THE BOOK OF SHIONI AKEK
1Now, I would not that you should be downcast because that I have prophesied concerning your descendents in the latter days, how that they shall again establish Zion in the land. Yea, I do discern your hearts that you are cast down because of my words. But do not let your hearts be troubled over my words.
2Behold, it is certain that the Nem shall not always live in the happy state in which one may look upon you now. Yea, there shall be changes in this land and, although I will tell you that the Nem shall dwindle and all but disappear from off the face of the land, yet shall there be some few here and there that will retain the memory of the doings of their ancestors and they shall revere them. This reverence shall also help to bring about a remembrance of them and of their doing. Yea, it shall be this tiny remembrance that shall induce some few of your descendents to look back again and seek to translate your records.
3But behold, were it not for that which shall remain of your ways and your customs, even these would find no inducement to look back upon the vistas of time to do the great work to which they shall be called. Yea, each of them shall hear of their ancestors and be in wonder of the things they did, and they shall desire more understanding. And the Lord shall lead them into that place where they shall find the records you do so diligently keep and they shall set their hands to the translation of them. Behold, the things that you write, see how they shall excite the minds and the hearts of them that seek the face of Christ!
4But behold, I would not that you should be downhearted even at this time because that the Nem shall not always enjoy that freedom and happiness which you do at this time. For there shall be many years yet in which the Nem shall prosper in the land and your decline shall be slow.
5But there shall come decline even among the Nem when the people cease to be one in that unity with which the Lord does now bless you. And that unity shall not be broken until the people forget the Lord and His ways and cease to trouble the Spirit in all things. When they shall have become hardened in their pride and lifted up, then shall the Lord turn His face from even them, and they shall dwindle.
6And in the day that the Lord shall bring the Gentiles into this land, there shall be but a few villages of Nem left in the land. In those days, the Gentiles shall esteem all the inhabitants of the land the same and they shall not take time to understand them. Even the pure in heart shall be cast to and fro and trampled by the will and the industry of the Gentiles.
7And behold, let not three generations pass by after the coming of the Gentiles into the land and there will remain but a very small remnant of the Sons and Daughters of Lehi to be counted. Then shall they be tossed aside as dross and cast down, and trod upon. Yea, their faces shall be ground in the earth and they shall become the least of peoples. And this shall be the state of the people unto the fourth and fifth generation. But behold, out of them shall rise up a nation. Yea, out of them shall the Lord reorder His church and kingdom.
8For, though they shall be tossed aside, yet shall the Gentiles take them up even unto themselves secretly and their blood shall be mingled. Then shall the blood of Israel burn in the Gentile heart. Then shall the fullness of the Gentiles come. Yea, the spirit of Nem shall cry out within them and their hearts shall swell with a remembrance of things they never saw. Words and wisdom shall rise up within them, words they never heard. And they shall step forward to heal the earth, speaking words of comfort and of peace in a land torn with discord.
9And when all the world is bent on using up the good of the Earth, the spirit of Nem shall rise up in the hearts of the Remnant and they shall turn from the world. Yea, they shall bend the knee reverently and take up the earth in their hands and kiss it. And they shall call the earth after our Mother in Heaven, and they shall care for it.
10Behold, your descendents shall come away from the cities and the high towers that the Gentiles shall build up as a monument to their own might and they shall bend their backs again with the Earth and make of it a hallowed garden again. They shall speak of her as a person and they shall revere her as if she were their own grandmother. And this they shall do figuratively, but this image shall shape the characters of their children and prepare them to do a great work among the children of men.
11Yea, they shall also turn once again to the Peacemaker to learn the Gospel, and they shall be obedient to His teaching. And their sacrifices shall be unto them a schoolmaster and they shall learn to walk in the ways of the Lord once again, for He shall not turn His face from they who do diligently seek Him.
12And their covenants that they make one with another shall once again be durable, for the Lord and Sovereign of Heaven shall bind them and the Holy Ghost shall seal them up. Yea, they shall be once again the House and Kingdom of the Lord. They shall not be puffed up in the pride of their hearts and shall not turn in all directions to declare their own worthiness. But the Lord shall call them worthy and He shall bless them and prosper them.
13And they shall receive again the stewardship of the Lord. Yea, He shall install them once again over the vineyard and they shall be good stewards unto Him, not being commanded in all things, nor subject unto the bondage of any man. But willing and fruitful servants unto the Lord they shall be and obedient to His will.
