Volume 26

40 chapters

• Blessings Follow Certain Ordinances
• Causes that Govern Us in Settling New Places: Our Respect for the Constitution of Our Country; We Must not Concede Principle for the Privilege of State Government; Practical Men Have Held Office; The Kingdom of God Protects All Religion; Holding the Priesthood Should not Disqualify From Holding Civil Office or Giving Counsel
• The Personality of God: Vagueness of the Common Idea of Deity; Who and What God Is; The Spirits of Men the Offspring of God; Spirit not Immaterial; The Trinity Creed of Christendom; Man May Become Like God in His Glory
• Object of Gathering: Our Principles and Organization Revealed From God; He is Cognizant of All Things; Our Faith not Affected By the Ideas of Men; Our Dependence Upon God; Enoch's City; God's Justice in Sending the Flood, and in the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; His Judgments Will Come Upon Those Who Persecute His Saints; The Lord Will Bless His People; We Will Stand By the Constitution Though Others Ignore It
• The Second Coming of Our Savior: Preaching of the Gospel and the Signs Following; the Gathering; Hatred of the World Toward the Latter-Day Saints; No Power Can Overthrow the Work of God; Exhortations to Faithfulness
• Visit to the South: Testimony Obtained From God; Necessity and Benefits of Prayer
• Power Attending the Action of General Conferences: God Confirms the Authority of His Servants By Manifestations of His Power and Favor; Joseph Smith Chosen and Ordained to Organize the Church of God; The Lord Revealed to the Saints His Choice of President Brigham Young, and Also of President John Taylor; God Blesses Every Man Who Will Magnify His Office and Calling, and Gives to One Man Only at a Time, Revelation to Govern the Church; Folly and Wickedness of Witchcraft
• The Gathering: Our Territorial Condition and Organization; The Eternal Nature of Our Covenants; The Law of Ancient Israel, Which Required a Man to Marry His Brother's Widow; Settlement of the Difficulty Connected With the Utah Lake and Jordan River Dam; The Flood; The Lord Will Sustain and Uphold Us; We Must Not Associate With the Wicked
• Similarity of Circumstances Surrounding Former and Latter-Day Saints: God is No Respecter of Persons; Revelation to Enoch; Christ Preached to the Spirits in Prison Between the Times of His Crucifixion and Resurrection; All Must Hear the Gospel, and Be Judged Thereby; We Must Progress or Retrograde
• Hostility of the World to the Gospel: Rebellion of Lucifer in Heaven; Seth Given in Place of Abel; Wickedness of the Antediluvians; Enoch's Zion; Necessity of Opposing Powers and Principles, that Men May Be Tested; Difference Between Bigamy and Plural Marriage; Our Marriage Covenants Are Eternal; Enmity of Religious Teachers; Our Children Should Be Correctly Taught
• Our Labors Are Interesting and Peculiar: Character of the Latter-Day Saints; The Blessing and Privilege of Priesthood; The Primary Associations; Our Warfare is One of Faith; We Must Importune for Our Rights; Necessity for Good Lawyers; The Gift of Wisdom; Persecution Will Tend to Unite Us; We Should Be Pure
• The Work of God Only Partially Understood: Manifestation of the Father and Son to the Prophet Joseph; The Priesthood Conferred Upon Him; Kirtland Temple, and the Ministrations of Moses and Elijah; Benefits and Uses of Temples; Public and Private Improvements Advocated; Children Should Be Properly Taught; Wives Should Be Kindly Treated; Exhortations to Virtue and Purity
• Communities Are Made Up of Family Organizations: The Marriage Relationship Instituted By the Almighty; Descent of the Human Family From God; Plural Marriage System of Ancient Israel; Potency of Love; Eternity of Marriage Necessarily Leads to Plural Marriage; Polygamic Form of Marriage Most Prevalent in the World; From Whence Monogamy is Derived; Monogamy Sometimes Necessary; Fruits of Monogamy and Plural Marriage Compared; The Marriage Covenant Changed From a Religious Rite to a Civil Contract; Marriage Requires the Sanction of the Holy Priesthood; The Saints Should not Marry Outside the Church
