_If any man thinks he has influence among this people to lead away a
party, let him try it, and he will find out that there is power with
the Apostles which will carry them off victorious through all the
world, and build up and defend the church and kingdom of God_.[A]
[Footnote A: History of Joseph Smith, _Mill Star_, Vol. XXV, p. 216.]
There is yet another line of evidence to be adduced in support of
the great truth that the church has never been disorganized in this
dispensation, and therefore has never stood in need of a
"reorganization."[A] That evidence is based upon the favor and blessing
of God which has followed the church of Christ led by the Twelve
Apostles from Nauvoo, and their successors in the leadership of the
church.
[Footnote A: Josephites try to make it appear from a statement in the
general epistle of the Twelve issued in 1847, to the effect that they
were about to "reorganize" the church with a President and two
counselors, that President Brigham Young and his associates considered
the church disorganized, (see discourse by Alexander H. Smith. _The
Saints' Herald_ supplement of June 24th, 1893.) But it will be
observed that the reorganization contemplated in the epistle of the
Twelve is limited to reorganizing the First Presidency, the only
quorum that was disorganized. For the same purpose, reference (see
same discourse) is made to the re-baptism of the saints after their
arrival in Salt Lake valley. But this was merely a renewal of
covenants, which to make more impressive was accompanied by baptism;
and neither reflected discredit on the first baptisms of the
parties--from which is always reckoned the standing of the person in
the church--nor carried any idea with it that the church had become
disorganized.]
The first thing to be considered as indicating the favor of God which
attended the church under the Presidency of the Twelve Apostles, is
the fact that the church was held together through that trying period
immediately following the martyrdom of the prophets Joseph and Hyrum.
Though aspirants arose on every hand to usurp authority and deceive
the saints, calm and unmoved stood the quorum of the Twelve, as
watchmen upon the towers of Zion. They sounded a warning when danger
arose; they reproved the saints with sharpness when moved upon by the
Holy Ghost to do so; and members of their own quorum did not escape
this reproof whenever pride or vain ambition or any other evil was
seen in their conduct. The fear of man was taken from their hearts.
Conscious of the rectitude of their own intentions, and strong in the
favor of God, they neither trembled at the frowns of men in high
places, nor fawned at the feet of those in power. With manly courage
they put their trust in God, and sought only to do that which the
inspiration of God dictated. The saints recognized in their deportment
the conduct of true shepherds, ready to lay down their lives for the
flock of Christ, and they trusted them implicitly.
Thus trusted by the saints the Twelve went on building upon the
foundation laid by the prophet Joseph. They took steps to push the
building up of Nauvoo, but their chief interest and their most
strenuous efforts centered in completing the Temple and Nauvoo House.
The work of God so well begun by Joseph Smith, instead of being
retarded by his martyrdom, seemed to receive fresh impetus; as if the
blood of the martyrs had already added new strength to the church. Men
who had thought the whole of "Mormonism" was comprised in what they
called the "genius" of Joseph Smith, looked on in astonishment as they
saw the church become more firmly established after his taking off
than while he lived. They soon began to see that Joseph Smith a martyr
was more potent than Joseph Smith alive.
The quorums of the priesthood were greatly increased; the number of
missionaries multiplied. Not only was the welfare of the church at
Nauvoo the subject of the Apostles' care, but the branches scattered
throughout the states of the American Union and Great Britain received
their watchful attention.
The Temple was completed, many of the servants and saints of God
received their washings, anointings and blessings therein, in
fulfillment of the great desire of the prophet Joseph.
This accomplished, and mobocracy again raising its horrid front, to
plague the church, the Twelve turned their faces towards the west; for
they remembered that Joseph himself had prophesied that the saints
would yet be driven to the Rocky Mountains, and there become a mighty
people.[A] Isaiah, too, long centuries before this time, had declared
that it should come to pass
[Footnote A: Under date of _August 6th, 1842_, Joseph writes in his
history: "I prophesied that the saints would continue to suffer much
affliction, and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains, many would
apostatize, others would be put to death by our persecutors, or lose
their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, and some of you
will live to go and assist in making settlements and build cities and
see them become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains."]