14Then shall they have all things once again in common, for there shall be no poor among them. Yea, each shall be the good steward of the Lord and they shall all labor with their might for their own maintenance. But they shall also labor day and night to provide for the needy. And the beggar shall have no place to set up his stall, for he shall be brought in and never allowed to put up his petition. Yea, and thus shall be their villages and their settlements. Behold, they shall all labor for the good of each and every other, that there shall be no poor in the House of the Lord.
15And there shall be wars and rumors of wars and the nation around them shall burn with the wrath of the people one against each other. But behold, they among your descendents who shall have been called up, the Remnant of Israel, shall not suffer because of the strife that shall prevail in the land. But being perceived as unprofitable by their neighbors, the strife shall pass by them like the whirlwind.
16Yea, theirs shall be the only peace in the land in many places and wherever they are established, their neighbors shall wonder at them. Nevertheless, they shall possess nothing that the rabble mob shall desire. They shall be peculiar, but this shall not be enough to entice the Gadianton Robbers to molest them. And behold, because they shall not be caught up in the getting and retaining of riches, they shall have no part or party in the things that drive their neighbors to violence one against another.
17For it is a peculiar thing when Zion is established that the curse upon the land is taken away. And you are aware of the curse that has been placed upon this land according to the word of the Lord. Behold, part of this curse shall sorely vex the Gentiles. For they do work diligently with their hands to acquire great wealth. Yea, they do wear out their lives and this motive shall become their entire purpose and they shall set their eye singly unto it.
18But, according to the blessing and curse that has been laid upon this land, when they seek to obtain riches, but not with their purpose set on the glory of God, all that they lay aside shall become slippery and they shall not be able to hold onto it. Yea, and it shall be thus in this land, that when a man lays up his riches, thinking that they will be safe until he returns to them, he shall not find them.
19And behold, a thing that shall be esteemed of great worth in one season shall suddenly lose its worth and be good only to be cast aside. Wherefore, men shall work all their lives to amass wealth, but in the end, they shall find that all that they have amassed shall have no value.
20And when their riches lose their worth, they shall become angry with their fellow man and esteem all to be robbers of his wealth. This shall be a thing that does drive many people to madness and there shall be much sorrow and much destruction because of it. Yea, the desire for riches and for costly things shall overcome the desire of the love of God and the people shall move greedily upon the face of the earth consuming all before them. And when that which they esteemed of the greatest worth loses its value, they shall be as maddened by their lack as by their abundance.
21But they who establish Zion in the latter days shall not hold the things of the world in greater esteem than they do their Lord. They shall want for nothing, for their desires shall not be to amass riches but to provide for their needs. And the surplus of their goods they shall freely give unto the needy.
22And where their neighbors shall consume all things before them, your descendents shall produce all the things they need. Behold, I discern your wonder at my words and I see your confusion. How can a people consume the earth and produce not for their own needs? This seems impossible to you. But behold, I say unto you and I forewarn you, There shall come a day in this land when the people shall not labor with their hands and provide for their own needs. But every one will labor for riches and with these riches they shall buy up the things they need from a very few who produce them. And all of their substance shall go toward the purchase of the fruit and labor of others, and very often, their fruit shall come from afar to be consumed by the people. Because of this, all the riches that they might amass must be spent in buying the things that they need to sustain themselves from day to day.
23And does this fill you with wonder? Behold, I tell you that even they who live in this manner shall call themselves blessed and they shall scorn and ridicule those who live not as they do. Yea, they shall esteem as savage the life of he who produces all the things that they must purchase with all their wealth. Nay, do not stare! For such shall be the way of things when your descendents shall turn away from the way of the world and work to bring again the Zion of the Lord.
24Wherefore, be glad in your hearts, Nem, that you do not live in such times. Be glad that you live in a time when Zion does flourish in the land. And give thanks that the earth does put forth abundantly of her bounty. For it shall not always be so. Yea, there comes a time when even the earth shall not give freely because of the wickedness of men. And Zion shall be a rare thing in the earth. Behold, they are perilous times in which the Remnant shall begin again the work of the Lord.
