Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/85

Rh land of Zion, even from your own lands after these testimonies which ye have brought before me against them, ye shall curse them, and whomsoever ye curse, I will curse, and ye shall avenge me of mine enemies, and my presence shall be with you even in avenging me of mine enemies, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.

"Let no man be afraid to lay down his life for my sake, for whoso layeth down his life for my sake shall find it again, and whoso is not willing to lay down his life for my sake, is not my disciple. It is my will that my servant Sidney Rigdon shall lift up his voice in the congregations in the Eastern Countries in preparing the Churches to keep the commandments which I have given unto them concerning the restoration and redemption of Zion.  It is my will that my servant Parley P. Pratt and my servant Lyman Wight should not return to the land of their brethren until they have obtained companies to go up unto the land of Zion by tens, or by twenties, or by fifties, or by an hundred, until they have obtained the number of five hundred of the strength of my house.  Behold this is my will; ask and you shall receive; but men do not always do my will; therefore if you cannot obtain five hundred, seek diligently that peradventure you may obtain three hundred, and if ye cannot obtain three hundred, seek diligently that peradventure ye may obtain one hundred. But verily I say unto you a commandment I give unto you that ye shall not go up unto the land of Zion until you have obtained one hundred of the strength of my house to go up with you unto the land of Zion. Therefore, as I said unto you, ask and ye shall receive; pray earnestly that peradventure my servant Baurak Ale may go with you and preside in the midst of my people, and organize my kingdom upon the consecrated land, and establish the children of Zion upon the laws and commandments which have been and which shall be given unto you."

This "revelation" is certainly very specific and direct, and evinces an unequivocal disposition on the part of "the Lord" to destroy his enemies. With such a termination to the expedition, as will be read in the following chapter, it is with pity mingled with a sense of the ludicrous that one peruses this page in the history of the Mormon Church. 4