THE CHURCH.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the organization

through which the Lord is accomplishing the declaration of the Gospel

in the last days, gathering Israel, administering the ordinances of

salvation, and, in short, is accomplishing the work of redemption--that

accomplishment which has been predicted by the mouths of all His holy

prophets since the world began. The Church is called the Church of

Jesus Christ because it is His. He directed how and when to organize

it, pointing out by direct revelation the manner of Church government;

the principles and ordinances of the Gospel; the blessings to be

enjoyed by those who obey Him, and also the respective duties of each

quorum or council of the Holy priesthood. The words "Latter-day Saints"

are used to distinguish it from the former-day dispensation, or from

the Church of Jesus Christ of Former-day Saints.

The authority of God delegated to man is called the Holy priesthood.

This priesthood is arranged under two great heads. The lesser branch is

called the Levitical or Aaronic, because it was conferred upon Aaron

and his posterity. It holds the keys of the administration of angels,

administering the outward ordinances of the Gospel, such as "baptism

by immersion for the remission of sins," the sacrament of the Lord's

supper, the receiving and distribution of tithes and offerings, all

subject to the direction of the high priesthood. The officers in the

Aaronic priesthood consist of Bishops, Priests, Teachers and Deacons.

There is a presiding Bishop, who holds the keys of this priesthood,

also other Bishops, who preside over the interests of the lesser

priesthood in Wards or Branches, looking after the temporal interests

of the Saints. The Priests are standing ministers, organized into

quorums of forty-eight in each.

The duty of the Priest is to visit the home of each member, expound

the Scripture, invite all to come unto Christ and exhort the Saints to

perform every duty enjoined by the Gospel.

Teachers are organized into quorums of twenty-four each. The duty of

those bearing this office is to see that the Saints do their duty and

entertain no ill-feelings toward their fellow-beings, and that no

iniquity exists in the Church. These general duties, common to all

Saints, consist in living a chaste, honest, upright, temperate and

industrious life, attending to secret and family prayers, attendance at

meetings of worship, partaking of the sacrament, the payment of tithes

and offerings, observing the Sabbath day, and kindred obligations, all

made plain in the revelations of God to the Church.

The Deacons are organized into quorums of twelve each, and are to

assist the Teacher in all the duties of his calling, as occasion

may require, but their especial duty is to look after the houses of

worship, keep them clean, see to the arrangement of seats and the

seating of the people in public assemblies of worship, and such other

labors under the direction of the Bishop as may conduce to the welfare

of the Church.

The Melchisedek or higher priesthood holds the keys to the kingdom of

heaven. It has the power to seal on earth, and what is done is sealed

in heaven; to loose on earth and it is loosed in heaven; to receive

the revelations of God; to guide the Church in all things, and to

understand the mysteries of godliness as far as they are revealed to

men in the flesh. In ancient times these keys and fullness of authority

were given to Peter when the Savior said to him: "And I give unto thee

the keys of the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. xvi:19.)

The offices of this priesthood consist of the First Presidency, a

quorum of three, bearing the holy apostleship, and as the organization

of the Church on earth typifies the heavenly, these three symbolize the

Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and hold the keys of authority over all

departments of the Church, on all matters, spiritual and temporal, even

as the Godhead is the great ruling power of the universe, the heavens

and the earth and all that in them is.

Next come the Twelve Apostles, who hold the keys of opening the door

of salvation to all nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples. The reason

that this quorum numbers twelve is in honor of the twelve tribes of

Israel. Jesus said to the Twelve at Jerusalem: "Thou shalt sit upon

twelve thrones, judging the whole house of Israel;" and again, upon

the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem were to be the names of the

"Twelve Apostles of the Lamb." The Church in government is "built upon

the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being

the chief corner stone." (Eph. ii:19, 20.) The duty of the Twelve

is to carry the Gospel to all nations and to send the same by their

associates, the Seventies.