25And continue in the commandments. For in keeping the way of the Lord, you do demonstrate that you do walk and talk with Him on the Way. And what greater demonstration of your faith might there be than this? You are greatly blessed, even above all the peoples of the world. Behold, you are among the few peoples who wait upon the Lord and learn His ways, and because of this, you are prospered more than any other people. Yea, who can tell when last any man of the Nem had need of taking up the sword against an enemy? Yet, in all the world there is no peace to be found except where men and women know their Lord and walk uprightly before Him. Behold, this is the great demonstration of faith.
26And you know wherewith the Lord has blessed you and wherein you have been prospered beyond measure. But I would have you know the manner in which you do bless and benefit all things because of the manner in which you live.
27Behold, I would call your minds to that which I did teach the Nem in times past, how that when you exercise faith you do cause a movement upon the matter of creation. When any matter is moved upon, behold, it is within the measure of its creation that it should move upon yet other matter. This movement continues outward from its point of origin, or in other words, from the original action. Now, this continues until it does return again to its origination. For all things may be described as one eternal round. And if all things may be so described, then the Universe is spherical.
28And the same principle applies to all kinds and types of faith. For despair does also create this same kind of motion in the Universe. And it also moves outward from the source thereof continually until it too returns again unto its origination.
29Therefore, it may be said that there is good faith and there is bad faith, or in other words, there is good intention and good action which brings about much good, and there is bad intention and bad action which brings about much evil. But faith is the action which causes the Universe to apply the principles round about which it is bound.
30Now, when the movement of all things does return again unto its own source, and finds there great faith for good, the movement does combine again with that faith, which is a movement outward once again, and the good is greatly magnified.
31And again, when the movement is caused by bad intentions and actions, that movement does also return again unto its own source. And if it finds there great faith for evil, the movement does combine even with that evil and it also is greatly magnified.
32But behold, should evil movement flow out from the children of men and in continuing in its movement it returns again and encounters powerful movements of good, then is that evil countered in its movement. Yea, the outflowing good does so interfere with the power of the returning evil that it does counter it and cancel it.
33Wherefore, I would call your attention to that great miracle which is made by the Zion which the Nem in this land have established. For, the rest of the world languishes in darkness and there is little of the love of God in any of the nations of the world. But so much more powerful is the good than the evil that when the two encounter each other, behold, the evil is diminished.
34But did you think that Zion blesses only those who live in it? Zion is the pure in heart, even the very heart of the world. And the Lord does judge the intent of the heart. Shall there be good men and good women in the world but know little of the kingdom of God, yet I assure you, their good works act upon the Universe in like manner as do yours. Therefore, always remember, Nem, good does beget good. And when great faith is exercised, or in other words, when great movement for good is made upon the Universe, great shall be the good that shall be magnified unto they who exercise such faith, even unto the healing of the world.
35Wherefore, you may know nothing of the people of the far reaches and corners of the world. What is that to you? Do good. And also, you may know much about the evil that is committed by the wicked in some place or other. Again I say unto you, What is that to you? Do good continually. For, you know not but what your goodness might even have effect upon far distant people.
36Remember that which has been written about King Mosiah. Behold, did his sons not do wickedness in all the Land Southward? Yet, is it not so that because of the prayers of their father they were brought to a miracle? And were they not so changed that they became the greatest preachers of their people? You may believe it, for, had it not been for their preaching, it is most likely true that you might never have been placed in the happy state in which you find yourselves.
37For behold, their preaching did create a generation of Lamanites who set aside the wickedness of their fathers. These became the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, whom we call the Children of Ammon. And did the Lord not teach them upon the Way, and instruct them in meaningful and beautiful celebrations? Yea, it is because of the preaching of the sons of Mosiah the King that the Nem have the Purification of the Ammonites and also the ordinances of the High Place. Now, do you see how the great acts and utterances of faith of one who is conscious to do good may make great effect upon the wicked? You may believe me, your good works do likewise.
38Our purpose is not to learn to do evil. The Lord did not enter into the covenant with the Father and with the Holy Spirit of Promise so that we might become versed and expert in the practice of corruption. On the contrary, we are placed in this New and Everlasting Covenant to learn to do good continually. Behold, it is for this cause that the Lord has instructed you in the teachings, principles, laws and the ordinances of the High Place. Behold, these things do not teach but a little good. Nay, they are not a paltry attempt at marginal goodness. Rather, He has taught us an elevating law so that we might begin to act out an elevating goodness. Behold, this magnifying faith does destroy the works of darkness. Behold, the exercise of this faith shall bring about the restoration of all things.
