Prayer from the Godbeite Conference of April 1870 - Godbeite Transcription

 Elder E. L. T. Harrison offered the following prayer at the opening of the Church of Zion Conference on April 6, 1870, as found in the Mormon Tribune on April 9th, 1870:

OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, on this the morning on which it has been arranged, in Thy providence, we should hold the first Conference of the young and rising Church of Zion, we present ourselves before Thee, seeking for the inspiration of Thy Spirit to assist us to open this meeting and to dedicate it unto Thee, to all divine influences, to light, to truth, and to progress. And we pray that there may be around us this day that combination of holy and mighty ones who are delegated and appointed by the Controling Powers to assist this important Movement on the earth, and to bring about the great and mighty revolution in Spiritual matters which the Church of Zion is destined to accomplish. We pray Thee that those holy influences may be round about us, not only this day, but throughout the continuance of the Conference; that the hearts of all those who have dedicated themselves to the cause of truth and have cast in their lot with those spirits who have come out to battle with the tide of ignorance and superstition may be cheered and encouraged, that they may feel that they are not alone in the great work to which they have put their hands and that Powers great, numerous, potent, and invincible are ever with them to bear the Standard of Zion on to victory. May Thy spirit and influence rest in the souls of all who shall be present during the Conference, and may all who shall assemble from time to time, who have not yet finally concluded to give in their adhesion to this cause, be touched by its sweet and holy influences, and feel the superiority of its spirit and its principles. Grant, we pray Thee, that our brethren of the Orthodox Church, who are still bound in the chains of priestcraft, who feel that things are wrong, but do not yet see clearly where to look for deliverance, who cannot understand Thy purpose in raising up a new system to free the people from their thraldom, may be assisted by the operations of the Holy Spirit in their minds to appreciate the policy and principles of the Movement. We pray Thee, our Father, that our brethren throughout the land, whether they are opposed to us in feeling or not, may have the influences of Truth around them and the presence of Thy Divine Providence. May Thy blessing rest upon those who bore the heat and burden of the day in the old organization, that they may be led to higher light and spiritual enjoyment. We pray not for their destruction or injury; we pray for their preservation, comfort, deliverance, and salvation.

We present before Thee this morning ourselves, being first in our hearts’ desires; but we no less remember all with whom we have been associated in past times, and pray that no angelic influences or power of good may be withdrawn from them, but that such influences may be present with them until they shall bask in the sunlight of eternal Truth. Hear us, our Father, in these respects, and also in behalf of the world at large, inasmuch as this Movement is destined to find its disciples amongst the thousands of the most progressive men and women with which the world abounds. May there go forth from this place, as from a great central battery, lines of communication to every inspirational man and woman, awakening them to a consciousness of the fact that there has commenced to be unfolded a glorious system which will be well worthy of their acceptance and energetic advocacy. We pray Thee, our Father, that Thou wilt thus move upon the world in all states of society, among all ranks of men, in all departments of civil and religious life, and that Thou wilt send forth such influences as will prepare the way for that glorious period when it can be truly said there shall be no necessity for one man to say unto another “Knowest thou the Lord? Knowest thou the Truth?” for all, from the least to the greatest, will know the Lord and His eternal Truth. We pray Thee to rule and overrule the hearts of men and the affairs of life so as to hasten the advent of that happy day for the spread of universal Truth, for the exaltation of humanity, for the elevation of this world which has cost so many thousand years of toil and sorrow and misery and bloodshed to bring it to its present condition of development, a world which has had so many martyrs, which has seen so many clouds of darkness, so many rollings back of the tides of progress and so many floodings on again of that great ocean wave which will eventually sweep over the surface of the globe and carry away all ignorance and superstition with it. We come before Thee with our sympathies, extensive as the human race, and we pray that we may be used for the advancement of all that is good and kind and elevating and for the breaking down of every barrier that causes divisions of feeling among mannkind [sic]; and ere we pass from this probation, may we thus be instrumental in assisting to do something that shall bless and unite the great human family. Thou God of universal man, hear our prayers for the humanity of which we form a part, and grant that among this nucleus representing Thy universal Church on earth there shall be those divine influences which will work out the grand design of this immortal Movement: All of which we ask in the name of Jesus and for sake of the Truth:

Amen.