President Spencer W. Kimball, 1977 

“[p. 2]...Columbus discovered America in 1942. After him came many colonizers and explorers. The Puritans and Pilgrims came from Europe. ...For four hundred years the Lamanites were scattered throughout the Americas. Cortes came here, and Pizarro went to South America. They had great influence upon the people. They scattered them and persecuted them…

[3] One of the first efforts of the Prophet Joseph Smith was to take the gospel to the Lamanites. Continuing until now, we have preached the gospel to the Lamanites. There are probably sixty million Lamanites in America. They are happy for the gospel as it comes to them. ...In many natural resources, the land of America is rich and will produce abundantly. This is for you, for us, for all the good people who live upon the land of America. Protection against enemies has been promised. In all the Americas, neither kings nor emperors will combine to take the land. Great promises are given us, if we live the commandments God has given us…

[Spencer W. Kimball, Official Reports of the Monterrey Mexico Area Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in Monterrey, Mexico February 19 and 20, 1977, (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1978), 2-3]

Apostle Ezra Taft Benson, 1979

“God raised up wise leaders among your progenitors which afforded Latin American countries political freedom and independence. I only mention the names of a few whom God raised up to accomplish His holy and Sovereign purposes: Jose de San Martin, Bernardo O’Higgins, and Simon Bolivar. These were some of the ‘founding fathers’ of your continent. I believe it was very significant that when independence came to the countries of South America, governments were established on constitutional principles -some patterned after the Constitution of the United States. I believe this was a very necessary step which preceded the preaching of the gospel in South America.”

[Ezra Taft Benson, “The Righteous Need not Fear,” La Paz, Bolivia, 10-18 January 1979 in Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988), 695]

Apostle Ezra Taft Benson, 1980

“The Lord recognized that truth will only prosper where religious freedom exists. Religious freedom cannot be fully enjoyed without a full measure of political freedom. So before the gospel was restored, wise and inspired men in North, Central, and South America were raised up who proclaimed the sovereign truth that all men -not just the privileged, the rich or the rulers -but all men have divine rights. Among these rights are life, liberty (which includes our freedom to worship), and right to property (see D&C 101:79).

[Ezra Taft Benson, Puerto Rico, 12-17 December 1980]

Apostle Ezra Taft Benson, 1980

“When a Book of Mormon prophet referred to the nations of the world, this hemisphere was designated as ‘good’ (Jacob 5:25-26.”

[Ezra Taft Benson, Puerto Rico Priesthood Leadership Meeting, 12-17 December 1980; cited in Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988), 123]

Apostle Orson Pratt, 1880

Has the earth been parcelled out to anybody else except Abraham and his seed? Yes. The Lord brought a nation to this great western hemisphere, called jaredites, from the Tower of Babel. When He brought them here they were a righteous people, and he made promises to them; and among the promises given was the promise that this great western hemisphere should be given to them, and to those that were worthy besides them, for an everlasting possession. We Gentiles have come here; we have got upon the land of these Jaredites, and we think we are very rich if we have got 640 acres, or perhaps ten times that amount of land. Says one man, "I have got my deed from the Land office; I am the owner." But, hold on; there is the original owner; that you know nothing of, that came here from the tower of Babel, that had all this western hemisphere promised to him and the righteous of his seed for an everlasting possession. What will become of your 640 acres then? What will become of your farms when these resurrected men shall come forth and show their deeds. Perhaps you may think they did not keep any records in those day. But let me tell you they had records of deeds; and all these things are spoken of and testified of in the great books that are kept in the eternal world, and it will be found that they are the inheritors before us, that is before the Gentiles that came over here four hundred years ago and upwards. But what about the Nephites that came here about six hundred years before Christ. When they got here, the first thing the Lord did was to confirm his promise unto them. He told them it was their inheritance for an everlasting possession. Hold on, says one, that would take away the right of the Jaredites. Oh, no. The Lord, in making this promise, did not do it according to the deed−makers of this day; he did not follow after the pattern of men. The records that he makes on the books in eternity are records made upon principles in accordance with celestial law, not in accordance with Gentile laws, nor our notions of things. The notion, or idea, that the Lord had was that this continent, North and South America, should be inhabited by the righteous who will be resurrected from the dead, and who lived here on this continent.