In the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.[A]
[Footnote A: Isaiah ii, 2.]
It gives evidence of divine inspiration in the Twelve that in the
midst of their perplexities at Nauvoo, during the last year the church
remained there, their hearts were inclined to lead the church of God
to the place indicated as its abode in the last days, both by ancient
and modern prophecy.
That great exodus of the church from Nauvoo, with the subsequent
journey of the saints across the wilderness of Iowa and the great
plains which form the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, is one of
the most remarkable events in either ancient or modern history, when
considered in the light of the circumstances under which it took
place--a people well nigh stripped of all their worldly possessions,
teams and wagons improvised with such animals and materials as in the
hurry of their departure, under the menace of mob violence, could be
gathered together;--indifferently clothed and provisioned for contact
with the hardships inseparably connected with such an enterprise, and
the lapse of time ere they could replenish their scanty stores;--
making their way through an unexplored wilderness, a great part of
which was desert;--seeking a destination a thousand miles from the
frontiers of civilization;--absolutely without any base of supplies,
trusting solely to the providences of God for their daily needs;--
warlike tribes of Indians on every hand--and yet, under the direction
of the Apostles, they accomplished the great enterprise with little
loss of life, and in an incredibly short space of time!
This exodus and the subsequent settlement of the saints in the valleys
of Utah, confirmed the greatness of President Young's genius in the
minds of the men of the world, but to all who have an abiding faith in
the divinity of the great work of God in the last days, it bears
witness that the Lord was with President Brigham Young and his fellow
Apostles, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; and confirms the
faith of the Latter-day Saints, that their leaders held divine
authority, and were the proper men to preside over the church of
Christ after the martyrdom, of the prophet Joseph.
Not only was the exodus from Nauvoo successfully executed, but the
location of the Latter-day Saints in the Rocky Mountains was equally
well carried out. Removing the church to Salt Lake valley resulted in
founding commonwealths throughout the inter-Rocky Mountain region; for
the saints settling in the mountains made it possible for others to
establish homes there also; and it must be remembered that the
Latter-day Saints have not only settled Utah but have formed extensive
colonies in Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming and Colorado.
The church while in the eastern states never numbered more than three
or at the most four stakes of Zion. But since coming to the west the
stakes of Zion have increased to thirty-six, each with its high
council, its high priests' quorum, its several elders' quorums, and
stake organizations of Relief Societies, Improvement Associations for
both sexes; and quite a number of the stakes have church academies
where theology is made a leading feature of the curriculum.
Within these thirty-six stakes are about five hundred organized wards,
presided over by bishops, who are assisted in their labor of
preserving the saints in the faith, looking after the poor, and
keeping down iniquity, etc., by local quorums of priests, teachers and
deacons. In addition to all this, there are ward organizations of
Relief Societies, Improvement Associations for both sexes, and Primary
Societies for children. In each ward, also, is a Sunday School for the
instruction of the youth. Throughout the stakes of Zion there are 504
Sunday Schools, with a total membership, including officers, teachers
and pupils, of 72,519; in the libraries of the Sunday Schools are
23,541 volumes; and more than fifteen thousand dollars is expended
annually in Sunday School work.
In the organized stakes the saints number about two hundred and fifty
thousand; and though but few individuals among them can be considered
wealthy, yet they are a prosperous, contented, and therefore a happy
people. A greater per centage of them own the homes they live in and
the lands they cultivate, than is the case with any other community in
all the world; and they are freer than any other people on earth from
those difficulties arising in the industrial world which embitter the
relations of employer and employed. Peace is in their habitations; God
is honored at the family altars, as well as in the public sanctuaries;
faith and confidence in God abound on every hand, and everywhere one
may see evidences that God is with the people. He has neither forsaken
them nor their leaders, as He would have done had they turned away
from His gospel, trampled His church under their feet, or blasphemed
His priesthood by employing it to fleece the saints and aggrandize
themselves.
