| Show ad 18 0 0 TT T T IR a n SY by ORSON I 1 1 DELIVERED IN THE tabernacle sali sait lake city october 1879 reported SY by JOHN IRVINE r will read a n few passages of scripture which will be found in the chapter of isaiah the speaker then read most moat of the chapter referred berred to continuing he bald baid I 1 hope that the congregation will pardon me for undertaking three sabbaths Sab baths running to instruct them when there are BO ito many of our brethren those thosa who are ordained and filled with the spirit of truth who would be ba glad no doubt to speak to the people but a great many of my younger brethren younger than I 1 am may perhaps have a great many opportunities after I 1 may pass paes away provided that the lord bess becs proper in ris hla wisdom to call me hence I 1 feel a great plea piea pleasure sura sure in standing before a congregation of latter day bainte saints or a mixed assembly of those who belong to the church and those who have not received the great message which the church has received it gives me ma great joy and great satisfaction to speak to them in the name of the lorland Lor dand unfold as its far as the spirit will give me utterance te that which the lord has said concerning his people in the latter days I 1 had nothing upon my mind when I 1 arose and walked into the stand but upon opening g the bible my eyes fell upon this chapter apter and I 1 thought that I 1 would read it and perhaps bome some thing might occur in relation to this chapter that would be interesting in regard to the latter days for certainly what I 1 have read relates to future time that have not yet come 96 enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations spare not lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes is 19 the exhortation of the prophet to bome some class of people that should dwell on the earth if we wish to know what class of people the prophet had reference to read the last verse of this chapter athis this is the heritage of ef the tha servants ser sen of the lord gord and their righteousness is of me balth baith the lord 11 it would beem then from the declaration given in that clause of the seventeenth verse of this chapter that the prophet was speaking of his hib servants and their herl heritage tage that ithe heritage that hia his servants should occupy that they were not to be narrowed and contracted in their feelings in regard to their inheritance as though it were to be in a small smail tract or region of country the lord had otherwise determined term ter mined hied bled according to the words ot of this chapter he intends they should inherit a great land that they were to s crotch forth the curtains of their habitations and for fear that they would be limited in their views and contract themselves to a small region of country the lord says pressly expressly es spare not lengthen thy cords corda and strengthen thy stakes well wo we are trying to do this as latter day saints when we first came here we located this city in the month mouth of july 1847 some 32 years ago this last summer then it was thought by many that had not a knowledge ot of prophecy that we were too expanded in our views to lay out a city being only a handful of pioneers pion plon eera to layout a city olty covering beveral several miles of ground when theta was waa not yet a house built when comparatively there was before us a great dry barren desert it seemed almost folly to even some of the latter day saints to see the surveyor with his measure line others with their instruments Bt st of observation getting the height of this land above the son sen level making grest great gi est eat preparations while we yet camped a little handful of us in wagons and in a few tents it seemed folly to lay out a city covering an area lrea of several square miles but those that did this work were under the direction and inspiration of the almighty we knew that this people would become a very great people we knew that the words of isaiah would be fulfilled which are recorded in the goth chapter gra A little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation now we believed that it was not merely an opinion such as 03 might ba formed by the enlightened judgment of the human family but by the inspiration of that spirit which knows knovs all an things we laid out a city sufficiently large in extent to accommodate and gather to gather an extensive population for this inland country and debert desert have we been disappointed hns hes tho the lord dh appointed us in our expects expectation tion go over tho the area of thia this whole city over these thebe northern wards and western wards wardi and travel and tra traverse Terse all the di different f lots and streets streeta and sto seo if you find many vacant places 13 3 not the land generally taken up Is ie it not generally occupied are there many vacant there are noho no houses bouses or habitations are there thera many p places aces aceb where there are no fruit trees no gardens are there many streets where there are no ornamental tre trees ehno eano no water ditches we find af after ter we have traveled reveral beveral days and tra traversed nearly all tho the streets of this city gone gons for miles each way that all the tho iota lota with somo soma very few