[Journal of Discourses 21:329, Orson Pratt, August 1st, 1880]

Wilford Woodruff, 1880

When I contemplate the condition of our nation, and see that wickedness and abominations are increasing, so much so that the whole heavens groan and weep over the abominations of this nation and the nations of the earth, I ask myself the question, can the American nation escape? The answer comes, No; its destruction, as well as the destruction of the world, is sure; just as sure as the Lord cut off and destroyed the two great and prosperous nations that once inhabited this continent of North and South America, because of their wickedness, so will he them destroy, and sooner or later they will reap the fruits of their own wicked acts, and be numbered among the past. 

[Journal of Discourses 21:301, Wilford Woodruff, August 1, 1880]

Orson Pratt, 1877

I believe I will make a few more remarks in relation to this same revelation that is to be given. In the second book of Nephi, the 11th chap., we have some account of what the Lord is going to do, referring to the things which the brother of Jared saw. The prophecy I am about to read was delivered nearly six centuries before Christ, by a man whose name was Nephi, whom the Lord brought out from Jerusalem, in connection with his father's family and some others, landing them on the western coast of South America where they formed a colony. Before he got here, he had a great revelation, and also after coming here. I will commence at the 17th paragraph of the vision he had [Journal of Discourses 19:217, Orson Pratt, December 9, 1877].

That gives us a little more light upon the same subject. When that is brought forth, I expect that the same Urim and Thummim which the Lord gave to Joseph Smith will come forth with these plates, and they will be translated, but by whom I know not. Who will be the favored Seer and Revelator that will be raised up among this people to bring this revelation to light, is not revealed to me. And not only this revelation, but those twenty−four plates of gold which contain the doings of the old Jaredite nation that inhabited this North American continent; at present we have only an abridgment, not a hundredth part of their history. These plates of gold will come forth, as well as many other records kept by the first nation − the Jaredites, that came here; and I have no doubt that the Lord will give the Urim and Thummim to translate them. And not only these, but the lord intends, in this dispensation in which you and I live, to overwhelm the whole earth with a flood of knowledge in regard to himself, in regard to his purposes and designs, and in regard to the future glories and blessings that are ordained for the Latter−day Saints, in regard to the preparations of the earth for the thousand years of righteousness to come. Hence these plates, these great numbers of plates, that were kept by the kings of the Nephites and by many Prophets before and after Christ, as well as those sealed records of which I have been speaking, will all come to light; we then will have revelations of heavenly and earthly things, and the designs and purposes of God. We will have, perhaps, the most complete history of this continent that there is in existence of any other nation or kingdom on the earth. Moreover, we have abundance of promises that God has made to us, in this book called the Doctrine and Covenants, given through the Prophet Joseph, concerning other records besides those I have named, that were kept by the Jaredites and the Nephites, a record for instance back so far as the days of Enoch. You might say, they did not know how to write in those days. But the Bible indicates that they did know, and speak about the book of the generations of Adam even before the flood. Furthermore, we have an account that three years prior to the death of Adam, he called together the righteous of his posterity, he called also the High Priests of that day, into a certain valley, called Adam Ondi−Ahman, which is located about fifty miles north of Jackson County, or what is now called Davis county, Missouri. Here assembled the righteous of his posterity for eight generations, and he pronounced upon them his last blessing, as the grand patriarch of the whole. And he stood up, notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, before the vast body that were gathered on that occasion, and prophesied of all things of importance that should transpire among his seed, and the nations that should spring from him, down to the very end of time. These things, it says, were written in the book of Enoch, and are to be testified of in due time. When we get that, I think we shall know a great deal about the ante−diluvians, of whom at present we know so little.

