Orson Pratt

“ The faith of the Gospel is what is required to lead us on until we burst the vail asunder; for this faith will enable us to burst off the shackles by which we are bound, and prepare us to enjoy the holy Priesthood, with all the blessings guaranteed to the Saints of God, and to gaze into the hidden things of eternity. ”

“ But let the eyes of those who have not been diligent be dark, let them not have sufficient faith to behold your or my glory, let the vail that is over the nations remain between them and my glory. I will venture to say that there are at present comparatively few that would be prepared to receive the great blessings which are in store. ”

“ I verily believe that there are not many Latter-day Saints, but who, if they knew that they could enjoy all the blessings of the ancients and have the visions of the heavens laid open to their minds, so that they could have before them the past, the present, and the future, so that they could understand the things of God, would live very faithful, and be of one heart and of one mind. ”

“ Look at the promises made to the missionaries, "He that shall go forth to preach the Gospel without purse or scrip shall not be weary, nor darkened in spirit nor in body."
What is it that strengthens them so that they do not become weary in body and in mind? The Elders abroad are called upon to labor diligently, and many times to sit up almost all night to teach the pure principles of eternal life, and when they lie down they rest perfectly calm as though they were not weary, and arise invigorated with faith, intelligence, and power ”

“ Brethren, pray for me, that I may accomplish the mission that has been, given to me acceptably in the sight of the Lord, acceptably to these my brethren that are presiding over me, acceptably to the nations, to the Saints here in Great Salt Lake Valley, that I may be one of the Saints that shall be perfected in righteousness, in long suffering, in patience, in humility, and return in joy and peace to rejoice again in your midst. I ask the Lord to bless us, one and all, with his Holy Spirit, and to guide us in the way of life. ”

“ The brother of Jared was so filled with the Spirit that he was enabled to behold the person of Jesus Christ, and all the inhabitants of the earth that had lived previous to his day, as well as those who should live afterwards. They rent the vail between them and the heavens by their faith and obedience to the commandments of the Lord; they saw the history of past events from the beginning of the world, and all the inhabitants that ever had been.
There is such a thing as a natural man's looking into the past, but their power is very much restricted. ”

“ Adam and Eve were immortal, the same as resurrected beings, but previous to their transgression they had no knowledge of good and evil.
After the redemption we will not only have the same kind of bodies that they possessed in the garden of Eden before the fall, but we will have a knowledge of good and evil through our experience. For this purpose we are made partakers, through our agency, of the knowledge of evil in this life, that we all may know how to appreciate good when we are put in possession of it. ”

“ Reflect upon past experience and upon the workings of the Spirit of God, and you will discover that you have often been forewarned of events long before they took place; and if you cast your minds into the book of the Spirit of God, and behold the acts and doings of the Lord in ages to come, you will find that the same principle that exists in the bosoms of the Gods is with you, though in a very undeveloped condition. Let your minds be set upon the will of God and upon His kingdom, and what will be withheld from your sight? ”

“ You are to claim blessings by your conduct, you are so instructed; some are apt to be so neglectful and remiss in their duties that they are not able to claim them. They forget what is in store for them, and do not pray for the Spirit to impress those blessings upon their minds, but suffer their minds to be drawn out too much upon temporal business instead of the things of God, and become weary in mind and body, so that they feel like neglecting the more prominent duties, such as family prayer and many others. ”

“ Hence you are to become habituated to do good in your thoughts and conduct, in all that you do, until you become perfectly initiated into the great principles of righteousness, and continue to live uprightly until it becomes a kind of second nature to be honest, to be prudent, to govern all your passions, and bring all of the influences of the flesh, of the fallen nature, into the most perfect subjection to the law of God. ”

“ While we are here there is a chance for every Latter-day Saint, and I feel to say, set yourselves in order, ye heads of families, and then set your families in order; regulate your lives one towards another in your families, in your neighborhoods, and in all your communications and dealings one with another. ”

“ When you have learned righteous principles be careful that they never escape your minds, and that your conduct never severs you from them. This is the time and this is the day that your faith should lay hold of this great and good Spirit, and that you should strive for the rich blessings of heaven, concerning which I have read in your hearing this morning.
Latter-day Saints, are not these things worthy of living for? Suppose that you could have the privilege, by living only one week in strict obedience to all the laws of the kingdom, to have these blessings ”