Such is the condition of the work of God within the organized stakes
of Zion--such are the results attained, the development as to
organization, increase of numbers, and temporal and spiritual
prosperity. But while this great work has been going on at the
gathering places of the saints, the foreign work of the church has not
been neglected. On the contrary the work of preaching the gospel to
the world has been made to keep pace with the development of the work
at the gathering places of the saints. Among the first acts of the
Twelve after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum was one to greatly
increase the numbers of the seventies--the quorums of the priesthood
which more especially constitute the foreign ministry of the church.
At the October conference in 1844 the quorums of seventies were
increased from two to ten. Since that time the seventies have been
increased, until now[A] they number one hundred and seven quorums,
comprising a body of seven thousand men, whose special calling it is
to preach the gospel abroad. Josephites complain against the church
for thus increasing the number of quorums of seventy; and mark it down
as a violation of the order of the church, and quote as proof the
following from the Doctrine and Covenants:
[Footnote A: 1894.]
And these seven presidents are to choose other seventies, besides
the first seventy, to whom they belong, and are to preside over
them; and also other seventy, until seven times seventy, if the
labor in the vineyard of necessity requires it.[A]
[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. cvii, 95, 96.]
This they say limits the number of quorums to seven, and therefore no
more than seven ought to be chosen. The prophet Joseph, however, when
the first quorums of seventy were being organized said:
If the first Seventy are all employed, and there is a call for
more laborers, it will be the duty of the seven Presidents of the
first Seventy to call and ordain other seventy and send them forth
to labor in the vineyard, until if needs be, they set apart seven
times seventy, and even until there are one hundred and forty and
four thousand thus set apart for the ministry.[A]
[Footnote A: Hist. Joseph Smith, under date of May 2nd, 1835. _Mill.
Star_, Vol. XV, p. 261.]
Not only have the quorums designed to form the foreign ministry of the
church been greatly increased, but they have been employed. Since the
death of the prophet Joseph, in addition to maintaining the missions
in those countries where proclamation of the gospel had been made
during his lifetime, missions have been established in the following
countries, and tens of thousands of the honest in heart gathered out
of them:
_France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland,
Italy, Switzerland, Jersey Islands, Hindostan, Malta, Cape of Good
Hope, Mexico, among a number of Indian tribes in the Western States
and Territories in the United States, Sandwich Islands, Samoa,
Friendly Islands, New Zealand, Turkey_, and the mission has lately
been reopened in _Palestine_.
In a number of these countries periodicals have been published. This
is the case in France, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark.
The Book of Mormon since the death of the prophet Joseph has been
translated and published in the following languages:
_French, German, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Welsh, Swedish, Spanish,
Hawaiian and Maori_.
It has also been translated but not yet published in Hindostanee and
modern Hebrew. And thus the testimony of the Nephites to the great
truths that the Lord is God, that Jesus is the Christ, and the gospel
the power of God unto salvation to all those who believe and obey it,
is being sent to all the world in well-nigh all the languages thereof
by the church of Christ; and the saints are ridding their garments of
the blood of this generation both by preaching the gospel by word of
mouth and also by sending forth the written word.
The phase of the great Latter-day work which seemed most to occupy the
attention of the prophet Joseph Smith in the last year of his life,
was that which relates to the salvation for the dead. Of this he
preached most frequently; often was it the subject of his
correspondence, his whole mind seemed given to it. Elijah had visited
him in Kirtland Temple and had restored the keys of the priesthood
which "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the
children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a
curse." "Therefore," said Elijah, "the keys of this dispensation are
committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and
dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors."[A] No wonder
then that this matter occupied his mind when the keys for the
salvation of the dead were placed in his hands attended with all the
responsibility that attaches thereto. Following are his views upon the
greatness, importance and future prospects of this work for the dead:
[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov. Sec. cx.]