[Journal of Discourses 19:218 − p.219, Orson Pratt, December 9, 1877]

Orson Pratt, 1877

It seems that the Lord manifested himself to the people of this great western continent in a similar manner. Here he raised up Prophets, and here they were in possession of an instrument, although not called strictly by the same name, yet an instrument evidently designed by the Almighty as a medium of communication to his people. King Mosiah, who lived some time after the Israelites came to the American continent, some few centuries before the first coming of Christ, he had this great gift. Ammon, a servant of God, who explained this gift to King Limhi, tells us the nature of the gift. He informs us that Mosiah had wherewith he could look and interpret writing and engraving of ancient date. It seems that forty−three of the people of King Limhi had been sent from the kingdom where they resided, which was down at, or near Equador, in South America, to search the land which they had left some two or three generations before; and they lost their way in the wilderness, and failed to find Zarahemla, the land they were seeking, which was in the northern part of South America. They passed by the land through a wilderness country, and it appears that they went into North America. They found all the land which they explored covered with ruins of buildings and cities, and they found the bones of men and animals, and among other things they found twenty−four plates which were of pure gold, on which were engravings, which they brought, among other things, to King Limhi. He at that time was a righteous man, as well as most of his people, and they were exceedingly anxious to know the interpretations of the engravings, believing that they would give some account of the people who had occupied the country where they were found. They wanted to know what had become of so great a people, for evidently it appeared to them they had been very numerous. And it was for this purpose that Ammon was questioned. Ammon was a man who had been sent up in the mean time from the northern portions of South America, called Zarahemla, and he informed King Limhi that the King of Zarahemla had this high gift from God, that he was a seer, and could, by using the interpreters, interpret ancient languages. Hence the rejoicing of the king, because there was a man who could give them the information they were so anxious to find out [Journal of Discourses 19:208, Orson Pratt, December 9, 1877].

Afterwards we have a history in the "Book of Mormon," of the people of King Limhi having been driven out by some of the wicked portions of the people. He came to the land of Zarahemla, taking, with his colony, these twenty−four plates, and asking King Mosiah to translate them into the Nephite language. He did so; and they gave an account of a people − who came from the tower of Babel, at the time of the confusion of tongues; that they landed upon this north country, called North America, and dwelt here some sixteen or seventeen centuries, and they were part of the time a righteous people, and a part of the time wicked. And many Prophets existed among the ancient colony, and they kept their records, some upon metallic plates and others upon other materials. There was a Prophet at the time of the destruction of this first colony whose name was Ether. He wrote an abridgment of the Jaredites, also an account of their coming to this land from the tower of Babel; he wrote also concerning the creation of the world, and the doings of the Lord from the beginning down to the building of the great tower, this short account was given on these twenty four plates. And there is also given in the "Book of Mormon," by Moroni, the man who hid up the plates from which the book was translated, a very short sketch of the history of this first colony that came from the tower, under the name of the "Book of Ether." And in this Book of Ether we find that they had some thirty kings from the time they left Babel, and that they were finally destroyed because of great wickedness, to fulfil a prophecy and decree which the Lord made when he was bringing them forth to this land. The decree was that if they or their descendants should fall into wickedness and become fully ripened in iniquity, that the Lord would utterly destroy them, and bring forth another people to possess the land in their stead. Accordingly these twenty−four plates mentions their overthrow, how they were destroyed; also some mention is made of their most eminent Prophets, and much instruction is given in regard to the coming to this land of this first colony, how they were brought here by the Lord from the tower, and how, in passing through the valley called Nimrod, the Lord himself went before their camp in a cloud, teaching them and instructing, and leading them, the same as he afterwards led the children of Israel. And he brought them to great waters, where they were commanded of him to build vessels, which they did, eight in number, by which, under the particular care of the Almighty, they were brought across the great Pacific, as we now term it, taking them three hundred and forty−four days, and finally they landed upon the western coast of North America, as near as we can determine from this book, in Mexico, south of the Gulf of California. And that when the brother of Jared was coming to this land the Lord gave him some very remarkable visions, and, among other things he gave him the Urim and Thummim, prepared two crystal stones in two rims of a bow, and sanctified them, and showed to the brother of Jared many marvellous things, some of which I will read, for the instruction of those who have not, perhaps, given their attention to these matters.