• Privilege of Meeting Together: We Are Here to Do Our Father's Will; All Dependent Upon God for Assistance, Guidance and Direction; The Lord Revealed to Adam the Purpose of Sacrifice; Adam, Before His Death, Called His Family Together and Blessed Them and Prophesied; Many Spirits Have Been Destined to Hold Certain Positions Among Men; Why We Are Gathered; We Must Follow the Teachings of the Spirit, and Honor the Priesthood in All Its Callings; Prepare Ourselves to Enter Holy Places; The Priesthood Must not Tolerate Iniquity; The Church Must Be Purified; Concluding Exhortations
• Importance of Our Sunday Schools and Mutual Improvement Associations: The Good Work Done By Them in Qualifying Young Men to Be Missionaries; Necessity of Teaching Our Children the Principle of Virtue; Determination of Our Enemies to Destroy the Work of God; The Lord Will Build Up His Kingdom in His Own Way; He Will Stand By Us If We Are Valiant; God Raised up Men to Form the Constitution and Establish the Government of the United States; Self-Preservation Requires Us to Be United; All Reputable Men Among the Latter-Day Saints Hold the Priesthood; We Have to Contend With Mobocracy in Legal Form and Guise; this Work Depends Upon God; Our Enemies Have No Power to Injure Us; No One Has Prospered in Opposing the Work of God; The Lord Will Stand By Us in the Hour of Need; Conclusion
• Visit to the South: Persecution in Arizona; An American Siberia; Persecutions in Missouri and Illinois not the Result of Polygamy; Affecting Reference to the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum; Judgment Begins at the House of God; No Man Has a Right to Attempt to Control Another's Belief or Conscience; Ex Post Facto Application of the Edmunds Law; Attempts of the Speaker to Conform to the Law As Far As Possible; Outrages Heaped Upon the Latter-Day Saints; No One Ever Punished, According to Law, for Killing a Mormon; The Saints Counseled to Endure Their Afflictions, Take Care of Themselves, and Serve God; Conclusion
• The Work of the Lord in the Sandwich Islands and in New Zealand: The Inhabitants of These Islands Probably Offshoots of the Nephites and Lamanites, and Consequently of the Blood of Israel; The Gentile Nations Have Measurably Rejected the Gospel, Hence Their Disunion and Skepticism; We Can Only Be United on the Principle of Righteousness; In God is Our Only Trust; We Cannot Compromise With Evil; Our Mission is to Do Good; Causes of Opposition to the Gospel; Education Can Only Modify, But the Holy Ghost Changes the Nature of Man; The Principle of Revelation Distinguishes Us From the Rest of the World; The Path of Duty is the Path of Safety and Blessing
• Present Conditions: The Hatred of the World Toward the Saints; Why the Leaders of the Church Are Attacked; The Purpose of Persecution; The Saints Need not Be Afflicted or Worried About the Present State of Affairs; The Sifting Process; The Epistle of the First Presidency; Work of God Always Met With Opposition; The Gospel Revealed in this Day Was the Gospel that Was Revealed to Adam; More Revelation to Be Given; Saints Must not Borrow Trouble; When a Nation Perverts Justice, Then Commences Its Downfall; The Constitution of the United States; Saints Must Commit No Overt Act; Exhortation to Faithfulness; Conclusion
• Love of Home: Visit to Friends; Sent to Preside Over the European Mission; Former Ill-Health in England; Extensive System of Tract Distribution Inaugurated; Tribute to the Worth and Efficiency of the Missionaries; Report of the Condition of the Work in Various European Countries; Hatred Manifested Towards Us After the Murder of Our Brethren in Tennessee; America the Haven of Freedom; Truth Has Ever Met With Persecution; Professed Ministers of the Gospel our Greatest Enemies; No One Injured By Our Principles; Plural Marriage; The Social Evil; Conclusion
• The Latter-day Saints Attract Much Attention: They Are the Victims of Scandal and Falsehood, But Have Been Sustained By the Spirit of Peace; God Has Revealed to Us the Purposes of Our Existence; God is the Father of Our Spirits; He Has Given Us An Agency; God Foreseeing that Adam Would Fall Prepared a Redeemer; We Are Here on the Earth to Prove Our Integrity and to Obtain a Knowledge of Good and Evil; The Conscience of Man is the Spirit of God Prompting Us to Do Right; God in His Wisdom Hides From Us the Glories Beyond the Veil; Conclusion