exceptions seon been to bo occupied and not only so BO but bus some of the tha lota iota originally intended only for one family are now split up divided and sub bub divid od ed and contain beveral reveral habitations in the same lot and scarcely room enough at that wo we find the tho population coming into thia thid city so great that there seems to be scarcely room and oven eveh our water in dry seasons beems to be very scarce not sufficient to water even the trees that are arb BO elo nee necessary abary to be kept leapt alive to my say nothing of gardens gardena and flowers and shrubbery fig enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations spare not that is dont be stingy dont don be contracted dont limit youre yourselves elves to a small area of country but break brenk forth on the right nigh t hand and on the left already within tha the last hast 32 years we have been fulfilling this commandment we have stretched forth the gardens of our habitation several hundred miles in the south especially and one or two hundred miles in the north into the territory of idaho utah does doea not beem seem sum suf mici fici ent for us hence we have built many larga towns and villages in idaho wo we have spread forth our towns our villages and our settlements to the south for somo some or miles and even after doing this thia we find the place is too strait and tho the saying is give place to mo me that I 1 may d dwell well wo WD would scarcely suppose that a work of this great and important magnitude would have been accomplished in so short a time ca as scarcely one third of a century when all this great basin nearly all with the exception of one or two small portions of the country traversed by fremont and a few of his hib followers was explored and considered an unprofitable desen deser 1 considered unfit for the habitation of man in consequence of the dryness and parched condition of its ita soll soil but bat the lord when he begins to fultn and accomplish a work amon among his people does so by degrees he did not convert this great american desert several hundred miles in extent into a fruitful garden in one duy day nor in one year but in a few years comparatively ively speaking he faai bas accomplished this work and has done it too with an eye to the predictions that were uttered by his hii servant prophet and andela his servant david the psalmist the sabbath before last I 1 address ed the congregation and spoke of the people inhabiting the great mountain territory removing you will recollect this you know our enemies have had a great many speculations about our moving A great many have supposed that we would remove to an island of the sea others have pointed out vers island others russian america as it used to ba called others have pointed out mexico others the islands of the indian ocean and others south america as the future destination of the lat ter day saints but sunday before last I 1 endeavored to point out to you our hopes our views as contrasted with ane views of our oar enemies in relation to our future destination I 1 will repeat again to bring to the remembrance of the latter day saints and those who might have been present on that occasion what was then said we expect that these mountains will not bo be the residence of all the latter day saints we expect that the great majority of the tho people will emigrate we want to tell you where our eyes aro arc fixed As stated in our former discourse they are fixed upon a land not in the distant islands of tho the indian ocean nor in tho the pacific Oce annor in south america but our eyes are fixed upon a land on the western boundaries of the state of missouri and the boundaries of tho the state of kansas ansas we expect to go there as t as much as we expect chesun the sun bun vil vii rise ilse and set we have no other t expectation we expect to return ther thero just ojust as much as the tha jews expect to return to old jerusalem in ho tho latter days perhaps you may inquire if wo we expect to re return as a majority yes do we expect to return as a great people yes yea do wo we expect to return with our wives aud and our children yeb yes do we expect to return in a peaceable mannor ot 01 course have you ever seen any other feeling on the part of the latter day saints only to promote peace pence wherever they may settle what has been our object from the commencement and goodwill good hood wili wiil to all men eat but perhaps you may still further inquire concerning our emigration to the eastern boundaries of the state of kansas and and to the western boundaries of the state of missouri what we intend to do in that part of the country we expect to be ba farmers fari farl nen nem a great many of us we expect to in traduce all kinds of machinery and manufacture wo we expect to build mills wo we expect to become a very industrious frugal economical people we expect to have our merchandise and our stores and storehouses in that land we expect to build a great many hundred school houses in that country juat just the same as aa wo we have already done in this country and in the two adjacent territories idaho in the north and arizona in the the south we do not calculate to neglect our children in regard to their education we expect to build a great number of academies