[Journal of Discourses 19:208 − p.209, Orson Pratt, December 9, 1877]

Orson Pratt, 1877

Before all flesh receive the Spirit of God, the kingdom of God is to appear upon the earth. The work is to be commenced, and his Spirit poured out upon a few, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man, that there may be Prophets and revelators again on the earth, and the true Church of God again exist among men, as anciently. The time having fully arrived, in this the 19th century, for the prophecies to be fulfilled, in regard to the setting up of the latter−day kingdom, the Lord and his angel, as predicted in the 14th chapter of John's Revelations, revealed the original plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated by inspiration and the aid of the Urim and Thummim, is found to contain the fullness of the Gospel of the Son of God, as revealed in ancient times to the Israelites of this western hemisphere, the forefathers of our Indian race. They understood the Gospel and also the law of Moses, the latter of which they had kept for nearly 600 years before Christ. After His crucifixion and resurrection from the dead, they were favored with His personal ministry; the Gospel was taught them in great plainness, and twelve men were chosen on this continent, and commissioned to go forth and preach the fullness of the Gospel to all the inhabitants of the land. These Twelve men, like the Apostles of the eastern hemisphere, preached faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and baptism by immersion in water for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and upon those who believed and obeyed, the Spirit of the Lord was poured out to a very great extent. They had visions, and dreams, and revelations, and great manifestations of the power of God, and the people generally of both North and South America were converted and were taught and instructed in the things of God. Yet this did not include all flesh, and therefore did not fulfill the prophecy of Joel.

[Journal of Discourses 19:170 − p.171, Orson Pratt, December 2, 1877]

Orson Pratt, 1875

That is the only hope that we Gentiles have. No hope for us whatever, no hope for this great and powerful nation, only by being numbered with these poor, degraded, despised, outcast, dark, and benighted Indians. Are you willing to be numbered with them? In what respect? Not to come down to their customs and habits, their uncleanness, filth, wickedness, darkness and ignorance; but be numbered with them in the inheritance if this great continent, which was given to them by promise, the same as Palestine was given to Abraham and Isaac. God gave it by the mouth of Jacob, who pronounced it upon the head of his son Joseph, it was promised that he should have a separate land from that given to Abraham and Isaac. Read it in the 49th chapter of Genesis. The Lord gave North and South America to the Indians, nearly six hundred years before Christ. And he promised that the Gentiles, in the latter days, who should come upon the face of this land, if they would repent when this Gospel should come forth unto them, they should have the privilege of receiving their inheritance in common with this remnant of Israel − these Indians. But if they did not repent there is another decree. And what is that? "They shall be utterly cut off from among my people." Thus it is predicted and you have read it for forty−five years. In another place the Lord says − "If they will not repent, behold I will cut off the cities of their land, I will throw down all their strongholds, and I will cut off their horses out of the midst of them, and I will execute vengeance and fury upon them such as they have not heard of. In another place, which I have not time to turn to and read, it says − "And it shall come to pass that every soul that will not repent of their sins and come unto my beloved son, will I cut off from among my people, O, house of Israel, and it shall be done unto them even as Moses has said, they shall be cut off from among my people."

[Journal of Discourses 18:28, Orson Pratt, April 11, 1875]

Orson Pratt, 1874

In the latter part of the year in which Jesus was put to death, he descended among a certain portion of the people on this continent, gathered in the northern part of what we term South America. He descended from heaven and stood in their midst; and on the next day, when a larger multitude were gathered together, he came a second time and there were a great many thousands on that occasion. He often appeared to them after that period, within the course of one or two years, and he chose twelve disciples, and so great was the power made manifest before those thousands, that when they went forth into the north and south and preached the word, according to the commandments of God, the more righteous portion of the people, who had been spared, and who had humbled themselves and partially repented, but did not understand the fulness of the Gospel, were easily converted, and that is the reason why all the people in North and South American were converted unto the Lord; and in the thirty−sixth year, reckoning from the birth of Jesus, they were not only all converted upon the face of this whole land, but they were all organized upon a common stock principle, and there were no poor among them, and they dealt justly one with another.