“ In this way the enemy will not have power over you, and all your works of light and righteousness will be regulated by the principles which you have received, and by the order which should govern the Saints of God; showing that you are sick of your old traditions, confusion, and discord, and that you are contending for the faith once delivered to the Saints; believing that the same blessings which they enjoyed may be poured out upon your heads. ”

“ You, Satan, shall buffet and, torment them, until they shall learn obedience by the things that they suffer.
Hence the propriety of preparing for these things, that when they come you will know how to conquer Satan, and not want for experience to overcome, but be like Michael, the archangel, who, with all the knowledge and glory that he had gained through thousands of years of experience, durst not bring a railing accusation, because he knew better. And when Moses withstood Satan face to face, he knew who he was and what he had come for. ”

“ If we are to conquer the enemy of truth his power must be made manifest, and the power which will be given of the Lord through faithfulness must be in our possession. Do you wish to prevail—to conquer the powers of darkness when they present themselves? If you do, prepare yourselves against the day when these powers shall be made manifest with more energy than is now exhibited. ”

“ Because Adam and Eve transgressed we are here with mortal tabernacles; and these mortal tabernacles are subject to vanity, through the power which the adversary has on account of our organization in the flesh; he has power over the spirit, and to bring us into captivity and bondage, and subject us to the yoke of bondage, of sin, of the fallen and corrupt nature ”

“ Knowledge of truth would not harm you, though it may be better for some to let their books remain shut, rather than to transgress against greater light, for then greater would be their damnation and punishment. In proportion as we advance in the knowledge of the things revealed from the heavens, and in the powers and keys that are conferred upon us, the greater will be the condemnation, if we fall therefrom. This shows the propriety of every man and woman's habituating themselves, as I have already said, to righteousness. ”

“ If you come to this house with your minds upon the things of this world, and hear the servants of God speak upon the great things of the kingdom, their words will go in at one ear and out at the other, your minds will be darkened, the devil will step in and tempt you, and you are liable to be prostrated in body and mind by his power, because you have given way. ”

“ And when you have given diligent heed to counsel, it becomes a second nature to pay the strictest attention to the covenants made and the counsel given by the Living Oracles of God.
These principles are not to be learned by one or two days', or one or two months' humility and obedience, for that would be like a child's going to school a week and being kept six weeks at home, where there is no one to instruct him. It is obvious that a person keeps retrograding, if he does not progress ”

“ Because there are those around me here who are better qualified to teach you in relation to your every day duties; they are able to instruct you from Sabbath to Sabbath, and are constantly pouring forth instructions for your edification and benefit. ”

“ You are all on a mission to make yourselves of one heart and of one mind before the Lord, and if you are faithful you can claim the promises that He will pour out His Spirit upon you, and that Spirit will be poured out upon those who are faithful from morning until evening, and they will be quickened and invigorated to perform whatever is necessary. ”

“ I have read, from the Book of Ether, a portion of what is written concerning that great and wonderful vision, shown to a man in all respects just like unto ourselves, so far as his nature was concerned, all men being subjected to certain evil influences, through the transgression of our first parents. ”

“ The same Supreme power that causes the fall of a stone, can cause a stone to give light, and in this instance did perform that operation, and they beheld it, and had constant day until they had crossed the sea. ”

“ With this mighty instrument it has been determined that other worlds exist hundreds of thousands of millions of miles distant from us, and that the light from them which reaches the eye through the telescope must have been traveling several hundred thousand years before it reached the eye, hundreds of thousands of years before Adam was placed in the garden of Eden. ”

“ Hundreds of thousands of years ago the distant bodies of the universe were lighted up by the glory of God, and the light thereof has at last entered the tremendous telescope of Lord Ross, and thus individuals have been enabled to see—what? ”

“ Let them have that Spirit one week, and they would find their bodies stronger and more active, and they would almost forget whether they had been to their breakfast, dinner, or supper, their minds would be so completely swallowed up with heavenly things, and everything would prosper. ”