| 569 all the members, and God will help those who will help themselves, and bless those who will bless each other, and do as they would be done unto. The gold and the silver is the Lords; all the treasures of the earth, the flocks and the herds of the fields and the cattle of the thousand hills are his; if he were hungry would he crave thy food, or thirsty would he ask thy drink? Nay! he would only ask that which was his own, he would feast on his own flocks and quench his thirst at his own springs. This God is the God of the saints, he is your God, and he has made you stewards of all that has been committed to you, and will require his own with usury; and will you not be faithful in a little that you may be made rulers over many cities? Yes, you will, we know you will.
The journeyings and gatherings, and building of the saints are nothing new, and as they are expecting, looking and praying for the completion of the dispensation of the fullness of times, they must also expect that their progress will be onward or they will be of no avail, for what is not of faith is sin, and can you believe that God will hear your prayers, and bring you on your journey, gather you, and build your houses, and you not put forth one hand or make one exertion to help yourselves? No! therefore inasmuch as the saints believe that father Abraham journeyed to a distant land, at the command of the Highest, where himself and household, (whose household we are, if we keep the commandments,) might enjoy the fruits of their labors unmolested, and worship the God of heaven according to the dictates of their own conscience and his law. That his seed afterwards gathered to Canaan, the Land of Promise; that David was commanded to build a house where the Son of Man might have a place to lay his head, and the diciples [disciple] be endued with power from on high, and were with one accord in one place; they must also believe that this dispensation comprehends all the great works of all former dispensations; and that the children must gather as did the fathers, must build a house, where they may be endued, and be found together worshipping and doing as their fathers did, when Jehovah spake and the angels of heaven ministered unto them; and if these things are not in this generation then we have not arrived at the dispensation of the fullness of times as we anticipate and our faith and prayers are vain.
Is it that we labor in vain, and toil for nought [naught], and that we shall be disappointed at the last? No! we know assuredly that the set time to favor Zion has come, and her sons and daughters shall rejoice in her glory. The time has come when the great Jehovah would have a resting place on earth, a habitation for his chosen, where his law shall be revealed, and his servants be endued from on high, to bring together the honest in heart form the four winds; where the saints may enter the Baptismal Font for their dead relations, so that they may be judged according to men in the flesh, and live according to God in the spirit, and come forth in the celestial kingdom; a place, over which the heavenly messengers may watch and trouble the waters as in days of old, so that when the sick are put therein they shall be made whole; a place where all the ordinances shall be made manifest and the saints shall unite in the songs of Zion, even praise, thanksgiving and hallelujahs to God and the Lamb, that he has wrought out their deliverance, and bound satan fast in chains.
What then shall we do? Let us all arise and with one united and mighty exertion, by the strength of Israel's God, oppose the powers of darkness, and every being and principle that may rise up against us, and complete the work already commenced. Let us not for a moment lend an ear to evil and designing men, who would subvert the truth, and blacken the character of the servant of the Most High God, by publishing abroad that the prophet is enriching himself on the spoils of the brethren. When Br. Joseph stated to the general conference the amount and situation of the property of the church, of which he is trustee in trust by the united voice of the church, he also stated the amount of his own possessions on earth; and what do you think it was? we will tell you; his old Charley horse, given him in Kirtland; two pet deer; two old turkeys, and four young ones; the old cow given him by a brother in Missouri, his old Major, dog; his wife, children, and a little household furniture, and this is the amount of the great possessions of that man whom God has called to lead his people in these last days; this the sum total of the great estates, the splendid
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