exist as an organized world. It will cease to exist as one of the worlds that are capable of being inhabited. Fire devours all things, converting the earth into its original elements ”

“ They will have to pitch their camps round about, for the "beloved city" will not be large enough for them. It is called by John the Revelator, the camp of the Saints, a beloved city, where the Saints gather to, from the nations of the earth. Satan will gather his army, consisting of all those angels that fell and left the courts of heaven, when he did, besides all those that will apostatize from the truth, at the end of the thousand years: they too will mingle with the immortal ones of Satan's army, all being of the same spirit and mind. ”

“ The Lord answered their prayers, and he appeared to them, and gave them much consolation, and he set Adam to be at their head, to be a prince over them and over all his posterity for ever. And I have no doubt, if we had the Book of Enoch referred to in the revelation, in which book all the prophecies predicted by this aged man are written, we would find something predicted about his posterity now living. I think he would tell about his coming as the Ancient of Days, the great Prince, to his posterity. ”

“ Though the ocean is to roll back to its former position; although these and many other wonderful changes will take place when Christ comes, they are nothing compared to the changes that are to take place after the thousand years, after Satan's army is destroyed. Then the great white throne appears. There, after the holy city and the New Jerusalem are taken up to heaven, the earth will flee away from before the presence of him who sits upon the throne. The earth itself is to pass through a similar change to that which we have to pass through. ”

“ It will come forth again from its condition of chaos, by the power of his word, a celestial body, prepared for the abode of a higher order of beings, those who have kept the celestial law, those who, through obedience to the laws of God, become exalted. They are the ones who will have the privilege of inheriting the earth for ever and ever. When he gets it all prepared, he will bring down the inhabitants thereof, the holy city, the New Jerusalem. ”

“ You may build them of granite, and half a thousand of years will begin to waste them away. Thus it is with whatever material, used in building our cities; while man is under the curse there will a constant wasting away of his habitations. But not so, with regard to the old Jerusalem, which is to be re-built; and not so with regard to the New Jerusalem, which is to be built on this Continent. Why not? Because God is all-powerful, and when he makes a decree in relation to anything, it must be fulfilled. ”

“ For aught we know, the fulfillment of this prophecy may grow out of politics. If the people are very nearly equally divided in politics, this feeling may run so high, in years to come, as to be the direct cause of war. And if this should be the case, it would very naturally spread to every neighborhood in the Union. One class of political opponents would rise up against the other class in the same city and country, and thus would arise a war of mobocracy. ”

“ The descendants of the once great iron kingdom are found mostly in Europe, extending in some measure into Asia, and in still greater measure into America.
The present existing nations represent two things—first, in a governmental capacity, they represent the feet and toes of the great image ”

“ The more enlightened nations, so called, are rejecting the Gospel message which is being sent to them by divine authority; and for that reason their utter destruction is inevitable, and, as had been decreed, they must pass away. Their lives will not be prolonged. Not only the kingdoms and governments of Europe, and the western portion of Asia are to be thus visited, but also those who have grown out of these kingdoms, that have emigrated to this western hemisphere, and elsewhere. For instance, this great republic must pass away in the manner indicated unless the people repent. ”

“ John saw the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven and speaks of its inhabitants. Then one of the angels took him away to a high mountain, and showed him the second city, when descending to the earth.
The Book of Mormon speaks very plainly upon this subject. The Prophet Ether, as recorded in the latter part of the book, speaking of these two cities, says, that both are built by man, under the direction of the Almighty; and that the Lord has decreed that when they are built, they shall not waste away nor be destroyed. There are a great many of our houses that are wasting. ”

“ If you had anything you wished left in the open air during the day or night, it would not matter how valuable it might be, you could do so without entertaining the least fear of anybody taking it from you. ”

“ This cannot be a system of true republicanism; it must be the result of the imperfections of fallen man, and consequently it must pass away and be forgotten. But when the kingdom of heaven shall be fully established, I do not think there will be the least division; everything will be conducted perfectly ”

“ In order that he might receive from him the kingdom, in its order, every person standing in his proper position, everything organized after the most perfect order. The Ancient of Days delivers up the kingdom, thus completed, to the Son of Man, whose dominion becomes so great that all peoples, nations and languages serve him ”

“ But not one particle of the elements which compose the earth will be destroyed or annihilated. They will all exist and be brought together again by a greater organizing power than is known to man. The earth must be resurrected again, as well as our bodies ”

“ Let a man now be brought forward as a candidate for the presidency of the United States, against whose private character not a syllable has been uttered and you will soon see even the most respectable of our newspapers turn with slander against him ”

“ Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," etc. His government must be established here, and his will must be done in perfection, as it is in heavenly worlds. It is folly in the extreme for man to argue that our liberty would be curtailed were this prayer to be answered on our heads to-day. On the contrary our independence would be enhanced ”