Orson Pratt

“ We have been called upon to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, as they were in ancient days; and inasmuch as we cannot go personally and preach to every creature, we have the responsibility upon us to see that it is preached to every creature, to every nation, tongue, and people. And inasmuch as we do not fulfil this responsibility placed upon us, we shall have to suffer. In connection with others, I have gone forth and endeavoured to fulfil in some little measure the great mission the Lord our God has given us to the nations of the earth. ”

“ And while I am speaking upon the subject, let me say that the gift and power of the Holy Ghost given to an individual is the greatest evidence that he can receive concerning God, godliness, and the kingdom of heaven set up upon the earth. There is no evidence equal to it. A natural man may see all the signs that Jesus has promised should follow the believer; he may see them in exercise by the faithful Saints of God. He may see them speak in different tongues and languages, and then he may have his doubts in regard to it, if he has not received the testimony of the Holy Ghost himself. ”

“ If I bear testimony to others that I know this Church and this kingdom to be the Church and kingdom of God, and that Joseph Smith was really raised up as a Prophet, and as a Seer, and as a Revelator, I must bear that testimony from some certain information and knowledge I have derived independent of what can be learned naturally by the natural man. ”

“ How does he know he is the servant of God, or that he performs that miracle by the power of God? Have not devils and fallen angels power? Did they not have mighty power in ancient days? Yes. Could they not smite the earth with plagues, and turn water into blood anciently, as Moses the servant of God did? Yes. Could not the wicked magicians of Egypt perform great signs by casting down their staves, and causing them to appear like serpents, performing great, and marvellous things similar to those the Prophet Moses performed? ”

“ He saw that a remnant of the nation should dwindle more and more in unbelief, and have wars and contentions among themselves, and become a degraded people, and be scattered upon all the face of this continent. ”

“ When I cast my reflections back upon the past history of my life, and contemplate the numerous scenes through which I have passed, in connection with hundreds of others that have travelled to and fro among the nations, I feel that it has been the hand of the Lord that has delivered me from the hands of enemies and lawless mobs which have often beset my path. ”

“ When we come to hunt for the great influence that has existed on the multitudes that gathered to persecute the Saints of the Lamb of God, we find it proceeding from the pulpit. Through the falsehoods of priests and the publishing of false principles, they have endeavoured to set on the frenzied multitude to put to death the Latter-day Saints and deprive them of citizenship. ”

“ We have been telling you about modern prophecy delivered by Joseph Smith. Is it false, or is it true? The Latter-day Saints know it to be true, we have seen enough of its fulfilment to know that the balance will come to pass; but the world perceive it not: they know it not; they do not understand the future; they have not that spirit spoken of this forenoon by brother Taylor, that was not only to take of the things of the Father and show to the disciples, but show them. things to come. They do not understand the spirit of prophecy. ”

“ He therefore needs something to convince him, beyond all doubt, that the individuals prophesying were filled with the Holy Ghost, and that their predictions were true and could be depended upon; and then, whether they come to pass or not in his day, he knows they will be fulfilled in their times and in their seasons; and so with all other gifts. He might see a miracle of any kind; he might see the laws of nature apparently overcome by a person calling himself a servant of God. ”

“ No nation of the Gentiles upon the face of the whole earth but what will be engaged in deadly war, except the Latter-day Kingdom. They will be fighting one against another. And when that day comes, the Jews will flee to Jerusalem, and those nations will almost use one another up, and those of them who are left will be burned ”

“ Even in Russia, that place where they would almost put you to death if you brought a printed work of a religious nature into the empire,—in that country, where they will not suffer you to propagate the Bible unmolested, whose religion is established by law, has the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be preached. ”

“ When a man has this, though he may appeal to ancient Prophets to get understanding on some subjects he does not clearly understand, yet, as he has the spirit of prophecy in himself, he will not be in darkness; he will have a knowledge of the signs of the times; he will have a knowledge of the house of Israel, and of Zion, of the ten tribes, and of many things and purposes and events that are to take place on the earth; and he will see coming events, and can say such an even ”

“ The Elders have had forty or fifty police to guard them from their meetings to their homes, to keep them from being destroyed by the tens of thousands of people that blockaded the streets for miles in length. ”

“ Then they will find something else to do besides warring against the Saints in their midst—besides raising their sword and fighting against the Lamb of God; for then war will commence in earnest, and such a war as probably never entered into the hearts of men in our age to conceive of. ”

“ They do not perceive that which is written by the ancient Prophets, much less will they understand that plainly written by the latter-day Prophets; consequently, all these things will overtake them unawares. Even the coming of Christ, so great an event as that is, will be to them as a thief in the night. ”