I said, “The Spirit of the Lord and
keys of the priesthood hold power over all animated beings. When father Adam
transgressed the law he did not fall at once from the presence of the Lord but
spake face to face with him a long time afterwards. Men continued to sin and
degenerate from generation to generation until they had got so far from the
Lord that a veil of darkness sprang up between them so that men could no longer
speak with the Lord, save it were through a Prophet. During this time the earth
and all creation groaned in sin, and enmity increased, and the lives of men and
beasts decreased. For this cause the Son of God descended below all things that
he might reach every man and that he might return to the Father and have power
over all things.
“In this dispensation, the keys that
were committed to father Adam will be restored, and we are to return into the favor
and presence of the Lord. If we cease hostility, with the serpents and lay aside
all enmity and treat all animals kindly, being humble and faithful with long
suffering and forbearance no man need ever have a horse or a cow bitten by a
snake. The serpents would soon become perfectly harmless, so that they could be
handled without danger, children could play with them without receiving harm.” (Brigham
Young, April 26, 1846, in Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1846-1847,
comp. Elden J. Watson [Salt Lake City: Elden J. Watson, 1971], 142-43)