The earth will be smitten with a curse, unless there is a welding
link of some kind or other, between the fathers and the children,
upon some subject or other, and behold what is that subject? It is
the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made
perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can
they nor we be made perfect, without those who have died in the
gospel also; for it is necessary in the ushering in of the
dispensation of the fullness of times, which dispensation is now
beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect
union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and
powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the
days of Adam even to the present time; and not only this, but
those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of
the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and the prudent,
shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings, in this dispensation
of the fullness of times.[A]
[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. cxxviii.]
And this is the work the prophet of God had in mind to do for all the
generations of men from Adam to the present dispensation! No wonder it
was the controling theme of both his tongue and pen; his meditation by
night, his thought by day. And as a proof to the world that the keys
of the priesthood which administer in these holy ordinances for the
dead were committed to the Twelve and have been with the Presidency of
the church from the days of the prophet until now, I point to the four
magnificent temples reared by the saints in Utah to the name of the
most high God--erected for the express purpose of performing this work
which so burdened the mind of the prophet Joseph in the last year of
his life.
Josephites of course profess a belief in this great feature of the
work of God--in baptism for the dead and the sealing powers linking
together all the dispensations that have been given to man, and all
the families and kindred of the earth; but where are their temples in
which this work is going on? Show me thy faith by thy works! Mr. Smith
claims to have been ordained by his father to be President of the
church, to have inherited his father's priesthood and office, but
where, I ask, is the evidence that he has inherited his father's
interest, anxiety, and activity in respect to his greater part of the
work of the dispensation of the fulness of times--the work that
touches the interests of the generations of men that are past as well
as those that are now alive, or shall live in the generations to come?
When Elijah's cloak fell from his receding form to the shoulders of
Elisha, not only the material garment fell upon him, but also the
spirit and the power of Elijah was upon Elisha, and he did the works
of the departed prophet. So has it been with those who have succeeded
to the Presidency of the church since the death of the prophet Joseph.
Great as the work for the living has been since then, still greater
has been the work for the dead; in proof of which I give the following
information respecting the work done in the temples of God. The report
from each temple dates from the commencement of work therein up to
December 31st, 1893.[A]
[Footnote A: I am indebted to the Presidents and Recorders of the
respective temples for the information here given.]
_St. George Temple:_
Baptisms for the dead..........................264,158
Ordinations to the priesthood for the dead......43,753
Endowments for the dead........................112,350
_Logan Temple:_
Baptisms for the dead..........................239,480
Ordinations to the priesthood for the dead......43,433
Endowments for the dead........................107,456
Sealings (husbands and wives) for the dead......30,072
Sealings (children to parents) for the dead......6,735
_Manti Temple:_
Baptisms for the dead..........................157,989
Ordination to the priesthood for the dead.......28,076
Endowments for the dead.........................67,062
Sealings (husbands and wives) for the dead......23,800
Sealings (children to parents) for the dead......4,449
_Salt Lake Temple:_[A]
Baptisms for the dead,..........................21,750
Ordinations to the priesthood for the dead,......4,980
Endowments for the dead,.........................3,643
Sealings (husbands and wives) for the dead,......3,700
Sealings (children to parents) for the dead,.......973
[Footnote A: Dedicated April, 1893, the report is for 8 months.]
The total number of baptisms for the dead,.........683,377
Of ordinations to the priesthood,..................120,232
Of Endowments,.....................................300,511
Of sealings (including wives and husbands and
children to the parents--3 Temples only reported,)..69,749
Let us consider another proof that the church led to the mountains of
Israel under the Presidency of the Apostles is indeed the very church
of Christ, and that it has never been disorganized, or lost the favor
of God.
During his personal ministry on earth, Jesus said:
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated
you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own, but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world therefore the world hateth you.[A]
[Footnote A: St. John, xv.]