The Seventies are organized into quorums of seventy in each, presided

over by seven of their number. Their especial calling is, like that of

the Twelve, to be witnesses of the truth in all the world, and they are

the ones especially appointed to associate with the Twelve in conveying

the Gospel message to all mankind.

The office of High Priest is one of presidency. The High Priests are

not limited to any especial number to constitute a quorum, but any

number existing in a Stake of Zion is a quorum, presided over by three

of their members. High Priests are chosen to preside over Stakes of

Zion, to act as High Counselors, preside over temples, officiate in the

ordinances of the house of the Lord, and, where the literal descendants

of Aaron are not found, the High Priest is chosen to officiate in the

Bishopric. Where men are found among the Seventies or Elders in any

Ward or Stake, more suitable to fill a vacancy in the Ward Bishopric,

Stake Presidency, or High Council, than the resident High Priests, such

men are selected and ordained to the office of High Priest.

As standing ministers in Wards and Stakes the office of Elder exists,

and a quorum of Elders numbers ninety-six. They have authority to

preach the Gospel, baptize, confirm, administer the sacrament, anoint,

and lay on hands for the healing of the sick, but differ from the

Seventies in not being under the especial duty of traveling abroad to

preach the Gospel. They have authority, however, as do High Priests, to

travel abroad and preach the Gospel when called by the Presidency of

the Church.

There is in the Church a presiding Patriarch, and other Patriarchs

in all the Stakes of Zion. The duty of this high office is to impart

blessings to the Saints of God. In presenting the general authorities

of the Church the name of the Patriarch is presented next to the Twelve

Apostles.

The general authorities of the Church, presented for the acceptance of

the Church at every general conference, are the Presidency, the Twelve

Apostles, the Patriarch, the Seven Presidents of Seventies, and the

Presiding Bishopric of the Church. The names of the officers in the

Priesthood are Apostles, Patriarchs, High Priests, Seventies, Elders,

Bishops, Priests, Teachers and Deacons.

When difficulties arise between members of the Church and they fail to

settle by themselves and the assistance of one or two witnesses, as the

Savior directs, the Bishopric of the Ward form an ecclesiastical court,

to which the disputants can refer their difficulties. If the decision

is unsatisfactory to either party, there is a court of appeal in each

Stake, called the High Council, consisting of twelve High Priests

presided over by the Presidency of the Stake. From their decision an

appeal can be had to the Presidency of the Church, which is the end of

controversy. Trials by these courts are conducted free of charge. They

are to exercise the functions of their calling without partiality and

with the fear of God before their eyes, and to be guided by the Spirit

of the Lord in their conclusions.

In the selection of any and all officers in the Church, the Saints have

a voice. "No person is to be ordained to any office in this church,

where there is a regularly organized branch of the same, without

the vote of that church." (Doctrine and Covenants, section xx, 65.)

"And all things shall be done by common consent in the Church, by

much prayer and faith, for all things you shall receive by faith."

(Doctrine and Covenants, section xxvi, 2.) The Gospel is a perfect

law of liberty, and no people upon the earth have broader freedom and

a stronger voice in government, religious or otherwise, than do the

Latter-day Saints in the governmental and all other affairs of the

Church.

The reader is referred to the revelations of God, given in the last

days to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for a more perfect understanding of

the offices and duties thereof, pertaining to the Church of Christ.

They are to be found in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. These

revelations throw great light upon the fragmentary statements of the

New Testament, because in the latter no one can learn the relationship

of one quorum in the Church to another, nor the explicit duties of the

respective offices in the Holy Priesthood.

This Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, as far as could

be, with the limited membership of six men--Joseph Smith, Jr., Hyrum

Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Samuel H. Smith, Peter Whitmer, Jr., and David

Whitmer. It was truly "a grain of mustard seed, the smallest of all

seeds," in comparison with other organizations. A less number could

not have been organized under the laws of New York. The great founder,

under God, of this Church, had never belonged to any other. It was not

an off-shoot of Catholic or Protestant, but as "a little stone cut out

of the mountains without hands," it bore no relationship to any human

system; and as the stone should increase in velocity as it rolled on,

so has the Church grown in magnitude from the "mustard seed" to a great

tree. It is believed by the Saints that the Savior was born on the 6th

of April, and that the organization of this Church commemorates that

great event.

On the 11th of April, 1830, Oliver Cowdery preached the first Gospel

discourse of this dispensation. Soon branches of the Church were raised

up in New York and Pennsylvania. Men were brought into the fold who

later filled notable places in the Church. Brigham Young, John Taylor,

Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow and other leading men embraced the

Gospel between 1830 and 1837. The Book of Mormon had been translated

and published to the world previously. News of the new dispensation was

heralded abroad by friend and foe. At that time many were prepared to

embrace the Gospel, for the Lord had shown unto them that the Gospel in

its fullness and purity did not exist in the Catholic and Protestant

systems of so-called Christianity. The ministration of heavenly beings

had been renewed, and during the entire lifetime of Joseph Smith he was

the recipient of messages from the eternal worlds.

Persecution arose, and bitter opposition was arrayed against the

Church. The Prophet was at times waylaid by wicked men, and sometimes

arrested upon unfounded, trumped-up charges. From all these he was

delivered until the time came for him to offer his life as a martyr.

In the fall of 1830 Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, John Whitmer

and Ziba Peterson were called to carry the Gospel to the Indians

(Lamanites), located in what was then the western wilds of these United

States. Near Kirtland, Ohio, they met Sidney Rigdon and other followers

of Alexander Campbell. The Elders presented to them the restored

Gospel, with the Book of Mormon. Many of them received the truth, and

the town of Kirtland became a gathering place for the Saints. Joseph

Smith, the Prophet, removed to that point, and the Church as a body was

chiefly located there as early as 1831.

In the meantime the future site of the chief city of Zion was

designated by revelation to the Prophet, dedicated and set apart for

the gathering of the Saints. In 1832 the first periodical in the

Church was published, the _Evening and Morning Star_, at Independence,

Missouri. The press and property of this publication were subsequently

destroyed by a mob. Persecution in Missouri became very bitter. Many of

the Saints were treated with bodily violence, their houses and property

destroyed by fire and themselves expelled from the county by armed mobs.

During this time Kirtland was being built up. The Lord required the

Saints to build a temple, in which to receive sacred ordinances for the

salvation of the living and the dead. To this labor they devoted their

energies, and notwithstanding their poverty the temple was completed

and ready for dedication in March, 1836. Joseph Smith, the Prophet,

translated by inspiration the New Testament, completing the work Feb.

2, 1833. Five months later he finished the translation of the Old

Testament, so far as the Lord indicated the necessity of so doing. The

_Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate_ was published in Kirtland.

The Church, though organized by the authority of the apostleship, did

not contain sufficient adherents at first to organize the councils of

the priesthood, so as time went on and numbers increased, the Lord

would indicate when and how to organize these quorums. The quorum of

High Priests was organized in Kirtland, March 18, 1833. The Presidency

and High Council of the Church were organized Feb. 17, 1834. That of

the Seventies commenced Feb. 28, 1835. Thus from time to time, as the

Church grew and developed, the Lord made plain by revelation how to

organize every quorum, and finally Stakes of Zion and branches thereof

and branches scattered abroad.

On Aug. 17, 1835, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, containing the

revelations of the Lord to the Church up to that date, was accepted

as a rule of faith and practice. Between that date and the martyrdom

of the Prophet many revelations were given, but owing to the poverty

and unsettled condition of the Church all of them were not published

until subsequent to the decease of the Prophet. During the troubles in

Missouri, a body of men called "Zion's Camp" left Kirtland May 5, 1834,

to carry supplies and relieve the distress of their co-religionists,

who had been exiled from their homes in Independence, Missouri. They

performed the arduous journey on foot, through the wildernesses of

Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, accomplished their mission and returned

to Ohio.