39I tell you these things that your minds may not be troubled because I said that the Nem shall dwindle and barely shall any rightly be able to say in the last days, ere the Lord does raise up again the Remnant of the House of Israel again in this land, that Zion is found anywhere. But behold, content yourselves with this foreknowledge, that from among your descendents, Zion shall once again be established. And behold, before the Lord does come again in His great glory, there shall surely be a righteous people to greet Him in this blessed land.
40And He shall use your doings to inspire your descendents to take up His ways once again and to raise up a standard to all the world. Behold, they shall look to and fro for an ensample to use as their model, but there shall be none in the world. For the shepherds of the church shall teach that Zion is a thing other than that which you have been taught. Wherefore, they shall not be an ensample unto your descendents. But your words out of the dust shall exhort them where the voices of their shepherds shall turn to silence.
41And the nations of the world will all be built upon the policy of getting gain and their wise men shall extol this policy as virtuous. They shall not be an ensample unto your descendents and their counsel shall be as unprofitable to their purpose as that of the shepherds of the church. But the wisdom of the Nem shall be their schoolmaster.
42And the Lord shall bring your writings and your rememberings unto your children in latter days and this shall be the ensample for them. Yea, they shall take of your daily walk and daily talk and make of it an ensample of their own. And they shall begin once again to teach the pure and simple precepts of the High Place. This shall be the beginning of the Zion they shall establish in the land.
43And behold, this shall be a sign unto they who the Lord shall call up out of your dust to bring again Zion, that the day has come to accept of Him that stewardship which He shall take from the Gentiles and return again unto the Children of Israel left in the land.
44The Lord shall have brought the Gentiles into this land and He shall have begun a great work among them, even a commencement of a great restoration. But they shall have rejected the greater portion of the fullness of the gospel which He shall have revealed unto them through His servant the prophet.
45And behold, almost immediately upon their foundation, they shall have set aside the Zion of the Lord and taken up and embraced the Babylon of the world. Yea, they shall sin against the gospel and return altogether back unto all their golden calves and their idolatry. Yet shall they think they are the chosen and elect and they shall boast of it before all the nations. But their boasts shall be vanity.
46For their shepherds shall cease to teach them that they should seek to stand personally in the presence of their Lord while yet in the flesh. Yea, they shall entirely misconstrue the teachings of the Temple and they shall teach that the ordinances bring salvation.
47Behold, it is not the ordinances of salvation that bring salvation, for that is the office of the Lord through the Holy Ghost. Rather, the ordinances of salvation are those ceremonies and celebrations that teach salvation. But the shepherds of the church shall teach that salvation comes by and only through the performance of ordinances and that the ordinances may only be performed by the shepherds of the church. Wherefore, they shall teach that they are the ministers of salvation and they shall wear that doctrine upon their sleeves.
48But this is not all, they shall insist that the ordinances are locked up with keys and that only the shepherds possess or may possess the keys to their performance. And they shall lock up the minds and the hearts of the people as a storehouse and they shall put the keys thereof into their pockets. For the people, because of the teachings of the shepherds, shall universally believe that they have no access to heaven because of the keys. And they are as if locked in a cell and must depend upon the shepherds for ordinances to save them. Yea, the shepherds of the church shall make of themselves masters, and they shall esteem all men as servants unto them.
49And this shall be extolled as great wisdom and sound doctrine. Yea, this shall the people call restoration and the fullness of all things. Yea, this shall they call the fullness of the gospel and it is the ensign that they shall raise up in the last days unto all the world.
50And the Gentiles shall pursue and drive the Remnant of Israel left in the land. And behold, they shall trample them under their feet. Their nations shall be utterly and completely undone, for they shall be subdued by the Gentiles. And the Gentiles shall set them in desolate places as their prisoners and the spoil. They shall not be allowed even so much as to pray or call upon the name of their Lord in their own language. So great shall be the oppression of the Gentiles and so heavy the yoke that they shall press upon your descendents.
51But, when the Gentiles shall esteem that they have purged them enough so that they shall have been washed clean of all their traditions, or so they suppose, they shall lift the yolk somewhat from off them and they shall give them more liberty. The Gentiles shall set up governments within their midst in order that they might continue to control them, but the people shall once again begin to enjoy freedom to move about upon the land.
