The Mormon Apocrypha

There have been many great poets in LDS history, and John Lyon deserves to be numbered as one of them. Born in Glasgow Scotland, Lyon became a weaver's apprentice at the age of seventeen. He got married in February of 1826 and had his first child that September. He had twelve children total, with seven living to adulthood.  In 1837, John Lyon and his family met some missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and a few years later in 1844, after reading the book of Mormon and attending some religious sermons, was baptized into the church and ordained an Elder. In 1849, he received a letter from Orson Pratt, calling him to become to serve as a missionary and President of the Worcester area in England, serving from 1849 to 1851. The next year he was called to move Utah to gather with the Saints, finally making his way to Salt Lake City in 1854. That same year he was ordained to the seventy. He also joined the Deseret Dramatic Association and the Universal Scient...

The Priesthood is an important part of the Restored Gospel. Many sermons have been delivered about it. Below is one such address, delivered by Lorenzo Snow in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, on April 7, 1861. It is a matter of rejoicing to me, brethren and sisters, that I have the privilege of assembling here with you in a Conference capacity, contemplating the growth of the kingdom of the Almighty which has been upon the earth for the past thirty-one years, and considering the progress that this people have made in knowledge, power, and intelligence. We meet together in this capacity from time to time. Twice in a year we have always the same privilege. After considering the past, and seeing the improvements we have made, as a people and as individuals, it is a matter of importance to us to consider ourselves, to see whether we are making such progress as is required  of us—to learn if we are keeping pace with the times and the improvements that are being made by the leading men ...