Orson Pratt

“ What can be more glorious tidings to the inhabitants of the earth than the everlasting Gospel sent by an angel, to say unto the people that if they will repent of their sins and be baptized in water for the remission of their sins, they shall receive the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands of the servants of God? ”

“ The kingdom of God is a standard to which the people rally and gather together. Does it affect all people, Isaiah? Yes. "All ye inhabitants of the world." What could be more extensive than that? "And dwellers on the earth, see ye when he lifts up an ensign on the mountains, and when he bloweth a trumpet hear ye." What else is to take place, Isaiah? He says that a severe judgment is to take place on that land shadowing with wings. What kind of a judgment, one that is to be very severe, Isaiah? ”

“ It seems then that Paul understood, by the spirit of prophecy, that if the Gentiles apostatized, if they did not continue in the place where they were grafted, if they did not continue in the goodness of God, if they became highminded, they also were to be cut off, just as they have been for many long generations that are past; cut off from all the ancient blessings of the everlasting Gospel through the apostacy of their ancient fathers. ”

“ I have told you that the Gospel should be committed by an angel; I have told you that it should be the hour of God's judgment—a peculiar time of judgment, in which the nations are to be visited with sore and terrible judgments. Now let us read further—" Another angel followed, crying, 'Babylon is fallen, because she made all nations drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornication.'" Who is Babylon? I have already explained that Babylon is a great power that should be in the earth under the name of a church, a woman—that generally represents a church—full of blasphemy. ”

“ It proves that there was no nation, no people, no kindred, no tongue, upon the face of the whole earth that had the everlasting Gospel when the angel should come; because, if there had been any people, however obscure they might be, however distant they might be from what are termed civilized nations, if there had been any people on the earth who had the Gospel, they would have a Christian Church, with Apostles and Prophets and all the gifts of the spirit therein. ”

“ If the Lord would prepare the way for the first coming, when he came apparently as a man, like other men; if he considered it important on that occasion to send one of the greatest Prophets that ever lived among men, why not also send Prophets or inspired men before the face of his second coming, to warn the inhabitants of the earth and prepare them for so great an event? ”

“ But the Lord intends to make a change, and that change is to send forth this Gospel from heaven to be preached to the nations of the Gentiles, to give them one more chance, if they will have it, to bring in their fullness; and when that time has come, and the servants of the Lord find that the balance of them harden their hearts and reject the Gospel of life and salvation, then the Lord will graft in all Israel, and they will be saved, being restored again to the tame olive tree, and bringing forth the fruits thereof. ”

“ The Christian Church is always characterized with inspired men, whose revelations are just as sacred as any contained in the Bible; and, if written and published, just as binding upon the human family. The Christian Church will always lay hands upon the sick in the name of Jesus, in order that the sick may be healed. The Christian Church will always have those among its members who have heavenly visions, the ministration of angels, and the various gifts that are promised according to the Gospel. ”

“ And this is the covenant I will make with them saith the Lord—I will write my law in their hearts, print it in their thoughts, and they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. ”

“ God will have a Church on the earth—a Zion, and out of that Church a deliverer will come for and in behalf of all Israel, not only the Jews—the two tribes and a half that were scattered after Christ, but the ten tribes that were taken away out of Palestine some seven hundred years before Christ. All Israel—the whole twelve tribes—will come to the knowledge of the truth when God sends this deliverer out of Zion, proclaiming the Gospel of the latter-days for their salvation. ”

“ He perhaps did not understand the modern terms for tunnel through a rock, and hence he calls them gates. "Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way of the people; cast up, cast up a highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people." Then comes in this universal proclamation—"Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed from the ends of the world." "Now, from the ends of the world, we should naturally suppose that, Isaiah, standing in Palestine, and delivering this, would see a work that was to transpire on a very distant land. ”

“ It does not commence its attack away in Asia, where the head of gold or its descendants live, neither in any intermediate part, but it commences at the very extremity of this great image, as it spreads out to the west, and commences upon the feet and the toes; it is there where the stone is cut out of the mountain without hands, it is there where the God of heaven should set up a kingdom, as Daniel says, that should never be destroyed, neither shall it be given into the hands of another people, but it shall stand for ever. ”

“ I will say, Come ye, my sons and daughters, from the ends of the earth, even every one that is called by my name." What an awful condition the world will be in when there is not a Christian among them. ”

“ Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came into the world some eighteen centuries ago in a very humble, meek and lowly manner. He came to teach the people the principles of the Gospel, and to open the way whereby salvation might be brought about in behalf of the human family, by offering an atonement before the Lord, his heavenly Father, for the sins of the world. ”

“ But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be. ”

“ Isaiah says—"For behold the Lord God shall come with a strong hand." What! The coming of the Lord going to take place after Zion has gone up into the mountains? Yes, that is one of the great events that will transpire, when the people of the nations are careless and indifferent, when they are eating and drinking, buying and selling, and their minds wholly swallowed up with the various occupations of life. "Behold, the Lord comes with a strong hand, his arm will rule for him and he will reward his people ”

“ Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams by the power of that spirit, and your young men shall see visions, all by the operations of the spirit that will be poured out upon all flesh. ”

“ Come further still, into Europe, and you find the feet and toes of the image in the latter-day kingdoms of the earth, which have branched across the great deep and have planted themselves in America. Are they partly strong and partly broken? ”

“ You go into Asia and you will find there the descendants of the old Babylonian empire still in existence. Come a little further westward, and you find still the descendants of the Medes and Persians who once flourished and exercised dominion over the earth. ”

“ We can't stay in Babylon and be spared from these judgments, can we? Not at all. Why not? Because her sins have reached to the very heavens. Look at her abominations, her whoredoms, her murders, her priestcraft, her false doctrines, her forms of godliness without any power; look at them, all the nations are following after, and consider it popular to follow and embrace these doctrines. "Come out of her, oh, my people." What people? God had no people in Babylon until the Church was organized, he could not have ”

“ It seems then that the second advent of the Son of God is to be something altogether of a different nature from anything that has hitherto transpired on the face of the earth, accompanied with great power and glory, something that will not be done in a small portion of the earth like Palestine, and seen only by a few ”

“ This is about the way you would get answered by all the various churches that have lived during many hundreds of years past, in regard to their authority; they have no more authority than a heathen priest. ”

“ That is the destiny of all the nations. A great many wise men, and statesmen, have meditated deeply upon the past, present and future of the nations, and have no doubt inquired in their own minds with a great deal of seriousness—"What will be the end of these political powers? ”