The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1869-11-19

1869.
TAs 6eAisss st Salt Lsks.
We puh1aAsa ioet vsek ~ szeo0nuaielsSea ftom
The notnoe Chureh q he editors ga pehlisAes q
- sttis tSss riisd H. Sood 4 ~ IropSess snd
indeed ~ s1oo0municsdon j
w ARE NOTHING, II NOT sPIRlTUA1.
1soo ths UtaA Naeasi.s.
When Joseph Smith iuaugura&ed our
Church, nearly forty years ago, It burst upon
the world - Revelation of spiritual power.
The main peculiarly Of our system was,
that we asserted the necessity Of close and
constant intefcommunicatiou between this
and the Heavenly worlds.
While We freely admitted that light and
intelligence were continually being impaired
by God to mankind through inspiration Of
On intellectual or mental kind, we strongly
protested against the sumciency Of this kind
Of Revelation.
Our Elders went forth declaring the OPEN
Ing Of despensstion Of angelic visitation;
and IN age Of Revelation and Prophecy; .
new grand period Of heavenly manifestations
The sick were to be healed henoeforth main.
ly by the laying on of handa Visions and
divinely. given dreams were 70 be the con.
slant companions Of the member of the
church; the curtains of Heaven were 70
be lifted up, and 4 church established,
which-to use the language Of the Doctrines
and the Covensnts-by the multiplicity of
heavenly manifestations poured upon man.
kind In the flesh, was to prepare them for
the fullness of Jehovah's presence in the
world of glory, and without the enjoyment
Of which they could not be 50 perfected.
A. means to this end . spiritual power
was to be built up to be called Zion, whose
people should have . constant witness Of
the presence and association Of heavenly
visitors.
Spiritual power was our battle cry! We
were "nothing If not spiritual" We were
founding kingdom whose glory was not
the wealth of its people, the extent Of their
farms, or the elegance of their homes, but
the iire Of the Omnipotent spirit and the
presence and influence of the great ones Of
the invisible world, while sweet and holy
sentiments, changing hearts and purifying
the lives of men were to distill through in
spired lips upon the church.
This was the programme to which We have
given the most vital portions OF our exis-
tence, and for which We have Ill borne the
scorn Of the world. Some of Us travelling
for years o. poor dependents, over the face
Of the world. and all Of usstruggling through
hardships innumerable to these desolste VAL
leys, to pursue any and every occupation
that might present Itself oongenial or 9TH
erwise-solely that We might see gigantic
spiritual power rear itself in strength above
the nations. For this We suffered, and for
this We struggled through poverty and hard.
ships to this land, and for nothing elss.
ABROAD among the nations" we had
plentiful corroboration that this theory wa
NO idle dream, but based on facts Whole
sale spiritual manifestations did there at.
tend Us. Our sick were then healed by the
hundred. During the great cholera year IN
England, among thirty thousand Latter-dsy
Saints, scarcely one succumbed to the dis
ease. We were rich in spiritual manifesto
tons We felt angelic presence even If I'M
seen. We lived in an atmosphere that made
US feel every day very near to God and the
heavenly world. All this bore witness that
there would bc established upon the earth q
great central reservoir from whence spirit.
ual influences should spread with electric
force and kinlllc the world sfar In due time.
Cut this grand design out Of the mission
Of this people, and there IL nothing left. To
open up the fountains of the Heavenly world
TO stand hand in hand-the mortal church
with the invisible behind the veil This va
the destiny for which We started a. : people,
and unless We realize it, VIC have done moth
ing worth talking about We did not con.
gregate together to build up . big nation
whose numbers and might should overawe
the world. We needed = distinct existence
- . people, of course, and therefore requir.
ID cities and national influence; but these
were but secondary objects merely means
and ends. Our temporal influence was sim.
ply to be kind Of bulwask within which
our spiritual powers should be developed.
External surroundings, without the divine
part Of our religion, for which the whole
was brought into existence, would, We un.
derstood, bc nothing but mockery and 4
sham.
In the providence Of God, for . number
Of years We have been marching almost en-.
tirely in the direction Of temporalities, until
they are the all-absorbing theme. 1tis tenn
poralities upon the street, in the garden, in
the meeting and in the council-temporsli-
tics from the rising of the sun 70 the going
down Of the same, and from one years
end to another. We have but one kind Of
subject - houses. fences, dry-goods and
money, worlds without end. The is how Il
n q present, and there doubtless 10 provi