The following comes from Diary Excerpts of Abraham H. Cannon, Internally Dated/Paginated
Vol. 8, 1886 (taken from The New Mormon CD-ROM):
Thursday,
Oct. 14th: The following are words spoken by Apostle Moses Thatcher at
Lewiston, Cache Co., Utah, 1886. (Original in the hands of W. S. Burton.) "It
is my belief that every city, county, precinct and territorial office in this
Territory will be in the hands of our enemies; that we shall be so burdened
with taxes that it will be almost more than human nature can endure. That we
shall cry to the Lord by night and by day for deliverance. That when our hearts
are sufficiently subdued that our entire trust will be in the Lord, then shall
that man like unto Moses be raised up, and shall lead us out of bondage back to
Jackson County in the state of Missouri. There will be no hesitation;
everything will be decisive and prompt. The mountains shall tremble before him
and if there be a tree or anything else in the way of their progress, it shall
be plucked up by the power of God. Then is the time the scriptures will be
fulfilled that says: `One shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten thousand
to flight.'"
"It
is my belief that the time of our deliverance will be within five years, the
time indicated being February 14th, 1891. (See Mill. Star, Vol. XV, Page 205)
And that the man raised up will be no other than the Prophet Joseph Smith in
his resurrected body. The power to lead Israel in the latter days as Moses led
them anciently having been sealed upon his head by his father, Joseph Smith,
the Patriarch of the Church at that time. If Father Smith had the power to
bless, and that he had the power is most certain from the fact that he was
ordained to this office and calling by his son, the Prophet, before the above
blessing was pronounced upon the head of Joseph, no other man can perform this
mission but the Prophet Joseph Smith. (See Mill. Star, Vol. XV, page 620) I do
not say all the people of the nation will be destroyed within the time
mentioned, but I do say, that in consequence of the wickedness and corruption
of the officers of the nation, the government will pass into the hands of the
Saints, and that within five years. There will not be a city in the Union that
will not be in danger of disruption by the Knights of Labor, who are becoming a
formidable power in the land. You people in quiet Lewiston need not be
surprised if within the next four years the rails are torn up from Ogden to the
Missouri River and to San Francisco and into Montana in the North, leaving us
as isolated as we were when we first came to this Territory. There is a power
to do this and a disposition to--meaning the Knights of Labor." (A servant
of God, holding the power and keys of the Holy Apostleship does not speak in
this manner for mere pastime. There is more in these utterances than we are apt
to attach to them, unless we are aided by the Spirit of God.)
Further Reading