52And the land shall call up to them as a familiar spirit and they shall feel pullings from their grandfathers. Yea, though their blood shall be mingled with the Gentiles, they shall begin to feel an urge and a great need to return again to the ways of their fathers, even Israel. But, being at liberty to move about, they shall have melted into the midst of the Gentiles and they shall no longer be in bondage. Wherefore, they shall quietly begin again to restore the things that were lost because of the Gentiles.
53And behold, they shall do this partly by diligent study. But much of this restoration shall come directly from the Spirit through that faculty of the Holy Ghost that does bring all things to their remembrance. And behold, when the time is right and every needful thing is prepared, the Lord shall bring some few of them once again upon the Way and there reveal to them the records which you have dedicated unto them.
54Then shall the restoration of all things begin again to break forth upon this land. For the Children of Lehi shall not set the teachings of these records aside as a thing of naught, as the Gentiles shall have done with that which the Lord shall have revealed unto them when He commenced the restoration among them. But the Children of Lehi, who shall be left in the land, shall take up your records and they shall use them quietly to bring again Zion.
55And they shall build, little by little, settlements and villages created in the image of Nespelem and Elak Kowa and Potal, yea, and all the cities of the Nem. And how shall they do this? Is your writing so detailed that they might build up duplications of your cities? I say unto you, Nay. But that which you record shall be enough for them to learn Zion in their hearts. Then shall any place they build be equal to all that you have built.
56For it is Zion in their hearts that shall govern all that they build. Wherefore, can their little villages become ought else than Zion? Or can their great cities become Babylon if they have built Zion in their hearts? It is not possible.
57But behold, they shall be persecuted for this great work. Yea, the shepherds of the church shall not support them but they will rail against them and condemn them for their desire to do that which they have deemed unprofitable.
58But the profit shall be unto the Remnant. For, when the Gentiles shall have pushed the earth to the point of collapse, they shall be reduced to the rabble mob and all that shall have been deemed profitable to the Gentiles shall become their prey. Then shall the shepherds of the church regret the heel that they lifted before the Remnant. Then shall they regret the wagging head.
59For Zion shall possess none of that which the mob shall esteem and they shall pass them by. But the shepherds of the church shall have taught the getting of gain and the laying up of riches. Yea, this shall be taught as doctrine and the church shall swell with it. Then shall the church become the prey of the wicked and the mindless, because of its riches.
60Yea, this shall be a sign unto your descendents: The sun shall burn the stalk and many will leave the places of their inheritance because of the change in the seasons. And they shall flood into the cities of the Gentiles to find refuge. But the cities shall have no means to support them and will need to rely more and more upon a very few to produce provender for the throng. And great portions of the nation shall lay empty because the Gentiles shall have used up the good of the earth, to the end that, their collapse as a nation shall be as the collapse which you have witnessed in the Land of Hagoth. And even you have seen such a collapse in your own time in the Valley of Meninta.
61When all this shall repeat again in this land, the Lord shall bring out of darkness your records and your writings, and behold, the Remnant will take them up and shall use them as their standard. And they shall remove themselves from the rabble and set themselves alone in the wilderness. And they shall build up Zion in their hearts and establish Zion in the land. And all the world shall carry on around them devouring the good of that upon which they rely. Then shall Babylon fall and the Gentiles shall be left with their heaps of gold, but all their gold shall have no value over a loaf or a fish.
62Yea, then shall the Gentiles remember that their prophets did prophesy of these very things, but their remembrance shall avail them nothing. Yea, they shall cite the scriptures and their writings, that their prophets warned them and they shall wonder how they might have been so deceived when the truth and the warning were given so plainly. But they shall not have Zion in their hearts. Wherefore, they shall wonder at their folly and not understand it.
63But because of your records, Nem, the Remnant shall establish themselves in the waste places and they shall have nothing which the world esteems as worthy. But they shall also not be brought to collapse with the rest of the world, for their riches shall not be in the stuff of the world but in that which is truly of value unto the Lord. And their reliance shall not be upon the world, but they shall each produce according to their needs and yet a little more to provide for the beggar. And this shall set them in good stead in comparison to the Gentiles who shall run to and fro with their wealth in their hands and shall not be able to buy a morsel with it.