• God the Source of All Intelligence: Mankind His Offspring and the Instruments of His Will; He Overrules the Results of Men's Actions; Pre-Existence of Man and Plurality of Worlds; The Gospel One and Unchangeable; Charges of Exclusiveness, Etc., Against the Saints; The Christian World Deny Revelation and Repudiate Bible Doctrine; Their Apostasy Predicted and Fulfilled; The Gospel Restored and the Last Dispensation; The Earth's Week of History and Millennial Sabbath; What “Mormon” Treason Consists of; The Mission of the American Republic; A Fable and Its Application; A Prophecy; The Peaceable Mission of the Saints
• The Speaker's Pleasure in Again Meeting With the Saints, and Partaking of the Sacrament: The Companionship of the Holy Ghost is More Precious Than Gold; Future Destiny of the Saints; Their Love for the Mountains; Blessings Only Appreciated By Contrast; Nobility and Scarcity of Moral Courage; Tyranny of Public Opinion; We Cannot Love God and Hate Our Fellow Man; Men and Women Do Wrong When They Yield to the Influence of Satan; What Constitutes a Son of Perdition; Agencies Which Men Use, Compared to Electricity; Truth Has Ever Been Fiercely Opposed; Our Trials Are Agreeable to God's Purposes; Conclusion
• The Creation, Male and Female: Calling of Enoch and Noah; God Selected Abraham and His Seed to Be a Chosen People; He Commanded His People to Multiply But Forbade Adultery and Whoredom in Every Form; Plural Marriage Enjoined Upon Abraham and His Seed to Make Them a Great People; The Principle of Life and Eternal Increase is a Spiritual Power; Modern Christendom Opposed to Large Families; Latter-Day Saints Encourage Them; The Edmunds Law Passed With the Pretence of Repressing Immorality Among the Mormons; That Mask of Hypocrisy Now Thrown Off; The Religious Sentiment of the Latter-Day Saints the Real Object of Persecution; Concluding Exhortations
• Ignorance of the World Regarding the Latter-day Saints: Our Doctrines Are Christian and Are Substantiated By the Scriptures; Necessity of Present Revelation; First Principles of the Gospel; Faith, Repentance, Baptism for the Remission of Sins and Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost; Organization of the Church of Christ; “Mormonism” is a Restoration of Ancient Christianity; Joseph Smith a True Prophet; Plural Marriage Practiced By Men of God in Miss-Called Dark Ages; Conclusion
• Priesthood: Its Authority Necessary to Administer in the Ordinances of the Gospel; This Principle Well Illustrated in the Life and Example of the Prophet Joseph; Jesus Officiated By Virtue of the Melchizedek Priesthood; Descent of the Priesthood From Adam; Necessity of Temples in Which the Power of the Priesthood Can Be Exercised for Those Who Died Without the Gospel; Restoration of the Priesthood in These Last Days; The Legitimate Acts of Those Holding the Priesthood Are Acknowledged and Ratified By the Lord; Binding Power of the Holy Priesthood; Opposition of Satan to the Priesthood; Virtues of the Latter-Day Saints; Conclusion
• Prosperous Condition of the Latter-Day Saints in the Valleys of the Mountains: The Kingdom of God is One of Peace, While Those of the World Are Kingdoms of War and Oppression; Exhortations to Faithfulness; We Must Trust in God and He Will Preserve Us; The Saints Are Not Using Carnal Weapons to Defend Themselves Against the Indians, Nor Against Their Enemies; If Necessary, We Should be Willing to Give Our Lives for the Cause of Truth; The Blessings of God Invoked Upon the Saints
• Prophecy of John the Revelator: Mission of the Ancient Apostles; Their Reception and Fate; The Great Apostasy; Preservation of the Apostle John; His Revelation; Restoration of the Gospel; The Earth to Be Baptized By Fire As It Was Once Baptized By Water; We Are Sent to the World With a Warning Message; They Can Receive or Reject It; Testimony to the Truth of “Mormonism.”