Early in the year 1836 the ordinances of blessing and anointing were

attended to in the Kirtland temple, and that sacred edifice was

dedicated to the Lord March 27, 1836. In the temple the gifts of the

Holy Ghost were poured out in abundance. Many saw visions. The Savior,

Moses, Elias and Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

Previous to this, Joseph's first visit was a personal visit of the

Father and the Son. Again on Feb. 16, 1832, the Savior appeared to

Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, and revealed to them the glories of

the celestial, terrestrial and telestial worlds, and the suffering and

condemnation of these who are unworthy a kingdom of glory. In 1837,

during the financial panic, a great apostasy took place in Kirtland,

which involved the standing of several of the Twelve Apostles.

Persecution raged in Missouri.

Elders Kimball, Hyde and Richards introduced the Gospel into England

and performed their first baptism July 30th, 1837, in the river Ribble.

From that time until the present date a prosperous mission has been

conducted in Great Britain. Thousands have joined the Church in that

land and gathered to Zion. Subsequently John Taylor introduced the

Gospel into France, and with others, into Germany; Erastus Snow into

Scandinavia, and Lorenzo Snow into Italy; and from these countries,

especially Germany and Scandinavia, thousands have come to swell the

ranks of the Latter-day Saints. Into each of these tongues, and others,

the Book of Mormon has been translated in fulfillment of prophecy.

The Gospel continued to spread in Canada, where it had been introduced

by Parley P. Pratt, also in the United States and Europe. Persecution

raged in Ohio and Missouri. The Saints as a body left Kirtland July

6th, 1838, for Missouri, chiefly locating at Far West, Caldwell county.

In the fall of that year, Apostle David W. Patten fell a martyr at the

hands of a mob on Crooked river; Joseph, Hyrum and others had been

sent to prison without trial or conviction; yet the work prospered and

spread abroad. During these sore trials, when death to the Prophet and

others appeared inevitable, he prophesied their safe deliverance from

the mob in Missouri.

While Joseph and Hyrum were yet in prison, Presidents Young and Kimball

led the suffering Saints to Illinois, where they established the famed

city of Nauvoo. To that point Joseph and his brethren made their escape

and enjoyed a brief respite from mobocracy. The Prophet predicted,

however, that Nauvoo would not be a resting place of the Saints for a

great length of time. In keeping with this inspiration, he prophesied

on Aug. 6th, 1842, of their coming location and greatness in the Rocky

Mountains. He also prepared an expedition to explore the West, but died

a martyr before its consummation.

Although Nauvoo was a sickly place, the industry of the Saints was

attended with the blessings of divine Providence, and the city grew

with magic speed. A temple was soon commenced. A charter was obtained

from the State Legislature to establish a university, and prosperity

almost unparalleled characterized the labors of the people. However,

the combination of political intrigue and religious bigotry on the

part of religious professors, coupled with transgressing apostates,

soon conspired to spread death and destruction among the Saints. In

Missouri, at Haun's mill and elsewhere, many had been shot down in cold

blood, property was burned, and the whole people exiled from the state.

In Illinois further trouble was inaugurated by Missourians. They sought

on one occasion to kidnap the Prophet, but failed. Fabricated charges

were made against the Prophet. He was tried as before, and every time

acquitted. When his last trial was being conducted, the mob (like the

rabble in the halls of Pilate) said that if the law could not touch

him, powder and lead should. Their nefarious purposes were permitted to

be carried out, and on June 27th, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum, while under

the pledged protection of Gov. Ford, were assassinated by a howling mob

in Carthage jail, Hancock county, Illinois. Previous to his martyrdom,

the Prophet Joseph had received more than one hundred revelations,

had been instrumental in organizing the Church in its fullness, and

bestowing the keys of the kingdom of God upon the Twelve Apostles.

