Sanpete Stake Conference.
Elder Orson Pratt said: We have passed through many circumstances since our joining the Church, sometimes having abundance of this world’s goods and sometimes a scarcity thereof. It is necessary for us to pass through a variety of circumstances to see if we will be faithful to our Father and our God. This people, the past season, have passed through a time of drought, the Lord could easily have given them rain or an abundance of snow in the tops of the mountains had He seen fit to do so. In the days of Elijah the prophet, Israel suffered a famine for three years and a half, and after they had repented, the prophet prayed for rain and the Lord sent rain on the earth again; so it would be with the Latter-day Saints if they would humble themselves before the Lord, no blessing that would be good for them to have would be withheld from them. The destiny of the Latter-day Saints is greater than that of any other people that have ever lived on the earth. Dwelt at considerable length upon the labors to be performed, the blessings to be obtained by this people, the return of the tribes from the north, their labors and the blessings they will receive, and also the glory to be revealed in this dispensation.
[Deseret News, Dec. 3, 1879]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Aug. 2006]