The Redemption of Zion

Brethren and sisters, I will read a few verses embraced in the sixty-third sec- ¶

tion of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants: ¶

"And now, behold, this is the will of the Lord your God concerning His Saints, that they should assemble themselves together unto the land of Zion, not in haste, lest there should be confusion, which bringeth pestilence ¶

"Behold, the land of Zion, I, the Lord, holdeth it in mine own hand; ¶

"Nevertheless, I, the Lord, rendereth unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; ¶

"Wherefore, I, the Lord, willeth that you should purchase the lands that you may have advantage of the world, that you may have claim on the world, that they may not be stirred up unto anger; ¶

"For Satan putteth it into their hearts to anger against you, and to the shedding of blood; ¶

"Wherefore, the land of Zion shall not be obtained but by purchase or by blood, otherwise there is none inheritance for you ¶

"And if by purchase, behold you are blessed; ¶

"And if by blood, as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and ye shall be scourged from city to city, and from synagogue to synagogue; and but few shall stand to receive an inheritance " ¶

These words were spoken of the Lord to Joseph the Prophet in 1831 ¶

Now the time is fast approaching when a large portion of the people that I am now addressing will go back to Jackson county—A great many people that are now dwelling in the State of Utah will have this privilege—Whether I, President Cannon, President Smith, or all the brethren of the Twelve will go back I know not—But a large portion of the Latter-day Saints that now dwell in these valleys will go back to Jackson county to build a holy city to the Lord, as was decreed by Jehovah and revealed through Joseph Smith ¶

A word or two about Joseph Smith—Perhaps there are very few men now Uving who were so well acquainted with Joseph Smith the Prophet as I was—I was with him oftentimes—I visited him in his family, sat at his table, associated with him under various circumstances, and had private interviews with him for counsel—I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of Cod; I know that he was an honorable man, a moral man, and that he had the respect of those who were acquainted ¶

with him—The Lord has shown me most clearly and completely that he was a Prophet of God, and that he held the Holy Priesthood and the authority to baptize people for the remission of their sins and to lay hands upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, that they might receive a knowledge themselves in relation to these things—I am one that has received from the Lord the strongest revelation concerning the truth of this work—That manifestation was with me powerfully for hours and hours; and whatever circumstances may occur in my life, as long as memory lasts this perfect knowledge will remain with me—I shall never forget the first time I saw Joseph Smith—It was in Father Johnson's house, in the township of Hiram, in the State of Ohio, about twenty-five miles from Kirtland—It was near Father Johnson's where the mob tarred and feathered him—When I saw him he was standing in the doorway—Before him was a small bowery occupied by about a hundred and fifty or two hundred men and women—There for the first time I heard his voice—When I heard his testimony in regard to what the Lord had revealed to him, it seemed to me that he must be an honest man—He talked and looked like an honest man—He was an honest man ¶

Through this man, Joseph Smith, the Lord has said to us what I have been reading—As some of the brethren stated in their addresses here, I think that there was need of a reformation among the Latter-day Saints—I believo that that reformation has already commenced—One of the evidences of this to me is that the Latter-day Saints throughout all the Stakes of Zion have done that which they never did before in regard to paying their tithing—They have paid twice the amount of tithing this year and last year than they paid two years ago—It is wonderful how the Saints have reformed in this duty especially in view of the fact that the Latter-day Saints have always had trouble to reform themselves in money matters—They could not do it in the day in which this revelation was given—Joseph tried to develop them so that they would conform to the law of consecration, which is in advance of the law of tithing, and is a principle which, as sure as I am speaking, you and I will one day have to conform to—When that day comes we will be prepared to go to Zion—We will not take possession of the land of Zion by force—If we should do, it would turn out to us as it did with the people who were upon the land of Zion when this revelation was given—As the Lord here tells us, there are only two ways in which we can come into possession of that land—One way is by purchase, "and if by purchase, behold you are blessed " The other way is by blood, "and if by blood, as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and ye shall be scourged from city to city, and from synagogue to synagogue, and but few shall stand to receive an inheritance " These are the words of God—They did not come to us today, nor yesterday, nor last year, but they did come to the people of God some years ago—They came to the Latter-day Saints who were upon the land of Zion at that time—I do not know that it would be right to say that they are of more importance to us than they were to them—But there is this about it: The Latter-day Saints in these valleys have had an experience that the Saints then did not have—We have learned that which they did not learn—They were badly persecuted and driven forth from the land of Zion, and as the revelation says, "but few shall stand to receive an inheritance " There are some perhaps within the sound of my voice who will receive an inheritance in Jackson county before they pass into the next life ¶

