RLDS Church History Search

Chapter Context

RLDS History Context Results

Source: Church History Vol. 2 Chapter 24 Page: 561 (~1842)

Read Previous Page / Next Page

561 significant, taken in connection with subsequent events. This is an extract:-

"Perhaps we have said enough on this subject, but we feel the importance of it, and therefore speak plainly. It is for you, brethren, to say whether the work shall stand or progress. One thing is certain, that unless that is done all our efforts to aggrandize or enrich ourselves will be vain and futile. We may build splendid houses, but we shall not inhabit them; we may cultivate farms, but we shall not enjoy them; we may plant orchards, or vineyards, but we shall not eat the fruit of them. The word of the Lord is, Build my house; and until that command is fulfilled we stand responsible to the great Jehovah for the fulfillment of it; and if not done in due time we may have to share the same fate that we have heretofore done in Missouri."-Times and Seasons, vol. 3, p. 939.

P. P. Pratt claims that he received a revelation soon after the death of the martyrs, which, if true, makes it plain that it was the Lord's will for them to complete the temple; and in answer to the inquiry as to whether they should flee "to the wilderness," or remain there, they were instructed to remain.

"As I walked along over the plains of Illinois, lonely and solitary, I reflected as follows: I am now drawing near to the beloved city; in a day or two I shall be there. How shall I meet the sorrowing widows and orphans? How shall I meet the aged and widowed mother of these two martyrs? How shall I meet an entire community bowed down with grief and sorrow unutterable? What shall I say? or how console and advise twenty-five thousand people who will throng about me in tears, and in the absence of my President and the older members of the now presiding council, will ask counsel at my hands? Shall I tell them to fly to the wilderness and deserts? Or, shall I tell them to stay at home and take care of themselves, and continue to build the temple? With these reflections and inquiries, I walked onward, weighed down as it were unto death. When I could endure it no longer, I cried out aloud, saying: O Lord! in the name of Jesus Christ I pray thee, show me what these things

(page 561)

Read Previous Page / Next Page

Amazing Testimony: When a NON-Christian finds the Book of Mormon..

RLDS Church History Search