64And because the Remnant shall not think themselves the masters of the earth, they shall tend her and take good care of her and she shall give abundantly. Yea, because the Remnant shall love the earth and esteem her above all riches, she shall reward them with abundance. And because they do not seek to use her up to get the gain thereof, they shall prosper and shall not want for anything.
65Yea, there shall come a day when the Gentiles, who should have been the servants of the Lord and bring about a great restoration, shall cook the leather of their own shoes for food; the Remnant shall not be tormented with hunger because they esteem themselves to be part of the world and not the master of it.
66For there is but one master and that is the Lord, the Peacemaker. And it is because that the Lord has given priesthood unto the children of men that they feel that they too are the earth’s masters. But do you not remember that, in giving man dominion over the earth, He also did command him to tend it and take good care of it? He did not make man the god of this earth. There is only one who makes that claim boldly in the face of men, and he is the adversary.
67But men do claim to be sovereign in the stead of the Lord and in this they do justify much evil. See how that in times past, when your ancestors still dwelt in the Land Southward that the Nephites allowed not the Children of Ammon to join with them in their temple worship because of their differences. And this was done because of their belief that they were white and delightsome, and because of the pre-eminent priesthood.
68But neither the Lord nor His prophet made such distinction between the believers. Behold, He did inspire the prophet and give Him revelation, and the Ammonites were instructed of the Lord to make the covenants of the Temple in their own way. Wherefore, we have the High Place today, and it is the center of the home.
69But look at the state of things for the Nephites. Behold, there are but three left in all the land and they are left only because of the divine intervention that has affected a translation of our bodies. Yea, the Nephites are extinguished; for all that they saw their white skin as superior to their neighbors. Yea, they thought that the color of their skin was that which determined their worthiness. Behold, their white skin was no delight unto them when they went into oblivion because of the wickedness in their hearts.
70Yea, the children of men do often justify their evils by use of the words of the Lord or of His prophets. The color of skin is no determinant and neither is the priesthood which God does give from time to time in order that His work and His purposes might be accomplished. Behold, how that Tucantor, although he possessed the priesthood of God and was raised unto the seat of high priest before the people of Mentina, nevertheless, he did divide the people and cause the destruction of that part of the nation. Was the priesthood a determinant of his worthiness? I say unto you, Nay.
71And I say unto you, In the latter days, the Lord shall begin again a restoration through the Gentiles. And He shall choose the Gentiles because of that quality of their character that causes them to take up and pursue a project with great vigor. Yea, He shall use this quality to send His word which He gave unto the Nephites into all the world. And behold, they shall do this thing and it shall be accomplished in them according to the word and will of the Lord.
72And He shall give them priesthood and His authority to do many things in His name. And the keys to this priesthood He shall devolve upon them. But they shall consider this the keys to the very kingdom of God and they shall teach that without these keys no door may be unlocked and no shackle may be loosed. And in but one generation from the commencement of that great restoration, they shall have corrupted the word of God and His will, and shall bind all men with that measure of priesthood they have been given. Yea, they shall make the performance of ordinances that which does assure salvation and they shall devolve their performances upon they who possess the priesthood.
73Behold, this shall cause a great bondage to come upon the people and, when the time comes for them to receive greater truth and knowledge from the Lord, there shall be few who can walk upon the Way. Yea, when He desires a revelation to be given, behold, He shall be required to resort to intervention in order that His work might go forward. This is not much better than the state of things before the restoration that He shall make unto the Gentiles.
74But they shall claim to possess His priesthood and that they are the masters of the earth, having dominion over her to do with her as they will. And each man shall count his stewardship as if it were some measure of dominion over his fellow men, and this shall be the means of much tribulation in the church. And behold, the shepherds of the church, yea, the high priests and the priests, the elders even down to the least of their teachers, shall in one voice declare and agree that none shall come unto salvation except by and through them, for the Lord shall have chosen them over all the earth and they shall esteem themselves the Elect of God because of that little priesthood which the Lord shall have given them as an help meet and as a schooling ground.
75And where is there greater pride than this, that man shall extol his own virtue and call himself elect in all the world? Yet, in the day whereof I speak, there shall be hunger in their country. And behold, there shall be they among them who suffer with the cold and are destitute. And they shall judge them and give unto them a little, but in the main, they shall look upon the suffering of the people and esteem themselves the more blessed because of their riches. And they shall declare in their hearts that the poor are not as blessed because of sin. Behold, this is the pride of the Saints in the latter days.