of the higher sch schools cols and besides a great many school houses we expect to erect universities for the still higher branches brunches to be taught we expect to build many hundreds of meeting houses and we expect to bo be a people very densely located there not one man taking up six or eight miles of land calling it his farm we dont expect to live in that way but we expect to settle a very densa settlement in that region of country we expect to own the land too how by purchase hase haEc we na re expect to purchase the lana land that we ave not already purchased parch sod asod we have already purchased a great deal of land in jackson county clay county missouri and our purchases are on record if they have not destroyed d ea the record but wo we w were D e driven from that land lands from 0 our u r farms and homes 1 our h houses were wore burned down our that we avd in our store was taken and strewn through the a treet street our printing office one of the mat mast mai distant western offices in tho the union was also destroyed the type was taken ou out and scattered through the streets our haystacks hay stacks were burned our cattle were shot down and wo we were driven in tha tho cold month of november from our houses and lands purchased of the general government ern ment and we wa fled before our ene enemies well says ono one ciare are you not afraid to go back again to purchase land in that country when you were thus treated in the early settlement in 1833 when you were driven from your homes some of you massacred your property destroyed are you yon not afraid to tore re turn tam 0 1 I expect they are more civilized now do you think civilized people would murder now do you think they would drive people from their homes now we may give them a chance to see at any rate we shall fulfill fulfil our part burch purchase beetho the land 3 gather together 9 ether ethen upon our own ow n purchased land and we calculate to obey all the laws of the state of missouri and all the laws of the tha of kansas that are constitutional in their thair natura nature but nut says sass one suppose the people should rise up and esy kay you should not possess the land what would you ado do we would leave the matter atter in the hands of the lord just the sume same as wo we did at first when ho ilo led us by revelation re elation to where tho the great grent central stake of zion should be built we went wont there because the lord told us to go we settled upon the very spot where the lord commanded us wo we commenced to lay the foundation of a temple about three quarters of a mile from independence pen dence jackson County Missouri tt it was then a wilderness with large trees trea on the temple block I 1 visited that place 47 years afterwards aft ewards namely a year ago last september and not a tree was to be found on that temple block not so eo much as aa a stump every everything thing seemed to be cleared off and ouo buo would scarcely know unless very well acquainted with the ground where the tho temple site was located there however we expect to build a temple tompie different from all ali other temples in some respects it wili wiil be dulit much larger cover coven a larger area of ground far larger than this tabernacle covers and this tabernacle will sec mm from to people wo we expect to build a temple tempie much larger very much larger according to the revelation god gave to us 40 years ago in regard to that temple but bat you xoa may ask in what form will it IS be built will it bo be built in one large room like this thia mcle mcie no there will be 24 di merent Terent compartments in the temple that will be built in jackson county the names of these compartments part ments were given to us some 45 or 46 years ago the names we still have auk when wo we build these 21 24 rooms in a circular ferm term and arched over tho the centre centre we wa shall shail give the names to all these different compartments part ments just as aa the tho lord specified through joseph smith now our enemies do not believe one word of this thid they think we are enthusiastic they tiley think that this is all no nonsense mense and I 1 do not know but there may be boehme bome of the latter day saints salute that begin to partake of the same spirit owing to their as simulating themselves so eo much to the fashion of tho the world and they have lost their strong and powerful faith in that which god has predicted by the thel mouth servants perhaps you may ask for what purpose these thase 24 compartments compartment sare are to rebuilt be built bulit ianswer I 1 answer notto not to assemble the outside world I 1 annor nor to assemble the saints all in one place but these buildings buil dinga will be built with a special view to the different orders or in other words tho the different quorums or councils of the two Priest hoods that god has ordained on the earth that la Is the object of h having g 21 rooms so that each of these different rent quorums qu w hether bether they be high priests or seventies or elders or bishops or lesser priesthood or teachers or deacons or patriarchs or apostles Apostle sj or high councils or whatever may be ba the duties that are assigned to them they will have rooms in the temple of the most high god adap adapted tedi set apart |