To Nauvoo were gathered thousands of people from the several states,

Canada and Great Britain. At the time of the Prophet's martyrdom the

Twelve were abroad on missions, with the exception of Elders John

Taylor and Willard Richards, who were with the Prophet and Patriarch at

the time of the martyrdom, Elder Taylor himself being wounded with four

bullets.

While the Saints were in Missouri the Lord commanded that they should

importune the officers of the law in the districts where the trouble

occurred, and not being heeded, should appeal to the governor, thence

to the president of the United States. All this was done, without

avail. The president answered their appeal by saying, "Gentlemen, your

cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." Governors of states were

written to, to use their influence to avert the wrongs heaped upon the

Saints, but from one or two only came a favorable response. On the

failure of the states and nation to protect their own citizens against

mob violence and plunder, the Lord promised to vex the nation with a

sore vexation. This was done in the hundreds of thousands of lives and

the millions in treasure lost in the Civil War. The outbreak of this

war was revealed by the Lord to Joseph twenty-eight years before it

came to pass, and published to the world as early as 1851.

The Church was not founded by men, nor did it depend upon any

particular man or set of men for strength, growth or progress. God has

rounded and protected and is perpetuating His Church on the earth, so

that when the Prophet passed to the life beyond, the work continued and

grew with great rapidity. It is said, and truly, that "the blood of the

martyr is the seed of the Church."

President Brigham Young and his associates of the Twelve, according to

the voice of the Spirit and the order of the Holy Priesthood, succeeded

to the Presidency of the Church. The work of the Lord continued to

prosper, contrary to the prediction of its enemies that when the

Prophet Joseph was out of the way the work would come to naught. The

foundation of a temple had been laid which was pushed to completion,

dedicated to the Lord, and ordinances performed therein. Mobocratic

hostilities were renewed, however, with determined vigor. Nauvoo was

besieged. The temple was burned and Elder William Anderson and his son

killed. The Saints were expelled at the point of the bayonet. They

had a flourishing city in an incredibly short time. They were quiet,

peaceable, law-abiding, industrious citizens. The killing of their

leading men, the burning of their homes, the numerous indignities

heaped upon them, were as dastardly and cold-blooded as any persecution

chronicled in the annals of history, especially when we consider

that it occurred in a free country, where liberty for every race and

religion is the proud boast of its people. Many of the people left

Nauvoo in the dead of winter, 1845-6, crossing the Mississippi river

on the ice. The day after the general exodus, nine children were born

in the camp of the exiled people. Under the leadership of President

Young and his associates, the Saints moved westward across the state of

Iowa and built up a settlement called Winter Quarters, where the people

remained to recruit until 1847. While there the government called on

the Saints for five hundred men to engage in the war with Mexico. These

were promptly supplied, and the most able-bodied men were sent to

defend their country.

In the spring of 1847, President Young and a small company numbering

143, including three women, started from the Missouri river to find

beyond the Rocky Mountains a place of rest, where they might build and

inhabit homes and worship God "free from the furious rage of mobs."

After an interesting and trying journey of about three months this

noble band of pioneers entered Salt Lake valley July 24th, 1847, over

a thousand miles from the Mississippi river. As they emerged from

the mouth of what was afterwards named Emigration Canyon, they stood

upon a plateau facing westward. To the north and south a great valley

extended, bordered on the west by mountains and a great inland sea of

salt water, the Great Salt Lake. The islands in the lake are mountains

almost destitute of timber, but supplied with grass suitable for the

grazing of horses and cattle. The valley was poorly watered, and dry

and sterile was the appearance of the country before them. But God was

their leader. He had shown to President Young beforehand the Salt Lake

Valley. When the pioneer band entered the valley the Prophet said,

"This is the place. Here we will build a city." When they came upon the

ground where the temple now stands, President Young, thrusting his cane

into the ground, said in substance, "Here we will stay, and upon this

ground we will build a temple."