[Journal of Discourses  17:30 − p.31, Orson Pratt, April 6, 1874]

Orson Pratt, 1874

These are the evidences then, which we have to present before the world, to substantiate the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Have you any objection to them? Says one − "Here is my objection; it matters not how many miracles are wrought, how many signs are given, and whatever evidence may be pretended to have been received, it does not matter about this, if a thing is inconsistent in and of itself, if it contradicts itself, if it contradicts the Bible I shall reject it." I honor you for that judgment, I would do the same. If the Book of Mormon contradicted the revelations of God called the Bible, given on the other continent, you might tear up the sycamore trees and cast them into the sea, or you might say to the mountain − "Depart hence," and if it should be done it would not be sufficient evidence in my mind to make me receive it. A thing must be consistent, and when we come to open and read the Book of Mormon, do we find any evidence therein of its falsity? Read it from beginning to end in relation to its historical matter. It pretends to be a history of the coming of a small colony, two or three families, from the city of Jerusalem, led by the hand of the Lord. They built a ship by the command of the Lord, and were guided by his hand across the ocean; they landed on the western coast of South America, about six hundred years before Christ; and after that they worked their way up towards the narrow strip of land we call the Isthmus, and founded settlements and, finally, about fifty years before Christ, sent forth their colonies into the north wing of the continent, which we call North America, and in process of time the whole land became peopled and overspread with millions of people. Now read this history from the time they left Jerusalem until the time that the Nephite nation were destroyed by another portion of the nation called Lamanites, and their records were hid up by their last Prophet: read this history and see if you can find any contradictions therein; if you can not, you can not condemn the book so far as the historical matter is concerned.

[Journal of Discourses 17:274, Orson Pratt, November 15, 1874]

Orson Pratt, 1874

In the year 1823, Mr. Smith, being not quite eighteen years old, was meditating in his heart concerning the former vision, and was feeling great anxiety that the promise might be fulfilled to him, that he should, at some future time, have revealed to him the Gospel in all its fulness. He retired to his room one Sunday evening, in September (1823,) and commenced to pray with all the earnestness and faith that he could possible obtain, that the Lord would fulfill the promise that he had made to him. While thus praying, he discovered that a light seemed to be breaking into his room, growing brighter by degrees, until he saw a personage, apparently an angel, standing before him. This personage wore a white robe, and his countenance had the appearance of lightning, but yet appeared of an innocent expression. This personage did not stand upon the floor of the room, but his feet were a short distance above the floor. He informed this boy that the Lord had sent him as a messenger, in answer to his prayer, in order to impart unto him further information. And then he commenced telling him that this great American continent was once occupied by a numerous people, the descendants of the house of Israel, most of them the descendants of a remnant of the tribe of Joseph; that they came here from Jerusalem by the direct guidance of the Almighty, some six centuries before Christ; that in a vessel, which they built by the command of God, they came round the Gulf of Arabia, crossed the Great Pacific Ocean, and landed on the western coast of South America, that the descendants of these people had many Prophets among them, and that after they had been on this continent about a thousand years, during the progress of which they had become divided into two distinct nations, they fell into great wickedness, and that God threatened them with overthrow; the people of one of these nations were called Lamanites, for Laman, one of the colony which came out of Jerusalem; that the people of the other nation were called Nephites, taking their name from Nephi, the brother of Laman, that between three and four centuries after Christ these two nations occupied the two great wings of this continent, the Lamanites occupying South America, and the Nephites North America; but the Nephites at this time, having apostatized from the religion of their fathers, and many of them having become exceedingly wicked, the Lord threatened them with an overthrow. And he commanded one of the last Prophets, named Mormon, to make an abridgment of all the records of former Prophets who had been raised up on this land, an abridgment of the history of the nation from the time that they left Jerusalem until that time. He did so, and committed the abridged record, written on plates of gold, into the hands of another Prophet, his son Moroni. The original records, from which the abridgment was made, were hid up by Mormon in a hill called Cumorah, in the interior of what is now called the State of New York, but the abridgment was still in possession of the Prophet Moroni. About this time, or a little before this time, there had been a fifty years war between the inhabitants of North and South America; and finally the Lamanites of South America drove the Nephites from the Isthmus, and continued to burn their towns, cities and villages, and they destroyed hundreds and thousands of the Nephites; and ultimately they were driven into what we now call the State of New York. Three hundred and eighty years after the birth of Christ they entered into terms of peace, or, in other words, an armistice, for the space of four years, during which time the two nations gathered together all their forces into one vicinity, near the hill Cumorah. And when the four years of peace, or armistice, had expired, they came together in battle, in which the Nephites were overpowered, and hundreds of thousands of them killed, including women and children. Moroni, who was among the few Nephites who were spared, and in whose possession was the abridgment which had been made by his father, Mormon, was commanded to hide up that abridgment in the hill Cumorah, near the town of Manchester, Ontario County, State of New York. The Lord commanded him not only to hide up the record, but also to deposit the Urim and Thummim, an instrument used by the ancient seers who dwelt on this Continent. The Lord promised Moroni that, in the latter days, he would bring forth that book out of the ground, that it should whisper out of the dust; that it should speak unto the living as if it were from the dead, and when he should bring it forth this Urim and Thummim, deposited with it, should enable the finder to translate it into the language of the people who should then inherit the land.

