Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow / One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

by Eliza R. Snow

There is a great difference between the possession of the Holy Ghost, and the mere possession of the Spirit of God. All honest-hearted people, who are living according to the best light they have received, have the Spirit of God. All Christian churches have it, i. e., those who seek truth and righteousness. The Baptists, if they are honest, have it; so have the Methodists and Presbyterians; so also have all Christians and also heathen nations. Go to China, and all honest-hearted people there have the Spirit of God; in fact, we are told that this is "the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." But to say that all have the Holy Ghost—the gift that was promised to those who obeyed the Gospel—is incorrect.

We can trace the providences of God in raising up certain individuals to establish religious organizations, and we see in these the workings of the Spirit of God for the general interest of the human family. We look upon George Washington, the father of our country, as an inspired instrument of the Almighty; we can see the all-inspiring Spirit operating upon him and his co-workers in resisting oppression, and in establishing thirteen colonies as a confederacy; and then again, the workings of the same Spirit upon those men who established the Constitution of the United States. In a revelation contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord says: "And for this purpose have I established the constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men, whom I raised up unto this very purpose." We see the hand of the Lord in these things. The Christian churches will not acknowledge these spiritual operations, which we most firmly believe, in regard to the workings of Providence and the operations of the Spirit of the Lord upon the hearts of the human family.

We now most conspicuously see the hand of the Almighty in establishing a kingdom spoken of in ages long past by Daniel, the Prophet—a kingdom which shall grow and spread until it fills the whole earth: when light and intelligence will be so generally diffused that it shall no longer be necessary for any man to say to his fellows, "Know ye the Lord," but all shall know Him, from the least unto the greatest. And when the Spirit of the Lord shall be poured out upon all flesh to such a degree that the sons and the daughters shall prophesy, the old men shall dream dreams, the young men shall see visions, and when there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all the holy mountain of the Lord.

We have seen what has been promised, and what suggestions made and encouragement given in relation to our progression, as contemplated by the Prophets, expressed in their writings in the Old and New Testaments. We see what God in His revelations direct has said to us; and we might bring up passage after passage from the New Testament, Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and the Book of Mormon, in regard to the progression and happiness of His people. But there are other considerations connected with this to which I will call your attention. The revelations of the Lord given to us say that all things shall be given to those who receive the Priesthood; but in connection with this promise are certain obligations which have to be fulfilled on our part. That same God and Father who tells us what great blessings await the faithful, says: "Whoso layeth down his life for my cause and for my name's sake shall receive it again, even life eternal; therefore, fear not your enemies, for I, the Lord, have decreed in my heart that I will prove you in all things, whether you will abide in my covenant, even unto death, for he that will not abide in my covenant is not worthy of me."

Here on one hand are promised those extraordinary and wonderful blessings; and on the other, if we renounce the doctrine we have received, or if we are unwilling to stand up to the point, even of death, in fulfilling the will of our Father in the accomplishment of His work, we shall be counted unworthy of the promised blessings.

Now you take a man, no matter from what country, if he be a man of integrity, when he receives a knowledge of the truth, he will stand to that knowledge; you cannot force it from him by imprisonment, or by taking away his property or destroying every earthly source of his happiness. Do what you will to annoy and oppress him, he will still stand firm in his adherence to the principles he knows are true.

When the Gospel reached us in the different nations whence we came, the Spirit of the Lord gave us convictions of its truth, and in the honesty of our hearts we received it and its blessings, otherwise we would have remained at our several homes. We were promised by the several Elders who proclaimed the Gospel unto us, that if we would do the will of God, if we would obey the Gospel, we should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; they said, as Peter said on the day of Pentecost, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost." Then when they spoke of the operations of the Holy Ghost, they described them as Jesus, Paul, John and the Saints who received it testified in regard to it from the effects it produced upon them. Therefore, when the Gospel was received under circumstances of this nature, those who were its recipients expected superior and extraordinary blessings—blessings they could not reach in any other religious society. They were promised such blessings as all other religious denominations said did not exist and could not be received. They would acknowledge that such blessings had formerly been received through the Gospel, but could not be imparted now.

Hence, if those who obeyed the Gospel, as taught by the Elders of this Church, did not receive the blessings promised, why do I see them before me here to-day by thousands? Why, when traveling through the length and breadth of this country, do I see people who have gathered, comparatively, from almost every nation under the sun? If they received not the fulfilment of what was promised, why are they here in this Territory? In these valleys of the mountains? They had better stayed at home. It is the most inconsistent thing imaginable to suppose that people after being deceived should leave their country, homes and friends and cross the wide ocean and vast deserts into a land of which they knew nothing.

When Abraham was commanded to leave his home and kindred he obeyed the mandate of the Most High, and the fact that thousands are now here, settled through this long strip of country, over hills, valleys and mountains, proves that they have followed the example of the "father of the faithful," they have shown by their acts that they have received the all-inspiring power of the Holy Ghost which was promised them, which revealed to them that the Lord had fulfilled the prophecy of His servant Daniel, that without hands He had cut a stone from the mountains, and that it had commenced to move, and roll, and would continue on its course until it had fulfilled the destiny predicted by the Prophet.

If the people here have not received the knowledge promised in connection with their obedience to the Gospel, they are acting most inconsistently; for they are perpetuating upon their children, their children's children, and upon future generations, a system that is entirely false—binding a yoke of tradition upon them, with consequences beyond the power of language to describe. And more than this, they are guilty of the most gross offence before the Almighty, for they are not only injuring themselves, but they are laying a foundation to destroy the happiness of unborn generations.