All the events conducing to the growth and development of the valleys

prove that President Brigham Young knew whereof he spoke, and God has

confirmed his words by the many blessings of divine Providence showered

upon the people in building up a commonwealth in what was in those

days a great barren waste. The soil upon which the Saints then stood

belonged to Mexico. Those pioneers were as truly exiles from their

country as were the Puritans who sailed the trackless ocean and planted

their feet upon Plymouth Rock. And yet the Latter-day Saints then had

five hundred men in the American army, in the contest with Mexico.

Upon a prominent mountain peak, called Ensign, the "Mormon" pioneers

planted the Stars and Stripes, the flag of their country, and possessed

the land as citizens of the United States. Upon the arrival of this

first company the work of plowing and building immediately commenced.

It would take volumes to tell the history of the growth and progress

of the Saints from that time till now; but this wondrous recital is

written upon the mountains and in the valleys, which are open to the

inspection of all people.

In the fall of 1847 a large company of Saints crossed the plains,

led by President John Taylor and other prominent men. The companies

continued to pour into Salt Lake valley and spread into the valleys

north and south each year from 1847 to 1900, coming as Latter-day

Saints, under the regulations of the Church. The leading brethren

had made covenant that they would not cease their energies until all

the Saints who would remain faithful should be gathered to the place

appointed.

Before the death of Prophet Joseph many had apostatized. The Saints

were not so well established in doctrine as they are today, and

some were led astray by the pretensions of prominent men who were

disposed to leave the Church and follow their own course. The Twelve

Apostles stood next in authority to the Presidency of the Church

by the order pointed out in the revelations of God and at the time

when Sidney Rigdon was asserting his claims to the guardianship

of the Church, President Young stood up to address the Saints. A

remarkable manifestation of God's power took place. President Young

was transfigured before the people. He appeared to increase in height

and in form of his face and body to the exact personal appearance of

the Prophet Joseph Smith. When he spoke his voice was as that of the

martyred Prophet. People who were present on that occasion say that

if their eyes had been closed when he arose from his seat they would

have believed the speaker to be none other than the Martyr. Truly

the mantle of Joseph had fallen upon Brigham, and while Joseph had

received all the keys of the priesthood, he had bestowed them upon

the Twelve, also the revelations upon which to build the Church of

Christ. President Young truly built upon these revelations during his

entire administration. In 1849, at Winter Quarters, he was sustained as

President of the Church by the unanimous voice of the priesthood, Heber

C. Kimball and Willard Richards then being chosen Counselors and so

endorsed by the voice of the Church thereafter at general conferences

during the remainder of their lifetimes. President Young presided over

the Church as the senior Apostle for thirty-three years, five years in

connection with the Twelve and twenty-eight years in the Presidency.

Soon after the settlement of the Saints in Salt Lake valley, other

valleys were explored north and south, and settlements established

wherever water could be obtained, as rapidly as the strength and

numbers of the Saints would justify. As early as 1860 settlements

were rounded and the Saints organized in Wards and quorums of the

priesthood, from Cache valley to St. George, a distance of over 400

miles from north to south. Wherever the Saints locate in settlements

of a few families, or more, they are organized with a Bishop and

counselors to preside over them, with Priests, Teachers and Deacons,

as before explained, for a local ministry. As helps in government

they had in those early days the Relief Society to relieve the poor

and afflicted. The society is composed of women, and was first

organized March 17, 1842, by the Prophet Joseph Smith, in Nauvoo. In

1849 the first Sunday school was established in the Church by Richard

Ballantyne, in the Fourteenth Ward, Salt Lake City. Later, and during

the administration of President Young, the Young Men and Young Ladies'

Mutual Improvement Associations were inaugurated. Still later, by

suggestion of Sister Aurelia Spencer Rogers, under the administration

of President John Taylor, the Primary Associations, presided over

and conducted by capable sisters, were established for the especial

benefit of little children. All these are helpful regulations to meet

the growing requirements of the Saints in matters of religious, moral

and intellectual training and development. One of these organizations

exists in every Bishop's Ward, unless the number of any class who

properly belong to one of the associations named is too limited to make

the organization profitable. In such cases those who would take part

in such associations are not unprovided for because the Sunday school,

more than any other association in the Church, takes in all ages of

both sexes. Our Sunday schools now have a membership of nearly 125,000.