[Journal of Discourses 17:281-282, Orson Pratt, September 20, 1874]

Brigham Young, 1863

 The world is wrong and we have to right it under the direction of Heaven. For this purpose are we located upon the land of Zion, and the land of Zion is North and South America − the land where our heavenly Father made his appearance and planted the Garden of Eden. This land is choice above all other lands upon the face of the earth. We occupy these mountains as a safe retreat from the power of our enemies. When we first came here we did not know that we could raise grain of any kind. Probably some parts of South America are as good for raising wheat as this is; and in no part of North America can they raise better wheat than is raised here. God has blessed the soil for our sakes, and we live and prosper contrary to the expectations of our persecutors. Those who are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel may try to live here, but without our aid they cannot raise a subsistence.

[Journal of Discourses 10:222, Brigham Young, April and May, 1863]

Brigham Young, 1860

You need not teach that this place is Zion, or that Nauvoo or Missouri is Zion; but tell the people that North and South America are the land of Zion, and that our God will finish his work where he commenced it, where the centre Stake of Zion is, and where the garden of Eden was. Say to them − "If you want to become as gold seven times purified, go up to Utah." Gather the Saints, but do not flatter; invite, but do not urge, and by no means compel any one. Gather the Saints here as quickly as possible. Why? Because among the nations their dreams and reflections are all joy and glory, and they know but little else until after they arrive here. Some must come here in order to apostatize. We have thought that we could try to stop that class in the States, and let them apostatize there; but we cannot. They think all things should be here now as they are in heaven. This is the very place for them also, and we want them here as soon as possible.

[Journal of Discourses 8:72, Brigham Young, April 22, 1860]

Apostle Parley P. Pratt, 1856

I attended to my appointments, and was back again the next morning to brother Hyrum's. He made me a present of the Book of Mormon, and I felt richer in the possession of that book, or the knowledge contained in it, than I would, could I have had a warrantee deed of all the farms and buildings in that country, and it was one of the finest regions in the world. I walked awhile, and then sat down and read awhile; for it was not my mind to read the book through at once. I would read, and then read the same portion over again, and then walk on. I was filled with joy and gladness, my spirit was made rich, and I was made to realize, almost as vividly as if I had seen it myself, that the Lord Jesus Christ did appear in his own proper person, in his resurrected body, and minister to the people in America in ancient times. He had surely risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, and did come down on the American continent, in the land Bountiful, on the northern part of South America, and did minister to the remnants of Joseph, called the Nephites, and did show his resurrected body unto them. 

[Journal of Discourses 5:195-196, Parley P. Pratt, September 7, 1856]

Pres. Brigham Young, 1852

Suppose we are ready for it, and a great Temple is build at the central point, in Jackson County. Gentlemen, don't be startled; for if we don't go back there, our sons and daughters will; and a great Temple will be built upon the consecrated spot, and a great many more besides that. The land of Joseph is the land of Zion; and it takes North and South America to make the land of Joseph. Suppose we are ready to go into the Temples of God to officiate for our fathers and our grandfathers − for our ancestors back for hundreds of years, who are all looking to see what their children are doing upon the earth. The Lord says, I have sent the keys of Elijah the Prophet − I have imparted that doctrine to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts children to the fathers. Now, all you children, are you looking to the salvation of your fathers? Are you seeking diligently to redeem them that have died without the Gospel, inasmuch as they sought the Lord Almighty to obtain promises for you? − for our fathers did obtain promises that their seed should not be forgotten. O ye children of the fathers, look at these things. You are to enter into the Temples of the Lord and officiate for your forefathers.

[Journal of Discourses 6:296, Brigham Young, August 15, 1852]