I have not heard at any previous conference such talk as has been given to the Latter-day Saints at this conference—It is talk that bears upon it reformation and preparation—When we think of the wonderful reformation that has been accomplished in the matter of tithing, it is a manifestation that a grand preparation is coming—Do you suppose that the Lord would ever send you and me back to Jackson county until He could feel perfectly assured that we would do those things which the people of ¶

Jackson county failed to do for lack of experience and faith? Jackson county is the place, the point that we should have continually in view—A brother the other day said that he had a thousand dollars and he was keeping it to purchase land in Jackson county, as soon as it would be proper to do so ¶

We cannot consider ourselves prepared, however, to go back to Jackson county when we fail to pay our tithing—I do not wish to say very much about tithing, for I think I have said enough—In the settlements that we traveled through coming from St—George, I talked very strongly about it, because I knew it was a command of the Lord that the people should repent and reform from the great neglect that we had all been guilty of more or less—I felt determined about it then with all my heart and soul, and I did not know but that the Saints might think I was going a little too far—To ease their minds upon this I told them that I should never come again to talk to them as I talked at that time—But I said they must do what they had been told if they calculated to be Latter-day Saints—The reformation in this line has been effectual—There are some, I am told, that do not think it is right to pay tithing—That need not surprise anybody—But the great mass of the people are doing well in relation to this ¶

Let us all exercise faith for the Lord to open the way that we may go back to Jackson county—A short time ago something occurred in this connection that was a little extraordinary—Two men came here — good, honest men, as I have every reason to believe — and to our surprise they wanted to establish a union between the Latter-day Saints and the Josephites—We asked them to explain themselves—They said they had received a revelation that the time had now come to build a Temple in Jackson county, and in order that this might be accomplished, they had felt it was their duty to go to the Josephites—They do not believe in the Josephites any more than we do; but they went there and had a conversation with the president and counsel of the Josephites—It was proposed that they send four of their elders, that we send four of our Elders, and that the Hedrickites (to which body these two men belonged) have four of their elders, and that all these Elders should meet on the land of Zion and see if they could not make some arrangement by which the Temple could be built—Of course, we could see very well that there was no use trying in that direction; but they seemed to have faith that it could be effected—In part these men may have had a manifestation—I believe that they were about right on the point that the time had arrived to build a Temple; at least, the time is arriving when that Temple should be built; but it will not be built by that class of people—It will be built by the Latter-day Saints in connection with the Lamanites ¶

God bless you, my brethren and sisters, and let us try and be as perfect as we possibly can be from day to day—No religion has in it such prospects as has the religion of the Latter-day Saints—Nothing was ever introduced to man equal to it in its grand and glorious advantages—We ought to enjoy our religion to such an extent as to be happy most all the time—We should never allow ourselves to get into a position where we cannot secure some happiness—The prospects that have been opened up to us are grand—In the next life we will have our bodies glorified and free from sickness and death—Nothing is so beautiful as a person in a resurrected and glorified condition—There is nothing more lovely than to be in this condition and have our wives and children and friends with us—So long as we are faithful, nothing can prevent us from getting all the enjoyment that can be secured through prospects of this kind—Whether we are in prison, or whether we are in poverty, these prospects are always before us, if we live our religion—Now, brethren and sisters, be faithful, keep the commandments of God, and do not forget the teachings that you have had during the three days of this conference—Amen. ¶