Where there are a sufficient number of Wards, in any section of

the country, these Wards are presided over by a President and two

counselors, with a High Council, who have certain jurisdiction

over matters pertaining to the Church in this group of Wards. The

associations, Sunday schools, societies, etc., have a general

superintendency of three, with assistants. This organization, composed

of the Wards, is called a Stake of Zion. For convenience sake, the

geographical boundaries of the Stake are usually the same as those of

the county, but not always, or necessarily so. Sometimes the population

of two or three counties is not too great to be one Stake, where

the settlements are close together, or not separated by mountains,

which would render the attendance of the people at Stake conferences,

especially in the winter season, very laborious, and in some instances

almost impossible. We have now fifty Stakes of Zion. They extend

from Canada to Mexico. They exist in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming,

Colorado, Canada and Mexico. Many of them were organized just prior to

the decease of President Young, the remainder under his successors,

respectively: Presidents Taylor, Woodruff, Snow and Smith.

April 6th, 1853, the Temple in Salt Lake City was commenced. It is

constructed of granite. The rock was hauled, the first fifteen years,

with ox teams, a distance of sixteen miles, two yoke of oxen frequently

being required to draw one huge stone. But many years before the

completion of the Temple, the locomotive, with many ear loads of stone

at a time, rolled into the Temple block and left its cargo by the side

of the growing edifice. The capstone of this magnificent house of the

Lord was laid by electricity. The current was applied by the finger of

God's Prophet, Wilford Woodruff, then eighty-four years of age, and one

of that noble band of one hundred forty-three who entered Salt Lake

valley July 24th, 1847. President Young was instrumental in laying the

foundation of four temples in Utah, at Salt Lake, St. George, Logan

and Manti. All have been, years ago, completed; the Salt Lake Temple

being dedicated April 6th, 1893, by President Wilford Woodruff. The

ordinances of salvation for the living and the dead are performed in

the temples, and tens of thousands have been officiated for since their

completion.

Subsequent to the exodus of the Church from Nauvoo to Salt Lake valley,

the Gospel was introduced to the Pacific Isles by President George Q.

Cannon and other Elders in 1853. In the work of preaching the Gospel

many countries have not yet accorded perfect religious freedom, and to

penetrate these the Church awaits only the provinces of the Almighty

to break down the barriers and make it feasible to promulgate the

Gospel in those countries. In other lands, where freedom reigns, the

Elders have carried the glorious message. The Book of Mormon has been

translated into German, Danish, Swedish, French, Spanish, Italian,

Hawaiian, Maori and other tongues, and will continue to be given to

the world until the truths of the Gospel upon its sacred pages shall

be read by every nation, kindred, tongue and people. The thousands who

have embraced the work with honest motives have received the witness

of the Holy Spirit to their own satisfaction. Gifts and blessings

which the ancient saints enjoyed have been renewed in this glorious

dispensation.

The external history of the Church has been the same as in other times.

"If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye

are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you." "And they that

live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Prophecy has been

and is being fulfilled. "What is prophecy but history reversed?"

History repeats itself. When Joseph Smith promulgated a new revelation,

religious and irreligious fought against such an idea. Professional

religionists seek to prove by the Scriptures that revelations are not

for our day. In this they fail, because the Old and New Testaments

abound in predictions of future revelations and events which cannot

be filled without revelation. The wicked have resorted to slander,

ridicule and falsehood, then to violence, resulting in the destruction

of property and human life. All this being futile, they moved the

nation by the falsehoods of Judge Drummond to send an army to Utah.