• Refusal of So-Called Christians to Receive the Gospel of Christ: The Latter-day Saints Desire Investigation of Their Principles; The Truth Cannot Be Destroyed; We Have Every Requisite for Self-Government; We Must Maintain Our Fidelity to the Truth; Rarity of Crime Among the “Mormons”; Purity of “Mormon” Homes; Character of the Latter-day Saints
• Value of Liberty: Persecution Expected; Morse and Others Were at First Despised; God Overrules for Good; Faith and Works; Repentance and Baptism; Revelation; Witness of the Spirit; Mission of Joseph Smith; the Wheat Will Remain; No Malice to Men, But Hatred of Their Wicked Acts; Plural Marriage
• The Way to Find Out God: Testimony of the Elders; “Whoso Receiveth You Receiveth Me”; The Missionary Learns to Know God is His Friend; We Must Suffer Persecution; Fruits of the Spirit; “Mormon” Society; Trouble for the Wicked in the Future; Saints to Maintain Freedom and to Uphold the Constitution
• Devotion to God: How It is Made Manifest; Divers Opinions; Liberty to Worship God; Jesus Christ the Savior of the World; His Apostles Were Unlearned Men; They Were Rejected By the Masses; Writings of the Prophets; Persecution for Righteousness' Sake; Selfishness; Love of Darkness Rather Than Light; Compromise of Principle; Infamy of Sacrificing Truth to Gain Place; God Must Be Obeyed Rather Than Man
• Parable of the Ten Virgins: Rapid Development of the Arts and Sciences; The Lord Hastening His Work in Its Time; Enmity Between the Church of Christ and the World; The Gathering Together of People From Every Nation After They Have Been Baptized Into One Spirit; The Law of Tithing; Blessings Which Follow Obedience Thereto; Binding Upon All, Rich and Poor Alike; Giving to the Poor; Power of the Principles of the Gospel and Effects of Their Observance; Jehovah; Jesus Christ; His Ministry; His Followers; Their Mission; Preaching to the Spirits in Prison; Baptism for the Dead; Saviors Upon Mount Zion; Responsibility Resting Upon the Saints; a Word of Encouragement to the Missionaries
• The Speaker's Dependence Upon the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost: Comprehensive and Exalted Nature of the Plan of Salvation; Satan's Coercive Scheme; The Sons of Perdition; The Testimony of Jesus; Physical and Moral Courage; True Religion is Practical; One Straight and Narrow Way to Eternal Life; True Religion Compared to Genuine Coin; True Faith is Inseparably Connected With Works; Baptism of Water and of Fire; Apostles, Prophets, Etc., Placed in the Church; God's Impartiality to His Children; Testimony Obtained By Obedience; All Will Be Saved Except the Sons of Perdition; God Has Prepared a Place for All; Paradise; Salvation Beyond the Grave; The Saints Will Have to Endure Persecution; Patriarchal Marriage; Conclusion
• Growth of the Latter-Day Saints: Necessity of the Spirit of Revelation; Conditional Promises; The Lord Designed Israel to Be a Peculiar and Holy People; And He Has the Same Design Concerning Us; We Will Have to Pass Through the Same Ordeals As They; We Should not Intermarry With Those not of Our Faith; We Should Build Up Nothing that is Opposed to Zion; The Favor of God is Better Than Earthly Riches; Exhortations to Faithfulness
• Nature of the Gospel, and of Our Position and Calling: Responsibilities of the Latter-Day Saints; The Right of All Men to Religious Freedom; Honorable Men of the Earth; We Aim at a Higher Exaltation Than the Rest of the World
• The Lord is Teaching Us Valuable Lessons in Our Present Experience: He is Teaching Us to Rely Upon Him and to Exercise the Faculties He Has Given Us; Nature of the Government of the United States; the Elements of a Variety of Governments Enter Into It; Physical and Moral Courage; the Judge of the Third District Court not a Christian; a Concubine Was a Wife and It Should not Be a Term of Reproach; the Character of Abraham Vindicated; Sympathy for Our Enemies; When the Saints Learn to Be Strictly Impartial, Judgment and Rule Will Be Given Them; Not All in the United States Are Arrayed Against Us; Weakness of the American Government; Power of Secret Societies; Zion to Be a Place of Refuge and Safety; President Cleveland's Opportunity to Be Just and Great; We Must Purify Ourselves that Liberty May Come
• Our Efforts to Inform the World of Our Doctrines: We Must Expect Persecution; Man Has No Right to Make Laws Contrary to the Law of God; Plural Marriage is No Crime; Bigamy a Crime; There Are More for Us Than Against Us; The Work of God not Upheld By Numbers; The Blood of the Prophets is Upon the American Nation; God Will Test Us
• Remarks
• No Prominent Latter-Day Saint Who Lives His Religion Need Expect Justice in the Courts: The Same Sacrifices May Be Required of Modern As of Ancient Apostles; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Established By Divine Revelation; We Will Be Made Perfect By Suffering; Our Character As Latter-Day Saints Must Be Preserved Inviolate; Visit of Jesus to Kirtland Temple; Farewell
• The Gospel: It Brings Temporal As Well As Spiritual Salvation; The Prophet Joseph Smith; Persecution; Our Religion Cannot Be Destroyed