Again he said:
Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall
separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast
out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice ye in
that day, and leap for joy; for, behold, your reward is great in
heaven; for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets . .
. . . Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you? for so
did their fathers to the false prophets.[A]
[Footnote A: St. Luke vi.]
During the lifetime of the prophet Joseph from the first time he
called upon the Lord when a mere lad, to the day he fell by the old
well-curb at Carthage jail, pierced by the bullets of assassins, the
adversary was ever upon the alert for his destruction. The hearts of
the wicked were stirred against him, false priests combined both
against him and the work which under God, he founded; officers of the
law with false charges and unlawful warrants dogged his footsteps,
mobs rose in acts of violence against him and his people; he was made
acquainted with the tyranny of unjust judges, corrupt courts, and the
gloom of the prison cell. He was made to feel that the world did not
love him, that he was not of the world, that the Powers of Darkness
hated the church of Christ. Since the death of the prophet Joseph, the
same Powers which pursued him and the work he established have
continued their hostilities against the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. It is the elders of that church, not the elders of
the Reorganized church, who have been hunted by mobs, and beaten for
no other crime than calling men to repentance. It is the blood of the
elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not of the
"Reorganized church," which today unavenged crimsons the soil of the
states of Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi.
It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not the
"Reorganized church" which has been constantly assailed, despoiled of
its property, its members driven into exile, hundreds thrust into
prison, whole communities terrorized--and all this through the
administrators of the government acting under a mistaken zeal created
by the persistent misrepresentations of sectarian priests and
religious bigots--some of our "friends" of high standing in the
"Reorganization" joining in the hue and cry against the saints of God
and aiding in the work of misrepresentation.
Yet all this has not retarded the work of God. It has gone steadily
forward. The injustice that has been done the church is beginning to
be recognized. Already the government has restored the personal
property it confiscated. And as for the fines, imprisonment, and exile
inflicted on so many of the saints during the past ten years, these
things have only contributed to spreading abroad knowledge respecting
the gospel and its restoration. The Lord has his own way of
accomplishing his purposes. To the peasant shepherds on the hills of
Judea, he sent the angels of heaven to testify of the birth of the
Messiah; and doubtless the testimony of these men was sufficient to
found faith in the minds of the people among whom they moved that the
great hope of Israel was fulfilled--the Messiah was born. But the king
as well as the peasant must have a testimony that the Son of God had
come into the world; and hence from the far east wise men skilled in
the knowledge of the heavenly bodies and their movements and their
signs are brought to the court of proud King Herod, to testify that
Messiah, the promised King and Redeemer of Israel is born.
Preaching without purse or scrip by the Twelve Apostles, and other
servants of God, might answer all the purposes for spreading abroad a
knowledge of the gospel among the common people. The gospel, however,
was not designed for the poor and the lowly only; it is meant also for
the rich and the proud among men. And when God would have it
proclaimed to magistrates, rulers, governors, kings and emperors, he
called his servant Paul and led him through such experiences,
including mobbings, whippings, exile and imprisonment, as brought him
in contact with the great and high ones of the earth. Not only before
the judges and governors of Judea and the petty kings who visited them
was the gospel preached, but, as there is good reason to believe, it
was declared before the purple-robed Emperor of Rome. Through this
means the kings of the earth learned the Christian story and the plan
of salvation included in it. It was preached not only in the humble
homes of the poor, but also in the marble palaces of the Caesars.
So in this dispensation of the fulness of times, the Lord has led his
servants and his church through such experiences as will best make
known the great work of the last days--the opening of the heavens and
the committing of a dispensation of the gospel to the children of men.