But when the army came they found that this United States officer

had basely deceived the president of the nation, by telling that the

Mormons were in a state of rebellion and had burned the court records,

these being found unharmed. The Mormons were at peace with God and all

mankind, quietly minding their own business, pursuing their vocations

of life and building up the country for the benefit and blessing of all

who should come within their gates. The army came to Utah in 1857, and

subsequently returned East, going chiefly to the South, their leading

officer, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, taking part with the Confederate

army in the great rebellion. He fell upon the battlefield of Shiloh,

April 6th, 1862, thirty-two years to the day after the Church was born

in this dispensation. The army sold to the Mormons mules, wagons,

harness and other materials much needed, at a mere nominal figure, and

thus being a blessing, proved the words of Isaiah true, "I will make

the wrath of man to praise me."

As the Saints grew in prosperity and importance, avarice and prejudice

seized political demagogues, adventurers and religious bigots, to stir

the nation to a systematic effort to crush out "Mormonism." Special

legislation was enacted and enforced beyond the severity of its own

provisions. About eight hundred men went to prison; a few women were

incarcerated because they would not testify against their husbands;

heavy fines were paid and hundreds went into exile rather than prove

untrue to the solemn covenants and obligations they had entered into

under their religious convictions. Finally confiscation of Church

property took place, but most of it was afterwards restored. In 1890

President Woodruff issued his manifesto regarding plural marriage,

feeling that the courts of the country had abused justice in denying

the Saints the liberty of religious worship granted by the American

Constitution.

In this form of opposition to the Church, a prophecy of Joseph Smith

is fulfilled, in which he said, in substance, that persecution against

the Saints would extend from township to county, from county to state,

and from state to nation. His words have been literally fulfilled. The

Saints, in enduring persecution, did so with patience and forbearance.

They have no spirit of revenge. They understand that much of the

popular sentiment against them is based upon misunderstanding, rounded

in the falsehood of wicked and designing men. The spirit of the Gospel

teaches them that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong, and

that patience and charity are as necessary as a testimony of the truth;

for without the approval of the Lord they could not endure the trials

and temptations which beset them.

From the commencement the Church had taught the utmost freedom of

mankind to worship as they chose, such liberty being curtailed only

when it runs into license and infringes upon, the rights of others. In

the early inception of the Church, God commanded His people to study

and learn from the best of books, to acquire an understanding of the

laws of God and the governments of men, to become acquainted with the

heavens and the earth. Thus the Saints are the friends of all true

education. Joseph Smith established a school in Kirtland for the study

of Hebrew and other branches of knowledge. For Nauvoo he obtained a

charter for a university. Brigham Young and his associates founded the

Deseret University, now called the University of Utah. They have also

established church schools, the Brigham Young Academy in Provo, the

Brigham Young College in Logan, Stake academies and other schools. The

sons of Latter-day Saints have graduated with honor in the Military

Academy at West Point. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, they have a record

unsurpassed in the law school and in other branches taught by that

noted institution. The same is true of their record at Harvard and

elsewhere; also are there numerous graduates of medicine, dentistry,

civil engineering, etc., as taught in the great schools of Chicago,

Philadelphia and other places. Mission conferences are established in

almost every state of the American Union, also in England, Ireland,

Wales, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Germany, Holland,

Palestine, New Zealand, Australia, the Hawaiian and many other islands

of the Pacific ocean, including Japan.

The present living membership of the Church, men, women and children,

is not less than 310,000 souls. While there has been steady progress

in numerical strength, it is not in numbers altogether that strength

consists. We fully realize that "Straight is the gate and narrow is

the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." The

greatest strength consists in the purity of the principle and the

impossibility of the wicked and corrupt to remain long in the Church.

God is its founder and builder. He established the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints. It will stand always, for "whatsoever the

Lord doeth, He doeth it forever."