76And behold, they shall claim to have charity, but it shall be by extortion. And they shall claim to have the love of God, but it shall be meted out sparingly and upon conditions. It shall not be freely given, but shall be doled out by practice and by policy that does grind the face of the poor and bring about a division between them and the rich. They shall have not all things in common and all things shall be dictated unto them. Yea, they shall know nothing of the Common Consent. And this shall they call righteousness. Yea, because of this they shall call themselves the very Elect of God.
77They shall love themselves and spare themselves no luxury. And for the poor they shall dole out unto the shepherds but a little here and a little there. And the shepherds shall exercise dominion over the poor and their lives shall they dictate, exhorting them to bend their backs so that they too might rise up in stature and in wealth, that they might walk among the elect. Is this the Law of the Tithe? Is this the Law of Consecration? You and I may decry such practices, but behold, they who call themselves elect in the latter days shall believe it to be so.
78And even they shall teach that the one may be lived without the other. And this thing is part of that wherein they do sin against the gospel. Yea, they shall reject even the fullness of the gospel. And is this not according as the Lord prophesied unto the survivors of the overturning of all things in the Land Southward, and even unto your forefathers in Mentina? I say unto you, Yea. This is the thing which He foretold.
79For the Lord does have all things before Him. Yea, He does see the beginning from the end and there is nothing that escapes His view. Wherefore He did promise they who were left of the seed of Lehi, who were left in the land, even the Remnant of them at that time, that He would take up again that which He had given into the hands of the Gentiles as a stewardship and return it unto the Children of Lehi who would be left in the land, a Remnant unto the House of Israel.
80Behold, these are they who among your descendents shall take up the standard of the Lord and raise up a Zion once again in the land. These are they who, reading your writings, and also being touched by the spirit of this land, shall esteem the earth once again and teach the stewardship. They shall not lift up their faces unto the heavens and declare themselves to be the elect of God, but God shall elect them. Yea, they shall take up the things they shall read in these records and apply them unto their own lives. They shall judge the widow and visit the fatherless, and they shall do it without extortion and without motive.
81And they shall not look upon their fellowman and judge him because of his color, or his manner of speaking, his beliefs, nor his lack of riches. No, there shall be no division among them, except that they shall not allow that men should cast themselves higher than their neighbor and they shall not suffer them to do any kind of hurt one to another.
82And they shall be the Sons and Daughters of Levi and shall offer again a sacrifice in righteousness. And their priesthood shall be the commission of God, given personally. Wherefore, the orders of priesthood which they shall possess shall be esteemed of them as schoolmasters only, and a means whereby they may do great good unto the children of men. But they shall not esteem themselves wiser, greater, or any more elect than their neighbor because of the priesthood. And the Lord shall bring them upon the Way and instruct them.
83And the people shall come unto Christ with all the intent of their hearts and they shall rejoice with Him upon the Way. And they shall live from revelation to revelation because they have not shunned prophecy and the Gifts of the Spirit.
84And behold, the ordinances of salvation shall once again become the ensigns that they ought to be, and they who perform them shall have truly received the commission of the Lord. Wherefore, it shall be unto them as the Lord designed, for that which qualifies one to receive the priesthood is the desire to do the will of the Lord. And behold, the priesthood shall not become a dividing line between they who have and they who have not, and the people shall not puff themselves up because they have received authority, or so they suppose. But God shall justify them in their works because of the intents of their hearts, because they are good.
85And thus shall the Lord commence again a great restoration in this holy land and it shall go forward even unto the culmination thereof. And the Lord shall fulfill His promise that He made unto the Children of Lehi in times past, that they shall have this land as an inheritance again and the stewardship of His kingdom.
86And all this shall be restored unto the House of Israel because they take up His laws again and teach them unto their little ones. Yea, and their concentration shall turn away from the world and they shall delight in the Lord. For they shall walk with Him and talk with Him, and what worldly wealth can compare to this? What goods may they stuff into their storehouses and what gold and silver may they lay up in store that may buy the love of God?
87Yea, they shall build and establish Zion again because they shall not set aside that which the Lord has commanded them and they shall not misinterpret that which He commanded their fathers. For they shall have the Second Comforter and the First, and is this to be despised? I say unto you, Nay. It is the best of the blessings and gifts of God.