Preaching the gospel without purse and scrip by the elders of the
church has been a very successful method of making known the truth
among men. There is something in it which goes right home to the
hearts of the honest. It is a method, too, which has, in the main,
built up the church so far. There are classes, however, as in the
dispensation opened by the personal ministry of Messiah, that would
never be reached by such a method. These are the rich and great, the
proud and high, the judges, legislators, presidents and kings of the
earth. How long, for example, would it be under the method of
preaching the gospel without purse and scrip before the humble elders
of the church working in that way would get a hearing before the
president and his cabinet, not once but repeatedly? Or how long would
it be under the aforesaid method of preaching before the House of
Representatives, or the more aristocratic Senate of the United States
would devote day after day to the consideration of Mormonism? How long
would the elders be preaching without purse and scrip, though zealous
as angels, before they could arrest the attention of the Supreme Court
of the United States sufficiently to have the judges sit in solemn
session, clad in all the vestments of their high office to listen to
an explanation of "Mormonism?" I risk the assertion that such things
could never have been attained by the elders preaching without purse
or scrip. Yet such a remarkable hearing as hinted at above has been
given to "Mormonism" in all these great divisions of the general
government of the United States. And by becoming for many years a
national question, it has been kept prominently before the world; and
not only the masses have been aroused by the proclamation of its
principles, but the attention of statesmen and rulers has been
attracted to it, and to them, in a manner, the gospel has been
preached. What though it hath been preached by some through envy and
strife, to paraphrase the words of Paul? What then? Notwithstanding
every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached and
therein do the saints rejoice, yea, and they will rejoice; for they
know that this shall turn to their salvation.[A] God hath not left
himself without witnesses among the great ones of the earth; but ever
and anon as they have heard about the truth and of the truth, in
cabinet council, Senate chamber, legislative hall, the courts of kings
and the palaces of princes--the spirit of God hath testified to their
hearts that the gospel they heard preached, whether preached of strife
or of good-will, was the truth of heaven, and for that testimony
statesmen, judges, governors and kings shall give an account in the
day of judgment to the God who gave it to them.
[Footnote A: The passage paraphrased will be found in Paul to the
Philippians i, 15-20.]
But what of all this? Why, where the lambs are the vultures are
gathered together. The very violence towards the church of Christ on
the part of hate-inspired men, moved upon by the spirit of him who in
heaven rebelled against the truth of God and the priesthood, bears
witness that the keys of the priesthood are still with the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and hence Lucifer, through wicked
men and in diverse ways, seeks its destruction. "Marvel not if the
world hate you, it hated me before it hated you, if you were of the
world the world would love its own!" And in the evidences of the
hatred of the wicked for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints may be read the negative proof of their acceptance with God as
his church.
My task is ended. I have taken two great prophecies of Brigham Young,
prophet, seer, and President of the church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in his day, and traced out their fulfillment. The
first prophecy--
_All that want to draw away a party from the church after them, let
them do it if they can, but they will not prosper_--was proven to be
true by a brief consideration of the rise and fall of the principal
factions called into existence under the leadership of ambitious,
wicked men. We have seen go to pieces upon the rock of President
Young's inspired prediction Sidney Rigdon's church, William Smith's,
James J. Strang's, and the organization, such as it was, founded by
George Miller and Lyman Wight--none of them prospered. We have
considered the claims of the Reorganized or Josephite church, built
from the ruins of these other churches just enumerated. Its
pretentions have been viewed from every standpoint, and are found
lacking in every element of consistency and truth. Misconceptions of
the work and laws of God constituted its foundation; and the folly,
sophistry, ignorance and vain ambition of--to be charitable--mistaken
men, comprise its superstructure!
We have taken the second part of President Brigham Young's inspired
prophecy--_If any man thinks he has influence among this people to
lead away a party, let him try it, and he will find out that there is
power with the Apostles which will carry them off victorious through
all the world, and build up and defend the church and kingdom of
God_--and have found the truth of it demonstrated in the history of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The favor, blessing,
power and glory of God have indeed attended the labors of the Apostles
who led the Saints from Nauvoo, and the Presidencies of the church
which succeeded them; of a truth there has been with those Apostles
and their successors a power which has carried them off victorious
through all the world, and built up and defended the church and
kingdom of God.